"It's terrible, it's terrible......" Brigadier Dabaulmida's angry complaint reached the ears of Baratieri and the other three brigadier generals before he could enter the tent, and then the dusty brigadier general lifted the curtain and walked in. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Your Excellency," he said with a stiff military salute to Baratieri, suppressing the anger in his heart, "I have taken my troops to Sauria by your orders. ”

Dabaulmida was not satisfied with this order. He led his troops on a month's arduous trek through the desert, but when he was only a day's journey from Assab, he received an order to turn around and return to Agdilat to join up with the other three brigades - and just as he was about to reach Agdirat, the new order turned him to Sawuria - which, of course, did not matter, for the morale of the troops had long since collapsed and everyone was exhausted.

Dabaulmida believes that his boss has made serious mistakes in a row. In the first place, Baratieri should not have ordered him to lead his troops to retake Assab, and then he should not have been ordered to abandon his mission and return to Adigrat...... Or Sauria. Anyone who walks back and forth in the desert for nearly two months is not going to be in good condition, both physically and mentally.

Of course, the same is true for the brimmer himself. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that he was still a high-ranking officer, Dabaulmida would have found a random place to lie down like a normal soldier, and would never have stood as straight as a stake in front of the balatie.

He felt terrible.

"Your Excellency, I would like you to give me an explanation."

"Sit down, Brigadier General Dabauelmida." Baratieri sighed. He knew exactly why Dabauelmida was angry, but despite this, he had to call his troops back to his side. Rome did not know what was actually happening in Abyssinia, so Baratieri was not as confident as Crispi thought he would have been.

His serious expression confused Dabauermida, and he looked at the other three brigadier generals in the tent and noticed that their expressions were also strange. This was something the brigadier had never seen before, so he put away his anger for a moment, sat down in the empty chair, and waited for Baratieri to tell him the answer.

Without more nonsense, Bharatieri gets straight to the point. "Brigadier General Dabauel Mida, I believe that in the order I have given you, there is a clear mention of our loss of the fortress of Makaray."

"Yes, Your Excellency the Governor."

"But I didn't tell you that the Abyssinians captured the fortress in just one hour."

"What?" Baudalmida bounced out of his chair like an electric shock. "It's not ...... How is this possible! He almost shouted, "This can't be." The brigadier general had a very intuitive idea of the fortification of the fortress of Macareal and was unwavering in his belief that without heavy artillery, even the Italian army would not have been able to capture it, let alone the Abyssinians...... Wait a minute.

Paudalmida tensed. "Could it be that the Abyssinians got heavy artillery?"

"Sit down, Brigadier General." Baratieri asked him to sit down before he said, "The Abyssinians don't have heavy artillery, they have taken the fortress by other means. ”

"How?"

"They ambushed a patrol commanded by Major Tosseli near the fortress, then sent soldiers disguised as our soldiers to infiltrate the fortress and launched a surprise attack. The defenders were defenseless, so they won, and we lost the fortress. ”

"Despicable acts." Baudalmida cursed, then asked, "But how can our soldiers not be able to tell the difference between whites and blacks?" ”

Baratieri glanced at his adjutant, and Captain Guttuso immediately stood up. "According to the reports of soldiers who escaped, the Abyssinians were assisted by a detachment of white mercenaries, who were well-armed and well-trained, and appeared to be professional soldiers. These are the same people who infiltrated the fortress. ”

"So I can only call you back, Brigadier General." Baratieri continued, "I can't take the risk of giving those white mercenaries another chance to impersonate our soldiers." ”

Baudalmida knew what he meant. If the Abyssinians knew that his troops were in Assab, they could repeat the little trick played in the fortress of Makara. There is a lack of connection between Assab and Sauriya, and the trick is likely to succeed again. "Damn it!" The brigadier waved his clenched fist, "Which bastards were sent by whom, France or Russia?" ”

Of course, this is not the whole reason why Baratieri recalled him, but His Excellency the Doge will not tell the real reason.

