Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 62

"Don't be nervous, keep your hand steady. Make sure the three points are in a straight line, aim carefully and then fire... Let's go."

After the gunshot rang out, Chen Qiang grabbed the team member who was still observing the results of the shooting after firing, ran down the hillside without looking back, mounted the horse waiting at the foot of the hill, and led the five team members to run away into the distance.

About ten minutes later, several British cavalrymen circled around to the back of the hill. Watching the retreating Chinese figures, they could only curse loudly but dared not give chase. They had already suffered losses several times before, and if they followed the Chinese closely, they would only fall into a larger ambush.

At this moment, Chen Qiang, while riding his horse and looking back at the British, slowed down his mount and explained to his team members, "It's already quite good for an ordinary person to hit a target 40 meters away. Even professional soldiers who have undergone long-term training can't hit a target 80 meters away every time."

For us snipers, the principle is to kill the enemy within 300 meters and hit them as accurately as possible at 600 meters. However, on the plateau, the distance needs to be halved; hitting the enemy at 300 meters is already quite an achievement.

Therefore, we must make full use of the terrain and our horses, get as close to the enemy as possible, and disengage as quickly as possible after firing. If we miss this time, we'll have another chance; after all, we're not fighting a positional war…”

Captain Peterson led his men back to the ranks. The soldiers who had been lying on the ground preparing for battle finally sat up, but they were all listless and showed no intention of getting up to regroup. He quickly looked away, dismounted in front of Major Peterson, saluted, and said, "They've escaped again. There were probably five or six cavalrymen. I didn't think we could catch them, so I sent them back."

The major looked grim. After entering this wide valley plain, although the roads were easier to travel, the attacks they encountered along the way were increasing. Although these attacks did not cause much damage to the team, with each attack only resulting in one or two shots at most, and sometimes even missing their targets, they dealt a heavy blow to the team's morale, because no one knew who would be the next to fall.

He looked ahead and saw the same terrain: a valley flanked by two hills. There were no trees on the hills, and the valley was filled with grasslands, woods, or barley fields. He was certain that there was another group of gunners ahead. This method of cavalry and infantry sniping was a specialty of the Boers, except that the Boers were more accurate in their shooting.

To break this guerrilla tactic, it's necessary to first locate the guerrillas' villages. Without villages to provide food and rest, guerrillas can hardly sustain such high-intensity attacks. The problem is that these Tibetans won't help them find the guerrilla villages, so destroying their logistical bases won't solve their problem of sustained combat capability. Controlling the Tibetans through concentration camps is even more impossible; he needs to find their hiding places first.

He estimated that if they could travel about 15 miles a day when they first entered the plains, now they were struggling to advance even three or four miles a day. Although they had been walking for eight days, they had only completed six days' worth of travel at most, and the remaining two days' journey would probably take eight or nine days to finish.

At this point, the major was considering turning back, but he felt that turning back now would not only be seen as cowardice by the brigadier general, but there was also no guarantee that the Chinese wouldn't continue their pursuit and attack, which would likely cause the unit to collapse. He had no choice but to call his deputy.

Captain Behemoth asked, "How many days' worth of food do we have left?"

After calculating, Captain Behemoth said, "We have about a week's worth of food. If we can get the Tibetans to harvest barley along the way to supplement our supplies, then at least returning to the ferry will not be a problem."

After a long silence, Major Peterson said to his deputy, "Go and call Captain O'Connor and the others over. Let's discuss whether to continue advancing or retreat."

Regarding this issue, Captain O'Connor advocated for continuing the advance. He said to his colleagues, "Are we demoralized because we can't defeat the Tibetans? No, it's because we can't capture these sons of bitches of Tibetans. If they dare to line up in front of us, I'll blow their heads off with cannons."

If the Tibetans are right, then there's a Tibetan town ahead with a well-stocked monastery. If we can get there, we can force the Tibetans to surrender. If we retreat now, wouldn't all our previous hardships have been for nothing? And what about the twenty or thirty soldiers who died—did they just die in vain?

Captain Peterson of the cavalry company opposed advancing further because his company, constantly running back and forth, was most vulnerable to Tibetan attacks. In his view, it was uncertain whether there was a Tibetan town ahead; who knew if the Tibetans were deceiving them? If there wasn't such a town, they would have no way to turn back, so it was better to retreat now.

