Unlike Hakkari, which was historically separated from Van and formed as a separate province, Mosul is the third largest city in Mesopotamia and the capital of Nineveh. Also known as Hadba is located 362 kilometers north of Baghdad, the largest city in Mesopotamia, on the west bank of the upper Tigris River.

At the same time, Mosul is also an important point connecting Asia Minor to the Persian Gulf.

All of the above shows the difference between Mosul and Hakkari.

Naturally, Mosul would not have been like Hakkari, with only a few hundred defenders and a cable telegraph that had been obsolete by various countries. Although the Turks were not very wealthy, the Turks still equipped him with a wireless telegraph in the telegraph office of the third largest city in Mesopotamia, which was used for communication with Baghdad and other important areas... But..."What, is the connection with Hakkari connected!" ”

In the mayor's office in Mosul, a middle-aged man with a very good look asked another person next to him.

After listening to the words of the rich middle-aged man, the other person just took out a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his sweat, and then replied with his head down.

"Not yet..."

“………”

Frowning, the rich middle-aged man stood up from his seat, and then asked in a circle twice.

"Say, could it be that something is wrong with Hakkari?"

"It's no wonder there's no problem..."

After listening to the words of the rich middle-aged man, the director of the telegraph office complained in his heart.

About a day ago, contact from Hakkari was abruptly cut off. In the age of telecommunications, this is obviously an abnormal thing, which is why the mayor of Mosul called the telegraph chief after the communication was lost.

However, although communication with Hakkari was cut off, the telegraph chief was not worried.

In his opinion, it was nothing more than the cutting of the telephone pole between Mosul and Hakkari, which was actually quite common, especially in ―――――― especially after the outbreak of the European war, when the local Assyrians who believed in the "Eastern Assyrianism" were driven to Iran and Mesopotamia.

Although almost all of the Assyrians in Hakkari have been driven to Iran and Mesopotamia, this does not mean that these Assyrians have been driven from their homeland, you know, Mosul is also part of Mesopotamia, and there are now quite a few Assyrians in Mosul, and if these Assyrians run between the two places and cut the telephone poles, it is actually a very common thing..."Alas, those Assyrians..."

Just as the telegraph director was thinking, the very rich mayor suddenly sighed.

The telegraph chief thought to himself, and he knew, in fact, he knew the problems of the Assyrians, after all, he was also the mayor of Mosul, and there were so many Assyrians in the territory... Therefore, he was not in a hurry, but asked lightly.

"How long will it take to restore communication between the two places..."

"This..."

The director of the telegraph bureau thought for a moment, and then replied slowly.

"I already sent someone to check a few days ago, and I believe there will be a reply soon..."

The telegraph chief did not dare to pack the ticket and say how much time and how long it would take to fix it, because he knew his men too well to mention anything else, and laziness alone was enough to kill people.

Yes, it doesn't take much time to check the route, because you just have to ride a horse and follow the road to see if the pole has fallen, but if it is to be repaired, it is not an easy matter to rely on these lazy guys... Fortunately, the mayor of Mosul was also very aware of the difficulties of the telegraph chief, so he did not embarrass him, but just waved his hand and signaled him to go down...―――――――――― not mentioning the appearance of the telegraph chief after he stepped down as if he had been amnestied, the staff sent by the telegraph chief to overhaul had already found the telephone pole that had been cut down, and of course, they had also found the culprit who would make the telephone pole fall―――――― a large group of cavalrymen who made their faces blue and their foreheads sweated..."Now we are dead..."

Looking at the black-clothed cavalry in front of him, who seemed to be as many as three or four hundred horsemen, several staff members who came over with a carriage for maintenance all said in despair.

At this time, they didn't even think about running away. Because not to mention whether their carriage can outrun the tall horses under the crotches of the cavalry, even if they can outrun the horses, can they still outrun the bullets?

At this time, the cavalry of a battalion surrounding them was also thinking about what to do with them.

"Battalion commander, what do you say to do?!"

A company commander immediately stepped forward and glanced at them, and said coldly.

"Do you want to..."

As he spoke, he gestured to the meaning of the gesture, and he didn't know the meaning of it.

Although I couldn't understand what these Chinese were saying, looking at this gesture that could almost be said to be international, several of the maintenance personnel who were caught also closed their eyes and prayed.

Unfortunately, although there are many believers in Allah in China, it is clear that there is no one in front of them.

However, the cavalry battalion commander did not agree to the proposal of his company commander, but only thought about it.

"Let's take these people to the back and see if the division commander can use them..."

Although the proposal was not accepted, the company commander was not angry, but just thought about it and said.

"That's fine."

As he spoke, the company commander summoned more than a dozen cavalrymen, and then asked the interpreter to say a few words to the Turkish telegraph office employees, and then ordered them all to be escorted away.

