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Chapter 1258 Building a Bastion at the Estuary of the Ganges River

The Bengal region in the northern Indian Ocean is located between the homeland of the Toungoo Dynasty and the Mughal Empire, which is currently controlled by the Kyushu Army. In a sense, the territory of China at this time has already bordered the Mughal Empire in the Bay of Bengal.

But there are many independent tribes in western Taungoo as a buffer between the two sides.

It is difficult for the Kyushu Army to digest the territory of Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia covers an area of ​​more than 400 million square kilometers, and many places are undeveloped rainforests, mountains, and islands.At present, the Kyushu Army controls all major coastal and river cities in Southeast Asia, and it will take decades or even hundreds of years to completely assimilate.

At this time, even though the territory bordered the Mughal Empire, in fact there was almost no conflict between them. Both sides reached the limit of expansion and focused on consolidating their own territory.

At the mouth of the Ganges, a fleet of the East India Company came here.The fleet consisted of only two gunboats.

The purpose of their trip was to build a fort at the mouth of the Ganges, from which they could look up to the entire Ganges plain and down to the entire Bay of Bengal.

This is the third stronghold that the East India Company fleet formed a siege network against the Mughal Empire.

The East India Company has the port of Surat on the west coast of the Indian peninsula, and the small fishing village of Madras bought for 600 pounds on the east coast. It is only short of setting up a third major stronghold in Bengal, which is enough to complete the blockade of the coastline of the Mughal Empire Layout.

At this time, the estuary of the Ganges River is still a forest and a swamp, where wild animals come and go, and occasionally the sound of birds and animals can be heard.

"It seems that the mouth of this river has not been taken seriously, but there are many people in the plain above."

Chen Bangyan and his team wandered at the mouth of the Henghe River, and then turned to the Hooghly River, a tributary on the west side of the Ganges River. They were looking for a suitable location as a fortress.

Their fleet traveled more than 50 kilometers upstream along the Hooghly River, and finally saw traces of the village on the east bank of a tributary of the Ganges.

"A safe haven near the sea, farmland villages provide us with food, access to indigenous merchants, and easy defense. These areas are all suitable places to use as strongholds." Francis was observing with the telescope given to him by the Kyushu Army. The village that emerges on the east bank of the Hooghly River.

The indigenous villagers in the village also noticed the arrival of these people. They gathered on the bank of the river in panic, not knowing what the two gunboats that suddenly appeared here were trying to do.

"The river here is wide and the water is deep. The only disadvantage is that there are many depressions and swamps in this area, and there are not many residents." Chen Bangyan said.

"Compared with other estuaries of the Ganges, this place is much better. It is impossible for us to go deep into the Ganges plain. Our purpose is to gain a firm foothold on the edge of the sea first, and gradually infiltrate without offending the Mughal emperor. By the time they reacted our bastion had already been erected at the mouth of the river."

"As long as we build a bastion at the mouth of the sea, they cannot break through our fortress, and our fleet can use the fortress here to obtain supplies and block the mouth of the sea. Once the sea is locked, the Ottoman Empire is like being blocked in a cave. Elephants, though still massive, can barely peek out at the world through their openings." Francis Day was still relentless in promoting his siege plan.

In his plan, Surat, Madras, and Henghe Estuary are the three most important coastal strongholds that can be quickly supported, and they are located in three different places in the Mughal Empire. Surround the Mughal Empire.

The fleet led by Chen Bangyan and Francis Ri found two other villages on the east bank of the Hooghly River.There are three villages in the vicinity, surrounded by some farmland they cultivate.

After discussion, a group of people think that this place is much better than other places at the estuary of the Ganges River. There are villages and farmland here, and it is not far from the sea. At the same time, the river is wide and deep, which seems to be a good place for building a fort.

After they went ashore, they found local farmers who were harvesting rice.

"I haven't been to this place yet. The language they speak seems to be the dialect of the Bengali region. It seems that no one in our team can speak this Bengali language." Hearing what these farmers said, Francis Day couldn't help but feel a headache.

The most troublesome thing about trade and colonization in the world is the language barrier. It is undoubtedly difficult to communicate with the indigenous people in a place.

"What is this place?" Chen Bangyan still asked habitually, asking the farmers here with his fingers.

Several farmers on the east bank of the Hooghly River looked at me and I looked at you. They saw Chen Bangyan pointing his fingers at the ground that had just been harvested, and they thought they were asking when the rice was harvested. They said casually: "It was harvested yesterday." of."

"This place seems to be called Calcutta."

The members of the expedition team thought that the other party was answering the name of the place, so they named it according to the pronunciation of the locals.

This simple and crude naming form directly changed the original place names of many places.

They found Indian businessmen in three villages here, but they still couldn't communicate normally.

"We can build a fort here, and if the princes here are alarmed, we can negotiate with them later." Francis Day suggested to come directly.

So their expedition team stationed on the east bank of the Hooghly River and began to select a site to build a settlement.

Although they cannot communicate with the natives normally, they can obtain the materials they need from the local natives in a human society where gold, silver, and physical objects are exchanged.

Soon the news of their entry reached the ears of the local princes.

At this time, the officials ruling West Bengal and the upper class of the Mughal Empire maintained the same language, and they were able to communicate with the expedition team.

So the team of the East India Company negotiated with the local maharajah of the Mughal Empire. The local maharaja thought that the East India Company only wanted a place as a warehouse for turnover goods, and there were hardly any people in the area at the mouth of the Ganges River, so they paid 1200 rupees. The land that the East India Company mistook for "Calcutta" was sold at a price of [-].The East India Company began building a second bastion here.

Surat Port is a port directly controlled by the Mughal Empire. There are troops of the Mughal Empire. The Portuguese and the Dutch also have factories there. The Mughal Empire does not allow anyone to build castles there.

But Madras and Calcutta are both the territories of princes or local feudal lords, and the East India Company can blatantly build castles in the places they bought to protect their goods.

"What should the castle be called? Calcutta Fort, or Bengal Fort, or something else?"

Although the castle has not been built yet, Chen Bangyan and the others are already thinking about how to name the two fortresses that conquered the Indian peninsula.

(End of this chapter)