China's conquest of the Netherlands went very smoothly, and in addition to the fortress attack and defense battles, a series of field battles were also carried out in the early stage.

The Chinese Servants from South India and Bengal fought against the Dutch Servants on the island of Ceylon, with a total strength of 50,000 men in several battles.

Before the formal siege of the fort, the total number of casualties on both sides was nearly 10,000. Among them, 18 people were killed and wounded in the Datong Army (all of them were not attrition in battle), 15 Dutch soldiers were killed and more than 60 were lightly and seriously wounded, and the rest of the casualties came from the servant armies of both sides.

The tragic defeat of the field battle caused the Dutch colonists to lose their fighting spirit.

Coupled with the economic depression in the Netherlands, it was impossible to get any reinforcements, and the governor actually directly ordered surrender. Moreover, only one request was made, namely, to ensure the safety of the Dutch ships and personnel, and to allow them all to return home by ship.

As a result, the Dutch East India Company's tentacles could only extend as far as Cape Town, a coastal colony in East Africa, to be seized either by Oman or by Portugal.

When news of the victory reached India, the prestige of the Jin king in South India increased greatly, and all the states sent envoys to send congratulatory gifts. Zheng Sen was also more hardened in Bengal, the princes of the princely states were deferential, and the nobles were proud to speak Chinese.

"Chief, news from the west that Aurangzeb has won a great victory."

The person who spoke was Wu Liangfu, the eunuch who killed Da Yu'er.

After this old man was transferred back to Nanjing, he worked in Honglu Temple for several years, and now serves as the deputy governor of Bengal, a genuine official of the imperial court.

Zheng Sen asked, "When did it happen?"

Wu Liangfu said, "Even when the imperial army conquered Ceylon, the Mughals were also conquering Afghanistan. Emperor Aurangzeb personally marched against the chiefs of Afghanistan, who had become independent, and all of them were suppressed by the Mughal army. I heard that the Mughal also produced a famous general, called Aamir Khan, who was invincible in the conquest of Afghanistan. When Aurangzeb withdrew his troops, he appointed Aamir Khan as Governor of Afghanistan."

"The rebellion in Afghanistan has been put down, and Persia is ruled by a dark monarch, which means that the western border of the Mughals is completely stable. With Aurangzeb's aggressive temperament, there will certainly be a war to follow, either to the south against the Deccan countries or to the east against our Bengal."

Wu Liangfu said, "The Deccan countries have many plateaus and mountains, and it is difficult for the Mughals to march. If you come to attack us, just go downstream. Nothing else, from a military point of view, Aurangzeb will definitely send troops to Bangladesh first."

"You say, Aurangzeb, do you really dare to touch the tiger whiskers of the Celestial Empire?" Zheng Sen asked.

Wu Liangfu analyzed: "This person is cruel, cunning and self-serving, and now that he has pacified Afghanistan, he will inevitably be even more empty-sighted. Bangladesh is a big granary, and the Mughals have been suffering from famine for many years, and Aurangzeb may have been eyeing Bangladesh's grain for a long time."

Zheng Sen said: "If we don't ask for domestic troops, we can defend ourselves alone, but it is a bit dangerous in the end. You have to use stratagem!"

Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, this man has a simple and complex personality.

He has brains, even cunning.

But he is very reckless, never compromising, never reconciled, and lacks political wisdom. Especially after becoming emperor, everything was solved by force and power, and the ancestral policy of marriage and religious freedom was completely abandoned. Not to mention that many tribes in Afghanistan were forced to rebel, and the princes of Rajasthan were eager to rebel. The reason is very simple, Aurangzeb, as the emperor, actually forcibly interfered in the succession of the princely princes of Rajasthan. This practice made the princes of the princely states both frightened and angry, and they would rather be colonized by a foreign race than accept the emperor pinching their own life.

To be honest, if Aurangzeb were the emperor of China, he would probably be liked by many history buffs. True temperament, iron-blooded, uncompromising, just strong, and occasionally showing affection and righteousness.

The emperor's first love turned out to be a slave girl from her uncle's family.

As a noble prince, openly falling in love with a female slave can be made into a costume love drama.

When he was young, because of his father's complaints, he did not enter the palace for seven months. is very stubborn, just to gamble, ten cows can't pull it back.

At this moment, Aurangzeb is thorough

To pacify the West, he is next faced with four choices:

First, to the south to conquer the rebel Sivaji;

second, to the south to conquer the disobedient kingdom of Bijapur;

third, to the south to conquer the hard-boned country of Golconda;

Fourth, to the eastward expedition to the Viceroyalty of Bengal, where Zheng Sen was located.

