Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2368: Battle of Bihar (Part )
In the temporary palace at the front line of the Mughal Empire's Eastern Expedition, the Governor's Palace of Bihar where Salim lived for a long time before he ascended the throne, Jahangir's anger was like a volcano about to erupt. His eyes were bloodshot and he pounded heavily on the map with his clenched fists.

Faced with the continuous provocations and sabotage by the southern border army, the new Padishah of the Mughal Empire finally made up his mind that he could no longer sit idly by and watch the dignity of his army and empire being trampled upon in this way.

"Man Singh!" Jahangir's voice echoed in the big tent. His eyes were as sharp as a knife. He looked directly into the other's eyes and said sternly: "Your army is experienced in many battles. I have always given them full trust. You know this very well. Now, I ask you to pull those rats in southern Xinjiang out of the darkness for me!"

Man Singh, the battle-hardened imperial general, although his face has many traces of time, his eyes still sparkle with a light of pride.

Hearing Padishah's words, he knelt on one knee with an expressionless face, and said in a firm and powerful voice: "As you wish, my Padishah. I will personally lead my elite cavalry to let those Ming people know that the wrath of the empire is not something they can bear!"

As the order was issued, the Mughal army began to make new moves. One part of the army continued to put pressure on Rajmahal, while the other part, led by Man Singh, quietly left the main force. They had only one goal - to completely destroy Gao Shizhong's cavalry.

Man Singh's troops moved silently across the hills and plains of Bihar like cheetahs in the night, avoiding the main traffic routes and choosing paths known only to the locals, hoping to strike a fatal blow to Gao Shizhong's cavalry when they attacked again.

Under the city of Rajmahar, the main force of the Mughal army was not idle either. Padishah had sent orders from the rear - Patna, the capital of Bihar - asking the soldiers to strengthen the defense of the camp and set up more watchtowers and traps to prevent night attacks by the southern Xinjiang army.

At the same time, Padishah also asked the front line to send more patrols to patrol around the camp day and night to ensure that no enemy could approach quietly.

Although some princes and generals on the front line were dissatisfied to varying degrees that Padishah had retreated all the way to Patna after the last defeat of the vanguard army and refused to stay on the front line, they still resolutely carried out Padishah's orders.

In Patna, the Padishah, who was still nominally "at the front", still held military meetings every day. On this day, after listening to the daily military report, Jahangir angrily said to the generals present: "We can't let the Ming people lead us by the nose. We must take the initiative to attack and let them feel the power of the Mughal Empire!"

Jahangir's words were full of determination, and all the generals seemed to be infected by his momentum, and they expressed their willingness to follow Padishah firmly and deal a heavy blow to the Southern Xinjiang Army. Although these generals who stayed behind were veterans who followed Akbar the Great in his early years, they had not been given command for a long time, and any statement now was actually meaningless. However, Padishah was happy to hear the compliments of these veterans, and the veterans were not stingy in giving these compliments.

As night fell, Jahangir stood at the highest point of the camp and looked out at the city of Rajmahar in the distance. His heart was filled with mixed emotions, including disgust for war and desire for victory. He knew that the outcome of this war would not only affect the glory of the Mughal Empire, but also his personal prestige and future.

"Ming people, are you ready to face the wrath of the Mughal?" Jahangir muttered in his heart, his eyes revealing determination and coldness. As the night wind blew, the Mughal Empire's green background and golden lion flag fluttered in the night sky, as if foreshadowing the coming storm.

At the same time, the lights in the command room of Rajmahar City were bright, and the air was filled with a tense and serious atmosphere. Liu Xin, Gao Yuan and other important generals stood in front of a huge sand table, frowning, discussing countermeasures.

They all knew that although the Mughal army had suffered setbacks in the previous battles, Jahangir had a huge advantage in military strength, and a counterattack was bound to come, and it would definitely be more fierce. And just now, they confirmed the news from Patna: the Mughal Empire's leading general Man Singh had personally led his elite troops to break away from the main force of the Eastern Expedition Army, and it seemed that he was going to look for Gao Shizhong's troops.

