In The Lap of the Himalayas Version 2

Reader mode
Results and Prelude.
  • Index
    • Sarthak

    Sarthak

    Chapter 6: Results

    ***

    1826

    ***

    Bhimsen Thapa yawned as he walked through the courtyard with his heavy eyelids seemingly dripping in the dark shade of the afternoon. The reports, budgeting etc were really starting to get to him in many ways. Anyways, he had much more work to do, but first was to check up on the young King.

    Bhimsen walked quietly for a few minutes as he poked his head into the courtyard to see young 13 year old King Rajendra dutifully follow Monsieur Pierre’s advises on French grammar as the young King learned how to speak French. Bringing in European scientific teachers, psychological and linguistic teachers had been a good call on his part. Rajendra had been very motivated to study after his father’s death, and it clearly showed in the young king.

    Bhimsen smiled slightly before he frowned as pain crossed over his old 50 year old back. He didn’t have much time left it seemed. A decade? Or two at maximum was Bhimsen’s life tag for the most part it seemed. Bhimsen turned away and walked towards his office. He had a meeting to conduct with Pushkar Shah and one of the British Engineers he had hired.

    He waited for a few minutes before Pushkar Shah entered the office.

    “Mukhtiyar, what can I do for you?” Pushkar Shah stated as he entered the office and bowed his head before sitting down in front of him.

    Bhimsen twirled his mustache for a bit before speaking. “Pushkar, I need your diplomatic skills for a mission.”

    “A mission?” Pushkar asked somewhat hesitantly. “Of what kind?”

    “We are not British protectorates. However we are seen by the world as we are their protectorate. We must be able to do something to rectify this. I need you to go on a diplomatic visit to London, Britain. Besides me and Balbhadra, you are the most fluent speaker of English in our country. You can communicate with them. Go and study their polity bodies; most importantly their parliament, which we have heard about a lot. Their societal structure and then the atmosphere in Europe.” Bhimsen stated.

    Pushkar leaned back and said “That is quite the hefty mission you are asking of me, Mukhtiyar, however I will need to get my house in order. Have you contacted the Governor-General of Calcutta for this?”

    “Yes. Lord Amherst has been willing for the mission. He has stated in the letter I sent him, that he would prepare the ships needed for the voyage and that he would be willing to endorse the meeting.” Bhimsen chuckled. “Our new economic dealings with the British have made them more amenable to our demands, its seems.”

    Pushkar chuckled as well. “Very well. By when do you wish me to go?”

    “A week at most.”

    “Very well.”

    “Come to me when you are ready. I shall give you the gifts and items you can present to the British Monarch. That is of course, an essential part of your mission as well, you realize?”

    “Yes. Of course.”

    “Thank you, Pushkar.”'

    1592981214976.png

    Lord Amherst, Governor General of British Bengal of the Honorable East India Company.

    ***

    Bhimsen tapped the walls and table before he finally sighed in relief as he heard the distinctive British accent asking for permission to enter the office.

    “Yes you may enter.” Bhimsen replied in english. The door opened to show the figure of a group of British engineers that Bhimsen had managed to bring in pulling some strings in the private contractors in Calcutta. The lead one looked at the inlet and looked at Bhimsen Thapa before taking off his bowl hat and tipping it down. "Nice to meet yah, Mukhtiyar Bhimsen Thapa. Me myself, John Riddle, the lead engineer of this group of rabble behind me. I hear you had business for me to undertake."

    Bhimsen smiled and said "I was waiting for you gentlemen. Of course please sit down."

    The engineers sat down in the chairs in front of Bhimsen as Bhimsen blew the steam off the hot cups of tea and placed them in front of the engineers.

    Riddle took a sip of the tea before smacking his lips, much to the internal distaste of Bhimsen before Riddle looked at Bhimsen and said "Well, we're one of the engineer contacts of the East India Company. Riddle Engineers Corporation. Built by me dad. Heard you had a deal to make with me and my corporation?"

    "Yes, I infact did." Bhimsen murmured. "I was wondering if you could potentially construct modern highways like the ones you have built in Calcutta in my nation."

    "Ah, well money is the only problem then Mr. Thapa!" Riddle guffawed. "Of course, you will have to provide me with the men to work with as well, and a translator."

