Chapter 780 Tracking

This time Schwall's luck finally played a role. Less than an hour and a half after Schwall and his men entered the jungle, a Portuguese force arrived at the scene.

Portuguese commander Howell frowned as he looked at the coast that had been "ruined" by East Africans. Various footprints covered the narrow strip of beach.

"How many people did you see go ashore?" he asked, turning his head and looking behind him.

"Report to the lieutenant. We didn't dare to get close to them to observe, so we don't know the number of people who landed in East Africa. However, the enemy has several warships anchored near the coast, so there must be a lot of East Africans." Captain Modras, who discovered the traces of East Africans, answered nervously.

Howell asked impatiently, "Aren't you hiding and observing carefully? The dense forest next to this should be a good hiding spot!"

After swallowing, Modlais said nervously, "We just want to convey this news to you as soon as possible. After all, this is a matter of every second. If we get here quickly enough, we might be able to stop the East Africans on the coast. It's a pity that we are still a step too late."

Of course, Modras would not say that he was extremely scared at the time, so running away was his first choice. It would be bad if he was captured by the East Africans.

Seeing his subordinates trembling with fear, Howell cursed: "Waste!"

Modric accepted the criticism "seriously", but for Modric, his own life must be put first.

As for sacrificing one's life for the country, one must first have this concept in mind for the Kingdom of Portugal. It would be difficult for Modres to feel a sense of belonging to the Portuguese army, which even delayed the payment of daily wages.

Besides, the Portuguese army is more like mercenaries, they do things for money, and it is difficult to stimulate their fighting effectiveness without money. In fact, the fighting effectiveness of the Portuguese army is not weak now, it just lacks "a little bit" of start-up capital.

What's similar to East Africa is that this time the Portuguese also have the characteristic of "defending the country". At the beginning of the war, Portugal was the aggressor, but nowadays Portugal has actually become the invaded party.

However, the "invasion" of East Africa did not inspire the patriotism of the Portuguese soldiers. First of all, the money was not in place. Of course, the amount of salary was not the main problem. As the saying goes, it is not the lack of money that is worrying, but the inequality of salary. They shed their blood on the front lines, but their superiors indulge in wine and women and do not take the lead. Why?

Grassroots officers actually have the greatest influence on soldiers. They are the main group that directly influences soldiers, but they are also the group whose filters are most easily broken.

Most of the Portuguese grassroots leaders were corrupt, which made the Portuguese soldiers despise their military superiors and identify themselves with their "cannon fodder" status. Therefore, they were more inclined to save their own lives on the battlefield to avoid being killed by fat and incompetent commanders.

Secondly, Portugal and Britain were the first to start the war, which made Portuguese soldiers consider themselves as "aggressors" from the beginning, and this psychological disadvantage has continued to this day.

Of course, it would be great if you could bully the "weak", but the Portuguese happened to encounter a tough opponent like East Africa. East Africa did not even count Portugal as part of the coalition's combat effectiveness because the Portuguese army was very passive from top to bottom.

Ordinary troops collapsed at the first touch, and even the elite troops could not withstand the firepower advantage and artillery attacks of East Africa. The disadvantage in equipment was extremely prominent in the Portuguese army.

Finally, Mozambique is essentially a Portuguese colony, and the main residents here are indigenous people, which is very different from mainland Portugal.

We have families at home, and the style of most European armies is that bandits are inferior to soldiers, so in order to avoid being invaded, we still have a certain enthusiasm for fighting, but the colony of Mozambique cannot inspire the soldiers' awareness.

In the eyes of lower-class soldiers like Modres, they came to Mozambique to protect the interests of "nobles, big plantation owners, capitalists and mine owners."

Compared with the interests of these people, saving lives is naturally more important, and the Portuguese also have many negative factors that affect the combat effectiveness of the Portuguese army.

These included inadequate training, three days of hard work and two days of laziness, frequent delays in basic wages, corporal punishment of soldiers, and indulgence in drinking, whoring, gambling, and drugs.

Therefore, the people the Portuguese should be most grateful to are the Spanish. If the Spanish were not equally "useless", Portugal would have probably been destroyed long ago.

Howell was so angry when he saw the stubborn Modric that the fat on his body was shaking.

However, now is not the time to pursue responsibility. The most important thing is to solve the major problem of East Africa first. However, looking at the vast primeval forests in the west, Howell was in a dilemma.

"How big is this forest?" Howell asked.

"It's about seven or eight kilometers long from north to south and about two kilometers wide from east to west," said the adjutant.

After hearing the adjutant's answer, Howell thought for a while and said, "In this case, if it is not too big, it should be possible to pursue the enemy based on the traces in the forest."

Schwall's troops did not conceal their whereabouts, so they directly waded out a "road" in the forest. Of course, this road was made up of nothing more than collapsed branches and leaves, but it was very different from the surrounding environment, so it was easy to distinguish.

However, the adjutant still cautiously suggested to Howell: "The forest is a very dangerous terrain. There are a lot of shelters here, which is very suitable for ambushes, so you must be careful."

The adjutant's words reminded Howell that being ambushed by the enemy was indeed not impossible. Although this forest was not large, it was entirely possible to use it as a battlefield. Even an entire division of troops could hide in it.

This made Howell shudder, and he said, "So what should we do now?"

The adjutant said helplessly to his useless superior: "Send someone to search first. If anything unusual is found, immediately fire a warning shot. At the same time, report the situation to the brigade. This is not the time to be afraid of being held accountable. If the enemy causes greater losses, we will all be in trouble."

Hearing this, Howell became depressed. No matter what, the enemy landed from his defense zone this time, and he couldn't get rid of this fault now.

"Is there no way to remedy the situation?" he asked his adjutant for help.

"Of course."

Howell seemed to have grasped a life-saving straw and hurriedly asked, "What can I do?"

"That is to wipe out this non-Chinese army."

Howell: "Is this what you mean?"

The adjutant nodded and said, "How else? The East Africans have entered our rear. They should not have many troops, so they were able to land in such a short time. I have already observed the situation on the coastline. There are no large wheel tracks, which means the enemy is not carrying heavy weapons and animal feces. This force should be mainly infantry. There are not many traces of small boats left on the beaches along the coast. The enemy cannot be too numerous. I estimate that it should be around one regiment."

After listening to the analysis of the professionals, Howell thought it was very reasonable. If this was the case, then this East African force was the same as his own. In that case, what was he afraid of?

"Very good. Now that we know the strength of the East African troops clearly, the scouts will lead the way and we will chase them from behind to find any traces of the East Africans."

It is very likely that both sides only have one regiment of troops, so Howell is not afraid. After all, he is not the one charging in the front, and this may become his chance to turn defeat into victory and get promoted.

After all, fighting on home soil must have some advantages. Even if you really can't resist the East Africans, other Portuguese or British "big brother" troops can quickly provide support.

(End of this chapter)