Faster than the decisive battle with the main force were the partial divisions of the two brigades. After they separated from the main force, they ran towards their goals.
The main force of the British army in Meghalaya and Manipur was concentrated in two castle-like cities.
To capture these two areas, you only need to capture these two castles.
These two places are only strategically important, but their economic value is not as good as that of Assam.
Therefore, the British garrison was not large.
Although both Imphal and Shillong are located on plateau mountains.
But this did not hinder the marching speed of the Taiping Holy Army's partial division.
The White Tiger Brigade and the Suzaku Brigade were both elites under Chen Yucheng. Most of the soldiers were mountain people from Guangxi, so mountain marches were not difficult for them.
Li Yupu, the brigade commander of the White Tiger Brigade, and Chen Yucheng were both boy scouts in the Taiping Army.
When they were in the army, the two of them were good brothers.
Therefore, Chen Yucheng knew Li Yupu very well.
This Li Yupu has a very flexible mind in battle.
This man has a bad mouth and some problems with his style. He has been in the Taiping Army for so many years and is still a brigade commander.
Fortunately, the brigade commanders in the Taiping Holy Army are different from those in the original Taiping Army.
The current brigade commander actually has a brigade of soldiers under his command.
The number of soldiers is about the same as a brigade of the Renaissance Army.
Therefore, Li Yupu was promoted. Moreover, he was able to take charge of the elite White Tiger Brigade in the army, and his status was higher than that of other brigade commanders in the army.
"Ask the boys below, are they Bobcats? Their steps are so small, they are embarrassing to our White Tiger Brigade. Please step up and speed up." Li Yupu was very dissatisfied with the marching speed of his men.
It is common for the soldiers of the White Tiger Brigade to hear such words from the brigade commander. They grew up under Li Yupu's abuse.
A general who doesn't know how to curse is not a good general.
Although this is also a mountainous area, in Li Yupu's eyes, the mountains here are nothing compared to those big mountains in Guangxi.
Most of the soldiers of the Taiping Holy Army came from the mountain people of Guangxi. For them, such a mountain march should be child's play, as if they were walking on flat ground.
However, even so, Li Yupu was still not satisfied.
He firmly believed that marching and fighting could only be done quickly.
The row upon row of Naga hills became the best cover for the soldiers to march. There was a main road from Imphal to Assam. However, in order to stay hidden, Li Yupu and the others did not follow the main road but took the path in the mountains.
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Maybe there is really no oil and water here, and the British influence in the local area is very weak. The local towns seen from a distance along the way are still in their original state, and there are no British or Bengali servants stationed there.
It's not that the British are short of people, it's that the mountainous and hilly terrain here really doesn't have much value.
The British owned India's vast plains, and how could they see the mountains here?
Therefore, they only built a castle here to symbolically occupy it.
Imphal and Shillong are two large castles here, or two fortress-shaped cities.
It was through this city that the British controlled both areas.
The people living in these two mountainous and hilly areas are also mainly Assamese and Burmese.
The British stationed troops here, controlled the economic lifeline here, and at the same time controlled the chiefs here, and then exploited the surrounding tribes through these chiefs and Bengali soldiers.
The British and Indian colonial authorities planned that mosquitoes and flies were all meat.
But the income here is less, because of the terrain conditions, the local output is not much. And it is more difficult to control.
Therefore, they will not station so many troops here. The cost of deploying troops is expenditure.
The British treated the colonies with a businessman's mentality.
What they want is profitable, unprofitable places, and they will not spend troops to occupy them.
This is different from the mentality of the Tsarist Russians, who purely pursue territorial expansion.
Different from the Chinese people, the Chinese people need territory because their living space is indeed too narrow.
"Hurry, hurry, catch up quickly. If you run slowly, I will match you with an Indian woman as your wife." Li Yupu shouted to the team.
The soldiers of these Taiping Holy Army were mainly bachelors. Shi Dakai originally decided to let these bachelor soldiers intermarry with the local Assamese people after they settled down in the Assam area.
