Chapter 766

Unsurprisingly, after Austria took the blame, the relationship between the Fao and the two countries deteriorated rapidly. The foreign ministries of the two countries quarreled every day.

For a time, Europe was full of doubts. The United Kingdom and Russia were against each other on the Central Asian issue, and the Fao and Russia were entangled because of Central Europe.

Rounding it up, it was equivalent to the Anglo-French Alliance and the Russo-Austrian Alliance.

Dividing the world into two was clearly a prelude to a European war.

The most anxious were Belgium and Germany. Because of the French's aggressive relationship, they were already on the same side.

It seemed that Austria had helped them out, but in fact, they had pushed them to the opposite side of France.

Originally, the three countries were expected to reach an agreement on the coal export issue to avoid the escalation of the conflict. Unfortunately, with Austria's involvement, there was no possibility of reconciliation.

Because of their interests, the French capitalists would not allow the government to make concessions. The nationalistic Belgium and Germany were also unable to make concessions now.

The problem had fallen into an endless loop. No matter how they dealt with it, it would not satisfy all parties. The conflict was temporarily suppressed, but it was accumulating strength for an outbreak.

…

In the Regions of Afghanistan, the British army that swept all the way finally encountered trouble.

It was unknown when it started, but the guerrillas in the Regions of Afghanistan emerged and constantly attacked the logistics of the British army.

Especially in the last month, not only the logistics and transport teams were attacked, but even the main force was attacked dozens of times.

The losses caused by a single attack were not large, but it could not withstand the number of attacks launched by the Afghans!

Now the British army did not dare to act alone. If the number of people was less than a company, they would be ambushed.

They would not know if they did not calculate, but when they did, they were shocked. Just last month, 112 British soldiers were killed and 313 were injured under the attacks of the Afghan guerrillas.

This was only the British soldiers. The losses of the Indian soldiers had not been calculated.

If all of them were added together, the British army had lost a regiment in the last month alone.

This number of casualties was not inferior to the casualties of the decisive battle with the Government of Afghanistan. Calculating the number of daily losses, it was slightly more.

Looking at the increasing number of casualties, Lieutenant General Patrick was about to collapse. He had no idea how to write a report to London.

Kabul, British headquarters.

A middle-aged officer with a bandage on his arm suggested indignantly, "Commander, the guerrillas are too rampant. We must take the initiative to attack."

There was no doubt that this officer was the unlucky one who was injured in the guerrilla attack.

Generally speaking, a high-ranking officer like him was under layers of protection, and the guerrillas couldn't get close.

Unfortunately, Makau's luck wasn't good. The Afghans' homemade artillery hit the temporary headquarters, and a piece of shrapnel hit his arm.

Compared to the many officers who had died in battle at the scene, he, as the only survivor, was undoubtedly the luckiest.

Lieutenant General Patrick nodded and said slowly, "Colonel Patrick, Colonel Colonel Patrick, Colonel Patrick, Patrick. Colonel Colonel Patrick said slowly, "Colonel Colonel Patrick said.

However, we've taken the initiative to attack dozens of times, but we haven't achieved the results we expected.

The enemy doesn't fight with us at all. Every time the encirclement and annihilation war starts, these fellows will enter the mountain.

When we retreated, these fellows were like psoriasis, sticking to us again. As soon as we looked back, these guys ran away again.

If they couldn't find the guerrillas' weakness, no matter how hard they attacked, it would be futile.

"But before that, we must first get rid of these rats hiding underground. Otherwise, it will be a big problem if we let them hook up with us."

In fact, Patrick didn't finish his words. The hidden danger in the Regions of Afghanistan wasn't just the guerrillas.

In fact, Patrick didn't finish his words. The hidden danger in the Regions of Afghanistan wasn't just the guerrillas.

The bigger problem was the religious fanatics. These people were the main force of the attack. They relied on the local religion and liked to attack the British soldiers who were alone.

The British who had just arrived had yet to figure out what was going on. Most of the blame was placed on the guerrillas.

