1890 King of Southeast Asia

"What happened? Am I dreaming?" Hoxha had just climbed the highest hill in Hill 37 when he saw a scene he would never forget in his life.

The cavalry horses ran wildly, but often fell helplessly to the ground after running a few steps.

Even if they fell to the ground, these horses could not escape the dense barrage of attacks, and from time to time a handful of blood would emerge from their bodies.

The cavalry he was proud of, because they were running in the front and because the target was too big, at this time, few of them were still moving.

The infantry running behind were much luckier, and more than 3,000 people in two battalions were divided into two parts.

The front half was those who ran fast, about 1,000 people, with corpses scattered randomly, and only in a few places could the wounded be seen struggling in pain.

The back half was because the 6th Army of the Huaxia Empire did not adjust the machine gun angle well and was not attacked in the first time, and was retreating madly, and then more than half of them were killed and injured by the bullets that followed.

They should be thankful that the appearance of the cavalry made Guo Liang decide to start shooting in advance, and they had not yet entered the dense barrage area.

"Ismail, tell me, this is not true." Hoxha grabbed Ismail excitedly, and his face was flushed because of excessive excitement, looking like a beast that was ready to eat people.

"General, I also want to say that this is just a dream, but you know that this is impossible! You need to calm down, we must face this matter, and we still have a chance." Ismail was also terrified, but he knew that this was not the time to express fear.

Especially as a commander, Hoxha must not show any fear at this time, otherwise the morale of the soldiers will be devastated.

"Retreat, retreat immediately!" Hoxha gritted his teeth and let go of Ismail.

"Ismail, what is our chance?" Hoxha took two deep breaths, forced himself to suppress the anger and fear in his heart, and asked with a trembling voice.

"We fought fiercely with the Chinese, and finally captured the Chinese positions and opened the road to Birejik."

"However, due to the strong resistance of the Chinese, we suffered heavy losses, among which the cavalry units used for rapid frontal assaults suffered the most casualties, so that the entire army was annihilated."

Ismail said after seeing the fear in Hoxha's eyes.

Ismail knew that this was not true, but this was the reason Hoxha needed, and it was also the reason needed by these dead.

The situation in the Ottoman Empire was not very good, and coupled with the corruption problem, only the families of heroes who fought bravely could get pensions in time.

The situation faced by Hoxha was even more difficult. More than 3,000 people and about 2,000 good war horses died in this batch, and about 1,000 people were injured. Because of the angle of incidence of the bullet, most people were seriously injured.

When a projectile enters the human body, there will be a large or small angle. No matter what the angle is, as long as it appears, the bullet will roll after entering the flesh, forming a terrifying cavity effect.

The cavity effect will cause huge damage. The organs of people hit in the torso will be severely damaged. Even if they don't die on the spot, most of them will die later.

Some of them died because of internal bleeding, some because of the lack of corresponding medicines, and of course, more because of lack of treatment.

The Ottomans had military doctors and military hospitals, but not only did they lack anti-inflammatory drugs, but they also lacked enough doctors.

The only doctors had uneven medical skills, and they were not necessarily surgeons, and they could not treat such serious problems at all.

In other words, the final death toll is likely to exceed 4,000 people, and there are 2,000 war horses that are more than 4 times more expensive than soldiers, and all this was caused in just a few minutes.

If this news reaches the top, the top will only think that Hoxha is a fool and Ismail is incompetent, and they will replace them both.

The best result waiting for Ismail may be to serve as a death squad in the army, otherwise he may spend the rest of his life in prison.

Hoxha, as a nobleman, is unlikely to die, but he will become a laughing stock of others and lose all his prospects.

Therefore, Ismail had to change his statement, one that would be acceptable to the higher-ups.

In this way, Hoxha might even be promoted for his meritorious service in capturing the position.

"General, go back and write a telegram to seek support from the army headquarters. I always feel that the closer we get to the Euphrates River, the more dangerous it is." Ismail shook his head and looked at the bodies of the Ottomans with great regret.

Two main regiments, most of the combat power of a division, were all lost here. It is unknown how long it will take for this division to recover.

"Let's go, we have to think about how to make those good-for-nothings shut their damn mouths." Hoxha suddenly became a lot more depressed and shook his head.

"All those who know about this should be ordered to keep silent, and we have to find a way to get most of the people on board and apply for a reward. As for those stubborn people, no one will care if they die in the war." Ismail said softly.

The truth of the matter cannot be concealed by just a gag order, so Ismail needs to drag most of the insiders into the pirate ship.

As mentioned earlier, the Ottomans' financial situation was very poor, and corruption was serious, so it was difficult to pay pensions. This moment formed a consensus.

And the pensions of heroes are always paid in full and on time because there are many people paying attention to them.

Package the soldiers who died in the battle as heroes and apply for a reward. With Hoxha's noble connections, it is possible to do it. As long as the witnesses receive the reward, they can't escape.

