Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2365: Bloody Battle of Rajmahar

Chapter 2365: Bloody Battle at Rajmahar (Part )
On the walls of Rajmahar, Gao Yuan nervously watched the movement of the Mughal Empire's vanguard army below the city. At this time, the enemy's vanguard had already arrived near the city, with flags flying and dust flying, showing their strength and confidence in avenging their previous defeat.

It has to be said that the vanguard army led by the imperial Padishah Jahangir himself was like a giant black dragon stretching out its body at this moment, and the scene that stretched for miles was indeed imposing.

Gao Yuan's left hand tightly grasped the hilt of the sword hanging on his waist. He knew that this was a battle that concerned the morale and honor of the Southern Xinjiang Western Expedition Army. He could only win, not lose. But no matter what, he did not have the real command power, so he could only turn to Liu Xin and whispered, "Auntie, although Gao Shizhong's troops are elite, we can't just stand on the city wall and watch them defeat the enemy, right? Shouldn't we do something now?"

Compared to Gao Yuan, Liu Xin's eyes were much calmer, with almost no emotion shown. However, when she heard this question, a hint of relief appeared in her eyes.

She nodded slightly and said to Gao Yuan softly, "Yuan'er is right. Although we have decided to use a small number of cavalry to defeat the enemy and quickly hit the enemy's morale and boost our morale, if we just send them out to forcibly charge, then these more than a thousand soldiers are indeed weak.

If they succeed in breaking through the formation, and our army is still pressing forward, then it won’t be a problem. But right now, our main force is not planning to go out, so they won’t get reinforcements to break through the formation. As long as the enemy finds out about this, they will stabilize their position and start to surround them. No matter how elite they are, they will be worn down to death.”

Gao Yuan was anxious when he heard this. Gao Shizhong's 1,000-plus cavalrymen were his father's personal soldiers, and he couldn't let them die here. So he quickly asked, "What about now..." At this point, Gao Yuan suddenly had an idea and thought to himself: I don't dare to die with the personal soldiers my father sent me, but does my aunt dare? Since she was so calm, it seemed that she must have had a backup plan.

Gao Yuan only said half of his words. Liu Xin naturally noticed it. She glanced at him, smiled slightly, and nodded, saying, "It seems that you have thought of something... Yes, Auntie does have other means to cooperate with Gao Shizhong and others. Yuan'er, you must listen carefully to every order given by Auntie. Afterwards, Auntie will test you on the purpose of each of these orders. Do you understand?"

Gao Yuan's spirit tensed up, and he immediately said, "Yes."

Liu Xin then turned to Gao Musan who was standing at the side and asked, "Musan, how long will it take for the fleet to arrive?"

Takagi San is the deputy chief of staff of the Nanyang Fleet and chief of staff of the Western Expedition Fleet. However, he has always been good at naval battles, and this is the first time he has made operational plans for inland warfare. Judging from Liu Xin's question, it seems that the fleet also has a mission this time, and it has even been arranged in advance.

Gao Musan saluted, looked at the fluttering state of the flag used to measure wind speed, and answered confidently: "Reporting to the deputy commander, if there is no accident on the way, it is estimated that it will only take two quarters of an hour to reach the river here."

In ancient China, a day was divided into 100 ke, so one ke was equivalent to 14.4 minutes. This is slightly different from later generations but not much, so two ke is basically equal to half an hour.

Liu Xin nodded and said, "Get ready. When the fleet approaches, use flag signals to have them fire their artillery at the enemy's vanguard outside the city. We don't need to achieve significant results, but we need to make a big splash."

"Yes, Deputy Commander." Gao Musan agreed immediately, then turned and walked quickly towards the city wall on the river side.

Liu Xin turned to Gao Sigang and said, "Sigang, you have the most artillery and the best artillery. You should deploy them. Make sure the artillery troops on the west and north gates are ready to leave the city and set up artillery positions. Note that the accompanying infantry should be reduced to half of the requirements of the Drill Manual... No, reduce it to 30%."

Gao Sigang was the commander of the Second Town of the Dingnan Garrison Army, which was roughly equivalent to the rank of a division commander in later generations. Since the Dingnan Garrison Army was the absolute core force with the largest organization among all the garrisons in Southern Xinjiang, Liu Xin said that his army had "the most artillery and the best weapons." As for Liu Xin's order, Gao Sigang knew it was to lure the enemy. Although the bait was indeed a bit large, he could understand it, so he nodded in agreement, then left and went to command in person.

Liu Xin also said to Gao Siyao, the commander of the Third Regiment of the Phnom Penh Garrison Army, another pillar of the Western Expedition Army, "Siyao, you will temporarily command the city defense artillery. Wait until Sigang's troops leave the city and the enemy begins to move before launching long-range artillery fire. This time, the artillery fire also does not require significant results, but only requires a huge momentum."

At this point, Gao Siyao also understood the purpose of these arrangements, so he replied to the military order, responded loudly, and then personally took over the command of the city defense artillery and began to direct the city defense artillery to concentrate on the west and north walls.

Why are they both west and north? Because the Ganges River is to the south and Bengal is to the east.

Everyone knows why the Ganges River does not need to be defended, as Beijing has a water advantage. Then why does the east, as the most critical land "food route", not need to be defended?

