"Brother Qirui, looking at the war in South Africa over the past year or so is really indescribable, the rigidity of the British army's tactical system, and the stubborn conservatism of the middle and upper commanders of the army, it is really breathtaking, in a word, it is an eye-opener!" Major General Zheng Fusheng shook his head and sighed.

His words resonated strongly, and Major General Ma Chang said; "Before this war, who would have thought that it would be so difficult for the world hegemon country to fight a small Boer, more than 7,700 pillboxes have been built in the past year, tens of thousands of kilometers of barbed wire have been pulled, and even empty canning boxes have been used, and there is still no flexible tactics to curb the Boer cavalry coming and going, and this battle in front of the British Expeditionary Force is not easy to fight!"

"The barbed wire fence in the bunker is dead, the man is alive, and the barbed wire alone cannot restrain the Boers." Duan Qirui also praised the Boers' brilliant guerrilla tactics, and couldn't help but applaud.

The road is one foot high, and the magic is one foot high.

Lord Roberts, commander of the South African Expeditionary Force, and Lord Kitchener, chief of staff, are both experienced veteran generals who have served in the army for decades and have personally participated in numerous colonial wars and European wars, and are well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the British army.

The tactical system of the British army is indeed rigid, and the commanders are conservative and inflexible, as if they are still living in the era of the anti-French alliance.

During the attack, the soldiers marched like a wall, looking at death as if they were at home, and the commanders were the first in the attacking ranks, often under the deliberate blows of the Boer sharpshooters, and suffered heavy casualties, so that the entire army lost effective command.

But can the British army be blamed for this?

The strategic and tactical thinking of the British Army was formulated for the operation of the European Legions, and it paid attention to the confrontation of heavy troops, the simultaneous bombardment of 10,000 artillery, and the rush of attack like a tide.

It is impossible for the War Department to develop another set of tactical ideas for a small colonial war, which is likely to cause confusion in the troops, and is a complete act of sacrificing the basics.

For example, during the Boer War, the British Expeditionary Force fought flexibly, using tactics such as intersperse, infiltration, and detour to strike at the enemy.

So what should you do when you return to the mainland and fight against the heavy corps of Europe?

If you can fight, you will fight, and if you don't fight, you will avoid it?

Obviously, it is not advisable, the European army pays attention to fighting for every inch of land, people are in the position, and whoever can hold out to the end will be able to see the dawn of victory.

As soon as they came into contact with the enemy, they scattered and fled, and they were not Italians.

Therefore, Lord Roberts, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, and Lord Kitchener, chief of staff, in view of the characteristics of the British army, formulated the tactics of "counterattacking on all fronts, marching step by step, gathering heavy troops, and helping each other", which proved to be very successful.

The heavy group of the British Expeditionary Force is often 3~40,000 people, relying on each other closely when attacking, no more than 30 kilometers apart, once attacked, they will shrink into a group and launch a counterattack on the spot.

There are two types of cases here;

One is small group harassment, which basically ignores it and follows the established attack route until it penetrates deep into the enemy's strategic points.

In the second case, if you are surrounded by the Boer coalition forces and need to call for help, then the friendly and neighboring forces will immediately approach quickly, carry out counter-encirclement and counter-shock, and inflict heavy casualties on the enemy.

Behind the British Expeditionary Force, which was advancing step by step, were blockhouses, deep ditches and barbed wire fences built by hundreds of thousands of black laborers, and second-line troops were stationed one after another, gradually compressing the living space of the Boers.

This tactic proved to be effective, and the British Expeditionary Force pushed all the way into the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic, completely destroying the Boer regimes.

The problem was that the Boer regime was overthrown, the territory was occupied, and the strength of the Boer coalition army was not greatly damaged, and they took advantage of the disadvantage of the British expeditionary force's elongated front to break up large forces into small units and start flexible guerrilla warfare, and the whole South African land was in flames, which was the big trouble that the British were facing now.

In order to deal with the "iron wall" tactic, the Boers specially built thousands of wire shears to deal with barbed wire.

Small groups of Boer troops focused on attacking the defenders of the pillboxes, and they did not dare to show their heads at night, and they would definitely die if they dared to come out to patrol. Cowering in a bunker does not play a role in a tight seal.

In this way, a lot of room was left for the Boer partisans to operate.

"Although the tactics of the Boers were exquisite, it was a pity that there was a huge disparity in strength, and they could not escape defeat in the end." Duan Qirui still sees this very clearly.

"What Brother Duan said is very true, the total number of Boers is only 440,000, and the population is the biggest flaw, and now there are more than 200,000 women and children in the concentration camps, and the logistics are cut off, and it is difficult to continue!"

"I heard that there are Europeans to support, but I don't know what is going on?"

"This is true, Mozambique has also seized several large arms smuggling cases, many desperate white Portuguese people are involved in this matter, the cases involve heavy machine guns, artillery shells and thousands of boxes of ammunition, this is only the part of the detection, I don't know how many have not been found? Mozambique's border with the Transvaal Republic is more than 780 kilometres long, and most of the territory can be easily traversed on foot, and it is very difficult to defend it with only one or two cavalry regiments. ”

"That's troublesome, according to the stubborn character of the Boers, as long as there are guns and bullets, they can fight, and I don't know how long the war will last."

