The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1538: Chapter 262: Napoleonic Tactics

”Sir, if there’s nothing else, I’ll go handle other work. Don’t forget there’s a cultural exchange event you need to attend tonight.”

Blackwell, weighed down by worries, closed the office door, leaving Arthur alone in the large office, repeatedly examining the Duke of Wellington’s letter.

The Red Devil was perched on the chandelier, his slender tail sweeping the floor. His boring life led him to yawn uncontrollably: ”I say, Arthur...”

Without lifting his head, Arthur pulled out a pen from his shirt pocket, laid out the paper, and methodically began writing his report: ”What’s up? Haven’t you always complained that the life in Russia isn’t suitable for a devil? Now I’ve racked my brains to bring you back to London, and you’re still not happy?”

”Bring me back to London?” Agares grinned, revealing rows of jagged teeth. ”My dear Arthur, it’s one thing to deceive White Hall; now you’re trying to deceive the devil?”

Arthur pursed his lips and shook his head: ”Deceiving the devil is far easier than deceiving White Hall. The former only requires me to move my mouth, while the latter requires providing a whole coherent set of logic. Besides... Agares, don’t make it sound so harsh. Every diplomatic report I submit to the Cabinet is backed by ample evidence and theoretical support. Can you guarantee that Russia won’t invade Central Asia and threaten Britain’s military presence in India?”

If it were anyone else, they might be fooled by Arthur’s retort, but there’s no trust whatsoever between the Red Devil and Arthur.

Agares sneered mockingly: ”At least the Tsar once personally assured your superior.”

”Russian assurances cannot be trusted, especially when such a promise comes from the Tsar.”

Arthur casually called the Tsar by his name: ”If the promise were made by his brother Alexander I, I might have believed it. But Nikolai Pavlovich Romanov? Excuse my candor, even if he says it’s sincere now, I can’t guarantee he won’t overturn his decision tomorrow. You know, back then, the Russians conspired with Napoleon to advance toward India. If Nelson hadn’t destroyed the French naval forces at the Battle of Trafalgar, and Paul I hadn’t had a timely stroke, India might have been filled with Fourth Rank civil servants and petty officials.”

Agares laughed; he did not believe Arthur’s explanation at all: ”Now I understand why you trust Alexander I over Tsar Nicholas I. From the British perspective, Alexander I personally overturned his father’s decision to ally with Napoleon, having more credibility concerning British and Russian friendship than Nicholas. But is your fabricated plan of Russia advancing to India too careless and outdated?”

Arthur acknowledged that the Red Devil was accusing him of nearly copying Napoleon’s India expedition plan wholesale.

Back then, Napoleon’s plan to advance into India with Russia had two proposals.

The northern route was an all-land expedition plan; ideally, the French Army would sweep through the Ottoman Empire and depart from Constantinople, head east across Anatolia while Russian forces moved south from the Caucasus. The combined Russo-French force of 50,000 troops would unite in Armenia, then march through allied Persia’s Shiraz and Kandahar into the North Indian Punjab Kingdom. Subsequently, the Anglo-Russian forces would locally find support from anti-British forces, the Maratha Alliance of nearly 50,000 mercenaries, stirring uproar within India.

The southern route adopted a sea-land integrated approach; the French Army would board ships in Marseille, land at Suez, Egypt under the protection of the French Mediterranean Fleet. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet needed to break through Ottoman’s blockade at the Dardanelles Strait, advancing relentlessly with Egypt’s Mamluk Cavalry from their French client state to completely defeat the Ottomans from both North and South ends. Then, both forces would follow the North route’s advance, proceeding through Persia to North India.

However, thanks to Nelson’s glorious victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, France subsequently completely lost sea power, making it impossible to even leave port, let alone control the Mediterranean.

The southern route was unfeasible, leaving only the northern route, but according to Napoleon’s military science advisory group estimates, crossing the Arab desert required a minimum of 3 liters of drinking water per soldier per day, necessitating a minimum supply of 1 million liters of water, which the Persians could not provide locally for the French Army.

The French met with trouble, and the Russian side wasn’t doing much better.

The map drawn by Russian spies in 1806 falsely marked the Khyber Pass’s winter snow thickness in Afghanistan, predicting only 0.3 meters of snow, while the real measure was 1.5 meters, causing Russian staff to underestimate the actual difficulty in advancing toward India.

What’s worse, the Russo-French allied forces originally planned to depart in spring, but floods caused by melting snow in the Caucasus Mountains delayed the Russian forces by 46 days.

French envoy Gadan’s attempt to bribe Persia’s Shah Fat’h Ali with gold also fell through.

Not because Persians were staunch British allies, but because Britain offered twice the bribe as the French.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain indeed showcased its financial prowess without ever losing.