The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 769 This is a completely different empire

As the capital of Nepal for hundreds of years, Kathmandu's greatest advantage is its dangerous terrain.

The city is located in a fertile valley on the southern foot of the Sumeru Mountains (Himalayas). The surging Bagmati River flows around the city, forming the most perfect moat.

The city is located at the highest point of the valley. Standing on the city wall, you can have a clear view of almost the entire valley. Therefore, if you want to ambush within a few miles, you must be blind.

But if it is too far away, the difficulty of the surprise attack will increase exponentially.

Twenty miles, or ten kilometers, is not far, but not close either. It is the distance of a quarter marathon. If a normal person runs such a distance and then fights, he is basically waiting to be killed.

Fortunately, although Kathmandu is located on the southern foot of Mount Sumeru (Himalayas), its altitude is actually not high, only about 1,400 meters, so there is no need to worry about symptoms such as altitude sickness caused by thin oxygen.

Therefore, in order to ensure combat effectiveness, Luo Siju made a very clever adjustment. He only kept two hundred cavalrymen as reserves, and gave the remaining one thousand war horses of the Black Flag Army to the Jiarong soldiers.

These Jiarong soldiers were more adapted to the Yangbu climate and were also more adapted to small-scale offensive and defensive battles. Luo Siju used war horses instead of manpower to ensure the physical fitness of the soldiers.

As for the other 3,000 or so people, they did not speed up their progress, but took their time, trying to retain enough strength to move forward slowly.

After Yangbu blocked the west gate and blew up the city wall, Wang Lian, the general of Songpan Town, immediately gathered his nearly 900 people near the west gate and defended the city wall that had not collapsed.

His mission was not to capture Yangbu City, but to guard the gap and wait for the arrival of the army twenty miles away.

At this time, the entire country of Nepal had a population of about 2.2 million, but the ethnic groups were diverse, and there were about 800,000 people belonging to the Gurkha tribe.

This is also the reason why the Gurkhas have the courage to deal with Qiangtang. The southern foothills of Mount Xumi are always more fertile than the northern foothills, and the small Nepal has a larger population than the seemingly vast Qiangtang.

Moreover, because they are relatively martial, the Gurkha tribe with a population of 800,000 can mobilize at least 60,000 to 80,000 combat troops, and the standing army is about 30,000.

The violent explosion shattered all the fantasies of the Regent Shubam. When he was notified that the visitor had raised the red golden sun and moon flag commonly used by the Zhendan Empire, a feeling of suffocation immediately surrounded the Regent.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to bow his head, it’s that he doesn’t want to bow his head so completely, or rather, he can’t bow his head completely.

It was he who initiated the invasion of Qiangtang, and when he gained benefits, he was naturally followed by thousands of people.

But now nearly 10,000 people have been lost in Qiangtang. Although they are not the core tribes of the Gurkhas, and many of them are other conquered tribes, it is already a huge blow to the Regent Shubam.

In this case, he had to return the gold, silver and treasures that had already been distributed. That would be terrible. If he really did that, the Gurkha nobles who had originally supported him would become an avalanche that would bury him.

"Regent, let's fight. Even if we want to return the money to Zhendan, regardless of whether they accept it or not, we can't afford it because many people have already spent the money." Finance Minister Damodar Pande advised in a low voice.

It's revenge consumption. It's easy for poor people to do this once they become rich.

The same was true for the Gurkhas. Once the gold, silver, and jewelry looted from Qiangtang fell into the hands of their subordinates, a large number of Gurkha nobles began to expand their own watchtowers.

As well as large quantities of refined salt, icing sugar, good tea, good cloth, fine wine and other enjoyment items bought from the Ganges Plain in the south, as well as flintlock rifles from British India.

So what Damodar Pande said was right. Even if they wanted to return it, they couldn't afford it and couldn't take it out at all.

Regent Uncle Bam sighed deeply, and the joy he had just felt for driving away his nephew, the king, disappeared.

He felt that he was now being held captive by his subordinates and had to serve as an open target, allowing the wrath of the Zhendan Empire to be directed at him.

