The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"Add two additional teams of divine machines to the city wall."

Li Chengliang ordered lightly.

Li Chengliang couldn't help but be frightened when he heard that the opponent's general had such high prestige in the army.

He could already predict that once the Burmese army began to attack Baoshan City, it would be overwhelming at first.

If you can't knock down the opponent's arrogance from the beginning, this battle will be a bit difficult to win.

So far, Li Chengliang still regarded his opponent as a brave and resourceful man. Unknown to him, he secretly studied "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and considered himself an excellent commander, so he had arranged a psychological warfare for him first.

I don’t know if Li Chengliang will be surprised by calling the formation tomorrow.

"Yes, Marshal."

Mu Changzuo, who was behind him, immediately replied.

Since the founding of the Ming army, Zhu Yuanzhang has attached great importance to firearms, so when talking about this paragraph, it usually means that the army is equipped with a large number of firearms.

But in fact, firearms accounted for less than 10% of the army in the early Ming Dynasty.

After all, although firearms have a certain degree of lethality, they are just that and cannot be compared with firearms hundreds of years later.

Especially after heavy artillery and machine guns were put into the battlefield, the war pattern saw huge changes.

In fact, the proportion of firearms troops in the current Ming Army is between 20 and 30%. This is the level of ordinary troops. Ma Fangjun of Xuanda University is also at this level.

The one who attaches the most importance to firearms is undoubtedly Qi Jiguang's army, between 40% and 50%.

Among them, the proportion of firearms in Qi Jiguang's infantry battalion reached a maximum of 55%, while the proportion of firearms in the cavalry battalion was generally 40%.

The Liaodong Army originally commanded by Li Chengliang also had a relatively high proportion of firearms, close to 40%. The main reason was that the imperial court allocated more firearms.

But after he arrived in the southwest, he found that the Ming's firearms equipment rate in the southwest was very low, less than 20%. Many troops even issued firearms that were not suitable and were stored in warehouses.

After training, his army now only has a firearms equipment ratio of close to 20%.

Because of the backwardness of firearms, firearms soldiers in this era generally did not train separately, but formed mixed formations with other arms. The most famous one is naturally Qi Jiguang's Yuanyang Formation, which fought all over the country.

However, Li Chengliang did not have time to organize and train such a unit. Just positioning and coordination could not be completed in a short time, so he directly formed the firearms unit into a separate army and gathered them together for joint training.

For gunners, the natural thing is to train their proficiency so that they can complete loading and firing ammunition in the shortest time.

For gunners, it's the same, except that there is an additional three-step training.

Because firearms were rudimentary in this era, soldiers only needed to learn to load and release them, so there was no difficulty.

They don't need to understand the principles of firearms, etc., as long as they can use them.

Regarding this approach of rushing ducks to the shelves, it should be said that the firearms soldiers in Li Chengliang's hands are now considered to be an army.

However, these firearms soldiers usually belong to various Ming army units.

In other words, each of the troops brought by Li Chengliang had its own Shenji Battalion.

Now Li Chengliang wants to pull the Shenji Battalion up the city wall alone to participate in the defense, which is naturally not too difficult.

Later, Li Chengliang arranged for the city walls in Baoshan to be strengthened in the past few days and reported on the movements outside the city at all times. Then he took Mu Changzuo down from the city tower.

"Commander, are you too worried about the thieves outside the city? Although the Bamar people have been domineering in the outside world these years, it is just because they have not provoked me, the Ming Dynasty.

I didn't send troops to rescue Meng Mi before, just because I was worried that those chieftains would cut off our army's retreat and prevent me from seeing each other. It was not that I was afraid of them. "

Mu Changzuo explained.

Li Chengliang's reaction was a bit big today, which made Mu Changzuo worried.

Of course, the most important thing is to be afraid of what might happen. Li Chengliang does not follow martial ethics and puts the blame on himself.

When Li Chengliang heard this, he was stunned for a moment, and then he came to his senses.

Smiling, he said to Mu Changzuo: "What the Duke said, I never meant that.

Only today did we know that Mang Yinglong has such a strong appeal in Myanmar. He thought that the Myanmar army would be brave enough to attack the city tomorrow, so he mobilized troops to strengthen defense and be prepared.

Although the Burmese army outside the city is powerful, there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in my city, so how can we be afraid of him, hehe."

After saying this, Li Chengliang glanced sideways at Mu Changzuo and continued: "The war strategy against Burma has long been determined. Now they are advancing with great momentum. It is really the time when morale is at its highest. There is no need for our army to fight the Burmese army.

It is enough to defeat the enemy at the minimum cost and prevent them from continuing to advance.

When the news from southern Myanmar reaches the Myanmar army camp and they dispatch their elite troops to return to Myanmar for rescue, it is time for our army to fight back with all its strength. "

"I wonder if there is any news from the eldest son?"

