In the war room of the former enemy headquarters of the British Indian Army, there was a cacophony of telephone ringing. As early as January this year, www.biquge.info communications unit directly under the British Indian Army had laid a complete wired telephone and telegraph network on the East Bengal front. All the line pairs are aggregated to Dhaka Barra. Katla Palace. Through these lines, Hemming's command could get the latest news in a timely manner, issue orders, and contact the whole army. As soon as the guns rang out from the front line, Will. Heming sat in a circle chair in the middle of the war room, listening to the staff officers constantly report on the progress of the front. Hemming's tactics of bunkers and ring defensive strongholds seem to have been successful, and the Gurkha soldiers hired from Nepal were worth the money, withstanding the onslaught of the Chinese army!

By midnight that day, Chief of Staff Evelyn . Wood walked over to Will with a look of joy on his face. In front of Haiming, there were a few hearty laughs without speaking: "We blocked the Chinese!" They suffered heavy casualties! The Mekna River is full of Chinese corpses, and the beaches are full of Chinese dead, at least 8,000 people have been killed, and more than 4,000 are seriously wounded. Now the Chinese have stopped their attacks and seem to be preparing to withdraw to the east bank of the Mekna River. Your Excellency, a great victory! ”

"A big victory?" Will. Heming shook his head and said half-jokingly, "Even if the number reported below is not a little watery, it is just that 12,000 Chinese have been eliminated, and there are still 749,988,000 Chinese...... Evelyn, it's far from the time of high school to read novels! ”

"Admiral...... It is impossible to kill all the 700 million armed Chinese, because before that the men of England will be consumed by the losses of the war. "Evelyn. The joy on Wood's face suddenly vanished.

The British Empire was indeed fighting a war that could not be won. Only a real idiot would believe that Britain could win. Anyone who is a little smarter knows it. Britain just wanted to keep as much of their wealth as they could – the wealth that the British had stolen from others in their early years. It's unrealistic to want to save everything. Those close to the top know that Australia and Western Canada have already been on the blacklist that they are ready to abandon early on. Now Australia's upper white people are busy retreating, while the lower white and yellow people are told that the eldest son of the Ming Emperor, Zhu Guojie, and the British princess Helena will be their monarchs in the future...... This is an outcome acceptable to "all", so everyone should live in harmony and wait quietly for peace to come, as if this world war had nothing to do with Australia.

But India is a treasure that must be defended! It was the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, with rich agriculture, an industrious and large population, and a relatively large number of resources. This made India the source of the wealth of the current British Empire. If the British-American Empire represented the future of the British Empire, the British Indian Empire represented the present of the British Empire. Without the wealth of the present, can there be a future revival?

So to keep India and the east coast of the North American continent was to preserve the hope of the future revival of the British Empire, and at the same time to save the draw of the world war. But it's such a task, and it seems like it's going to be difficult to accomplish right now! Not only because the Ming Empire had the most powerful army in the world, but also because the Ming Royal Navy was just as powerful and getting stronger. China's heavy industry construction has now passed its initial stage, and there are sufficient talents, capital, raw materials, and technology, and many large steel, coal, and railway complexes have already been put into operation or will be put into operation, and in the next five to 10 years, China's heavy industry production capacity is very likely to exceed that of the whole of Europe -- although China does not lack the conditions for developing heavy industry. But it doesn't mean that it doesn't take time to build, not only because it takes time to open mines, build factories, build roads, and train technicians themselves. Also because heavy industry construction itself is very steel-intensive. When steel production is insufficient, heavy industry can only develop slowly, and when the output of raw materials such as steel reaches a certain level, the development will be faster and faster. China now has a relatively large amount of steel production.

According to the information provided by the French, in 1875, under the dual stimulation of a large number of new production capacity and the demand for war, China's steel output has exceeded 2.8 million tons (5.5 million tons of iron), surpassing the 2.5 million tons of steel and 4.8 million tons of iron combined by Britain and the United States! Coal production has exceeded 150 million tons, which is also more than the United Kingdom and the United States combined! In 1876, China's steel production will reach a higher level, at least 3.3 million tons of steel and 6.2 million tons of iron! Coal production will reach more than 180 million tons.