However, compared to the cavalry company's repeated setbacks and helplessness, the infantry and artillery companies only felt anger at being attacked and harassed, and expressed their intention to hang these Tibetan guerrillas one by one, because they had not yet felt the shadow of defeat, and still believed that as long as they found the Tibetan strongholds, they could defeat the Tibetans, which was exactly what they had been doing in dealing with the local tribes.

Most indigenous tribes lose power once they leave their territory. Therefore, once a tribal stronghold is captured, the tribal ruler will surrender, because once power is lost, the tribes below will rebel against him.

The British Empire colonized the world using this very experience, and British officers were convinced of it. They truly believed that once they occupied Lhasa, the Tibetans would surrender, just as the Qing government surrendered after they occupied Beijing.

After listening to his colleagues' opinions, Major Peterson finally made up his mind and came up with a plan that he had thought about for a long time. He said to his subordinates, "Our biggest problem right now is that we can't find the main force of the Tibetans. As long as we can get them to stand in front of us and fight them head-on, then we can defeat them without any doubt."

So, the key now is whether there is such a town ahead. If we can force the Tibetans to appear before us, we can defeat or even annihilate them. If not, then naturally we don't need to continue. So what I mean is, let Captain Peterson take his half-cavalry company, and then take half a mounted infantry company to make a company, and go ahead and scout it out first…”

While Major Peterson was discussing the division of troops, Lin Xinyi was having a meeting with his subordinates in Qiangbalin Village, less than 10 miles away from the British troops. In recent days, three companies of the Tibetan New Army had crossed the river one after another. Among them, the company led by Chen Jingcun had crossed the Yarlung Tsangpo River upstream from the British troops and established a guerrilla area in the Langkazi area. The two companies led by Li Tang and Deng Yulin followed him and were responsible for the establishment of the Gongga guerrilla area.

However, after establishing the Shannan Military and Political Committee, he quickly formed three new Tibetan troop companies in the area. Li Tang's company was divided into four, with only Deng Yulin's company remaining intact. In recent days, Li Tang and his four companies have been constantly employing harassment tactics, firstly to slow down the British army's march, and secondly to train the new troops.

Lin Xinyi knew that such harassment tactics wouldn't defeat the British army; a direct confrontation was needed. However, this particular British detachment was still too powerful for their newly formed unit to handle. He also understood that the British would have fewer and fewer opportunities to divide their forces like this, and if they didn't eliminate this detachment, they might never have another chance. Therefore, he telegraphed Wu Luzhen, requesting another company to be sent, determined to defeat this British force at all costs.

On the evening of September 21st, Wu Luzhen delivered a newly arrived company of soldiers and two Maxim machine guns across the river. On the afternoon of September 23rd, Cheng and Qian's company arrived at a village about 30 li (approximately 15 kilometers) from Qiangbalin Village and made contact with Lin Xinyi. Upon receiving this news, Lin Xinyi was very pleased and, on the 24th, summoned Cheng, Qian, and Li Tang to Qiangbalin Village to discuss a plan to encircle and attack the British force.

However, that very afternoon, intelligence arrived that over a hundred British cavalrymen had suddenly broken away from their ranks and headed towards Nedongzong. This new development changed the situation, and after discussion, the group concluded that the cavalrymen were likely scouting ahead and searching for Tibetan villages.

Li Tang immediately suggested that they should concentrate their forces to wipe out the cavalry unit first. However, Deng Yulin worriedly said, "If we can't wipe out this cavalry unit in one go, the British reinforcements will catch up, and it will become a head-on confrontation. We don't seem to have the ability to confront the large British force with cannons and machine guns head-on."

Several Tibetan officers supported Li Tang, believing that they should try no matter what and not let the British army actually break into Nedong Dzong. As for the Han officers, most of them supported Deng Yulin, believing that although the current new army had six companies, only two companies were truly capable of fighting, and the other four companies had only just learned to handle guns, with several men sharing one rifle.

Just as everyone was arguing, Lin Xinyi stared at the simple map in front of him for a long time and suddenly asked, "Are there any places along the way from the British army's current position to Zedang where we can set up an ambush?"

