On the border line of southwest Yunnan, Wang Mingzhang is leading a patrol team in the rapid march, at this time Wang Mingzhang has been promoted to the head of the regiment, this time with Zhu Qinglan to the Yunnan border station, the heart of the pride surging, China since ancient times for the southwest frontier has lacked effective control, there is no border.

Now the army led by Wang Mingzhang is the first unit to officially shoulder the task of border defense, but just a few days after patrolling, the bad climate has made them suffer enough, the border area is humid and sultry, mosquitoes, locusts, poisonous snakes are countless, in addition to the lack of fresh water is also the most serious problem, the climate is hot, so the soldiers are required to drink a lot of water.

Although there is often rain in the local area, the forest is full of streams, but although these waters look very clear, but as long as you drink it, it is absolutely tricky, these streams contain unknown toxins, after drinking it, the light ones have diarrhea, and the heavy ones may even die, and the drinking water must all be supplied from the rear, there is no enough clean water, washing has become a big problem, but the temperature is very high, many soldiers have been infected with skin diseases, and the itching is incomparable.

In addition to water, there are also a variety of poisonous plants that threaten people's lives all the time, and three of Wang Mingzhang's subordinates have died during the patrol.

As for the loss of the entire army, it is even more staggering, and they have to hire some locals as a last resort to continue patrolling by relying on them as guides, but this difficulty cannot frighten the soldiers of the Southwest Army, and from the day they joined the army, they have been repeatedly instilled with the concept of the sacredness of the territory, they can shed blood, they can die, they just can't lose an inch of land, and this has become one of the creeds of the Southwest Army.

Just when Wang Mingzhang was directing the army to advance, suddenly there was a sound not far away, Wang Mingzhang hurriedly asked the soldiers to hide, and after a while, a group of British colonial troops also appeared, the leader of this army was the British [***] officer, followed by local soldiers, they were walking towards this side, a total of eleven people.

Most of the troops in the British colonies are young master soldiers, they come to the colonies to enjoy, all the locals are their slaves, and there is no need to worry about misconduct, what combat effectiveness can the army have under the domination of this mentality.

While cursing the damned climate, while marching hard, the British [***] officer seemed to be a little tired, and wanted to sit down and drink saliva, at this moment a crisp gunshot rang out, and there was a bloody hole above his head, and he couldn't die anymore, and the other natives were armed, and when they saw that this officer was dead, they immediately froze, they didn't know how to hide, they didn't know how to fight back, they didn't even know how to escape, without the command of their master, this army instantly became as docile as a lamb to the slaughter.

Wang Mingzhang was surprised for a while, how these people didn't even understand the basic defense, but there was no time to think about it, he led his men to rush out and capture all the remaining ten people, these prisoners also honestly followed the Chinese, obedient and docile, this is the state of a completely tamed colony, without the master can do nothing, the battle becomes easy and abnormal.

This kind of confrontation between patrols is not uncommon, in fact, China and Britain are very clear that with the improvement of China's strength, the conflict between the two sides on the border line will increase, and even a large-scale war will break out directly, which is also a matter of no way, the British took advantage of the opportunity of Qing [***] incompetence to continue to expand their power, and stretched out their hands to Tibetan provinces and Yunnan and other places, now China's strength has grown, and the British do not want to spit out the fat in their mouths, and there is no other choice but war.

It's just that Britain has a fatal strategic miscalculation, the British high-level firmly believes that Qiao Yu will not rashly start a war with Britain without unifying the whole country, their judgment is also very reasonable, and this is a truth that all countries understand, and now Qiao Yu directly controls only seven provinces, plus some peripheral provinces, less than ten, exactly one-third of China, and the other provinces are still controlled by Beiyang, so any smart politician will not start a war with the outside world at will.

Therefore, the British judged that the border conflict could occur after 1925, when Britain was able to recover from the war and would be able to reinforce the Far East in large quantities.

Maybe the British are right in this judgment, but Qiao Yu has a leading vision of a hundred years, but the problem is not like this, it is not enough to fight the troops who can fight the civil war, of course, even the civil war can not win the rice bucket, the domestic competition is not the competition for military strength, but the political competition, is the competition of people's morale, China's national fortunes have reached the most declining moment in thousands of years, no matter which political group, as long as he can bring hope and dignity to China, let China gain the power to read independently, and rise again, This group will receive the support of the people at home, and it will be able to be invincible, and even be able to surrender without a fight.

This is also the main motivation for Qiao Yu to start consolidating the border defense now, now Beiyang has not solved the problem in the north, but the Sichuan system can defeat the British in the southwest and maintain the territory, who can lead the country will naturally be clear at a glance, and at that time Qiao Yu will be able to subdue the Beiyang system with strong public opinion, and avoid civil war to the greatest extent.

It is based on this consideration that the southwest will transfer the army to Yunnan, and the strategic miscalculation of Britain is very passive at this time, and there are not enough troops on the border line, although Hamilton on the front line seems to be full of confidence, but Britain and the Indian colonial political axe are not optimistic about this war.