    "That can be arranged gentlemen." Bhimsen answered. "You received my letter. I wish for an east-wet highway in the plains and one highway in the Kathmandu-Bharatpur pathway."

    "Ar, seems like a long project." Riddle stated as he pushed a map of nepal on the table and looked at it.

    "It presumably is." Bhimsen agreed. "However I heard that your rates were creasing due to the British bringing in governmental firms in the area for construction, and private contractors such as you were being left out. I am sure you have the time."

    Riddle leaned back and stroked his beard. "That is true. Yes, however my rate is not dropping a pound less than 80,000. This project will probably end in 3 to 4 years. Not too long, but not a short one either."

    "Money and Men can be arranged gentlemen. However on all the other fronts, I very much agree with what you are proposing." Bhimsen stated. "So do we have a deal?"

    "Ah, Mukhtiyar, it does seem we do."

    ***

    Balbhadra sighed as looked the roster of the new Army system that Nepal had implemented after 1823. The Army Reforms had finally ended. The new army format was based off 2 divisions each 15,000 men strong and two independent regiments totaling around 40,000 men. They were armed with muskets that the government had procured from private military contracts in Calcutta and with the British, however this was not exactly good enough to bring the army upto European standards. Weapons - sure. However the logistical capability, and clothes and shoes left much to be desired. However it was only the beginning of the army reforms; a total of 3 years out of a 20 year long army reform. Balbhadra shrugged internally. There wasn't much he could do to rush the reforms, and the rushing them was something he didn't wish to do either because botching them up would likely mean the reforms were done basically for naught.

    Balbhadra glanced at the name of the Divisions and the Regiments. The new reform had worked at least.

    1. Kali Division (15,000 men) (Location - Nepalgunj)
    i. Sher Rifle Regiment. (5000 men)
    ii. Kerung Regiment. (5000 men)
    iii. Bardiya Rifle Regiment. (5000 men)

    2. Koshi Division (15,000 men) (Location - Dharan)
    i. Kasthamandap Regiment. (5000 men)
    ii. Bhadgoan Regiment. (5000 men)
    iii. Patan Regiment. (5000 men)

    3. His Majesty's Own Gurkha Rifles Regiment. (5000 men) (Location - Kathmandu)
    4. Sagarmatha Independent Rifles Regiment. (5000 men) (Location - Pokhara)

    1593086553580.png

    Nepali Army insignia.

    ***

    Bhimsen Thapa sighed as he read another report. Rising dissent was rife in Tibet with the Tibetan interfering with the Nepalese Trade in Sikkim. Bhimsen growled. Another merchantman of the Nepali envoy had gone missing in Sikkim. What was this lunacy?! Bhimsen Thapa growled and started to write a letter to Amherst. Nepali Merchant and economic interests would have to be maintained.

    Even if it meant war.

    ***

    1592981401346.png

    Tibetan leaders had been agitating Nepali trade in Sikkim for decades now.

    ***
     

    Attachments

    • 1592981264812.png
      1592981264812.png
      191.7 KB · Views: 253
    • 1592981339808.png
      1592981339808.png
      131.3 KB · Views: 255
    Last edited:
  • Index

    • Simon Darkshade

    Up until the end of Chapter 5, developments were moving at a realistic pace and the internal political picture was evolving.

    Nepalese railways in 1826 is more than a bridge too far. It is rushing, despite the “coolness” of the notion. There is the separate issue of exactly how news of Stephenson got to the Himalayas in such a short time the year after the opening of the Stockton & Darlington. Furthermore, the process of hiring him is rather gamey.

    A better course of action would be to work on roads and think about railways in perhaps the 1860s, when they start to expand in India. That would still be very, very early. There would also be a need for railways.

    This plays into the big issue: Nepal at this time doesn’t have the natural resources or trade goods to offer the outside world, let alone persuade the British (offscreen) to be amenable to Nepalese goals. This is the epoch of British expansion on the subcontinent and the Third Anglo-Maratha War is but a heartbeat ago. Later on, the Sikh Empire in the Punjab would be warred against and annexed. It had a lot more power, wealth and force than Nepal, yet it availed in not. Ditto Burma and even a Persia to a certain extent.

