Seven o'clock in the evening

The afterglow of the setting sun filled the sky, red as if blood.

The war-torn town of Pasang smells of blood and gunsmoke, and some surviving Arab women are cleaning up the streets and alleys to carry them to horse-drawn wagons and transport them to remote areas outside the town to be burned in the middle of nowhere.

Heavily armed soldiers escorted the long line of captives out of town, where men and women, young and old, were taller than the wheels, and were on the verge of final destruction.

These Yemeni natives dared to brutalize the small detachment sent by the Tang Dynasty, and the price they paid was their final and complete annihilation.

on the streets

Several Arab women cried and clung to the captive's arm, and then a group of wolf-like soldiers rushed up, punched and kicked, slammed with the butts of their guns without mercy, and threw them aside by the hair.

If this is the case, why bother in the first place?

Brigadier General Hu Changda rode by, surrounded by officers, sighed slightly in his heart, and passed by as if he had never seen it.

Soon

Then we came to the mansion of Yemeni chief Omar al-Hussein, where the stone wall had been blasted out of several large holes by artillery fire, collapsed into large gaps, and the surrounding area was full of rubble, and large red blood stains could be seen, and the body had been carried away.

Looking through the collapsed gap, this is a typical Arabic-style manor house, with mostly intact house facilities. It's just that there are a few clear scars on the walls from the gunshots, but it doesn't matter.

The house occupies a fairly large area, with dozens of houses at first glance and a stone promenade with an Arabian style. Thick vines spread over the promenade, which is sure to be green in the hot season, covered with mouth-watering sweet and sour grapes.

Brigadier General Hu Changda immediately decided;

The temporary division headquarters of the 3rd Division is located here, with Pasang Town as the center, and from tomorrow onwards, battalion and company-level troops will be dispatched to sweep the surrounding villages and towns in turn, and begin to screen and suppress bandits like a net.

its operational purpose;

The first is to strengthen the deterrence and attack on the local Yemeni Arab indigenous tribes, which always makes His Highness have already said in advance, "This is a battle of prestige, and it is necessary to fight the great military might of the empire, so that the old enemy is terrified, and do not dare to speak of war!" ”

These relatively weak enemies are loosely organized and have outdated weapons, and they are good targets for the troops to practice their hands and see blood.

The Imperial Army implemented a mixed military service system that combined compulsory military service with professional military service, and ordinary soldiers were all five years of compulsory service, and only a lower salary was paid each month, which could effectively reduce the overall military expenditure.

The backbone sergeants of the company generally occupy 5~6%, and most of the platoon leaders of the grass-roots squad are composed of senior sergeants, with service years ranging from 5 to 30 years, and enjoy the salary income lower than that of officers and higher than that of soldiers, which is generally between 130% ~ 180% of the income of ordinary residents.

In 1871, the average income of the population of the empire was about 83.7 Tang Yuan, and the starting salary of a professional sergeant for more than 5 years was 102 yuan, and the highest third-class sergeant major could reach 145 yuan.

In the infantry unit, there are few non-commissioned officers, and after the officers of the grass-roots companies are killed in battle, senior non-commissioned officers can serve as company commanders in emergency situations, continue to organize the troops to fight, and play a backbone role.

And among artillery, cavalry, and Royal Navy ships, the proportion of professional sergeants is higher than the other. In the main battleships such as armored cruisers, the proportion of professional sergeants is even as high as more than 30%, just to ensure the high combat level of the main battleships.

The second purpose of the war was to vigorously loot war horses, which were an important military resource to ensure the victory of the expedition to Egypt, and large and small livestock and poultry such as war horses, pack horses, large mules, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, and pigs were all harvested.

Some are conducive to warfare, and some are conducive to the colonial development of Eritrea, with these domestic livestock and poultry as the foundation, chickens lay eggs, eggs and chickens, or it will bloom everywhere in a few years, isn't it more trouble-free than spending money to buy them?

It is difficult to say the third purpose of the campaign to eliminate bandits, and this can probably only be understood, not spoken.

In the early years of the colonization of Eritrea, or for more than a decade, it was necessary to maintain a strong logistical support base at all times, and His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief had decided to place this colonial center in the city of Sana'a in the Yemen region.

Within a radius of 1,900 kilometers on the northern shore of the Red Sea, only Sana'a has a strong supply capacity and is also a place of commerce and trade for the entire region, which has been maintained for more than a thousand years.

But before that

It is necessary to effectively sort out the area, adopt a series of measures such as reduction, attack and deterrence, and at the same time plunder part of the Arab female population of working age, because of the physiological needs of early immigrants and the need to start a family, and it is also a necessary measure to comfort the expeditionary soldiers.

Night fell quickly

More than 10 roaring bonfires were set up in the open field of the mansion, on which the fatty mutton was roasted, the delicious haggis soup was stewed in the tumbling iron pot, and there were large pots of melons and fruits, and the baskets of freshly baked flatbread were filled one after another.

