When Duncan crossed the springboard and stepped back onto the land, he couldn't help feeling a little dizzy. This was the result of staying on the swaying ship for twelve consecutive days. As there was no stable supply of coal along the way, all ships of this small expeditionary force did not use steam engines, but instead went upstream with weak and unstable wind power. Of course, there was a less-reputable rumor in the army: the real reason for not activating the steam engine was to save money. The money for purchasing coal was stuffed into the chief's wallet. The stingy colonial commander would not spend an extra penny on unnecessary matters, especially the penny was likely to be put into his own wallet. Especially when the soldiers gnawed the hard bread full of maggots and the dry and tasteless corned beef like mummies, they believed the message even more.

As a professional soldier who had been in the colony for almost twenty years, Duncan was very clear-headed, although he wanted to cut off the heads of the Shun people who had sneaked into his attacks not long ago and hang them in front of the eaves to dry them. War is war. You must throw your personal feelings aside, observe and think calmly, and make correct conclusions so that you can win. He leaned against the shore in a river beside the river twelve kilometers away from Bagan City, allowing the soldiers to build trestles, forts, and military camps. At the same time, he sent student officers from the Burmese Church School brought to collect various intelligence and get some fresh food as much as possible. This is very effective in restoring the morale and health of the soldiers under his command.

On the morning of the second day of landing, Duncan obtained quite detailed information: the Shun army was still at that pier and had already transformed its fortress and did not occupy the city of Bagan. The chaos that occurred not long ago in the city, the incident at the Bodhi Temple in Mohe and the rebels had left the city of Bagan. After half an hour of calm thinking, Duncan concluded that during this period, the Shun army did not receive a large amount of reinforcements from the country, otherwise they would not be still at the pier outside the city. Although from a military point of view, Bagan City is not an ideal fortress, from a political and religious perspective, controlling Bagan City means controlling the entire city.

Myanmar, since the Chinese have already brought the two stinky children to the throne, they will never give up halfway and give up. The constant changes in the city show that the local forces in Bagan are still very unstable. What they should do now is to show the existence of the British Empire here and pull them to their side as much as possible. At the same time, they ask Yangon for reinforcements to prepare for future battles. Whether it is to test the strength of the Shun Army or the strength of the British Empire, they need to fight a battle first, at least show their existence. Thinking of this, Duncan stood up and shouted loudly: "Lt. Alexander comes to me!"

Ten minutes later, a young man in his twenties with pale yellow hair and blue eyes walked into Duncan's tent. His straight military uniform and beautiful boots formed a sharp contrast with the somewhat messy tent, saluting Duncan: "Major, Lieutenant Alexander reports to you!"

"Hello! Want whiskey?" Duncan poured himself a glass of wine and made a questioning gesture to the young man.

"Thank you!" The young man took the wine glass, Duncan returned to his camp bed and sat down, signaling the other party to sit down and said, "Lieutenant, I came to you to get your company to perform a mission."

"Willing to serve! Alexanderlian is willing to be the first unit to attack Bagan City!" Alexander stood up excitedly. The wine in his wine glass was sprinkled out, and a lot of it fell on his straight pants, and an ugly wine stain immediately appeared.

"Relax, relax! Lieutenant, you are not going to attack Bagan City this time, it's just a parade, do you understand? It's just a military parade!" Duncan smiled and waved his hand, putting the already drunk wine glass on the coffee table next to him.

"Military parade? Sorry, Major, I don't quite understand what you mean!" Alexander's face showed a confused look.

"Yes, military parade!" Duncan explained with a smile: "You know, Lieutenant, we only have two battalions this time, plus a few flat-bottomed gunboats. With this little force, it is impossible to defeat the Shun Army and conquer Myanmar. The current situation is that the Shun Army will still stay by our dock and turn it into a fortress, while the city of Bagan is in chaos. What we should do now is to win the locals of Burmese to our side as much as possible, isolate the Shun Army, and kill all the bitchers when the subsequent troops arrive! Do you understand?"

Alexander asked hesitantly: "Major, I don't quite understand. What does fighting for these Burmese people have to do with military parades?"

