Ethan Barrett doesn't understand the reason for the speed of the soldiers, how can the mercenaries come to the Congo Free State to make a fortune, so the speed of the troops is really not up to mention, Kinshasa is 1500 kilometers away from Ulysses, and there are canals to use along the way, but the mercenaries have been walking for a full month, if they are replaced by the Northern Rhodesia Division and the Nyasaland militia group, they will be punished by military discipline from top to bottom.

Not only that, because there were so many things looted along the way, when the mercenaries arrived in Ulysses, the number had increased from the initial 3,000 to more than 7,000 now, and the extra 4,000 were Congolese who helped the mercenaries transport their belongings.

However, Martin and Isiah Ulysses didn't know about this news, so Martin still attached great importance to this mercenary.

"There are more than 7,000 troops, which is seven times more than us, so it is now necessary for us to bring back all the troops around us, and inform Lala's troops to move closer to us." Isaiah Ulysses was a little worried, Ulysses now had less than a thousand troops, and although these thousand people were elite, they were still unable to fight or even destroy seven times as many enemies.

At least in the eyes of Isiah Ulysses.

There are 300 training battalions of the Northern Rhodesian Division and 800 Nyasaland militia regiments in the Congo Free State, not all of whom are in Ulysses, but also some of the soldiers are in Moliró, south of Lake Tanganyika, where a port is also being built.

Lala's troops were 600 kilometers away in Lubumbashi, which was too far away for Lala's troops to arrive before the mercenaries arrived in Ulysses, even if they were to be notified to move closer to Ulysses.

"Hehe, it's only 7,000 people, don't worry, don't worry, we, it's a little difficult to eat the enemy in one bite, so eat slowly, eat a few more bites." Martin is not worried, in Portuguese East Africa, the Yao people have also experienced the current situation, when the results of the Yao people's battle were not satisfactory to Roque, and now Martin wants to make a model for Isaiah Ulysses.

During the Portuguese East African Civil War, the Portuguese set out from Pemba to rescue Mapupa, who was surrounded by the Yao people, but were harassed and attacked by the Yao people along the way, and finally paid heavy casualties, and finally successfully reached Mapupa.

When the Portuguese broke through, the Yao people fortified heavily along the way, and as a result, the trapped Portuguese broke out with strong combat effectiveness in a desperate situation and successfully broke through to Pemba.

The current situation is similar to that in Portuguese East Africa, but the mercenaries faced a different enemy than the Portuguese at that time, Martin is still confident that he can defeat the Belgians, as for whether he can be annihilated, it depends on whether the Belgians cooperate and a certain amount of luck.

After a brief tactical briefing, groups of soldiers from the Northern Rhodesian Division, along with fighters from the Nyasaland militia, left Ulysses and, like the Yao people, harassed and attacked the Belgians along the way.

Unlike the Yao people, the Nyasaland people were better equipped, their soldiers were more trained, and they faced different enemies.

The mercenaries may sound like a bluff, but they are actually a rabble.

At the beginning, the Portuguese were able to overcome the difficulties and persist in advancing towards Mapupa in order to relieve their besieged compatriots.

The current mercenaries are tempted by money, and the only purpose of coming to the Congo Free State is for money, and if the war situation is unfavorable, don't expect the mercenaries to fight to the end, it would be good if they did not break up.

Ethan Barrett actually knows about the mercenaries, but Ethan Barrett is powerless to change the reality, if the mercenaries are forced to throw away the looted property and travel lightly, I am afraid that the mercenaries will mutiniate immediately, and this result is unbearable for Ethan Barrett.

But if you go to Ulysses like this, I am afraid that you will not be able to win the victory, and when the time comes, not to mention the loss of troops, the loot along the way will become the spoils of war of the Nyasalanders, which is also absolutely unacceptable to Ethan Barrett.

So before approaching Ulysses, Ethan Barrett still has to mobilize, and the big war is imminent, so it's not good to continue to be so loose.

"Leaving our money in the custody of someone else? It's impossible, I don't trust them, God knows if they will sneak away with our money when we are fighting bloody battles on the front line! Hearing Ethan Barrett's suggestion, Belgian Robert Norris immediately objected.

Ethan Barrett's suggestion was to keep the looted belongings in a centralized manner for some people, while others traveled lightly and waited until the war to collect their belongings.

This raises the question of how if a mercenary dies in battle, his personal property becomes ownerless, so the task of keeping his belongings is tempting.