After hearing this, a Tibetan said, "Tsetang is where monkeys play, and Nedong is between two mountains. There are naturally many places along the way where you can set up an ambush, but the terrain is not that dangerous."

Lin Xinyi then said, “Then we should ambush them on the road, first take out the British reinforcements, and then take out both of them. Li Tang, you take three companies to find a place near Zedang to surround this cavalry. Cheng, Qian and Deng Yulin’s two companies find good positions on the road to ambush them. Chen Qiang and Losang’s company hold back the British supply train.”

We'll prepare for a day from now until tomorrow, and then we'll take action the day after. If we can eliminate the central mobile force of the British army, then we can choose to encircle and annihilate either of them, leaving the rest isolated…”

The others quickly agreed with Lin Xinyi's suggestion, and Li Tang, worried that the number of troops set up in the ambush was insufficient, voluntarily gave up half a company.

Chapter 214 A Chaotic Start

Although Captain Peterson strongly opposed the advance, he accepted the order once Major Peterson made the decision. He knew that the mission was to find a larger Tibetan town or crossing point, not to play hide-and-seek with Tibetan guerrillas, so after receiving the order, he led his troops forward at a rapid pace, completely ignoring the sporadic gunfire that hit his troops along the way.

Captain Peterson's judgment was correct; the guerrilla gunfire subsided 10 miles after they broke away from the main force, indicating that they had clearly moved out of the guerrilla-established operational area.

That night, they found an abandoned village and rested peacefully for the night. The next morning, they continued their journey, and this time they finally found a populated village. Under the threats and inducements of the British army, the Tibetans in the village finally revealed the location of a nearby town, which was only two or three hours away.

The two or three hours the Tibetans mentioned was the same distance traveled on horseback, but for a cavalry unit, their speed was obviously much faster. An hour and a half later, Captain Peterson saw a village of at least a hundred households. According to the Tibetans, after passing this village and going east up a gentle slope, they would see Tsetang Monastery halfway up the mountain, and below the mountain was the city of Tsetang.

Upon seeing the British cavalry, the Tibetans who were harvesting barley in the fields fled back to the village. Captain Peterson sent one of his squadrons to take control of the village while he led another squadron up the gentle slope. He was determined to see the existence of Tsetang Monastery with his own eyes.

About 20 minutes later, Captain Peterson finally saw the Tsetang Monastery on the mountainside in the distance. On such a sparsely populated plateau, every temple can be considered a miracle of human creation. Having seen the deserted landscape of the plateau for the past few days, the captain was indeed invigorated to see such a human creation. However, he soon saw the city of Tsetang ahead. In fact, it was just a large village in India, but a cavalry force of more than a hundred men was gathered in front of this Tibetan town.

After assessing the strength of both sides and the current terrain, Captain Peterson quickly turned his horse around and ordered his men, "Retreat and rendezvous with Hart Squadron..."

Yixi Xirao Ruben, who led his cavalry in a charge against the British army, was actually somewhat uneasy. Although he had more than 150 cavalrymen, most of them were herdsmen who had just been recruited. They could fight wolves while herding, but this was the first time they had been organized into an army to fight. The British army on the other side had never lost to the Tibetans except when they were defeated by the Han Chinese.

Although he participated in the Battle of Qushui and was even promoted because of it, Yeshe Sherab knew very well that they were only sharing the honor of the Han Chinese. He didn't really have much confidence in the Tibetans fighting the British on their own. However, seeing the British turn back, his confidence finally rose a little. He shouted for his men to follow him. For those new recruits, morale was actually very high at this moment because they all believed that Yeshe Sherab was a hero. Just as he had defeated the British at Qushui, he would lead them to defeat the British here as well.

As the Tibetan cavalry chased after him, shouting and yelling, Captain Peterson remained calm. He knew that once Lieutenant Hart had established his position in the village, they could crush these brute Tibetans with sheer brute force. As a colonial officer, he had heard too many stories like this. These barbarians had at most one or two charges; once their bravest men were killed, they would suddenly collapse. Barbarian armies were built on the prestige of one or two leaders, not on discipline.

But when he reached the edge of the village, he discovered that fighting was still going on inside. The captain panicked and immediately grabbed Lieutenant Hart, asking, "What's going on? It's just a Tibetan village, and you still haven't taken it?"