In fact, the reason is very simple. Although the Nanjiang Western Expedition Army in Rajmahar City is far less than the 100,000 troops dispatched by the Mughal Empire this time, it is not something that can be surrounded by just one vanguard. If Jahangir really uses this vanguard to surround Rajmahar on three sides, then his troops in each direction will be seriously insufficient. Once the Nanjiang Western Expedition Army mobilizes elite troops to attack the Mughal vanguard outside the west city, this part will inevitably be unable to support it. In this way, the food supply of the Mughal vanguard was cut off by the Western Expedition Army.

A large amount of food had already been prepared in Rajmahar. Even if the gate of the East City was blocked by the Mughal army and the food supply was temporarily cut off, people would not have to worry about food and drink because of the food stored in the city, so it would not have a significant impact on morale.

On the other hand, the Mughal army marched all the way from Agra to the east, and the distance between the two places was more than 2500 miles (this is the straight-line distance, the actual distance is about miles), which is almost equivalent to from Beijing to Hangzhou, or from Beijing to Lanzhou. This means that their logistical pressure is already very great, and if the food supply is cut off, it is almost certain to die.

Of course, someone may ask, isn't this coming along the Ganges? Wouldn't the Mughal army use the Ganges to transport food? Of course they would, but unfortunately the friend who asked this question probably rarely reads Indian news and is not very familiar with the shipping situation on the Ganges.

In fact, the shipping value of the Ganges is indeed very low, mainly due to the following reasons:
First, the hydrological conditions of the Ganges are unstable. The Ganges River Basin has a tropical monsoon climate with distinct rainy and dry seasons. The rainy season accounts for more than 80% of the annual precipitation, while the rest of the year is the dry season, with a sharp decrease in water volume. This seasonal change in water volume greatly reduces the Ganges River's shipping value during the dry season, making it difficult for ships to pass.

Secondly, the Ganges River has a very high sediment content. The Ganges River transports up to 15 billion tons of sediment every year, which is more than the Yellow River. This has caused the riverbed to rise continuously, the channel to become shallower, and large ships cannot pass through. In addition, the Padma River, a major tributary of the Ganges River, also carries a large amount of sediment into the sea, further restricting the development of shipping.

Third, the terrain and bridge issues of the Ganges. The Ganges Plain is flat with almost no drop, so it is impossible to build a large reservoir to regulate the water volume. The river is winding and full of shoals and islands, which makes navigation inconvenient. In addition, the Indian government of later generations built many bridges on the river, further increasing the difficulty of navigation.

Of course, the Indian government seems to have taken some measures to improve the shipping conditions of the Ganges River. For example, it implemented the National Waterway Project No. 1 to dredge the river. But even after the treatment, the Ganges River can only accommodate ships below 3000 tons, and its transportation capacity is still not as good as that of railways - note, not as good as that of Indian Railways.

Of course, the above is the situation in the future. At this time, some conditions should be viewed separately. For example, it is now the rainy season of the Ganges River, and the flow is still sufficient, even almost too sufficient. For another example, there are no bridges on the Ganges River now.

Therefore, the current situation is the opposite: the Ganges has sufficient water flow and a flat river channel (of course there is a lot of silt, but this does not affect combat or transportation), making it suitable for sailing.

Well, wouldn't that make it convenient for the Mughal Empire to use the Ganges to transport food? Yes, but Jahangir was an "ally" of Southern Xinjiang before, and he knew the strength of Southern Xinjiang's water power. However, the Mughal Empire was not able to achieve what it has today by relying on water power.

Therefore, Jahangir did not dare to rely on water routes for food supplies, for fear that he would be wiped out by southern Xinjiang. The giant ships of the South China Sea Fleet did not dare to go deep into the inland rivers, but small and medium-sized ships were not afraid and could sail freely in the lower reaches of the Ganges.

[Note: By the way, the Yangtze River, this golden waterway, is not naturally "invincible" as it is today. It is because New China has taken many measures and spent a lot of energy and money to maintain it that it has become what it is today. Interested friends can learn about it by themselves, instead of simply mocking India and then boasting that the Yangtze River is "selected by our ancestors." Rather than saying that the land of China is carefully selected by our ancestors, it is better to say that our civilization is the real selection of our ancestors.]
Liu Xin finally paused after making the arrangements here, and turned to Gao Yuan and asked, "Yuan'er, can you tell me what these orders from Auntie just now are doing?"

Gao Yuan nodded. He felt that he understood Liu Xin's plan, so he answered without hesitation: "Auntie is deliberately creating confusion to distract the enemy. Once they take the bait, it will be the time for Gao Shizhong's troops to attack."

Liu Xin was very pleased and nodded, "It seems that you really did not read those military books and strategies in vain. Congratulations."

Gao Yuan said, "Aunt, military books and strategies are certainly useful, but this time when we go south, I can really see you use the troops, and then I can have you explain everything to me. This is more important."

Liu Xin just smiled and didn't take credit for it, but Gao Yuan said with a tone that was not sure whether it was anticipation or regret: "It's a pity that I never had the opportunity to follow my father and observe his military tactics..."

Liu Xin thought about it and said with some regret: "Speaking of this matter, even my aunt can hardly help you. After all, it is unlikely that there will be any major wars nowadays that would require your father to take action."
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PS: I received an unexpected obituary on Wednesday morning and immediately rushed back to my hometown to attend a sudden funeral. I just got back this afternoon. Alas, several elders in my family have passed away this year... Although this is the way of heaven, I still feel very emotional.

Routine thanks:

Thanks to the book friend "Qiushuang Wanyue" for the reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "malyvu", "Easley2023", and "doni" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!

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