October 30, 1908, Degehepur, a key pass in the southeast of Ethiopia.

The main forces of the Ethiopian army, including the most elite Janissaries, and the Italian Eritrean army had been engaged in fierce battles for three days and two nights, and the Ethiopian army failed to defeat the Italian army in one fell swoop as expected.

After dinner, the main members of the Chinese advisory group, which still smelled of gunsmoke, gathered in the room of the head of the group, Wen Yu. Anyone who is the slightest shrewd will notice that something is not right, the doors and windows are tightly closed, the outside is covered with the Advisors' own guards, and no Ethiopian is allowed to approach.

The dim red light of the kerosene lamps froze on the mud-plastered walls, and the room was filled with a faint smell of mutton and sweet wine. The Motherland is too far away from them, death is too close to them, but no one yet suspects that they are fighting for the Motherland.

Wen Yu sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed, his sharp gaze swept over everyone's tired and anxious faces, and said straight to the point: "According to the information obtained from the interrogation of Italian prisoners in the past two days, it is confirmed that the Italian Eritrean Legion has added a 10th Infantry Division, an independent mixed brigade and a 3,000-strong colonial regiment to the battle sequence. ”

"No wonder you fought so hard...... In this way, our original slight advantage in strength is no longer there, and the losses of the Praetorian Guard in the past few days are not small, and some nobles have begun to waver. Yin Tian, the deputy head of the advisory group who participated in the battle in the 1st Brigade of the Egyptian Army, sighed.

"Please listen to me." Wen Yu's expression was grim, and everyone seemed to have realized something, and they were suddenly solemn.

"In addition to the above-mentioned situation, there is also information from China that about 25,000 troops of an infantry division and two colonial brigades of the French army have been assembled in Djibouti, and the British army has also assembled a mixed force of about 15,000 troops in western British Somalia, and will jointly march into Egypt in the near future."

Everyone looked at each other and said that they were shocked, but in fact, it was expected; It doesn't matter, if Britain and France are stabbed in the back at this critical moment, the main force of the Egyptian army that is fully assembled on the southeast front will be dangerous, and it can even be said that the defeat is decided!

"The domestic instruction to the advisory group is ......" Wen Yu deliberately paused, his face a little blue.

"Resist Britain, France, and Italy with all their might, and sacrifice at all costs, so that Germany can obtain the greatest benefits, and at least let the German army enter the capital of Egypt first."

Except for Li Ruishi, everyone else had expressions of surprise on their faces.

"For what...... Could it be that all we are doing here is to make the youngest midshipman in the Germans ......" advisory group, Second Lieutenant Gu Dao, pound to the ground with emotion.

"Everything we do here is for the good of the Empire." Li Ruishi said coldly. "For the sake of the future cause of the empire, what is it to sacrifice a small third-rate country, idealistic arguments are meaningless in the face of interests, since they are chess pieces, they have to complete the tasks of chess pieces dutifully."

"But for what is it to get the most out of the Germans...... the old road still did not turn a corner.

"Do the chess pieces need to know the true thoughts of the chess players? A real chess player will not only focus on the chess game in front of him, but must have a plan for several moves in his mind. ”

Everyone has nothing to say, this is Shangfeng's death order, there is no room for discussion, plus Li Ruishi's two sentences have shattered the bubble of idealism that others have just begun to expand, what else is there to say?

"Commander, what are we going to do next?" The deputy head of the regiment, Yintian, immediately turned to the practical problem.

Wen Yu pressed his thigh and gritted his teeth: "I know that everyone may not be able to get over it with their conscience, and they feel that we are so open-minded to help others, but in the end, we want to secretly betray others, which is too despicable......"

"Commander, I don't think so." Li Ruishi raised his hand and said, "It is a war of resistance for Ethiopia to fight the German army, and it is also a war of resistance to fight Britain, France and Italy, not to mention that it is also the decision of the Ethiopian emperor to destroy the Italian army first and then fight the German army, as long as we do not disclose the information that Britain and France are about to enter the war to the Egyptian side, and the Ethiopians will judge the rest." There is no bad conscience, of course, we have our purpose in aiding Ethiopia, and this kind of thing of giving charity will not work between countries! ”

Yintian also came to help: "Ruishi is right, we are loyal to the Chinese Empire and the Celestial Empire, and everything must be based on the interests of the empire." That's right, Ethiopia is a thousand-year-old country, and Menelik is a good monarch, but Ethiopia is not my motherland, and Menelik is not my emperor, and we must carry out the orders from the motherland without hesitation! ”

Wen Yu nodded: "It's good that you have this understanding, I mean, in order to effectively implement domestic orders, it is not enough to press the information that Britain and France are about to enter the war, and the Ethiopian side should have its own source of intelligence." We must exert our respective influence and drag the main force of the Egyptian army as much as possible on the line from Dere Dawa to Deghhepur, so that it will not be able to return to the capital, and create an opportunity for Germany to attack Addis Ababa first. ”

"What if Menelik is determined to return to the capital?" Li Xiuping asked.

