The mountain wind howls on the silent wasteland, blowing and swaying the lush weeds in the mountains.

In front of the two armies

Li Yong was invited to talk to Italian Colonel Pelini alone, and the two of them each rode to the front of the front, looking at them cautiously.

Colonel Pelini was very gentlemanly and took the lead in performing a knightly courtesy, and Li Yong also bowed on his horse, and he had a hunch...... The Italians couldn't fight anymore.

"Dear Mr. Li, we are no strangers to your famous name, we are sorry to meet on such an occasion, your brutal attack has caused serious losses to our side, which may lead to a terrible situation of official war between the two sides, has Mr. Li thought about such serious consequences?"

Li Yong replied coldly; "Mr. Colonel, I do not want to repeat our position, it has already been made clear in the letter that any continuation of the Italian army's aggression against the town of Eder will be considered a direct war."

"Obviously, there has been a misunderstanding between our two sides, which has led directly to the terrible situation that has arisen, and I believe that this is something that neither you nor I want to see......" Colonel Pellini was not surprised by the toughness of the other side, and he had understood this deeply in the middle of last night.

Although Count DeSantis had set the tone for the peace talks, Colonel Pelini, as the commander representing the interests of the Italian side, was still trying to fight for more favorable terms, which had nothing to do with sentiment, but only a different position.

So he continued; "The terrible war spreads death and fear, which every responsible gentleman does not want to see, and on the basis of the commitment of the army of the Kingdom of Italy to spread the Gospel of the Lord and bring mercy and love to this primitive and wild continent, we are willing to resolve our differences by non-violent means."

This set of tongue twister-like euphemisms reveals the original meaning...... Peace talks.

Although he had a premonition in his heart, Li Yong was still stunned for a moment when the incident happened suddenly, his eyes swept over the Italian army in the distance, and he muttered without answering immediately.

The Italian army still numbered 2,000 men, lined up in a neat line, and several heavy machine guns and no less than 6 field guns could be seen, with the muzzles of the black holes pointing forward, and it seemed that they still had the strength to fight.

Li Yong didn't know that the Italians had put all the lightly wounded who could move into the back row of the queue, and all the soldiers had become frightened birds, and as long as the cavalry hit the nest, they would blow up the nest.

Objectively speaking, Italians are very good at superficiality.

Li Yong considered that the casualties would be too large if he attacked head-on, and peace talks seemed to be a good choice.

The advantage of cavalry is that it can freely choose the battlefield, fight if you want to fight, withdraw if you want to, the initiative is firmly in your hands, and the enemy is seriously weakened, and the final victory is inevitable.

However, the militia is not without weaknesses, it is only 7 kilometers away from the town of Ed, if the Italian army ignores the harassment and resolutely advances in the direction of the town of Ed, it only takes two ~ three hours to arrive.

At that time, there will not be many options left for Li Yong.

Ed Town is just a town surrounded by a wooden fence, which is used to defend against wild beasts on weekdays, and it can be broken with a light stab like paper in the face of enemy artillery fire.

Then hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of property were either destroyed in the fighting or captured by the enemy.

Come to think of it

Li Yong said in a deep voice; "Do you want peace talks?"

"It's okay if you understand it that way, it doesn't matter, we prefer to call it a non-violent solution to the differences." Colonel Pelini's cunning concept of stealing.

In the future, once it is investigated

The Italian side will never admit that it is a formal peace talks, which is tantamount to revealing its bloody scars to the world and admitting that it has suffered a shameful fiasco, which is absolutely unacceptable to the Italian side.

The two words of an official nature, "peace talks," are obviously too formal.

Li Yong glanced at the other party deeply and said indifferently; "On the contrary, I don't think this issue is optional, and formal peace talks are more likely to demonstrate peace sincerity."

"I'm afraid that's not something we can solve, we need the authorization of the African Expeditionary Force Command, and you obviously want the military and political leaders of the African Somali Province to come forward, instead of sending a few mercenaries to talk to us, how can you guarantee your own interests when you can't personally participate?" Colonel Pellini spread his hands and showed sincerity.

"So how do you ensure that the terms of the talks are enforced?"

"Quite simply, because we don't want the spread of what happened last night, and you don't want the war to destroy Ed, we both have a need to sit down and talk."

"Huh...... I'm afraid you have overestimated yourself, and we are confident that we will defend our homeland. ”

"I have to say that you are too naïve, Mr. Li, once the attack of last night is transmitted back to Italy, it will cause a shock to the government and the public, and you are not facing the encirclement and suppression of thousands of soldiers, but the devastating attack of the powerful ironclad battleships of the Italian Royal Navy, including Ed, Assab and Xi'an, all of which will be blown into white ground. The Kingdom of Italy will officially declare war on Australia, and you cannot afford such serious consequences. ”

Li Yong's face changed when he said this, and it was really possible to think about it.

Even if this possibility is only 1/10, Li Yong is not willing to risk his entire net worth because he can't afford to gamble.

"Well, I agree, I hope you keep your word."

