1890 King of Southeast Asia

On October 27, Zhao Erfeng's army arrived in Nianqumai.

The first thing Zhao Erfeng did when he arrived in Nianqumai was to liquidate the pro-British forces, including the local small court and tribal leaders. Zhao Erfeng killed more than 40 people.

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More people fled long before Zhao Erfeng arrived.

"You mean, the British have been here for several days, but they have been shrinking these days?" Zhao Erfeng looked at Caidan Zhuoga in confusion.

Caidan Zhuoga is a tribal leader, an anti-British tribal leader, active in the Muna generation.

This time, Zhao Erfeng ordered the various tribes to harass the British and delay the British advance. Caidan Zhuoga was very active.

Caidan Zhuoga picked out dozens of dangerous places on the road from Muna to Gyantse, set up ambushes, and waited for the British to come.

As a result, the British moved forward slightly and shrank back to the south of Muna.

Caidan Zhuoga felt like he was punching cotton, very uncomfortable.

Just when he was looking for an opportunity, news came that the Han army was about to reach Nianqumai, so he reluctantly left Muna and ran to inform the news.

"Yes, they have a lot of people and cannons, but their cannons are not as many as the adults."

"At first I thought the arrangement on the road was discovered, I removed the ten ambushes in front, but they still didn't react, they just shrank like a turtle."

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Caidan Zhuoga's tone was full of regret, as if he had missed the jackpot.

"Are they going to increase their troops?" Zhao Erfeng heard about the ten ambushes and probably understood why the British didn't move.

As for the road conditions on the plateau, even with a guide leading the way, Zhao Erfeng felt it was difficult to walk. Some dangerous places were really a one-man-block-ten-man-block.

If there was no army, the British would be fine, but it was not possible at this time.

"I haven't heard of it. Those who came from the south were all people transporting goods. After transporting them, they basically went back." Caidan Zhuoga thought for a while before saying.

"Neither increasing troops nor attacking, what are they going to do?" Zhao Erfeng was now somewhat unsure of the British's thoughts.

He claimed to have an army of 200,000, but the British did not respond at all? Even if they knew the truth, he had nearly 50,000 people and more than 20,000 combat troops.

The number of combat troops was twice that of the British, and the total number was four times that of the British.

Are the British so confident?

"Cedan Zhuoga, I will give you a task!" Zhao Erfeng thought for a while and said.

"General, please speak!" Caidan Zhuoga bowed and knelt on the ground.

"Quick, get up." Zhao Erfeng helped him up.

"I need you to find a flat piece of land a thousand feet away from the British camp to place the cannon."

"This place must be kept secret enough and cannot be discovered by the British before the battle begins. This involves the victory or defeat of the war. Can you do it?"

Zhao Erfeng said kindly.

"General, this fort needs to be mined with huge stones, and bunkers and city walls need to be built. It can't be done in a short time."

"And... isn't the city wall used to enclose land? Are you going to give up the land south of Muna?"

Cedan Zhuoga said hesitantly.

He didn't know what an artillery position was, but he could associate it with it! When he heard about placing cannons, he automatically thought of the fort.

"It's not a fort, just a piece of flat land, not big, about two feet wide and three feet long, where the cannon can be dragged over." Zhao Erfeng explained.

"That's it? General, don't worry, I'll leave it to you, but... my people don't know how to build an artillery position, and I don't know what else is needed."

Cedan Zhuoga didn't have much experience, but he wasn't stupid. Placing cannons definitely wasn't something you could just find anywhere.

So, he planned to take a few people back from Zhao Erfeng and do it according to their ideas. In this way, even if there was a problem, he wouldn't be blamed.

"Don't worry, I will send a few people to you, they will help you." Zhao Erfeng said...

...

With the locals taking the lead, the artillery easily found a place that met the requirements and began to build artillery positions.

On November 2, Zhao Erfeng received the last batch of combat supplies that could be received within a month.

On the same day, Zhao Erfeng decided to take the initiative to attack, and the army moved towards Gyantse, and then moved southward to approach the British army in Muna.

The Panchen Lama also advised Zhao Erfeng for this.

"General, the British have evil ambitions and intend to separate the plateau from China. They will definitely not stop at Muna."

