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Sihong muttered: "There are so many soldiers here. I'm afraid there are more enemy troops on Bhamo's side. King Myanmar's reinforcements..."
"Don't talk nonsense, stay safe and defend the city!" Si Kuang scolded.
Outside the city, the inspectors were already setting up camp, and Dang Sirong, the guide, said: "My lord general, there are at most two or three thousand soldiers in Mengmi's stronghold, and if all the miners are brought to defend the city, the strength is only seven or eight thousand. The artillery of the Celestial Dynasty should be aimed at the southern city wall, which has collapsed before, so it is definitely not as strong as the other sides."
Master Pan Kai smiled and praised: "If you can capture this stronghold, you will be honored."
Si Kuang and Sirong used to be a family.
Their respective grandfathers are Siren and Sizhong respectively.
The brothers fought for the throne, Siren won, and Sizhong voted for Myanmar.
There is also an ethical love story mixed in it. Sizhong led the Burmese army to kill, and Siren escaped with his mother.On the way, Siren begged to marry his younger sister-in-law (Sizhong's wife), but his mother firmly refused.The mother ran away with her sister-in-law, but Siren actually led the elephant soldiers to chase and kill her, trying to snatch her sister-in-law away from her mother.Because he didn't get it, Siren also defected to Myanmar in a rage.
Siren was more valued by the King of Myanmar and continued to be the chieftain of Mengmi.Sizhong, who was the first to vote in Burma, got nothing, and his mother and wife were still controlled by Daming...
"When sieging the city, the last general is willing to be the first to ascend!" Sirong eagerly pursued the battle, wanting to settle the grievances of three generations, and at the same time, to win the court's favor.
Pan Kai was really satisfied, and praised: "Jun Zhen is a loyal and brave man."
What followed was another boring siege battle, with dozens of artillery pieces aimed at the once collapsed southern city wall.
The crude earth-rock mixed city wall couldn't stand the bombardment at all, and big cracks appeared in just one day.
The artillery of the Datong Army was too terrifying, and Sikuang felt that he could no longer stick to it, so he called the general Meng Cai: "Your mission is the most important when you leave the city for a decisive battle tomorrow. The whole army will cover your elephant troops. You must seize the opportunity. Riding an elephant and stepping on the Han army!"
"Guaranteed to trample the Han Chinese into meat!"
Meng Cai's father had fought with the Ming army and knew that the Han soldiers had little combat effectiveness.
What's more, chieftain Mengmi is getting richer and his military equipment is much better than before.Putting on a suit of armor and riding a war elephant, this guy feels invincible.
The next day, early in the morning.
The inspectors of Datong were about to go out to form their camps, when Pan Kai suddenly got the news that the defenders in the city had opened the city gates.
The defenders lined up two miles away from the city, with ordinary chieftain soldiers in front of the central army, followed by elephant soldiers and elite chieftains, and thousands of miners' troops lined up on both wings.
"Is chieftain Meng Mi crazy? Does he want to use war elephants to attack my cannon?" Pan Kai held a binoculars in his hand, and he had no idea what the enemy general was thinking.
The chieftain army advanced slowly, and the miners on both wings were a little confused.
Pan Kai said to the artillery commander: "All artillery, all aim at the elephants."
The Chieftain's army was still advancing, and the temporary inspector division had no cavalry, and all infantry were waiting in formation there.
"Test the cannon!"
"Boom boom boom!"
More than a dozen shells were fired, and the chieftain's former army was already a little messed up.
"Hold on, the war elephant will win if it rushes over!" Sikuang roared, personally boosting morale.
The chieftain troops advanced another hundred meters.
"volley!"
"Boom boom boom!"
Dozens of shells were fired at the elephant.
The loud sound of cannons has already made the war elephant restless.As the shells continued to fall, three war elephants were hit directly, and one of them was not dead.
