The Prosperous Era of Longwan

In the past few days, the Burmese army has been charging more and more crazily. Whenever the horn sounded, they would rush to the city wall without hesitation, which put a lot of pressure on the Ming army.

Yes, most of the Burmese army are veterans, and the new recruits died on the way to charge.

Only under the city wall can they provide a little safety.

Although no one can explain it clearly, the Burmese soldiers have discovered without any instruction that when dealing with the tall city walls of the Ming Dynasty, hiding under the city walls with large shields, as long as they are not unlucky enough to encounter a huge rock falling on their heads, the danger is actually not great.

At least, it is not easy to be hit by the artillery and muskets released by the Ming army on the top of the city.

At the beginning, the Burmese army was actually full of confidence in conquering Baoshan City.

However, it was not until the real battle that it was discovered that the defense of this big city was not ordinary tenacious. Before people approached, the city had already started to fire guns and cannons, and clusters of arrows flew down from the top of the city, making their attack path full of danger.

So they could only run to the bottom of the city to be safer, at least not passively beaten.

After several times, many people died, and the morale dissipated a lot without knowing it.

This time, the siege at three points ended in failure again, with no progress.

When we came back and counted the troops, more than a thousand people died, and many were injured.

In the past few days of siege, tens of thousands of bodies were thrown directly under the city, and many of those who escaped back were seriously injured and died.

There was no idea how many bodies were thrown into the big pit behind the military camp.

"It's not okay to fight like this. I've fought twice and more than 500 people died."

A dependent chieftain complained to the people around him dissatisfiedly.

"I also lost more than 200 people. I can't compare with you. There are only more than a thousand people in total. If we continue to waste time, how can we fight."

The chieftain leader next to him also complained.

"Should we go back to the Burmese king and talk to him about his elite troops. They haven't been deployed in the past few days, saying that they are depleting the morale of the Ming army. I think the morale of the Ming army is getting stronger and stronger, but our own morale is gone."

"Forget it. Wuyuan Han has lost more than a thousand local soldiers. I went to the Burmese king yesterday and was scolded.

The Burmese king also said that he has sent people to bypass Baoshan City to attack the Ming army's food and supplies. As long as the resistance on the top of Baoshan City weakens, he will send out elite troops to take Baoshan City in one fell swoop."

The crowd said all kinds of things.

The task of siege today naturally fell on these unlucky guys.

"The Ming people have too many cannons, and those archers dare not get close.

But if they don't get close, they can't shoot at the city, and they won't use up their gunpowder. This battle will be difficult to fight."

Another smart chieftain saw that the Baoshan City they attacked this time was obviously different from the Tengchong they attacked before.

The Tengchong defenders had firearms, but not many. They were almost used up after two or three days, and then everyone fought with real swords and guns.

Yes, there should have been support for the siege, that is, the archers under the city, who would shoot arrows at the top of the city wall to prevent the Ming army's defensive soldiers from approaching.

But their position was already at a disadvantage, so they could only approach the city wall.

The Ming army's bird guns were a bit reluctant to deal with them, after all, they were all projectiles, and the range was farther than that of the Ming army's bird guns.

But there were cannons on the city wall, and the power of the Ming army's cannons against the densely positioned archers was reflected.

In just two days, the Burmese archers dared not approach.

Without the support of archers, the Burmese siege became a joke, which fully confirmed the saying that the truth was only within the range of cannons.

In this way, the Burmese army naturally could not take advantage of the siege, and not only did they suffer heavy losses, but they also made no progress.

However, Mang Yinglong's idea was also achieved, but it would not work if it continued like this. It would cause the army to be unstable and it would be easy to cause chaos.

Fortunately, Mang Yinglong did not intend to maintain such an offensive. The purpose of weakening the local chieftains was achieved, so he naturally had to prepare to withdraw to Lujiang City and divide the river with the Ming army.

What surprised him was that the Ming army did not go out of the city to fight with them. You know, their situation is not good now.

The Ming army appeared in southern Myanmar, and he had to rush back to support them. The other side should have attacked violently.

Mang Yinglong also wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of the Ming army's active attack, and retreat after repelling the Ming army's offensive.

Unexpectedly, the Ming army in the city just hid in the city and did not come out, nor did they fight them head-on.

Therefore, the Burmese generals were unhappy, and in fact, Mang Yinglong was also unhappy.

He didn't know that Li Chengliang had guessed his plan, so he just stayed in the city and waited for the Burmese army to retreat actively, and then he would send troops to chase and kill.

Because the Burmese army was powerful and had been on the offensive, Li Chengliang had no intention of going out of the city to fight the enemy head-on at this time.

With the tall city walls to block the Burmese army and weaken the enemy's strength, why not do it?

The morale of the Ming army dropped seriously because of the repeated losses of the city at the beginning, and the Ming army took the opportunity of defending the city to restore its morale.

