At the first meeting, Deng Fei, on behalf of Beihai Town, presented to Tipu Sultan two beautifully crafted revolvers with matching flash caps and paper tube fixed ammunition, as well as ten pieces of python satin woven by Jiangning of the Qing Dynasty. and a sable cloak.
After the signing ceremony was over, Deng Fei sent out the 12-pounder cannon and twenty percussion rifles used for demonstration. Tipu Sultan, who did not see rabbits and did not let go of hawks, then ordered the waiter to fetch his saber and give it to him. Deng Fei returned the favor.
Although Deng Fei was not good with knives, when he took out a section of the blade, he immediately knew that it was definitely a good knife!
The bayonet is not the Indian Tawa scimitar shape, but a long Kili knife with a strong Turkish style. The blade has a bow-shaped narrow blade, one meter long, thick and heavy, and is made of Damascus pattern steel. The golden handle and gorgeous scabbard are inlaid with various gemstones. There is also a tiger engraved on the blade near the handle, which is the mark that represents the "Tiger of Mysore".
According to Tipu Sultan himself, this knife came from Ottoman Turkey and had been worn for many years. In previous battles with the British, he had used this knife to kill several British people.
By the way, in another time and space, Tipu Sultan's knife was seized by the British after his death in battle; in the 21st century, the auction price of this knife in the antique market was 2.1 billion rupees-equivalent to 180 million rupees.
Before Deng Fei could express his gratitude to Tipu Sultan, Sultan's Prime Minister Purnaya raised his hand and clapped his hands twice, and then saw twenty strong male servants carrying several seemingly heavy boxes into the palace. Behind these people, there were twenty women with veils on their faces and wearing light cotton saris. Each of them had a graceful figure, especially the deep eyes exposed, which looked extremely moving.
Do you want to start singing? Deng Fei couldn't help but think of the song and dance scenes of later Bollywood...
Unexpectedly, just when he took a sip of coffee and was about to start admiring it, he saw Tipu Sultan letting someone open the box. Everyone present except Deng Fei stopped breathing for an instant, and they were all fascinated by the golden light in the box. Blinded.
Tipu Sultan saw that Deng Fei's face was calm and unmoved, and he couldn't help but admire that Deng Fei was really not an ordinary person! But he didn't know that this gold handicraft was nothing in Deng Fei's eyes. He had seen gold bricks a hundred times more than this.
"These, including forty slaves, are my gifts to the King of the North Sea."
Ahem! After all, Deng Fei had seen the world, but this was his first time receiving someone as a gift, and he instinctively wanted to refuse.
"Your Majesty the Sultan, this..."
Major Duroy, who was full of envy, saw Deng Fei's hesitant expression and hurriedly told him in a low voice that the gift from the Sultan could not be refused, otherwise it would be considered an insult.
Well, look at the fuss, it doesn’t matter if you don’t want it. He decided to settle these people on the land he just bought after returning. As for Zhao Xin, forget it, the kidneys are more important!
After handing over the gifts and forty living men, Deng Fei asked Tipu Sultan to take a look at Mysore's army. He explained that he had to rush back to the local area for management as soon as possible so that he could notify Beihai Town to ship out the necessary supplies. He also hoped to make a preliminary training plan before leaving.
Tipu Sultan immediately agreed and asked his ministers to immediately issue a summons order to recruit 2,000 people to the military camp outside the city as agreed by both parties.
Today, the Kingdom of Mysore only has 100,000 square kilometers of territory left, which is the size of Zhejiang Province in later generations. With such a small area, it is impossible to support a standing army. Except for the thousand Sudanese Guards, most of them serve the people in peacetime and soldiers in wartime. The problem is that the Kingdom of Mysore is surrounded by enemies from all sides. Without the emergence of Beihai Town, Tipu Sultan's strength will be useless. Some people in later generations always thought that the Indians adopted a "flat-out policy" against the British as soon as they came out. In fact, the truth is that all those who dared to resist were killed...
The appeal of the "Tiger of Mysore" is incredible! The day after the summons was issued, all two thousand soldiers who came on horseback from surrounding villages and towns were assembled. They were all wearing chainmail, holding scimitars and spears, and they looked murderous.
