After struggling like this for a few days, An Ning finally set off with his small army.
At the front of the team was the cavalry unit led by Christina, then the infantry unit of more than a thousand people, and finally the artillery and baggage trains.
An Ning rode a tall brown horse and stood on the dirt slope next to the road, watching his troops drive past in a mighty manner.
——Not to mention, just looking at the military appearance, it looks like that.
An Ning thought.
Seven days after setting off from Paris, Tranquility troops approached the rebel areas.
That morning, Christina suddenly hurried over on horseback to see An Ning: "Andy! Come quickly, the reconnaissance cavalry has discovered something."
An Ning: "Don't call me Andy in the army, call me Captain."
"Okay, Captain, come with me, we found something bad out front."
An Ning nodded: "Lead the way."
Christina turned the horse's head, kicked the horse in the belly, and made the horse gallop.
An Ning also kicked the horse's belly to keep up with Christina's pace.
Someone in the infantry marching next to him whistled: "Your Excellency, Captain, do you want to go on a date?"
The sergeant walking next to the queue said angrily: "Shut your mouths! The road is so dusty, aren't you afraid of eating dust when you talk?"
An Ning himself has no pretensions. In the past few days after leaving Paris, he has become good brothers with the soldiers. In the past, the soldiers called him Captain with respect and fear, but now it is more of a joke.
After passing the head of the infantry marching queue, An Ning caught up with Christina, kept pace with her, and then asked: "What exactly did you find? The infantry can't hear it now, so you can tell me."
Christina said with a straight face: "Some bad things, you will know when you get there and see them for yourself. I don't want to say it, because I will feel sick when I think about that scene."
An Ning: "How could you not want to say it? Your cavalry is my eyes and they are going to detect the situation for me. Tell me, what did you see?"
Christina was silent for a few seconds, then reluctantly said: "I saw...the rebels hung the patriots on the tree on the roadside, the men had their vaginas cut off, the women had their vaginas cut off, all of them were naked*
*…”
As she spoke, Christina cried, tears rolling down her cheeks: "It's so tragic! It's so terrible..."
An Ning looked serious: "Okay, I understand, you don't need to say any more."
Soon, he saw the cavalry girls gathered in front of him.
They gathered under an old banyan tree, on which hung the bodies of more than a dozen patriots like fruits.
As Christina said, these corpses were treated cruelly. There was a sign hanging on the tree trunk, which read in blood: "This is the fate of every revolutionary bastard."
An Ning came under the tree and looked up at the corpses.
The stench forced him to cover his nose.
Christina: "Let's put them down and bury them..."
An Ning shook her head: "No, let them hang here."
Christina: "Andy!"
An Ning looked determined: "Not only do I want them to continue to hang here, I also want every platoon to stop under this tree, and then have people read the blood words on the trunk aloud."
Christina glared at An Ning: "What did you say? You actually want the ugliness of these poor ladies to be seen by so many people?"
"I want to let my soldiers know what kind of enemy they will face!" An Ning said decisively.
Christina: "Just for this..."
"Execute the order." An Ning ordered, "Take your troops and continue to go out for reconnaissance. I want to know where the rebels are. This is the most important thing, find them!"
Christina pursed her lips, wiped the tears on her cheeks with her hands, and responded: "I understand. Sisters, follow me!"
As she spoke, she kicked the horse in the belly and galloped, as if she wanted to leave this terrible place as soon as possible.
The other female knights ran past An Ning one by one. They all looked at An Ning with strange eyes, as if they were looking at a cold monster.
He stayed quietly under the tree, endured the stench, and waited for his troops to come up.
Soon, the troops appeared at the end of the line of sight and headed this way.
When the first one lined up under the big banyan tree, everyone had a look of horror on their faces.
Others murmured in a low voice: "Oh my God, this is so cruel!"
An Ning said loudly: "Everyone, stand firm!"
The troops stopped, and everyone looked at An Ning, wondering why he wanted the troops to stop at this place.
An Ning pointed to the bloody words on the tree trunk and said: "This line of blood words was written to us by the rebels! It says: Every revolutionary bastard deserves this end!"
The soldiers were immediately in an uproar.
An Ning: "Remember this line! Now, step up and go!"
The troops began to march again.
An Ning could feel that the marching pace of the troops was more angry than before, and the forest where the spears stabbed seemed to be shaking more neatly than before.
In this way, when every platoon arrived under the tree, An Ning would read the word "blood" loudly, and when every platoon stepped forward again, they would be more angry.
This angry force is destined to give the rebels some color.
**
That night, An Ning's troops camped at a place called Ke Peni.
Christina and Clarisse, who were conducting the reconnaissance, all came back and summarized the reconnaissance information to An Ning.
The number of rebels in Konta was not as large as the legend. According to the reconnaissance, the total number of rebels was about 3,000, with no artillery or cavalry.
The rebels were stationed about ten miles away from Coppini.
They had just robbed patriots from nearby towns, slaughtered cattle and sheep from nearby villages and towns, and had a big party at the camp.
After summarizing the information, An Ning pointed to the fields between Coppini and the rebel garrison on the map.
"Is this all open fields?"
Christina: "Yeah, it's all open fields, there's a barn and a few homes here."
As she spoke, Christina picked up the bread on the table, broke off a piece and placed it at the location of the barn on the map.
"Next to it is a large apple orchard."
An Ning nodded: "I understand. Let's face the rebels here tomorrow."
Clarisse was shocked: "Fighting the rebels? Aren't we on the front line for the main force? I thought you would keep a distance from the enemy until Lafayette's main force arrived!"
An Ning shrugged: "I did think so at first. But the enemy's situation has changed. The enemy only has three thousand people, no cannons and cavalry. The most important thing is, from what you said, the enemy's military discipline is lax, and they are robbing and killing everywhere. This way
The combat effectiveness of the army is worrying.
"But we are different. After today's scene, our soldiers are holding back a fire. I think we can give it a try."
An Ning paused and then said: "If your reconnaissance is accurate, then either the rebels have divided their forces, or the Libreville National Guard was defeated and massacred by these three thousand enemies."
Christina: "You only have a thousand people!"
"Fifteen hundred people." An Ning corrected, "But I have artillery and cavalry, and our morale is high. Anyway, I think we can give it a try. If we are defeated, the enemy has no cavalry anyway..."
An Ning did not continue.
The part he didn't say was: you can run away on horseback even if you're defeated.