As for the people below, if they are defeated, as long as they can save their lives, or live before the death of the Regent, the culprit in the eyes of Zhendan, and make the Zhendan Emperor calm down, they will have a great chance of survival.

This, perhaps, is the price a leader above everyone else must pay.

If this guy had some knowledge and knew some ancient Chinese cases, he would definitely sigh and say Cao Mengde's famous saying, "Sure, you want to put me on the fire?"

But the regent Bam Bahadur Shah did not have this insight and could only stomp his feet hard.

"Mobilize all troops. Every Kshatriya in the royal city must organize at least one hundred warriors to join the battle. Set out immediately and retake the west gate."

"Tell everyone that the Great Emperor of Aurora will not easily let go of anyone who offends him. If we cannot forcefully fight back against the Aurora army, then no one can escape the wrath of the Great Emperor of Aurora!"

The battle started quickly, well, not very quickly actually. After the Regent Shubam issued the most severe order to advance, it still took almost thirty minutes before the Gurkha army in Yangbu City was organized.

At this time, a thousand Jiarong soldiers on war horses were almost at the west gate.

Wang Lian very cleverly chose an earth wall. He hid his musketeers behind the wall, and the melee soldiers in armor also hid behind the wall and did not show up.

It was dark at this time, making aiming with the naked eye much more difficult. At the same time, there were many Gurkhas and a considerable number of flintlock rifles.

It would be better to improve the archery skills and let the Chinese musketeers who use rifled flintlock rifles shoot at the Gurkha smoothbore flintlock riflemen in bursts, and then let the hand-to-hand combat soldiers repel them after they rush to the front.

Well, this can be considered as an infantry charge after an artillery bombardment to some extent.

"Warriors of Hanuman, drive away the evil Chinese and, under the radiance of the Monkey God's bravery, achieve victory after victory!"

I don’t know what kind of mentality the Hindus in Nepal have, but they actually worship the monkey god Hanuman, a god who is not even the monkey king. They even call the royal palace Hamandhoka, which means the Gate of Hanuman.

In the distance, Zhang Zhankui was holding a rifle (the infantry used a rifled flintlock rifle) and curled his lips speechlessly. Needless to say, one could tell at a glance what kind of gods and ghosts these stupid barbarians were using to boost their morale.

Thinking of this, Zhang Zhankui put on a black cloak and quietly moved forward dozens of meters with several sharpshooters. After reaching a distance of about 300 meters, he and several sharpshooters opened fire at the same time.

The Hindu monk who was shouting loudly was still putting red dots on the foreheads of the warriors going to war. Suddenly he shuddered, a look of shock appeared on his fat face, and a stream of blood flowed out of his mouth and began to drip onto the ground along his thick beard.

Bang, bang, bang, more intense gunfire rang out, and the sharpshooters began to fire rapidly, immediately killing five or six officers standing around the monk.

"Idiots!" Ata Singh, who was commanding at the front, cursed inwardly. As a Kshatriya, he actually couldn't stand the suffocating operations of these Brahmins.

In Nepal, as Hinduism has changed in many aspects, the Brahmins here like to show off on the battlefield, which is somewhat like stealing the show.

"Charge forward, don't stop. The Aurora people's muskets are more powerful than ours. Don't engage them from a distance. Charge forward and finish them off with your sharp scimitars!"

He did have some knowledge. Ata Singh had been to Calcutta and received training from the English. He knew that China's rifled rifles were very advanced.

So, under his command, at least three or four thousand Gurkha warriors roared and attacked Wang Lian.

But they completely underestimated the level of the Dayu rifle today. It was almost evolving into a percussion rifle, a big step forward compared to what Ata Singh had seen in Kolkata five years ago.

Therefore, although a large number of Gurkha warriors roared and began to charge with great courage, they did not move quickly in the face of the streets in front that could only accommodate about a hundred people and the obstacles deployed in advance by Wang Lian.

As soon as the speed slowed down and some obstacles and ruins had to be cleared, the Gurkha warriors became the best targets. A tall warrior had just moved a piece of broken wood when two lead bullets flew over. He picked up another piece of wood in his hand and dropped it to the ground with a clang.

