1855 United States Tycoon

Winston Churchill and Harry walked for almost a whole day before reaching the tenth infantry regiment's station-an unknown town. Bennett Austin, the commander of the Tenth Infantry Regiment, was an acquaintance of Churchill. He was born in a declining old noble family. In the generation of Churchill’s grandfather back then, the Austin family was quite prosperous, but his grandfather was a playboy. It was the same with his father. The two generations liked to spend money and invest blindly. As a result, their money, land, and so on quickly went into the pockets of the Jews. In short, in Bennett’s generation, it was even difficult to maintain the basic dignity of the nobility. Therefore, in order to rejuvenate the family, Bennett entered the army. Relying on the connections left over from his grandfather’s time and his willingness to work hard, he gradually got up in the army and is now a lieutenant colonel. NS.

"Hey! Bennett, it's been a long time!" As soon as he saw the head of Austin, Churchill went up and greeted him enthusiastically. Although he hadn't seen Austin for a long time, when they met last time, Churchill seemed to have just started elementary school. To be honest, Churchill doesn't remember what this Austin looks like. He recognizes him now entirely because of the wide epaulettes on his shoulders.

"Ah, is it Winston? We haven't seen each other for a long time." Head Austin also made a very familiar and very enthusiastic look. Hell, when they met for the last time, Bennett Austin, although he was a year or two older than Churchill, was still a child. He would recognize this one who looks very strong at the moment but will become one in a few years. Half-bald fatty guy. But he knew that Winston Churchill, who was born in a famous family and whose family was growing more and more prosperous, was destined to enter politics in the future and climb to a position he couldn't match. And this guy is now coming to South Africa as a war correspondent, just to prepare for the future political road and gain his reputation. Of course, if Churchill wants to gain prestige, his cooperation is indispensable. So this is an opportunity, a rare opportunity, if you take advantage of this opportunity to build a good relationship with him, then the chances of promotion will naturally be much greater in the future.

Head Austin stepped forward and enthusiastically gave Churchill a bear hug.

"Come to my room for a cup of coffee." Austin said.

"It's better to be respectful than fate." Churchill said the same, and the two walked into the temporarily expropriated house in Austin as the temporary headquarters.

The orderly spread a clean white tablecloth on the dining table, and then poured coffee for the two of them.

"The conditions here are difficult. There is no good tea, and no good utensils. I have to ask you to take it." Austin said to Churchill with a smile.

"I can understand this." Churchill said with a smile, "The frontline environment is indeed difficult, but it is also for the benefit and honor of the empire."

"Yes, for the benefit and honor of the empire!" Austin slightly raised the coffee cup in his hand and greeted Churchill.

"Bennet, can you talk to me about the battle?" Churchill asked.

"Of course it's okay." Austin replied, "In general, the Boers are indeed good opponents, more cunning than the average native whites. You know they have been fighting with the Zulus for a long time, so Marksmanship is very good. In terms of average level, they are not inferior to British soldiers. And their soldiers have good courage, at least much stronger than most indigenous whites. When we first arrived in Cape Town, it was these Booleans. When the rebels were besieging the city, with the help of the fortifications, we repelled their attacks again and again.

They are very cunning when attacking, and they use terrain to conceal themselves. But in the face of the bombardment of naval guns, these are of little use. But their commander has an obvious weakness, that is, lack of firmness and courage. They are too accustomed to fighting by conspiracy and tricks. For example, when they captured Kimberley, they used guys in civilian clothes with short guns to launch a sneak attack, and then attacked the city from the inside and outside. When it came time to head-on, their commanders lacked courage, so once the offensive was frustrated, they immediately gave up the attack, unlike the empire's army, which was able to rush forward with huge casualties. So, if it’s a head-on fight, I’m sure we can crush them, just like smashing a walnut with a hammer..."