    Put simply, you aren’t playing the British to their own interests or motivations in an age of imperialism, but as enablers of Nepal’s modernisation and rise. It doesn’t work.

    Now, the overall aim of Nepalese independence, modernisation, expansion and what not is achievable, but it isn’t going to be quick, cheap or easy. Sitting right next to British India isn’t a good position to become a truly independent actor until the post Great War era; that may not occur in the same fashion with an 1815 POD.

    I really can’t see conscription either being needed or appropriate to Nepal in this era. It might be something to be introduced well down the line in the late 19th century.

    10 division Army: Far too big, far too quick, far too expensive. It is larger than many European forces. Divisions were of different sizes to the 20th century in the Napoleonic era, which we are still talking about in 1823. A realistic force would be a quarter of that level, or perhaps 40,000 men; even then, the majority would not be trained, clothed or equipped to European standard.

    You keep making references to rifles at a time when they were a niche weapon and new development present in small numbers in the most advanced European armies. They would not be standard issue in a small Himalayan state.

    I’ll look up some stuff I have on British armaments production in the 1830s; 150,000 muskets would be several years of Britain’s total production, to put it into perspective.

    You are on the right track and have a deep knowledge and love of the subject matter which is clearly evident in your writing. You just need to harness that enthusiasm with the bridle of reality, so that you don’t try to do too much too quickly or overstate the cards that Nepal can play. One way of doing that could be to intersperse their storyline with some broad sketches of your intent, throwing it open to the input of others.

    Keep it up, but don’t try and get the Himalayan Rome built in just a day.
     
    Last edited:
    Sarthak

    Sarthak

    Simon Darkshade said:
    Up until the end of Chapter 5, developments were moving at a realistic pace and the internal political picture was evolving.

    Nepalese railways in 1826 is more than a bridge too far. It is rushing, despite the “coolness” of the notion. There is the separate issue of exactly how news of Stephenson got to the Himalayas in such a short time the year after the opening of the Stockton & Darlington. Furthermore, the process of hiring him is rather gamey.

    A better course of action would be to work on roads and think about railways in perhaps the 1860s, when they start to expand in India. That would still be very, very early. There would also be a need for railways.

    This plays into the big issue: Nepal at this time doesn’t have the natural resources or trade goods to offer the outside world, let alone persuade the British (offscreen) to be amenable to Nepalese goals. This is the epoch of British expansion on the subcontinent and the Third Anglo-Maratha War is but a heartbeat ago. Later on, the Sikh Empire in the Punjab would be warred against and annexed. It had a lot more power, wealth and force than Nepal, yet it availed in not. Ditto Burma and even a Persia to a certain extent.

    Put simply, you aren’t playing the British to their own interests or motivations in an age of imperialism, but as enablers of Nepal’s modernisation and rise. It doesn’t work.

    Now, the overall aim of Nepalese independence, modernisation, expansion and what not is achievable, but it isn’t going to be quick, cheap or easy. Sitting right next to British India isn’t a good position to become a truly independent actor until the post Great War era; that may not occur in the same fashion with an 1815 POD.

    I really can’t see conscription either being needed or appropriate to Nepal in this era. It might be something to be introduced welk

    10 division Army: Far too big, far too quick, far too expensive. It is larger than many European forces. Divisions were of different sizes to the 20th century in the Napoleonic era, which we are still talking about in 1823. A realistic force would be a quarter of that level, or perhaps 40,000 men; even then, the majority would not be trained, clothed or equipped to European standard.

    You keep making references to rifles at a time when they were a niche weapon and new development present in small numbers in the most advanced European armies. They would not be standard issue in a small Himalayan state.

    I’ll look up some stuff I have on British armaments production in the 1830s; 150,000 muskets would be several years of Britain’s total production, to put it into perspective.

    You are on the right track and have a deep knowledge and love of the subject matter which is clearly evident in your writing. You just need to harness that enthusiasm with the bridle of reality, so that you don’t try to do too much too quickly or overstate the cards that Nepal can play. One way of doing that could be to intersperse their storyline with some broad sketches of your intent, throwing it open to the input of others.

    Keep it up, but don’t try and get the Himalayan Rome built in just a day.
    Click to expand...
    Thanks! Will edit the chapter later on in my free time.
     

