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Volume Three: The Wind Rises in the South Chapter 24 Chapter 24 New Treaty

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    In Mandalay, it is already the end of August, and it has been more than 20 days since the Shun Army entered the city. The abundant rain clouds blowing from the Indian Ocean began to be gradually pushed out of central and southern Myanmar by the high-pressure air blowing from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.  In the sky above, the continuous rain is gradually replaced by the sun. The long rainy season is coming to an end, and Mandalay is about to enter the third and last season of 1885 - the cool season.  Most of Myanmar's land is located in tropical or subtropical areas. The southern and central areas can grow three crops of rice a year. In a normal year, this is the season for harvesting the second crop of rice. The rice in this season is the middle of the three crops in Myanmar.  In the most important season, after a large amount of rice is harvested, it will be transported by boat along the Irrawaddy River waterway to the capital Mandalay. After the rainy season, the wide river surface is crowded with boats transporting grain and cloth. About half of this wealth belongs to  The king used the wealth to support the army and bureaucracy, and the rest was produced by the fiefs of the nobility and monks in various monasteries near Mandalay. But the cool season of 1885 was different. The wide banks of the Irrawaddy River lined both sides  The fertile rice fields are full of harvested rice, but there are only a few farmers harvesting it. Even those who work feel that most of them are women and the old and weak. Seeing that the best harvest time is about to pass, these heavy ears of rice are about to fall.  The fields turned into mud.  The surface of the river was also empty, a scene of deathly silence.  "That king is really a crazy devil!" Gillings walked back to the hammock in disgust. Below him, there was a temporarily cleared open space. More than two thousand Burmese recruits wearing ill-fitting khaki uniforms were standing there.  Drilling, further away, a wooden trestle bridge under construction is extending into the Irrawaddy River.  There are one or two corpses hanging on the trees next to the road on the other side of the clearing. Judging from the degree of injury of the corpses, they have been hanging there for four or five days. These are all people who resisted Meng Ji's orders.  , the elders or leaders of the village community refused to hand over food and young men. Situations like this could be seen throughout the south.  Meng Ji used this cruel method to announce to the entire south what would happen if he resisted his orders.  Gillings lay back comfortably on the hammock, took a glass filled with pineapple juice from the Indian servant with a white cloth headband on the side, took a sip, and whispered: "Old Duncan, do you remember that terrible 1847  The terrible potato blight appeared, one in eight Irish people died of starvation, and nearly two million people immigrated to the United States. "Mr. Arkansas, you mean there is going to be a famine here?"  Duncan, who frowned and stared at the Burmese soldiers practicing in the open space on the river bank, turned around and said, "I'm sorry, I haven't seen the Great Famine in Ireland, but I have personally witnessed the Great Famine in India in 1865. Groups of textile workers  Starving to death on both sides of the road, their bones turning the plains near Calcutta almost white, it is a terrible sight. " "Old Duncan, to be honest, as a graduate of Bailey College, Oxford, I think it's a terrible sight!  Your comparison is not appropriate!" Gillings gestured with a smile, and the Indian servant on the side hurriedly came over to refill his juice: "The handlooms of those Indians who died in 1865 cannot compete with Manche.  The prices of their products in the big factories in Manchester were more expensive. The price of a foot of muslin was a full 35% higher than the CIF price of Manchester goods in Calcutta, so they were bankrupt and finished. But this was.  Of course, like a slower rabbit being eaten by a wolf, maybe some kind gentleman will sympathize with this, but it is also a matter of course, it is better for the whole nature, it is God's will. But this madness.  But because of his own ambition, the king of China took these poor guys from his shabby bamboo shack and let their rice rot in the ground. If these unlucky guys are lucky enough not to be killed by Chinese guns next spring.  , they will also starve to death in the following spring famine. This is the absurd collective slavery system in Asia, which caused hundreds of thousands of ordinary people to die miserably for the absurd ambition of a king" Duncan frowned,  Gillings's tirade was somewhat beyond his comprehension for this Scottish veteran who had served in India and Southeast Asia for more than twenty years.  It turned out that the puppet king Meng Ji, who fled to the Mingqi area, took up the banner of "fighting the Chinese invaders". On the one hand, he requisitioned food and soldiers in the Mingqi and Irrawaddy Delta areas under his control in preparation for restoring military strength; on the other hand, he blocked the waterways and never allowed any  A ship carrying food sailed to the capital Mandalay. At the same time, he signed a new treaty with Britain, which met all Gillings's requirements. In exchange, Britain promised to provide enough weapons and equipment to arm six thousand people within three months.  , and sent about a battalion of Indian troops from India to join the king's command as mercenaries. Since Meng now does not have enough cash to pay the above expenses, Standard Chartered Bank will grant a loan of five million pounds with an annual interest of 10%.  , repay in thirty years, and the principal can only be returned after fifteen years. Before repayment, the salt tax and customs tax revenue of the Kingdom of Myanmar will be used as offset.?.  At the same time, the British Empire would provide corresponding diplomatic support to Meng Ji. In this way, the rain clouds had not completely dispersed from the sky above Mandalay, and the dark clouds of a new war began to gather over the entire Myanmar.  "Old Duncan! Do you want some too! I brought whiskey and rum. I used this to make pineapple juice and it tastes good!" Gillings walked to a wicker box nearby and opened it, revealing the inside.  Here are some exquisite glass bottles.  Duncan swallowed, but still couldn't resist the temptation of alcohol. He put the short stick under his arm, took the wine glass and whispered: "Okay, to be honest, I'm a little thirsty too." Gillings looked at Duncan with a smile.  He drank a full glass of pineapple juice mixed with whiskey and asked, "More?" Duncan licked his lips, hesitated for a moment, and nodded. Gillings refilled the glass for him and smiled.  Said: "Old Duncan, you personally participated in the battle with the Chinese Expeditionary Force outside Mandalay. As a veteran soldier who has served in Asia for twenty-five years, you can make an objective assessment of the Chinese Expeditionary Force.  Comment? " Duncan took a sip of the drink in the glass. He looked at Gillings's face and noticed that although the other person had a smile on his face, it was not difficult to see the seriousness in it.  Duncan knew very well that the smiling young English nobleman in front of him had great potential power in London. His father's family had a position in the House of Lords, and there were two nobles on his mother's side who had served as ministers in the government in the past ten years. Among them  One is also the parliamentary leader of the opposition party in the House of Commons.  In other words, the Viscount of Arkansas is fully capable of bypassing his superiors in India and directly influencing London's Burma and even Southeast Asia policies through private channels.  So after the Chinese occupied Mandalay, London reacted so quickly, signed a treaty with the Burmese king, and responded.  It was only about a month since he left Mandalay. The colonial infantry battalion had arrived in Yangon from Calcutta by sea twelve days ago, and the first batch of weapons and supplies was already at sea.  For such a big man's question, he must be careful in his answer.  "Mr. Arkansas, judging from that battle, the Chinese have made great progress in military modernization, and their army has been completely 'Europeanized'!" Duncan replied carefully: "First of all, they succeeded  They organized an army of about 3,000 people to cross northeastern Myanmar during the rainy season, which shows that they have a very good logistics team; secondly, judging from their field camp on the outskirts of Mandalay, they already know how to dig snakes.  Trench, breastwork, build multi-faceted forts, use crossfire to take advantage of their firearms and reduce the enemy's huge advantage; and they already have a well-trained artillery that can use various equipment to measure distances  And perform indirect aim shooting, which shows that their artillery, at least the lower-level officers, have some education in mathematics and geometry, you know this is not easy for an Asian country; finally, the Chinese soldiers are very courageous, for these  Their southern neighbors have a psychological advantage, which can be seen from their courage to launch bayonet charges when facing enemies ten times their size. All in all, this expeditionary force is a pretty good small army.  Especially in Asia!" Gillings listened to Duncan's summary in silence. He did not answer immediately. After thinking about it for about five minutes, he asked in a low voice: "Lieutenant Duncan, can I explain what you said?  Do you understand that with the existing Burmese army, it will be difficult to defeat the Chinese expeditionary force in a short time? " "Yes!" Duncan nodded: "Mr. Arkansas, even if the British officers are assigned to the first company.  level, after another three to four months of training, the combat effectiveness of these new Burmese troops is also very limited. Maybe they can resist the Chinese attack behind the fortifications, but it is not enough to launch an attack. The soldiers build trust in the officers and also  It will take more time to cultivate an offensive spirit, not to mention technical arms such as artillery, which require longer training. It is impossible, if not impossible, to defeat the Chinese expeditionary force with the Burmese new army in a short time.  "Extremely difficult." "Very well, Lieutenant Duncan, thank you very much for your advice!" Gillings nodded. He put his wine glass back on the tray in the hands of the Indian servant and began to think deeply.  In the report he sent to his superiors in Calcutta not long ago, he detailed the situation of the Chinese Expeditionary Force occupying Mandalay and the King of Burma's retreat to the south. In the second half of the report, Gillings spent considerable space pointing out that this was  Since the second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852 (in this war, the British army occupied Yangon by sea, then moved up the Irrawaddy River and defeated the Burmese army in Pyay, but after receiving the request for help from the King of Burma, Shunguo sent  With the support of the army, the British army was forced to abandon Pyay, and in the subsequent peace talks, they obtained the right to lease Rangoon), which was the best opportunity for the British Empire to extend its power deep into Myanmar.  To achieve this goal, Gillings suggested that the British Empire support Meng Ji to ascend the throne of Burma.  And his bossGillings was asked to be more detailed in the relevant content of the report, such as the number of troops to be invested, the troops that the Shun Army may invest, and the corresponding combat effectiveness. However, Duncan's evaluation of Myanmar's own army has forced him to reconsider the wording in the report.  After all, although the British Empire is very powerful now, it is also facing more and more challenges. In Europe, South America, Africa, and every corner of the world, there are interests of the British Empire. In order to protect these interests, the British Empire almost  Having to be enemies with all the powerful countries in the world is already a bit stretched. Under such circumstances, it is very difficult to persuade those members of the House of Commons to invest too much power in seizing a land that is not so productive.  But if the enemy's strength is underestimated in the report, this is even more dangerous. How to find a balance between the dilemmas?  Thinking of this, Gillins couldn't help but hesitate.
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