The officers and men gathered here were under the background of the bonfire, their faces were full of pride and excitement, and they gathered here in groups to eat and drink, and the scene was very lively.

For religious reasons, no fine wine was seized from the homes of the indigenous Arab sheikhs, but a cache of unexpected booty was seized.

Inside a house

Illuminated by the dim olive oil lamp, Brigadier General Ho Changda and the officers looked solemnly at the large wooden boxes piled up in the room, a total of 60 boxes. What does it mean that in each of the two open cases, five brand-new, unused French Chasepo Type 1866 breech rifles with a thick coat of oil?

The officers present looked grim, and everyone knew that this was the latest standard rifle in France. The performance is much stronger than the Migne rifle, and it is basically similar to the Colt rifle used by the Imperial Expeditionary Force, but not much different.

Before the Prussian-Danish War and the Austro-Prussian War

At that time, the Prussians were authorized by the Tang Empire to develop a unique Mauser rifle, and used this epoch-making breech rotary locking rifle to hang the Kingdom of Denmark and the Austrian Empire, which made France see a crisis.

As the traditional land hegemonic empire in Europe, France can't sit still, if the Prussians rise like this, will they still have the title of the first in Europe?

In such a historical environment, a wave of innovation in the French rifle was born, and several similar breech rifles appeared, and the French Chasepo 1866 breech rifle was one of the favored by the French Army.

In 1864, the French changed the clamshell breech with their own Mine rifle, which is also considered a breech rifle, this breech device is quite like a snuffbox, and the French also call it a snuffbox rifle, but the whole body style is still the same as the more than 100-year-old Charleville musket.

But the performance of this modified thing is very mediocre, just like the British Schneider Enfield rifle, not like that.

Therefore, in 1866, the French launched the Chasebo 1866 after research, which was the same rifle as the Prussian Mauser, the same breech rotary bolt lock, and there was a ring of rubber on the lock, which was the most special innovation of the French rifle.

In the era of European paper-based fixed ammunition, its breech locking strength was better than that of Dreiser rifles, and it was not easy to leak gunpowder gas. Don't look at just adding a circle of rubber, which reflects the profound skills of French engineers.

Due to production capacity and various reasons, the French Chasepo 1866 breech rifle was not equipped on a large scale, and by the end of 1871 the production was about 30,000 or 40,000 pieces.

In the early days of the Franco-Prussian War, the famous French Charon Corps was not widely equipped with Chasepo 1866 breech rifles, and suffered a great loss in the battle with the Prussian army, that is, the weapons were not good.

Today, the French-made Shasepo 1866 breech-loading rifle, which represents the highest level of light weapons in Europe, is found in the warehouse of an indigenous sheikh in Yemen. The information contained in this was extraordinary, beyond the scope of the 3rd Division's decision-making, and must be immediately reported to the Expeditionary Force General Headquarters.

"Oh my God, what the hell are these Frenchmen trying to do?"

"If this is the case, then we must remind the military department to pay close attention, I have the impression that the French garrison in the Suez Canal Zone has the size of a division, about 12,000~13,000 people, which is a large force."

"What Deputy Chief of Staff Lu said is that if the French are mixed with the Egyptians, then ...... The scale of the conflict has instantly increased by a level, and it is possible that it will develop in an uncontrollable direction in the future! ”

"Will the French go south from Port Said? Although this possibility is there, it is not high, so why do they think they will have a chance of winning? ”

"Do not be careless, if the French army is in league with the army of the governor of Egypt. There is no doubt about the superiority of troops, coupled with the familiarity with the terrain and climate, and the input of this advanced infantry weapon, the troops of the Fourth Division may encounter hard bones! ”

"The French are damned!"

"By the way, you should ask the housekeeper of the estate to interrogate the inside story and see if there are any other advanced rifles in the Yemeni area? How deep did the French seep in...... What exactly do they want to do? ”

The rambling of the officers reminded Brigadier General Hu Changda, and he asked with a solemn expression; "Is there anyone in the steward of the chief's manor or any other tribal elder who knows what's going on? Belch...... You won't kill them all, will you? ”

When the division commander asked, the officers below looked at each other, and Geng Shulin, the lieutenant colonel of the 312th regiment who was responsible for carrying out the specific extermination task, immediately sat down.

He hesitated for a moment but stood up, raised his hand and saluted back; "Tell the division, the 312th Regiment resolutely carried out the order of the peak, and by 8:00 p.m., all the men in Pasang Town who were taller than the wheels were cleared. The task has been completed, and it is ...... for the time being. For the time being, no one has been found. ”

The calves are all gone.

Brigadier General Hu Changda was quite helpless after hearing this, so he could only stare at him with a complaining look like "You kid is fast", but he was powerless to recover.

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