Chapter 227: Green Feather Yellow Shirt
Chapter 227: Green Feather Yellow Shirt
"Chen Cheng, Montevideo:
We have taken the east coast as our base, and with the reinforcement of the remaining troops of Wang Haiyang, our goal of seizing South America should be achieved smoothly. In addition, Paraguay has already captured the rubber-producing state of Mato Grosso in Brazil, so there is no need to attack Brazil again. I think the land to be seizing should be the fertile land of the Pampas. "
Now Shao Quanzhong hardly even reads the telegrams himself. Listening to Hu Liuniang standing at attention in a military uniform reading the telegrams, it was very stylish, a man lives for his face.
Shao Quanzhong thought for a moment and said, "The King of England is right. If we want to offend anyone, we can only offend Spain. As for Brazil, we can just offend one."
Of course, the main reason is that the land along the east coast of Argentina is all plains, while the land on the Brazilian side is all mountainous and has relatively low value.
"Sixth Lady, call the King of England back and tell him to do what he wants and go for it."
The telegram drafted by Hu Liuniang had to be sent to Suzhou by express messengers every day.
Now, the telegraph engineering company under Ren Jun has business all over China, and they are becoming more and more skilled at their work, basically dividing the construction into multiple sections, which has increased the speed.
Electric poles were erected along the route of the Western Expedition, and steam tractors were used to pull the copper wires. At present, telegraph service has reached Suzhou.
Shao Quanzhong walked out of the tent with his hands behind his back and looked around.
To the south are the rolling Tianshan Mountains, to the north is the desert, and at your feet is a plain oasis with rolling waves of wheat that will be ripe in another month.
I came at the right time. Once we recover the northern part of Ili Province, we can get food locally, which will greatly reduce the pressure on logistics.
Because of the Han people's ability to farm, everyone relied on this for their livelihood, so the Han people suffered relatively small losses, and there was no famine like that in Shaanxi and Gansu.
Ili Province was engulfed in war, and the Fukang County town beneath our feet was reduced to ruins. It was a miracle that the fields were not left idle.
This is the Han people's talent for planting at work. It's heartbreaking to see the barren land. No matter what the world is like, the land must be planted.
Shao Quanzhong left two temporary mixed divisions in Hami and Barkol and led more than 40,000 people to attack Dihua due to food constraints.
The Lanzhou Tractor Assembly Plant was able to produce four steam tractors a day, which was already the limit.
The current more than 300 tractors cannot guarantee that all 80,000 troops can be sent on the expedition to Dihua and Yili, so they have to be divided.
Bai Yanhu, the often defeated general of the Huai Army, was still very capable. This time he did not run away, but stationed troops in Gumudi, a must-go place leading to Dihua, and his army was blocked at Fukang, the water source.
"Report! Bai Yanhu's cavalry raided two steam tractors on our grain transport line, killing four drivers. Our patrol cavalry arrived in time, and the grain was not lost. The spare drivers are still enough to transport the grain in time."
There was nothing we could do about the food supply route being attacked by enemy cavalry, but—
"Liu Niang, send a telegram to Li Shanlan and Thomson in Hailing to see if the steam tractor can be equipped with self-defense weapons, such as machine guns. This will make it much more difficult for the enemy's cavalry to destroy our supply lines."
"Report sir."
The one who came to report this time was Le Xiucai. "Bad news, our intelligence in southern Xinjiang has been cut off. After the war broke out, Bai Yanhu set up checkpoints at the various passes he controlled, prohibiting Han people from passing through. This place is different from the inland areas. It is basically impossible to take a detour in the desert. Therefore, the actions of our intelligence department's action team have been restricted."
I am worried. The intelligence from the south is gone. This is a great loss. The army can only explore a few hundred miles at most. The overall situation of the battlefield is suddenly not transparent to me. It seems that there is no way to deal with this for the time being. Let's take down Dihua first.
Grant and Emery came together, "Reporting to the commander, the battle plan for the ancient pasture has been formulated."
Following the two chiefs of staff back to the headquarters, Emery pointed at the sand table with a pointer, "There are two roads from Fukang to the ancient pasture. The main road passes through Heigouyi, which is suitable for large troops to pass through, but it passes through the Gobi Desert and water is difficult to obtain. The small road passes through Huangtian, and there is a stream that provides water, but the army cannot march quickly."
This is the key intelligence summarized by Emery, the careful deputy chief of staff.
Then, how to fight was figured out by Grant, the chief of staff who was not proficient in staff work but had the decisive intuition of a commander.
"We have heavy artillery and steam tractors, so it would be more appropriate for us to take the main road. The enemy would think so too. So my plan is to dig karez in Ganquan Village ahead to store water, giving the enemy the illusion that we are going to take the main road, attracting the main force of the enemy to defend Heigouyi, and then send elite troops to attack Huangtian by surprise. As long as we take Huangtian, we can directly attack Gumudi, or we can turn around and attack Heigouyi. Our heavy artillery can then be transported from the direction of Heigouyi to attack Gumudi where the enemy's heavy troops are concentrated."
Grant, the chief of staff, actually played the role of a general, making up for Shao Quanzhong's lack of regular tactical ability. Shao Quanzhong's cleverness was no longer very useful. Shao Quanzhong had now essentially begun to play the role of commander-in-chief.
Of course, being clever is still useful. Shao Quanzhong can't lay eggs, but he can eat them. He can tell whether a strategy is smart or not.
"Let's do as Lao Ge said. However, we have to let the enemy's scouts discover our big move of digging wells and storing water. Otherwise, we'll be flirting with the blind--"
"Report, Dong Fuxiang wants to see you."
Shao Quanzhong smiled, "It's just right that he's here. The task of launching a surprise attack on Huangtian through this small road must be carried out by the iron-footed soldiers of the Gansu Army."
As soon as Dong Fuxiang entered the tent, everyone's eyes lit up.
It’s not that Dong Fuxiang is special. He is a strong and powerful man from the northwest, and everyone is familiar with him.
Behind Dong Fuxiang followed a Uyghur woman in a yellow shirt. She was tall, straight, fair-skinned, and had a green feather in her hair, which made her look even more beautiful.
Shao Quanzhong could not help but look back at Hu Liuniang. This native woman was equally heroic and beautiful, but the difference was that she had a high nose, deep eyes, and enamel-white skin, which was different from Liuniang's rosy white skin, which was the style of Han beauty.
Dong Fuxiang entered the tent and saluted. "Reporting to the commander, while I was on patrol with the cavalry, I had a conflict with Bai Yanhu's scouts and rescued this woman named Karis. She said she had important military intelligence to report."
Karis entered the headquarters and looked around without any stage fright. She was not surprised to see that there were four people in the tent, two of whom were foreigners.
She did not kneel when she saw Shao Quanzhong, but clasped her hands together and said, "I am Karis, I opened a shop in Tiemenguan, and I am from the Red Flower Society. I broke through the blockade of the Kokand people and Bai Yanhu with great difficulty, and I came to report to the general that the Kokand people and Bai Yanhu have joined forces."
Shao Quanzhong had a smiling face, but his words were quite scary, "How dare you, the Red Flower Society rebel, walk into my tent so brazenly. Aren't you afraid that I will catch you?"
Karis smiled, and the whole tent seemed to be brighter. "The general's sworn brother Skywalker is a good friend of our Red Flower Society. I know the general well."
Well, it’s a good thing that we are talking here and there are no outsiders around, otherwise Shao Quanzhong would not be able to escape the charge of “colluding with traitors”.
(End of this chapter)