I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 394 Talleyrand's Travels Around Europe
Cornwallis looked at the simple fortress in the distance with a dark face. After half a minute, he finally raised his hand to signal the staff officer beside him: "Pass the order, leave one battalion to continue the siege, and the other troops bypass this damn thing!"

Regrouping and taking a detour might delay us for a day or two, but it was better than being grossed out by that lousy "barn."

However, just an hour and a half later, several teams of Hussars reported back that two similar buildings were found less than three miles south of the "barn".

And further away, there seemed to be more...

These fortifications were densely packed and guarded almost all the main traffic routes, and there were even three fortifications built at important strategic nodes!
In a strategy game, you might be able to micromanage your troops to squeeze through between two fortresses, since the artillery on them can't cover a range of two or three miles. But in actual combat, this is completely impossible.

When tens of thousands of troops are marching, the queue may be more than ten kilometers long. The enemy may rush out of the fortress from time to time to attack you, and the marching queue has no resistance at all.

By then, the enemy attack may not kill a few of your people, but the trampling caused by the chaos in the queue can cause serious casualties and greatly undermine morale.

Therefore, at least a few defensive points must be eliminated, a road at least seven or eight miles wide must be cleared, and part of the troops must be deployed to defend along both sides before others dare to pass through the middle.

In fact, even so, safety cannot be guaranteed. After all, the marching column is too long and there may be defensive loopholes.

Cornwallis looked at the red circle marked on the map by his staff officer, suppressed his anger, and shouted, "Bring all the cannons to me! Blow up that 'barn' for me!"

The staff officer was stunned: "Barn?"

"That thing on the high ground, call it whatever you want! Capture it at all costs!"

"Yes, General!"

The Maratha and Hyderabad vassal armies were pulled up and began to pour towards the "Pa" on the mound in waves, but were repelled again and again.

After nine days of anxious waiting, a British 9-pound cannon accurately hit the defensive artillery on top of "Pa" - the probability of this in the era of smoothbore cannons was basically the same as winning the lottery jackpot.

Then Cornwallis' elite grenadiers, regardless of casualties, finally broke through the last wall and poured into the high tower in the middle of "Pa".

Cornwalliston felt refreshed, as if he had finally been constipated after nine days. He pointed his cane at "Pa" and said to the staff officer, "Bring the commander of the garrison here. Their tenacity deserves my praise."

Before the staff officer left, he saw the high tower on the "Pa" shook, and a large amount of black smoke gushed out, followed by a loud "boom".

Soon, a messenger brought news from the front that the Mysore people had buried gunpowder in the fort, killing more than 30 grenadiers and capturing only 5 wounded prisoners.

Cornwallis looked at the ruins on the mound with a grim face, and then looked south, knowing that there were several more such "barns" waiting for him there. He suddenly felt a cramp in his stomach and almost vomited...

In fact, Magnus has built more than 70 "pas" throughout Mangalore with Mysore serfs, and construction is still ongoing. Each "pa" only stores 25 days of food and drinking water - that's how long they need to be defended, after which the garrison can retreat.

The British had to remove at least a quarter of them before they could successfully pass through the Mangalore region.

Even if they were lucky enough to hit the defenders’ cannons directly every time, it would still take nine days. It would take 9 days to take down Mangalore… and this was just a small province northwest of Mysore. The areas of Seringapatam and Mysore City behind it were much larger. It would be basically impossible to penetrate Mysore without two or three years.

This was Joseph's tailor-made defensive strategy for Mysore.

In Europe, where human resources are precious and construction technology is advanced, "Pa" is of almost no value, and it is more cost-effective to invest some money in building bastions. But in India, where a large number of serfs can be recruited for free to do labor, "Pa" is extremely suitable.

Although it was not "zero cost" as Fernan said - construction did not cost much, but cannons, gunpowder, grain storage and transportation still cost money - Tipu Sultan only needed to invest about 400 pounds, or 1 livres, for a "pa", a large part of which was shared by local nobles. For Mysore, it could be built almost indefinitely.

At the same time, this thing requires extremely low construction skills. Primitive tribes on small Pacific islands can handle it, and mature feudal countries will have no problem doing it.

The most important thing is that if it was placed in other places, the attackers could slowly nibble away and eventually wear down the "Pa" of the civil engineering structure, but the British had to send troops on a long expedition, which was extremely costly, and if it dragged on for a few years, they would lose a lot of money.

Moreover, the "Tiger of Mysore" was not an ordinary creature that would sit and wait for the British to attack.

Just as Cornwallis launched an attack on the second "Pa", Tipu Sultan had already led an army of 1 into Travancore.

Travancore was no match for the enemy and had to ask the British for help in a hurry.

Cornwallis hurriedly dispatched 3 British troops and more than 1 vassal troops, and the Royal Navy rushed them to Travancore. Just three days after the ship left the port, news came that the prince of Travancore had surrendered to Mysore.

At this point, there were no hostile forces in southern Mysore.

At Lafayette's suggestion, Tipu Sultan immediately led his main force to Carnatic in the east. The battlefield on the northwest side was commanded by Lafayette with 2 Mysore troops, relying on the "Pa" defense, so he did not need to be distracted at all.

If Carnatic was captured, the entire southern part of the Indian peninsula would fall into the hands of Mysore, and Britain's strategic situation would become extremely ugly.

At the same time, the French Consul in Mysore, Salah, and the Mysore senior official Shah were quietly rushing to Hyderabad. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said that Indians love to take advantage and have no credibility.

If it were possible to use benefits to lure Hyderabad into turning against them - they had joined forces with Mysore to deal with Britain decades ago - that would of course be the best. Even if that is not possible, Britain could be made to pay more costs to stabilize Hyderabad.

……

Western suburbs of Munich.

Talleyrand straightened his clothes, stepped out of the carriage, and turned back to signal the accompanying guards: "Please keep an eye on that guy. Follow me."

Three soldiers escorted a middle-aged man who was tied up like a dumpling, following the French Foreign Minister towards the Munich Palace.

Music sounded all around. Grand Duke Karl Ottoor of Bavaria stood at the palace gate across the honor guard, smiling at the French visitors.

(End of this chapter)