In Singapore, the capital of the Imperial Straits Province, the barracks of the Imperial Navy's 5th Fleet are now overcrowded. Originally, the main fleet of the 5th Fleet had already gone to Europe, and most of the remaining warships were blockading India's coastal waters in the Indian Ocean. In Singapore's home port, only a few cruisers and destroyers remained.

However, as the Empire's war against India unfolded, the Imperial Army's 13th Army and 14th Army arrived here by sea. The whole city has almost become a sea of soldiers. These two armies, according to the plan, will be engaged in the war against India. And, unlike the 7th and 12th armies, these two armies were to attack from the sea.

Fighting against India, the impact is heavy. Therefore, Lieutenant General Liu Zhongming, chief of operations of the Imperial General Staff, personally rushed from China to sit in Singapore and take charge of this operation. Once India is destroyed, the empire will reap handsome benefits from India. Among other things, the spoils of war obtained from India alone were enough to make the empire carry on the war lightly. Not to mention the contract signed between the empire and the indigenous princes of India, which was able to obtain 800 million Chinese dollars a year from India. For the Empire's army, this 800 million military expenditure will become an important guarantee for the development of the Empire's army in the future. After all, once the war is over, the center of gravity of the empire will be restored to economic construction, and the investment in the army will inevitably decrease. At that time, in order to allow the rapid development of the troops, it is necessary to obtain military spending from other channels.

In addition, after the end of the war against India, the empire only needs to have one army group left in India. The remaining three group armies will all be able to be put into other battlefields. Whether it is thrown into the American theater or the European theater. The suspicion is to throw himself into the Russian battlefield and wait for the next year to launch a fatal blow against Russia. This is all very necessary.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now the 7th Army and the 12th Army. It has already attracted the main force of the Anglo-Indian army in India. According to the information we have received, there are only 300,000 British people in the vicinity of Calcutta. Moreover, most of them are Anglo-Indian troops who have not yet completed their training, and their combat effectiveness is very low, which is not vulnerable to the heroic Imperial Army at all! Therefore, I demand that in this battle, Kolkata must be taken lightly. Destroy all the Anglo-Indian forces entrenched in Calcutta! Lieutenant General Liu Zhongming, Minister of Imperial Operations, said.

This meeting was held in the conference room of the 5th Fleet of the Imperial Navy in Singapore, where the generals of the 13th and 14th armies of the Imperial Army and the Marine Corps were gathered, and everyone attached great importance to this battle.

"Yes, General! Please rest assured, we will definitely win this battle! "It was Lieutenant General Chung Wenquan, commander of the 13th Army of the Imperial Army, who spoke. Although the 13th Army was a newly formed unit. The combat effectiveness may not be as strong as that of the front-line troops. However, after being tested on the battlefield, these recruits were quickly able to grow. When the time comes, he will definitely be able to become an iron-blooded hero. Besides. The enemy was the Anglo-Indian Army, although the Imperial Army never took the enemy lightly. However, the combat effectiveness of the Anglo-Indian army is simply too bizarre. The Imperial Army, which has not been in a hundred battles, does not despise them!

"Yes! General Zhong was right. Those Indian Asan, it's not that we despise them. It's just that their combat effectiveness is too weak. The Imperial Army will definitely be able to win lightly this time! Lieutenant General Luo Xinde, commander of the 14th Army of the Imperial Army, also said.

Lieutenant General Liu Zhongming nodded. Although it is not a good thing that the troops are too proud. However, for the Anglo-Indian army. There really wasn't a need for the Imperial Army to take it too seriously. The Indians have already been tamed by the British, and they simply do not know how to fight. It has become a consensus that Indians are qualified slaves, but they are definitely not qualified soldiers.

"In addition, after the arrival of the imperial army, the princely princes of India and the royal family of the Mughal Empire in India will take the opportunity to raise troops to assist us. Those Indian Asans who joined the Anglo-Indian army will also respond to the call of the princes of the princely states and turn to us. India, we're going to beat the British, and this time it's going to be very easy. Lieutenant Liu Zhongming will continue.

If the British want to hold India, it will be absolutely impossible. After all, the number of British in India is too small, and Indians with a population of up to 200 million are the masters of India. Even if the Indians are low in combat, if there are too many of them, they will still cause qualitative changes. This would be a great thing for the Imperial Army.

