The hard work of building the road did not last long, but with the urgent rush of two engineer regiments from Rome to Eritrea, and the local population enthusiastically signing up to join the road construction army (30 lire a month), the Guards were the first troops to be freed from it.

Of course, getting rid of the status of road construction laborers would inevitably leave something to them, and Simeone told them to drive to the front line of Adiquara and keep an eye on the movements of the Abyssinians.

Although the Abyssinians put on a stubborn appearance, they were afraid of anything, so the necessary defense and protection was something that every qualified commander should be aware of.

Of course, Simeone was not going to wait until the roads were completely repaired before making a move on Abyssinia, after the wagons were barely able to reach Aticuala. Simeone immediately sent the 3rd Guards Regiment, the 3rd Mountain Brigade, and a mountain artillery battalion of the 7th Artillery Regiment into an advance force to cross the border (as determined by Italy) and march towards Marat.

Located on the edge of the Abyssinian Plateau, Mara is a key point on the country's road to Eritrea, and 60 kilometres behind it is the northern town of Adua.

From Adwa, two roads are divided into two roads to the southeast, west to the old capital of Gondar on the side of Lake Tana, to the south to Desai, the current capital of Abyssinia, and further south to Shoa.

It can be said that Adwa is a strategically important city in the north. And Simeone's attack on Marat was clearly a test to see if he could attract the main Abyssinian army.

Of course, if it failed to attract the main force of the Abyssinian army, it would not be a loss for Simeone, because it would allow the road to continue to the plateau. This time he made up his mind that he would not launch a large-scale offensive unless the road was built up to the plateau.

"Boom, boom, boom!"

The artillery bombarded the stone fort on the ridge, scattering the blown stones, revealing the earthen walls that encased it inside. And this ferocious shelling made the Abyssinian soldiers hiding in the stone fort dare not show their heads at all.

Major General Wagman, commander of the 3rd Mountain Brigade and commander of the advance team, was carefully observing the results of the shelling with a high-powered telescope.

He was very satisfied with the artillery skills of the officers and men of the Seventh Artillery Regiment, and he was worthy of being a veteran unit, and his artillery skills were much stronger than those of the artillery battalions in his brigade.

However, he was not satisfied with the results of the shelling, and the round of shelling just now hit the stone fort and did not shine enough damage.

Speaking of which, the artillery in his hand is not powerful enough, and he only has two mountain guns of 75 and 57 mm in his hand, which is naturally not very powerful. However, wanting more powerful artillery, Wagman instinctively dispelled this idea when he thought of the hardships along the way.

Since artillery can't directly solve the opponent, let the infantry go up, anyway, I have fought such a fortress many times before, and it is not bad to do this.

"Let the infantry attack."

Following the order of Major General Wagman, a battalion of Italian soldiers, immediately in a skirmishing line, touched the pillbox.

The Abyssinian soldiers in the fortress rose to pick up their weapons and began to counterattack after seeing the Italian army touching them.

For a while, the officers and soldiers of the two sides fought very lively, but the fierce battle did not attract the interest of Cosenz, who was in charge of the vigilance mission, and he did not look at this battlefield with both eyes.

"Kosenz, how long do you think you can take this fortress this time?"

His friend appeared next to him, and he didn't seem to worry about his allies at all.

"I don't know, but based on the intensity of the firefight, it should take no more than three hours."

In the face of Barry's inquiry, although Cosenz felt that it was not good to say that it was not good to talk about friendly forces, he still gave his own judgment.

"Okay, I see."

But then Barry's words almost scared him down.

"Now that the market is open, bet on whether you can take this fortress in two and a half hours this time, from the time of the attack."

I didn't expect Barry's words to be echoed.

"Count me in, I'll bet on a pack of cigarettes."

"Me, two packs."

"I'll bet on a bottle of wine."

"I ......"

Faced with such a situation, Kosenz felt that his face was a little unbearable, and he stepped forward and grabbed his friend. "You're crazy, and if anyone finds out, we'll all suffer."

"It's okay, we've fought this kind of bunker before, and it's basically like that. And if you don't have some fun, you won't be interested. ”

Barry's words left Cosenz at a loss for what to say.

"Be careful yourself."

Then he left, perhaps watching the process of other people's battles would help him improve himself.

"Boom!"

A loud explosion far exceeded the previous one, attracting everyone's attention. As anyone with experience knows, it's the dynamite pack that is exploding.

The gates of the small fortress and the small half of its walls were blown down, revealing the inside of the castle.

At this time, the officers and soldiers watching let out a burst of cheers, which means that the battle has entered the final stage.

But at this time, Barry looked at his watch and immediately called out happily. "In two hours and eight minutes, the fortress was breached."

His words caused several soldiers to lament.

Major General Wagman did not know the situation of the troops below, but seeing that the fortress blocking the way had been breached, he instructed the officers beside him.

"Let the troops in front go, we are already too far behind."

Yes, Major General Wagman does not even want to read the results report now.

What's so nice about this is to kill one or two hundred Abyssinian soldiers, capture more than a hundred prisoners of war, and then capture how many guns and cold weapons like brass and iron.

For the sake of such a result, let your troops block here for half a day.

This is also the biggest headache for Major General Wagman, originally this road is difficult to walk, and it is necessary to pull out these nails one by one, if you don't pull them out, these small fortresses are the key points that control the road, and you can't fight it. Even sending troops to surround and let the large army pass through could not do it, because the Abyssinians placed one or two small artillery pieces in this small fortress, completely blocking the entire section of the road, forcing Major General Wagman to pull out one by one.

This also led to Major General Wagman taking the advance team for six days to travel 70 kilometers. You should know that the road from Mara to Adiquara is only 84 km. At this rate, he would need to walk for two more days before he could see the horse.

However, in addition to the roads and the enemy, Major General Wagman also has a threat, that is, the climate, the temperature difference here is extremely large in a day, and it can reach more than 10 degrees at night, and can reach more than 30 degrees and close to 40 degrees at noon. At present, hundreds of people in the advance team he led have lost their combat effectiveness due to illness. But fortunately, it's not easy to come up, it's much better to go back, except for some seriously ill patients, other mild symptoms are placed in the base he laid down to slowly recuperate.

However, this also caused the strength of his leading contingent to drop from more than 8,000 to about 8,000.

However, considering the next situation, Major General Wagman felt that it was necessary to let the rear send another batch of medicines, and the shell consumption was also a bit large, so it was also possible to let the rear send some up.

Thinking of this, Major General Wagman took out a pen and wrote a list and called a herald. "Give this list to Colonel Mora of Adiquara, and ask him to follow the list and send another supply up."

Colonel Mora was the head of logistics in Adiquara, and it was not wrong to ask him for all kinds of supplies.

"Yes, General."

The herald took the list, gave a military salute, and immediately mounted his horse and rushed to the rear with a few soldiers.

After giving orders to the heralds, Major General Wagman continued to march towards Marat with a large force.

Although there were still several forts along the way, the iron-hearted Major General Wagman pulled them all the way. It took him two and a half days, but after seeing Mara City, he finally felt relieved.

It is not pleasant to continue to pull nails for anyone, and I hope that the Abyssinians in Mara City can withstand the angry Italian army.

I'm in a good mood