As Emperor Chongzhen himself said, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Dongwu have inconvenient transportation, even if they have been vigorously developing infrastructure in recent years, but because of the limitations of the times, the progress is limited. Moreover, these provinces are not yet grain-producing provinces, and their own grain needs to be supported by other places. If the army goes from this side, logistics will definitely be a big problem.

In addition, Emperor Chongzhen learned about the general situation of the battle on Dongwu's side from the eavesdropping system, that is, the invading army of the Mughal Empire had retreated back on its own and defended in Bengal; Zhang Huangyan gathered heavy troops on his side and rushed to the border. With his steady and prudent character, it was impossible to enter Bengal on a large scale until he received his will. The situation here is likely to be a stalemate for a while.

Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen decided to make a detour from the west. There are several benefits to doing so.

First of all, in terms of railway infrastructure, because it was to support the Tianshan Mountains before, it is a key section of the road. Except for some due to the topography of the terrain, it is temporarily impossible to turn the moat into a thoroughfare, many places have opened railways. The army marched westward, and it was possible to travel by train.

Secondly, on the side of the Tianshan Mountains, Hong Chengchou has already wiped out several small countries around him. Although there was no clear boundary line, the range that the Ming army could control at this time was already very large. Emperor Chongzhen decided to follow the route of the founding emperor of the Mughal Empire to invade India, enter India from the Central Asian plateau, and directly threaten the ruling center of the Mughal Empire, that is, the Delhi region.

The advantage of this is that the first is that the two places of Mumbai and Dongwu should end the war in the middle of the country in a short time, which will definitely attract the attention of the Mughal Empire and disperse their forces. In addition, from the Tianshan Mountains, the logistics is like a nomad, in addition to transporting a part of the grain with them, you can also drive cattle and sheep for military food, which is an advantage that other routes do not have.

The last reason is that if you launch an offensive against the Mughal Empire from here, the Mughal Empire will definitely not think of it.

It was because of these reasons that Emperor Chongzhen decided to go west to enter the Tianshan Mountains first, converge with Hong Chengchou's side, and then mobilize the cavalry here, so that the total strength of the cavalry army could reach about 30,000. In terms of troops, the mobility is high, and the number of troops should be sufficient.

Also, when Emperor Chongzhen set out, he did not forget a foreshadowing laid for the Mughal Empire in advance. When he set out, he sent a messenger to Tibet to send a message to Gushi Khan, asking his army that had been assembled on the border of Tibet to go south to the territory of the Mughal Empire, not asking for a siege, but to play a role in containing and attracting the Mughal Empire.

………………

Speaking of Mumbai, on this day, the warships of the British colonists finally appeared. Not to mention, this time the British colonists really made a bloody investment. More than fifty battleships alone came, almost all of their strength in this part of the East.

The fleet of sail warships, which appeared in a mighty way, spread out on the sea, provocatively approached Mumbai, trying to meet the Ming navy out for a decisive battle.

However, Li Dingguo is not a person without experience in war, how could he be fooled and did not let a warship go out at all.

Seeing this, the British colonists did not attack immediately, so they docked on the shore and went to join the Mughal army first.

Darashiko was actually a little impatient to wait, and when he first came, he was hit by the Ming army, which made him lose face, and he was in a hurry to destroy the Ming army in Mumbai in order to save his face.

Therefore, as soon as he saw Max, the governor of the Far East of the British colonists, he blackened his face and urged Max to attack immediately, destroy the Ming army, or drive the Ming army to the land.

When Max heard this, of course, he would not independently undertake the task of attacking Mumbai, so he said to Darashiko: "Your Royal Highness, I believe you should also see that the Ming army in Mumbai is heavily guarded, and their coastal defense artillery is built everywhere. If only our army had attacked Bombay, I am afraid that the losses would have been very large, and it would have been difficult for me to explain to my men. What do you think of this? At the same time as I attacked Bombay, I sent ships to transport your army to land, so that under the attack of sea and land, I will be able to easily defeat Mumbai and destroy the Ming army, what do you think? ”

Hearing this, Darashiko agreed without hesitation, and when he arranged his men, he prepared to attack as Max said.

For him, there was no need to take this opportunity to consume the strength of the British, so that both the British and the Ming army would be defeated. His purpose is to destroy the Ming army as soon as possible, so that he can go back as soon as possible to give Shah Jahan an explanation.

As a result, the British colonists did not even have a chance to rest and drink, and Darashiko drove the infantry of the Mughal Empire onto the ship to prepare for war.

For all this, Li Dingguo could see clearly through the telescope, and he just sneered at this. After such a long time of preparation, if you don't even think of the enemy's way of attacking the island, and don't make preparations, it will be really stupid.

