New Shun 1730

A few years later.

Dashunweixin ninth year, June.

India, West Bengal, banks of the Bhagirati River.

This is the hottest season in India and the last period before the monsoon.

Morning, ten fifteen.

The hot sun hung overhead, and the roar of cannons sounded from time to time.

The soldiers of the Fourth Company of the 13th Combat Engineer Battalion of the Dashun Marine Corps were standing in the sun as they had been training on weekdays, watching the not-so-intense events taking place in the distance with the mentality of watching a drama. fighting.

As an elite, paid combat engineer company established in Ceylon and trained in Ceylon for four and a half years, they have long been accustomed to the climate of the Indian subcontinent.

Zhao Liben's third brother, Zhao Lisheng, took his standard tin kettle and poured cold boiled water with salt into his mouth that was filled according to the regulations.

Wiping his mouth, he looked back at the tent not far away. Hearing the angry shouts inside, he asked the man next to him, "What are you shouting inside?"

The chief wiped his sweat with a towel, shook his head and said, "I don't understand. No matter what he shouted, what is this battle about? How come these Bangladeshi soldiers have to stop after walking more than ten steps?"

Zhao Lisheng also shook his head and thought to himself, is this called a soldier? The group of government soldiers on Ceylon Island were stronger than them.

As part of Dashun's characteristic chain of discrimination, field soldiers who receive military pay look down upon those government soldiers who are poorly trained and do not receive military pay.

But today I have opened my eyes. The soldiers who were originally looked down upon seem to be quite good.

He lifted the pith helmet with a visor on his head to get some air, then turned his head away, curious to know what was shouting in the tent.

About twenty or thirty steps behind him was a tent, the tent of young Siraj, the governor of Bengal in India.

In the tent, two Dashun officers, wearing the regular uniforms of Dashun military attachés instead of military uniforms, sat next to Siraj.

The leader is Niu Er, who was pulled out to join the rebel army after the slave labor uprising in Java.

The other one was Zhang Sanbiao, who started out as a drummer and followed Liu Yu in the field battle across the Altai Mountains to kill Xiao Ce Lingtun Dobu, and later also made military exploits in the Volcano Juyi in Java.

Siraj, the governor of Bengal, sat there, his entire facial features twisted into a ball, and sharp and manic curses continued to sound.

Half an hour ago, he proudly told the people on Dashun's side: "As long as Jafar's cavalry launches an attack, the war will be over."

Five minutes ago, the cavalryman who delivered the order came back and told Siraj a terrible news.

"Respected Lord Jiedushi, Ja'far... Ja'far did not launch an attack, and his cavalry did not even move."

After Siraj heard the news, he finally couldn't help but cursed.

"This is an order! It is an order to let him lead the cavalry to attack from the left wing! He dares to disobey my order?"

"So this is where he came from? The army lied to me. Everyone lied to me, even my relatives..."

"They are all a bunch of despicable cowards, villains, and traitors!"

"I should be like Nadir Shah and hang all these relatives! This might be better."

The translator carefully translated Siraj's curse to Niu Er and others on the side. Niu Er frowned and cursed in his heart.

After a long time, Siraj finally stopped cursing, took a few quick breaths to calm down, and asked: "What is China's attitude? Is it really just a battlefield observation?"

"I can give you money, enough money, even millions of silver coins, as long as you help me launch an attack. Just once. I have enough silver coins in my treasury!"

Niu Er replied very solemnly: "Master Jieduzhi. We are the Chinese envoys, and we just happened to catch up with this battle. The companies outside are just our guards and will never participate in the battle."

"China strictly maintains neutrality in the Indian dispute. Because this not only involves the battle in India, but also the war in Europe, China is still neutral and is the initiator of the Armed Neutrality Alliance."