However, when Deng Fei, Major Duroy and several officers from the Northern Navy Special Operations Battalion were accompanied by the Sudanese Prime Minister and the Commander of the Cavalry, they realized that they had been busy for a long time and actually ignored a very important issue, language communication. !
You must know that these Mysore soldiers are Hindus and only speak Hindi. Therefore, even if the officers of the special operations battalion understand French, they still need a translator who is proficient in French and Hindi to pass on the passwords.
In the past, French military instructors had to have a translator during training, but the problem is that the officers in the special operations battalion still don't understand French. Do they need to find another Chinese who understands French? Where can I find this? !
The language barrier cannot be circumvented no matter what. Deng Fei held a small meeting with Elu and other officers on the spot. Everyone agreed that in order for the Mysore army to be reborn and win the battle with thousands of people against the British encirclement, then from training regulations to All internal affairs must be copied from the North Navy and copied as a whole. This means that these soldiers must master Mandarin!
Deng Fei deeply believed in this, which was the same as the "African Liberation Army" in another time and space. He immediately proposed to the accompanying Sultan's men that he should first take 300 Mysore soldiers back to Beihai Town's territory in Pazayarai to train and learn the language. After these people have mastered a certain level of Chinese and can understand the training commands, let them come back and teach them to more people.
Three hundred people were not many, so Tipu Sultan agreed after thinking about it. However, he put forward a condition, that is, his eldest son, Prince Shezada Haider Ali, should also follow him to experience it and learn the Chinese language by the way.
Tipu Sultan has many wives and concubines, so naturally he has many children, and the number has reached 11 at present. But except for Prince Ali, who is 21 years old, the oldest one is only 10 years old.
Since we already have a group of people, one more prince is nothing. But when he set out two days later, Deng Fei found out that Prince Ali had dozens of men and women in his entourage, and he brought a lot of food, clothing, and supplies. In addition, he also had a hundred guards.
On the way back, Deng Fei asked Jiao Xun to communicate with Prince Ali and teach him some simple Chinese conversations. Poor talented scholar Jiao started the difficult teaching task by making gestures and guessing, and relying on Deng Fei's occasional help in French...
August 12, 1792, was a rare day of good weather. The continuous heavy rain finally stopped. The Governor of the British East India Company, Earl Cornwallis, who was playing with his two dogs in the garden of the Government House in Calcutta, received an urgent letter from the Government House in Madras. When he opened it, he was surprised by the contents. !
Charles Cornwallis is remembered in history mainly because he served as deputy commander-in-chief of the British army in the American Revolutionary War and led the remaining British troops to surrender after the "Siege of Yorktown" and became The highest-ranking British prisoner of war in the American Revolutionary War. It is now the sixth year since he took office as the Governor-General of India.
Although the British East India Company's headquarters in India is currently located in Calcutta, West Bengal, more than 150 years ago, they purchased a narrow strip of land in Madras in southeastern India and built Fort St. George. , and then used it as a base to engage in trade and colonial activities, extending its tentacles to the Bengal region.
Starting from the seventeenth century, the British East India Company had three major governor-general offices in India, namely Bombay in the west, Madras in the east, and Calcutta in Bengal. Since the passing of the "EIC Act" in 1784, the Governor of Bengal became the supreme commander-in-chief of the British Royal Army in India, and the Governors of Madras and Bombay became subordinate to the Governor of Bengal.
Madras is located in the northeast of the local area. The land road distance between the two places is less than 200 kilometers, and it is even more convenient to travel by boat. Since the Treaty of Paris in 1785, as Britain and France entered a state of peace, business exchanges between the two sides have also become normalized; therefore, if there are any unexpected situations in local governance, Madras will know within a week.
From the day Deng Fei and the others arrived for local governance, every move of the Beihai Town mission was followed by spies installed by the British for local governance. No way, who made the Thor so conspicuous? Furthermore, due to the panic caused by the French Revolution, the royalists among the French also had private contacts with the British.
In this way, only one month later, Madras understood the cooperation between Beihai Town and the French, so they immediately reported it to Calcutta.
Two days before Governor Cornwallis received the report to Madras, he had just received news from Bihar in the north. The regent of Gorkha, Basadul, had sent an envoy. The East India Company sent military assistance to resist the Qing army that invaded the country.
