New Shun 1730

Just when the Dashun envoys were still bargaining with France in Paris.

On the other side of the earth, the war had actually started.

In Calcutta, British Vice Admiral Charles Watson, dragging his body tortured by tropical diseases in India, frowned and discussed with the officers of the East India Company who were also ugly about a very shocking news that had come not long ago.

The huge Chinese fleet blockaded Madras and sent people to submit a letter of persuasion to the garrison officers in Madras, suggesting that they surrender as soon as possible.

This news was so shocking that everyone who heard the news felt incredible.

Not long ago, all the British in India were still cheering for Britain's great victory.

The French Mauritius fleet tried to rescue the siege for the last time, but failed in the naval battle. Although no battleships were lost, the fleet's gunpowder and shells were seriously insufficient, and the ships were also scarred. The French fleet had to retreat to Mauritius again.

The French army, which was governed locally, was completely desperate after knowing that the fleet had failed to rescue the siege. Because this kind of coastal fortress, without a navy, is just waiting to die, so they declared surrender.

So far, France's last invasion base in India fell, and the weak Dutch had already cooperated with Dashun, and because of the unlimited supply of Chinese goods, the cities where the Dutch and Chinese cooperated in India were declining.

No matter how you look at it, Dashun doesn't seem to be interested in India.

It also seems that the British have become the most powerful external force in India - the Afghans are old acquaintances of India, basically India's traditional political and military power, with a long history - the biggest enemy, the French, has been completely defeated.

So, after this ecstasy, they suddenly got such shocking news, which was really unacceptable to them.

Vice Admiral Charles Watson is a standard British aristocratic officer. He can become a lieutenant general and climb so fast because his uncle, Charles Vig, is the former British Navy Minister. The most famous thing is that he commanded the American expedition of the Jenkins Ear War and George Anson's fleet sailing around the world, setting a new record of "more than six or seven soldiers were killed by scurvy before boarding the ship in the British port."

In fact, his family background is relatively poor among the "lieutenant generals". He does not belong to the old nobles, but to the new nobles. Because his family made a fortune from the restoration of Charles II, he was a "follower of the dragon", which was still a little worse than the orthodox old nobles.

In terms of fighting skills, he was about the same as John Bean, who was shot because of the fall of Mahon, that is, the kind of "systematic army, incompetent generals" mentioned by Liu Yu, who followed the "Navy Perpetual Combat Regulations".

This is not to say that the British Navy is not strong. In fact, it proves that the British Navy is very strong. The upper echelons are all relatives, and the battles rely on the "Perpetual Combat Regulations", and it can still dominate the Atlantic.

If he really has great ability, the European war situation is still uncertain at this time. If he is very capable, he should stay on the front line against France and serve in the Channel or the Mediterranean.

His political skills are just so-so. After serving as the acting governor of Newfoundland for a few years, he did something called "complete expulsion of Catholics", which made Catholics in Canada unprecedentedly united and the sentiment of resisting Britain was very intense.

At this time, everyone in the East India Company focused their attention on him because he was the naval commander.

Madras was besieged and could only rely on the navy to rescue it. If the navy could not rescue it, then after three or two months of siege, even if there was no attack, Madras would surrender.

However, facing this situation, even though Charles Watson was not a top-notch person, he still made a very correct judgment.

"Gentlemen, if the Chinese really join the war, I think we can no longer change anything by our own efforts, but can only rely on God's blessing. Just like the divine wind that blew away the Spanish Invincible Armada."

"If there is no divine wind, everything we do is meaningless."

"The Chinese'Portsmouth' is in Malacca. Their fleet can continuously enter India."

"Obviously, we must abandon the Carnatic region and South India. All our forces will be used for the defense of Fort William in Calcutta. Any form of military adventure will give the Chinese an opportunity to defeat our field forces."

"And once the fleet is destroyed and the army that goes to rescue is destroyed by them, then we can only wait for them to remove our fortresses one by one like they did to the Dutch. . "

"Gentlemen, you should know that the Chinese can organize a large-scale campaign in Central Asia thousands of miles away from their capital. Obviously, they have enough strength to send 10,000 people to India."

"I have to say that the entire Indian plan of the company and the cabinet is based on the assumption that the Chinese will not participate in the war. Because the company and the cabinet are not capable of designating a plan that assumes that China is also interested in India. "

"Although it seems that the best time for the Chinese to join the war is before we capture Bengal or before the French in Pondicherry surrender, even if they allow the French fleet to go to Malacca for repairs. But the reality is that they chose to start the war at this time. "

"We should save our strength in Bengal. Give up the entire South India. "

Watson's words are not without reason.

The port of Calcutta, like the port of Shanghai, is not a seaport, but a river port.

No matter how powerful the fleet of Dashun is, it dare not enter the river port, because if the fleet enters the river port, the fire attack ship will teach these sailing ships without steam paddle wheels what the ancient tactics may not be ineffective.

The British fleet in India is hiding in the river port of Calcutta. As long as Fort William is not breached, Dashun will not be able to threaten the British fleet.

