Starting in Saarhu, it is a bit difficult to make a comeback.

Chapter 255 Imperial Cemetery (please subscribe for monthly tickets)

The geographical conditions of the Indian peninsula are very favorable, with a large amount of arable land that can be harvested three times a year and rich mineral resources.

However, such a natural environment could not breed a powerful local empire, which really surprised Li Shizu.

Growing up in Liaodong, he saw with his own eyes that the soldiers and civilians in Liaodong had to make a living by farming in such a harsh environment as the "Little Glacier".

In addition to the severe cold, the people of Liaodong even faced attacks from the Mongols and Jurchens.

The spring plowing and sowing time in Liaodong is very short every year, maybe less than half a month. Once this optimal sowing time is missed, the year's harvest will be affected.

In order to catch up with the planting time, Liaodong Yamen will mobilize everyone to plant food in time.

Even if he was the Duke of Liao at that time, he would still be assigned to work in the fields.

But you will never see this scene in India. The fertile land is often not carefully cared for by farmers!

Even the lazy people from Liaodong will definitely belong to the group of people who are most active in farming when they get here.

Although the Mughal feudal landowners kept waving their whips, their food production was really not proportional to the fertility of the land.

Fortunately, China took control of this fertile land in time. If Li Zicheng had been allowed to develop here for a few years, he might have been able to make a comeback.

Li Shizu also knew not to give Li Zicheng too much time to breathe.

Although the road condition in India is very bad, fortunately, these European colonists built a large number of ports in India. There are dozens of medium and large shipping ports on India's east and west coastlines.

In terms of port density alone, even China itself is insufficient compared to India.

This allowed Li Shizu to take advantage of the Chinese Navy to easily transport a large number of troops from Calcutta in eastern India to the Port of Bombay in the west.

The combat effectiveness of the Mughal army was too low, so Li Shizu decided to borrow troops from the Governor of Burma, Li Dingguo, and the Governor of the Western Regions, Xiong Tingbi, as the main force in this expedition against Li Zicheng.

In terms of rank, the three of them are all governors and are of equal rank.

However, after all, Li Shizu was still the second prince of the Chinese Empire, and he was deeply favored by Li Xianzhong, so the two of them actively cooperated with Li Shizu's actions.

Li Dingguo saw that Li Shizu used the 3 Japanese soldiers under the Myanmar Governor's Mansion very smoothly, so he simply assigned these Japanese soldiers directly to the South Asia Governor's Mansion.

Xiong Tingbi also ordered Li Yan to lead 2 elite troops to Congling, so that they could attack Li Zicheng's Afghanistan at any time.

Li Shizu's three-pronged army to conquer Li Zicheng was thus assembled.

The main force of 2 troops led by Li Yan on the North Road attacked from Congling and went straight to Li Zicheng's hometown, Kabul.

The 3 Japanese soldiers on the South Route set out from the Port of Bombay and were transported directly to the southern port of Karachi through the navy. The South Route Army went north from Karachi to conquer the Indus River Basin.

In the middle route, Li Shizu personally led a main force of 2 to attack Multan, the central city in the Indus River Basin.

The main force of 2 people led by Li Shizu was the forbidden troops that Li Xianzhong brought from the capital. It can be said to be the "ceiling" of China's combat power.

Facing the menacing three-pronged army, Li Zicheng also had a headache.

He only has 3 troops in his hand. If he separates to face the enemy, he will definitely lose.

But if we concentrate our forces against the Chinese army, we will inevitably lose sight of one thing.

In the end, Li Zicheng chose to keep his hometown of Kabul first.

Although the Indus River Basin in the south is rich, it is undefeable. Even if he concentrated his troops and went south, it would be difficult to resist the Chinese army. He could only use the mountainous areas of Afghanistan to stop the Chinese.

The North Route Army and the Central Route Army of China were both regular armies. The reason why Li Zicheng dared to fight against the North Route Army of China was also based on his reliance.

During his tenure as the governor of Afghanistan, he took the opportunity to amass a lot of wealth.

Although China imposed various blockades on Li Zicheng, he could get the flintlock guns and ammunition he dreamed of from the Westerners.

After China took over the Mughal Empire, the British East India Company lost almost all its strongholds in India.

Although the Chinese retained their personal assets in India and were allowed to trade.

But it is certainly not as high as their direct colonization and enslavement of these indigenous Indians.

Therefore, they urgently need to find a partner who can stop China's expansion.

Li Zicheng, the governor-general of Afghanistan who still occupied the northwest of the Mughal Empire, naturally became their first choice.

