The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"Don't think that the credit for conquering the Burmese capital was taken away by others. I tell you, they were able to achieve merit because of you and me.

If we hadn't held back Mang Yinglong's army of hundreds of thousands, their small army would have been able to capture cities and strongholds in southern Myanmar."

Li Chengliang said disdainfully, "I tell you this to let you know that Mang Yinglong is at the end of his rope. His lair has been dug out by us. He is now a dog who has lost his home and is in a state of panic all day long."

Having said this, Li Chengliang stood up, looked around at all the generals in the hall, and walked out the door while talking.

"Now, he must be arranging for the Burmese army to break camp, thinking of retreating under the cover of night.

However, since they have been lured to the city of Baoshan, how can they come and go as they please?

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The bank of Lujiang River is the grave of the Burmese army."

"General, give the order, I will go back and gather my men to chase them, and not let any enemy escape."

"Yes, General, give the order."

"General."

Hearing what Li Chengliang said, the generals below were immediately excited.

Yes, the Burmese capital may have been captured by the Ming army. Mang Yinglong has no time to fight with them at this moment. I am afraid he just wants to fly back to rescue them.

Opportunities to beat a drowning dog are rare.

How is the combat effectiveness of the Burmese army? These generals have learned more or less in these battles of Tianshou City.

Although they would not admit it, they were still a little nervous in their hearts.

Yes, the Burmese army has good combat power and many veterans with rich war experience, so it is not easy to fight.

But now it is different. The Burmese army is in a hurry to go back for rescue. Isn't it an opportunity to seize the head.

"Li Dudu, what do you think? Will we send troops to attack the Burmese army camp tonight?"

At this time, Luo Rufang stood up and asked.

Now Luo Rufang, not knowing whether it was because of the stimulation of Li Chengliang's words, also blushed.

Turning around, Li Chengliang looked around again, and then said: "There is no need to disturb the soldiers tonight. Tomorrow morning, we will have a full meal and take two days of dry food out of the city to chop heads.

From the current situation, Mang Yinglong should have abandoned the front camp and prepared to use them to delay the pursuers.

So, tomorrow morning, the cavalry will set out from the south gate, bypass the Burmese camp and go straight to the Lujiang wharf, setting fire to all the ships.

Without the ships, I wonder how more than 100,000 Burmese soldiers can cross the river."

Li Chengliang said with a smile.

Afterwards, Li Chengliang pointed out several generals and asked them to go out of the city early tomorrow morning to attack the Burmese camp.

"Bring artillery, use artillery to blow open the camp fence, and rush in directly."

After instructing this team of generals, Li Chengliang began to arrange the second and third echelons to approach Lujiang with a siege posture.

"Each unit needs to deploy the Portuguese cannons in front of the army. If you encounter the Burmese elephant soldiers, just use the cannons to attack them."

After Li Chengliang finished talking about the army deployment, he looked at Mu Changzuo on the side, "Lord Mu, do you have any medicine to supplement?"

For today's arrangements, Li Chengliang did not discuss with Mu Changzuo and Luo Rufang in advance. Originally, in Li Chengliang's view, the layout was completed by him, Li Chengliang, and these two were just picking up the bargain, so naturally they looked down on them.

"General Li is in command, Changzuo admires him, and will do his best to obey General Li's orders."

Mu Changzuo didn't want to make a fuss, although he was somewhat dissatisfied in his heart.

I thought Li Chengliang would discuss with him first, but he came very early, but Li Chengliang just let him sit here and wait, and he didn't summon him for a long time.

It seems that Li Chengliang didn't take him seriously at all.

But even if he was dissatisfied, he wouldn't drag his feet in such a national war.

After all, those who came from the Duke of Qian’s Mansion were not villains, and would not ignore the national justice because of their personal preferences.

“Well, everyone should go back and prepare early, summon the firemen to prepare dry food, and don’t delay the time.”

With tens of thousands of people going out of the city to fight, so many mouths are naturally not simple.

For the firemen, if they don’t prepare early, it will definitely affect the battle.

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

The generals all bowed to Li Chengliang to receive the order, and then filed out and went back to the camp to prepare.

Yes, the soldiers were not summoned, but the firemen could not rest, so they must get up and prepare immediately.

“General Li, do we also need to send a letter to Shidian to let them go out of the city to pursue?”

Seeing that all the generals had left, Mu Changzuo walked to Li Chengliang and asked.

Li Chengliang did not respond, but just nodded slightly. At this time, a chief clerk hurried in with a document, saluted the three people, and handed the drafted document in his hand to Li Chengliang with both hands.

Li Chengliang took it and took a look at it, then handed it to Mu Changzuo and said, "Lord Mu, take a look and see if it is feasible."

