Chapter 303: Kismayo 2

Somali Kismayo stronghold, a group of young Chinese who have just cut their braids is braved in the hot sun, shirtless and busy sweating in the earthy sandy fields.
The climate in Kismayo is hot all year round. After the Indigenous Saabs occupied the area, the Kazumayo were concentrated and expelled to the inland areas of Somalia. Now Kismayo is hard to see except for a few young blacks who have been driven as coolies. Settled Somali blacks.
Kismayo base was built near the mouth of the Juba River. After several expansions, the perimeter expanded to 600 meters and the width reached 180 meters.
The city wall is 7 meters high and the standard capacity is about 15,000.
In order to meet the needs of the garrison and civilians,
Around the base are equipped with basic livestock slaughterhouses, small meat and fish canneries, flour mills, hospitals and other industrial facilities.
In 1878, the base garrison completed the port expansion project on the Juba River, allowing the gunboats sent from South America to enter the Juba River port even during the dry season, and relying on the port fortifications, they mutually cooperated with the Kismayo Fortress. Rely on and resist the attacks of foreign armed forces.
Kismayo's stronghold is solitary overseas. Its south and north directions face the siege of Britain and Italy. The strategic situation is dangerous. Once the war in South America spread to Africa, Kismayo will be the first to be attacked by European colonists. Object.
Considering the possible attack on Kismayo, since the first confrontation with the Italian colonial army, a hundred regular army reinforcements in Kismayo, two indigenous self-built gunboats, and associated weapons and ammunition have arrived in Somalia.
At this point, the armed forces of the Kismayo base consisted of two regular forces of 300 companies, 800 armed militia, 200 sailors, and a total strength of more than 1,300.
There are three colonial strongholds in Africa in the Republic of Korea. The Congolese colony has the largest area and the central government attaches the highest importance. The garrison includes 800 foreign mercenary battalions, three 1400 field camps, and 11 armed militia companies. A Congo River Waters Guard has 500 members, with a total strength of about 4,400, followed by 1,300 in the Kismayo base and 700 in Mtwara, Tanzania.
Among the three colonial strongholds, the Kismayo stronghold is not dominant and at the same time it is the most vulnerable to attack by the Italian colonial army. Therefore, when the South American Continental War broke out again, the commander of the stronghold Cai Jiu immediately ordered his troops to enter a state of combat readiness. In addition, young militia members in the stronghold were rushing to harvest cassava, sweet potato, wheat and other food crops planted in the oasis along the Juba River.
The men in the oasis were busy grabbing food crops, and the Chinese women who had to stay in the Kismayo base because of delays at sea, joined the two-day rest after Cai Jiu's unified order and joined Working team.
Young women were wrapped in turbans, and some even stepped on small feet, walking in the hot sandy fields, pushing the carts of food crops to the strong points, and covering them with thin coarse sackcloth, even if the clothes were hit by sweat. Wet, with wide, unfitting clothes, women don't have to worry about the risk of light exposure.
Affected by traditional culture, Chinese society tends to be conservative, especially in the mainland areas under Manchu rule.
Before the middle of the nineteenth century, it was almost unthinkable for Chinese women to go abroad to the South Ocean. In a traditional agricultural society, men are the backbone of the main labor force and the family, and bear the burden of the entire family's economic life. Women do not have political, economic and social status, but they still need to bear the responsibilities of being no less than men. Rural women work tirelessly in the field all day long, sun and rain, return early and return late, and drag their families around. . What's more serious is that the Qing government has always banned women from going abroad. Whoever dares to offend will be convicted of a felony if caught.
The Manchu government ’s closed-door policy was not forcibly broken by the Western powers until the Opium War broke out. As a result, the young Chinese and women who could not survive in the mainland had the opportunity to drag their families to the sea and go south to the sea and even directly catch up. Find a way to a transport ship to South America and South Korea.
A busy scene around Kismayo stronghold, meanwhile, as the core of the armed command guarding the stronghold, Cai Jiu and others are discussing how to respond to the Italian's forthcoming attack.
"You, the local war has been going on for several months. Because of the critical situation of the Argentine government, the British first deployed their reinforcements to South America. They have not launched attacks on Kismayo, but the situation has changed. The Italian colonial army has Two months of continuous local support, according to a recent week's investigation showed that the total number of Italian colonial forces in Somalia has exceeded 3,000, of which, stationed at the Marca forward base, the force used to attack us is about 2300 to 2500 . "
Cai Jiu stood up and said with a serious expression, "Four days ago, our army ’s reconnaissance unit fought with a small group of Italian reinforcements. Their combat effectiveness was more than half that of the Italian colonial army that we fought earlier, so I As a reminder, in this battle, the enemy we are facing is no longer the invading Italian colonial army, but the regular Italian army. The current situation of our army is likely to be more sinister than the last battle, and your responsibilities are even greater. Heavy, I hope that whether before or during the war, you must fulfill your role as a Han soldier to ensure that Kismayo's stronghold will not fall behind! "
"Commander, I have something to say."
"Say."
"Our army has a total of 1,300 armed forces in the area around Kismayo. Shipowner Liu has more than 4,000 young men on his fleet. If we choose half of the 4,000 young men to join the militia and train a little, our army will Compared with the Italian army, the number of troops is not inferior. "
"Keep talking ~ EbookFREE.me ~ Kismayo has a small area. If the Italian army completes pre-war preparations and sends troops to launch siege against our army from both the sea and land directions, our army has only one way to stay in the stronghold, but Kismayo is lonely overseas. The connection between the base and the homeland has been interrupted since the Argentine war broke out again. What is the situation in the homeland, when will the National Defense Forces occupy Argentina and when will the Central Armistice cease the war with the English state? It is likely that the ammunition and supplies in reserve will not be able to support the end of the Argentine War, and our army will be wiped out because of the lack of food.
Commander, his staff are not greedy for life and fear of death, but Kismayo is located on the mainland and the center of South American immigration operations. It is not to be missed. The Italian army has not assembled yet. Our army preempted and concentrated the main forces of the stronghold to conduct an external battle against the Italians. After destroying a living Italian force, it returned to the stronghold to defend the enemy. "
"Our military strength and weaponry do not have an advantage over the Italian army. Concentrating on a decisive battle is not good for our army."
Cai Jiu didn't accept the other party's suggestion, and after thinking about it for a while, he continued to say, "But Captain Zhao is not unreasonable. Although our army is strategically in a disadvantaged position, it should take the initiative in tactics. I decided to adjust a regular For 150 companies, 300 were selected from the militia forces. They were equipped with a 500-ton gunboat and three 200-ton gunboats to form a guerrilla unit. It was along Juba River in the inland area of ​​Somalia, and destroyed the Italian army at the coastal area supply camp. And waiting to attack the Italian transport team. "
"Commander, his staff requested to lead a guerrilla task."
"Okay, the guerrillas are under your command. Go back for a rest today and take the team off in the evening the next day!"
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