Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 624: Differences between Vassal States
March 18, 1633, Patna city.
Lieutenant General Mao Wenlong, who was in charge of guarding the flank of his own transportation line, sat in the main seat with a gloomy face. His eyes were focused on the three disheveled officers kneeling in front of him. He felt a strong urge to kill.
On March 15, a decisive battle between the main forces of Ming and Morocco broke out in Kanpur, more than 400 kilometers west of Patna.
On March 16, more than 50 kilometers south of Patna city, at the junction of the Deccan Plateau and the Gangetic Plain, Aurangzeb led an army of 60,000 and suddenly rushed out from a gap, defeating the Fuguo Division and the Japanese Division defending there, and a big hole was torn in the flank of the entire Ming army.
According to the deployment before the decisive battle of Kanpur, Mao Wenlong had three divisions responsible for the flank defense of his army: Zhu Youdong gave many instructions to both Liu Zhaosun and Cao Wenzhao before they left Beijing. It was easy to deal with other Mughal princes, but the third prince Aurangzeb had to be careful.
After the two arrived in India, they found out that Aurangzeb had gone to Andhra Pradesh in the southern part of the peninsula. Since that place was on the Deccan Plateau, it was quite far away from the Ganges Plain, the core part of the Mughal Empire. Therefore, the two did not change the previous plan of the Privy Council for Aurangzeb alone, but continued to fight along the Ganges Plain: if the Ganges Plain was in hand, the Mughal Empire would collapse, and then Aurangzeb would be easily captured, right?
However, these two people have been with Zhu Youdong for more than 20 years and are highly convinced of the emperor's orders. Therefore, they still sent three divisions to form the Mao Wenlong Cluster, specifically to guard against Aurangzeb who might rush down from the Deccan Plateau.
After Mao Wenlong accepted this task, he deployed the three divisions as follows: the weakest Fuguo Division was placed directly at the gap where the enemy was most likely to appear, and the second strongest Japanese Division was placed behind the Fuguo Division, in case the Fuguo Division collapsed, the Japanese Division could resist the enemy for a period of time . The strongest Ming 11th Division was deployed with Patna as the core: as the Ming army moved forward, this place had replaced Asansol Town as the gathering place for all kinds of Ming army supplies. Every day, the 11th Division sent troops to escort ships to go upstream along the Ganges to transport supplies to friendly forces on the front line.
This arrangement actually did not pose a big problem: although the combat effectiveness of the Fuguo Division was relatively poor, it was at least equipped with cannons, heavy machine guns and other weapons. Although it was impossible for every soldier to have a submachine gun, each company was guaranteed to have a mortar.
In addition to good equipment, Mao Wenlong also asked Master Fu to build a proper trench at the gap...
However, when Aurangzeb launched the attack on March 16, this Fuguo Division, which was mainly composed of Koreans, collapsed!
That’s right, it collapsed directly. It took no more than .
It didn't matter if they collapsed, and it didn't matter if they abandoned a large amount of baggage and fled backwards. The key was that by the time the Japanese division more than ten kilometers away became alert and prepared to engage in battle, this group of defeated soldiers actually ran towards the friendly positions, so that after the Japanese division let these defeated soldiers go, the enemy had already rushed to their front!
More than 15,000 Japanese fought a fierce battle, but they had only one-fourth of the enemy's strength and lost the initiative, so they suffered heavy losses in the end. If it weren't for the support of the 11th Division of Patna City, this Japanese division would have become the first division-level unit to be annihilated since the Ming Dynasty.
The commander of this Japanese division was Sanada Yukimura's eldest son, Sanada Yukimasa. At this moment, this short commander, who was only a little over 1.5 meters tall, was standing at the lower right of Mao Wenlong with bloodshot eyes. Like Mao Wenlong, he was staring at the three people kneeling in the middle of the hall.
"Ah~" After a depressing silence, Mao Wenlong finally sighed: "General Jin, it has been 28 years since I met you when I was in the army in Liaodong Town. Tell me, what's going on?"
"Commander, I have nothing to say. This is really embarrassing. I didn't expect that the North Koreans would be so vulnerable."
The one in the middle of the three people kneeling below is called Jin Guan. He used to be a military household in Liaodong Town and was also a brave warrior when he was young. However, when the military household reform was carried out later, he was invited by King Fu to go to Korea to serve as a senior military official in that country, and gave up the opportunity to join the new army of the Ming Dynasty.
Actually, the Fuguo Division usually did not behave as badly as it did today. In the past, they were good at building bridges and roads, transporting goods, and suppressing Indian people along the way. But no one expected that when a large number of shells were poured into the camp of the Fuguo Division, this fully equipped division actually blew up the camp!
Then everything went downhill: if the Japanese division behind had not fought desperately, giving the 11th Division ample time to prepare, the city of Patna would have been captured by Aurangzeb in one wave.
If Patna was taken, it would be a big deal: the more than 200,000 troops near Kanpur consumed a huge amount of supplies every day. If it weren't for the Ganges, the Ming army would not dare to penetrate the enemy so quickly. What if Patna was taken and the Ganges shipping was interrupted? Not to mention, there were hundreds of millions of bullets and tens of thousands of shells inside Patna and its river ports, as well as countless medicines, food and other supplies.
