Chapter 208 If you want to be rich, build roads first! (First update!)  It’s no wonder that Stilwell had such an idea. This telegram was really shocking.  One task force was lost, and a lieutenant general was killed.  No one would believe this. If it were revealed that there was no conspiracy, he would not believe it even to death.  But after listening to Admiral Wavell's nagging, Stilwell fell silent.  Because only five people knew that the British army was going to send reinforcements, not even him. Stilwell didn't expect that this guy would hide it so deeply.  No wonder I spoke boldly to him last time and told him not to regret it.  At first I was still wondering what he would regret.

 It now seems that if the plan succeeds, the situation of the Japanese army will become extremely difficult.  I’m afraid it was him who regretted it at that time.  But now, it is Admiral Wavell who should be regretting it. Had he been able to put down his dignity and be polite to him at that time, he probably would not have brought back the New First Army so quickly. "I'm sorry, General Wavell. I am now the Chief of Staff of the Southeast Asia Theater, not the commander of the South Asia Theater. I feel a little sorry for what happened to you." Stilwell thought about it, and the New First Army currently occupied the area. Mandalay, seeing absolutely no need to bring the troops back, rejected Admiral Wavell's offer. Are you kidding me? The situation in Southeast Asia is very good now. Isn’t it crazy to mobilize troops to help the British army?  It is impossible for him to agree to this condition. Who knows? Admiral Wavell shook his head and said. "General Stilwell, our mission now is to defeat the Japanese army, not those distant territories." Hearing this, Stilwell was confused.  Is this what Admiral Wavell can say?  If he remembers correctly.  Not long ago, I should have said it myself.  At that time, he tried hard to persuade the British army to put aside their prejudices and defeat the Japanese army first. The results of it? This guy is obsessed with making the British and Burmese troops retreat. In just a few months, a large area of ​​the colony was lost.  And it doesn’t feel distressed at all. He was even asked to transport supplies to Alamein.

What now?  The prayer came to his head again.  It’s really the tides that are turning. Who will God spare? "Admiral Wavell, we will definitely win this war. Now as long as we defeat the Japanese army in Southeast Asia, we can dispatch more troops to Tianzhu to support the British army, so please hold on for a while." Stilwell If so, Admiral Wavell was directly silenced.  He did not expect that this little old man would hold such a grudge. "General Stilwell, I must remind you that you must order the Sichuan Army to stop attacking. Borneo is a colony of the British Empire, and those yellow-skinned monkeys will never be allowed to invade..." Since Stilwell could not be persuaded, then Wavell The admiral naturally wanted to say something harsh. Although it was temporarily occupied by the Japanese army, General Wavell believed that as long as the Japanese army was defeated, it could be recaptured. However, if it was occupied by the Sichuan Army, I am afraid that the US military would not hand it over to them at that time.  Because, he has seen that the US military now has the idea of ​​weakening them. Hearing this, Stilwell sneered in his heart. Wavell, this old guy, can't understand it at all. Don't you know that if the British army doesn't deal with the Japanese army now, their Tianzhu will be completely lost?  Looking at the heavy losses of the British army, Stilwell didn't bother to argue with this guy. "Admiral Wavell, as for how to deal with these colonies, we will have to wait until the war is over to know. Our most important task right now is to deal with the Japanese army." Stilwell advised again. He suddenly realized that the old guy Wavell was really a little crazy. "No, our bottom line is Siam. After taking Siam, they must stop and are not allowed to enter Borneo." Admiral Wavell's words were very harsh. “That is our colony. Even if it needs to be taken back, it will be taken back by us as the British Empire. It is not anyone else’s turn to interfere.”  “General Stilwell, this is my warning to you.” Hearing this, Stilwell's face turned extremely ugly. He knew that the chief of staff of the Southeast Asian war zone was not that easy to do. "Admiral Wavell, I am the Chief of Staff of the Southeast Asian Theater. I have the right to decide anything in Southeast Asia. This is the right granted by the Allied Forces Headquarters. And you are just the Governor of India. What you have to do is to drive away the Japanese troops in Tianzhu, and Not here to tell me what to do.” "Bastard...I will accuse you..." Admiral Wavell said angrily. "You're welcome any time." Stilwell didn't bother him at all and hung up the phone directly.  After hanging up the phone, the adjutant next to him said worriedly. “General Stilwell, the Japanese offensive is too fierce. Will it affect the war situation in Southeast Asia?” Who knew that Stilwell wasn't worried at all. “Don’t worry, it won’t have any impact at all. It may even speed up the war in Southeast Asia.” “Information came from the White House that MacArthur is preparing to launch the Guadalcanal Campaign, so we must also speed up and not fall too far behind.” Stilwell and MacArthur have never dealt with each other very well, and he was already desperate.