In general, although Chief Austin has raised the level of the British army a bit too much, he did not demean his own opponent too much. Austin didn't want Churchill to say that the Boers were too vulnerable in the report. After all, the record of punching Nanshan Nursing Home and kicking Beihai Kindergarten is completely impossible to blow. As long as the enemy is depicted as ferocious and powerful, it will appear heroic after defeating the enemy. For example, when the netizens of the later generations of Chitu Kingdom discuss the war damage ratio of the Korean War, they generally only count the casualties of the Chitu Kingdom and the Bald Eagle. As for Nanbangzi and Beibangzi, although their casualties are greater, But non-human casualties are generally not counted.

Just when the two people were chatting enthusiastically, the messenger sent a new order.

Chief Austin looked at the telegram sent by the messenger, then stood up and said to Churchill: "We were going to be repairing here for two days. But now things have changed. We must speed up the march. So Winston You have to work harder too. We have to march to the front town of Short today."

"What happened?" Churchill asked.

"Nothing, those Boers know that they can't stop us, so they are destroying the facilities in some cities they occupy. Of course we can't let them vandalize like this, so the above orders us to speed up and stop the Boer's sabotage." Austin The head replied.

...

At 3:30 in the afternoon, the 10th Infantry Regiment arrived at Short Town smoothly. From about 10 in the morning to now, the troops have marched more than 30 kilometers in a hurry, and the soldiers are quite tired. But at this time, they can't relax, because they still have to build camps, arrange light and dark whistles, and prepare to cook. In short, there are more things.

And they haven't been able to sleep well that night, because at night, the Boers started shooting and harassing them from a distance. He even fired at the camp with mortars. Fortunately, the Boers were not able to hit them at night, and no one was blown up, but everyone was not in a good state of rest.

"You can get to Belleville tomorrow, and everyone can sleep well when you get there." Regiment Chief Austin could only encourage the soldiers in this way.

...

For a period of time thereafter, there was constant marching, and then the Boers continued to harass. That kind of open battle between knights has never been able to appear. The Boers have a large number of horses, which are said to be enough to equip each soldier with three horses. This allows their army to have very good mobility. They would plant landmines on the British marching road, and then hide on a small hill with a sniper rifle. When the British army stopped because they stepped on the landmine, they would take the opportunity to shoot. After firing a few shots, they jumped on the prepared horses beside them, and then drove away.

After receiving such an attack at the beginning, the head of Austin took immediate measures. He made the cavalry unit responsible for cleaning up the Boer's horse-riding snipers. However, the result of this is that the cavalry chased a little farther when chasing the Boers. As a result, they were ambushed by the Boers and suffered considerable losses.

Obviously, these harassing activities of the Boers were all aimed at slowing down the advance of the British army and buying time for them to retreat while destroying cities and railways. Anyway, until now, the train stations in every town that Churchill has seen have been destroyed. The railway was also severely damaged, all the tracks were torn down by the Boers, and the sleepers did not leave half of the sleepers to the British. Although the roadbed is still there, but in a short time, I really can't count on these railways. As for what the Boers did to remove these rails and sleepers, many rumors say that the Boers built a very strong fortress in Johannesburg, and are constantly strengthening it, and those railroad sleepers were transported to Johannesburg.

A local English immigrant told Churchill:

"The Boers drove a train and stopped every two or three hundred meters. Then Zulu workers got off the train, removed all the rails and sleepers behind them, put them on the train, and then they went on. They drove forward, and then...they passed by the railway, like a swarm of locusts passing by the field, and there was not even a railway spike left."

"I want to see if they can still run back to Johannesburg? If they really do this, it would be just right. We can wipe out all these rascals at once. So, what are the actual scams? What's the use?" Head Austin said to Churchill in this way, and Churchill was deeply impressed.

But the battle broke out earlier than they thought. In a newly arrived town that day, they made a new discovery, that is, the railroad here still retains sleepers.

This shows that they are not far from the Boers, so that the Boers have no time to completely destroy the railway. In this way, if they can speed up their advancement, then it is entirely possible to catch up with the Boers and eliminate them.

Encouraged by this situation, after discussing with his superiors, Regiment Chief Austin made such a decision: leave the heavy troops behind, and the combat troops of the whole regiment march forward lightly, striving to catch up and eliminate the Boers as soon as possible.

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