Mumbai began as an archipelago of seven small islands, known as the 'Seven Islands of Mumbai'. The earliest written dates back to 250 BC. The ancient Greeks called it Haibodaechia.

The Portuguese acquired these islands in the 16th century from Gujarat Sultan Bahadur 61 Sha. They then gave it as a dowry to the then King Charles II of England in the 17th century. Charles II's father, Charles I, lost his head in the civil war, and his successor, His Majesty King Charles II, lost a lot of power. The king also had the ingenuity of leasing his wife's dowry to the increasingly powerful East India Company at a low rent of £10 a year.

The East India Company colonizers had a lot of money, and soon after acquiring the islands, they built a deep-water port on the east coast as their first port of call on the subcontinent. The city's population also grew rapidly from 10,000 in 1661 to 60,000 in 1675.

As Bombay prospered, the East India Company simply moved its headquarters from Surat to Bombay as a base from which to colonize Asia. With the great colonial situation in the world, the business of the owner, the East India Company, was also booming. Unfortunately, Mumbai's narrow and crowded terrain has gradually made it unable to keep up with the rapid development. For this, the British were quite dissatisfied. After several trade-offs, land reclamation began.

Inspired by the leather whip and bayonet, the Indian locals showed excellent performance of hard work and overtime, and since the wind and rain and the sun could not stop the British colonial foremen, they could not stop the pace of Indian laborers. Hunger, disease, and even death have not stopped humanity's ambition to transform nature. Local Indian laborers are alive and buried in the ground of the construction site as their final contribution to land reclamation.

Mumbai, which was merged into a large chunk, skyrocketed several times in size to 438 square kilometers. And with the opening of India's first passenger railway line, the Railroad between Mumbai and Tana, in 1853, and the Civil War in the United States. At one time, Mumbai became the world's premier cotton trading market, and its economy boomed like never before. By the time the Suez Canal was opened in 1869, it was blessed with thriving ocean-going trade and excellent geographical conditions. As a result, Mumbai's status as a city has become one of the largest seaports on the Arabian Sea. This was followed by another thirty years of development. to grow it into a major central city. The thriving trading economy also stimulated the improvement of the city's infrastructure and the construction of many buildings. The population has swelled to 800,000, making it the second largest in India, after Kolkata.

Bombay in 1881 was the first port in the Indian Ocean. Asian products, whether they are Chinese porcelain and tea, Japanese raw silk, or Indian cotton, all have to be transited here. It then travels across the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea to distant Europe. Had it not been for the war between Britain and China, which cut off trade routes, European products would have to be transported to Asia through this route and distributed, thus bringing huge profits to the Western colonizers.

Vice Admiral Ding Ruchang led all the elite warships of the Chinese Navy to fill up the coal burning at the port of Galle, and then set sail north. Chinese merchant ships once came to Bombay, and many of the sailors at that time were navy men. Now they are back in the Navy and are involved in navigation.

Along the way, the Chinese warship maintained a speed of 12 knots. The performance of the steam turbine is very satisfactory to the navy, the structure of the three-rise steam engine is much more complex than the steam turbine, the blades of the steam turbine only need to withstand the steam blowing, and the change in material resources is only thermal expansion, which is not even a small problem for the current metallurgical technology. The problem is the large marine gearboxes that transmit power. The gearbox could not help the genius Governor of Wei Ze, so the loyalty of the Liberation Army to Wei Ze was incomparable. Disrespecting the ancestor is a killable category in Chinese tradition, not to mention that the living ancestor is still the emperor.

Lieutenant General Ding Ruchang received an order to bombard Mumbai, and the attack on civilian facilities was the first time in the history of the Liberation Army. At this time, the radio was followed by the Chinese family, and the ionosphere only used a very limited number of radio wave signals, so the naval command still had plenty of spare time to pass on the words of Governor Wei Zedu "learning from the good example of Britain" to Ding Ruchang.

The command of the Indian Ocean Fleet, having comprehended the spirit of Governor Vizedu, presented the results of its own comprehension. The idea of the navy is relatively simple, if China completely destroys the ports of the British mainland, the British will surrender. Now that the bombardment of Indian ports has no effect on the British mainland, does this force Britain to surrender? The biggest possibility is to make the British angry and run to a decisive battle with China faster. It would be a good thing to have an early decisive battle with the British.

During the five-day voyage, the fleet complied with the order and sailed high under the French flag. It was not until outside the port of Mumbai that the French flag was lowered and the Chinese flag was raised.

