I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 393 "Destroy Mysore within three months!"

The entire "Pa" was built on a mound about seventy or eighty meters high. There are three circles of walls from bottom to top, and in the middle is a watchtower more than 5 meters high.

Each layer of the wall is supported by thick tree trunks, and a large number of thinner wooden strips are densely and staggeredly arranged on the outermost layer, behind which is a rammed earth wall one and a half meters thick.

Defenders could stand on the rammed earth walls and lean their heads over the thick tree trunks to shoot out.

The attacking side's muskets could hardly penetrate the half-meter-thick tree trunks at a long distance, and if artillery fire was used, the shells would easily ricochet off the low rammed earth walls below [Note 1].

In this case, the attacker must use cannons to blow away all the wood on the upper side of the earth wall, and then use infantry to advance and charge, before they can break through one layer of the wall.

At the same time, it is difficult for the attacker to defend the first two walls because they will be shot down by the defender.

Nikawu explained to him excitedly: "There is a tunnel under the tower. If we can't defend it, we can escape through the tunnel."

Major Gaston showed an indifferent expression: "The British will dig everywhere and find the tunnel..."

Nikawu smiled and said, "There are two tunnels, one deep and one shallow. The shallow one is only dug out for more than 200 steps, and is used by the enemy to destroy it. The deep one leads to the woods behind."

Gaston was stunned. He knew very well that once the attackers dug a tunnel, they would think that everything was fine and would not look for another one...

Fernando added: "We also incorporate some advanced weapons for defense."

He gestured toward the highest tower of the "Pa": "There will be a four-pounder."

"At the same time, a large barrel of gunpowder was buried at the entrance of the tunnel. If the British wanted to chase in, they would get a very 'hot' gift."

The artillery factory in Mysore has started to operate normally. The four-pound cannon, which is the simplest light cannon, can be produced there every day and a half, which is enough to be distributed to a large number of "Pa" for defense.

Although the range of this cannon is limited, if it is mounted on a high tower, and the "Pa" itself is built on high ground, taking advantage of its high ground, its range can even exceed that of an 8-pound cannon.

Lafayette looked at the simple civil engineering building and couldn't help but smile.

You know, this thing only required three Maoris and less than 3 Mysore serfs to build it in just half a month.

The one-month construction period that Magnus had quoted was based on the Maori’s tool level. The Maori had not yet mastered metallurgy, and they used wooden shovels and stone axes. As a result, the Mysore serfs carried iron farm tools to work, and there were many cows and horses to assist in the construction, so it took only half the time to complete the first "Pa".

This is because the serfs are not very familiar with the construction. Once they become proficient, the speed will be even faster!
……

The Governor-General of India, the Marquis Charles Cornwallis, turned his head to look at the endless line of "lobster soldiers" in red uniforms and puffed out his belly with satisfaction.

Yes, reinforcements from the East India Company are coming!
Together with the troops he had recently transferred from all over India, he now had a total of 9000 British soldiers, as well as a large number of heavy artillery and supplies.

On the two wings of the British army were 2 Maratha troops and 1 Hyderabadi troops. At the same time, these two British vassal states continued to send reinforcements to North Kannada.

With such a powerful military force in hand, Cornwallis had enough confidence to reach the city of Mysore within three months, and make Tipu sign the surrender document and pay the East India Company a huge war reparations at the beginning of the next year.

He sneered and snorted: "Lafayette, this time I will return all the humiliation to North America!"

He had participated in the British surrender ceremony at Yorktown in the United States, while Lafayette sat opposite him with a smug look on his face. However, that afternoon, just two miles after his army entered Mangalore in Mysore, the vanguard stopped.

Cornwallis frowned and looked at his staff officer: "Michael, what happened?"

The staff officer rode forward to inquire about the situation. Half an hour later, he returned with an officer from the vanguard corps and reported to him: "General, Lieutenant Colonel Priestley's corps encountered the Mysore people..."

He glanced at the officer beside him: "He said it was a bastion blocking the way."

"It's not really a bastion," the officer said hurriedly. "It looks very simple, made of wood and earth, but there is a cannon on it, so the commander decided to destroy it first."

Cornwallis frowned and waved his hand: "Let Priestley move faster."

"Yes, General!"

At noon the next day, Lord Cornwallis's face darkened as he listened to the continuous sound of artillery fire coming from afar - the bombardment had not stopped since yesterday morning.

He mounted his horse and went to the vanguard to check the situation.

"I'm sorry, General." Lieutenant Colonel Priestley glanced into the distance with a bitter face. "That thing is very... strange. It's hard for the shells to have any effect. Moreover, only 12-pound heavy guns can be fired from a safe distance. Yesterday, an 8-pound gun was almost hit by the Mysore cannon."

Cornwallis glared at him angrily and said, "It's just a primitive Indian fortification. You mobilized 10 cannons and spent two days but still couldn't take it down!"

He ventured a little nearer to the scene of the engagement, and soon saw the "bastion" of Mysore through his telescope.

It looked like an oversized barn, but he immediately saw a black speck fly diagonally into the air after it burst out with a large piece of sawdust.

He knew from experience that it should be a 12-pound shell.

The Indians' broken "barn" actually caused a ricochet!

Cornwallis angrily ordered his elite skirmisher battalion and three 3-pound cannons to be captured before dark!
After the suppressive bombardment of heavy artillery, the British skirmisher battalion, under the cover of thousands of infantry, bravely rushed up the mound.

The Mysoreans fought back from behind their wooden walls, but their poor shooting and disorganized command meant they only managed to hit less than a dozen British.

Then the British skirmishers came to the first wall and climbed over the gap.

Cornwallis smiled triumphantly, put away his telescope and returned to his temporary command post. In an hour at most, his officers would bring the prisoners to report the battle situation to him.

But soon, the commander of his skirmish battalion reported to him in dismay that the first wave of assault had failed and 27 soldiers had been lost.

Cornwallis' eyelids twitched and he shouted, "Didn't you already break in?"

"Yes, yes, General." The battalion commander lowered his head and said, "The Mysores set fire to the first trench and hid above and threw stones at us... Before the artillery can blast open the second wall, I can only choose to retreat temporarily..."

[Note 1] A ricochet is a situation where a cannonball fails to penetrate an inclined surface immediately and is instead subjected to a deflection torque from the inclined surface, causing it to fly out along the inclined surface. Solid spherical cannonballs fired from smoothbore cannons in the late 18th century were particularly prone to ricochets.

(End of this chapter)