Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 623: Aurangzeb Backstabs
Just as the main force of the Ming army was advancing smoothly along the flat Ganges plain, an army of about 60,000 people dressed in light gray modern military uniforms was advancing rapidly from south to north on the Deccan Plateau.
These were the 60,000 elite troops that Aurangzeb brought from Andhra Pradesh.
At the end of the previous year (1631), he killed Datar . At the beginning of the next year (1632), he received personal letters from Philip and Ibrahim. In June of this year (1633), Spanish and Ottoman support arms and two Ottoman divisions arrived in Andhra.
The reason why the speed was so fast was due to the close cooperation between Spain and the Ottoman Empire.
First, Spain restored the two long railroad tracks that the Ottomans had laid in order to receive aid from the Ming Dynasty in the Sinai Peninsula, and allowed the Ottoman troops and munitions to pass through. Then, the Ottomans concentrated almost all of their ships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea for transportation. Finally, within three months, a total of 15 divisions of munitions and two divisions of soldiers were transported to the east side of the Indian Peninsula.
After getting this batch of arms, Aurangzeb immediately formed five modern divisions based on the two Ottoman divisions: this was Datar's old nest in the past, and he had formed more than ten modern divisions here. The source of soldiers was ready. Recalling these veterans could not only quickly form combat effectiveness, but also effectively improve social order and ensure social stability.
At that time, Datar's army, armed with weapons that were a whole era ahead of the Mughal army, still achieved very limited results. There were many reasons for this, but one of the most important reasons was that because the entire Brahmin and Kshatriya class was wiped out in an extremely violent way, Datar's army never had a reliable officer corps.
But this problem was not a problem for Aurangzeb: the Ottoman side provided two full divisions.
Of course, as a great leader in history, Aurangzeb performed much better than Datar in this respect. Datar had the guards lent to him by Abbas disbanded and made officers of his own troops. This not only destroyed the combat effectiveness of the guards, but also made his army fall into the hands of the Persians, making it difficult for him to control the army.
Aurangzeb's method was to keep one Ottoman division intact, pull out some officers from another Ottoman division to serve as commanders of the new unit, and then add a certain number of local officers to the Ottoman unit...
In short, after all this trouble, Aurangzeb formed five modern army divisions in Andhra Pradesh: ordinary infantry were all equipped with submachine guns, each company had two mortars, and each division's artillery regiment had forty 75mm guns - the West and Austria really spent a lot of money to support him.
But it's not possible without spending a lot of money. As a time traveler, everyone knows that when India was still a colony, the British Isles were the British Empire. When India and Pakistan became independent, the British Isles became the British Empire.
India has great natural conditions and almost unlimited human resources. If the Ming Dynasty, which already has almost unlimited human resources, takes over here, the West and Austria will have no choice but to wait for death.
However, the two countries, firstly, did not trust each other enough. Secondly, both countries had urgent things to do: the Ottoman Empire wanted to erode and control Persia and develop Ukraine. Spain wanted to build the Suez Canal and suppress the rebellion in America. Therefore, no matter how anxious the two countries were, they could not send their main forces to India.
The only way to support them is with arms: Come on, Emperor Aurangzeb, please use the arms we send you to kill as many hateful Chinese as possible.
They not only prayed in their hearts and said so, but also worked hard in practice: in addition to the first batch of arms, they also continuously sent Aurangzeb a large amount of bullets, shells and a small amount of firearms. In the end, they simply gave him money: to buy people's hearts.
By August 1632, a Spanish force consisting of three 5,000-ton ironclad ships, three 3,000-ton ironclad ships, and five 3,000-ton ironclad supply ships arrived on the west side of the Indian peninsula.
At that time, Goa and Mumbai on the west side of the Indian peninsula were both Portuguese colonies. Therefore, Aurangzeb's original concern about acquiring a port on the west side of the Indian peninsula was solved without much effort. But Philip's original intention was to open another port at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula: whether it was Mumbai or Goa, the latitude was too high, and the distance from the west side of the peninsula to the east side was still too long.
