Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 636 The Empire Begins to Collapse
The rumbling sound of horse hooves echoed across the endless Ganges Plain. A cavalry team of about 40,000 people was galloping hard on the flat land.
The leader of the team was Mangui, who crossed the Himalayas from the snow area and entered India.
"General, wait a minute. The mule team carrying ammunition, heavy machine guns, and mortars can't keep up."
"Hahaha, good, good." He pulled the reins casually, and the warhorse under his crotch slowed down a little bit. "Oh, it's been a long time since I've galloped like this. It's really refreshing."
"The general's riding skills have lagged behind for so many years, but now it seems that there is no sluggishness at all."
"Don't flatter me. My riding skills are much worse than before." After a casual smile, Mangui said, "Go and call the guide. Although it is refreshing to ride a horse, we can't keep riding like this. Our fundamental goal is to attack Delhi. Only by taking that place can we be worthy of the brothers who fell on the road when we crossed the snow-capped mountains."
"yes!"
On April 17, 1634, Man Gui led more than 30,000 Ming infantrymen and more than 7,000 Gurkha mercenaries northward from Kanpur. After six days of riding, on the 23rd, they were very close to Delhi, the official capital of the Mughal Empire.
How fast is the cavalry? Perhaps Xiahou Yuan, a general of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, could give the answer: "500 in three days, 1,000 in six days." This was the top speed that Xiahou Yuan's elite cavalry could run.
However, it was only six days. In nature, humans are the creatures with the highest endurance. For a delicate species like horses, after running at full speed for six days, even if most of them died, it was normal for them to die one after another.
As for Man Gui's team, after six days of high-speed running, the people were still fine, but the horses were basically exhausted: the horses here were all captured from the Mughals. Compared with Chinese horses, Indian horses are taller and faster, but they are far inferior to Chinese horses in terms of hard work and endurance.
"General, the guide said that this place is only about forty miles away from the outskirts of Delhi."
"Huh? We're so close? Well, it really is easier to have a reliable guide."
Man Gui was not just saying this casually. As a general who had suffered a lot when crossing the Himalayas and later ran around like a headless fly in the Indus Plain, he knew very well that if it weren't for the help of the guide, it would probably take at least fifteen days to walk this way.
They set out from Kanpur. In order to avoid the scouts of the main force of the Indian army, they first went north to cross the Ganges. After walking a considerable distance, they returned south again and crossed the Ganges again at a more remote beach. Then they rushed all the way to Delhi. In this process, the Sikhs not only sent guides to tell Mangui where the water was shallow and easy to cross the river, and where there were dense villages to avoid. There were also a large number of people walking in front of Mangui's army to find ferries for them and kill the villagers who could not be avoided to achieve intelligence concealment.
It can be said that in the six days of running, Man Gui's army ran at least 400 kilometers. But along the way, there were boats on the river and no people in the village. In short, it was very smooth.
"General, the guide said that our army arrived a little too quickly, so the boats on the Yamuna River are not yet fully prepared."
"It doesn't matter. Since our army is about to go to war, it is necessary to rest for a day or two."
"That's true, but if we do that, our army's actions might be exposed."
"Hahaha, it's a good thing to be exposed at this time. We need to let those Mughal officials in Delhi quickly pass the news of our army approaching the city to Kanpur. In this way, the enemy troops in Kanpur will surely be in chaos, and then, hehe..."
"Great advice, General."
"Well, ask him how the garrison of Delhi is doing?"
"General, the guide said that according to the information sent by the Sikh officers in the Delhi garrison, there are only 30,000 troops stationed in Delhi at the moment. And they are all old-style troops equipped with flintlock rifles. The other party also said that the general should wait for a few days, and he will send the army's garrison map."
"Hahaha~ God is really helping me. All right, pass the order down, the entire army stops advancing, and sets up camp on the spot to rest. Ask the guide to tell his tribesmen to lift the intelligence cover-up. Our army openly sends scouts to nearby villages and towns to buy food, and ask them to help us pass on the message that our army has arrived at the city of Delhi!"
There is no way. Among the numerous ethnic groups in the South Asian subcontinent, those who are hardworking and good at fighting are rare, so the proportion of Sikhs serving as middle and low-level officers in the Indian army is extremely high. Once the Sikhs turn to the Ming Dynasty because of the temptation of establishing an independent country, the Indian army's defense will inevitably be full of loopholes.
So, could the Mughals also allow the Sikhs to be independent? This was impossible. For any Indian regime, a rare and warlike people like the Sikhs could be used as watchdogs, but they could never tolerate their independence.
This does not matter to the Ming Dynasty, which has East Asia as its base.
Therefore, whether it was Shah Jahan or Aurangzeb, even if they knew that Zhu Youdong was trying to win over the Sikhs, they could not offer better conditions than Zhu Youdong.
In short, with the situation developing to this point, the outcome of the battle in Delhi was already determined.
On the 23rd, after the Mangui Detachment lifted its intelligence cover, it was quickly discovered by Mughal Delhi officials. On that day, in addition to urgently mobilizing naturally sent multiple messengers to Kanpur via water and land routes.
On the 26th, Mangui began to attack Delhi. The battle lasted only two hours and ended quickly with the defection of Sikh and Pashtun officers. The Ming army successfully occupied Delhi at the cost of less than 100 casualties and captured the legal capital of the Mughal Empire.
