Landmines are low-cost defensive weapons, usually explosive firearms buried under the surface or laid on the ground. This easy-to-manufacturing, cheap and efficient weapon appeared earlier in the East (recorded in the War of Resistance against Jin in the late Northern Song Dynasty). Europeans did not start using landmines until the fortress defense war in the 15th century.

During the Napoleonic War, there were special mine engineer companies in the French army. But more often, combat engineers were willing to regard mines as bombs for close range and used in street fighting to destroy hidden buildings by enemy soldiers. During the second Zaragoza offensive and defensive war, thousands of engineers forced out the Spanish defenders hiding in their houses by detonating a large number of mines.

However, in the Desai Division, the real effect of mines returned to the right path. It is a defensive weapon that is easy to manufacture, cheap and efficient, rather than going astray, using mines for attack and street fighting. The ordnance engineers of Hruna continued the pressure-sensitive mines commonly used by the French army. They were explosive equipment that worked through friction fuses. Hundreds of small iron balls and a large number of detonating gunpowder (black gunpowder) were encapsulated in a copper cylinder.

On the first night of besieging Evora City, Desai ordered the engineers to arrange minefields around the fortress in key areas where defenses were needed to be strengthened to prevent secret raids from the city's allies, and block the contact channels sent to Lisbon messengers. However, because the area of ​​minefields that need to be set up was too large, the existing mines were not enough. As a last resort, three mine engineer companies simply asked for help from the artillery troops. They borrowed more than a thousand grenades (flowering bullets) to perform top dissection, inserted the lead wire that could rub the fuse, and took advantage of the dark night and high winds to sell them directly into the plain grass that was over the ankles.

When learning about the bad news about the two messengers, Bellsford and others were helpless in addition to calling the French despicable and shameless. After a series of crushing defeats yesterday, the coalition forces gradually lost confidence in winning the number of elite French troops stationed outside the city; not to mention that now, a large number of silent and terrifying minefields exist, which made the defenders dare not retain the idea of ​​a small-scale sneak attack overnight.

...

Six years ago, Ali, who was only 14 years old, held the hand of his half-sister Rolina and stayed in the city of Evora for a while. Of course, they were all black slaves, wearing heavy handcuffs and shackles in the slave trading ground in the city, standing quietly expressionlessly, waiting for the past white buyers to argue with them, and then bargain with the slave traders.

Soon, a white man named Ovani bought 14-year-old Ali and 9-year-old Rolina with 120 Escudos (Portuguese currency) and brought them back to the city of Porter. Because Ali and Rolina's former owners were a devout Lisbon nobleman (and Rolina's biological father), two little black slaves were placed in the kitchen of the Monastery of Geronimo since childhood. It was not until the white nobleman died of illness that Ali and his half-sister Rolina were sent to the slave market in Evora.

Thanks to their long-term experience in helping with kitchens in the monastery, Ali and her sister know how to cook various delicacies, so after they were sent to the copper mine, Ali was responsible for the daily meals of black slaves and white supervisors in the mine, while Rolina assisted in making fires and cooking.

Although he was too tired in his daily work, he and his sister lived in heaven for thousands of mining slaves who were in danger of danger at any time. The only bad thing was that some white bad boys in the mine were secretly thinking about their beautiful sister. This made Ali very nervous. He held a huge copper rice spoon in his hand almost every moment and protected his sister.

More than ten years ago, in the city of Lisbon, in that unforgettable cold winter, Ali held his sister's hand and vowed to protect Rolina's happiness for life in front of his mother's body. What is happiness? It means that the elder brother wants to make his sister sing and laugh every day without being bullied by anyone. However, Ali also understands that the copper spoon he waved could not beat the muskets and bayonets in the hands of the white man.

Until a few days ago, a French officer in blue uniform spoke loudly to them in Portuguese that the great and kind Duke of Hruna had ordered to give all the free slaves the identity of the black slaves. After that, all the white supervisors in the copper mine became evil prisoners under the supervision of the French army, and thousands of black people who were freed from slaves became bystanders and followed closely.