    Simon Darkshade

    You are most welcome. It is quite positive to find an author so open to constructive critical feedback; that does you credit both on a personal level and as a creator.
     
    Second Tibeto-Nepalese War
  • Index
    • Sarthak

    Sarthak



    Chapter 7: Tibeto-Nepalese War

    ***

    For years, the Tibetans after 1792 had messed up Nepalese trade with Sikkim and China, and now they were becoming sloppy. Nepal had the suspicions, however they were simply now confirmed as Bhimsen looked at the documents in front of him. Of all his reforms, only the trade reforms had been stagnant, and he could clearly see the reason in front of him as he growled. Thank the gods that Lord Amherst in his letter back to him wrote “The Tributary States of the Qing Emperor are not within our sphere of control or interest for the time.”

    Bhimsen had ordered the mobilization of the military. War was likely now. However Bhimsen knew this was had to be quick. Nominally, Nepal and Tibet both were vassals and Tributary states of the Qing Emperor, however in reality it was only the Tibetans. Nepal hadn’t paid their tribute or sent a tributary mission in two decades by this point with no retaliation at all. However Tibet was. And like in 1788-92, if Nepal did not win the war with Tibet decisively in the first campaign, the Chinese would march down and turn the tides.

    Unlike in the south, where the British firms were building new highways on par with European standards, Bhimsen had done his best to renovate the highways to the north with the resources he had. They weren’t the best, however the logistical operations required were heavily relieved by this, and Bhimsen knew that if he pressed quickly, then the Tibetans would cave into his demands.

    Bhimsen growled slightly and looked behind him as Balbhadra entered the room.

    “Mukhtiyar, my resignation for the royal guard.” Balbhadra stated as he placed a small sheet of paper on Bhimsen’s desk. Bhimsen smiled and said “And here is your reinstallation as General of the Royal Army.”

    Balbhadra bowed and took the insignia gratefully and pinned it on his chest.

    Balbhadra looked at Bhimsen and asked, “When are we going to start the campaign? It is Jhet, (Mid-April). We must win this campaign before the winter sets in. Our armies are ready in the north in Kerung and Darchula. The Sagarmatha Independent Rifles are in Darchula, and the Kali and Koshi Divisions have been combined into one army, the First Army and are near Kerung at this moment. If we strike now, we can reach Lhasa within a few months and dictate terms as we like them.”

    “I agree.” Bhimsen nodded. “I shall take care of the administrative duties, as always it seems……and go and ride fast. You are the Overall Commander of the First Army. Take Lhasa. Once we do this, we can drop our reliance on the Tibetans economically for good and reverse the entire situation.”

    “Very well. I ride at the morn.”

    “Good.”

    ***

    2 Weeks 3 days later in Kerung.

    ***

    Balbhadra glanced at the massive army of 30,000 men, just barely being able to live off of the town of Kerung, where the civilians were grumbling about the added amount of men. They had obviously been subject to this in 1788 and 1792 when 20,000 Nepali troops had invaded Tibet before, however having 30,000 troops again in their town didn’t exactly seem like a fun proposal to the civilians of the town.

    He grabbed the hilt of his Khukuri and then unsheathed it. He pricked it on to his left thumb as a trail of blood ran across the blade. As blood ran down it like tradition demanded it did, he raised the Khukuri and raised his voice so that the veteran and main forces of his army heard him as they stood attentively.

    “Men! To War! HAR HAR…..”

    “HAR HAR MAHADEV!” The men shouted.

    Balbhadra turned around and smirked. The Tibetans wouldn’t know what hit them.

    ***

    1 Week later, in Nailung

    ***

    “Wake up you idiot! Wake up!” Chogsen woke up groggily as he looked at the commander who was shaking him. Immediately fearful, Chogsen shot up into the air and said “Attention sir!”

    “You idiot, why are you sleeping on the job? You are a part of the town garrison are you not?” The commander snarled.

    Chogsen mumbled incoherent words in embarrassment before the commander sighed and said “No matter. Anyways, I have received news from the hinterlands. We are at war.”

    Chogsen chocked on his tongue slightly as he looked at the commander. “At war? With whom?”

