March 1638, Agra, India. Headquarters of the Ming Dynasty Army in India.

"Oh, brother Zhennan, long time no see."

"No, Lao Li, you are two years older than me after all. Hey, sit down, sit down."

The so-called Lao Li is Li Yongfang who joined Mao Wenlong under Xiong Tingbi and then trained together in Kuandian for many years.

Although Zhu Youdong has always reminded himself: some characters who have no integrity or have done wrong things in the historical plane are often the general trend. As an emperor, you should still be as fair as possible and should not use things that have not happened in this plane.

Those people look at things through colored glasses.

But, he thought so, but actually doing it was another matter. Especially after Zu Dashou was involved in the case of the Donglin Party trying to poison him, he couldn't take off his colored glasses no matter what.

Therefore, in the past few decades, Mao Wenlong has always been an actual army officer, and his rank has been promoted very quickly. After conquering India, his military rank became a general, and his military position was the dignified Commander-in-Chief of the Ming Dynasty Corps in India. And Li

As for Yongfang, it was Mao Wenlong who missed the old relationship and took the initiative to find the Royal Horse Supervisor, transferred him from the reserve army headquarters in the Ming Dynasty, and became his chief of staff.

After the two sides sat down, Mao Wenlong glanced at Li Yongfang: "A few days ago, Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou both impeached you, saying that you were riding around on your slaves in your garden. Is this possible?"

"Ah? These remnants of Donglin just like to make trouble after having a full day! Hey, Zhennan, it's not like you don't know that these Indians are naturally servile. They are willing to let us ride. What can we do? Oh,

I did ride for a while that day, just to inspect the cultivated land in my own garden and supervise the people below to prepare for spring plowing. How big a deal is it?"

"Dong dong dong~" Knocked on the table hard, Mao Wenlong said with a fierce voice: "Old Li! We are military generals! We ride horses, not people! Even if machine guns and submachine guns are popular now, the cavalry has declined. But we go out.

, isn’t it good to ride in a car? Why ride a man? When the emperor left India, he gave me many instructions, saying that we must maintain the combat effectiveness of the army and not be corrupted by the dirty things here. You see

Look at you! It has only been more than two years since I came to India. Zhuangzi has taken in one after another. He has three thousand servants instead of five thousand, right? What are you going to do? Learn from those aristocratic families in the Eastern Han Dynasty?!"

"Bang~" He took out his lighter and lit a cigarette. After taking a deep breath, Li Yongfang blew out a smoke ring and said: "Zhennan, brother, you are exaggerating. How old are you this year?"

I'm sixty-two years old? What about me? I'm sixty-four. According to the officer management regulations, if I, as a major general, cannot be promoted, I must retire when I reach the age of sixty-five. What do you think? I am still young at my age.

What are you thinking about? Since slaves are not allowed in the country, and there is no way for officials and gentry to pay the grain together, then I can only buy a manor here and pass it on to my descendants in the future. Otherwise, what do I want to do as a prime minister and work hard for the emperor all my life?

?”

Glancing at Mao Wenlong, who was silent, Li Yongfang added: "Besides, I am a senior officer after all, and I am relatively self-possessed. Thanks to the emperor's kindness to us, I, a major general, have a military salary of thousands of silver dollars a year.

When you buy Zhuangzi, you buy and sell on equal terms with the local princes and nobles, and never take advantage of others. Look at those middle and lower-level officers and ordinary soldiers? tmd they married one wife after another. If they have more wives, they will have more children. Eat.

If you talk too much, how can the military salary alone be enough? Or do you have to bully the local indigenous people?"

Listening to Li Yongfang's words, Mao Wenlong's brows furrowed even more.

The people in India are too tame. To be honest, Mao Wenlong felt that if the Ming Dynasty's garrison in India changed its approach in India to the country, a civil uprising would be triggered in minutes, and then the court would suppress it.

. But here? The harder you treat these Indians, the more they obey.

