Whether you like it or not, whether the butterfly effect works or not, the rainy season in the South Asian subcontinent has finally ended with the passage of time.
The mud has not hardened yet, and the air is still very humid. However, it has not rained for several days, and it is October, which means the end of the rainy season.
The prince of the Mughal Empire, the eldest prince Dara Shuko, was afraid that the Ming army would recover from the impact of the rainy season, so he immediately ordered the entire army to go out to attack the Ming army in Dhaka!
More than 200,000 troops cannot just march in one direction, they must be divided into several groups to attack. Otherwise, the huge logistical pressure alone can overwhelm such a huge army.
But even if it is divided into three routes, the logistics and transportation of each route are still very bad.
The rainy season has just passed and the muddy roads are a nightmare!
The animals worked hard to feed each cart, and a large group of people pushed and pulled them, making the journey still very difficult.
However, the commander-in-chief of the army, Dara Shuko, wanted to march quickly and attack the Ming army in Dhaka as soon as possible. Therefore, he was quite dissatisfied with the slow march.
For this reason, he continuously punished and even executed a group of subordinates responsible for logistics, but he still failed to speed up the transportation of logistics materials.
In the end, he had to send some elephants to transport some important supplies in the hope of speeding up the march. At the same time, he also sent out light cavalry to advance quickly to harass the Ming army and not give them a chance to breathe.
As a result, in the eastern part of the Mughal Empire, across the mountains and plains, endless teams continued to advance eastward.
The Mughals along the way were amazed when they saw this scene: Such a huge army led by the eldest prince must be invincible, right?
Not to mention that the army came from afar, even if it was a local army, could it still be able to withstand such a large-scale army attack?
Even the local spies who had been trained by the Ming Dynasty guards and sent to the Mughal Empire were frightened when they saw this huge army.
They are really afraid that the Ming army will be defeated by such a huge force. If this is really the case, then all the benefits they have gained before will be returned!
However, they are just spreading the news and have no ability to change the upcoming war!
Those lower-class people who were spread the news by them and yearned for the rule of the Ming army also extinguished a glimmer of hope.
Originally, the Mughal Empire's army was very famous, and except for the great powers of Persia, there were no opponents at all. Now that such a huge army is going out, the Ming army in Dhaka must have no hope!
Naturally, they didn't know that because of the pressure from Aurangzeb, Darashenko had to win a very beautiful battle, so he used the style of a lion fighting a rabbit.
This is not a question of winning or losing at all, but a question of winning beautifully or not!
Driven by this idea, by the time the Mughal Empire's army arrived in the Dhaka area, their combat army and logistics transport army were already out of touch.
However, Darashuke didn't care much about this. In his opinion, with such a huge military force in front, the Ming army would not be able to respond in time, and there would be no problem with logistics and transportation at all!
However, sometimes, things don’t always go as planned!
After first arriving in the Dhaka area, the vanguard reported the strangeness of the terrain and roads, confirming what Shashuja's troops had said before that the troops were scattered, and the roads here were really smooth and not muddy at all.
Finally, what shocked Darashuk was that there were actually a lot of warships in Dhaka.
If this was the case, it wouldn't be surprising. After all, he knew from the beginning that the Ming army had more than a thousand warships.
The key point is that the warships of the Ming Dynasty were very strange. Not only did they have a lot of iron armor, but they also had chimneys on the ships that would emit smoke.
After hearing the news, Darashuke led the Chinese army and hurried to the Dhaka area, and sure enough he saw those strange warships.
The experienced generals under his command immediately reported to him.
"Your Highness, we must block the river, otherwise the Ming army will use their warships to maneuver to the rear of our army!"
"That's right, Your Highness, our heavy artillery is at the back and has not been sent here yet. We cannot attack the city at the moment. The Ming army can use warships to maneuver and divide their forces to sneak attack on our rear!"
"Your Highness, our army should retreat and wait until the rear army arrives and it is completely safe before attacking Dhaka!"
"..."
As worthy of being the main force in the Mughal Empire's southern and northern wars, the generals of the Royal Forest Army were more or less discerning and could see the advantages of the Ming army at a glance.
However, some generals did not take this seriously and also expressed their opinions to Darashko.
"Your Highness, our army is attacking, and the Ming army is too late to defend the city with all its strength. How can we divide our troops?"
"Yes, during the rainy season, even if half of the Ming army is not dead, half will be sick, right? They can't possibly divide their troops when our army attacks!"
