Chapter 419 The calculations of the Indian colonial authorities
"Gentlemen, we have figured out that the people attacking Assam this time are a rebel army from the Qing Dynasty." Brown Ramsay said to the people around him.
Brown Ramsay has served as the Governor of the Indian Colonies for eight years, which is considered a relatively long period among all previous Governors.
During his tenure, he defeated the Kingdom of Burma and expanded the scope of the British Indian colonies. The most important thing was that he managed the tea-producing area of Assam.
Therefore, he has just been promoted to the first Marquess of Dalhousie. Brown Ramsay is very proud to be able to upgrade his family's title.
Others think that the colonial governor of India has so many dazzling titles and opportunities for meritorious service. The land area under his jurisdiction is many times that of the British mainland, such as Punjab, Bombay, Bengal, Madras, United Provinces, etc., each of which
Its area is comparable to that of the UK.
Only Brown Ramsay himself knows how difficult this position is.
Not to mention that the local indigenous people have not stopped resisting, and a large-scale anti-colonial uprising may break out at any time.
It is that other countries have never given up on India. For example, France, which is currently in the honeymoon period with Britain, has not given up pursuing interests in India.
The Qing rebels who suddenly appeared this time really caught him off guard. According to the current intelligence, this rebel army was quite large in number and had strong combat effectiveness.
A few years ago, he knew about this rebel army of the Qing Dynasty. They once occupied important cities in the south of the Qing Dynasty.
The British had sent important officials to contact these rebels. Brown Ramsay, who had stayed in the Indian colony for so long, naturally knew about this matter.
But what he didn't understand was how did these people escape to Assam?
Were these people deliberately released by the Renaissance Army?
"Qing rebels?"
"How can this be?"
"How did they come to Assam?"
"If it was just a rebel army, how could they defeat the local garrison?"
"Where did they get their weapons and equipment?"
"This is a conspiracy!"
…
The people below began to discuss it in a lively manner.
"Everyone, I know that everyone is puzzled by the defeat of the defenders, but the opponent's strength is much stronger than we imagined."
"Their forwards have 30,000 to 40,000 troops, and these people also have muskets and cannons. Our local defenders only have more than 20,000 people. They are scattered in various cities, and most of them are servants. The real British army is only a few thousand
People. They were caught unprepared by the enemy and I can understand their defeat." Brown Ramsay explained.
"Your Majesty the Governor, this must be a conspiracy by the Qing people. They must have supported these rebels. I heard that their Renaissance Army has occupied the Mengyang area. Where did these people come from? Aren't they freed here? I think
We must declare war on the Qing Dynasty." This is a nobleman who has been in the East for a long time. He always likes to call China the Qing Dynasty, because this name refers to their defeated generals.
"No, no, Sir Blair, they have already sent us a note in advance. I have received a notice from China. They had already notified Mr. Bao Ling, the minister in China, before the rebels entered the Assam region.
This matter." Brown Ramsay shook his head.
"It's just that the transmission of information takes time, so it comes to us. So regardless of whether the other party is really supporting these rebels, they have stayed out of it now."
"And Sir Blair, there are a group of people in the country who have a very favorable impression of China. The two countries are still allies. Without sufficient reasons at this time, it is impossible for us to declare war on China." Brown Ramsay explained.
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Brown Ramsay knew what the shareholders of the East India Company were planning. Sir Blair was a major shareholder of the East India Company.
From the perspective of the colonial governor, it was impossible for him to let these East India Company people mess around.
When the war really breaks out, all the necessary expenses will have to be paid by the Indian colonies.
He knew that in the first Anglo-Burmese War, not only more than 15,000 people were lost, but the war expenditure reached 13 million pounds, which plunged Britain into an economic crisis in India. Governor Amherst was also almost replaced.
Unlike the wars between these Eastern powers and the governments of several principal states, the risk was so great that Brown Ramsay was unwilling to take the risk.
He didn't want to lose the title of marquis he had finally obtained.
"Your Majesty the Governor, you have the final say, so how are you going to resolve this matter? You must know that the Assam region is very important to the British Empire." said an official.
"If we don't take back this place as soon as possible, the people in the cabinet will not let us go."
Although Governor Brown Ramsey has been operating here for a long time, not every colonial official agrees with him.
The people below spoke in obviously unkind tones, and some seemed to be mocking him for being too weak as a governor.
In India, the East India Company was still the strongest.
The British government had been trying to weaken the East India Company's influence in India.
In the past, the British government relied on the East India Company to expand colonies in the East. Now they have the ability to put aside the company and do it themselves.
