Chapter 16 jungle battle

Wan Qirui's warriors hurried towards the village through the dense forest.For a while, they couldn't help speeding up when they heard the crisp gunshots ahead.Gradually, the gunfire became sparse and then stopped altogether.But the silence was as ominous as the thumping of the rifles.For the rescue team, there can only be one explanation for the silence at the moment, that is, their poorly defended village has been attacked and occupied by a powerful team. It was five miles from the hunting place to the village, and the hunters walked more than three miles. They met the first group of villagers, 12 men and women, who had escaped from the enemy's bullets and claws.Seeing the warriors, they were all so excited that they scrambled to tell Wan Qirui about the disaster that befell the tribe, making a commotion.

"They are as numerous as leaves in the forest," cried a woman, trying to clarify the strength of the enemy. "There are many Arabs and countless Manzhimas, all with guns. They raided villages, shouting Come rushing and shoot men, women and children. We fled from all directions into the jungle, but more people were killed. Don't know if they took prisoners or not, but it looks like they kill on sight, those man The Zhima yelled, saying that they will eat everyone before leaving our tribe, and that this is the punishment we deserved for killing their friends last year. I don’t know what else to say, because I soon Ran."

The warriors continued on towards the village, but now more cautiously and at a slower pace.Wan Qirui knew that it was too late to save people now. The only mission of this trip is revenge.They walked another mile and encountered about 100 people who had fled.Many of them were men, and their combat effectiveness was enhanced by this. Wan Qirui sent 12 warriors to go ahead to scout the enemy.He lined up with the main force in a single file, walking through the forest like a huge crescent moon.Tarzan walked beside the chief. After a while, a sharp soldier ran back.He had seen the situation in the village clearly.

"They're all in the fence!" he said softly. "Okay!" Wan Qirui said, "let's rush in and kill them all." He was going to pass on his order to let everyone stop at the edge of the forest, and when they saw him rushing into the village, they would immediately stop. Let's follow together. "Wait a minute!" Tarzan said, "Even if the enemy in the fence has 50 rifles, we have to be driven back and killed by them. Let me climb through the trees alone and look down to see how many there are." Enemy, find out how likely we are to succeed if we attack. If there is no hope of success, it would be foolish for even a samurai to die in vain. In my opinion, we must outwit and not attack. Wait a while Wait, okay, Wan Qirui?"

"Okay!" said the old chief, "You go first." So Taishan jumped onto the big tree, and disappeared in the direction of the village in the blink of an eye. He climbed cautiously, knowing that those with guns could easily knock him down from the tree.No one in all the jungle could have moved so silently, nor had anyone so successfully escaped the eyes of his enemies, when Tarzan had been careful. It took him only five minutes to climb a large tree above the fence at the village end.He was condescending and had a clear view of the mob resting in the village.He counted 50 Arabs and about 250 Manzhimas.These Manzhimas were feasting and drinking, while preparing a victorious, heinous feast of human flesh under the watchful eyes of their white masters.

Tarzan saw that these savages were not only armed with guns, but also protected by fences and locked gates. If they fought hard, they would die in vain. So he went back and advised Wan Qirui to wait patiently, and said he had a better plan. However, a refugee who escaped told Wan Qirui just now how his wife was brutally killed by the enemy. Wan Qirui was so angry that he forgot to be cautious.He gathered the warriors together and ordered them to attack the enemy.So this small army of only more than 100 people shouted and waved their spears and rushed towards the gate of the village.But before they could get across the clearing in front of the village, the Arabs opened fire on them from the fence.

Wan Qirui fell in the first burst of bullets, and the charge slowed down. The gunfire rang out again, and six more warriors fell in a pool of blood.A few men rushed up to the closed fence, but were knocked down the path and never got inside the fence.The attack was repulsed, and the warriors who were still alive fled back into the forest in panic. When they retreated, the bandits opened the gate and chased them out, trying to kill all the people in the tribe.Tarzan was the last to run towards the forest.He slowed down, stopped from time to time to shoot his bow and arrows, and shot at the chasing enemy.

As soon as he entered the jungle, Taishan saw a group of black people who looked down on death and were gathering together, ready to attack the chasing bandits head-on.Taishan yelled loudly, telling them to disperse quickly, so as not to be wiped out by the enemy in one fell swoop.He also told them to wait until dark and then concentrate. "Do as I say!" he urged, "I will lead you to defeat these enemies. Hurry up and disperse into the forest and retrieve as many folks as possible. At night, if you find that you are being followed, go around in circles." Get rid of them, and then gather at the place where we hunt elephants today. I will tell you my plan at that time, and you must think it is good to hear. Outnumbered, how can the simple weapons in your hands beat the Arabs and Manzhima A man's rifle?"