"We must take advantage of the Mughal army's division." Liu Xin's voice was firm and calm. "Jahangir is confident that his troops are far superior to mine. He thinks that since we have sent Gao Shizhong's special forces outside, the main force will only defend the city... But the Duke said, 'What the enemy wants, we fear.' Therefore, we have to give him a surprise."

Gao Yuan had also heard his father say the phrase "What the enemy wants is what we fear", which actually means "What the enemy hopes for is what we want to avoid", but Gao Youshi simply replaced it with the expression of this era.

Gao Yuan had received instructions from his mother Huang Zhiting before the Western Expedition, and knew that he had to show great respect for everything his father did, so that he could establish his image and prestige as the legitimate successor and be supported by the people in Jinghua. Therefore, when he heard Liu Xin quote his father's words, he nodded in agreement almost subconsciously.

He bowed his hands towards the north, indicating that he respected his father's teachings from afar, and then said: "I have also heard this teaching, and I am deeply impressed by your wisdom. As the deputy commander said, facing this situation, we need a bold action to continue to weaken the enemy's morale and buy more time for our reinforcements to arrive."

It turned out that the news that Gao Youshi wanted to send them reinforcements had already reached the front line, and they were now well aware that more than two towns of fresh troops were gathering in the rear of Southern Xinjiang - and they might even have already set out. So now they didn't need to rush into a decisive battle, they just needed to continue to torture the Mughal army and further reduce their morale, and when the reinforcements arrived, they could immediately launch a decisive battle and completely defeat the main force of the Mughal army, thus achieving the second glorious victory since the Western Expedition.

However, since the mainstay of the Mughal army, General Man Singh, had already left the front line, Liu Xin and Gao Yuan both thought this was a rare opportunity, and they decided to launch a large-scale night attack, targeting the main camp of the Mughal army. The generals in the city also agreed to this.

According to the Southern Xinjiang Army's idea, although the Mughal Empire's army is huge in strength, its sources are complex. One of the two most important main forces is Man Singh's headquarters, and the other is the imperial army inherited by Jahangir from Emperor Akbar.

In addition to these two main forces, there are about 30,000 to 40,000 troops, but they are all from various princes, with different numbers of troops, equipment and training levels, and usually obey Man Singh's command. Now that Man Singh himself has left, these troops may have to fight on their own if they encounter a blow, and their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. Therefore, launching a surprise attack at this time may create some kind of miracle.

Of course, this operation requires careful planning, especially attention to the concealment of the troops when dispatching, to ensure maximum suddenness and lethality.

"Sigang, your troops will be responsible for the feint attack on the east gate to attract the enemy's attention." Liu Xin gave orders, her voice echoing in the general's tent.

Gao Sigang, the commander of the Second Regiment of the Dingnan Garrison Army, replied calmly, "Yes, sir! Deputy Commander, I will create a great momentum, make a pre-war mobilization and firepower preparation, let the Mughals think that we will launch an attack in the early morning of the next day, and force them to turn their attention to us."

"Very good." Liu Xin was very satisfied. This kind of general who has fought his way up step by step can understand the elegant meaning of music and know what he should do as soon as he hears his arrangements.

She turned to another general and said, "Si Yao, your troops will set out from the north gate and attack the Mughal enemy's flank to launch the main attack. Please note that this is the main attack, not a feint attack."

Gao Yuan immediately took over the conversation and said to Gao Siyao: "What the deputy commander means is that your troops should launch a swift attack under the cover of night to quickly disrupt the enemy's position. Then, based on the degree of chaos in the enemy, you can make a subsequent judgment on whether to continue to expand the results of the battle or to stop while you are ahead."

