1890 King of Southeast Asia

Before the battle began, Liu Ming did not think highly of the Ottoman Empire and did not pay enough attention to it strategically.

After all, it was just an agricultural country, and the contradictions between classes and ethnic groups within it made it unable to take care of itself.

Externally, the southern part of the Ottoman Empire had always been facing the encroachment of Britain and France, and the northern part of the European land was lost again and again.

During the Balkan War, if Nanhua had not wanted to open up the market, it would not have provided weapons and supplies to the Ottoman Empire at all, and its current situation would have been even more difficult.

Even so, before the start of the World War, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Tsarist Russia, the Huaxia Empire, Britain, France, and a small Balkan country were all trying to tear off a piece of meat from the Ottoman Empire.

Other countries joined the war for their own interests, and the Ottoman Empire joined the war for survival considerations. Otherwise, no matter who won, they would not relax their aggression against him.

Nothing to say, the Russians are keeping a close eye on the attractive city of Istanbul (Constantinople).

In the last two Russo-Turkish wars, the Ottoman Empire relied on the power of Britain and France to resist the Russians, but now the Russians have come together with Britain and France, which is also a major reason for the Ottoman Empire to join the Allies.

In the initial stage, Liu Ming only deployed a 6th Army Group and a part of the Air Force in the Arab region.

This army group was also divided into two directions to attack the Ottoman Empire, one army in each direction, and the remaining two armies as reserves.

Although the combat effectiveness of the 3rd Army and the 5th Army is still good, each has a powerful ace division, but the number is ultimately at a disadvantage.

Taking the 3rd Division as an example, for every 100 kilometers of advancement, at least two battalions are needed to defend the railway line, and two battalions are needed to occupy the surrounding towns.

In normal field encounters, the 3rd Division can easily win without paying too much price.

But once the enemy begins to hold on with a complete trench system, the 3rd Division has to call in heavy artillery or air force to destroy the trench system before breaking through.

Once the street fighting begins, it is meaningless even if the individual strength of the Chinese Empire's Sixth Army is better than that of the Ottoman Empire's Sixth Army. Street fighting is about who is more cold-blooded and who has more people.

The battle of Irbid made Liu Ming face the Ottoman Empire's army, and also reminded the proud Chinese Empire's Sixth Army that this is not the army they defeated many years ago.

…………

"2 plus 9, 3 plus, 3 plus 1..."

"Another 3 plus 2 planes. This bombing has lasted for 6 days. The Ottomans on the opposite side are probably scared to death. Why don't we attack?"

Huang Zhengfang took a telescope and looked at the sky to count the number of planes.

A month ago, what happened in Irbid caused the Chinese Empire's Sixth Army to stop fighting urban street fighting with the Ottoman Empire's Sixth Army and stopped large-scale attacks.

At that time, Huang Zhengfang thought that the casualties in the street fighting scared the General Staff. In fact, this was only a small part of the reason. The more important thing was that the ships full of supplies sank.

The theater headquarters had material reserves, but they were reserved for strategic reserves. Zheng Lei did not agree to use the reserve materials because the war situation was not critical.

In this way, the battle on the front line stopped for a whole month, until the past few days, the planes began to perform missions frequently.

"There is no order, not even a preparation order."

"For 6 days, there are dozens of planes flying around every day, and I don't know how many bombs have been dropped."

The chief of staff shook his head and chewed wheat seedlings boredly.

"Have the supplementary soldiers come up?" Huang Zhengfang watched the plane gradually move away, put down the telescope, and rubbed his sore eyes.

"They have arrived. I don't know why. The supplementary soldiers are all new recruits. I broke them up and sent them to various companies. The reserve forces seem to have been withdrawn." The chief of staff sat up when he heard this.

"Brigade commander, do you think we should break through from other places?" The chief of staff asked mysteriously.

"How should I know? I haven't heard anyone mention it. Don't think about it." Huang Zhengfang shook his head.

"There is no other front. We are the front line. According to convention, we should be the first in the supply sequence."

"No matter who we fought before, the first batch of soldiers to be added to the front line must be experienced. They are either militia reserves or recalled veterans. When have they ever been recruited?"

The chief of staff felt that there was a problem. Maybe they would lose the main attack mission.

"Don't think about it. If that's the case, why does the air force go out every day?" Huang Zhengfang believed that many people might think like the chief of staff. This is not a good trend.

"It's all the fault of the 8th Brigade. They were dawdling along the way and slowed down our progress."

