Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 608: Ming Dynasty's Two-Way Advance
"Meet the General."
"Hello, Xu Tongzhi. You have worked hard in Yangon these years."
"No, we are all doing errands for the Emperor."
"Xu Tongzhi, let me introduce you to this. This is Lieutenant General Huang Degong, and this is..."
"Well, on our side, this is Luo Sigong, the pacification envoy, and this is..."
On July 15, 1632, Liu Zhaosun led two army divisions and one marine division and arrived in Yangon under the escort of the Nanyang Fleet.
Thanks to the efforts of the cabinet, the Central South Governor's Office, and the Governor of Yangon, the first batch of barracks had been built when they arrived here, and 45,000 soldiers and more than 10,000 civilian laborers were able to move in smoothly.
Of course, as the commander, Liu Zhaosun didn't care much about the soldiers' accommodation in the barracks. After landing in Yangon, he immediately led a group of generals and went straight to the Jinyiwei's office here to visit Xu Xianchun, who had been stationed here for more than ten years.
"Xu Tongzhi, as you know, the Privy Council has ordered me to launch a landing in the Ganges Delta within August. What is the intelligence?"
"No problem." Xu Xianchun, whose skin was obviously dark due to his long stay in southern Xinjiang, stood up and said, "Please look, everyone. This is the topographic map of the Ganges Delta that our Jinyiwei Nanyang Branch specially prepared for you. In general, if it is purely from a military perspective, this officer does not recommend attacking this place in August."
"Why is that?"
"General, the Ganges Delta with Dhaka as its center is not only the estuary of the Ganges, but also the place where many rivers such as the Padma River, the Jamura River, and the Meghna River converge. The entire delta is almost a swamp. In addition to the crisscrossing rivers, there are also many ponds. In this place, it is not an exaggeration to say that there is a pond within a hundred steps."
Xu Xianchun had just said this short paragraph when Liu Zhaosun and others frowned tightly: everyone was not a rookie who had just entered the military academy. After hearing what Xu Xianchun said, everyone quickly understood that the terrain of this place was so low-lying that so many rivers were concentrated here.
"Huh~" Liu Zhaosun let out a long breath and said, "It seems that it is extremely difficult to advance on a large scale by land in such a swampy country. But fortunately, we took this into consideration when we were on the mainland, so this time we also brought a lot of small gunboats of about 100 tons. Well, Xu Tongzhi, there are so many big rivers, is it okay for a 100-ton boat to sail in them?"
"Considering the waterline depth and river width, there is absolutely no problem. But, Admiral, those small gunboats are not powered by steam engines, right?"
"Of course. A steam engine is so heavy, how can a 100-ton boat fit in it? It uses both oars and sails."
"That's a problem, General. The Ganges Delta is in the rainy season from July to October every year, with extremely heavy rainfall. If you want to sail upstream during the rainy season, first of all, the water from upstream is fierce, making it difficult for ships to move forward. Secondly, the river stretches endlessly. At a glance, except for the turbid water color, it is almost the same as the sea surface. This makes it easy for ships to deviate from the real channel and run aground very easily..."
"Hiss~ This is really troublesome. Mr. Xu, do you have any solution?"
Shaking his head slowly, Xu Xianchun said: "This is the great power of nature, which cannot be reversed by human power."
Looking at the silent Liu Zhaosun, Xu Xianchun thought for a moment and said, "The Jinyiwei's opinion is as follows. First, the army should rest in Yangon for the time being and advance after the rainy season. Second, if we really have to rush, we can consider landing in another place."
"Change place?"
"Yes." Xu Xianchun's finger moved away from the Ganges Delta and slowly moved south to Andhra Pradesh: "This place is the former site of the Vijayanagar Kingdom. At the beginning of this year, Aurangzeb, the third son of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, was granted a fief there. In February of this year, the emperor sent a special decree to me, asking me to pay special attention to Aurangzeb's son and to use assassins to assassinate him if necessary. This... To be honest, the three assassins I sent out all failed."
After shaking his head, Xu Xianchun continued: "So I suggest that the landing site be placed in Andhra Pradesh."
After staring at the location of Andhra Pradesh on the map of India for a long time, Liu Zhaosun finally shook his head.
"Keep a close eye on Aurangzeb, and concentrate our forces to deal with him first if necessary. The emperor also gave me this order when I left Beijing. But..." Liu Zhaosun pointed at the terrain of Andhra Pradesh: "What's the point of taking this place? This place is separated from Delhi by the Deccan Plateau. If our army attacks here first, it will be easy to take it down. But it also gives the Mughals enough time to prepare. In this way, our troops here will be easily blocked on the Deccan Plateau. Besides..." He sneered softly: "It is said that Aurangzeb is only a fourteen-year-old boy. Although it is indeed remarkable that he personally served as an assassin and killed the monarch of another country and could escape unscathed, such a person is just a reckless man. Humph, not all fourteen-year-old boys are like the emperor, who knows everything and can do everything."
"The emperor is guarded by white cranes, a blue dragon descended from the world, and the power is granted by the gods. Naturally, he is not comparable to ordinary people." After agreeing with the situation, Xu Xianchun said, "Then postpone it?"
