Zhang Biao, Butz, and two other mercenaries are on a reconnaissance mission. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info They sat on a hillside outside Assab in the guise of an Eritrean costume and disguised as shepherds, carefully observing the situation in the city.

"What do you see?"

Zhang Biao put down the binoculars. "There are three gunboats in the harbor."

"Four." Butz revised his conclusion, "There was another one five hundred yards away, which looked like a fishing boat." ”

Hearing his addition, the mercenary, who was adding various markers to a makeshift map, stopped moving. "Butz, are you sure it's a gunboat and not a real fishing boat?"

"I'm sure, Carlos." Butz affirmed, "There are artillery on board." ”

"And Italian sailors." Zhang Biao also confirmed his statement.

Carlos marked the fourth artillery on his map, and then asked, "What is the firepower of the Italian gunboats?" How many artillery pieces are there? What caliber? ”

"Three guns ......" But for Zhang Biao, it was simply impossible for him to distinguish the model and caliber of the artillery, so Butz answered in his place, "Two six-pounder guns and one one-pounder gun." ”

The mercenary added a new line of annotation next to the annotation he had just written. "Two six-pounder guns and one one-pounder gun per gunboat...... Oh, that adds up to eight six-pounder guns and four one-pounder guns," he made a quick calculation, "and the artillery fire of the Italians was much more powerful than we expected. ”

"But it's still weaker than our firepower." Butz said with a smile, not at all worried about the Italian gunboats.

Of course, there's really nothing to worry about. O'Connor commanded two mercenary battalions, each armed with nine sixty-millimeter mortars and six eighty-one-millimeter mortars, and even without taking into account the difference in rate of fire and the power of the shells, the four gunboats of the Italian defenders could organize less than half the firepower of any brigade.

So it's not worth wasting time worrying about at all - Butz thinks so, Zhang Biao thinks so, and so does the mercenary who was guarding nearby.

But Carlos doesn't think so. "I think we'd better be cautious, guys, those things are artillery after all." He said, adding some more markings to his map, and finally asked: "Zhang, Butz, look at the situation in the city, I want to know the distribution of the Italians and the firepower." ”

Zhang Biao and Butz adjusted their posture slightly, turned their gaze to the city of Asab, observed for a moment, and then shook their heads together. "I'm sorry, I can't see the city here," Butz said, and Zhang Biao shouted in agreement. Then they put the binoculars away, "We should get out of here, Carlos." Staying any longer might attract the attention of the Italians. ”

Carlos knew that reconnaissance under the eyes of the Italians was dangerous, and that the slightest negligence - such as the accidental reflection of the telescope lens - would alert the defenders and eventually lead to a simple reconnaissance mission turning into a fierce firefight. But he doesn't think it's time to leave. "The guys who went into town haven't all left yet."

O'Connor selected a number of black soldiers and asked them to disguise themselves as native Eritreans and enter the city of Assab to gather intelligence. However, this was undoubtedly an extremely risky move, as the mercenaries did not know either Arabic or Tigray, and behaved differently from the Eritreans, making it easy for the Italian soldiers to see the flaws.

So Carlos decided to wait here; Whether the mercenaries who had entered Assab had left safely or had been discovered and arrested by the Italians, he wanted to know the outcome, despite the fact that there was no order for him to do so, and most of the soldiers who had entered the city had already left.

"After a little more observation, I still have a few questions that I haven't figured out." He demanded.

In this four-member group, Carlos is the conductor, so Butz and Zhang Biao have to take out the binoculars again.

Meanwhile, at the headquarters ten miles away, O'Connor was discussing battle plans with two brigade commanders and Abyssinian warriors. As the reconnaissance teams were sent to bring the information back to the headquarters, the situation in Assab gradually became clear.

"Within a hundred miles of the vicinity, the defenders stationed in the city of Assab are the only Italian military force in this area, numbering about a thousand men, half Italians and half Eritreans, armed with two three-pounder field guns, the number of rifles is not known, but it is likely to be around eight hundred."

"Who's the commander?" O'Connor asked.