Moreover, these data only represent the strength of heavy industry in the Ming Dynasty, and do not count Xihua and Donghua, whose industrial strength is also not weak, - Xihua has rich reserves of iron ore and coal mines, so the heavy industry developed rapidly, and large factories were put into operation in 1874 and 1875; Donghua is rich in coal resources and capital, and the speed of industrial development is also amazing. The sum of the coal and iron output of the two countries is estimated to reach more than 10% of the Ming Dynasty. According to British intelligence estimates, there are 15 million tons of coal, 300,000 tons of steel and 600,000 tons of iron.

In addition, the shipbuilding industry of the Ming Dynasty has been developing rapidly, driven by the demand for the "coolie trade" in the Pacific and South Seas, and has long surpassed the sum of Britain and the United States in terms of output. So in the foreseeable future, Daming will build ironclad ships in batches like dumplings...... Moreover, the Chinese can use more than 90% of their naval combat power in the South Seas, but the British can send up to 60% of their navy to the East. The difference in strength between the British Eastern Fleet and the Ming South Sea Fleet, over time, will undergo a radical reversal. If Britain wants to keep India, it must inflict heavy damage on the Ming Nanyang Fleet before this reversal happens!

Will. Hemming now wanted to take advantage of India's land operations to force the Ming Nanyang Fleet to fight a decisive battle with the British Eastern Fleet in the Strait of Malacca without being fully prepared.

"Where are the Queen's Guards Dragoons, Bengal Cavalry Corps, and Probiskh Cavalry Corps?" Will. Heming finished listening to Evelyn. Wood's report, and whispered about the location of the three cavalry units.

These three cavalry were the main force of the cavalry of the British Indian Army, of which the Queen's Guards Dragoon Division was a white unit with more than 3,000 men and 36 cannons. The Bengal Cavalry Corps was the elite of the Indian Army, consisting of four Bengal light cavalry divisions and the Governor's Cavalry Guards, as well as a white cavalry regiment with 12,000 officers and 84 artillery pieces. The Probisikh cavalry corps was naturally composed of Sikhs and had 15,000 officers and 60 cannons. These three divisions now form a Scott cavalry group, which was formed by John Brown, who had participated in the war against Russia. Under the command of Major General Scott, Asdoglam has been lurking on the north bank of the Sulma River. When the Chinese army arrived on the east bank of the Mekna River and began to build a starting position for the attack, Will. Hemming ordered this cavalry group to move southeast to block the retreat of the Chinese army.

"We have crossed the Surma River and are heading towards Hobi Ganj, and we expect to be able to reoccupy it tonight." Evelyn. "But it is impossible to hold back the Chinese army with 30,000 cavalry and cavalry infantry...... General Scott couldn't do it. Moreover, the Chinese army will not necessarily withdraw to the northeast, and it is entirely possible that they will move south to Chittagong. Admiral, our forces in Chittagong are very thin, and we are almost unable to stop the onslaught of the Chinese army. ”

"No, they won't be going to Chittagong." Will. Hai Ming said, "Zhu Guowei will first consider retreating to Assam, because Assam was defeated by him, as long as Assam is kept, his position in front of Zhu Jishi will be guaranteed." If Assam is lost, and then we counterattack into Burma, even if Chittagong is taken, it will be difficult for his Dali king to keep it...... That old friend of mine had more than 80 sons, but there were no 80 kingdoms for them to inherit!

As for the question of whether Major General Scott can block Zhu Guowei, I am not worried, because Zhu Guowei does not know how many people Major General Scott has in his hands, Scott's white cavalry can completely cover the battlefield, and King Dali, who has suffered hardship, will not dare to take risks again. When the time comes, he will definitely choose to turn north and retreat towards the Brahmaputra Valley. (To be continued......)