November of the 26th year of Chengshun, Mumbai, India.
This area originally belonged to the scope of the Portuguese's strength. The Portuguese established a trading stronghold in Bombay more than a hundred years ago and then gradually expanded their power.
However, like other colonies of the Portuguese, they were limited by their own lack of strength, mainly due to the sparse population, and were unable to actually control the colony. Therefore, the so-called colonial rule of the Portuguese in Bombay was actually the same as the Dutch, only occupying coastal strongholds, and then By profiting from trade, rather than like the Spanish, England would continuously organize immigrants to colonize and establish real colonial rule.
The Portuguese's colonial activities in Asia were originally very extensive and in-depth. However, due to insufficient national strength, they were unable to continue in the face of many competitors and were unable to protect their overseas colonies.
Beginning in the 1740s, they engaged in fierce colonial wars with the Dutch. At the same time, they suffered strong squeeze from the Chu Empire. They first lost Malacca, then Ceylon Island and the east and west coasts of India. Large colonies.
In the end, even the British couldn't help but get involved. They mobilized a large number of reinforcements from Surattri, the British base on the Indian peninsula and the place where they first landed in India, and stationed them at the British base in Bombay. Bombay Fort.
When the Portuguese had no time to worry about anything else, they sent troops to capture the Portuguese castle and expelled the Portuguese from Bombay, thus achieving the monopoly of the Bombay area.
In fact, this matter has not happened for a few years. Even now, the Portuguese and England are still fighting over the ownership of Mumbai.
In the end, the Portuguese transferred the sovereignty of Bombay to the British through dowry, and the British provided certain supplements from other directions.
Only after the formal marriage between the two parties next year, the British will be able to legally and reasonably possess the sovereignty of Mumbai.
But... legality and reasonableness sometimes work, and sometimes they don't.
The Dutch have seized countless colonies from the Portuguese, and I have never seen them pursue legality and reasonableness. The British mainly considered the upcoming marriage between the two parties and were willing to make certain supplements in other aspects to allow the transfer of Bombay. Become more legal and reasonable, and try not to damage the relationship between the two countries.
After the English occupied Bombay, they quickly regarded Bombay as their main base for colonization in India. They carried out a lot of construction and stationed a lot of troops.
We also organized many immigrants to come here.
What they did in Bombay was actually similar to what the Chu Empire did in Gohe City. They both used this place as a forward base for colonizing India... or even more bluntly, the English imitated the Chu Empire. The colonial model of empire.
It's just that the English's national strength is limited, and their ocean shipping capabilities are not very good. The most important thing is that the only one doing this is the English East India Company.
When they act, they consider business gains and losses more often. Therefore, it is impossible to say that they can build Mumbai into a truly large city in just a few years, nor can they build Mumbai's urban defense system like a railway.
At this point, they were far from comparable to the Chu Empire.
The national power of the Great Chu Empire was unmatched by the Great Chu Empire. At the same time, the sea distance from the mainland of the Great Chu Empire to India was far less than that of England.
The English traveled thousands of miles to transport hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Europe. In the same period of time, the Chu Empire could organize the transportation of tens of thousands of immigrants to India.
In the past two or three years, the English have organized a total of more than 3,000 immigrants to India!
But the Chu Empire has organized and transported more than 50,000 immigrants to India in the past three years. In Gohe City alone, there are now more than 10,000 immigrants.
Just the huge gap in the number of immigrants can tell the difference in strength between the two sides.
The huge gap between the two sides is even more reflected in today's Mumbai city and beyond!
There are about 3,000 British troops in Bombay. This force was after England learned that Ceylon had fallen, Goa was finished, and the Chu army was sweeping north along the coastline. They urgently transferred troops from surrounding areas for reinforcements. the result of.
These three thousand British troops are not regular troops. More than a thousand of them are ground armed employees of the East India Company, and more than a thousand are sailors and crew members temporarily organized to fight ashore. There are even hundreds of new immigrants. The young men were recruited to form a militia.
Don't laugh at the composition of other people's military forces. Except for the colonial activities of the Spanish, which were officially led from beginning to end, most other European colonial activities basically relied on commercial companies, and the armies affiliated to various East India companies basically all so.
The same is true for the Portuguese and the Dutch.
These more than 3,000 troops were already the largest number of troops that England could muster in just a few months.
