I want to be emperor

Chapter 734 Thoroughly control the coast of the Indian peninsula
The actions of the English 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 year is not the future, and infantrymen don't have many rifles that can shoot accurately, so it is not easy to shoot black guns.

The so-called street fighting is actually to rely on the complex terrain formed by the many buildings in the city to conduct defensive operations, thereby avoiding the threat of a large number of artillery from the Chu army outside the city.

After all, the artillery of the Chu army is deployed outside the city, and most of the artillery trajectories these days are relatively flat.

When the defenders directly hid in the second direction behind the city wall for defensive operations, the tall city wall itself would form an obstacle to prevent the large number of shells fired by the Chu army's artillery from directly falling into the second line of defense behind the city wall.

This is the plan of the British army!
However, the British army obviously didn't know enough about the Chu army, and it was more in-depth. It was not very clear 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, and their barrels are very short... The purpose of the Chu army's equipment is to launch explosive grenades through the large curved trajectory of the mortar. Attack enemies hiding inside fortifications and behind.

Because after this thing is shot, it may fall directly on top of the enemy's head and explode, or simply explode in the air.

Ordinary fortifications against solid shells actually have little effect on these curved grenades of the Chu army. To better defend against the explosive grenades of the Chu army, the best solution is to build some relatively narrow trenches, or simply Construct a grenade-resistant fortification with a roof.

That's what the Ming army and the Dongyao people did... They were beaten too hard by the Chu army, and the two sides fought for a long time, so they gradually developed a relatively complete anti-grenade fortification system.

But obviously, the defense concepts of the foreign natives, including these European colonists, still stopped at the defense of solid shells, mainly using bastion fortifications.

Whether it's the Dutch or the English, their bastions are particularly useful when facing other natives, and they are also very useful when facing their European counterparts, but facing the Chu army with a large number of howitzers, what kind of edges are these? Fort fortifications are useless.

Why was the bastion defense system that has been rampant for hundreds of years in history finally abandoned?
It is because the grenade has become popular on a large scale, and the defensive effect of the traditional bastion in front of the explosive grenade... It is not as strong as digging a ditch (trench).

Of course, the bastion is also gradually developing, eventually evolving into a fortification system combined with the terrain, but this is no longer a bastion.

The English people's outdated defense system in Mumbai Castle is suffering terribly by the Chu army, and they are finally forced to abandon the defense of the city and turn to street fighting.

To be precise, building a second line of defense behind the city wall is not the same as street fighting in the sense of later generations.

Ever since, when the infantry of the No.70 Second Division began to attack cautiously and tentatively forward, they found that the British army had given up the defense of the periphery and even the top of the city.

Just when the Chu army thought that the British army in the city was defeated like the He army in the city of Colombo, Ceylon, it was discovered that the first batch of troops on their side who were tentatively crossing the city and continued to attack were hit by firepower from inside the city. .

Because the situation was unknown, 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 in an urban area not far from the city wall, he immediately laughed: "These barbarians in England still want to fight in the streets..."

Then he turned to a group of officers behind him and said, "Masters, now that the barbarians in the city are trying to resist through street fighting, what do you think should be done?"

Immediately, a major staff officer said: "Simple, follow the example of many previous battles, directly pull the small and medium-sized artillery into the city, approach and fire!"

"At the same time, the heavy artillery forces outside the city continued to bombard the urban area with cover-type howitzers, supplemented by large-scale arson."

"Blow up the buildings in the city to rubble, burn them to ashes, and just clean the battlefield."

After hearing this, Major General Bai Zhen nodded slightly, and his subordinates' answers were quite satisfactory, and they didn't even need to think of a way, just copy many previous battle examples.

Faced with the powerful artillery firepower of the Great Chu Empire, especially the large-scale howitzer bombardment, the English were not the first army to abandon the city walls and retreat to the city to fight street fighting.

Before the English, the Ming army, the Eastern captives and even many indigenous troops did this.

During the Battle of Jinzhou during the War of Unification, because the Eastern Captives tried to retreat to the city and fight street battles with the Chu army in the final stage, the Chu army directly played cover-type shelling and arson, directly smashing Jinzhou City into ruins.

When the Great Chu Empire was expanding in Nanyang, the Johor Kingdom also tried to retreat to the city to resist in the last resistance... As a result, the Chu army smashed the city into ruins again.

As for sending troops into the city to compete with the enemy for a street or a house?
Only fools do this kind of thing.

Therefore, after discovering that the British army retreated to the urban area and tried to fight street fighting, the Chu army on the one hand let go of the area around the north city gate and adopted a method of encircling the city to reduce the recalcitrant determination of the defenders in the city, trying to shake their morale and morale. They exit the city.

The tactical purpose of the siege is to leave a way for the enemy to retreat, and then shake their determination to defend the city. This is an open and aboveboard conspiracy.

In addition to encircling the city, the Chu army began to bring a large number of small and medium artillery closer to the city after sending troops to garrison the city walls and key points of the city gate.

