The English's actions in the city were not small. After all, they had to build a large number of fortifications in the city. Without enough fortifications, they could not defeat the Chu army even in street fighting.
After all, this is not the future, and there are not many rifles in the hands of infantry that can shoot accurately. It is not easy to use black guns.
The so-called street fighting actually relies on the complex terrain formed by the many buildings in the city to carry out defensive operations, thereby avoiding the threat of a large number of artillery pieces from the Chu army outside the city.
After all, the Chu army's artillery was deployed outside the city, and most of these artillery trajectories were relatively straight.
When the city defenders hide directly behind the city wall in the second direction for defensive operations, the tall city wall itself will form an obstacle to prevent the large number of shells fired by the Chu army's artillery from falling directly into the second line of defense behind the city wall.
This is the British army’s plan!
However, the British army obviously did not know enough about the Chu army, and it was not clear enough that the Chu army was equipped with a large number of light howitzers.
The so-called light howitzers in the Chu army are actually smoothbore mortars to a certain extent, with very short barrels... The purpose of the Chu army's equipment is to use the large curved trajectory of the mortars to launch explosive grenades Attack enemies hiding inside fortifications and behind them.
Because after this thing is shot out, it may fall directly on top of the enemy's head and explode, or it may simply explode in the air.
Ordinary fortifications against solid artillery shells are actually not very effective against the Chu army's deflection grenades. If you want to better defend against the Chu army's explosive grenades, the best solution is to build some relatively narrow trenches, or simply Construct a covered grenade-proof fortification.
This is what the Ming army and the Donglu people did back then... They were beaten too hard by the Chu army, and the battle between the two sides took a long time, so they gradually developed a relatively complete anti-grenade fortification system.
But it is obvious that the defense concepts of the indigenous people abroad, including these European colonists, still stop at defending against solid artillery shells, and mainly use bastion defenses.
Whether it is the Dutch or the English, their bastion-like fortifications are particularly useful when facing other indigenous people, and they are also very useful when facing their European counterparts. But when facing the Chu army with a large number of howitzers, these bastion-like fortifications are useless. The fortifications are useless.
Why was the bastion defense system that had been prevalent for hundreds of years finally abandoned?
It is because grenades began to become popular on a large scale, and the defensive effect of traditional bastions in the face of explosive grenades... is not as strong as just digging a ditch (trench).
Of course, bastions are also gradually developing, and eventually evolved into a fortress defense system that is integrated with the terrain, but this is no longer a bastion.
The English's outdated defense system in Bombay Castle was severely beaten by the Chu army, and they were eventually forced to abandon city defense and switch to street fighting.
To be precise, it was building a second line of defense behind the city wall, which was not the same thing as street fighting in the later sense.
As a result, when the infantry of the 72nd Division began to move forward cautiously and tentatively to attack, they found that the British army had given up the defense of the perimeter and even the city walls.
Just when the Chu army thought that the British army in the city had been defeated like the He army in Colombo, Ceylon, they immediately discovered that the first batch of their own troops who tried to cross the city to continue the attack were hit by firepower from within the city. .
Because the situation was unclear, the Chu army began to withdraw from the city after suffering a small number of casualties.
When Major General Bai Zhen learned that the troops entering the city had been counterattacked not far from the city wall, he immediately laughed: "These English barbarians still want to fight in the streets..."
Then he said to the officers behind him: "Gentlemen, now the barbarians in the city are trying to resist through street fighting. What do you think we should do?"
Immediately, a major staff officer said: "Simple, follow many previous battle examples, directly pull small and medium-sized artillery into the city, get close and fire!"
"At the same time, the heavy artillery troops outside the city continued to conduct covering howitzer bombardments on the city, supplemented by large-scale arson."
"Blast the buildings in the city into rubble, burn them to ashes, and then just clean the battlefield."
Major General Bai Zhen nodded slightly after hearing this. His subordinates' answers were quite satisfactory. They didn't even need to think of a solution, they could just copy many previous battle examples.
