Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2366: Bloody Battle at Rajmahar (Part )
What Liu Xin said was indeed the truth. Considering the current national strength, military power and geopolitical situation of the Ming Dynasty, it was hard to imagine any powerful enemy that would require Gao Youshi, the chief minister of the cabinet, to take charge personally.

To be honest, when Gao Youshi personally led the troops to war for the last time, he was only the Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace, ranking third among the cabinet ministers. Let alone the first minister, he was not even the second minister - of course, later on, because the first minister Wang Jiaping and the second minister Liang Menglong both requested to retire at the same time and were approved, Gao Youshi skipped the second minister and took over as the first minister, but that is another story.

Gao Yuan certainly understood the reason behind this, so he just said it, and then he cheered up and said, "Thank you for your kindness, auntie, but this may not be a bad thing. I can't always rely on my father to guide me in everything."

Liu Xin has always been grateful that Gao Yuan was willing to call himself "child" in front of her. After all, in this era, there is no reason for the eldest son to call himself a child in front of his father's concubine. Gao Yuan's doing this shows that he still has great respect for his teacher.

However, Gao Yuan’s last sentence inevitably made her a little sensitive - Oh, you said in front of me that I can’t rely on my father to guide me in everything, and I seem to be in the position of “relying on guidance” now, do you have any opinion?
In fact, it was no wonder that she was sensitive. Her special status in Jinghua was already a bit out of line for the conservative empire of Ming Dynasty. Now, she was clearly designated by Gao Youshi as the actual commander of the Southern Xinjiang Western Expedition Army. Her power was superior to Gao Yuan, the prince of Jingguo...

If Gao Yuan was two or three years younger, it might be easier for me to act as his "mentor". However, Gao Yuan was already thirteen years old when he went south last year, and he is fourteen years old this year, only two years away from the sixteen-year-old age when men in the Ming Dynasty reach adulthood. This makes it difficult to handle.

Recently, even Liu Xin herself sometimes couldn't help thinking that my current identity is a bit like Gao Zuo when Yang Guang conquered Chen. In name, I was only the Marshal's Chief Clerk, but in reality, I was the "temporary guardian" of Yang Guang, the Prince of Jin, and "all the military affairs were decided by Gao Zuo". But the problem was that although Yang Guang generally showed respect for Gao Zuo at that time, he actually had a lot of resentment in his heart... Later, it was this Emperor Daye who killed Gao Zuo.

Although Gao Yuan is a few years younger than Yang Guang when he conquered Chen, he obviously has a certain talent for acting - although he is still very immature, he is definitely not a straightforward person - so, is it possible that he is also secretly dissatisfied with listening to a "woman" giving orders every day?

Gao Yuan noticed that Liu Xin seemed to be in a trance, so he called out softly, "Auntie?"

"Ah?" Liu Xin came back to her senses and nodded, "Well, what you said makes sense. After all, you are the prince of Jingguo. You will inherit your father's huge family business and power in the future. How can you do without all-round training... How about this, we have just analyzed what we are going to do next, so the specific follow-up instructions will be decided by you, how about it?"

Gao Yuan seemed a little surprised and asked, "Is it all up to the child?"

"Yes, it's all up to you." Liu Xin is the daughter of a general, so now that she has made the decision, she will not be vague.

Unexpectedly, Gao Yuan hesitated for a moment, thought for a moment, and then said, "Thank you for your training, Auntie, but this battle is very important, and I lack experience after all. If I lose a large number of elite soldiers in vain because of training me, it will be very detrimental to the Gao family's foundation and my father's reputation.

I think it would be better if this were the case: if my decision is generally feasible, you would acquiesce without saying a word; if my decision is obviously wrong, please correct it immediately without worrying about my face. Aunt, what do you think?"

Liu Xin was very satisfied with Gao Yuan's attitude. She nodded with a smile and said, "At your age, you are able to put the overall situation first. If your father knew, he would definitely praise you. Well, I will act according to your words... Now you just need to give the order."

While explaining, Liu Xin couldn't help but re-evaluate in her heart: Looking at Yuan'er's attitude, it seems that he really doesn't have any dissatisfaction. I'm afraid I'm worrying too much when comparing him with Yang Guang - unless his acting skills are even better than Yang Guang's in his early years. Well, if he learns all his father's skills, this is not impossible...

While Liu Xin was thinking about something, Gao Yuan had already started giving orders. He ordered the defenders in the city to prepare for battle and act according to the previous order. Then he issued another order, asking the elite cavalry led by Gao Shizhong to be ready for battle behind the city gate, but to stand by for the time being until the rest of the troops created conditions for the attack.

Following Gao Yuan's order, the various troops of the Southern Xinjiang Western Expedition Army began to act according to the plan.

Gao Sigang's artillery units began to be deployed at the west and north gates of the city. Their actions were deliberately discovered by the enemy's sentries in order to confuse the enemy.

Therefore, the gates on the west and north sides of the city were opened, and teams of soldiers from the Southern Xinjiang Western Expedition Army filed out and headed towards the Mughal Vanguard Army outside the city. Their ranks were neat and their morale was high, showing the elite momentum of the Southern Xinjiang Army. Since their actions were unconcealed, the Mughal Vanguard Army immediately judged that the Southern Xinjiang Army was about to leave the city from these two directions to establish artillery positions.

At the same time, Gao Musan stood on the wall on the river side, waiting for the arrival of the Nanyang Fleet. He stared at the river in the distance with a telescope in his hand. Finally, after exactly two quarters of an hour, a huge fleet appeared in his sight.

This fleet consisted of dozens of small and medium-sized warships, some of which were conventional armed transport ships at sea, but were the main force like water monsters in the Ganges River. The remaining inland gunboats were sent in batches from southern Xinjiang in the past six months - after all, the Bengal region had many rivers, and the inland fleet was very useful. Now, whether it was an armed transport ship or an inland gunboat, the black muzzles of the guns on the ship were pointing directly at the Mughal vanguard outside the city.

The Mughal Empire mobilized its elite troops for this battle, and the vanguard troops were of course experienced in combat. Seeing these actions, they immediately became alert. Jahangir naturally thought that the Southern Xinjiang Army was going to rely on its artillery advantage to give him a head start.

The newly crowned Padishah immediately issued a series of orders, and the Mughal vanguard formation began to tilt to the west and north, while keeping as much distance as possible to prepare for possible artillery attacks. Although Jahangir still had some doubts in his heart, he had to respond to the provocation of the southern Xinjiang army just in case.

"Order the fleet to prepare for bombardment!" As the fleet took its positions in the river, Takagi San immediately gave loud orders and sent out flag signals.

Following his order, the fleet quickly adjusted its formation, and the gunners on the armed transport ships began to get busy. They loaded shells into the gun barrels, adjusted the angle and direction of the muzzles, and prepared to launch an attack on the Mughal vanguard.

Gao Mu Sanze secretly calculated the time on the tower. When he estimated that the fleet's preparations for bombardment were complete, he decisively issued the order to bombard. The flag bearer on the tower waved the flag to order the bombardment, and the gunners on the fleet immediately entered combat mode. They skillfully made the final parameter adjustments, aimed the muzzle at the target, and ignited the fuse of the barrel.

As the deafening sound of the cannons rang out, the shells whirled and flew towards the enemy, landing in their camp, bringing up patches of blood - yes, the shells whirled, because this round of bombardment used chain shells. Since Rajmahar was built along the river, the Mughal vanguard was also deployed along the river, which meant that the fleet was not too far from the Mughal army's position. If it was not too far, there was no need to use long heavy artillery to fire solid bullets, but to choose to use chain shells with greater destructive power.

Chain bombs are generally used at medium and short range at sea to destroy the sails and cables of enemy ships in a tearing manner to eliminate the power of enemy ships. However, if used on land, the force of this swirling tearing is enough to reap the lives of at least dozens of people in its path like the scythe of death.

The Nanyang Fleet did this more than once or twice, and the result was naturally as they expected. The Mughal vanguard soldiers were torn to pieces by a large number of chain bullets, and their screams were endless. Their formation was instantly in chaos, and the soldiers were panicked when they saw their comrades suddenly turned into broken limbs and arms, and they fled everywhere. The originally neat team became fragmented, and morale dropped sharply.

Gao Musan stood on the city wall, staring at the battlefield through a telescope. He saw the Mughal vanguard soldiers who were deployed close to the Ganges River being defeated by artillery fire, and secretly admired Deputy Commander Liu's strategy.

His only regret was that the firing range of artillery these days was still limited. Such effective chain bullets could only hit the Mughal troops near the river. If they were farther away, they would have to use solid bullets that were not as effective. But he would not do that, because Gao Sigang was in charge of that side, and he only needed to continue attacking the Mughal troops by the river.

Indeed, Gao Sigang's tactics were also completed smoothly. Although land artillery is usually smaller in caliber than naval artillery, Rajmahal is the front line of defense of the Mughal Empire, and there are still several Type 2 heavy artillery on the city walls. Now there are eight guns in the west gate and north gate combined.

The eight heavy guns opened fire first, relying on the might of the cannons. Even though they used solid bullets with limited actual damage, they still caused the Mughal army to be in a state of panic. When the field artillerymen who had set up artillery positions outside the city began to use dozens of No. 3 guns to speak, the chaos in the Mughal infantry camp became even more serious.

In fact, this bombardment not only effectively hit the enemy's morale, but also created an excellent attack opportunity for the family cavalry led by Gao Shizhong. Because the exasperated Jahangir found that if the infantry went up to destroy the artillery positions of the Southern Xinjiang Army outside the city gate at the current distance, these infantry would not only have to face the two batches of artillery on the tower and outside the city wall, but also face the densely packed musketeers on the city wall. As a previous ally of Jinghua, Jahangir knew the range of the Wanli No. 2 musket.