Although Li Chengliang's words dispelled most of Mu Changzuo's doubts, he did not fully believe Li Chengliang.

If something really happened, who knows what Li Chengliang would do in order to protect himself.

He still has to be wary of Li Chengliang at all times. This is the way for the Yunnan Mu family to protect themselves.

In fact, in the past few years, the Mu family had been wary of those civil servants because they found that they had been being investigated by the civil servant group.

Since then, the Mu family has been extremely vigilant about officials sent to Yunnan by the imperial court.

Although he is more or less the beneficiary of the imperial court's secret investigation of the Mu family, he is the tenth generation Duke of Qian, and the ninth generation Duke of Qian, his father Mu Chaobi was deprived of his title for crimes, so he might be able to attack in advance. The title of Duke of Guizhou.

Now, Mu Changzuo put away his worries and began to inquire about news from other battlefields.

In response, Li Chengliang just shook his head.

Li Rusong was ordered to go to Mengding Mansion to lead troops to outflank the Burmese army's retreat, but he never sent any news to Baoshan since his departure.

This is also the tacit understanding they have formed in Liaodong. Unless they achieve a good result, they will never send a messenger to send back a battle report.

Because if the war is still in progress, reporting military information to the Chinese army would be dangerous if they were stopped halfway by enemy scouts, which would be equivalent to handing the entire battle plan into the hands of the enemy.

Li Chengliang knew this in his heart, but Mu Changzuo did not understand. He was still accustomed to the Ming army's mode of reporting military information to his superiors regardless of anything, and did not take into account the difference between peacetime and wartime.

But this can't be blamed on him. Apart from fighting against the rebel chieftains, there has never been a war like this in the southwest.

In Liaodong, war between the Liaodong Army and the Mongols and Jurchens may break out at any time.

"Commander, do you want to send someone to take a look?"

Mu Changzuo asked softly.

"No need."

Li Chengliang replied bluntly, "Mr. Mu, you can rest assured that if anything happens, Song'er will send someone to report back. If the plan goes smoothly, there is no need to report back to Baoshan all the time.

On the other hand, the spies arranged outside the city must report any information promptly so as not to miss the best opportunity to counterattack. "

Soon, the next day came.

The Ming army was well prepared on the city wall. Although it was not known when the Burmese army would launch an attack on Baoshan, Governor Li went up to the city wall again yesterday to observe the enemy camp. Naturally, the generals guarding the city did not dare to slack off at all.

In the Burmese army camp, the Burmese soldiers in the front camp began to eat war meals very early in preparation for the official attack on Baoshan City today.

When the Burmese army in the front camp was preparing to go out to attack Baoshan City, the spacious king's tent in the middle camp was also filled with generals from each battalion of the Burmese army.

Although the main force of the Chinese army has not yet arrived, the guiding ideology of the Burmese army is to occupy Baoshan as soon as possible and attack Kunming as soon as possible. Naturally, they will not continue to wait.

In the past two days, because the Burmese king did not arrive, the Burmese army forwards did not launch an attack against Baoshan with its tall city walls. But now it is different. Follow-up reinforcements have arrived, and naturally it is time to start the war.

"Today, Jing Zongzhen will lead the army to test the combat power of Baoshan City."

Myanmar King Mang Yinglong sat at the top and directly stated his decision.

Jing Zongzhen was the pioneer who set off from Lujiang City. He had rested here for two days, so it was natural that he would fight in the first battle.

"The final general honors your order."

Jing Zongzhen had already anticipated this arrangement and immediately stepped forward to receive the order with clasped fists.

"Zong Zhen, before this battle, General Xian Guixian will first raid the formation to let the Ming army in the city know about my king's benevolence and righteousness."

Having said this, Mang Yinglong slightly raised his head and looked at the roof of the tent, seeming to be very emotional and said: "God has the virtue of good life, and I have no intention of killing people. I hope that the wise generals in the city can understand my painstaking efforts.

If I can persuade the Ming army in the city to surrender, I will not treat the generals badly and will definitely reward them heavily. "

Xian Gui below almost rolled his eyes when he heard Mang Yinglong's words.

Knowing that the Ming Dynasty Right Army Governor Zuo Governor was in the city supervising the battle, he still wanted to rely on the generous salary of a high-ranking Burmese official to persuade others to surrender. It seemed that Mang Yinglong was already drifting to no end.

Yes, it just floated.

What is the official position of Governor Zuo? He is a first-grade military general in the Ming Dynasty and has reached the highest rank.

Continuing to add titles, that is, the three gongs and three orphans are added to the title.

Myanmar is a small country, and only a fool would surrender to him if someone didn't catch him.

But when I think about it, I don't think so.

Xian Gui quickly stepped forward and said respectfully under Mang Yinglong's seat: "Your Majesty, I will try my best to persuade the generals in the city to abandon the dark side and surrender to the bright side, so that the king can fight to Kunming as soon as possible."

