The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 466 Little Britain, you have come to this day too
The Deccan Plateau was still a bit hot in June of the lunar calendar, basically around 30 degrees Celsius, but Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, father and son, could not wait any longer.

Because the territory of the Mysore Kingdom was fixed, they had mobilized all the allies they could win over and all the forces they could mobilize.

But the British did not. Every day of delay would increase the number of British allies and the supplies they could mobilize.

So on the ninth day of June, Hyder Ali gathered 80,000 troops and set out on the expedition.

Among them, there were 10,000 musketeers, 20,000 hand-to-hand combat soldiers, 5,000 cavalrymen, more than 1,000 artillery and rocket launchers, and the remaining 50,000-plus were auxiliary troops and logistical laborers.

At this time, what the Mysore Kingdom most wanted to capture was Chennai, a former French Indian city that was renamed Madras by the British.

In order to capture Madras, the first thing to do is to cut off the support from the north to Madras.

At this time, 400 kilometers north of Madras, there was an important town called Guntur, which was the third largest city in British India and had a certain number of British troops stationed there.

Therefore, Hyder Ali's first combat objective was to cut off the connection between Madras and Guntur.

However, Tipu Sultan, son of Hyder Ali, disagreed. He pointed to a place marked as a British fort on the map and said:
"Father, we should attack here first. There are 2,500 British troops stationed here, led by Hector Monroe.

Given the British arrogance throughout the Indian continent, they would certainly not allow an army of 2,500 people to be wiped out.

Then, after receiving the news that Hector Monroe was attacked, the defenders of Madras would definitely take action.

As for the British troops in Guntur in the north, once they receive the news and send reinforcements, everything will be over.”

"Is everything over?" Hyder Ali looked at his son Tipu Sultan in confusion.

"The forts here are all European-style bastions. We can't capture them before the reinforcements from Guntur arrive."

"Father, we don't need to capture these bastions immediately." Tipu Sultan smiled sinisterly.

"In the last war, we did not demonstrate our superior cavalry combat capabilities, and they were even less aware of our secret weapon - the rocket artillery unit.

So, when the Madras reinforcements approach the fort held by Hector Monroe, I will lead the rocket artillery over the Changama Pass, while you will personally lead the cavalry and surprise them from the south, bypassing the English lines.

I don't believe the British will ever be defeated; they will certainly suffer a great loss!"

Haider Ali's eyes lit up when he heard this. He pondered the map carefully for a moment, "My son, this is a great battle plan. The cavalry will have no problem bypassing the British defenses.

But it is very difficult for rocket artillery units to cross the Changama Pass in the Eastern Ghats."

"Don't worry, father. I have my own way to do it." Tipu Sultan was full of confidence. Of course he had the qualifications.

If we look at India as a whole, Tipu Sultan is more powerful than many Indian kings who are completely mythical and boastful.

He led a landlocked country of only three or four million people to fight against the powerful British colonists for twenty years and repeatedly inflicted heavy losses on the British.

If he had not been born in the wrong era, he could at least have unified the entire Deccan Plateau.

Haider Ali naturally knew his son's abilities, so he nodded and made a decision immediately.

"My child, you will lead 30,000 men to besiege the fortress where Hector Monroe is stationed. Once the English reinforcements arrive, I will immediately lead the cavalry into action."

On June 15, Tipu Sultan led an army of 30,000 to approach the British fortress group near Changama Pass, which was guarded by British Colonel Hector Monroe.

On June 17, the Mysore army defeated several native companies of British India, captured more than five villages, and gradually surrounded the British fort from three sides.

As expected, the fortress commander Hector Monroe informed the Governor of Madras, John Whitehill, of the urgent military situation of the siege.

Governor John Whitehill ordered Brigadier General Joseph Smith, commander-in-chief of the Madras Army, to prepare reinforcements immediately.

At this time, Brigadier General Joseph Smith had three colonels from England under him.

Among them, Hector Monroe has been surrounded.

Another colonel, Lord MacLeod, is a playboy with a Union Jack in London. He came here to gild himself. Asking him to organize reinforcements is probably murdering the soldiers.

So Brigadier General Joseph Smith had no choice but to order Colonel William Bailey, who was stationed south of Madras, to gather troops and go to rescue Hector Monroe.

Don’t ever think that because the Kingdom of England had in fact become the most powerful country in the world at that time, their army must be disciplined and invincible.

Perhaps, although England's navy could not be called strictly disciplined, it still had a certain aura of invincibility.

But England's army was quite average. It could only fight back and forth with the organized militia of the thirteen North American states. This army was not that strong.

So, after receiving the order, Colonel William Bailey began to capture adventurers from Europe around Madras that day and incorporated them into the team.

A group of officers were selected from these European adventurers and asked to capture strong locals, incorporate them into the army, and use them as vassal troops.

After these people arrived, they underwent a period of training before they began to resemble an army.

On the tenth day of the seventh lunar month, Colonel William Bailey assembled his troops, which included three European infantry companies, one European artillery company, and six local infantry battalions.

Among them, two European infantry companies and one European artillery company belonged to the regular troops of the British Army stationed in Madras.

The remaining infantry company was simply composed of forcibly recruited European adventurers, hooligans, sailors who escaped from ships, etc.

These were about eight hundred men, all Europeans, and of reasonable fighting ability. Besides them there were five battalions of Madras native infantry, each with six hundred men, under English command, for a total of three thousand.

Among them, three battalions of 1,500 people were trained colonial vassal troops, and the other three battalions were formed by newly captured locals.

