Although the army and navy of the Great Chu Empire would do many things that seemed like child's play when they were at home, just to make the people laugh.
But the Chu army is overseas, and to the local indigenous countries, they are extremely ferocious wolves, tigers and leopards!
The sixth day of August in the 30th year of Chu Chengshun, September 25, 1664 AD.
In the Madurai region at the southernmost tip of the Indian peninsula, a large number of Chu soldiers gathered in the eastern coastal town of the region, which was also the colonial Strait Town of the Chu Empire in this area.
After the Chu Empire occupied the island of Ceylon, it negotiated with the local indigenous kingdom in the Madurai area across the strait and obtained this small coastal area as a trading base. It then used this stronghold to rapidly expand and build a complete dock. Warehouses, military camps, forts, etc.
Now, a reinforced mixed regiment under the 72nd Division of the Dachu Empire Army has been transferred here.
Just a month ago, Madurai, the indigenous kingdom at the southernmost tip of the Indian peninsula, officially rejected the proposal of the Indian governor of the Great Chu Empire to fully open the market and allow the industrial goods of the Great Chu Empire to freely enter the Madurai-controlled area.
In order to protect the interests of the Chu Empire in the Indian region and to open up more markets for domestic industry and commerce, the Indian governor's office decided to open up markets on its own after careful consideration.
Since they refuse to give it to us, we will take it ourselves!
These are the words of Gao Yuankai, a second-rank high-ranking official of the Great Chu Empire who patrols various territories in India and supervises the vassal affairs in India, West Asia, and North Africa!
After the most senior civil servants of the Chu Empire in the Indian Peninsula and the western region made the decision, they communicated and discussed with the army and navy. In the name of supervising the vassal affairs in India and other places, they officially issued an order to attack Madurai. The regional natives launched wars and used force to protect the empire's commercial interests in the region.
As the governor of India and the superintendent of vassal affairs in India and other places, he has the power to declare war, negotiate and sign treaties with the indigenous countries in the region. Of course, the diplomatic treaties he signs need to be returned to Jinling City for approval before they have legal effect.
Its functions and powers are similar to those of governors in Western countries.
Of course, he can only decide whether to fight, but how to fight is the military's business.
This has also been the practice of the Chu Empire in handling foreign affairs and wars for the past twenty years. The governor only declares war and ceases war, not fighting.
Therefore, after Gao Yuankai issued the order to declare war, the subsequent events actually had little to do with the Indian governor's office, because the military had already taken over the follow-up affairs.
The 24th Army of the Da Chu Empire Army in India, the Indian Garrison Command, and the Da Chu Empire Navy Fleet in the Indian Ocean began to mobilize and prepare for war.
At the end of July, the 286th Infantry Regiment of the 72nd Division of the Army, the 1st Artillery Battalion of the Artillery Regiment of the 72nd Division, two cavalry posts of the Cavalry Regiment of the 72nd Division, the 72nd Division Belonging to the Third Baggage Battalion of the Baggage Regiment, a total of more than 6,000 people were transferred here by sea to prepare for a military attack on the uncivilized indigenous people in the Madurai area.
On the sixth day of August, all military preparations were completed, the soldiers were rested, and a large amount of weapons and ammunition were transported from the Port of Colombo across the strait to Strait Town. Brigadier General Miao Shengrong, deputy commander of the 72nd Division, officially dispatched the troops!
When the natives of Madurai on the opposite side saw the Chu army coming, they were stunned at first.
They did not expect that after they politely rejected the Chu Empire's proposal to fully open the market and set tariffs in the region, these Chu people would come directly to their door...
Such barbaric and unreasonable behavior left the people of Madurai stunned.
With this posture, people who don’t know think that Madurai has bullied the Chu Empire. But in fact, in the past few years, Madurai has been tolerant of the Chu Empire’s expansion in the region. Otherwise, how could it be possible? The emergence of Strait Town... The Chu people on the opposite side landed directly to seize this coastal town, and then forced Madurai to recognize and sign an agreement to cede land.
They also conditionally liberalized commercial agreements and allowed the Chu Empire to open commercial offices and sell goods in their territory.
At that time, Madurai tolerated it... After all, the Chu Empire was strong and the Chu army was even stronger. They knew that they could not defeat the Chu State, so they repeatedly tolerated it.
But it turns out that the people of Chu have greedy appetites and cannot be fed enough!
Not satisfied with the liberalization of the market, those Chu merchants didn't even want to pay taxes... They demanded that most of the tariffs on Chu goods be exempted and the tariff ratio be negotiated.
Naturally, Madurai cannot agree. Letting your Chu people's goods come in is already the result of forbearance. You don't even want to pay the damn customs duties. How is this possible?
But as soon as they refused, the Chu people sent troops.
what to do?
What else can you do? Just fight to the death. You can't wait to die when all those who cannot go abroad are coming to your door.
But so what if you resist... you really can't beat him!
On August 17, more than 6,000 mixed troops under the 72nd Division of the Chu Army encountered more than 30,000 indigenous troops from Madurai.
Moreover, Madurai’s indigenous army still relied on its familiar geographical advantages to try to ambush and engage in encirclement operations...
As a result, the two sides had just come into contact and their encirclement had not yet been formed. In one corner of the encirclement, more than 3,000 indigenous troops armed with swords, bows and arrows, and only a few matchlock guns were directly defeated by a reinforced battalion of the Chu army.
The so-called siege was torn to pieces as soon as it started!
In the ensuing large-scale battle between the two sides, the indigenous troops were not afraid of death and took advantage of their strength to continuously launch strong attacks against the Chu army, which had few troops and penetrated deep into the enemy's territory.
That day, these indigenous people in southern India completely learned what the power of queuing to kill was, and what guns were!
At the beginning of the battle, countless indigenous infantrymen, holding shields, swords, spears and matchlocks, lined up in neat lines to attack the Chu army's line of infantry.
However, as soon as they advanced, they were often bombarded by intensive artillery fire from the Chu army. The continuously exploding shells made each of their dense phalanxes crippled and then collapsed.
The indigenous infantry array that luckily rushed up approached the Chu army's infantry array, and was hit by continuous volley fire from the Chu army.
The line infantry of the Chu army were like a small wall on a seemingly thin beach, standing in front of tens of thousands of indigenous soldiers. Then the indigenous soldiers were like waves, rushing up one after another, and then Disappeared on the beach.
When the natives failed to attack, the Chu army also launched a counterattack!
The artillery began to extend its bombardment, covering a kilometer range of the battlefield. The line of infantry advanced steadily with volleys of guns, forcing the indigenous army to retreat step by step, and eventually a great collapse occurred.
When the Chu army's cavalry troops began to attack and harvest the heads of the fleeing native troops, the battle also came to an end.
After the day's battle, the mountains and fields were filled with the corpses and wounded of indigenous soldiers!
In this battle, the natives of Madurai dispatched more than 36,000 people. As a result, more than 6,000 people were killed or seriously injured. Countless people were slightly injured, and the rest fled.
And what about the Chu army?
No more than twenty-two soldiers were killed and no more than sixty were injured!
From beginning to end of this battle, the Chu army used its absolute firepower advantage to harvest the lives of the indigenous soldiers of Madurai.
Even strictly speaking, Madurai's indigenous army had never approached within fifty meters of the Chu army's line infantry in an organized manner.
The closest distance between the two sides was when the Chu army launched a counterattack, the indigenous soldiers turned and fled, and the Chu army's cavalry caught up and chopped down the melons and vegetables.
The huge power of the exploding grenades and the intensive firepower of the percussion rifle completely dominated this battle!
The whole battle can even be said to be full of child's play. Madurai's army launched a strong attack with confidence at first, thinking that they would win with more people... As a result, they were directly defeated by Chu army's artillery during the advance. The infantry was helpless. The lines close to the Chu army were intensively killed.
When the Chu army counterattacked, Madurai's army could not withstand the intensive firepower of the Chu army, and gradually collapsed before the Chu army's infantry approached.
And this battle also completely destroyed the Madurai people's confidence in resistance!
After the battle, the Chu army continued to advance, and the Madurai troops in many cities fled and did not dare to resist at all.
In addition, the local people during this war were also very interesting. When the local army in Madurai fled, the local people were not sad, let alone any resistance.
Especially when the low-caste natives discovered that the Chu army did not practice the caste system and treated the natives uniformly, many low-caste young men and women even wanted to help the Chu army fight with their humble weapons and dry food.
Many local people also enthusiastically accepted the employment of the Chu army, working as civilian laborers for the Chu army to transport logistical equipment, and even served as guides, leading the Chu army to fight against the local indigenous troops.
When the city of Madurai was finally attacked, the local indigenous people helped the Chu army build various fortifications, helped the Chu army fill in the moat, and supported the Chu army with long ladders to facilitate the Chu army's soldiers to climb the city wall.
