Chapter 136 The Birth of the Most Powerful Jokester in Military History

【Italy immediately prepares for war! 】

[But after all, the country's strength is limited, both its deployment capacity and military expenditure are quite limited, and in the end only 10,000 troops were sent. ]

[They also recruited black people in Eritrea to join as vassal troops. ]

[A total of 20,000 troops, attacking Ethiopia in a massive way! Prepare to directly occupy Ethiopia by force. 】

[Although the Italian army is small in number, they are all equipped with Western-style equipment.]

[The Italian cannon that made Li Yunlong cry with envy. ]

[That's free wholesale! ]

[Ethiopia, on the other hand, is, after all, just a poor and backward African country, and its equipment is completely unable to compete with Italy. ]

【So there was no suspense from the beginning of this war. 】

[At least that’s what the international community thinks.]

[While Italy was preparing to invade, Menelik was actively preparing for war at home and expanding his army.]

[On the other hand, another Western power was contacted.]

【That’s France! 】

[In East Africa, France has relatively few colonies, and France has always been dissatisfied with this.]

【I want to have more say in East Africa. 】

【Italy was very close to Germany at the time, which made France even more unhappy.】

[Although France cannot go to war with Italy directly. 】

【But since Italy invaded Ethiopia, France decided to lend a hand. 】

[Soon, France decided to support Ethiopia against Italy.]

[The Italian equipment has not been used up yet, and now Ethiopia has received a batch of French weapons. ]

[With weapons and equipment, Ethiopia quickly formed an army of more than 100,000. ]

[Although they were generally lacking in training, their morale was high and they were equipped with advanced Western equipment.]

Warring States Period.

Wu Qi saw that the later Ethiopian Emperor Menelik was very good at dancing with long sleeves.

First, he used the power of Italy to pacify the country.

Established a unified Ethiopian Empire.

After falling out with Italy, it keenly sensed the international situation and asked for help from Italy's rival France.

Got more weapons and equipment.

A war that originally had no chance of winning was turned into one with a certain chance of winning.

Bai Qi also had to admire him.

"Sure enough, there are people who can ascend to the sky and be specially written about."

“No matter who it is, ancient or modern, Chinese or foreign, they are not ordinary people.”

"What is certain is that African countries, including Ethiopia, were generally poor, backward and weak at the time, and were no match for the Western powers."

"But by taking advantage of the conflicts among Western powers and finding opportunities at different times, we can make reasonable moves and gain more benefits for the country."

"Yes, this foreign emperor named Menelik is indeed capable."

"Now it all depends on the strength of the Italian army and the Ethiopian army, who is stronger and who is weaker."

Late Han Dynasty.

After Cao Cao watched Menelik's operations on the sky screen.

I think this guy is quite an interesting person.

"Internally, it can quickly wipe out the domestic princes."

"We can attract international assistance."

"Now facing the Italian invasion, he can raise his arms and call for support. This Menelik is indeed very strong."

"But unfortunately, in the face of absolute strength, these fancy operations are useless."

"Italy is an imperialist army after all. Looking at the content of World War II, Italy is qualified to be at the same table with countries like Germany and France."

"As for Ethiopia, even if they have more than 100,000 troops fighting on their home soil, they can never be a match for the elite Italian expeditionary force."

"It is foreseeable that this is another tragic failure."

"The Italian army would suffer a lot, suffer heavy losses, and lose face in front of the real powers."

“But it was still possible to occupy all of Ethiopia.”

"I've seen a lot of stories like this."

……

The sky continues.

[Soon, the war officially began. ]

[Italy invaded from Eritrea and encountered resistance from many Ethiopian tribes along the way.]

[These primitive Ethiopian tribes basically don’t have many modern weapons and are still in the era of cold weapons. They have absolutely no training.]

[Facing such a weak opponent, the Italian army won eight battles and expanded its territory by hundreds of miles! ]

[The Italian commander was so happy that he said he was going home to eat pasta! ] [But after bullying the tribe's cold weapon troops, the Italian army encountered Menelik's 10 main forces.

