The carriage and the Maxim machine gun that Simone was referring to had come up with by accident while observing a convoy of transports.

For Simeone, the battle against the Abyssinians required the most attention to their surprise attacks and various attacks, but he was not at all worried about the kind of large-scale build-up and hard-fought battles.

In particular, a surprise attack was extremely dangerous for the Italian army, or for the armies of every country. It doesn't give the soldiers much time to react, and for Simeone, it's especially important to focus on that. So he always had the idea of moving the Maxim machine gun more quickly.

In fact, not only him, but the military also has this idea, so they start from two aspects, on the one hand, to reduce the weight of the Maxim machine gun, about this, Mr. Maxim of the Beretta Arms Company is already doing. On the other hand, before Maxim is not weighted, look for a way to make him move quickly.

And Simeone took this path, in view of the demand for Maxim machine guns on the battlefield, so he came up with the doctrine of using horse-mounted machine guns. The wheels of the machine gun were removed and attached to the wagon, which served as a mobile point of fire.

Of course, he hasn't tried it before, and this time it's just a test of his ideas.

Faced with Simeone's idea, Bartlett immediately thought that it was a brilliant idea, which would keep the machine guns on alert at all times, and provide rapid support to the infantry in the event of an Abyssinian raid.

Since both commanders agree, there is nothing more to say.

More than forty wagons were temporarily modified, they removed the carriages, installed thin steel plates on all sides, and then mounted the Maxim machine guns with the wheels removed, which was not a big change, and it was changed in less than a day. In addition, in order to allow the machine gun to be redeployed, they also removed the Maxim wheels and hung them to the back of the car, so that when the horse-drawn carriage was not in use, it could be quickly put back on.

As for the deployment of troops for this reinforcement, the two of them also made careful selections. First of all, the 6th Mountain Brigade, which was very good at mountain warfare, was to be transferred, and the 7th Artillery Regiment was to draw the remaining light artillery to form a mixed battalion, and then an infantry regiment, a cavalry battalion, and a number of scattered troops from the 3rd Army, numbering more than 9,500 people.

The commander was Major General Pascal, the commander of the Eighth Division of the Third Army, who Simeone trusted the most, and as for why Zelos, the commander of the Sixth Mountain Brigade, was not allowed to serve as the commander of the Sixth Mountain Brigade, it was also due to the seriousness of this mission, Simeone could only use his most familiar subordinates.

The formation of a support force kept Simone and the others busy for two days. Of course, it was not that they did nothing in the past two days except for the transfer of troops.

On the one hand, they spread the news that due to ordnance and materials, the large army could not immediately go to support, so they could only send a force to reinforce Marat first.

Of course, how could false news alone convince his opponents, so Simeone made a special request to send a large convoy from Massawa to Mendelfera. The reason is that this is military supplies such as ammunition that the expeditionary force urgently needs.

On the other hand, they also sent troops to seal the Adiquara line tightly, so that people could believe that the expeditionary force did not want the news to be known to the enemy.

And after these preparations were almost completed, the reinforcements led by Major General Pascal finally set out from Adiquara.

A large number of Italian troops set out, and naturally they could not hide the eyes and ears of the Abyssinians. In fact, two hours after the departure of the reinforcements, the Abyssinian Emperor Johannes IV received the news.

And the emperor did not only receive news of the departure of reinforcements, but also the news that a large convoy of convoys was coming to Mendefera in the port of Massawa.

This is not because the intelligence work of the Italian garrison is not effective, but that many parts of Eritrea were once the sphere of influence of the Abyssinian East African Empire, and then as the number of Italian colonists increased, the Abyssinian retreated to the plateau.

Since they had a mass base, the intelligence work of the Abyssinians was relatively good, and it was also appropriate to know some of the movements of the Italian army.

And Johannes IV, as soon as he received the news, knew that this was his chance.

Although he did not know why the Italians did not have enough supplies to prepare, or a cover for the enemy. But he knew that as long as this reinforcement was far away from Adiquara, the stronghold of the Italian army, then the more than 100,000 troops at his disposal would be enough to let him know how powerful the Abyssinian warriors were.

Of course, the necessary deployment was also necessary, and for this reason he summoned the princes and governors to a meeting to prepare for the reinforcements.

In the makeshift tent, everyone listened to the speech of their Emperor Johannes IV.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Italians have taken the bait. Their stupid commander, this time only sent 10,000 reinforcements to reinforce Marat. It's a great opportunity for us to attack the Italians hiding in a turtle shell. This time they walked out on their own, so be sure to seize the opportunity and annihilate them in one fell swoop. ”

The words of Johannes IV's agitation caused a burst of cheers from the Great Tent, and no one thought that this time the enemy would send reinforcements of only 10,000 men.

Seeing that the morale was high, Johannes IV then assigned the task.

"Duke Harrell, I reinforce your 2,000 cavalry, and you have to take them to harass this reinforced Italian army as much as possible, at least so that they can't travel 50 kilometers in four days."

The Duke of Harrell, named by Johannes, had a territory in the eastern part of the plateau, because there were more livestock here, and his army was dominated by cavalry.

And Johannes IV wanted to take advantage of the cavalry to attack this reinforced army first and slow down its movement.

Although he was very keen to let this reinforced Italian army into his encirclement, a good hunter knew that hiding his purpose and allowing it to march smoothly would definitely attract suspicion, so it was better to give enough attacks to delay his march and make them think that he was really attacking Mara.

"Yes, Your Majesty. You will see the prestige of the Harrell cavalry, and it will not fall. ”

Having received a reply from the Duke of Harrell, Johannes IV continued to give orders. "Send a message to Menelik so that their offensive against Marat can be suspended for a while, and wait until we have settled the reinforced Italian army and joined him up to take Mara City."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Subsequently, Johannes IV issued orders one after another, arranging other princes to protect the flanks and break the back roads, and basically every prince was assigned tasks.

It was only after all this had been arranged that Johannes IV looked back at the map, which he needed to decide where to place the ambush.

I'm in a good mood