Kolkata City. The Governor-General's Palace in India under the British East India Company was located in this city.

The entire East India Company had three districts in the Hindustan region, the Bengal Jurisdiction, the Madras Jurisdiction and the Mumbai Jurisdiction. The largest and most important is the Bangladeshi jurisdiction.

This Kolkata, located in West Bengal, became the seat of the Governorate of the Bengal Governorate and the seat of the Viceroy of India. The Bangladesh Territory includes not only East and West Bengal, but also Assam, Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Myanmar, and even the Straits Settlements.

Fort William in the city of Kolkata.

Inspector Sulse, the Indian Governor of the East India Company? Canning and five or six directors of the East India Company got together to discuss the situation urgently.

"Mr. Governor, we can't sit still in this Fort William! You are the chief director of the entire East India Company, and if you want to make up your mind, we will listen to you. A balding British merchant-like director of the East India Company said eagerly.

"Yes, Mr. Governor, you have a solution. The Burmese soldiers have already attacked, and they have captured Chittagong a few days ago, and now they are afraid that the Dhaka area will not be able to protect it. It is said that the number of troops has reached more than 50,000 and is extremely fierce, and now we in Calcutta do not know how many troops? Can you resist it? Another director was also anxious.

Inspector General of India? Canning said confidently: "Mr. Director, I am as anxious as you are. There are more than 4,000 troops in the Dhaka area, and as early as when the Burmese natives attacked Chittagong, I had already ordered Henry and them to stop attacking Burma, return to Bengal, and rescue Chittagong. It should be time to save Darka!

However, now there were only 12,000 soldiers in the entire city of Calcutta, and in order to prevent a rebellion in the city of Calcutta, it was necessary to guard it with heavy troops, and no more troops could be sent out. Fortunately, there were another 10,000 local Bengali mercenary soldiers, although they had been disbanded in advance for fear of their rebellion, but they could be summoned again at once, and they should be able to increase the number of troops by another three or four thousand, and there should be fifteen thousand troops, which would be enough to protect the security of the city of Kolkata. Even if the enemy army comes to attack, it can still be done by holding out for a month or two, and when the 5,000 Bengali soldiers who attacked Burma return to defense, plus 7,000 strait troops arrive, they can counterattack back, recover Chittagong, and crush the invading Burmese army. ”

After Governor Canning's explanation, the directors of the East India Company were a little relieved. However, they secretly made up their minds that after this meeting, they should leave Calcutta and return to London as soon as possible. The whole of India, even places like Mumbai and Madras, which seemed safe, felt unsafe, and always felt that the hired Indian natives would shoot at them with muskets at some night.

At this moment, a major broke in, sweating profusely, and it was Charles? Canning's military assistant.

"Your Excellency the Governor, no, there is an urgent report from Dhaka that the city of Dhaka has been captured by the invading Burmese army. Of the city's 4,000 troops, 2,000 were killed, and the remaining 2,000 had no choice but to surrender, but they were killed alive by tens of thousands of crazy Muslims instigated by the Burmese army. The whole of East Bengal fell completely. The assistant reported loudly, and then said a sentence that made everyone present panic: "According to the news from Nadia, the forward troops of the 20,000 Burmese army have entered Nadia and attacked the side of Kolkata!" ”

"What!? Impossible, what about the more than 4,000 troops in Dhaka? These are our native soldiers of Great Britain, how can they not resist the backward indigenous soldiers of Burma? What's going on!? Canning snapped the case and exclaimed.

"Your Excellency the Governor, according to a report from a captain who escaped from Dhaka, it is said that this Burmese army has strong firepower, almost the same equipment as ours, and their muskets have a fast rate of fire and a similar range. The captain estimated that at least nearly 10,000 of the enemy's muskets were advanced firing smoothbore guns. And there were so many of them that they besieged the city of Dhaka so densely that the soldiers in the city could not even break through, so after fierce battles with two thousand dead and wounded, they had to surrender. ”

"Oh God! How can it be!? The Burmese army, which four years ago was a backward Asian native, was armed with broadswords and spears, less than half of them were equipped with muskets, and some backward flintlock pistols and even arquebuses sold to them by Europe could not compete with our British army at all. Defeated at the first blow, eager for peace, the British also occupied Lower Burma and other places. How could there suddenly be such a heavy firepower? Firing a smoothbore gun? Tens of thousands of rods? Where did they get the tens of thousands of shot-shot muskets!? Canning exclaimed in disbelief.

However, he thought about it and recognized the authenticity of the news. Only this reason can explain why Chittagong, Agartala, Khulna and even the city of Dhaka were occupied by the Burmese army in such a short period of time, and it can also explain why the 4,000 British troops in Dhaka were defeated by the Burmese army in a state of defense.

But where did they get so many shotguns? Canning was puzzled. Could it be? What did the French do to quietly sell it to them? Or what did the Dutch and even the Portuguese and Spaniards think?

Canning was steady.

"Huh? Mr. Governor, what should I do about this? Hurry up and send your troops to stop them, and they may not come to attack the city of Calcutta. Also, the company's assets should be transferred as soon as possible! ”

The directors of the East India Company panicked, and one by one they left the conference room, busy setting up.

And here, Canning's heart is also churning!

The city of Dhaka was captured in such a short time, and the 12,000 troops of Calcutta don't know if they can stand it! No, we have to send troops to defend Calcutta as soon as possible. This was the headquarters of the entire East India Company and the seat of its own satrapy's palace, and as the directors of the company had said, it would be a great sin for the city of Calcutta to fall to the enemy. Even if he is a dignified Earl of Liverpool and former British Prime Minister George? Canning's son has no way to escape the state's judgment on him.

You have to hold Kolkata! I've got to do something right away.

Thinking of this, Canning did not care about the dignity of the governor, and he immediately sent his assistant to issue an urgent order to mobilize four Bengal infantry regiments and five cavalry companies stationed in the two cities of Patna in the Bihar region and Ranchi in the Calkender region, which were closest to Calcutta, and hurried to Calcutta. As for the Bihar region and the Jarkander region, leave it alone, these two regions are not as important as Kolkata!

At the same time, mercenaries were ordered to be immediately summoned in and around the city of Kolkata, but most of these mercenaries were native Bengali soldiers, and in order to prevent them from taking advantage of the opportunity to rebel, they were not allowed to enter the city of Kolkata, but were transferred to the dangerous point of the Ganges River beach outside the city, ready to intercept the Burmese army that came to attack the city.

At the same time, Canning once again sent a telegram to London asking for help. Of course, this telegram could not reach London directly, the Calcutta telegram could only reach Visakhapatnam, then by sea or land to Mumbai, and then by ship through Bombay to Constantinople, where the telegram could be sent directly to London.

For the rest, Canning could only pray to God.

Four days later, Canning received reports that the Burmese army had officially invaded West Bengal. The entire Ganges Delta is full of Burmese troops. And the Bengali mercenaries outside the city, six infantry regiments, were routed in less than a day. Not only that, but two of the infantry regiments were persuaded by the Bengali Muslims to surrender and rebelled in public to join the so-called "Bangladesh National Salvation Army".

At this time, the British troops from all over the country had not arrived, and Calcutta was in danger.