To this end, Aurangzeb worked very hard to coordinate: the southern tip of the peninsula was not under the control of the empire.
However, before he could coordinate, Agnar's order came: the battle of Asansol failed, the rainy season was over, and the enemy was about to march in. The empire would gather all its forces to fight the enemy in Kanpur. Andhra Pradesh would send as many guns and bullets as possible to Agnar.
This was a problem: although the weapons of Western and Austrian armies were much more advanced and diverse than the products of Andhra's own factories, the calibers of weapons produced by the various gun factories built by Datar were mostly different from the weapons sent by Western and Austrian armies. Therefore, Aurangzeb had no choice but to send the products of Andhra's existing factories as far north as possible, and all his troops were equipped with Western weapons.
In January 1633, Aurangzeb learned through his own channels that the decisive battle between the two sides was imminent. In addition, since all the main forces of the Ming army had landed, the pressure on transport and escort was greatly reduced. The Indian Ocean Squadron of the Ming Nanyang Fleet, which was originally based in Ceylon, also returned to Ceylon from Yangon to garrison. Without launching a naval battle, the maritime support from the Western and Austrian countries was completely cut off. So Aurangzeb made up his mind: send troops to attack the rear of the Aurora people!
At this time, Aurangzeb had seven divisions under his command (including two Ottoman divisions). After careful consideration, he only took four divisions with him: logistical pressure was one aspect, and more importantly, three divisions had not been fully reorganized. Such troops would not only not play a big role in the battlefield, but would also easily lead to the collapse of the entire army.
The Deccan Plateau in the Indian Peninsula is called a plateau, but in fact, the average altitude is only 500-600 meters. Although there are many dangerous sections due to the terrain, this is the Third Prince marching on his own territory. Therefore, by March 13, 1633, this 60,000-man corps had already walked through half of the plateau and arrived at the edge of the Ganges Plain.
"Your Highness, our scouts discovered the Zhendan army more than 40 miles away from here, but what we observed is a little inconsistent with what you described to us."
"What's the inconsistency?"
"Yes, you told us that according to Agnar's intelligence, the flag of the Zhendan army is a red background with a yellow sun and moon. But the flag of the army in front, in addition to the red background with a yellow sun and moon, has a white lower right corner with a symbol on the white area."
"Hmm..." After searching Datar's memory in his mind, Aurangzeb smiled slightly. "It is said that the people of Cathay like to call themselves the Celestial Empire. They do not directly rule the small and poor countries around them, but only make them pay tribute regularly... This army should be sent by the vassal state of the people of Cathay. Very good, the people of Cathay are really arrogant. They dare to use the army of the vassal state to guard their flanks. How many people are there on the other side?"
"The enemy camp we observed can accommodate about 10,000 troops, but it is unclear whether there are other troops nearby."
"It doesn't matter. No matter what, the enemy is at the critical pass where we can completely enter the plain. No matter how many people there are, no matter if there are follow-up troops or not, we must defeat them!"
"Yes, your highness."
"Okay, continue your investigation. I hope you can obtain more detailed intelligence. However, the premise for doing all this is, first, do not alert the other party. Second, pay attention to your own safety. My brother, at this moment, the life of every Star-Moon Cultist is precious."
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. Don't worry, we will complete the mission."
After the scout captain left, Aurangzeb immediately called a meeting of the commanders of the four divisions and the corps' staff.
"Everyone, we are only forty miles away from the Zhendan people's flank force. I mean, the troops should be deployed and prepared to eat up this flank force. Now, do you have any problems?"
"Your Highness, our artillery is still two days away from here."
"Your Highness, the soldiers have been on the road for two months and need to rest."
"...Okay, then we will tentatively set the time for the attack to be three days later. During this period, the army will stop advancing and must find ways to conceal itself. At the same time, the scouts will intensify their reconnaissance, and the staff will deploy troops and firepower based on the latest intelligence. After three days, all personnel must be in place and the troops must launch the attack on time."
"As you command, Your Highness!"