Lieutenant Hart quickly defended himself, saying, "No, sir, there was an army lying in ambush in the village. We were ambushed when we attacked, and I'm organizing an attack to wipe out these Tibetans."

Captain Peterson, enraged at the stubborn Lieutenant Hart, roared, "We're not suppressing a rebellion in India! This is Tibet! You should have informed me of this situation – it's a trap! We should have gathered our troops and prepared to evacuate! You actually threw the whole force in! You idiot…"

Compared to Captain Peterson's anger, Li Tang felt utterly powerless. According to his plan, the troops ambushed in the village should have launched their attack only after the British troops had penetrated deep into the village, while another company should have arrived at their blocking positions much earlier to prevent the British from breaking out and escaping. However, everything had gone awry, and almost every company had failed to follow his orders.

The only saving grace was that the British army also acted foolishly; after their ambush force in the village was exposed too early, they did not immediately flee but chose to continue the attack. Another factor that saved Li Tang's plan was that the local Tibetans volunteered to assist the new army, which suddenly gave him more than 800 men, completely overwhelming the British cavalry in numbers.

Captain Peterson discovered that there were Tibetans everywhere outside the village and sent a small team to try to break through. However, they were blocked by Li Tang and his guards. This led the captain to make a wrong judgment, believing that breaking through at this time would not only lose the part of the army that was fighting in the village, but also suffer heavy losses in the breakout, since their mounts were already tired.

Captain Peterson then made the best choice for the new army: he sent a detachment of Sikh cavalry to the rear to request reinforcements, while he himself led his troops to capture and hold the village. In terms of this kind of battle command, the British were clearly far superior; the ambush force in the village, having lost its element of surprise, was quickly driven out by the Sikhs.

Watching the British construct fortifications in the village, Li Tang, stationed outside, breathed a sigh of relief. Although he had seven or eight hundred men under his command, he could only effectively command about half a company; the rest were fighting independently. With the British holding the village, he finally had time to adjust the command structure of his troops.

That evening, Major Peterson received a letter from Captain Peterson. By then, the Sikh unit of about ten men had lost nearly half their strength. Now that the Tibetan stronghold had been located, Major Peterson made a decision without hesitation: he ordered Captain O'Connor to take a company and a half to guard the supplies and the Tibetan laborers, while he himself would lead four companies in a raid the next day to rescue Captain Peterson and eliminate the main force of the Tibetans.

Major Peterson optimistically told his colleagues, "Once we eliminate those barbarians surrounding Captain Peterson, we can use cannons to blast open the temple gates, and the Tibetans in this area will lose their ability to resist us..."

On the morning of September 27th, Major Peterson led Captain Bethwaite and four Sikh companies—actually fewer than four companies, only about 350 men—but the major brought two Maxim machine guns. Since entering Tibet, the Maxim machine guns had played a crucial role, so during the second reinforcement, the British almost entirely collected Maxim machine guns from Kalimpong and gave them to the troops entering Tibet, increasing the British force from the initial four machine guns to nearly twenty.

Major Peterson's unit carried four Maxim machine guns to compensate for their manpower shortage. He left two for Captain O'Connor and took two himself to the rescue. In his view, the rescue operation was not particularly dangerous; once they reached the battlefield, the Tibetans were doomed. The human body could never withstand Maxim machine gun bullets—a fact they had already demonstrated many times before, to the point that the Tibetans called the Maxim machine gun the devil's weapon.

The straight-line distance from the British army's current encampment to Captain Peterson should be about 20 miles. Captain Peterson had previously taken many detours in his search for Zedan, but now Major Peterson doesn't need to take those detours anymore. Now that he knows Zedan's location, he can simply proceed.

Along the way, Tibetan attacks continued, but this time, with a definite destination, the major, like Captain Peterson, adopted a strategy of ignoring them. After traveling about seven or eight miles, the Tibetans suddenly abandoned their hit-and-run tactics and instead appeared by the roadside to intercept them. The major became even more certain that he had found the Tibetans' weakness. He ordered small groups of troops to deal with these intercepting Tibetans while ordering the main force to continue towards their destination.

After advancing about three or four miles, a group of fifty or sixty Tibetan soldiers set up positions on a hillside to the right. The major surveyed the terrain and then called over Captain Behews, saying, "Let Lieutenant Nach take his half-company to attack them. We'll cross the stream to the left and continue forward."

