Transvaal, Johannesburg, Allied Command.

Despite the capture of Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Louis Léon Sezar Federb, did not move his headquarters to Pretoria, not only because of Johannesburg's gold prominence, but also because of its proximity to Mafrentin, which was connected by rail to Cape Town.

As the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Federeb was not carried away by the victory, and after learning that the annual output of the Johannesburg gold mine was indeed as high as one hundred and fifty tons, he knew very well that the Qing army would never give up easily, and it was impossible to give up! Not surprisingly, the Qing army would soon counterattack.

Therefore, after the attack on Chardtoria, he immediately adjusted his plan of operations, and did not rush to a full-scale occupation, but advanced along the railway line towards Maputo, not to attack Maputo, but to destroy the railway line in the Transvaal.

The 40,000 German troops were almost completely annihilated at Sanderton, resulting in a serious shortage of allied troops, and he had to destroy the railroad as much as possible to delay the Qing army's counterattack, in short, to delay time and wait for reinforcements.

With the existing strength of the coalition army, it is impossible to resist the counterattack of the Qing army, and after the battle of Standton, he has a clear understanding of the combat power of the Qing army, at least on par with the German army, and even above the German army, and is extremely bold.

In his opinion, it was simply bold for the Qing army to abandon Fort John, concentrate on the Standton ambush and almost annihilate 40,000 German troops when the strength was obviously weak, and he did not have the courage to do so anyway.

He had to buy time and delay as long as possible until reinforcements arrived, and he had reported in detail to the country and suggested that additional reinforcements should be sent, without which Johannesburg would not have been able to hold it at all. As for sending reinforcements, he was not worried at all, in the face of the world's largest gold mine, since he swallowed it in his stomach, there was absolutely no possibility of spitting it out again! Especially after the Qing and the Five Kingdoms declared war on each other, it was even more impossible to spit out!

"Your Excellency ——。" A staff officer hurried in and handed a telegram: "Come from Cape Town, Qing reinforcements have arrived in Maputo, roughly estimated at about 100,000 people. ”

After reading the telegram, Federeb's face was a little ugly, and the reinforcements from the Qing Kingdom came so quickly, far more than he expected. 100,000 Qing troops, how can this resist?

"Call back!" Federeb said in a deep voice, "I need reinforcements!" Otherwise, the Johannesburg retreat can only be abandoned! After the staff officer withdrew, he pondered for a long time before he said: "Come, herald, garrison troops in various places, and sweep out all the farms and towns in the vicinity of the places in regimental units, kill all the blacks and Boers, plunder the horses, livestock, and grain, and burn all the crops, orchards, and pastures...... In a word, destroy everything you see! ”

All Federeb can think of is the clear wall, destroying the railway and the clear field, and only in this way can the pace of the Qing army's offensive be delayed to the greatest extent. Otherwise, he would have no choice but to retreat. He didn't want to retreat, and he didn't want to give up Johannesburg! He knew very well that once he gave up, if he wanted to regain it, he would have to pay a greater price.

Federeb's orders were immediately carried out, and the allied forces from all over the country quickly dispatched to frantically burn and plunder, and the Transvaal suddenly became a hell on earth.

The first to be angered were the Boers, although the Transvaal Wehrmacht expanded again and again, with more than 50,000 troops, but in order to preserve its strength, the Wehrmacht was mainly harassing, and rarely had large-scale battles with the coalition forces.

Maputo, the camp of the Qing army.

Putting down the telegram, Feng Zicai said with a solemn expression: "On the one hand, it is to destroy the railway, and on the other hand, it is a strong wall and clear the wilderness, this trick is really vicious, we want to quickly send troops to recover Fort John and Pretoria, I'm afraid it will be difficult." ”

"I think that's a good thing." Li Hongzhang said slowly: "In this way, our army can only advance steadily, and the Boers have been avoiding a major conflict with the coalition army in order to preserve their strength, and this Federeb has helped us a lot." ”

"But in this case, I'm afraid we won't have a chance to annihilate these tens of thousands of coalition troops." Feng Zicai said: "Obviously, the enemy is trying to delay the march of our army, and the British will definitely reinforce quickly." ”

"The British also have limited troops in South Africa, so there is nothing to worry about, so what about sending reinforcements? It's easy to wipe it out. Li Hongzhang said casually: "120,000 elites, plus 50,000 Boer Defense Army, can't wipe out tens of thousands of rabble?" ”

Yi Zhengxing looked at the two of them and said, "Steady progress, the current situation can only be steadily advanced." ”

Li Hongzhang continued: "The logistics and supply must be in our own hands, and the safety of the 100,000-strong army cannot be delivered to the Boers. In addition, a telegram was sent to the Boers and told them to try not to engage in large-scale battles with the enemy, the European coalition forces had already massively increased their forces. ”

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

"With the exception of Shanxi, the drought in all other northern provinces has been alleviated." Zhao Liewen said slowly: "From Zhilu in the east, to Shaanxi and Gansu in the west, after the beginning of spring, it has rained, the cracked land has been moistened and greened, the dry riverbed, the lake has been re-rippling clear waves, and the drought has come to an end, as the big shopkeeper expected." ”

Yi Zhizhi asked casually: "What is the situation in Shanxi?" ”

"The drought in Shanxi is still the same, and it has been dry since a brief period of rain in June last year." Zhao Liewen said: "In the student's humble opinion, the drought may not end until the summer, but now the drought in Shanxi Province is no longer a concern, and machine drilling teams can be dispatched from neighboring provinces to drill wells to fight the drought." ”

"The wells in Shanxi are not easy to fight." Yi Zhizu sighed lightly, but, in general, it was just the drought in Shanxi, so there was really no need to worry too much, and after a little muttering, he said: "It's a good thing that the drought is coming to an end, but now is not the time to be careless, we must beware of epidemics, especially at the turn of spring and summer." ”

"The big shopkeeper can rest assured." Zhao Liewen nodded, "All provincial capitals and counties have always focused on epidemic prevention. ”

"This drought has lasted for a long time, has a wide scope, and has affected hundreds of millions of people, even if the drought is lifted, we cannot relax." Speaking of this, Yi Zhizu sighed lightly, "This time is really hurting, if you want to recover, I am afraid it will take a few years, let them increase the promotion of agricultural machinery, may as well vigorously launch small loans, installments and other measures to encourage, not only the northern provinces, Anxi, Xinjiang, Mongolia, Northeast and other places are the same." ”