The British East India Company not only resold its flintlocks and artillery stored in India to Li Zicheng at a low price.

A mercenary army composed of 1200 British, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish soldiers was even sent to join Li Zicheng's army.

Therefore, what Li Yan was facing at this time was not a ragtag group composed of a small number of Dashun troops and a group of Afghan natives.

It is a coalition force with a high degree of firearms.

This coalition not only has a large number of Suifa guns, but also many 18-pound Hongyi cannons.

Now China has replaced the latest Qianxi 1635 rifle.

The reason why it was renamed a rifle and no longer called a gun is because this is a true "breech-loading gun."

This kind of rifle uses a paper shell to fix the bullet. The shooter pushes the bullet into the gun chamber from behind through the bolt, and then pulls the trigger. The long rod-shaped firing pin on the bolt pierces the paper shell bullet, hits the primer, and ignites the propellant. , shoot out the projectile.

The firing process of this breech-loading rifle is much simpler than that of a muzzle-loading rifle, and the firing speed is also increased by four to five times, allowing the shooter to reload bullets while kneeling or even running.

Completely solved the problem of slow fire rate of fire blunderbuss.

But just a breech-loading gun cannot be called a modern rifle.

That kind of round projectile is not high enough in terms of lethality and shooting accuracy.

However, the problem was eventually resolved.

A Chinese soldier named Wang Hui invented a brand-new bullet, which was called the "Wang Hui bullet."

The uniqueness of the Wang Hui bullet lies in its conical bottom design, which allows the warhead to expand and adhere closely to the rifling in the barrel when fired, thereby closing the gap between the warhead and the barrel and preventing gas from leaking out. , and causes the warhead to rotate at high speed under the pressure of the rifling.

This design solved the problems of difficulty in loading rifled guns and low accuracy of smoothbore guns, making the rifle more effective on the battlefield.

The design of this ammunition is inspired by the blow darts used by South Indian tribes. The tail is made of soft and elastic pith, which prevents the loss of air and thus launches the arrow.

Wang Hui was inspired by this blow dart and finally proposed the design concept of "Wang Hui Bullet".

China's "Qianxi 1635" was originally Li Xianzhong's tribute to the "Mauser 1899". Now the problem of bullets has been solved, which greatly improved the lethality of China's rifles.

Although Li Zicheng's Afghan coalition forces occupied favorable terrain, the Chinese army still relied on its own "Qianxi 1635" to severely damage its opponents.

The effective range of "Qianxi 1635" reaches 200 meters, and the shooting interval is only a few seconds.

Therefore, even if Li Zicheng's troops were equipped with Western guns, they could only be passively beaten.

With the "Qianxi 1635" in their hands, Chinese soldiers can accurately kill enemy troops 150-200 meters away. However, Li Zicheng's Afghan coalition forces still relied on intensive volleys of firecrackers to kill and injure the Chinese army.

It's obvious that the two sides' attack methods are completely different.

Chinese snipers equipped with scopes can even use the improved sniper type "Qianxi 300" to kill enemies hiding in the dark at a distance of 1635 meters.

As long as the enemy's head is slightly exposed, they can blow the opponent's head off.

However, the Afghan coalition forces can only fire guns randomly at the locations where the enemy may appear.

After several battles, Li Zicheng lost a total of two thousand troops, while the Chinese army suffered less than a hundred casualties.

Of course, the Chinese Army also encountered its own troubles.

Their artillery has no advantage, and the heavy artillery shipped by China to the Western Regions is basically used to defend the city.

They were not sent over the green hills to the front line in Afghanistan.

The field artillery equipped by the Chinese army is still a small-caliber 6-pound Folang rapid-fire cannon.

Although these artillery fire rates are fast, their power is not as powerful as the opponent's 18-pound Hongyi cannon.

Li Zicheng's men relied on these heavy artillery to firmly control several strongholds, including Kabul.

For these strongholds, Li Yan was also at a loss.

He did not expect that Li Zicheng would have large-caliber artillery.

No matter how powerful China's rifles are, they cannot withstand the powerful firepower of artillery.

As a result, a stalemate formed on the battlefield in Afghanistan.

Fortunately, China's other two routes are progressing very smoothly.

After the Japanese troops on the southern route landed in Karachi, they went all the way north and were invincible wherever they went.

All the towns that dared to resist were massacred by them, which also made the cities behind basically look away when they saw these Japanese.

The main force of the Middle Route Army led by Li Shizu also successfully captured Multan, an important town on the Indus River.

After the two armies met in Multan, they joined forces and headed north.

Facing the Chinese army heading north, Li Zicheng also panicked.

