Chapter 41: Set Up Defenses! Down!

What Liu Yu didn’t know was that the two people he relied on so much were also secretly altering the color of the flasks, which gradually turned yellow. Lian Jincheng demonstratively placed the flask on the balance and said to the group of apprentices, “Amen! Try it yourselves!”
These apprentices were the younger generation of the Xi Liu Camp. Liu Yu placed great hopes on them. They stared enviously at Lian Jincheng’s magician-like chemical experiments, ignoring Colonel Jacken behind them.
Watching them carefully handle the flasks and balance, Lian Jincheng took a breath of the air filled with the strong scent of reagents and casually picked up the chemicals.
Another demonstration!
Colonel Jacken understood that this foreigner was challenging his status as military advisor. Looking at his handsome face, Jacken gritted his teeth in hatred.
Their relationship had long passed the initial honeymoon phase. After months of getting to know each other, Jacken finally realized the cold heart hidden beneath Lian Jincheng’s good looks.
The Xi Liu Camp was merely a part-time job for Lian Jincheng, yet he was determined to drive Jacken away, using various underhanded tactics to expose Jacken’s weaknesses.
This job was crucial to Jacken—it was his means of making a living and allowed him to drink strong liquor without restraint in this country. But Lian Jincheng wanted to take that away from him.
For an alcoholic, this was the greatest challenge of his life. Jacken had to fight back.
He admitted that he was almost as ignorant in chemistry as Liu Yu, still slowly figuring things out. His only advantage was his knowledge of English, which allowed him to diligently write translations and chemical instructions for the apprentices in pencil. But Lian Jincheng’s English was excellent, and he also knew French and Latin, making his translations superior to Jacken’s.
Jacken had even heard Lian Jincheng’s vicious and deadly remarks: “Why are you wasting money like this? Isn’t it just throwing money away? He’s not even a colonel—just a private. He knows even less than me. Cutting his salary in half would be appropriate for his status.”
If his salary were truly cut in half, Jacken would be driven away. So he decided to show them who really held power.
He might be inferior to Lian Jincheng in many ways, but he knew one thing—he was completely sincere in teaching, whether it was Jing Shi Yi or anyone else. Lian Jincheng, on the other hand, was hiding things, and even some apprentices had realized this. But when they saw Lian Jincheng proudly picking up the flask to demonstrate, anger burned within them.
He must surpass him!
Apart from military training, in which area of chemistry could he outdo Lian Jincheng?
As he pondered, the arrogant image of Lian Jincheng shaking the flask appeared in his mind.
Suddenly, he thought of something great—a thing that could quickly boost the combat strength of the Xi Liu Camp.
The Red River Outpost.

This outpost was merely a standard small military camp. Its founders originally intended to use it as a post station, and it was expanded gradually over time. By now, it still consisted of only a few simple buildings, reinforced with more wood and stone, along with a watchtower made of bamboo. Later, an earthen wall and a parapet were built around it. Compared to the old camp, this defense seemed as flimsy as paper. Zhang Biao said unhappily, “It seems we’ll have to take matters into our own hands.” Although the Xiliu Camp was a new unit, they already had a set of military regulations. According to these regulations, in situations like this, they were not allowed to stay in civilian houses and had to camp outdoors. As the commander, Zhang Biao had to quickly deploy his troops to build fortifications. Despite his complaints, he knew he still had to do his job. After sending out two groups of scouts, he ordered, “Strengthen the fortifications immediately.” Zhang Biao’s platoon was well-prepared; almost all of the engineering shovels produced by the Xiliu Camp had been distributed to them. The Black Flag Army was highly skilled at building fortifications. After the Sino-French War, the French army praised their hastily constructed fortifications, calling them first-class field fortifications, even though they used traditional farming tools. After trying out the engineering shovels remade from scrap steel by the Xiliu Camp, they found them both lightweight and practical. However, the Xiliu Camp’s production capacity was still quite limited. Mass production could only begin once the apprentices became proficient in machine tool manufacturing. Most of the shovels produced so far were given to Zhang Biao’s platoon, with a smaller portion going to Liu Suiyun’s platoon in Heyang. These shovels were very useful; within two hours, the original simple earthen walls and parapets were strengthened, and Zhang Biao’s platoon even built a simple bunker on the side. In this area, separated from the main force, they had to prepare for the worst according to their combat plans. In this region near Xuan Guang, there were no friendly forces, only several Catholic villages that harbored hostility toward the Xiliu Camp and the Black Flag Army. These villages had considerable military strength, with fewer having over a dozen self-defense muskets and more having thirty to forty, enough to form a force of over a hundred shooters. There were also several small bands of bandits in the area. In the nearby Xuan Guang region, remnants of the Yellow Flag Army were active, with the largest group reportedly numbering nearly a hundred. Additionally, Li Yangcai’s forces from Beining might also invade this area. Therefore, Liu Yu, Zhang Biao, and others conducted a combat simulation on the map. Now, Zhang Biao was making his decisions based on the results of this simulation. It was the first time Zhang Biao had to carry out such a task independently. Seeing the enthusiastic atmosphere, he took off his shirt and joined the soldiers in using the engineering shovels to strengthen the bunker. “Guys, work hard! You’ll get an extra meal tonight,” he said. His words were met with cheers from the soldiers, intensifying the atmosphere. But soon he saw the scouts he had sent back. “Platoon leader, something’s wrong.” “What’s going on? Should we kill a few chickens to show these monkeys?” In this area where the local population was against them, despite several company-scale armed demonstrations, Zhang Biao knew what lay hidden beneath those false smiles. “I’m not afraid of killing people. I’ll take full responsibility for everything.”

He heightened his tone further: “Foreigners are just chickens too.”
The scout shook his head: “It’s not that simple. But judging from the situation and reactions, new foreign forces have arrived in the vicinity. The number of troops is unknown, but it’s certainly not small—at least as many as us.”
Before long, another group of scouts brought the same news. They even encountered scouts from the other side: “We didn’t catch them, but from the information we got, there are at least a hundred of them.”
This area was hostile, so it was normal not to obtain more information. Zhang Biao had to answer such questions.
“Who?”
“How many troops?”
“What are they here for?”