    “The Nepalese.” The commander answered with distaste. “Seems like a trading dispute of some kind. A huge army has invaded the Nyalam region and we must prepare for battle. We are to hold the town until reinforcements from Tailung arrive.”

    “How far are the Nepalese at?”

    “A week. Now get your arse to work. We need to built ramparts and traps around the town!”

    “Yes sir!”

    ****

    Colonel Dipanker Singh Thapa whistled in delight as he looked at the Tibetan troops looked at him with heated gazes……with their arms chained. The small Tibetan garrison in Burang country hadn’t been able to stand up to his Sagarmatha Independent Rifles Regiment, and frankly being outnumbered 10:1, he could respect the decision of the Tibetan commander to surrender in Burang. However the job for his regiment in this new war was now over…..after a week of the beginning of the war. There was no way he could lead an invasion into Lake Manosoravar, where scouts had seen a huge defensive network of Tibetan troops numbering around thrice his own number of troops. He had the muskets, however muskets and technological advantage would quickly evaporate once those Tibetans got close enough, and in close enough battles, numbers mattered. He therefore looked at his aide and ordered “Start the construction of a defensive line. We are to hold Burang.”

    “Yes sir!”

    1593182376732.png

    Barung Valley,

    ***

    Order of Battle of the First Army

    • Kali Division. Commander – Lieutenant General Mathabir Singh Thapa
    • Sher Rifle Regiment. Commander – Colonel Bhushan Shrestha (1)
    • Kerung Regiment. Commander – Colonel Aaron Lo (1)
    • Bardiya Rifle Regiment. Commander – Colonel Shikar Thakuri (1)

    • Koshi Division. Commander – Lieutenant General Ranabir Thapa.
    • Kasthamandap Regiment. Commander – Colonel Sulaj Karmacharya (2)
    • Bhadgoan Regiment. Commander – Colonel Aditya Sherpa (2)
    • Patan Regiment. Commander – Colonel Sher Bahadur Panta (2)

    • Royal Nepali Artillery Regiment. Commander – Colonel Govinda Joshi.
    • Royal Nepali Engineer Regiment. Commander – Colonel Surya Bir Thapa.
    Overall in Command – General Balbhadra Kunwar

    (NOTE: (1) are regiments under the Kali Division and (2) are the regiments under the Koshi Division.

    ***

    Balbhadra surveyed the town of Nailung as he saw the ramparts and heightened walls of the town. They were hastily made from all indications, however they would be time consuming for sure, time that he could not afford to consume. He hadn’t wished to bring the big guns….literally during the beginning stages of the war, however he was not to waste time, and he was not going to.

    He looked at Colonel Govinda Joshi, and ordered “Get your guns in sight of the walls by dawn tomorrow. Then we strike. Once the walls have been breached, I highly doubt the Tibetans will resist.”

    “Command accepted sir.” Govinda replied and stamped his foot on the ground in recognition of the order and turned around to order his guns to bare down on the city. Balbhadra looked upwards. It was getting dark. Time to sleep in the tents for a few good hours. At dawn, the Siege would begin.

    ***

    Dawn, May 14th, Nailung, Tibet.

    ***

    Balbhadra flinched slightly as the guns blasted canon balls into the walls of the town of Nailung. He would never get used to the darn sounds of the walls. He shook his head and reared his horse in attention as the walls of the town shuddered. Some of his engineers from the sapper battalions had made the forward ramps and forwards ramparts useless for the Tibetans and his musketmen from the ground were having a good time picking the Tibetans in the high walls, well at least the ones who had a sharpshooting skill. Balbhadra doubted that at the moment, the damage done by sharpshooting was high.

    Finally as the walls shuddered again, Balbhadra took a deep breath and looked at Colonel Surya Bir Thapa and said “Loose the sappers.”

    Surya nodded and quietly repeated the order to his aid as the aid ran forward and passed the order down. The sappers of the 1st Sapper Battalion of the Engineer Regiment started to engage the earthworks they had made and the Bhadgoan Regiment backed them up with infantry support as the forward ramps started to blow up and the regiments started to advance onto the city.

    It was short and brutal, however the walls shuddered for one last time about ten minutes later and came crashing down, forcing some of the overzealous soldiers who had overshot their regiments to take cover from the falling debris.

    The door to the city was wide open.