"Major Giammarco Chiarini." Shepard put down one report and picked up another, "But this guy is an alcoholic, so Captain Mario Roeta is in charge of most of Assab's affairs." ”

"It doesn't matter." Regardless of who in fact knew the Italian defenders, O'Connor was only concerned with who would lead his troops to surrender to him. Although the battle has not yet begun, he believes that he can easily capture Assab, which, of course, needs a little confirmation. "How is the combat power of the Italians?"

"Like the colonial forces of all countries, they are basically ineffective and can only be used to suppress the natives who do not have modern weapons." Another Brigade Commander, Dedric Bard of the 504th Brigade, shrugged his shoulders contemptuously, "And our soldiers have noticed that there is a new gadget in vogue among the Italians, something that can cause a temporary sense of excitement......"

Almost no one at Umbrella knew that their boss was secretly selling a new type of drug...... Of course, no one has ever said that it was drugs, and even the word "drugs" is rarely mentioned. Opium, morphine, heroin and cocaine are still legally marketable, and the new, unfamiliar amphetamine-type stimulants are not considered illicit.

And there are very few people who have heard of "amphetamines" and "methamphetamines", Qin Lang has no plans to expand his stimulant business, only the Japanese and the Italian defenders of Eritrea have obtained these two stimulants respectively, and they only know their trade names.

“…… Uh, that thing seems to be called 'speed'......"

"'Speed'? Methamphetamine? O'Connor raised an eyebrow. He knew that Duncan had sold a lot of methamphetamine to the Italians, just when he had last been in Abyssinia to trade with Menelik II. He felt strange. "Why haven't the Italians run out of doping yet?" O'Connor thought, "Duncan doesn't seem to be selling much of a 'speed' ......"

“…… It is said that at least a quarter of Italian officers and soldiers need to be injected with 'speed' every day, otherwise they will be depressed and will not want to do anything. Bud concluded, "It's good for us, sir." ”

"Maybe." O'Connor didn't want to pin his hopes of victory on Qin Lang's stimulants, and it could also have the exact opposite effect of expectations - "speed" could make people feel energetic and increase the sustained combat effectiveness of Italian soldiers. "We need to end the fighting as soon as possible. Of course, the Eritrean native soldiers can ignore ......" he thought for a moment, "what about the defense system of the Italians?" ”

"There is no defense system." Shepard laughed, "There are no barbed wire, no trenches, no foxholes, no machine-gun fire points, none of the fortifications we have built in training, and the only thing the Italians can rely on is the low walls of Assab." ”

"So they can't actually stop us." O'Connor laughed too, "The only thing that can threaten us is those two three-pounder field guns......"

At this time, a mercenary walked in and handed a new report to Shepard. The commander glanced at it, then announced to the others: "New information, the Italian defenders also have four gunboats, each armed with two six-pounder guns and one one-pounder gun. ”

"Some new threats," O'Connor immediately concluded, "we must destroy them as soon as the war begins." ”

"It's hard to do that with mortars, sir."

"But we must destroy them, and those two field guns, Mr. Shepard." O'Connor was now only worried about the Italian artillery, which could inflict considerable casualties on the attacking troops, and he wanted to capture the city of Assab without any losses. "We used all eighty-one mm mortars and half of the sixty-mm mortars against the gunboats, and the other half of the sixty-mm mortars against the field guns."

"But what about the Italian soldiers on the walls?" Bud cautioned, "Their rifles aren't children's toys either. ”

"The artillery will deal with them after destroying the gunboats and field artillery, before that, of course......" O'Connor lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked at the Abyssinian warrior next to him. How many tribal warriors can you muster at the start of a battle? ”

"Eight hundred." The interpreter paraphrased the samurai's answer.

"Are they loyal to the Emperor?"

It was undoubtedly a question that made the samurai feel embarrassed, but he answered it anyway. "Most people are not completely loyal to the emperor. They went into battle only in the hope of getting arms and ammunition from the Italians. ”

"That's good." O'Connor laughed, looking amused, since most of the tribal warriors fought only to capture the weapons of the Italians, then his plan could be carried out. "Tell the tribal warriors that tomorrow, they will attack first."

He raised his left hand and looked at his watch. "Gentlemen, now for the table. Departure at five o'clock in the morning, and the battle began at seven o'clock. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the WWW.QIDIAN.COM, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )