The first month of the year is supposed to be the dry season in Singapore, but this year it rained continuously unexpectedly.
This further increases the difficulty for the Baath Army to attack the port.
At the same time, it alleviates water problems in ports that were originally short of water.
At the same time, the Renaissance Army for the expedition to India had made preparations for half a month and arrived at the Island of Ceylon after half a month's sailing.
At this time, the Viceroyalty of India was still preparing to raise troops to reinforce the Straits Settlements.
There are only more than 2,000 garrison troops on the island of Ceylon, and more than 5,000 servants.
The sudden arrival of the Renaissance Army took them by surprise.
Is it possible that the Straits Settlements surrendered as soon as the war started?
Otherwise, how could they have arrived in Ceylon so quickly.
Fortunately, the defenses in Cologne are as well constructed as those in Singapore.
The Island of Ceylon is a transportation hub connecting the east and west sides of the Indian Ocean.
Occupying this place can cut off the maritime connections between the east and west sides of the Indian continent.
The Renaissance Army had sufficient troops, but they did not resort to forceful attacks.
Zhang Deshuai recruited the Tamils to lead the way. The Renaissance Army landed at multiple points on the island. First, they occupied other strongholds of the Dalong Army on the island.
Then waterway and attack Cologne.
During this period, the Navy also had a naval battle with the Indian Ocean Fleet stationed in the Indian region.
The Indian Ocean Fleet, whose main force was besieged in Singapore, was naturally no match for the Renaissance Army.
This naval battle took place just outside the port of Colon.
After seeing the failure of their fleet, Cologne's defenders finally lost their will to fight. After holding on for half a month, the remaining troops surrendered to the Renaissance Army.
On February 2, the fifth year of the Renaissance, the flag of the Renaissance Army slowly flew from the port fortress of Cologne City.
The Renaissance Army's strategy of attacking the Indian region has been initially realized.
Then big construction started here.
This will become the bridgehead for the confrontation between the Renaissance Army and the Imperial Army.
If you want to build, you need manpower. And the Renaissance Army cannot transfer people from China.
Only local people can be used. There are two main ethnic groups in the area, one is the Sangha people and the other is the Tamil people.
Previously, when the Dayang people ruled here, they used the more docile Sangha people to suppress the Tamils.
After the Baath Army took control here, they in turn used the Tamil people who were closer to the Baath Army.
Then a large-scale liquidation of the Se Sangha people on the island was carried out. In this way, there was a group of supporting and obedient servants and people who worked.
In the future, the Renaissance Army must have sufficient troops to control Ceylon Island and solve the problem of food and grass on the spot as much as possible.
Fortunately, the Dayang people have established a large number of plantations on the island, which can be used as farms with a little modification.
After the army occupied the island of Ceylon, the navy was not idle either.
According to the previous agreement with the Tamils, the Tamils helped the Renaissance Army capture the island of Ceylon.
At the same time, they also ceded the island of Ceylon to the Renaissance Army in the name of the Tamil Kingdom.
The exchange was for the Renaissance Army to help them regain coastal cities.
The Tamils once regained their territory along the southeast coast.
But as the Dagu army made a comeback under the cover of the fleet.
These port cities were again occupied by the Chinese.
Therefore, as long as the Dalian fleet is defeated, the Tamils themselves can capture these ports.
After the loss of Ceylon, many people living on the east coast of India have realized the seriousness of the problem.
No one understands the importance of sea power better than the people of Daying.
The hegemony of the Great Empire was originally based on sea power.
If the sea is counted as a country, Calcutta is already surrounded.
In March of the fifth year of the Renaissance, with the cooperation of Wu Xingjun's navy, the Tamil Kingdom took over the southeastern region.
At the request of the Renaissance Army, they did not touch the French colony in Pondicherry.
But continue to cooperate with the French.
Seeing that the power of the Great People was driven away from here, the French felt both happy and a little worried.
Without the suppression of the Daling people, the natives here will become even more arrogant in the future.
They are also worried about whether the Renaissance Army will replace Da Ying's power here.
However, apart from occupying the island of Ceylon, the Renaissance Army did not seem to continue sending troops to the mainland.
When the Tamils and the Renaissance Army jointly attacked the southeastern coast, a large number of Dayang people fled to the French colonies.
The Renaissance Army did not pursue the case, they gave the French enough face.
This attitude makes the French people relax a lot.