Facing the strong artillery firepower of the Chu Empire, especially the large-scale howitzer bombardment, the English were not the first army to want to abandon the city walls and retreat to the city to engage in street fighting.
Before the English, the Ming army, the Dongdu and even many indigenous armies had done this.
During the Unification War, during the Battle of Jinzhou, the Dong captives were defeated. Because the eastern captives tried to retreat to the city and engage in street fighting with the Chu army in the final stage, the Chu army directly resorted to bombardment and arson, directly reducing the city of Jinzhou to rubble.
When the Chu Empire was undergoing great expansion in Southeast Asia, the Kingdom of Johor also tried to retreat to the city in its last stubborn resistance... As a result, the Chu army again reduced the city to ruins.
As for sending troops into the city to compete with the enemy for a street or a house?
Only a fool would do such a thing.
Therefore, after discovering that the British army retreated to the city and tried to fight in the streets, the Chu army on the one hand opened up the area around the north city gate and adopted the method of surrounding three and one to reduce the determination of the defenders in the city to resist, in an attempt to shake their morale and morale. They exited the city.
The tactical purpose of besieging three enemies and one enemy is to leave a way for the enemy to retreat and then shake their determination to defend the city. This is an honest conspiracy.
In addition to encircling three and one, the Chu army began to bring a large number of small and medium-sized artillery closer to the city after sending troops to garrison the city walls and city gates.
The main ones will be the two types of infantry support artillery, the 65mm field guns and the 115mm light howitzers. In addition, some 115mm field guns and even 150mm light howitzers have also been brought in.
These artillery pieces will fire shotgun shells, grenades and even solid artillery shells at close range to bombard enemies along the way one by one.
This kind of gameplay is equivalent to bayoneting the artillery...
This two-pronged approach, coupled with the fact that the Chu army was still firing incendiary bombs, was actually firing red-hot solid cannonballs. This is a type of traditional naval gun ammunition, specially used to hit wooden sail warships. Yes, the effect is very good.
When it comes to doing this on land, the effect is actually quite good... After all, in cities these days, except for a few areas where wood is lacking, there are relatively few wooden buildings. In fact, in most places, except for a few official or official buildings, Except for religious buildings, other buildings are basically made of wood.
Even many official buildings and even fortresses are mainly made of wood.
Civilian buildings are dominated by wooden buildings. This is true whether in the East or the West. As for the reason? There's no reason, it's just that wood buildings are cheaper. (Exceptions include rare areas lacking wood, such as desert areas.)
As for later generations who think that there are many stone buildings in Europe... that's because stone buildings last longer, and Europeans like to build various religious sites. At the same time, wars are frequent and various lords will also build stone fortresses, so the remaining stones There are more buildings.
However, most civilian buildings and even some wooden fortresses are still the mainstream, but they have been preserved. In addition, frequent wars have gradually disappeared from the historical scene.
In the 19th century, after entering the stage of rapid industrialization, more and more civil stone buildings were built. After the emergence of cement, the entire city was dominated by stone and cement buildings.
The entire evolution process is actually similar to the evolution process in China after the 20th century. Cities gradually changed from wooden buildings to cement buildings.
The city of Bombay in the mid-to-late seventeenth century was no exception. A large number of buildings in the city were still mainly wooden buildings. Only a few special buildings such as fortresses, residences of high-ranking officials, and churches were stone buildings.
Such a city with a large number of wooden buildings would inevitably burst into flames when it was bombarded by the Chu army and even launched a large number of arson bombs!
The British defenders were dumbfounded when they saw the fire all over the city...
They didn't understand. A war was a war, but why did the Chu people burn the city?
Even if the two sides are fighting, what the two sides are doing is just to seize colonies. After breaking the city, they will plunder. After looting, they will set fire to it. The British can actually understand...
But the problem is, you don’t even have a gun to rob, you just burn down Mumbai with a fire. What are you people from Chu trying to do?
This is purely a thankless waste of money.
Is it possible that you Chu people are here just to fight us English people?
