Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 403 Mingmo War
"Clang... clang... clang..."

On March 25, when the armies of Ming and Mozambique confronted each other, a bell rang in a city located in the upper plains of the Indus River.

This city stands on the upper plain of the Indus River. The city is surrounded by a two-foot-high red masonry wall. There are fourteen gates. Outside the city wall is a moat that is dozens of steps wide. The whole city looks very brand new, as if in It was recently renovated.

Just looking at its appearance is enough to see its prosperity, and the many large and small mosques in the city, as well as the stalls filled with various local snacks on both sides of the street, illustrate the prosperity of the city.

There are not many such cities in the South Asian continent, but it happens to be the most prosperous one.

This city is the capital of the Mughal Dynasty, Lahore...

Under the repairs of Mughal's successive "Padesha", dozens of mosques, tombs, shrines and other religious facilities were erected, reaching the peak of city culture in the South Asian continent.

Although compared with Beijing City, Nanjing City, and even Chengdu, Yangzhou, Suzhou and other cities, it does not appear to be so prosperous, but it is enough for the Mughal monarchs and people.

As the center of the dynasty, the facts have also proved that, in a certain sense, it is not inferior to the Beijing city...

"Increasing troops? Didn't the Ming people come from afar? How many troops can they have? How many artillery pieces?"

"Mirza already has 12 troops and 730 cannons in his hands. Doesn't he have the confidence to take down the Ming army?"

"Reply and tell him that the wild dogs from all sides are ready to attack us, let him deal with the Ming army by himself, and don't miss this good opportunity to capture the south."

In the Rahal Castle, the tallest building in the city, a man with almost no Mongolian characteristics, on the contrary somewhat Persian, threw the letter paper in his hand on the table.

This Persian-looking man is the ruler of the Mughal dynasty, Shah Jahan.

The 38-year-old Shah Jahan was in his prime, the age when an emperor was obsessed with opening up territories, and the appearance of the Ming army gave him the opportunity to occupy the entire South Asian subcontinent.

Daming, unable to integrate into the religious atmosphere of the South Asian subcontinent, is doomed to become a public enemy of the whole people.

This atmosphere was not yet evident when they wiped out several Hindu countries in the south.

But when they took action against the five major sultanates, the atmosphere in the entire region changed.

Those countries that had been obedient to the Mughals due to religious "differences" cast olive branches one after another. The five major countries even fled northward, creating rebellion behind the Ming army while encouraging the Mughal army to go south.

For this group of people, religion represents a position, and they don't want to surrender to the Mughals because the two have differences in doctrine.

But when this kind of difference is faced with outsiders who don't believe in anything, they are instantly forgotten.

Compared with Ming Dynasty, they are more willing to throw themselves into the embrace of Mughal.

Because of this, Shah Jahan, who thought he had won the hearts of the people, gathered an army of [-] and went south. Taking advantage of the internal and external troubles of the Ming army, he launched a surprise attack and seized the vast territory in the north of the Godavari River.

Shah Jahan was very pleased that the untouchables who had resisted the dynasty in the area had become extremely obedient now, so he added another 5000 troops.

However, judging from Mirza's letter at the moment, the fighting power of the Ming army who obtained the gunpowder is not weak. They relied on the Godavari River to counterattack the dynasty's army, and the two sides are now caught in an atmosphere of confrontation.

Shah Jahan is not a fool, on the contrary he has his own strategic vision and political vision, and he also very much wants to support Mirza to win the South.

Because once the south is won, the dynasty can release the [-] troops stationed in the south for a long time, and use the troops in Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

It's just that although he understands it, he can't do it because the external forces are about to move...

"How much has the Persian army gathered in Kandahar?"

Shah Jahan frowned tightly, and set his eyes on the minister in front of him, and the minister also talked eloquently after hearing the words:
"Currently there are 6 people, and it is estimated that there will be more troops in the future. They probably want us to fall into a situation of being pinched."

"Once the troops are withdrawn from the south, the northwest will increase its troops, so we have to increase our troops to deal with it."

"Once the troops increase in the northwest, the south will be empty, and the Ming army will go north again."

"The situation is difficult, Padisha..."

The minister's words basically explained why Shah Jahan couldn't increase his troops to the south.

Since the outbreak of war between the Ming army and the Mughals, the Safavid dynasty in Persia has begun to gather heavy troops on the border, looking ready to move.

