Although Qian Guotang is a military adviser, but he, like other advisers, is a secret adviser, in order to conceal his identity, but also for today's battle for the throne, Li Haotong arranged for them to have a formal military rank, and arranged for them to directly serve as an officer in the army under the control of Li Haotong.

Of course, there are some positions of commanders who they are definitely not able to hold, and they hold deputy positions such as staff officers for a long time.

There are about 50 secret advisers sent by the Imperial Army, and the ranks in the Imperial Army are mainly lieutenants and captains, and the team leader is a lieutenant colonel and a major, but the team leader is directly following Li Haotong to plan the overall situation, and the deputy team leader is directly acting as the chief of staff of the unit on the front line.

Qian Guotang's current position is a staff officer of the 3rd Battalion under the Kyoto Garrison Regiment.

The Kyoto Garrison Regiment, according to the Ning Army system formulated by Lin Chengting, although it belongs to the army, it is not a field army, but a local garrison force, why? is still the same sentence, the military system of this Ning army is the imperial military system directly copied by Lin Chengting, there is a Praetorian Guard directly under the emperor, there is a formal field army, and there are local garrison troops, but the scale is generally small.

The Kyoto Garrison Regiment, this unit can naturally only be regarded as a second-line force in the Ning Army, but the regiment has always been strongly controlled by the Li family to which Li Haotong belongs, from the regiment commander to the company commander, half of them are clansmen or relatives and friends of the Li family, and the regiment is also Li Haotong's biggest support for the second prince to ascend the throne.

Since last year, Li Haotong has relied on the secret military advisers sent by the empire to conduct training for the regiment, and at the same time, he has quietly expanded the number of people. The armament was also reloaded with Reich-backed 1858 rifles and even front-loading rifled guns.

By the time the incident arrived, the strength of this garrison regiment was no weaker than that of ordinary infantry regiments. Moreover, Li Haotong also secretly organized an artillery unit with two additional artillery batteries. The total number of troops is more than 3,000 people.

However, after the incident, although the land forces of the Ning army were neutral, except for an infantry battalion that was stationed in Mandalay in peacetime and had been co-opted by Li Haotong for a long time to defect and join the camp of the second prince, the other main forces of the Ning army basically declared neutrality, and the other main forces of the first division of the army originally stationed in the city had already left the city directly, so as not to be forced to participate in it.

On weekdays, Mandalay was defended by the Praetorian Guard, the Kyoto Garrison Regiment and the First Army Division, with a total strength of about 15,000 men. It was mainly to guard against the Chinese and British forces in the city.

But Lin Chengting probably never thought that the two Chinese and British armies did not start a war, and his two sons were ready to say that the Ningguo forces that supported these two sons were fighting.

The Praetorian Guard and the Kyoto garrison had been fighting fiercely around the palace for more than two days, and the situation was getting worse for the Kyoto garrison.

Originally, the Kyoto Garrison Regiment still had a certain advantage in strength, but although the Kyoto Garrison Regiment had undergone the training of Chinese advisers, the foundation of the troops and officers was too poor, and the officers were all halfway home. Most of the soldiers have not undergone systematic learning, and the soldiers are some indigenous, and their physical conditions are often not up to standard, and they run several kilometers of armed cross-country. They were all tired and couldn't get up.

On the contrary, the Praetorian Guard is much stronger, as the army directly under Lin Chengting before his death. The weapons and equipment are the best, and the soldiers are also the best in terms of physical fitness. Most of the officers are outstanding officers selected from the field units, and it can be said that their combat effectiveness is quite strong.

Plus the start of the day. Li Haotong was in a hurry to conquer the palace, so he asked the Kyoto garrison and another infantry battalion to launch a strong attack on the palace, and suffered a lot of losses under the counterattack of the Praetorian Guard.

As a result, the superiority in forces will gradually disappear.

Now the Praetorian Guards are trying to launch a counteroffensive, which is not good news for Li Haotong, and it is also not good news for Qian Guotang.

Although this is a war in other countries with other people's soldiers, it is still not a good thing to lose, and if you want to be promoted after returning home, you can't expect to be promoted, and you may lose your life in this foreign country if you are not careful.

When Qian Guotang followed his third battalion to the vicinity of the palace, an order came from above, asking them to take over the second battalion to carry out defensive operations, this second battalion was not the second battalion of the Kyoto garrison regiment, but the second battalion of the first division of the army, but because this battalion was co-opted by Li Haotong, he finally joined the Kyoto garrison regiment.

This battalion is also the main force of the rebels, and now it is ready to withdraw this battalion, and after a little rest, it is ready to be thrown into the flank to launch an attack to change the dilemma of the target.

After Qian Guotang's third battalion took over the defense area of the second battalion, it was soon attacked by the Praetorian Guards, and after the battle began, Qian Guotang fully assumed the role of military adviser and assisted the battalion commander in arranging the battle, but not long after, his battalion commander was hit by shrapnel from a grenade and died.

At this time, he directly admitted that he had taken on the heavy responsibility of command, although in the hearts of those who knew, he was just a military adviser, but ordinary soldiers did not know, anyway, there was no difference in appearance and language between this Chinese adviser and the Chinese officers of the Ning army.

This defensive battle lasted for more than two hours, and after the third battalion suffered dozens of casualties, the Janissaries began to stop the counterattack and retreat.

At this time, he did not know that the reason why the Praetorian Guards had stopped attacking his third battalion was because the second battalion had launched a fierce attack on the flank.

Although the overall quality of the rebels was not as good as that of the Janissaries, as the battle progressed, more and more Chinese advisers had taken on the direct responsibility of command.

Although these Chinese military advisers were all junior officers in the Imperial Army, they all received a complete military academy education, and there was a huge gap in quality between them and these half-baked officers in the Ning Army.

