Chapter 435: Stars of Paris
Chapter 436 The Stars in Paris
"But……"
The Indian officer wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by Marquis Wellesley raising his hand: "If you don't want to lose soldiers, go and recruit some untouchables. Anyone will do as long as they can lure the enemy to shoot."
The officer immediately shut his mouth, stroked his chest, saluted and left. In peninsular India, the most worthless thing is the life of a low-caste person. It doesn’t matter how many people die.
Wellesley continued to Cornwallis: "Then Tipu will have to defend Mangalore with his own troops."
South of Mangalore is Mysore City, the capital of Mysore and the second largest city in Mysore. Tipu Sultan naturally cannot give up here easily.
Wellesley continued: "When the Mysore Army begins to mobilize, I will take the Marines by boat around Cape Comorin and raid Tiruchirappalli."
Cape Comorin is the southernmost sea area of the Indian Peninsula. Tiruchirappalli was an important Carnatic city in southeastern India that Tipu Sultan had captured.
If Tiruchirappalli could be recaptured, Mysore's offensive in the east would be blocked.
"You follow my tactics in Mangalore and continue to uproot these annoying fortresses. Once I have achieved results there, you will almost reach the vicinity of Mysore City."
Wellesley waved his stick: "Then we can attack Tipu from both sides. I think he will come to us before the autumn to pray for an armistice."
…
Eastern city of Mysore.
Salem.
Tipu Sultan finally relaxed a little as he watched the carriages driving into the city.
In those cars were flintlocks and gunpowder just shipped from the Ottomans, as well as some medicines and military uniforms. With this batch of supplies, his army should not be short of ammunition before the rainy season arrives.
However, he also knew that after losing control of the southern coast, it would be difficult to transport aid supplies into Mysore, and the battle in the future would become increasingly difficult.
At first, he was somewhat disapproving of Lafayette's words, but after these months of fighting, he finally realized that the British were far more powerful than he thought.
Those red-coated soldiers have extremely high training levels and strict discipline. They usually have to mobilize tens of thousands of troops to barely cope with two to three thousand British troops.
At the same time, the British commander was also very cunning, and the battles he commanded had almost no flaws.
He was attacked by the British in Tiruchirappalli. In less than three days, the 30,000-strong army was defeated by less than 4,000 British and more than 10,000 Hyderabad troops. Tiruchirapalli had just been captured. Parly was lost.
Immediately, he had to retreat to Salem.
If the third largest city in Mysore could not be held, the British would go straight to Selingabadan, his administrative center.
He carefully recalled Lafayette's words before leaving, and first sent his trusted officers to check the food reserves. Then he summoned his important minister Shah and ordered him to secretly go to Hyderabad to conduct some secret transactions.
On the other side, the Marquis of Wellesley drove his horse up a low hill in high spirits, overlooking the city of Salem in the distance, and felt much relieved.
Although this was the first time for the British God of War to command a large army in combat, he relied on his extraordinary military talent to become invincible in a series of battles. Within a few months, he completely reversed the decline of the British army and launched a full-scale counterattack.
According to the order just sent from London yesterday, he has been promoted to major general and is fully responsible for the war in India.
Wellesley has been holding his breath, just waiting to stabilize the situation in India before going back to settle the accounts with those French guys!
He clamped the horse's belly hard and ran towards Salem down the mountain. At the same time, he loudly ordered the officers beside him: "The whole army is ready to launch a general attack on Salem at noon the day after tomorrow."
…
Paris.
On the main street on the south side of the Louvre Museum, Schmidt retracted his neck into his collar, glanced at the already dark sky, and said to the valet: "Damn the cold wind, I almost want to go back to the hotel.
“Why do the French open their fairs at night?”
The manservant looked at the children not far away and whispered: "Master, would you like me to rent a hand warmer for you?"
"Oh, okay. I'm freezing."
Just as the manservant left, light music suddenly sounded everywhere.
Schmidt looked up and saw a group of palace guards separating the crowd. Then, Her Majesty the Queen of France, dressed in white and with flowing colorful feathers on her head, got off the carriage across the street and came to the high platform that had been set up surrounded by officials.
After a burst of intensive drumming, a palace official signaled everyone to salute, and then Queen Mary raised her arms high, without any preamble, and said loudly: "Please all my friends who come to Paris to witness this magnificent spectacle with me!"
Before Schmidt could react, he heard several salutes roaring from all around, and then a series of shining "starlights" quickly began to shine from both ends of the street.
The "starlight" kept lighting up in the night. After just a few minutes, the whole street became as bright as daylight as if by magic!
Schmidt, like everyone else, blocked the dazzling white light with his hands and looked up in surprise, only to realize that it was a series of strange street lights.
Unlike the kerosene street lamps he had seen, the light of this lamp was very strong, allowing him to clearly see the embroidery patterns on the clothes of the lady next to him.
People immediately started talking excitedly: "What kind of light is this? It's so bright!"
"I heard it's called a gas lamp. A few months ago, there were more than a dozen of them in the Saint-Germain district."
"Oh, God, there's no night here..."
After a while, the band started playing again, and Queen Marie announced with a smile on her face: "This is France's first exhibit at this industrial expo. Oh, forgive us for not putting it in the Royal Palace because it takes up too much space.
"Its name is a gas street lamp. It will illuminate the whole of Paris in the future! After other places fall into the night, this place is still a prosperous and bustling metropolis!
"Then, next, the World Industrial Exposition officially begins.
"I will participate in this global event with you. Please enjoy the magic and convenience brought by industrial technology! "
While the French Queen was still giving a passionate speech, Schmidt could not wait to get out of the crowd and looked into the distance. He saw that the entire Paris neighborhood was full of "starlights". The "light belts" composed of lights extended all the way to the sky, which reminded him of the future world in the novels he had read before.
He suddenly lost all his tiredness, took the hand warmer handed over by the servant, and just followed the bustling crowd and walked casually along the street.
The shops along the street were still brightly lit, and the vendors on both sides of the road were hawking enthusiastically. The flow of people on the street was even more than during the day, and the night around added a sense of mystery and fashion here.