On July 12, this force of 3,840 men set out from Madras and headed west to rescue Hector Monroe.

As soon as Colonel William Bailey left the house, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan got the news.

Not to mention that they had carefully planted spies, even if they didn't, it would be hard not to spread the news of Colonel William Bailey's conscription with such fanfare.

After receiving the news, Tipu Sultan, who had a very good grasp of the battlefield, deliberately threw out a bait to allow Colonel William Bailey to advance more unscrupulously.

On July 17, 20 kilometers after leaving Madras, Colonel William Bailey was "very lucky" to capture a Mysore army infiltrating near Madras.

The two sides fought a battle by a stream. After two hours of fighting, Colonel William Bailey completely defeated the Mysore army of more than 3,000 people, killed more than 500 of them, and captured thousands of prisoners (including the wounded).

This made Colonel William Bailey very excited, and he felt that this was the beginning of another European master's unparalleled performance.

So he felt confident and continued to march westward, and happily sent a messenger to the besieged Hector Monroe to announce the good news.

Hector Monroe was surrounded on three sides at this time. Tipu Sultan turned his pretense into reality and launched a fierce attack, putting the defenders under great pressure.

Therefore, Hector Monroe was very happy after receiving the good news from Colonel William Bailey. He immediately sent Captain Fletcher to lead a company of local people to meet Colonel William Bailey.

Then, Haider Ali quickly seized the opportunity and began to follow Captain Fletcher who was going to greet Colonel William Bailey.

On July 20, Tipu Sultan, who also received the news, left his general Makhdoom Ali to lead the main force to continue the siege, while he personally led a thousand musketeers and six hundred rocket launchers across the Changama Pass.

Tipu Sultan's trick to crossing this steep mountain pass that is hundreds of meters high is very simple, that is, he did not treat people as human beings, and used manpower to carry the rocket launcher across the mountain pass.

As long as he achieved his goal, Tipu Sultan didn't care that more than 300 civilians fell off the cliff.

On the third day of August, Haider Ali's cavalry first discovered Colonel William Bailey, began to delay his movements, and blocked the communication between Colonel William Bailey and Hector Monroe.

On the seventh day of August, Tipu Sultan's rocket launchers arrived.

On the eighth day of the eighth month, shortly after Colonel William Bailey left a small town called Pollylur, he was ambushed by Haider Haili's 5,000 cavalry.

Colonel William Bailey was not panicked, because the combat effectiveness of the Mysore Kingdom's cavalry, especially its impact power, was not strong, and they had no idea how to ride and shoot.

If it were just cavalry, let alone defeating the army led by Colonel William Bailey, it would not even pose much of a threat to him.

Well, this judgment is correct. No matter how powerful an Indian is, he is still an Indian after all. His ceiling is so high, and his fighting ability will not be that strong.

Unfortunately, this time, Colonel William Bailey met his match.

He had just ordered his troops to form up near a small hill, preparing to use the six field guns he carried to disperse the Mysore cavalry.

But when he finished forming the battle line, he heard a huge roar and explosion. The battle line was suddenly hit, and screams and flames shot up into the sky.

Mysore's rocket launcher is equipped with a stabilizer bar design, which greatly improves its accuracy and its range reaches about 2,400 meters.

At the same time, the three-pound field gun carried by Colonel William Bailey had an effective range of no more than 500 meters and was completely unable to deal with this terrifying rocket launcher.

Of course, if the British army could move, the flying speed would not be particularly fast, the explosion effect would not be particularly strong, and even the rocket launchers that rely more on the barrel to cause damage would find it difficult to cause heavy casualties to the British army.

But it happened that Haider Ali had 5,000 cavalrymen right in front of him. When the explosion sounded, Colonel William Bailey realized that this was a kind of "artillery" he had never seen before.

After suffering such a blow, the best effect was naturally to move, but as soon as he ordered his troops to advance slowly, the Mysore cavalry rushed up.

The moving infantry could not deal with the cavalry, so William Bailey could only order the army to continue to form a formation.

But as soon as the formation was formed and stopped moving, rockets started falling from the sky.

This new style of fighting left the experienced British officer at a loss.

After struggling for nearly an hour, the six local infantry battalions, with more than 200 killed and countless injured, could no longer hold on. They fled in panic and a stampede occurred.

The Mysore cavalry took the opportunity to pursue the enemy, and the battlefield was in chaos. Colonel William Bailey could no longer control these panicked local troops, and could only lead the more than 500 Europeans he could still command to retreat to the nearby hill to hold his ground.

But this was doomed to be futile. The Mysore people surrounded the hill on all sides and continued to bombard it with rocket launchers. As soon as the British formation loosened, the cavalry would immediately launch an attack.

Colonel William Bailey and others fought bravely in desperation, persisting from ten in the morning to three in the afternoon, and finally gave up when more than half of their men were killed or wounded.

In this battle, in order to keep the secret of the rocket launcher, Haider Ali ordered the cavalry to massacre all British troops, including six local infantry battalions. More than 3,000 people were disarmed and executed.

Among the more than 800 Europeans, in addition to those killed in the battle, more than 600 wounded were all executed on the spot.

Only Colonel William Bailey, Captain David Baird and sixteen others were chained and taken away like slaves.

This was the most tragic failure of the British India Company since it arrived in mainland India.

You have to know that there were only about 5,000 white British officers and soldiers in all of India, and there were less than 800 of them in this battle, which can be said to be a heavy casualty.

(End of this chapter)