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"My army has been traveling for days and has not been able to rest properly. Now it has crossed hundreds of miles. It is too tired."

"It is better to wait and use static to control dynamic. I will call on the leaders of the various tribes in the plateau to harass the British food route."

"The retreat is unstable. The British will either split their troops or retreat. No matter what they do, low morale is inevitable. Then the general will catch them off guard..."

The core attitude of the Panchen Lama is the word "stable", which has always been the way the plateau people deal with the British.

Although the plateau people failed several times, the fundamental reason was that they could not face the British head-on.

What harassment and ambush, the plateau people have used, and they did not make the British dare not move forward. The British directly split their troops and advanced from multiple routes.

In this way, the ambush has a certain effect, but the effect is limited, and at most a few more casualties will be caused.

This time, with the threat of the enemy's "main force", the British dare not easily divide their troops. After all, it is easy to divide them out, but difficult to take them back.

What if they run into Zhao Erfeng before they can't take them back in time? Isn't that sending themselves?

Therefore, the British chose a safe way, and the Panchen Lama also hopes to act prudently.

The Panchen Lama's idea is also a very applicable tactic.

"It's not that I am greedy for merit and reckless, but really, we can't afford to delay!" Zhao Erfeng shook his head.

"Where did you get this from?" Panchen Lama asked in confusion.

He also saw the supplies that had just been delivered. The long cavalry could not be seen at a glance, and it was difficult to ignore them.

With so many supplies, in the Panchen Lama's view, it is not impossible to compete with the British in consumption.

"These supplies are just appearances. At present, the food of the army comes from various departments, but there are less than one million people on the plateau, and it is really difficult to support 50,000 people..." Zhao Erfeng shook his head.

According to Zhao Erfeng's calculation, at most three months, after three months, the people in the plateau will start to starve.

After all, soldiers must be well fed, and so must logistics. There are also a large number of horses. If horses cannot be herded, the consumption of horses is also very terrible.

At first, he also wanted to fight with consumption. After deceiving the British to increase their troops, he would engage in a small-scale battle. The British logistics could not support it.

But didn't the British not fall for the increase in troops? This is too much to fight...

...

On November 10, the distance between the two sides was only ten kilometers, and the scouts of the two armies fought many times.

Zhao Erfeng then camped by the river.

In the early morning of the 11th, the Seventh Division Artillery Regiment, escorted by 5,000 cavalry, set out for the artillery position.

It took three hours and a seven-kilometer journey, and the Seventh Division Artillery Regiment quickly entered the combat position.

At this time, the Chinese infantry also appeared in the sight of the British.

After eating a few bullets, the Chinese soldiers began to set up positions on the spot-the departure position.

Zhao Erfeng decided to launch a tentative attack today.

"Report! The artillery regiment reported that the positions have been arranged!"

"How is the logistics supply?"

"Smooth!"

"How is the front-line artillery arranged?"

"Some artillery has arrived, and the progress of field fortification construction is a bit slow, lacking materials and supplies."

"Order the front line, everything must be prepared before noon!"

"Order, at noon, the headquarters will move forward, I will go to the front line and command the battle as soon as possible."

"Yes!"

...

"These Chinese soldiers have changed a lot from before, we are in some trouble, where are the reinforcements?" Chloe used a monocular telescope to observe the Chinese soldiers more than a thousand meters away.

"It is expected to enter Yadong today, and don't think about it in the next two days. The locals are frantically destroying the road. I will be thankful if they can arrive within a week." Harry also held a monocular telescope.

The British Empire is really too big, and there are too many troops. There are many old things in the British Indian Army, which is not undergoing a change of equipment for the time being.

But it doesn't mean that old things are bad. The performance of the monoculars in their hands is good, and the magnification is as high as 15 times. (Very low among monoculars.)

During World War I, there were still a lot of monoculars in use.

"Then we may be in some trouble. This is the report of the scouts. There are at least 40,000 people on the opposite side." Chloe put down the telescope and took out a piece of paper.

"What about 40,000 people? Fifty years ago, the British and French coalition forces of less than 20,000 easily defeated more than 300,000 people in the Qing Empire." Harry curled his lips. (In fact, 17,700 people defeated 290,000 people.)