Another equally strong warrior next to him roared in pain and wanted to go to see what was happening to the tall warrior. With a bang, a lead bullet swept past his neck, and blood splattered all over the ground.

Another nimble warrior wore a white turban and made a beautiful knife flower with the Gurkha knife in his hand. He skillfully used obstacles to cover himself and continued to advance.

This caught the attention of Zhang Zhankui. Historically, at this time, he was a representative of the elite Guizhou soldiers under Zhu Shedou. In the counterattack against Gurkhas, he made many military achievements. In the final attack on Yangbu, he was extremely tired and was urged to fight by Fu Kangan, who had a too-young-man temperament. Unfortunately, he died in battle.

But in this time and space, Fu Kang'an has shed his arrogance, and Luo Siju, who has the style of a gangster, cares for the soldiers even more than Fu Kang'an in his command arrangements.

That's why Zhang Zhankui was still alive at this time. He squinted his eyes, carefully took out a thing from his arms, and installed it on his rifled flintlock rifle.

This is a relatively primitive sight, which was invented by Zhang Zhankui, who could hardly read, during the brutal war. He polished the lenses himself and conducted hundreds of experiments before he succeeded.

Because of this, I didn't send much money back home for several years, so much so that my mother wrote to me saying she was starving to death.

At this moment, when Zhang Zhankui placed the scope that he had invented even at the cost of his mother starving to death, on the rifle he had used for three years, an inexplicable sense of confidence and detachment suddenly rose from Zhang Zhankui's heart.

He saw the cunning Gurkha warrior hiding behind a pile of broken earth and began to count numbers in his mind. When he counted to five, Zhang Zhankui raised his hand and fired a shot without even aiming.

Snapped!
A crisp sound echoed throughout the battlefield. The Gurkha warrior, wearing a white turban and covered with gold and silver ornaments, rushed out from the side of a mound and was immediately "caught" by the incoming bullets.

The white-headed Gurkha warrior suddenly raised his head to the sky, waved his hands like paddling a few times, and with a thud, fell to the side of the mound where he had just avoided.

It was so magical. Zhang Zhankui didn't have the ability to read minds, nor could he control other people's thoughts, but he just knew that this Gurkha warrior would suddenly appear when he counted to five.

As the Gurkha warrior fell, the slowly charging enemy let out screams of pain, as if he was some insignificant figure.

Not long after, a large number of Gurkha warriors began to speed up and rush forward, which was completely different from their previous procrastination.

However, their purpose did not seem to be to charge, but to retrieve the fallen body.

That's great, this is simply the most suitable target. At once, many guns are aimed at here.

This also includes Zhang Zhankui. After that strange feeling began to boil throughout his body, his archery skills became even more amazing.

In the twilight, Zhang Zhankui quickly changed the bullet without taking any serious aim. After taking a rough look, he immediately pulled the trigger, and then a Gurkha warrior fell down.

Seeing how good a shot this captain was, his comrades around him were greatly encouraged and everyone shot more accurately. The Gurkha warrior rushed forward desperately, but the lead bullets that greeted him were endless and terrifyingly accurate.

Half an hour later, even the bravest Gurkha warriors could not bear such casualties and retreated, leaving behind three or four hundred corpses. At the same time, behind the ruins that served as their cover, a large number of wounded were still groaning.

General Ata Singh was furious. He shouted to the crowd below, "I'm telling you that the Chinese muskets are very powerful. I'm not telling you to be afraid to advance, but to charge faster!"

choke!
General Ata Singh drew his Gurkha knife and said, "I will charge with you. Anyone who dares to stand behind me will be killed by the supervising team behind me!"

Soon, the second wave of charge was organized. With the supervision team, the Gurkhas' attack speed was much faster. Although there were still some stumblings, they were obviously more determined.

Lead bullets rained down like rain as the Gurkhas rushed in from three directions. In the 'rain' of lead bullets, they fell in large numbers. However, their martial tradition and the weakening of their senses in the dim vision made them much more able to withstand casualties.

