This is a water village built on the river, just on the bank of the Mekner River (the official name of Great Britain is the Mei River) near the intersection of the Mekner River, which is the territory of Hebian County, a newly established capital named Hebian Prefecture in Great Britain. The water village is divided into two parts: Hanzhai and Shuiying. Hanzhai is a bastion with six fronts, each about a hundred feet wide, with a triangular watchtower extending out of the city. The wall is two feet high and the watchtower is three feet high. The city wall is built with rammed earth bricks, which is very strong. This is not a standard city in China, but a military fort, which only garrisons, Chinese officials, families, and no Indian people. On the map of the British Kingdom, this fortress is called "River Fort". The Riverside Prefecture and the Hanghe Navy Office of the British Navy are both located in this fortress. It can be said that this is the ruling center of the British Kingdom in the Riverside Prefecture.

Outside the Riverside Fort are the Riverside Water Camp and the Riverside Port. The Riverside Port is located north of the Riverside Fort. It borrows a wide tributary of the Mekner River, a river channel called Sitong River as a port. Dozens of wharf berths have been built along the river, and there are also a large number of warehouses, shops, restaurants, and money houses nearby, which is like an emerging port city.

The water camp is on the Meihe River channel west of the riverside fort. This is the base of the Ganges Navy ships. Now the British Navy does not have any naval combat capabilities, and the sea control of the Little Western Atlantic is the Ming Nanyang Fleet. The battlefields of the British Navy are the Meihe River and the Ganges River, and its main force is the naval fleet used for the Ganges combat.

The Ganges River is the mother river of Tianzhu. Its status in Tianzhu is similar to that of the Yangtze River. The place where it passes is the most prosperous and prosperous place in Tianzhu. It can be said that whoever controls the Ganges River will control Tianzhu. Chen Huaiqing, who has already gained a foothold in the Bangladesh region in eastern Tianzhu, noticed the strategic value of the Ganges River very early, so he built a riverside fort near the mouth of the Ganges River, and began to build the British Navy.

The riverside water camp is the foundation of the British navy. Its scale is naturally not small. It is connected by more than a hundred ships of different sizes, forming an arc, and an anchor is placed on the wide river surface to form a water defense fortification that is like a city wall. The water defense fortification only has an exit to the west and is usually blocked with large iron chains. The iron chains are sunk underwater only when the ships enter and exit.

Inside this arc-shaped water defense fortification is a large shipyard and a military port berth. The 18 side-by-side ship platforms are actually built on the river bank with wood and sand. Each ship platform has a wooden boat under construction, all of which are slender three-layer oars. This high warship that once won the victory of Chen Dexing's battle in the Sichuan River. Now it has become the killer weapon of Chen Defang, the prince of the Great Britain and the admiral of the Great British Navy.

Eighteen slender three-layer oars and the other eighteen only had one long oar, but their hulls were much wider. They had already landed on the berths. They were arranged in sequence at the military port berths, as if thirty-six monsters in the water were resting quietly.

The sky was getting bright and the morning light was not revealed. Chen Defang came out of the county government in the castle. It was rainy in India. The climate was hot and humid, and the air seemed to be filled with water vapor. The human body was also sticky. After walking a few steps, it was covered with sweat. This climate made Chen Defang feel a little uncomfortable. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, tidied up his yellow public uniform, and was in black. He attacked the team of guards behind him, and then raised his legs toward the west gate.

A team of musketeers trotted past Chen Defang. Carrying the heavy Tiandao Two-year-old rifle, this rifle has now been eliminated by the 6th Army of the Ming Dynasty. Instead, it was replaced by the soldiers of the Tiandao Six-year-old flint-bore softbore rifle shouting slogans of one, two, one, with neat steps and seemingly well-trained.

"There are really more and more musketeers. In the future, it may be the world of musketeers..."

Chen Defang sighed in his heart, and then thought of his British navy. Now the British 6th Army has guns and cannons, which is almost the same as the weapons and equipment of the Ming 6th Army. But the British navy is not good. Just the name of "water army", you can know that they are not a navy that can roam the sea. The navy is not something that a country like Da Ying can afford, and Da Ying does not need a navy. Because Da Ying's stage is not the whole world. But the Indian, there are now Nine Heavens (Eight-Nation Alliance plus the surrendered Ah Hong Kingdom), and there may be ten days in a while.

