The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Myanmar, outside Toungoo City.

The two thousand soldiers of the Ming army led by Wang Shike have set up camp 20 miles away from Toungoo City.

Looking at Toungoo City in the distance and the tall city walls, Wang Shike couldn't help but sigh: "The capital is different."

Along the way, there are four cities of different sizes in Myanmar, all of which are small city walls similar to Pegu City, and they can't withstand the destruction of the Ming army's cannons.

The current Ming army only needs to bring four long-barreled cannons, and the Portuguese cannons are too lazy to unload them on the carriage.

After a few shots, the gate of Myanmar was broken, and then a few shots were fired on both sides, and the army could enter the city.

The resistance of the Burmese army was extremely slight. After all, they knew that Pegu City couldn't stop the attack of the Ming army, so their few men and horses were even worse.

It can only be said that the Burmese king Mang Yinglong took away all the soldiers who could fight in the country, and there were only a few soldiers in other places to maintain law and order, so they were naturally no match for the Ming army.

The Burmese capital of Toungoo in front of us is different. It looks a bit like a big city in the Ming Dynasty.

I don’t know what’s going on in the city, but the city wall is estimated to be three people high, which has surpassed most of the county towns in the Ming Dynasty at that time and is close to the appearance of the prefectural city.

Although most of the prefectures and counties in the Ming Dynasty built walls to protect the city, those things were not built with funds from the court, but were built by the local governments themselves.

From silver to construction specifications, everything is determined according to their own situation.

Therefore, the walls built by wealthy prefectures and counties are tall and majestic, while those without money must build walls for protection, and the walls are also low, but most of them are two people high.

The only thing that the court is responsible for spending money to build is the border fort, which is planned and built by the Ministry of War according to combat needs, so there is no need for local governments to pay, or only a small amount of money is raised, and the Ministry of Works provides materials and recruits civilians.

Although the fiscal revenue of the court in this era seems quite small compared to the vast national power, the burden is actually not heavy.

Simply put, the court had to take care of, in addition to the salaries of officials, military expenses, and flood prevention work on major rivers such as the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.

Finally, if a disaster occurred in a local area, the court would allocate money for disaster relief.

Apart from this, the court had no serious expenses.

Therefore, if the national strength could pose a huge threat to the surrounding areas, stop the war, and the weather was good, even a small income could support the operation of state institutions and there would be a surplus.

In fact, the final financial collapse of the dynasty was often caused by the huge military threats in the surrounding areas, which led to increased military investment and expenditure.

The ancient court was a real small government, and power did not even penetrate into the countryside, which was completely different from the big government in later generations that managed everything.

Wang Shike now needed to attack a solid city, so he would not be arrogant.

Yu Dayou had long warned him that even if he had to consume the remnants of the Feilong Kingdom, he could not consume them wantonly, and he had to let them give full play to their value.

In fact, in order to wash away the stains on their bodies, these people were also very brave in fighting.

For military generals, this kind of soldiers is the most popular.

Wang Shike was unwilling to consume them for political reasons, but planned to fight normally. If those people could survive in the end, they would be incorporated into the military households and serve as guards in Myanmar.

Myanmar is 18,000 miles away from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty, so it would not hinder the eyes of some people in the court.

"Sir, do you need to unload the Portuguese cannons? And set up camp"

Before his subordinates finished speaking, Wang Shike waved his hand to interrupt and said: "Unload them all. This time, the attack on Toungoo City may not be as easy as the previous times. Be careful to deal with it.

The army has just arrived and is also tired. Notify them that the outer perimeter of the camp must be built according to the drill manual, and the camp must be set up. Tomorrow, the whole army will have a good rest for a day and wait for the arrival of the general to lead the army to fight again."

Wang Shike knew that this place was not the small towns that he had passed by before, and it had great political significance.

The Burmese army would not give up easily, and would definitely choose to fight to the death.

Let the men gather their strength for two days before fighting again, make full preparations, and it is best to break the city in one blow to avoid unnecessary casualties.

When the Ming army was preparing to rest, on the wall of Toungoo City, the Prime Minister Zuya and the ministers who stayed behind also climbed the wall to watch the Ming army camp in the distance.

The enemy's camp was not big, at least it was not comparable to the more than 100,000 troops stationed outside the city more than half a year ago.

"The enemy should have only two or three thousand people, sir, do you want me to lead the charge tonight?"

The general in charge of defending the city whispered to Zuya.

"Let's take a look first to see how the Ming army camp is. If it is solid, forget it. There is no need to increase casualties."

Zuya shook his head and did not immediately agree with the defender's suggestion.

