Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 474: Dhaka Attack and Defense

As soon as Fang Haiyang finished speaking, Wang Runchang, Bahd Khan, Queen Zhangxi and others stood up and accepted the order.

"I will obey your orders and complete the task!"

Fang Haiyang nodded slightly and continued to make arrangements.

"Zhang Gui's troops of the Third Brigade and Mangchai's troops of the Burmese Front are stationed in the Dhaka Fortress as a reserve force, ready to reinforce the battlefields at any time."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Gui and Mangchai also stood up and clasped their fists to accept the order.

The reason why Fang Haiyang arranged the Indian army to be responsible for the outer defense line and the Myanmar army as the reserve force was more out of political considerations.

Dhaka is located in India. To put it bluntly, this war was fought for India's national independence.

In this case, if anything happens, the Indians should naturally be allowed to go first.

In this war for India's independence, there is no reason to let Tang or Myanmar be the first to fight for the Indians, right?

Also, since Myanmar has undertaken a large part of the supply work for Dhaka.

Then they will naturally suffer fewer casualties on the battlefield.

The Tang Dynasty has always been fair in doing things.

I won't do the kind of thing where I try to fleece a sheep to death.

No matter what, we have to give people a break, right?

Then, Fang Haiyang continued.

"In addition, our naval units will also send out patrol boats to patrol the sea to guard against the British troops attacking from the sea..."

……

On the plains of the Ganges, the mighty British army marched towards the defense line of Dhaka.

Earl Canning rode on an Arabian horse, looking ahead with a sharp gaze.

"Lieutenant General Kofman, are we not far from Dhaka?"

Lieutenant General Kofman nodded and said after hearing this.

"Yes, Your Excellency the Governor, we are still about fifty miles from Dacca."

"However, according to the report from the scouts we sent out, they discovered a fortress built by the Tang army thirty miles ahead."

"There are a considerable number of Tang troops stationed in the fortress!"

Hearing this, Canning nodded and said.

"Very good. Pass the order down and order all our troops to speed up their march and reach Dhaka as soon as possible to prepare for an offensive against Dhaka."

"Dhaka is a nail that the Tang Empire has driven into India. If this nail is not removed, the situation in India will never be peaceful."

"As long as we can take down Dhaka, the war in India will almost be over..."

The Tang army's intervention in the Indian war greatly hindered the British army's efforts to quell the Indian rebellion.

If it weren't for the Tang Dynasty, the troublemaker, the British army would not have faced such great resistance in suppressing the rebellion.

Also, when Britain invaded India, it started from Dhaka and Kolkata.

Now, the Tang Dynasty has also intervened in Dhaka, which has caused the British to involuntarily have bad associations.

Upon hearing this, Lieutenant General Kofman immediately nodded to show that he understood, turned his horse around and urged the army to speed up its march.

……

After receiving military supplies from the Tang Dynasty, Queen Zhangxi led her troops to the Singail Fortress.

Standing in the command room of the fortress, Queen Zhangxi raised her telescope and looked into the distance with a slightly complicated expression.

A few years ago, not long after she came of age, she was married to Prince Zhangxi, who was several times older than her.

After Prince Zhangxi died of illness, since she had no children, she ascended the throne as the guardian of her adopted son.

In China, it probably means that the emperor is young and the empress dowager is regent.

But unfortunately, the good times did not last long. She had not been on the throne for long before her country was annexed by the despicable British by force.

After the outbreak of the Indian uprising, Queen Jhansi chose to lead the people in an uprising in order to restore her country, reclaim her homeland and resist British rule.

But what is even more regrettable is that the rebels were no match for the British Army. In two consecutive battles of Delhi, the main force of the rebels was almost wiped out.

Queen Zhangxi had no choice but to lead her people to Dhaka to seek refuge with the Tang Dynasty, hoping to survive under the protection of the Tang Dynasty.

The feeling of leaving her homeland and seeing her country and family destroyed made Queen Zhangxi feel helpless.

The reason why she took the initiative to ask for the first task of blocking the British army was that she wanted to take revenge on those damn British.