Of course, this wasn't wrong. They were originally the same Afghan resistance organization.

Their nominal leader was the Emir King, although this unlucky king was hiding in the deep forest and didn't dare to come out.

Another officer suggested, "I think we should capture the Afghan king first. Without Emir as their leader, these resistance organizations are just a pile of loose sand."

Colonel Makau didn't buy it. "Come on, Herdes. The Afghans hate us, and we don't have any roots there.

Who knows where that rat Emir's cave is? We can't just cross the mountains and fight one by one, can we?

Besides, the Afghan resistance organizations are just a pile of loose sand. It doesn't matter if they have Emir as their leader or not.

This can be seen from their attacks on us. There are many attacks, but they only send out a limited number of people each time.

Ever since we defeated the Government of Afghanistan, who has ever encountered a resistance force with more than three thousand people?

They're just a bunch of stragglers who can't even withstand a single blow on the battlefield. They can only hide in the back and shoot from the back. "

This was the crux of the problem. Although the resistance organizations were a motley crew, they were very slippery!

Hudders coldly laughed, "So what? These rats need to eat too. If worst comes to worst, we'll just set up a net and trap them in the mountains.

If we're forced into a corner, we can even set the mountains on fire.

If that doesn't work, we can impose heavy taxes on the local people so that they don't have food to support the guerrillas.

We can also execute the chain punishment. Anyone who colludes with the guerrillas will be executed within a five-mile radius.

I don't believe that there are any guerrillas that we can't destroy after we've already destroyed Afghanistan. "

It sounded like a good idea, but it wasn't that simple to implement.

It was obvious that a net-like blockade would require a large number of troops to be invested.

Afghanistan wasn't small, and it was covered in dense forests. It wasn't something that could be sealed off by just a few infantry divisions.

Setting fire to a mountain seemed simple, but in reality, not every mountain could be set on fire. They would also need to throw in a lot of fuel to ignite the fire.

There was no need to mention imposing heavy taxes. They would first need to establish a local government. If they relied on the British soldiers to collect taxes, the local people would probably defect to the guerrillas.

The real deterrent was probably the chain punishment punishment. However, it wasn't easy to implement, and it might cause more people to join the guerrillas.

Seeing that no one objected, after weighing the pros and cons, Lieutenant General Patrick slowly said, "If no one has a better idea, then let's give it a try!

I will seek reinforcements from the country, but this requires everyone to be unified. It's just the Afghan guerrillas. They can't attract the attention of those in London. "

Shifting the blame was a traditional skill that the bureaucrats learned on their own. The Afghan guerrillas weren't powerful enough, so they could only use the Russians.

After some artistic processing, the result of the Afghan guerrillas attacking the British army fell to the Russian Army.

…

It was unknown how the Russians felt about the blame falling from the sky, but the Government of London was furious.

It was fine if the Russians did things in the dark, but this kind of open attack on the British army violated the rules of the game.

After receiving the news, Prime Minister Gladstone immediately roared, "The Russians are provoking Britannia. We must retaliate."

He didn't doubt the authenticity of the frontline battle report at all. Was Prime Minister Gladstone a fool?

The answer was: no!

Pretending to be confused was the basic skill of politicians. Prime Minister Gladstone knew that it was impossible for the Russians to fly to Afghanistan, but he could only pinch his nose and accept it.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain the loss of the British army at the frontline. Although the main responsibility was the military, as a cabinet, they couldn't escape.

The arrogant British people could tolerate the loss of hundreds of thousands of people in the war with the great powers, but they couldn't tolerate the indigenous guerrillas killing thousands of people.

This blame could only be placed on the Russians to minimize the political impact. At the same time, Congress could easily allocate funds and send reinforcements to the Regions of Afghanistan.

As for wronging the Russians, it wasn't a big deal at all. Anyway, the United Kingdom and Russia were destined to be enemies in Central Asia. How bad could it be if the relationship worsened?

…