Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 363: Poisonous Monk Daoyan, God helps me! [Please subscribe]

into the night.

The city of Dhaka has returned to peace under the maintenance of the Yan vassal army. Because Zhu Di ordered a curfew, the city was very quiet everywhere, except for the city lord's mansion, which was still brightly lit. Patrolling guards and officials were coming in and out, looking busy.

In the main hall of the palace, Chen Ying was reporting to Zhu Di the money, grain and supplies in the treasury that had just been counted and listed.

"Your Majesty, the City Lord's Mansion has a total of over 35,000 dan of grain in stock. We also found 27,550 taels of gold, 19,420 taels of silver, and approximately 16,000 jin of various copper coins."

"In addition, there are 670 bolts of silk and over 18,000 bolts of various cotton cloths..."

The lord of Dhaka City is a noble who is feudalized here and holds all kinds of power. Therefore, the warehouse for storing various materials is built in the lord's mansion, and there are quite a lot of savings.

Fortunately, Zhu Di brought many people who could read and count this time, otherwise he might not have been able to count and calculate the supplies in the treasury so quickly.

Chen Ying finished her report with the booklet in hand, then said, "There are also 178 boxes of various gemstones of inestimable value."

Zhu Di was not happy when he heard this. Instead, he frowned and asked, "Why are there so many gems and gold, but so little food?"

Chen Ying said, "Your Majesty, Dhaka is a coastal commercial city, primarily focused on commerce, not agriculture. The over 30,000 dan of grain stored in the treasury is probably used by the city lord to supply the army and as a precaution."

"However, Dhaka has a population of over 100,000 people, and trade and travel are frequent. If I am not mistaken, the grain merchants in the city should have a lot of food stored."

"My humble suggestion is to buy all the grain hoarded by grain merchants at a price slightly higher than the market price."

"Oh? Why do you do this?" Zhu Di asked with a little confusion.

Chen Ying said, "First, of course, is to legitimately control the food supply in the city. To the king, gold, silver, and jewelry are far less important than food."

"Secondly, if this matter gets out, it will not only spread the king's reputation for benevolence, but it will also encourage Mengguo's grain merchants to ship more grain here for profit. We can then gather more grain here."

"If Meng is completely unprepared, we might be able to defeat them without fighting."

Zhu Di pondered for a moment, then looked at Daoyan and asked, "Master, what do you think?"

Monk Daoyan said, "Master Chen's idea is good, but the barbarians here fear our power and not our virtue. It would be best to change the plan for buying grain."

"There's more than one grain merchant in this city. We can find one or two that are popular, or have a deep connection with the city lord, Qi Yade, and confiscate their property and exterminate their clans."

"Then we can purchase half of the remaining grain from the grain merchants at a price slightly higher than the market price. If we buy all the grain, we will be responsible for feeding the residents, which is a thankless task. It is better to let the grain merchants do it."

"Of course, Your Majesty must strictly order them not to hoard goods or arbitrarily raise prices. If anyone violates this rule, you can arrest one or two more families and confiscate their property to make an example of them."

"Only by combining kindness and severity can the grain merchants and people here quickly adapt to the king's rule."

Tan Heng, Fang Bin, Huang Zicheng and others from Prince Yan's court were also in the hall. After hearing Daoyan's words, they couldn't help but murmur secretly: How could there be such a vicious monk who would confiscate people's property and exterminate their clans at will?
Zhu Di, however, felt that Daoyan's "grain purchase plan" was more to his liking, so he smiled and asked, "Do you have any other ideas on this matter?"

Huang Zicheng thought to himself: You are smiling so much after hearing what I said, so what if we have other ideas?

Chen Ying said, "Master Daoyan's thoughts are indeed more comprehensive. I think it is feasible."

Since Chen Ying had expressed her opinion, others naturally agreed as well.

Zhu Di smiled and said, "Okay, then this matter is settled. The three departments of household, criminal justice, and police will be jointly responsible. If military action is needed, please inform me."

