"Fire!"
Bang... Bang... Bang...
"Second row, get ready!"
...
One hour earlier.
By the shores of Lake Malawi, Kalonga.
The Sixth Squadron encountered fierce firefights with the locals as soon as they arrived. Due to shared routes, the Sixth Squadron had split from the Fifth Squadron at Mbeya before heading south.
The "Leta" tribe here was quite large, with thousands of people, located in the northwest of Lake Malawi.
The arrival of the Sixth Squadron immediately alerted the "Leta" tribe. As the Overlord of the region, the Leta tribe was undefeated throughout the Kalonga area.
Their leader Haru was a very capable chief who had embarked on the great conquest of the Kalonga area since taking power.
Those small tribes with only a hundred or a dozen people were no match for the Leta tribe with its hundreds of warriors.
While Haru was basking in self-satisfaction, thinking he was invincible, the Sixth Squadron's arrival gave him an opportunity.
Previously, a Portuguese expedition team had come through, but was wiped out by the Leta tribe. The Portuguese didn't respond because explorers were considered a high-risk profession; they thought the explorer might have inadvertently wandered into the woods or ended up in a beast's stomach.
Having had this "experience," the Leta tribe didn't take this group of only a few hundred seriously.
After receiving reports from a subordinate tribe, Haru decided to personally lead the campaign. He gathered all the tribe's warriors, and after the High Priest's blessing with Holy Water, the Leta tribe's army set off.
They blocked the Sixth Squadron by the shores of Lake Malawi, and the two sides faced off. Haru led the Leta warriors to assess the strength of the Sixth Squadron opposite them.
The Sixth Squadron's clothing was made of cotton fabric, a rarity in Kalonga's textile industry, worth its weight in gold. The Kalonga tribe could only obtain a scant amount through trade with Zimbabwe tribes.
So in Haru's eyes, the Sixth Squadron was prey. As for the flintlock guns equipped by the Sixth Squadron, Haru dismissed them as a special type of "spear."
Haru had never seen a flintlock gun before. The Portuguese they killed in the past had a pistol, but without bullets, Haru couldn't figure it out after much fiddling, and it ended up as a trophy hanging in Haru's "palace."
Haru blew the horn, and the Leta tribe, yelling "Wah, Oowoo...," charged in. Haru, leading the way, holding a spear, attacked the Sixth Squadron:
Haru's spear was made from the unlucky Portuguese's knife, wrapped around a shaft with rope. Haru meticulously sharpened the spearhead every day.
Holding this "sacred weapon," Haru felt confident. The fools opposite lined up and held the "spear" horizontally in their hands.
This maneuver was an unfamiliar way to use a "spear" for Haru. His spear was sharp and long, while the "fools" opposite had blunted spears, just strange-looking sticks. "An inch longer, an inch stronger," Haru thought to teach these savages, who didn't even "understand" weapons, a lesson.
The Leta tribe charged ahead like wild boars. To the Leta warriors, this was a chance to make some small profit, competing to gain battle achievements.
...
Commander Yuri of the Sixth Squadron was bewildered! It was his first time seeing such an arrogant native. What gave him the courage, with so few people, bearing such primitive weapons, to launch a frontal assault against a modern army?
If these natives had relied on the terrain, the forest, for guerrilla warfare, that'd be a headache. Even if twice as many dared to attack directly, Yuri would still not feel pressured.
Yuri calmly commanded the Sixth Squadron to prepare and aim their guns at the natives. Despite having a short training period, the team was still able to instinctively line up the flintlock guns and divide into three groups to start the firing line.
Bang... Bang... Bang...
Haru was startled by the gunfire, but past experiences made him instinctively charge forward, for bravery in battle!
With the leader himself rushing the front, the Leta warriors' morale was boosted. Although they didn't understand the loud noise, they continued following leader Haru forward.
After the first round of gunfire, because the distance wasn't close, only a few natives were wounded, and Commander Yuri wasn't panicked at all.
"Second row, prepare. Third row, get ready. First row, reload."
"Fire!"
Bang... Bang... Bang...
With a puff of smoke from the gun barrels, the native warriors at the front fell to the ground, and Haru was also hit, injured in the arm.
But Haru wasn't one to give up easily. Even when injured, he didn't lose his composure. However, by this time, the troops' morale had started to waver. Haru, with a calm face, said, "Brave warriors of the tribe, don't panic. The enemy is not far! If we just run a bit faster, their weapons will be useless!"
At this moment, Haru realized the enemy's weapons attacked from afar, but there was no time for hesitation. As long as they could close in on the enemy, there was still a chance; otherwise, they'd face a catastrophic defeat.
The Leta tribe lived up to its reputation as the Overlord of Kalonga, showing no intention of retreat even when facing the enemy's terrifying weapons.
Yuri, with an unchanging demeanor, watched the increasingly faster native warriors and ordered, "Third row, fire!"
Bang... Bang... Bang...
This time, the results were better, with over twenty natives falling, but once again, Haru managed to escape death by sheer luck, although his soldiers were now thoroughly panicked.
After three rounds of gunfire, nearly fifty men lost the ability to fight, and some wanted to flee.
But Yuri didn't give them a chance: "First row, fire!"
"Second row, prepare! Others, fix bayonets!"
After continuous attacks, the natives lost more than forty people. For the Leta tribe, which only had a few hundred warriors, now was the time to flee.
Before even reaching the enemy, they had already lost nearly a sixth of their force. While they could still fight, seeing comrades fall one after another stressed them immensely. Haru could no longer hold them back, and chaos ensued as the squad sought a way out.
"Pursue them!" Yuri drew his own sabre, raising it in his hand, leading the charge.
The shift from defense to attack was stark. Without organization, the Leta tribe was chased everywhere by the Sixth Squadron's troops, and the Chinese soldiers, seeing blood, were in a killing frenzy.
By dusk, the battle was over. Yuri began commanding the cleanup of the battlefield. The Leta tribe suffered over three hundred casualties, with sixty-two captured, including the wounded leader Haru. In the Sixth Squadron, apart from two who were wounded in battle, only one twisted an ankle during the pursuit.
Undoubtedly, this was a major victory, and it marked the first recorded victory by the newly formed Chinese military in the East African colonies.
Regarding the Leta tribe's disposition, the Sixth Squadron didn't make further moves but chose to drive them away, so the leaderless Leta tribe fled toward Zimbabwe.
Due to the battle, the Sixth Squadron hadn't set up a camp in time, so they simply occupied the Leta tribe's village.
Most houses in these villages were made of vines smeared with mud, standing about a man's height tall. Only Haru, as the tribal chief, had a slightly larger shelter, and the team members could only make do for the night.