In return, the French fleet stayed in its port and did not interfere with the military operations of the revived army.
In April, the Baath Army navy arrived in Calcutta and blocked the mouth of the Ganges.
Here they encountered the Moulmein torpedo boat formation led by He Wenxiong.
In the past few months, He Wenxiong led his torpedo boat formation to sink a total of twelve Dayang ships and captured fifty-six merchant ships.
Almost the entire coastline on the east side of the Bay of Bengal has been cleaned up.
According to the latest order from the military department, they will move to Colon Port to carry out the blockade mission of the Palk Strait.
With the control of the Palk Strait and Malacca Strait passed into the hands of the Renaissance Army.
In addition, the Strait of Magellan was previously controlled by the Donghua Empire.
The Great Empire is now a patient with clogged blood vessels. He may become paralyzed at any time.
In May, the Holy Army, the Northern Alliance and the Kingdom of Burma once again formed a coalition to attack the city of Calcutta.
However, this time the Holy Army is the main force. The Northern Alliance's main forces are in the western region. The Kingdom of Myanmar is only here to help the fight and will not use its full strength at all.
The Holy Army sent out 100,000 troops this time, which took down almost half of its combat strength.
People in Kolkata are already panicking.
Although there are still nearly 30,000 troops and 50,000 servants in the city at this time.
But they have no confidence in victory.
Although the epidemic has passed, it has brought indelible painful memories to the city.
After the plague, the population of the slums in the lower city was reduced by almost half.
In the past, the white nobles of Calcutta never realized how important these lower-class natives were to them.
Nowadays, the white people in the upper cities don't even have enough servants to clean toilets.
On the dilapidated streets of the lower city, a bullock cart was slowly driving towards the upper city.
There are white rice in the wooden basket on the car.
Just then, a scrawny little boy with messy hair ran to the back of the car and grabbed a handful of rice.
Behind the bullock cart, two British soldiers and six servants were escorting them.
Seeing this situation, the British soldiers asked two servants to go up and arrest the boy.
However, at this time, the little boy had already hidden behind a middle-aged man.
The man was also very nervous when he saw this.
"Son, why do you steal noble people's food?" the middle-aged man asked tremblingly.
The officer raised his rifle and said: "Stealing food is a crime. Hand over this thief immediately."
The little boy was very aggrieved: "Father, I didn't steal it. Didn't we grow this food?"
A little boy is innocent, immature and simple.
The native people watching around were deeply touched.
They grew the rice, and they even pounded the rice.
Why don't they have anything to eat?
Thinking back to the time when the epidemic broke out, the upper city was closed off to the lower city, the kind of indifference and indifference. The anger in people's hearts burst out uncontrollably.
Originally, the people in the lower city were able to survive by providing services to the upper city.
At that time, supplies from the entire Indian colony were concentrated in Calcutta.
The factories here are also operating at full capacity.
However, wars have been going on over the years, and Da Ying has successively lost the grain production in the north.
Because of the loss of the eastern market, the factory operating rate in Calcutta was seriously insufficient.
Many indigenous workers are unemployed, exacerbating the hardship of local people's lives.
The conflict between indigenous people and white people has become increasingly serious.
When the Sikh servants whipped the little boy and his father, the surrounding locals walked to the bullock cart and each of them grabbed a handful of rice.
These local aborigines, clutching rice, gathered together and quietly leaned toward the group of soldiers.
They were demonstrating against Dayang's army in their own way.
No one made any noise, no one shouted slogans, and no one took action.
"Disperse now and put the food back, otherwise we will shoot." The Daying soldier leading the group shouted.
These people acted as if they didn't understand and still stood there.
At this time, an enemy patrol came over to provide support.
After having more manpower, the officer leading the team became bolder.
When there was a stalemate just now, it was not because he wanted to give these natives a chance.
But he was worried that shooting would intensify the conflict.
There were less than ten of them, but there were hundreds of natives surrounding them.
Now that support has arrived, he has no worries anymore.
"Bang!" As he knocked down the first native with his revolver, the soldiers around him shot at these unarmed natives.
Soon the streets were filled with corpses. The blood gathered into the dirty stinking ditch beside the road, dyeing the black stinking water brown.
This incident completely angered the entire lower city.
In the next few days, the patrols of the Yin Army were attacked almost every day.
The key is at this moment when the Holy Army once again invades the territory.