Naturally, it was difficult for the British to understand some of the thinking of the Chu people. Their guess was indeed correct. To be precise, the Chu people did not come to capture Bombay, but to expel the British. .
What the Chu Empire wanted was to expel all European colonists from the Indian Peninsula, control all the colonies in the coastal countries of the Indian Peninsula, and then monopolize all foreign trade and the internal market of the Indian Peninsula.
As for one or two colonial cities, that actually doesn't matter...at worst, we can just rebuild them later.
Even if it is reconstruction, it does not cost the military money. The army will not let its soldiers and indigenous barbarians fight at close range for the possible reconstruction costs in the future, and then fight for each house one by one. Woolen cloth.
Just burn it on fire, it’s simple, convenient and trouble-free!
The fire in Bombay burned for three full days, burning most of the city to ashes. Many British soldiers and their servants, the indigenous soldiers, were not killed or injured in the Chu army's attack, but died in the fire. Down.
At the same time, the Chu army's combat method of direct burning and continuous shelling panicked countless British troops, which in turn triggered a large wave of fleeing. Many people began to retreat towards the north city area, and even crossed the northern city wall and went directly to North escapes.
Under such circumstances, it would be impossible for the top brass of the British Army to continue to hold on to Bombay.
Three days later, the senior officials of the English East India Company were forced to order a full retreat. They tried to escape back to Surat, more than 250 kilometers north of Bombay.
Surat is also the British East India Company's first colonial stronghold on the Indian peninsula, and it is the place where they have operated for the longest time.
Now that the British were defeated in Bombay and fled, and the sea was completely blocked by the 31st Squadron of the Dachu Empire Navy, they were unable to escape by sea. Naturally, they had no choice but to flee north and try to escape back to Surat.
However, Major General Bai Zhen naturally dared to form an encirclement formation, and even did not deploy a large number of troops to the north for an ambush in order to reassure the British that they could escape.
But this does not mean that Major General Bai Zhen is unprepared.
Surrounding three people and one person is a conspiracy. If you don't escape, you will die, but if you escape, it is actually a word of death.
As soon as the British army fled, two cavalry posts of the Chu army's 72nd Cavalry Regiment, totaling more than 500 cavalry, chased after them!
When a cavalry unit equipped with two horses maneuvers over short and medium distances, its speed is not comparable to that of ordinary infantry, nor can it be compared to a fleeing team carrying a large number of guns, ammunition, supplies, or even a large group of old, weak, women, and children.
In just two days, the British army, with their families and their families in tow, had only traveled 45 kilometers north when they were overtaken by the 72nd Cavalry Regiment.
At this time, the British army still had hundreds of mercenary infantry, plus hundreds of militiamen, with a total strength of about 1,300 people... As for the indigenous servant soldiers, they had long been in Bombay, either dead or wounded, or routed. A deserter.
The British army, which totals 1,300 people, also escorts more than 1,000 ordinary British civilians, including the elderly, weak, women and children.
In this case, how could they possibly deploy the Chu army's cavalry... That is to say, they brought a lot of artillery with them when they retreated. When they encountered the Chu army's cavalry, they began to form a formation and pulled out the artillery.
Otherwise, I am afraid that when they first encounter the Chu cavalry, they will be scattered by the Chu cavalry.
The British army formed a formation to protect themselves. The Chu army's cavalry on the opposite side would naturally not foolishly risk the enemy's artillery fire and charge at the infantry array... Unless there was an extreme and unavoidable situation, no cavalry general would do such a thing.
This is not a matter of whether you can win, but a matter of losing even if you win... Cavalry is much more expensive than infantry.
Therefore, more than 500 cavalrymen of the 72nd Cavalry Regiment dismounted and rested and camped more than a thousand meters away. As the saying goes, I will not move if the enemy does not move, and I will move if the enemy moves...
Then, the British army was completely blind.