Let those British know that Indians are not fish on their chopping boards!
Queen Zhangxi led the team to patrol the position, patting the soldiers on the shoulders from time to time and speaking a few words to comfort them.

Looking at the machine gun positions, trenches, and bunkers, the complexity in Queen Zhangxi's eyes was gradually replaced by excitement.

She will definitely make the British pay the price!

Just at this moment, accompanied by a shrill alarm, a soldier quickly ran to Queen Zhangxi to report.

"Report, Sir, our reconnaissance team has discovered traces of the British army."

"The British... the British are coming to kill us!"

Upon hearing this, Queen Zhangxi's expression became solemn and she said immediately.

"very good!"

"Pass the order down, tell all our troops to prepare for battle!"

"Prepare to meet the British army!"

……

The battlefield was filled with the sound of artillery fire.

One shell after another whizzed in and landed on the Tang army's position, exploding into balls of fireworks and sand.

The air is filled with the smell of gunpowder!
On the Tang army position, gunners began to fight back.

boom! Boom boom!

The battlefield was filled with smoke and artillery shells flew into the air.

In addition to firing at the British artillery formations, they also launched fire attacks on the charging British troops.

Boom! Boom!
The shock wave spread rapidly with smoke and flames, and shattered arms and legs flew all over the sky.

The British army continued to charge, and then the sound of machine gun fire was heard.

Dada! Dada!

With machine gun fire and artillery bombardment, the British offensive was instantly stopped.

Listening to the casualty reports coming from the front line, Canning's face darkened slightly.

But all he could do now was to order his men to continue filling in and try to capture Dhaka.

Sheffield led his troops to charge towards the Tang army's position.

They attacked in a skirmish line. Facing the Tang army's artillery and machine gun fire, the British soldiers crawled on the ground and crawled forward.

The sound of bullets whizzing through the air kept ringing in his ears, and Sheffield would occasionally see his comrades being hit by bullets.

Some of them screamed while covering their wounds, while others simply stopped breathing.

Sheffield couldn't help cursing.

"Shet!"

"Hurry up, everyone, rush forward!"

Amid the shouting, Sheffield continued to crawl forward using his hands and feet.

Boom! Boom!
Shells fell from the sky and landed among the crowd.

Immediately, explosions continued to sound.

The shock wave caused the soil to fly everywhere, and Sheffield was directly covered by the soil.

He thrust his head out with all his strength and shook it continuously, shaking off the dirt that had fallen on him.

Suddenly, Sheffield saw a trace of blood in front of him. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was a severed hand.

Cough cough! Cough cough cough!
Sheffield coughed several times in succession, and the stuffy feeling in his chest was slightly relieved.

"go! go! go!"

"Come, on! Flow, me!"

"Soldiers, keep charging!"

Sheffield gritted his teeth, shouted, and continued to crawl forward.

Under machine gun fire and artillery bombardment, Sheffield finally rushed to a place not far from the Tang army's position.

But when he looked up, he felt like the sky was falling.

What we see before us is not a smooth road, but several criss-crossing barbed wire fences.

"Shit, what is this?"

As he spoke, Sheffield reached out to pull the barbed wire.

But as soon as he touched it, his hands were pierced by the barbs on the wire, leaving bloody holes on them.

Blood flowed out along the barbed wire, dyeing the wooden stakes that fixed the barbed wire red.

Sheffield gritted his teeth and continued to pull hard, trying to break the barbed wire and clear a channel for attack.

But all this was in vain.

His actions had no other effect except leaving deep cuts on his hands that went to the bone.

At this moment, the muzzle of a machine gun was aimed at this side.

The next moment, the sound of gunfire was heard.

Bullets fired one after another, and in the blink of an eye, Sheffield felt a sharp pain in his arm.

Several bullets were fired one after another, directly cutting off his arm.

Half of the arm was hanging on the wire mesh, blood was dripping, and the white bone stump was extremely clear.

The scene was shocking! Sheffield was stunned at first, and then he couldn't help but let out a shrill scream.

"what……"

"Help! Someone please save me..."