 But he did not expect that the Sichuan Army Corps would give him hope, making the current Southeast Asian war situation extremely smooth.  Speaking of which, the Sichuan Army Corps is indeed his lucky star. However, he understood clearly that he could properly support the Sichuan Army, but he must not condone them.  Otherwise, it will be easy to follow.  At that time, it will really be a problem of raising tigers. Even if the Sichuan Army Corps behaved very respectfully, it would be of no use. Thinking of this, Stilwell said. "Send this telegram to the Sichuan Army and tell them to speed up the attack on Siam. We don't have so much time to continue to waste it now." Stilwell ordered. "Yes, it's just that the Sichuan Army Corps sent a telegram asking if it could support a batch of weapons and equipment, especially tanks." the adjutant asked. Hearing this, Stilwell frowned slightly and kept tapping his fingers on the table. “Didn’t we just support a batch of weapons? Why do we need more weapons?” Hearing Stilwell’s dissatisfaction, the adjutant quickly explained. “They proposed that during the battle with the French army, they found that tanks could advance quickly and were very effective, so they hoped to prepare more tanks.” "Then allocate another twenty M4 tanks to them. This is the final bottom line." Stilwell thought for a while and decided to allocate another twenty M4 tanks.  Including the previous ones, there are seventy tanks, enough to equip a tank division. Mainly because of Wavell's words, he was extremely annoyed.  Originally, I wanted to save some face for the British army, but now it seems completely unnecessary.  Full speed ahead!  Conquer Southeast Asia as quickly as possible. 　　He wanted to compete with MacArthur to see who could make the Japanese surrender first.  Not long after, Cun Yunsheng received a telegram from Stilwell.  After reading it, he said with a sneer. “The British are still as arrogant as ever. No matter what, they always look down on us.”  “What should we do?” Meng Fan asked in confusion. "Don't worry about it. Those tens of thousands of Japanese troops are enough to give the British army a headache. When the Japanese army discovers Tianzhu's huge wealth and resources, they probably won't look down on the hardships in Southeast Asia at all." “It’s even possible to mobilize troops from the Chinese battlefield to Tianzhu.” Cun Yunsheng sneered.  “I would rather be a friend than a domestic thief.” Meng Fanlao suddenly said something, and Cun Yunsheng couldn’t help but agree with it. "That's right. To the British army, we are just domestic thieves. They would rather let the Japanese army occupy it and continue to plunder the wealth than let us continue to attack." “Fortunately, Stilwell is now awake and knows how to fulfill his responsibilities.”

 “What should we do now?” Meng Fanlao asked. "Zhang Lixian asked him to continue the attack and maintain high pressure on the French army. The French army cannot be allowed to relax. Hasn't Zhao He's tank regiment been formed? Let him lead the tank regiment to support Li Wula and find a way to capture it. Chiang Mai, and then Chen Bing Bangkok area, causing the Thai army to panic," Cun Yunsheng said. "Are you going to attack those navy?" Meng Fan immediately understood what Cun Yunsheng meant. "Well, that's about it. Stilwell is already wary of us and must speed up." Cun Yunsheng nodded.  In fact, he didn’t want to, but there was no other way but to speed up. "But before that, we need to solve the road problem first. The road leading to northern Myanmar is really bad. Many things cannot be transported in time. Let Duan Liguo lead people to build roads. He is very good at this." Cun Yun Sheng thought for a while and said. "yes."  … “Everyone rest for half an hour and go drink some mung bean soup.” On a road somewhere in northern Myanmar, a man with dark skin said loudly.  Everyone tried their best to open their eyes blurred by sweat.  It was another hot day. It rained in the morning and it was a little cooler. Before noon, after the sun came out, the outside turned into a steamer again, and the construction site where we were working was more like a stove.  The weather in June is no different from a stove. It can be said to be very hot. Facing such a high temperature, the hungry people who had just arrived were still a little uncomfortable.  Fortunately, as time went by, they gradually got used to this **** weather.  Ever since Duan Liguo came to the Sichuan Army, he had experience in the construction of the China-Myanmar Highway.  So he was arranged by Cun Yunsheng to build roads. In addition to the railways connecting various cities in northern Myanmar, there are some mountain roads.  There are no decent roads at all.  It greatly affects the logistics and transportation of the troops.  So after meeting with Milong, Cun Yunsheng decided to form a construction battalion specifically for building roads.  The purpose is to improve infrastructure and speed up logistics supply. However, road construction is very labor-intensive, and casualties occur every day.  Even if Duan Liguo thought of many ways, it would be difficult to improve.  There is no way, even if the labor intensity is reduced, accidents will always happen.  In fact, for these hungry people, it is enough to have enough to eat.   As for the accident, not many people cared about it.  After all, it is not easy to have enough to eat these days.