Most soldiers are a little repulsive to dark-looking Indian and Bengali women.
Li Yupu said this just to disgust these people.
"Damn it, you used to be able to chase wild boars on the mountains wearing straw sandals. Now each of you is given a pair of rubber-soled shoes made in China. Why are you lame? Ah! Do you really have to go barefoot to run?" Li Yupu
His mouth is still as poisonous as ever.
They had to hurry and reach the castle before Dinsugia's messengers arrived.
There were two thousand British and Indian defenders in Imphal Castle. Li Yupu was not afraid of such a small number of enemies.
What Li Yupu was worried about was that these people prepared in advance and were trapped inside the fortress. In that case, his goal of quickly occupying the castle would not be achieved.
Imphal was formerly the center of the Manipur region of the Kingdom of Myanmar.
The British occupied this place during the first Anglo-Burmese War. However, the original old city had been burned down by the war.
So the British built a castle-like administrative center next to the original site.
The reason why it is still built here is because Imphal is the best place in Manipur.
Imphal Fort is built in the middle of the Imphal Valley plain, on the right bank of the Manipur River.
This is the place in the entire Manipur region that is most suitable for farming, has the most convenient transportation, and has the highest strategic value.
There is an 800-square-mile plain next to Imphal Castle, which is a rare large plain area in Manipur.
The local farming conditions are good and food is abundant, so the surrounding mountain people will bring their special rattan and bamboo utensils to exchange for daily necessities. Therefore, this place gradually became a center.
In addition, this is the main transportation route from Chittagong to Assam in the north, making this city even more important.
The British castles did not allow locals to live in them. There were only British administrative offices and garrison camps inside the castles. As for local people, they could only live outside the castle. The British did not allow locals to build city walls.
This way they won't have the conditions to riot.
Similarly, Li Yupu couldn't find any internal support here.
Li Yupu led his men and marched all the way to the edge of Imphal. However, he did not fight directly because Imphal was built on a high ground, but this highland was surrounded by plains, including the local Assamese.
A settlement area for the Burmese and Burmese people. Surrounded by a large amount of farmland.
The locals' residential areas are all low-rise houses, so as long as Li Yupu leads his people to kill them, they will inevitably be discovered by the enemy.
What to do if there is no internal response?
How can I sneak into the castle?
It is definitely not possible to storm the castle.
Li Yupu hid his troops in the Manipur Mountains near Imphal. He himself quietly lurked around Imphal with a small number of elites to explore.
Fortunately, the news of the Taiping Army's attack on the Assam region has not reached here yet, because Li Yupu saw that the gate of the castle was still open normally.
But the people entering and leaving the castle are all Indians or Bengalis.
Burmese and Assamese outside the city are not allowed to enter the castle. There are dedicated Bengalis or Indians outside the city who are responsible for managing them.
Indians and Bengalis are both South Asians, and their appearance is quite different from that of the Burmese and Assamese, who are yellow races. The latter are much closer to the Chinese.
Li Yupu looked at people like himself. If they were walking on the street, they would definitely be recognized.
There is really no other way but to take risks.
At this moment, he saw a group of more than 200 Bangladeshi soldiers coming out of the city. This group of soldiers was walking towards the mountainous area, probably to collect taxes or escort something.
After meeting this group of Bangladeshi soldiers, a plan was formed in Li Yupu's mind.
He asked people to follow this group of Bangladeshi soldiers quietly.
As night fell, this group of Bangladeshi soldiers camped in a temporary camp on the roadside. This is where they often stay.
They were going to an indigenous village thirty kilometers north of Imphal to collect taxes. This was their main task.
The so-called tax collection is just a way for them to extort local people. It is also an important way for them to obtain benefits. The local people themselves do not know how much tax they have to pay.
The amount of tax paid depends entirely on the number of times these Bengal servant soldiers come down.
Under normal circumstances, they will try their best to plunder local people and let them struggle on the poverty line.
