Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 416
"Boom—"

"Bang bang bang-"

On the eighth day of July in the tenth year of the apocalypse, with the sound of artillery, the flames of war that had been silent for more than three months in the South Asian continent were ignited again.

Many changes took place in the three months. First, Lu Xiangsheng successively recovered large and small city-states such as Bangalore, further inflicting heavy losses on the rebels, causing the number of rebels to drop to [-]. They escaped into the Deccan Plateau in an attempt to guerrilla.

After further reducing the living area of ​​the rebels, Lu Xiangsheng took six battalions of 8000 people from his surviving more than 8000 southern counter-rebels to support the Godavari River defense line.

Secondly, the second batch of troops promised by Zhu Youjian was also in mid-June. Qi Yuanbi led 12 immigrants to land in the ruins of Nellore.

With three battalions of soldiers and horses left behind, Qi Yuanbi personally led seven battalions of soldiers and horses, a total of 1000 people went north to support the Godavari River defense line.

By the first day of July, the number of Ming troops on the Godavari River defense line had reached more than 31, with a total of [-] battalions.

Excluding them, the number of non-combat attrition in the Ming army reached more than 4000. While recuperating in Yanan, they switched defenses with Qi Yuanbi who arrived in Yanan.

Perhaps because they were from the north, a series of generals such as Li Zicheng, Li Zijing, Liu Zongmin were not acclimatized, and could not return to the Nedro line of defense at all. They could only bring [-] soldiers who had recovered from illness to work under Qi Yuanbi's command.

The strength of the Ming army increased, and the navy was close to 14 troops. Such an increase in strength naturally made Mirza, the Mughal governor of the Deccan, feel more pressure.

Fortunately, Murad IV of the Ottoman Empire accepted Shah Jahan's invitation in early May, and the two sides became short-term allies.

After a month of reorganizing the army, Murad IV ordered the armies of Syria and Mosul to invade the western part of Safavid Persia, attack the Iraqi region, and attempt to capture Baghdad.

Shah (King) Safi, who heard the news, could only withdraw 2 troops from Kandahar, leaving only [-] to contain the Mughals. When Shah Jahan of the Mughals saw this, he immediately ordered to mobilize six troops. Thousands of soldiers and horses reinforced the Godavari River defense line.

By July, a war provoked by the two largest empires of Ming and Mo had further spread to the Middle East.

From the perspective of God, you can find that there are wars on a large scale in various regions right now.

In Northeast Asia, the Ming army and the Jin army began to mobilize each other, and the number of troops participating in the battle is expected to reach more than 30.

In Southeast Asia, Hong Chengchou has been stationed in western Yunnan, with a scale of 20 people. He is facing 30 scattered Burmese soldiers, and the total number of troops participating in the battle is also about [-].

In South Asia, the confrontation between the Ming army and the Mughal army also reached 33 troops.

In the Middle East, nearly 12 Ottomans and Safawis are fighting in Iraq.

As for the European battlefield, let alone, although the Spanish Habsburg dynasty won the victory in Bohemia with the blessing of Ming Dynasty saltpetre, France cannot tolerate this result.

The same idea as France, there are the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Denmark.

Thus, what was originally just a Bohemian war against the Habsburgs turned into a broad all-European war.

France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Denmark formed an anti-Spanish Habsburg alliance. Denmark was in charge of sending troops, while Britain and the Netherlands were in charge of ambushing Spain's naval fleet, in order to cut off the import of saltpeter that Spain bought from Ming Dynasty.

It's just that with Ming's saltpeter, Spain has become the country with the largest gunpowder production in Europe, and there is no need to save wars when there is more gunpowder.

Therefore, in the face of the offensive of the four countries, Spain not only defended the territory it had already won, but even faintly counterattacked.

The only thing that makes Spain uneasy is the sea fleets of Britain and the Netherlands, so he plans to build more ships to protect the saltpeter trade routes between Spain and Ming Dynasty.

It has to be said that the "support" from Ming Dynasty made Spain breathe a sigh of relief, and then disrupted the overall situation.

Spain maintained its victory on the battlefield, so it did not want to organize a fleet in the Baltic Sea. Without organizing a fleet, the Kingdom of Sweden in the north could continue to maintain control of the Baltic Sea.