At this time, Wang Tieniu wiped his sweat with his sleeves and looked into the distance. The hill in the distance was still far away from them. There are many mountains here, so the work of building roads is very difficult.  But it can’t be repaired!  “Iced mung bean soup is here!”  Lao Li, who was in charge of logistics, had a loud voice and shouted, and everyone gathered around him. “Is it really iced? Where did the ice come from on this hot day?” someone asked in surprise.  Someone joked.  “Don’t you know that the landlord’s house has an ice cellar?” “Oh, are those the soldiers stored in the winter? This Sichuan Army Corps is really generous, giving us such luxurious things.” Someone said with envy. “Okay, just fool them into not knowing anything.” Lao Li, who was in charge of logistics, shook his head and said. “We made the ice ourselves.”  “Can we still build troops?” “How do you make your own ice on such a hot day?” Many people asked each other looking at each other.  “Saltpeter!” Old Li laughed and then gave the answer. This thing is not a sophisticated technology. As long as you are willing to use saltpeter, you can create a lot of ice in the hot summer. As for whether there will be any side effects.  It’s not important!  In such a hot day, we still have to do such heavy work.  Without ice water, it is easy to die from heat.  In the face of side effects and heat death, I’m afraid I won’t care about the side effects. “Tie Niu, it’s time for you to be alert.” At this time, the platoon leader responsible for the alert in this area shouted loudly. "Yes, platoon leader." Wang Tieniu responded immediately.  The management system of the construction battalion is based on the main force. Wang Tieniu, who took over the guard post, climbed up a small **** and looked up. He looked at the hill in the distance again, and unexpectedly discovered a team in the distance.  “Something’s happening!” Wang Tieniu shouted. The workers who heard the shouts immediately dispersed, looking for their own teams and seizing advantageous formations, while the combat team responsible for security quickly rushed to the front with weapons in hand.  “What’s going on?” Platoon leader Song, who came to Wang Tieniu, asked doubtfully. "There is a team approaching from the front. I can't tell whether it is an enemy or a friend." Wang Tieniu pointed to the distance and reported quickly.  Because of his good eyesight, he was placed on guard duty, which came in handy this time.

Hearing this, Platoon Leader Song quickly rushed up the small slope, followed the direction he pointed, raised the telescope hanging around his neck and looked over. "Don't panic, it may be one of our own. Alert level three." Although he could roughly see through the telescope that it seemed to be his own in the distance, Platoon Leader Song still issued an alert order. "yes!" There is no way, this is a jungle, sometimes wild animals will come out, and sometimes some natives will attack them.   Anyway, something happens from time to time.  So in order to ensure the safety of these workers. Duan Liguo suggested that a special security force be set up in the construction camp.  The purpose is to protect the safety of these workers.  Because he had experience in building the China-Myanmar Highway, Cun Yunsheng fully accepted Duan Liguo’s suggestions. "They may be from the labor camp." Platoon leader Song raised his telescope again and observed the team approaching in the distance. He found that they did not look like indigenous people. Then he remembered something and said. “Labor camp?” Wang Tieniu asked curiously. “There are some captured prisoners, possibly Siamese natives, and some other natives, specially used to build roads and reduce the casualties of workers.” Platoon Leader Song said. “The superiors felt that our construction speed was too slow, so they sent a group of prisoners to build the road in order to increase the speed.”  (End of this chapter)