General Ata Singh smiled with satisfaction. The second charge achieved such results, which was quite impressive.

But at this moment, bursts of explosions were heard from afar, and golden flames continued to flash on the battlefield in the dim afternoon. The smile on Ata Singh's face froze instantly.

After more than seventy grenades exploded, the melee soldiers hiding behind the earth wall swooped down like tigers descending from the mountains. These melee soldiers were all wearing certain armor or armor, holding broadswords and long swords, and they quickly killed the Gurkha warriors in large numbers.

This is because the Gurkha warriors are actually a highly firearms-based force.

In order to make the Gurkhas act as troublemakers and thugs for England in the Qiangtang, Mughal Empire and Sikh Kingdom, the English provided the Gurkhas with a large amount of various relatively advanced muskets and artillery at a high price.

After acquiring these things, the Gurkhas' way of fighting changed rapidly. Their original armor and hand-to-hand combat basically disappeared, and the Gurkha scimitar that has been passed down is one of the few cold weapons still in use.

The Gurkhas became one of the few troops in the South Asian subcontinent that could use firearms, except for the English.

This is also the important reason why they were able to quickly unify Nepal and then invade Qiangtang crazily. An all-firearms force is too expensive, and they have to get money from anywhere they can get it.

However, this time they encountered a brand new Chinese Empire and a commander like Luo Siju who was more humble and careful than Fu Kangan in history.

Long before he set out, Luo Siju learned about this situation from the Zang army that was fighting against the Gurkhas.

The reason why the Zang army was defeated was that they were wearing a lot of old-style armor and were fighting against the Gurkhas who were almost fully armed with firearms. They were defeated without even hitting the enemy.

After hearing the news, Luo Siju did not blindly want to use Dayu's more advanced firearms to fight the Gurkhas, but secretly prepared 300 sets of light armor for this moment.

When using cold weapons, armored soldiers fighting unarmored soldiers will simply crush them.

Not to mention that Dayu's melee soldiers were also equipped with some big guns (revolvers), and they would chop and chop and then start shooting continuously.

The Gurkhas had never seen such a fighting style before. More than 2,000 people were counterattacked by more than 300 people. They were defeated after only ten minutes. Even Ata Singh, who was supervising the battle, had to retreat with the defeated army.

Afterwards, Ata Singh was not convinced and sent several groups of people to attack, but they just couldn't get close. Every time they worked hard and suffered heavy casualties to rush to Wang Lian's formation, but then they retreated again after a wave of counterattacks.

Later, as more and more Gurkha warriors from Yangbu City came to reinforce, Ata Singh had more and more men under his command, so he simply sent two thousand people to die, and concentrated four thousand musketeers at the back, hoping to lure out the enemy's melee soldiers and shoot them.

As a result, more than 300 of his 2,000 men were killed and escaped, but Dayu's hand-to-hand combat soldiers only rushed a few hundred meters before retreating, and were not fooled at all.

"Idiot, have you learned everything in vain in the English school?"

More than an hour later, Regent Shubam's right-hand man, General of the Guards Amar Singh Tapa arrived here and could not help but angrily scold his nephew Ata Singh.

The general of the Royal Guards almost fainted. Nearly 10,000 people were handed over to his nephew Ata Singh. In more than an hour, more than 1,700 people were killed. So many brave soldiers died in vain.

"You, get to the front line now and use the scimitar in your hand to wash away the sins brought by your incompetence!" The Royal Guard General Amar Singh Tapa shouted loudly at his nephew.

Then he gave his orders, "I need a hundred strong men to push the cannons over here. All soldiers check their guns and keep firing. Make sure the musketeers on the opposite side can't lift their guns, and pave the way for the cannons to move forward."

"Yuda, my nephew, I order you to lead four thousand warriors to go around the rear of the enemy at the west gate. If they have reinforcements, intercept them. If not, attack them from behind!"

He is indeed a veteran. Compared with Ata Singh, who became stupid after studying in the military academy opened by the English in Kolkata specifically for the natives of the South Asian subcontinent, this veteran who has fought for decades is indeed much more ruthless.

(End of this chapter)