He knew better than anyone how much wealth the city had now. Toungoo City itself had 5,000 garrisons, and more than 2,000 reinforcements were drawn from the surrounding areas. Now there were only 7,000 regular troops in the city.

In addition, several thousand people were temporarily recruited from the city and other places. The total number of soldiers in the city was less than 15,000, and nearly half of them had almost no combat power.

Such troops were not enough to defend the city, so how could they be sent out to steal the camp?

Although there was news that the Ming army landing force had only 5,000 to 6,000 people, their combat power was strong, especially their large-scale use of firearms to kill the defenders on the city walls, which was not good news.

The city of Pegu and several other cities in front were taken down by the enemy's cannons.

"Are all the city gates blocked?"

Zu Ya thought of this and asked immediately.

"It has been blocked with big rocks, leaving only the north gate open for entry and exit, but we have also prepared a lot of sandbags. If the Ming army attacks the north gate, just use sandbags to block it immediately."

Although Taungoo City is a new city, it was built according to the big city. It naturally gathered most of Myanmar's wealthy families and had a large population in the city.

In such a big city, a huge amount of supplies are consumed every day, so traffic needs to be kept smooth because they need to transport supplies from outside the city into the city.

Although, transportation volume has been increased these days, and many things have been stocked in the city.

The reason why they dare to do this is because the Burmese army knows that the Ming army has insufficient strength and it is difficult to surround the city on all sides and completely cut off traffic.

According to the current situation, the most likely directions for the Ming army to attack are the south gate and the east gate. Not far from the east gate is the Bago River. Where the Ming army's warships can sail, it must be the place where the Ming army's grain, grass and baggage are stored.

"Since the Ming army has arrived, starting today, the number of patrol soldiers on the city will be doubled. We must be extra careful about the Ming army's sneak attack."

Zu Ya finally gave the order, and several war horses in the distance were quickly approaching the city wall. Looking at the clothes of the people on the horses, it was known that they were scouts sent by the Burmese army to monitor the movements of the Ming army.

Soon, the hanging basket was lowered, and a captain under the city dismounted and sat directly in, and was lifted directly up the city wall by the hanging basket.

"Greetings, my lord."

The captain went up to the city wall and knelt down on one knee, saluting Zuya and other adults in the city.

"What did you find?"

The guard general of Dongyu City next to him asked.

"Your Majesty, the Ming army's camp was very strong. At least three trenches were dug outside the camp and many traps were set up.

There were also two levels of guarding horses outside the camp gate, and sentry towers were built at intervals, and it seemed that cannons were carried above. "

The scout captain reported in detail what they observed, and finally said: "Compared with the camps of the previous days, the Ming army's camp this time is very strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack."

There are several teams of scouts outside the city, and they have been lingering around the Ming army these days, keeping close surveillance.

The Ming army expelled them several times at first, but with little effect.

The opponents are all cavalry, and they come and go very quickly.

After setting up a trap to ambush a wave, the Burmese army scouts became more cautious. In the end, they had no choice but to let it go.

"How many of the Ming army's scout teams are out there?"

At this time, Zuya suddenly asked.

The Burmese army sent a scout team to monitor the Ming army, and the Ming army naturally also sent scouts to investigate nearby.

The scout teams often encountered each other in the wild, and fierce battles broke out.

Relatively speaking, the Ming Dynasty's scout team suffered a little more, because there were relatively few Ming army scouts who were good at bows and arrows, and most of them carried blunderbuss.

For encounters, the most important thing is to fire the most bullets in the shortest time.

In this regard, blunderbuss cannot be compared with bows and arrows.

After the Ming army suffered several losses, they changed their methods and increased the number of scout teams. Now a team of the Ming army is usually dispatched with a size of thirty or fifty people. Compared with the Burmese army or a normal scout team, which generally does not exceed ten people, then It's a huge over-staffing.

However, the effect is also significant. After the number of people increased, the Burmese army did not benefit from several collisions. They no longer struggled with the Ming army and chose to retreat.

Even if they gathered several scout teams to attack together, the effect would be insignificant.

Because there are enough people, the Ming army's cannons can be fired in batches, similar to the three-stage attack, which can offset the threat of archers.

"The Ming army has two teams of scouts outside, and they are currently roaming outside the east gate."

The leader of the Burmese army's scout team replied immediately.

Although they are not fighting against the Ming army, they are still monitoring the opponent's movements.

The Ming army was not afraid of their surveillance and just went about their own tasks.

"East Gate, that should be the next location of the Ming Army's camp."

Before the arrival of the Ming army, Zuya had ordered the ships to be hidden.