It was only after several employees of the telegraph office had been escorted away that the company commander continued to speak to the battalion commander.

"The Turks have already sent someone out to overhaul the line, it seems that the matter of Hakkari's occupation by us will not be hidden for long, do you want to send a telegram to the division commander proposing to speed it up?!"

"It's okay..."

In a short time, a telegram had already appeared in front of Nan Yuanchao.

And Nan Yuanchao, who had a gloomy face, didn't say anything more after picking up this telegram, just waved his hand.

"All the troops are leaving!"

After everyone was ordered to go out, Nan Yuanchao continued to walk out with a gloomy face.

He was so unlucky because he had just received a telegram from Jiang Baili, in which he severely reprimanded him and the officers and generals below him. Because they actually dare to play with women in the middle of the battle..."I don't know which bastard stabbed the commander, if I let me know, I must beat him up..."

While walking outside, Nan Yuanchao thought about what the suspects were.

At present, the most suspicious ones are those who were kept vigil that night, because almost everyone was having a good time under the hospitality of the Turks at that time, only those who were in charge of the vigil were lonely, so their suspicion was the greatest... In fact, Nan Yuanchao also knew very well that Jiang Baili turned a blind eye to some of their usual behaviors, such as finding some women in Armenia or something. Because it is very difficult to make the military discipline of an army flawless, not to mention that the people who came to the Caucasus this time are some of the strongest young men in the country, and it is very difficult to hold them back after several years of continuous fighting.

It would not be good for them to directly harm the local area when they couldn't hold it back one day, so Jiang Baili would allow them to find some places like Jiyuan in Armenia. After all, it is better for you and me to do what you want than for the troops to harm the local people and then the people are angry.

However, Jiang Baili himself still didn't agree with this matter.

This is also the reason why after learning that Nan Yuanchao and his party accepted the reception of the Turks, they would send a special telegram to reprimand them...―――――――――― after being reprimanded by Jiang Baili, Nan Yuanchao seemed to want to take his anger on the Turks.

However, Nan Yuanchao's style was not low enough to bully ordinary Turks, so after questioning those Turks, he asked them to be put into custody, and when there was no need to hide them, he released them.

But..."Division, if we rely on us alone, I'm afraid it won't be easy to take Mosul..."

After taking those people into custody, an officer approached Nan Yuanchao and whispered.

Although they had nearly 10,000 cavalry to the south this time, the cavalry was cavalry after all, and no matter how many there were, it was not suitable for attacking the city. Although Hakkari was taken before, it was only because Hakkari was a small city, a small city with not many people and not many garrisons.

And Hakkari was not beaten down by them, but by the Turks.

And the Mosul in front of him is not comparable to a small city like Hakkari, not to mention anything else, the identity of the third largest city in Mesopotamia alone is many times stronger than Hakkari's grade.

And they, although they are not bad in terms of equipment, and they are equipped with a lot of light machine guns, mortars, 37 infantry guns, and grenade launchers, but they are extremely lacking in heavy weapons..."Don't worry..."Nan Yuanchao waved his hand, signaling his subordinates to rest assured. "I'm not arrogant enough to attack a fortified city with cavalry, and besides, hasn't the commander already sent an infantry division south, and our task is only to clear the way for them..."

The officer nodded, and said no more.

A moment later, just as the telegraph chief wondered how the man who had been sent out for maintenance had not returned, an employee of the telegraph office had stumbled in.

"What are you doing in such a panic..."Seeing his subordinates so flustered, the telegraph chief reprimanded, but after the reprimand, the telegraph chief continued to ask. What's going on out there? ”

Seeing his subordinates panicking like this, the director of the telegraph bureau was really curious about what was going on.

It's just that this subordinate of the director of the telegraph bureau seems to be frightened, so no matter how the director asks, he stammers, and he has not been able to explain the matter for a long time.

But just as the telegraph chief was beginning to feel a little impatient, a man stumbled in from outside again. This person's speech is obviously much stronger than the previous one.

"Director, no, the Russians called!!"

"Russian !!"

Although there were only a dozen words, these dozen words startled the director.

Perhaps for fear of losing face, the Russians did not make a big deal about the fact that the dominance of the Caucasian coalition was already controlled by the Chinese. And for the upper echelons of Turkey, being defeated by the Chinese and not by the Russians is obviously a shame thing, so the vast majority of Turks do not know about it.

As for the hype on the Chinese side, unfortunately, the Chinese newspapers have not yet reached Turkey, so the vast majority of Turks still think that the biggest threat to the north is the Russians, not the Chinese.

"How did the Russians come here?! Didn't there be news some time ago that Enver Pasha was organizing an offensive! The telegraph director asked, somewhat incredulous.

