Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Since the signing of the trade agreement with the Shudra of Villawise Adani last year, orders from India have not stopped, totaling more than 20,000 rifles and 400,000 rounds of ammunition.

With equipment of this size, it would probably not be a problem to take down the entire kingdom of Thivantran, and Franz had not heard of any major moves on the Indian side.

However, the British felt disgraced after the defeat in the war in Afghanistan, coupled with the outbreak of the economic crisis at home, and urgently needed to pass on the domestic contradictions and consume as many supplies as possible.

However, the British searched for a circle in Europe and finally did not dare to make a move, and finally chose the lucky one of Sindh in India.

In fact, Baluchi, the king of Sindh, also wanted to take advantage of the new defeat of the British to drive the colonists out of his land, or at least get a relatively equal unequal treaty.

In fact, as early as 1832, the British forced the three emirs of Sindh (another name for the king) to sign an unequal treaty.

Then, in 1839, the invasion intensified, and the three princely states not only became vassals of the British, but also lost their ownership of land and the right to defend their own security.

Of course, while the British occupied all the important military forts, they did not forget to provide convenience to the British merchants, that is, the princely states did not have the right to tax British goods.

In order to further weaken their resistance, the local British governor also instigated the three states to fight among themselves, depleting their strength.

Beginning in September 1842, British rule began to falter due to the effects of the defeat in Afghanistan. The radical General Richard Napier decided to settle the issue of Sindh once and for all.

He imposed extremely harsh conditions on the three kings of Sindh, demanding more tribute and preparing to divide their lands among the more obedient kings.

However, the strength of both sides forced the three kings of Sindh to agree to the demand for land reparations, but soon after, the merchant Villawise approached them, saying that he had a lot of weapons in his hands and could sell them "cheaply".

So, the three princely states of Sindh united and elected Barucci as their leader, and began to secretly assemble against the British.

The plan was very thorough, and the number of rebel fighters approached 30,000, and they were also armed with a large number of obsolete weapons from Austria.

These old-fashioned smoothbore rifles and small-caliber guns, as well as the original Congreve rockets and granulated black powder, were enough to fight a skirmish on the continent.

But there are no impermeable walls in this world, and there is never a shortage of traitors.

Someone told the British colonial government, but General Napier selectively ignored the message of 30,000 troops and a large amount of military equipment.

The local British army numbered 3,000 men and had 12 cannons. Napier confidently issued an ultimatum to the princely state of Sindh, seeing that the matter was revealed.

A part of the rebels decided to move ahead of time and sent troops to attack the British Governor's Palace directly. But the result was right in Napier's hands, and the attackers were ambushed by the British and suffered heavy losses.

On February 1, 1843, General Napier led 2,800 British troops to take the initiative and took Baruch by surprise. The Sindh army suffered a crushing defeat to the British with overwhelming numerical superiority.

In addition to strategic mistakes, the lack of will to fight is the key. At that time, there were more than 10,000 rebels in the city of Miani, but in the face of the sudden attack of the British army, it appeared panicked and the battle line was chaotic.

The 61-year-old General Napier saw the opportunity to order his soldiers to launch a bayonet charge, and in the end, in the brutal hand-to-hand combat, more than 5,000 rebel fighters were captured, 1,200 killed, 3,000 missing, more than 8,000 rifles and 20 cannons were captured, and the British lost less than 200 men.

The rebel leader, Baruchi, fled back to Hyderabad with only 15 followers.

General Napier, despite the fatigue of his men's days of fighting, decided to take advantage of the victory and attack Hyderabad by forcing his way through the desert without reinforcements.

(Hyderabad is the Sindh rebel's headquarters and most important supply point.) ）

But this time the veteran miscalculated, and crossing the desert was more difficult than he had imagined. And this time Barucci's army was ready, thirty cannons, two thousand Congreve rockets, and 20,000 heavily armed local soldiers killed all the more than 2,000 British troops in pursuit.

In fact, only a small part of the British army was killed in the battle, but the locals had no idea about the prisoners of war, gathered the British who had laid down their arms, and then went on a slaughter frenzy.

It was the greatest victory ever achieved by the locals, and indeed by all of India, over the British, and it was as they celebrated that Edward Law, Earl of Ellenborough, was toasting in his governor's palace.

Because he finally found a breakthrough, the longer the war is fought, the bigger it is, and the more tragic it is, the more it can divert the contradictions in the country.

But the death of Lieutenant General Napier was a reminder to Count Ehrenborough that he did not want to overturn like his predecessor in India.

Neither Afghans, Indians, nor Pakistanis can be taken lightly.

So he sent an army of unprecedented size to go on an expedition against Sindh.

Of course, Franz, who was far away in Europe at this time, could only speculate on his own estimate that there would be another war on the Indian subcontinent. Now that the Austrian military's stocks were finally depleted, Count Latour felt that it would be profitable to sell new guns to the Indians, but Franz did not intend to do so.

First, the cost of the new gun was much higher (about 5% difference), and second, Franz did not intend to spread the technology.

So Franz showed Villawise a new way to buy weapons in Chenla, which would not only save time, but also save money.

At the same time, it can also inject new vitality into the Austrian colony, and the most important thing is to make Chenla completely part of the entire colonial system.

In fact, the main reason is that with the political stability, the local population is also increasing, but due to Franz's large-scale promotion of rubber cultivation in the local area, the land for growing food will inevitably decrease.

Importing from Thailand is a good option in the short term, but it is not safe to put all your eggs in one basket, not to mention that Kalimantan and Suhuilasi will follow in the footsteps of Jinla.

In this way, it was important to open up trade routes to India, and of course Franz was also leaving a way back for those who rebelled against British colonial rule.

After all, gold and silver are always limited, and even if they hollow out the savings of their ancestors and those temples, they won't be able to support it for long.

But cash crops and grain are different, they ripen every year and are harvested every year. And only in this way can it be truly incorporated into its own system, and only in this way can the interests of both parties be bundled.

The Indian subcontinent is a treasure trove of resources, the pearl of the British Empire, and it is only by constantly transfusing blood to Britain that it can always be invincible.

Franz always believed in the saying, "To extinguish a fire, you must draw wages from the bottom of the kettle, and to cut the grass to the roots." ”

And he hoped that India would always be a resource-based country, which would be in the best interests of Austria.

(End of chapter)