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Chapter 1523 War of Succession to the Throne
"This is the information collected by our intelligence personnel. The eldest prince of the Mughals raised 50 troops and planned to conquer the Deccan Plateau to defeat the third prince and completely consolidate his status as emperor."

At the War Council in Calcutta, Qin Zuoming, the commander of the dispatched army, put a report on the table.

The East India War Council, composed of high-level officials of the East India Company and the East India Expeditionary Force, has a dual system and jointly decides whether to intervene in the war on the South Asian subcontinent to gain benefits.

It is quite normal for the Mughal Empire to carry out the war of succession to the throne. This is a common problem of almost all feudal monarchies. Shah Jahan also became the emperor of the Mughal Empire through the killing of brothers or relatives .

The East India Company wanted to make greater profits in the South Asian subcontinent, so it naturally wanted to be a crap stick when the other party was in civil strife, making the situation even more chaotic.

In the history of the world where Chu Yun lived, a country called the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets often did this, profiting from it by constantly stirring up disputes.

"A 50 army, how much water is there?" Several Chinese directors of the East India Company have been surprised at the fact that the Mughal Empire exaggerated the number of people at every turn.

During the Battle of Plassey, the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan exaggerated his army to 50 troops. In fact, including logistics personnel, the number was about 15. Excluding the farmers who transported food, only 7 were really capable of fighting.This is already the limit of agricultural civilization.

Of course, if you want to forcibly gather an army of 50, the Mughal Empire can really do it, but the food will not last long at all, and the army will disperse like a flock of birds and beasts.And it's not that the larger the number, the better. For the feudal classical army, basically as long as the elite forwards retreat, the entire army will be abolished.

"At least half the discount should be paid on top of the half discount. Adding 10 auxiliary soldiers would be good. The third prince Aurangzeb has about 5 people." Qin Zuoming replied.

"Which side is expected to win?"

"The situation is not clear. The eldest prince has handled part of the government affairs on behalf of the emperor, and is quite prestigious among the ministers of the Mughal Empire. He is now more powerful than the third prince and can raise more soldiers and food. The third prince The prince has presided over military affairs in the army since he was very young, and has received the support of many officers and princes of the Deccan Plateau, and his subordinates are even tougher, and he may be able to win more with less."

"It is not a good thing for us whether it is the eldest prince or the third prince. They are very likely to re-establish the authority of the Mughal emperor in this land and re-exclude our infiltration. We must let Mo The emperor of the Woer Empire became a puppet, and the various land-states were divided like Bengal, so that we can defeat them one by one."

"This is a good time for us to implement the strategy of dividing and ruling. I suggest organizing an expeditionary force to capture the Mughal capital and push our puppet to the throne. Although we cannot use this puppet to completely control the Mughal The ultimate goal of Woer, but as long as we prevent them from becoming a unified empire again, we can gradually erode the various states over time, and ask the Indian princes to pay us land rent, and they will provide us with a Suppress their own army."

The members of the war committee expressed their opinions, and almost everyone thought that they must intervene in the war of succession to the throne of the Mughal Empire.

They also have a puppet to support, that is, Shashuja, the second prince of the Mughal Empire captured by them in the last battle of Plassey.

The unlucky second prince not only suffered heavy losses in the siege of Calcutta, but also lost an arm in the Battle of Plassey, and was imprisoned in Dhaka City Prison by the King of Bengal as a precaution.

Now what little surplus value he has left is about to come in handy.

"Lord Qin, how many soldiers can you gather now?" asked the Governor of East India who parachuted from the capital.

"There are 1000 standing army and 5000 servants. As long as the food is supplied in time, it is enough for an expedition to Agra." Qin Zuoming is full of confidence in the army in his hand.

The number of Indian soldiers recruited by several important strongholds in Calcutta and Madras reached 5000, which once caused the panic of King Kasim of Bengal, but Kasim had nothing to do with Calcutta. He was afraid of the East India Company Even more so than the Mughal emperors.The reason is simple. The Mughal emperor had been taught by the East India Company during the Battle of Plassey.In the South Asian subcontinent, where strength is the most important thing, the stronger the princes of various land states, the more powerful they have the right to speak. The Mughal emperor is essentially the most powerful prince.If his power is weakened, there will be no need for princes everywhere to continue to obey the orders of the Mughal emperor.

"How much of our armed merchant fleet can be called? Can it enter the Ganges to provide us with supplies?" Qin Zuoming asked Chen Bangyan, who was in charge of the East India Company's armed merchant fleet.

"Now there are more than a dozen armed merchant ships transporting goods and patrolling between Calcutta, Madras, Goa, and Mumbai all year round. However, they are all ocean-going ships, which are difficult to navigate in the middle and upper reaches of the Ganges, and are prone to being attacked along the coast. Therefore, I do not really recommend using our ocean-going galleons to transport grain. On the contrary, their flat-bottomed boats will be more suitable for transporting grain.” Chen Bangyan said.

"They have a Ganges River fleet. I'm afraid that even if we recruit ships here to transport food, we may not be able to beat their fleet." Qin Zuoming shook his head.

Indeed, as long as there is money, there is absolutely no problem in collecting a certain number of flat-bottomed boats from the lower Ganges, but if these boats are attacked by the Mughal Empire's Ganges fleet, the food they transport will be burned.

"Just look for Kasim, the king of Bengal. He is our partner. Let him organize a fleet and a horse team and pull out 10000 people to help us transport food. The Mughal Empire was established with cavalry, They have horse farms all over the place, and they can produce a large number of horses." The Governor of East India directly regarded Kassim as a servant, with a sense of order in his tone.

He knew that the Bengal king would never dare to violate their wishes, as long as he didn't ask the other party too much.

"Kasim should also be afraid of the rise of a powerful Mughal emperor. After all, he betrayed Shah Jahan in the Battle of Plassey. He will never refuse to send troops and food to help us transport food and grass."

"I personally went to the city of Dhaka in Bangladesh to ask for people and soldiers from Kasim." Qin Zuoming had dealt with the former Mughal Empire Governor of Bengal more than once.

(End of this chapter)