"I personally experienced the war between Italy and the Ottoman Empire for Libya." Chloe picked up the telescope again, took out the compass and placed it on the ground, reading and recording something.

"Most of the Ottoman army is still vulnerable. Apart from courage, there is almost nothing to praise."

"However, the Ottoman new army performed well. My Egyptian colleagues and I believe that they have reached the standard of a second-rate European army."

"And the Qing Empire once established a new army, and some of this new army participated in the revolution."

"I have a hunch that the troops in front of us are part of the new army."

Chloe wrote a lot in the notebook, then tore off the page and handed it to the staff officer.

"Let the artillery fire according to this parameter, and immediately move the position after the fire, and prepare for anti-artillery combat." Chloe instructed the staff officer.

"Yes!" The staff officer saluted, turned around and trotted all the way.

About ten minutes later, the sound of artillery sounded.

Boom boom boom...

Cloe saw that many bodies flew up on the opposite Chinese front.

The bombardment lasted for two minutes, and it was not very intense (retract the gun).

Chloe saw with her own eyes that the Chinese soldiers pushed out cannons and fired at them.

"Am I overthinking?" Chloe looked at this extremely unprofessional scene in confusion.

"Huh?! Cannons are not used like this. Let the British Empire teach the Chinese how to use cannons!" Harry screamed, looking very excited.

The Chinese artillery fired for more than ten minutes, and the British did not react at all.

Perhaps they felt bored, the Chinese artillery began to pack up, as if they were going to withdraw the cannons.

"That's when it's time." Chloe stared at the telescope and whispered softly.

Boom!

The sound of cannons rang out again on the British position.

The British placed the artillery on the hillside, which gave them a good firing range. Even if the artillery was set back, it would not affect accuracy.

China lost several artillery pieces in an instant. Chloe clearly saw a cannon explode, and the soldier operating it was completely engulfed by the violent explosion.

"Beautiful! Ha~! Yellow monkeys, have you learned how to use the cannon? Hahaha..." Harry also saw the explosion and couldn't help whistling.

For some reason, the Chinese soldiers stopped evacuating and started to fight back, but they were not accurate at all, and they were almost off the sky.

The marching artillery position was on the hillside, but many shells fell into the position.

"Oh! They are just wasting shells, wow wow wow wow wow... Chloe, you can't guess what I saw." Harry put down the telescope in surprise and said to Chloe next to him.

"What?" Chloe was very cooperative, but in fact her eyes never left the telescope.

"I saw several artillerymen trying to run away and were killed in an instant. It was definitely not us who fired the gun."

"This group of barbarians is forcing their own soldiers to die. Really, China really doesn't have a suitable general, barbaric and uncivilized monkeys."

Harry laughed as he spoke, as if he was telling a joke.

The performance of the Chinese soldiers made him feel relieved and a little angry at the same time. It turned out that only people of this level forced them to be unable to move forward.

"Shooting soldiers who deserted in battle proves that their morale is almost unstable. If their officers are not fools, they should retreat at this time." Chloe put down his telescope and lowered his head.

"Yes, this is a truth that the French know. It can only prove that we met a stupid commander. How lucky!" Harry subconsciously mocked the French.

"Maybe..." Chloe laughed dumbly.

Wow...

"Artillery! This is a trap!" Chloe understood it all at once.

Unfortunately, he understood it a little late.

On the battlefield, when you hear the sound of a shell cutting through the air, it proves that the shell has passed you.

And what is behind Chloe? The mountain, the artillery position is on the hillside - this is also the only target worth attacking behind Chloe.

boom! ! !

"Quack!" Harry was like a drake with a pinched throat, opening his mouth and unable to make any sound.

"Cunning monkey! Only uses conspiracy and tricks, no sense of honor..." After a long time, Harry cursed in anger.

The explosions behind him continued, and from time to time there were sounds of self-detonation. Harry knew that the artillery was finished.

As a qualified and even excellent officer, Harry knew the consequences of losing the artillery.

Especially in this situation, losing the artillery means losing the initiative on the battlefield.

"God bless, I hope we can hold on until the reinforcements arrive..." Chloe murmured softly with a sinking heart.