Mu Xiu will be destroyed by the forest wind, and behind this sentence is a helpless reality.

In southern Africa, Roque could do whatever he wanted, but when he came to Europe to join the Anglo-French coalition, Roque faced significantly more difficulties, and the pressure came not only from the enemy, but also from the contradictions within the Entente.

Roque is really helpless, the British Army lacks the right to speak within the British and French forces, and the Southern African Expeditionary Force lacks the right to speak within the British Army, which has nothing to do with the performance of the troops on the battlefield, but is a reflection of the country's strength in the international status.

As a British overseas consulate, Southern Africa is surprisingly strong and its importance to Britain is rising, which is a good thing, but it also has hidden dangers.

For Britain, the more important southern Africa is, the tighter Britain's control over southern Africa, and before the outbreak of the world war, Roque also hoped that southern Africa could achieve independence after the war, including diplomatic autonomy, through its performance in the world war, and now it seems that this possibility is becoming more and more slim as southern Africa performs better.

Roque is not in a hurry, when communicating with Phyllis, Roque also made it very clear that the reason why Britain is arrogant now is because Britain still has the qualifications to be arrogant, and by the end of next year, I believe that Britain should accept the reality.

While Roque was in Cyprus with his family, a supply force was struggling to make its way through a blizzard in the Anatolian plateau.

The Anatolian plateau covers an area of more than half a million square kilometers, most of which is located in the territory of the Ottoman Empire, and the offensive of the Mediterranean expeditionary force had to be stopped, which has a lot to do with the bad weather in Asia Minor this winter.

Since the beginning of winter, heavy snowfall has fallen on the Asia Minor peninsula, the snow around Ankara is one meter deep, and the snow thickness in some areas is more than two meters, in this case, let alone attacking, it is very difficult for the troops to transport supplies, the command of the expeditionary force has tried every means to ensure the logistical supply of the troops, using almost all methods, including airdropping transport planes, but under bad weather conditions, transport planes cannot take off, and the supply of troops in some remote mountainous areas still has to be carried out in the most primitive way.

Unlike southern Africa, which has been building roads all along, the traffic situation in the Ottoman Empire is very bad, the roads are in disrepair, some sections of the road are seriously damaged, cars are not usable in the interior of the plateau, the most commonly used means of transportation has become donkeys, sometimes even carried by the shoulders of the officers and soldiers of the supply troops, the non-combat losses of the troops are very serious, many officers and soldiers are frostbitten, and even have to amputate their limbs.

"To speed up, we have to get to Krsehir before dark, how far is it from Krsehir?" The commander of the supply unit was Captain Liu Zhen of the 19th Division, and instead of wearing an officer's trench coat made of wool, he wore a sheepskin jacket with better warmth, and his head was not a standard steel helmet, but a newly issued cashmere hat, and even then, his eyebrows and eyelashes turned into white ice sculptures.

The company led by Captain Ryujin consisted of 150 men, and the people who transported the supplies were recruited from Ankara, a total of 650 people, all of whom were Ottomans, and the supplies they transported were ammunition and food, all of which were the most urgently needed by the front-line troops.

"There's five kilometers to go, and it's hard to get there before dark—" said Deputy Company Commander Richard, who just turned 21 and graduated from the Army Academy in Nyasaland last year.

In bad weather, it was very difficult for the troops to take every step forward, the snow on the ground was more than half a meter deep, and the line of sight was white, and they could not distinguish where the road was and where the ravine was, and they would accidentally fall into the snowdrifts, and sometimes they had to use their hands to help them pull their feet out of the snow pits.

In order to open a road out of the heavy snow, Liu Zhen gathered only a dozen donkeys to open a road in front, and made a road out of the heavy snow, and all the materials transported by the troops were carried by people, and adults could only carry two boxes of bullets each, and 200 boxes of bullets could not meet the consumption of a medium-intensity battle.

Liu Zhen looked up at the sky where there were still snowflakes, and the gray clouds couldn't even be seen, and then he looked down at the compass where the pointer was spinning wildly, and he was almost in despair.

Five kilometers, for southern African soldiers, is a commonplace armed training, which used to run once a day, but now it looks like an insurmountable moat.

"No matter how difficult it is, if you can't get to Krsehir before dark-" Liu Zhen's expression was ugly, the weather was too bad, and the troops could not spend the night in the field, otherwise someone would definitely get frostbite at night, and even someone would freeze to death, this kind of thing is not unprecedented.

What's more, there are more than 600 Ottomans in the ranks, who now look as honest as docile sheep, and when they see an opportunity, they will turn into devouring beasts.

"Pick up the pace and keep going!" Richard also knew that the situation was not good, and urged his troops to speed up.

