Bastia was not very big, with a population of only a few thousand even before the Northern Army was stationed, so Lawrence and Trifali quickly visited the entire city.
However, what surprised them was that they never found the camp where the 4th Infantry Battalion was stationed.
Even at a crossroads in the center of the city, there were three road signs pointing to the camps of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Infantry Battalions respectively, but the only one missing was the 4th Infantry Battalion they led.
Seeing that it was getting darker and darker, and Bastia would soon implement a curfew, Lawrence had no choice but to stop a passing soldier and asked:
"Soldier, please tell me where the Fourth Infantry Battalion is stationed."
The soldier glanced at the cuffs of Lawrence and Trifali. In front of him were two school-level officers. He immediately stood at attention, held out his chest and replied:
"Sir, the Fourth Infantry Battalion is not in the city, but is stationed in the suburbs to the north of the city."
"Not in the city?"
Lawrence looked at Cui Farley in confusion, and the other party shook his head in confusion. It was also his first time to come to the Northern Army.
According to Lawrence's observation, there are still a lot of open spaces in Bastia. It is not necessary to move the Fourth Battalion outside the city because of lack of space. Even the vacant houses are enough to house a battalion of soldiers.
So thinking about it this way, I'm afraid there is something hidden inside the 4th Infantry Battalion.
Cui Fali's face was a little ugly. He also thought about this. After looking at each other silently with Lawrence, he signaled to the soldiers that they could leave.
"What do you think?" Lawrence lowered his head and pondered. Although he expected that Pauli would not be able to give him the elite of the Northern Army to command, he still had a bad feeling after experiencing such an incident.
Cui Fali nodded in agreement and said:
"It's indeed a bit strange. I rarely heard news about the Fourth Battalion when I was in Ajaccio."
No matter what, the two of them still had to go to the camp to find out.
The two people hurried to the north of the city, and after asking the surrounding soldiers for the specific location of the camp, they led the black horse they came from and carefully shuttled through the woods at night.
Bastia is not very prosperous, and the outskirts of the city are even more desolate. The woods seem to have never been taken care of by forest rangers, and the overgrown weeds and shrubs make it difficult to walk.
I don’t know how long Lawrence and Trifali walked. Just when they began to suspect that the soldiers were pointing the wrong way, they finally saw a few wisps of fire not far away through the woods, which were undoubtedly campfires.
"Thank God we finally found it, otherwise we would have been sleeping in the trees like monkeys."
Major Cui Farley patted his chest gently, breathed a long sigh of relief, and said.
However, Lawrence's expression was still very solemn and he said seriously:
"If this is really where the Fourth Battalion is stationed, something is not right."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Major Cui Farley was stunned and did not understand what Lawrence said.
"The Genoese fortress is just north of Bastia. Logically speaking, this camp should function as an outpost. However, the two of us approached the camp without any cover, but no scouts found us."
"Hiss... Indeed, this is really inappropriate for the camp at the forefront."
Major Cui Farley suddenly realized, and then his expression immediately became as solemn as Lawrence.
There is only one piece of information revealed by such a detail, and that is that the combat effectiveness of the 4th Infantry Battalion is probably very worrying.
Lawrence pushed through the dense bushes and walked towards the camp.
In a spacious open space, dozens of marching tents were erected randomly and irregularly. To say they were tents was more like sticking sticks into the soil and putting up a few rags.
There were no fences around the camp, and squirrels and hares shuttled freely between the tents. The camp was filled with the stench of excrement. Even in Lawrence's eyes, a man took off his pants and found an open space to start excreting.
There is obviously no curfew rule here. It is already late at night, and there are a large number of shirtless men with red faces gathered around a table piled with cards and coins, shouting loudly, as if they are playing some gambling game.
If it weren't for the scattered uniforms of the Wehrmacht hanging on the clothes pole outside the tent, Lawrence would never have believed that this was where the Fourth Battalion was stationed.
"Oh my god, is this a settlement for homeless people?" Major Cui Farley was even more shocked: "Even the bandit's lair is neater and more orderly than here."
"Hmph, I guess the Genoese came over and thought it was a gathering of local gangsters." Lawrence sneered. He and Trifali were already standing on the edge of the camp without hiding anything, but no one even noticed the two of them.
"Three o'clock, three o'clock, three o'clock... Damn it! Why is it seven o'clock!"
A soldier sitting in front of the wooden table licked his lips and turned over the hole cards. When he found that the card was not the one he wanted, he cursed and then reluctantly threw two silver coins into the pile of coins on the table.
The banker tonight is a fat, bald man with disgusting fat piles tightly together. Seeing more and more coins on the table, he couldn't help but grin and continued to say hello:
"Come on, come on, do you have anything else to play? Blackjack!"
Suddenly, a voice came from the crowd of onlookers.
"I want to play a game."
The fat man was stunned for a moment. The voice was very unfamiliar. He had never heard it in the camp before, so he looked up.
I saw Lawrence standing in front of the gaming table, slowly taking out his pistol and filling it with gunpowder. Seeing the fat man frozen on the spot, Lawrence smiled and said:
"What's wrong? I also want to take a gamble."
"You...are you a major?!" The fat man quickly stood up from the table in panic. Instead, the surrounding soldiers hurriedly gathered to watch. They were accustomed to lawlessness and just wanted to see what kind of fun it was.
"What's wrong, Major? Can't you play?" Lawrence put the pistol on the table, sat down with a smile, looked at the fat man and said softly.
"This... haha, of course, of course." The fat man only thought that Lawrence really wanted to play two games, and quickly squeezed out a smile and asked:
"Sir, what's your bet?"
"My bet? This."
Lawrence said, picking up the pistol on the table and holding it in his hand.
"Ah, what a beautiful pistol, sir. I'm sure it's worth a lot..."
The fat man looked at Lawrence's pistol greedily, rubbed his hands and said.
However, before he could finish his words, he was directly interrupted by Lawrence.
Lawrence raised his pistol, pointed it at the fat man's forehead, and said with a smile:
"No, my bet is your life. If I win, you die. If I lose, you live. Let's deal the cards."
"What?!"
Not only the fat man, but also the soldiers who were watching were in an uproar, with expressions of astonishment on their faces, not knowing what this strange major meant.
"Sir... don't, don't be joking, haha." The dark muzzle of the gun was pointed at his forehead. The fat man had already broken out in a cold sweat and said tremblingly.
"What? Are you not dealing the cards? If you don't deal the cards, you will lose over time." Lawrence said casually.
The fat man raised his arms and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but he was too frightened to say anything.
"Unfortunately, the time has come."
The fat man only heard these last words in his ears, followed by the explosion of gunpowder, and then, he fell to the ground with his blood and flesh mangled beyond recognition.
After the gunfire, this was definitely the quietest moment in the fourth battalion camp. Every soldier was stunned on the spot, even holding his breath, as if time had stopped.
Only Lawrence stood up silently, turned the pistol in his hand, glanced at everyone, and asked in a cold voice: