‘It’s my belief that Tipoo will follow the same strategy as last time. He will fight a series of delaying actions, destroying as much food and forage as he can in the path of our men, before he falls back on Seringapatam and holds out there until our supplies are finished, or the monsoon season comes. The rains will make the rivers around Seringapatam unfordable, and afterwards the pestilence will cause our men to drop like flies.’

Henry nodded. ‘And how do you intend to counter his strategy, Arthur?’

‘It won’t be easy,’ Arthur admitted readily enough. ‘But the key to it is to find a new way of supplying our army once the campaign begins.’

‘How do you propose to do that?’

‘The main thing is to make our forces as mobile as possible. What limits the size and depth of our offensive ability at present is the need to build roads wherever we go so that we can bring up our wheeled transport - the supply wagons and artillery. The solution is obvious enough. We don’t bother with lines of communication. And, as far as possible, we don’t bother with roads, or even wheels for that matter.’

Richard looked confused. ‘So, what are you suggesting? That we dispense with feeding our men, and not use artillery to support them?’

Arthur smiled. ‘It’s simple.We’ll use bullocks and elephants to carry and haul our heavy equipment. They can go almost anywhere a man can go, and they can live off the land as they march.They move at about the same speed as draft horses so they will not slow the army down. Of course, we will need thousands of them, and that’s where the second part of the solution comes in. We’ll use the brinjarris to supply our needs.’

‘Brinjarris?’ Henry frowned for an instant. ‘Please refresh my memory.’

‘They’re grain merchants. They buy and sell grain the length and breadth of India and breed vast herds of bullocks to carry their goods. My suggestion is that we subcontract the supply of our army to the brinjarris. We offer them the right to set up a bazaar to supply the soldiers’ needs in return for paying a fair price and offering protection to them and their families. We also hire as many bullocks as we need from their stock, to draw our guns, and if the ground isn’t suitable for wheeled traffic, then we can disassemble the guns and have the components carried forward by bullocks or elephants. If we do all that, then we can invade Mysore quickly, push the Tipoo’s forces back to his capital and then lay siege to it, confident that there will be enough supplies, and time, to carry out the task.’ He looked directly at Richard. ‘Which leaves one question. Who is to command the army when the time comes to tackle Tipoo?’