Because of this, His Majesty Padishah, who could not swallow this humiliation, ordered the cavalry to gather towards him, ready to let the cavalry go up and reap these desperate southern Xinjiang gunners - you are so close to the artillery without even the cover of infantry, do you really think that there is no one in my Mughal Empire?
However, Gao Shizhong was already standing in front of the city gate, holding his sword tightly, his eyes as sharp as an eagle. Behind him, more than a thousand cavalrymen were ready for battle. They were dressed in black armor, holding curved sabers, with cold and fierce expressions.

Gao Yuan saw this and immediately gave the order to attack. Gao Shizhong led the cavalry out of the city gate without hesitation. After leaving the city gate, the "fast step" immediately changed to "running", which meant starting to speed up. They swept towards the Mughal vanguard like a black whirlwind that was gathering strength. When they were only a few hundred steps away from the Mughal vanguard, they changed from "running" to "attacking", and began to run at a sprinting speed.

Gao Shizhong's cavalrymen were all elite warriors who had fought many battles, they were skilled in riding and swordsmanship. They rushed into the camp of the Mughal vanguard, quickly splitting up the enemy in front of them, but without stopping for long, just like a scalpel cutting through flesh, tearing the Mughal army into pieces.

Although the Mughal vanguard soldiers were large in number, they had just arrived and had never expected that the enemy would not defend the city but go out of the city to engage in battle. Therefore, they had not even made preparations such as chevaux de frise.

Facing Gao Shizhong's elite cavalry, these hastily deployed Mughal vanguard infantry seemed vulnerable. They were defeated and fled in all directions. In contrast, Gao Shizhong's cavalry slowly moved back and forth like a scalpel cutting meat, killing them even more.

During the battle, Gao Shizhong always charged forward, the sword in his hand was like a sickle reaping life, beheading the enemy one by one, but he never looked at them twice. His body was covered with blood, but his eyes were shining with bloodthirsty light.

Seeing his soldiers being defeated by the Southern Xinjiang Army, Jahangir was anxious and angry. He tried to organize his soldiers to fight back, but it was too late. Even the cavalry that had just been ordered to be mobilized failed to gather into a force and was dispersed by the fleeing infantry. This was due to the military system of the Mughal Empire. Its system was similar to that of the cavalry in the feudal era of Europe, which made the generals under his command have different numbers of cavalry, and it was quite troublesome to gather them temporarily.

The naval guns of the Southern Xinjiang Army continued to bombard, and Gao Musan, who was furious, boldly ordered the fleet to continue to approach the shore, and some inland gunboats almost ran aground and fired. Such close-range bombardment obviously extended the attack range, making the positions of the Mughal vanguard even more riddled with holes.

Gao Shizhong's cavalrymen were like the black god of death, charging across the battlefield and beheading the already confused enemies one by one.

The soldiers of the Mughal vanguard lost their command and fighting spirit. They fled in all directions. Some soldiers were caught up by the cavalry of the Southern Xinjiang Army and fell to the ground; some soldiers jumped into the Ganges River and tried to swim to escape, but because they were not good at swimming, they were swept away by the abundant river water in the rainy season.

Jahangir had already retreated to the farthest edge of the position under the strong pull of his generals, and stood in the distance with a sullen face, witnessing the entire process of the battle. He originally thought that the 100,000 troops he led could easily defeat the Southern Xinjiang Army, but now it seems that he has completely underestimated the enemy's strength.

He was filled with anger and regret, but he could do nothing. He could only watch his soldiers being defeated, unable to stop it.

The battle lasted less than an hour before the Mughal vanguard was completely routed and suffered heavy losses. Without waiting for orders, the various divisions hastily withdrew—or rather, fled. Obviously, the Southern Xinjiang Army won this first battle.

Gao Shizhong led the cavalry to clean up the battlefield and count the spoils. They seized a large amount of weapons and equipment, as well as many prisoners. These prisoners would naturally be escorted back to the city for further interrogation, and in the future they might be used as bargaining chips to exchange for other interests.

The initial victory in the Battle of Rajmahal not only struck a blow to the arrogance of the Mughal Empire in launching the so-called "War of Revenge", but also greatly boosted the morale of the Southern Xinjiang Western Expedition Army. They proved the strength of the Southern Xinjiang Army with practical actions, and also announced to the Bengalis, and even more Mughals, the Southern Xinjiang Army's dominant position in the Bengal region.

However, both Gao Yuan and Liu Xin knew that this was only the first battle. Although the Mughal vanguard seemed to be defeated miserably, the enemy troops were mostly in flight and would soon be regrouped by Jahangir due to the limited number of casualties. Seriously speaking, the greatest significance of this battle was to reverse the morale gap between the two sides, and the next battle would be the time to see the real results.

According to the post-war summary, the Mughal army lost about 3,000 to 4,000 people in the battle. It is difficult to count the number of people who drowned, but it is probably more than 1,000. In short, the Mughal vanguard of about 30,000 people lost about 5,000 people. It is not a minor loss, but it is not a collapse either.

Now, all we have to do is wait for Jahangir to regain his composure, stop underestimating the enemy, and concentrate his 90,000-strong army to launch a thundering attack on Rajmahar.
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