I

  Chapter 876 872【Horse riding joint venture】

   Let me tell you an interesting fact. In the Yuan-Myanmar War hundreds of years ago, the Burmese army was the first to enter the border of Yunnan.

  At that time, Kublai Khan sent envoys to appease Myanmar, and the king of Burma also sent envoys to Dadu. For the next two years, the Burmese did not come to pay tribute, so Kublai Khan sent envoys to urge them.

  The envoy of the Yuan Dynasty never returned. According to the historical records of Myanmar, the envoy of the Yuan Dynasty refused to take off his boots and was executed when he saw the King of Burma.

   Chieftain Ahe felt something was wrong, so he took the initiative to surrender to the Yuan Dynasty.

   King Burma was furious, sent more than 40,000 troops and 800 war elephants, and chased Ahe all the way to Yunnan. A thousand Mongolian households led 700 cavalry to help, divided into three teams, and attacked halfway across. The Burmese army was in chaos.

  In this way, the Yuan army's 700 cavalrymen faced the Myanmar army of more than 40,000 and 800 war elephants. They chased and killed for more than 30 miles, and did not stop until the main general of the Yuan army was injured.

   Only one Yuan army died, not yet in battle. Instead, he captured a war elephant. He couldn't figure out the elephant's temper, and was trampled to death by the elephant in a daze...

  At this moment, more than 300 war elephants and thousands of elite Burmese troops rushed to the small river.

  The generals of the Burmese army who were ambushing further downstream saw that the war elephant troops had successfully attacked, and led 30,000 Burmese troops to rush out carrying small boats and bamboo rafts.

  The Burmese troops encountered by Ding Jiasheng were all "feint attack" troops. Seeing the lively fighting downstream, the Burmese felt that many of the Datong Army upstream should have been transferred there, and brazenly launched an attack similar to a decisive battle.

  The upper reaches of the river were originally narrow, only more than ten meters wide, so many Burmese troops crossed the river at once, and the river was densely packed.

  The main force of the Myanmar Army's artillery team is also concentrated here, with more than 30 artillery pieces, firing wildly towards the Datong Army's position.

   "Boom boom boom!"

  The artillery positions of the Datong Army in the upper reaches are all arranged on the mountainside. The angle was adjusted 20 days ago, and as long as the artillery is fired, it will hit the middle of the river.

  When a shell falls, there is a high probability that it will hit a boat or a bamboo raft directly. Even if it misses, it can overturn boats and bamboo rafts.

  A large number of Burmese troops were blocked in the river, and the scene was chaotic.

  The war elephants further upstream had already entered the water, stepping forward on the bottom of the river, and thousands of elite Burmese troops followed in small boats.

   "Moo Ang~~~~"

  The continuous falling shells made the war elephant restless and roared.

  Elephants are very smart animals. After sensing danger, they are resolutely unwilling to move forward, and some even turn around automatically to escape.

   "Boom!"

  A shell entered the water and hit the elephant's leg underwater.

  The elephant finally went berserk and rammed sideways.

   "Raise the gun!"

   "Bang bang bang bang!"

  At a distance of tens of meters, the guns aimed at the elephants. Although it was not easy to kill, the war elephants were beaten to the point of pain and madness, and the shells kept falling. Half of the more than 300 war elephants lost their minds.

  The Burmese army following behind was the first to be unlucky, and the boats and bamboo rafts on the river were knocked over one after another.

   "The cavalry obey the order, abandon the firearms and medicine bags, and follow me across the river to hunt down!"

  Yang Zhan has gray hair, but his arrogance remains the same as before. He handed over the position to the lieutenant general and ordered the lieutenant general to organize the infantry to cross the river. Then he led the horse and rushed out. The horse could swim, and the soldiers helped the horse to swim across the river together.

  More than 3,000 cavalrymen quickly swam across the river more than ten meters wide.

  Yang Zhan got on his horse, drew his sword and shouted: "Kill!"

  The more than 30,000 Burmese troops here have collapsed, especially the few thousand elites who were driven out of their wits by their own war elephants. They originally fled downstream along the bank, but when they saw the Datong army chasing them, they lost their last sliver of reason.

   Hundreds of infantrymen of the Datong Army took off their clothes and went into the river, pushed back the boats and bamboo rafts in the river, and supported the main force of the infantry soldiers of the Datong Army across the river to hunt them down.

   Not long after, all the troops of a regular division crossed the river, and the Mon servant army followed behind.

  In order to confuse the Datong army and hide his active direction, Hei Ludao divided more than 100,000 people into several piles and arranged them to camp in various places along the river.

  This kind of long snake array has now become a way to kill.

  The defeated Burmese army was chased to the nearest camp, where many Burmese troops were by the river. After being rushed by the rout soldiers, and seeing Datong cavalry chasing after him, he subconsciously turned his head and ran away, and ran towards Bagan City.

