India is a magical country. Neither Fang Lang in his previous life nor Fang Lang as a South American in this life knew much about India. In Fang Lang's imagination, professional mercenaries from the Whip of God were escorting him on this mission. The difficulty should no longer be the possible attacks on the road.
Rather, such a large amount of materials may require a large number of cars, and India's backward transportation conditions may make the transportation of these materials difficult.
But the reality is completely contrary to Fang Lang's imagination. The traffic situation in India in this era is actually far better than that of Brazil, and it is definitely ranked among the top four in the world.
That’s because India is the most important British colony. India began building its first railway as early as 1853. This was the first railway in Asian history. The first railway in my hometown was later than that in India. Seventeen years.
By 1929, India's railways had covered the entire country, with a mileage of 66,000 kilometers, making it the only country in Asia with a complete railway system.
It ranks fourth in the world after the United States, the Soviet Union, and Canada.
Of course, these are superficial data. In fact, Indian railways also have serious problems, that is, a country's railway system actually has two completely different size standards.
The first railways built in India from Mumbai had a track size of 1.7 meters wide. However, due to the replacement of the British Governor in India, the new Governor believed that Indian railways should be in line with international standards, and all railways built later were changed to one meter wide.
This resulted in two different sizes of railways on the same line, severely restricting the capacity of the trains.
It is said that Suleiman Brom's transportation team that Fang Lang was paying attention to encountered such a problem. Suleiman Brom originally thought that he had a strong armed escort team to escort him, and even without the help of the British army, the operation should go very smoothly.
But when their train departed from Hyderabad and traveled less than 200 kilometers to a small town called Shahabad and needed to change trains, they ran into trouble.
Yes, it means changing trains, because the railway they started on is a one-meter narrow-gauge train. After arriving in Shahabad, they need to change to a 1.7-meter wide-gauge train. All the goods on the train need to be unloaded first and then transferred to the train bound for Mumbai. On a broad gauge train.
The problem for Suleiman Brom now is that all the stevedores at Shahabad Railway Station seem to have chosen to go on strike.
The originally bustling train station found itself in an embarrassing situation with no one loading or unloading.
"Mr. Brom, what's going on now and why the train stopped and didn't move."
Battalion Commander Dalhousie, who was sent by the God's Whip Military Contracting Company to escort this shipment, had obviously never encountered such a situation.
As the employer, Suleiman Brom also looked very ugly at the moment. After hearing Dalhousie's doubts, he felt a little ashamed. After all, the other party was only responsible for escorting, and the route and transportation were all done by his own staff who were familiar with the situation in India. It was arranged by someone, but something unexpected happened less than a day after setting off.
“We need to go to Shahabad Railway Station to change trains, but now there are no workers at the railway station responsible for loading and unloading goods.
It must be those damn bastards who are using tricks to set up obstacles for me. "
Dalhousie is a typical American officer who has participated in the European War and has rich combat experience. This time he received the task personally from his boss. For him, this is the boss's trust in him and it is also a rare opportunity to perform.
Although he didn't know why professional soldiers like them were needed to escort cotton and grain, but since someone gave them money, he didn't care what others thought.
It was just that the owner of the cargo, Sulaiman Brom, had offended some big shot in India and was threatened to attack him and his cargo, so he hired them.
Now I find that the other party's strength seems to be stronger than I expected, and it can actually make all the loaders and unloaders at the train station go on strike. Alarm bells suddenly started ringing in my heart.
He no longer continued to ask about the specific situation of Suleiman Brom, but quickly ran to his team and shouted filial piety:
"Everyone get out of the car and rely on the railway station and trains to establish defensive positions to prevent the enemy from sneak attacks. Hurry... Hurry..."
For a moment, the whole train became lively. The fully armed God's Whip mercenaries opened the doors of the stuffy tank cars one by one, ran to the platform in an orderly manner and began to set up defensive positions. Heavy machine guns were placed on the platform. on the ground, and started building machine gun positions with sandbags.
This sudden change startled the train station staff who were still at the train station. Suleiman Brom was also a little confused, but he quickly realized that Dalhousie was aware of the danger. Alert arrangements made.
He was very satisfied with this and felt that his escort fee was not in vain. At the same time, he also began to worry about whether any unexpected situations would really occur next.
I have to say that sometimes Murphy's Law is really true. The more you worry about something, the more likely it will happen.
Just two hours after the station's defensive positions were set up and the sky was about to get dark, Dalhousie noticed that a large number of people began to gather outside the train station. These people had large turbans on their heads and although they were not carrying anything, Weapons of destruction, but these people clearly have bad intentions.
He quickly ordered the soldiers to be more vigilant and to eliminate all enemies who tried to approach them to escort supplies as soon as they received the order.
At the same time, he informed Suleiman Brom of the situation he discovered, hoping that he could determine the next step as soon as possible.
Suleiman Brom did not expect that the enemy's actions would start so quickly. He was trapped at the railway station by the enemy less than 200 kilometers out of Hyderabad.
If they weren't escorted by a professional security team, these people might have rushed into the train station and snatched all their supplies!
After receiving the news from Dalhousie, Suleiman Brom immediately contacted British officials in India again to avoid further deterioration of the situation. He knew very well that if these Indians really launched an attack on the railway station, He had to fight back.
Once things develop to this point, his family will have a deadly feud with India, and his properties in India will most likely be confiscated by the Indian government, which he does not want to see.
But it turned out that he was still too optimistic.
After receiving his notice, the British colonial officials in India contacted the authorities of the soon-to-be-established Indian government, but all Indian officials stated that they were unaware of the situation here and said that they would immediately arrange personnel to investigate. Then nothing happened.
After Suleiman Brom learned about this situation, he could only sigh helplessly and informed Dalhousie of the situation.