Large-scale naval operations require an astonishing amount of supplies. If Dashun cannot resolve the battle in a short period of time, then the large-scale naval fleet can only return to ports such as Gaolangbu and Temasek in batches to repair and avoid the storm in the Indian Ocean.

Once the main fleet of Dashun's navy is withdrawn in batches, the British navy can survive, at least there is still a chance to defeat them one by one.

But now, if they take the initiative to go over to rescue, then obviously, they will fall into Dashun's trap.

Now Dashun must be looking forward to their fleet for a decisive battle, which will allow Dashun's 64-gun battleships to perfectly play their advantages in firepower, protection and battleship salvos.

As for the situation, it can only be said that it is quite unfavorable to Britain.

The French have just surrendered.

The French cities needed British troops to be stationed and occupied.

Fort St. George in Madras was the core of Britain in South India and the confidence of British defense. It was a regular "H"-shaped bastion built at a huge cost, equipped with enough cannons, and was also the most defensive fortress of Britain in India.

Once it fell, the entire South Indian coast could be declared surrendered. Because it directly cut off the connection between the various forts and colonies, and the panic caused by the fall would make the British army return to the psychological fear when they were dominated by Dupleix - more than ten years ago, the French army had captured Fort St. George under the leadership of Dupleix. If it hadn't been for the divine wind that blew away the French fleet, Britain would have completely withdrawn from India that year.

The British believed in the divine wind.

The Spanish fleet was defeated by the kamikaze that year; and after that, the kamikaze appeared again and again. The last time it appeared was when the eight battleships of Bourdonnais lost their combat effectiveness by the kamikaze and had to retreat to Mauritius, causing the French army that had already captured Madras to fail.

And now, it seems that the only thing to rely on is to beg for the kamikaze to blow again.

Otherwise, the current situation is unsolvable.

This is not a dilemma that can be solved by any strategy, tactics, schemes, or military tactics.

Withdrawing troops back to Calcutta, the navy does not leave the port and hides in the river port, and builds more fire ships. In fact, this tactic is to leave it to fate.

The rest of the people did not have any good ideas, even though they knew that this retreat tactic was to gamble on the return of the kamikaze. However, there was no other way.

In a moment of silence, Clive pointed out the key to the problem.

"The timing of the Chinese joining the war shows their desire for India. Because they chose to send troops after France surrendered."

"The key now is what scale of war the Chinese are prepared to fight?"

"Just India?"

…………

The Indian issue cannot be resolved in India, but must be resolved in Europe.

This is the consensus of the decision-makers of Dashun.

In fact, the question asked by Clive is very good.

How big is the scale of Dashun's participation in this war?

In fact, this is a general mobilization of Dashun's emerging forces.

Although Dashun's emerging forces only include Songsu, Jiaoliao, Northeast China, and Nanyang, with a total population of about 30 to 40 million.

But its organizational form, company military obligations, combat engineer reinforcement, and rapid changes in battalion and company tactics, which have been specialized for this "fateful battle" for more than 20 years, are still scary enough.

In this era, there is no radio.

Dashun doesn't know how the French talk.

But no matter how the talks are, as long as the French army in Pondicherry surrenders, Dashun will directly participate in the war. This is the strategic plan of the Privy Council General Staff.

If the French won the Battle of Hanover, then Dashun would send troops to India to stop the French from negotiating and continue to increase the stakes.

If the French lost the Battle of Hanover, then Dashun would send troops to India to stop the French from continuing to gamble, as the British had even destroyed their last Mediterranean fleet.

As for how the negotiations would turn out, Dashun's decision-making circle believed in Liu Yu's judgment, and the key things would definitely be negotiated. As long as France could not complete the fiscal reform - Dashun knew better than anyone whether a reform of land inventory, one whip and unified taxation for gentry could be completed during wartime.

That was almost nonsense, obviously not.

So, in July, after the last wave of merchant ships returning from Europe were all unloaded, Dashun's monopoly company received an order from the Privy Council: all registered ships on the list should be concentrated in Tianjin and Weihai, and completed within a time limit.

Because of this monopoly system of official supervision and strict additional clauses of military obligations, all the ships of companies involved in long-distance trade, including those going to Japan, Ryukyu, and Southeast Asia, were on the registration list.

So, according to the requirements on the list, a large number of ships went to Weihai and Tianjin for a wave of transformation.

The merchant ships were originally built according to the standards of heavy armed merchant ships, with high costs, and all of them were standardized hulls, using high-quality wood - this was an "advantage" of Dashun not engaging in free trade. If it really engaged in free trade, it would be impossible for all the merchant ships of Dashun at this time to be such heavy merchant ships.

As for the transformation, there was not much to change. Each merchant ship added eight to twelve cannons on the basis of the original cannons and was equipped with gunners.

And it was reorganized, and trade with Europe continued, with five ships in a group and two cruisers, forming a fleet of seven ships.

The captains of the merchant ships were originally naval officers, and they were all registered reserve officers. At this time, they all received retraining.

