.

+:., (51 people in total) intercepted a British vehicle on the Western Cape Railway in British Betunnaland. The entire battle lasted 20 minutes, and two Northeast Volunteers were injured. The captives of this full load of arms, 1.5 million bullets of three rifles and 260 British troops became prisoners. The excellent combat effectiveness shown by the Northeast Volunteers attracted President Kruger's attention and made an exception to hand over the command of the Utrecht and Vakstrom militia to the 24-year-old major.

On May 12, 1896, the Transvaal government issued an ultimatum to Britain, demanding that Britain stop increasing troops to South Africa, withdraw all troops that arrived in South Africa after June 1, and arbitrate all diplomatic arbitration, and respond to 48 hours. Chamberlain ordered Milner to refuse the conditions proposed by South Africa. The Second British-British War broke out.

The pre-war mobilization meeting is underway in tension, the hero of the First Boer War - General Piet Joubert, commander-in-chief of the Bundesliga Army, pointed to the large-scale military map

"Now our army has an advantage in numbers and a certain advantage in weapons. My opinion is to divide the troops into five groups, attack Lady Smith, attack Dundee, attack Maverkin, attack Kimberley, and destroy the transportation of the two Cape railways, east and west. In this way, he will hold the British's vitals and make him admit defeat and never dare to cause trouble again."

Everyone here nodded, but only Zhao Shizhen was confused. Seeing that no one around had any objections, Zhao Shizhen couldn't hold it in a while:

"General Jubert, I have a question: We have more troops than the British army, so why don't we join together and attack the enemy one by one with a huge number of people. Second, we must break up the superior forces, and we will divide the enemy and be the only one. This will lead to the defeat of the battle."

General Zhubert was not angry when Zhao Shizhen asked (most foreigners were talking about things and did not have the same sense of face as Chinese people), and asked back: "Major Zhao, then how do you fight?"

Zhao Shizhen's confident answer:

"Before the British reinforcements arrive in South Africa, our troops should concentrate their superior forces and head to the southwest to occupy Kimberley, the strategic location of the British main force stationed on the Western Cape Railway. This place has a large amount of gold inventories and not many guards, so the British will definitely come to rescue them. Because of the different distances, the time for each reinforcement will be first and later, which is just right for our army to wait for work and defeat them. Once most of the British reinforcements are eliminated by our army, Kimberley will become an isolated city. As long as a person who is eloquent to lobby, Kimberley will inevitably surrender in order to survive. In this way, the British will suffer a great loss and South Africa will become our territory."

General Jubert asked again: "Where are the British troops in Cape Town? What about the African natives?"

Zhao Shizhen laughed:

"There is a story in our country that two thousand years ago, a country called Shu, lost all the most elite troops of the kingdom because of a willful behavior by their king. And their two enemy countries incited five armies to attack him. Do you know what happened later?"

"Are all these five armies defeated?"

"No, only one of the five routes really wants to attack Shu. The prime minister of Shu correctly identified this route and sent an army to defeat this route. The other four routes just wanted to get a bargain. Seeing that they were defeated, they did not attack. Shu just threatened them like this."

President Kruger asked: "Zhao, do you mean that we can dispel the idea of ​​niggers getting cheap by defeating the British army."

Zhao Shizhen nodded, General Zhubert also looked at Zhao Shizhen with approval, Zhao Shizhen said while it was hot:

"I think it is possible to incite Boer riots in the Cape colonies, restrain British troops, especially to destroy the transportation of the two Cape railways, east and west, and prevent the reinforcements of British troops from using the railway to advance north. In addition, in order to prevent African indigenous people from taking advantage of the opportunity to attack the Boers, guarding the Swaziland border, the 1,000 militia stationed at the Qatar~|local site was safe."

After listening to it, President Kruger and General Jubert began to speak Dutch. This time the translator did not say it to Zhao Shizhen. Obviously, the two people were discussing important things. After a while, General Jubert shook his hand vigorously, while President Kruger patiently persuaded Jubert. After President Kruger patiently persuaded him, General Jubert nodded reluctantly and turned to Zhao Shizhen and said

"Now our offensive plan has come out. Before the British reinforcements arrive in South Africa, our troops should concentrate their superior forces and divide them into two routes, attack Natal eastward, divide and surround two main British strongholds - Lady Smith and Dundee, and occupy the port of Durban to obtain the sea outlet; and the other way to the southwest, occupy two strategic areas where the British main force stationed on the Western Cape Railway Line - Horse

At the same time, inciting Boer riots in the Cape colony, restraining British people was to destroy the transportation of the two Cape railways, east and west, and preventing reinforcements from using the railway to advance north. In addition, in order to prevent African indigenous people from taking advantage of the opportunity to attack the Boers, General Princelow led heavy troops to station in the Xianghe River Basin far away from the frontline to guard against the Pedy riots, a militia of 8001,000 people were stationed on the Swaziland border, and a militia of 1,000 people were stationed on the Qatar~

You will be the vanguard of the Eastern Route Army, searching for the main force of the enemy, and I personally lead the main force behind you to support you, hoping that you can be as brave and good at fighting as the president said.

