Time returned to the moment Liu Meng and his men had just landed.
Initially, Liu Meng and his men were excited upon setting foot on land. Less than a li forward, they heard a series of ghastly cries.
So, they led their men towards the direction of the sound.
Then, they witnessed a chilling scene.
This should have been a village, with thatched-roof houses everywhere.
A group of people carrying short bows and rusted iron knives at their waists were committing atrocities against a group of more than a dozen women in the open space in the center of the houses.
In another open space nearby, two young women had already lost their lives. They were completely naked, their faces contorted, staring at the sky with unclosed eyes.
Throughout the village, there were corpses – old and young, weak and strong.
Being men of flesh and blood, how could anyone endure this?
Liu Meng shouted fiercely, "Stop!"
The natives, hearing the sound, turned their heads. When they saw Liu Meng and his men, they showed no fear.
Instead, they glared menacingly at Liu Meng and said something.
Although they couldn't understand, Zhang Tian could guess from their expressions that they were definitely not saying anything good.
Thus, he was the first to pull the trigger.
The short man who was cackling and yelling at Zhang Tian was immediately shot down. Who would have thought that this shot would not only fail to scare the others but would instead make them covet the firearm in Zhang Tian's hand!
Another man let out a strange cry, and one to two hundred people carrying short bows and iron knives rushed out from other parts of the village.
Seeing this scene, Liu Meng would not hold back any longer. "Fire!"
With his order, the thirty-nine soldiers behind him opened fire simultaneously.
This volley alone took down over twenty of the opposing side.
The people on the other side were also exceptionally fierce. They scattered, looking for cover.
Moments later, from behind trees and houses, short bows began to shoot arrows at Liu Meng and his men.
If it were only the enemy, a volley of grenades would have surely resolved the situation. However, Liu Meng was still concerned about the innocent women, so he could only retaliate with his Cloud-type firearms.
Ultimately, their equipment held the advantage. Seeing that they were no match, the natives began to retreat while fighting.
The deaths of the two women had deeply affected Liu Meng.
"Damn it!"
"I'm still single, and these beasts are wasting resources like this! My aunt can tolerate it, but I, as a nephew, cannot!"
"Pursue them!"
Thus, he issued the order to pursue.
However, Liu Meng, who only had experience fighting in open plains, became flustered as soon as he entered the forest. All he could see was trees, damn trees!
He couldn't see a single person.
Not only that, but the natives ahead, seeing Liu Meng leading his men in pursuit, began to counterattack, relying on their familiarity with the terrain.
And so, a situation of close combat in the forest ensued between both sides.
Liu Meng felt extremely frustrated. These little monkey-like creatures were too slippery. Before one could notice, an ambush arrow would fly from ahead.
By the time they raised their guns to fire, the figures were long gone.
Hearing the rumbling engine sounds from the coast, it was clear that the Marquis, worried, had sent others.
"Brothers, don't let them make a fool of the Third Battalion. We can conquer countries!"
"On my command, prepare grenades!"
The soldiers of the Third Battalion behind Liu Meng quickly unhooked grenades from their waists.
They pulled out the pins, wrapped the pull rings around their fingers a few times, and waited for Liu Meng's command.
"Fifty meters ahead, delayed fuse of three seconds. Three, two, one, throw!"
*Swish, swish, swish, swish!*
A total of forty grenades were precisely thrown through the gaps in the trees.
The heavy grenades exploded one after another the moment they landed.
Shrapnel from the grenades flew everywhere in the forest.
*Thud, thud, thud, thud!*
This was the sound of them embedding into tree trunks.
"Ah~~!"
"Bam, bam, bam!!"
This was the sound of them hitting human bodies.
Seeing that the grenades had taken effect, and seizing the moment when the enemy was stunned by this sudden change, Liu Meng waved his right hand forward.
"Kill!"
He shouted, then took the lead, bypassing the tree in front of him, and charged forward.
With a single shot, he took down a fellow perched on a tree trunk.
The soldiers behind him closely followed Liu Meng's footsteps.
In just a blink of an eye, they found the natives hidden in the forest.
These fellows were dazed by the previous explosions.
Each of them looked like a fool, staring at the traces left by the grenade explosions.
A few unlucky ones had already fallen to the ground, with grenade shrapnel still lodged in their bodies.
Liu Meng gave these fellows no chance to react.
*Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!*
In just one round of gunfire, half of the remaining dozens of natives fell.
The remaining ones, seeing this, fell to their knees with a thud.
They kept muttering something in their strange language.
It seemed they were begging for mercy.
"Tie them up!"
Liu Meng said to his soldiers.
When Chai Shao personally led his men ashore and followed the gunshots, he saw Liu Meng and his men emerging from the forest, escorting over thirty captives.
"Kid, what's going on?"
Liu Meng first offered a salute.
"This is Liu Meng, Captain of the Third Battalion of the Skyfire Army. Greetings, Duke Chai!"
"Reporting to Duke Chai, when I brought my men ashore, these people were committing atrocities. So I captured them all. Besides these, dozens more were killed in the forest."
Chai Shao looked at the ape-like creatures before him. "Take me to see them!"
Liu Meng and his men led the way, and Chai Shao followed with eighty soldiers.
When they reached the village and saw the scene before them, even Chai Shao, who had been through countless battles, his eyes widened in rage.
He said directly to Liu Meng, "Why keep these beasts! Kill them!"
"Yes, my Lord!"
Liu Meng drew the saber from his waist, grabbed a captive, and swung his blade, beheading him instantly.
"Act!"
The others from the Third Battalion also swiftly executed the captives they were holding.
The women, in a state of panic, looked at Chai Shao and Liu Meng and their men.
These people were so tall!
Compared to them, the people from Wa country, standing beside the Tang people, were like dolls.
This was unavoidable. The living standards in Wa country at this time were many years behind the Great Tang.
Due to a lack of food and nutritional deficiencies, the average height of the Wa people did not exceed 1.6 meters.
Anyone with outstanding height was conscripted by the Emperor to become a samurai.
Ordinary civilians were no better off than beggars in Chang'an city.
Not every household could afford a decent set of clothes.
Whoever went out wore them, while the others had to stay at home naked.
It was precisely because of this that these women became targets, and those people directly stormed into the village.
Their families were all killed, leaving only them, with the intention of committing bestial acts.
One naked woman, gathering her courage, said something towards them, but unfortunately, no one understood.
Liu Meng couldn't bear to see these women remain naked, so he began to take off his own clothes.
Due to the language barrier, this action of his caused the women to scream in terror.
They kept shouting, "Bam, bam!"
The dozen or so women huddled together, looking at Liu Meng with fear in their eyes.
Had they just escaped a tiger's den only to fall into a wolf's lair?