   Such an escape route is tantamount to continuing to attack the Burmese army positions ahead.

  In less than half an hour, Yang Zhan led more than 3,000 cavalry and smashed three Burmese army camps and positions one after another. The Burmese army was crushed, covering the sky and covering the earth, with a total of 50,000 to 60,000 people fleeing.

   Ding Jiasheng in the lower reaches saw this and seized the opportunity to order: "Raise the artillery and bombard the Burmese army positions, and the rest of the troops cross the river and rush to kill!"

  On the downstream shore, more than a thousand ships piled with firewood were docked.

  The Datong army boarded the ship, dropped the firewood, and took the boat to kill towards the opposite bank.

  Hei Ludao's command position is at the confluence of the Ayeyarwady River and its tributaries. Seeing the densely packed broken soldiers upstream, he had no intention of continuing to fight, and shouted in panic: "Go back to the city and hold on!"

  The Burmese artillery team on the edge of the forest, all the Burmese have fled, and a group of Portuguese and Armenian gunners came to surrender with their hands raised.

  The main infantry of the Datong Army upstream did not even look at the captives, and ran along the river bank in pursuit, throwing all the captives to the Mon servants.

  Yang Zhan led the cavalry, broke through an enemy camp again, and chased to the confluence of the river. Tens of thousands of Burmese troops were defeated and jumped into the river. They had to swim across the river to enter the city.

   "Collect Ships!"

  In front of him was the broad Irrawaddy River, and Yang Zhan did not dare to swim across it rashly.

  The troops of Ding Jiasheng downstream passed by by boat.

   There are only a few artillery pieces deployed by the Burmese army here, and there are probably hundreds of musketeers. The rest of the long-range troops are all archers.

  The musketeers of the Datong Army squatted on the bow and fired at the enemy.

  Although the Datong army suffered more casualties, the Burmese army guarding the shore was terrified. As the ships of the Datong Army continued to approach, there were cries and cries from the other side. The naked eye could see that all the routs in the river were thrashing. The Burmese army here finally couldn't bear the psychological pressure and gave up their positions one after another and ran for their lives.

   After such a run, the originally well-organized Burmese army suddenly became a group of defeated soldiers. They didn't dare to turn around to stop them, they just wanted to escape into the city as soon as possible, and they would be safe after entering the city.

   There are twelve city gates in Bagan City, and only four gates are built with urns.

  After Hei Ludao led his troops back to the city, he only dared to open these four gates. Countless Burmese rout soldiers scrambled towards the city gate, and began to trample on each other outside the city gate, which greatly slowed down the speed of entering the city.

  Seeing the Datong army chasing after them, the Burmese army blocked at the outermost edge rushed towards the city gate regardless, and fled around the city in fright.

  Ding Jiasheng's cavalry chased after them, and saw that the moat was full of rout soldiers, many of whom were squeezed down when crossing the bridge. Between the moat and the city wall, there are also Burmese troops running aimlessly everywhere.

   "Bang bang bang bang!"

  A burst of musket fire broke the already chaotic Burmese army, like boiling water bubbling and bubbling.

   Most of them have lost their minds, swinging their knives and looking at the friendly troops blocking their front. More people fled north along the city wall. They didn't want to go into the city anymore. It didn't matter where they fled, and it was best to escape all the way back to their hometown.

  Hei Ludao organized troops to enter the city, guarding several urns, and was helpless against the chaos outside the city.

  Finally, the infantry under Ding Jiasheng's command and the servants of the Mon nationality also followed and shot and fired arrows at the Burmese army outside the city.

  Crying, roaring, wailing... can be heard endlessly.

  More routs fled around the city towards the north, and the Datong Army kept firing along the way, keeping those Burmese routs in a state of panic and dementia.

  The cavalry followed the moat and went around the bridge to the north.

  There tens of thousands of rout soldiers are fleeing across the bridge, and from time to time some people are squeezed out of the moat. Even if they successfully crossed the bridge, they would be hacked and killed by Datong cavalry, and thousands of Burmese troops knelt down and surrendered.

   On the other side, Hei Ludao, seeing the infantry of the Datong Army chasing to the outside of the moat, hurriedly ordered: "Shoot the arrows and close the door!"

  The arrows were not aimed at the Datong Army, but at the Burmese Army in the Wengcheng.

  A large number of Burmese army arrows shot towards the gate of Wengcheng. The Burmese army in the vicinity was routed, some shot down, and some were frightened to squeeze outside. The Burmese army in the inner city took the opportunity to close the city gate.

   After an unknown amount of time, the battlefield finally quieted down.

   There are more than 100,000 troops in Myanmar, but less than 20,000 managed to escape into the city.

   On the other side of the Datong Army, only more than 30,000 prisoners were captured.

