In the Zhenhati Command in Central India, the actions of the division commander Tang Qiuli made everyone scratch their heads, isn't it the military map of the South Asian subcontinent? The division commander has seen it countless times, and it is as familiar as the palm of his own hand, and even the staff officers are familiar with the situation of the enemy and the enemy above, and with their eyes closed, they can also know the current position of their troops.

In the middle of the night, the division commander and a military map were called, and after more than 40 minutes, Tang Qiuli was still gesturing with great interest, chanting words in his mouth, and constantly thinking, sometimes frowning, sometimes shaking his head, as if he had encountered some problem, his attitude was extremely serious, he didn't say anything, and the staff officers didn't dare to ask, but he used the corner of his eye to pay attention to the division commander's every move.

Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe couldn't help it, and asked tentatively: "Division commander, it's already more than eleven o'clock at night, it's time for you to rest, if there is any problem, you explain it, and the staff office will keep all the signs you need on the military map after you wake up." ”

Zhao Yuhe was trying to test this, he believed that the division commander was not satisfied with the work of the General Staff Office, and that if he personally revised the numbers in some aspects on the military map, it would prove that he was the chief of staff who was derelict in his duties, and that the General Staff Office was under his own leadership according to the division of work responsibilities.

Tang Qiuli put down the scale in his hand, moved his cervical vertebrae, smiled mysteriously, and avoided answering Zhao Yuhe's words, but said: "Yuhe, summarize today's battle situation, I also know it in my heart!" ”

Zhao Yuhe came to report on the situation in this regard, and when he saw that the division commander was busy in front of the military map, he also had questions and did not bother.

He opened the Wen Jiàn folder in his hand and said: "Division Commander, after a whole day of fighting on May 23, the battle situation in the three battlefields is as follows, the troops of the Marine Corps Commander Han Tie, attacked on the island of Sri Lanka. Very smoothly, in front, the north and south attack troops, are sweeping away the remnants of the enemy. and encircled in the direction of Colombo, and Commander Han Tie personally led the Middle Route Army, which was already approaching the outskirts of Colombo. ”

"In the naval battle of the East Indian Ocean, Commander Tang Qiuquan's fleet completely annihilated the special task force of the Indian army, sank thirty-one ships, and captured thirty-two ships. Commander Tang, who included more than 5,000 British naval officers and officers, had already begun the work of reorganizing, receiving warships, and escorting prisoners of war, and the battle plan for the fleet was completed smoothly. ”

"On the front lines of Dhaka, Kulna, Pokaro, Sajfpur, and Chenhati in Central India, the troops of our eighteen brigades took the initiative to attack the second-line troops of the eastward advance corps of the Indian army on the opposite side, and after a day's fighting. A total of more than 40,000 troops of the second line of the Eastward Advance Army were annihilated, and most of them retreated to the line of Muzaffarpur, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Howrah, and Calcutta, which were more than 130 kilometers away. ”

"Look at the day. The reason for this is that the second-line troops of the British and Indian Army's Eastward Advance Corps will collapse at the touch of a moment, so that the troops will not have a chance to be encircled, division commander. Today's results exceeded our expectations, especially on the island of Sri Lanka and the front line in Central India, where the speed of the troops' advance was amazing! ”

Tang Qiuli said simply, "Killing chickens with a knife is expected." Yuhe, how is the situation on the Imphal side, did Deputy Division Commander Tang have any telegrams? ”

Tang Qiuli nodded and said: "Yuhe, order Deputy Division Commander Tang to shrink the encirclement of Imphal, compress the strategic space of Chelsea's troops, force it to surrender as much as possible, and fish the second-line troops of the Eastward Advance Army. ”

"More than a dozen brigades of troops, it seems that there are a lot of troops, but it is far from enough to scatter on the vast land of India, if the British are in India and have a few divisions of troops that can fight well, I will never dare to adopt such a tactic of flowering everywhere, capture Imphal, and also give British Prime Minister Churchill, another wake-up call!" …,

"Order the troops on the front lines of Dhaka, Kulna, Pokaro, Sajfpur, and Chenhati to start at five o'clock tomorrow morning and launch a fierce attack on the troops of the second line of the eastward advance corps on the front line of Muzaffarpur, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Howrah, and Calcutta, and to pursue and strike fiercely, and to attack continuously without stopping, so as not to give the British a chance to breathe."

"In the order, it is emphasized that at six o'clock in the evening of May 24, all the attacking forces are to occupy the line of Lucknow, Allahbad, Jaburpur, Permlagher, and Gompur, and in thirteen hours, each unit must advance an average of more than 130 kilometers, and during this time, there will be battles, and the task will not be easy, and this should be explained to all troops, especially to avoid the breeding of pride."