Although he was only in his early thirties, Gao Siyao, the commander of the Third Regiment of the Phnom Penh Garrison, was also a "veteran" who had fought in Southern Xinjiang. He returned the salute and said, "Don't worry, my lord. The Third Regiment of Phnom Penh will let the Mughals see how powerful the Southern Xinjiang Garrison is."

Gao Yuan nodded, glanced at Liu Xin, and seeing that Liu Xin did not express anything further, he gestured to Gao Lian, the chief of staff of the Western Expedition Army. Gao Lian nodded, and began to explain some precautions, as well as the detailed arrangements for the allocation of combat materials for Gao Sigang and Gao Siyao before the war. Under the Southern Xinjiang Army staff system formulated by Gao Youshi, the chief of staff not only had to formulate combat plans for the commander in advance, but also had the more important task of breaking down combat tasks to specific units and allocating combat materials to each unit, rather than the military advisors in the historical novels who only proposed strategic and tactical ideas but were not responsible for specific matters. It can be said that Gao Youshi basically copied the basic principles of the modern staff system.

As night fell, the soldiers of the Southern Xinjiang Army were preparing in an orderly and tense manner in the city. They checked their weapons, counted their bullets and gunpowder, sharpened their bayonets or waist knives, and then began to hurry to sleep.

In the dead of night, the Southern Xinjiang Army woke up from their sleep according to their respective tasks, quietly opened the city gates, and divided into two groups, each going through one gate, like ghosts in the night, heading out of the city. Among them, Gao Siyao moved lightly and quickly, trying not to make any noise to avoid alerting the enemy.

On the east gate side, Gao Sigang's troops began to make noises after leaving the city, pretending to be building an offensive position outside the city and making it look like they were going to attack early in the morning, thus drawing the attention of the Mughal army to this direction.

A Mughal general suggested taking advantage of Gao Sigang's "unstable position" to launch an attack, but was immediately laughed at. He pointed at the cannons and the densely packed heads on the city wall and said, "You want to attack from close range? Ha, I think the other side also wants you to get close, otherwise how can the artillery and musketeers on the city wall gain military merit?"

Without the general Man Singh, who had outstanding military achievements and solid qualifications, these independent generals and princes quarreled with each other, and they did not come to a conclusion for a long time, missing the best reaction time. When they found that Gao Sigang's troops seemed to have built a temporary position, the quarrels ended - because there was no point in arguing anymore, and attacking now would be a suicide mission. In the end, they decided to use part of their forces to keep an eye on Gao Sigang's troops, and the rest continued to sleep. The reason was: the Ming people came out to set up positions before dawn, so when it was daytime, as long as they could withstand the first wave of the Ming people's attack and drag it out until the afternoon, the Ming people would definitely be unable to fight again.

By then, our well-rested Mughal army will launch a full-scale attack and will surely defeat the enemy in one fell swoop. Maybe when the enemy retreats back to the city, we can follow them and break through the enemy's stronghold... That would be a great achievement from God!

At this time, Gao Siyao's troops, who came out of the north gate, quietly bypassed the light and dark sentries recently set up by the Mughal army and began to approach the main camp of the Mughal army. However, the Mughal army was large in number after all, and Gao Siyao's troops did not bring artillery, baggage soldiers and other troops because it was a surprise attack. At present, although it was called a town of soldiers, there were actually less than 10,000 people.

Therefore, their goal was to go straight to the enemy's command center and granary. There was even a priority order for both, with the top priority being the general's tent, which was the area where the generals were most concentrated. If that didn't go well, they would consider attacking the granary. The reason was that even if the attack on the general's tent didn't go well, because of the caste system of the Mughal Empire, the generals would definitely concentrate their forces to protect their own safety first. In this way, the granary's defenses would most likely be reduced in strength and the defense would be lax, making it suitable for a strong attack.

However, just as the Southern Xinjiang Army was about to approach the Mughal camp, a sudden burst of rapid drum and horn sounds rang out in the night sky, breaking the tranquility of the night. The back of the small hill next to it suddenly lit up, which was the color of thousands of torches.