Compared with two months ago, Li Xiuping already has a clear scar on his forehead, which was left in the battle of Vasai Valley, which led to the defeat of the Ethiopian Second Army, which can be said to be a turning point in the entire war, since then the Egyptian army has turned from active to passive, and has to risk losing the capital to put all the main force into a decisive battle with the Italian army in the southeast.

"Let's do our best, if you can drag it out for a day, no matter what, we must put the German army into the capital first, everyone, the empire and the emperor are looking forward to us completing the task!"

Wen Yu once again moved out of the empire and the emperor to inspire, and it seemed that the effect was not bad, and everyone stood up and saluted together.

"Please also keep it a strict secret, the safety of all the advisory group is at stake, any of you will be hot-headed for a moment and harm all the compatriots here, understand!"

Obviously, this most rebellious instruction is easy to understand, and no one here should kill their comrades-in-arms and compatriots who share it day and night for the sake of the future and fate of a group of foreigners.

Three days later, on November 2, 12,000 British troops, led by Major General Dylan, attacked the eastern border town of Togwajale from British Somalia and then attacked Jijiga and Harar, which were located in the rear of Deghepur. On the same day, the 20,000-strong French army, commanded by Lieutenant General Ferrarti, attacked the eastern border of Ethiopia from the French colony of Djibouti and advanced along the unfinished Gia (Djibouti-Addis Ababa) railway to Dre Dawa, the rear supply center of the main force of the Gerhebur Egyptian army.

At this time, after nearly a week of bloody fighting, the main force of the Egyptian army in Degerhepur failed to defeat the Italian army, which had been strengthened and replenished in front of them, the troops were exhausted, ammunition began to run out, and the will of the noble officers began to waver.

Although the Royal Ethiopian Air Force led by Huang Yan forced one enemy plane, shot down two enemy planes, and damaged a number of planes and airships in the last few air battles, it lost three more valuable planes in battles and accidents, and in addition to the lack of aircraft parts and fuel, by the end of October, only four planes were left in the entire flight team that could be lifted into the air. Relying on its numerical superiority, the Italian army's aviation units gradually grasped air supremacy on the battlefield, and as long as the weather permitted, they sent airships and planes to take turns to reconnoiter and bomb important places such as Deghepur, Harar, and Dre Dava.

On 4 November, another bombing was carried out on Deghhepur, where the base camp of the Egyptian army was based, and the bomb hit the Orthodox Church in Deghhepur, where the base camp was stationed, the roof was blown through, and the sacred cross fell on the altar and broke into four pieces.

"Does this indicate that my country will be devoured by those four robbers?" Emperor Menelik poked his noble head out of the cellar of the church and muttered to himself with a blank face.

"Your Majesty, we still have a chance." Wen Yu, who was waiting for an opportunity, took the opportunity to speak.

"Friend, are you still going to stand with me?" The old emperor looked sad.

Wen Yu nodded as naturally as possible: "Yes, we are ordered to continue to help you and your country, please believe me, we still have a chance." ”

"My friend, you know, after a week of bloody fighting, we got nothing, we may have killed 5,000 to 10,000 Italians and Somalis, but we could not achieve a decisive victory. The Italians received reinforcements, they outnumbered us in strength and firepower, and they also took advantageous positions. Our encirclement, our annihilation—all failed! How many men are left in the First Legion? Praetorian Guard, look at my Praetorian Guard, the losses are terrible......"

If even the emperor is shaken, this war ......

Wen Yu didn't want to think about it, and at this moment, he had to carry out the domestic instructions without a trace of emotion, leading this poor and doomed emperor and his country to the end that some people wanted to see.

Yes, failure is doomed, but there can be many ways to end it...... Old Emperor, there is no free lunch in the world, and it is not only natural to receive so much aid from us and make a little use of it?

While eliminating the guilt, Wen Yu adjusted the mask of sincerity to the best position: "Your Majesty, launch another general attack on the Italian army." ”

"What? And to launch a general offensive? Britain and France are already copying our back roads! The Germans are already closing in on my capital! Emperor Menelik frowned suspiciously.

"On the eastern side, there are more than 100,000 private troops of all stripes under the command of His Excellency the Minister of War, which should be able to drag on for several days, and we will take advantage of this time difference to first destroy or inflict heavy damage on the Italian army in front of us in one fell swoop, so that it cannot pose a strong threat to us, and then march back to the line of Dareva-Harar in a hurry to fight a decisive battle with Britain and France. In terms of the capital, His Majesty has ordered Alura to lead two regular brigades and more than 100,000 militia to defend, coupled with the rugged terrain in the direction of the German army's attack, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and difficult to supply, the progress will not be too fast. ”

Seeing that Menelik was still hesitating, Wen Yu sighed again: "If we retreat from Degerhepur now, the Italian army that still has combat strength will not hesitate to counterattack, and we will fall into the encirclement of the British, French and Italian armies, even if we are lucky enough to break free from the encirclement and withdraw to the capital, where we will fall into the general encirclement of the four-nation alliance!" Your Majesty, the only way to victory is to defeat the enemy individually! ”

The emperor twisted his beard, frowned, and sighed: "I want to discuss it with my generals again." ”