After all, time is too tight, and the English can only mobilize troops from nearby places such as India and West Asia. If they are given more time, the English can continue to mobilize thousands of troops from Africa and other places.
In addition to the British themselves, the local indigenous army is naturally indispensable... This indigenous army is naturally not the official army of the local indigenous people, that is, the Mughal Empire army, but the indigenous army organized by the English who recruited young indigenous people on the spot. , numbering about two thousand people.
This is no different from other colonists. European colonial countries such as the Dutch and Portuguese like to recruit indigenous people to form servant armies to alleviate the problem of tight human resources in the colonies.
A thousand mercenaries, more than a thousand sailors, hundreds of militiamen, plus more than 2,000 indigenous soldiers.
This constitutes all the troops of the English East India Company protecting Bombay, with a total of about 5,200 people. Bombay's city defense system has more than 30 large and small artillery pieces.
Although there are not many people, there will be no shortage of artillery. After all, no merchant ship these days can do without artillery. When needed, small and medium-caliber naval guns can be directly moved ashore for use.
As for the lack of mobility, since it is a defensive operation anyway, there is no need for mobility.
Such English people are actually very powerful among European colonists... From this we can also see why the English were able to win in the battle for India in the original time and space, because they have a large local population and overseas colonial policies By focusing on controlling and informing the colonies, more troops can be organized, and the war will naturally be more powerful.
The same cannot be said for the Dutch and Portuguese. They have few native people, and it is impossible for them to forget to fill their overseas colonies with a large population, then develop colonies, organize a large number of armies, etc.
The English are tough, but this toughness is nothing in front of the Chu people!
At this moment, there are 11,000 Chu troops outside Bombay, including more than 50 field guns and howitzers of various calibers, and 32 large-caliber siege cannons and short-barreled howitzers.
The above-mentioned forces all belong to the 72nd Division and the 27th Heavy Artillery Regiment under the Indian Expeditionary Force of the Army.
Specifically, there are five infantry battalions including the 286th Infantry Regiment, the 1st Battalion and the 2nd Battalion of the 287th Infantry Regiment.
The 72nd Division belongs to the Second Artillery Battalion and the Third Artillery Battalion of the Artillery Regiment. The 1st Heavy Artillery Battalion of the 27th Heavy Artillery Regiment and the Navy came to support it and came under the command of the Army as a "temporary siege artillery battalion"... This artillery battalion The attached guns are all naval guns, which were moved directly from the battleships and pulled ashore for siege.
In addition, there are the 3rd Baggage Battalion of the 72nd Baggage Regiment and the 72nd Guards Military Battalion (a small battalion of 600 people, personal guards and military police);
Finally, there are the 2nd and 3rd Hussars Posts of the 72nd Cavalry Regiment,
Plus some personnel directly under the headquarters, medical personnel and even military band personnel, etc.
The total number of troops is 11,000, commanded by Major General Bai Zhen, commander of the 72nd Division and commander of the Indian Expeditionary Forces on the West Coast.
Army Major General Bai Zhen is an Army Mesozoic general with rich experience in amphibious operations and overseas colonial operations. He has participated in a series of Nanyang expansion operations as the deputy commander of the Fifth Division very early on.
Later, he was promoted to Army Major General due to his meritorious service, and was transferred back to China to serve as the Director of the Maritime Transportation Department of the Logistics Department. After spending two years in Gyeonggi Province, he was transferred back to the 22nd Army stationed in Nanyang as the Chief of Staff.
A year and a half later, he was transferred back to China!
This time, he was finally able to lead a division alone, because his new position was the commander of the 72nd Division.
Commander of the 72nd Division. This is the second batch of amphibious operations units prepared by the Army for overseas expansion. The first batch in front are the divisions under the 22nd Army.
Bai Zhen was able to serve as the division commander because of his previous combat experience in Nanyang.
After serving as the commander of the 72nd Division for two years, he got the opportunity to go to the battlefield: the 72nd Division was dispatched to fight in India, and he led the army on the expedition.
Before the expedition, the 72nd Division strengthened its combat readiness, and its personnel and establishment were expanded from the former standing B-level division to the level of an A-level combat readiness division.
The value of his commander of the 72nd Division has also been rising.
They are both major generals in the army, but the commander of a first-class combat readiness division and the commander of a second-class standing division are two different things...