The ministers suggested that they should attack Sivaji first. Because this is a force created by the insurgents, the foundation is still shallow, and in terms of terrain, the march is not very difficult.

Rangzeb said, "If you want to fight, you will fight Bengal, and there is the lost territory of the empire. Moreover, there is an endless supply of food there, and there are countless merchants and artisans there. The benefits of taking Bengal are comparable to pacifying ten sivajis!"

Kuri Khan, the minister of the Fat Minor and a sworn friend, advised, "Your Majesty, Bengal is occupied by China, and I am afraid it will not be easy to deal with. Even if we go well in the early stage and succeed in driving out the Chinese governor, but anger the Chinese emperor, the squadron will make a comeback. When the time comes, it will be an endless war. And when we send troops to the south, no matter which target we attack, there is no such trouble."

"You know what?"

Aurangzeb sneered: "The Chinese emperor is so ambitious that he willingly only occupies Bengal? We must take advantage of China's unstable foothold in Bangladesh and mobilize the whole country to recruit troops to completely drive the Chinese out. Otherwise, China will encroach on more and more land. At that time, it will not be us who will conquer Bangladesh, but the Bangladeshi squadron that will fight us!"

Khuli Khan asked, "How many troops does Your Majesty plan to send?"

Aurangzeb said: "I am very relieved that Afghanistan has Aamir Khan as governor, and I only need to leave a small number of troops. When he went to Persia, he said that I wanted to marry, and the Mughal prince begged to marry a Persian princess. The Persians are busy arranging marriages, so they will not come and invade the border."

"Then the envoy contacted Sivaji, and said that I recognize him as a state. Mention more harsh conditions, and talk about as long as you can. Sivaji dreams of being recognized, and he won't come to harass the border during the negotiations."

"Then send him to Bijapur, and say that I promise to help him suppress Sivaji. Most of Sivaji's territory comes from the country of Bijapur. Let Bijapur and Sivaji fight each other, and neither of them can muster up troops to attack the borders of the Empire."

"Then send them to Golconda, and say that I will cease war with them. The princely princes who secretly approached Gorkunda promised to finance their rebellion, and the bigger the rebellion, the better." "In this way, there will be no danger on the borders, only a small number of troops will be left to defend it, and the rest of the army will be drawn to attack Bengal. China is very strong, and I plan to send 200,000 troops to take back Bangladesh in one go!"

Curry Khan swallowed: "Your Majesty, if you send 200,000 troops, I'm afraid the empire's food will not be enough."

Aurangzeb said, "There will always be a way, and it will be hard for the nobles and commoners everywhere. I have appointed you as a Chin Cha to be responsible for procuring grain throughout the country. Besides, it's time to prepare the ships and fight along the Ganges."

The movements of the Mughal Empire were soon discovered by Zheng Sen and Wu Liangfu.

Wu Liangfu personally served as a diplomatic envoy and led people to lobby the major forces.

First of all, go to Gorkunda to tell the stakes, that is, after the Mughals take Bengal, the next target must be Golkunda.

At this moment, the state of Golkunda was in a difficult situation, with a perennial war with the Mughals in the north and a territorial dispute with the emerging Jin in the south. In the face of Wu Liangfu's "goodwill", the sultan of the country opened his mouth to ask for 500 flintlock pistols, and as long as Zheng Sen fulfilled his promise, he promised to send troops to stab the Mughal chrysanthemums.

After bargaining, Wu Liangfu was willing to provide 200 flintlock pistols and give fine silk and porcelain in exchange for the Gorkunda army at a critical time.

In the country of Bigapur, Wu Liangfu did not go, this country was very cowardly, and did not dare to take the initiative to attack the Mughals at all.

Wu Liangfu went directly to contact Sivaji, and he told the rebel: "Great rebel Sivaji, your bravery is known even to the Chinese emperor. The Mughal emperor sees you as the greatest threat, and as long as he captures Bengal, the next target will definitely be you. Next year, or the year after, the Mughals will attack Bengal. At that time, the Mughal rear will be empty, and you can take the opportunity to expand your territory." Five

Siwa

Ji smiled, "I just received Aurangzeb's envoys last month, and they are willing to recognize me as an independent state."

"Your Excellency is a smart man and will not make the same mistake twice." Wu Liangfu said.

Sivaji was once appeased by the Mughals, and not only was he almost killed, but he also lost more than 90% of his territory. It was by cunning and courage that he escaped back to his lair, and of course he would no longer believe Aurangzeb's nonsense.

