On the fifth day, the fighting outside the southern city continued.
Robert had seen the bloody battlefields of Crimea and didn't care about the casualties here.
Moreover, most of the casualties were Indian servants.
It doesn't matter much if these people die. Governor Ramsay will soon be able to replenish the missing people.
The most indispensable thing in the Indian colonies was the army of servants who could serve as cannon fodder.
For the British army, Nancheng became their best direction of attack before the fortresses along the river were captured.
Under Wang Zhenyou's suggestion, the Myanmar Royal Army also regarded this direction as the key direction of defense.
Both sides are constantly sending troops here, just like sending flesh and blood into a meat grinder.
In the first few days, the daily casualties even exceeded 5,000.
Hold on to the stalemate and keep fighting. This is what Wang Zhenyou wants to see and what the Renaissance Army needs to take over.
The Salween River is also the outlet of the Nu River.
Moulmein Port has been secretly handed over to the Baath Army.
The British who originally occupied this place had long been driven away or became prisoners in the hands of the Burmese.
For this narrow coastal strip of land to the west of Siam.
The Renaissance Army also paid a heavy price. Otherwise, the Kingdom of Myanmar, which has controlled this place for generations, would not have given up this place.
It's not enough to just support Garoya's rise to power. Myanmar actually sold this area to the Baath Army.
The value in kind paid by the Renaissance Army exceeded 5 million Chinese dollars.
When the Renaissance Army stationed here, the happiest people were the local Chinese.
The Chinese here have close ties with the Chinese in Siam. They have had business dealings with the Renaissance Army for a long time.
The reason why he stayed in the local area instead of moving to the Siam area where the Chinese had stronger influence was because it was more convenient to do business in the Tanah area controlled by the British.
After all, Mawlamyine faces the Andaman Sea. It takes a lot less time for ships coming from the Indian Ocean to get here than through the Strait of Malacca.
Chinese businessmen in Mawlamyine can also provide a lot of goods every year, and even buy Chinese goods for re-export trade.
After the establishment of the Renaissance Army, overseas Chinese businessmen had a clear identity. They had the privilege of going to China to trade.
In other words, they can do business with the mainland more conveniently.
These Chinese merchants in Mawlamyine controlled a trade route leading to eastern Siam.
They could bring the goods needed by these foreign merchant ships overland through Siam.
Therefore, there are many Chinese businessmen gathered here in Mawlamyine.
Although the Renaissance Army has taken control of this place, it is only in private. Now Dong Shuheng does not want the British to know the news.
He knew that the British definitely did not want the Baath Army to set foot in the Indian Ocean.
This has long been their territory. Not only the Renaissance Army, no other country can challenge the British Empire's control of the Indian Ocean.
Because there are a large number of Chinese in the city of Mawlamyine, you can see many Chinese-style courtyards and shops with white walls and black tiles.
This is a port city located at the mouth of a river. There is an island opposite the port, which the Burmese call Bilu Island.
The island blocks the wind and waves for the port, forming a natural harbor.
But the island of Billu has been closed off for several months.
Because it is not too far from the port, people can still see people working on the island.
Through the towering scaffolding, it can be seen that those people are building a huge fortress.
After the Burmese regained this place, they naturally had to build fortifications.
This is not surprising to anyone.
After the Burmese occupied this place, not a single Chinese shop was harmed, and the local Chinese received preferential treatment everywhere.
The Chinese who were kept in the dark were naturally surprised that these Burmese people were not like this. It was common for Chinese businessmen in Moulmein to be bullied and even robbed.
Even the British who later ruled here were better than the Burmese.
They didn't know that it was the Renaissance Army who was making the move in the Tanah area at this time.
The Burmese troops still here are only hired by the Baath Army.
They are officially responsible for local security and maintaining the most basic local ruling order.
"Huangtou, this time the brothers will be treated like animals. How can the construction deadline be so tight?" one of his subordinates complained.
"If we have this time to complain, we might as well get to work quickly. The British fleet has already arrived in India. How can we not hurry up? Otherwise, how can we stop them from attacking?" Huang Qiming said.
Although he is also an officer, he is actually more like a foreman.
Foreman in military uniform.
Huang Qiming led his people down the Nu River and arrived directly at Bilu Island.
The Renaissance Army officials who arrived here first had already helped him clear the area in advance.
The location of this island is very good. The British had originally built a simple fort here.
This shows that they are also optimistic about the location of this island.
This is indeed the case. Building a large fort on this island can completely protect the entire port.
In this way, the Renaissance Army will have a safe and stable outlet in the Indian Ocean.
This is equivalent to planting a nail in the British rear.
The British felt that their control of the Strait of Malacca would completely block the Baath Army's access to the Indian Ocean.
If the Renaissance Army is not prepared to confront them head-on, then do the opposite, and I will put a nail in your back.
When the time comes, when the Golden Dragon Flag of the Renaissance Army is flying here, I wonder what the British Empire will think.
Huang Qiming would circle this fortress several times every day.