Everyone had to agree. "After we disperse," Taishan finally explained, "the enemy also has to disperse to achieve the goal of pursuit. As long as we are vigilant, we can shoot arrows at the Manzhima from behind the big tree." As soon as they broke into pieces and retreated to the depths of the dense forest, the vanguard of the group of bandits rushed across the open space and chased them up. Taishan was busy on the ground for a while, then climbed up the tree, and climbed to the "upper passage" three times and two times, then turned back and rushed towards the village.Above the village he found that all the Arabs and Manzimas had gone after the black brethren, and there were only chained prisoners and a guard left in the village.

The guard stood by the open gate and looked into the forest, but he didn't see a giant who was as light as a swallow had jumped down from the big tree at the other end of the village street. He drew his bow fully, and lightly touched the guy who was still in the dark.Those black people who were taken up had seen Tarzan.Filled with wonder and hope, they stared wide-eyed at their savior.Now Mount Tai was only ten paces away from the Manzhima.The bow was like a full moon, and Tarzan narrowed his gray eyes, aimed carefully, and then let go to release the arrow.There was a bang, and the arrow shot out. The gangster fell to the ground without saying a word. The shaft of the arrow pierced through his heart, protruding a foot long in the hollow of his chest.

Taishan turned and ran towards the fifty women and children.Their necks were all chained and chained to a long "slave rope".Due to time constraints, it was impossible to open these ancient locks one by one, so Taishan had to let them follow behind him, "wearing willows and locks".He picked up the rifle and ammo-pouch from the guard, and led the merry group of prisoners through the gate and into the woods beyond the clearing. It's been a really slow and difficult trek.Because no one has ever worn this kind of "slave rope", it is difficult to move one's hands and feet. If one person stumbles and falls, it will bring everyone else down, resulting in a lot of delay.Moreover, Taishan was afraid of running into the bandits who came back from the forest, so he had to lead everyone around a big detour.There were occasional gunshots in the distance, indicating that the Arab gang and the villagers still had confrontations from time to time.But Taishan knew that if everyone listened to his advice, the casualties would never be more than those robbers. In the evening the gunfire ceased altogether.Tarzan knew that the Arabs must have gone back to the village.Thinking of the fact that the guards had been killed and the prisoners rescued, the gangsters must have gone mad with rage, and Taishan couldn't help showing a triumphant smile on his face.In order to "add fuel to the flames" of this group of distraught Arabs', he had planned to take some of the large amount of ivory stored in the village.After thinking about it later, I felt that this was not the fundamental solution to the problem.Moreover, it would be too cruel for Ran to let these poor women carry heavy ivory and add unnecessary burdens. After a while, he came up with another good idea, thinking that as long as he followed his plan, the Arabs would not snatch a single ivory from the village. It was not until late at night that Tarzan brought the slow and lumbering team to the elephant hunting grounds.Far from here they could see a great fire lit in the middle of the hastily made bivouac of the negroes.One is to keep warm, and the other is to scare the lion. When Taishan approached the campsite, he yelled loudly, telling them that his own people had returned.The black people in the camp saw this long series of "shackles and chains" Friends and relatives walked into the flames and jumped up happily to meet them. They originally thought that they had lost these folks forever, and they would also lose Mount Tai forever, but now that they have returned safely, they have to hold a feast of elephant meat and feast all night to celebrate.Taishan stopped them and told everyone to sleep well, because there were many important things to do the next day. However, under the circumstances at the time, even sleeping was difficult.Because the women who lost their husbands and children in the day's killing and fighting made it difficult to sleep.It took Taishan a lot of effort to persuade them to stop crying.He said they would draw the Arabs here by crying like this, and then it would all be over for them. After dawn, Taishan explained his battle plan to the warriors.The warriors had no objection, and agreed that this was the safest and surest way to get rid of these "uninvited guests" and avenge their relatives. Taishan's idea was: First, the women and children should be evacuated southward to a place completely out of danger under the protection of 20 old or too young warriors.Taishan told them that they needed to temporarily build a few shacks to keep out the wind and rain, and built a wall around the camp with thorny bushes.Because his battle plan will take many days, even weeks to complete.During this period, it was impossible for the samurai to come to this newly opened camp. Two hours later, black warriors surrounded the village.The encirclement was sparse, and at a distance, there was a samurai hiding in a big tree overlooking the fence.After a while, a Manzhima in the village was shot through by an arrow and fell to the ground.There was no terrible cry of attack, nor the spear-wielding bravado of the natives' usual charge, but here and there Death came silently from the silent jungle. This extraordinary attack threw the Arabs and their slaves into great rage.They ran to the gate of the gate to exact their dreadful vengeance on the reckless perpetrator, and suddenly realized that they had no idea where the enemy was.While they were standing by the gate, pointing fingers, quarreling, and arguing endlessly, an arrow pierced the heart of an Arab, and the man fell to the ground without saying a word. Taishan arranged the best archers in the tribe on the big trees around the village, and asked them to do so, even if the enemy faced the big trees where they were hiding, they could not let them see the