Such a scene is not an isolated case on the battlefield.

Accompanied by the roar of artillery, British soldiers endured heavy casualties and rushed to the barbed wire at all costs.

Then, they were blocked by barbed wire and could not move forward.

They became living targets standing on the battlefield.

As the Tang army's machine guns turned their muzzles, they fired indiscriminately.

These British soldiers fell to the ground in large numbers during the charge, and the number of casualties skyrocketed.

Dada! Dada!

Ta-ta-ta-ta!

The sound of intensive machine gun fire continued to ring out.

Bullet after bullet splashed on the ground, and the British soldiers' screams became one and the same.

The British army launched several attacks on the Singail Fortress in succession.

Before and after using the barbed wire, they either chopped it with bayonets, pulled it with their hands, or dug up the wooden stakes that fixed the barbed wire.

They wanted to use this to open the barbed wire blockade against them.

But in the end they failed to make a breakthrough, and they gained nothing except leaving a pile of corpses on the battlefield.

"What's going on? Why can't our soldiers charge forward?"

"Why do you want to stay where you are and be a sitting duck?"

Governor Canning asked grimly.

His face was full of concentration and confusion.

At one side, Lieutenant General Kofman, who had just returned from the wounded soldiers camp, began to explain.

"Replying to the Governor."

"According to the report from our soldiers, after they rushed to the front of the Tang army, they encountered a barbed wire fence blocking their way."

"The barbed wire was full of barbs. They tried everything they could to break the barbed wire blocking the road."

"In the process, the Tang army's machine guns caused huge casualties to our attacking soldiers."

"In the previous attack, at least five hundred of our soldiers fell on the battlefield."

Upon hearing this, Governor Canning's face darkened visibly and he asked.

"So, what can we do now?"

Hearing this, Kofman just shook his head.

Because he had no way to deal with the Tang army's barbed wire fortifications.

Seeing this, Canning's face became even gloomier, but in the end he continued to give orders.

"Pass on our military order, and order our artillery to immediately launch a fire attack on the Tang army's barbed wire offensive."

"I just don't believe that our artillery can't do anything to a piece of barbed wire!"

"At the same time, our infantry launched an attack under the cover of artillery!"

Upon hearing this, Kofman nodded immediately.

"Don't worry, Governor. I understand!"

……

On the other side, Queen Zhangxi in Singail Fortress also received battle reports from the front.

Looking at the battle reports showing the soldiers' achievements, a genuine smile flashed across her pretty face.

"Ha ha!"

"Good! Good! Good!"

"Well done, boys. Finally we made the British bleed..."

However, at this moment, a burst of rumbling artillery fire was heard again on the battlefield.

The British artillery adjusted their firing parameters, aimed at the barbed wire positions set up by the Tang army, and launched a fire delivery.

Amidst the loud rumbling sounds, artillery shells fell one after another on the Tang army’s positions.

However, the threat to barbed wire is limited.

Unless the shells happen to hit the wooden stakes that fix the barbed wire, it would be a pipe dream to destroy the barbed wire with shock waves and flames alone.

At the same time, the Tang army's artillery began to fight back.

Amid the roar of artillery fire, balls of fire were blown up on the British artillery positions. The British had no choice but to stop the shelling and let the artillery maneuver.

At the same time, shouts of killing once again resounded throughout the battlefield.

After a round of fire attack, the British army rushed towards the Tang army's position again.

Then, they once again encountered almost intact barbed wire fortifications.

Although the British artillery fired two rounds, the Tang army's barbed wire fortifications were only partially deformed because the fixed wooden stakes were destroyed by artillery shells.

The rest are almost all intact.

On the barbed wire, the sharp barbs still flashed coldly.

In an instant, the British soldiers fell into despair.

But before they could process their emotions for long, the next moment, the sound of machine gun fire rang out again.

Bullets poured out one after another.

Suddenly, the British troops trapped in front of the barbed wire fell down.

The British army attempted to attack several times but failed to break through, and the situation on Singail's side fell into a stalemate.

In desperation, the British army left part of its forces outside the Singail Fortress to confront the Tang army.