    Balbhadra later entered the town unopposed by the Commander of the garrison.

    ***

    Chogsen groaned as the bricks around him clenched the last sunlight away as they crashed down upon him. His weapons lost and rapidly loosing oxygen, he breathed his last under the crashing rain of debris.

    ***

    Balbhadra craned his neck and said “It’s a month march to Shigatse. With the Nailung line for the Tibetans down; thank god we took them by surprise, the scouts have reported that the Tibetans have retreated to the Shigatse valley. Other than skirmishes, we should have no real opposition to our advance until Shigatse. There, we will have to face a real battle. Not a siege or some petty little garrisons. Get your mentality for this in order. We will reach the Shigatse valley in one month.”

    The Colonels and Lieutenant Generals nodded and looked at the map sprawled on the desk in Balbhadra’s desk in his makeshift headquarters in Nailung apprehensively. Balbhadra thanked the stars above that all of the Lieutenant Generals and the Colonels were veterans of the Anglo-Nepalese War. Or else, this professional behavior would have been severely lacking.

    ***

    One Month Later, Fields of Qumig, on the outskirts of Shigatse

    ***

    The Battle of Qumig

    • Robert Pole, PhD in South Asian History.
    The Battle of Qumig was one of the two major engagements in the second Tibeto-Nepalese War. It was fought in the barren fields of Qumig about a few miles outside the city of Shigatse. The city itself was based in a mountain, and was not able to be converted into a fort, as all preparations for it had been lacking as per a previous treaty with the Qing Emperor.

    The Nepalese First Army was commanded by veteran and famed General of the Nepalese, Balbhadra Kunwar. He had 30,000 men under his command. Facing them was the full force of the Tibetan army, around 40,000 strong under the command of Qing Commander, Liu Sheng; the Governor General of Tibet on behalf of the Qing Emperor in Tibet. An inexperienced general, he was considered to be a very fresh general with absolutely no previous military background, unlike Commander Balbhadra who had taken part in the Invasion of Sikkim, Invasion of Kumaon, the Anglo-Nepalese War, and the Das Uprising.

    The First Army itself was much better equipped than the Tibetans. They had muskets, modern guns, and a pool of engineers that the Tibetans lacked. The Nepalese logistical line had also been expertly handled by Bhimsen Thapa back in Kathmandu, where he paid the British companies operating in Terai extra money to halt their construction in Terai temporarily to upgrade the roads leading to Kerung in Nepal in the north to expand the capabilities of the Nepalese Army. While still not upto European Standards that Bhimsen Thapa was aiming for, the Nepalese Army was well armed, well led, and well trained in comparison to the green Tibetans under a green commander.

    The Battle itself began in around 9 AM in the morning in fields as the Nepalese guns roared and started firing. The Tibetans managed to use the rock formations in the area to their advantage and largely made it safe, however they did shed the first blood. Soon, the Tibetans advanced as Liu Sheng gave the order for an advance on the Nepalese forces. The Muskets of the Nepalese Regiments were the primary weapon here, as they fired into the Qing/Tibetan Lines. They did considerable damage to the Tibetans, however they were unable to completely repel the Tibetans as the two lines crashed as the Musketmen retreated and the light infantry carrying Khukuris and Koras marched forward and engaged the Tibetans.

    However Balbhadra Kunwar, like all other battles he had taken part in, took advantage of the terrain. He was facing the south and the Tibetans were facing north, with Mt. Zhuvbe, a medium sized mountain range behind Liu Sheng’s army. With rocks unchallenged on the mountain range, the Nepali guns started firing at the mountain range, causing rocks, and boulders to fall down behind the Tibetan lines and succeeded in achieving Balbhadra’s real purpose. Chaos ensued in the Tibetan Army and the Nepalese musketmen started to sharpshoot the Tibetans only adding fuel to the fire. The loss of command was apparent as inexperienced Liu Sheng was unable to manage his command structure and quickly, the Tibetans were on the retreat. However, Balbhadra sounded the alarm, as the Nepalese troops stopped defending and started to attack the retreating Tibetans inflicting heavy casualties into the Tibetan Army.

    The Battle of Qumig was a decisive yet simple victory for the Nepalese. The battle allowed the Nepalese to enter Shigatse that evening unopposed by enemy forces as Liu Sheng retreated towards Lhasa.