”

Facing General Jubert's eyes, Zhao Shizhen answered firmly: "God of General, you will get the answer on the battlefield."

Compared with Transvaal, although the British government had already decided to resolve the South African issue by war, it did not realize the urgency of military preparation. The British Intelligence Department (at that time, the United Kingdom had not established the General Staff Department) and the British army had serious underestimation of the enemy. The Intelligence Department concluded that the problem of defending the two South African colonies was to deal with the attacks of two or three thousand Boers. A British infantry with a certain strength, with the support of cavalry and artillery, was more than enough to invade the two Boer republics. The British army could easily defeat the Boers on the open plateaus of Orange and Transvaal.

The British army's strategic plan was that reinforcements first entered the Cape colony to prevent the local Boers' rebellion, and then went straight to Pretoria through three railway lines, namely the East and West Cape and Natal (from Durban Port to Johannesburg), and ended the war before Christmas. But the development of the situation was completely beyond the British's estimates. The Boers, who were all soldiers, had already been waiting for a showdown with the British.

After the news of the war with Britain was announced, in the towns of Transvaal and Orange, local Boer citizens picked up their weapons, went to the assembly site, and joined the militia. The Boer farmers scattered in the vast South African plateau also formed a small combat force with their sons, horses and rifles, and entered into battle as combatants. In the early days of the war, before the British reinforcements arrived, the Boer people and foreign volunteers (a total of 35,000 people) on the battlefield temporarily. The numerical advantage over the British army (2 people).

After the war broke out, the Boers took the initiative to launch an offensive. 512, the Boer coalition composed of the Transvaal army and the Orange armed forces drove eastward. The descendants of the French Huguenots and the hero of the First Boer War, General Piet Joubert, the commander-in-chief of the Boer Army, led the main force, crossed the Drakens Mountain from East Orange, entered the Natal colony, and attacked Lady Smith, the main force of the British army in Natal.

The British army stationed in the area of ​​Ladysmith-Dundee had two brigades, about 8,000 people. The Bundesliga included militias from Pretoria, Heidelberg, Freihead, Utrecht, Middleburg and Waxtrum, with a total of about 14,000 people. Jubert sent Major Zhao Shizhen to lead the leading troops and arrived in Dundee on 518, trying to encircle and divide the garrison there. However, the 600 British troops stationed in Dundee had escaped before the arrival of the Bundesliga and retreated to Ladysmith. In the early morning of 520, the pursued Bundesliga fought against a brigade stationed in Mount Tarana to defend the outer line of Ladysmith. Zhao Shizhen's militias had more than 2,000 people, while the British army had more than 4,000 people.

In Zhao Shizhen's impression, the British army was invincible. Such a powerful country in the Qing Dynasty was defeated by thousands of British troops, which shows how powerful the British were. If Zhao Gangqiang had not ordered him to join the volunteer army, he would never have the courage to face the British. After several hours of surveying the terrain, Zhao Shizhen discovered that as the most obvious commanding height, no one was stationed in Mount Tarana. This made Zhao Shizhen unable to believe that after several careful searches, Zhao Shizhen confirmed that the British did not fortify Mount Tarana.

In the evening, the Utrecht militia and the Vakstrom militia under Zhao Shizhen quietly occupied the commanding heights of Mount Tarana, which was ignored by the British army, and placed the artillery on the flat high ground on the top of the mountain, and the remaining troops were scattered to both wings. Major Zhao Shizhen used favorable terrain and morning mist to launch a sudden attack on the surprised British army in the early morning. The 75mm rapid-fire gun of the Bundesliga (developed by the Northeast Republic) ranged beyond the British army's 15-pound gun, and the cemetery formed by the gentle terrain of Mount Tarana.

The British commander Major General Simmons was killed by the sniper of the Boer militia during the battle. In the end, it was entirely due to the cavalry troops' decisive counterattack. The British army was able to repel the attack of the Buffet Army. Before General Jubert's main force arrived the next day, he fled to Lady Smith. In the battle of Mount Tarana, the British army lost 465, most of them were cavalry, and the Buffet Army lost 145, most of them died from the impact of the cavalry.
Chapter completed!