"Mr. Governor, if the enemy forces blockade the mouth of the Ganges, and the fleet that captured Madras, is as powerful as the one that captured Madras, it will be very difficult to hold these two fleets rushing into the port of Calcutta to attack the city of Calcutta and William's Castle! The fortifications of Madras and Fort St. George were much stronger than those of Calcutta. Calcutta is now only because there are many troops, but these are land soldiers, and most of them are infantry, and no amount of rifles can compete with the artillery of warships. Campbell could only reply helplessly: "Moreover, Robert was right just now, even if there are a lot of artillery guns in the city of Calcutta, there is no point!" The key problem now is that the range of the opponent's artillery is longer than that of the most advanced artillery in Great Britain and Europe, and the caliber and number of artillery are large and unstoppable. As we all know, Napoleon, the emperor of the French Empire, was once called the god of war because of the large-scale use of artillery. ”

"The opposing fleet can move and calmly adjust the distance of shooting at our batteries, moreover, they have a much longer range than our old guns in Calcutta, and this advantage in range is almost fatal and irreparable. Unless we can quickly build a few castles, stronger than Fort St. George, to defend Calcutta, even if the artillery is not long enough to crush the enemy, at least we can consume a lot of enemy shells and delay the enemy's offensive firepower. ”

After listening to Campbell's explanation, Canning was disheartened and a little desperate, but when he heard the last sentence, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he suddenly had an idea.

Since it can't withstand the firepower of the opposing fleet, the other side can only think of other ways. Undoubtedly, delay is a good way, since the opponent's firepower is fierce, the consumption of ammunition must be severe, and the supply may not be able to be supplied. Moreover, as long as it delayed for a while, London would certainly send reinforcements to support it when it received news of its own distress or news of the Chinese Empire's declaration of war on Great Britain.

Therefore, Canning said categorically: "Calcutta cannot be abandoned, but it cannot hold back the fire of the enemy's fleet, nor can it be defended to the death." Therefore, I decided to take two scenarios and do them at the same time.

The first is to send emissaries to negotiate peace with the Bengali rebels, as long as they can withdraw their troops, or even persuade them to drive the Burmese army away, and offer to promise them to help them establish Bangladesh, of course, as much as possible so that Bangladesh still nominally belongs to the territory of the Kingdom of Great Britain. It really doesn't work, and any conditions they put forward can be agreed.

Second, send people to pretend to sue for peace with the commander of the Chinese Imperial Fleet who is attacking this time, stabilize them first, and negotiate with them to delay time.

Finally, after reconciling the ceasefire with the Bengali rebels, 40,000 troops were sent to attack the Burmese army, crushing it, looting some strategic supplies, and boosting morale and terrorizing the Bengalis. If some of the Bengali rebels were unwilling to cease fighting, they would have routed the Chinese Imperial Army before they came. In addition, how to avoid the range of enemy warship fire, whether to evacuate the streets and alleys of Calcutta within three kilometers of the Ganges, General Campbell, you should think about it immediately. At the same time, we should hurry up the construction of fortifications in the area east of the city of Calcutta, and even if the west of the city of Calcutta is broken by the enemy fleet, we must be able to resist the attack of the enemy infantry with the fortifications on the east side of the city, and at the same time take back Calcutta with infantry and artillery.

Specific strategy, General Campbell, you make it. I just want results. ”

Campbell and Robert Napierton understood Canning's thoughts, and indeed, in this case, it could only be so. Still, Campbell asked, "If so, Mr. Governor, I mean, if Calcutta can't hold and can't get it back, where are we to take our troops?" ”

Canning was silent. He actually wanted to say that even if he wanted to die, he would die in the city of Calcutta, but he couldn't say anything, Kolkata had been lost once four years ago, and it was also captured by a group of Bangladeshi rebels, and then it was plundered by the inexplicable Burmese army, and at that time he fled to the warship in a panic, and now although the defenders of Kolkata are much more than last time, but the foreign enemy is also stronger, the situation is actually more severe, and it is impossible for him to even want to escape to the warship.

.......

A few days later, at the mouth of the Ganges (Hoogre), a tributary of the Ganges River downstream from Kolkata, on an island known to the indigenous people as Diamond Island, there was a simple wharf, where several warships and transport ships were docked, and thousands of sailors and men were busy up and down.

It was the Chinese Empire's Indian army that carried logistical supplies such as grain, firewood, coal, and ammunition from transport ships to warships.

And there was a temporary gazebo set up next to the pier, and Wei Jun and Tan Tiyuan sat in the gazebo, chatting while watching their subordinates busy.

"Brother, the Indian governor of Yingyi sent a letter asking for peace, saying that he was willing to surrender to our Chinese Empire on behalf of Yingyi." Tan Tiyuan held a somewhat crooked letter in Chinese characters in his hand, but the signature was a string of ghost-like English and foreign characters, and handed it to Wei Jun in front of him: "In this battle, Your Majesty opened Chrysostom, everything is based on the elder brother, and I also ask the elder brother to have an idea." ”

Wei Jun quickly swept the letter and said, "Brother Tiyuan, judging from this letter alone, this Governor of Canning in Yingyi is not sincere at all, and he is full of random promises, obviously trying to delay time. According to the meaning of the brother, he didn't need to pay attention to it at all, and directly detained the messenger who sent the letter, as if it had never been such a thing. Now that our Indian Ocean Fleet and your South Ocean Fleet have joined up, and the 3rd and 6th Infantry Divisions of the Six Fields have arrived, and after replenishing some of the ammunition of our fleet, they will directly send troops and go up the river to attack Calcutta. ”

Tan Tiyuan nodded and said, "It's still my brother who can see it thoroughly!" In this way, these British must have some kind of plan in it. However, we can also pretend to say yes. But after quietly contacting the Bengali rebels and the Burmese army behind the scenes, and sending troops together to attract the British, our two infantry divisions could attack from the southwest of Calcutta with the artillery support of both fleets. ”

"It doesn't have to be so much trouble! With these Yingyi, there is nothing to talk about, and there is no need to even do superficial articles. They signed the "Sino-British Trade Agreement" with the Chinese Empire, but they tore up the agreement and invaded the Chinese Empire several times. What's more, this time I estimated that His Majesty wanted to completely drive the Yingyi people out of India, and then cultivate local forces close to China to fight for the interests of our China. If we can fully accept the interests of Yingyi in India, the national strength ratio of our Chinese empire will definitely rise to a higher level! Therefore, there is no need to give them the truth, just detain the messenger or even kill it quietly. Wei Jun was so fierce at the moment that he couldn't even see his usual appearance at all.

Tan Tiyuan realized at this moment why the emperor would let Wei Jun, who had just been promoted to the Indian Ocean Fleet, take the lead in presiding over the war in India, which was really ruthless and decisive.

"Okay, I'll listen to my brother! When the ammunition and two infantry divisions are in place, they will go directly to Calcutta! ”