"Even if the Ming army really wants to take advantage of the river and use warships to maneuver, don't forget that this is the lower reaches. How fast can the Ming warships go upstream? Can they be rowed by oarsmen? How long can they row?
?Should we rest on the shore, or be washed back downstream by the river?"
"..."
Listening to the generals under his command talking at random, Darashuke felt that both sides were right.
At this time, the pressure from Aurangzeb came to light. If he chose to retreat, even if he won this battle, people from Aurangzeb's side would probably use it to accuse him of being cowardly.
of.
In addition, at this time, his three armies had joined forces, with nearly 100,000 soldiers, including 50,000 cavalry, which was even more courageous for him. In the end, he did not order a retreat.
By the early morning of the next day, Darashuke regretted this decision, because that morning, he finally witnessed the miracle of the Ming Dynasty.
I saw a sudden movement coming from the warship gathering area on the water gate side of Dhaka City.
"Peng Pengpeng..."
Following strange sounds, thick smoke began to emit from the iron-clad warships with chimneys. Then, these warships really began to swim upstream and rush toward their rear along the river.
Behind these smoking iron-armored warships, ordinary warships were dragged with ropes, probably one towed five to ten. There were a total of twenty smoking iron-armored warships, so majestic and very eye-catching.
,shock.
The troops of the Mughal Empire were all dumbfounded when they saw this scene.
What kind of strange boat is this that can travel so fast upstream on the river?
If the Dutch were here, they would definitely tell them that this is a steam-armored warship from the Ming Empire! It is driven by a steam engine, not manpower. And just for the blueprint of this steam engine, the Dutch spent one million
I bought it for two dollars, absolutely worth it!
It's a pity that Darashuke and others have never seen a steam armored warship. Naturally, they were very shocked when they saw it.
Even some soldiers in the Mughal Empire Army, especially those light infantry who did not belong to the Imperial Guards, many knelt down and kowtowed after seeing this scene.
Because this is beyond their knowledge, and since it is beyond their knowledge, it can only be a miracle!
But soon, a general in the Royal Forest Army came back to his senses, his expression suddenly changed, and he quickly reported to Darashuke: "Your Highness, what's wrong, these ships must be going to cut off our retreat!"
Hearing this, Darashuke came back to his senses, panicked a little, and immediately ordered: "Quick, stop them, stop them..."
If the material transportation in the rear was attacked by the Ming army, it would be a big defeat. Darashuke was knowledgeable about this.
So, as his military order was passed down, the Mughal Empire army was in a state of panic. Long-range troops were mobilized from various places and rushed to both sides of the river to intercept the Ming warships. They either shot with arrows or shot with matchlock guns.
There are also some small cannons that can be carried on the shoulder. In short, after being rushed to the hospital, all kinds of long-range weapons were used to intercept them.
However, how could the Ming Dynasty's warships be intercepted by them without fighting back?
Soon, the artillery of the Ming warships began to roar.
"Boom boom boom..."
The warships in these rivers are not large sea-going ships, but are mostly ships that come down the Great Jinsha River and are specially used for rivers. Most of the warships on them are small and medium-sized Fran cannons, and
Not the Hongyi Cannon.
For the interception battle at hand, the Fran cannon is the most suitable. Not only the speed of firing is fast, but the power is also far farther than the long-range weapons in the Mughal Empire. Not to mention, firing from the ship is as long as
Just exposing the muzzle is enough, and there is no problem in terms of defense.
Even on some of the troop transports, Ming army soldiers fired back with flintlock rifles.
But as soon as the Ming army opened fire, it immediately overwhelmed the long-range firepower of the Mughal Empire. Every one of the Mughal Empire soldiers on both sides of the river were beaten. They quickly fled the river bank, leaving nothing but corpses on the ground.
There is no mention of the word "interception"!
Seeing this scene, Darashuke and his generals all looked livid!
It was only then that they finally realized that the Ming army was so difficult to fight! Not only did the firearms look very powerful, but even the warships were so unreasonable that they could swim upstream even if they were smoking, and they could do so fast!
One of the Imperial Guard generals was the first to come to his senses and quickly reported to Darashuke: "Your Highness, we must withdraw our troops and release our rear forces!"
Darashuke is still more powerful than his idiot second brother Shashujia. When he heard the words of his general, he immediately understood that it was not about winning or not, but that he had to ensure that he could win first!
Therefore, he did not dare to neglect, and quickly ordered the entire army to retreat, so as not to give these warships of the Ming Dynasty a chance to steal the retreat.
Unexpectedly, before his military order had even had time to spread throughout the army, something unexpected happened again.