"I will do it. Before that, restrain the soldiers." Hoxha calmed down a lot and nodded.

"Yes, General, I will restrain them and pick out the traitors." Ismail added.

Because of the traitors, there were such heavy casualties, but they still maintained the glory of the empire despite the casualties.

There were not many Ottomans on the front line. The first two regiments to attack became targets, and there were still hundreds of uninjured and about 1,000 wounded soldiers left.

All the cavalry was gone, and only one regiment followed up, and the ones behind were still following. Ismail directly asked them to stop advancing.

In this way, there were only 34,000 people who needed to be dealt with, most of whom were ordinary people and had no way to contact the upper level. They only needed a little money to shut their mouths. After the incident, it would be safe to let them die.

When Ismail thought of this, the corners of his mouth curved slightly upwards, as if the matter was about to end.

boo!

A violent explosion suddenly sounded from a 20-meter-high hill on his left.

"The dust is flying so high, it must be the pre-buried explosives..." Ismail muttered, and then turned his head suddenly.

boo!

The hill where they were located exploded violently, and Ismail saw with his own eyes that Hoxha was at the center of the explosion of a bomb and turned into flying meat in an instant.

"No~~" Ismail whispered in his heart before his body had time to react, and his body had already felt the shock wave.

Not small, but not big, he won't die!

This was Ismail's subconscious judgment. This was similar to the shock wave caused by the close-range explosion of Italian artillery during the Italo-Turkish War. He survived that time.

boo~~~

Ismail vaguely heard the explosion again, and then he knew nothing.

A full 20 kilograms of TNT exploded less than 5 meters away from him. The powerful shock wave tore him into pieces, the kind that even the best puzzle master couldn't put together.

boo! boo! boo!

The explosion continued for a full minute. After the explosion stopped, thick smoke enveloped the entire Hill 37.

The remaining soldiers of the 135th and 136th Regiments who had finally retreated were taken away by the explosion this time...

…………

Time went back two minutes.

"Stop shooting!" The chief of staff ran over and said to Guo Liang.

"What did you say?" Guo Liang stared at the chief of staff.

The huge noise caused by the continuous shooting of the 7mm heavy machine gun made Guo Liang, who was not wearing earplugs, temporarily deaf.

The chief of staff gestured twice, and Guo Liang finally understood what he meant.

In fact, he had no intention of continuing to shoot. In less than 3 minutes, he fired more than 1,000 bullets.

The shells fell under the machine gun and piled up.

"Cough cough cough!" Guo Liang subconsciously took a deep breath to relax after putting down the gun, and inhaled a breath of air full of gunpowder.

Smokeless propellant is only relative. In the early 20th century when propellant was not mature, machine guns fired bullets continuously, which would still form thick smoke.

Even in the war that broke out in the early 21st century, the continuous firing of machine guns and cannons would still cause a lot of gunpowder smoke.

Now, the machine gun positions of the 14th Division have been shrouded in the gunpowder smoke produced by continuous firing, and even the slightly farther places cannot be seen clearly.

"The division commander ordered an immediate retreat. I will stay to detonate the bomb. You go to the rear first." Guo Liang read the information written on the paper by the chief of staff.

"No, no, no, I want to see the explosion." Guo Liang shook his head after reading it. He was still waiting to see the fireworks.

"Okay, but listen to my command." The chief of staff nodded and said subconsciously. After speaking, he patted his head again and was about to write on the paper, but Guo Liang stopped him.

"I'm just watching. You will command the next action!" Guo Liang shouted loudly.

This is the subconscious performance of the deaf.

"Okay." The chief of staff nodded helplessly.

The alluvial plain is in the valley. The Euphrates River passes here and turns here, leaving an alluvial plain about ten kilometers wide on the west bank.

The wind in the valley quickly blew away the smoke, allowing Guo Liang to clearly observe his results.

"Wow, this thing is really powerful. The first cavalryman I aimed at had his horse broken into several sections." Guo Liang held up the telescope and shouted loudly.

The chief of staff held his forehead helplessly beside him, sighed, and observed the situation on Hill 37 with a high-powered gun scope, and found that there were shadowy figures on Hill 37.

Although he didn't know how many people were on Hill 37, if he didn't detonate it at this time, if 10,000 were discovered later, there would be even fewer people who could be blown up.

He patted Guo Liang's shoulder, connected the wire to the detonator, cranked it to generate electricity, and then signaled him to press it.

"Thank you! I'll treat you to a drink when I go back. I won't fool you with sugarcane wine, but authentic sorghum wine!" Guo Liang excitedly took the detonator, turned it right to unlock it, and pressed it to power it on.

The current instantly crossed the several kilometers long wire and detonated the detonator. The energy of the detonator explosion instantly detonated TNT.

Boo!

Red and black fireworks bloomed on the top of the mountain...

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