When the Burmese army left a pile of corpses and fled in a panic, the Ming army on the city would burst into cheers of victory.

This is exactly what Li Chengliang wanted to see.

Soldiers who can't see victory are just zombies.

Only when they are eager for victory and strive for victory can soldiers transform into killing machines.

Just as Li Chengliang thought, Mang Yinglong couldn't hold on any longer.

"What did you say? Mubang City was occupied by the Ming army?"

At this time, Mang Yinglong did not meet his generals, but blocked them outside the king's tent. He personally met a messenger.

"My king, the Ming army, who came from nowhere, attacked Mubang City a few days ago. His Royal Highness led his troops back and was stopped by the Ming army.

The Ming army is powerful, and the troops led by His Highness the Prince are outnumbered. They were raided several times and suffered heavy losses. Please send troops to rescue as soon as possible. "

The messenger knelt on the ground and reported the situation to Mang Yinglong.

It turned out that Mang Yingli retreated to Lujiang City. He only had one day to arrange the defense of Lujiang City and then set off with thousands of elites, intending to rush back to the royal capital Toungu City for support as soon as possible.

He also thought that although Lujiang City could not bring more soldiers and horses, he could still gather the defenders along the way, and he could still gather thousands or tens of thousands of people.

Although the Ming army attacked sharply in the south, it was reported that there were no more than 10,000 troops.

That is to say, this Eastern Expedition mobilized too many domestic soldiers and horses, and there was a shortage of major generals in various parts of the country. This allowed the Ming army to take advantage of the loophole. Otherwise, there would be no need for him to rush south for rescue.

Mang Yingli was also reckless, thinking that there would not be too many Ming troops. After all, in his opinion, most of the Ming troops should gather in Shidian and Baoshan City to block the main force of the Burmese army from marching eastward.

Although I don't know where the Ming army came from, I guess there aren't many of them.

So after knowing that Mubang City was occupied by the Ming army, he rushed forward with thousands of soldiers and horses, intending to take back the city in one go.

The result was naturally very tragic. The Burmese army originally had fewer troops than the Ming army, but they still attacked and killed them all the way.

Although Li Rusong was shocked at first, the Ming army was not prepared after all. Who knew that the Burmese army would come to seize the city as soon as they captured it.

However, after the front line was slightly stabilized, Li Rusong personally observed the formation and found that the Burmese army only had a few thousand troops, not as many as he had led. He immediately lost his fear and rushed forward with his cavalry.

After only two charges, the Burmese army was directly defeated by the Ming army's cavalry.

If it weren't for the protection of personal soldiers, Mang Yingli would probably have confessed here directly.

After that, the Burmese army retreated and set up camp, but the Ming army had already seen the weakness of the enemy forces on this road, so they turned from defense to attack and actively attacked the Burmese army camp, forcing Mang Yingli to retreat continuously in embarrassment.

At this point, he naturally knew that he could not retreat, and if he retreated further, he would reach Hanlong Pass.

At that time, once the two Ming armies attack together, I am afraid that my side may be surrounded again.

In fact, Mang Yingli was panicking at this time, because he didn't know the origin of this Ming army, and his accent didn't sound like that of the Yunnan Ming army.

Yes, Yunnan and Myanmar are closely connected, and naturally there are people in the Myanmar army who understand Yunnan dialect.

If you don't understand, then you are not the Yunnan Ming Army.

But this made him even more worried, that is, Toungoo City had been lost, and this Ming army came from the south.

Although he found it a bit unbelievable, this was the only explanation in Mang Yingli's mind that could explain everything in front of him. Otherwise, how could the Ming army appear in the south.

According to the information he sent people to collect from the surroundings, there was no sign of the defenders of Mengding Mansion in Yunnan being dispatched.

Yes, Mengding Mansion also had spies planted by Burma to find out the movements of the Ming army.

This is what Li Chengliang and Mu Changzuo were worried about from the beginning. Myanmar's ambitions for Yunnan did not arise overnight. Instead, it had already made up its mind and made a lot of preparations.

These preparations included not only quietly lobbying some local powerful chieftains, but also placing spies near the Ming army's barracks to find out the strength of the Ming army.

Meng Dingfu's soldiers and horses did not move, so naturally this Ming army was not Yunnan's soldiers.

Well, all Mang Yingli could think of was the Ming army from the sea.

He really didn't expect that Li Chengliang would dare to secretly transfer the main force, tens of thousands of people, into Meng Ding Mansion and hide it.

During the entire process, including the Ming army's westward march to Mubang City, all the common people they met were trapped in the military camp and served as temporarily recruited civilians to help the army carry supplies.

This kind of situation actually happens from time to time in Liaodong.

The army was dispatched in order to stay hidden and would not let anyone pass by on the road.

Either kill them directly, or capture them and take them away, only to release them after the battle is over.

If Mang Yingli made a misjudgment, it would be fatal, and Mang Yinglong would also misjudge.

