Chapter 1542 The Battle of India - The Plan of the Bengalis
After a while, Wencai made up his mind: "Immediately send people to investigate the city of Noakali. If there are really not many Bangladeshi soldiers there, we can send troops to capture it!"
"Your Highness has made a clear decision!" Zhang Fu immediately smiled.
"Gu Suan was tricked by you. If we can't successfully defeat Noa Kali, Gu Suan will definitely be blamed by General Lan." Wen Ye said. But even though he said this, his expression was very relaxed, and he was not really worried about not being able to defeat Noa Kali.
Cali.
Zhang Fu laughed twice more and said: "Your Highness, I thought today is the 13th day of the first lunar month, and I will send troops to attack Noakali on the 16th day of the first lunar month after the soldiers have celebrated the Lantern Festival."
"Yes," Wen was about to agree, but suddenly thought of something and said, "No, we will send troops to attack Noakali on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month."
"Your Highness?" Zhang Fu asked doubtfully. It will take more than ten days before the soldiers are assembled and Lan Zhen and other generals arrive at South Hadiya Island. There is no need to fight for a day or two.
"Prime Minister Zhang, I am not fighting for just one or two days. I am worried that the Shah will be on guard." Wen said: "The fifteenth day of the first lunar month is the Lantern Festival. Not only do we know it, but the Bengalis also know it, and our army of 20,000 troops has already
The Shah also knew about the arrival at South Hadiya Island. Although the war has not yet started, our army is on the offensive and the Bengalis are on the defensive. Both sides can make judgments. In this case, even though the Shah knew that there were still troops to be sent,
I don’t think that the 20,000 of us will stay on South Hadiya Island and wait for the follow-up troops to arrive. The day after the 15th of the first lunar month is a very suitable day for the use of troops."
"Will Bengalis notice this?" Zhang Fu said with some confusion.
"They are going to fight the most powerful country in the entire world and the entire planet. How could they not care about this?" Wen laughed. If the strength of the two warring parties is very different, the weaker party will definitely study all the cultural customs of the stronger party and try to find its own
Where it can be exploited, for example, in the Fourth Middle East War, Egypt and Syria used the Jewish Day of Atonement to launch war; the stronger side may not study the cultural customs of the weaker side. Of course, strength is relative, and North Vietnam is not even slightly weaker than the United States.
, but under the special geographical location and international situation, the United States still attaches great importance to North Vietnam and carefully studies the cultural customs of the Vietnamese.
"Your Highness is right. Compared with the Ming Dynasty, Bangladesh is indeed a weak country. Although the Ming Dynasty only sent these troops, they still had more soldiers than Bangladesh. It is normal for the Shah to understand the customs of the Ming Dynasty. And he has been in Bangladesh all year round.
There are also many Ming merchants doing business. Although they have withdrawn due to the approaching war, the local people who were once employed by Ming merchants should remember the customs of the Ming people. If the Shah has the mind to understand the customs of the Ming Dynasty, he will certainly be able to understand."
After thinking about it for a while, Zhang Fu felt that what Wen said made sense and praised: "Your Highness is really smart."
Wen smiled and said nothing. This was not something he thought of himself, but something his father told him. Yun also said to him at the time, "You don't have to say this is your father's idea, but you think it yourself."
It will help establish your prestige." Wen knew that his father was doing good to him, and there was no need for such frivolous things between father and son, so he agreed. But facing Zhang Fu, he was embarrassed to admit it.
, able to remain silent.
"Since we are planning to raid Noakhali on the 15th day of the first lunar month, and in order to confuse the Shah, the day before and the Lantern Festival must be decorated with lanterns and colors to show that we will celebrate the festival for the soldiers and leave 10,000 troops to garrison South Hadiya Island.
Just send another 10,000 troops to attack Noakali, and we will definitely succeed." Zhang Fu added.
"Xiang Zhang is right. Just do this," Wen said. The two of them discussed for a few more words, and Zhang Fu ordered Wen Chen and the generals to start preparing.
…
…
The sixteenth day of the first lunar month, Dhaka city.
"The Ming army suddenly attacked the city of Noakali yesterday?" Fakhr al-Din Mubarak Shah said with some surprise.
"Yes, Sultan." The general Luqman Khan in front of him, who had fled all the way from Noakhali City, agreed in fear. Shah was tall and always smiled when talking to his ministers. He did not put on airs and seemed to
Very tolerant; but only those of them who have been working under the Shah know how harshly the Shah dealt with those who made mistakes.