This can also be seen as a kind of behavior where the cunning rabbit is killed and the lackey is cooked.
In fact, the most fundamental reason is that the emerging industrial capitalists in the country need a stable market, and they do not agree with the East India Company's method of plundering colonies.
This can only obtain more currency, but cannot truly stimulate economic development.
These emerging industrial capitalists are now gradually taking control of the House of Commons, and are already in a state of confrontation with the House of Lords, which is controlled by the aristocrats.
As the governor of the colony, Brown Ramsay was naturally aware of these domestic political undercurrents.
He also knew that people in China now have a close relationship with China, and transactions between the two parties are frequent. China's construction requires a large amount of steel and machinery.
Moreover, China also has products that can be exchanged for.
This kind of healthy trade has a stimulating effect on the economies of both parties.
Brown Ramsay can understand the intentions of the domestic government. He also agrees with this. The British Empire cannot conquer all countries in the world.
He is basically a centrist. Although he is an aristocrat, he sometimes considers issues from the perspective of the British government.
Therefore, many people below are clamoring to declare war on the Renaissance Army, but he has refused. On the one hand, he does not have the power to declare war, and on the other hand, he does not recognize the declaration of war on the Renaissance Army.
Talking about the matter, what they have to do now is how to quell the rebels who have fled into the Assam region.
"Everyone, our top priority is to mobilize troops to attack the rebels in Assam. No matter where these people come from, as long as they violate the interests of the British Empire, they must bear the wrath of the British Empire."
"There is no need to worry about China's affairs for the time being, as long as they do not directly interfere with the affairs of the Assam region. Don't you have confidence in putting down a wandering rebel army?" Brown Ramsay said.
What he said basically set the tone. That is, we only need to suppress bandits, and no one should try to expand the war.
As the war expanded, many people were able to benefit, but it harmed the interests of the British Empire.
He also made his position clear: I, Brown Ramsay, stand with the British government.
"Everyone, in order to quickly put down this rebel army, we will recruit 50,000 servants from the Bengal and Calcutta areas."
"In addition, 10,000 British troops from Calcutta will also join the battle. We will form two armies. We will go north from Chittagong, recapture Imphal Castle and then attack the eastern part of Assam."
"Another regiment headed north along the Brahmaputra River to Guwahati under the cover of the navy."
"Everyone, I hope that everyone can assemble the army as soon as possible after returning. We will destroy the enemy as soon as possible before they can gain a foothold." Brown Ramsey announced.
He didn't know that because of the disunity among the people below, the speed of gathering the troops this time was much slower than before. This gave the Taiping Army time to prepare.
Shi Dakai, who entered the Assam region, had already begun the layout of the Assam region and carried out organizational and military reforms to the Holy Army.
He first organized and trained the army. Of course, this was without affecting the combat effectiveness of the army.
The tens of thousands of forward troops under Chen Yucheng did not move much. These are the main field forces of the Holy Army. Now the enemy may counterattack at any time, so these people must not be moved.
The main reorganization is the former Central Army and the Rear Army. It is impossible for all the hundreds of thousands of people to be retained in the army.
Many people have been assigned to serve as grassroots officials in local areas.
Those Crusaders with families were allotted land, and the Women's Camp and Boy Scouts were canceled accordingly.
These people allowed them to take root among the Assamese people as a family unit.
The remaining bachelors can also get land as long as they get married. Now that the Holy Army has a lot of land, no one will worry about the Holy King failing to fulfill his promise.
After the selection and elimination of commanders, the Taiping Holy Army finally retained a total of 100,000 troops, including 50,000 field troops. This was the main force of the Holy Army, all equipped with rifled guns provided by the Renaissance Army.
In addition, there are 50,000 garrison troops stationed in the city behind.
Now that the Assam region has been initially decided, troops still need to be stationed in various places.
After entering the Assam region, the Renaissance Army once again replenished them with a batch of weapons and equipment. Now it can arm 50,000 rifle infantry.
The artillery was also expanded to two brigades.
All previous weapons were concentrated on the garrison.
At the local level, he imitated the farms of the Renaissance Army and arranged the remaining people into farms one by one.
The land here is fertile, and you only need to grow food for one season, and there will no longer be a shortage of food among the Holy Army.
By owning his own farm, Shi Dakai can reduce taxes on local people, which plays an important role in stabilizing local people's hearts.
These Taiping farms were formerly occupied by the British, Indians and Bengalis. They are all the best places.
These lands are now under the direct management of the Holy Kingdom.
