Chapter 7: Subjugation 2

  Liu Qi is now in Xiyue, which is not shown on the map at all. At the earliest time, it was just a small village.

  In the previous battles of the German-Italian army, this place was not given much attention as the rear base of the German-Italian army. It was only slightly renovated on the basis of the original village and used as a temporary detention camp for war criminals of the German-Italian army. After several attacks by the British, the defensive line of the German-Italian army was gradually compressed to the area west of Alimena, tens of kilometers away. The military prison in Siena, which held soldiers who had committed wartime disciplinary offenses, slowly became the front line of defense for the German-Italian army.

  However, due to the fact that the eastern edge of the military camp is adjacent to the Ruvyat Ridge, this 30-kilometer-long mountain range has a constant gorge, rocks and sand traps everywhere, making it impossible for tanks and vehicles to pass through. Even infantrymen would find it difficult to move forward here. This place has been a notorious death zone and no man's land since ancient times. Even Rommel was reassured after inspecting this area and did not deploy defensive troops to guard it.

  In the dark of night, the rain was still pouring down. In the distance, the sound of artillery explosions continued to echo. Inside the military camp, over a thousand German soldiers wearing uniforms without insignia stood silently in the empty space at the center of the camp. Surrounding them were more than 200 soldiers dressed in SS uniforms and armed with guns. The perimeter of the camp was also equipped with several MG42 machine guns. The long chain of bullets behind the MG42 machine gun glinted menacingly, filling people with fear and oppression.

  Liu Qi closed his eyes and sensed it, there were only about 200 black-gray light spots, Liu Qi knew that this was the guard of the SS, while more than a thousand prisoners were a large patch of white bright spots.

  Liu Qi walked slowly up to the middle platform, and in the vast military camp, only the sound of Liu Qi's SS boots stepping on the stairs could be heard. Liu Qi stopped at the center of the platform. He first silently swept his eyes over the people below, then opened his mouth to speak.

  "Gentlemen, I am Hans-André, your warden. You have all been found guilty, which is why you were sent here. There are three rules here: first, do not blaspheme God; second, obey my orders; and third, refer to the previous two rules. Any questions?"

  "When can we sleep, Commandant?" a man in front of me, an Italian prisoner, asked.

  Liu Qi glanced at Keqi standing beside him, who had changed into a sandy yellow camouflage uniform unique to the North African military. Two golden lieutenant colonel insignia were on his collar badge. Keqi silently walked up to the Italian prisoner who had just spoken and punched him directly in the stomach. The Italian prisoner let out a miserable cry and fell unconscious to the ground. Keqi quietly grabbed the prisoner's clothes, dragging him away like a dead dog.

  Liu Qi looked at everything that had happened with satisfaction, and then said "I only believe in two things, the Bible and discipline. You have both here, give your soul to God, and give your body to me."

  After finishing, Liu Qi paced back and forth on the stage. Looking at the prisoners below, the raindrops hitting the ground made a soft pattering sound. But the more than a thousand prisoners remained silent in the rain.

  Liu Qi remained silent for about 5 minutes before speaking up, "Now there's an opportunity in front of you. You've also heard the British artillery fire. The British are about to attack. You have two choices: one is I send you 'home'. The second is you follow me to defeat the British, and after the war, I'll issue you a wartime service certificate, so you can truly go home. Of course, you will also receive your due allowance."

  Liu Qi finished speaking and waved his hand at several MG42 machine gunners. Ka-ka, the sound of machine guns loading came from a few machine guns.

  Silence. Over a thousand German prisoners of war collectively chose silence, with no one speaking up. At that moment, a faint voice came through. "I'm willing to participate,"

  Liu Qi took a look and found that it was the guy who had been knocked unconscious by Kechi earlier. He really is a pioneer, Liu Qi thought to himself. But this guy is also clever enough. He knew how to make the right choice at the first opportunity.

  "Alright, who else wants to come with me?" Liu Qi said again.

  Seeing this, more than a thousand prisoners also started to raise their hands one after another. In the end, most people raised their hands.

  "Alright, those who are willing, step forward. The rest of you, gather together."

  When the two groups were assembled, Liu Qi saw that there were only more than 60 people who did not want to follow him, and none of them were German soldiers. Liu Qi was very satisfied with this result. He felt that the dark gray bright spots in his mind had become a large group, but there were also some white light spots in between. Liu Qi knew that those were probably fake followers and would not truly follow him. Once the battle started, these guys would likely run away, but he couldn't care about that anymore.

  "Alright, I won't say anything more. Dok, Fred, you lead the soldiers who are willing to fight and change their clothes, then go get supplies, water, and weapons. We'll set out in two hours." Liu Qi said to his deputy guard Dok Fred.

  Liu Qi immediately turned to Keji and said, "The remaining people, you arrange them."

