Chapter 288 Days of Heavy Rain
As I came out of the tent, I found the sky getting overcast. And quickly sent to the ditch to build shelters, used to shelter the sentry. As a result, it soon began to rain. The people who work have to get on with their work. Work was finally finished in the middle of the night, and the rain was still falling.
When it rains, our firearm is much less useful, and when it gets wet, the grenade turns into an artificial stone. Not enough defense, let alone victory. I've arranged for a few more men to stand watch at night.
In the latter part of the night, there was a commotion outside. I was not too worried because of the careful arrangements that had been made. Outside the sound of grenade explosion, just calmly out to check.
Because we had an oil lamp in our shack, we could see what was going on near the ditch. A great number of allied kingdoms drew up their lines outside the trench, with their shields for defense, and shot at us inside.
I saw several grenades go out, and then nothing happened. Once breached by the enemy line, the consequences are unimaginable. I quickly led the team myself and organized more than two hundred people in groups of two. One man took shelter from the rain, the other lit the fire and dropped the grenade.
After more than an hour, the allied forces could not resist and chose to retreat. Seeing some pursuers, I immediately sent for a trumpet to call them back. Once pursued, the war would take an unpredictable turn.
After taking care of the field in the rain, a few of the leaders came to report on the situation, and there were more than 100 of us dead. Casualties on the other side are not yet known.
After arranging the change of guard, I led them back to the big tent.
"Do you think they'll come next?" I asked.
"Certainly not. They lost the battle pretty badly." Zong said.
"Yes." John agreed: "They won't dare come."
"It's raining and you can't see them. They'll come again." "And they'll send more next time," I said. If they don't take this god-given opportunity to wipe us out, they won't have much chance."
"So what do we do?" Zombo became worried.
"The rain came at a perfect time for them." Li Ding sighed.
I called them to be quiet. "There's nothing we can say now. We can't put ourselves on the tiger's side. Each of you gather your troops and return to the ship."
"Fly elder brother, how do you think." Li Ding was greatly surprised. "We have built our houses and fortifications with great difficulty. Won't they all be destroyed when we leave?"
"It's better to be destroyed than to die here." "The odds are stacked against us, as you can see," I said. We have to make decisions that are better for us than the lesser of two evils. That's settled. Get back on board and listen to the ship I'm in."
All three of them looked puzzled, or rather unwilling. But I dare not object.
When all the troops were on board, I finally went back to the ship and ordered the men to go to a small island about a kilometer from the main Island.
When we landed, we immediately set about building a large tent. By daybreak a shelter had been found.
At breakfast the men again gathered in the tent.
"It's still raining, chief. We didn't pick the right time to go out this time." "Cried Zong Bu.
"You're wrong." John said: 'It didn't rain until we got to the island. It had been sunny. It's just god working against us."
"But what can we do now?" I raised my chopsticks and said, "Have a good meal and drink. The rain will not stop. We will stay on this island. When the rain stops, we'll go all out and take them."
"I'm afraid there isn't enough food." Li Ding said with concern.
"Why worry about that?" I pointed to the back. "In two days if the rain doesn't stop, you will rob the Spice Kingdom and bring me your food... By the way, leave some rations for the others."
"Ok." Li Ding promised.
Compared to fighting, running to collect grain is much easier.
Breakfast finished, and watch arranged for shifts, they returned to their cabins and went to bed in the boathouse. I heard a noise outside at noon, and I only sent one man to check it out. Knowing that it was only ten boats to attack, it did not matter and continued to sleep.
When I woke up in the afternoon, I found out the details as I went from ship to ship. The allied forces sent ten small boats to try to destroy our ship with a barrage of arrows. As a result, five of the ten ships were buried in our hand grenades, all of them sank. The other five were broken and made it back to shore.
Wood from the disbanded hull can still be seen on the surface.
It was still raining, so I went to the big tent on the bank. Li Ding and Zong Bu are bragging and chatting inside.
After greeting, Li Ding said: "Brother Fei, the rain is too urgent, and now even there is no wood for cooking."
"Chop down trees. Dry wet wood in a fire."
"There's enough wood on this island for five or six days at most."
"Run out first. I don't believe the rain will last."
"Why don't I go to the Kingdom of Gold ahead of time and get everything." Li Ding proposed.
"You go, then." There's no difference between a few more people here and a few fewer.
Li Ding is particularly positive, said he went to arrange, ran out.
As they sat down, Zombo said, "Chief, shall we make a surprise attack tonight?"
"Forget it. This is their land and it's well protected. A raid will only fail." "Take care of the firearm these days," I said. "If it were damaged, our expedition would be a failure."
Both men nodded.
I know how important this battle is to us, and how much we will lose if we lose it. With more bullets and less food, it's not going to be easy to start again.
In the afternoon, Li Ding ran away.
The rain went on and on, and if it stopped, it was only for a very short time. After three or four days, morale dropped significantly. There was nothing I could do but wait for the rain to pass. The allied forces tasted defeat and did not attack again. Both sides entered a period of peace because of the heavy rain.
By the eighth day, I was going crazy. Food has been eaten almost, the island's trees have been cut down a clean, become a bare island.
I was sitting in the boathouse, looking out at the rain, when Zomb and John came in.
I roughly know their purpose, beckoned them to sit down, I said to the point: "you all can not carry?"
The two men looked at each other, both looking lost.
"Chief. "If we go on like this, we really can't afford it."
I turned to John, who sighed. "Chief, why don't we go? We'll give them a few more days of comfort.
"Make it through today. If Li Ding doesn't come back before dark, we'll withdraw." I really don't want to fail.
"That's right." Zong Bu raised his voice: "The brothers are also very big now."
"That's right." I nodded heavily. The first time we fought the Allied forces, we were defeated, and this time we didn't even fight, but god stopped us.
The two men said goodbye and walked out together.
I couldn't sit still in the big tent, shuttling between several ships and the big tent. When the sky darkened, I had no choice. He ordered his things packed and prepared to flee under cover of darkness.
When we were busy, the rain stopped. Then came the news that the ships were approaching us.
This excited me so much that I immediately stopped everyone and sent out a boat to meet the fleet. Half an hour later, the fleet landed, and it was our men.
Li Ding came down and pointed to the boat she brought back: "Brother Fei, this time MY achievements are not small. There were ten large rafts being hauled by big boats, and five small ones. We've brought enough food and wood to last us another ten days."
"You got here just in time." I punched him. "Come on, let's go aboard and have a look."
When we reached the deck of the ship, we saw the raft trailing behind like a dragon. Each raft was packed full and covered with animal skins. All five boats had landed.
"All from El Dorado?"
"Well, then." Li Ding smiled and said, "I have been traveling day and night in order to come back earlier. And a lot of golden Kingdom people to help with the rowing. We change every two hours and sail faster than a big ship can run."