The Shah didn't pay any attention to Luqman Khan's trembling. He just turned his head and looked at a man next to him who looked like a Nanyang resident and said: "Khalid, didn't you say that the Lantern Festival is a very important festival in the Ming Dynasty?
Won't the army send troops on this day?"
"Yesterday was indeed a very important festival for the Ming Dynasty, and I did not deceive the Sultan. The news that came back yesterday was indeed that the Ming army was preparing to celebrate the festival." The man he called Khalid said immediately. He is a Malay,
Because of the Ming Dynasty's oppressive policy against the Tianfang Sect in Southeast Asia, he fled from the Malay Peninsula to Bangladesh, and then settled in Dhaka. The Ming Dynasty's envoys failed to negotiate with the Shah, and after terminating the negotiations and withdrawing, the Shah knew
War was inevitable, and he immediately searched for people who knew the Ming Dynasty across the country. He originally wanted to find a few businessmen from the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming businessmen thought that the Shah must be defeated because they were not optimistic about him. Secondly, because of the local customs,
His appearance was different from that of Ming Dynasty, and he was unwilling to serve him. He also left on the same day when the envoys withdrew. The Shah did not dare to force them to stay, so he had to let them all go. But people who knew Ming Dynasty still searched for him.
Found this Khalid who had lived under the rule of the prince who was granted the title of Ming Dynasty for more than two years.
"The news that came yesterday is indeed that the Ming army is preparing to celebrate the festival." Shah muttered a few words, and then asked Luqman Khan: "How many soldiers and horses are there to attack Noakali?"
"About ten thousand people were dispatched before and after." Luqman Khan thought for a while and answered.
"I think I guessed what the Ming army was thinking. They took advantage of our familiarity with the customs of the Ming Dynasty and felt that they would not send troops on important festivals. While pretending to celebrate the festival, they prepared half of the army to attack Noaka by surprise on this day.
Leicheng." Shah analyzed.
"The Sultan is clear!" Everyone present said one after another. One was to flatter the Shah, and the other was because they really felt that his guess was correct.
"Since the Ming army made a surprise attack, and the army in Noakali City has less than 5,000 troops, which is less than the Ming army dispatched, I will not hold you responsible this time. But you cannot stay in Dhaka city.
Return as soon as possible to the place where the army that retreated from Noakhali City was stationed." Shah ordered Luqman Khan again.
"Yes, Sultan." Luqman Khan breathed a sigh of relief, and after listening to the Shah's instructions, he stepped back, but did not leave the palace, but sat on a chair in the back row.
"The Ming army successfully used tactics to achieve its first victory after the war began, but this is nothing." Shah said to the remaining officials in the palace: "Originally, because our coastline of Bangladesh is not short and fertile,
In the plains, there are too many places that the Ming army can attack. With the total strength of our army, it is impossible to defend the entire coastline. The Ming army can concentrate its forces to attack any place, so the defeat in the first battle was originally expected.
It’s just that this time the Ming army’s losses were smaller than expected, but our army’s losses were not large either, so it’s not worth panicking.”
None of the officials spoke, but they had no objection to Shah's words. The defeat in the first battle was indeed expected.
"Because the Ming army sent 10,000 soldiers to land in Noakali, they ordered the troops stationed in Laqashan and Raipur to go south to try to hold Medjedi. Even if Medjedi has been captured by the Ming army, they must prevent the Ming army from continuing to move north.
There are also 10,000 soldiers in these two places. Counting the soldiers of Majedi and those who escaped from Noakali, even if the Ming army of 20,000 troops is dispatched, they can still stop them."
"Of course, the 20,000 troops dispatched by the Ming army in this battle are not all. According to the news coming back from the Malay Peninsula, the number of troops dispatched by the Ming army in this battle is about 80,000 to 90,000, and although some of them are not strong in combat effectiveness,
There are soldiers from the Ming Dynasty such as the Arakan people, but there are also powerful troops from the Ming Dynasty and Su Fan. Overall, the combat effectiveness will not be weaker than ours. Even if our army is on the defensive, it has too many places to defend.
If there are more, at least 100,000 soldiers are needed. But now there are only 80,000 soldiers, so 20,000 more soldiers must be recruited immediately." After the Shah stabilized the mood of the officials, he did not immediately start to discuss how to deal with the Ming army. Instead, he talked about
The matter of recruiting troops again.
