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Text Chapter 137: Additional Troops

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    "General, you have just arrived in India. If you stay a few more years, you should be able to get used to these Indians!" said a tall, middle-aged soldier with short blond hair.  His name is French, whose full name is John Denton Pinkstone French. He is the brigadier general of the 28th Infantry Brigade of the British Army and one of the brigade commanders of the four infantry brigades of the British Army in India.  This time, it was he and Lieutenant General Henry Wellesley who were responsible for the attack on the Shannan area in western Sichuan.  He has served in India for many years, and naturally has a deep understanding of the offensive power of these indigenous Indian soldiers.

    In the previous Battle of Volta Mountain, tens of thousands of Indian soldiers attacked the Western Sichuan Army with only more than a thousand soldiers. They fought for two days without defeating them.  Later, it was his 28th Infantry Brigade that was dispatched, which forced the Western Sichuan Army to retreat due to heavy casualties.

    "Damn, we've been blocked here for ten days. The Western Sichuan Army must have reacted. It's impossible for us to quickly break into the Shannan area. It's all these damn Indian natives!" Henry Weir  Sli cursed bitterly.  As the grandson of the Duke of Wellington, he was eager to build on his grandfather's exploits.  Therefore, he took the initiative to request to be transferred to serve in the Indian Army.  The purpose is to be able to make a difference in Asia.  Britain has long coveted the plateau.  Henry Wellesley believed that if he could capture the Plateau Province or the tens of thousands of square kilometers of land south of the Himalayas, then he would have achieved considerable results.  But now it was like this, which made him very angry.

    "General, I have long said that the Western Sichuan Army is not the Manchu and Qing army decades ago, and they are not that easy to deal with. With just our small force, especially the majority of them being indigenous Indian troops, if we want to defeat the Western Sichuan Army,  That's basically impossible!" Brigadier General French replied.

    "Then what should we do now? Give up? No! Absolutely not! Now the whole world knows that our British Empire is attacking the plateau. If we retreat, what will other powerful countries think of us? This will make Britain  The empire has lost face internationally." Henry Wellesley roared angrily.  In fact, he thought about it the most.  Or his own reputation.  As the grandson of the Duke of Wellington, he came to India ambitiously without informing the British mainland.  He and the Governor of India, Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, sent troops to attack the plateau.  If you win and occupy the plateau, you will naturally win supreme glory.  If you lose the battle or return without success.  Then he might have to take responsibility.  Considering that he is the grandson of the Duke of Wellington, he may not be allowed to go to court martial.  But it was inevitable that his military career would end.  Henry Wellesley would never allow such a thing to happen, which would undoubtedly add stain to his family's honor.

    French shrugged and said nothing more.  Henry Wellesley, like other British nobles, was proud.  Arrogant and unable to listen to the advice of others.  In this case, they will only wake up after suffering a lot.  Compared with Henry Wellesley, his military rank was two levels lower and he was still a civilian. Of course Henry Wellesley would not listen to him.

    "Commander! Send someone to inform the Governor that the strength of the Western Sichuan Army is beyond our expectation. It is impossible to win with the current strength alone! I hope that the Governor can send as many reinforcements as possible to support us! Remember. What we need is  Soldiers of the British Empire, not the native Indians who just know how to run away!" Henry Wellesley planned to ask for help from the Governor-General of India, Henry Petty Fitzmaurice.  Henry Petty Fitzmaurice served as the fifth Governor General of Canada and was also an ambitious guy.  He and Henry Wellesley hit it off and launched this attack.  If it fails, he will also take responsibility.  He and Henry Wellesley were like grasshoppers on the same line, and neither could escape.  therefore.  He could only fully support Henry Wellesley.

    As the most important British colony, India has relatively good infrastructure construction.  Northern India is mostly plains.  The construction of both railways and roads is relatively easy.  In addition, there are telegraph lines connecting the northern border towns with Delhi.  therefore.  Henry Wellesley could easily contact Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, the Governor-General of India in Delhi.

    Henry Petty Fitzmaurice, who was far away in Derry, also had a headache after receiving Henry Wellesley's request for help.  Originally, he thought that the Western Sichuan Army was vulnerable and that they could occupy the Chinese territory south of the Himalayas before Western Sichuan could react, creating a fait accompli.  When the time comes, the British government will put more pressure on Western Sichuan, and Western Sichuan will inevitably admit the British occupation of this area.  But now, the British-Indian army's operation failed, and he was also in trouble.  It is obviously impossible to withdraw and pretend that nothing happened.  If he fails to succeed, perhaps he should face domestic censure.  Now that we have taken action, we must win.  Therefore, he could only agree to Henry Wellesley's request,And pray to God that Henry Wellesley will win.

