At this time, Qiao Haipeng and Li Yukun were standing outside the bridge of the No. 1 landing ship, sitting there constantly swallowing clouds and spitting fog, chatting with each other, in fact, they were all looking forward to the barge fleet of the East Road Detachment to arrive at the assembly area as soon as possible.

"Lao Li, after launching the attack, I led the Northern Army to rush all the way along the Ganges River into the hinterland of the Mughal Empire, surprise attack the city of Agra, and make a decapitation tactic against the Mughal Empire. You are based in the Calcutta region and command the Southern Army to sweep through the Bengal region. Bangladesh is a good place, not only with food, but also with gold, silver and jewelry.

Before the colonial period, Bengal was the world's largest intercontinental distribution center and the center of the cotton textile industry in this era, and remained the richest region in the world. We Chinese are only obsessed with Chinese civilization and do not know much about the prosperity of other civilizations in the world.

Historically, the end point of the Maritime Silk Road, which led to westward trade between the dynasties of the Central Plains, was not Rome in Europe, but Bengal in the Near East. After arriving in Bangladesh via Malacca, Chinese products are sold in bulk to the Indian market, and small quantities are repackaged with Bangladeshi exports and then transported along the coast to the Kerala region of South India.

Wait here for the annual monsoon, then transport it to Rome, to Adulis in East Africa, and then to Egypt via the Nile River through the Kingdom of Mere in Ethiopia, a Roman vassal state. After thousands of years of accumulation, Bangladesh is now richer than we imagined. Occupying the Bengal region, we can not only harvest a lot of food, but also countless gold, silver and precious stones.

At the Battle of Plassey that year, Clevau led 900 British troops and 2,000 Indian soldiers to defeat the 70,000-strong Bengal governor supported by the French at the cost of 72 casualties, and raised his own puppet to conquer Bengal for the British.

The Brits stormed the Bangladeshi treasury. Looting the mountains of gold and silver treasures inside, Clevau alone robbed a huge amount of money worth more than 200,000 pounds, which in this era is enough to equal the annual income of 20,000 Britons! It took more than 200 ships to reach Calcutta a large quantity of gold bars and precious stones that they plundered in the Bangladeshi treasury.

After returning to England, Klevaux shamelessly boasted to the British Parliament: "There is a rich city under my feet." In our hands the mighty nation has opened before me a treasure trove full of gold bars, silver ingots, pearls and precious stones. I took more than 200,000 pounds. Gentlemen, until now, I wonder why I am so polite. ”

Paralyzing! This is especially Chiguoguo's pretense! These barbaric and greedy Western colonizers are all scum! Every time I see this piece of history, I beat my chest! Why wasn't I the one who ransacked the Bangladeshi treasury...... Okay this time, Lao Tzu has finally caught up with this wave, Lao Li. You must wash me cleanly.

Having occupied the Bengal region, our Far Eastern Army will have its own forward base in India, and our Eastern Route Army will be able to rely on the developed waterways of the Ganges, Jamuna, Yamuna, Gamla, Changbar, Gandeg, Kagra, Bedwa, and Gongwari rivers to sweep through the north-central hinterland of the Mughal Empire in the shortest possible time and occupy the fertile Gangetic plain. ”

Listening to Qiao Haipeng's words, Li Yukun laughed. made everyone on the bridge a little confused. What's wrong with the commander and commissar, they are so happy!

Li Yukun nodded and said, "Old Qiao." You can rest assured! Even if you scrape the ground, I will definitely wash the Bangladesh area for you. It is also the Ganges Delta region. There were large tracts of fertile land, and the grain depots of feudal princes and tribal leaders everywhere must have been piled up.

The grain seized in Bangladesh alone can not only ensure the consumption of more than 200,000 officers and soldiers in our Indian theater for several years, but also be transported back to Liaodong to alleviate the company's food shortage. and so on laid the Ganges plain. It will definitely solve the company's food crisis once and for all.

It was also the base of the Mughal Empire's handicraft industry, and the Indian region is known for its craftsmanship. Jewelers, coppersmiths, armourers, woodcutters and stonecarvers are highly skilled. Weavers in India were adept at weaving a wide variety of cloths from cotton and silk, and wool into beautiful blankets and shawls.

In India, we not only had to loot grain, but also gathered a large number of craftsmen to transport them back to Liaodong. These skilled craftsmen are treasures, and now all departments of the company are extremely lacking in industrial workers, but the handicraftsmen of the Ming Dynasty are still mostly from the Jiangnan region, and the vast majority of the displaced people we receive in the north of the Ming Dynasty are farmers, and there are very few craftsmen and craftsmen. ”

The two were chatting happily, when a staff officer ran out of the bridge and shouted excitedly: "Commander, political commissar...... The barge flotilla of the Eastern Route Detachment has arrived in the assembly area. ”

When Qiao Haipeng and Li Yukun heard this, they hurriedly stood up, ran to the bridge, picked up the binoculars and looked in the direction of the barge fleet. Qiao Haipeng smiled excitedly: "They finally arrived, haha...... Inform all units and immediately prepare for battle......"

After listening to Qiao Haipeng's order, everyone in the theater command on the bridge responded excitedly.

"Uh......h Woo......"

The No. 1 landing ship sounded the alarm, and then all the warships remembered the piercing hum, and the officers and men of the Far East on the warships all began to nervously start preparations when they heard the siren, and the entire fleet suddenly became busy.

"Commander, the Kolkata trading stronghold has been contacted, and they have launched an offensive to take control of both banks of the Hooghly River and the mouth of the Bay of Bengal on the Hooghly River."

Qiao Haipeng nodded, turned to Lin Hua behind him and said in a deep voice: "Lin Hua, let's start......"

With Qiao Haipeng's order, the Far Eastern Army's Eastern Route Army in the Indian Theater finally launched an attack. The three landing ships were the first to start, and at the fastest speed, rushed into the mouth of the Hooghly River. This was followed by a large fleet of river steam-deck barges, countless barges that came to the shores of Kolkata like a long dragon.

Three landing ships successfully stormed the river beach near Kolkata, opened the front tongue door and unloaded six BTR-60 armored transport vehicles, thirty KAMAZ six-wheeled trucks, and several fuel tankers.

A large number of river deck barges also docked, carrying more than 40 UAZ-469 jeeps and UAZ-452 light off-road vehicles, as well as a large number of 75-mm mountain guns, 70-mm infantry guns, 12 2B11 120-mm mortars, 32 2B14 82-mm mortars and two 105-mm recoilless gun carriages.

In addition, there are more than a dozen fire support river steam deck barges, each loaded with four 105 mm assault guns or six 107 mm 24-tube rocket launchers, as support fire for troops along the river waterway. (To be continued.) )