Sivaji said, "If you want me to cooperate with the troops, what benefits can I get?"

Wu Liangfu said, "1,000 pairs of armor and 300 muskets. Your Excellency, don't be too little, the armor is the standard of the squadron, not the kind of goods sold to you by Han merchants."

Sivaji was very arrogant: "Okay, as long as the armor and muskets are delivered, I can send troops at any time!"

Immediately afterwards, Wu Liangfu sent his Indian deputy disguised as a merchant and crossed the Mughal territory to Rajput.

The Rajputs lead a semi-nomadic life, and it is the main producer of Mawari horses and the main source of Mughal cavalry.

Several successive Mughal emperors married Rajput princes, similar to the marriages between the Manchu royal family and the Mongol princes, in order to gain the support of the Rajputs and the source of cavalry.

But when Aurangzeb became emperor, he had already fallen out with the Rajputs.

The Rajput princes rebelled and remained semi-independent, and Aurangzeb was simply powerless to suppress it. This is like the entire Mongolian region, which is creating a rebellion against the Manchu court, not only can it not be suppressed, but the cavalry of the court is also becoming more and more stretched. Wu Liangfu's deputy made a promise that as soon as the Rajputs captured Gujarat, the Datong Navy would immediately cooperate in capturing the port. When the time came, the Rajput cavalry crisscrossed the land, and the Datong navy helped them consolidate the coast and join forces against the counterattack of the Mughal army.

As long as they gain a foothold, Chinese goods will continue to be transported and sold to the Rajput people to improve their livelihoods. And Rajput's war horses can also be sold to China at a good price.

The two sides hit it off, because the Rajput had a hard time.

After their independence, their territory was surrounded by Mughals. Although the Mughal army was unable to suppress it, it was able to impose economic sanctions on it and keep the price of war horses down. War horses could not be sold at a good price, and the price of living materials skyrocketed, which made the semi-nomads extremely uncomfortable.

Wu Liangfu's deputy continued to go north and got in touch with the Sikh leader, who didn't want anything and agreed to cooperate in trouble.

It was mainly Aurangzeb's religiously repressive policies that had already aroused discontent among the Sikhs. Even if there were no Chinese envoys to join forces, the Sikhs would have made a fuss, and even dug up the ancestral graves of the Mughal royal family.

The deputy continued north, and then went to connect the various tribes of Afghanistan.

And Wu Liangfu himself went directly to Persia by ship, instigating Persia to take the opportunity to send troops to the Makran region.

……

Two years later, the Great War broke out.

Counting the people and craftsmen, the Mughals sent 250,000 troops, and Emperor Aurangzeb personally marched to conquer them.

On the Chinese side, there are only 2,000 Datong Army soldiers, 600 Datong Navy soldiers, and 1,000 temporarily conscripted Han militia. In addition, there were 30,000 Bengali servants and a number of civilian servants.

At the beginning of the war, the Mughal army was victorious, and more than 8,000 Bengali servant troops surrendered.

Zheng Sen abandoned the cities along the Ganges and retreated to Dhaka, holding on to the city where the governor's palace was located. In the lower reaches of the Ganges River, in the Bodo River basin, due to the serious siltation of sediment, large ships are prone to run aground, and the Datong Navy cannot drive in at all. He could only send naval soldiers to Dhaka in a small boat to help Zheng Sen defend the city.

In this series of operations, more than 10,000 servant troops surrendered.

The princes of the princely states, who had previously been loyal to Zheng Sen, changed their course and declared their allegiance to Aurangzeb.

It was at this time that Aurangzeb received news from the rear.

The rebel Sivaji took the lead and sent troops to attack the southwestern Mughal territory. Due to the lack of troops, coupled with the response of the local nobility, Sivaji's army was invincible.

By this time it was too late to send reinforcements, and Aurangzeb sent an envoy to the country of Bigapur. Not only did he officially recognize Bijapur's independence, but he also promised to marry him. Bijapur Sultan

, immediately sent troops to stab the chrysanthemum of Sivaji - Sivaji's territory, most of which belongs to the inherent territory of Bijapur, and the sultan wants to take the opportunity to regain the lost territory.

Sivaji had no choice but to divide his troops to come back to help, and part of the army was stationed in the new territory, and the real elite went back to fight with Bijapur.