This situation allowed the Chu army to once again witness the friendship of the local indigenous people...
As a result, the Indian Garrison Command soon ordered the establishment of the Second Regiment of the Indian Army, and soldiers were recruited from the Madurai area to follow up the long-term security operations in the area. They would even consider transferring to other areas to fight in the future.
This is also the second servant army of the Great Chu Empire in the Indian region. Previously, the Great Chu Empire also tried to establish its first servant army in the Mumbai area, the 'Indian Legion', with about 2,000 soldiers, all of whom were local Untouchables and other lower castes are young and strong.
The army has long been used to maintain security in the Mumbai area. Although the combat effectiveness is low, the cost is low and there is no need to worry about the casualties of local soldiers, so it is widely used.
In addition, the regiment was very proactive and even cruel in treating local indigenous people, especially high-caste people.
They even engage in some massacres and the like.
This high caste does not mean just the local Brahmins and Kshatriyas. To be precise, it includes all castes higher than the untouchables, including the middle-level Vaishyas and even the bottom-level Sudras.
Because the composition of the Indian Army is mainly Dalits and untouchables, as well as a small number of Sudras who are very poor and cannot survive.
Before they surrendered to the people of the Chu Empire as dogs, they could be bullied by everyone... But when they surrendered to the Chu people as dogs, got weapons, and had the support of the Chu people behind them, they instantly turned into villains. Dogs, biting all those who looked down on them and bullied them in the past.
So he acted very cruelly!
The Chu people turned a blind eye to this. After all, there were many things that were not suitable for the Chu people to do. The Chu army also needed such a vicious dog to do some shady things.
After seeing the effect, the Chu army wanted to build a second servant army. Now after attacking the Madurai area and killing all the local indigenous kingdoms, the Chu army wanted to establish an effective army in this area. Colonial rule also required the assistance of local servant armies.
Thus, the Second Regiment of the Indian Regiment was formed.
When the legion was formally established and recruiting troops from outside, and when recruitment was restricted to local untouchables and poor Shudras, most of the local untouchable youths did not care. These people had already lost all hope in life, and were like pigs and sheep. Just continue to live life.
However, some young untouchables and impoverished Shudras who were dissatisfied and unwilling to live were excited.
They ran to the recruitment point one by one, crying and shouting that they wanted to join the army and serve the Chu people.
In just ten days, the Second Regiment of the Indian Army recruited more than 2,000 troops. After a simple training of only half a month, the regiment carried out its first mission to suppress a local indigenous village. Town resistance.
The untouchable soldiers of the regiment, after the artillery unit of the Chu army's regular army crushed the only resistance on the opposite side, rushed in like mad dogs and killed everyone...
Many people don't even know how to use the weapons issued to them correctly. They just use the most primitive and instinctive way to kill everyone they see and are unable to resist, including those who were born with them. them.
After the battle was over, the news spread, and most of the other resistance forces in the Madurai area were instantly eliminated...
After the basic battle was over, the Indian governor Gao Yuankai officially issued an administrative order to establish Madurai in the Madurai area, which was under the direct jurisdiction of the Indian governor's office.
Once it is directly administered, the follow-up will naturally be the same as the Da Chu Empire's other directly administered overseas territories: through continued large-scale immigration and expulsion, the entire area will become the territory of the Da Chu people.
The policy of the Chu Empire in overseas directly administered territories has always been clear and unambiguous. It has never engaged in colonial rule and has no interest in ruling the local indigenous people. The Da Chu Empire will immigrate on a large scale and then gradually expel the indigenous people.
In the end, the area became the land of the Chu people, and only the land of the Chu people.
Just like the island of Ceylon across the strait!
The establishment of the Madhu Palace was to completely control the southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula. Together with the island of Ceylon on the other side of the strait, the Chu Empire would completely control both sides of the Palk Strait.
This was very important for the Chu Empire to control the entire Indian Ocean.
After the Madurai area became a directly administered overseas territory of the Chu Empire, it also frightened other indigenous kingdoms on the Indian Peninsula, especially several countries in the central and southern regions of the Indian Peninsula!
Because they discovered that these Chu people were Dutch, and the British were even more terrifying!
When the Dutch, British and the like came to India, they could at most control a few coastal ports and engage in trade. Even the British could only establish colonial rule or something like that.
But people from Chu?
They not only wanted coastal ports and trade, they also wanted land.
What makes people even more desperate is: Chu people only want land!