Even now, it was very troublesome: Aurangzeb's army had already approached Patna City. Mao Wenlong was a cautious general. Even though he was in the rear, he dug two trenches around Patna City. Therefore, the Ming army could still rely on the trenches to defend.
"$#%&...Smecta!"
"Shut up! We have no right to talk now!"
The first sentence, "Smecta", was shouted by a guy with small eyes and a big face next to Jin Guan, who was obviously a Korean. The second sentence was naturally Jin Guan scolding him.
"General Jin, what did he say?"
"Commander, please forgive me. I am a commoner and don't know much. Please don't bother with him."
"It's okay. Just tell me what he said."
"Well, Colonel Li Bingjun said that the Indians had at least 300,000 troops and thousands of cannons. It was reasonable that they couldn't stop them... Hey, Commander, this guy is too shameless, please don't take it to heart."
"Bagayaloo!" Sanada Yukimasa, who had been standing by at first and had been holding back from saying a word despite his murderous eyes, could no longer hold back. He stepped forward and said in stiff Chinese: "Commander, please give justice to the warriors of our Japanese division who died in battle! If it weren't for these Koreans who attacked our defense line, how could our artillery and machine gunners be useless? If they hadn't entered our position and not turned around to help us, but continued to run away yelling, seriously affecting the morale of our army and hindering the advance of the follow-up soldiers, how could we have fought so badly?"
"General Sanada, please calm down."
Oh, this is really giving me a headache. The relationship between the vassal states, the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the vassal states... I am just a pure military commander, I don't know how to deal with these things!
He rubbed his head hard, closed his eyes and thought for a while, and listened attentively to the faint sound of artillery outside the city, and then made a quick decision.
"General Sanada, how many of your troops can be mobilized now?"
"I originally had a full complement of 15,000 men under my command, but only about 200 fell ill along the way. As a result, in the battle the day before yesterday... Your Excellency, we were defeated miserably, and we could only keep cutting off our rear to survive, so it is impossible to count how many people died. In short, there are more than 3,000 wounded soldiers in the city who cannot fight in the short term. There are only more than 4,700 who can immediately join the battle."
"Okay. I'll have the quartermaster replenish your weapons later. Make sure every soldier has a gun. I'll also replenish your ammunition base to ten for each soldier."
"Thank you, sir. But these damn North Koreans?"
"General, please be patient."
Turning around, Mao Wenlong said to Jin Guan, "General Jin, how many people does your Fu Guoshi have now?"
"I'm ashamed. Now after counting, there are still more than 13,000 people."
"I will ask the quartermaster to replenish your weapons and ammunition later, and then you will take them to defend the southwest side of Patna City." After taking a look at Sanada Yukimasa who was about to go berserk, Mao Wenlong hurriedly said, "General Sanada, reorganize your troops into a reinforced regiment and deploy them behind them as the supervisor of the Fuguo Division. General Jin, I will make it clear this time, unless you have a handwritten order from me, you are not allowed to retreat a single step! Yes, no matter how many casualties you suffer in the next battle, you are not allowed to retreat a single step without my handwritten order! General Sanada, if the Fuguo Division retreats without my handwritten order this time, I will allow you to kill them indiscriminately!"
"Hehe~" Sanada Yukimasa, who was furious just now, showed a cruel smile: "Hey! Please rest assured, with me here, the southwest defense line will be impregnable!"
After waving his hand to let the four people leave, Mao Wenlong stood up, paced anxiously for a few times, but he still couldn't bear it any longer. He finally kicked over the heavy chair, and finally he felt a little relieved.
"Father, calm down."
"Damn it!" Mao Wenlong smashed another cup and said viciously, "When I was 30 years old, I followed the Prime Minister and the Emperor. I have fought many battles in the past 27 years. Generally speaking, I have won more than I have lost. I didn't expect that my fame would be ruined by these idiots."
"Father, we are seriously short of troops right now. These Koreans have to..."
"Father knows, otherwise why would he let them go so easily? Damn Jin Guan, he was also a good general when he was in Liaodong Town, how come he is so terrible after going to Korea? If I hadn't sent someone now, hum! If they deserted the battlefield, I would have shot the three of them on the spot!"
After yelling and venting his anger, Mao Wenlong grabbed a cup and took a few gulps of water: "Captain Ma, how many people are left in your 11th Division?"
"More than 1,700 were killed and more than 900 were seriously injured."
"Then there are still more than 12,000. Well, as long as Master Fu can fight well this time, it won't be a problem for Patna City to be defended for ten days. Cheng Dou!"
"Father."
"I will assign a platoon from the guard battalion for you. You take them and leave from the port tonight to go to Asansol Town downstream to find Division Commander Zhang Hong. Ask him to gather the Marine Division and come to rescue us immediately! Tell him that I can hold out for at least ten days from today, but at most, I estimate that I can only hold out for fifteen days."
"Yes, father. But Commander Zhang's troops are scattered everywhere starting from Calcutta. It will probably take a long time to gather them together."
"So you have to hurry. After you find Zhang Hong, continue to head east. Well, for the rest, you can only rely on that reckless man Luo Xiong."
