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Once it is delayed, it will face high heat and high humidity, resulting in a large number of non-combat attrition of troops.

Therefore, the expedition to Burma has been in preparation for several years.

If you don't fight, you will die, if you want to fight, you will be thunderous, and you can fight it once and for all!

The main attack force has four regular divisions.One of the divisions was specially programmed for Burma.

In addition, there are 4 inspectors, all from Yunnan and Guangxi provinces.

Excluding civilian and logistical personnel, there are more than 8 soldiers alone!

The two divisions on the South Road, the division commanders are Ding Jiasheng and Yang Zhan, and they each brought 5000 patrol soldiers.

Yang Zhan is 50 years old this year, and he took his territory and troops in Sichuan to join the new dynasty.After graduating from the crash course of the military academy, he participated in the recovery of Guizhou and Yunnan, and finally became a division commander two years ago.This should be the last time he commanded a battle, and then he would either be transferred back to the Dudu Mansion, or transferred to the Dusiguan conscription and training.

Qin Liangyu's two nephews, also because they were too old, left the front line after being promoted to deputy division commander. One was transferred to the governor's mansion to sit in the government office, and the other served as the commander of the Guizhou capital.

Standing at the bow of the boat, Yang Zhan enjoyed the scenery along the river: "At this speed, we will be able to reach the capital of Toungoo next month."

Ding Jiasheng said with a smile: "Meng people are too enthusiastic, they give food and boats."

Not only give ships, but also send troops to follow.

The Lower Burma area was the land of Longxing of the Toungoo Dynasty.The main ethnic group here is the Mon, followed by the Bamar and Karen.In order to consolidate the regime, the Burmese king must suppress the power of the Mon people, triggering continuous Mon uprisings.In the past hundred years, the population of the entire Lower Burma region has been halved.

When the Datong Army landed at the estuary of the Irrawaddy River, the latent agents took the opportunity to join forces, and a large number of Mon chiefs and merchants recruited troops to help.

These Mon soldiers did not perform well in siege, and the racial vendettas became fiercer one by one.

During the march, they often broke away from the Datong Army and rushed to the nearby Burmese villages to carry out massacres. The entire village killed all the Burmese people.

Such behavior caused the Burmese in Lower Burma to flee upstream with their families.

The Burmese government didn't have to work hard to gather troops, and directly recruited the fleeing people to form troops, and finally pulled up a "hundred thousand troops" to defend Pyay City.

The strategic position of Pyay City in Myanmar is probably similar to that of Xuzhou in China.No matter which dynasty wants to fight for the hegemony of Myanmar, it must fight a battle here.

110 Two years ago, the Taungoo Dynasty also won the Battle of Prome before finally establishing its dominance in Burma.

At that time, the Bamar had not yet turned against the Mon and joined forces to resist the rule of the Ava Dynasty (Shan).Although the Mon people are not good at fighting, they are very good at farming and doing business. They provided 1400 ships and 9000 sailors for the Burmese army.

Now history is repeating itself. The Mon people provided more than 1200 ships, more than 8000 sailors, and more than 10000 civilian husbands to the Datong Army, just to overthrow the brutal rule of the Burmese.

When Ding Jiasheng and Yang Zhan led their troops to Piyao, they were immediately speechless by the sight in front of them.

On the city wall, there are densely packed, full of "defenders"!

There are Bamar refugees everywhere outside the city. Since the city is already overcrowded, these Bamar refugees can only stay outside the city.

"Camp camp!"

The Datong army camped a few miles south of the city by the mountains and rivers.

The next day, the artillery was pulled out and first fired at the refugee camp outside the city.There are too many various shacks, which will affect the Datong army's attack on the city, so they must be cleared first.

"Boom boom boom!"

More than 20 shells fell, and the Bamar refugees fled in terror. Unable to enter the city, they chose to go around the city and flee further north.

The chief general stationed at Prome City is Mang Tai, a nobleman of the Toungoo royal family.

His son Mang Sigu said: "Father, we have an superior force, we can go out and fight the enemy!"

Mang Tai shook his head: "Stick and wait for help."

Mang Sigu said: "There are too many people coming into the city, and we don't have time to collect food and grass. We will be besieged for a month or two at most, and the food will be gone by then!"

"Stick and wait for help!" Mang Tai said firmly.

The Taungoo Dynasty was similar to the Annan Kingdom, with only tens of thousands of standing troops, and most of them were stationed in the capital and the northern border.When a big battle is needed, let the local nobles recruit farmers, and the limit force can be expanded to 30.

Promea is a strategic city, with more than 3000 troops stationed in peacetime, which is regarded as a very important city.

Now, Mangtai only has more than 3000 standing troops in his hands, and the rest are all temporarily recruited refugees. How can he dare to take the initiative to go out of the city for a decisive battle?

