The War of Resistance: From Overseas Chinese Mechanics to King of Nanyang

"Alexander, you must be aware of the situation in Burma." Lieutenant General Alexander, having just disembarked and without even having a chance to rest, went to General Wavell's headquarters to begin discussing the evacuation plan from Burma.

Following General Wavell's instructions, the General Staff eventually devised a plan to have the Expeditionary Force immediately enter Burma, then guard the area from Mandalay to Toungoo, and have them cover the rear to protect the British retreat.

Of course, this plan could not be made public. After all, betraying allies and using them as cannon fodder would have a huge impact if it were exposed, and General Wavell was no fool.

Upon hearing this, Lieutenant General Alexander quickly glanced at the evacuation plan, thought about it briefly, and felt that the plan was very well made.

Since the loss of Singapore half a month ago and the capture of more than 100,000 British troops, the British homeland knew that the war situation in Southeast Asia was beyond saving. The only option was to preserve their strength and wait for an opportunity.

Therefore, when General Wavell proposed the withdrawal plan, it was naturally approved by the British on the mainland. At the same time, warplanes were dispatched to immediately send Lieutenant General Alexander to his post, and he was also given the task of ensuring the safe withdrawal of the remaining British troops from Burma back to India.

"The plan is very detailed, Commander. Do you have any further instructions?" Lieutenant General Alexander asked after reading it.

"There's only one requirement: bring everyone back. As for what happened to the expeditionary force, I'll take care of that for you." General Wavell shook his head. In fact, he had already decided that as long as the mission was completed, he would transfer Lieutenant General Alexander back. To the outside world, he would say that he was giving an explanation to the expeditionary force. In fact, he had even arranged for a promotion.

"Yes, Commander." Lieutenant General Alexander did not refuse and immediately replied.

"However, I hope to request the expeditionary force to enter Burma immediately. The sooner they enter Burma, the more soldiers we can withdraw."

"No problem, I will immediately send a telegram to the mountain city, requesting them to send an expeditionary force into Burma at once." General Wavell naturally would not refuse his suggestion, and he was even prepared to be ripped off.

As long as you're willing to be cannon fodder, everything is negotiable.

"Okay, I'll take a plane to Yangon right away." Lieutenant General Alexander was not one to procrastinate. Seeing that his request had been met, he immediately took a plane to Yangon.

While Lieutenant General Alexander was on his way, Yangon was also descending into complete chaos, especially after news of the British evacuation spread, leading to even more people fleeing.

Huang Zurong had already arrived in Lashio with a bountiful harvest; the haul from this trip was enormous.

He didn't want any civilian equipment or anything like that; they were useless to him. Because of limited transport capacity, he mainly considered military equipment.

Therefore, the goal of this trip was very clear: head straight for the armory.

The British army was initially struggling with what to do with the munitions in the warehouse, as it was impossible to take them all away.

The morale of these British troops had long since collapsed; if the order to retreat hadn't yet been given, they probably would have already run away.

Two Japanese divisions were rushing towards Rangoon along the highway; anyone who was slow to run would surely be taken prisoner.

So the British commander's intention was to blow it up, but there were some twists and turns in the process. The main reason was that Lieutenant General Hutton suddenly went to Derry for interrogation, and the new commander was still on his way. There were too many shady things that could be done in this situation.

Whether or not it's destroyed is entirely up to them.

Especially when Huang Zurong presented them with stacks of gleaming British pounds, they were completely convinced.

With such a small amount of money each month, why risk your life?

It's incredibly rare to get over ten months' worth of pounds just by turning a blind eye and not being caught.

As a result, the armory was opened directly to Huang Zurong, who could take whatever he wanted. Moreover, the prices were very low, much cheaper than usual.

The main reason was that the British army wanted to get the money as soon as possible and run away.

They were terrified that if they ran too slowly, they would become prisoners and lose all their money.

Huang Zurong didn't stand on ceremony and took all the firearms and ammunition with him. According to the count, there were about 7,000 rifles, as well as a number of light and heavy machine guns and a large number of small-caliber artillery pieces. As for the division's 25-pounder cannons, Huang Zurong was naturally very envious, but they were too heavy. His transport capacity was limited, and it would be difficult to transport them back, mainly because the mountain roads were rugged and transportation was really inconvenient.

But he was even more heartbroken that the cannons were destroyed like that, and in the end he could only pay a high price to see if the British army's trains could help transport the cannons to Lashio.

The British army originally refused, but Huang Zurong offered a really large sum of money.

They had no choice but to agree, considering the value of the pound.

And so the twelve 25-pound cannons were transported to Lashio. According to the original plan, they should have been almost at the border by now.

As a result, he was delayed by the 25-pound cannon. Huang Zurong is still in Lashio because he needs to find a way to get the rest of the way himself.

As for how to transport them back, Huang Zurong's idea was to use trucks. Fortunately, during this evacuation, he brought back all the Nanyang Chinese mechanics who were stranded in Yangon.

According to the original history, these people would retreat with the British army and eventually go to India. Of course, some of them were taken prisoner and their whereabouts are unknown.

In order to change this outcome, Huang Zurong naturally tried every means to trick them into going back first. Now that they have arrived in Lashio, it is time for them to play their role and transport the artillery and other supplies back by truck.

"Ah Fa, are you also selling the weapons in Lashio?" Huang Zurong was arranging for the drivers to transport the weapons and equipment when Chen Shunfa found him and brought him more good news.

"Yes, the price is very cheap, even cheaper than before, only 140,000 pounds, but they require us to buy them all," Chen Shunfa said quickly.

Upon hearing that a regiment's equipment was 10,000 pounds cheaper, Huang Zurong's eyes lit up. It was indeed a bargain, and it seemed the British were truly panicked.

"Ah Rong, these British people are too bold! They sold everything, aren't they afraid of being found out?" Chen Shunfa said, expressing his confusion.

"Don't worry, you won't be able to find out. They're planning to run away, and the armory will be blown up. How can you tell me how to investigate then?" Huang Zurong shook his head and sneered. Wasn't he the one who dared to come and take advantage of the chaos to buy equipment because he knew the British army was going to run away?

Normally, would he be able to buy weapons so openly and legitimately?

"Huh? They're running away? They're giving up Burma?" Chen Shunfa was stunned. Such a large colony was just being handed over like that? That was too wasteful!

"It's just a colony. The British have many colonies like this, and they don't care at all," Huang Zurong said expressionlessly.