Xueshan Town is a railway town with less than 5,000 people. It was originally an important forward base and material storage for railway construction. It was usually used to ensure the food, clothing, housing and transportation of Chinese workers. Therefore, most of the people living are railway workers and Chinese immigrants engaged in the service industry.

The peak of residents in the town reached more than 6,200, and the service industries such as food, clothing, housing and transportation were everywhere. Many railway workers were willing to drink a few drinks in the town, buy some daily necessities, and then find a white girl to go out of the fire.

After the tension in the north and south, for security reasons, some Chinese immigrants engaged in the service industry left Xueshan Town, and their population dropped sharply to more than 3,000. Most of the people left were young and middle-aged workers and soldiers of the road guard cavalry team. Later, some trained basic militias were added, with a total strength of about 4,000, almost all the people were soldiers.

For a small town, such defensive forces are a bit exaggerated.

But by looking at the geographical location of Snow Mountain Town, you can understand the intention of the Ocean Kingdom Army General Staff Headquarters. This is an iron nail deeply penetrated into Sydney's back. Together with the town of Stone, Ilawara, and Canberra, it forms a sharp sword that penetrates the soft belly of New South Wales. Now the railway is paralyzed due to enemy destruction and cannot play a real role.

So this sharp sword inserted into the soft abdomen of the south has not yet opened its head, revealing its hidden true face.

If the northern army came over and urgently opened the coastal railway line, it would be like a sharp sword unsheathed, which would cut off the road connection between New South Wales and Victoria, forming two separate war zones that did not interfere with each other.

Strategically speaking, this is the advantage of taking the initiative.

Among the four towns, Snow Mountain Town, Panshi Town, Ilawara Town and Canberra Town, Panshi Town is particularly important in geographical location, playing a bridge that connects the past and the future. Moreover, the geographical conditions for defense are better than those of Snow Mountain Town, and it is a core fortress that must be protected and vigorously built.

The main force of the Railway Cavalry Division is also in Panshi Town, where more than 11,000 combat personnel gathered to defend. More than half of the troops of the Wisconsin Militia Division were used in Panshi Town.

Once Xueshan Town is lost, the way to retreat is to enter the deep mountains and retreat to Panshi Town.

Duan Qirui didn't want to go. He, a lieutenant colonel, was a nonsense in the fortress of tens of thousands of people. Not only was there a colonel, but the commander of the brigade general was in charge. Where could he be the turn of a small lieutenant colonel to issue orders?

I stayed here and went nowhere. If I really couldn't do it, I would go up the mountain to fight guerrillas.

Duan Qirui breathed a long sigh of relief with the idea in his heart. With the 4,000 troops in his hand and full preparation, he was confident of fighting against 16,000 enemy troops, which was almost the limit.

If another 20,000 enemy troops are reinforced...

No matter how arrogant Duan Qirui is, he knows that he can't stand it. That's a whole legion.

He walked carefully along the position designated by the lime line, and in a short while he moved half of the town. Duan Qirui was very satisfied with the defensive positions he saw. The soldiers had just won a great victory, which made the big stone in his heart put down.

After a moment

Duan Qirui came to a dark castle at the low corner of the street and squatted down to take a closer look.

Even if the stone wall was standing in front of him, there was no sign of anything unusual. The heavy machine gunner hiding inside saw the commander coming through the peeping hole. He quickly pulled the blocked stone, revealing a small rectangular hole, and greeted with a shy face, "Sir Duan, do you have to come here to visit?"

"What a fool, I'm checking the defense deployment. The battle broke out last night. You must be more vigilant here and never take it lightly." Duan Qirui answered angrily and funny.

"Don't worry, sir, so many heavy machine guns were seized last night, and all the firepower of the heavy machine guns in the open bunkers was fully equipped. Those ghosts would dare to come and keep them safe and have no good fruits to eat."

"It's good to have such confidence. Keep alert. Remember not to see the enemy and not expose the position of the castle. Only a sudden critical strike can give the enemy the greatest lethality."

"I understand, sir."

After giving a few instructions, Duan Qirui stood up and saw his adjutant walking quickly, so he stood down and waited for him to come.

"Report the division seat, the Southern Army has begun to send engineers to build two bridges. The highland artillery asked whether to bombard them?"

"No hurry, wait until they have built it. Is there anything else?"

"A major among the captured white officers strongly asked to see you, saying that there was important information and he refused to say anything when asked about the situation. He had to see the master of the master who was willing to speak out clearly, and his subordinates dare not be good at it, so he came to report it."