Therefore, the military orders from his side were handed down accordingly, and then he waited for the enemy's attack.

About an hour or so later, the British colonists loaded up about 1,000 Mughal infantry troops and began their first attack.

The British fleet surrounded Bombay from all sides, not caring that there would be fewer warships in any direction than the number of Ming warships, so they began to attack with such a swagger.

"Boom, boom, boom......" The British battleship faced the island with its side, approached on its side, and fired its guns at the same time, with a sound boom in all directions.

Iron bullets roared and smashed into the seven islands of Mumbai, smashing many flowers and plants on the islands.

However, there was no movement on the side of the Ming army, and the British battleships were allowed to open fire, as if there was no one on the island.

As a result, the British battleships slowly got closer and closer to the island. Even the ships transporting troops were also approaching, but they were not attacked by the Ming army on the island.

When Darashiko saw it, he couldn't help laughing and said: "See, the British are more powerful after all, and those Ming people are so frightened that they don't dare to fight back." It seems that before sunset, this king is afraid that he will be able to go to the island to have a look! ”

"This is thanks to the prestige of His Highness, which frightened the Ming army first and scared their courage!" When the local governor standing beside him heard this, he immediately sent it to the court to curry favor with the future emperor.

However, Max of the British fleet did not see it that way, and the Ming army did not move, which made him worry, and he kept observing the Ming army on the island with a telescope.

In fact, he knew very well in his heart that although the shelling of the warships at sea sounded lively, in fact, the damage to the Ming troops on the shore was very limited. Not only did the battleships fluctuate and the artillery could not be accurate, but the enemy's fortifications on the shore were also well repaired, so they could not pose a threat to the shore defense batteries at all. The Ming army did not open fire, and some inconspicuous coastal fortifications were not exposed. All of these made him feel bottomless.

If the fleet was approaching so vigorously, the Ming army on the island would fight back, and both sides would open fire, and the fighting would be vigorous, which would make him feel a lot more at ease.

Slowly, closer, closer.

The warships in several other directions could stop, not dare to lean any further, and continue to probe, but the five battleships loaded with the Mughal Empire's infantry had to continue to approach.

Seeing that the island was getting closer and closer, the Mughal soldiers on the battleship shouted excitedly. In their opinion, the Ming army has been shrinking on the island and no longer dares to go ashore, which is a manifestation of incompetence. What else can the Ming army do besides a sneak attack? If you have the ability to fight, fight head-on, who is afraid of whom!

When the battleship was only about ten feet away from the island, the infantry were ready to land with their weapons in hand, but the British fleet was even more nervous. The surrounding warships also approached, firing their artillery fire at the predetermined area of the island to cover the warships that were getting closer and closer.

Several places where the Ming army flags were planted were hit by shells, but the Ming army still did not return fire, as if there was no one on the island at all.

It's close, it's close, it's finally here.

No matter how worried they were, the British battleship loaded with the Mughal infantry finally came to the shore, but they did not dare to run aground directly, but just urged the Mughal infantry to get off the ship quickly.

One by one, the small boats were put down, and the Mughal infantry had to land on the shore in small boats first, otherwise, if they jumped directly, the sea was still very deep, and these landlubbers who could not swim would drown directly.

But even so, these landlubbers didn't feel much about sitting on a big battleship, but under the background music of "boom, boom, boom", sitting on a rickety boat, they were suddenly frightened one by one, and they clung to the side of the ship, for fear of falling.

Of course, it is not that there are no unlucky people who make mistakes and fall off the boat at this tense time, which leads to the accomplices to rush to save people.

In short, from the warship to the small boat attacking the island, it can be said that there will be chaos as much as possible.

This scene made the British on the troop transport ship angry, but there was no way, they had to send these landlubbers there, otherwise, would they have to attack themselves?

Just when they were in a hurry, suddenly, the sound of "boom boom" sounded on the island, and the Ming army finally fired back.

Max, who had been using binoculars to pay attention to the battle situation here, suddenly found that there were several conspicuous coastal defense guns, which turned out to be fake, because there was no return fire at all, but in several unexpected places, the Ming artillery was roaring.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

It was only the first round of shelling, and I saw that the few British battleships that stopped became live targets, either the mast or the armor was pierced, the sawdust flew wildly, and the mast collapsed.

Max gasped when he saw it, how could the Ming army fight so accurately? Shouldn't it?

In his impression, the level of artillery of all the eastern enemies encountered was really average, far inferior to that of the British. But, for now, why did the artillery of the Ming army fight about the same as their British?

It's miserable, it's miserable!