It is possible that their combat experience is not as rich as that of the officers of the Ning Army, but their theory and insight are far superior to theirs.

After all, the Imperial Army Military Academy is the only regular military academy in the whole of Asia, and even in the world, it is also a first-class military school, and the comprehensive quality of the students taught by it is quite strong.

Just when Qian Guotang led the troops to fight fiercely near the palace. The merchant guards at the legation and the British embassy guards were also very confrontational, and both sides were already digging trenches. Set up a cannon, and if you don't get this one right, you will fight directly.

Inside the Legation. Jia Haofeng is also reporting the relevant situation to Hao Mubai, according to his report, although Li Haotong's army is now more difficult to fight, but even if it can't take the palace in a short time, it still occupies a certain military advantage, and now Li Haotong has been forced to accept the advice of the advisory group, and began to directly let the Chinese adviser command the troops, in order to change the current predicament.

Although he was a little unwilling, Li Haotong also knew. The officers under his command were far inferior to these advisers in terms of command ability, and if they let others get in the way, it was better to just give up the command, as long as he won the victory, he did not mind losing face.

"So, can Li Haotong still control the situation?" Hao Mubai said.

"If nothing else, it should be like this, although the Praetorian Guard side has stronger combat effectiveness, but after all, the number of troops is small. And they don't have much ammunition reserves, the ammunition depot was controlled by Li Haotong's men earlier, and when the first division of the army withdrew from the city, there was no ammunition left! ”

Jia Haofeng replied.

"In that case. Let's take another look, well, pay attention to the British side. Don't let their guards out of your sight! Hao Mubai's words were said to Ning Jiajian, the head of the Protector Merchant Group.

"Unfortunately, we can't get in touch with the country yet. If the news is different, I'm afraid there will be variables at home and on the British side! ”

Hao Mubai's worries are not unfounded!

With the delay in the arrival of news from Mandalay. Now that the empire has begun to prepare for war, the military has given the troops in the direction of Yunnan to mobilize them for war, and at the same time, it has also sent people to contact the two local Tusi armies in Wa State and Shan State, and when necessary, these two servant armies are the pioneers and directly enter the Ning Kingdom.

On the Yangon side, the imperial diplomats also maintained contact with the British in a timely manner, and closely monitored the movements of the British troops stationed in Yangon.

The atmosphere in Mandalay and Yangon became tense, and the ministers of various countries also felt the atmosphere of war in Nanjing.

The British Minister to China, Sir Wittoma, held talks with the Imperial Foreign Minister Song Guanqian in two days, and even once requested an audience with the Imperial Emperor Lin Zhe, but he was not approved.

Although the empire was not a Manchu Qing dynasty and resisted exchanges with foreign countries, the emperor was reluctant to summon those foreign ministers, but the empire was also not such a small country, and the emperor was not something you could see when you met.

In 1866, the former British Minister to China, Sir Alex Alle, was criticized in Britain for the signing of the Four-Power Treaty, and was finally forced to resign as Minister to China at the end of 1866.

After taking office, on the one hand, he learned the lessons of Ali's hard-line strategy toward China, shifted to maintain restraint, and fought for peace, but on the other hand, he wrote back to China many times, reminding Britain that the strength of the empire in all aspects was rapidly expanding, and that it would inevitably become a huge threat to Britain in Asia in the future, and hoped that Britain would pay attention to the Chinese threat and make relevant responses, such as strengthening the strength of the East Indies Fleet and maintaining a large army force in Lower Burma.

The sudden chaos in Ningguo is the biggest challenge he has encountered since taking office.

As soon as Lin Chengting died, he sent a telegram back to London, saying that Lin Chengting's death was very likely to cause turmoil in the situation in Ningguo, and may even trigger a civil war in Ningguo, and then it was very likely to cause a war between China and Britain, and hoped that London would make relevant preparations.

But at the same time, he also said that he would do his best to fight for peace!

Relatively speaking, Sir Wittoma was more rational than Aerman, and he was more aware of the growth of the empire's strength after the industrial revolution, but it was precisely because of this rational cognition that he was full of wariness of the empire, and even repeatedly asked London to strengthen the strength of the East India fleet.

Relatively speaking, such a person is more threatening to the empire than Sir Ali.

This can be seen from the two days of talks, on the one hand, Sir Wittoma constantly reiterated the necessity of peace between China and Britain, and the benefits of Sino-British international trade to the two countries, and hoped that China and himself would maintain the necessary restraint to avoid war.

But on the other hand, he directly gave a threat of war, saying that if the Chinese side sent troops into Ningguo, it would undoubtedly violate the 'Sino-British Memorandum of Understanding on Burma Affairs' between China and Britain, and the British side would think that China had torn up the treaty.

At that time, the British side will inevitably retaliate, and will also send troops north to Ningguo, and claim that the British have at least 30,000 troops stationed in Rangoon, and can at least 50,000 troops from India at any time.

Moreover, the East India Fleet has also entered a state of combat readiness and is ready to attack the waters off the coast of China at any time.

To put it simply, once the empire sends troops to Ningguo, then Britain will not hesitate to declare war on the empire!

This kind of compromise is also a manifestation of Britain's ambivalent attitude towards the Empire, which wants peace but is unwilling to compromise, but if it starts war, it will not be worth the loss, and it is always entangled between peace and war.

On the other hand, in fact, the attitude of the empire towards Britain is similar to this, once there is a conflict, this is not a fight, and it is not a fight.

And it is precisely because both sides have this tangled attitude that the situation on Ning's side has gotten out of control, and China and Britain are even ready for war, but no one dares to easily and truly provoke a war. (To be continued.) )