Pretoria was only built for more than ten years, because of financial embarrassment and years of conquest against the surrounding black tribes, so the capital of the Transvaal is extremely simple, in the eyes of the Qing army, even a small county town in the Qing Dynasty is not as good, at best it can only be regarded as a small town, but it is flat and open.

As the British army advanced step by step, the whole of Pretoria also gradually became a huge position, the presidential palace built on a small hill overlooking the entire city of Cairetoria also became the headquarters of the Qing army, and the communication troops were busy laying telephone lines, since some telephones were put into use, they soon began to be used in military affairs.

Although the telephone had been put into use early in the morning, it was undoubtedly a very novel thing for the Boers, and the vast majority of the Boers had never heard of it, even if they had been well-informed in Europe like Boggs, they had only heard of it, and the Qing army had already used the telephone on the battlefield, and all the Boer dignitaries had mixed feelings in their hearts.

On the position outside the city, Feng Zicai, accompanied by a group of officers, carefully inspected the newly constructed position, because the time was in a hurry, the newly constructed position was naturally unsatisfactory, many end fortifications were dug by the Boers, and the Boers who were good at grazing and good at riding and shooting were digging trenches really made people speechless, although there were people to guide and supervise, but in many ways it was still unsatisfactory.

Feng Zicai is an old military officer, and he has risen from the bottom step by step, and Yuan Qi has always attached great importance to the trenches, all the way down, his brows have not stretched, and his face is gloomy and can drip water, "The width of the trench opening here is not enough." "This heavy machine gun bunker will not work, it must be supported by wood." "How many times has it been said that mortar positions must be reinforced with planks?" "This cat's hole is too shallow.......

Picky all the way, pointing all the way, out of the position, he glanced at the officers with sharp eyes, and said in a deep voice: "If you dig a foot of fortifications, your life will be a big one, this is a cliché, I don't want to repeat it, I want to remind you that this time we are facing 40,000 British troops, we are definitely at a disadvantage in terms of the number of artillery, and there is no perfect trench, how can we hold on for a few days?" ”

After a pause, he continued: "The vanguard of the British army is still three days away from us, and the main force is at least five days. ”

Returning to the headquarters, Chief of Staff Xu Mingliang hurriedly greeted him and said, "Old Feng, Tang Sheng just called and asked when the troops will act?" ”

"Wait." Feng Zicai waved his hand, "Our 6,000 troops are holding on to Pretoria, how can the British army not be suspicious, they will inevitably inquire about the situation from all sides to see if we have any reinforcements, if the British army detects it in advance, won't it fall short?" ”

"In this way, we are under a lot of pressure." Xu Mingliang said: "We have to hold off the British army for at least six days...... ”

"It's a lot of pressure." Feng Zicai nodded, "If you want to finish the battle in one battle, and you have to inflict heavy losses on the British army, you can't do it without paying a price." After a pause, he continued: "Let the Boers intensify their harassment and buy an extra day or two for the fortifications, which are very rough on both flanks. ”

Xu Mingliang nodded and said, "It should be no problem to fight for an extra day or two, but assign them some mortars." ”

"How's the gold mine going?" Feng Zicai asked with concern: "A few days ago, Jiang Qinghao came to complain, saying that the big shopkeeper asked the gold mine to increase the output to 100 tons. ”

Xu Mingliang smiled when he heard this, "Everything has been arranged, all the personnel have been evacuated, and the machinery and equipment are buried on the spot, so they can't be mistaken." ”

Witwaters, the British army camp.

Army Major General George. White walked briskly into Commander Napier's tent, saluted, and then reported directly: "There is no sign of a large march in any direction except in the direction of Pretoria, which was stubbornly blocked by the Boer cavalry. ”

Napier asked, "How big is the scope of the investigation?" ”

"One hundred kilometers."

"What's going on in Pretoria?"

"I don't know yet." White said in a deep voice: "The sentries sent out for several days in a row have not been able to get close to Pretoria, and the Boers are also equipped with mortars, and they are accurate and ruthless, so it should be that the Qing army is mixed in." ”

"The 6,000 Qing troops have been staying in Pretoria?" Napier was a little surprised, this fact is too abnormal.

