Hague did not dare to be careless, and immediately returned to the general headquarters, picked up the phone and called the forward defensive camp. It's just that the phone is always busy, and after changing phones, it's all the same. Already at the time of the shelling, the telephone line was unfortunately blown up during the first shelling. Otherwise, the forward camp will immediately contact the command.

At this point, Haig was unclear and could not react immediately. It's just that I know that my forward troops are being attacked, what kind of attack it is, how many people there are on the other side, and I don't know anything. However, Haig was not too worried, there were three divisions of troops in front, which was one-third of his own strength, and no matter how powerful the Chinese army was, it was impossible to destroy them in a short time.

The phone never got through, the radio never stopped, and at the beginning, the command could be reached at the front, and after a few minutes, the other party remained silent. Just as Haig was about to send out the herald, the radio station in front took the initiative to contact the general headquarters.

A regiment of British soldiers was in charge of the defense, and although they were also attacked, the radio station and all that were built in underground bunkers were dug in the defensive camp. So it's safe for the time being, and when I first started to be shelled, I was going to call and contact, but the situation was the same, and I couldn't get through. The radio could not reach the command of the defense ground, and in the end it could only send a message to the general headquarters.

"Commander, a telegram has been sent from the forward troops, saying that they are the most advanced defensive infantry regiment and are now under strong artillery fire, requesting an artillery counterattack."

"Ask right away, why can't I contact their headquarters?" Haig Dao.

After a tick.

"Commander, the forward troops have come to report that the entire forward troops have been shelled, and they can't contact their own command at this time."

"Ask them again, have you found the Chinese army?" Haig was worried that the Chinese army would take the opportunity to attack, or at a time when the forward troops were basically losing their ability to command, and if the Chinese army attacked in a big way, it was very likely that the defense line would collapse on all fronts.

"Commander, the troops at the front came to report that no enemy was found, and the several observation posts arranged at the forefront did not find any signs of movement of the Chinese army."

"Order the forward troops, pay attention to the surprise attack of the Chinese army!" Haig Dao.

At this time, several other division commanders of the Anglo-French army had already arrived at the general headquarters.

"Your Excellency Commander, is the Chinese army attacking?" One of the French division commanders spoke.

"There are no signs of an offensive by the Chinese army, the forward camp has been shelled!" Haig Dao.

"Is it that the Chinese army has moved forward, otherwise how can their artillery reach it."

"The Chinese army has not advanced, I miscalculated." Haig also noticed this problem early on, but he didn't have time to pay attention to it, and now is not the time to investigate the cause, but how to counterattack, or how to defend.

"The forward camp is twenty kilometers away from the Chinese army, and the range of the Chinese artillery is too far." Several division commanders in the command headquarters showed incredible faces, artillery with a range of 20 kilometers is really too rare, and land artillery is not a naval gun. And if the firing range is farther away, it doesn't mean that even this place is within the range of the Chinese artillery, and it is only a few kilometers from the forward camp.

"Now is not the time to think about that, but to think about what we should do next." Haig Dao.

"Commander, just tell the forward camp to retreat, as long as it is out of the opponent's firepower, it's fine." Commander of the British Division in India, Wildway.

"No, won't the other party move forward if we retreat, my idea is to attack the Chinese army directly and try to see the other party's intentions." Originally, he was the commander of the garrison in the Syrian colony, and it happened that France was also preparing to transfer him back to China, and after forming the Anglo-French coalition army, he was directly sent to the southeast region to preside over the military affairs of the French army, and he was also the chief of staff of the coalition army.

"The situation is still unclear, and if we attack rashly, it will not only disrupt our plans. And more importantly, I am worried that this is a conspiracy of the Chinese army, and it is very likely that the other side has already laid a hole waiting for us to drill. Haig said. It was not that he was timid, but in the past two days he had studied a large number of materials on the Sino-Japanese war, and had a certain understanding of the tactics and tactics used by the Chinese army.

"Your Excellency, if that's the case, then we're not very passive?" Ganmalin Road.

"Now we can only wait for the specific news before making a decision. If the Chinese army only shells and does not attack, then we can only choose to forbear. "Although Haig has the title of butcher, it does not mean that he does not care for his troops.

After listening to Haig's words, the command headquarters fell silent for a while. Listening to the non-stop explosions in the distance, everyone's hearts were not as calm as they appeared. Previously, they still had some confidence that they could win this war, and China came like this at night, but now they don't have much confidence in their hearts.

Half an hour later, the shelling stopped. Before Haig and the others could inquire about the specific situation, the camp ahead sent the latest information.