clues.It was also stipulated that after shooting arrows at the bandits, they should hide behind the trunk of the tree as soon as possible, and Rizai must not shoot arrows again until he is sure about the big tree where no one is paying attention to hiding. The Arab thought the arrow was coming from the forest, and three times he rushed across the village in front of the clearing.However, every time they rushed, an arrow shot from behind, taking a person's life.They had to turn and pounce back, and then they decided to make a sweeping search of the surrounding forest.But before entering the woodland, the black people had disappeared without a trace. However, just above their heads, among the thick branches and leaves of the towering trees, there is still a brave and fearless man-Tarzan the ape.He loomed over them like the shadow of death.After a while, a Manzhima took the lead in walking through the dense forest.The Grim Reaper loomed before his eyes without missing a beat, though no one saw where it came from.After a while, those walking behind stumbled over the corpse of the "forerunner" - a poisoned arrow pierced his heart that was no longer beating. After using it for a long time, this method of fighting made the white people very nervous, and it is not surprising that the Manzhima people were panicked because of it. Whoever walks ahead will be shot with an arrow "too heart-cooling"; whoever falls behind will have no hope of surviving.If someone left the brigade, even for a short while, it would be difficult to see him coming back.Afterwards one can only come across a dead body with a poisoned arrow piercing the heart.The arrow was perfectly accurate, and it was obvious from a glance that the archer possessed superhuman strength.But the worst of it was that during the whole morning, except for the merciless poisoned arrows, they saw no trace of the enemy, nor heard any special noise. When they finally returned to the village, the situation did not improve.From time to time, a person fell to the ground and died.Everyone was on tenterhooks and terrified.The Manzhima begged their master to take them away from this terrible place.But this new and terrible enemy seemed to be everywhere, and the Arabs did not dare to carry the ivory looted from the village through the dark and hostile forest, and of course they did not want to throw away the treasure they had already obtained. In the end, the entire "expedition team" got into the thatched-roofed hut, where they could at least escape the magic arrows flying from the sky.Watching from the big tree above the village, Tarzan remembered the hut into which the Arab chief had burrowed.He balanced himself on a tree branch hanging in mid-air, and hurled a heavy spear.The spear pierced through the roof, and there was a scream from inside the hut. In this way he bid them farewell, assuring them that there was no safety in this land.Mount Tai turned around and climbed towards the big forest.Gathering his warriors together, he withdrew a mile to the south, where he ate, drank, rested, and posted sentries in some tall trees, watching the path leading to the village, but found no pursuers. He counted the number and found that there were no casualties, and his black friends had not even scratched their skins.However, the approximate calculation results show that at least 20 enemies died under the poisonous arrows.Overjoyed, they all wanted to rush into the village, wipe out all the remaining enemies, and end this great day with even more glory.They even talked vividly about the various tortures that could be carried out, and they were satisfied that the Manzhima people would be brutally tortured.For this race, they have a special hatred.Taishan firmly opposed the plan. "You are crazy!" he cried. "I have taught you the only way to defeat these enemies. According to this method, you have killed 20 enemies without losing a hair of your own. But yesterday, according to your At least a dozen people were killed, but not a single Arab or Manzhima. You must fight according to my method, or I will leave you and go back to my own tribe." His threat stunned them all.They all said that his orders would be strictly carried out as long as he promised not to abandon them. "Very well," he said, "we'd better go back to the elephant camp and spend the night, and I'm going to show the Arabs some color and let them know what they will get if they stay in our village. However, I don’t need help, I can just do it for nothing. In the second half of the day, they were relieved because they didn’t suffer any more. If they suddenly fell into fear again, the effect would definitely be better than this afternoon.” In this way, they returned to the campsite where they had spent the night before, lit a big fire, ate meat, and talked about the dangers they had experienced that day until very late.Taishan slept until midnight, got up and went into the dark forest.An hour later, he was in the open field in front of the village.A campfire was burning in the fence.Tarzan crawled forward until he reached the closed gate.Through a gap in the fence he saw a sentinel sitting alone before the fire. Tai Shan quietly ran to the bottom of a big tree at the end of the village street, climbed up a branch lightly, picked up his bow and set up an arrow.He tried his best to stabilize Shen'er and aimed at the sentinel, but the branches kept shaking and the bonfire flickered, and the possibility of missing the shot was too great.And according to the requirements of his plan, the arrow must hit the man's heart without making any sound. Besides his bow and arrows he carried his rope, and the first rifle which he had wrested from the sentry he had killed.He hung these things on the branch of the tree, and then took only a knife, and jumped into the fence lightly.With the sentry's back turned to him, Tarzan tiptoed like a cat and asked the dozing man to touch him.Now, he was only two steps away from him, and in the blink of an eye, the steel knife would plunge straight into the enemy's heart. Tarzan crouched ready to pounce--the quickest and surest gesture of a jungle beast when attacking its prey.A subtle feeling made the man feel the movement behind him.He jumped up all of a sudden, and stood in front of Tarzan the Ape face to face.