The war elephant whose leg was bruised instantly went berserk, ignoring the order of the rider, and ramming wildly in its own army formation.Around the war elephant were all the elite chieftains, more than a dozen were trampled to death on the spot, and the other chieftain soldiers were confused.
"Rush over quickly!"
Si Kuang shouted.
However, the ordinary chieftain soldiers at the front had already been bombarded by a round of shelling.They hadn't fought a big battle in more than ten years, how could they withstand dozens of artillery salvos, and more than half of them were so scared that they ran away.
Pan Kai ordered: "The whole army, step forward!"
"Boom boom boom!"
As the infantry advanced, another salvo of artillery was fired.
The rest of the war elephants couldn't bear it anymore, and more than a dozen war elephants went berserk collectively, rampaging like headless chickens.
Si Kuang looked around in a daze, the sudden defeat was completely beyond his imagination.He had never seen so many artillery pieces, nor had he seen a war elephant being knocked down by artillery pieces.
Throughout Myanmar, the last time a war elephant was destroyed by artillery was the Battle of Prome more than 100 years ago.The Portuguese gunners hid on the mountainside, and the cavalry and elephant soldiers of the Ava Dynasty were lured by the Burmese cavalry, and they all collapsed under the salvo of artillery.
"Father, go!" Sihong yelled, but a war elephant rushed over.
Si Kuang wanted to cry but had no tears. He sold a lot of emeralds and spent a lot of money to build an elite army!Such a powerful army can walk sideways in various chieftains in northern Myanmar.
The inspector's infantry hadn't even reached the range of the firecrackers, and the army of chieftains had already begun to collapse.
The miner troops on the two wings dropped their weapons and turned around to flee.The ordinary chieftain soldiers in the middle were beaten by artillery and their morale was negative.And those elite chieftain soldiers were completely crushed by the crazy war elephants.
Meng Cai, the commander of Yelang's arrogant elephant soldiers, was directly thrown into the air by his own war elephant, and after falling hard to the ground, he was trampled by the war elephant again.
Si Kuang and Si Hong, father and son, fled on Yunnan horses.
They dared not go back to the city, abandoned their families, and walked around the city, trying to escape into the valleys and mountains to the east.
The patrol inspector only had a dozen or so riders, which originally belonged to the scouts, but now they chased them away at full speed.
Pan Kai reiterated the military order again: "Don't kill people indiscriminately, take more prisoners, and use them all as miners!"
Jadeite, which began to emerge in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, has been fired at a higher price in recent years (Emperor Zhao likes jadeite).And Mengmi is the largest producer of jadeite, it is definitely enough to make money here, every miner is a treasure.
The inspector on this road took down Meng Mi, and after a day's rest, he will set off again.
The next marching route is to return to the original road by boat first, enter the tributary bend road to the southwest, then abandon the boat and cross the mountains to the west, and the upper reaches of the Ayeyarwady River will be out of the mountains.
As long as the inspectors arrive there, even if they stand still, they will be able to cut off the Bhamo Burmese army's retreat.If you go north along the river bank, you can cooperate with the two friendly forces to form a three-sided attack on Bhamo.
Bhamo and its surrounding strongholds were the core battlefield of the Qing-Myanmar War, where the Qing and Burmese armies fought for several years.
If Huang Yao's army was in a stalemate with the Burmese army, the inspectors who had wiped out Meng Mi would directly go to the back to besiege, blocking the food road and starving the Burmese army to death.
Pan Kai led the inspectors and marched in the mountains for more than a month. More than 300 soldiers fell ill due to acclimatization.
Then, on the banks of the Irrawaddy River, he saw a grain transport ship of the Datong Army.
"Captain Huang won the battle?" Pan Kai asked, stopping the grain ship.
The captain smiled and said, "A few days ago, Captain Huang's army went to the south."
Pan Kai was speechless for a moment, he thought that by outflanking the enemy's rear, he would definitely be able to make a great contribution.But I never thought that I only fought for three days, and spent the rest of the time on the march. In the end, I didn't even eat a mouthful of hot dog shit.
