After Lin Daxin received the report that the British in South Africa had suffered another defeat, he decided to continue to increase the number of South African volunteers, and now the third batch of 600 volunteers sent to South Africa has flown to South Africa by airship, Lin Daxin asked Chen Ergou to select 600 officers and soldiers from the Guards Division to form the fourth batch of South African volunteers, but this group of South African volunteers will not rush to South Africa immediately, after all, the supply of South African volunteers can only rely on the transportation of airships, and it is impossible to support a large South African volunteer army in South Africa thousands of miles away.

Therefore, the size of the South African Volunteers will be controlled below 2,000 people, and this fourth batch of South African Volunteers will replenish the South African Volunteers who are already fighting in South Africa at any time in the coming days.

Lin Daxin knew that the next battle in South Africa would not be easy, a large number of British troops would continue to rush to South Africa from all over the world to participate in the war, and the Boer army and the South African volunteers would face a serious challenge.

Historically, the Boers soon lost control of all the cities, and the Boer troops who had withdrawn from the cities began to break into pieces, forming multiple guerrilla units, giving full play to the strengths of field cavalry and archery, attacking the British army's lines of communication, plundering British supplies, and annihilating small British troops.

The Burenos Guerrillas launched a number of surprise attacks on the British forces in the Transvaal and Orange, and repeatedly succeeded, capturing large quantities of munitions, provisions, and artillery. Even the Boers divided into small guerrilla groups and traveled thousands of miles deep into the rear of the British army, all the way to the Atlantic coast and the suburbs of Cape Town, forcing the British to declare martial law in the Cape area.

The British, in order to end the war as soon as possible, began to resort to bunker tactics, scorched earth policies, and set up concentration camps to deal with the Boer guerrillas. In particular, the concentration camps killed a large number of Boer civilians, and the high mortality rate in the camps severely shook the morale of the Boer soldiers.

The British methods also made the combat capability of the Boers also rapidly decline. The number of troops was reduced from 88,000 at its peak to 22,000 due to the lack of supplies. The militia soldiers were malnourished, ragged and demoralized. They have run out of food and ammunition. They could only live on the spoils of war, and finally had to choose to negotiate peace with the British, and the Orange Free State and the Republic of Teresa were annexed by the British.

Lin Daxin did not think that his small South African volunteer army could change the fate of the Orange Free State and the Republic of Teresa to be annexed by the British, but Lin Daxin was confident that the British would pay a heavier price than in history.

Historically, the British spent 220 million pounds in the Second Boer War, and Britain mobilized 450,000 troops, of which 256,000 were British regular troops, 109,000 were British volunteers, and 53,000 were British colonial troops in South Africa. 31,000 from Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The British transported a total of 380,000 troops to South Africa by sea, in addition to 350,000 horses, 100,000 mules, 1.34 million tons of military equipment and other supplies, and 1,027 ships. A total of 1,072 officers and 20,870 soldiers were killed in the British, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian forces that participated in the war.

At such a high cost, the British government realized that it was economically and strategically unfeasible to defend both the British Empire's overseas possessions and the British mainland due to the high cost of the war of modernization, and after the end of the Boer War, Britain began a global strategic contraction.

But South Africa is thousands of miles away. Lin Daxin also has no way to effectively command, how much trouble the South African volunteers can bring to the British, they can only rely on themselves, Lin Daxin will wait and see.

Lin Daxin did not pay too much attention to the war in South Africa. He remained focused on the Japanese, and according to the overall strategic concept, the Far Eastern and Yalu provinces would be the first to go on the defensive. Waiting for the Japanese army to attack, but so far the Japanese in these two directions. There is still no offensive movement.

Fifteen kilometers east of the Wild Boar River Wharf in the Far Eastern Province, the Japanese Northern Dispatch Army had set up a huge camp here. The headquarters of Oyama Iwa, commander of the Japanese Northern Dispatch Army, was also in this camp.

On October 10, Oyama Iwa brought the division commanders of the divisions of the Northern Japanese Dispatch Army to the headquarters and held an operational meeting.

The 18 division commanders of the Japanese Northern Dispatch Army sat on both sides of the conference table put together by the headquarters, and Oyama Yan sat at the front of the conference table, he looked at the 18 division commanders on both sides, and said with satisfaction: "Commanders of the divisions, our Japanese Northern Dispatch Army has now reached the strength of 18 divisions, and the transport ships jointly escorted by the Combined Fleet of the Great Japanese Navy and the British Navy not long ago, Not only did we send 32,000 additional reserve officers and soldiers to our Northern Dispatch Army in Japan, so that the three divisions that had been severely damaged by the Northeast Navy's sneak attack were restored to full strength, but also the mainland added three divisions to our Northern Dispatch Army in Japan, the 30th Division, the 31st Division, and the 32nd Division. ”

Then, amid applause, three Japanese division commanders stood up, nodded their heads, and sat back in their seats.

