Winston?? Churchill and Harry walked almost all day to reach the station of the 10th Infantry Regiment, an unknown town. The commander of the 10th Infantry Regiment, Bennett?? Austin is an acquaintance of Churchill, he was born in a declining old aristocratic family, thinking that in Churchill's grandfather's generation, the Austin family was still quite prosperous, but his grandfather was a playboy, and his father was the same, two generations like to spend money indiscriminately, and like to invest blindly, as a result, their money, land, etc., soon ran into the pockets of the Jews. In short, in Bennett's generation, it was difficult to maintain even the basic decency of the nobility. Therefore, in order to revive the family, Bennett entered the army, relying on the connections left by his grandfather's time, plus his own willingness to work hard, so he gradually climbed up in the army, and is now a lieutenant colonel.

"Hey! Bennett, long time no see! As soon as he saw Captain Austin, Churchill went up to greet him warmly. Although he hadn't seen Austin in a long time, the last time they met, Churchill seemed to be just starting elementary school. To be honest, Churchill didn't remember what this Austin looked like at all, and he now recognized him entirely because of the wide epaulettes on his shoulders.

"Ah, is it Winston? It's been a long time since we've seen each other. Captain Austin also made a very familiar and enthusiastic look. Hell, the last time they saw each other, Bennett?? Austen, though a year or two older than Bhikkhu () Gil, was still a child, and he would have recognized this guy who looked strong at the moment, but who would be a big fat man with a semi-bald head in a few years. It's just that he knows that Winston, who was born in a famous family and has a thriving family?? Churchill was destined to enter politics and climb into a position he couldn't reach. And this guy is now coming to South Africa to work as a war correspondent, just to prepare for the future political road and build his prestige. Of course, Churchill wanted to gain prestige, and his cooperation was indispensable. So this is an opportunity, a rare opportunity, if you take advantage of this opportunity to build a good relationship with him, then the chances of promotion in the future will naturally be much greater.

Captain Austin stepped forward and enthusiastically gave Churchill a bear hug.

"Come to my room and have a cup of coffee." Austin said.

"It's better to be respectful than to obey." Churchill said the same, and the two men walked together into the house that Austin had been temporarily requisitioned for the temporary command.

The orderly laid out a white tablecloth on the dining table and poured coffee for the two of them.

"The conditions here are difficult, there is no good tea, and there are no good utensils, so I have to ask you to just take a break." Austin said to Churchill with a smile.

"I can understand that." Churchill said with a smile, "The conditions at the front are indeed difficult, but it is also for the good and honor of the Empire." ”

"Yes, for the good and honor of the Empire!" Austin raised the coffee cup in his hand slightly and greeted Churchill.

"Bennett, can you tell me about the fight?" Churchill asked.

"Of course it's fine." Austin replied, "On the whole, the Boers were good adversaries, more cunning than the average white Aboriginal." You know that they have been fighting with the Zulus for a long time, so their marksmanship is very good, and in terms of average level, they are no worse than the British soldiers. And their soldiers also have a decent amount of courage, at least much stronger than most of the indigenous whites. When we first arrived in Cape Town, when these Boer rebels were besieging the city, we repelled their attacks again and again, with the help of the fortifications.

They are cunning when they attack, and they are very good at borrowing terrain to hide themselves. However, in the face of bombardment by naval artillery, these were of little use. But their commanders had a glaring weakness, which was not firm enough and lacked courage. They are too accustomed to fighting with intrigues, such as when they captured the Kimberley, they used to carry short. Guys with guns dressed in civilian clothes first launch a sneak attack, and then take the city inside and out. When it came time to really fight hard, their commanders lacked courage, so once the attack was thwarted, they immediately gave up the attack, not at all like the Imperial army, which was able to rush all the way up despite huge casualties. So, if it's a head-to-head battle, I'm sure we can crush them like smashing a walnut with a hammer......"

