In the city of Jhansi, people in the square raised their hands toward their queen and chanted her queen's name enthusiastically.
Bayi, dressed in men's clothing, wearing light armor and a red scarf on his head, still looks so dashing, heroic and beautiful.
In the eyes of the people of Jhansi, Bayi is like a messenger sent by the gods to the world.
She showed a tender side to the people of Jhansi, but she was decisive in killing her enemies.
She led people to kill British officers, publicly tried the tax collector sent by the British, and listed various crimes against the British.
Internally, she returned the Jhansi land seized by the British and abolished the tax system established by the British.
At the same time, he ordered the treasury to be opened to provide relief to the poor people.
She also personally fed the elderly and widowed women.
Militarily, she organized a cavalry of 2,000 men, which was directly under her personal command.
Every warrior in this cavalry admires and respects her immensely. She gives these warriors' families a certain amount of land and does not require them to pay taxes.
The soldiers of Jhansi returned home one after another.
In addition, she also recruited civilians to form an infantry of 10,000 people together with the surrendered servants.
Those servants also sincerely surrendered to the queen.
She told the servants: "You sacrificed your lives for the British, but they made you eat butter and blaspheme your gods."
In some places, the servant armies even directly launched uprisings to drive away the British officers who controlled them.
Two days ago, on December 12, the Queen of Jhansi led her men to raid the military camp established by the British in Jhansi City.
Killed Dunlop, the top British commander stationed here.
Raised the banner of resistance to British tyranny.
Delhi, Lucknow and other surrounding princely states also revolted at the same time as agreed. These large cities located in the middle reaches of the Ganges became important strongholds for the uprising.
Suddenly the momentum was huge!
These rebellious princely states formed a horned force. They could cooperate with each other to fight against the British colonists.
Originally, the main force of the British army here was attracted by Chen Yucheng.
The empty rear was unable to withstand the insurgents who were like wildfire on the prairie.
Almost instantly, Britain lost the core area of the Ganges River Basin.
Amid the joy of the crowd, the Queen solemnly declared: "The world belongs to God, and Jhansi belongs to Akshmi Bhai!"
At this time, the queen rode out of the city on her white war horse to the cheers of the people, just to prepare her army for the expedition.
She planned to lead 2,000 bodyguard cavalry and 5,000 infantry to join the rebel forces coming from Delhi and Lucknow and attack eastward.
Bayi knew that to defeat the British counterattack, he could not rely on waiting. The best way was to attack, weaken the British, or even completely drive out the British forces.
As long as they continue to win, many people will be inspired to continue to stand up against the British.
Some vacillating princes would eventually choose to join them.
In order to unite more princely states, Bayi discussed with several princely states that participated in the uprising to form the Northern Alliance.
Those princely states that were willing to resist the British could join the alliance, while those that were willing to continue to be accomplices of the British would become enemies of the alliance.
Of course, the Alliance also allowed surrounding princely states to remain neutral.
In this way, the Northern Alliance was formally established with Jhansi, Delhi and Lucknow as its core.
The various states gathered more than 50,000 troops to kill Prayagraj and the city of Varanasi under the control of the British in the east.
They are preparing to fight all the way east and join up with the newly rising rebel forces in the Assam region in the east.
These Indians in the west simply cannot tell the difference between the Han people and the Dai people.
They still believed that the army to the east was the Assamese army.
Since this army can resist the British, if it can join forces with them, it will definitely be able to block the British counterattack.
As for the Assamese plundering some princely states in the east, they also knew about it.
But there was no dispute between them and the Assamese people before, and there was still a basis for cooperation between the two parties.
These princely states are generally still afraid of the British. This victory is also regarded by them as a fluke. Could the main force of the British be transferred away?
You must know that the Mughal Empire, which was once so powerful, was destroyed by them.
Bai naturally knew that the forces in the Assam region to the east were foreign forces, but this did not affect their cooperation.
As long as these people do not invade Jhansi, they can be friends of Jhansi people.
"These bastards actually come out to cause trouble at this time."
In the Governor's Mansion, Ramsay slammed the information in his hand on the table.
Starting from the first emergency document sent from Chennai, bad news came almost every day.
First, Chennai, the shipping center in the southeast, was occupied by the Tamils, followed by Nellore.
Tamil rebellion is not a princely state issue.
Because the Tamils are widely distributed in the coastal jungle areas of the southeast and southwest, they actually control the scope of several princely states.
Puwili also formed a Southern Alliance, trying to unite more princely states to resist the British.
Two major resistance camps, one in the south and one in the north, suddenly appeared.
Even though Ramsay had been the governor-general of India for so many years, he had never encountered such a situation.
In the office, Ramsay lit a cigar and took a heavy puff.
"Cough cough cough..."
Ramsay's violent coughing sounded in the room.
General Brown, who had just returned from the northern defense line, pushed open the door of the Governor's office and walked in.
"Your Majesty the Governor!" General Brown greeted.
"General Brown, I'm very sorry for making you come back from the front line in such a hurry," Ramsay said.