There must be reinforcements in the north, and it is estimated that there will also be reinforcements in the west and south.

More than 100 years ago, the Rakhine (Arakan) people came by boat to help the Shan people fight the Burmese.It will be the same now, as the Rakhine people rush to help by boats, helping the Burmese fight against the Datong army.

"Do you think you can keep it?"

"I'm afraid I can't hold it. The Chinese army is very strong."

"Take a chance and slip away."

"I can't go, unless I abandon my family and property."

"..."

This conversation came from the fort of the city tower.

Two Portuguese mixed-race officers were guarding the artillery and whispering.Their ancestors once made contributions to the Toungoo Dynasty, defeated the main cavalry force of the Ava Dynasty with artillery, and formed artillery units for the Toungoo Dynasty.

Besides the Portuguese, there were Armenians in the city.Their ancestors also participated in the battle of Prome 100 years ago, and helped the Toungoo Dynasty fight with the Persians.

The Taungoo Dynasty was able to quickly unify Myanmar thanks to multinational troops and advanced weapons. In the middle of the 16th century, it had guns and artillery.

However, their firearms technology is still 100 years ago.

After the Burmese refugees outside the city were startled away by the artillery, the Datong Army began to divide its troops.

Yang Zhan took a regular division, plus 5000 inspectors, and thousands of Meng peasants, through the hilly area in the south of the city, and went around to the north of Piyao City to set up camp.The troops of Yang Zhan and Ding Jiasheng are like two nails, nailed to the north and south of Prome City.

This is a big city, it is really not easy to attack by force.

In the great battle more than 100 years ago, the city was besieged for more than five months. After all the reinforcements were wiped out, the defenders in the city were forced to surrender.

The Datong Army has a deadline for combat, and it cannot be delayed for that long.

"Boom boom boom!"

For six days in a row, the shelling continued.

Dozens of cannons from the Datong Army aimed at the city wall and fired.The twelve city defense artillery of the defenders also continued to fight back.

At the same time, the Mon servant army led the Mon servants to fill the moat under artillery fire.

The trees in the southern mountain forests were cut down in large numbers to make siege equipment.In standard siege warfare, there are no tactics at all, and the preparations for the siege in the early stage are all fixed routines.

"The temperature at noon today is 28 degrees, which is suitable for continuing to fight."

At this time, the Datong army also carried a thermometer with the army, and when it exceeded 32 degrees, the whole army would brew herbal tea.

It is currently the end of October (lunar calendar), and it is winter, and the temperature at noon is almost 10 degrees. One can imagine how difficult it is to fight in summer.

"The enemy's reinforcements haven't come yet?" Yang Zhan complained.

Naipan, the leader of the Mon tribe, said, "It will take at least two months for the King of Myanmar's reinforcements to arrive here slowly, because the King of Myanmar needs to raise food, grass and troops. It takes two or three months for the king’s army to come, and sometimes even half a year or so.”

Yang Zhan sighed: "It seems that besieging the city and fighting for aid is not an option. Either attack here by force, or continue northward."

"Da da da da!"

Riding a fast horse to the barracks, the herald said: "Master Yang, Ding Duzhi suggests that we abandon this city and continue northward!"

"That's exactly what I mean!" Yang Zhan wanted to leave a long time ago.

It is a typical military taboo to continue to advance without conquering strategic points.The rear roads are all blocked by the enemy. Once the war drags on for too long, they will face the dilemma of insufficient military supplies and stranded troops alone.

But the fortified city in front of me really cannot be conquered in a short time.

For six full days, the artillery continued to bombard, but the city walls remained motionless, and even the moat hadn't been filled.

That night, Ding Jiasheng led his soldiers, detoured several miles from the southeast and headed north, and the whole army set out in the dark on ships.

The city of Prome was built by the river, and the movement of the baggage transport ship was quickly noticed by the defenders in the city.

There are only 12 city defense guns of the defenders, which are evenly arranged on all sides.

The four city defense guns facing the river were bombarding the fleet indiscriminately, and it was unclear whether they hit or missed in the dark.Fighting and firing, the artillery on the north and south city walls also fired towards the upstream and downstream rivers.

In the morning of the next day, the Datong Army had gone far away, and statistics found that two ships were missing and more than 20 ships were damaged.

Then it will be easy to fight. A city called Alan Miao upstream is completely unprepared against the Datong Army.

Although local officials also collected refugees, they organized them into a city defense force.But everyone felt that Pyay City could hold on, and even if they couldn't, they could hold on for two or three months. They just waited for King Myanmar's reinforcements.

When the Datong army suddenly approached the city, the officials who defended the city thought that the city of Promea had been lost, so they were so frightened that they abandoned the city and fled.