After knowing his situation, Dalhousie did not panic. After pondering for a while, he asked directly:
"Mr. Brome, first of all I want to know if you can find a train to Bombay. Secondly, if we can find the stevedores who are responsible for moving the goods.
If these two things can be solved, we only need to protect the transfer process from accidents.
But if you can't solve these two problems, then we have to choose to take the initiative and seize a train that can go to Mumbai, and also find a way to find enough stevedores.
However, I am a little worried. Even if we seize the train to Mumbai and find enough stevedores to transfer the goods, our train will be able to go to Mumbai smoothly.
After all, trains are no better than cars. No matter where you go, you need the cooperation of various track crews. "
Suleiman Brom looked at the growing crowd outside the train station with an ugly face, and finally gritted his teeth and said:
“My people have just asked the railway station dispatch center, and their reply is that there are no broad gauge trains to Mumbai now, but these are all lies.
According to our observation, there are currently two idle train sets at the railway station. If you can allocate manpower to control these two train sets, I can ensure that our train can reach Mumbai smoothly.
The current train lines are still under the control of the UK. I don't believe they have the ability to control all train lines. "
From Suleiman Brom's words, it was not difficult to tell that Dalhousie was actually not absolutely sure that the trains could be marshalled to arrive in Bombay smoothly, and he did not even mention the issue of stevedores. Obviously , he couldn't solve this problem.
This means that from now on, their path to Mumbai will be less certain. If they want to reach Mumbai smoothly, they have to rely on their own methods in the end.
In an unfamiliar area of India, if they want to rely on a battalion of their troops to escort such a large batch of supplies to Mumbai smoothly, they must treat it as a battle.
But in the final analysis, India is still the territory of the British. He must ensure that their military methods in India will not be held accountable by the British.
Therefore, he looked seriously at his employer, Suleiman Brom.
"Mr. Brom, we are all very clear about the current situation. If we want to ensure a smooth operation, we may have to enter a combat state next, and many people will die in this way.
I'd like to know if you could handle the consequences if this were to happen. "
Suleiman Brom was obviously very annoyed with the current situation. After listening to Dalhousie's words, he understood what the other party meant. It was obvious that he was preparing to push straight through.
The reason why he found Fang Lang and invited God's Whip Company to be responsible for escorting this batch of supplies was also based on this consideration. Although he didn't want to push it directly, the current situation no longer allowed him to think too much about it.
Now that Dalhousie has taken the initiative to take action, he only thought about it briefly before agreeing to the other party's opinion.
"No problem, if a lot of people don't die now, these damn Indian bastards will think I'm easy to bully!
Act with confidence and boldness! No matter what the consequences are, I can bear them. "
Dalhousie saw the other party's expression and understood that the other party had also made up his mind, so he no longer hesitated. He nodded seriously to Suleiman Brom and said:
"Then I hope that Mr. Brom and your people will obey my command until our team reaches Bombay successfully."
"No problem, from now on, all of us will obey your command."
Dalhousie received a positive reply and no longer hesitated. He nodded directly to Suleiman Brom, turned around and began to assign tasks to the soldiers under his command.
As the orders were conveyed, a battalion of mercenaries quickly took action. The first to set off was a platoon of soldiers. They were fully armed and walked along the train track towards the train dispatch center on the other side.
Standard combat formation. When they entered the dispatch center, several Indians inside were violently knocked out by several gun butts before they understood what was going on. Then the soldiers of this platoon took control and stopped on the wide track. of two trains.
Dalhousie, who was already prone to a firefight, obviously didn't understand what the situation was. This was completely different from what he had imagined.
Immediately afterwards, another company of soldiers, fully armed, rushed into the crowd gathering outside. These crowds were obviously heading towards the train station and seemed to be waiting for someone to arrive.
Without even understanding the situation, as a light machine gun fired a magazine of bullets into the sky, all the Indians very consciously held their heads in their hands and squatted on the ground.
This made Dalhousie even more confused. This seemed to be a little different from what he imagined! Even though so many people don’t have firearms, they shouldn’t just lie down like this! This made him feel a little embarrassed to even receive a salary.
However, he did not have much time to lament these things. The soldiers rushed into the crowd and dragged out some Indians who looked relatively strong. These people seemed to be confused about the situation and thought that these soldiers were going to kill them directly. Rectify the law on the spot.
Each one of them was trembling with fear and desperately begging for their lives in English with an Indian accent. However, the soldiers ignored what they were saying and drove them directly to the train carriage. They were led by several Suleiman Brom. His subordinates directed them to transport these supplies.
After understanding what the soldiers meant, these Indians did not obey the orders obediently. Instead, they chose to pretend not to understand what they meant and looked at the soldiers pitifully.
Among the mercenaries of God's Whip, there seemed to be people who had been in contact with Indians. They had some understanding of the Indian character. When they could not command these Indians, they began to look for those with fairer skin among these Indians. high-caste people and ordered them to be responsible for organizing people to transport supplies.
These people were not willing at first, but after two people who disobeyed orders were directly executed in front of everyone, all the Indians became honest.
But the work efficiency of these Indians is really appallingly low. Not only do they like to steal goods, but they also have dirty hands and feet and try to steal goods many times. Fortunately, Suleiman Brom's people are very fond of these Indians. Understand, they had anticipated this situation.
Once they discovered the small moves of these Indians, they rushed up and started beating these Indians with canes.
Suleiman Brom was also worried that the Indians would discover the real goods hidden in the cotton, so he kept a close eye on these goods. He even stepped forward to personally supervise the transshipment of the goods.
As time passed, the goods on the train were slowly transferred. Just when everyone thought it was about to end, two cars and more than a dozen trucks drove up outside the train station, and several people got out of the car. Indians in suits and many Indian soldiers equipped with rifles.