This is a fortress with an all-concrete structure.
In order to build this fortress, the Renaissance Army not only transferred Huang Qiming's professional engineering team from afar.
At the same time, special quarries and cement plants were built in the upper reaches of the Nu River.
The factory is located on the Shan State Plateau, where there are qualified limestone and granite origins.
Two factories have to produce day and night to meet the needs of the fortress. You can imagine how huge this fortress is.
The cement wall on the outside is two meters thick and adopts a tilted structure, which makes it more bulletproof.
In the past, most of the fortress forts were still placed in the open air.
This is mainly because of the artillery, but it may also be because there is no stronger material that can be used to surround the artillery.
But now that we have reinforced concrete, we can add another layer of protection to the artillery on the fort.
This fort uses a semi-enclosed structure turret. Each artillery piece is surrounded by a reinforced concrete wall more than half a meter thick.
Only one external gap is left for artillery firing.
The above artillery is not a fully fixed artillery, but can adjust the elevation angle and the left and right shooting angle.
Huang Qiming will be satisfied with his new work every time he goes around the fortress.
This may be the most advanced fortress he built.
Those fortresses in the past were simply insignificant compared to this fortress.
This fortress is not only large in scale, but also adopts many advanced settings.
The fort's ammunition storage and living quarters are placed on the ground floor.
Ammunition warehouses are separate small warehouse structures to prevent accidental explosions.
The fortress cannons here are the latest fortress cannons produced by Jiangning Huai Ke Arsenal. They use custom-installed smokeless gunpowder shells and are loaded in the breech.
There are not only stairs connecting the top turret to the bottom, but also a newly invented electric lift.
There are also two medium-sized generator sets in the center of the fortress, which supply power to the entire fortress.
Soldiers' living areas have been equipped with novel electrical equipment such as electric lights.
Of course, there is no such thing as a movie theater.
In order to welcome the Spring Festival of the second year of the Renaissance, the first movie "The Soul of Han and Tang Dynasties" is being shot intensively in the new capital city. This is a silent film.
There is no way, a practical gramophone has not yet been built.
The movie tells several short stories during the Han and Tang Dynasties, such as Su Wu's shepherding sheep, Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions, the Battle of Hengluos in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, etc.
This movie uses camera film. Although there is no sound, there will be dubbing and background music during the playback.
Although it is simpler and there is no complicated plot, many of them are shot in real scenes.
The chief director is of course Dong Shuheng. When he went north this time, the filming team also went with him to Yuehu Lake for filming.
As for the actors, since most of the scenes were war scenes, many of them used Renaissance Army soldiers.
Only some people are actors who specialize in singing.
Return to Billu Island Fortress.
Huang Qiming has been staying on the island in the past few months since he arrived here. Sometimes he would look at the Mawlamyine Port in the distance with a telescope.
During this period, the business at the port was not as prosperous as before.
Because this place is at war with Britain.
Many merchant ships in the Indian Ocean no longer dock here.
Chinese businessmen can enter and exit freely. However, they can only go to some ports in southern Myanmar to do business with the Myanmar people.
Sometimes Portuguese, French and Dutch businessmen come here to do business.
But overall it's still a lot bleak.
Huang Qiming and the others could only stay on the island without contact with the outside world, mainly for the sake of confidentiality.
In the past two years, there have been significantly more Portuguese merchant ships registered in Macau.
However, many of these merchant ships are staffed by Chinese sailors, and the shipowners are actually mostly Chinese.
Because they will be excluded by white people and the recent outbreak of the Spanish War.
Almost no Chinese merchant ships flying the Golden Dragon flag sail directly to Europe.
Flying the Portuguese flag can avoid a lot of trouble.
It’s also a convenient place to stay while in Europe.
In addition, Portugal also has some territories in India and Africa that can facilitate the docking of merchant ships.
Because of the secret agreement reached with the Renaissance Army, the rights of the Chinese in Portuguese territory can be guaranteed.
Sri Lanka, tears of the Indian Ocean.
In the northeastern part of Sri Lanka and the southeastern part of India live a rare warlike ethnic group in India-the Tamils.
The Tamils are an ancient people living in this region.
Thousands of years ago, they had already used galleys to conduct commercial transactions with the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Zheng He also had contact with this ethnic group during his voyages to the West.
There was once a kingdom established by the Tamils in Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka.
At this time, two Portuguese merchant ships suddenly appeared in the strait outside the Jaffna port.
The strange thing is that they did not enter the port, but stopped in the strait.
ps: Please vote! Time flies so fast. It has been almost two years since the epidemic broke out. Ever since the epidemic broke out, it suddenly feels like time has gone by so fast.
Maybe it was because I could only stay in one place and felt that a lot of time was wasted. It wasn’t until I started writing a book at the starting point in the first half of the year that I discovered a new pleasure. My life has become fulfilling.
Completing the next day's manuscript every day is like a primary school student's homework. From the time I started writing to now, I spend several hours with my keyboard every day. The keyboard is like my little lover, I have to touch it every day.