But the speed is really not fast, and the well-protected expeditionary officers and soldiers, some Ottomans don't even have cotton clothes, and they are still wearing summer clothes, an Ottoman did not step on the feet and fell to the ground, yellow, orange and orange bullets were suddenly scattered on the ground, two soldiers came to help clean up, at this time there is no point in being angry and angry, and only by working together can the task be completed.

An Ottoman took advantage of the soldier's inattention, threw down the box on his shoulder and ran away, and he didn't want to think about how fast he could run and pass the bullets even if he ran desperately in such an environment.

No one shouted at him to stop, and there was no need for Liu Zhen and Richard to give orders, a soldier took off the rifle on his shoulder, loaded it with an indifferent expression, and directly aimed and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

In the snowy environment, the gunshots actually couldn't travel too far, but the slightly dull gunshots still silenced everyone.

It was too cold for the soldiers to be sure, and the Ottoman ran a dozen steps, and the sound of wailing and screaming on the ground was clearly heard.

No one went to help him, no one refilled the gun, and in this kind of weather, if he didn't get timely treatment, he wouldn't be able to do it for ten minutes at most.

"Keep going!"

"Get moving, get moving, don't wait for me to kick your ass-"

"Shoot those who dare to escape!"

Almost all of the soldiers were urging the people to move on, and whether or not the Ottomans could understand English, the meaning should still be understandable.

When the team set off again, it was noticeably faster.

It didn't go far and there were problems, there was a river in front of the team, and the bridge was blown up when the Ottoman troops retreated, and it has not been repaired yet.

"Send someone down to see if the river is frozen—" Ryu Zhen's words were as cold as the surroundings.

Unlike ordinary river water, some rivers in the Anatolian Plateau are saltwater rivers, and the largest lake on the Anatolian Plateau, Van Lake, is a saltwater lake, which does not mean that it will not freeze in winter, but the freezing point is lower than that of fresh water, so Liu Zhen is not sure whether the water of this river is frozen.

Immediately, several soldiers dragged the two Ottomans down and ordered them to go down to the river to see if it was frozen.

The language barrier was a big problem, and the two Ottomans didn't know what the soldiers told them to do, and thought that the soldiers were going to shoot them to vent their anger, so they wept bitterly and begged the soldiers to let them go.

"Why doesn't anyone understand English?" Liu Zhen was very devastated, and the interpreter equipped by the troops suddenly fell ill before departure, and now the problem broke out.

"Sir, I can—" One of the men winced and raised his hand.

"Great, come here, tell them, let them go down and see if the river is frozen—" Liu Zhen finally squeezed out a smile on his face, and casually took out a pack of cigarettes and threw it to the people who were trembling.

The result is neither good nor bad, the river is indeed frozen, but no one is sure how thick the ice is, nor how deep the river is, the river is more than 20 meters wide, it doesn't matter if it is deep or not, the main thing is that if you fall into it, you will freeze to death.

"Advance in batches—" Ryu Zhen gritted his teeth, it didn't matter if he could reach Krsehir before dark now, Ryu Zhen was struggling with himself, and he had to complete the task no matter what.

It took half an hour for the team to finally cross the river, it was already 6 p.m., and it was already dark at 6 p.m. in winter, but it was still visible even at 6 p.m. in the snowy environment.

After another two hours, Yoo Jin finally heard cheers from the front of the team.

Krsehir is not a city yet, but it is a relatively large town, and there are not many people in the town, and the 19th Division has a battalion here, and the battalion commander Paul warmly welcomes Liu Zhen and them.

"You don't know how dangerous the situation is, we have eaten all the food of the inhabitants of Krsehir, and if we don't give it any more we will starve to death, yesterday I ordered my horse to be killed, how good it would be if you came a day earlier—" Paul was in a sad mood, and the soldiers would never kill the horses unless they were exhausted.

It is strange that the more people who ignore life and death, the more persistent they are in certain things, perhaps it is precisely because they are used to seeing life and death that they will cherish their partners more.

"The division headquarters knew that your situation was very difficult, and they originally sent transport planes to airdrop supplies, but the weather was very bad and the transport planes could not be dispatched, so they sent us over." Ryu was sorry, Paul's eyes were bloodshot and frightening, a large patch of shocking frostbite on his left cheek, an unhealthy flush on his face, and a crack on his hand that could almost make bones visible.

Paul is still the battalion commander, and he is already so miserable, you can imagine what the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level of the army are like.

This will have to be replenished a few days later, and it is estimated that Paul and they have the heart to eat people.

This is not a metaphor, it is a fact.

(There are easter eggs in the author's words, brothers who can't see it, it's itchy in their hearts-)