Therefore, the Kingdom of Sweden did not participate in the alliance against Spain as in history, and the elite Swedish army did not join this war, which made the balance of victory fall to the Habsburg Dynasty again.

On the European battlefield, the anti-Habsburg alliance and the Spanish Habsburgs maintained a force of around 30.

These five battlefields are almost all related to Ming Dynasty, three of which were directly intervened by Ming Dynasty, one was fought because of the war between Ming Dynasty and the Mughals, and finally, the most distant European battlefield also had the presence of Ming Dynasty.

It can be said that wars were ignited everywhere in Asia, Europe and Africa. At the same time, nearly 140 million troops were fighting on this vast continent.

Even Zhu Youjian was very confused about this complicated situation.

He only wanted to sell saltpeter to earn foreign exchange, but in the end, Spain suppressed France, Britain, German Protestant princes, Denmark and other countries.

Of course, the matter in Europe is too far away. Compared with it, the current collision between the world's first and second economies, Ming and Mughal, is more worthy of attention.

Unsurprisingly, the first force to launch the attack was the Ming army, which had long held back its anger.

The [-] Yanshan five-pound cannons and the three hundred Yanshan ten-pound cannons in the hands of the [-] army launched shelling in the early morning.

With the sound of cannons and the flying of stone bullets, a large number of Mughal troops were frightened by the sudden shelling, and they were caught off guard by the shelling of the Ming army.

In the trench where the Mughal army imitated the Ming army, a large number of corpses lay in the shallow trench, and some Mughal soldiers who were awakened by the shelling were hurriedly wearing armor, and at the same time they only cared about running towards the rear line of defense. confusion.

"Don't riot! Haidar, let the European artillery return to their positions, counterattack! Give me counterattack!"

Mirza's figure appeared in the moat of turmoil. He was wearing a Mongolian and Muslim-style armor. After shouting loudly, he lay on the edge of the moat, holding binoculars in both hands, looking at the positions of the Ming army. His face was already ashen.

He never expected that the army he relied on would become so vulnerable when attacked.

Now in the entire Mughal army, except for the cavalry composed of Mongols and Persians, and the European artillery can give Mirza some confidence, the light infantry composed of Indian native races seems to be unusable.

"Who dares to retreat, the whole family will be killed!"

Haidar, Mirza's confidant, led the cavalry composed of Mongols and Persians, and intercepted the rout soldiers who were about to flee.

The heads of several officers who took the lead in running had been beheaded by Haidar and hung on the flagpole.

There was still a trace of fear and unwillingness on the faces of the severed heads of those people, and after seeing this scene, the defeated soldiers could not help but calm down a little.

Just at this time, the first round of shelling by the Ming army ended, so the light infantry on the position returned to the trenches one after another.

The European mercenary artillerymen cleared their positions while returning, and then, according to Mirza's military order, controlled [-] artillery pieces and began shelling the Ming army's positions.

"put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

The roaring stone bullets slid across the river valley and smashed into the first line of defense of the Ming army one by one. However, compared with the frightened Mughal army, the Ming army's psychological quality in the face of shelling was too strong.

Mirza stared intently at half a cup of tea with his binoculars, but he didn't see a single Ming soldier fleeing.

"It's hard to deal with, they are all elite..." Mirza frowned wearily.

Of course he is aware of the fighting power of the Ming army. If the fighting power of the Ming army is not strong, it is impossible to calmly retreat from the Wendiya Mountains to the Godavari River and build a line of defense in the face of tens of thousands of cavalry chasing. , blocked the enemy army several times its own.

The Mughals also had such an army, but not many.

Therefore, Mirza also agreed that since Daming came from afar, it is unlikely to send too many elite troops. After this elite army, there should be a servant army of other races.

But the facts gave Mirza a resounding slap in the face, because not only did the Ming army have no servants, but they also sent the same elites as the previous Ming army.

Facing such an enemy, Mirza's heart sank to the bottom.

The test firing of [-] cannons ended quickly, and when the sound of the cannons stopped, before Mirza gave an order, the Ming army's positions began to get busy.

"Order the regiment to dodge the shelling."

Seeing this scene, Mirza immediately gave an order to Haidar who was not far away, and Haidar quickly picked up the wooden whistle and blew three long and two short whistles.

While he was blowing the whistle, many Mongolian and Persian officers began to whistle, and the whole army began to hide.