However, the relatively articulate subordinate just smiled bitterly.

"Do you know why the communication to Hakkari was interrupted some time ago? Because the telephone pole leading to Hakkari was cut by these Russians, and it seems that Hakkari has been occupied by the Russians now..."

Before his subordinates could finish speaking, the director had already stood up and walked outside after shaking off the two subordinates.

Outside, because the coalition troops are approaching the city, the Turkish people in Mosul are already in chaos, and the thousands of Turkish soldiers stationed in Mosul have also stepped on the city wall one by one―――――― although the nearly 10,000 cavalry outside makes these Turks look a little numb, but obviously the city wall under them gives them a lot of confidence, after all, the cavalry is not good at attacking the city is a well-known thing.

And in the city, after learning the news of the Russian siege, many Assyrians in the city also secretly gloated, after all, it was the Turks who drove them out of Hakari, and the constant rebellions in Turkey also made the Assyrians have no good feelings towards the Turks, so it is absolutely inevitable to see that the Turks are going to be unlucky.

Merely... While gloating, the Assyrians in the city were also worried, after all, bullets don't have eyes, and if they were not careful―――――― it would be too unlucky... And the Russians outside definitely don't have a good impression of the Turks, but if they don't have a good impression of the Turks, they may not necessarily have a good impression of the Assyrians. Leaving aside the fact that the Assyrians were hiding in the corners of the city and praying secretly, the cavalry outside the city had divided into three parts, one of which suddenly turned away and went nowhere, and the other part stood by and did nothing. There is another part that dismounts directly, and then uses the sapper shovels they carry with them to dig trenches and other fortifications in the same place, obviously, these cavalry want to make the fortifications for the infantry units behind first..."How can this be reasonable, these Russians are really too presumptuous. ”

Seeing the cavalry dressed in black in the distance, digging trenches outside the city so unscrupulously, the rich mayor who was standing on the city wall and observing with a telescope looked very annoyed.

"Isn't there anything you can do!!

After listening to Mayor Fushi's words, the rest of the people all looked at each other, but none of them made a sound.

For them, it was common sense that cavalry was not good at attacking cities, and it was tantamount to saying that as long as they were in the city, the walls would keep them safe. However, if the defenders of the city went out of the city to fight, it is true that after entering the twentieth century, the advantage of cavalry over infantry was not so great, but in the wilderness, there were no fortifications, no trenches, and no machine guns, and the cavalry infantry could only be slaughtered... Therefore, although the black-clad cavalry outside is indeed blind, the Turks inside the city can only turn a blind eye... After being annoyed, the rich mayor also knew that it was indeed not appropriate to take the initiative now, so after he had calmed down, he directly asked the director of the telegraph bureau who had just arrived.

"Has the attack telegram been sent?"

"Sent out." The telegraph chief hurriedly replied. "The pole for the cable telegraph seems to have been cut off, but we have sent it to Baghdad via wireless telegraph. And Baghdad has already received a telegram from us..."

"Good." Mayor Fu nodded in satisfaction. "These damn Russians no longer thought that we had not only cable telegraphs but also wireless telegraphies in our city, and that it would be impossible for them to cut us off from the outside world..."

This is really the mayor thinking too much, that's right, Nan Yuanchao did send some people out, but cutting the telephone pole or something was just incidental, their real purpose was to destroy some bridges and other traffic points along the way, so that the reinforcements sent by Baghdad would not arrive so quickly.

As for cutting off Mosul's connection with the outside world, these Nan Yuanchao really didn't think about it...―――――――――― the Turks in the city were silently watching there, and the coalition cavalry outside the city was also silently digging there.

As for whether the Turks would attack out of the city, Nan Yuanchao had never been worried. In fact, if the Turks come out, Nan Yuanchao will be very happy. Because of how many people there are in the city of Mosul, Nan Yuanchao has long known this, just a few thousand poorly equipped defenders, and Nan Yuanchao only needs to send one-third of the cavalry to clean them up during the field battle... It's a pity that the Turks seem to have made up their minds not to come out, otherwise, Nan Yuanchao really wants to take Mosul before the follow-up infantry arrives, and let Jiang Baili and others see their abilities.

But now..."I can only wait for the time being..."

Seeing Mosul in the distance, Nan Yuanchao snorted.

Two days later, the Expeditionary Infantry Division, which had taken a break in Hakkari, finally arrived on the outskirts of Mosul, along with an artillery brigade from the artillery division, and a heavy artillery battalion... At this time, when it was learned that the expeditionary force was approaching the city of Mosul, the defenders of Baghdad also sent more than 20,000 people to the north, but unfortunately all the transportation facilities along the way had been destroyed by the cavalry of the Southern Yuan Chao.

(To be continued)