Captain Behemoth glanced at the terrain on his left and replied to his superior, "Shouldn't we send someone to search that grove of trees first? It looks like a good place for an ambush."

After thinking for a moment, the major said, "There's no need to waste time. Send half a company over first. If there are ambushes, those Tibetans will definitely shoot. If not, let the main force pass through."

"Captain Peterson's siege was a sudden event; these Tibetans couldn't have predicted our passage. Look how crudely they've built their fortifications on the hillside. If they truly had the extra strength to stop us, they would have focused more on attacking the captain. I'm more worried about his safety now. These Tibetans are just stalling for time..."

Although Captain Beshwice accepted the major's orders, he was still worried about the black pine forest by the stream. It was the season when vegetation was lush and ferns covered the understory of the forest, making it impossible to see what was inside. So, after half the company had safely passed the edge of the forest, he couldn't help but lead a few soldiers to the edge of the forest to check.

Lin Xinyi initially intended to eliminate the British commander on horseback, but the commander hesitated to cross the stream, making Lin unsure of his ability to kill him. However, another British officer approached the woods, forcing Lin to take aim at him. Sure enough, after penetrating more than ten meters into the woods, the British officer noticed something amiss. As he calmly retreated from the woods, Lin Xinyi gave him no chance, sliding a hole in the back of his head.

Chapter 215 Ambush by the Stream

When Captain Bethius fell, the main British force didn't notice anything amiss. After all, a battle was raging on the other side, and no one thought hearing gunfire was a problem. It wasn't until the Sikh soldiers on the other side of the woods started shouting at the troops that many British soldiers turned their attention to the woods.

However, at this moment, the ambush troops hidden in the woods began to fire. At a distance of less than 200 meters, the British soldiers, lined up in columns, exposed their flanks to the ambushing New Army. Of course, the most terrifying thing was the crossfire formed by two Maxim machine guns.

Major Peterson, who was crossing the stream, was abruptly pulled off his horse by the guards and dragged back behind the rocks on the bank. The major watched helplessly as the soldiers and horses standing in the middle of the stream were shot in two, and the stream turned red in an instant.

"No, no, God, what's going on? How do those barbarians have Maxim machine guns? How can they use this..." Major Peterson, clutching his head, could hardly accept the scene of slaughter before him. Although he was familiar with this scene, when the targets of the slaughter became British soldiers, his heart finally began to panic.

Just as the major had told his men, the courage of barbarians is insignificant in the face of a Maxim machine gun; bullets are always stronger than flesh. This statement also applies to the British army. Although Sikhs are considered an outlier among Indians, not only are they tall and strong, but they are also much more resilient in character than South Indians, and therefore have always been regarded by the British as the best source of soldiers.

But the Sikhs' bravery was clearly not meant to be used against the Maxim machine gun; if they were truly that brave, the Sikh Empire would not have been destroyed by the British. After the massacre, as the new army charged out of the woods, the Sikh soldiers lying prone on the ground had completely lost the will to resist. They threw their weapons aside, covered their heads, and lay face down on the ground, not daring to lift their heads or make any other movements.

At this moment, as the soldiers rushed out of the woods, Lin Xinyi realized why both the Soviet Red Army and the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army preferred mobile warfare. In such battles, the losing side could not possibly launch a defensive operation on the spot. The defeated were completely disorganized, and everyone rushed to escape, quickly scattering even the troops that had not been affected.

Several British officers attempted to intercept the fleeing soldiers and organize a resistance, but after being fired upon by the New Army soldiers following behind, the fleeing soldiers immediately bypassed the officers and continued running forward, showing no courage to stop. The fighting ended after ten minutes, but capturing prisoners took a full half hour.

Major Peterson was carried away by his men for several miles, but was quickly driven back by the New Army's cavalry on the outskirts. When the major was brought back to the battlefield by the stream, Lin Xinyi's side had already tallied the casualties. About seventy or eighty British soldiers were killed in the ambush, and more than a hundred were wounded. In fact, about half of the wounded were going to die, and the other half, although lightly wounded, might not survive, because the New Army did not have enough medicine.

