War horses neighed and elephants whimpered. With flags waving and people shouting, Shuja, the second prince of the Mughal Empire, led an army of 50,000 people and arrived in Patna city on September 25.

Before his arrival, the Ming army had retreated ten days ago. Therefore, the battle that Shujia had originally expected, with internal and external cooperation inside and outside the city, did not start.

After arriving at the city, Shuja did not enter the city immediately. Instead, he watched the barracks left by the Ming army under the protection of a group of guards, and thought for a long time in the barracks until Said, who had been huddled in the city for a long time, came out to greet him in person.

he.

Governor Said welcomed him into the city, and there was immediately a burst of complaints and disgusting praise. After the official article was completed, Shuja immediately raised a core question: "Sayed, please tell me, in the Ganges River,

When will the rainy season end downstream?”

"Your Highness, after entering October every year, the rainfall will decrease rapidly. Generally, by the end of October, the rainy season will completely end, and then we will enter a long winter."

"So, tell me to go down and have your troops spread out quickly and launch a powerful investigation on the Cathayans in Asansol Town. We don't have much time."

"ah?"

Looking at Said who was confused, Shuja was not polite and swung his horse whip towards the governor. After the beating, he turned around and said: "Mudra, my most trusted general, tell this.

Idiot, why are we so pressed for time?"

"Yes, Your Highness." A tall middle-aged man with a tall and thick turban on his head and a full beard stood up: "Your Excellency, Governor, judging from the previous battles and the recent performance of Cathay, because they

Not familiar with the climate here, they invaded during the rainy season... So they faced the raging river and were unable to transport more soldiers and heavy weapons to land. However, once the rainy season ended, the enemy's troop strength and equipment configuration were greatly restricted.

factors will disappear. On the contrary, the Ganges River in winter will become a shortcut for the enemy to conveniently deploy troops and equipment. Therefore, we must launch a decisive battle before the end of the rainy season, drive the Cathayans into the sea, and take advantage of the dry weather in winter

The climate builds a defense line at the junction of swamps and plains to prevent a new round of Cathay invasion..."

Shu Jia is talented, but he also has the arrogance of His Royal Highness: it is necessary to explain to his slaves so that the slaves can do things with care. But His Highness the Prince himself does not bother to explain. Such work can only be given to another slave.

.

The communication between the two slaves was very smooth, and Said, who understood it thoroughly, immediately took action: The Governor has been in charge of this place for many years, and his orders are much more effective than His Royal Highness's orders to mobilize local resources here.

On October 7th, the sky cleared again, and His Highness Shujia gave an order, and the 50,000 Imperial Central Army began to advance towards Asansol Town.

At about ten o'clock in the morning on the 12th, the army arrived at Asansol. What made Shuja more and more anxious was that during the five-day march, it rained only for two days, and the amount of rain was obviously lower than that of the previous few days.

On the small side.

The matter of setting up camp was left to the logistics officers to handle. Shuja rode a horse and led a group of generals under his command to circle around the town of Asansol for observation.

"I have fought against Pashtuns, Uzbeks, and Persians before, and I even went to the Deccan to fight against the Telugus in the past two years. However, I have never seen such a fortress with so many facets.

Pass."

"Your Highness, although this is the first time I have seen this thing, it gives me a very bad feeling. Just imagining it will cause major obstacles to our attack."

"...Tsk~ Okay, Mudra, why are you thinking so much? We are going to fight anyway, so let's set up our cannon and let's blast it."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The Empire's Central Army, especially the Central Army that can give priority to equipping with new equipment, has very good combat effectiveness and execution capabilities. With Shujia's order, in just two or three hours, the artillery unit of the 20,000-strong New Army

The formation was deployed. Then with the commander's order, twenty 75mm breech-loaded guns captured from Datar's original army began to roar.

…

"Hey, Chun Zhong, how long has it been since we were bombarded by others and couldn't fight back?"

"Well..." After thinking seriously for a while, Li Chunzhong shook his head firmly: "Never."

"Yeah, it's never happened before. tmd That bear man in the Privy Council didn't know to check the climate here when he was making plans? What a fucking imperial master, I'm still Yuan Cong! Wait until I finish beating the shit here

When we return to the capital, we must tear up that guy's bad mouth!"

Liu Zhaosun complained viciously on the top of the city, but before Li Chunzhong could respond, suddenly, both of them felt a slight shaking under their feet.