Mu Changzuo took it and took a look. It turned out to be a military order drafted by Li Chengliang for the chief clerk to Shi Dian.

"General Li, this, let them just follow, right?"

Mu Changzuo read the military order drafted by Li Chengliang. The first part was fine, just describing the current situation so that they could be mentally prepared.

But the subsequent order did not let them go out of the city to chase the Burmese army, but just follow, which was equivalent to escorting the other party away, which made Mu Changzuo a little difficult to understand.

"Shi Dian is short of troops and firearms. If they chase too quickly, I am worried that something will happen."

After listening to Mu Changzuo's words, Li Chengliang just smiled and explained.

Glancing at Luo Rufang, Li Chengliang smiled and said, "The Burmese army in Shidian will definitely retreat to Hanlong Pass. If they chase too quickly, I am worried that they will encounter the Burmese army fleeing outside, and then they will be attacked from both sides.

Although the Burmese army will definitely lose this battle, we must also guard against them fighting to survive. After all, only by breaking through Hanlong Pass can they have a chance of survival. At that time, the Shidian army will be in danger."

The distance from Shidian to Hanlong Pass is farther than that from Baoshan, so if the Ming army chases too quickly, it is likely to run ahead of the Baoshan Burmese army.

Although the Burmese army can be defeated on the bank of Lujiang River, the remnants can still cross the river, especially since 20,000 people have already arrived there.

The Burmese army retreated and was attacked from both sides. The Shidian Ming army may not have a chance.

It is a big win situation. As long as it is maintained, there is no need to take risks.

However, Li Chengliang did not expect that Mang Yinglong chose Mengmi and took a longer route this time, just to keep the main force of the Burmese army.

He only thought that Mang Yinglong would flee back to Myanmar as quickly as possible, and would concentrate the remaining troops to frantically attack the Ming army in Mubang, hoping to open a channel to break through and escape to the south.

Because of the influence of the news that the Ming army was targeting the Burmese capital of Toungoo City, neither Li Chengliang nor Mu Changzuo, nor Luo Rufang, thought that Mang Yinglong would choose to take a detour.

At this time, Li Rusong personally led his troops to pursue Mang Yingli, while ordering his second brother Li Rubai to lead his troops to continue westward and attack Mengguang and Mengnai in Mengyang.

Yes, in the eyes of him and his father Li Chengliang, the fastest way back to Myanmar is undoubtedly to take Mubang, and the next way is Mengyang.

And if you choose to go to Mengmi, after all, it is a newly annexed territory, not only is it unsafe, but it also takes a special detour, almost half the distance.

At this time of rushing time, they really didn't expect Mang Yinglong to make such a choice.

In central Myanmar, under the city of Toungoo, a team of more than a thousand Ming troops formed a tight military formation.

In front of the military formation, six heavy artillery pieces took turns to bombard the south gate of Toungoo City, breaking countless bricks and leaving a mess on the ground.

In the military formation, the bird gunners in the front row were idle and chatting with each other. Without the enemy leaving the city, what was the point of them standing here like wooden stakes?

And the Ming army behind them, holding swords, shields and spears, was in a similar state to the front row.

Although they were all Ming troops, they were two completely different groups of people.

The bird gunners and gunners were sailors belonging to the South China Sea Navy, while the sword and shield men and spearmen behind were mostly troops formed after the reorganization of the remnants of the Feilong Kingdom.

Every day, the troops took turns to line up here, covering the artillery to bombard the walls of Toungoo City, and then retreated back to the camp.

Even the defenders on the opposite side of the city repaired the city wall overnight. Although the city wall was still damaged, they could only fill the damaged wall with some sandbags and stones.

It has been like this for several days. Standing under the city can be said to be the most difficult time during this period.

"Da Da Da"

A sound of horse hooves came from the west, and a fast horse rushed to the back of the Ming army.

The knight on horseback held a flag high in his hand, and the flag swayed in the wind, making him look very majestic.

Soon, the sound of horse hooves slowed down, and the knight on horseback had reined in his horse and slowed down.

When the horse approached a group of people behind the army, the knight on horseback reined in the horse under his crotch, jumped off the horse directly, and ran towards the group of people.

"Report to the commander, the Burmese army on the west has been defeated by Hu Yanyou and his troops, and now our army is chasing and killing the defeated enemy."

The knight on horseback was naturally a messenger, coming from the battlefield in the west to report the news of victory.

"Okay, I'll report back after further investigation."

"Receive the order."

The dark-skinned man in front of the messenger was naturally Yu Dayou, the admiral of the Ming Dynasty's South China Sea Fleet.

After arriving in Toungoo City, before they had time to prepare for the siege, they received news that Burmese troops appeared in the east, with a scale of nearly a thousand people, and it seemed that they were troops to reinforce Toungoo City.