"It's not clear yet, and right now, it's not that that we're going to be concerned about." He shrugged, "What we're concerned about now is how to beat Menelik in a short period of time. Prime Minister Christopy has sent us 15,000 soldiers and a special grant of 40 million lira, which means that if we don't win a victory soon, the angry Prime Minister will eat us all raw. ”

Of course, the other three brigadier generals already understood this, and he only said this to Baudalmida alone. Naturally, after understanding the gravity of the situation, the brigadier's anger disappeared - he knew very well what was the most important question now.

Baratieri nodded in satisfaction and motioned for the adjutant to open the map. "Now, let's talk about the current situation. Gentlemen, look at the map. He pointed to the map and said to the others, "Here we are, Sauria ......"

“…… As our presence in Adwa threatened the flank of the Italian army, Baratieri moved his main forces from Agdilat to Sauria, where he built a new defensive line. "Duke Nkada is explaining the situation to the Emperor and the other dukes," apparently he is expecting us to take the initiative to attack so that our soldiers can be wiped out in front of his lines. ”

"At no time will we take the initiative to attack." The Emperor announced. This was a strategy that had been decided long ago, with the army building a defensive line at Adwa and waiting for the Italian army to attack on its own initiative, or peace to come.

With Makaré in his hands, Menelik wrote a long letter to King Umberto I of Italy, proposing peace negotiations - the emperor was well aware that his country was not capable of a long, all-out war with Italy, and that he had no territorial claims to Eritrea, but more importantly, he knew better who his real enemies were.

His enemies were not the Italians, but the tribes who had not yet submitted to him, and the dukes who were superficially subservient but secretly plotted to overthrow him and become Emperor of Abyssinian themselves. Menelik was to spend most of his time, energy, and military power on rooting out all these unstable factors that threatened his dominance, rather than wasting it on the Italians.

So he proposed peace talks.

Unfortunately, however, the loss of the fortress of Makary was seen as a great humiliation to the kingdom and army by the Italians, who chose to send more troops and invest more money in the war rather than negotiate peace.

The Emperor's hopes were dashed, and he could only continue to fight, but the most basic strategy remained unchanged.

"We hold out in Adua, and if the Italians are ready to wash away their shame, they will have to attack us." Menelik was not worried about anything, and although he was worried about a rebellion in the rear, Baratieri had more to worry about than he did. Not only do the Italians have political pressure at home, but their logistical situation is not ideal.

"We can hold out here for a long time," Nkada unreservedly agrees with his Emperor's strategy, "Since Her Majesty the Empress has established many supply depots on the road from Shoa to Tigray, the army will have plenty of food and there will be no problems for at least a few months......"

"But why don't we find a way to end this war as soon as possible, Duke?" O'Connor interjected suddenly. Despite Duncan's constant glances and attempts to stop him from making incorrect remarks, O'Connor didn't see at all—or he did, just pretending to see nothing. "Great Your Majesty," he saluted Menelik, "we have every strength to end the war in a short time. ”

Menelik stared at him for a moment, then shook his head. "I will not let my army attack the positions carefully constructed by the Italians."

"We don't need to take the initiative to attack, Great Majesty." O'Connor said, "We can lure the Italians into attacking. ”

"Do you think they will?"

"There is a way, we can give it a try, Great Your Majesty. Christmas is coming......"

Without him saying anything more, Menelik and his dukes had already thought of a plan. Over the past millennium, the Abyssinians have used a wide variety of tactics, including creating illusions, spreading false information, and attacking the West...... And so on, the emperors and dukes were of course also very good at using these tactics, luring the Italians to attack on their own initiative, it was not complicated for them.

Christmas is just around the corner, and although O'Connor was referring to Christmas in the West, Christmas in Abyssinia is not far off - January 7, just two weeks later - and of course the holiday is always celebrated anyway.

"Spread the word," declared the Emperor, "that the vast majority of our soldiers will leave the barracks and go to Axum as Christmas is approaching." (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.) )