Among them, the main force will be the two types of infantry support artillery, the 65mm field gun and the 115mm light howitzer. In addition, some 115mm field guns and even 150mm light howitzers have also been pulled in.

These artillery will shell the enemies along the way one by one by firing shotgun shells, grenades and even solid shells at close range.

This kind of gameplay is equivalent to giving bayonets to artillery...

This two-pronged approach, plus the fact that the Chu army is still firing arson bombs, this kind of arson bomb is actually firing a red-hot solid shell. Yes, it works very well.

And when you play this way on land, the effect is actually quite good... After all, in cities these days, except for a few places where there is a lack of wood, there are relatively few wooden buildings. Except for religious buildings, the rest are basically wooden buildings.

Even many official buildings and even fortresses are mainly made of wood.

Civil buildings are dominated by wooden buildings, which is true no matter in the East or the West. As for the reason?For no reason, except that wood buildings are cheaper. (Except for very few areas that lack wood, such as desert areas.)
As for later generations, people think that there are many stone buildings in Europe... that is because stone buildings have been preserved for a long time, and Europeans like to build various religious places. At the same time, wars are frequent and various lords will also build stone fortresses, so the stones left There are more buildings.

However, most civil buildings and even some wooden fortresses are still the mainstream, but they have been preserved, and the frequent wars have gradually disappeared in historical occasions.

In the [-]th century, after entering the stage of rapid industrialization, there were more civil stone buildings, and it was not until the emergence of cement that 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 [-]th century. Cities gradually changed from wooden buildings to cement buildings.

The city of Mumbai in the middle and late seventeenth century was no exception. A large number of buildings in the city were mainly wooden buildings, and only a few special buildings such as forts, official residences of senior officials, and churches were stone buildings.

Such a city with a large number of wooden buildings inevitably ignited a raging fire when it was bombarded by the Chu army and even fired a large number of arson bombs!
The British defenders were dumbfounded when they saw the fire in the city...

They don't understand, wars belong to wars, but why did the people of Chu burn the city?

Even if the two sides are at war, what the two sides are doing is to seize the colony. After breaking through the city, they will loot, and after the looting is played, they will be set on fire. The British can actually understand...

But the problem is, you don't even have a gun to rob, and you just burn Mumbai with a fire. What are you people from Chu country trying to do?
This is purely a thankless waste of money.

Could it be that the Chu people came here purely to beat us English?

It is naturally difficult for the British to understand some of the brain circuits of the Chu people. They guessed it right. To be precise, the Chu people did not come to capture Mumbai, but to expel the British. .

What the Great Chu Empire wants is to expel all European colonists from the Indian Peninsula, control all the colonies of coastal countries on the Indian Peninsula, and then monopolize all foreign trade and its internal market of the Indian Peninsula.

As for one or two colonial cities, it doesn't really matter... The big deal is to go back and rebuild.

Even if it is reconstruction, it is not spent on the military. The army will not let its soldiers and the indigenous barbarians fight each other for the reconstruction costs that may arise in the future, and then compete for houses one by one. Woolen cloth.

Just burn it on fire, it is simple, convenient and trouble-free!

The fire in Mumbai burned for three full days, and burned most of the city to ashes. Many British soldiers and their servants, native soldiers, were not killed or injured by the attack of the Chu army, but died under the fire. .

At the same time, the Chu army's direct firing and continuous bombardment made countless British troops panic, which triggered a large wave of fleeing. Many people began to retreat towards the northern city, and even crossed the northern city wall and went directly to the northern city. North fled.

Under such circumstances, it is impossible for even the top British army to continue to stick to Mumbai.

Three days later, the top leaders of the English East India Company were forced to order a general retreat. They tried to flee back to Surat, more than 250 kilometers north of Mumbai.

Surat is also the first colonial stronghold of the British East India Company on the Indian Peninsula, and it is the place where they have been operating for the longest time.

Now that the British were defeated in Mumbai and fled, and the sea was completely blocked by the 31st Fleet of the Great Chu Empire Navy, they could not escape by sea. Naturally, they could only flee north and tried to escape back to Surat.

However, Major General Bai Zhen naturally dared to put on a siege formation, and he didn't even deploy a large number of troops in an ambush in the north to let the British flee at ease.

But it doesn't mean that Major General Bai Zhen is not prepared.

Surrounding him three times is a conspiracy. If he does not escape, he is dead, and if he escapes, he is actually dead.

The British army had just fled, and the two cavalry posts of the No.70 Second Cavalry Regiment of the Chu Army, with a total of more than 500 cavalry, chased after them!
The cavalry unit equipped with two horses, when maneuvering in short and medium distances, is not as fast as ordinary infantry, let alone carrying a large number of guns, ammunition and supplies, and even a large number of old and weak women and children fleeing.

In just two days, the British army dragged their families with them and was overtaken by the No.45 Second Cavalry Regiment when they traveled only 70 kilometers north.