The Burmese troops that could be mobilized were naturally the few elite troops left in the country, and the others followed the Burmese king to the east to attack the Ming Dynasty.

Yu Dayou was much more interested in dealing with these people than directly taking down Toungoo City.

Li Chengliang knew what Wei Guangde meant, and Yu Dayou also knew it.

In order to achieve his goal, it was imperative to eliminate as many elite Burmese troops as possible in advance.

Only by eliminating these troops, the resistance encountered in the later capture of various cities in Myanmar would be slight, and the weakening of the Burmese resistance would also be conducive to achieving rule here.

Thinking that the Burmese capital was in front of them, in order to protect it, the Burmese officials in the city would certainly draw troops from all over to come to support. Isn't this the perfect siege and attack?

Encircling a town and attacking the reinforcements, encircling the enemy in a town and using it as bait to attract reinforcements from enemies in other places, the real purpose is to attack the reinforcements and achieve the goal of annihilating the reinforcements.

This tactic is actually a variation of the 36 Stratagems of Wei to Save Zhao, both of which are for mobilizing the enemy.

The focus of siege and attack is to attack the reinforcements, so the focus of the deployment of troops is the force to attack the reinforcements. The siege is the auxiliary force, the siege is virtual, and the attack is real.

Moreover, the enemy rushed to support, and they were exhausted all the way. How could they be the opponent of the resting Ming army.

In the past two days, the Ming army has successively defeated two Burmese rescue troops coming from the east.

For this reason, Yu Dayou sent out a large number of his cavalry to search for the whereabouts of the Burmese army from all sides.

The Burmese army that was defeated today was the one reported yesterday, and we immediately deployed troops to conduct an ambush.

"General, how long do we have to stay under the city before attacking it? I am worried that the Burmese king will return to support us, which will delay the opportunity."

Wang Shike is the vanguard. If he attacks Toungoo City, he will also be the vanguard. Therefore, he has been eager to try and is eager to take the credit.

Unfortunately, Yu Dayou has always disagreed to attack the city, but just pretended to continue to destroy the Burmese city wall.

Although fighting like this can also reduce losses for future sieges, he is anxious because the peach is right in front of him and he is not allowed to pick it.

"Wait a few more days. If no Burmese reinforcements arrive, we will attack the city again."

Yu Dayou looked at the city wall in the distance, and said with a relaxed smile on his face: "It's just a small city of Toungoo. It's easy to capture it.

But if we take this city, the Burmese army will no longer support here, but will wait for Mang Yinglong's army to come back for support.

Hehe, do you think Mang thieves still have a chance to come back?"

Yu Dayou looked at Wang Shike and asked with a smile.

"This"

Wang Shike pondered for a while before he had to admit: 'The Burmese army is fighting with our army in Yunnan. If we withdraw our troops hastily, the losses will be considerable.

So, they may send a small number of elite troops back to rescue, and delay until the main force of the Burmese army and our army are separated, and then the army will come back to support.

However, I am afraid that Yunnan does not know the situation and dare not pursue rashly, then we.'

"It is normal for you to think so. If it were normal, I would also think so."

Yu Dayou said with a smile on his face: "The commander of the battle in Yunnan this time is the former Liaodong General Li Chengliang. I have studied his fighting style carefully. He always lures the enemy deep into the enemy and then sends surprise troops to cut off their retreat.

After destroying the king's tent or logistics, the enemy army will be in chaos, and he will then lead his troops to chase and kill them all the way.

This time the court sent him to Yunnan to command the battle, presumably to test his command ability, after all, he only has the record of fighting against Mongolia and Jurchens in the north.

You don't know that the court has been planning this battle for a long time. After knowing that Myanmar has a rebellious heart, it has begun to prepare.

The court is so deliberate, you think it is just to defeat Myanmar, hum"

"Marshal, I really don't know about this matter. I wonder if you can tell me what the court is going to do?"

Wang Shike approached and asked with interest.

"Wei Gelao only mentioned in his letter to me that the Ming Dynasty has the North Sea, the East Sea and the South Sea, but not the West Sea."

Yu Dayou stopped there, but he revealed a lot of information.

"West Sea, West Sea"

Wang Shike fell into deep thought, and his eyes lit up in just a moment.

"Marshal, what do you mean?"

"Yes, I guess the court intends to completely occupy this place, divide it into provinces for governance, and may form a West Sea Navy here.

You may have heard some rumors that the Denglai Navy may be the East Sea Navy in the future. As for the North Sea, the court has almost lost control of the Nurgan Dusi now. If it can regain control over it, it may also form a navy."

These are all Yu Dayou's guesses, but he just said them out in casual chat.

Looking at the Ming army in front of him, many people have been exhausted after being in formation for so long.

"Retreat."

Yu Dayou ordered. (End of this chapter)