It was the early hours of March 10, 1831, the darkest time before dawn. On both sides of the Straits of Johor, there is silence. The big horn on the north shore was around one o'clock, and it was dug down on time. Subsequently, machine guns were fired on the south bank for most of the night, as well as whistles and bugles that sounded together with machine guns. The front lines of the two armies were quiet, and the front-line officers and men on both sides could finally sleep for a while.

From March 8th, the ceasefire was suspended at one o'clock in the morning, which was a tacit understanding on both sides of the Johor Strait - it was radio and machine guns, and it was not easy to sleep! In the first few days, everyone was in good spirits, and they were not tired of "playing" all night. But after a week, both sides seemed to be a little overwhelmed. So the Ming army and the Japanese army on the north side of the Johor Strait "gave way" first, and the loudspeaker was noisy until 1 o'clock in the morning.

As soon as this big horn is turned off, the machine gun will not be fired, not only too noisy, but too wasteful! This is not one or two, but a dozen machine guns on the whole line fired at the horn that was simply out of reach, and this bullet alone cost a lot of money. And Temasek doesn't have an arsenal on the island, so you can only consume inventory, so you can save it.

The people who were so noisy by the loudspeakers and machine guns that they couldn't sleep quickly fell into the deepest sleep after the sudden silence around them. Even the most conscientious and responsible Indian sentries yawned and became sleepy, and some of the three sentries who had been noisy during the day and didn't sleep well were unconsciously squinted. Even if they didn't squint, they lost their energy, just squatted in the trenches and were groggy.

Although this is the front line, no one thinks that the Ming army and the Japanese army will force their way across the Johor Strait.

It's already "William is dead, Indy's division", why are you still killing? Forcibly crossing the strait is deadly! Just sit across the strait until Queen Victoria sheds tears in India, isn't it okay? When she loses the whole of India, Temasek will naturally raise her hands and surrender, what else to fight?

This is not the opinion of two Indian soldiers, but the unanimous opinion of the three soldiers. Although many of them still have deep doubts about the "non-liberation policy" of the Ming Dynasty, and are also full of nostalgia for the "white-skinned master" of the British Empire, the rumors of "William's death and India's division" are basically believed.

Not only did they believe it, but many of them believed it. During these days, the attitude of the white-skinned master is not as arrogant as in the past, and he doesn't scold Ah San below much.

Moreover, some white skins will get together to borrow wine to drown their sorrows when they have nothing to do, not only drunk themselves, but also look very ungentlemanly, and even have a drunken white skin shouting "Long live Her Majesty the Empress".

So, this empress should be Queen Victoria!

This is the white skin spitting out the truth after drinking!

And these "drunken mantras" did not take long to spread among the Indian military on Temasek - this Indian, although there is no "great unity", is very capable of small groups, a large group of Indians are no different to outsiders, but they themselves are divided according to religion and language, and the groups come out. And then according to the caste, it is clear who is the eldest and who is the younger brother. With small groups, the "drunken mantra" of the white-skinned people spread faster, basically one person knows, and a group of people knows.

In addition, through the small group of little brothers who are responsible for serving the "big white skin", they learned that Viscount Bearsford was also contacting Mumbai by secret telegram during this time, and they also heard that the cable telegraph to Mumbai had been cut off, and the long-wave radio station on Temasek Island was also good and bad, and often could not contact Mumbai.

The cable telegraph can't be contacted, most of the time the line is cut, but the long-wave radio station is also difficult to contact Mumbai, what does it mean? Is it that Mumbai has started to mess up?

The sentries on duty, thinking about these things, passed the night peacefully

The dawn of dawn has already shot out of the eastern skyline, and the sky and the earth are gradually brightening. A few of the three sentries who had not yet fallen asleep looked north, stomping their feet while waiting for the shift time to come. Suddenly, the three sentries in the trench had their eyes wide as if they had seen a silver rupee. Because on the north shore of the Straits of Johor, in the darkness that has not completely faded, there is a sudden flash of flash like a storm! Along the northern shore of the Straits of Johor, hundreds of flashes of lightning dispelled the last darkness before dawn in one fell swoop, followed by a violent tremor of the earth and a thunderous roar!

"The shelling begins!"

With the order of Lieutenant General Mu Zhongjun, the commander of the Nanyang Army, an artillery brigade of the Ming Army, three divisional artillery regiments, and two artillery wings of Japanese devils, and an independent artillery brigade and other artillery units under the jurisdiction of 24 210 mm heavy howitzers, 108 155 mm field heavy howitzers, 198 120 mm medium field howitzers, a total of 330 large and medium caliber howitzers. At 4:30 a.m. on March 10, 1831, there was a roar!

Although the army of the Ming Dynasty is not as fierce as the Japanese devils, it is not as brave as the Golden Eight Banners. But it is impossible for their tactical thinking to be left behind. This has a "book of heaven guidance", how can it be outdated? Although there is an internal combustion engine now, it is still early to mechanize and motorize, and it is the right time for the cannon to bombard him.

Therefore, the Ming Army is the artillery line, that is, the "late stage of insufficient firepower phobia", and the military artillery units actually have 210 mm heavy howitzers, which is really exaggerated to the extreme.

In addition to the large caliber and large number of artillery, the artillery shells of the Ming Army are also sufficient!

Daming has a synthetic ammonia production line, and it doesn't need saltpeter mines in South America, and it can also provide sufficient shells for the artillery of the Daming Navy Army!

However, it is not easy to get enough artillery shells to the front line, after all, there are no trucks now, and there are no railways on the Malay Peninsula. Therefore, the Ming army could only transport the shells to Phang Nga Province on the edge of Phuket Island, and then ship them to the port of Malacca, and then use horse-drawn carts to pull them to the front after arriving in Malacca.

In the past few days, the reason why the Ming army did not launch an offensive was that in addition to waiting for the "four-sided printing song" plan to work, it was waiting for the artillery shells to be delivered. Now that we have finally gathered more than 100,000 shells, we can fight hard.

The huge roar has been connected, and the ground is shaking on the southern shore of the Straits of Johor. The earth trembled violently, and the positions of the Imperial Indian Army suddenly burst into flames of explosion. Hundreds of exploding points appear at the same time. Flashes of light, large and small, erupted back and forth in the interruption of the Johor Straits Defence, as if a sleeping volcano had suddenly begun to erupt!

The positions of the Indian warriors have been swept away! The civil bunkers were blown up into the sky, and the barbed wire fences that were painstakingly laid out by the Indian Asan Sin, as well as the deer barricades and horses that resisted the landing, were torn apart by the powerful artillery fire. In the trenches at the front, human stumps and severed arms flew in all directions, and weapons were blown to parts! The artillery shells of the Ming army plowed over and over again on the positions of the Indian army, shrapnel whistling and flying in all directions, and the shadow of death hung over the head of Indian Ah San!

In the place where the Ming artillery fire was most intense, the scene was almost like hell.

But the warriors of the Indian Empire were not ambiguous, they just refused to take half a step back, preferring to shrink in the trenches and grit their teeth and carry their shoulders rather than retreat along the trenches, because the machine guns of the white-skinned British army overseers were no joke! Although they are also a little sluggish these days, Yu Wei is still there, and there are still many of them, and none of Ah San rushed to test Baipi's determination to kill him.

The three of them can only defend it now, and they would rather surrender than retreat!

(End of chapter)