A large number of retired registered sailors were re-enlisted.

In mid-October.

The garrison in Songsu sealed the British East India Company's trading house in Songsu and seized all the goods. All British merchants and members of the trading house, including Chinese chefs, were detained in Songsu and placed under house arrest.

At the end of October, the Songsu capital market officially announced that Dashun would issue war bonds with an annual interest rate of 7.5%. There were many buyers and everyone was enthusiastic.

In early November, shipyards in Tianjin, Weihai and other places received a batch of new orders for a total of 16 battleships and other cruisers.

At the same time, the strategic guidance that the emperor and the Privy Council had given to the governor and the admiral of the squadron in advance also came into effect.

In the Nanyang area, the Nanyang Protectorate was required to take full responsibility for the war situation in the Nanyang and India.

After confirming the surrender of the French in Pondicherry, the Nanyang and Ceylon areas must do the following things.

It is imperative to capture the Marlboro Fort in Bengkulu before the first month of this year and eliminate the last British stronghold in the Nanyang area.

In the Indian direction, the Ceylon government soldiers were fully mobilized and conscripted, and one in three men was selected, and 8,000 people were selected to dig trenches in Madras.

With the help of the navy, the artillery and combat engineers must capture Madras before the middle of the twelfth lunar month of this year.

If during this period, the British army chooses the navy to rescue.

Then they will be defeated at sea.

If during this period, the British army gives up the rescue and the fleet retreats to Calcutta.

Once Madras is captured, the Indian squadron will immediately go north to block the mouth of the Calcutta River.

The combat engineer battalion should use a strong attack to capture Fort William in Calcutta before the rainy season. Use the army artillery to destroy the British Indian fleet.

At the same time, a large number of government soldiers will be conscripted and organized into line private companies to occupy Calcutta before the rainy season in India, and rely on Fort William for defense.

In the South China Sea and India, as a whole, the occupation of Madras, Calcutta, and Bengkulu must be completed by the end of February next year before the Indian Ocean storm hits.

If it is not completed, military law will be applied.

The remaining forts will be considered as over-fulfillment and will be awarded separately. It can be slow or urgent.

In terms of the navy.

At the same time as the war in the South China Sea, the main fleet of the navy, led by the seventh prince, assembled in Temasek in advance.

A huge fleet of 35 standard battleships, 20 cruisers and some transport ships, immediately went to the Cape Colony when the monsoon blew.

The senior staff of the Privy Council went to the Cape to be responsible for logistics coordination and dispatch.

After replenishing supplies at the Cape of Good Hope, the fleet went to Port Saint Louis in Senegal. If the fleet was blown away by a storm, it would meet at Port Saint Louis for the final replenishment and reorganization.

After the reorganization was completed, it entered the Mediterranean and joined the French Toulon Fleet.

If there was an opportunity, it would seek an opportunity to annihilate the British Gibraltar Fleet; if there was no opportunity, it could be repaired in Toulon Port. Ports like Toulon are Baoyue military ports similar to Lushun and Weihai, and it is absolutely safe inside, unless the French army was attacked in Toulon, but this is obviously unrealistic.

After the repairs were completed, it would cooperate with the French army to capture the Gibraltar Fortress.

Once the Gibraltar Fortress was captured, the main force of the navy was transferred to the Brest Military Port, forcing the main force of the British Navy to shrink in the strait and dare not attack from all sides.

There is no need to bet on this, it is certain. Once the Dashun fleet arrived, the British Navy would never dare to disperse to hijack ships, and could only shrink in the strait to prevent France from really landing in Scotland to steal the house.

During the war, a fleet of two cruisers and five armed merchant ships in a group of seven ships temporarily moved the trade center to Nantes. All the oriental trade goods from the European continent were transferred in Nantes.

Cruisers and merchant ships, as a supplement to the destruction of French trade ships, cooperated with France to go to the Caribbean and North America for trade.

And intercepted and attacked British merchant ships-in Aachen, Dashun proposed a convention to prohibit privateers and pirates, but Britain, France and others did not participate. Those who participated were all Austria and Russia-the old European maritime powers ridiculed them as "a group of eunuchs discussing the prohibition of pleasure between men and women."

Dashun would of course follow the international law it formulated and would never attack merchant ships of "eunuch" countries that joined the convention.

During this period, the distribution center of North American and Caribbean smuggling activities, in which Sweden, the Netherlands and other countries participated on a large scale, was moved to the French colony of Cape Haitien and Nantes.

During the war, trade was operating normally.

At this time, there was no efficient and convenient means of communication. Naturally, the entire strategic guideline could not take everything into consideration, but the overall strategic thinking remained unchanged - relying on the naval port of Brest, the main force of the British navy was forced not to send troops to the colonies. Dashun relied on its advantages in heavy merchant ships and cruisers to cut off British trade and completely disrupt the British colonial market, thus actually disintegrating the Navigation Act.

And in the British colonies, a group of professional North American smuggling teams were cultivated to destroy the monopoly sales model of British industrial products and honey in North America.