At this time, Dashan Yan continued: "Commanders of divisions, our Northern Dispatch Army of Japan will launch an attack on the Dingbei Army on the front line of the Sikhote Mountains next, do you have any questions with the division commanders?" ”

The commander of the Sixth Division, Ibaraki Yuaki, said at the head of Oyama Rock: "Commander, our Japanese Northern Dispatch Army plus three independent heavy artillery brigades have reached 380,000 troops, if such a huge force launches an attack on the Dingbei Army on the first line of the Sikhote Mountains, can our logistical supplies be guaranteed?" ”

Although the number of Japanese divisions and regiments is about 20,000 people, it can be seen from the equipment that the strength of each division and regiment is weak, and the sixth division does not say anything else, but Japan's own production of 5-ton light tanks has reached 25, far exceeding ordinary divisions, and most divisions are equipped with only a pitiful 5 light tanks.

The Japanese arsenal used a large number of machinery and equipment imported from Europe to imitate the army's 150 mm howitzers and 127 mm howitzers, and the Japanese used these two kinds of large-caliber artillery produced in Japan to form 8 heavy artillery brigades, each heavy artillery brigade with 24 150 mm howitzers and 24 127 mm howitzers.

This time, in order to attack the Dingbei Army in the Far Eastern Province, the Japanese base camp allocated three independent heavy artillery brigades to the Japanese Central Northern Dispatch Army, as well as two independent heavy artillery brigades in South Korea, which was controlled by Japan, and the remaining three independent heavy artillery brigades were in Japan.

Hearing the words of the division commander of the Sixth Division, Ibaraki Yuaki, Oyama Yan said with a smile: "Ibaraki-kun, there is the British navy and our combined fleet to escort the transport ship, what else do you have to worry about our logistics supply!" ”

Ibaraki Weizhao frowned, opened his mouth and didn't say anything more, in his heart he actually always disapproved of the Japanese army landing here in Far Eastern Province, he believed that the army should concentrate on launching an attack on the Dingbei Army in Yalu River Province in South Korea, although the Dingbei Army in Yalu River Province built a lot of strong fortifications, but he believed that these fortifications could not withstand the attack of the Japanese Army, it was nothing more than the loss of the attacking troops, so that there was no need to worry about the problem of logistics and supply, South Korea had already hoarded a large amount of ammunition and materials.

Akio Watanabe, the commander of the 8th Division on the other side of the head of Daesan Rock, asked, "Commander, will the South Korean Army also launch an attack on Yalu Province?" ”

Dashan Yan shook his head and said, "The base camp has decided that the South Korean troops will take the defensive position first, after all, if they attack Yalu River Province, they will face the defense line that the Dingbei Army has been operating for several years, and it will be very difficult. The base camp decided to send troops only from the north of Japan to attack the Dingbei Army on the front line of the Sikhote Mountains, and if we broke through the defense line of the Dingbei Army, then we would continue to attack and advance to the southwest of the Far Eastern Province, and then capture the twin cities, and finally achieve the operational goal of attacking Heilongjiang Province from the Far Eastern Province. ”

After Da Shanyan finished speaking, many division commanders in the command headquarters nodded, did not say anything more, and waited for Commander Da Shanyan to assign the combat tasks of each division and regiment.

Seeing that no one in the division commanders in the headquarters made a sound, Dashan Yan said loudly: "Gentlemen, this time our Japanese dispatch army in the north is shouldering the hope of the rise of the Great Japanese Empire, and we must attack Heilongjiang Province from Far Eastern Province to Heilongjiang Province at any cost, then Jilin Province, Mukden Province, until we capture Shenyang City, and win this war for the Great Japanese Empire!" At that time, I, and all of you here, will be heroes of the Japanese Empire! ”

After a pause, Dashan Yan continued: "I decided that 2 days later, that is, on October 12, I will first launch an attack on the Dingbei Army on the first line of the Xihote Mountains, and the first wave of attack troops will be composed of the 16th Division and the 17th Division. ”

The commander of the 16th Division, Nobuyi Yamanaka, and the commander of the 17th Division, Taro Senha, stood up at the same time and shouted, "Hey! ”

Dashan Yan said: "The other divisions are ready to support the 16th and 17th Divisions at any time, remember, we must do whatever it takes!" ”

"Hey!" The other division commanders also stood up and shouted loudly.

Da Shanyan also stood up, bowed to the 18 division commanders in the headquarters and said, "Please! (To be continued......)