1890 King of Southeast Asia

Including the time of the Ottoman infantry attack, the total time was only two or three hours. In addition to the Hoxha headquarters that was finally blown up, the Ottomans lost more than 5,000 people, including 2,000 cavalry.

This level of reduction is equivalent to a division that has completely lost its combat effectiveness. More importantly, the entire army has temporarily lost its command and fell into chaos after losing its headquarters.

Guo Liang even calmly packed the bullet shells in various containers, and then followed the convoy to retreat to the east bank of the Euphrates River.

Even until all the Chinese Empire troops calmly passed the bridge, the Ottoman Empire still did not move at all.

"It's a pity that our troops are limited and we don't have the energy to continue attacking, otherwise this would be a good opportunity." Li Yunfei looked at Guo Liang who was calmly dragging the bullet shells and machine guns back, and said regretfully.

"Division Commander! We killed at least 3,000 people..." Guo Liang saw Li Yunfei by the bridge, his eyes lit up, and he quickly rushed up to show his merit.

"This Guo Liang must be up to no good. You deal with him. I'll go first." Li Yunfei shook his head, gave the chief of staff a few words, turned around and got in the car, and drove to the east of the bridge.

…………

Damascus.

Damascus is the largest city and capital of the Syrian province of the Ottoman Empire. It is located between two mountains. The river brings it an oasis and a beautiful environment. It is called "heaven on earth" or "garden on earth".

Damascus has a certain industry, sufficient water and food, and a large population, so it was selected by the Ottoman Empire and Germany to become the headquarters of the joint command.

Before the Huaxia Empire joined the war, the Ottoman Empire Army and the German Army set out from here and went south to Egypt to fight the British.

Historically, the strength of the British and British Egyptian colonial forces became very weak after the Battle of the Dardanelles and was on the defensive on the Sinai Peninsula. The Ottomans even pushed to the shore of the Suez Canal.

However, here, due to the attitude of the Huaxia Empire in favor of the Allies, the Ottomans did not invest much in the Sinai Peninsula. They were afraid that after the Huaxia Empire joined the war, it would directly cut off the retreat of the Ottoman Empire's army on the Sinai Peninsula.

Facts have proved that they did the right thing. After the Huaxia Empire joined the war, it took only three days for the motorized infantry to penetrate the Jordanian and Palestinian regions and advance to the Chinese Mediterranean Port of Haifa, cutting off the Ottoman Empire's contact with the Sinai Peninsula front.

At this time, Damascus was in a very bad situation.

After more than 70 years, war once again descended on this city, one of the oldest in human history, and unlike the past wars, this war brought a devastating blow to the city.

Damascus is very large, covering an area of ​​dozens of square kilometers. At present, it is already one of the largest cities in the world.

At this time, several square kilometers of areas in the south and east of Damascus have been almost completely destroyed by artillery fire.

"Have the Ottomans in the city tried to break through?" Zheng Lei was observing the situation in Damascus with a telescope on a mountain peak more than ten kilometers away from Damascus.

"There were two attacks at the division level and above, one in the daytime and one at night. We fought back the daytime attack with artillery shells, and the night attack was a mobile machine gun fire network formed by armored vehicles, which scared them back."

"The number of small-scale attempts to break out at the battalion and regiment level was very frequent. We had limited manpower and did not stop all of them successfully. There may be 2,000 to 3,000 people who escaped."

The chief of staff of the 5th Army said on the side that it snowed a few days ago and the temperature suddenly dropped by more than ten degrees. The commander of the 5th Army fell ill all of a sudden.

At the same time, many officers and soldiers fell ill, but none of them were as serious as the commander.

After long-term fatigue and poor rest, the doctor in the field hospital gave him a fever and reported that he needed to recuperate. Now he has been sent to Baghdad for recuperation, and the chief of staff will temporarily take over the command.

The candidate for the commander has not been decided yet. Zheng Lei is worried about the Damascus front. After all, the commander has fallen ill, what about the soldiers, so he decided to come and see.

"What a great city, what a great place!" Zheng Lei did not continue to ask about the breakout. Three or two thousand light infantry without supplies could not cause any trouble.

"Damascus is an ancient and beautiful city with a profound history and thousands of years of architecture. It is also an important node for the Ottomans to go south for pilgrimage. It has always been rich."

"At the same time, it is also a large oasis. The surrounding area of ​​dozens of kilometers is more than enough to support millions of people. According to the research of the Petroleum University and the Geological University, there are many mineral resources around it."

"It is also close to the seaside. If a railway is built from here to the seaside, it will only take 35 hours from Damascus to the seaside. It can be built as a core city in the west."

Zheng Lei kept praising, looking at the wheat fields with green and white echoing each other, and finally sat on a stone.

"For a long time, the defense and effective management of the west have been a deep problem for the Arab Production and Construction Corps."