As for the reason why the Safavid dynasty was so radical, the reason is that Abbas the Great, who met Xu Xiake at the beginning, died of illness last year, and his eldest grandson Safi succeeded him and became the "Shah" of Safavid.

After Safi ascended the throne, he immediately dispatched troops from the country and sent some of them to Kandahar, not only to prevent the Uzbeks from the north from invading, but also to demonstrate his authority as a "Shah".

Local forces have changed, and Shah Jahan can only increase troops to the northwest frontier in order to stabilize.

Originally, the number of Mughal troops was only 40, and the country and the border needed to be stable. Therefore, after sending a total of 12 troops to the south, the Mughals did not have any mobile troops.

The only way to increase troops now is to recruit troops, but even if recruiting troops, it will take at least a few months.

Shah Jahan had already sent businessmen to spy on the intelligence, and it would take six months to reach India from the mainland of Ming Dynasty, so a quick decision must be made.

Of course, soldiers who should be trained still have to be trained.

"Order the governors of various places to recruit another [-] new recruits, and the artillery factories and gun factories in various places are also vigorously producing. In three months, I will see [-] troops going south."

"Also tell Mirza that within three months I will see him drive the Ming army to the south bank of the Balal River!"

Shah Jahan gave orders to the ministers, and the Balal River he mentioned was the third river from north to south from the Deccan Plateau.

There are tens of millions of acres of arable land in the eastern coastal plain between the Godavari River and the Balal River.

Losing the tens of millions of acres of arable land and the inland area of ​​​​a province, the Mughal army can better advance southward in the future.

It has to be said that Shah Jahan's idea is very good, but the minister also reminded him of the current situation:
"Pa Desha, although we have more troops in the south, the artillery of the Ming army is not bad, and the number is not small."

"In addition, the Persians stationed troops in Kandahar. It is hard to say when it will cause war. I think that at this time, we can send envoys to win over the Ottoman Mudra Sultan, and let the Ottomans send troops to attack Persia to ease the predicament."

"If Osman is willing to send troops, then Persia will definitely send troops back to help, and we can transfer the troops from the northwest to the south and the recruits we recruit to the northwest."

The minister gave a very good suggestion on the current situation, and Shah Jahan was very satisfied after hearing it, but to win over Osman, Mughal must show sincerity.

"Take 60 rupees, send some people to intercede for us, and say that I am willing to form an alliance with Mudra Sultan."

Shah Jahan expressed his sincerity. Although the 60 rupees were only converted to 20 taels of silver, it must be known that the annual fiscal revenue of the Ottoman Empire at this time was only more than 200 million taels of silver.

At this time, the annual income of Britain was only more than 400 million taels, and that of Spain was more than 500 million.

For the world's largest and second largest economies except the Mughals and Ming Dynasty, 20 taels is not much, but for these countries, 20 taels is not a lot.

In the Ottoman Empire, where there were not many gold and silver mines, and Europe under inflation, 20 taels of silver was enough to train a new army of 6000 people, or to maintain the military expenses of an army of [-] people.

Although in Shah Jahan's view, the amount of money was not too much, it was enough to tempt the Ottoman Empire. After all, the land they had conquered belonged to them.

Shah Jahan's order was quickly issued layer by layer, and the ship loaded with 60 rupees of silver coins set sail under the news.

The governors of various places under the rule of the Mughal Dynasty also began to recruit recruits, and on the southern battlefield, Huanglong also arrived at the front with four battalions of soldiers and horses.

The two armies of the Ming and Mozambique confronted each other on the Godavari River. The Ming army had reduced its personnel after fighting. At the end of March, the Ming army still maintained an army of 8000 people, armed with 520 flintlock guns and [-] Yanshan ten-jin artillery pieces. [-] five five-pound guns.

Although the Mughal army under Mirza's command also suffered battle reductions, the total number has remained at around 11, with 32 matchlock guns and twenty 24-pound cannons, as well as [-]-pound, [-]-pound, and [-]-pound cannons. Seven hundred guns of two-pound, six-pound and other sizes.

From the perspective of firearms, the Mughal army has a large caliber, but the number of artillery is not as good as that of the Ming army. As for the muskets, the Ming army has the upper hand.

However, in terms of short soldiers and cavalry, the Ming army is obviously at a disadvantage.