"Bangladesh is neither a tributary state of the Celestial Empire, nor is it within the empire. We will not participate in this war. However, as ordered by the Emperor, we are here to attend the succession ceremony of Lord Jiedushi, and to sign the saltpeter trade issue with the Celestial Empire. So if Lord Jiedushi is in danger, we can protect him, but we cannot participate in the attack, because if we participate in the attack, it means we are officials of the Chinese court, not mercenaries."

"This is not a matter of money. The emperor and the Privy Council have issued orders. No amount of silver coins will allow me to disobey the will."

Niu Er was also a person who recruited the rebel army in Java, and had received a professional education in Weihai before. In terms of vision and ability, he was much better than the "little kid" in front of him who inherited a huge territory because of his bloodline.

This time, the imperial court sent them to Bangladesh instead of people from the government or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This actually speaks volumes.

Obviously, Dashun did not say it was that simple. For example, it was just that the envoy happened to catch up with the battle.

Dashun has been waiting for this day for a long time.

This war is inevitable because the Afghans have been eyeing the country in the northwest and the British have been coveting it in the south for a long time.

No matter how you look at it, the Afghans are stronger and the British are weaker.

So, Siraj, who was young and successful and wanted to show his skills, sent the main force to the northwest to fight Afghanistan with his allies. He himself led the soldiers and decided to eat up the British before the rainy season came.

The rainy season is coming soon. Once the rainy season comes, large-scale wars will not happen because the climate does not allow it. The British navy will not be able to launch an attack during the rainy season.

Siraj's plan is good.

A victory.

A long rainy season.

Victory brings him prestige.

The rainy season brings him time.

As long as this battle is won, carrying the prestige of the winner and borrowing the long rainy season, he can fully integrate the Bengal left to him by his grandfather, clean up his political enemies, and grasp the real power.

In the feudal era, the most direct source of power is a military victory.

However, except for him, no one wants him to win.

Including Dashun.

Dashun also does not want Siraj to win and integrate the power of Bengal, even though Dashun's officers are in Siraj's camp at this time, as if the relationship between the two sides is good.

Dashun also hoped that he would lose, lose everything, and only have his life left.

Naturally, the British also hoped that he would lose, and they clearly knew that time was on the side of Bengal.

Missing this season, the long rainy season will give the young Jiedushi time to integrate internal affairs.

So the British must also fight this war... If they don't fight, the shareholders of the East India Company will not be able to bear it. Dashun took advantage of the European war to fight the banner of armed neutrality, smuggling, trade, price reduction... Almost all means except war were used. The profits of the London East India Company were severely reduced, and the shareholders were already quite dissatisfied with the dividends.

Bengal's hostile attitude towards Britain forced the British East India Company to fight this war. If they don't want the lifeblood of trade to be controlled by Dashun.

Currency, currency, there is currency only when there is goods.

The world's two major handicraft factories, India and Dashun, must stabilize one, otherwise the East India Company, which started with trade, will have to be disbanded.

The cause of the war...

Actually it's very simple.

A long time ago, when Liu Yu sent smuggling ships to South America, he talked to many merchants of Dashun.

He said, "The British tax evasion problem is really annoying to everyone."

It should be said that since the 18th century, many wars in Britain have been fought around the issue of "tax evasion."

The War of the Austrian Succession, the Anglo-Spanish War, the so-called Jenkins's Ear, was tax evasion and smuggling. The deeper reason is that it was agreed that the trade would pay a 25% tariff to Spain, but it didn't pay it. After evading the tax, the large cargo ship was seized. The capitalists of the South Sea Company began to find Jenkins to make up stories and put pressure on the parliament.

The Boston Tea Party in history was still tax evasion and smuggling.

The cause of this war with Bengal was still tax evasion and smuggling.

Simply put: The East India Company paid 3,000 rupees in trade tax from the Mughal Empire every year, and it could be exempted from the tariff on trade in Bengal.

Let's not talk about this matter. Let's not talk about the current situation of numerous vassal states and military governors fighting each other. Who cares about the edict of the Mughal emperor?