"Look at these people, even if they sleep, they will pillow the things they have stolen and let them hand over their money to others for safekeeping, which makes them more uncomfortable than taking their lives." The Englishman Charles Gregory sarcastically said that the mercenaries were indeed a rabble, and soon after leaving Kinshasa, Charles Gregory had a premonition that the situation was not good.

Mercenaries know no borders, so it is also possible that the British will join the mercenaries formed by the Belgians and launch an attack on the British troops.

This kind of thing is normal, leaving Europe, everyone is just ordinary people running for a living, and the concept of the state is not as deeply rooted in the hearts of the people as it was a few decades later.

Charles Gregory was right, now the mercenaries are resting in a village.

The young men of the village were driven into the plantations by the Belgians, and the mercenaries came to the village and drove everyone out of the houses.

The environment is so bad, it is inevitable that the mercenaries who have not been allocated a house will scold and scold, the mercenaries will not have a good temper, and fights and brawls are inevitable, so the village is very chaotic, and the people are as lively as a market.

In order to prevent the slaves from escaping, a huge bonfire was lit around the village, which could be seen from more than ten miles away, which made Charles Gregory feel more and more uncomfortable, such a big noise, it was impossible to hide from the Nyasaland, but the Nyasaland people did not react now, this is not normal.

"The people of Nyasaland are rebuilding Kalemie, where there are mountains of supplies, there is wealth everywhere, it is said that there are women in the Nyasaland army, and the medical staff in Nyasaland are almost all women, there are Chinese and Boers, don't you have any ideas?" Ethan Barrett coveted Calemie, who, in Ethan Barrett's view, represented not only wealth, but also glory and the freedom of the conqueror.

"The people of Nyasaland are still quite rich—"

"Kill all the Nyasalanders, and everything in Kalemi will be ours—"

"I feel like I can't wait—"

At the mention of money and women, the officers immediately became enthusiastic, and they had come all the way from Europe to the Congo Free State, not for the peace of all mankind.

"Until then, let's think about how to beat the Nyasalanders—" Charles Gregory couldn't help but warn that no matter how nice it sounded now.

Charles Gragery's words fell, and there was a sudden sound of rapid heavy machine gun fire not far away, and Charles Gregory heard it clearly, it was the sound of the Maxim heavy machine gun.

"Enemy attack!"

"Prepare for battle!"

"Lights out, lights out—"

The officers were in a mess, and someone kicked the table, and the oil lamp on the table shattered to pieces on the ground, and the table burst into flames.

No one paid attention to the oil lamp, and Charles Gregory kicked open the door and came to a large tree to watch carefully.

More than one heavy machine gun, less than a hundred meters from the village, at least three heavy machine guns roared, and the campfires around the village were guiding their targets, but outside the campfires was darkness, and the situation was very bad.

"Fight back, fight back, Robert, Charles, get your team in order and get ready to fight back!" Charles Gregory could hear Ethan Barrett growling, but the effect was not noticeable.

At a distance of less than 100 meters, the power of the heavy machine gun was still very strong, and the few houses in the village were all wooden structures, which were quickly ignited by bullets and turned into blazing torches, illuminating the mercenaries with nothing to hide.

The troops of this era generally did not receive night combat training, and the two armies faced each other, first lining up in formation, then advancing towards each other, and finally platoon firing guns.

This kind of night-time sneak attack on Nyasaland had never been experienced by Charles Gregory before.

And Nyasaland's heavy machine gun shooters are definitely trained, even in the dark, their marksmanship is good, and Charles Gregory is constantly falling around him.

To Charles Grégory's surprise, Nyasaland's heavy machine gun shooters were actually firing in bursts, rather than long shots, a skill that only elite machine gunners possess.

The three heavy machine guns roared for a full ten minutes, and Charles Gregory speculated that each heavy machine gun emptied at least five magazines before the gunfire stopped and the attack ended.

Throughout, the mercenaries did not launch an effective counterattack.

After the attack, Charles Gregory was surprised to find that in such a short period of time, three heavy machine guns brought at least 400 casualties to the mercenaries, more than half of them were killed on the spot, and the other half were injured, and it is estimated that they would not live long.

As for the slaves that the mercenaries had taken along the way, they had all taken advantage of the chaos to escape, and they had taken a lot of the property that the mercenaries had looted along the way, so the mercenaries had enough reason to attack Ulysses, otherwise, they would have found nothing.