George. White glanced at him and said, "Obviously, the Qing army should want to protect Pretoria." ”

"Can six thousand of them hold Pretoria?" Napier said coldly: "It is impossible for the Qing army not to know our strength. ”

"The Qing army should have planned to hold on to Pretoria and wait for reinforcements." White pondered, "Didn't you say that there were a large number of Qing troops stationed in Maputo? ”

"For the Qing army, is Maputo important? Or is Pretoria important? Will the Qing army rescue Pretoria regardless of Maputo's safety? Napier said and put his pipe in his mouth, stood up and walked to the large map of South Africa hanging on it, and pondered for a long time before he took off his pipe, "The Qing army should still have a force stationed not far from Pretoria, only in this way is it reasonable for the Qing army to hold on to Pretoria and wait for reinforcements!" ”

"Your Excellency is saying that the Qing army has stationed 20,000 troops in the Transvaal?" George. White shrugged his shoulders and smiled, "This barren place simply can't support 20,000 troops. ”

"What if it's offered by Maputo?" Napier asked rhetorically.

George. White immediately stopped talking, this may indeed be there, and after a while, he said: "After our country declared war on the Transvaal, the Qing fleet withdrew from Maputo, and it is impossible to leave such a large number of troops, unless the Qing people have already calculated that our country will declare war on the Transvaal...... ”

"It's not impossible." Napier said in a deep voice: "You should know more about the big treasurer of Yuanqi, every foreign war launched by Yuanqi has been grasped quite accurately, and sufficient preparations have been made in advance, I think, this war will be no exception." ”

Speaking of this, he changed his words, "The stones here really contain golden sand?" ”

"Yes." White affirmed: "I have asked people to check, just pick up a few stones and smash them can find that they contain fine golden sand, this is indeed a big gold mine, there are still many traces of machines here, which is consistent with the intelligence, the Qing people are indeed using machines to mine gold here." ”

"In this way, it is impossible for the Qing people to give up the gold mines of the Transvaal easily." Napier's voice sounded muffled.

George. White glanced at him, hesitated, and then said, "Perhaps, we should attack Pretoria as quickly as possible." ”

Napier nodded slightly, no matter what the situation was, at the moment they must attack Pretoria as soon as possible, there is no other choice, they can't stand still, he groaned slightly, and then he said in a deep voice: "Advance to Pretoria, you must see the city of Pretoria within two days, in addition, send a light cavalry regiment to search east, it is best to find the local blacks to inquire about the situation." ”

Pretoria, Qing Army Command.

Chief of Staff Xu Mingliang put down the phone, looked at Feng Zicai, and said: "The British army did not rest, they came directly to Pretoria, and it is expected that the forward will arrive tomorrow morning, and the main force should arrive at dusk." ”

"It seems that they are in a hurry to attack Pretoria." Feng Zicai said in a deep voice: "Tell Tang Shengcai that he can be dispatched, and tell him that the British army is menacing, and the lives of the entire brigade of the 253rd Brigade are in his hands!" ”

Before the words fell, the commander of the Transvaal Wehrmacht, Kruger, walked in quickly and said, "When will the cavalry leave?" ”

After listening to the translation, Feng Zicai said: "Get ready, and set off in the afternoon." After a pause, he admonished again: "Let me emphasize one more thing, once the British army is defeated, it will inevitably flee westward, and it is up to you whether they can be completely annihilated." ”

"As long as the British army does not have a Maxim machine gun, not a single one of them can escape." Kruger said with a solemn expression.

"There is definitely no Maxim machine gun." Feng Zicai said with a smile: "However, the British army also has several light cavalry regiments, you should be more careful." ”

Before ten o'clock in the morning the next day, George. White's four brigades arrived outside Pretoria, and White rode up a small dirt slope nearby, and watched condescendingly, and his face was a little ugly when he saw through his telescope the dense, criss-crossed and winding trenches outside Pretoria.

The Qing army is good at trench warfare, which he has heard of for a long time, but it is the first time he has seen such a large-scale trench, and his intuitive scalp is a little numb, such a position, if you want to capture it in a short time, how many lives do you have to fill in?