"Next, let's discuss military matters. The ease with which they captured Dhaka was beyond our expectations. This incident also demonstrates that Bangladesh lacks vigilance against maritime adversaries and its military's combat effectiveness is weak."

"I'm wondering if we can send troops up the Ganges and launch a surprise attack on the Mon Kingdom's capital, Gaur, before the Mon Kingdom's ruler learns of our capture of Dhaka."

Daoyan laughed and said, "Your Majesty's plan coincides with what I have in mind."

Counselor Qin Heng raised a question, "Your Majesty, we don't have many troops to begin with, and Gao Er is nearly 500 miles away. Even if we do capture this city and divide our forces to defend it, we will be in a very passive position and even face a difficult situation. I hope Your Majesty will reconsider this."

Zhu Di laughed and said, "Who said I want to hold Gaoer? Gaoer is the capital of Meng State. If we can capture it, or even capture or kill the Meng State leader, Meng State will be leaderless."

"Meng State is different from Ming Dynasty. Under such circumstances, most of the city lords will take the opportunity to establish their own independence and annex each other."

"Even if a few lords consider us their enemies, it will be difficult for them to unite. This will give us enough time to establish a foothold in the Dhaka region."

"Once we have established ourselves, we can then conquer these Meng Kingdom cities on the left one by one and quickly expand the territory of our vassal state."

"Besides, if we capture Gaoer, we can also obtain the wealth accumulated by the Meng royal family for generations, which can be used as capital to build a vassal state!"

After hearing Zhu Di's words, the military advisor Fang Bin was the first to agree. "Excellent! According to what Your Majesty said, a surprise attack on Gao Er is a three-pronged strategy. It's truly brilliant!"

“It really is killing three birds with one stone.”

"It seems that a surprise attack on Goyle would bring many benefits."

"···"

For a moment, all the staff and generals were amazed.

This actually made it difficult for Qin Heng, who had initially questioned the matter.

However, he had always played the role of a loyal minister under Zhu Di, so he did not take it seriously. Instead, he reminded everyone behind him: "We have just arrived here. A surprise attack of 500 miles is a risky move after all. I hope the king will be cautious."

Zhu Di was not angry, but nodded and said, "I understand what you mean - I will be prepared."

"Tan Yuan, you should have investigated the situation in Gaoer, right? Why don't I tell you about Meng's military deployment in Gaoer?"

Tan Yuan stepped out from the ranks of military commanders and said, "Your Majesty, the Meng army in Gaoer is divided into three parts: the royal army, the city guards, and the nobles' private army." "Among them, the royal army is the most elite, numbering approximately 8,000 men. They still use cold weapons, but only 70% of them are armored."

"It should be noted that there are two thousand elephant troops inside, and I heard there are twenty war elephants."

"Next is the city guard, approximately 15,000 men, with about 50% wearing armor. However, from my observation, they are only slightly stronger than Dhaka's city defense forces, and their combat effectiveness is not very high."

"As for the nobles' private armies within the city, we have no idea how many there are, and their combat capabilities vary greatly, making it difficult to estimate."

"However, these nobles and the royal family may not be on the same page. As long as we don't siege the city for a long time and break in quickly, the nobles' private armies won't be able to play much of a role."

"Gol City is approximately ten miles in circumference, with walls over thirty feet high. It's usually guarded by the city guards. As for the Royal Army, aside from the two thousand elephant soldiers, the remaining six thousand are responsible for guarding the palace."

At this point, Tan Yuan clasped his fists and said, "If you want to launch a surprise attack on Gaoer, I request your permission to lead two hundred advance team soldiers to set out tonight. We will try to sneak into the city before King Meng receives the news that Dhaka has been captured by us, and serve as an internal support."

"Also, we've surveyed the Ganges River from Dhaka to Galle. A ship over 3,000 tons can sail there without any problems, but for a ship over 5,000 tons, it's harder to say."

After listening to Tan Yuan's narration of Gao Er's military deployment, Zhu Di discussed with other staff members and generals, and finally decided to lead 2,000 guards, 3,000 garrison troops, and 3,000 Guyi Battalion to go upstream on warships the next morning, leaving only 1,000 guards and 2,000 garrison troops to defend Dhaka.

