Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 619 Crossing the Himalayas
Whether it was Xiong Tingbi, the new Privy Councilor, or Man Gui, who had been stationed in the snowy area for several years, they actually underestimated the difficulty of marching in the snowy area.
According to the plan of the Privy Council, in July of the 14th year of the Tianqi reign (1632), the Ming army sent troops from two directions. Because sea transportation is much faster than crossing the Himalayas, the Privy Council's arrangement at the time was: In August, the main force led by Cao Wenzhao and Liu Zhaosun launched an attack on the eastern front to attract the main force of the Mughal Empire. Then in late September, Man Gui's detachment rushed out from the northwest of Delhi and attacked the enemy's heart - not to capture the enemy's capital, but to panic the enemy and withdraw the troops confronting the main force, thus creating an opportunity for the main force to win the decisive battle.
It's a pity that the idea is beautiful, but this is the reality.
In July, Mangui led a team of nearly 20,000 people, assisted by more than 10,000 mules and horses and more than 10,000 yaks, and set out from Lhasa, going upstream along the Yarlung Zangbo River Valley. In August, they met 10,000 Gurkha mercenaries waiting at the Purang Pass (the junction of China, India and Nepal in the 21st century). After the two teams met, they continued to travel west along the southern foot of the Himalayas, preparing to cross the Himalayas at the Shibuqi Pass and head south. As a result, when the army arrived here, they found that the mountain pass was completely destroyed due to winter avalanches...
Man Gui had no choice but to send out engineers to build roads and scouts to find another way: in this era, crossing the Himalayas directly was not bravery but stupidity. It was necessary to pass through the few gaps in this mountain range to ensure that the large group of people could move south safely.
Building roads and finding roads are not the most important things. The most important thing is food: the Gurkhas also brought their own dry food after accepting the Ming Dynasty's employment. But after seeing their highland barley noodles, Man Gui waved his hand and gave them the canned food that the soldiers in the army were tired of eating. In this way, the loyalty of the other party was off the charts, but the Ming army's own food inventory began to flash red lights.
So Man Gui had to separate a troop and return with the remaining civilians to obtain supplies again.
In September, the short summer on the plateau ended and the weather turned cold again. The engineering team still hadn't opened the road: working in the plateau, the Han Chinese from the mainland could not work too hard every day, which led to low efficiency. Of course, it is very difficult for human power to reverse the natural force of road damage caused by avalanches.
In late September, the temperature began to drop significantly. After receiving the second batch of supplies, Man Gui decided not to wait any longer and the army continued to move westward, crossing the Pangong Lake and going through the Kongka Pass.
In mid-October, the army arrived at the Kongka Pass: there was no landslide here, and tens of thousands of troops passed through it smoothly. However, the price they paid for walking out of the Himalayas was that they did not appear in Punjab, India as planned. Instead, they entered Kashmir.
"General, good news, good news. The scouts ahead have found a large river. According to the geographical calculations of the engineering team, this should be the Indus River on the map."
"Indus River?" Man Gui, who had been marching hard for three months, was now extremely haggard. His entire face was peeling due to long-term exposure to the high altitude sun, and his forehead was filled with many deep wrinkles that a forty-year-old strong man should not have.
He took out the map he carried with him, which he had read through for the past three months and was almost torn to pieces. "Hiss, our army has strayed so far from the target."
"General, there is nothing we can do about this. Who knew there was an avalanche at the Shibuchi Pass?"
"Well, forget it, let's not talk about this. At least we didn't encounter an avalanche during the march. Otherwise..." He raised his head and took a big sip of water: "What's the situation of the troops now?"
Sun Zushou simply found a relatively dry sandy place to sit down and took out a small notebook: "When we set out, there were 13,000 combat soldiers. Now there are less than 9,000 who can immediately go into battle. The military doctor said that there are about 3,000 people who are hanging behind and will get better after the altitude drops. In other words, in terms of combat soldiers, we have permanently lost more than 1,000 people. There were 3,200 engineers, medical officers, craftsmen, etc., and now there are only 2,000 left, mainly because the engineers at the front of the entire team suffered heavy losses. There were 3,500 civilian laborers, some died of illness, some fell to death, some were transported after being seriously ill... Now there are only 1,800 people."
"..." After a moment of silence, Man Gui asked, "Where are our livestock and food?"
"All the mules died long ago, and the last yak died last night. As for food, we have lost all the animal power, and we only have so many civilians, so the whole army only has five days' worth of food."
"Haha, it seems that we are even more miserable than Deng Ai back then."
"Hey, General, you can't say that. At least we have basically passed through the Himalayas now, and there should be no army led by Zhuge Zhan blocking us."
"Humph, if it's Zhuge Zhan who's standing in front of me, I'm not afraid. I'm afraid if it's Jiang Wei who's standing in front of me." After joking for a while, Man Gui asked again, "Where are those Gurkhas?"
