Expedition to Europe

Madagascar is an island made of volcanic rocks. As the largest island in Africa and the fourth largest in the world, it once prospered before the opening of the Suez Canal because it could become one of the relay stations from Europe to Asia.

After the opening of the Suez Canal, Madagascar's status plummeted, and its status in the modern world was repeatedly marginalized. Now it has gradually fallen to the point where no one cares about it.

France is an exception. Since about half a century ago, France has tried to colonize Madagascar, which has aroused strong opposition from the Malagasy people. Until now, although Madagascar has finally become a French colony since 1896, the resistance of the Malagasy people has never stopped.

From the perspective of human reproduction, it is difficult to understand the resistance of the Malagasy people to the French. You know, before the French arrived in Madagascar, Madagascar could not even be self-sufficient in food. If there was a disaster, a large number of Malagasy people would die of famine. The purpose of the French occupation of Madagascar was for Madagascar's mineral deposits, but at the same time, they also brought enough food to the Malagasy people. At least in the year of the disaster, the Malagasy people would not die in large numbers. Moreover, the French also brought a modern lifestyle and products of industrial civilization, which objectively promoted the development of Madagascar.

But from the perspective of the Malagasy people, this issue is probably not understood in this way.

Around the 1st to 10th century AD, Indonesians and Arabs moved to Madagascar Island and intermarried with the locals to form the Malagasy people. So far, the residents living in Madagascar are mainly Imerinas, Behemi Zarakas, and Behelos, etc. These three ethnic groups account for more than half of the Malagasy people.

For the Malagasy people, although life is poor and the economy is backward, the Malagasy people enjoy it and do not feel inferior. When the French colonists arrived, it seemed that the French did bring a more advanced lifestyle, but it also meant that the Malagasy people became "second-class citizens", which is unacceptable to the Malagasy people.

At the same time, many Malagasy people's resistance to the French comes from the fear of the unknown.

In Madagascar, although a unified country was established decades ago, only a small number of people have received modern education. Among the nearly 1.2 million people in Madagascar, about 99% are illiterate. They cannot understand the products of industrial civilization brought by the French. Whether it is a musket or an electric light, many Malagasy people think that this is the product of the devil, and then they are afraid.

This point was more obvious when Huang Li and Wu Qing led the "Exploration Guard" to Manantenina.

The troops led by Huang Li and Wu Qing were drawn from the active army of Lan Fang. As an active army, they must be fully equipped. The iconic equipment is a large number of military vehicles represented by "Bulldog", which gave the Malagasy people a great shock.

Although the French have colonized Madagascar for more than 20 years, due to the resistance of the Malagasy people, the French footprints are limited to the west and north of Madagascar. As for the southeast of Madagascar, including Manantenina, the French rarely set foot.

When the "Exploration Escort" arrived in Manantenina, it was still purely primitive, with almost no traces of modern civilization. Although the entire Manantenina was marked as a city on the map, in Huang Li's view, Manantenina was at most a small town, which was far from the concept of a city. There was even no decent pier in the entire Manantenina. The cruise ship that the "Exploration Escort" took could not dock at all, and could only rely on lifeboats to transport people to the shore one by one.

Before coming, Huang Li had been prepared to face difficulties, but he did not expect that the difficulties were so great that Huang Li felt he had no idea where to start.

There was a popular saying in the Lan Fang army: If there are conditions, we must go; if there are no conditions, we must create conditions and go.

Therefore, Huang Li did not retreat, nor did he mean to wait. Even if he had to use lifeboats to send them one by one, Huang Li would resolutely execute the military orders issued by the military.

There were not many lifeboats. The cruise ship that the "Exploration Escort" took had only eight lifeboats in total. Even if it was running at full speed, only one company could be sent ashore at a time, and the lifeboats could only go back and forth once every half an hour, so the difficulty of landing was still not small.

As the captain, Huang Li, who already had the rank of major general, must lead by example, so he went ashore with the first batch of exploration team members.

A major general will command a battalion, which is considered a high-end specification.

Huang Li's car, an improved "Bulldog", also went ashore with them. It was this car that triggered the first conflict between the exploration team and the locals.

"Is this Manantenina? It's too damn desolate--" Huang Li was stunned by the scene in front of him when he just landed.

