Lin Yuan pointed to the bulletin and said, "You see, this is what the French have told us, and they say that Siam has dispatched a force called the War Elephant Legion."

Shen Wanqing smiled: "War Elephant Legion? Did they fight on elephants? ”

Lin Yuan shook his head and said, "Now that you don't even need horses to fight, how can you use elephants?" ”

Shen Wanqing said: "Since this name is mentioned in the report of the French, wouldn't it be better for you to go directly to the French?" ”

Lin Yuan put down the bulletin in his hand and said with a smile: "Believe it or not, you don't need me to go to them, they will definitely come to me." The two went to their respective offices as they spoke, and the first thing Lin Yuan did when he sat in the office was to ask the attendant, "Did the French come to me?" ”

The attendant replied: "Report to Lin Shuai, no one from the French embassy came, they only sent you a few briefings, and we have already sent them to you this morning." ”

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "The French are really calm, it's okay, I'll ignore them for now and wait and see what happens." Lin Yuan thought about it, so he asked the attendant to bring the previous official documents and start to deal with them, and Beijing outside the window started a new day, thousands of miles away, the war between Siam and France did not affect the busy crowd at all.

At twelve o'clock in the morning, Lin Yuan called the 28th Division and asked, "How is the battle situation on the front line now?" ”

Yun Tiangang replied: "According to the report of Sun Siming, the commander of the 252nd Regiment, the Siamese troops have captured more than a dozen outposts of the French army. ”

Lin Yuan asked, "Did the 252nd Regiment discover that there was a unit called the 'War Elephant Legion' in Siam?" ”

Yun Tiangang replied: "No, the information sent back by the 252nd Regiment did not mention the specific number of the Siamese army, and their scouts could only pass by as merchants, and the merchants did not dare to ask the number of the army." ”

Lin Yuan said: "Okay, you continue to reconnoitre, and transfer the 251st Regiment and the 250th Regiment to the border between Siam and Laos." After Lin Yuan finished speaking, he put down the phone and thought to himself: "This war elephant army is quite mysterious, but it is at best a very powerful force, and it is not worth me to take the initiative to ask the French Embassy." ”

Lin Yuan thought about it and then went to work, then had lunch, lunch break, no different from usual, attended the seminar on cooperation and development between China and African countries in the afternoon, and discussed with officials from Egypt, Ethiopia and other countries about the implementation of the "China's Seventh Round of African Aid Program", went home in the evening, ate, chatted with Shen Wanqing, and teased her a few words by the way, making her face crimson, although she was already an old husband and wife, but the freshness never diminished, and went to bed at night, just when Lin Yuan thought that the dull day was about to pass, The attendant called out of nowhere and said, "The French ambassador asks to see you." ”

Lin Yuan looked at his watch, half past nine in the evening, and thought to himself: "The French came to me at this time, it must be that they can't hold back anymore." So Lin Yuan got dressed and came to the reception room, the bloodshot French ambassador was fidgeting in the reception room, Lin Yuan laughed loudly: "Mr. Ambassador, what's the important matter when you come to me so late?" ”

The French ambassador didn't have time to greet or sit down, and said directly: "The defeat is like a mountain, and the war elephant army in Siam is really too powerful." ”

Lin Yuan frowned, and thought in his heart: "According to the information sent back by the 252nd Regiment, now that the Siamese army has only taken down more than a dozen outposts of the French army, how can it be said that the army is defeated?" ”

Lin Yuan sat down while thinking about it, and said, "Mr. Ambassador, please take a seat, let's talk slowly." ”

The French ambassador sat down on a chair, took out a map from his assistant's bag, put it on the table, pointed at it with his hand, and said: "This is the location of Siam's attack, and in less than 24 hours from this early morning to now, Siam's army of war elephants has broken through our 50-kilometer defensive line!" ”

When Lin Yuan heard this, his brows immediately erected, and he said, "Broke through the fifty-kilometer defense line? Our intelligence says: they have only broken through a dozen of your checkpoints, and the depth will definitely not exceed ten kilometers! ”

The French ambassador smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. Lin Yuan, your country's intelligence capability is very strong, but this time we are a belligerent country, your intelligence should not be as accurate as ours, right?" ”

Lin Yuan nodded and said, "Well, I believe your intelligence, but the places where Siam launched an attack are all lofty mountains and mountains, easy to defend and difficult to attack, how did your troops break through fifty kilometers in one day?" Is this army of war elephants that powerful? ”

The French ambassador said gloomily: "Although the war elephant army in Siam is powerful, our defeat is not entirely due to the war elephant army. Our defeat, in addition to the reason of the Siamese army, is more of our own reason, the area of Siam's attack is Luang Prabang in Laos, the ethnic groups living here are all Lao Song clan, the so-called Lao Song clan, that is, the people who live in the mountains, they are brave and good at fighting, the officials we sent do not understand the local situation, the means of collecting taxes are too rough, and the guide zhì has a lot of grievances, as soon as the Siamese army is dispatched, the people of the Lao Song clan will cooperate with the Siamese army to attack us. ”

"As you know, Laos was only subordinated to us in 1893, and it has only been five years now, and we have not been deeply involved in the transformation of Laos' civilization, Luang Prabang is a mountainous area, and the process of civilization and civilization is even lower, and our army does not understand the situation, and is beaten everywhere in the mountains."

Lin Yuan thought to himself while listening: "Vientiane is only a few dozen kilometers away from the border between Siam and Laos, and Siam does not attack Vientiane, which has a good foundation of French rule, but Luang Prabang, which has a weak foundation of rule. Lin Yuan asked at this time, "What is the War Elephant Legion?" ”

The French ambassador said: "The War Elephant Corps is a unit formed by Siam, preparations began a year ago, it is a top secret in Siam, and our intelligence officers have also worked hard to find out about this unit, it is said that this unit is completely trained by British officers, specializing in mountain and tropical jungle combat, and the training is cruel, ten body bags will be brought before each training, and the dead ones will be stuffed into the body bags and pulled away!" ”

Lin Yuan couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine when he heard this, although his troops also had training death indicators, but Lin Yuan had always opposed non-combat attrition, and death indicators were rarely used, such a thing as carrying a body bag in training had never been done, and this kind of training method had one of the biggest characteristics - it made people ignore life, and they didn't take their lives seriously on the training ground, and they didn't take their lives seriously on the battlefield!

Lin Yuan was thinking about it, when the French ambassador paused and said, "This war elephant army still has something to do with you!" ”