Zhu, the twelve Heavenly Zhu and even the sixteenth Heavenly Zhu Chen Dexing had already mentioned this matter to Chen Huaiqing in his letters. When the Delhi Sultanate Kingdom was destroyed, the Brahman countries in southern India would be destroyed, and a few vassal states would be enfeoffed. However, Great Britain must be the most land and population of the Heavenly Zhu. Bangladesh and Alakan were both of Great Britain, and Great Britain could also expand along the Ganges River and reach the former capital of the Mauryan Dynasty. In order to ensure the British's advantage in India, a powerful Ganges fleet is necessary.

This Ganges fleet is the British Navy. It is mainly made by British homemade three-layer oar-mounted battleships and single-layer oar-mounted gunboats. The former is used for melee combat, while the latter built a circular turret at the bow and equipped with six two-inch cannons.

"Your Highness!"

The soldiers standing guard at the west gate of the Hebian Fort saw Chen Defang standing at the right moment and saluting. Chen Defang raised his arms to return the salute, and then raised the token of patrol. Chen Defang is still the prefect of the Hebian Prefecture, and the soldiers guarding the gate are all his subordinates. The Great Britain is still invented, and there is no division between the military and political families. The honor of a government not only needs to manage civil affairs, but also needs to manage military affairs of a government. The prefecture is a key task that the prefect needs to be responsible for. Chen Defang has to patrol the city routinely every day.

"Can it be abnormal outside the city?" Chen Defang asked.

"Nothing is abnormal!" A platoon leader guarding the goal reported loudly.

"Then open the door!"

After giving the order, Chen Defang turned around and headed towards the north gate. There are six city gates on the riverside fort, namely the east gate, the south gate, the west gate, the north gate, the side gate, and the side gate. Not every city gate will be open. According to regulations, only the west gate and the north gate will be opened. The west gate leads to Shuiying, and the north gate leads to Shanggang. However, ordinary Indian people are not allowed to enter the city. Only the native leaders of the Indian towns and villages, the Indian people and Buddhist monks who work in the riverside fort can enter the city.

At the north gate, Chen Defang asked the same question again, and then ordered the opening of the gate to open the gate, of course there would be no abnormalities outside the city. This place was far away from the front line and was surrounded by the territory of the British Kingdom. The Delhi Sultan, who had ruled here before, was quite tyrannical, forced the implementation of the Tianfang Sultan, demolished Buddhism and Brahmin temples. Moreover, there was no place for the indigenous nobles of the Delhi Sultan (actually they were foreigners, but they had been a little longer). Therefore, the Indians in Bangladesh did not welcome the governor of the Delhi Sultan, and were also welcomed the arrival of Great Britain.

Chen Huaiqing's rule was also quite effective, supporting Buddhism, tolerating Brahminism, and joining forces with the native nobles of India. Giving the British invaders a special Brahmin caste is actually a conspiracy with the Aryan rulers of India. The result of this is naturally easy to stabilize in the short term and difficult to be Chinese in the long term.

The people of India finally had a day of enlightenment! But at present, the territory of the Kingdom of Great Britain is still quite peaceful. There is no need for many troops to pacify the place. This allowed Chen Huaiqing to draw the army and prepare for the western expedition to Delhi.

In the past few months, the war in Tianzhu seemed to have entered an intermission period. The British Kingdom occupied eastern Bangladesh and part of Alakan; the two armies of Fasugu (Guge) occupied Neporo; the Song army took a stronghold at the mouth of the Xindu River; and in addition, they acted with the British army; the Lu army established a stronghold on a territory called "Seven Islands" on the west coast of Tianzhu; the Ladakh army was silent and guarded on the mountains and did not dare to attack the nearby forces of the Tianfang Cult; the Three Buddhas and Qi army also acted with the British army.

In addition, Chen Huaiqing also sent people to recruit Ahong Kingdom, a small Dai country that migrated from Dali to northeast Bangladesh. This turned the Eight-Nation Alliance into Nine Kingdoms.

After the Sultan of Delhi failed to seek peace, he was also actively preparing for a decisive battle. On the one hand, he spent a lot of money to hire troops from the nearby Afghanistan and Persia to expand his army; on the other hand, he also sent envoys to the Ilikhanate and Egypt for help; on the other hand, he also transported Derrida's property and treasures to Lahore, preparing to move the capital to Lahore in an unfavorable situation.

Both sides are preparing for war now, and the battle is about to come!

"There are really endless battles..."

Chen Defang stood inside the north gate of the riverside fort and muttered quietly. Although the war invasion of India went very smoothly, Chen Huaiqing and Chen Defang knew that things were not that simple! The Delhi Sultanate was not defeated, they just gave up some uncontrollable territory in order to concentrate their troops.