    Sources vary with the number of casualties, however it is estimated that Nepal suffered around 2000 Casualties and the Tibetans around 12,000, the majority having been done by nature itself, with around 60% of the casualties estimated to be directly attributed to the boulder avalanche.

    123.PNG

    Painting of Nepali Light Infantrymen chase and attack the routed Tibetans near Shigatse.

    ***

    The Battle of Nyethang

    • Robert Pole, PhD in South Asian History
    Date: July 22nd, 1826, Nyethand, Lhasa District, Tibet

    The Battle of Nyethang was the second and last Battle in the Second Tibeto-Nepalese War. It was a battle fought between the Nepalese First Army and the remnants of Liu Sheng’s army.

    Balbhadra positioned his army right next to the Lhasa River as a part of a ruse. The army was split between the divisions with them being stationed in the Nyethang Hills with a small weak detachment of musketmen in the middle pass of the hills overlooking the pass, as from a distance, the amount of musketmen looked large in number. Liu Sheng was chosen a relatively flat area smudged with small hills and rocks and boulders and directly faced the Nepalese Army.

    Both Armies had around 28,000 men ready to fight.

    The Battle began in around 10 AM after the Nepalese musketmen started firing. The Nepalese guns had been hidden in the hills; and as such Liu Sheng had been deceived into believing that the guns had been left behind due to the torrid roads of Tibet. He was partially correct. Around a third of the Nepalese guns had to be left behind, however there was a reason why the 2 week march to Lhasa had taken a month; the guns had been pushed through.

    The Tibetan army started to cross over from hill to hill and boulder to boulder and managed to reach within range of their missiles however their advantage was quickly negated when the Nepalese guns made themselves known when they blasted through the Tibetan lines and the Musketmen slowly started to retreat behind the pass they were stationed in. Of course quietly they were retreating back and then into their right or left, leaving the path to a watery grave open.

    Zealous Tibetan units drowned into the Lhasa River as they fell over unable to stop their momentum and the ones that stopped were completely exposed in their flanks with muskets aimed at them and the Tibetans started a hasty retreat back towards the middle of the battlefield.

    However, this time, the Nepalese had no idea of being careful as they started to chase the Tibetans and light infantry hacked their way through the Tibetan lines.

    The Tibetans were routed all the way to the gates of Lhasa, where having had enough, the Tibetans seized Liu Sheng and arrested him, and laid their weapons down and surrendered to the Nepalese army under Balbhadra. Balbhadra Kunwar and the Nepalese Army entered Lhasa triumphant with the 10th Dalai Lama kept under house arrest for the duration of the Nepalese occupation.

    ***

    Treaty of Digarcha

    Signed: October 12th, 1826, Lhasa, Kingdom of Tibet

    Parties: Kingdom of Nepal; Kingdom of Tibet.

    • Nepal and Tibet to forever support and recognize the economic sovereignty of each other.
    • All previous treaties between the two states before this treaty to be null and void.
    • Under terms of surrender, the Tibetan Kingdom to pay Rs. 75,000 to the Kathmandu Durbar and to pay the Nepali tribute to the Qing Emperor on behalf of Nepal for the next decade.
    • In view of the military situation, Nepal to annex Nyalam and Barung Districts. Tibet is to recognize this annexation.
    • Tibet to expel all of their economic disruption measures of the Nepali Rupee in Lhasa and Sikkim.
    • Tibet to conduct all economic deals and trade networking in Sikkim through Nepal for the next two decades.
    • Nepal to retreat all troops from Tibetan Soil immediately.
    ***

    Pushkar Shah sighed and groaned as he pushed himself upward in the rocking ship holding his stomach. This grand ship Lord Amherst had given him for the journey to Britain was large, luxurious and managed to hold more than Pushkar thought could be held in a ship. However it was now evident, that he was not a man for the ocean. The sea sickness was horrible for him, and he felt really weak, about twice his age. And he was in his late thirties to early fourties. A middle aged man for sure, but not old.

    Pushkar sighed as the ship rocked in the waves again, and held in the nausea he felt.

    ***
     
  • Index
    • Reader mode
    You must log in or register to reply here.
    Top
    Top