"Wait a minute, after General Robert comes back, let's discuss the crusade against the rebels. These people really know how to choose the right time. I always feel that something is wrong with this matter. How can such a country launch a rebellion at the same time? It seems like
It seems like there is a mastermind behind all this." General Brown has a very good relationship with Ramsay, and they are also old partners.
There are some things that you can't say to Robert, but you can say to Brown.
"Your Majesty the Governor, do you think all this is being instigated by people from the Ba'ath Army? The Assam rebels and the Burmese army both have the shadow of those people," Brown said.
I have been dealing with the Holy Army and the Burmese Army for so long.
Brown had long seen the connections between the two armies.
These two armies are equipped with so much standard equipment. If there is no culprit from the Renaissance Army behind this, even ghosts will not believe it.
"It would be terrible if they did it behind the scenes. But we have always banned Chinese activities in India. How did they do it to this extent?"
"So is it possible that they are French or Portuguese?"
Both countries still had their own colonies in India, but they were restricted to a very small area by the British.
The Portuguese should not dare to provoke the British Empire.
But the French often opposed the British.
It cannot be ruled out that the French pulled strings to make both the Indian natives and the British suffer, and then the French benefited from it.
"General Brown, now that Robert is away, can you tell me when you think he can capture Dhaka?" Ramsay asked.
"Your Majesty the Governor, it's hard to say. Originally, I thought they would be able to capture Dhaka in another half month. I heard that a gap has been opened in the southern city of Dhaka. Even if the Burmese people take human lives to fill it, they can at most
Hold on for half a month. You must know that the main force of our British army is still there."
"However, after the release of ammunition, the Burmese people breathed a sigh of relief. In addition, the morale of our servant army has been greatly affected. I am afraid that we will not be able to capture Dhaka in less than a month." Brown
analyzed.
"Then why not abandon Dhaka and attack Myanmar's mainland instead?" Ramsay asked again.
"Governor, actually, I also considered this issue at the beginning, but General Robert chose to fight the decisive battle with the main force of the Burmese in Dhaka, and I agree with it."
"After all, Dhaka directly threatens Calcutta. If we attack the Burmese mainland, if the Burmese people stand firm and clear the country, our army will be dragged into the tropical rain forest in southern Burma. What will happen when they attack Calcutta together with the Assamese rebels? What will the Burmese people do?
At worst, they can hide in the woods, as long as they don't lose their capital, Ava. But most of our belongings are here in Calcutta," Brown said.
Although he didn't like the arrogant General Robert, Brown still gave a relatively objective evaluation.
Through the battle reports during this period, Brown knew that there were no major problems with Robert's tactical arrangements, and they were all quite satisfactory.
"In one month, I don't know what kind of trouble those princely states are going to cause. In just half a month, more than a dozen princely states have already sided with the rebels, and even big cities like Delhi have been lost.
."
"Alas..." Ramsay sighed.
"When I came, I had already sent cavalry to the west to monitor the rebels. They seemed to be gathering eastward."
"The biggest worry now is that these people will collude with the Assam rebels in the east. Then there will be big trouble."
If what Brown feared happened, the colonial authorities would probably lose the entire best part of the Ganges River Basin.
The main transportation hubs built by the colonial authorities were along both sides of the Ganges.
If the rebels from the east and west meet in the Bihar region, the colonial authorities' passage up the Ganges will be blocked.
The only avenue of attack remained at Rajshahi, the bridgehead north of Kolkata.
But from here, no matter which side attacks, they will be attacked by the rebels from both sides.
Brown's words made Governor Ramsay's face become even more gloomy.
It is true that you can also go west via the Jodanagpur Plateau in the west of West Bengal.
But this road is very desolate and there are not many cities that can be defended.
It is easy for the supply lines to be cut off by the elusive rebels. Only traveling along the Ganges waterway is the most reliable channel to connect the east and west of India.
The road directly to Peshawar built by the colonial authorities was along the Ganges River.
In addition, a section of the railway has been planned and built along this line.
The land in other parts of India is also very fertile, but people here seem to like living on both sides of the Ganges.
From a business perspective, development investment is naturally more cost-effective in places with a large number of people.
"General Brown, can you destroy these rebels with just 50,000 troops?" Ramsay knew that it was difficult to get a positive answer to his question, but he still asked it.
"Governor, if it were just a few rebel states in the northwest, I would be confident enough to suppress them. But now there is an Assamese rebel army with good fighting ability opposite us."
"According to the intelligence we investigated, there are at least 40,000 Assamese rebels still entrenched in the Rangpur area west of Meghalaya."
"Although these people have never done anything unusual, this is exactly the weirdest thing."
"They have cooperated with the Burmese before. Why have they been silent this time when we attacked the Burmese?" Brown also expressed his doubts.
He has sufficient troops in his hands, so it makes sense that the Assam rebels in the west do not dare to make any changes.
The battle in Dhaka in the east has been going on for so long, and the city of Dhaka was once in critical condition.
However, the Assamese rebels' large army gathered in the east has never moved south. It has only been stationed in the north of Dhaka and in the south of Meghalaya.
ps: Dear readers, I worked for two days during the three days of New Year’s Day, and I finally have a half-day off today. It’s so miserable! Please vote and comfort me!