In general, although Commander Austin raised the level of the British army a little too much, he did not belittle his opponents too much. Austin didn't want Churchill to make the Boers too vulnerable in his report, after all, it was completely impossible to blow up such a record as punching Nanshan Nursing Home and kicking Beihai Kindergarten. As long as the enemy is portrayed as fierce and powerful, and the enemy is defeated, it will appear heroic. For example, the netizens of the Red Rabbit Kingdom in later generations are discussing the dynasty. When the battle loss ratio of the Xian War is generally only counted as the casualties of the Red Rabbit Kingdom and the Bald Eagle, as for the South Stick and the North Stick, although their casualties are greater, the non-human casualties are generally not counted.

Just as the two of them were chatting energetically, the herald sent a new order.

Commander Austin looked at the message from the herald, then stood up and said to Churchill, "Originally, we were going to fix it here for two days. It's just that now the situation has changed a little, and we have to speed up the march. So Winston, you're going to have to work a little harder. We're going to march to the town of Short ahead today. ”

"What's going on?" Churchill asked.

"It's nothing, those Boers know they can't stop us, so they're destroying the facilities of some of the cities they occupy. Of course, we can't let them wreak havoc like this, so we were ordered to speed up and stop the Boer sabotage. Captain Austin replied.

……

At half past three in the afternoon of the same day, the 10th Infantry Regiment arrived at the town of Short. From about 10 a.m. to now, the troops have marched more than 30 kilometers in a hurry, and the soldiers are quite tired. But at this time, they can't let up, because they also have to build camps, set up light and dark sentinels, prepare for cooking, in short, there is still a lot to do.

And they had not been able to sleep well that night, because at night the Boers began to shoot and harass from a distance. They even fired at the camp with mortars, but fortunately, the Boers couldn't hit it at night, and they didn't hit anyone, but everyone's rest was not very good.

"We'll be in Belleville tomorrow, and everyone will be able to sleep well there." Commander Austin could only inspire the soldiers like this.

……

The days that followed were constant marches, and then constant harassment by the Boers. That kind of open-minded battle between knights never happened. The Boers had a large number of horses, which were said to be enough to fit each soldier with three horses. This makes their army very mobile. They would lay mines on the British march, then hide with sniper rifles on a small hill on the side, and when the British stopped because they had stepped on a mine, they would take the opportunity to shoot. After firing a few shots, they jumped on their horses and rode away.

Immediately after receiving such an attack at the beginning, the head of the Austin regiment took action. He put the cavalry unit in charge of clearing the Boers of mounted snipers. However, as a result, the cavalry pursued the Boers a little farther, and as a result, they were ambushed by the Boers and suffered considerable losses.

Obviously, these harassing activities of the Boers were aimed at slowing down the advance of the British army, buying time for their actions to retreat and destroy the city and railroad at the same time. Anyway, until now, train stations in all towns Churchill had seen. The railroad was also destroyed by Yanzhòng, and all the railroad tracks were removed by the Boers, and the sleepers were not left for the British. Although the roadbed is still there, it is really impossible to count on these railways in the short term. As for what the Boers did with the rails and sleepers, there are many rumors that the Boers built a very strong fortress in Johannesburg and are constantly reinforcing it, and the railroad sleepers are being transported to Johannesburg.

A local English immigrant sued Churchill:

"The Boers drove a train and stopped every two or three hundred meters, and then Zulu workers got off the train, removed all the rails and sleepers behind it, loaded it onto the train, and then they went on and on, and then they went on, and then ...... They passed over the railroad like a swarm of locusts passing over a field, and not a single nail was left. ”

"I'd like to see if they can keep running back to Johannesburg. If they do that, it would be good that we can wipe out all these scoundrels in one fell swoop. So, what is the use of these rogue routines? Captain Austin said this to Churchill, and Churchill thought so.

But the battle broke out a little earlier than they thought. On this day, in a newly arrived town, they made a new discovery, that is, the railroad here actually still has sleepers.

This shows that they are not far from those Boers, so that it is too late for the Boers to completely destroy the railway. In this way, if they can speed up their advance, then it is entirely possible to catch up with the Boers and destroy them.

Encouraged by this situation, the commander of Austin, after consulting with his superiors, made the decision to leave the baggage troops behind, and the whole regiment of combat troops to advance lightly, and try to catch up with and destroy the Boers as much as possible. R1292