So when he saw the North Sea Town fleet arriving for local governance and signing a package agreement with the French, Cornwallis's first reaction was, what a coincidence, right? In the north, the Qing Empire attacked Gorkha, and in the south, the Beihai Town Fleet visited French India. It was really a posture of attacking the British from the north and the south.
So he hurriedly found Major William Kirkpatrick. This man had previously participated in military cooperation with the Qing Empire. He had visited Guangzhou, Xiamen and Dagukou, and had a casual acquaintance with Beihai Town.
Cornwallis teased the two Great Danes casually, and after the secretary finished explaining the situation to his men, he asked: "Major, what do you think of this matter?"
William Kirkpatrick thought for a moment and said, "I think it's just a coincidence."
"Hmm...what's the reason?"
"The Gurkhas invaded the Qing Empire two years ago, and they invaded again last year, so the Qing Empire was probably well prepared for this war. As for the Seris people in Beihai Town... Your Excellency, They have just driven the Dutch away from Batavia, and they are eager to intervene in India. I am afraid they will pose a huge challenge to us."
Cornwallis paced back and forth in the garden with his hands behind his back, and after thinking for a long time he said: "Major Kirkpatrick, I have decided to appoint you as the plenipotentiary envoy of the East India Company, leading a team of twenty officers and one hundred soldiers. The mission was to go to Patna on my behalf to meet with the envoys of the Shah’s Kingdom, responsible for mediating between the Qing Empire and their wars.”
"Thank you very much for your trust, Your Majesty the Governor!" William Kirkpatrick stood at attention and saluted, and then asked: "How do you respond to the other party's offer of military assistance?"
"We will only mediate, we will not send troops! Offending the huge Qing Empire will not do any good to the company at present. Guangzhou's trade is more important to us!" After Cornwallis finished speaking, he said to his secretary: "Draft a letter to Hobart Baron’s letter, ask him to personally send a letter of invitation to the Saris people, and at the same time be sure to find out the contents of the meeting between the Saris people and Tipu Sultan in Mysore.”
The Baron Hobart mentioned by Cornwallis is the new Governor of Madras. For him to issue the invitation can be regarded as a great favor to Beihai Town.
Cornwallis was still very afraid of the sudden appearance of Beihai Town. During the Battle of Changxing Island that year, Major General John Jervis passed through Calcutta when he returned to China and gave him a detailed report. Cornwallis was horrified to realize that the sailing fleet and advanced carronade guns he was so proud of turned out to be like paper in front of the Northern Navy. Such a powerful force suddenly appeared in India. If it reached an alliance with Mysore again, it would pose a serious threat to the colonial hegemony of the East India Company.
The British must quickly eliminate the Kingdom of Mysore, which is resolutely resisting the British. As long as Mysore is eliminated, the Viceroyalty of Bombay and the Viceroyalty of Madras can be connected as one, running through the South Asian subcontinent. The only thing needed now is an excuse to start a war...
Cornwallis wanted to send someone to mediate the Qingkong War, but it was too late. He didn't know that he was about to have an extra neighbor. After experiencing the "Battle of Dongjue" for eight consecutive days and nights, the Qing army's frontline had already pushed into the Yangbu Valley.
It is said that after Fukang'an captured the Resuo Bridge, he ordered his troops to continue attacking southward. However, the terrain at the southern foot of the Himalayas was harsh, and all the places they passed were narrow mountain paths and clusters of rocks. The Qing troops walked along the river and slept on the narrow river banks and under rocks even at night. Fortunately, we walked for 1,500 to 60 miles without encountering the enemy. It was not until we arrived at Xiebulu, more than 200 miles away from the Resuo Bridge, that we discovered that there were a large number of Kuojun bunkers on the other side.
However, the terrain here is similar to that of the Resuo Bridge. It is also separated by a large river. Heavy rains for days caused flash floods and rapids. The Qing army tried their best to build a pontoon bridge more than a dozen times despite the dense rain of bullets on the other side, but they were all washed away by the water. give up.