"There's an ambush?" Gao Siyao's voice was filled with a hint of surprise, but he immediately realized that the ambush troops north of the Mughal camp were probably none other than Man Singh's troops, who were previously thought to have gone in search of Gao Shizhong. It seemed that this man was indeed quite capable, and actually resorted to such means to lure our Southern Xinjiang troops out of the city.

"What a good plan to lure the snake out of its hole and lure the tiger away from its mountain. However, that requires you to really have the power to subdue dragons and tigers!" Gao Siyao was not panicked. Instead, he drew the command knife from his waist and ordered with a resolute sneer: "Ignore them, charge with all your troops, and follow me into the enemy camp!"

The Southern Xinjiang Army was indeed in high spirits. Even though they knew they were ambushed, the soldiers still immediately gave a thunderous shout. They rushed into the Mughal camp like a storm and engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat. The enemy troops had not been lined up, so there was no need for a musket formation. What they needed now was to quickly kill the Mughal troops in the enemy camp. In this way, even if Man Singh, who was ambushing on the side, arrived, he would have to join the melee, and the outcome would be uncertain.

Fire, sword light, and blood were intertwined, and a life-and-death struggle was taking place in every corner of the battlefield.

In this sudden night attack, the South Xinjiang Army demonstrated their courage and fighting power. Although Man Singh was prepared, the Mughal Army in the camp was ignorant and caught off guard, perhaps because they were worried about the news leaking. The sudden attack by the South Xinjiang Army caused them great chaos and losses.

The battle in the main camp started, and Gao Sigang's troops outside the west gate of Rajmahar immediately began to bombard, and the Mughal camp was in even greater chaos. However, Liu Xin and Gao Yuan, who were observing the battle situation with binoculars on the west gate tower, found something unusual - the expected Gao Sigang's troops quickly defeated the enemy's central army commander's tent, and the large-scale burning of the granary did not happen.

This means that the enemy was prepared for this surprise attack.

This was the first time Gao Yuan faced an unexpected event on the battlefield. Although he did not show any signs of misbehavior, it was obvious that his mind was blank and he did not say anything for a long time.

Liu Xin waited for him for a while, but he still said nothing. So she turned to the unpleasant-looking Chief of Staff Gao Lian and gave him an order: "Change the battle plan. Order Gao Sigang's troops to immediately switch from a feint attack to a strong attack to attract the enemy's main force. At the same time, send out multiple night squads to notify Gao Siyao to slowly retreat back to the city. Send Huang Yingpin and Cen Maoren's troops out of the north gate and form a goose formation to meet Gao Siyao's troops back to the city."

Gao Lian didn't say anything extra. He quickly returned the military salute and left quickly. It seemed that he was too lazy to even wait for the messenger and went to give the order himself.

Soon, Gao Sigang's troops stopped the short-range and medium-range artillery bombardment, and only retained the heavy artillery on the city gate for occasional long-range bombardment. The infantry of his troops marched in formation and attacked the front of the Mughal army camp. After the bombardment, the Mughal army was ready to meet the enemy, and the two sides immediately engaged in battle.

However, although the Mughal army also had a lot of firearms, their infantry tactics level obviously did not keep up with the Southern Xinjiang Army, and they took the initiative to launch a charge from more than 300 steps away.

Gao Sigang's troops ignored this completely, and when the distance between the two armies was no more than 80 steps, they stopped advancing at the sound of a whistle, and quickly took a double-row shooting posture with the front row half-kneeling and the back row standing. After waiting for a few more breaths, when the two armies were only about 50 steps apart, two short whistles sounded from the front row of Gao Sigang's troops.

"Bang! Bang!" The two rows of gunfire sounded almost at the same time, and the smoke rose up, almost covering the battlefield. In the night, the smoke from the two rows of gunfire directly created a smoke belt, and the enemy and our army could not see each other clearly.

