"Viscount, I'm afraid it will be difficult for our warriors to eliminate hundreds of thousands of Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers in Malaya."
Immediately, elite British officers who knew the situation on the front line and were very professional expressed different opinions.
Viscount Beresford still maintained his gentlemanly demeanor and asked with a smile: "Major, why do you say that?"
The British elite major smiled and said: "Because according to intelligence and reconnaissance, there are two divisions of Japanese soldiers currently gathered in Songkhla and Pattani in the Kingdom of Siam adjacent to Malaya... They are one by one. They are short and thin, and look like children. Their equipment is very poor, with only rifles, machine guns, light artillery, no cavalry, and lack of transport vehicles and draft horses. According to objective and cautious assessments, the combat effectiveness of these Japanese soldiers is only about the same as One-third of the Indian soldiers were equivalent to one-tenth of the British soldiers and were completely vulnerable."
Hearing that his opponent was only the Japanese army with poor combat effectiveness, Viscount Beresford's last worry disappeared - before Japan was easily conquered by the Ming Dynasty, the British Empire once had some hope in the combat effectiveness of the Japanese soldiers. However, the result of the Battle of Nagasaki was shocking. The Nagasaki Rebel Army, which seemed to have some combat effectiveness and had a large number of artillery, was defeated in just one day under the joint attack of the landing Ming army and the shogunate army who served as lackeys for the Ming army. It fell apart and showed no fighting ability at all.
After this battle, the British Empire had a very low opinion of the Japanese soldiers, believing that their combat effectiveness was only equivalent to one-tenth of the ordinary British army... If the Ming Dynasty sent out its own elite soldiers, Viscount Beresford might There will still be a little worry, but what they dispatched is just Japanese troops with no combat effectiveness. It seems that the Ming Dynasty has no intention of attacking Malaya at all.
Maybe they just wanted to use a long naval blockade to make the British and Indian Army in Malaya surrender after they ran out of supplies?
Thinking of this, Viscount Beresford smiled and said: "It seems that the Battle of Malaya will be a protracted war... All troops must pay attention to saving ammunition and stocking up on supplies. Although we have enough to hold on 12 Months of supplies, but I hope we can persist in the Malay Peninsula for 18-24 months! Because the new generation of British Empire's surface battleships, which are more powerful and can defeat the strongest battleships currently in service in the Ming Dynasty, will be available in 18-24 months. It will be put into use within 24 months! By then, the situation at sea will be completely reversed!"
What he said was not nonsense, but something that Marquis Nelson personally assured him. And Marquis Nelson did not deceive him. The British Empire's new generation of battleships had indeed begun to intensify the design. It will definitely be put into use after 18-24 months.
It's just that it's hard to say whether the British and Indian troops in Malaya can survive until that time.
As soon as Viscount Beresford finished speaking, he saw a young British army staff officer rushing in. After entering the map room, he even forgot to stand at attention and salute. He opened his throat and shouted: "Viscount , we have just received simultaneous urgent telegrams from Penang, Jitra, Kota Baruha, Kuala Terengganu and Bay of Aram... The defenders there have suffered attacks from land, sea, Fierce attack from the air...the Ming army's all-out attack has begun!"
What?
Already started?
Viscount Beresford was stunned for a moment, and then he laughed: "They are just some Japanese soldiers, without any fighting ability... Pass the order, let all the troops hold on, and wait for an opportunity to launch a counterattack!" As he said this, he looked at He looked at the officers in the map room and smiled, "If the counterattack goes well, we might be able to invade the Kingdom of Siam! Which of you knows the situation in the Kingdom of Siam better?"
...
at the same time.
Dozens of small sampans have broken through the smoke on the sea near Penang Island, where Penang is located, and landed on a beach on the west coast of Penang Island with a bang.
On these sampans, there were all officers and soldiers of the White Tiger Brigade of the Kurokawa Brigade of the Japanese Kokusai Division, wearing black military uniforms and iron helmets, holding Pacific rifles with bayonets in their hands.
Everyone was as if they had been given a shot of blood. Before the sampan even stopped, they were shouting slogans and jumping down. The first warrior of the White Tiger Brigade should be an officer. He did not wear a helmet, but had a white cloth strip wrapped around his head.
, holding a tachi, looking almost crazy, jumped on the beach and screamed: "The old white tiger captain of the Aizu clan, Saigo Konyu, is here, who dares to come and fight!"
This is another Xixiang!
However, the Xixiang that is translated from Satsuma is probably not from the same family. Maybe the family lives in the western countryside, so Xixiang is the Miao character.
The status of Saigo of the Aizu clan is not low. He is still a family elder and has a family salary of 1,500 koku. He is considered a very high-level samurai.
However, high-level samurai families usually have many relatives and retainers, so this 1,500 shi is a good deal for a large group of people.
Therefore, the life of the Aizu Saigo family is easier than that of ordinary samurai. As for the opportunity to increase one's family income, one is also looking forward to the stars and the moon, and one's eyes are red with anticipation.
It's a pity that Japan has been at peace for so long, and there is no chance for a while. The Ming Dynasty and North Korea under the protection of the Ming Dynasty were simply not something that Japan could challenge.
Just look at the battleships that bombarded Penang Island just now... four 20,000-ton ships, with a total of 32 300mm cannons firing at the British and Indian military positions on the island!
This power is really like a landslide!
It seems that Japan was right to serve as Ming's lackey... and before today's attack was launched, the feudal lord had already told him that after the Aizu clan moved to India, he would be rewarded with a salary of 10,000 stone!
10,000 stones! It’s already a big name... The group of retainers and relatives of the Saigo family are all settled now - with the help of this group of people, Matsudaira Yongkei can only suppress the Saigo family with the 10,000 dan allocated to them. ah.
Thinking of this, Mr. Xixiang became even more energetic.
Holding the sword, he was the first to rush towards the British and Indian army positions on the beach that had been bombarded by heavy artillery.
The samurai of the Aizu White Tigers who came up with him all seemed to have eaten gunpowder. Holding the bayonet of the rifle, roaring and charging forward!
There seemed to be a few living people on the British-Indian army's position. At this time, they also set up rifles and machine guns and started shooting randomly.
Although the bullets from the opposite side came in waves.
However, Saigo and his men did not fight back at all, they just charged with their heads down.
Because they know that the position is still far away from them, and firing now is completely indiscriminate and a waste of precious bullets.
Although these infantrymen only charged and did not fight back, the destroyers that arrived near the coast to support them started to suppress the firepower on the shore with 155mm cannons, and soon turned the British and Indian positions into a sea of fire again. !
While the destroyer was bombarding, Saigo Jinyu led his members of the White Tigers. Withstanding the enemy's bullets and the risk of being accidentally injured by our own artillery fire, he rushed into a trench of the British and Indian troops.
There was a British officer and dozens of Indians in this trench, and they were already a little dazed by the bombardment of naval guns.
Now I suddenly saw a large group of Japanese soldiers with bayonets rushing out of the fire from the naval guns despite their own firepower. They all panicked and didn't know who they were. Suddenly they shouted: "Run! Ming The army is coming!"
Then the people in the entire trench began to retreat in chaos...