Their wood and soil homework is basically like a tiger and a cat, learning the surface but not the inside.

As an important bunker on the position, the trench is related to the lives of soldiers, and its role should not be underestimated.

After a large number of officers of the Ming army joined the army in Yanshan, their civil engineering work was greatly improved, such as Li Zicheng, Zhu Yujian, etc., all of them had studied civil engineering courses and learned how trenches were built.

In general, building a trench does not mean simply digging a trench, it still has some requirements.

In the composition of trenches, it is mainly composed of skirmishes, traffic trenches and other links.

A foxhole is actually a kind of combat bunker, and soldiers can shoot at the enemy in the foxhole.

The depth of the trenches is suitable for people to be able to walk in the trenches but not to be seen from the outside.

The size of the skirmishes of the Ming army was six to seven feet deep and five to six feet wide.

But this is not to make people really dig six or seven feet deep, but when digging foxholes, normally only need to dig four feet deep.

Because the soil in the trench can also build fortifications, the mound from the trench to the front of the trench can form a slope of two to three feet, which is very convenient for Ming soldiers to shoot.

In order to avoid the enemy's artillery fire, the Ming army also dug some cliff holes on the side of the skirmishers facing the enemy.

The shape and size of these cliff holes are determined by the soldiers themselves, but care must be taken when digging, and the size should be determined according to the actual situation of the soil to prevent the trench from collapsing.

In "Yanshan Military", every officer from Yanshan is required to dig very long skirmishes, and the shapes of the trenches are also divided into serpentine, zigzag, horizontal wall and other shapes, but they cannot dig into a straight line.

This is easy to understand. If the enemy attacks from the side of the position and shoots along the trench, if the trench is straight, the soldiers in the trench will have no cover and will be completely exposed to the enemy's firepower.

Of course, this is just one of many trenches. In addition to how to dig trenches, Yanshan Military Academy also taught a lot of knowledge about trench warfare.

This knowledge is not usually used, but when it goes to the battlefield, it will become a sharp weapon for Yanshan officers to lead their soldiers to save their lives.

As it is now, after the soldiers of the Ming army built earthworks at the request of General Yanshan, the shelling of the Mughal army did not kill a single person.

The only person injured by the entire Ming army was a stone bullet that bounced back into the cliff cave and accidentally hit the tailbone of an unlucky guy.

Fortunately, after two times of unloading, the stone bullet no longer had much strength, otherwise it would have made him paralyzed on the bed for the rest of his life.

It is only a few days of rest at the moment, which is considered a blessing among misfortunes.

"Captain, there is news from the artillery battalion that the artillery is ready for the second round of firing."

Under the civil engineering under the trench, the Ming army used leaves and branches to hide the underground command post, while Huanglong was currently sizing up the battlefield on the other side with his clairvoyance in the gap between the command post and the outside world.

Zhu Changqing, who had returned from his illness, reported to him, and Huang Long said without thinking:

"Let Zongbing Qi command the entire army. Unless some local troops break through the enemy's defense line, don't tell me."

The Godavari River defense line is very long, more than two thousand miles.

However, because the water network of the Godavari River is very dense, there are not many places to break through, which is why Mirza did not choose to attack in the spring.

It's just that he was delayed until summer, when Huang Long used his navy to hold him back. Now that the long summer is here, the flow of the river has decreased, the water network has degraded, and there are naturally more points to break through.

"The summer in this ghost place is really long..."

Wiping the sweat off his brow, Huang Long simply took off his helmet, and watched the battlefield like this.

In South Asia in this era, even during the Little Ice Age, the season with temperatures above [-] degrees was still as long as six months.

In June and July, when the temperature is the highest, the temperature can reach 38 degrees.

That is to say, Huanglong didn't know what a thermometer was, and he didn't have a thermometer in his hand, otherwise he would definitely scold his mother.

"Fixed shot loading...the direction remains the same...prepare...release!"

"Bang bang bang-"

The sound of violent artillery fire continued to ring out on the Ming army's positions. Although the number of pounds was not as good as that of the Mughals, the Ming army's artillery was better in quantity and easier to cast.

The Mughal bronze artillery can shoot far and is powerful, but it takes a lot of time and energy to remelt it once, so I dare not fire too many rounds of shelling in a day.