Even if they continue to give the emperor face.

Then the British did not do it well.

The trade of the East India Company is duty-free, or the tariff is included in the one-time tariff.

Okay, even if the Bengal governor gives the central court of the Mughal Empire a face.

But the problem is that the local Sikh merchants and Hindu merchants all receive "East India Company documents" here in the UK.

Suddenly, they become people of the East India Company and don't have to pay taxes.

Bengal is quite rich, but the money of merchants and the money of the government are not the same.

The young governor Siraj wanted money because he couldn't do anything without money. Looking back at the tariffs, he couldn't collect any money.

The people who manage the tariffs are his aunt and uncle. The grandchildren born by sisters are all his own grandchildren. Why should you inherit?

For example, the tariff of the Bengal government is 15%.

Then, merchants paid some money to the East India Company, bought a clerical identity of the East India Company, and gave Siraj's aunt a 5% benefit, why should they pay regular tariffs?

People on the Dashun side knew this clearly.

The overall idea is the same as the previous dynasty's trickery and surrender.

Avoid the court's taxes; surrender the land to the name of students and gentry.

It's just that here it is tariffs, and the previous dynasty was land tax and corvée.

Clear the fog, the reason is the same.

As for the legendary "Calcutta Black Hole Massacre" and "Indian barbarians massacred legal British citizens", this is just a collective memory.

The person died in 1755, the story was made up in 1817, and then entered the Indian colonial textbooks. This was made by the British to make Indians reflect on why they were beaten, and it has nothing to do with the facts. The "correct" collective memory sometimes has nothing to do with the facts.

The root cause is still the issue of tariff autonomy.

As the trade volume grew, Bengal wanted to get back the export tariffs.

A group of Sikh merchants, Hindu merchants, and Moors could get tax exemption by paying a little money to buy the East India Company's identity certificate. No one could stand this.

Siraj certainly wanted to get back the tariffs.

The British East India Company was also making a desperate bet.

The reason is very simple. The most vulnerable time of a regime is often when the old regime takes over from the new regime.

Once Bangladesh is given one or two years to complete internal integration - Siraj is indeed young, but he is the heir designated by his grandfather and has extremely high legitimacy - after completing internal integration, what's the point of fighting?

Yes, Dupleix was transferred back to Paris.

But the French are not idle either. France's interests are in southern India, and they are quite supportive of Bengal's anti-British movement in the north.

A Bangladesh that can obtain advanced weapons, is a saltpeter producing area, has completed internal integration and has passed the regime transition period, the British cannot defeat it.

This does not mean that Britain itself is not strong enough, but that even if Britain can pull out 100,000 troops and directly open a wormhole portal to India?

This is the same nonsense as the missionaries in the late Ming Dynasty who said that 20,000 Spanish soldiers conquered the Ming Dynasty. You can send 20,000 people across the earth to the Ming Dynasty. The earth at that time could not stop you. You can conquer the world with your eyes closed.

Dashun has been developing rapidly in recent years. With its huge body and size, it can only say that it can send 3,000 to 5,000 people to Europe at most. It will take two years to send the next wave. This is just adding fuel to the fire.

Therefore, at this time, it is a war that must be fought for both sides.

Siraj must get rid of the British before he can integrate internally, march north, and solve the threat of Afghans.

The East India Company must take a gamble before Siraj integrates internally, otherwise the company will be dissolved by Dashun's trade and smuggled goods.

This is not an accidental war, but an inevitable war.

Britain is not as naive as a child, believing that Dashun, which has a garrison in Ceylon, will watch the fun throughout the process.

Instead, it has to believe.

Because if you don't believe it, you will die.

If you believe it, there is a certain possibility that you will not die.

Besides, I heard that the Dashun is now busy helping the Japanese shogunate to suppress the rebellion of some feudal lords, so it is possible that they will not be able to take action for a while.