"Please rest assured, Mr. Li, we hope to reach a tacit agreement on something, which is the best outcome for both parties, and let us end everything about this disaster as soon as possible."

"Our condition is that the Italian army cannot take a step forward, otherwise it will be regarded as a violation of the tacit agreement between the two sides to resume the war, you can send a representative to Ed Town to talk, by the way, we still have some prisoners here, I think you will definitely be interested." Li Yong had a smile of victory on the corner of his mouth, turned his horse's head and left.

Soon the clarion call for the retreat sounded, and the huge cavalry and horse corps of the militia left with a shout of joy, leaving only a large meadow trampled underway.

After last night's battle

The mercenaries saw the weakness of the Italian soldiers, who seemed to be much easier to deal with than the Dutch and Portuguese.

Had it been a little more careful in advance, there would have been a chance to take out all the heavy machine-gun positions and enter the camp before the Italian soldiers could organize an effective counterattack, and completely deal with the invading enemy.

The situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, and once the opportunity is lost, it never comes.

Li Yong agreed to the other party's request for secret talks, because it was more in his interest to end it this way, and in essence, he was a big smuggler and mercenary leader, not an army commander who carried out the order to annihilate the enemy, and had to fight the enemy to the death.

He hadn't forgotten that there were more than 10,000 indigenous tribal warriors outside Ed's Town.

For these fat sheep sent to the door, Li Yong's order was very simple; "Surround them, and crush them, so that no one escapes the net."

The Tigray chieftain had mistrusted the Italians, and he gathered all the tribal warriors who had fled into the mountains, and came to take revenge with the hope of defeating the hated Orientals and returning to their homeland, only to be met with merciless betrayal and slaughter.

The process will not be repeated

The whole process seemed to be a large-scale hunt, Li Yong led a large group of cavalry to surround the black natives, and the final outcome was already doomed.

The anxious Italians were busy treating the wounded and cleaning up the mess, and had long forgotten about the local natives.

In the evening, the sunset is like blood

Li Yong stood on the hill on horseback in high spirits, surrounded by a large number of elated mercenary leaders, who were pointing at the battlefield.

The wasteland was littered with corpses, and broken swords, guns, and shields were scattered everywhere.

Driven by heavily armed mercenaries, groups of Aboriginal black captives headed dejectedly in the direction of Ed's town, and the setting sun reflected their lonely and hopeless figures, looking so bleak.

"Hahahaha...... Great, this one is a lot of money, and these able-bodied captives are the best coolies. ”

"Nonsense, do you need to talk about it?"

"If you want me to say, these Italians are really good, summoning all these black natives and killing them all, saving us from having to catch them all over the mountains."

"I'm worried that there is no labor on my plantation, isn't that why I am here...... Hahahaha...... That's great. ”

The mercenary leaders were smiling, for they were all money, and the nearby Chinese farms and plantations needed a lot of manpower, and the black natives who came to the door were simply a surprise.

At this time

A fast horse came galloping, and the messenger came to the hill, turned over and dismounted, ran up a dozen paces to the front, and presented a telegram with both hands; "Yongye, urgent telegram from Xi'an."

Li Yong took the telegram and unfolded it to read the contents, and couldn't help frowning slightly.

The situation of the battle in Eder Town was reported to Xi'an City in real time by telegram, and it was reported to the African General Governor through the Somali Garrison Command, and as for the situation further up, Li Yong did not know.

The telegram content is simple;

Li Yong was ordered to be the negotiator plenipotentiary to try to gain control of the Morghada region, and to telegraph that 4,000 black native captives were needed to build the road, and 1,000 were needed in the Greater Hanish Islands, and sufficient numbers were to be set aside.

The total number of captives is about 11,000~12,000, and 5,000 people are taken at once, and it is estimated that the compensation is also limited. But since the above has spoken, none of the mercenary leaders dare to make irresponsible remarks, it is purely self-inflicted.

If you really want to check it above, everything under your buttocks is not clean, and it is light to take your family and throw it into a hard labor camp, and nine out of ten will go directly to the gallows.

Originally, there were a few blind guys in Xi'an, who were directly cleaned up by the Weiwu Command, and the corpses hung on the gallows on the edge of the desert had been dried into white skeletons, all the family property was confiscated, and the wives and daughters became someone else's.

This is a wake-up call for all the arrogant mercenary leaders;

In Somalia, the Red Fort is the real boss behind the scenes, the dragon has to coil, the tiger has to lie down, don't you have to pay taxes if you do a business with no capital?

What made Li Yong frown was not the matter of the indigenous captives, but the instructions from above to the Morghada region, which would be difficult to do!

Eritrea is divided into eastern, central and western sections, the eastern part of which is about 360 kilometers long along the coastline and is dotted with three main towns, which are lined up along the shore of the Red Sea, namely Molghada, Ede and Assab, from which you continue southeast to the city of Xi'an.

Now that Ed and Assab are in the hands of the local Chinese People's League in Somali Province, and Morghada is occupied by the Italians, they will not give it up easily.

It's a real hassle!

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