"It cannot be postponed." After saying this in an unconsciously raised voice, Liu Zhaosun quickly realized that his tone of voice was too unfriendly to his colleagues, so he quickly lowered his voice and explained: "You may not know that the main force of the court's troops this time will go to Yangon. But there is also a detachment led by General Man Gui, which will go to Pangong Lake in the northwest of India. This force will also set off in July this year and is expected to leave in two months. If I don't launch an attack here and lure the main force of the Mughal here..."
"I understand." After staring at the map again, Xu Xianchun said, "I still don't recommend landing in the Ganges Delta. At this season, it's a swamp. How about this, if the general must launch a landing campaign within August, can you make a slight adjustment to the landing site?"
"Fine-tuning? To what?"
"Here." Xu Xianchun pointed his finger slightly southwest from Dhaka City. "Kolkata is a small village. The surrounding area is also very low-lying, and it is also a swamp in this season. But there is only one Hooghly River flowing out to the sea. This river is a tributary of the Ganges, and the water volume is limited, so it is not easy to get lost in the waterway, and the water from the upper reaches will not be too turbulent. General, I really think it is not appropriate to land at this time, but... Anyway, landing in Kolkata is the best choice under desperate circumstances."
"Thank you for your reminder, I understand. In that case." His face tightened: "Zhang Hong!"
"I will be here!"
"Give your Marine Division five days to rest and recuperate, then send a small number of troops to conduct a detailed reconnaissance near ."
"I obey your orders!"
…
When Liu Zhaosun arrived in Yangon, he decided to launch the landing campaign as scheduled, even though he knew the season was not right. At the western end of the Himalayas, the biggest reason why Liu Zhaosun could not retreat was that Man Gui's troops were also struggling to move forward in the snow-capped mountains and plateaus.
"Hu~Hu~General, the entire army has been marching for six hours today, and the walking distance is more than fifteen kilometers."
"Okay, pass the order down and have the scouts find a safe place to set up camp."
"Yes, sir!"
After the messenger went down , Man Gui tightened his down coat, walked to the side of the road, and made way for the main road. The soldiers behind him gradually overtook their commander and continued to move forward slowly.
"Old Sun, how many mules and horses do we have now?"
"Mule and horse? General, you are not even forty yet, how come you have no memory at all? Our mules and horses have long been dead. Now we rely entirely on yaks for transportation, and along the way, 30% of the yaks have died."
"Then there will be no problem with transportation, right?"
"It's not a big problem. After all, we are constantly consuming food along the way. And even if the livestock keep dying along the way, the kids will have meat to eat every day. When marching on the plateau, you still need to eat meat every day to have strength. Although there are enough canned meats in front and behind for this trip, how can canned meat be as delicious as fresh meat?"
"Humph, I know that you, Sun Zushou, are the one who hates canned food the most. In order to eat fresh meat, our army even specially brought several large carts of fuel... It's because the emperor's family has become larger and larger in recent years. If you used the lamp oil to roast meat when Henghaiwei was first built, and the merchant Cao Sanxi knew about it, he would have skinned you alive!"
After the two old partners joked for a while, Man Gui asked seriously, "How many people have been reduced now?"
"Yes." Sun Zushou also put away his joking expression and answered seriously: "When the troops were dispatched, there were 13,000 combat soldiers, 3,200 engineers, medical officers, craftsmen, etc., and 3,500 civilian laborers. After 32 days of marching, 73 combat soldiers died, and 358 people were left behind or evacuated due to acute diseases such as pulmonary edema. The engineers rushed to the front and suffered the heaviest casualties. Among the 2,000-man engineering team, 253 people have died and 622 people have temporarily retired. The rest..."
"Not bad." Having led troops for many years, Man Gui's heart was as hard as stone. After hearing this number, he breathed a sigh of relief: "To be honest, it may not be a bad thing to fall down now. After all, we will be buried in our own land. If we rushed into the Indus Plain, we might die in a foreign land."
"General, be careful with your words! You are a general leading an army, how can you say such things?"
"Hehe." Scratching his head, Man Gui smiled indifferently: "Let's imitate Deng Ai and launch a surprise attack on India. Well, those guys in the Privy Council finally did something that suits my mind. In this battle, I will definitely achieve higher martial arts than Deng Ai!"
"Hey, that's what you should say, General."
After they chatted and laughed for a while, they were startled by the sound of hurried footsteps in the distance.
Continuous marching on the plateau is a great test on people's physical strength, so unless the situation is particularly urgent, the soldiers of the Man Gui Army are reluctant to run.
"What is it?"
"General, General Sun, the scouts ahead reported that a group of soldiers blocked our way about ten miles from here."
"Oh?" After a brief pause, Sun Zushou asked, "What is the other party's flag? Have you made any contact?"
"Yes, they claim that they were ordered by the emperor of our dynasty to lead their army to this mountain pass to meet with our army, and then go south together."
"Well, General, the team in front is most likely the reinforcements hired from the Gurkhas at a great cost by the Emperor!"
