At the headquarters of the Ceylon garrison area, Qiao Haipeng was standing in front of a huge sand table, he turned his head to the powerful power next to him and said, "The situation of the troops in the theater is quite stable, right?" More than 200,000 troops are gathered here, and we must understand the mood of the officers and men and do a good job in their ideological work. ”

Qiang Quansheng smiled and said: "Commander, don't worry, all units are organizing targeted training during this time, and everyone's morale is very high, and they are all waiting to go to the battlefield early." ”

Qiao Haipeng nodded and said, "The rainy season in India is coming to an end, and we should also be prepared." Lao Li, how is the material preparation in the war zone? ”

Li Yukun said with a smile: "The materials of the troops have been prepared a month ago, and all kinds of materials are extremely sufficient. At present, we have hoarded a large number of supplies in the warehouses of our Far East trading bases on the coast of India, such as Goa, Sutra, Madras, Bangladesh, Kolkata, Mombasa, Dammam, Trankuiba, and Diu, which we have gradually transported in the past few months by means of ant moving.

After the battle began, the troops that landed in the early days could go ashore lightly and get sufficient supplies in our various trading bases. In addition, we have recently increased the number of troops in various trading posts, and each castle has a battalion-sized combat unit. Before the troops landed, they would take control of the area near the landing site. ”

Qiao Haipeng said in a deep voice: "After the troops land, the speed must be fast, and we must quickly establish a complete landing ground at the landing site, our landing ships are still relatively nervous, and more than 200,000 troops will land and deploy in a short time, and the pressure is very great." ”

Ding Xinghao, who was next to him, thought for a moment and said, "According to the information sent back by various intelligence stations in India, the Mughal Empire's defense of the coastal areas is not tight. In particular, the southern region was almost non-existent, and for a period of time in the early days of the landing, the troops basically did not encounter much resistance. But the military power of the Mughal Empire should not be underestimated.

The Mughal Empire had more than 400,000 troops. Among them, nearly 200,000 cavalry. Among them, there were more than 8,000 standing officers, about 7,000 elite cavalry and more than 40,000 elite infantry and gunners, commanded by a high-ranking nobleman, who was the pro-army unit of the Mughal emperor. In addition to this, it included cavalry troops under the command of nearly 200,000 princes and nobles. The rest are local militias under the command of the heads of the various local garrisons.

Although the Mughal Empire was mainly based in the central and northern regions, the cavalry of the Mughal legions was strong and highly mobile. It is possible to react in a very short time. The most elite of them, or those with the highest salaries and the best equipment, are heavily armed knights.

In addition to the elite of the emperor's own army, the infantry of the Mughal Empire consisted of a large number of Hindu infantry, some of which were garrisons organized in villages, districts, and towns, and were recruited by local Muslim officers or Hindu chieftains. The equipment is very mixed, and most of them are militias that have not been systematically trained.

It is also worth noting that the Mughal Empire was also equipped with war elephant troops. Unlike the war elephant troops of Siam and other countries in Indochina, the war elephant troops of the Mughal Empire are all strictly trained, familiar with the noise of arquebuses on the battlefield, and it is generally difficult to drive them crazy, each war elephant is equipped with arquebusiers and archers, and even some armored war elephants carry small artillery on their backs.

The Mughal Empire paid special attention to the construction of artillery, as early as the early XVI century. The Mughal Empire had very large artillery. It was also armed with light field guns, including those of Europe, some that required only two people to operate. There are also some large-caliber arquebuses. Babur's heaviest artillery is said to have a range of 1,600 paces.

It is unbelievable that the Mughal Empire army was already equipped with rockets at this time, and the range could reach an astonishing distance of about a thousand meters. A camel can carry up to 10 rockets and can be fired on its back. A British officer named Congreve witnessed the use of this type of rocket weapon in India and slightly improved it. An improved model was put into service during the Napoleonic Wars. That is, the later Congreve rocket. ”

Qiao Haipeng nodded solemnly, then shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I really didn't expect that the military strength of the Mughal Empire is really not weak, no wonder it can occupy the entire Indian subcontinent." ”

After he finished speaking, he turned to Ding Weiguo, commander of the theater air force behind him, and asked: "I don't know if the weather conditions in India at this time will affect the airboat troops?" ”

Ding Xinghao shook his head and said, "According to the data of modern society, India starts in October every year. It is basically sunny and rainy, and there is basically no windy weather. Of course, India has a tropical monsoon climate, and monsoon activity is not stable, and there will be special weather at some time. Please rest assured that even if the special weather affects the normal attendance of the airboat unit, we are equipped with two groups of 48 delta-wing aircraft, which can also provide air support to the landing force in the initial stage of the landing. ”

Lin Hua, chief of staff next to him, walked over, pointed to more than a dozen landing sites on the sand table, and said: "At present, the areas near these landing sites along the coast of India have been repeatedly reconnoitred, and the accuracy of the intelligence has been confirmed. Moreover, before landing, we will send a small elite force to land in India first, and then infiltrate the inland areas, wreak havoc on road traffic in various places, create an atmosphere of panic, and select some transportation hub areas to block the Mughal cavalry coming to support in the center. ”

Ding Xinghao sneered, and then said with a smile: "Although the military strength of the Mughal Empire seems to be very strong, but the actual situation is not the case, according to the information obtained by our intelligence department, the Mughal Empire's army is much larger on paper than in reality. Senior commanders "borrowed" soldiers from each other to fabricate numbers and defraud them of their salaries.

Others employ people who have never been trained in the "military bazaars" to ride any pony they can get their hands on. And with the exception of the emperor's pro-army elite troops, this situation was extremely common in other armies of the Mughal Empire. Although Shah Jahan tried to change this situation after he succeeded to the throne, and adopted many methods, such as cutting the number of officers to the actual number, reducing the salaries of officers by paying them only once a year, further dividing the ranks of non-commissioned officers, and promoting those cavalrymen who performed well in battle, but when it came to the grassroots level, the implementation was not good. (To be continued.) )

PS: Chatou has something to do today, and the update is late, so please forgive me. Thank you for loving to drink Biluochun, Pudding Dad, get out of the way. , Journey Jiangshan, F663026 monthly pass support. Thank you Fei Feifei for the tip.