The fleet that originally guarded the port was completely lost on the island of Ceylon.
This time Calcutta is doomed.
At the end of April, the Holy Army, under the command of Chen Yucheng, finally broke through the northern defense line guarded by General Brown and reached the Lower City on the north side of Calcutta after losing more than 10,000 people.
The Mon people and Indian natives in the city immediately broke out in riots.
The Holy Army took advantage of the situation and captured the lower city.
The attack on upper Calcutta finally began.
At this time, there is only one link from Kolkata to the southwestern city of Howrah.
This passage is guarded by General Robert, commander of the expeditionary force.
His frontal enemy is the Northern Alliance rebels from the central region.
One of the biggest problems caused by the collapse of the northern defense line is that the coalition forces can cooperate with the Renaissance Army's fleet.
"Boom, boom, boom..." On the river, more than a dozen armored ships of the Renaissance Army were lined up in a row, and the main guns on the warships were fully fired.
Continuously dumped artillery shells on the enemy's fort.
On land, the Holy Army's heavy artillery was also constantly bombarding.
The entire upper city of Kolkata was shrouded in smoke.
Chen Yucheng was at the rear of the attacking troops, carefully observing the situation on the battlefield.
Look for loopholes in the enemy's defense.
"Your Majesty the Governor, I think we must consider giving up Calcutta. According to the current situation, we simply cannot wait for domestic reinforcements."
Robert has been responsible for guarding the southern front.
Previously, when the Calcutta epidemic broke out, he led the main force of the expeditionary force back to Calcutta.
Robert has aged a lot in the past two years.
He successively led two batches of expeditionary forces with a total of 60,000 troops to support the Indian region.
In the past two years, the expeditionary force has lost nearly half of its personnel. However, the rebel forces in those places have not only not been eliminated, but have become stronger and stronger.
Now the southeastern coastal areas that he had taken back were once again taken back by the Tamils.
Without the support of the navy, the army alone cannot defend those coastal cities.
In order to allow his fleet to protect the city.
The cities controlled by the Great Empire in the coastal areas of India were all within the shooting range of naval guns.
Originally this design was for when the city was attacked by an island.
The navy's fleet can support the city.
This is a setting based on the idea of sea power.
There is nothing wrong with this setting, because the foundation of the Great Empire is its navy.
At this time, Robert persuaded Ramsey to retreat for this reason. If the navy could not protect this place, then the army would be even less capable of defending it.
"General Robert, where are we retreating to?"
"Your Excellency, Governor, we are retreating to Bombay. The enemy is already trying to cut off our only route of retreat."
There is an east-west road in Howrah, southeast of Kolkata, extending westward to the Mumbai area.
On the north side of this overland route is the Satpura Mountains. It is this mountain range that blocks the Northern Alliance's southward path.
Now the Northern Alliance has entered Gujarat and will threaten the Mumbai area at any time.
So this road is very fragile now.
Moreover, the Holy Army can completely circle from Jharkhand to the rear of Howrah.
This is the plains of West Bengal, and nothing can stop the enemy from taking a detour.
The defense line in western Calcutta is also very fragile.
There was no threat there, so there was no permanent line of defense.
"General Robert, if we withdraw, we will lose not only Calcutta, but probably the entire East India. By then, only the western part of the Indian Ocean will be left in our great empire."
What Ramsay regrets most now is why he didn't resign and return to the country earlier.
Now, he will become the most sinner in the history of the Great Empire.
The Temple administration also wanted to replace Ramsay before, but no one was willing to come here to take over the mess in the Indian colonies.
As a result, despite losing a large amount of colonial land, Ramsay still sat in the position of governor in recent years and made meritorious deeds.
It's just that the credit has not been established, and the guilt has become heavier and heavier.
"But, Your Majesty the Governor, now that we are retreating, we can still retain a large number of troops. When the time comes, we will still have the capital to defend the western region."
"As long as we wait a few more months, domestic reinforcements will arrive. This time there are 200,000 reinforcements, and we also have the same weapons as the Renaissance Army. When the time comes to fight again, we may not be able to take Calcutta back.
"
"But if we are all wiped out by the enemy in Calcutta, what do you think will happen?"
"How many local soldiers will be left in the entire Indian continent by then? Will those princely states and those servant armies be as honest as they are now?"
Robert's words made Ramsay fall into deep thought.
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