Of course, the New Army also suffered nearly a platoon of casualties in the battle, mostly wounded while intercepting the British forces. From this perspective, the British were indeed better trained in positional warfare. When Major Peterson was brought back to him, Lin Xinyi pointed to the corpses laid out on the grass and said, "Look at what you imperialists have done! For your own selfish reasons, you've caused so many innocent Indians and Chinese to bleed here. Is this British civilization?"

Hearing that Lin Xinyi could speak fluent English surprised the major, but the other man's arrogant tone still made him feel ashamed and angry. Even as a prisoner, he still gritted his teeth and replied, "Wasn't it you who ordered them to be shot, officer?"

Lin Xinyi glanced at him and said seriously, "Of course I would order them to be shot, because we want to protect our families. But what are you here for? Is it to create one massacre after another? So, although we fired the shots, it was your country and you imperialists who killed them."

Realizing that the other party wasn't trying to persuade him but rather to humiliate him, Major Peterson simply remained silent. He knew that no matter what he said, the other party would still see him as an imperialist. However, regarding the various actions of the expeditionary force after entering Tibet, the major also knew that such crimes couldn't be whitewashed; after all, whitewashing was something used to appease outsiders, not to appease the victims.

Lin Xinyi certainly wouldn't accuse the British officers without reason; the battle was indeed somewhat brutal for the new army soldiers. Apart from a few veterans who had experienced the British massacre of Tibetan troops, both Han and Tibetan recruits felt deeply sorry for the bloody battlefield before them, as the Maxim machine gun inflicted far too much damage on the body.

During the battle, no one felt anything, but after the battle, most of the soldiers of the new army dared not look at the bodies torn apart by machine gun bullets. They were like tattered rag dolls riddled with holes, completely unrecognizable as human.

Lin Xinyi had no intention of building a fascist army where soldiers would find pleasure in killing. Therefore, he needed to tell these soldiers that their actions were justified, and that it was not they who were killing these people, but rather the British imperialists. When his rebuke of the British officers was translated into Chinese and Tibetan and spread, the expressions of the New Army soldiers gradually returned to normal.

However, Lin Xinyi did not anticipate that his words would hurt the Sikh soldiers even more. While Sikhs joined the British army for money, their greater courage lay in their belief that they were fighting for honor. In this feudal warrior value system, loyalty to their lord was more important than loyalty to their country or people. Lin Xinyi's words clearly shattered their sense of honor, further disheartening the Sikh soldiers.

After the battle, Lin Xinyi ordered Deng Yulin to lead the main force to join Chen Qiang and Luosang to besiege the British supply train. Cheng and Qian led a small number of troops to guard the prisoners, while he escorted the British officers to Zedang.

The officers, including Li Tang, were both surprised and excited by Lin Xinyi's swift victory in the ambush, especially since they had been besieging the village since yesterday afternoon until noon today without success in capturing the British-held stronghold. Li Tang publicly explained to Lin Xinyi that the soldiers had acted bravely, but lacked discipline.

In private, he said to Lin Xinyi, "They are always brave when they shouldn't be brave, and cowardly when they should be brave, just like a teenager who has premature ejaculation on his first visit to a brothel."

Hearing such a vivid metaphor, Lin Xinyi couldn't help but glance at Li Tang a few more times. Li Tang quickly realized what was happening and said, somewhat blushing, "I wasn't talking about myself. I was very brave the first time."

Lin Xinyi could only reach out and pat him on the shoulder to comfort him, saying, "I understand, I understand. I mean, I can understand the difficulties you face leading such a large group of new recruits. It's already quite an achievement that you've managed to trap these cavalrymen here. The issue is no longer about fighting."

At first, Li Tang didn't understand why the next step wasn't about fighting anymore. However, when he saw Lin Xinyi leading the British officers to the front of the village and calling out to them, he immediately understood. After the reinforcements were eliminated, the British troops stationed in the village had no hope of holding out any longer; they would most likely surrender.

What happened next unfolded exactly as he had predicted. Although Major Peterson refused to address the village, the morale of the British troops collapsed the moment he appeared before them. Captain Peterson, seeing the major, rallied his men and said, "We have fulfilled our duty; this defeat is no longer our responsibility. Finally, I am proud of your perseverance. Now, I will accept the Chinese's demand: everyone should return alive to see their families..."