Fukang'an had no choice but to repeat his old tricks. Let Helin lead the firearms battalion on the hillside across the river and use 12-pound cannons to continuously bombard the Kuo army to attract the attention of the Kuo army. After the Kuo army returned to the camp to rest at night, they sent Tai Fei Ying'a and others to lead their men who dared to die. He swam across the river holding a thick piece of wood. After that, the troops divided into groups, either attacking along the mountain, sneaking around from behind, or occupying the side ridge and conducting a pincer attack. At dawn on July 12, all the troops were in attacking positions. Fukang'an immediately ordered a joint attack, and then Xiebul was captured.
On July 19, the Qing army arrived at Dongjue, where the Kuo army was most heavily defended. Since moving south, although the places the Qing army has passed are all dangerous, as long as there is a place defended by the Kuo army, there will always be a slope on their side, and one or two cannons can always be deployed. But Dongjue has absolutely nothing to do here.
The terrain here is extremely dangerous, with two mountains facing each other and a river standing on the wall. Standing on the top of the mountain and looking down, the "crossing river" is like a line. The Kuo army built a large number of fortifications on the other side of the river. The camp was on the top of the mountain. Below the mountain, there were many wooden cities, stone blockhouses and stone cards. As long as the river could be crossed, there were fortifications.
On July 21, Fukang'an made the following deployment: He Lin led the firearms troops to bombard the front mountain with artillery day and night; Tai Fei Ying'a led 2,000 people to detour through Yarsela and Bor Dong pulled several mountain peaks to destroy the Kuo army stronghold behind Dongjue; he himself led more than a dozen generals including Erdenbao, Anlu, Zhang Zhiyuan, Delengtai, Ke Jie'e, Wu Shao, Dingxi Ding and others. More than two thousand soldiers, after two days of crossing the river from Kaduopu in the upper reaches, launched an attack from the top of the mountain on July 23.
Because of the narrow terrain, the Qing army and the Kuo army were mixed together, and the muskets had no time to fire, so they relied on bows and arrows and swords and guns to fight hand-to-hand. In the mountain of corpses and sea of blood, countless people from both sides rolled down the cliff. Yang Yuchun from Sichuan Green Camp showed off his prowess this time, using a 140-pound heavy bow to kill dozens of people one after another. His bravery shocked the soldiers of Solenda Huer.
Dongjue's Kuo army was beaten to pieces by the Qing army, suffering heavy casualties. The three Qing armies pursued them until they reached Yongya, and then stopped. Fukang'an couldn't stop even if he didn't want to. After eight consecutive days and nights of fighting, the tsampa used as military rations had been eaten up. Nearly ten thousand soldiers of the Qing Dynasty were on the dangerous mountain climbing route. Most of the soldiers' clothes and shoes had been worn out. Now they were all barefoot and looked like beggars. Without shoes, the leeches, snakes and insects in the mountains and forests also made the Qing army miserable.
In addition, the climate in the southern foothills of the Himalayas is changeable. It rains heavily every day at noon, and turns to heavy snow at night. Many soldiers suffer from frostbite, and many are sick.
It was only then that He Lin discovered the wonderful effects of the cooling oil and Fengyoujing provided by Beihai Town. This oil had a miraculous effect on snakes, insects and leeches, and was very effective in reducing swelling and relieving pain. After Fukang'an learned about it, he immediately ordered the rear to bring up all the supplies provided by Beihai Town.
As for Gorkha, the regent Bashadur has left Yangbu and fled to the Inkko border area. Uncle Wang Shu, Badur Saye, who stayed in the capital, changed his previous arrogant attitude, released the detained lamas and Qing troops, and asked them to go back to explain to Fukang'an, obtain understanding, and let the Qing troops stop advancing.
But some are too late! On June 19, the fifty-seventh year of Qianlong's reign, that is, August 23, 1792, after receiving the memorial of the "Battle of Resuo Bridge", Qianlong not only issued rewards and promoted meritorious generals, but also ordered the Minister of Military and Aircraft to convey the message to Fukang again. install:
"...The Gorkhas must be wiped out without leaving a single leader behind, thinking that it will be done once and for all...This time we must go straight to the bandit territory to dig holes, let alone leave a single leader in the Gurkhas." . Fukangan must adhere to its opinions and attack Yangbu’s den of thieves.”