Although Indians still have a deep-rooted caste system, and upper and lower castes will never intermarry. But why do the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty care about this? As long as you are obedient and docile, then you are one of their own! In this way, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty will naturally

It has won the favor of many low-caste women in India - although the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are not Caucasian, they are still much whiter than the Shudras, Dalits and so on in India!

Generally speaking, it is very simple for women to pursue men. Therefore, in more than three years since the basic settlement of India in August 1634, most of the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers stationed in India had concubines or wives here.

.Naturally, a large number of Ming-Yin mixed-race children have been born in the past year or two...

As Li Yongfang said, if there are too many mouths to eat, the Ming army's salary will not be enough. And for most people, morality can only be obtained after food and clothing are solved. Therefore, in the past six months, many people stationed in India have

The relationship between the army and the surrounding people - well, it's not that it's tense. After all, the people here typically bully the weak and fear the strong. But no matter what, it's not as harmonious as before.

Faced with this situation, both Wen Tiren and Mao Wenlong were a little helpless: the division sent to America by the Ming Dynasty, in addition to the normal salary, was also given a settlement allowance - as if they had come back. But the division sent to India was

There is no settling-in allowance for the three divisions: they are risking their lives to go to America, but you are enjoying the blessings of being stationed in India. Therefore, the Ministry of National Defense does not provide additional subsidies to the officers and soldiers stationed in India.

What should I do if I don’t have enough money to serve as a soldier? Is the gun in my hand just a decoration?

Therefore, Lao Wen had no choice but to ask Mao Wenlong to issue a strict order that the officers and soldiers stationed in India in the Ming Dynasty could only have one wife and three concubines at most. If they had more, they would be ordered to retire.

But even so, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were captured again and again by enthusiastic Indian girls. If these guys have children after having sex with each other, even if they cannot marry through a matchmaker due to military laws, they still have to give each other living expenses: China's

Men, at least in this era, the proportion of scumbags is extremely small. It's much better than the black uncles who just disappear after successfully creating life.

But as a result, soldiers always want to do various things, which leads to tension between the army and the people. And this combat effectiveness...

"Brush!" After shaking his head helplessly, Mao Wenlong threw out a text: "This is the message sent by Jin Yiwei's spies in Europe. Since December last year, Europe has begun to mobilize one after another. By this year's

In January and February, the scale of this mobilization became even larger and larger, and it could not be concealed no matter what. According to Jin Yiwei's analysis, the number of troops mobilized in Europe this time was at least more than 300,000."

"What? Are they going to fight the Ottomans?"

"It would be great if we really want to fight against the Ottomans! After all, my Ming Dynasty had stationed envoys in the Ottomans before, so I also developed some downlines. According to the intelligence revealed by these people, the Ottomans are also carrying out large-scale mobilization."

"Then it's a match. The two countries are going to be at war again."

"Fart! Osman is concentrating his troops to the east!"

"This..." Although he is a little older and has lost a lot of money in recent years, Li Yongfang is also a veteran. Mao Wenlong said it for this reason, and he naturally analyzed the taste.

First, the European Union is mobilizing on a large scale. This scale is definitely not about just having enough to eat and nothing to do. It is definitely about attacking somewhere.

Second, the Ottomans are also mobilizing, but despite the large-scale mobilization of the EU, they are still sending their main forces to the east instead of strengthening the defense of the western border. This can only mean that the two countries have reached some kind of agreement - the EU's

This mobilization was not aimed at the Ottomans.

Third, it is clear who the EU is targeting for its mobilization: it is impossible to transport more than 300,000 soldiers to the Americas. The terrain and conditions there determine that having more soldiers may not bring about an advantage.

Therefore, it can only be India. And maybe the troops mobilized by the Ottomans are also aimed at India. After all, the Ottomans have torn Persia into pieces over the years, and there is no need for large-scale mobilization to deal with a scattered Persia.

"Well..." After lighting a cigarette again, Li Yongfang pondered for a while: "What does Prime Minister Wen have to say about this matter?"

"Mobilize the entire Viceroyalty of India and all the vassal states in South Asia. In addition, send an urgent letter to Beijing."