Comparing them, the gunners of the Ming army didn't even know what it meant to "protect the artillery". Whenever the temperature of the artillery dropped, the first thing they did was to shoot again!
After [-] rounds, the cannons were transported back to the Ming Dynasty to be recast. This sounds a bit laborious, but the number of cannons in the Ming army is far more than the [-], and there are enough cannons for the artillery to replace.

The reason why all the artillery was not brought up was because the Ming army had too few professional artillery.

Since the seventh year of the Apocalypse, the gunners of the Ming army have been matched according to an officer from a military academy plus four skilled gunners.

Artillery ballistics needs to be applied to mathematics, which is a little strange to many experienced gunners.

At this time, the officer will teach the four skilled gunners under him. This situation has lasted for three years, but the number of qualified artillerymen in the Ming army is still small.

One thousand six hundred pieces of artillery, this is not the limit of the Little Western Ming Army, but it is already the limit of the gunners of the Little Western Ming Army.

In their hands, the Yanshan artillery roared continuously.

The cannons of the Mughal army could only fire six rounds in half an hour, while the Ming army could fire ten to twelve rounds.

In addition, the number of artillery pieces was [-] more than that of the opponent. Therefore, on the long front of nearly [-] miles from the Western Ghats to Yanan in the east, every line of defense of the Ming army could rely on firepower to suppress the Mughal army.

It seems that there is only a gap of four hundred artillery pieces, but in fact the difference in firepower between the two sides is nearly double.

The Mughal army did not dare to bomb wildly like the Ming army, regardless of the life of the artillery.

The frontal battlefield has maintained its advantage. At this time, it is necessary to create a battlefield from the side and behind the enemy.

Therefore, on the third day of the counterattack, Qi Yuanfu found Huang Long:
"Captain, our army has suppressed the southern captives on the front line right now, but both the enemy and our armies rely on the river valley to establish a defense line. Whoever wants to attack has to face the enemy's condescending suppression."

"Therefore, the Admiral suggested that the brothers of the Twelve Guards of the Navy should attack Surat and Visakhapatnam behind the enemy's rear."

"At the same time, we mobilized a small group of naval forces to enter the Mahadina River and the Narmada River, creating an illusion that our army is going to make a large-scale roundabout annihilation on the Deccan Plateau."

"Mirza has been guilty for a long time, and he didn't dare to fight us hard."

"The general estimates that as long as our army forms such an illusion, the southern prisoner will immediately waver. If the southern prisoner's killer (Shah Jahan) does not continue to send troops to reinforce, then Mirza should give up the south of the Narmada River. , and retreat to the Wendiya Mountains."

"At that time, our army will be able to return to the front line in the twelfth lunar month of last year."

After all, Qi Yuanfu has been training soldiers since the first year of Taichang. He fought bloody battles with Jianlu and pacified Jiaozhi. He is even better than Huanglong in terms of land warfare thinking.

Although he is not as good as his elder brother Qi Yuangong, nor his father Qi Jin, but it is enough to deal with Mirza.

Mirza has no sense of sea power at all, or he has, but the Mughal navy is not strong, so the vast coastline of the Mughal has become the biggest flaw in his defense line.

The more than 6 navy of the Ming army could land on the Mughal defense line at will, but the 3 people arranged by Mirza in the rear could not stop the Ming army at all.

The Mughal cavalry, their Persian musketeers, and European artillery are good, but their light infantry, at best, is the same as the Japanese ashigaru, and they will collapse in the face of tough battles.

Qi Yuanfu saw the weakness of the Mughal army, so he suggested to Huang Long, and Huang Long touched his beard after hearing this:

"This is a good style of play. Now I will transfer Huang Fei and Li Dan to command the left and right navy."

"Master Mingjian!" Hearing that Huang Long agreed to his suggestion, Qi Yuanfu bowed and bowed, and Huang Long also waved his hand and said:
"The military affairs on the front line are busy, and I have to trouble Zongbing Qi."

"The last general just did his duty. If that's the case, then he will return to the front line first." Qi Yuanfu heard the meaning of chasing away guests, and after hesitating, he pretended that the front line was busy and prepared to leave.

"Go." Huang Long waved his hand, and Qi Yuanfu retreated tactfully.

Seeing his receding back, Huang Long, who was sitting in the simple civil engineering, put away his smile.

"Uncle, His Highness sent Lu Xiangsheng, Qi Yuanfu and Qi Yuanbi here in one breath, did he..."