"Oh, then go and have a look."

Duan Qirui suddenly had interest and hurriedly left the town's central street with his adjutant and headed towards the distance.

Since the Snow Mountain Town is a frontier position deep into the south, it used many reinforced concrete structures when it was built, usually two-story, and the houses were built extremely sturdy and difficult to be destroyed.

The entire town presents a semicircular radioactive structure, shaped like a compass ruler.

All three main roads lead to the town center, which is a four-story reinforced concrete building that is extremely thick and sturdy and has a small window, making it look like an insurmountable fortress.

This is the commanding heights of the whole town. If you occupy it, you can control several main roads, thereby controlling the entire town.

Duan Qirui's command center is located here, and all the Southern Army prisoners are also imprisoned here. There is a heavy machine gun sandbag bunker on the left and right at the entrance of the building. The fully armed soldiers are on duty here, on high alert.

In the office

The adjutant brought in a thin white major officer, who was about thirty-four or five years old, and his military uniform was not messy at all. He looked like a well-educated gentleman.

"Okay, you go out and do things." Duan Qirui sent the adjutant away and looked at the white major officer with interest. He saw the officer folded his feet into a military salute and said loudly;

"Report to you, Major Robert Jenrick, deputy commander of the 1st Regiment of the 6th Division of the Southern Federation Army."

"I know your identity as Mr. Major. I took the time to see you not to listen to this. I hope you don't waste your little kindness and tell me what I'm willing to listen to."

"No, you don't know my identity. My true identity is a lurking person in the south of the Political Department, code-named "Raw". Please forgive me for your frankness. The white army is not as weak as you think. In the battle last night, if I hadn't let the soldiers put down their weapons and surrender, your losses would have been much greater."

Wow!

Duan Qirui was immediately covered in black lines after hearing this. He really didn't expect that the political situation would stretch out so long?

What Major Robert Jenrik, the white-skinned egg man in front of him, said 90% of the truth, because Snow Mountain Town has a way to verify his identity, so there is no way to pretend.

But now that people have been arrested, how can they be put back?

"Well... can you ask, how many years have you been in the Political Department?"

"The confidential information that could not be disclosed was now an extraordinary situation. I can answer your question. I joined the Political Information Department in 1879. At that time, I was called the Black Guard. I was ordered to lurk for a long time. I have been counting on my fingers for 11 years."

OK, I can't ask anymore.

Duan Qirui is a smart man who knows the reason for curiosity to kill cats. He doesn't want to know the inside story of this mysterious and dangerous department at all. It is His Majesty's secret agency, the shadows walking in the darkness.

"I will arrange to identify your identity as soon as possible, Mr. Major, and pay close attention to your persistence for more than 10 years. The problem now is that many people know that you have been captured, so how should you go back?"

"Sir, are you still going to keep these prisoners?" Major Robert Jenrick asked suddenly.

This sentence shocked Duan Qirui and said to himself, "I'll make a big fuck, this wall is also a tough guy. More than 900 soldiers in the army want to kill them all to silence them?"

"Please forgive me, sir. It's not that I'm cruel. From your perspective, there are only more than 4,000 defenders in Xueshan Town, and they are separated from the town and on the top of the mountain. It is impossible to treat more than 900 prisoners well while fighting tens of thousands of enemy troops. You don't have so many people to squander. At critical moments, one more squad of soldiers may affect the final direction of the battle situation and the fate of all defenders."

Well, Duan Qirui admits that what he said makes sense. Before he can clearly identify it, Major Robert Jenrik will definitely not be able to leave his sight, so he might as well talk openly; "I do have plans to mobilize these white soldiers and send them guns to the front line to be cannon fodder."

"Sorry, sir, please allow me to ask if this is appropriate?"

"No problem, these white soldiers captured will be organized into a team of two or three hundred people and will be sent to defend the positions along the railway line. Several heavy machine guns are aimed at them in the rear..." Speaking of this, Duan Qirui showed a kind smile on his face; "I'm sorry that our manpower is tight, so every manpower must be used to the extreme, and prisoners are no exception."

Major Robert Jenrick breathed a sigh of relief, shrugged and said, "Then it's okay. I hope to leave here as soon as possible after identification. After all, I have been lurking for so many years, and I don't want to lose all my efforts."

"Oh...is it really okay?"