When Captain Peterson led his men out of the village, only fifty or sixty men remained, a third of whom were wounded. Lin Xinyi and Li Tang both breathed a sigh of relief; now they only needed to face one last problem.

Indeed, the British supply corps was a real problem for the New Army. Although it consisted of only one and a half companies, its defensive posture, artillery, and two Maxim machine guns made it impossible for the New Army to take it down. The only good news was that the British supply corps dared not let the more than 300 Tibetan laborers go, yet dared not ignore them either. Therefore, the British were unable to move and could only remain in place.

That evening, Lin Xinyi selected a Sikh lieutenant and demanded of him: "I require you to return to the supply corps and give your Sikh comrades the major's order to disarm Captain O'Connor and his men, and then surrender their weapons."

Harry Singh looked at Lin Xinyi and replied in a muffled voice, "The major did not give me such an order. This is deception, and I cannot tarnish my honor."

Lin Xinyi looked at him and suddenly reprimanded him sternly: "Compared to Ranjit Singh, you have long since tarnished your honor. It's not enough that you abandoned your homeland and your compatriots, now you also intend to let your comrades die? What honor do you have left on this land? We are fighting for our families and our compatriots, who are you fighting for? For the King of England? For the food that the British are taking from the flesh and blood of your Indian compatriots to feed you? Now, I order you to convey this order, because this is not to save you, but to save those Sikhs who died here for no reason."

Harry Singh finally made his way with difficulty to the supply corps' position, his mind filled with turmoil. He didn't want to carry out Lin Xinyi's orders, yet he also didn't want his comrades to become corpses by the stream again. Torn by this conflict, he even hoped that a bullet would fly through the darkness and hit him, so he wouldn't be so tormented.

He was lucky, though. Although the sentry on the position spotted him, he didn't blindly shoot at him. Instead, he carefully examined him and, coincidentally, the sentry was a friend of his. So he quickly recognized him and called out his name. Harry Singh subconsciously responded, and soon the sentry rushed out happily to bring him into the position.

Chapter 216 The Donkey of Guizhou and the Paper Tiger

In front of a campfire, facing Captain O'Connor and British officers nearby, and his Sikh comrades not far away, Harry Singh bluntly relayed Lin Xinyi's order. Instead of informing his Sikh comrades privately as Lin Xinyi had instructed, he stated it openly to the British officers: the major ordered the troops to lay down their weapons, and if anyone disobeyed his orders, he should gather the Sikh soldiers to disarm the disobedient.

Harry Singh ultimately felt that making the choice himself was too difficult, so he simply handed the difficult task over to the British and his Sikh comrades. But for Lin Xinyi, it was enough for him to pass on the message to the Sikhs in the group, because from that moment on, the British officers and the Sikh soldiers in the group could no longer trust each other.

However, Lin Xinyi hadn't anticipated that Captain O'Connor was far more timid than Captain Peterson. As a cavalry officer, Peterson had a good relationship with the Sikh cavalrymen; without a close relationship, he couldn't fulfill his cavalry duties. But as an artillery officer, Captain O'Connor didn't require the Indian soldiers to do anything constructive; these Indians only needed to obey orders. Therefore, he had little communication with the Sikhs; their only interaction was issuing commands.

When the army was still orderly, Captain O'Connor and Captain Peterson were indispensable cogs in the British Indian Army's war machine, keeping the Indian soldiers firmly bound to it. In fact, the former was even more effective at keeping the Indian soldiers in obeying than the latter, because he was more thorough in maintaining military discipline.

However, when the army begins to lose order, the former cannot rely on their prestige to command the soldiers. For example, nowadays, those Sikh sergeants are responsible for relaying orders from British officers to ordinary soldiers. Because only they are fluent in English, the soldiers will follow any decision made by these sergeants, since they have no idea what the actual order is.

With these Sikh officers listening in on the orders, Captain O'Connor didn't even dare to order Lieutenant Harry Singh's arrest, fearing it would immediately trigger a mutiny, or that the Sikh soldiers would obey the major's orders to arrest him.

Even his British colleagues, at this moment, abandoned any thought of resistance, their expressions seemingly relaxing. Since it was the major's order, laying down their weapons was not a crime; who wouldn't want to live when surrounded by the enemy?