"The Western Front was not fought well. The Ottomans were very fierce. This battle was not easy to fight!"

The chief of staff was sighing there, and the signalman came in.

"Brigade commander, chief of staff, the division headquarters telegraphed, ordering my brigade to immediately count the combat supplies, adjust the combat status, and be ready to go at any time." The signalman gave the telegram to the chief of staff.

"Call back, I've heard that the 9th Brigade has completed combat preparations and can set off at any time."

…………

Buzz buzz buzz~~

boo!

The plane painted with the sun, moon and stars flag came to a piece of land full of gunpowder with the roar of the engine, then dived, searched for the target, dropped the bomb, and finally left.

All that was left were craters, perhaps with some blood in them.

This is a small city at the foot of the Kurdish Mountains, close to the mountains, with the Tigris River flowing through the center of the city. The forests are more lush than in the south, and the population is relatively large.

Perhaps this was once a beautiful and peaceful place, but now, there are only ruins.

More than a month ago, a large number of Ottoman soldiers retreated here. Although there were military discipline constraints and there were no cases of soldiers and bandits, the emergence of a large number of soldiers also disrupted the public security here.

Later, more and more soldiers retreated here from the front line, and the local residents thought they were defeated and fled.

The Ottomans began to use this city as a base to arrange a huge position, including trenches, barricades, and bunkers.

The German adviser said very confidently: "This will become the sad place of the Chinese Empire."

However, this prophecy did not come true. Six days ago, dozens of bombers suddenly visited the city and chased the crowd to drop bombs at low altitude.

In the next 6 days, Chinese air force bombers came every day.

After 6 days of high-intensity bombing, all the buildings above 2 stories in the city were flattened, and many barricades were blown into a pile of rubble.

The continuous bombing made most of the Ottoman soldiers panic all day long, and they were still required to hide in the trenches and prepare to repel the attack of the Chinese.

This kind of waiting is a torment. No one can stand to fight their own battles. As more and more people died in the bombing, more and more deserters came.

"General Samara, you need to restrain your soldiers. They have lost their courage. There are more and more deserters. If they can't be stopped, failure will be inevitable." Colonel Albireo, a German adviser, said to Samara Pasha, commander of the 6th Army of the Ottoman Empire.

"Mr. Adviser, I also want to restrain them, but I can't. I have shot ten deserters. If I shoot more people, the soldiers will riot." Samara covered his face in pain.

"General, this is just an appetizer before the war officially begins. If we can't do anything now, when the battle begins, your army will collapse." Albireo was silent for a moment, then said indifferently.

He was transferred from the Western Front in Europe. After seeing the overwhelming artillery fire on the Western Front, he thought it was nothing.

After all, an air force flight regiment can only drop more than ten tons of bombs a day. The power is huge, but it is nothing compared to the Western Front.

"Mr. Consultant, when will the planes that Germany aids us arrive? We need weapons that can fight against the planes of the Huaxia Empire to boost morale."

Samara knew that Albireo was telling the truth, but what could he do?

The problem now is the morale problem. No matter who it is, they can only passively take a beating. After being beaten for several days in a row, morale will drop exponentially.

Coupled with the continuous defeats on the front line, the morale of the 6th Army has reached the freezing point, which is why Samara stopped using rough means to deter the army.

The soldiers are already panicking, and at this time, blindly high-pressure policies will only make things worse.

"Pasha, the 3rd and 4th divisions have also retreated. They still have 10,000 people, but they have lost all their horses." A gorgeously dressed lieutenant colonel of the 6th Ottoman Army knocked on the door gently.

"Why don't they abandon themselves to the front line? Where are their cannons?" Samara asked irritably.

"The cannons have been brought back, but now they can only be towed by camels." The lieutenant colonel was obviously a nobleman, with a calm face.

Albireo said nothing beside him, even though the translator had told him the matter.

"Okay, go down first, and send some horses from other divisions." Samara scratched his head with a rising hairline.

"General, I received news that twelve fighters have set off from Berlin and I believe they will arrive in Istanbul soon." Albireo said after watching the lieutenant colonel leave.

"Soon? Why Berlin? If we depart from Vienna, we can arrive several days earlier."

"Mr. Advisor, you know the situation here. My soldiers are full of fear. If they don't have a good way to resist the planes, they will collapse."

"We are allies..."

Bang!

The door was pushed open, interrupting the conversation between Samara and Albireo.

"Pasha, the Chinese appeared in Maqila Village 20 kilometers to the south, and the defenders have collapsed..."

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