Shortly after returning to Porter, the French army escorted all the white people in the city, drove countless big trucks, and began to march northward, with the target of the city of Evora. As for the thousands of black people who arrived in Porter, no one paid attention to them anymore. The French only left food for two days, and the "Notice of Liberation of Black Slaves" pasted everywhere in front and behind the house.

When the flames of revenge rose above Porter, the agile and brave Ali snatched some food and money from the empty house left by the white man, and resolutely took his half-sister Rolina to chase the Duke of Hruna's troops. Why did this happen? Ali was not very clear in his heart, but instinctively felt that the white French should be better than the white Portuguese. Perhaps their accident came, which prevented his beautiful sister from becoming a sexual slave of the minefield supervisor in time.

In terms of appearance characteristics, Ali is a typical African black man. He has dark skin, tall figure, broad shoulders, and thick back. If he didn't know how to cook, he would have worked hard until he was exhausted. But Rolina is different. She is a mixed-race black man with white skin. Because of her innate aristocratic temperament, a well-proportioned and beautiful face, a slender figure, a red silk scarf with gold edges on her head and a white dress covering her knees, it seems to prove that Rolina is a dignified young woman, although she always has naked feet.

In just one day, the blacks who followed the Desai Division quickly adapted to the unrestrained wandering life. Like the gypsy, strong men organized hunting together, swept up the white Portuguese villages, obtained food supplies and other victories, and exchanged guns and ammunition with French quarantines. Some of them were ordered to be requisitioned for a fee by the French army. They held sticks, sabers or smoothbore guns, acted as armed supervisors of more than 30,000 Portuguese whites who were under the supervision of the construction of fortifications around the city, or maintained order in the black camps.

Other women and children camped two kilometers away from the French camp to wash clothes and cook for their men or French soldiers; as for the elderly, weak, sick and disabled, none of them knew that those poor people who were not rescued had died on the way to Evora.

Not everyone can enjoy the warmth of the family when the tens of thousands of black people arrived successfully at the periphery of Evora, especially those lonely women. They have no strengths, many of them carry children, and there is no man around them to rely on, and their lives are miserable. But soon, the situation changes. Several military merchants discovered business opportunities, and they tried their best to incite single black men to enter the prostitute house set up near the French military camp to provide sexual and love services to the same lonely soldiers.

There were many pimps who instigated Ali to let his beautiful sister go to the prostitute to serve, but before he finished speaking, the person who came was driven away by Ali, who was extremely angry, and the copper rice spoon in his hand knocked off several front teeth in the pimp's mouth. Fortunately, Davier, the sheriff in charge of the black camp, had worked with Ali in the Portel copper mine. Under Davier's interference, several pimps who were beaten to the point of leaving in disappointment and gave up their revenge.

The French gave black slaves freedom, but life must rely on the blacks themselves. This is the kind-hearted Daviel's advice to Ali. Ali also knew this in his heart, and he knew that the camp sheriff liked his beautiful sister. However, Daviel was in his 30s and had a wife and two children. Ali could not put Rolina's lifelong happiness on the old blacks.

Now that the food I brought was almost finished, Ali refused the help of Devil's bad intentions for storing. So in order to make a living, Ali decided to return to his old business after discussing with his sister. The brother and sister bought half-old ovens, frying pans and military soup pots from the military merchants of the Desay Division, using the only 200 Escudos they had (the slaves have no private property, they were all found in Porte City) to buy half-old ovens, frying pans and large military soup pots, as well as some flour, raw beef, eggs, butter, river fish, potatoes, sugar, olive oil, spices, etc. The two opened a snack stall near the French military camp where vendors gathered.

The owners of these temporary stalls have been closely following the Desay Division since Zaragoza. When they arrived at the city of Evora, a lively market about 500 meters long and thousands of vendors had formed near the French barracks. The stalls had everything, such as eating, drinking, dressing, playing, and having fun, and a wide range of things, which was overwhelming.

In consideration of the security of the military camp, the market has always been managed by the military police. Major Pochi personally approved the identity of the vendors who entered the market. As for the rent (management fee), it only means a little bit of the nature of the rent, serving as a subsidy for the patrol gendarmerie and the hard work of the cleaner. But when he got the application for a stall submitted by the black Ali and his white-skinned sister, he was stunned for a moment. But soon, the white officer smiled and waved his seal hard to give the brother and sister a license to a temporary stall. This was the first black stall owner to settle in the market near the military camp. In addition, the military police chief also gave an extra favor, exempting the rent and management fees on the day of opening.