"Huh...... Anyway, the British have a big business and can afford to drag it out. ”

"General Zheng's words are wrong, only in southern Africa, the British have spent more than 100 million pounds a year on military spending, and it is really like a running water, and I think it is enough to drag it on."

"Every family has a scripture that is difficult to read! But it's a good thing for us, and everyone can see how Mozambique has developed over the past year. Major General Duan Churui laughed very unkindly, he looked at Major General Zheng Fusheng and Major General Ma Chang left and right, and his tone changed to serious and said;

"Mr. Two Generals;

This war presents us with a new question, how to position army tactics in relation to the Imperial Royal Janissaries and the Royal Army?

Britain is a maritime country like us, and the positioning of the British Army is to participate in the struggle for hegemony on the European continent, which obviously does not apply to our country, so what is the positioning suitable for our country?

Taking into account the situation in the western Pacific region, I believe that the rapidly rising state of Fuso deserves great attention, and its strong combat effectiveness in the First Sino-Japanese War can be positioned as a potential hostile country.

The significance of the existence of the military observation group is to draw on the experience of foreign armies, enrich the knowledge of domestic military theories, enrich the tactics and tactics of the army, and embark on a path that belongs to the army of the Ocean Empire.

The war in southern Africa has undoubtedly inspired us a lot, and the examples of modern warfare collected by middle- and low-ranking officers have enriched the military education curriculum and provided more vivid examples of warfare to study.

However, as senior military officers, we should consider from a strategic point of view, write high-quality military theories, and contribute to enriching our army's tactical system.

The Boer people's great depth is interspersed with infiltration, encirclement and reinforcement, and the tactics of attacking the east and west are very slippery, which are all good things that make people's eyes shine, and they are worth summarizing and excavating.

If the two generals, Mr. General, can make a contribution to the field of military theory, it will be a merit that reaches the heavens! ”

There is no need for a heavy hammer to sound the drum, and the words of Major General Duan Qirui made the other two people's eyes light up, and they stood up with a solemn expression and clasped their fists and saluted; "Thank you Brother Duan for your advice, I'm ashamed."

Duan Qirui also stood up and returned the salute with his fists; "You and I have been in the army for many years, our lives are entrusted, and life and death depend on each other, so why do you have to worry about this trivial matter."

The three of them looked at each other and laughed, all without saying a word.

Late September 1900

The Southern African Senior Military Observation Mission returned home by ship after more than a year of mission.

Some of the officers of the observation group, led by Major General Chung Fusheng and Major General Ma Chang, disembarked in the middle of Seoul and began a new journey of service in the Mozambique region, which is a common practice of cross-serving in the army.

Major General Duan Qirui led the delegation back to the Australian mainland, was personally received by His Majesty, warmly praised, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, a scholar of Lingxiao Court, and was awarded the Knight's Cross with silver and double swords and gold oak leaves.

The military attache conferred the Lingxiao Pavilion University Scholar, and the civil official awarded the Wenyuan Pavilion University Scholar, which was a very high honor in the court system of the Ocean Empire.

The Knight's Cross with Silver Double Sword and Gold Oak Leaf is the third class of the Empire's Ninth Class Military Merit Medal, which is used to recognize high-ranking officers with outstanding merits, and is an extremely cherished honorary commendation for soldiers.

The viscount title obtained by Duan Churui was not promoted, because the Ocean Empire followed Western practice, once the noble title and fief were granted, the hereditary replacement would not change, and naturally there was no such thing as a title promotion.

If you want to get a higher title, you almost need to splash the sky.

For example, the first-class Count of Zhengyuan, Admiral Li Xuanzhu, led the Royal Guards to conquer and conquer the Luzon Islands, which was the merit of opening up the territory and destroying the country, so in addition to the original viscount title, another first-class Earl of Zhengyuan was awarded for his merits.

In other words, Admiral Li Xuanzhu has two noble titles, one is the title of Earl of Zhengyuan and the other is the title of Viscount of Phoenix Mountain.

The earl belongs to the high title, and the first rank is a noble title granted by the empire, which is a unique honor. The viscount title does not have an imperial title, and is generally named after a noble fief.

The relevant nomenclature shall be declared by the nobles themselves, and after the approval of the House of Nobles, it shall be archived and publicly promulgated.

Admiral Li Xuanzhu was born in southwest Lu Shan lonely boy, his hometown has a Phoenix Mountain, his home is located in a small mountain village under the Phoenix Mountain, the mountains in his aristocratic fiefdom are named Phoenix Mountain, and the viscount title is named after Phoenix Mountain, which is to remind himself not to forget his roots, never forget where he came from?

A few days later

Lieutenant General Duan Qirui took office as Deputy Commander of the Imperial Praetorian Guard and Deputy Director of the Military Attache Office of the Imperial Chamberlain.

The first thing he had to do was to enter the palace to thank him, he had been preparing for a long time on this day, adjusting his whole body to the best, full of energy, wearing a straight general's uniform, wearing medals, and the gold red mountain dragon badge on the Australian-style large-brimmed military hat was shining, reflecting Duan Qirui's ambitious face.

He is a young general born in 1865, just 36 years old this year, and has been in the army for 18 years.

Duan Qirui has climbed to a high position that ordinary people can't reach, and he can really be described as a winner in life.

In addition to the great merit and blessing of the koi mine that year, it also lies in the fact that he is good at seizing opportunities, has the courage to take risks, and became famous in the first battle of "Sad Ridge", and is known as the "defense master" in the army.