At this time, the British army still had hundreds of mercenary infantry, plus hundreds of militiamen, with a total strength of more than 300 people... As for the indigenous servants, they had long been killed or wounded in Bombay, or collapsed. deserted.

The British army with a total of 300 people also escorted more than 1000 ordinary British civilians, including many old and weak women and children.

Under such circumstances, how could they put out the cavalry of the Chu army...that is, when they retreated, they still carried a lot of artillery, and when they encountered the cavalry of the Chu army, they began to line up and pulled the artillery out.

Otherwise, I am afraid that when they first met the Chu cavalry, they would be scattered by the Chu cavalry.

The British army lined up to protect themselves, and the Chu army cavalry on the opposite side would naturally not foolishly brave the enemy's artillery fire and launch a charge against the infantry formation... Unless it was an extreme and unavoidable situation, no cavalry general would do this.

This is not a matter of whether you can win or not, but a matter of losing if you win... Cavalry is much more expensive than infantry.

Therefore, more than 70 cavalrymen of the No.500 Second Cavalry Regiment dismounted directly to rest and set up camp at more than 1000 meters. As the saying goes, if the enemy does not move, I will not move, and if the enemy moves, I will move...

Then, the British army was completely blinded.

Because in this way, they will not be able to go at all... Now that the cavalry of the Chu army on the opposite side will not attack in order to avoid unnecessary casualties... But as long as they dare to list their marching troops at this time , Chu Army cavalry will be able to kill them in a short time.

At that time, for those Chu cavalry, it was nothing more than a show battle.

But if you don't leave now, if you continue to procrastinate like this, the Chu army infantry behind will catch up sooner or later, maybe one day, maybe two days, in short, 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 through that night, but soon discovered that there were a large number of fire dragons burning around.

The cavalry of the Chu army directly lit a large number of torches and wandered around...and used their cavalry cannons to fire at the British camp from time to time. Although no casualties were caused, it seriously affected the British army's preparations for breaking out .

It was not until midnight that the British army retreated northward to break through the encirclement.

The cavalry of the Chu army did not launch an attack in the night...but they kept following.

Why did the cavalry of the Chu army just follow and not attack?
Because it is too difficult to launch a cavalry charge at night, and it is easy to trap yourself if you are not careful.

Besides, the National People's Congress of England took advantage of the few hours in the second half of the night to go north, but it couldn't go very far. If it was exhausted, it would only walk ten kilometers or eight kilometers, which would have little impact on the overall situation.

As for the British army continuing to march after dawn... that is to send heads to the No.70 Second Cavalry Regiment following behind.

Regardless of whether the British army fled in the dark, or stayed where they were, their fate was already doomed when they fled Mumbai.

They couldn't fight, and they couldn't escape, and there were more than 1000 ordinary civilians in the team, and a considerable number of these civilians were the family members of those officials and soldiers.

Under such circumstances, how could they escape!
In the afternoon of the next day, a forward infantry battalion of the No.70 Second Infantry Division of the Chu Army, which had strengthened its artillery, also caught up and joined the cavalry.

At this time, the commander of the British army finally gave the order to surrender.

Because continuing to resist would have no meaning other than killing and injuring people like himself, it would be better to simply surrender, and save the lives of these people.

After all, the Chu army has a good reputation for treating prisoners well. At most, they can live as prisoners of war for a few years without worrying too much about the danger of their lives.

If luck is good, if the British East India Company and the Chu State reach an armistice agreement, it may not take a few months to leave the prisoner-of-war camp and return.

So no pressure for them to surrender!
With the surrender of this British army, the defense deployment of the British East India Company in Mumbai can be regarded as annihilated, and many high-level companies were captured by the way.

More importantly, the total number of British defenders in Mumbai was gathered by the East India Company from surrounding cities. The defenders of Mumbai were completely annihilated. to weaken.

There are more than 3000 troops and militias in Mumbai. None of these 3000 people are left, and they are all swallowed up by the Chu army. How can we fight against the fierce offensive of the Great Chu Empire in the future?
Moreover, the city of Mumbai, which has perfect fortifications, has more than 3000 troops and many indigenous servants garrisoned, has fallen. Can other colonies of the British East India Company also be defended?
I can't keep it...

Only five days later, that is, on December 26, 20, Chengshun's [-]th year, a landing fleet of more than [-] ships from the Chu army reached the port of Surat, and captured the already empty sea without wasting much effort. Surat city.

The British East India Company's decades of operations in the Indian peninsula were reduced to ashes.

In fact, it's not just the British, the Dutch and the Portuguese have completely lost any strongholds in the Indian Peninsula a few months earlier.

December 26th in the [-]th year of Chengshun was also the day when the Great Chu Empire fully controlled the coast of the Indian peninsula.

From this day on, the Great Chu Empire has completely taken this huge peninsula into its own bowl!

Next, it is time for a large number of various forces in the Great 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 move is the Great Chu Empire Indian Arms Trading Company...

These arms dealers are always the most active in doing business overseas!

(End of this chapter)