Among them, the Guyi Camp refers to the 3,000 Japanese orphans trained by Zhu Di while taking advantage of the opportunity to supervise Japanese affairs.

More than two years have passed, and the oldest of these orphans is already fifteen years old, and the youngest is twelve or thirteen years old.

If they were ordinary teenagers, they would be cannon fodder if sent to the battlefield, but these teenagers have been carefully trained for more than two years and are already qualified young soldiers. They are not ambiguous about killing and fighting...

three days later.

When the sun sets in the west.

Outside the east gate of Gaoer, the capital of Meng State, a large group of city guards, as usual, took advantage of the opportunity to guard the city gate to collect gate taxes from ordinary people who seemed to have no identity or status.

Captain Salman hummed a tune and shook his head, looking so happy that he seemed ready to dance at any moment.

The job of city gate guard is very lucrative, and Salman spent a lot of gold to bribe his superiors to get it. If he doesn't get it back during his term of office, he will lose a lot.

He chose to charge triple the door tax. In just three months, he could not only make back his investment but also make a lot of money.

Speaking of which, there seemed to be more small merchants entering the city today than yesterday, allowing him to earn more than yesterday - if so many small merchants entered and left the city every day, perhaps he could make back his investment in half a month.

Just as Salman was thinking about his "business", many people looked towards the dock in the east and exclaimed.

He looked towards the dock two miles away, his eyes widened immediately, and he muttered, "Oh my God, what a big ship!"

Then his eyes lit up and he thought: He must be a sea merchant from somewhere.

Although the sea merchants were rich, they were not powerful people in Gaoer. If the other party entered the city, he could take the opportunity to ask for a large amount of "door tax"!
Salman waited expectantly for a long time, and then he saw that the dock suddenly became chaotic, and people, rich and poor, were running towards the east gate frantically!

Some people ran and shouted.

"The enemy is coming!"

"Run!"

"···"

Seeing this scene, Salman came back to his senses with a start and shouted frantically: "Close the city gate! Enter the city and close the city gate!"

After saying that, he was the first to run to the city - he had made a lot of money in the past few years since joining the city guards, and he didn't want to die like this.

The city guards under Salman had the same idea as him. Seeing him leading the way, they naturally followed him, and some even ran faster than him.

At this time, there were many people entering and leaving the East Gate. Because the city guards had escaped, there was chaos. In addition, many people fled from the dock and actually blocked the city gate!

On a wooden warship on the river, Zhu Di, who was leading the expedition personally, watched the scene through a telescope and couldn't help but laugh. "God is really helping me! Pass on my order. Have Zhang Yu lead the cavalry to break through the east gate and seize the city!"

"As ordered!"

···
March 27, the 21st year of Hongwu.

Prince of Yan, Zhu Di, led 8,000 elite troops on warships up the Ganges River and launched a surprise attack on the capital of Meng State, Gaur, which he captured in one fell swoop.

In this battle, Zhu Di captured the King Ali of Meng and his queen, princes, and ministers totaling more than 3,000 people, and seized countless gold, silver, jewelry, food, horses, cattle, sheep and other supplies.

When the news spread, many city lords of Meng State took the opportunity to declare themselves kings, and for a time, Meng State was divided into countless pieces.

A month later, the second prince Murdin, who was stationed in the northern border of Meng, proclaimed himself the King of Meng and recruited soldiers from local lords and nobles to chase the "pirates" and rescue the captured old King Ali.

However, few lords paid any attention to him.

When Murdin learned that the "pirates" had broken through Gaul, they looted and left with the captives by boat, and then he abandoned the northern defense line and returned to Gaul with tens of thousands of troops.

Two months after Zhu Di conquered Galle, the Sultanate of Jaunpur in the north (ancient Nepal, but its territory was much larger than today's Nepal) learned of the situation in Meng State and decisively sent troops south.

　First update.

　　Correct the typo later

　　
　
(End of this chapter)