Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Bookstore.

"Johannesburg fell, and Standerton suffered heavy casualties. Our army withdrew to Maputo and rested. We do not worry about the dissatisfaction or doubts of the Boers." Zhao Liewen said carefully, "However, in this case, will the Boers surrender? After all, the Boers have too few troops to compete with the European Union."

Will the Boers surrender Yi Zhizu secretly make him laugh. He never considered this at all. The Boers have few troops and are not large in total, but they are hard and will not surrender easily. In history, the British war caused by the British invasion was fought for two or three years. The British invested more than 400,000 troops. With the current strength of the European Union, how could the Boers surrender?

"Hui Fu was too worried." Yi Zhizu waved his hand, "The total population of the Boers in South Africa is only 500,000 to 600,000. The National Defense Forces are indeed limited, but it can be said that the whole people are soldiers. Even if they are temporarily pieced together, they can organize a force of 100,000 to 80,000. In addition, the Boers are naturally good at guerrilla warfare. Even if we don't send troops to the war, they will not surrender easily. It can be said that they are rare hard bones."

No wonder the other party did not consider annexation of Transvaal before. Zhao Liewen changed his mind, "The Boers are so tenacious and difficult. Will the European Union retreat and will the Boers be able to get along with each other in order to strive for self-improvement?"

"Man dies for money, and the country is the same. A hundred tons of gold production a year will not be easily spit out if anyone swallows it." Yi Zhizu laughed and said, "Fort John was lost, tens of thousands of citizens in our country were trapped in it. In the Battle of Standerton, our army suffered more than 10,000 casualties. If the Boers dared to be at their best, it would be like to seek death."

The bitter plan Zhao Liewen glanced at him and tentatively said, "The shopkeeper had long expected that there would be major casualties in blocking the German army in Standerton."

"I didn't expect it to be so big." Yi Zhizu sighed lightly, "The German Army has experienced a series of baptisms of the united war and has strong combat power. This is expected, but it is unexpected that heavy weapons develop so quickly and have so many equipment."

According to the real historical trajectory, rapid-fire cannons, mortars, light and heavy machine guns and other land war weapons were born 10 or 20 years later. However, Yuanqi concentrated manpower, material resources and financial resources to give priority to the development of military industry, and Yishishi's deliberate guidance and guidance, developed and equipped troops in parallel in advance, which also prompted European countries to compete to catch up and actively develop military industry, which can be said to have opened an arms race in advance. For Yishishi, this is both unexpected, but also expected.

Seeing that he did not hide anything, Zhao Liewen was speechless. The other party was clearly trying to find an excuse to withdraw his troops, so he deliberately wanted to severely damage the German army. Yi Zhizu seemed to be able to see through his thoughts, and then said, "It is also to show his strength. If the European Union does not want to give up the Transvaal gold mine, it will inevitably increase its troops in South Africa on a large scale. Since he is determined to fight this battle, he will naturally have to fight a big battle."

As soon as the words were finished, Yan Yangtian quickly stepped in and reported that "Principal, Maputo called, the main fleet has arrived."

"Call back." Yi Zhizu said without thinking, "Xiao Mingliang took the initiative to attack and Li Hongzhang made an appointment with President Transvaal."

A train was slowly driving on the plateau of South Africa with white smoke. The train tank carriage was filled with all kinds of people, both men, women, young, and ethnic groups, occupations and identities. It was like canned sardines, and there was no need to worry more.

The carriage was so crowded that it was so crowded with people on the roof. They now all had refugees of the same identity, all lucky ones who escaped from Pretoria and Fort John. After the French-Austrian coalition occupied Fort John, they originally planned to besiege the Transvaal capital Pretoria and reinforce Standerton. Before they could take action, news came that the German army was wiped out in Standerton. Unable to understand the real forces of the Qing army, and the Boer cavalry ambushed and harassed the Boer cavalry, the French-Austrian coalition simply defended Fort John.

The residents of Pretoria fled like frightened birds, and soon joined the refugees who escaped from Fort John and fled along the railway line to Maputo. The railway company sent a large number of trains to rescue these refugees along the road.

