The rapid capture of Chittagong was naturally a happy event, but it was not entirely a happy event. Because it was captured too quickly and "fallen in one day", it actually exceeded pre-war expectations, which led to some dispute.
After entering the city, the Western Expeditionary Army in Southern Xinjiang requisitioned a chamber of commerce built by the Portuguese. A combat meeting was quickly held in the large conference room of this burgundy ultra-wide two-story foreign-style building. An important member of the Western Expeditionary Army's navy and land forces The meeting was attended by everyone, including Gao Jing, Commander of the Nanyang Fleet and Commander of the Western Expedition Fleet, Ruan Fuze, Deputy Commander of the Western Expedition Fleet and Commander of the Mobile Fleet, Gao Muzo, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Nanyang Fleet and Chief of Staff of the Western Expedition Fleet, "Taungoo City" captain Hu Haichao.
As well as Gao Lian, deputy chief of staff of the Southern Xinjiang Military Command Department and chief of staff of the Western Expeditionary Army, Gao Sigang, commander of the second town of Dingnan Garrison, Gao Siyao, commander of the third town of Phnom Penh Garrison, and Huang Yingpin, the Xuanfu of Annan Vietnam and the garrison envoy of Nghe An , Cen Yunhan, the garrison envoy of Beisu Province and the temporary commander of the third town of the old port garrison; Cen Maoren, the garrison envoy of Huapanfu in Nanzhang and the first assistant commander of the second town of the Vientiane garrison; Huang Congzhe, the second co-president of the three towns; Huang Nanjin, the garrison of Jinpuzhou, Haidong Prefecture, Annan and the first co-president of the second town, Haidong Prefecture.
At the meeting, one of the most significant disputes was how to conduct the next war. One side believes that the pre-war deployment should be followed. One part of the Western Expeditionary Army should stay in Chittagong to build fortifications to prevent the Mughal Governor of Bengal from sending troops to attack. The other part should send troops to the southeast to attack Mrauk-U with the Northern Route Army and completely conquer Ala. Qian Kingdom.
The other side believes that because the capture of Chittagong went much more smoothly than expected—the original plan was to take more than five days, and the worst estimate was that it would take half a month—there is a high probability that the North Route Army will not be able to capture Chittagong even if it advances eastward. Arrive at the scheduled location. Then, the so-called east-west advance and encirclement of Mrauk-U is simply impossible. It is more likely that our Southern Route Army will attack Mrauk-U.
Rather than doing this, it would be better to take advantage of this time window to do something else, such as continuing a surprise attack. As for where the surprise attack was, there is no need to say, of course it was a direct surprise attack on Dhaka, the residence of the Governor-General of Bengal!
The proposal was surprising, but most people remained silent when they first heard it. The proposer, Ruan Phuc Chak, turned a blind eye to everyone's silence and continued to emphasize: "The news before the war made it very clear that Murad, the second son of Mughal Emperor Akbar, died the next day due to severe epilepsy caused by excessive drinking. Akbar was engaged in a new round of conquest of the Deccan, but Murad originally led the vanguard army on the front line of Ahmednegarh.
Since the vanguard army lost its leader, Akbar could only urgently order his third son, Daniyar, the governor of Bengal, to take over the position of his second brother Murad, and lead the army from Bengal to quickly march toward the southwest.
According to Akbar's location, even if he redeployed important officials from the country to Bangladesh to take over the post of Governor Daniyar, it would be impossible within a few months - you can take a look at this map: Akbar is here , Agra, the Mughal capital, is here, and Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is here—the three places are nearly five thousand miles apart!
Five thousand miles, everyone! With such a long distance, even if the new or temporary Governor of Bengal selected by Akbar was originally on standby in Agra, he would have to travel 2,600 miles from being appointed to taking office. If this person was not in Agra at the beginning, then he might have a longer journey to go.
In this case, why don't we take advantage of the fact that no one in Bangladesh is in charge of military and political affairs and attack Dhaka in a surprise attack? Everyone, if the surprise attack on Dhaka is as fast as the capture of Chittagong today, then I am afraid that by the time the governor arrives, our army will have captured the entire Bengal region! "
Ruan Fuze's statement is not unreasonable, but Gao Lian, as the chief of staff of the Western Expeditionary Army, raised objections: "Although Commander Ruan's words are reasonable, they are too idealistic. I would like to ask two points: First, why does the new governor It must be in Agra, in case the successor Governor of Bengal selected by Akbar was originally in Dhaka - for example, this person was one of the important officials in Dhaka, but did not accompany Daniyar on the expedition, and is now taken over by Akbar. If Pakistan is elected as the governor-general, it will not take several months to take over the military and political power of Bangladesh. If so, how to deal with it?
Secondly, today's surprise attack on Chittagong was indeed extremely successful, but I'm afraid we should not take this success for granted. If the surprise attack on Dhaka does not go as smoothly as it does today, but... let alone setbacks, as long as it is delayed for a few days, won't the Mughal army around Dhaka immediately come to rescue? After all, the importance of Dhaka should be clear to everyone. How could the Mughals sit back and watch Dhaka besieged by our army and remain indifferent? "
As soon as he opened his mouth, some generals seemed to have received clear instructions. For example, Gao Sigang immediately went on to say: "Yes, what the chief of staff said is absolutely true. Our army has newly captured Chittagong, and the capital of Arakan, Mrauk-U, is still in the enemy's hands. If the West now An advance or surprise attack on Dhaka will inevitably take away the main force of our army. What if, I mean what if, the progress of the Northern Route Army does not go well, and the attack on Mrauk-U also requires our Southern Route Army to be the main force, then how can this force be enough?"
After Gao Sigang said this, Gao Siyao also said: "It is true that by then the main force of our army will be divided. If the force going to Dhaka is restrained by the main force of the Mughals, and the force going to Mrauk U cannot be conquered for a while, wouldn't it be a trap? The dilemma of fighting on two fronts with insufficient troops on both fronts? Therefore, from what I can see, we still have to eat our food one at a time. We must first capture Mrauk-U and completely surrender Arakan, and then consider Bangladesh before it is too late."
The three main army generals Gao Lian, Gao Sigang and Gao Siyao expressed their opposition, and the navy was not happy.
Gao Jing smiled at this time and said: "It is not unreasonable for the three of you to think this way, but it is too pessimistic. Besides, the surprise attack on Dhaka may not necessarily be like the three people's hypothesis. It must be done before the surprise attack on Dhaka." Then immediately launch a full-scale attack to capture the entire Bengal.”
Seeing Gao Jing speak, Gao Lian raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled: "Really? In other words, the navy means to only take Dhaka and then start organizing defenses in Dhaka? With all due respect, only taking Dhaka Being stuck and not taking the whole of Bengal is essentially the same as alerting the enemy. In doing so, it seems that our army has taken an important place, but in fact it gives the Mughals time to react and allow them to calmly mobilize troops, and finally besieged the isolated city of Dhaka. In this way, isn’t our army asking for trouble?"
Gao Yuan kept listening and didn't notice the problem at first. It wasn't until this moment that he realized it - it turned out that this time was different from the previous situations. This time it was a battle between land and sea!
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Thanks to book friend "doni" for your monthly ticket support, thank you!
PS: I'm 40 minutes late. This chapter was published on the 25th. I came back late today and didn't have time to make up for the debt... cough.
(End of chapter)