The first to pounce was the cruiser, which did not care about the high speed of the voyage and consumed a lot of coal, and killed the port of Mumbai as fast as it could, which had not yet reacted. The first to bear the brunt were three wooden-hulled sailing boats, and it was not known what was being carried inside. What is certain is that the mast is hung with a British flag. The cruisers that stormed the harbor had slowed down and at a distance of 1,000 meters, bombarded merchant ships with direct fire.

The blaster roared out, and within two seconds it was in close contact with the merchant ship. The violent explosion blew away half of the wooden shell. The sea rushed through the rushing open opening, and in less than three minutes the ship sank. Not even looking at their own results, the cruiser continued to advance into the harbor, opening fire on one side and at the other the ships that stood in its way. Battleships and heavy cruisers followed, advancing into the harbor.

The most striking building in the Port of Mumbai is not the customs house inside the port, but the warehouses one after the other. The 300 and 260 guns fired mercilessly at the warehouses. At the current level of shelling by the Chinese Navy, the warehouses were hit one after another, and the high temperature ignited the cotton in an instant, and the warehouse area turned into a sea of fire in an instant.

The cruisers opened heavy fire on the moored ships, sawdust fluttered, and pieces of iron flew sideways, and even if they were not immediately sunk, the ships were severely damaged, and for several months they were completely incapacitated. The British already knew of the destruction of the Indian Ocean Fleet in Colombo, but Colombo continued to fight. Telegrams were constantly sent to the British Indian authorities via submarine cables, and according to the normal mode of operations, the Chinese navy should cooperate with the army to capture the port of Colombo, rather than suddenly appear in Mumbai.

Of course, Britain has a lot of naval experience. There was also news of the disappearance of the Chinese naval fleet in the news coming from Colombo. Britain also took into account the possibility of a Chinese naval strike on India's southern ports. But according to the calculation of the speed of 10 knots, it is impossible for the Chinese Navy to appear in Mumbai. However, the impossible happened, and the Chinese navy not only came, but also shelled Mumbai.

The British warships outside the harbor finally set sail and met the Chinese cruiser formation head-on. These eight cruisers are all high-quality warships selected from 24, and all have been modified at this time. The steel and wrought iron armor was replaced with nickel-cadmium carburized armor, which was more expensive than gold, and although the armor thickness was only 150 mm, the defense capability was exactly the same as the previous 300 mm steel armor. With such armor, the cruiser ignored the 200-mm guns of the British Navy and leaned directly into it and began to attack. The upper echelons of the British warships were instantly turned into a sea of fire in front of the 150 rapid-fire guns, and the commander, who had participated in the naval battle a few years ago, knew the power of the Chinese 150 guns, and the other British warships that had not yet been injured had to avoid the sharp edge of the Chinese navy.

The vast ocean trade keeps Mumbai busy almost all year round. The large and small merchant ships coming and going from the south to the north make the nearby sea area a little crowded. The black smoke emitted by the steamships obscured the sky, enveloping the entire harbor in a gray fog. Although it's October, Mumbai, on the edge of the equator, doesn't feel the cold at all. The intense sunlight that shines through the soot can even make people burn. Coupled with the humidity of the port city, the whole of Mumbai is like a giant steamer.

After the bombardment, Mumbai was even hotter, with thick smoke billowing from the burning port warehouses, flames rising, and the huge burning even temporarily changed the direction of the wind, causing a scorching smoke to blow from the land to the port. The Liberation Army and Navy could even feel the heat of the wind.

"Retreat!" Ding Ruchang was not excited by the victory, the burning city made Lieutenant General Ding Ruchang's face very ugly, even the heat coming from the window did not make the chill on his face melt in the slightest. The burning port of Mumbai has been destroyed, and the battle objective has been achieved. But what Lieutenant General Ding Ruchang thought of was not the glory of victory and the rewards and promotions that glory brings. It wasn't that he didn't want this, but the tragic outcome of the war made the lieutenant general feel fearful in his heart.

Now it was Britain who was defeated, so Britain suffered such heavy losses in India and even in Mumbai, the most important port city in the Indian Ocean. If the defeated side is China, then what kind of splendor and destruction will China's rich and beautiful coastal cities be?

The war of the navy is not a warship on both sides, and the fighters who operate the warship come to a brutal battle. The battle was brutal, even so cruel that it had a bit of beauty. Ten days ago, the British Indian Ocean Fleet had fought a heroic battle before it slowly sank under the surface of the sea under a clear sky, and some small warships with ramming angles even decisively chose to ram Chinese warships when they had no chance of winning. Then it was torn apart by concentrated fire and sank into the sea. For such a heroic style and action, Lieutenant General Ding Ruchang has sincere admiration.