[The Italian army was ill-prepared and was caught off guard in two consecutive battles, losing thousands of men.]

【Forced to abandon large areas of occupied territory and withdraw to the vicinity of Eritrea. 】

【But at this time, the Italian army still maintained its confidence. 】

[Because their small-scale failure was largely due to the fact that things went too smoothly before, which led to insufficient preparation.]

[And those who were eliminated were basically puppet troops.]

The actual Italian troops had not suffered any losses.

After the retreat, Italy still occupied part of Ethiopian territory and set up a siege there.

Just wait for the brainless primitive Ethiopian tribesmen to dive headfirst into the encirclement.

But here in Ethiopia.

Emperor Menelik also knew that his small victories in the first two battles were due to a certain amount of luck.

If they really started a face-to-face fight, even if he had an army of 10, he might not be a match for Italy.

So Menelik also built fortifications on his position and confronted Italy head-on.

Several months passed.

The Italian and Ethiopian armies stared at each other, but no direct battle broke out.

Maintaining an expeditionary force for a long time did not bring in any money, but instead became a burden to Italy.

……

Warring States Period.

When Bai Qi saw Menelik's war decision, he couldn't help but express his approval.

"I thought he was a politician from a backward country."

"But now it seems that his military strategy is definitely not bad. As the commander of an army, he can accurately analyze the strengths and weaknesses of both sides and formulate combat plans based on the strengths and weaknesses."

“That’s already pretty remarkable.”

"Could it be that the Italian army was worn down and had no choice but to withdraw?"

Canopy.

【And the fact is just as Menelik expected. 】

[The Italian army, which had gone on a long expedition, soon could not bear the heavy logistical pressure, and had not achieved any success for a long time, which also led to opposition voices in the country.]

[There was no other choice, the Italian troops on the front decided to take the initiative to launch an attack. ]

[Trying to defeat the main force of Ethiopia in one fell swoop! ]

[But Ethiopia itself is a plateau with complex terrain, and the Italian army's organizational ability is also relatively poor. ]

[As a result, the army soon became like a ball of spaghetti after the march.]

[Faced with such an opportunity, Menelik finally stopped waiting! ]

[Give the order, all troops attack! ]

【Launch an attack on the Italian army from multiple directions at the same time. 】

[Even the Queen of Ethiopia led the charge with 5000 soldiers from her tribe.]

[Under multi-directional siege and attack, the Ethiopian army quickly attacked the Italian defense line. ]

[Drums and gongs roared, guns and cannons roared, and the Italian army was defeated in one fell swoop! ]

[In this battle, 7000 Italian soldiers were killed, 3000 were injured, and 3000 were captured. ]

[The invading army was basically wiped out.]

【Ethiopia lost only 5,000 men.】

[It created a myth of African native troops fighting against imperialist aggression! ]

[Faced with this huge victory, Menelik remained calm. He could have taken the opportunity to occupy Eritrea and complete the unification of Ethiopia.]

[But after a calm analysis, Menelik knew that if he could destroy one of the Italian invading forces, then Italy could still tolerate it.]

[But if they occupied Eritrea, Italy would only escalate its counterattack. ]

[Besides, with all the colonial powers around, if Italy is driven away, the British and French forces will take advantage of the situation and move in. It is better to keep them to check and balance each other.]

【Menelik was determined to stop while he was ahead. 】

[Instead of continuing the attack, they signed a peace treaty with Italy.]

【Not only did it abolish the previous unequal treaties of Yin-Yang contracts. 】

【And it turns the Tiangang upside down! 】

【Forcing Italy, as an imperialist power, to pay Ethiopia 1000 million in compensation. 】

[The war also led to the resignation of the Italian Prime Minister. ]

[The commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force was even handed over to a military court.]

【And Italy, especially the Italian army, has become a laughing stock, and even now has become a country of jokes on the Internet. 】

[Next time I will tell you about the performance of the Italian army during World War II. ]

【It will definitely make you laugh! 】

(End of this chapter)