"General." Sun Zushou's spirits were obviously lifted. "Where did the emperor find these people? They are really good soldiers! They are a little short, but they are absolutely hardworking and disciplined along the way. And when the two armies talked during the rest, it can be seen that these people are not lacking in courage. Hey! They are really good candidates for soldiers! The key is that these guys have much less altitude sickness than us. You said that most of the more than 10,000 soldiers we brought this time have been stationed on the plateau for more than two years, and some soldiers have married and have children here. But along the way, it is obvious that our soldiers can't last as long on the plateau as these Gurkhas..."
"Humph, they were born and raised here, how can we compare with them in just two years of garrison here. But you are right, these Gurkhas are good soldiers, the emperor has found us excellent helpers this time."
The two were talking when they saw the forward Hei Yunlong running over and said, "General, Lao Sun, we found a village ahead and we captured it. God bless us, we finally see people."
"Great!" Upon hearing this news, Man Gui and Sun Zushou jumped up from the ground excitedly. After calming down a little, Man Gui asked in a trembling voice: "How is the communication?"
"Fortunately, the other party speaks Urdu, and our Urdu translators who accompanied the army have not died along the way."
"Tsk! What are you talking about, Hei? Okay, just get to the point."
"Yes. According to the local villagers, they don't know what the Mughal Empire is, nor do they know what state this place belongs to. But they know that starting from here, there is a town called Leh about thirty miles west along the Indus River."
"Very good. Thirty miles is only a day's journey. Let's take this place first and get the necessary supplies... General?"
"Alas, it's my incompetence that took me three months to cross the Himalayas. I don't know how Cao Wenzhao and Liu Zhaosun are progressing on the eastern front."
"General, what can we do? We have tried very hard along the way, but with this terrain and altitude, what can we do?"
"Haha." After a hearty laugh, Man Gui said, "Let's not think too much about it. Let's solve the problem of eating first. Since we have entered the Mughal territory, everything here is the enemy. Pass the order down, except for the front-line alert troops and scouts who are investigating the road conditions, the entire army will rest for a day. Tomorrow, I will take over that Leh city!"
"Yes, sir!"
"In addition, today, commanders at all levels must once again emphasize discipline to their soldiers. Kill enemy soldiers if necessary. And try not to harm ordinary civilians."
"I will follow the general's orders."
…
The next day, the Ming army easily captured Leh: this small border town had almost no garrison, and after the few bearded men who rushed out with muskets were riddled with bullets by submachine guns, the entire town quickly surrendered.
However, Man Gui's idea of obtaining sufficient supplies here was dashed: after searching the entire town, he only got more than a thousand stones of grain: for a team of more than 20,000 people, this was only enough for three to five days if they saved it.
"General, this is a bit troublesome." Hei Yunlong, who had just finished interrogating the captives, came over with a gloomy face and put his hand on the map in front of Man Gui and Sun Zushou. "According to the locals, we now have two routes to take. The first one is to go northwest along the Indus River. The transportation is convenient along the way, and there are towns along the way. The second route is to go southwest, cross the Nenggong Mountains, go to Srinagar, and then break through the Bernihal Pass to enter the Ganges Plain."
When talking about climbing the mountain, the muscles on Man Gui and Sun Zushou's faces twisted unconsciously. After the two looked at each other, Sun Zushou asked, "How high is that mountain?"
"According to the locals, it is extremely high. It would take an ordinary caravan five or six days to cross it. (Author's note: The highest peak is 7,135 meters above sea level)"
"It is indeed troublesome. Our army's physical strength and supplies do not allow us to do so."
"Yes, General. I have heard from the locals that Srinagar is indeed the largest city in Kashmir, but the terrain of the Panihal Pass to its south is extremely steep, and the Mughal Empire has stationed heavy troops there all year round."
"Hmm..." After standing up and pacing back and forth, Man Gui sighed sadly, "My idea is to split the troops into two groups. The main force will go along the Indus River, get supplies along the way, and then enter their Indus Plain. The other group should not have too many people, mainly Gurkhas, thirty to fifty people will be enough , and we will send four or five people to mix in. The mission of this team is to find a way to pass through the Bonil Pass, enter the Ganges Plain, and get news about our eastern army."
"General, if we do this... our army has no heavy weapons. Although we have more machine guns and ammunition, we cannot replenish them. If the Eastern Route Army fails to lead away the main force of the Mughal army, we are doomed to be annihilated in the Indus Plain."
"I believe Cao Wenzhao and Liu Zhaosun, at this time, they must have attracted the main force of the Mughal army to the east. Besides." Man Gui turned his head with a smile: "When we accepted the order from the Privy Council to take this road, did we ever think about surviving?"