However, seeing the behavior of these British men, the Sikhs, who had initially believed that the British officers were all loyal to the King, felt something shatter inside them. Even Harry Singh, seeing that Captain O'Connor didn't even dare to question his message and remained silent, had the same thought flash through his mind: what exactly made these British men better than him that allowed them to occupy high-ranking positions in the army?

At another campfire, Lin Xinyi had just received a message from Gongga and was relaying it to his subordinates: "I just received a message that Comrade Chen Jingcun did a good job. He attacked the British army's supply line multiple times at Langzika, killing at least a British company and burning a large amount of British supplies, which dealt a powerful blow to the British army's logistics in the Niangsuo ferry area."

Upon hearing this news, everyone was naturally excited. Of course, compared to their current achievements, they didn't need to be jealous of Chen Jingcun's contributions. But just as everyone was in high spirits, believing that the situation in resisting the British army was very promising, Lin Xinyi suddenly changed the subject, saying, "However, Comrade Chen Jingcun's actions have thoroughly enraged the British. Now the British have formed the main force transferred from Gyantse, plus a portion drawn from the Nyaungsaw region, into an army to encircle and suppress the company led by Comrade Chen Jingcun."

We need to act quickly and redeploy the troops currently engaged in the encirclement and suppression of Comrade Chen Jingcun. Therefore, I have decided to launch a surprise attack on the British garrison in the Niangsuo area, forcing the British to consolidate their defenses.

Having just achieved a great victory, everyone was not afraid of raiding the British army's garrison. However, they were puzzled about the British supply train that had not yet surrendered and did not know how to deal with them.

Lin Xinyi said quite frankly: "When I was in school, I heard a story about the donkey from Guizhou... In fact, we are in a similar situation to the donkey from Guizhou now, except that the British army on the other side is not a real tiger. So we must cover up our weaknesses and not let this paper tiger know that we are a donkey that can't kick a tiger to death, then they will not become a real tiger."

Conversely, if we consistently exert this pressure on them from the outside, making them feel like a paper tiger, they will crumble from within and eventually become a paper tiger that we can easily defeat. Therefore, I do not advocate launching a preemptive attack on this British army. Even if they do not surrender tomorrow, we should lay ambushes, primarily along their return route, to prevent them from escaping quickly, until they lose the courage to fight us.

As for the mission to raid Nyaungsor, we don't need to use a large force, but we should allocate elite troops to carry it out. As long as we can make the British commanders feel threatened, we can achieve our goal of maneuvering the British forces…”

After Lin Xinyi determined the direction, everyone immediately offered many suggestions on how to ambush and surround the remaining British troops. However, the task of raiding the Nyaungsaw region was ultimately assigned to Deng Yulin's company, because only this unit had night raid training, and no other unit could compete with it for this task.

However, plans often go awry, and the very methods Lin Xinyi used to demoralize the British army became the catalyst for their surrender. Faced with the weak fighting spirit of Captain O'Connor and other British officers, Lin Xinyi had a new idea.

He summoned Lieutenant Hari Singh and said to him, “You finally made the right choice and saved your Sikh comrade’s life. As I said, there is no enmity between the Chinese and Indian people; we were simply defending our homeland, not seeking honor by killing Indians…”

Lieutenant Harry Singh was more receptive to Lin Xinyi's words than he had been yesterday. In the past, his goal had been to gain the approval of his British superiors, but after yesterday, he could no longer count on that. Now, he could only be responsible to his conscience. Although Lin Xinyi was an enemy of the British army, the approval of an enemy was still approval.

Lin Xinyi then changed the subject, saying, "...Although we want to do our best to rescue the wounded, there aren't enough doctors in Tibet. So, in order to save their lives, I hope you can select a volunteer Sikh company to take these wounded and their bodies back to Nyaungsor Ferry. I hope that when you get back, you can tell your comrades that this is an unjust war, and that continuing to fight here will only bring them death, not honor..."

Standing beside Lin Xinyi, Li Tang watched as the Sikhs drove their carts, carrying the wounded and the dead back in a long convoy. He said to Lin Xinyi with some dissatisfaction, "We finally managed to capture them, and now we're releasing them? Releasing them is one thing, but giving them carts and cattle is another. Isn't that too much of a favor?"