"Why did they attack us on their own initiative? We didn't provoke them on their own initiative..." Li Yizhu waited for a long time, but did not see any other members of the expedition team returning to the team.

She and Cao Bianjiao hid on the side of the wooden boat and inserted a knife at the bow to remind other expedition team members who might return to the team that they were near the sampan.

"As outsiders, it affects their survival, and it is normal for them to launch a sudden attack. In our countryside, two adjacent villages may compete for water and land for water sources. Especially in the past, the chieftains of the Yunnan Provincial Governor often triggered large-scale bloody conflicts due to hunting grounds and farmland. The people here are backward in technology, and each tribe needs to have a large territory to survive. Even if we have not posed a threat to them now, when we find gold mines in the future, we need to send people to build wooden houses in the mining area for a long time. If people stay for a long time, we have to reclaim farmland, hunt and dig wells, not to mention that we are lacking in labor." Cao Bianjiao said.

At this time, there was no international order and law, and it was generally in a state of prey on the weak, and wars in various places continued.

"Is there no way to resolve such a conflict?" Li Yizhu asked.

"They were thousands of years behind us, which is an irreparable gap... It is said that the Westerners had already established strongholds on this new continent before we could easily defeat tens of thousands of troops of the local indigenous empire with hundreds of cavalry. The Westerners occupied the hot places to grow tobacco and spices, and found silver mines further south. They were more than a hundred years faster than us in this regard."

"In order to survive, sometimes people can be cruel..." Cao Bianjiao used branches to draw circles on the riverbed, not knowing what he was thinking, "But we lack labor. If they are willing to work for us, we can provide them with food and sell some goods to them... Of course, we must strictly control the outflow of iron tools. Metallurgical technology and gunpowder technology must not be spread. In order to exchange fur and spices for the indigenous people, some Westerners sold artillery and convex guns to many tribes in the South China Sea, causing considerable trouble for our pacification of the South China Sea. Their approach is quite short-sighted..."

When Li Yizhu saw Cao Bianjiao, she seemed to be talking to herself, as if Cao Bianjiao did not focus on this incident.

For Cao Bianjiao, wandering in the American River Basin seemed not enough to scare him.

The two waited until noon before two team members returned to the place where the sampan was. They looked around vigilantly and found the Tang sword that Cao Bianjiao was inserted at the bow of the ship. They probably understood the clues about Cao Bianjiao and found Cao Bianjiao and Li Yizhu hiding behind the ship.

"Captain!" The sailor suits of the two soldiers were cut by tree branches. They were covered in dust and looked a little embarrassed. When they saw Cao Bianjiao and the others cried bitterly.

"Just come back alive." Cao Bianjiao patted their shoulders.

Two team members have returned to the team, and they already have four!

"Do you still carry your musket?" Cao Bianjiao calmed the two of them a little, and then cared about the supplies on them.

Now the group is trapped here, and their supplies are stolen by the indigenous people. All the supplies that can be collected now must be concentrated in order to make the next decision.

"We have been chased by the enemy. During the escape, I shot one of the enemies with a musket. We fled to the depths of the forest. My musket is still intact, with 17 paper shell bullets on my body." said a sailor.

"My musket fell into the mud, I don't know if it's useful. I have more than 30 paper shell bullets and a bayonet." Another sailor who returned to the team took off the scabbard hanging around his waist, which contained a bayonet that matched the Dereser rifle.

Muskets with bayonets and muskets without bayonets are completely two different weapons. Rifles with bayonets can also act as short spears. A well-organized bayonet charge can easily defeat the backward tribal warriors.

"Clean the musket and see if it can still be used. If one more musket is used, we will have a little more firepower." Cao Bianjiao said.

"Where are the others?" asked the two sailors returning to the team.

"At present, only the four of us are still alive, and the whereabouts of the others are unknown. Let's stay for two more days and try to give them time to return. If they haven't appeared in two days, it's probably a lot of danger." Cao Bianjiao said in a heavy tone.

The two sailors were silent. This time they were suddenly attacked by an indigenous people and suffered heavy losses.

"Last night, the guy Hammer was responsible for the vigil, but he did not find the natives close to him." Someone mentioned the night watchman who caused the sneak attack yesterday.

"Maybe it is because we have not dealt with local natives head-on, and everyone thought we wouldn't meet them, and we didn't expect this to be a warlike tribe, so we did not take the enemy's sneak attack seriously. The facts tell us that if we despise any danger, we have to pay the price for it. If the Hammer is still alive, then he will pay the price for his dereliction of duty last night. I also have to bear some responsibility for it." Cao Bianjiao said.

"Although we have been soldiers on the battlefield, we have to say that after we left the front line of the Nanyang battlefield, we were increasingly reluctant to train. We were not as good as in the military camp in both reactions and physical fitness. We were so embarrassed last night that even the paper shells would slip off accidentally when loading bullets..." The two sailors were still scared.

They were supposed to be one of the most elite sailors in the empire, but were chased away by a group of natives and suffered casualties, which was a shame for them.

"Only people know shame will be brave. Although our weapons must be advanced, they will not be left behind in a day when they practice!" Cao Bianjiao took advantage of this time to talk to them.

"We understand, captain!" The two sailors who felt ashamed responded sharply.

In the evening, two more people returned to the team one after another. One of them was stabbed by a stone spear in the battle last night, but he just smeared the wound with grass juice.

Because they were attacked by indigenous tribes last night, six of them formed a team of two to be responsible for the night watch to prevent them from being attacked again.

The indigenous tribe seemed to think that Cao Bianjiao and others had been driven away, so they did not come to check the place again.
Chapter completed!