"Lieutenant, you don't understand these monkeys from Southeast Asia!" Duncan said impatiently: "They are cunning and cruel animals. Only when you show your strength and make them surrender to you will they crawl at your feet. Do you understand? A military parade will allow these monkeys to see the power of the empire!"

"Yes, Major!" Alexander nodded.

"Then, Lieutenant, let's go to 7 a.m. tomorrow, I wish you all the best!" Duncan stood up, which means that the meeting was over.

"Yes, Major!" Alexander hurriedly stood up. After hesitating for a moment, he finally spoke: "Major, I don't think there is actually no need for such trouble. We don't need the support of these Southeast Asian monkeys!"

Duncan's face suddenly became stiff: "Lieutenant, you should go back to your company now and think carefully about how to do everything you should do tomorrow!"

"Yes, Major!" Alexander stood up in a panic, saluted Duncan, and quickly withdrew from the tent. Duncan looked at the other party's departure back and whispered: "These noble idiots, who stayed at the Royal Military Academy of Sanhurst for three years, learned how to choose shirts and shoes, and then went to his regiment to be a lieutenant. Two years later, they would be lieutenant, and maybe they would be more lucky. Then the lives of fifty to one hundred good guys were handed over to the hands of these idiots. This is a ridiculous thing!" It turned out that in Britain at that time, no big thing happened.

In the social changes, the army was still very conservative. Officers, especially middle and senior officers, were generally forbidden areas for nobles. The promotion of officers was often not due to ability, but because of their origin, relationship, and wealth. It was not until 1871 that the corrupt military post purchasing system was abolished. Even so, in Britain at the end of the 19th century, the nobles in the army were far superior to civilians in both the starting point and the promotion speed. The noble officers of the British army often did not spend time and energy on studying military skills, but instead put them in the extravagant life of aristocrats such as riding horses, dances, and hunting.

The next morning, Alexander set out with his company. The British soldiers of this company wore traditional red uniforms, high hats, long boots, and carrying Lee Enfield rifles. They lined up in four columns and marched along the road to Bagan. Lieutenant Alexander rode his beautiful Arabian horse, in the middle of the team, and by heart, his horse's horse was quite good. He only needed to change the center of gravity of his body occasionally and squeeze the horse's belly with his legs. The Arabian horse was tamed and walked along the marching team.

When it was about ten o'clock, Alexandria had already reached the side road leading to Bagan City, and they were about six kilometers away from Bagan City. This road was built on the edge of a large rice field. On the left side of the road, the harvested rice fields showed beautiful scenery. A large number of water birds were looking for missing ears of grain and small fish in the rice fields, making pleasant sounds from time to time. When someone approached them, the water birds flew up with a blush, and their wings of various colors were connected together, as if they had pulled up colorful curtains. On the right side of the road was a large bush, which stretched to the foot of the hills further away, where there were tall trees. On both sides of the road were two trenches for drainage, when heavy rain

At that time, the rainwater that falls on the road will flow into the trench and then excrete to the rice fields to avoid destroying the road. When people dig the trench, they throw the soil next to the trench and form small mounds. On the small mounds near the bushes, there are a kind of trench-shaped shrubs. Locals call this small shrub. This kind of trench beans is very dense and has sharp thorns on the branches. It will become a natural fence in a year or two, and even rabbits will find it difficult to get through it. However, their branches, leaves and fruits are a very good feed. Local farmers like them very much and plant a lot of trench beans on the mound. On the one hand, they can provide feed, and on the other hand, they can also be used as fences to prevent passing pedestrians and wild animals from ruining their crops.

Alexander sat on the horse's back and felt a gust of north wind blowing. The hot wind from the dry inland blew on his face, which was very uncomfortable. He licked his chapped lips, took out his pocket watch, and ordered the old non-commissioned officer Guerson beside him: "Stay for fifteen minutes!"

"Yes, Lieutenant, but why not take a little further before? It's a little too dangerous here!" Guerson replied in a low voice. He was a man of medium size in his thirties. The hot wind and sun in the subtropical areas had already sunk his skin as dark as the locals. Guerson had served in this battalion for eleven years. He was strong and skilled in military affairs, and enjoyed a high prestige among soldiers.
Chapter completed!