  "Yes, Central School" Keji calmly replied, without even asking Liu Qi how to arrange those people.

  Liu Qi arranged everything and walked down from the high platform, returning to his own house. He took out Egypt's military tactical map and looked at it.

  "Report."

  "Come in." Liu Qi raised his head and looked at the Party Guards officer, Deputy Commander Dok. Fred.

  "In the middle school, our military uniforms are still usable. These people took them off when they came here and they can still be used, but food and weapons are not abundant. There are only enough weapons for us SS soldiers and German soldiers to use, the Italian soldiers' weapons were left in their original unit, so there is no way to distribute them."

  "Oh, no need for weapons, just let them bring wooden boards, ropes, fresh water and lighting equipment, and follow us forward."

  "Yes, it's Zhong Xiao." After hearing Liu Qi's answer, Duoke and Fred didn't ask any more questions and hastily walked out.

  Duoke. Fu Lei had just walked out of the door when Kaji arrived at the door, went straight into Liu Qi's room and closed the door.

  "Middle school, people have already been dealt with," Kaito said.

  Liu Qi didn't ask how Kechi was handled either. "Uh-huh." He replied softly and backed out. Kechi also didn't say much and directly retreated.

  …………

  …………

  A team was moving slowly in the darkness of Ruvyat Ridge. The sky was still raining, and the wet ground had no road, only a path made of irregularly shaped stones. The severely wind-eroded stones would sometimes shatter with a loud crash when touched. Liu Qi led the team in silence. Every 20 people in the team were tied together with a rope, and from time to time, someone would trip over the stones on the ground because they couldn't see the road clearly.

  Liu Qi walked while sensing the changes in the map in his mind, as the black and gray light spots continued to advance, the dark map in his mind gradually became clearer. However, Liu Qi would never tell anyone about it.

  The low, tawny hills stood menacingly in the darkness. After walking for about three hours, the team could no longer move forward. There was simply no way to advance, with a mountain ridge blocking the way ahead. The nearly 70-meter-high ridge, with its almost 90-degree vertical angle, made it impossible for people to climb, and the part that protruded outward from the top of the hill made it even more impassable.

  It's also shown on the map in Liu Qi's mind that there is a cliff, and there isn't even a road to pass through. Liu Qi took a look and couldn't do anything about it. If he had to wait for dozens of years, gather some mountaineering experts with equipment, and try to climb to the top of the mountain on a sunny day without rain, maybe they could make it. But now, it's not even worth thinking about.

  "What's your plan, crossing over the mountain?" Liu Qi asked the person beside him.

  "Looks like we'll have to take a detour," said Doc Fred, holding up his compass.

  "Alright, Fred. You take the German soldiers and half of the Italian soldiers to go around to the left. I'll take the remaining Italian soldiers and the SS soldiers to go around to the right. Whoever finds the road first will fire a red signal flare to notify the other."

  "Yes, Central School." Dok Frehd said, leading half of his men along the left side of the mountain ridge forward.

  The black and gray light spots in Liu Qi's brain were slowly getting farther and farther away, slowly disappearing at the edge of his brain. Liu Qi estimated that the map in his brain was roughly a circular shape with a radius of about 2 kilometers.

  Liu Qi led the remaining few hundred people to slowly move along the right side of the mountain, advancing without stopping. After walking for more than 2 hours, a white light slowly appeared in the sky. The drizzling rain also turned into fog, slowly blocking the view of the distance. The sky was also a dull gray color.

  Although they were all wearing thick, rainproof cloaks, the long march couldn't stop the rain from pouring in through their collars. In this hot and water-scarce North Africa, Liu Qi actually felt a hint of chill.

  "Commander, commander! I've found the way!" A soldier came running back, panting and shouting.

  "The road has been found, great, take me to see it quickly." Liu Qi's mind felt that the several black light spots in front had stopped at a yellow seam interface.

  Liu Qi came to the front of the team and saw a crack in the middle of the cliff. The crack was only about one meter wide, and since it wasn't completely bright yet, the inside of the mountain crack was dark and couldn't be seen clearly.

  Dizzy, almost catching up with Huashan's one-line sky, Liu Qi thought secretly.

  "Go, cross over from this road. Kaito, you lead dozens of people to scout ahead. Then use ropes to nail the two sides of the road." Liu Qi said to Kaito.

  "Yes." Katchi responded and led a group of twenty to thirty Italian soldiers into the mountain crevice. Liu Qi's mind felt that this batch of soldiers formed a curved line, advancing slowly in the crevice. However, except for the beginning when he could still feel the existence of the crevice, later on, as the crevice became smaller and smaller, it was impossible to distinguish the terrain anymore. His mind also turned dark, with only a black-gray light spot that he could feel, moving slowly in a linear fashion.