Chapter 97: Ambush

Liang Yao still overestimated Brandon's strength.

There are only more than 110 gang members in Brandon's gang, of which Brandon's core members, that is, deserters, number only about 70.

Under Liang Yao's blockade, Brandon's life is getting harder and harder, so he can only take risks and attack small gold mining companies in the Sacramento area recently.

Moreover, there are many contradictions within Brandon's gang. Brandon is not fair and is too partial to his fellow deserters, which makes other gang members deeply dissatisfied. There are many gang members like Walker who choose to leave Brandon's gang.

As for whether Walker is the bait sent by Brandon to hook him, Liang Yao has also considered this issue.

After careful analysis, Liang Yao judged that there is no such possibility.

First, based on Walker's personality and loyalty to Brandon, Walker would not risk doing such a dangerous mission for Brandon.

Second, because Brandon is hiding from him now, how can he have the courage to provoke him actively.

Even if Brandon can defeat his troops once, twice or even three times, what's the use?

Liang Yao and Brandon's financial resources and resources are not at the same level.

Even if Liang Yao fails, he can still recruit a team of considerable size and good combat power.

In other words, Liang Yao will not be seriously injured if he loses eight or ten times, but Brandon can't afford to lose even once.

The Pomo and Maidu are the two Indian tribes closest to San Francisco and Sacramento.

More than 200 kilometers north of the Sacramento area is the territory of these two Indian tribes.

Liang Yao's trade with the Indian tribes is mainly conducted with these two Indian tribes.

In the past, Deng Wenkang was responsible for the trade with the Indians, and this time was no exception.

In order not to alert the enemy, Liang Yao did not change the size of the caravan, which was still a caravan of more than 60 people.

With more people, he was worried that Brandon would retreat and would not take the bait.

With fewer people, he was worried that Brandon would become suspicious and give up the idea of ​​robbing the caravan.

For the sake of safety, four squads of soldiers were placed in Liang Yao's caravan of more than 50 people, commanded by Deng Yan, to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the caravan and withstand Brandon's first few waves of offensive.

Brandon had never thought of attacking Liang Yao's caravan before, but this time, Brandon was tempted.

Because this time, he finally got some intelligence about the caravan.

The caravan not only carried 1,100 ounces of gold for trading with the Indians, but also carried a large amount of salt, sugar, cloth and other daily necessities.

These are what Brandon urgently needs, especially cloth. It is already early autumn, and winter will come in two or three months.

As a native of Georgia, Brandon is not afraid of heat, but he and his Georgia deserters are a little afraid of cold, although the winter in California is not too cold.

In the past, Griffin would distribute warm clothes and bedding to them on time every year in the army, but this year he needs to rely on his own ability to get through this cold winter.

In order to ensure that the robbery of the caravan would be foolproof, Brandon did not allow those untrustworthy rabble to participate in the operation.

The more than 60 people who participated in the robbery of the caravan were all trustworthy fellow Georgians.

Many of them came from the same village, grew up together, and fought Mexicans together.

When Deng Wenkang's caravan left Sacramento and headed north, Brandon's people had already set their sights on the caravan.

Brandon was very patient and did not choose to start near Sacramento.

The miners in Sacramento were very united. When one side was in trouble, all sides would come to support.

Brandon had suffered many losses in Sacramento, which was why Brandon's robbery in Sacramento was very smooth, but once he saw people coming to support him, he decisively chose to retreat.

Brandon knew very well that once he was entangled by these people, he would suffer huge losses.

It is the way of smart people not to be greedy and stop when they see good things.

But the place of action should not be too close to the Indian territory, because the Pomo and Maidu Indians will also support Liang Yao's caravan.

Therefore, Brandon decided to take action at least 60 kilometers after the caravan left Sacramento.

Although he did not have much more people than this caravan.

But in his eyes, these caravans composed of Chinese were just a group of rabble, without much fighting power.

Moreover, the reason why his bandit team was able to dominate the California region was largely because they were equipped with the most advanced rifled guns in the United States.

Their personnel were all soldiers who had undergone formal military training. This configuration was a dimensionality reduction attack for both other bandit teams and the targets of robbery.

Brandon believed that they would soon be able to defeat the caravan and easily seize the supplies they urgently needed.

If there were enough supplies, he could also consider sharing some supplies with John of the Astor family.

Brandon chose a mountain with sparse trees and a relatively open view as the ambush site.

There were no tall trees here, but there were bushes that were big enough to hide in. As long as they didn't stand up and make loud noises, it would be difficult for them to be discovered by the caravan.

Moreover, this place was high above the ground, with a panoramic view of the trade route, making it an ideal location for an ambush.

The caravan quickly entered their ambush circle, and when they were still about 150 yards (16 meters) away, Brandon ordered a shot.

"shooting!"

The rifled version of the Springfield M1842 has a maximum effective range of 300 yards (32 meters), and a distance of 200 yards is enough to effectively kill caravan personnel.

Deng Yan was very cautious along the way. He had already realized that he was being targeted by the gangsters.

Just to avoid alerting others, he still pretended that nothing had happened, and under the guidance of Deng Wenkang, continued to move forward along the trade trail they had opened up.

"Enemy attack! Find cover!"

Deng Yan ordered loudly.

Although four or five of his companions were shot and fell, the remaining people still quickly cut off the noose on the horse's back and allowed the frightened packhorse to run away.

What they needed was the sandbags loaded on the wagon as a bunker, not the horses.

With the cover of the carriage, only one soldier was hit in the shoulder by a stray bullet from the opponent's second shooting.

Deng Yan pulled Deng Wenkang aside and ordered Deng Wenkang to lie down and don't move. He calmly directed the soldiers and caravan guards to hide behind the carriage, and methodically marched down to the top.

The gangsters fought back.

Four of the gangsters who had just stood up from the bushes to shoot were shot and fell in an instant.

"Brother, where did you buy this gun? It's damn accurate!"

A caravan guard saw a soldier accurately knocking down a gangster a hundred yards away, and exclaimed as he looked at the gun in his hand that was exactly the same as his.

"Stop talking nonsense, retract and reload immediately after shooting! Bullets don't have eyes!"

Deng Yan gave the nonsense caravan guard a hard kick and directed the soldiers to fight back in an orderly manner against the bandits on the hilltop.

Since the carriage was used as a cover, the opponent's terrain advantage was greatly weakened.

"Sand! It's sand! Their carriage is loaded with sand!"

The gangsters who pressed forward until they were only 70 or 80 yards away from the caravan had extremely magical eyes.

He saw that what flowed out of the sack that was hit by the bullet was not sucrose or sea salt, but yellow sand.

The sand flowing out of the sandbags made him realize that this was a trap and not a caravan at all.

But as soon as he shouted these words, several Mini bullets were accurately shot into his chest, shattering his heart and lungs and killing him on the spot.

The words were covered up by the fierce gunfire, and Brandon didn't hear clearly what the person in front of him was shouting.

But his intuition also told him that this was not a caravan at all, but a group of well-trained soldiers.

A bullet passed just a fist away from Brandon's face and hit the trunk of a century-old pine next to him.

The flying sawdust scratched his face, and Brandon ignored the pain on his face. He lay down subconsciously, turned his head and glanced at the tree trunk that had just been hit.

A modified Mini bullet was deeply embedded in the tree trunk, which also explained why the opponent shot so accurately.

This is a trap!

"Retreat! Retreat! Retreat immediately!"

Brandon didn't have time to think too much and decisively gave the order to retreat.