On the 27th, the Ming army chopped off more than 700 heads in Delhi: except for a few stubborn resistance elements, the rest were all members of the Mughal royal family descended from Babur. The Ming army told the Delhi high-level officials with practical actions: Our emperor said that only the Mughal royal family would be punished, and others would be fine as long as they did not resist, and he would definitely keep his word!
On the 28th, Man Gui sealed up all the treasures in the palace of Delhi, leaving 10,000 Ming troops to garrison. He also sent a Gurkha force of about 3,000 people to escort hundreds of Delhi princes and nobles back to Kanpur - he was preparing to use the same trick that Lu Meng used to disrupt Guan Yu's army after his sneak attack on Jingzhou.
Afterwards, he led the remaining troops to Agra, where Shah Jahan resided, with another group of Delhi princes and nobles as the lead.
It was also on this day that the envoy sent earlier by Delhi arrived at the Kanpur front.
"How could this happen? The Chinese were mobilized on such a large scale. What were the officials along the way doing? The Chinese did not discover the enemy until they had reached the city of Delhi?"
Recently, Shah Jahan, who was stationed at the Kanpur front, was generally satisfied: his defense line remained unshakable, and the Chinese on the other side, although bombarding continuously, refused to send soldiers to charge. The war between the two sides entered a stalemate stage.
If we want to fight, Shah Jahan is not afraid: You may be able to get some food in the empire, but you still have to transport shells and guns from your homeland. If we continue to fight, you will consume more than I do.
Moreover, it is already late April, the dry season has begun, and the weather will get hotter and hotter. Your soldiers are definitely not as adaptable as I am. As long as the war continues to stalemate, the first to collapse will definitely be the Aurora people.
Having said that, he was not just thinking about fighting. During this period, he sent envoys many times to request negotiations. Unfortunately, the Emperor of Zhendan agreed to talk, but he did not agree to the first condition: punish the culprit! Who is this culprit?
So, there was no way to talk, so they had to fight. The Kanpur defense line seemed impregnable. Who knew that the Aurora people had actually sent a troop to attack Delhi during this period!
"Shuja, Shuko, tell me, what should we do now?"
The two princes were also bitter about their father's question: Since ancient times, the invaders of this continent have entered from the Khyber Pass in the northwest. For the regime here, to defend against foreign enemies, it is enough to defend Khyber. But who knew that the enemy now came from the sea in the east. The entire Ganges Plain is simply not safe!
"Father, at this moment, we still need to send reinforcements to the rear. Although it is very likely that we cannot save Delhi, we should be able to hold Agra."
"Father, Shuko's idea is wrong. If our army makes a move at this time, the Aurora people on the opposite side will rush over. By then, Delhi and even Agra will be gone, and Kanpur will not be able to be defended. Then, we will have lost the entire Ganges Plain."
"Then what do you say we should do? Ah!"
"Father, send an envoy to ask the Emperor of Zhendan for surrender. While we still have a capable army, we can negotiate some terms with the Zhendan people."
"Asshole, Shuja, how can you negotiate terms? Don't you know what the Chinese have declared? They want to exterminate all members of our Mughal royal family!"
"Haha, my brother, there is a difference between shouting slogans and actually doing things. Keeping us is important to the Emperor of Zhendan..."
"Okay." Shah Jahan waved his hand irritably, stopping the quarrel between the two brothers. Shah Jahan supported his head with his other hand and said, "Shuja, block this news, and call a meeting of officers to launch a counterattack against the Aurora people tonight."
"Father!"
"Listen to me." Shah Jahan patted the armrest angrily and said, "The troops launching the counterattack should be mainly Sikhs and Pashtuns. Humph, don't think that I, the emperor, really don't know anything. It's just that after our ancestors entered this continent, the real Mughals corrupted so quickly that we had to use these peoples who knew how to fight. After that, Shuko, you secretly summon the Uzbeks and Rajputs, and let them escort us to retreat."
"Retreat? Retreat to where? Agra?"
"No. Go south, to the Deccan. Alas, it is a pity that your mother's body is still in Agra."
"...I understand, father. As long as you can retreat to the Deccan, the Emperor of Cathay will never be able to rule this land in peace."
"Yes, I have made a big mistake all along. Facing such a powerful enemy, we actually fought with inferior forces and inferior equipment on the plains. We should have retreated to the plateau and fought a long-term tug of war with the enemy. But it is not too late to understand this now. You two, hurry up and do your work. Oh, by the way, send a messenger to inform Dako in advance, so that he can withdraw the siege of Patna and lead the main force to support us."
"As you command, Father."
Just as the two princes stood up and prepared to walk out of the tent, a messenger with a panicked face and sweat all over rushed in without paying attention to etiquette: "Your Majesty, the Third Prince sent me to report to you. In the early morning of the 15th of this month, he was attacked by the superior forces of the Zhendan people at night... The entire Andhra Corps has collapsed!"
"ah?"
Before the father and his two sons could recover from their shock, the Imperial Vichir ran in at a pace that was not in line with his age: "Your Majesty, Your Highnesses, the Sikhs and Pashtuns have mutinied! They blew up four permanent artillery batteries and opened the defense line. Now, the Aurora people are charging !"
