1890 King of Southeast Asia

After crossing the snow-capped mountains by the river and entering the plateau with difficulty, it was already September and the weather was gradually getting colder.

After going down the mountain, the temperature returned to around ten degrees. Wearing thick clothes, it was extremely comfortable. The soldiers who had just come down from the snow-capped mountains were lying comfortably on the bed with smiles on their faces. But Zhao Erfeng was worried at this time.

"Marshal, the British are marching towards Nikko City. This is a telegram from above."

"Alas~ It's a troubled time!" Zhao Erfeng held the telegram and looked at the many generals in the camp with a trace of reluctance in his eyes.

After all, they are old brothers for many years!

"The General Staff called and said that the British are rushing to Nikko City day and night. The 13th Dalai Lama in Nikko City is seeking independence, and the British are rushing to help."

"The General Staff ordered us to stop this from happening at all costs."

"One person's plan is short, what do you think? You can speak freely."

Zhao Erfeng held the telegram and had an idea, but he still had to listen to his subordinates' ideas.

"Commander, this is a good thing! After the replenishment, our army is well-equipped and has sufficient ammunition. We can go straight to Huanglong.

We will work day and night to capture Sunlight City and capture the bandit leader alive before the 13th Lama establishes himself!

At that time, not only will the mission be completed, but we can also promote the reform of the natives and the people. Now that the interim government has noticed this, it will be a great achievement."

"Yes, Marshal, it is even better to let the British enter first and see how those Lama nobles choose. We can still...right!"

"But...if you want to reach Sunlight City quickly, you must take a shortcut. The road is difficult. People and horses can pass, but vehicles can't keep up." Zhao Erfeng said softly.

It seems to be picking faults, but it is also expressing that I have had this idea, but I don't know how to solve the problem.

"Marshal, no need for vehicles." The man at the bottom stood up. From his expression and dress, it can be easily seen that he is not a Han Chinese, but a Yi general.

"From here to Sunlight City, it's only about 3,000 to 5,000 miles. Our army has more than 3,000 war horses and pack horses, and the Pudawa tribe can find hundreds of good horses."

(The army originally had some horses, but not many, after all, cavalry was expensive and Zhao Erfeng was poor.)

"Even the small roads can be used by horses. Three or four thousand horses are enough to carry seven or eight days of food and all weapons and ammunition."

"And we can drive the sheep forward, and we will use food only when we encounter places where the sheep can't pass."

"Along the way, we have to pass through the pastures and farms of many tribes, and we can supply them on the spot."

"About 3,000 to 5,000 miles, fifty days, more than enough." The Yi general said.

The tactics are not new, at least the important people present don't think it's new.

In the past, Zhao Erfeng often used this trick to deal with the plateau people and the Yi people in Sichuan, and he was sure to win one by one.

But those were all hundreds of miles of interspersed, the population in the middle was relatively dense, and the number of people carrying out the interspersed was not large, so the action was flexible and the supply was convenient.

But this time, there are tens of thousands of troops and thousands of horses. Just the food for the people and horses is not something that a tribe can afford.

According to ancient standards, 10,000 soldiers and 5,000 horses consume 24,000 shi of food and grass a month.

One shi is 120 jin, 60 kilograms. Just food and grass will consume 1,440 tons, not counting other things.

So many things, even a large tribe can't get them out.

At least it has to be a city with more than 10,000 people, so they can stay for a short time to rest and replenish supplies.

Everyone understands this principle, so someone immediately stepped forward to stop them.

"Not good. If the tribes along the way were large tribes like the Pudawa tribe, it would be fine. At least thousands or tens of thousands of cattle and sheep could be gathered."

"But the reason why the trail is a trail is that there are no large tribes on the road. Many of them are family-style herdsmen, with a family of more than a dozen people and hundreds of cattle and sheep at most."

"They have been sleeping in the open air for a long time, and whether they can meet them is a big problem. What if they miss a few and let the army march on an empty stomach?"

A middle-aged strong man stood up and shouted at the Yi general.

"General Liu, you think differently than I do." The Yi general didn't care about the attitude of the middle-aged strong man.

"General, this trip is only one or two months. In addition to food, there are horses. One horse is enough for a hundred-man team to eat for a day, enough to eat until the city of Riguang."

"What did you say?!"

"I think you are confused!"

"The plateau soldiers are all cavalry. Without horses, what can we use to pursue?"

"Shut up!" Zhao Erfeng looked at a row of tables fiercely, with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

He was used to being poor, and he used to treasure cavalry very much, after all, they were powerful, highly mobile, and expensive.

Most importantly, without cavalry, it would be difficult to replenish them, so he would not consider horses as food at all.

This was not the kind of food that killed horses to fill the stomach when the ammunition and food ran out, but from the beginning, horses were counted in the food queue, mobile food.

The words of the Yi general opened up a new idea for him. He could march with sheep and horses, just like the Mongols marched sheep to the west.

