Zhang Haobo, a major agent of the Central Asia Provincial Bureau of Statistics, and Gao Yitong, commander of the Second Brigade and Second Regiment of the Fifth Field Division of the Chinese Army, set off on the same day with a team of more than 210 people.

The cavalry of the troops is all colors, and there is definitely no problem with combat effectiveness, but the number is too small.

Britain's regular troops in Afghanistan have reached 150,000, Britain has more than 50,000 troops in India, and Britain's Indian coercive troops in Afghanistan have also reached 300,000!

The local militia in Afghanistan has reached about 1.2 million, but it is only a sickle, bow and arrow, and in the end it cannot confront the British on the frontal battlefield, and the war between the two sides for Kandahar has lasted for more than a year, and Kandahar is in the hands of the British army, and Kandahar is in the hands of the Afghan army.

Therefore, before the troops left, Ekaterina Klimova would tell Zhang Haobo and Gao Yitong that if Kandahar was in the hands of the British army, it would be fine for them to only take care of the embassy and Chinese merchants, and if Kandahar was in the hands of the Afghans, they would try their best to influence Mohammad Yakub Khan.

They set out from Herat, went to Kandahar, and soon arrived in the Helmand River valley, if this is the area controlled by the Chinese army, in fact, this special cavalry unit of the Chinese army, three days, is enough to reach the destination, however, this time the situation is different, so Vladimir Granat, as their supreme operational commander, did not stipulate a specific time for their arrival, as long as the people are safe.

"Be vigilant, this area will run into the Afghan army at any time." Zhang Haobo said to the guide beside him, who is also an agent of the Huaguo Bureau of Statistics.

Mahmoudi was recruited by Hua Guo in 1874 and has been at the Hua National Bureau of Statistics for more than six years, training for more than five years and serving for one year.

Since 1872, Emperor Hua has been recruiting agents all over the world, with a total of more than 40,000 agents, and the total number of overseas agents of the Chinese Bureau of Statistics is 200,000, of whom more than two-tenths are foreign agents.

Mahmoudi is particularly familiar with the situation in Afghanistan, but he is not an Afghan, but a person from Almaty, and has been sent to Afghanistan for field training many times during his training, and is very familiar with the situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.

Mahmoudi nodded and agreed with Zhang Haobo's words, "What the head said is very right, you should be careful here, where there are dense forests, it is possible to encounter the guerrillas in Afghanistan, guerrilla warfare, not the wounds of China, as long as the weak army meets a strong opponent, no matter what, guerrilla tactics will be adopted." ”

Listening to the words of the two people, Gao Yitong looked around vigilantly, he was the highest-ranking officer in this army, but he was led by a senior agent, so he had to listen to Zhang Haobo's words in this small army.

"I think, stop for a while, wait for the scout in front to come back, and then move forward, I'd rather go slower." Gao Yitong suggested.

"It's okay, just do what Captain Gao wants." Zhang Haobo nodded.

The troops stopped for about ten minutes, and the reconnaissance cavalry in front returned, and sure enough, they found traces of the Afghans.

"It looks like we've been targeted since we entered the Helmand River valley." Gao Yitong said to Zhang Haobo and Mahmoudi.

Zhang Haobo said: "Perhaps, as soon as we are out of the range of Herat, there are already Afghans staring at us, we have agents, they also have agents, although we are not as professional as us, but it does not mean that there are none." ”

Mahmoudi nodded: "Probably like this, otherwise, we haven't seen any Afghans all the way, it's very strange, I think, most of them want to set up an ambush here." ”

"Tell the stationmaster of Vladimir Granat about the situation here, and call them through the microphone to tell them that we are not here to be hostile to the Afghans, we are going to Kandahar to protect our embassy." Zhang Haobo said to Mahmoudi.

"Yes, head." Mahmoudi agreed, and the cat bent forward to shout into the forest, believing that if the Afghans had set up an ambush in this section, they would have been able to hear it.

"Friends, we are the Chinese army, we are not here to be hostile to you, we are just going to Kandahar to protect our embassy, we only have two hundred people, I believe you have all seen it, right?" Mahmoudi shouted loudly in pure Afghan dialect.

I shouted for several minutes, but there was no response from the jungle.

Mahmoudi said to Zhang Haobo: "What should I do like this? I don't know if they agree or disagree, if they're still in our neighborhood, or if they're gone? ”

"Don't shoot, move slowly. Dismount them all. Zhang Haobo to Gao Yi channel.

Gao Yitong nodded, and said softly to the officers beside him: "Inform it, everyone move forward slowly, pay special attention to vigilance, and don't shoot casually." All dismount and move forward. ”

In this way, the troops all dismounted, and everyone carried the president's 1878 rifle, the most advanced rifle of this era, and followed suit, one followed the other, nervously walking in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Bang, the sound of a bow and arrow detaching from the bowstring broke the tension.

In an instant, several warriors fell to the ground with arrows.

"Hide!" Without waiting for Gao Yitong to shout, these battle-hardened veterans drank and looked for a place to hide.

With the quality of the Chinese army, it is impossible to be ambushed at close range, and the other party suddenly came out of the mountain, and there were thousands of people, all wearing turbans, and they knew at a glance that they were indigenous Afghans.

"Fight back on the spot!" Zhang Haobo said to Gao Yi Channel, it was too late to withdraw at this time, and the bows and arrows of these people were not vegetarians, especially in the old forest, and the power was no worse than the President of the Chinese Army's 1878 rifle.

"Fight back on the spot, give me a hard beating!" Gao Yitong gave the order loudly.

Bang bang.

Although the number of this unit is small, it is the elite of the old third division, which one is not a hundred shots?

A round of intensive shooting caused the Afghans who rushed down from the mountain to fall in rows, and the natives fought purely by bravery, where is the consciousness of modern warfare? Just now, they were taking advantage of the first move, if the Chinese army knew in advance that they were going to make a move, no one of the Chinese army would die.

In less than five minutes, more than half of the more than 1,000 natives died, and where had the remaining two or three hundred people seen such a fire attack? He didn't even care about the corpse of his companion, so he fled to the mountain without his life under the command of the leader's trumpet.

"To chase or not to chase?" Gao Yitong was furious, and several brothers died, although not all of them were his own subordinates, but the Chinese army was as close as brothers and sisters, as long as they were wearing the uniforms of the Chinese army, if one died, everyone would be angry with the enemy.

Zhang Haobo said: "Don't chase it, you can't kill it if you catch up, so as not to cause a bigger misunderstanding." ”

"It's all like this? What misunderstanding are you afraid of? These people are indiscriminate, they don't talk, they just come up and do it. Gao Yitong said dissatisfied.

"That's because we're on someone's territory, what can the natives tell you?" Zhang Haobo sighed and said, "Hurry up and pack up the bodies of your brothers and leave this forest area as soon as possible." ”

Gao Yitong saw that Zhang Haobo gave a clear order, and Zhang Haobo was the supreme commander of this operation and could only obey.

Zhang Haobo immediately sent a telegram to Vladimir Granat in Herat.

Vladimir Granat called back, affirming their approach, but asked him to learn as much as possible about the situation of the natives, and tried to find the leader of the natives to explain.

Vladimir Granat, according to the terrain, guessed that it should be the Sunni tribes of the part of Muhammad Yakub Khan, for fear of causing a greater misunderstanding, so they asked them not to rush anymore.

After all, the Chinese army had a political mission in the past, and if it was just to kill people, it would be enough to directly send a large number of troops over, so why send such a small number of people?

Zhang Haobo told Gao Yitong what Vladimir Granat meant.