The limit of their search was to prevent the locals from being exterminated. As for the fact that several families went bankrupt because they could not hold on to the search, that was not included.
As for someone rebelling, that's okay. Suppressing the rebellion can just be a thorough search.
At this time, this group of Bangladeshi soldiers were chatting around the fire. Originally, they could reach the dozens of kilometers away in one day.
But these people are very lazy. They have to stay in this temporary camp for one night before leaving so that they can move slowly.
"Mirza, can we go find the woman at the west end of the village together this time? I remember that last time we went there, her man was about to die."
"Yunus, do you like widows so much? You must know that God does not allow us to do this."
"Then let's treat that woman as a punishment. Who told her to look at me last time? She is a married woman and looks at other men. Shouldn't she accept our punishment?" This one is called Mirza.
said the Bengali soldier.
It seems that they often bully these indigenous women.
For these alien bandits, only money and women can satisfy their appetites, otherwise what would they want?
This group of soldiers braised for a while, ate some food, and then staggered to sleep in the camp.
By midnight, only three or four Imphal soldiers were still on duty in the camp.
A few hours later, in the second half of the night, the soldiers on duty also sat on the ground and gradually fell asleep.
At this time, there was a group of soldiers surrounding the camp watching these people.
This is the elite first battalion of the White Tiger Brigade.
This first battalion is also the scout battalion of the White Tiger Brigade, and it is like a sharp knife.
They watched these Bengalis gradually fall asleep, as if they were watching their prey gradually relax their vigilance.
Finally, the prey completely relaxed its vigilance, and it was time to attack. When a tiger hunts, he will calculate the time and succeed with one strike.
Because their endurance is not as good as their prey, they must be more patient than their prey.
The commander of the White Tiger Battalion waved his right hand forward, and the soldiers moved forward quietly.
Their swords are always held in their hands. This is to prevent the sound of drawing the sword from waking up the enemy.
To quietly approach the enemy and launch a surprise attack like this is also a test for the psychological quality of the soldiers. But for the White Tiger Battalion, this is just a common occurrence.
Under such a surprise attack, this group of Bangladeshi soldiers didn't even have a chance to shoot. The number of soldiers in the White Tiger Battalion was two or three times that of the other side. It was impossible to miss under such circumstances.
In fact, the reason for the night raid was because they needed these people's clothes and equipment.
The first battalion stripped off all the people's clothes, collected all their equipment, and then dug a big pit to bury the bodies.
With the clothes and equipment of these Bengali soldiers, the first battalion finally returned to the camp.
"Battle commander, the clothes of these Bengalis are so damn smelly. Do these Mon people sleep in pigsties all day long?" a soldier complained.
"Where do you smell so good? If you don't like the smell, just wash it off after you go back." said the camp commander.
After returning to the camp, the first thing the soldiers did was to wash the clothes.
This time, more than 200 people from the entire camp were selected to join the commando team because they only had so much clothes and equipment.
To become a commando, you must have proficient shooting skills, have a spirit that is not afraid of death, and must be a carefully selected warrior.
Li Yupu made it very clear to the soldiers of the commando team that the commando team must firmly occupy the enemy's city gate. Even if they are all dead, they must block the enemy's counterattack until the arrival of the army.
The next afternoon, the sun was about to set, and the afterglow of the setting sun shone on the earth.
The towering castle of Imphal casts a long shadow on the ground under the setting sun.
It's like a castle in mythology where dragons and wizards live.
A group of more than 200 Bengali soldiers pulled an ox cart and walked out of the mountains in a loose formation, heading towards the castle.
The soldiers guarding the city saw this group of people from a distance.
Oh, there are actually five taels of ox carts. The team that went out to collect taxes this time seems to have gained a lot. When you enter the door later, be sure to ask them for a sum.
The Indian soldiers standing guard at the door thought to themselves that these Indian soldiers and Bangladeshi soldiers didn't like each other.
This is also the reason why the British always bring them together to make it easier to contain each other.
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