"Reinforcements from Beijing will take half a year no matter how fast they arrive." After muttering softly, Li Yongfang blew out a smoke ring and said to Mao Chengdou, who had been standing next to him: "My dear nephew, why are you so blind? Go quickly.

Get your father a topographical map of India."

After the two old men unfolded the map, Li Yongfang said: "Zhennan, I heard that the new warships of the Western Bandits have a displacement of more than 10,000 tons. What is our navy afraid of?"

"That guy Yan Siqi already said at yesterday's meeting that if that 10,000-ton warship comes, he can only do his best to deal with it."

"Yeah." Without complaining about the navy, Li Yongfang thought for a moment and then said: "In this case, it is difficult for the ports on the west coast of the Indian Peninsula to be safe."

"That's true. So what I mean is to concentrate the main force on the inland traffic arteries. If the Western thieves really come, then our main force will adapt accordingly based on where they land."

"...Hey, if the navy is defeated, that's what it will have to do."

"Yes." Mao Wenlong sighed helplessly and said: "The question now is who will guard the Khyber Pass. If I predict correctly, if Osman really forms an alliance with Spain, then his army should come from

Driving from the direction of Persia, the Khyber Pass is the place we must pass through."

The so-called Khyber Pass simply means that the north-south Hindu Kush Mountains and the east-west Himalayan Mountains are almost connected together. And the difference is just a little bit different, which is the Khyber Pass.

For thousands of years, from the earliest Aryans, to the Alexander Empire, the Kushan Empire, the Ghaznavid Kingdom, the Qajar Dynasty, the Durrani Dynasty... all the way to the Mughal Empire, before the Age of Discovery, Central Asia,

All the forces in West Asia enter South Asia from here - this is almost the only entrance to South Asia by land under ancient transportation technology.

However, although so many invaders entered South Asia from here, after they entered and became the new masters of South Asia, they never thought of building a checkpoint or a complete defense system in the Khyber Pass. On the contrary

In the warm and fertile land of South Asia, the caste system was accepted, then quickly decayed, waiting to be conquered by new invaders...

After the Ming Dynasty captured India, Ming Dynasty officials had a little understanding of the history of this continent and did not need Zhu Youdong to remind them. The first thing Wen Tiren did after taking office was to mobilize 200,000 civilians to build defenses at the Khyber Pass.

system.

Therefore, the defense system of the Khyber Pass is now complete. We just need to determine the number of personnel and how many troops to guard.

When Zhu Youdong left here, he left behind three divisions. In the past three years, Wen Tiren transferred some officers from these three divisions. With these officers as the backbone and local Indians as the source of troops, he formed five Indian divisions.

.So, on the surface, Mao Wenlong has eight divisions and 120,000 men under his command.

However, Mao Wenlong himself knew that if we refer to the combat strength table set by Cao Wenzhao for each unit when he conquered the seal, the three great masters who originally had a combat strength of 8 and 9, after stationed in India for more than three years, their combat effectiveness

At least a 20% discount. As for the five Indian divisions, well, since the Sikhs have established an independent country, the combat effectiveness of these Indian divisions formed purely from the Hindustani people is probably at the level of 2 or 3.

"Old Li, this is what I think. If the enemy invades, it would be the fastest way to land on the peninsula directly by sea. The Khyber Pass is a purely land route. If hundreds of thousands of troops really want to go there, it is probably not possible.

So, what I want to say is that we can deploy a battalion of our own to that place, and then let the Sikhs send 10,000 people to follow our command."

"...Okay, then who should I let go?"

"Cao Bianjiao and Zuo Mengeng, after all, one is Cao Shuai's nephew and the other is Zuo Liangyu's biological son. In the past three years, their battalion is the only one that has maintained daily drills...the battalion given to them

Strengthen the manpower, equipment, ammunition, etc. and leave the Khyber Pass to them. Our main force must still be placed on dealing with the landing enemies."

"Okay." Li Yongfang lit another cigarette and said leisurely: "I don't know whether the enemy or the reinforcements arrived first."
Chapter completed!