"Sultan, recruit another 20,000 people to bring the total strength to 100,000. Is it too much?" An official said: "Although the Ming army has strong combat effectiveness, our army is also very strong, so we may not need so many troops.
And the cost of supporting so many soldiers is too high."
"One hundred thousand people are not many." Shah said: "Mahir, you may have overlooked that not only do you have to fight the Ming army, but the countries in the north also need to be on guard. Although they are all believers in Allah, they may not take advantage of the opportunity.
This is an opportunity to go south and seize some land and population. So there must be at least 100,000 people. If the war does not go smoothly, we will have to recruit more troops."
"As for the cost of supporting the army, our Bengal is the richest place in India, and it is not worse than the richest place in Ming Dynasty. There is still a lot of food in the warehouse. It can be sustained. Don't worry." Shah said on this point.
He was very confident, and he was telling the truth. Bangladesh was still a very prosperous place until modern times. It was considered by some Western scholars to be the richest place in the world of the same size at that time, and was even richer than the Yangtze River Delta in China. Shah has been taking advantage of the opportunity since then
Timur sent troops south and dealt a heavy blow to the Delhi Sultanate. After establishing himself as Sultan, he had not fought any major wars for more than ten years (the fight against Arakan was not a major one), and the treasury was still full, so he could afford to support so many troops.
"Sultan is right, there are some things I didn't expect," Maher said immediately.
The Shah nodded, spoke a few more details about conscription, and then talked with the officials about how to deal with the Ming army's attack. "Although the Ming army captured the city of Noakali and seemed to be heading north from here, the east
People are very cunning, and they are good at using various strategies in war. Perhaps this time they are just using strategies to attract the main force of our army near Noakali, and then use their powerful navy to transport the army to other places.
Go north."
"So we can't send all the troops there. The more than 10,000 people I just sent are enough. Wait until the Ming army's follow-up soldiers arrive and land on the mainland, and then send out troops according to the landing trends."
"Sultan, this is indeed safe, but the initiative will always be in the hands of the Ming army, and our army will not be able to cause enough losses to the Ming army." Another person said.
"Mansour, the purpose of this battle is to force the Ming army to retreat. As long as the Ming army can think that victory is impossible and take the initiative to retreat, the goal will be achieved," Shah said.
"Sultan, I don't think it's appropriate to do this." Mansour said: "Because the Ming army defeated Timur before, they have been invincible in recent years. Their reputation has spread throughout India. Everyone thinks that the Ming army is the best in the world.
The army with the strongest combat effectiveness, Sultan, your actions will also aggravate people's thinking. In this way, the soldiers are worried about the Ming army from their hearts and cannot exert their full combat effectiveness; while the Ming army has high morale,
It can bring out its full combat effectiveness. It is very detrimental to our army. Moreover, the longer the war lasts, the more afraid our army will be of the Ming army if it fails to win a victory. The lower the combat effectiveness, it is possible that any army defeated by the Ming army will cause
War is not good."
"So I think it is necessary to win a victory over the Ming army, annihilate or defeat a Ming army, improve the morale of the army, and reduce the morale of the Ming army." Mansour finally said.
"I understand this truth, but how to annihilate or defeat the entire Ming army?" Shah asked.
"Sudan, we have such an opportunity now." Mansour said: "Although the Ming army has 80,000 or 90,000 people, most of them have not rushed to Bangladesh. The Ming army we face now is only 20,000 people.
Immediately send the main army south to attack the 10,000 Ming army that captured Noakali City, and try to annihilate them, at least most of them!"
"This!" Shah heard what he said and didn't know what to say for a moment. He had never thought of this. But he thought about it in his mind for a while and felt that Mansour's idea made sense. Now most of the Ming army
He has not arrived yet, and he has the advantage of the army in a short period of time. In the past few days, the Ming army was nestled on South Hadiya Island, and it was useless for him to have the advantage of force. But now that the Ming army has landed, he can use the force
The superiority and heavy damage to the Ming army would not only break the soldiers' myth about the Ming army's combat effectiveness, but also capture a batch of the Ming army's advanced ordnance, which would be beneficial to subsequent wars.
"Okay, just do what you say!" The Shah did not hesitate and immediately ordered: "Order all the troops stationed in Dhaka, Raja Bari,... and other places to gather at Noakhali. I will gather seven
Ten thousand troops, destroy ten thousand Ming troops in one fell swoop, and recapture the city of Noakali! Show the glory of the Lord’s followers!”
"Yes, Sultan, we will carry out your order, and God will bless us to defeat the infidels!" all the officials present said.