    In order to support Henry Wellesley, Henry Patty Fitzmaurice mobilized as many troops as possible to support him.  Among them, there are two British infantry brigades stationed in India, as well as 30,000 Indian indigenous troops, and there is also the famous Langka Infantry Brigade.  The total number of reinforcements reached more than 40,000. Adding the previous 30,000 troops, the number of troops invading the Chinese plateau reached more than 70,000.  This was already the largest force Henry Petty Fitzmaurice could mobilize.  If Henry Wellesley could not win, there was no other way but to admit defeat.

    These reinforcements will travel to northeastern India via the railway in northern India, and then walk to the southern foothills of the Himalayas to support Henry Wellesley.  However, it will take about a week to reach the battlefield.

    After receiving the news that reinforcements were coming, Henry Wellesley seemed to have taken a piece of reassurance and was no longer as nervous as before.  That afternoon, he ordered the army to launch another attack, and even the British 28th Infantry Brigade also coordinated to launch the attack.  This attack was obviously much more threatening than the attack by the Indian indigenous soldiers.  Under the leadership of the British soldiers, these Indian Asan seemed to have been inspired with great courage. They charged despite the hail of bullets from the Western Sichuan Army. They even threatened the forward positions of the Western Sichuan Army and caused considerable damage to the Western Sichuan Army.  casualties.  However, after the British 28th Infantry Brigade retreated at the cost of hundreds of casualties, the Indian Asan collapsed immediately as if its backbone had been taken out.  If Wang Yuze didn't have enough troops now, he would have taken the opportunity to launch a counterattack, and he would have achieved considerable results.

    In the next two days, the British and Indian troops did not launch attacks. It seemed that their losses were not small due to the continuous attacks.  Especially the morale of those Indian Asans is getting lower and lower. If they continue to fight, they may collapse at any time.  Henry Wellesley was also concerned about this and did not dare to put too much pressure on the troops.

    On April 12, the Ninth Brigade of Western Sichuan arrived in Mara, which immediately enriched Wang Yuze's troops.  The Ninth Brigade is a mountain infantry brigade, which is more adapted to mountain operations. It fights in the southern foothills of the Himalayas and has strong combat effectiveness.

    On April 13, after a day of rest, the ninth brigade commander Du Qizheng, deputy brigade commander Zhang Ruifeng and chief of staff Qian Tailin all approached Wang Yuze and asked to join the battle.

    Wang Yuze can also understand the eagerness of these generals to fight.  After all, during last year's war between Western Sichuan and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Eighth and Ninth Brigades had been guarding the plateau and failed to win a battle, which disappointed them.  Now that the British have finally gotten together without good reason, why not seize this opportunity to give them a hard blow and strive to make contributions?

    "Young Marshal, please let our Ninth Brigade go up. Although there are still more than 20,000 British people, we guarantee that we can break through their defense lines and drive them out of our territory!" Du Qizheng, commander of the Ninth Brigade  Said in a deep voice.  Du Qizheng was a middle-aged man who was rather skinny and dark. Although he had no education, he started as a soldier and made a lot of contributions in more than 20 years before he grew from a soldier to a brigadier general.  Although he has received training from the Army Academy, there are still many habits that cannot be changed.

    "Lao Du, it's not that I don't let you attack, it's that I'm waiting for the opportunity. The British dare to invade our territory, how can we just repel them like this? According to the intelligence we received, the command of the British army on the opposite side  The officer is a duke, the grandson of the famous Duke of Wellington. If we catch him, then this war will be over!" Wang Yuze said.

    "Duke? Okay! Marshal, you give the task to me, Lao Du, and I, Lao Du, promise to complete the task. If you can't complete it, I, Lao Du, will come to see you!" Du Qizheng immediately patted his chest and said.  He knew that if he could capture the other party's duke commander, it would be a great achievement.  Maybe he could even move up a level, from a brigadier general, a reserve general, to a major general, and become a real general.

    "Don't be busy! The 7th Brigade is about to arrive. After they arrive, we will not have a disadvantage in terms of strength. We will be more confident by then. The 9th Brigade is one of our two mountain infantry brigades in western Sichuan. I  I will give you the most important task!" Wang Yuze said.

    ¡°Young Marshal, despite your orders, our Ninth Brigade will definitely complete its mission!¡± Du Qizheng directly assured.

    PS: The third update is here!
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