Chapter 868 [Surprise Attack]
In order to conquer Burma, Huang Yao prepared in Yunnan for several years.
In addition to hoarding military rations and training inspectors, they have also been building ships.
The western front troops of the Northern Route Army were dispatched at Tengyue Prefecture (set up after Zhao Han’s reform of Tuguiliu, and the prefecture was Yingjiang County, Yunnan Province.)
The main force of the regular division led by Huang Yao started from Jushiguan (near Kachang Town) and went straight to Mengyang along the Bajiang River in Nanzhu.Another patrol inspector set off from Yingjiang County and headed towards Bamo along the Dayingjiang River.
Huang Yao's army passed through Xiaozhanxi, a border village, and came to the actual control site in Myanmar.
The water flow is turbulent along the way, and the mountains on both sides stand tall, until the confluence of the Nanzhu Bajiang River and the Dajinsha River (the upper reaches of the Ayeyarwady River), Myanmar has not set up any checkpoints along the way.
This kind of good thing benefits from Daming's suppression of the chieftain, who is not allowed to build a pass on the border.On Daming's side, there are countless checkpoints, including Shenhu Pass, Jushi Pass, Tongbi Pass, Tiebi Pass, Huju Pass, Tianma Pass, Hanlong Pass... forming a large area.
Even Kachang Town and its surrounding areas were deliberately cut out by Daming.China firmly occupies the upper reaches of the Nanzhu Bajiang River. As long as one day wants to fight, it can go down the river and go straight to Mengyang.But if Meng Yangsi wants to fight, it is difficult to go this way. Firstly, it is difficult to sail against the current, and secondly, he has to break through Xiongguan.
It took only a few decades for Myanmar to annex Meng Yangsi, and Ming Dynasty was always in a state of passive defense, so Myanmar was too lazy to build cities and customs on the border.
Of course, there are more reasons for not building a city.
After Myanmar annexed Mengyang, it invaded Mubang non-stop, and then attacked other chieftains.Immediately encountered the Meng National People's Congress uprising, and was counter-killed by Siam.After quelling the Meng uprising, he fought back against Siam until the capital of Siam.At this time, the Mon people revolted again, and Myanmar was busy suppressing the rebellion.A series of wars were riddled with holes. After King Talong succeeded to the throne, he was all recuperating. How could he find the manpower and material resources to build a city in northern Myanmar?
In just two days, the fleet passed through the mountains, and the first target was Jiajiu City.
By the way, the second battle of the Qing-Burmese War.The Qing army went to attack Bhamo, while the Burmese army defended and sent partial divisions to Jiajiu. In 2000, the Burmese army deviated from the division and counterattacked into China. It was Huang Yao's route that was taken, and the Qing army who was copied from the back was defeated and returned.
But now the Datong army sent troops to fight together with Bamo and Jiajiu, and the direction of Jiajiu was still the main force, which was exactly the same as the route of the Qing army's fourth battle.
Of course, there are differences.
As soon as the Datong army fleet left the mountain, it was still far away from Jiajiu, so 2000 Datong army and 100 Dai farmers and soldiers were allowed to land.
The leader of the Dai peasants and soldiers is called Sizu. About 50 years ago, Sizhen, Siyuan, Sihong, Sizheng... a group of Mengyang chieftains were killed by the Burmese army one after another. Only Sizu's father was left with a More than a thousand people fled back to Daming and lived in Ganya Town, Yingjiang County in later generations.
For Sizu, the Burmese army has a blood feud with him.
Those chieftains surnamed Si are all from the same family.One was just killed, the other succeeded, and was killed by the Burmese army, just like cutting leeks.
"That's right here, walk north by the foot of the mountain!" The guide who showed the way was an old man in his 60s.
The old man, also surnamed Si, was a general of chieftain Mengyang. His whole family was killed when he was in his teens.
Ma Hongjie said: "Old man, can your body hold up?"
"Yes, as long as you can take revenge, even death is worth it!" The old man said firmly.