Regarding the local people, Shi Dakai arrested all the local leaders arranged by the British.
Then the land was redistributed to the local Assamese people and concentrated into villages and towns, which were managed by the Holy Army.
There will be no more leader in Assam from now on.
When the local people were allocated land, they naturally supported the rule of the Holy Army.
Next, Shi Dakai used these captured prisoners to renovate the road with Mengyang area, which is now Tengchong Prefecture, to facilitate trade and material transportation between the two sides.
Shi Dakai knew very well that whether he wanted to or not, he would have to rely on the Fuxing Army as a big tree for a long time to come.
In the north, Shi Dakai actively developed trade relations with Bulukba and Zhe Mengxiong.
Develop the former tea-horse trade.
Militarily, except for some members of the Taiping Holy Army, they reinforced cities and fortresses.
Shi Dakai did not leave his men idle. Some soldiers who were familiar with water were incorporated into the navy.
Shi Dakai called the Brahmaputra River Yajiang according to the custom of the local Assamese people. He ordered people to build a shipyard in the upper reaches of Dinsu Gir, build warships, and prepare to build the Yajiang Navy.
Shi Dakai also won over some shipbuilding craftsmen from the Renaissance Army.
These craftsmen were temporarily transferred from Yongchang Shipyard. With the addition of these people, the Holy Army's speed in building warships increased a lot.
Although they can't build steel-hulled gunboats here, they can build wooden-hulled gunboats.
The navy cannot be built at once, and temporary defense still depends on the army.
Fortunately, in the south, the British army left two strong castles.
The Taiping Army relied on the castle to attack everywhere and completely occupied the surrounding strongholds.
Checkpoints were also set up on some small roads to prevent the British from sneak attacks by taking detours from the small roads.
Not only that, they also organized troops to go deep into Bangladesh.
Shi Dakai ordered the troops not to occupy these places, but only to remove the materials here to reduce the British's war potential.
This is actually also beating grass in the valley.
In the south, the Holy Army was almost reaching Chittagong. The British were so frightened that they sent their fleet into the port to help guard it.
However, at the critical moment, Shengjun retreated. They almost emptied the areas of Special Pula and Midzolap.
All local young men and women were captured by the Holy King. These people will become free labor for the Holy Army.
In the west, Chen Yucheng commanded the army to go down the river, collect the boats on the river, attack the towns along the river, and also move all the useful things back.
They also cut off local leaders and distributed local land to ordinary people, directly attacking the basis of British rule in the area.
The missionaries of the Holy King also promoted Baitian Emperor religion among the local people, but the idea of equality of all people was not accepted by these Bengalis.
At the farthest point, Chen Yucheng was already close to check in. They were just afraid of the Yuying Army's fleet, and they did not dare to actually enter the port city.
However, this attracted all the British troops.
Chen Yucheng then turned back directly to the northwest and began to attack the rear of Calcutta.
The area along the Ganges behind Calcutta was the earliest area where the British Indian colony was established, and it was also the most developed area.
However, there were many defenders in these places. Chen Yucheng adopted the same tactics he had used in the Qing Dynasty.
Avoiding the real and turning to the imaginary is the tactic of rogue bandits. He only brings elite troops, a hammer in the east and a hammer in the west.
The British who fought couldn't find the target.
The roads in the northern area of Calcutta were very developed by the British. This created conditions for the movement of the Holy Army.
This infiltration operation also led to some dissatisfied princes taking the opportunity to revolt.
This further delayed the time to assemble the army in Calcutta.
At the same time, Chen Yucheng also grabbed a large amount of supplies, including many production machines.
This also provided support for the future development of the Assam region. Every time the gold and silver grabbed by the army were transferred to Shi Dakai's hands, they would be transferred to the hands of the Renaissance Army.
Because what Shi Dakai wanted was materials, gold and silver didn't have much effect on him.
In less than half a year, the gold and silver received by the Renaissance Army from the Holy Army was already worth tens of millions of Chinese dollars. The Holy Army has become an important trade partner of China.
China's industry and commerce are in the early stages of development and are in great need of such customers.
It can be said that allowing the Holy Army to enter the Assam region was the best move made by Dong Shuheng.
At this time, in the Crimea region where the war was coming to an end, the expeditionary force of the Renaissance Army was doing similar things to Chen Yucheng.
This time the Renaissance Army worked together with their teacher, the Prussian Army. They penetrated deep into the fertile black soil of Ukraine.
It added the final weight for Tsarist Russia to agree to the request for peace talks.
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