It was a bribe from the French major who was brought to him by Rolina. The fragrance of a large plate of golden egg tarts was deeply attracted. This egg tart not only has a strong aroma, but also has a crispy tart crust on the outside, and a sweet yellow solidified egg paste on the inside, which made Major Poch, who had always liked sweets, feel excited after tasting it.

After tasting the good things, they naturally have to share them with the superior. The next day, Pochi walked into the temporary command post of the Duke of Desay with a freshly baked egg tart.

"Damn guy, you should have sent it yesterday afternoon!" Desai feasted, praising the wonderful taste of this sweet tooth. It seemed that he was still feeling unsatisfied. Desai, who had nothing to do, then stood up and asked Pochi to lead the way to go to the market near the barracks. After hearing the news, the commander of Jacques outside the door quickly called the guards to follow along and protect the highest commander of the personal protection division.

On the fifth day of the siege, the sky continued to shine brightly. Even at noon when sweating profusely, there were still people coming and going in the market. The hawking of vendors and the bargaining of soldiers were coming one after another, and the noise continued, making it very lively.

At a stall that was not up in a long street hundreds of meters long, Rolina was busy collecting money and delivering the soldiers all kinds of food they ordered. She also observed the egg tarts in the oven and added firewood to several stoves. As for her brother Ali, she was even more busy with her hands and feet. She had to take care of beef stewed with potatoes in a large military soup pot, add salt, spices and water from time to time, and rolled roasted small river fish on a frying pan and added various oil.

Even though the customers were crowded with customers and the small stall was already crowded with greedy French soldiers, Ali was still calling for business loudly. He kept muttering his own tongue twister advertisements: "Hehe, the most outstanding, the most delicious, and the most delicious fresh food is here, with fragrant beef stewed with potatoes, wonderful golden egg tarts, and grilled fish fillets that are full of praise!"

During the break of trading, the two brothers will also be excited to count their gains. In just one morning and noon, their piggy bank has accumulated almost 20 Escudos. If the business in the afternoon and evening continues to be so good, Ali and Rolina believe that they can earn all their capital in four or five days at most, and they can make a lot of money every day in the future.

"Rolinna, once we save enough Escudo, we will buy a fertile land as our home. Oh, by the way, I promised my mother that I would find you a good man!" When I saw my sister carefully putting coins into the jar one by one, Ali smiled, wiped away the sweat from her forehead, and joked at Rolinna.

Rolina is a strong and generous girl. She raised her head, used her hazel eyes and smiled at her brother, "Okay, but before that, Ali, you want to bring me a kind sister-in-law to my sister!"

Looking forward to the happy life that is coming, the brother and sister laughed and made a fuss. However, at some point, a large group of white French people were surrounded by the stall. Several officers and a large number of fully armed soldiers were guarding each other. They were all accompanying a young officer with purple gold lace embroidered on the brim, collar and cuffs.

"At least one general!" Ali, who was studious, knew the Frenchman's rank sign, and he whispered to his sister.

"Aha, it's beef stewed with potatoes, great communism!" Desai glanced at the best food in the world. He excitedly grabbed the black stall owner's long-handled copper spoon, sucked it into a large soup pot, and delivered the food to his mouth, and ate it in a big mouthful.

"Not bad, the taste is really good. By the way, Raymond!" Desai turned around and almost shouted at his guard commander: "If you turn around, drive away the bad cook in the guard for me. What the hell does he make every day? It's just a bunch of pig food!"

The superior turned his head again, faced the somewhat restrained black man again, and asked softly: "What's your name?"

"My name is Ali, dear General!" the black man replied in a terrified manner.

Desai slowly straightened up and said with a smile: "Well, great boxer! Now please raise your right hand high and swear to the Duke of Hruna standing in front of you, swearing to be loyal to me forever! In addition, you have been recruited by General Desai to become my personal chef and the first chief of the Duke's Guards!"
Chapter completed!