The two rows of soldiers immediately staggered and half-crouched side by side, placing the butts of their rifles on their half-kneeling thighs, with the tips of the rifles pointing diagonally upwards, but their whole bodies remained motionless.

The soldiers in the rear ignored the smoke and immediately moved forward. A short whistle sounded again, and the soldiers in this row fired forward at the same time. They didn't care about the effect of the shooting. After firing the shot, they immediately clamped the butt of the gun tightly in their right arm, with their upper arm against the butt, ready for the first round of sharp thrusts.

At this time, the front-line soldiers of the Mughal army had already suffered heavy losses, with at least hundreds of bodies falling to the ground. Don't underestimate the loss of a few hundred people. If the battle was fought during the day, most armies of this era would have a high probability of collapsing directly after just this round of losses.

However, it was night time now, and many soldiers behind could not see the situation ahead at all, and continued to charge forward blindly. As a result, Gao Sigang's second volley came again. Although this round was almost "blind shooting", more than a hundred Mughal soldiers still fell to the ground.

The dead soldiers are not scary, what is scary is the wounded soldiers who are not dead but screaming. Although the Mughal army was not clear about the casualties of their own troops due to the darkness of night, the screams from the many people in their own camp after the two rounds of volleys from the enemy made them tremble in their hearts - bad, the enemy's firepower is very strong, we may die if we rush forward

In this mood, the speed of the charge subconsciously slowed down. This was a collective consciousness, so although everyone was slow, it was precisely because everyone was slow that no one noticed. And because they immediately rushed into the smoke of the Southern Xinjiang Army's volley, the momentum of the Mughal Army's charge slowed down.

As a result, the charge could hardly be called a charge, as it had almost no impact. At this time, the Mughal soldiers who had "rushed" out of the smoke had just found that they could see things in front of them, and they were horrified to find that they had voluntarily delivered themselves to the tip of the enemy's bayonet...

Hand-to-hand combat had already begun on the front and flanks of the Mughal army, with soldiers from both sides fighting in a melee. From the overall battle situation, the Southern Xinjiang Army was well-trained and almost ruthlessly harvested the reckless Mughal army; however, although the Mughal army suffered heavy losses, it was difficult to see them in the night, so they relied on their superiority in manpower and charged wave after wave...

The melee lasted for nearly two hours until dawn, when the soldiers on both sides gradually distanced themselves from each other, leaving corpses and debris all over the ground.

At this time, Gao Yuan on the city wall was surprised to find that Gao Sigang's troops, who were attacking head-on, were still in formation and the losses did not seem to be very great. Instead, many Mughal corpses were left near the front line, piled up like a mountain. The stench was so great that even those on the city wall felt nauseous and suffocated.

On the contrary, the formation of Gao Siyao's troops who were slowly retreating in the north was a little messy. Although it was still possible to see the battle lines composed of battalion-level units, each battle line could not be flattened and was obviously struggling to hold on.

Although Gao Yuan didn't understand these tactical details very well, he was in a position where he could "see the overall situation", so he subconsciously felt that something was not right. Just as he was about to turn around and ask Liu Xin for her opinion, he heard Liu Xin's deep voice order: "Order: Huang Yingpin and Cen Maoren's troops will expand the goose formation and take the initiative to attack and encircle and pursue Gao Siyao's enemy troops!"

The order was immediately executed, and the drumbeats and flag signals on the tower changed. Huang Yingpin and Cen Maoren's two reinforcements of nearly 10,000 people immediately spread their wings like a roc, and it looked like they were going to encircle the Mughal army chasing Gao Siyao's army.

Man Singh, who had been leading the army in the battle for two hours and was still directing the pursuit, immediately noticed this change. He suddenly pulled the reins of his horse, quickly scanned the battlefield, and after a moment of silence, he suddenly raised his sword and shouted, "Stop the pursuit! All the troops, gather around me and form a battle array!"
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PS: I couldn’t stop and wrote 2 words more. Today is another 6K chapter, and it’s all “dry stuff” that readers like.

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