Myanmar does not have a navy, but it does have patrol boats. However, now all official boats and civilian boats have been seized and pulled ashore to choose a place to hide, so as not to be discovered by the Ming army.

The dock outside the east gate was also destroyed under Zuya's order.

However, such damage would actually have little effect. It would only make it more troublesome for the Ming army to transfer supplies from the ship at the beginning, and delay it for some time.

When the Ming army repairs the dock, this action will naturally be useless.

As for preventing the Ming army from repairing the dock, well, that can only be thought about.

If there were elite soldiers in the city, he would not have allowed the Ming army to attack Toungu City. He would have sent troops to resist at all levels.

Looking at Taungyu City now, Zuya didn't know what to say.

In fact, he did not agree with Mang Yinglong's choice of the king's capital here.

The terrain outside Taungoo City is flat, and apart from convenient transportation, it seems to have no other advantages.

And now Taungyu City can only rely on its tall city walls to resist the Ming army's attack.

Of course, if Mang Yinglong did not move his capital to Dongyu City, there would be no doubt that the Ming army would not be able to attack them.

Yes, it turns out that the capital of the Toungoo Dynasty was the old city of Ava Dynasty, Ava City, which was later known as Mandalay.

However, as the center of rule, Ava City is far away from the south of Myanmar, which is not conducive to maintaining control of Myanmar's economic center, so it chose to move south.

The location of Toungoo City is in the center of Myanmar, which facilitates the transmission of the kingdom's decrees and the convenience of water transportation on the Bago River, but it also facilitates the advancement of the Ming army from the south.

In fact, if the capital of Myanmar was still in Ava City, Yu Dayou might not choose to attack Bago, but would choose Dagon or Rakhine State in the west.

Dagon is the economic center of Myanmar and the most developed place, where there are dense cities and a large population.

And landing in Rakhine State and heading east is the closest road to Ava City.

But no matter what, it is better than the location of Toungoo City. The most important thing is that Ava City is surrounded by mountains on three sides, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. The geographical location is much better than Toungoo City.

It can only be said that if there is no development of maritime power, this choice is not wrong.

So later, with the development of the global economy, shipping played the most important role. Myanmar chose Yangon, which is now Dagon, as its capital for a long time.

As for the later relocation of the capital to Naypyidaw, a location in central Myanmar, there are other considerations.

It is worth mentioning that the location of Naypyidaw is actually very close to Toungoo City. The two places are more than 200 miles apart, but it is a place surrounded by mountains and easy to defend.

In Mubang City, the war was over at this time.

The Ming army's surprise attack caught the defenders off guard. Before they could close the city gates, Li Rusong had already rushed into the city first.

His rash behavior scared the soldiers behind him.

Generally speaking, there is no way to steal a city without the commander leading the charge. Instead, the commander would let his men charge into the city and control the tower before entering the city, so as to ensure the commander's safety.

If there is any preparation in the city, the commander leading the charge would be a sure death.

But although they received Li Chengliang's instructions, they could not control Li Rusong at all.

This man, except for Li Chengliang, would not listen to other people's words.

Fortunately, the Burmese army in the city was not prepared, and it seemed that there was a shortage of troops.

Obviously, Mang Yinglong thought the situation too optimistically.

He believed that as long as the Burmese army maintained its offensive, the Ming army would be too tired to deal with it and would not attack his rear, so a big city like Mubang did not leave enough troops for defense.

The most important thing is that Mubang City is the main transportation route from northern Myanmar to Toungoo City. It can be seen that the Ming army occupied Mubang City, which is equivalent to cutting off the connection between the Burmese army and the country.

"Brother, how do we deal with those Burmese?"

Li Ruzhen came hurriedly with his personal soldiers. He was responsible for gathering the Burmese surrendered soldiers just now. Now that everyone was gathered together, he came to ask how to deal with these people.

Kill them or lock them up first.

As for his second brother Li Rubai, he was taking people to count the treasury of Mubang City and count the gains from this breakout.

It can only be said that because Li Chengliang spent a lot of money to raise private soldiers, the Li family attached great importance to money.

Without money, there is no way to support servants.

"Lock them up and let them help dig traps and trenches outside the city."

Li Rusong gave the order without thinking too much.

Mubang City will soon face the attack of the Burmese army, so they naturally have to be careful to deal with it.

Although he still wanted to go north and try to implement the plan of besieging the main force of the Burmese army in Longchuan and Qianya, the prerequisite was that the defense of Mubang City must be stable.

Although Li Rusong was greedy for merit, he also knew the key point. It was more important to be stuck here than anything else.