"Well, I always attach great importance to the line generals. If this happens, I will not hesitate to reward you. The fiefdom you want will naturally not be a problem."

Mang Yinglong promised Xian Gui boldly.

Although Xiangui had been blocked from returning to the Ming Dynasty, he would not be willing to give up anything, so he only raised two conditions when he formally surrendered to Burma.

One is that his troops are still under his command, and the other is that he hopes to obtain a fiefdom in Myanmar. He also wants to be a chieftain and a true emperor.

Yes, although he is considered a local emperor in Lujiang City, there are too many constraints after all.

In Yunnan, there are many people with higher official positions than him, so he has to stay low and be a junior from time to time.

It's better to have the Burmese chieftains. Above them is the Burmese king, and below are his own people, just like an independent vassal state.

In his own fiefdom, he can do whatever he wants. As long as he does not betray the King of Burma, the Toungoo Dynasty will not do anything to him and will completely ignore him.

Moreover, as long as he waits for many more years, even he, a chieftain, will have a chance to be canonized by the Ming Dynasty and become a real chieftain lord with land, or even a vassal king.

However, his wish to ask the Burmese king to demarcate the territory as soon as possible and become the chieftain as soon as possible did not come true after all.

Mang Yinglong did not agree that he would go to Myanmar at this time, but would wait until the Burmese army defeated the Ming army and occupied Yunnan before confirming the fiefdom for him.

At the foot of Baoshan City, Xian Gui told the Ming army officials on the city the various benefits of joining Burma. Under the command of the wise King of Burma, the Burmese people unified the surrounding vassal states and boasted that Mang Yinglong was a saint who had been difficult to escape for thousands of years. What greeted him at Junshi was the concentrated fire attack of six general cannons under the personal command of Li Chengliang.

Yes, in order to fight against this rebel general, Li Chengliang directly mobilized the six bronze cannons at the top of the city to take aim at Gui, in order to kill him with one blow.

"Boom boom boom"

After six dull cannon shots, Xian Gui fell off his horse in panic, and then he tumbled and crawled back to the Burmese camp.

The artillery of this era is really inaccurate. Even if it is replaced with Western cannons, it is actually difficult for skilled Western gunners to accurately focus on a human-shaped target two miles away.

Although six cannons fired at the same time, Xian Gui was lucky to escape the attack. The closest shell to him was less than three feet away from him.

But except for killing two personal soldiers, Xian Gui also escaped unscathed, although a little embarrassed.

On the top of the city, Li Chengliang, Mu Changzuo and Luo Rufang sighed with regret.

For this first Han general who surrendered to the enemy since the start of the war, they can say that they hate Xian Gui to the bone, and they dream of capturing him alive and skinning him alive.

Such a good opportunity, but he actually escaped, it is impossible not to be angry.

As for the 3,000 elite Burmese troops who rushed up with ladders under the city, Li Chengliang did not see them at all.

As for the Burmese army's deployment of these troops outside the town, Li Chengliang knew that they were just a test.

Unless the siege was successful, the Burmese army might draw more troops from the camp to participate in the battle, otherwise it was just a test of the firepower of Baoshan City.

It was just that Li Chengliang looked down on the Burmese army, but some people on the opposite side had a great desire to fight for this.

"Your Excellency the King of Burma, there are cannons on the opposite side of the city. When the army is attacking the city and the other side is unable to take care of it, I will send my gunners to carry the cannons to the city to cover the army's siege."

The person who spoke was standing not far from Mang Yinglong. He was a Portuguese with blond hair, blue eyes, deep eye sockets, a high nose, and a yellowish-black complexion. Looking at his old skin, you can tell that he is not young anymore.

Well, the main reason why he can be confirmed as a Portuguese mercenary is that in the Indian Ocean, the most active Westerners are Portugal, and Spain's tentacles have not yet reached here.

The two major maritime hegemons, Britain and the Netherlands, had not yet risen at this time and were not worth mentioning at all.

"No, my friend, you don't have to feel uneasy about taking my reward just because you haven't participated in the war for a few months."

Mang Yinglong smiled at Santos, the captain of the Portuguese mercenaries who was eager to fight.

He met Santos in his early years, when he was still fighting for the unification of Myanmar.

In the rise of the Toungoo Dynasty, Portuguese mercenaries also played an important role.

For ordinary enemies, Mang Yinglong can naturally deal with them easily.

However, if the enemy has the protection of the city wall, if the traitor cannot be bribed to open the city gate, then Santos' Portuguese mercenaries will be the force that determines the outcome of the war.

However, these news were deliberately concealed by the Burmese side.

And the Ming Dynasty did not pay attention to Burmese affairs, so naturally they did not know.

As for the mercenaries who were hired at a huge cost, Mang Yinglong naturally had a bigger plan, which was to use the cannons they carried to blast open the Kunming city wall. (End of this chapter)