"You should note that after the invasion of India, all British property, whether private or the property of the colonial authorities, will be our spoils of war. In addition, those princes who oppose the empire are also the targets of our attacks. In the empire's plan, there would be only 200 princes in India in the future. Therefore, there was no need for the rest of the princes to stay. The princes of India are all fat and have confiscated their property, so it can be said that the empire has military spending for the next ten years. Whether the Empire's army will eat chaff or drink wine and meat in the next ten years depends on your cousin in India! Lieutenant General Liu Zhongming said solemnly.

Compared with the British who annihilated India, it is the most important thing to recover India's wealth. India's greatest role for the empire is not only a large market, but also more benefits here. India has more than 600 princely states, large and small, and the wealth they have accumulated over thousands of years of oppression of India has definitely reached an astonishing level. There is also the scraping of the British colonial authorities, and the wealth of the Mughal Empire, etc., which will all belong to the Empire of Book Friends.

"Yes, General!" All the generals replied with red eyes. It can be said that the hopes of the Empire's * army are pinned on their shoulders, which puts them under a lot of pressure.

The next day, the 13th Army of the Imperial Army and the 8th Brigade of the Marine Corps were the first to board and depart, and they were to be the first to go to India. After they landed, the Navy would transport the 14th Army over. In order to ensure support for the American theater and the European theater, a large part of the Empire's transportation capacity was concentrated in these two theaters. Therefore, there is not much capacity that can be used in India.

The Imperial Navy's 5th Fleet's 6 'Temperary-class' cruisers and 6 'Tiangang-class' destroyers escorted a huge convoy of transports to India. Now, the entire Indian Ocean is under the control of the Imperial Navy, and the defense line on the northern shore of the Indian Ocean is even more secure. The escort of 12 cruisers and destroyers was fully used. In addition, the three 'Eastern Zhou-class' warships of the 5th Fleet of the Imperial Navy will soon join them. When the time comes, those three 'Eastern Zhou-class' warships will play the role of clearing the obstacles to landing.

On the morning of September 27, 1854, the warships of the 5th Fleet of the Imperial Navy escorted the 13th Army of the Imperial Navy and the 8th Brigade of the Marine Corps to the mouth of the Pajileti River. Kolkata is located just a hundred kilometers from the mouth of the Pajileti River. As long as the landing is carried north, along the Pajileti River, it will be possible to attack Calcutta.

Jagdib is a small city located at the mouth of the Pajileti River and an important port city that is tasked with protecting Kolkata. After the outbreak of war, the colonial authorities of British India also deployed an infantry corps in Jigdibou. However, with the capture of the Kingdom of Afghanistan by the 7th Army of the Imperial Army and the entry of India from the Kingdom of Afghanistan, the Indian colonial authorities had to send troops to intercept it. The army originally stationed in Jagdib was also replaced by the 11th Army of the Anglo-Indian Army to the 21st Army of the Anglo-Indian Army. The 21st Army of the Anglo-Indian Army was nothing more than a unit that had just been formed, and it had not even completed the training of recruits. Although there are more than 50,000 people in the whole army, this is the Indian Ah San who has just learned how to shoot. The accuracy is very poor, and if you want to hit the target, it is almost impossible.

On the morning of September 27, when a large number of warships appeared in Jagdibou, the defenders of the 21st Anglo-Indian Army immediately panicked. The army, which was originally guarding the front line, simply collapsed without receiving an order. The commander and senior officers of the army, although they were British, could not stop this rout of the troops, and could only constantly ask for help in the direction of Calcutta.

The battleships of the 5th Marine Fleet of the Imperial Marine Corps shelled Jigdib for half an hour, and when the shelling was over and the 8th Brigade of the Imperial Marine Corps landed, it encountered almost no resistance. The Anglo-Indian troops guarding here have all fled.

Lieutenant General Chung Wenquan, commander of the 13th Army of the Imperial Army, immediately decided to land the 61st Infantry Corps and the 62nd Infantry Corps under the 13th Army at Jigdib and strengthen the heavy artillery brigades belonging to the Group Army, and they would attack Kolkata by land. The remaining three infantry corps of the 13th Army, under the cover of the navy, went upstream, preparing to move closer to Calcutta and land closer to Calcutta.

The lower reaches of the Pagilati River were wide and deep enough for the warships and transports of the Imperial Navy. Of course, some large transports could not sail directly to Calcutta, but this could also save the troops a lot of time.

The news of the landing of the Imperial Army at Jagdib brought the Indian Governor-General, the Marquis of Dalhousie, and the Commander of the Anglo-Indian Army, Colin . Admiral Campbell was dumbfounded. Not long after they had just transferred the main force of the Anglo-Indian army out of Calcutta, the Chinese army came, which completely cost them their lives! (To be continued......)

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