But the navy is not the only one who fights, and the battle that is taking place in front of them is a one-sided slaughter. And as long as the navy exists, this form of slaughter is inevitable. Even though he had little mercy for foreigners in enemy countries, Lieutenant General Ding Ruchang had to consider how to save China from such a tragic fate.

Before leaving, the lieutenant general actually had a lot of scorn in his heart about what Governor Visé said, "learn from the British how to rule the world". What is there to learn about the UK? Now he had some idea of what he was going to learn. The port of Mumbai has amassed a vast amount of wealth, which has been accumulated by the hard work of countless people. It takes years to accumulate this wealth, and it takes only a few hours to destroy it.

The lieutenant general's order was quickly carried out, and with one blow, the goal was achieved, the Chinese warships did not stop, and the cruisers pursued the British navy. The unlucky ones were beaten into torches, and the lucky warships escaped the attack of the Chinese navy. The Chinese warships did not exhaustively pursue either. The fleet reversed, left the burning port of Mumbai behind, and sailed away from the harbor bay, which was littered with wrecked and broken ships.

In the few that had time to watch the Chinese navy ships, the Chinese warships headed southwest at alarming speeds, quickly disappearing below sea level.

When the news of the shelling of Mumbai and the heavy damage to the port reached London, the Admiralty of the British Empire was in a hurry. The Eight Monarchy-class battleships have been launched and can also be put into war. A powerful fleet that is enough to destroy any navy in Europe did not destroy the confidence of the Chinese Navy. In addition, whether to start construction of 8 more battleships has also become the subject of discussion in the British Parliament.

In the second half of 1879, Britain experienced an economic crisis. The construction of eight battleships was preceded by a collapse in British steel prices. The construction of new battleships requires not only these tens of thousands of tons of steel, but also a lot of industries. Thanks to this stimulus, Britain barely survived the beginning of the financial crisis. In the second half of 1880, the financial crisis again showed signs of intensifying. At this time, the United States began to build railways again, and imported a large amount of steel from Britain. The financial crisis, which could not be avoided in the eyes of the United Kingdom, turned out to be so dangerous.

Britain has always believed that China's system is very effective in dealing with economic crises, and that state-led economic development can ignore the implementation of investment in profits. A large part of the content of Chinese newspapers is to announce how many railways will be opened this year, how many counties will be connected to trains, how many routes will be opened next year, and how many transportation services will be provided. If Britain does the same, many joint-stock companies will have to go public to make money, or within a few years, the news of the collapse of a large number of joint-stock companies will come. And all companies in China are state-owned, and with the support of the state's major shareholders, it is not a problem for companies to lose money and operate.

Infrastructure drives economic development, which is no longer news in Europe. There has been a lot of research on the various monopoly systems that emerged in the 70s, and the results are that as long as you can survive this period of losing money, by the next stage of economic prosperity, all the money can be earned, but the overall profit is very low.

After the completion of the construction of the eight Sovereign-class battleships, a lot of experience was accumulated, and there were many good ideas for the design of the new generation of battleships. Britain is considering whether to take advantage of this opportunity to build eight more next-generation battleships. That's when the odds of winning a war with China will become greater.

Upon learning of the annihilation of the British Indian Ocean Fleet, the British Admiralty knew that wishful thinking had failed and that the British Grand Fleet had to attack. If the Chinese Navy can win this time, it is better to say, if the Royal Navy is defeated, then the shipbuilding plan will be completely shelved in the short term. Until battleships capable of outperforming the Chinese Navy were designed, the British Royal Navy's shipbuilding would be greatly affected.

The Admiralty had wanted to consider whether to wait for the allocation of new warships to be confirmed, but after the Chinese warships shelled Bombay, the Admiralty knew that there was no longer any possibility of waiting. The goal of the British Royal Navy is not to destroy the Chinese navy, but to protect India, Britain's most important colony. India has an area of just over 2 million square kilometers, which is not the largest of the many British colonies. But there are hundreds of millions of Indians living on more than 2 million square kilometers of land, and these people produce and live. The former supplies products to the UK, while the latter buys products from the British.

The British colonial government took root in the huge market of these hundreds of millions of people, and desperately sucked profits from these hundreds of millions of people. The economic interests of the Indian colonies fed the British blood vessels. This is the greatest value of India's existence, and it is also the real reason why Britain must not lose India.