Although he used the heavy artillery in his hands to defend Kabul, would his artillery shells be enough if faced with an encirclement of 70,000 Chinese troops?

Niu Jinxing and Li Yan had never dealt with each other originally, and the two sides had developed a deadly feud.

When he learned that the head coach of the Chinese North Route Army attacking Kabul this time was Li Yan, he was even more eager to get rid of him quickly!
He said: "Your Majesty, we must defeat the enemy in front of us before the Chinese army on the southern front reaches Kabul."

Of course Li Zicheng understood the truth, but the Chinese army's firepower was so powerful that it was not easy to get close to them.

At the same time, Li Yan was also thinking about how to lure Li Zicheng's troops out of several fortified castles such as Kabul.

If we really wait until Li Shizu's army arrives, it will be declared that the Northern Route Army's attack on Kabul has completely failed.

When Li Yan was at a loss what to do, Xiong Tingbi actually sent Gui Yibo Gao Jie to escort the grain and grass to Afghanistan.

After Gao Jie fell in love with Li Zicheng, he killed Zhang Xianzhong and got all the way to Gui Yibo.

Originally, he was quite comfortable in Hanzhong.

However, on his way back to Beijing, Li Xianzhong felt that Gao Jie could be used to disgust Li Zicheng, so he sent him to the Governor's Mansion of the Western Regions under the command of Xiong Tingbi.

Xiong Tingbi was an experienced man and guessed what Li Xianzhong was thinking when he saw Gao Jie.

Your Majesty is still so unscrupulous in using troops!
At this time, Li Yan's attack on Li Zicheng reached a deadlock, and Gao Jie came in handy!
Although Gao Jie is a fierce general, his biggest role at this time is to anger Li Zicheng.

After all, Gao Jie seduced Li Zicheng's empress Xing and defected to Zhang Xianzhong with 5 troops from Hanzhong, which was the main reason for the collapse of Li Zicheng's Dashun.

At least that’s what Li Zichen himself thinks!
Not only has Gao Jie now become China's Gui Yibo, Li Zicheng's former empress Xing also gave birth to two sons for him, Gao Huan and Gao Le!

How could Li Zicheng not be angry?
Soon the news that Gao Jie had escorted grain and grass to the front reached Li Zicheng's ears.

Li Zicheng, who was originally hesitating whether to leave the city to attack China, no longer hesitated.

At this time, he only felt that the top of his head was green, and he was holding a large green grassland!

So he decided to personally lead more than 10,000 main troops out of the city to attack Gao Jie who was transporting grain and grass at night.

The reason why Afghanistan is called the "Graveyard of Empires" is that on the one hand it is all mountainous and the terrain is quite complex; on the other hand it is also because the people living here are brave and good at fighting.

Li Zicheng relied on his familiarity with the terrain and was not afraid of night battles.

Soon he led his troops to set an ambush on the only way to Gao Jie.

Li Zicheng waited and waited but could not see Gao Jie's shadow at all.

At this time, Li Yan didn't know where Li Zicheng would set up an ambush if he sneaked out of the city? But one thing he was sure of was that as long as he went to attack Kabul at night, Li Zicheng would definitely return for reinforcements.

So he decided to send troops to attack Kabul.

By coincidence, the two groups of men and horses collided in a valley 30 miles outside Kabul.

China's rifles really don't have much use at night.

However, the Afghan coalition forces under Li Zicheng are far inferior to the Chinese army in terms of equipment and combat power.

In the melee, Li Zicheng couldn't take any advantage at all.

The two sides fought and shouted in the valley all night, and the winner was finally decided at dawn the next day. The bodies of more than 8000 Afghan coalition troops lay in the valley, and nearly 3000 Chinese soldiers fell at the same time.

Li Zicheng managed to escape back to Kabul under the desperate protection of his own soldiers.

Having lost his troops and generals, he had no choice but to shrink his troops and hold on to the city.

Although Li Yan's men had surrounded Kabul at this time, they lacked heavy artillery support and could only look at the city and sigh.

As time passed little by little, the balance of victory gradually tilted towards the Chinese army.

Li Shizu's main force is also moving closer to Kabul.

At this time, in addition to nearly 2 Afghan coalition troops in Kabul, there were also 1200 mercenaries from Western countries.

Li Zicheng was not prepared to run away, he was prepared to fight to the death with the Chinese army in this "imperial cemetery".

However, he never expected that tens of thousands of troops would suddenly appear in the northwest of Kabul. Judging from their clothes, they were definitely not Chinese troops!
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(End of this chapter)