"Marshal..." The middle-aged man said in disbelief, because he was the cavalry leader under Zhao Erfeng.

"From here, it will take at least seven or eight days to encounter a place where the sheep cannot pass." Zhao Erfeng said to comfort him, which actually meant that he agreed with this tactic.

The middle-aged man opened his mouth, but finally said nothing and sat down.

"Come on, go and discuss with the local county magistrate. I will take away all the sheep except the breeding sheep and lambs here."

"Don't worry about the winter. There will be a grain transport team coming up later to make up for it with grain." Zhao Erfeng made up his mind.

County magistrate is the new title of the leader of the Pudawa tribe.

Zhao Erfeng just came down from the snowy mountains. His first order was to build Pudawa County and set up Pudawa as the government. The original tribal leader was appointed as the first county magistrate for a term of three years.

Zhao Erfeng was definitely not qualified to appoint an ordinary county magistrate, but this was a land reform, not an ordinary county, and it had to cooperate with military operations.

So he could appoint officials before there were officials with higher positions than him or who were specifically in charge of this matter.

"General, I'll keep an eye on them, otherwise they won't be honest." The Yi general stood up and said.

Zhao Erfeng nodded slightly.

For herders, livestock is not only their wealth, but also their life. Without enough livestock, they can't survive the cold winter.

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So, this kind of recruitment is destined to be full of difficulties, but Zhao Erfeng has no time to grind with them slowly, so he can only use some means.

…………

North of Sulawesi Island, Maluku Sea.

This sea area is surrounded by islands, and they have a very famous name-Spice Islands.

Once, this was a popular route for international trade, but since the South China ruled here, the passage has been gradually closed. Now, only South China ships can be seen here.

Because there are islands all around, including large islands, the sea conditions here are quite calm compared to other places.

Under the calm sea surface, a submarine is slowly extending its periscope.

"Target found, all ready for battle!" The captain held the periscope and just stuck his head out and saw a black shadow.

This is a real-combat exercise. The captain has no idea how many times he has experienced this kind of exercise, but this time, he is very nervous.

Hearing his order, the crew quickly moved and returned to their respective posts.

"Bow angle: 90 degrees."

"Speed: 10 knots."

"Distance: 2400."

"Torpedo depth: 5 meters."

"Start filling the No. 4 torpedo tube." After the captain entered the state, he calmly issued orders.

"The torpedo compartment is ready, and the torpedo can be launched."

"Fan firing 1 degree, launch the torpedo!" The captain said and put away the periscope.

"Turn right, dive to 35 meters, keep silent."

The submarine moved slowly, and at a certain moment, suddenly, the engine stopped moving. Except for breathing and heartbeats, and the sound of the pen tip touching the paper, no other sounds could be heard in the entire submarine. It was terrifyingly quiet.

"Surface." After a while, the captain gave the order.

"Is it over?" Gu Fan said suddenly.

"Yes, in the final stage, if it hits, there will be an explosion, and we will surface to confirm the results."

"If it doesn't hit, I will order to maintain this depth and sail eastward until the battery is exhausted." The captain replied.

Because it was an exercise, and the training torpedoes were used, the captain didn't know whether it hit or not.

"How far can it travel underwater after running out of power?" Gu Fan asked.

"It can maintain normal operation for three hours, about 20 to 25 nautical miles. The maximum speed consumes a lot of power. We generally don't use it except for evasive training." The captain replied.

"In other words, after three hours, you can only be slaughtered?" Gu Fan asked, holding a pen.

"The oxygen on the boat is enough for 36 hours, and we can only hope that the enemy will leave within 36 hours."

"In a really dangerous situation, the diesel engine on the boat can also be used to drive it, but the oxygen consumption will be very fast." As soon as the captain finished speaking, the submarine surfaced.

"The underwater endurance time is too short, which is a fatal flaw in actual combat." Xu Hui came to the deck and looked at the Arabia in the distance.

In this exercise, both sides knew the existence of the other side, but the Arabia did not know the submarine's route, when to launch an attack, etc., but the submarine knew the direction of the Arabia.

"Chief of Staff, the Arabia sent a message that after taking evasive action, it was still hit by two torpedoes, one on the bow and one on the right front of the hull."

"Preliminary judgment is that the bow of the Arabia disappeared and the ship was seriously injured. After damage control, its mobility has been greatly reduced and it must return to the port for repairs."

The submarine captain happily handed the telegram to Gu Fan.

Gu Fan nodded when he saw this. The distance was so close and the torpedoes were fired quietly. Even if they were prepared, they might not be in time when they were discovered.

And this is a bit unfair to the submarine. After all, Japan could not know about the Nanhua submarine, so they would not be prepared.

Although the Arabia is a main battleship, its mobility is not weak, unlike the slow turtle of Japan.

"The troops should be expanded and a batch of submarine soldiers should be trained as soon as possible."

"Quality and purity must also be guaranteed. The days of peace will not last too long."