In fact, June is the time when the aquatic plants are in full bloom. Thanks to the fact that Manantenina has not been developed yet, the mangroves on the beach are actually well preserved. Large trees that require several people to hug can be seen everywhere. These are all high-quality woods, which can be turned into money if they are transported back to Lan Fang.

Just next to the lush mangroves, a few narrow and dilapidated thatched houses caught Huang Li's attention. The houses were indeed too small and too dilapidated. If there were no cows grazing leisurely near the houses, Huang Li would definitely not think that it was a place where people lived.

There was a piece of cultivated land next to the thatched house. The few sparse crops grew listlessly. It was estimated that no one had taken care of them since they were planted. This was a standard way of relying on the weather for food.

There were still people. Two naked children hurriedly ran out of the woods and plunged into the thatched house and never came out again.

Huang Li clearly saw that one of them was a woman, and she was not too young. Such a girl didn't even have clothes, which showed how poor this ghost place was.

"It's just right that it's desolate. The more desolate it is, the more room we have for operation. Hurry up, I don't want to stay in this ghost place for the rest of my life." Wu Qing, who also wears the rank of major general, is more optimistic.

Huang Li and Wu Qing are old partners. They have always been the best choice for dirty and tiring work in the Lan Fang Army. This time, coming to Madagascar is a tough job, and Huang Li and Wu Qing are naturally not immune.

"Hurry up, we have to build a simple camp here before dark, and this will be our base in the future--" Huang Li cheered up and urged the soldiers to speed up.

More than a dozen soldiers over there have dragged the "Bulldog" ashore. The driver went up and fiddled with it for a few times. The "Bulldog" snorted a few puffs of black smoke and suddenly roared, which immediately caused a burst of exclamations from those thatched houses.

Although he was entrusted with a special mission to deal with the residents of Madagascar, Huang Li was still unwilling to have a conflict with the residents of Madagascar now. How could this also require a stable base before Huang Li would start to execute the orders of the military? So Huang Li raised his hand and called a soldier over, asking him to communicate with the residents of those thatched houses to avoid any misunderstandings.

"If we don't speak the same language, what effect can you have in communicating?" Wu Qing sneered at Huang Li's decision.

"Language is not a problem. Some things are common. It doesn't matter if there is no language." Huang Li didn't care and asked the soldiers to bring some food to the people in the thatched huts. It didn't matter if there was communication or not, as long as they could express goodwill.

The soldier took the order and went to the logistics officer to get a few chocolates and a few cans of food, and walked happily towards the thatched hut.

The original text is available at Liu # 9 @Shu/Bar!

Almost everyone was optimistic. Relying on powerful force to face a group of indigenous residents who were still in a primitive state, including Huang Li, there was no concept of defense. No one thought that these indigenous people who didn't even have clothes would use force to resist these soldiers who were already armed to the teeth. The soldier's rifle was even on his shoulder and he didn't take it off.

Just as the soldier was about to approach the thatched hut, a cold arrow suddenly shot out from the woods next to it and hit the soldier in the throat.

Before being shot, the soldier still had a smile on his face and was about to say hello, so he was not prepared for the arrows and was shot to the ground.

"Enemy attack!" Someone immediately warned.

Entering the combat state, Huang Li and his soldiers were extremely skilled. Before the squad leader gave orders, soldiers had already set up defensive positions on the spot with rifles, and someone jumped on the "Bulldog" to operate the machine gun to set up a defensive fulcrum. The artillery team also quickly deployed mortars and prepared to provide fire support. A simple position was immediately formed.

"Bring the people back, be careful!" Although he had been through hundreds of battles, Huang Li still blamed himself in his heart. If he had not been careless for a moment, this loss could have been avoided.

Several soldiers covered each other and left the position, carefully heading towards the direction of the fallen soldier.

"Fire coverage, force those bugs out for me." Huang Li did not want to incur unnecessary losses, so he issued the first combat order after landing.

The order of fire coverage is aimed at enemy snipers. Facing snipers, Lan Fang soldiers have no patience to conduct anti-sniper operations, and fire coverage has always been the first choice.

"Boom boom boom--" The sound of the mortar firing was unusually brisk, and in a flash, three rounds of fire attacks came. The shells fired by eight 80mm mortars were enough to cover the grove where the arrows just flew out.

"Boom boom boom--" The heavy machine gun on the Bulldog began to roar, and the target was not the grove, but those thatched houses.

Since we have already met in battle, there will be no mercy.