The tank carriage at the front of the train was empty, with only a dozen people. A thick green canvas split the carriage into two. President Pretorios Jr. sat cross-legged on the floor with his carriage. Opposite him was Vice President Paul Skruger and Secretary of Defense Paul Kruger. The three of them were originally escorted by the National Defense Forces to Maputo. When they saw a train coming to pick him up, they naturally abandoned the horse and boarded the car.

"The Qing army almost wiped out 40,000 German troops in Standedton, but it also suffered heavy casualties and has retreated to Maputo one after another." Pretorius said in a muffled voice, "What do you think about this?"

Kruger said slowly, "The original plan of the Qing army was to defeat each one, first concentrate troops to ambush and annihilate the German army at Standerton, and then regain Johannesburg through railways. Half a day before the war began, General Feng and Delare, who was stationed in Standerton, explained this plan in detail.

This is an impeccable plan. With the combat power of the Qing army, they have all the ability, but they didn't expect that their own casualties would be so great.

Drare has sent a telegram to confirm that the Qing army suffered more than 11,000 casualties, and only more than 1,000 people escaped. The Qing army had only more than 20,000 troops, and more than half of the casualties were killed or killed. We are not good at criticizing it if we withdraw to Maputo."

Why did the Qing army accuse the Qing army Kruger glanced at him? Not to mention that the Qing army annihilated 40,000 German troops and suffered huge casualties, but no casualties, and the Qing army fled without fighting. What can they blame? And, is it used to blame them? They must rely on the Qing country to resist European aggression.

He slowly lit a cigarette, and then he slowly said, "my country's gold mine reserves are large and the output is high. All the major powers in the world are very jealous and unwilling to take over the Qing Dynasty alone. This time, the four European countries invaded together for the gold mine.

The Qing Dynasty could not have been unclear about this, so it sent two more brigades as soon as possible. Although there were serious casualties in Standerton, it should be increased from the country soon. I think this is a rare opportunity for our country, an opportunity to expand my strength."

Little Pretorius nodded slightly. This war was indeed a rare opportunity for Transvaal to increase military strength. The Qing army usually refused to export various new heavy weapons to them by using the excuse of technology confidentiality. This war gave them a rare excuse.

Kruger said, "In fact, we are not short of money now, and there is no need to rely entirely on the Qing Dynasty. We can buy new weapons from European countries. Delare reported that the German army had more heavy weapons and equipment, and its performance was not inferior to that of the Qing Dynasty."

Because of the large-scale mining of gold mines, Transvaal has become rich like nouveau riche in recent years. It is indeed not short of money. However, buying weapons cannot be bought with money.

Kruger looked at him speechlessly, "My country has no port, it is a completely landlocked country. If you want to import arms on a large scale, you only have two options: through the port of the British or the port of the Qing people."

"Even if the Qing people are unwilling to buy large quantities of arms from other countries, there is no right reason to refuse." Kruger said without hesitation, "As for the British, I believe they are happy to see our country break away from the control of the Qing country and will not refuse our country's large quantities of arms imports."

Kruger was a pro-Qing faction. After hearing this, he immediately refuted, "The Qing Dynasty did not control our country, nor did he interfere in our internal affairs and diplomacy. The Qing Dynasty only cared about gold."

Seeing that the two people were getting far away, Pretorius coughed lightly and said, "My country has close ties with the Qing Dynasty. If we can purchase a large number of new weapons from the Qing Dynasty, we will naturally give priority to importing from the Qing Dynasty. If the Qing Dynasty does not sell it, we will think of other solutions."

After a pause, he continued, "The French and Austrian coalition should now know that the Qing army will withdraw from Maputo, and believe that it will attack Pretoria soon. This time, he went to Maputo, one was to ask the Qing army to send troops, and the other was to buy arms from the Qing country."

Kruger said, "The Qing army suffered too many casualties in Standedton. If there were no reinforcements from the country, they would probably not send troops easily. After all, the French and Austrian coalition also had 40,000 troops, and there were 20,000 Yi troops in succession."

Kruger said, "This is better. If the Qing army does not send troops, they will not refuse us to buy arms."

"If the Qing army did not send troops, what would be good?" Little Pretorius said coldly, "The French-Austrian coalition is recruiting mercenaries publicly, you have never heard of it."

Durban Bay. Durban Port, the interim command of the coalition naval forces.