"General——。 The guard reminded softly, "This is within the range of heavy artillery....... ”

"Do you think the Qing army has the ability to bring heavy artillery from Maputora to Pretoria?" White didn't take this to heart at all, if Pretoria had a railway, he really didn't dare to get so close to investigate.

After carefully observing for a while, White turned his horse's head and hurried back to the camp, the Qing army was clearly determined to hold on to Pretoria, this battle was not easy to fight, and it was not generally difficult to fight, although they had an absolute advantage in troops, but one attacked and one defended, and the other party was obviously very good at defending, which was enough to reduce their advantage in strength.

He didn't know how many casualties would be caused if he attacked by force, it seems that the Qing army dared to hold on and wait for reinforcements, and it was indeed full of confidence!

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the main forces of the British army also arrived one after another, and Napier, under the guidance of White, also came to the small dirt slope to observe closely, and saw the position arranged by the Qing army, he was also speechless for a long time.

After a long time, he put down the binoculars and said with emotion: "I have long heard that the Qing army is good at trench warfare, and today is an eye-opener. ”

George. White said cautiously: "Your Excellency, if you attack by force, I am afraid that it will cause huge or even unimaginable casualties. ”

"No matter how hard it is, you have to fight!" Napier said indifferently: "The troops are already in the city, is it possible that the troops can still be withdrawn?" Seeing the worried look on the other party's face, he smiled and said, "The Qing army is still too arrogant, with the formation of a brigade, how many artillery can it have?" What about us? No matter how good the trench is, we can flatten it with artillery! Gather all the artillery! ”

This attack on the Transvaal, for the Boers who are good at cavalry and archery, the British army did not pay attention to it at all, from beginning to end it was the opponent of the Qing army, for the British army, the Qing army can be described as an old opponent, the Qing army is good at trench warfare, good use of artillery, these characteristics they have long been clear, naturally it is also deliberately targeted, this time to Pretoria, heavy artillery can not be brought, but land artillery, mortars and other light artillery is brought enough, Napier dares to say that the trenches in front of the bombardment plane is based on having enough artillery.

In Pretoria, the atmosphere in the headquarters was dull and tense, there was a way that there were 10,000 people in the boundless, nearly 40,000 British troops appeared on the opposite side of the position, everyone's hearts were heavy, and in the large office, Feng Zicai stood motionless in front of the position diagram with a cigarette.

Xu Mingliang came in with a large teapot of herbal tea, glanced at him, and said: "The British army is camped on three sides, and the art of war of secretly encircling three ques and one seems to be planning to attack ....... on three sides at the same time. ”

"This is bullying our lack of troops." Feng Zicai said angrily.

Xu Mingliang said with a smile: "Playing more and playing less, this can be regarded as a very stable way of playing." ”

"Don't be careless." Feng Zicai shook his head, "Napier is known for his shrewdness and tenacity, and it can be seen from his expedition to Ethiopia that he is not a decent person, and it should be unlikely that he will adopt a decent style of play. ”

"Did you find a point?" Xu Mingliang smiled: "Let's talk about it, what is the most likely way to play this Napier?" ”

Feng Zicai smiled bitterly: "There is too little information about him, it is difficult to analyze." ”

"Be content, you." Xu Mingliang said with a smile: "At least we still know who the opponent is, as well as some of his information, the other party is afraid that he doesn't even know who the opponent is." ”

Feng Zicai paced over slowly, picked up the teapot and drank a few sips of herbal tea, before he said: "For England, we are just a little-known small role, look at the people, they are barons and lieutenant generals." ”

"That sounds a little sour." Xu Mingliang said with a smile.

Feng Zicai smiled, pulled back the conversation and said: "Napier is very cautious, I don't expect the British army to attack immediately tomorrow, at most it will be a tentative attack, test our firepower distribution, the most important thing is our artillery distribution." ”

Xu Mingliang said: "Let's hide the firepower first?" ”

"Hiding is a must." Feng Zicai said: "However, you can't hide everything, you have to be virtual and real, so that they can't see through it, otherwise they won't let go of the attack." ”

Xu Mingliang nodded and said with a smile: "The British army never dreamed that we would not play artillery this time." ”