"All right!"

Huang Fei, who accompanied Huang Long the whole time and listened to Qi Yuanfu's report, finally couldn't help opening his mouth, and Huang Long stopped him as soon as he opened his mouth.

Huang Long looked at Li Dan who was also accompanying him all the way, and Li Dan also made a bow with interest and said:

"It's normal for Your Highness to be worried. After all, judging from the previous situation, as long as you think about it, the governor, it is not impossible to separate half of Xiaoxiyang, Jiugang, and Nanzhou."

"His Royal Highness sent people here not only for the court, but also for the governor."

"Huh?" Huang Long frowned, after all, he was also the same as Qi Jin who was located in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies.

Although he is not as good as the other four in terms of age, even Qi Yuanfu just now, his status is here.

If Zhu Youjian sent Lu Xiangsheng and the others to supervise him, he couldn't think of any benefit to him.

However, as a former maritime merchant, Li Dan understood what this transfer meant, so he explained to Huang Long:
"Mobilize these three people to Xiao Xiyang to balance Xiao Xiyang's power, so that no one in the court will think that the governor is too big to lose, and your position will be stable."

"Captain, don't forget, you are the commander of the navy, not the commander of the infantry."

"The navy is needed for the country's access to the South Seas and the Little West Ocean, and the easiest way to control the navy is to prevent the navy from having a stable income."

"Once the governor has a stable income, it means that the governor has the strength to separate the regime."

"If you separate the regime, the dynasty will lose tens of millions of taels of revenue and tens of thousands of miles of territory..."

"I'm not an idiot!" Huang Long interrupted impatiently after hearing Li Dan's analysis:
"The seven major shipyards have nothing to do with Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu is independent today. In at most three years, the imperial court will be able to pull out a new navy to attack me."

"At that time, I will not only fight against the southern captives, but also against the imperial court."

"Separate regimes and self-reliance are the way to kill, whoever does it will die!"

Although Huang Long is not good at politics, he is still a governor. In terms of military affairs, especially the naval battle in Shanghai, few people dare to say that he is not good at it.

He simply thought of it from the perspective of a general, and he didn't think that he would be able to withstand the pressure from Da Ming after he became self-reliant.

Not to mention that Yan Siqi, Zheng Zhilong, Liu Xiang and other people who are good at sea battles are still in Daming, and that the seven major shipyards can launch dozens of warships of [-] materials every year, but the Qi Palace is still there, so it is impossible for him to rebel.

Judging from the various naval textbooks written in Prince Qi's mansion, Huang Long did not believe that His Royal Highness did not understand the navy.

If he separates himself, then it will not be Yan Siqi, Zheng Zhilong, and Liu Xiang who will lead the troops to fight the rebellion. It is very likely that His Royal Highness will lead the troops to fight the rebellion himself.

Although Huang Long was very confident in his naval combat ability, he was still a little apprehensive about facing His Royal Highness.

So after yelling at him, he calmed down a little, although he still felt a little uncomfortable that his highness sent someone to watch him.

In his opinion, after all, he was single-handedly selected by the king of Qi and has nothing to do with any parties in the court. The king of Qi should trust himself the most.

"Captain, this is not His Highness's concern, but His Highness's actions to silence the mouths of all officials."

Li Dan had a headache for Huang Long's political IQ, so he deliberately explained:
"No matter how much His Highness believes in you, Baiguan and Long live always have concerns. If you separate the regime, then..."

"It's time to chop up all his mother's officials and feed them to the sharks! That emperor..." Before Li Dan finished speaking, Huang Long cursed loudly, and then he wanted to curse, but finally endured it.

After enduring it, he still couldn't help mocking:
"The incompetent steals the position! The position should be occupied by the capable!"

"If you can't, just step back obediently and give it to someone who is capable!"

"..." Huang Long's words made Li Dan dare not answer, and after he finished speaking, Huang Long also looked at Li Dan and Huang Fei and said:

"Qi Yuanfu's idea is good. Prepare yourself. Go to Mumbai and Yanan to command the left and right navies, attack the coastal cities of the southern captives, occupy two rivers, and block the mountain passes to encircle and suppress the southern captives."

"If Mirza doesn't retreat, I will wipe him out here!"

　Second more at eight o'clock in the evening
　　
　
(End of this chapter)