  The remaining Burmese soldiers who disappeared were either killed in battle, fell into the water and drowned, or fled to their hometowns.

  Hei Ludao and Mangbai stood at the top of the wall, and the monarch and his subjects looked at each other.

  Just yesterday, more than 100,000 people surrounded and wiped out the Datong Army, but now they are besieged in the city themselves.

  Ding Jiasheng stood outside the city on horseback: "Build siege equipment, and choose another day to attack the city!"

   But they saw baskets hanging from the city, and a Burmese envoy came running.

  The envoy knelt down and cried: "My king is willing to surrender, and my king is willing to compensate for all the losses of the Celestial Dynasty."

  Yang Zhan sneered: "If you want to surrender, let the Burmese king come out by himself!"

  The envoy returned to the city, and Mangbai became at a loss.

  Hei Ludao said: "If you send envoys out at night and pay a lot of money to bribe the generals of the Han army, there may still be a glimmer of life."

   "Yes, yes, yes, give them all the money, and if it is not enough, send it from Ava." Mang Bai said quickly.

  This Burmese king in his teens has always been intelligent and steady.

   But after all, he has never experienced any major events. Now that he is trapped in the city and may die at any time, he immediately becomes timid and afraid of death.

  In the evening, withdraw the troops and return to the camp.

   "General, I have caught the spy and claimed to be the envoy of the king of Burma!"

"bring it here."

This envoy can also speak Chinese, and when he met him, he prostrated himself on the ground: "My king is willing to open the city and surrender, and please ask the general to speak a few words to the emperor of the Celestial Dynasty. The land of the chieftain in the north can be returned to China, and then China will be compensated." Gold and silver treasures. If the royal family can be kept, my king is willing to give the general a thousand taels of gold and fifty thousand taels of silver."

  Ding Jiasheng blinked at Yang Zhan, and then looked delighted: "Really...cough cough, this gold and silver is not enough."

  The envoy said: "Then add three hundred taels of gold and ten thousand taels of silver."

   "How unreasonable!"

  Yang Zhan got up angrily: "Why only give him money? What about my share? If I don't have money to take, the royal family of Burma will die!"

   "Yes, yes, this general also has it!" The envoy said quickly.

   "How much can I get?" Yang Zhan asked.

  The envoy originally wanted to say that you should share the money equally, but he was afraid of offending Yang Zhan, so he answered bravely, "This... villain wants to go back and ask for instructions."

   "Go, go!" Yang Zhan urged.

  When the messenger left, Ding Jiasheng and Yang Zhan looked at each other and laughed, and ordered the craftsmen accompanying the army to speed up the construction of the siege ladder.

The envoy returned to the city and told the situation in detail: "There are two generals of the Han people, and tens of thousands of taels of silver is not enough. The chief general is very young, and both eyes lit up when he heard that he had silver. I want money myself, but if he can't get it, the king... the royal family will die."

  The next day, the envoy continued to come over to negotiate the price.

  Finally, they agreed to give Ding Jiasheng 1,500 taels of gold and 60,000 taels of silver, and Yang Zhan 1,200 taels of gold and 50,000 taels of silver. Since there is not so much gold and silver accompanying the army, I will give 50,000 taels of silver as a deposit first, and the rest will be shipped from the capital Ava.

  After negotiating the price, Mangbai and Heiludao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

  Then, send troops to raid the city and storm into the homes of rich families to extort money.

  The soldiers took the opportunity to blackmail, and at least half of the gold and silver they obtained were distributed privately, and it was difficult to collect tens of thousands of taels of silver. The people in the city are miserable and full of resentment.

  But those Burmese defenders are getting more and more relaxed, jealous that those search troops can make money.

  More and more Burmese troops did not receive orders to make money, but under the leadership of middle-level officers, they extorted money in the name of the king.

  The entire city of Bagan was made into a miasma by the army.

   At this moment, two consecutive fast boats sailed from the north to report.

  The messenger was intercepted by the Datong Army, and Huang Yao's main force had already reached Anzhengguo City (Xingu). And the inspectors on the east route of the North Road, with the chieftain allied forces, had already approached Meimiao City.

  The Burmese army in Anzhengguo City, relying on the defense of the city, blocked Huang Yao under the city.

  Meimiao's side is the chieftain army, which originally belonged to the chieftain of Mubang. When encountering the joint army of inspectors, they surrendered without saying a word, and even served as a guide for the Chinese army. It is only 200 miles away from Awa, the capital of Myanmar, but they cannot take a boat and have to climb over the mountains. It takes about half a month to reach the city of Awa.

   "Let these messengers go there," Ding Jiasheng said with a smile, "tell King Burma that General Ben is going to increase the price, and ask him to give an additional 10,000 taels of silver."

  (end of this chapter)