Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 480: Chapter 393 Talleyrand’s Tour Around Europe

Cornwallis grimly gazed at the distant rudimentary bastion for a full half-minute before finally gesturing to a staff officer beside him:

"Send the order, leave one battalion to continue the siege, the rest of the troops are to bypass this damned thing!”

Regrouping and taking a detour could delay them a day or two, but it was better than being disgusted by that broken “barn.”

Yet, merely an hour and a half later, several squads of hussars successively brought back the news that less than three miles south of that “barn,” two similar structures had been discovered.

And farther away, there seemed to be more…

These defensive fortifications densely guarded nearly all the traffic arteries, with three built at the crossroads of key strategic nodes!

In a strategy game, perhaps one could micro-manage the troops to squeeze through two bastions, after all, their cannons could not possibly cover a range of two or three miles. But in actual combat, this was completely impossible.

When tens of thousands of troops march, the column could be over ten kilometers long. If the enemy sporadically rushes out from the bastions to launch a surprise attack, a marching column has no defense.

A surprise attack might not kill many, but the confusion and resultant stampeding could cause serious casualties and a severe morale blow.

Thus, it was necessary to eliminate several defense points and clear a road at least seven or eight miles wide, deploy some forces on both sides for defense, and then the rest would dare to pass through the middle.

In fact, even so, safety was not guaranteed, for the marching column was too long, and defensive gaps were likely to occur.

Cornwallis, struggling to suppress the rage in his chest, clenched his teeth and commanded as he looked at the red circles marked on the map by the staff officer:

"Bring me all the cannons! Smash that ‘barn’ to pieces for me!”

The staff officer was taken aback: “Barn?”

"That thing on the high ground! Damn it, whatever you call it! Take it at all costs!”

"Yes, General!”

The auxiliary forces from Maratha and Hyderabad were brought up, repeatedly charging towards the mound’s “Pa,” only to be driven back each time.

During the tense wait over the next nine days, a British 12-pounder cannon accurately hit the defensive gun at the top of “Paa chance that in the era of smoothbore canon was pretty much like winning the lottery jackpot.

Afterwards, Cornwallis’s grenadiers braved casualties and finally breached the last wall, pouring into the high tower in the middle of “Pa.”

Cornwallis felt a surge of relief, as if he had finally evacuated after nine days of constipation, and, pointing his cane at “Pa,” he said to his staff officer:

"Bring me the commander of the garrison. Their tenacity deserves my praise.”

Before the officer could leave, the high tower on “Pa” quivered, billowing black smoke, followed by a thunderous “boom.”

Soon, the messenger brought news from the front, the people of Mysore had buried gunpowder in the fortress, killing over thirty grenadiers and only capturing five wounded prisoners.

With his face ashen, Cornwallis stared at the ruins on the mound, then peered southward, aware that several more of these “barns” awaited him, and felt a spasm in his stomach, almost vomiting…

In fact, Magnus had already led the Mysore serfs to build over 70 “Pas” in the entire Mangalore area, and construction was still ongoing. Each “Pa” was only stocked with 25 days’ worth of food and drinking water—their defense was required to hold out for just that long, after which the garrison could retreat.

And the British needed to remove at least one-fourth of them to pass through the Mangalore area smoothly.

Even if they could hit the jackpot every time and directly strike the defenders’ cannons, it would take 9 days, so dealing with Mangalore would require 160 days… RàƝꝊＢĚʂ

And that’s just a not-so-large province in the northwest of Mysore; the areas of Seringapatam and Mysore City are even vaster, and it would basically be impossible to breakthrough Mysore without two or three years.

This was the defense strategy that Joseph tailored specifically for Mysore.

"Pa,” this kind of thing, has almost no value in Europe where human resources are precious and architectural technology is advanced; it would make more sense to invest money in building a bastion. But in India, where a large number of serfs could be levied for labor without any cost, “Pa” proved to be very appropriate.

Although it’s not “zero cost” as Fernand said—construction indeed had its expenses, but cannons, gunpowder, provisioning, and transportation still cost money—a “Pa” only required Sultan Tipu to invest about 400 British Pounds, which is 10,000 livres, and a significant portion of that was borne by the local nobility. For Mysore, it was almost possible to build without limit.

At the same time, this thing had a very low requirement for building skills; even the primitive tribes on the Pacific islands could manage it, let alone a mature feudal state.

Most importantly, elsewhere the attacker could slowly grind down the earthen “Pa,” eventually wearing it away, but with the British expending a high cost on a lengthy expedition, being dragged on for years would make them bleed money.

Moreover, the “Tiger of Mysore” was no ordinary adversary, not just sitting and waiting for the British to attack.

While Cornwallis was launching an attack on the second “Pa,” Sultan Tipu had already led an army of 17,000 into Travancore.

Travancore was no match and had to rush to ask the British for help desperately.

Cornwallis, in a flurry, diverted 3,000 British soldiers and more than 10,000 servant troops, which the Royal Navy shipped off to Travancore. Just three days after the ships left port, news came that the Travancore Royal had surrendered to Mysore.

From then on, there were no more hostile forces in the south of Mysore.

On Lafayette’s advice, Sultan Tipu immediately led his main forces toward Carnatic in the east—Lafayette would command the 20,000 Mysore troops in the northwest, relying on the “Pa” for defense, so there was no need for him to be distracted.

If Carnatic was conquered, the entire southern part of the Indian subcontinent would fall into Mysore’s hands, and the British strategic situation would become extremely dire.

Meanwhile, the French consul in Mysore, Salah, and Mysore’s senior official Shah were quietly heading to Hyderabad. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had said that Indians love to take advantage but have no credibility.

If they could entice Hyderabad to turn against the British with benefits—they had allied with Mysore against the British decades ago—that would be best. Even if that could not be achieved, it would force the British to expend more resources to stabilize Hyderabad.

…

In the western suburbs of Munich.

Talleyrand adjusted his attire and stepped down from the carriage, then turned to signal the escorting guards:

"Please make sure to watch that guy closely. Come with me.”

The three soldiers escorted a middle-aged man tied up like a rice dumpling, following behind the French Foreign Minister and heading to the Munich Palace.

The sounds of music rose around them. The Duke of Bavaria, Karl Otto Dor, stood by the palace gates across from the honor guards, smiling at the visiting Frenchmen.

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