Yes, he also told his father Mang Yinglong his judgment.

Moreover, he found a reason for it.

At this time, Mang Yinglong was considering Mang Yingli's speculation, that is, the Ming army on the southern route might be divided into two groups, one group raiding Toungu City, while the other group circled the city and went straight to Mubang, hoping to surround them in western Yunnan. .

However, Toungu City did not receive all the information. Maybe the messenger was captured by the Ming army leader. Anyway, Toungu City underestimated the strength of the Ming army.

Think about it, how is it possible for thousands of people to dare to cross the sea?

Mang Yinglong sat on the throne in a daze, and it took him a while to come back to his senses.

Walking to a simple map hanging nearby, Mang Yinglong carefully considered Mang Yingli's judgment.

Yes, the Ming army was afraid that they would have set a trap for them to jump in from the beginning, luring them to go eastward, but blocking them when they were about to enter the plain.

Then, the Ming Army of the Southern Route advanced crazily, intending to occupy Mubang and Mengmi, so that they could surround his hundreds of thousands of troops in western Yunnan.

Although he guessed something was wrong, it was probably Li Chengliang's idea.

Now if we want to escape from the encirclement of the Ming army, it seems that we can only follow the road we came from, through Lujiang City, Tengchong, Yingjiang and other places, exit Nanya Pass, go through Mengyang, and make a big circle back to Myanmar.

After all, that's where his roots lie.

If Burma is lost, his hundreds of thousands of troops will be wiped out in an instant.

A rootless tree can still be maintained there.

Mang Yinglong didn't expect that after so many years of fighting, he would lose so miserably this time.

Yes.

miserable.

From the very beginning, he was defeated by Li Chengliang. After that, he seemed to be incomparable glory, but in fact he was led by the Ming army everywhere.

Those victories seemed to be traps set by Li Chengliang for him, but he didn't know it yet.

Can't wait any longer.

Mang Yinglong finally made up his mind. At this time, he could only cut off his arms and save his troops as much as possible to fight again in the future. This Eastern Expedition was a complete failure.

"Someone's coming."

Mang Yinglong shouted, and as the curtain of the king's tent was raised, a soldier walked in.

"Give Shidian Baldu an order to lead his troops to immediately withdraw to Hanlong Pass to cover the eldest prince's retreat."

"yes."

Although the soldiers didn't know why, they still agreed.

Mang Yinglong took out a gold medal from his arms and handed it to the soldier. The soldier took it with both hands and immediately strode out of the king's tent.

The situation is urgent now, and Mang Yinglong can feel it.

Then the only option was to lose the vehicle and protect the commander, and let the Shidian Burmese army go to Hanlong Pass to block the Ming army heading north, while he led the people out of Nanya Pass back to Myanmar.

After the soldiers left, Mang Yinglong called for his soldiers and ordered their close men to call the king's tent to listen to his orders.

After several generals arrived, Mang Yinglong immediately issued an order for the army to retreat.

"Go back and immediately make arrangements to break camp and retreat from Nanya Pass to Mengyang."

"Your Majesty, isn't this too hasty? If we set off overnight, I'm afraid the army will be in trouble."

When the generals under his command heard Mang Yinglong's order, they were naturally confused and couldn't figure out the reason.

Although the attack on the city has not been successful these days, it is not to the point of needing to retreat overnight.

Seeing the puzzled looks from his generals, Mang Yinglong knew that he might cause trouble if he didn't explain clearly, so he had no choice but to explain the situation in detail.

"The Ming army has already reached Mubang City and is still attacking Taungyu City."

After hearing Mang Yinglong's explanation, several of his men didn't know what to say.

Many of their family members are in Toungoo City. Knowing that the Ming army has already reached there, it is impossible not to be anxious.

And now, the nearest road back to Taungyu City has been cut off by the Ming army. How can this be fixed?

"Your Majesty, we should retreat to Hanlong Pass, defeat the Ming army coming from the south, and take advantage of the situation to fight back to Toungyu City."

At this time, a general strode forward and said.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Others responded.

According to Mang Yinglong's wishes, if we leave Mengyang, when will we go to Dongxu City? I'm afraid that all the people in the city will bleed dry.

"I know what you are thinking, but have you ever thought about it? This road is in Mubang, with ravines and ravines along the way. As long as the Ming army blocks the mountain pass, it will make it difficult for our army to move.

If they were blocked in the mountains, they would be in a dilemma and risk the entire army being annihilated. "

Mang Yinglong looked around at everyone and continued: "Although it is a bit far to take the Mengyang Road, there will be no Ming army interception along the way, the marching speed will be faster, and the army can be preserved."

In fact, this is the fundamental reason why Mang Yinglong chose this route.

He cannot afford to lose any more soldiers and horses, otherwise he will lose everything even if he returns to Myanmar.

"Then others."

"Let them take the rear, and the Ming army will definitely come out of the city to pursue them."