They still tend to use diplomatic means, relying on loud words and intimidation to make China retreat, which is a good way to try and test in the Manchu era, and it is also very effective against Beiyang, but Qiao Yu, who has seen their bottom line through, will not buy it at all.

British Minister Zhu Erdian, as the most authoritative China Tongtong, also fell into confusion at this time, he once thought that he had seen through the Chinese, although they have a long history, brilliant culture, but that belongs to the past, the current China is humble and cowardly, although there is still a group of people who are not willing to sink, but as a whole China and Africa, South Asia is no different.

But with the rise of the southwest, Zhu Erdian saw another new China, industrious, shrewd, especially has a normal grasp of the world situation, and there is no instinctive fear of the great powers, and Zhu Erdian noticed that the speed of industrialization in the southwest is simply demonic, it took hundreds of years for Western countries to develop to the present, but China seems to have caught up in less than ten years, and it can be seen from the various commodities that are now all over the Yanjing market.

Clothing, cloth, matches, food, small electrical appliances, automobiles, cement, furniture, and so on are all produced in the southwest, and the goods that were originally dominant in China have begun to disappear in large quantities, and within a few years, more than eighty percent of China's main markets will be occupied by domestic products, which is something that no one will doubt.

Only at this time will Zhu Erdian be shocked to realize how huge China is, if the whole of China has completed industrialization, it will be an economy comparable to the United States and Europe, and the power contained in it is absolutely amazing.

Of course, I don't have to worry about these now, but the confrontation in Myanmar has made Zhu Erdian exhausted his brains, and the domestic pressure is also very great, he knows very well that the only one who can decide this matter is Qiao Yu, so Zhu Erdian hurriedly took the train to Sichuan, when passing by Wuchang, Zhu Erdian also went to the concession to take a look, the situation is far worse than imagined, the concession can only hire a gangster group at a high price to help them smuggle supplies, grain and vegetables, a large number of rich dignitaries have begun to move out of the concession area that is becoming dirty and scarce, Zhu Erdian knew that if he wanted to solve the problem, he had to get Qiao Yu's compromise, so he came to Chengdu without any delay.

"Mr. Touring Envoy, along the way I have seen the achievements of your country in economic construction, which is very worthy of praise, I think Mr. Touring Envoy should understand that China's prosperity is inseparable from the support of Britain, our two countries are still good friends, and those unpleasantness should be put aside!"

Once upon a time, the British also learned to speak softly, Qiao Yu didn't buy this old guy's account, put away this face.

"Mr. Minister, should a good friend give China's territory to Yuben, and a good friend should ride on top of the Chinese, this is not a good friend, but an enemy who is wronged!" There is only one principle for the enemy China, and that is to completely destroy and resolutely destroy! ”

Zhu Erdian's smile suddenly weakened a lot, it seems that the other party's grievances are indeed not small, and it is too difficult for him to negotiate this time, "Mr. Patrol Envoy, I myself am very sorry for some things, but I think we should understand each other and adopt a friendly attitude to negotiate and solve it together!" ”

"What do you think we need to negotiate, Mr. Minister?"

"There are two main points, the first is the problem of the concession, the second is the problem of Burma, the southwest is now carrying out rough material restrictions on the concession, this is an extremely unfriendly act, not only the British Empire, but also the rights and interests of France and the Ben have also been damaged, the ministers of several countries are jointly drawing up a course of action, if the southwest can not take a proper solution to the problem, we maintain the right to take further action.

The issue of demarcation between China and Burma was agreed upon during the Qing Dynasty, and I hope that China can respect history, maintain the existing Line of Actual Control, and not wantonly provoke war and threaten peace in the Far East, because the British Empire is determined and capable of maintaining order in the Far East! ”

After Zhu Erdian finished speaking, Qiao Yu burst out laughing, as if he had heard some funniest joke, and Zhu Erdian was also a little stunned.

"Mr. Minister, you say respect for history, then history is your British repeated shameless invasion of China, vainly trying to colonize China, your truth is a fist, whoever has a big fist, who is justified, now China wants to test its fist, the British side must give up coveting China's inherent territory, abolish all kinds of unequal treaties signed with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, return Jiangxinpo, Gaojianshan, Nankan and other areas to China, and re-examine the borders, this is the real respect for history!"

Zhu Erdian never thought that Qiao Yu's attitude would be so tough, the gap between the conditions between the two sides was too big, it was simply the opposite of each other, and there was no possibility of negotiating at all, so Zhu Erdian had to inform the British political axe.

Just after Zhu Erdian's departure, three days later, Britain took the lead in declaring that northern Burma was in a state of war readiness, and China issued a similar order, both sides did not declare war out of the idea of controlling the scale of the war, but the front line was full of gunpowder, and a big war could break out at any time.

On 5 September, the Chinese air raid formation consisting of 12 bombers took off from Tengchong, each carrying 800 kilograms of bombs, and flew toward Myitkyina, which was 200 kilometers away.

(To be continued)