The Mughals still had [-] short soldiers and [-] cavalry, while the Ming army had only [-] fusiliers.

In terms of military strength, Mirza has an advantage, but geographically, the two sides are almost the same.

Although Mizar is condescending, the Ming army has the Godavari River as a shield, and in terms of civil engineering, the Ming army's construction capabilities are second to none.

In the previous blocking battle, the Mughal army under Mizar's command suffered from various civil defenses of the Ming army and lost 5000 troops.

Therefore, in general, the battle situation on the front line of the Godavari River is about seventy-three points, the Mughal army occupies [-]% of the advantage, and the Ming army occupies [-]%.

As for the logistics and supplies, the Ming army mainly transported by sea, and then transferred to the river to deliver various materials to the front line.

Due to the lack of local warships, almost all of the Mughal warships hid in their own ports and did not dare to step out of the port for fear of being sunk by the Ming Navy and Huangdian armed merchant ships with a total tonnage of nearly one million tons at sea.

Unable to supply by sea, Mirza can only rely on civilian husbands on land.

In order to maintain the 11 troops on the front line, Mirza recruited 26 civilians. Compared with them, the number of civilians in the Ming army in the north was less than 6.

These 6 people are all Tanjour native husbands who have been suppressed. They believe in Hinduism. In terms of religious "big rights and wrongs", they chose to help the Ming army fight against the Muslims.

Of course, there are not a few people who hate the Ming army and act against others, but they often turn into corpses when they are discovered.

Therefore, in terms of logistical issues on the northern front, the logistical pressure of the Mughal army was far greater than that of the Ming army.

Under such a situation, it is not impossible to attack by force, but the Mughal army will suffer heavy losses, and Mizar has ministers from the five major sultanates who fled north, and they have brought a lot of intelligence to the south.

He knew that the Ming army still had 4 troops in the south responsible for encircling and suppressing the rebels, and there were more than [-] elite sailors at sea.

Once the two sides start fighting, or deploy troops from various places, and the heavy troops gather on the Godavari River front, resulting in an empty rear, Mirza has no doubt that the [-] elite of the Ming army will launch an attack on the long Mughal coastline.

The fact is as he expected, after Huanglong arrived at the front line, he immediately commanded the navy to conduct a tentative attack on the coast of the Mughal Deccan region.

Such attacks forced Mirza to divide his forces among the coastal cities, and by early April, the number of Mughal troops on the Godavari front had dropped to 9.

Under the oppression of various problems such as logistics problems and coastal defense pressure problems, the war balance of the Godavari River is tilting. Huanglong used the advantages of the navy to pull back the disadvantages of the army.

On the frontal battlefield, the Mughal army and the Ming army reached a [-]-[-] split.

With such a situation, coupled with the situation in the country, Mirza did not dare to order an attack for a long time, and the two armies continued to be at a stalemate...

"The army in Bangalore was wiped out by the counter-rebel army of the Ming army, and the number of the southern army has dropped to [-]..."

On the tenth day of April, when a minister of the Sultanate spoke, in the temporary governor's mansion in Nizamabad on the north bank of the Godavari River, officers at all levels of the Mughal Southern Expeditionary Army looked at the sand table with frowning eyes.

On the sand table, the defense line of the Ming army was like an iron barrel, especially the earthworks composed of various horse refusals and trenches, which made the officers who commanded the cavalry a headache.

The person who spoke was a minister of the Sultanate who had fled north, and the army he was talking about was the remnants of the troops of various countries entrenched on the plateau.

The number of these troops has dropped from more than 9 in February to [-] at present, and more than [-] people have been encircled and annihilated.

This news made everyone feel bad. They knew very well that once the southern rebels were wiped out, the 3 flat rebels in the south could deploy [-] people to support the Godavari River defense line.

At that time, the number of Ming troops on the front line will reach 8, which is basically the same as them.

Therefore, after hearing the news, all the officers looked towards Mirza subconsciously.

Faced with their questioning eyes, Mirza did not panic, but said very flatly:

"The rear is already recruiting [-] troops, and they can reach the front line in six months at most."

"But "Padisha" let the three of us push the front line to the Balal River..."

A Turkic officer couldn't help but reminded, "It's only two months now."

"As for the battle front, I have already replied to "Pa Desha". We are facing a Ming army of less than 9, but in fact they have more than 14 people on land and sea, while we have less than [-]."

