Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 614 Mughal Bombardment
War horses neighed, elephants whimpered, and with flags flying and people talking, the second prince of the Mughal Empire, Shuja, led an army of 50,000 and arrived in Patna on September 25.
Before he arrived, the Ming army had already retreated ten days ago. Therefore, the battle inside and outside the city that Shujia had expected did not happen.
After arriving at the city, Shuja did not enter the city immediately. Instead, he went to see the barracks left by the Ming army under the protection of a team of guards and pondered for a long time in the barracks until Sayyid, who had been hiding in the city for a long time, came out to greet him in person.
Governor Sayyid welcomed him into the city, and immediately there was a mixture of complaints and flattery. After the official article was finished, Shuja immediately asked a core question: "Sayyid, please tell me, when will the rainy season in the middle and lower reaches of the Ganges end?"
"Your Highness, after October every year, the rainfall will decrease rapidly. Generally, by the end of October, the rainy season will end completely, and then we will enter a long winter."
"So, give the order to have your troops spread out quickly and conduct a strong investigation on the Cathay people in Asansol Town. We don't have much time."
"ah?"
Seeing Sayid's bewildered face, Shuja didn't hesitate to whip the governor with his horse whip. After beating him, he turned around and said, "Mudra, my most trusted general, you tell this idiot why our time is so tight."
"Yes, Your Highness." A tall middle-aged man with a thick turban and a full beard stood up and said, "Your Excellency Governor, judging from the previous battles and the recent performance of the Zhendan people, they are not familiar with the climate here and invaded during the rainy season... So they are facing the turbulent river and cannot transport more soldiers and heavy weapons to land. However, once the rainy season is over, the unfavorable factors that greatly restrict the enemy's troop strength and equipment deployment will disappear. On the contrary, the Ganges in winter will become a shortcut for the enemy to deploy troops and equipment. Therefore, we must launch a decisive battle before the end of the rainy season, drive the Zhendan people into the sea, and take advantage of the dry winter climate to build a defense line at the junction of the swamp and the plain to prevent a new round of invasion by the Zhendan people..."
Shuja is talented, but he also has the arrogance of a prince: explaining to his servants is necessary so that they can work attentively. But the prince himself disdains to explain, so such a task can only be handed over to another servant.
The communication between the two servants was still very smooth. Sayyid, who understood everything, took action immediately: After all, the Governor has been in charge here for many years. If he wants to mobilize the local resources here, his orders will be much more effective than those of His Royal Highness the Prince.
On October 7, the sky cleared up again. At a command from His Highness Shuja, 50,000 Imperial Central Army troops began to advance towards the town of Asansol.
At about ten o'clock in the morning on the 12th, the army arrived in Asansol. What made Shuja more and more anxious was that it rained only two days during the five-day march, and the rainfall was significantly less than that in the previous few days.
The logistics officers were in charge of setting up camp. Shuja himself rode a horse and, with his generals, began to circle around the town of Asansol for observation.
"I have fought against Pashtuns, Uzbeks, and Persians before. Two years ago, I even went to the Deccan to fight against the Telugu people. However, I have never seen a fortress with so many facets like this."
"Your Highness, this is the first time I've seen this thing, too. It gives me a very bad feeling. Just imagining it will cause a significant hindrance to our attack."
"… Tsk~ Okay, Mudra, why are you thinking so much? We're going to fight anyway, so let's set up our cannons and try to fire them."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The central army of the empire, especially the central army that was given priority to be equipped with new equipment, had very good combat effectiveness and execution. Following Shuja's order, in just two or three hours, the artillery units of the 20,000 new troops deployed their formations. Then, following the commander's order, 20 75mm breech-loading guns captured from Datar's original army began to roar.
…
"Hey, Chunzhong, how long has it been since we were bombarded by someone and couldn't fight back?"
"Hmm..." After thinking seriously for a while, Li Chunzhong shook his head firmly: "Never."
"Yeah, it's never happened before. That bear barbarian in the Privy Council, didn't he know to check the climate here when making the plan? Damn imperial teacher, I'm still a Yuancong! When I finish fighting this mess and return to the capital, I'm going to tear that guy's stinky mouth apart!"
Liu Zhaosun was complaining viciously on the top of the city wall, but before Li Chunzhong could respond, suddenly, they both felt a slight shaking under their feet.