Zhao Yuhe hesitated for a moment and said: "Division commander, the terrain conditions in Central India have great restrictions on the advancement of the troops, especially for the mechanized troops, in terms of the battlefield situation in front of them, the British have been unable to organize effective resistance, why don't we advance slowly in the existing area, and look for opportunities to annihilate the second-line troops of the Eastward Advance Corps, the time is not urgent for us, so why take the risk?" ”

Tang Qiuli shook his head and said: "Yuhe, you must always remember that our strategic focus is by no means in the South Asian subcontinent, but in the Indochina Peninsula and the South Pacific region, our main enemy is still the Japanese, but because the British made a mistake and took the initiative to provoke a war in northern Burma, they gave us this opportunity, and we did not have enough time." ”

"The Japanese are in the South Pacific region, ready to move, the Pacific war is about to break out, the Americans can not react to our capture of the island of Sri Lanka and the Central and East Indies, if the Americans intervene in the South Asian subcontinent, the situation will become more complicated, therefore, as far as possible to end the war against the British, a lot of trouble will be avoided, and the troops can also be withdrawn as much as possible."

"I put on a posture of onslaught, continued to advance inland to the Indian mainland, and took out a posture of swallowing the British territory, just to force the British to come to the negotiating table, Yuhe, with our current strength, it is not enough to occupy the entire South Asian subcontinent, we can only sign an alliance with the British under the most favorable situation, and get what we want, war, is just a means!"

Zhao Yuhe vaguely understood why the division commander had been thinking about it for so long in front of the military map of the South Asian subcontinent, he was thinking about how to cut off a large piece of fat from the British, with Zhao Yuhe's understanding of Tang Qiuli, this knife would definitely see bones and blood!

In the office of Lieutenant General Chelsea, the commander of the East Frontier Corps Headquarters in the East Indies, there was only a dim lamp on, and Lieutenant General Chelsea, in the dim light, was writing letters to Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chief of the General Staff, General Brandt.

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, Chief of the General Staff, it is already late at night on 23 May, and the surroundings of Impal are full of Tang Qiuli's troops, and I have to tell you the sad news that I and my more than 50,000 soldiers have been surrounded by squadrons several times my size, and since the 22nd, the gunfire around Impal has never stopped."

"Tang Qiuli's troops, relying on absolute superiority in strength and firepower, constantly encroached on my peripheral positions, the troops were gradually compressed to a small area in the city, soldiers, ammunition, materials and supplies were increasingly consumed, and there was no supply, it was impossible for the troops to break through, and Impal had become a Jedi and a dead city, this is the real situation."

"And during the day today, from the front line of Central India, there is bad news, the second-line troops of our eastward advance corps, when trying to open the blockade line of the independent division troops, were fiercely counterattacked, suffered heavy casualties, and had to retreat more than 100 kilometers, now that I think about it, this is a fatal mistake I made, Tang Qiuli's troops are fully capable of capturing Imphal within ten hours." …,

"However, the Chinese did not attack, and their only purpose was to attract our second-line troops to come to the rescue, which was the same as the siege of Sido under Alexander, but we were all fooled and rescued Sido, causing the eastward army to fall into a situation of total annihilation, and Impal became an isolated city."

"In order to rescue the Eastward Advance Corps, the second-line troops, and also the last military potential of our British Empire in the South Asian subcontinent, have been fatally damaged, Alexander's original prediction has become a terrible reality, the greedy ambitions of the Chinese, not in the East Indies, not even in Central India, they want the entire South Asian subcontinent."

"That Chinese Tang Qiuli's conspiracy and strategy, caused us to be fooled again and again, in the end, we will lose this war, Imphal, will become the next Sido, Tang Qiuli no longer has any worries, his forces, will all be pressed to the interior of India, we have no troops to stop, the only way is to persuade the Americans to participate in the war against the Chinese, otherwise, we will lose the largest piece of overseas territory."

Chelsea put down his pen, rubbed his sour eyes, listened to the solidified gunfire outside, and with an inaudible sigh, the communications officer came in, "Report to Your Excellency Commander, I have received a report from the Indian Governor's Office on the situation of the battle, our task force, in the waters of Sri Lanka, was ambushed by the Chinese fleet, and after five hours of fierce fighting, the fleet commander, Rear Admiral Jeffrey Hill, was killed and the fleet was completely destroyed." ”

Chelsea took the telegram numbly, for similar news, since he arrived in India, he has heard too much, his more than 90,000 troops are almost wiped out, what is the loss of a task force?

Is this all that the British Empire lost in Indochina and in the South Asian subcontinent?

The faint glow of fire outside the window, the "rumble" of cannons, and the dimly lit office became more and more lonely and miserable, Chelsea walked to the desk and opened the drawer.

(To be continued) RS.