"Our forward troops were subjected to heavy shelling for half an hour, three divisions suffered heavy casualties, and two of the three division commanders were killed in the shelling. Now our forward troops are rescuing the wounded, and so far there have been no signs of an offensive by the Chinese troops. The signal corpsman read the telegram directly.

"I propose to order the forward troops to move forward, transfer our artillery divisions, and knock out the opponent's artillery. If we can't destroy the opponent's artillery, we will lose even more in the next war. And we also have a lot of heavy artillery this time, although there are no 9.2-inch (230mm) heavy guns, but there are quite a few small-caliber guns. Enough to counter the artillery of the Chinese army. After listening to the telegram from the signal corps, Gan Malin was the first to speak. The British came to transfer the artillery of India and Burma this time, almost the size of two artillery regiments of the Imperial Army, because of the transportation, there are no artillery above 200mm, but some 150mm (six inches) howitzers have a lot, and there are twelve 200mm howitzers (eight inches). In addition, France, as a major artillery country, also brought a lot of artillery, in addition to a few mountain artillery, there are also a lot of heavy artillery, the number is less than that of the British, but the quality is much higher, "and our number of heavy artillery is also two hundred, and the other side does not have any advantage in quantity." As long as our artillery is sent within firing range, by virtue of the quality of our artillery, it is completely inferior to Chinese artillery. Passive beatings will discourage the soldier and will not be conducive to the subsequent battle. ”

"It can just be confirmed, can Chinese artillery hit twenty kilometers? The longest firing range of our artillery is only a dozen kilometers, and the difference in range is not small. Judging by the sound of artillery, the opponent's artillery is definitely close to 300, and we only have more than 200, and we have no advantage in this. The main thing is that I am worried that the Chinese side is not only these artillery, don't forget, they took out 800 heavy guns at the beginning. If our heavy artillery is destroyed, we will be more passive and what to use against the opponent's tanks when the time comes. Haig was also impressed by the proposal, and he understood Ganmalin's concerns. Haig was also worried about morale, but for the sake of the overall situation, Haig was really reluctant to do this.

"What does the commander mean that we can only be beaten helplessly? Forbearance only makes us more passive. "Gummelin Road.

The conversation between the two people was not interjected by the others, Haig was strong enough, Ganmalin was the chief of staff, and he was also the commander of the French troops, so he could completely discuss with Haig, and the others could only stare dryly from the side.

"Yes, you were involved in the previous plan, and that was our only chance. At worst, it can draw with the Chinese army, and if our artillery is severely damaged, the situation of the war will not be optimistic. Haig said.

In the end, Gammelin did not change Haig's mind, after all, Haig, as the supreme military commander of this army, had the final decision.

No matter how reluctant Gan Malin was, he could only reluctantly accept it. In fact, Gan Molin was not sure that he could destroy the Chinese artillery. Moreover, Gan Molin was also a little worried in the end, whether this would be the fall of China, specifically to lure his own artillery to return fire, and then defeat his own artillery. This was just a little worry in Gan Molin's heart, and he didn't say it.

Soon, Haig gave orders to the forward defensive camps, instructing them to pay attention to the surprise attack of the Chinese army, and the shelling was only for the officers to take care of the emotions of the soldiers. As the ammunition at the front was quite destroyed, Haig sent a regiment of Indian soldiers to escort a batch of ammunition over.

Before the soldiers in the forward camp could sort out the wounded, the second shelling came. However, the scale and time are not as good as the first time, but it also brought a lot of casualties to the rescue team. The shelling lasted only fifteen minutes, but the blow to the British, French, and Indian soldiers was no less than the first.

Seeing the scale and time of this shelling, Haig also thought of the other party's goal a little, knocking on the mountain and shaking the tiger, this is to give himself a dismount. Otherwise, how can there be such a war, and it is absolutely unreasonable to just fight artillery without sending troops. The Chinese army on the opposite side would not be naïve enough to think that it could defeat its own troops with artillery. If it was really going to attack, now that China was approaching with a large number of troops, it had already begun to attack its own defensive camp at the time of the first shelling. Haig had no doubts about the Chinese army's ability to coordinate their infantry and artillery, as the Sino-Japanese war had demonstrated.

Thinking of the other party's goal, Haig had no better way, he had always been worried that this was the other party's trap. Such a situation really made Haig dare not move, after all, his weapons and equipment were in a backward position, except for the advantage in the number of aircraft, the rest lost a lot. Not if you're not careful.

It really made Haig expect that at this time, at the forefront of the Chinese army, he had already laid out his pockets, just waiting for the British and French troops to take the initiative to get in. However, seeing that the British and French forces had no intention of attacking, they could only withdraw their pockets. Except for the defensive alert troops, the rest went back to rest.

Gather your spirits for the battle that is about to break out.

(To be continued)