The chief officer has all run away, a group of temporarily formed refugee troops, how can there be any morale to stick to the end?After firing the cannon, the city gate to the north opened wide, and the defenders and civilians scrambled to escape.

"Kill all the Burmese!"

The Mon servants rushed into the city to burn, kill and loot.

Ding Jiasheng and Yang Zhan didn't stop them, and even allowed the Meng soldiers to plunder.They took the risk of leading the army northward and had to supply food along the way. It was inconvenient for the Datong army to do such dirty work, so they just let the Mon servant army do it for them.We divided the goods together, and all the food was taken by the Datong army.

After three days of looting, the army continued north.

The Burmese who fled to the north spread news along the way, saying that the city of Prome had been captured.This wrong military situation frightened all the cities upstream, and they all abandoned the city and fled.

The Datong army traveled northward for more than 500 miles before encountering resistance in Bagan.

Bagan City is also a big city, only 280 miles away from the capital of Myanmar.There are not only tens of thousands of temporary recruits in this city, but also thousands of reinforcements gathered by the King of Burma, and nearly ten thousand reinforcements are also rushing over.

And to the south, Mangtai, the chief general of Pemi, is leading an "army of tens of thousands" to chase after him.

The troops of Ding Jiasheng and Yang Zhan obviously went deep alone, and they will face the north-south attack of more than [-] Burmese troops.

It's just that, out of the more than [-] Burmese troops, the standing army that can really fight is less than [-].

"How?" Ding Jiasheng asked.

Yang Zhan said: "Go back the same way and wipe out the pursuers in the south!"

"Hahaha, I think so too." Ding Jiasheng laughed loudly.

Chapter 863 [Transportation Captain]

On the second day after the Datong army left the city of Prome, Mangtai had already discovered it.

He first sent a small group of troops to attack tentatively, and found that the south of the city and the north of the city were all empty camps.

Even so, Mang Tai did not dare to pursue immediately, fearing that the Datong army would trick him out of the city.This guy was extremely cautious, and sent a fast boat to inquire about the news. He didn't dare to be sure that the enemy had really left until the Datong Army traveled northward for dozens of miles.

For this situation, Mang Tai was both happy and angry.

The good news is that the Datong army did not capture Pyay, but dared to go deep into the north alone, and sooner or later they would be surrounded and wiped out by the Burmese army.

What is angry is that the Datong Army treats him like air, and is not afraid of him following behind to pursue him!

Mang Tai left [-] refugees to guard the city, and led an army of tens of thousands to pursue.

Although he was angry in his heart, he didn't dare to chase too fast.

One is that there are only more than 3000 main players, and the remaining tens of thousands are all scum, and marching too fast will collapse the team.The second is to be cautious, fearing that the Datong army will kill the carbine.

Whenever he came to a city that had been occupied by the Datong Army, Mangtai would go forward to defend the city, and then send spies to inquire about the news, confirming that the Datong Army had gone far before continuing to chase.At the same time, he hurriedly wrote the victory report, and regained another city by himself.

Finally, the Datong army approached the city of Bagan and camped several miles outside the city.

This news made Mangtai completely let go of his vigilance, and led his army out from Shaobu City in the south, and marched slowly to fight a battle in Bagan City.At that time, his troops will be in the south, and the King of Burma's reinforcements will be in the north. Together with the army in Bagan City, they will be able to completely wipe out this arrogant enemy army!

Outside Bagan, the Datong military camp is still there.

More than 1000 supply ships and more than 8000 Mon sailors were stationed on the riverside next to the big camp.In the barracks, there are still 3000 regular troops, 5000 inspectors, and more than 1 Mon servants.

The defenders in the city did not dare to come out, and were still waiting for reinforcements.

The artillery of the Datong Army continued to bombard the city wall every day, as if they were planning to storm the city. It didn't look like the main force had left.

"The enemy is coming, run!"

A small group of Burmese cavalry collided head-on with the dragoons who were exploring the road, and fled away after a long distance.

When Yang Zhan heard the news, he was a little helpless: "The enemy general is not a fool, he was careful all the way, and he can be called a good general in China."

"Abandon the luggage and speed up the march!" Ding Jiasheng ordered immediately.

Thousands of dragoons chased them out first.

The Datong Dragoons in the southwest are, to be precise, mountain cavalry.

All the riders are Southwest pony, and they are good at climbing mountains and mountains.Equipped with a tiger squatting cannon, it is convenient to move quickly and fire between paddy fields and mountains.All crew members have flintlock guns, no bayonets, only waist knives and lances.Instead of cotton armor, he only wore a layer of light chain mail, and a rattan helmet that shaded the sun, rain, and arrows.

In the south, Mangtai seemed a little flustered when he received the news. The Datong Army actually shot back. Aren't they afraid of being chased by the defenders of Bagan City?