"Don't worry, sir, the management of the Southern Army is not as tight as you think. I can shoot it in the leg, which can explain why I didn't return to the military camp 12 kilometers away, and at the same time I can get the opportunity to go back to the rear to recover from my injuries."

OK, you are cruel!

Duan Qirui had nothing to say at this point, opened the drawer, took out two iron boxes and asked, "Coffee or tea?"

"Coffee, thank you."

"You're welcome."

Duan Chery walked to the table next to him with an iron box in his hand, grinding some coffee beans everywhere, then put them in a pot and heated them on the stove, and asked casually, "Major Robert, are there many cases like you?"

"Please forgive me for being inexplicably unanswerable, but I am not the first one and will never be the last one."

"What's right, do you need milk and sugar to coffee?"

"Two spoonfuls of milk, one spoonful of sugar, thank you."

Duan Qirui walked over with a kettle, poured hot coffee into the cups of the two, then added milk and sugar, took out a silver spoon and pushed it in the coffee cup.

"Thank you, sir, I admire your command art very much."

"hehe……"

Duan Qirui laughed dryly and didn't answer. He noticed that Major Robert Jenrik used a silver spoon to stir the coffee and milk clockwise. The spoon did not touch the wall of the cup. When he picked it up and drank it, he hooked the cup handle. His posture looked elegant and calm.

This is British aristocratic etiquette and cannot be seen in the rude Australian cowboys.

The political situation... This pool of water is so deep!

Three days later, at around 2 p.m.

Amid the rumbling sound of cannons and fierce gunfire, the attacking Southern Army soldiers were once again defeated, leaving behind large corpses and charred craters, showing the fierce and bloody battle.

In the rear front command, Colonel Alan Cairns, the commander of the Third Infantry Division, was no longer as elegant and calm as before. His military uniform collar was open, his eyes were covered with bloodshot, and his face was covered with traces of smoke.

It's been two days

In addition to building a bridge in the Limer River for a day, the Southern Federation Army launched a large-scale attack after crossing the river, conquering the railway line positions and rear trenches one after another, and advancing the front line to the foot of Xueshan Town and Sanling Highlands.

What is particularly infuriating is that... the captured white soldiers were actually lying on the railway line and resisting tenaciously, causing thousands of casualties in the offensive army.

In order to knock out two machine gun fortresses running back and forth along the railway line, uh... it was the railway manpower repair vehicles. In the mutual shelling, the artillery regiment lost four 105mm field guns and seven Hatchcais m1875 type 1.65-inch mountain guns, and one artillery battalion was knocked out.

The southern military used old-fashioned guns, which not only had a slow fire rate, but also had to recalculate the ballistic elements for each shot, and the firepower density was far insufficient.

In contrast, the 95mm Miss Australia artillery built by the Orientals on the top of the mountain not only has a wide range of fire, but also has extremely strong firepower. It can fire 15 to 16 shells per minute. Two cannons can match the ammunition of an artillery battalion, and its shooting accuracy is far better than the former.

So the Southern Army suffered a great loss in the shelling.

The remaining two battalions of artillery Lieutenant General Julian Smith was reluctant to use it. Before he started attacking Xueshan Town, he built the artillery. How can the battle be fought below?

It can only be filled with infantry, so this battle was bloody and frustrating, and he suffered heavy losses after being counterattacked again and again.

"The Third Regiment and Seventh Battalion will organize it and launch an attack again in fifteen minutes. I still don't believe it. Can't chew this mountain?" Colonel Allen Keynes issued a loud order.

"As for orders, sir, can you ask for artillery fire to bomb the enemy's positions?"

"The division tried its best to increase firepower for the offensive troops, and sent more heavy machine guns to suppress the enemy. The others can only pray to God, and I wish you good luck."

"Oh well."

The major battalion commander, who was responsible for attacking, walked out with his head down, his face full of despair.

Attacking the top of the mountain is simply a task of dying. On the slightly smoother side of the terrain, it is covered with trenches, bunkers and barbed wire. Every step forward requires a price of bleeding. In the past two days, more than a dozen charges returned in failure again and again, and except for leaving large corpses, the attack has made no progress at all.

The Orientals have absolute artillery advantages. Not only is the 95mm Miss Australia artillery extremely fierce, but the 60mm field artillery is also cruel, causing great damage to the offensive troops.

Often when they were about to break through the enemy's defense line, a gunfire hit him, causing heavy casualties and injuries, and he had to retreat with hatred.

This frustrating battle is really crazy!
Chapter completed!