"Not to mention the 2 people in the Navy..."

Mirza took a walk around the sand table and talked about the situation on the battlefield, but when he talked about the navy, his expression was a bit unsightly.

It has to be said that he was humiliated by Huanglong's sea guerrilla tactics, which led to his unsuccessful launch of an all-out offensive in the summer.

"The Ming army's sea power is not weak. In the past half month, we have been captured by them in two cities and seventeen market towns. Although they have recovered all of them, the looted property..."

One of Mirza's confidants hesitated to speak, and the news made the officers a little depressed.

The Mughal navy was mainly established after the third emperor Akbar conquered Bengal more than [-] years ago.

The navy is divided into two fleets, the East Fleet and the West Fleet. The East Fleet defends the route to East Asia, and the West Fleet is in charge of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Although it sounds very mighty and majestic, its level is actually worrying. Even the pirates in the Bay of Bengal are helpless.

The warships of the entire army are basically refitted from civilian ships and fishing boats, while the main battleships and special warships are basically Mediterranean, Middle Eastern or Caravel style ships.

Since Indian craftsmen didn't like to use iron nails, and they couldn't master the mortise and tenon technology of the Ming Dynasty, the structure and rigidity of the ships they built themselves were not enough to withstand the recoil of naval guns.

In addition, the entire noble group is composed of Turks, Mongols and Persians, so it is very difficult to find some naval officers.

At this point, the Mughals played their own characteristics of being rich and powerful, and directly chose to hire experienced European sailors as their naval consultants and technicians.

But even so, European sailors still could not save the Mughal navy.

If it is difficult to describe the naval gap between Ming and Mo, then the current very safe route in the Bay of Bengal is enough to explain.

Before the Ming army captured Ceylon Island and established the Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commission, the entire Bay of Bengal waters were full of smuggling ships, privateers, and a large number of pirates.

Not only did the Mughals have nothing to do with them, but the European colonists basically had nothing to do with them when they colonized Southeast Asia.

As a result, after Da Ming rushed out of Malacca and established the Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commission, in less than two years, pirates big and small in the Bengal waters sank to the bottom of the sea.

It is no exaggeration to say that the current Bay of Bengal is the pond at the gate of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the [-] waste navy behind Mirza really did not help the battle situation.

On the contrary, it was the navy of the Ming army that made them look ashamed and fought fires everywhere.

Although Huanglong's simple land warfare is not as good as Sun Chuanting, Sun Yingyuan, Man Gui, Xiong Tingbi and other generals of the Qi palace, but in terms of land and sea tactics, he is still the first-class at present, which is why Zhu Youjian sent him to command the Xiaoxiyang Expeditionary Army.

The terrain of the subcontinent determines that as long as the navy is used well, it is not difficult for the weak to defeat the strong.

Huanglong can use the navy to equalize the war situation, which Mirza did not expect.

However, this also reminded Mirza that if Huanglong insisted on such a tactic, once the Ming army's suppression of the rebellion ended and the reinforcements went north, the Mughals would most likely be pushed back.

"The firearm equipment rate of the Ming army is about [-]%, which is [-]% higher than ours."

Mirza looked at the defense line of the Ming army and had an idea in his heart:

"Similar to their line of defense, we also set up a line of defense on the north bank, and at the same time, we must stay [-] steps away from the river."

"Yes!"

Mirza was planning ahead for the Ming army's counterattack. If the [-] reinforcements behind them arrived at the front line first, he would launch a general offensive without hesitation.

If the southern Ming army's suppression of the rebellion ends and reinforcements go north, then the line of defense he built can hold back the Ming army for a period of time and wait for the support of [-] reinforcements in the rear.

In short, if you don't plan for victory, plan for defeat first. Only when you are in an invincible position can you have the opportunity to find the enemy's loopholes and then counterattack.

Mirza's idea is very good, and it is really not difficult to implement.

Although the Ming and Mo armies did not launch a full-scale general attack, the local tug-of-war did not stop. They had also seen the power of the Ming army's civil engineering, so they had long remembered it in their hearts.

After Mirza's order, the Mughal troops in various places began to build defensive positions, and the places they chose were basically far higher than the altitude of the Godavari River, and they chose to build on mounds and halfway up the mountain.

When they were building the fortifications, the Ming army was keenly aware that something was wrong.