As the sun sets, French Lieutenant General Marijul Dubaile sat in the window with nothing to do, drinking red wine and enjoying the beautiful scenery of the bay. News of the German Standerton's defeat had long been heard. Although he was an Allied army now, he was still happy from the heart. Unfortunately, the Qing army failed to kill or capture the blood prince Frederick Carl, and actually let the guy escape back to Dileshmith.

The 40,000 German troops were almost wiped out, but the French-Austrian coalition captured the gold city of Johannesburg. Seeing what Germany had in mind, the Transvaal gold mine had 40% of the shares. The news came back to Europe. The old German guy was afraid that he would jump straight away. If nothing unexpected happened, he would immediately increase his troops in South Africa.

"General." An officer walked over quickly, "The main fleet of the Qing Navy has arrived in Maputo, with thirty-two ironclad ships and six main warships."

When Du Bailei arrived so soon, he was a little surprised. He pondered for a moment, and then said, "Forward Cape Town, add a sentence. If you don't want Cape Town to become a battlefield, all warships should come to Durban immediately."

After drying the red wine in the glass, Du Bailei stood up and moved, then walked to the beach. It has been seven or eight years since the Battle of Mozambique. I wonder if the combat power of the Qing army's ironclad ships has been greatly improved. In recent years, the ironclad ships of Britain and France have been significantly improved, especially in terms of speed and naval gun fire. Unfortunately, the two countries have not developed torpedoes with practical value.

However, with the significant increase in the firepower of the naval guns, the torpedo no longer poses a serious threat. This time we need to see if the Qing army has developed any new weapons.

Maputo, Qing army camp, headquarters building.

Regarding the arrival of the President Transvaal and his delegation, Yi Zhengxing gave a high-standard reception, specially equipped a military band and a guard of honor. After entering the reception room of the headquarters building, Little Pretorius first congratulated the Qing army on the great victory of Standedton. Then he asked with concern, "I heard that your army suffered a lot of casualties in Standedton."

Yi Zhengxing nodded, "Kill one thousand enemies and hurt himself eight hundred. In the battle of Standerton, our army wiped out 30,000 German troops, but its own casualties were quite large, with more than 10,000 casualties. It can be said that more than half of them were injured and had no power to fight again, so we could only withdraw to Maputo for rest."

Pretorius little went on to ask, "I don't know when your reinforcements will arrive."

Yi Zhengxing said slowly, "The four European countries jointly invaded, and our country was not estimating the seriousness of this situation. Only two brigades were dispatched to reinforce. Unexpectedly, the casualties would be so great in the Battle of Standerton. It may take two or three months before successor reinforcements arrived."

Two or three months later, Pretorius was stunned and Kruger said, "The French-Austrian coalition forces dare not act rashly after capturing Fort John. However, after hearing that your army withdrew from Maputo, they have begun to march towards Pretoria. They also beg your army to send troops to help our defense force in time."

"In war, our army has never cared about the gains and losses of a city and a land, but about eliminating the enemy's living forces. People who have lost their land will all be left, people and land will all be left. "Yi Zhengxing said slowly, "Before, taking the initiative to give up Fort John and concentrating their troops to encircle and annihilate the German army in Standerton, was to uphold this idea.

Your country has a vast land and sparse population, limited troops, and our army has suffered too many casualties and urgently needs rest and rest. Therefore, I suggest that your country give up Pretoria for the time being and transfer and disperse it."

Despite the long-term expectations, Pretorius was still very disappointed and said unwillingly, "In recent years, my country's railways have developed rapidly. If we do not restrain ourselves, the enemy can use the railways to quickly and fully occupy them, and then send troops to recover them, which will inevitably cost a greater price."

This is not unreasonable, but the intention of voluntarily giving up Fort John and blocking the German army from casualties to withdraw troops on the pretext of withdrawing troops was to allow the Boers and the European Union to consume each other. How could Yi Zhengxing agree to send troops to reinforce Pretoria?

Seeing Yi Zhengxing, Li Hongzhang took over the conversation and said, "Mr. President, don't worry, your country's National Welfare Army is mainly cavalry, which is conducive to mobile combat. In addition, the enemy's troops are limited, so they dare not and do not have the ability to conduct a comprehensive occupation."
Chapter completed!