Because in this way, they can't leave at all... Now that they are arrayed to meet the enemy, the Chu cavalry on the opposite side will naturally not attack in order to avoid unnecessary casualties... But as long as the British army dares to form a marching column at this time , it wouldn’t take long for the Chu army’s cavalry to reach them.
By that time, for the Chu cavalry, it was nothing more than a performance battle.
But if we don't leave now and continue to delay like this, the Chu army infantry behind will catch up sooner or later. Maybe it will be one day, maybe two days, but it won't be long.
Once the Chu army's infantry catch up, they will be completely finished.
With such an uneasy mood, the British army tried to break out that night, but soon found that a large number of fire dragons were burning around them.
The Chu cavalry directly lit a large number of torches and wandered around... and also used their cavalry cannons to fire several shots at the British camp from time to time. Although it did not cause any casualties, it seriously affected the British army's preparations for a breakout. .
In the middle of the night, the British army took advantage of the darkness to retreat north to break through.
The Chu army's cavalry did not launch an attack in the night... but kept following behind.
Why did the Chu army's cavalry just follow instead of attacking?
Because it is too difficult to launch a cavalry charge at night, it is easy to trap yourself if you are not careful.
Besides, if the English people take advantage of these few hours in the second half of the night to walk north, they won't be able to go very far. If they are exhausted, they can only walk ten or eight kilometers, which will have little impact on the overall situation.
As for the British army continuing to march after dawn... that is to give lives to the 72nd Cavalry Regiment following behind.
Regardless of whether the British troops fled under the cover of night or stayed in place to fight to the death, their fate was already decided when they fled the city of Bombay.
They couldn't fight or escape, and there were more than a thousand ordinary civilians in the team, and quite a few of these civilians were the family records of those officials and soldiers.
How could they run away under such circumstances!
In the afternoon of the next day, a forward infantry battalion of the Chu Army's 72nd Infantry Division with reinforced artillery also caught up and joined the cavalry.
At this time, the British commander finally gave the order to surrender.
Because there is no point in continuing to resist except for the casualties of people like myself. It is better to surrender directly and end the matter. No matter what happens, we must save the lives of these people.
After all, the Chu army has a very good reputation for treating prisoners well. They can only live as prisoners of war for a few years at most, so they don't have to worry too much about the danger to their lives.
If we are lucky and the British East India Company and the Chu State reach an armistice agreement, it may not take more than a few months to leave the prison camp and return.
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So there was no pressure on them to surrender!
With the surrender of the British army, the British East India Company's defensive deployment in Bombay was completely destroyed, and many company executives were captured.
More importantly, the total number of British garrison in Bombay was gathered by the East India Company from surrounding cities. The garrison in Bombay was completely wiped out, which meant that the British troops in the entire Indian Peninsula and even in West Asia and North Africa were destroyed. To be weakened.
There were more than 3,000 troops and militiamen in the city of Bombay. Not a single one of these 3,000 people was left. They were all swallowed up by the Chu army. How can we face the fierce offensive of the Chu Empire in the future?
Moreover, the city of Bombay, which has complete fortifications, more than 3,000 troops and many indigenous servants garrisoned, fell. Can other colonies of the British East India Company also be defended?
Can't keep it...
Just five days later, on December 16, the 26th year of Chengshun, a landing fleet of more than 20 ships from the Chu army arrived outside the port of Surat and captured it without wasting much effort. The city of Surat was already empty of troops.
The British East India Company's decades of operations in the Indian peninsula were all in ruins.
In fact, not only the British, but also the Dutch and Portuguese had completely lost any strongholds on the Indian Peninsula a few months earlier.
December 16, the twenty-sixth year of Chengshun, was also the day when the Chu Empire took full control of the coast of the Indian peninsula.
From that day on, the Chu Empire completely took this huge peninsula into its own bowl!
Next, it is time for a large number of various forces in the Chu Empire, especially the industrial and commercial forces, to pick up their knives and forks and start cutting and eating meat.
Among them, the fastest moving company is the Indian Arms Trading Company of the Dachu Empire...
The most active people doing business overseas are always this group of arms dealers!