Moreover, based on the information summarized by all aspects, the Mongols did not fulfill their promise to not support the Delhi Sultanate. The religious leaders of the Delhi Sultanate are now operating in Afghanistan and Persia, calling for the Holy War!

The Mamruk Sultan of Egypt is also trying to support the Delhi Sultanate. The Mongols have handed over the city of Basra to the Mamruks so that they can use the Basra shipyard to build fleets. Muscat and Aden's Sultan also stand on the side of the Delhi Sultanate, where the shipyards (Muscat is the shipbuilding center of the Arabian Peninsula) are constantly starting to build warships day and night. It seems that these Tianfang Sultans know what is the coldness of lips and teeth.

It is precisely because these Tianfang Sultans are on the side of the Delhi Sultan that the Governor's Office of the Daming Strait is determined to take action against the Tianfang Sultan merchant ships on the small Western Ocean, and to temporarily interrupt the East-West trade through the small Western Ocean, and to eliminate the commercial forces of the Tianfang Sultan from the small Western Ocean!

However, such a move may also push the power of the Tianfang Sect maritime merchants to the side of the Delhi Sultan!

With the creaking sound, the wooden door was pushed open with force. Outside it was a trench, two zhang deep and three zhang wide. Beside the trench was the commercial port of Hebian Port. The management system of the commercial port was completely different from that of the Ming Dynasty. There were no councils and city halls. There were no gentry and lords discussing politics. Chen Huaiqing did not agree with the aristocrats that Chen Dexing had in the Ming Dynasty, and the elite democracy. He was still the original Song Dynasty, and the power was in power to the court, so the local government could do things carefully.

Chen Huaiqing's views on merchants and business were like the traditional bureaucrats in the Song Dynasty. It was the focus of the court's wealth accumulation! It must be well controlled and mastered. How can merchants have the right to autonomy? The Maritime Bureau, which manages the commercial port, is a powerful yamen. Not only does it have to collect taxes, but it also has the right to buy. The dispatch of the Maritime Bureau of the Riverside was also served by Chen Defang, the prefect of the Riverside. Therefore, Chen Defang had to go to the Maritime Bureau every day to see what you could buy, and pay attention to the prices of various important commodities related to people's livelihood and military affairs.

"Your Highness, you are here just in time. A merchant brought a group of slaves and oarsmen to sell them."

He rode a horse to the Maritime Warehouse Office. Du Yu (the fifteenth scholar from the Du family in Taizhou) had already brought the account book to report the good news to Chen Defang.

"Slave oarsman?" Chen Defang was stunned and then laughed, "This is a good thing! The navy is short of oarsman now! How much is the price? How many people are there?"

The British Navy has built 18 single-layer oar-mounted gunboats and 36 three-layer oar-mounted battleships. Because the hull of the single-layer oar-mounted gunboats is wide and long oars are installed with three oars paddlers, so there are as many oars as a three-layer oar-mounted battleship, all of which are 18o names, which means that the 54 main battleships of the entire fleet require a total of 972o oars.

Of course, it is impossible to use Han people, but only Indian natives or slaves. The Indian natives cannot use higher castes such as Brahmins and Kshatriya, because Indian people do not regard paddlers as warriors, but regard them as a lowly errand. Therefore, Indian soldiers from noble castes are unwilling to do it. In desperation, Chen Defang had to use slave paddlers. However, most of the slaves in India were Daroviddhis from Dhara and Datili castes. They were short and lacked enough nutrition. They were as thin as monkeys, so it was difficult to find a strong enough slave to serve as paddlers. Moreover, slave paddlers were not enough to be strong enough, and they had to be trained. It would be difficult to get all the staff before this autumn came.

Today, I can actually buy 121 trained slave paddlers at one time, which is really good news!

Du Yu replied respectfully: "There are 121 people, each of whom demands 400 guan, and a total of 48,400 guan."

"It's not cheap, can it be used?" Chen Defang asked again.

"It looks quite strong, fifty-two of them are black slaves, and the rest are white slaves."

"What? Are black slaves and white slaves?" Chen Defang was stunned for a moment, "I know where I got it?"

"It's a privateer, the owner's surname is Lei." Du Yu frowned slightly, "It seems that he had snatched the Baifan merchant ship at sea..."

There are still some Arab merchants taking risks in the small Atlantic Ocean, because Daguang Port controlled by the Song Dynasty also allows them to trade, and they can also disguise themselves as merchants from the Jura Kingdom or Ceylon Kingdom. Due to the blockade of the Ming Navy and the activities of privateer ships, maritime trade has become very dangerous. However, behind the risks, it often means huge profits!
Chapter completed!