Wu Mengfei's stay in Sylhet was a last resort, and his soldiers averaged less than 50 bullets each. Due to his rapid advance, another drawback was revealed while mobilizing the British army, because the supply lines were too long and exposed to the British army's sphere of influence, Wu Mengfei's army could not continue to advance.

Fortunately, after the capture of Sylhet, the coalition forces received a lot of food, but the ammunition had to be replenished from the base camp. The distance from Kohima to Sylhet is more than 500 kilometres, with mountains and jungle covers. After sending the messenger, the army could only wait quietly, and during the waiting days, Zuo Zongtang did not let the soldiers idle. He familiarized his soldiers with the use of British flint and rifles, and improved their ability to cooperate with each other. After this training, the Gurkhas, Burmese, Bengali and Chinese soldiers not only strengthened their cooperation with each other, but also promoted friendship among friendly troops.

On April 18, 1841, Wu Mengfei's troops did not wait for supplies, but waited for a counteroffensive by the British army.

The British army attacking Sylhet was an army stationed along the Gangetic plain. The army totaled 30,000 men, of which four regiments were British troops from the British mainland, and the rest were Indians who had been temporarily recruited after the war. Led by their commander, Colonel Charlie, they drove out of Dhaka to Sylhet in a menacing manner.

At this time, Wu Mengfei, who was guarding Sylhet, had 10,000 Chinese soldiers, 5,000 Chinese cavalry, 30,000 Burmese infantry, and 6,000 Bengali soldiers. At this time, although the Imperial Coalition Army had a great numerical advantage, the combat effectiveness of the 15,000 Chinese soldiers was greatly reduced due to the ammunition area. And the armies of the rest of the Asian countries significantly lagged behind the British in weapons and equipment.

On the afternoon of the 18th, Colonel Charlie's troops arrived five kilometers outside the city of Sylhet. After the British army was stationed, they sent a war letter to Zuo Zongtang.

On the morning of the 19th, the two sides set up a battlefield in an open field outside the city of Sylhet.

The British pressed behind the line with four main regiments, leaving improvised Indian soldiers of all nationalities in front of them.

The opposing imperial team was divided into three fronts, with 15,000 Burmese troops on the left, 15,000 Burmese troops on the right, and 10,000 Chinese infantry divisions on the center. Strangely enough. The Burmese troops on the left and right sides of the emperor were placed far behind the battlefield, a kilometer away from the squadrons in the center. In this way, the 10,000 Chinese infantry in the middle of the battlefield prominently protruded from the position.

Wu Mengfei rode on a blue and white horse and followed behind the two infantry towns on the front line, and the soldiers of these two divisions had fought in a foreign country and had already regarded Zuo Zongtang as a reliance in their hearts. At this moment, seeing the commander following behind them, the morale of the Chinese soldiers was high, and when they saw the arrival of Wu Meng's enclave, there were majestic shouts from time to time in the ranks: "The empire will win!" ”

Wu Mengfei waved his arms to the soldiers with confidence, and he could throw anything away when he marched and fought. Although this battle greatly tested Zuo Zongtang's combat wisdom, his expression was not a little timid.

In this battle with the British army, the first thing to overcome was the British ground artillery. Zhang He, the commander of the 15th Infantry Division, who was following Wu Mengfei's side, obviously knew this, and he asked Wu Mengfei: "General, it is better to let the cavalry brothers destroy those artillery pieces from behind." ”

Wu Mengfei looked at the position of the British army and said with a faint smile: "We are fighting outside the city, the artillery is dead, and the people are alive." ”

Zhang He's brain is not stupid. He immediately understood, and said: "No wonder the general agreed to fight with the British army outside the city, and in the city, the British artillery fights, and those walls are useless. ”

Today, the Wu Meng enclave is a little strange, and the Imperial Army and the British Army are far apart. In fact, it is not surprising at all, Wu Mengfei roughly calculated. Place the army just on the edge of the range of British artillery. Moreover, the position of the Imperial Army was also very sparse.

The Imperial Coalition Army, under the command of Wu Mengfei, was poised for the east side of the battlefield and did not take the initiative to attack.

At about 9 o'clock in the morning, the British commander, Colonel Charlie, finally became impatient. In Wu Mengfei's telescope, the British army's position commander shuttled back and forth. Soon the advance of the British army moved, followed by the center, and then the rear. The commotion took about half an hour, and the entire British army finally moved forward.

This movement of the British troops was clearly premeditated, and on the one hand they approached the squadron. On the one hand, it is also close to the city of Sylhet.

Wu Mengfei ignored their movements. He commanded the squadron in the middle to slowly retreat.

The two armies clashed and retreated without a fight. This is a taboo in the military. Be aware that this retreat could well turn into an uncontrollable rout of the commander. Then the battle would have been lost without a fight. This creates an image of incompetence in the minds of the soldiers, and if the commander loses trust in the soldiers, the commander can essentially declare defeat.

So this is also the reason why Wu Mengfei arranged the Chinese soldiers who trusted him the most in the front, and in order to be safe, he also personally followed the front line to press the formation. In this way, under the influence of Wu Mengfei's prestige of many years of warfare and his prestige of several victories, the 10,000 Chinese soldiers in the middle slowly and steadily retreated to the rear.

This easily made Charlie sense the conspiracy, and sure enough, the Chinese soldiers in the middle turned around after retreating to a certain distance. In this way, the Burmese soldiers and Chinese soldiers on the left and right sides formed a concave formation, and the British army collided head-on, didn't they crash into the encirclement of the concave formation.

I saw that the pace of the British army's advance changed with the rhythm of the snare drum. The formation of the entire British army changed slightly, with a part of the British army inserting into the middle of the city of Sylhet and the Asian coalition forces, and a part of the British army attacking Sylhet. The small number of coalition soldiers waiting in the city quickly gave up resistance, and Colonel Charles easily entered the city of Sylhet.

Only then did the sluggish Imperial Coalition react, and they attacked the British in the middle.

It is a pity that the weapons of the Gurkha soldiers were too rudimentary, and their training was not up to par. Looking at their clumsy shooting appearance, Colonel Charlie's only fear disappeared without a trace. Sure enough, after the British set up their cannons on the city walls, the Imperial coalition began to retreat-

In a spacious room in Sylhet, Charlie tucked his cigar to the corner of his mouth. The adjutant was well aware of the situation and lit a cigar from Cuba for him. Charlie had to think that he was a genius, and thinking of the pig-headed Chinese commander, Charlie even wanted to laugh. How can you be so dull in war? Since he was here to attack Sylhet, why bother fighting with the squadron outside the city? This time they occupied Sylhet, from siege warfare to defense warfare, and those stupid Chinese will pay more to get Sylhet. And under the subsequent blows of the British army, these yellow-skinned ghosts will not even find a suitable place to stay in the wilderness.

After a pleasant associative feeling in the room, Charlie walked outside. When Lieutenant Colonel Boult, the chief of staff, saw Colonel Charlie coming out, he immediately greeted Charlie with respect, and took the initiative to report to him: "The Bengalis in the city are very honest, and we have easily recruited some volunteers who promise to help us expel the Chinese." ”

Colonel Charlie held his chest high and only nodded faintly. The recent war with the Chinese has always heard of defeat, which will finally defeat the squadron without blood under the wise command of Charlie, Charlie certainly has reason to be proud