This surprise attack force was formerly Shizhu Baigan soldiers and Guizhou Tengjia soldiers, and even the generals leading the troops were Qin Liangyu's nephews and grandchildren.However, the composition of the troops has changed dramatically, with 80% coming from Guizhou and Yunnan.
The 2100 people only brought dry food for three days, and had to walk more than a hundred miles along the foot of the mountain, crossing three rivers in between.
Fortunately, the marching routes were all flat.
Huang Yao led the main force, quickly arrived at Jiajiu City, and set up artillery to bombard them indiscriminately.
The Burmese troops in Mengyangcheng (Myitkyina) and Menggongcheng (Mogang) were all attracted to support.And the surprise attack force of the Datong Army is to go overland to directly attack Meng Yang, who has been transferred away!
"There is a river ahead!"
"The whole army crosses the river!"
The surprise attack troops were traveling day and night, and when they encountered a river in the middle of the night, they jumped directly to swim across it.
All of them wore rattan armor, which could float up after entering the water, and easily swam to the other side of the river.After crossing the river, we continued to move forward, and when it was almost dawn, we hid in the mountains and forests on the east side to rest.
The old guide, in his 60s, was so exhausted by this rapid march that he didn't want to get up again when he lay down.
More than a hundred miles, three rivers, and two nights are all covered.
They still have to continue walking, detour to the north of Meng Yanggeng, hide in the mountains and wait for the night to fall.Then, cross the Dajinsha River by night, trying to attack the city at night before dawn.
The old man couldn't walk any longer, so he hid in the mountains upstream of Mengyang together with a few sick soldiers.
At dawn, Meng Yangcheng was defenseless.
The defenders here have been transferred downstream to confront Huang Yao's main force, and there are only about a hundred soldiers left in the city.
The exhausted Datong soldiers came along the right bank of the Dajinsha River.
They swam directly across the moat and reached the bottom of the city without making a sound.The soldiers in the front row were still carrying bamboo ladders. The bamboo was cut halfway, and if you tie it up casually, it becomes a ladder.
The rattan armor on their bodies was still dripping, and the soldiers were exhausted, but they still moved quickly when climbing the ladder.
On the nearby city wall, only two enemies were dozing off. The Datong army climbed up more than a dozen, and finally woke up the dozing enemy army.
In the darkness, there were shadows and shadows, and it was impossible to know how many came.
The first reaction of the two Burmese soldiers was to run away, shouting as they ran, "The Han people are here!"
"All those who do not surrender will be killed!" Ma Hongjie reiterated the military order.
Sizu took the Dai farmers and soldiers and followed the Datong army to climb up the city wall.They rushed into the city desperately to avenge their ancestors 50 years ago. At the same time, they shouted in Dai language along the street: "The descendants of homesickness are here, and the descendants of homesickness are here!"
The Han dialect spoken by the peasants and soldiers of the Dai nationality played a role in reassuring people's hearts.
The local residents of the city, under the dissuasion of their elders at home, hid in their houses and waited for the end of the battle.There are even very few who went out to meet the descendants of the chieftain, knelt down and shouted: "I will lead the way, I know where all Burmese officials live!"
After Burma exterminated the chieftain Mengyang, it immigrated and garrisoned here, and sent civilian officials to manage it.
The local Aboriginal people have long harbored dissatisfaction with the Burmese because of their exploitation.Now that they finally had the opportunity, they took the initiative to act as guides and led the Datong army to kill the Burmese official residence and various residences of the Burmese in the city.
From dawn to dawn, the Burmese in the city were basically wiped out, only a few opened the city gate and ran away.
The largest city in northern Myanmar fell into the hands of the Datong Army so easily.
……
A few miles northwest of Jiajiu City, there is a big camp of the Burmese army.
There are only a few hundred defenders in the city, but the fortress is strong.Moreover, most of the Burmese immigrants in the city can recruit strong men to guard the city, and women and children can also carry supplies for the city defense.
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