The main force was dispatched to Dongi and Dhaka Fortress.

Then, the war reignited.

However, facing the Tang army's fortifications, the British army launched multiple attacks but failed to make a breakthrough.

The attack and defense of Dhaka Fortress was completely deadlocked.

……

On the other side, the naval battle between the Tang Dynasty and Britain finally broke out.

On the vast sea, two fleets were heading towards each other.

These two fleets are one large and one small.

The bigger one is obviously the British army, while the smaller one is the Tang army.

The invading British combined fleet consisted of 56 steam ironclad ships, 179 sailing battleships, and countless armed merchant ships.

However, the Tang army had only four 4-ton battleships, 19 steam ironclad ships, and 31 sailing battleships.

The numerical gap between the two sides is quite obvious.

Not to mention, the Tang army's fleet that left the port for this battle had only four 19-ton battleships and 23 steam ironclad ships. The total number of warships added up to only , which was less than a fraction of the British army.

The sailing battleships were assigned to stay in the port.

The numerical gap between the two sides will only become more obvious!
The reason for this is that Fang Haiyang knows that if he were to engage in a naval decisive battle with the British using sailing battleships, then the Tang Dynasty would definitely not be a match.

Whether in terms of fleet size, experience in fleet decisive battles, or skills in operating sailing battleships, the British army was far superior to the Tang army.

And this is the heritage left over from the era of sailing battleships by Britain, the world hegemon.

Therefore, Fang Haiyang simply decided not to engage in a battleship duel with the British army.

Instead, they relied on the Tang Dynasty's advanced 10,000-ton battleships and steam ironclad ships to fight the British army.

When it comes to naval battles in the Age of Sail, there is no doubt that the Tang Dynasty was no match for the British Army.

However, the steam age had just arrived, and both the Tang Dynasty and Britain were still in the exploratory stage regarding naval warfare in the steam age.

Even more, the Tang Dynasty was ahead of Britain because of the time traveler Li Yi.

This is like pulling the enemy into an area that you are familiar with, and then using your rich experience to defeat the opponent.

In addition, the Tang Dynasty had considerable advantages over Britain in naval guns and ship power.

Well, Li Yi’s system is not just for show. Over the years, he has provided Datang with a considerable number of advanced equipment and design drawings of various types of machinery.

It is no exaggeration to say that today's Tang Dynasty is definitely at the forefront of the industrial revolution.

Although there is still a big gap between China and Britain and France in terms of overall industrial scale, if we only talk about cutting-edge technology and industry, Datang is definitely a leader.

Therefore, for the Tang Dynasty, using its superior steamships to engage in a decisive battle with the British army was undoubtedly the best option.

Fang Haiyang stood on the deck of his flagship, the Zhenyuan, and looked out at the vast sea in the distance with a telescope in hand.

On the sea, a fleet flying the British Union Jack was lined up in a battle formation, so dark that it almost covered the entire sea surface.

Above this British fleet, there were large flags flying, representing the identity of the commander-in-chief.

Fang Haiyang stared at one of the large flags with a burning gaze, the fire in his eyes almost burning.

Because he recognized that the owner of the flag was Earl Elgin of England!
He was the commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance, Earl Elgin, who once led the fleet of the Eight-Nation Alliance and blocked the fleet of the Tang Dynasty at the mouth of the Pearl River, where the fleet dared not leave the protection of the artillery!

Looking at the flag, Fang Haiyang took a deep breath, his heart filled with boiling blood.

In the past, the Tang army fleet was blocked in the Pearl River, taking shelter under the cover of artillery batteries and not daring to attack the enemy.

We can only watch the foreigners showing off their might in the seas off the coast of the Tang Dynasty!
But now it is different.

Things have changed, and the Tang Dynasty today is no longer the same as before.

Today, the Tang Dynasty finally has the ability to fight a decisive battle with the foreign devils in the open sea!

Hefang Haiyang swore that today he would use the blood of foreigners to wash away the great humiliation that the Tang Dynasty suffered when foreigners came to attack it!
(End of this chapter)