"A large amount of money has been invested in Turayf, but only three wells have been dug. It is difficult to supply the army with groundwater, so where can we get water to supply agricultural production?"

"Maintaining the defense of a regiment in Turayf costs more than maintaining a division. All materials need to be transported by car through the desert Gobi. A truck needs to be overhauled after running two times."

"We should have fought this war a long time ago." Zheng Lei put a cigarette in his mouth and looked in the direction of Damascus. A huge complex of buildings came into view.

"The 5th Army can clear Damascus within a month...if necessary." The chief of staff said after a silence.

"No! You don't understand!" Zheng Lei shook his head firmly.

"This is a beautiful city, an ancient city, its history is too heavy, its symbolism is too obvious."

"It is too close to Europe, which is its advantage and disadvantage. This complex environment determines that we can't treat it like Baghdad."

"General Wang Xu has set out from Coconut City. He came for the Western Front. Damascus is his first stop."

Zheng Lei handed the chief of staff a cigarette, then lit it for himself and exhaled a puff of smoke in the direction of Damascus.

"10,000 Arab militias, 30,000 Mesopotamian militias, and a complete set of light weapons are all allocated to you to blockade Damascus." Zheng Lei saw that the chief of staff was silent and shook his head gently.

"Yes!" The chief of staff stood at attention.

"Bah! This place is too close to Europe. The blockade should be strong. Don't let anyone escape."

"The main force of the Ottoman Empire's 4th Army is still there. Be careful. I will squeeze out a few planes to support you."

After sinking for a long time, Zheng Lei threw away his cigarette butt in boredom, spit out the wind and sand that he accidentally inhaled, and turned away.

The chief of staff watched him get on the armored vehicle and board the airship to leave, and then returned to the position in a trance, looking at the ruins of Damascus.

The fighting habits of the 6th Army of the Huaxia Empire do not have this kind of destructive long-term coverage bombing. They prefer to concentrate firepower to break through the fixed point and then quickly go to the blitzkrieg of interspersed division.

Blitzkrieg is effective, fast and low-cost. It can well reduce the cost of war and increase the benefits of war, and at the same time it will not kill too many people.

Only during the period of the South China Empire, when targeting the natives in Southeast Asia, did the Huaxia soldiers carry out repeated sweeps and indiscriminate attacks, because these natives had deeply hurt the local Chinese.

As for who are the outsiders, Liu 1ming classified it as the part of expanding territory. A gentleman holds a 3-foot sword and establishes unparalleled achievements. This is allowed and accepted by traditional morality.

Similarly, indiscriminate attacks are also classified as revenge for 9 generations, the heart of those who are not my kind must be different, the debate between Chinese and barbarians, etc. Because of the cowardice of the Qing Empire, many people have made great corrections and do not care about these natives who have hatred with the Chinese.

For example, in Luzon, 90% of the natives, more than 2 million people lived from 1899 to 19th century. There are only hundreds of thousands of miners working in various places and some women married to Chinese.

This is a very horrible behavior. In the next few decades, Liu 1ming will have to carry titles such as "tyrant", "butcher" and "devil" on his head, and the implementer will also be scolded as "executioner".

However, due to practical needs and the current special historical environment (everyone is doing this, no one's ass is clean), Liu 1ming issued orders, Wang Xu faithfully executed them, and the cleanup was very thorough.

After that, China's rule over new territories such as Arabia, Mesopotamia, Hawaii and other regions was very mild - compared with Britain, France, the United States, Germany and other countries.

So this time, the chief of staff hesitated.

At the beginning of the conversation, the chief of staff understood what Zheng Lei meant.

The history is heavy, and the marks are too obvious. To effectively govern, these marks do not necessarily have to disappear completely, but they must retreat to the second line, and Chinese culture must occupy a dominant position.

The chief of staff does not care about this matter. He is a soldier, not a politician.

However, Zheng Lei's words later became more and more radical, and finally he said that Wang Xu was coming. He understood what he would do in the future and why Zheng Lei said that.

If he agreed just now, he would soon be able to become a regular, from chief of staff to a formal army commander. In war, this is very important.

This is also the reason why Zheng Lei did not appoint a new army commander. The chief of staff is familiar with the situation of the 5th Army, and it is definitely more suitable for him to be a regular officer, but he is not sure whether the chief of staff can execute certain orders without compromise, so he came to inspect and also to test.

He passed half of the test, did not show any inclination, but said that he would execute the order. Zheng Lei would not touch him, but he did not know what his future would be like.

After all, the one who came was Wang Xu, one of the four giants of the 6th Army, and the most controversial giant. He could only be dispatched if it was the emperor's will...

"Take out all the smoke bombs in the warehouse, as well as those non-lethal gases, and distribute them to various departments. From tomorrow, bomb the entire city of Damascus..."

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