"The distance is about [-] steps. It seems to be the distance chosen to prevent our warships from entering the river and bombarding the defense line."

"Basically, they copied our army. These southern captives are quite smart..."

On the bank of the river, Huang Long, Qi Yuanfu, and Li Dan came to the front line under the guard of soldiers, using clairvoyance to detect all the actions of the Mughal army.

In fact, the current Ming army is not feeling well. There are more than 3000 people, and nearly 8000 people are not acclimatized and sent to Yanan for training. There are less than 5000 people in the position.

This is also the reason why Huanglong used sea harassment tactics in advance after arriving at the front line.

Because if the Mughals' southern invasion army is not contained, then in the continuous reduction of personnel, once the entire Mughal army attacks, the defense of the Ming army will be very difficult.

However, even if the Mughals choose to divide their troops to protect the coastal cities, the ratio of the Ming army to the Mughal army is still one to two on the Godavari River front.

Both sides occupy a favorable location. If anyone crosses the valley of the Godavari River, they will face military counterattacks on the other side of the valley.

The entire defense line is in a "concave" shape, whoever attacks will suffer, and whoever defends will gain.

Although Huanglong is eager to regain the Narmada River defense line, he also knows that the current situation does not allow him to do so.

He wanted to wait until the counter-insurgency ended in six months, and then Da Ming would support another [-] troops in six months.

At that time, with 16 troops left behind, the Ming army can reach [-] soldiers and horses on the Godavari River defense line, and [-] soldiers and horses at sea will be responsible for feint attacks.

20 troops gathered in the South Asian continent. Once the Ming army won the battle, it would not be as simple as pushing back to the Narmada River defense line.

The Mughals will lose the entire Deccan Plateau and coastal cities, and will be completely blocked in the interior by the Ming army and become a landlocked country.

As long as his back is against the sea, Huanglong can push back little by little with the help of Daming's shipping volume.

But for him, there is no need to fight to that extent, because this area is reserved for the feudal vassals, not for Daming to govern.

"It's good to leave this ghost place to the feudal clans. If we are left to manage it, I'm afraid it will involve a lot of energy from the court..."

Huang Long lowered his clairvoyance and sighed to Li Dan and Qi Yuanfu who were on his left and right, and they both nodded in approval.

To put it bluntly, the current South Asian continent is the same as raising Gu.

Indians, Persians, Turks, and more than 100 ethnic groups...

The languages, cultures, and religions of various ethnic groups are different, especially in terms of religion, and Ming is destined not to be able to integrate into them.

It is not very realistic for the Ming army to engage in large-scale cultivation of seedlings and expansion, because the cycle of "driving seedlings and expansion" is too long.

For example, in the old port right now, why does it still need to maintain six to ten battalions of troops?The main reason is that there was a conflict with the local culture. Some local people have been hiding in the mountains and engaging in guerrilla warfare with the Ming army.

The Ming army's government roads on each island of Jiugang were built along the coast, which is enough to show that the Ming army's control over the interior of each island is actually insufficient.

Facing the old port with a population of less than [-] million, the Ming army still needed to maintain six to ten battalions of soldiers and horses, let alone facing the South Asian continent.

Kill people?What Daming needs is the population market, and killing people is tantamount to shrinking the cake.

The economic potential of the South Asian continent can be seen from the Mughal taxation. If Ming occupies this market, uses the vassals to rule and control, continues to emigrate and reduce the local natives, then Ming can maintain 5000 million taels for a long time. above taxes.

This is also the result of the local taxation being assigned to the vassals, and the Ming Dynasty only relying on the market to conduct normal business and trade.

Needless to say, what is the concept of 5000 million taels, but the unpaid Ming army, the paid Ming army, and the richly paid Ming army exist in three different forms.

The most Huanglong can do is to solve the diehard religious elements, and then leave India, which is full of religious problems, to the vassals.

As long as all the vassals are defeated, he will immediately evacuate the capital, ask for peace talks with the Mughals, and then let the vassals join the vassals, train recruits for them, and withdraw the 10,000+ troops of Xiaoxiyang to the mainland of Ming Dynasty, or involved in other wars.

He thought so and did it.

But the premise of all this is that he must get Zhu Youjian's second increase in troops before he can take down all the vassal lands...

　The Mughals at this stage are not weak. There are many reasons for being colonized by the British, especially in the area of ​​religion...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)