Chapter 395: Bugs in the British Back Garden

Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.

Since the trade agreement was signed with the Shudra Veraweiss Adani last year, orders from India have never stopped, with a total of more than 20,000 rifles and 400,000 rounds of ammunition.

With equipment of this scale, it is probably not a problem to conquer the entire Trivandrum Kingdom, and Franz has not heard of any major moves from India.

The British felt ashamed after the failure of the Afghan War, and coupled with the economic crisis in the country, they urgently needed to transfer domestic conflicts and consume as much of this batch of materials as possible.

However, the British looked around in Europe and finally did not dare to do it, and finally chose the lucky one of Sindh, India.

In fact, the Sindh King Baruch also wanted to take advantage of the British defeat 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 (another name for the king) of Sindh Province to sign an unequal treaty.

Later, in 1839, the invasion deepened. The three princely states not only became British vassal states, but also lost their ownership of land and the right to defend their own security.

Of course, while occupying all important military fortresses, the British did not forget to provide convenience to British merchants, that is, the princely states did not have the right to levy taxes on British goods.

In order to further weaken their resistance, the local British governor also instigated infighting among the three states to consume their strength.

Starting in September 1842, due to the impact of the defeat in Afghanistan, British rule began to waver. The radical General Richard Napier decided to solve the Sindh issue once and for all.

He put forward extremely harsh conditions to the three kings of Sindh, increased the tribute requirements and prepared to distribute their land to the more obedient kings.

But the strength of both sides made the three kings of Sindh agree to the request for ceding land and paying compensation. However, soon after, the businessman Veraweiss found them and said that he had a lot of weapons in his hands and could sell them to them "cheaply".

So, the three princely states of Sindh united together, and elected Baruch as their leader, and began to gather secretly to fight against the British.

The plan was very careful, and the number of rebel fighters was close to 30,000, and they were also equipped with a large number of obsolete weapons from Austria.

These old-fashioned smoothbore rifles and small-caliber artillery, as well as the original version of Congreve rockets and granulated black powder were enough to fight a small-scale war on the European continent.

However, there is no impenetrable wall in this world, and there is never a lack of traitors.

Someone informed the British colonial government, but General Napier selectively turned a blind eye to the information of 30,000 troops and a large number of military equipment.

The local British army had 3,000 people and 12 cannons. Napier still confidently issued an ultimatum to the princely state of Sindh, and saw that the matter was exposed.

Some of the rebels decided to act in advance and sent troops to directly attack the British Governor's House. But the result was exactly what Napier wanted, and the attackers were ambushed by the British army and suffered heavy losses.

On February 1, 1843, General Napier led 2,800 British troops to attack and caught Bharuch off guard. The Sindh army was defeated by the British army despite its absolute advantage in numbers.

In addition to strategic mistakes, the lack of fighting will was the key. At that time, there were more than 10,000 main forces of the rebels in Miani, but they were panicked by the sudden attack of the British army and the battle line was in chaos.

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

The leader of the rebels, Bharuch, fled back to Hyderabad with only 15 followers.

General Napier decided to pursue the victory regardless of his men's fatigue from fighting for days, and forced through the desert to attack Hyderabad without backup supplies.

(Hyderabad is the headquarters fortress of the Sindhi rebels and also the most important supply point.)

But this time the veteran miscalculated. Crossing the desert was more difficult than he imagined. And this time Baruch's army was well prepared. Thirty cannons, two thousand Congreve rockets, and twenty thousand fully armed local soldiers killed all the more than two thousand British soldiers who came to pursue.

In fact, the battle only killed a small number of British troops, but the locals had no idea about prisoners of war. They gathered the British who laid down their weapons together and then launched a crazy massacre.

This was the greatest victory of the locals and even the whole of India against the British. While they were celebrating, Edward Law, Earl Ellenborough, also toasted in his Governor's Mansion.

Because he finally found a breakthrough. The longer, bigger, and more tragic the war was, the more it could divert domestic conflicts.

But the death of Lieutenant General Napier still reminded Earl Ellenborough that he did not want to overturn like the previous Governor-General of India.

Whether it is Afghans, Indians, or Pakistanis, they cannot take it lightly.

So he sent an unprecedented army to conquer Sindh.

Of course, Franz, who was far away in Europe at this time, could only speculate that there was another war on the Indian subcontinent. Now the Austrian military's inventory was finally exhausted. Although Count Latour thought that he could make money by selling new guns to Indians, Franz did not intend to do so.

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

So Franz pointed out a new way for Veraweiss, asking him to go to Zhenla to buy weapons, which would not only save time but also save costs.

At the same time, it could also inject new vitality into Austria's colonies, and the most important thing was to make Zhenla completely a part of the entire colonial system.

In fact, it was mainly because the local population was increasing with the stabilization of the political situation, but because Franz promoted rubber planting on a large scale in the local area, the land for growing grain would inevitably decrease.

Importing from Thailand is a good choice in the short term, but it is not safe to put all the eggs in one basket, not to mention that Kalimantan and Suweila will follow in Zhenla's footsteps.

In this way, it is very important to open up the trade route to India. Of course, Franz is also leaving a way out for those who resist British colonial rule.

After all, gold and silver are always limited, even if they dig out the accumulated gold and silver of their ancestors and those temples, they can't support it for long.

But cash crops and grains are different. They will mature every year and be harvested every year. And only in this way can they be truly incorporated into their own system, and only in this way can the interests of both parties be tied together.

The Indian subcontinent is a treasure trove of resources, the pearl of the British Empire, and it has continuously transfused blood to Britain, which has allowed it to remain invincible.

Franz always believed in the saying "To put out a fire, you must remove the fuel from the bottom of the pot, and to cut the grass, you must remove the roots."

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