"Are these damn Indians really accurate at firing artillery? It's only been a few rounds and the shells have already touched the wall?"
After saying this, the two of them did not hesitate and immediately walked down the city wall.
"What did the engineering team say? How many rounds of this grade of cement can withstand?"
"Tsk~" Li Chunzhong laughed. "Theoretically, it can withstand at least three bombardments of 75mm shells at the same location. But, the guys in the engineering team also said that in the past month or so, God has not been kind to us. There have been too few sunny days and too much rain. The walls in many places have never dried out. In my opinion, those who are unlucky will not be able to withstand even a round of artillery fire."
As if to confirm Li Chunzhong's words, he had just shut up when the two of them vaguely heard a sound of collapse. This should be a section of the outer wall of the bastion that had just been built collapsing.
"Chunzhong, you are such a bad-mouthed person." Liu Zhaosun smiled nonchalantly: "Since this wall is so unreliable, let's implement plan 2 in advance."
Following Liu Zhaosun's order, all the Ming army soldiers stationed outside the newly built Asansol withdrew.
This order was given at a very timely moment, because not long after, the artillery of the army outside the city extended its firing range again. Some shells flew directly over the top of the city and into the city, causing huge explosions in many places in the city and starting fires at many locations.
After all, this is still a small town near a swamp area. No matter how the Ming army expanded and reinforced it over the past month, the foundation is limited. Therefore, starting at two o'clock in the afternoon, the Indian army's artillery fire basically covered the entire town.
"Puh~" In the underground bunker dug by the Ming army, Liu Zhaosun spat out the dust that had flowed into his mouth because he had stuck his head out to look. "Damn, what's wrong with these Indians? They've been shelling for more than an hour, why haven't the infantry come up yet?"
When he said this, his expression was still very relaxed: Even though they had been under attack for nearly two hours, the Indian army only had these twenty breech-loading cannons, and no matter how hard the artillerymen tried, the shells they could fire were very limited. Although the sound of the shells falling into the city seemed very loud, the actual casualties caused to the Ming army were not great.
"Haha, let them continue to fight. Didn't Xu Xianchun say this before we set out? The Mughal arsenal does not have the capacity to produce breech-loading cannons. The little production capacity they have now is all in the former territory of the Vijayanagar Kingdom in the south. The two sides are separated by the Deccan Plateau. Humph, keep fighting. We will endure more here. When the rainy season ends next month, it will be much easier for General Cao's main force to land. Hey, why did the artillery stop?"
In fact, no matter how the twenty breech-loading guns fired, there would be no shortage of shells for a while. But after nearly two hours of shelling, Shuja was ready to send infantry to approach the city wall, so the shelling had to be stopped: infantry and artillery coordination, barrage of bullets, this kind of difficult technical work, even in the 21st century, only a few countries' armies can do it. If His Highness Shuja didn't want to use his limited shells to bomb his limited new army, he had to stop the shelling at this time.
As the gunfire gradually subsided, several whistles were sounded on the Indian army's positions. More than a thousand infantrymen dressed in white shorts, some wearing large hats, and some wrapped in turbans, holding breech-fire rifles, bent over, and marched towards the town of Asansol under the command of their respective superiors.
At this time, Liu Zhaosun had already crawled out of the underground bunker and leaned against a broken wall, looking through a telescope: "Oh, what bad luck, they only deployed such a small number of troops."
"General, what should we do? Should we eat or not?"
"Is it okay not to eat? The whole town is so small. Once the enemy comes in, it won't take long for them to find us."
"I understand."
More than 20 minutes later, the Indian soldiers finally entered the town. Then, before they entered the center of the town, a loud call sounded, and countless Ming soldiers bravely rushed out from underground and every corner, holding up their submachine guns and firing fiercely at the Indian soldiers!
And then nothing happened.
Shuja, who had experienced many battles, did not care much about the fact that the enemy wiped out a battalion he had sent out within half an hour. After confirming that there was no more fighting in the town, he ordered his artillery to bombard the town again. After that, he led his troops to retreat four or five miles and set up camp, preparing to spend the whole day the next day to plow the town again .
However, Liu Zhaosun was not prepared to give him the next day: "Notify all the troops outside the city that the headquarters in the city is safe. At 3:00 pm tonight, all the troops are ready to launch a night battle!"