But behind the stage, whether the play can be performed well depends on Bai Zhen himself.
But although there have been many battles before, to be honest, they were all small-scale battles, and the enemy's resistance was not strong. Although it is good to win all the time, if the enemy is so weak, Bai Zhen estimates that he will come to India in vain. One trip.
The enemies are so weak, how dare you say you have any merit?
It’s just hard work until you’re exhausted.
Now that he saw that the British troops in the city were well prepared and the overall situation was much better than that of the Dutch, Bai Zhen also cheered up.
I have been running around and fighting in India for several months, and this is the first time I have encountered an opponent who looks a little like him.
He planned to respect his opponents: use all his strength to destroy them all like a lion fighting a rabbit!
This is also the combat tradition of the Chu army: they like to rely on their superiority in strength and equipment to play a crushing game.
Letting go of superior troops and equipment without having to compete with the enemy in a battle of wits and courage... This is not the Chu army's fighting style.
The strong national power of the Chu army was not only reflected in the regular army outside Bombay, but also in the more than 30,000 local indigenous people recruited outside the city.
These are young and strong civilian men recruited by the Chu army from nearby areas. They are mainly used to help them transport various supplies, build fortifications, open roads and bridges and other auxiliary work.
When the Chu army recruited indigenous people, they did not use force. The local indigenous young men actively participated.
As for why they came to participate enthusiastically, the reason is very simple...the Chu army paid wages!
Although the money given is very small, it is still an extremely rare opportunity to make money for the local low-caste young men who are not even as good as livestock.
If the Chu army's supply line was not actually very short, there were not many places that needed construction, and there was no need for so many young and strong natives, I'm afraid they could easily recruit even 100,000 to 80,000 people.
On November 13th, although it is winter at this time, there is no chill in Mumbai. This place has a tropical monsoon climate. At the same time, the Himalayan Mountains in the north block the cold air. Compared with other areas at the same latitude, It's a bit hotter,
Now even in winter, the temperature can remain in the teens.
This is still the current Little Ice Age, which is relatively colder than in later generations. If it were in later generations, the hottest time in summer could even reach 44 degrees, and in winter it could be over 20 degrees.
Army Major General Bai Zhen is wearing the army's autumn uniform, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and riding a war horse. He is inspecting the front line and inspecting the preparations of various units, mainly the artillery unit.
When patrolling on horseback, in addition to seeing many of our own troops building fortifications and transporting artillery, shells and other supplies, we can also see a large number of local indigenous people building fortifications, building simple houses, and erecting bridges.
When passing a section of ditch, the bridge swayed because the temporary bridge was not strong enough. In order to protect a group of passing officers from falling into the stinking ditch, dozens of local aborigines went down directly. The simple plank bridge is supported directly in the stinking ditch to prevent the simple plank bridge from shaking.
When Bai Zhen passed by on horseback, he lowered his head and looked at the local indigenous people in the ditch under the bridge. These indigenous people were naked, their dark bodies stained with mud, but their faces were filled with smiles.
A young man smiled at Bai Zhen, but what he showed was not white teeth, but yellow and black rotten teeth.
Looking up and looking forward, there are artillery pieces of the Chu Army's artillery in front of them on a small hill. Because there are not enough mules and horses, a large group of Indian natives are holding ropes, shouting and struggling to pull the artillery behind them.
Bai Zhen looked at them and nodded slightly: These natives are pretty good!
Thinking of this, Bai Zhen also smiled.
After fighting overseas for so many years, he has met countless indigenous people, including all kinds of indigenous people in Nanyang, but it is really rare to help the Chu army work and fight so sincerely... that is really rare.
Thinking back to the various information about the Indian region that I have studied over the past year, I looked at their skin colors, and then at the few local indigenous people in the distance who had fairer skin and were well-dressed, watching from a distance.
Upper caste and lower caste?
Perhaps, when I look back, I can suggest to the governor of India and the vassal affairs department, and yes, as well as those in the national defense system, to let them use the local caste issue to make a fuss, which may help the empire better colonize this country of 100 million people. A huge peninsula with a large population.
The Indian peninsula is too peaceful today, which is not a good sign.
After all, the amount of ordnance imported by such a large Indian peninsula to the Chu Empire every year is not as much as that of Fusang, a small country. This kind of thing must not be tolerated!