As for the Sultan of Gorkunda, who received a gift from a Chinese envoy, he did not say anything at this time. Because there was a rebellion in his country, he was busy suppressing the rebels, and he had no energy to trouble the Mughals. As the rebels were expelled, they fled south to the Jin Kingdom, and the King of Jin was also involved, and South India was beaten into a pot of porridge.

Domino effect. As Sivaji conquered a lot of territory to the north, the Rajputs took the opportunity to make trouble. They belonged to the full cavalry and were unable to attack the city, but they plundered the city all the way, wanting to go south to join Sivaji.

The Datong Navy was also cooperating, and even pulled the Portuguese Navy to go out together to capture the coastal port of Gujarat, and set aside two port cities for the Rajput cavalry to rest and replenish.

The Persian Emperor broke his promise and did not help China send troops.

The group of short-sighted Persian monarchs and ministers were so busy marrying the Mughals that they didn't know how to take advantage of the opportunity to expand.

However, the weakest Sikhs set off a great Sikh uprising in the northwest of the Mughals, and even raised the banner of "Capture Delhi" along the way, attracting a large number of Hindus to join them (in another time, the Hindus even broke out in Delhi).

Further north, China's Dawan Duhu led the cavalry, with the Bukhara *** team and a small number of Kazakh cavalry, and went straight to the Afghan region.

After independence, the Afghan ministries that were suppressed saw that China led troops to kill, and they cooperated in response. The Mughal garrison in Afghanistan was forced to retreat to a few large cities, and the rest of the territory was controlled by the squadron and the Afghan tribe.

Immediately afterwards, the Afghan Assassins sacrificed their lives to stab Governor Aamir Khan to serious injuries.

Sending a small number of elites, Dawan Duhu actually crossed the Khyber Pass, slaughtered the core territory of the Mughal Empire, and attacked the city with the Sikhs. The cities that were defeated were all handed over to the Sikhs to rule, and the Datong army only needed food and some gold and silver.

On Dhaka's side, Zheng Sen defended the city for half a year.

With the exception of the coastal ports and Dhaka, the rest of Bangladesh was attacked by Aurangzeb. But Aurangzeb, who had a heavy army, could not take the next card alive or dead, let alone attack the coastal ports.

The war is deadlocked, and it can only continue to drag on for time.

Zheng Sen's grain storage can last for at least a year. But Aurangzeb's army was almost finished, and only two or three months of rations remained.

Aurangzeb asked the minister to continue the grain requisition, and because of the urgency, Hindu landlord uprisings broke out in several areas along the Ganges.

In desperation, Aurangzeb took the initiative to seek peace talks.

The first few peace talks all collapsed, because Zheng Sen opened his mouth and wanted Aurang Zebu to pay compensation.

In the end, Zheng Sen figured out Aurangzeb's bottom line: this Mughal emperor can talk about anything, but don't want him to cut the land.

The outcome of the negotiations is as follows:

First, the Mughals recognized Chinese rule over Bengal, and the territory of both sides remained in the same position as before the war.

Second, the Mughals started the war without authorization and compensated the Chinese side for all losses.

Third, if the Mughals are unable to pay compensation, they will hand over some of the commercial ports in the middle and lower Ganges to Chinese officials. That is, Chinese officials, who received part of the Mughal tariff rights, deducted war reparations from the tariffs.

Fourth, Chinese merchants were granted commercial privileges in the Mughal Empire.

Fifth, the squadron must withdraw from the Mughals (including Afghanistan), promising not to support the Afghan tribal and Sikh rebellion again.

Sixth, China must not interfere in the war between the Mughals and the rebel Sivaji, and must not provide port shelter to the Rajput rebels. However, Chinese merchants were allowed to trade with the Rajputs, and Mughal officials along the route were not allowed to block or impose additional taxes.

Zheng Sen hardly fought any decent battles except for diplomatic tandem, but he only stubbornly defended the governor's city for more than half a year, and forced Aurangzeb to sign an unequal treaty.

After the treaty was signed, Zheng Sen did two more things.

The first is to clean up the interior and give preferential treatment and rewards to the princes of the princely states who show the most loyalty. Each prince can choose a son, send him to Nanjing for further study, and help these princes apply for the title of "baron" (special title of colony).

At the same time, the liquidation of those princes who surrendered the earliest was not all killed, but some local powers had to be handed over anyway.

The second thing is to impose all-round economic sanctions on the Bigapur country, which helped the Mughals in their wars, and raise the tax rate on goods traded with the country.

At the end of the war, the Mughal emperor's prestige was greatly lost, and for the next few years, he was busy quelling the rebellion in the country.

。.

Wang Zijun