"Are these stupid Indians really accurate in shooting? It's only been a few rounds, and the shells have already touched the wall?"

After saying this, the two of them were unambiguous and quickly walked down the tower.

"What did the engineering team say? How many rounds can cement of this grade be able to withstand?"

"Hey~" Li Chunzhong smiled: "Theoretically, it can withstand the bombardment of 75mm artillery shells at the same position at least three times. However, the guys from the engineering team also said that in the past month or so, God has not been kind to me, and there have been too few sunny days.

, there was too much rain, and the walls in many places were never completely dry. I think if you are unlucky, you won’t even be able to withstand a round of artillery fire.”

As if to confirm Li Chunzhong's words, as soon as he shut up, the two of them heard a faint collapse sound. This should be that a section of the outer wall of the newly built fortress collapsed.

"Chunzhong, you have such a crow's mouth." Liu Zhaosun smiled nonchalantly: "Since this wall is so unreliable, let's implement plan No. 2 in advance."

Following Liu Zhaosun's order, all the Ming soldiers stationed outside the newly built Asansol withdrew.

This order was issued very timely, because not long after, the artillery of the army outside the city extended the shooting range again. Some shells flew directly over the city and entered the city, causing huge explosions in many places in the city.

, and caused fires at many points.

After all, this is still a small town near a swamp. No matter how the Ming army expanded and reinforced it for more than a month, the foundation was only so small. Therefore, starting from two o'clock in the afternoon, the Indian army's artillery fire basically covered the entire town.

"Bah, bah~" In the underground bunker fortifications dug by the Ming army, Liu Zhaosun vomited because he put his head out to watch, and the dust poured into his mouth: "tmd, what's going on with this Indian guy? He even shelled one.

It's been many hours, why haven't the infantry rushed up?"

His expression was still very relaxed when he said this: Even though he had been beaten for nearly two hours, the Indian army only had twenty breech-loading cannons. No matter how hard the artillerymen tried, the number of shells they could fire was very limited. Although

The artillery shells falling in the city seemed loud, but the real casualties caused to the Ming army were actually not large.

"Haha, let them continue to fight. Didn't Xu Xianchun say it before we set off? The Mughals' own arsenal does not have the ability to produce breech-loading cannons. The current production capacity is all in the former Kingdom of Vijayanagar in the south.

On our territory, there is a Deccan Plateau between the two sides. Hum, keep fighting, we will suffer more here. The rainy season will end next month, and it will be much easier after General Cao Shang's main force lands. Hey, why did the artillery stop?"

Speaking of which, no matter how hard the twenty breech-loading cannons are fired, there will still be no shortage of shells for a while. But after bombarding for nearly two hours, Shuja was ready to send infantry to approach the city wall, so the bombardment had to be stopped:

Even in the 21st century, only the armies of a few countries can master the difficult technical tasks of infantry and artillery coordination and barrage advance. If His Highness Shujia does not want to use his limited artillery shells to blow up his limited new army,

, at this time the bombardment must be stopped.

As the sound of artillery gradually subsided, several whistles sounded on the Indian army's position. More than a thousand infantrymen in white short skirts, some with big hats on their heads, and some with turbans on their heads, holding rear-fired rifles, bent

The waist, driven by their respective superiors, walked towards the town of Asansol.

At this time, Liu Zhaosun had climbed out of the underground bunker and was leaning against a broken wall, holding up a telescope and watching: "Oh, it's unlucky that we have only deployed such a small amount of troops."

"General, what should I do? Do you want to eat or not?"

"Is it okay if we don't eat? The whole town is so big. After the other party comes in, it won't be long before they find us."

"I understand."

More than twenty minutes later, the Indian soldiers finally entered the town. Then, before they could enter the center of the town, a loud trumpet sounded, and countless Ming soldiers rushed out bravely from underground and from every corner, holding up their hands.

The submachine gun inside opened fire violently at the Indian soldiers!

Then there is no more.

Shuja, who had experienced many battles, did not pay special attention to the fact that the enemy had completely wiped out a battalion he sent out within half an hour. After confirming that there was no more fighting in the town, he ordered his artillery to start again

A round of shelling was carried out on the town. After that, the army retreated four or five miles and set up camp, preparing to spend the whole day plowing the town again the next day.
Chapter completed!