The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Hanlong Pass, one of the eight border passes in western Yunnan of the Ming Dynasty, is one of the "Eight Passes Controlling Myanmar" together with Tianma, Huju, Tiebi, Jushi, Shenhu, Wanren and Tongbi.

Today, at the gate of Hanlong Pass, a large group of Burmese troops fled into the pass in a panic, and in the farther place, smoke and dust were already rolling, indicating that an army was approaching.

"Close the gate quickly, close the gate quickly."

When the last Burmese soldier fled into the wall, Mang Yingli on the tower shouted to his men.

Standing on the tower, he could already see the flags of the Ming army in the distance, and they were about to arrive.

On the way from Mubang to Hanlinguan, he tried his best to delay the offensive pace of the Ming army, because he was worried that the Ming army would advance too fast and encircle the Burmese army in Longchuan and Qianya.

Although there were a large number of rattan armors in the Burmese army, he did not lead many infantrymen to rescue Toungoo City this time, and he could not form a rattan armor formation to resist the firearms of the Ming army.

Especially the famous generals on the opposite side, facing the army formation he set up, they would first launch a cannon attack, then fire a volley of bird guns, and then the spear and shield soldiers would start a frontal charge, accompanied by the cavalry's roundabout encirclement from both sides, leaving them no chance to resist.

After retreating all the way, the weak walls of the several small forts they passed by could not stop the Ming army's cannon attack at all.

After a round of cannon attack, several gaps would appear in the city wall, and the Ming army would rush in directly through the gaps.

How could he fight the Ming army in this way?

If they fought hard, their troops were not as many as the Ming army.

But they could not not resist. If they fled, the Ming army would chase them all the way and complete the encirclement of the Burmese army with the Baoshan Ming army.

They could only flee all the way, destroying the road all the way and causing trouble for the Ming army.

As for letting the cavalry wear rattan armor and collide with the Ming army, he did not dare to think about it at all, because the Ming cavalry charge was too sharp.

Even if he let the cavalry wearing rattan armor attack the Ming army infantry, he felt it was very dangerous.

Because rattan armor can protect knights but not their horses, Myanmar itself is actually very short of horses.

Perhaps, only war elephants can make up for the gap between the two.

"Go and urge the troops withdrawn from Shidian to come to Hanlong Pass as soon as possible to take over the defense."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Mang Yingli gave a loud order, and his attendants immediately responded and immediately arranged for people to go out of the city to urge.

Mang Yinglong certainly would not trap his son in the Ming Dynasty, and the countermeasure he could take now was to move the detachment attacking Shidian to Hanlong Pass, blocking the Ming army coming from the south while attracting the attention of the Ming army in Shidian.

He took Mang Yingli and other troops out of Tiebi Pass, retreated to Mengmi via Manmo, and returned to Myanmar by a detour.

It can be said that the detachment of Shidian had been abandoned by him as a discarded pawn to attract the attention of the Ming army.

The thing that Mang Yingli regretted most was that he did not bring elephant soldiers with him this time when he went south. If there were war elephants, there might be a chance to directly break through the Ming army's defense line and penetrate them.

Although it is said that more than a hundred years ago, the Ming people used fire guns to scare the war elephants, but now they have a way to deal with the Ming army's fire guns, that is, before going into battle, they blocked the ears of the war elephants in advance to prevent them from being frightened by the explosion of firearms.

As for the fire bull tactics, they also chose to cover the eyes of the elephants, and let the elephant soldiers command the war elephants to advance and retreat.

At the beginning, if it was not the first time they saw firearms, their war elephants could not accept such a style of play for a while, and Mu Ying would not be able to defeat them at all.

Didn't you see that even the Mongol Yuan army, which was so powerful that it could sweep across the continent, could only choose to flee when encountering their war elephants, and use roundabout tactics to avoid fighting with the elephant army.

Yes, although the Pagan Dynasty of Myanmar at that time finally chose to surrender after eight years of war with the Mongol Yuan, it did not mean that the Mongol Yuan army had the advantage of defeating the elephant soldiers.

In fact, most of the Mongol Yuan cavalry chose to retreat to a distance against the elephant soldiers, using bows and arrows to consume the elephant soldiers on the back of the elephants, and they did not have the ability to fight the elephant soldiers head-on.

Myanmar had elephants to help the army against Mongolia, and 50,000 people were killed by 600 people. That was not achieved in one or two battles, but after a period of back and forth.

After all, it was impossible for Mongolian cavalry to carry thousands of arrows with them. To deal with elephants, they had to use special heavy arrows to penetrate the rough elephant skin and cause damage to the elephants.

In fact, Mang Yinglong dared to attack the Ming Dynasty this time because they thought that the trained war elephants could ignore the firearms of the Ming Dynasty, and with a small team of cavalry guarding the elephant soldiers, they were not afraid that the Ming Dynasty would imitate the tactics of the Mongolian cavalry.

Of course, the most important thing was that they believed that the Ming Dynasty had declined and was on the decline, and it was an opportunity to take advantage of the fire.

In fact, their judgment was correct, but they misjudged the size of both sides.

Even the Ming Dynasty, which was on the decline, was stronger than Myanmar in its heyday.

Mang Yingli just wanted to try to use war elephants to fight the Ming army, while his father Mang Yinglong took direct action.

Because he was being chased by the Ming army, in order to repel the enemy behind him, after the method of using rattan shields to block the Ming army's bullets failed, he chose to mobilize 100 war elephants to guard the rear, ready to teach the Ming army a profound lesson.

There was no way to deal with the Ming army defending the city, but in the field, Mang Yinglong believed that with the help of war elephants, they still had a great chance of defeating the Ming army.

At this time, the 100 war elephants were lined up in two rows, almost covering the road and the mountains on both sides, extending all the way to the edge of the forest.

Behind the war elephants, there were thousands of Burmese soldiers holding rattan shields, ready to cooperate with the elephant soldiers to charge and kill the Ming army on the opposite side.

It was the Guizhou troops led by Qi Jimei, the chief military officer of Guizhou, who led the troops in pursuit today.

When they saw the Burmese army formation ahead, the Ming army immediately began to set up their formation.

In front, more than ten large and medium-sized Fran cannons were carried to the front of the formation and arranged. Behind them were three rows of gunmen, and behind them was a gun-and-shield formation composed of swordsmen, shieldmen and spearmen.

A small number of archers also formed several square formations, preparing to launch fire at the Burmese army on the opposite side.

"Send people from the rear team into the woods to find some firewood, and move faster."

Qi Jimei was not sure of stopping the attack of the Burmese elephant soldiers, but the brave would win in a narrow encounter, and he had no way out.

If they fail to try their best to defeat the Burmese army on the opposite side and the elephant soldiers charge all the way, they are likely to disperse the other Ming troops behind them.

However, victory or defeat cannot be reversed by human willpower, so he also made the worst plan, which was to let the rear army cut firewood and prepare to pile it on both sides of the road.

Once his men are defeated by the Burmese army, they will immediately light these firewood and use the fire to stop the war elephants.

At the very least, the Burmese army should not be given the opportunity to hunt down their subordinates.

"Immediately report the situation here to the commander-in-chief and ask them to quickly mobilize cannons to assist in the battle."

Qi Jimei didn't know when the Burmese army would attack. At this time, the opponent seemed to have completed preparations for the attack and could start at any time.

On the Ming army's side, after half a year of intensive training, the Ming army is now forming formations very quickly.

Sure enough, as soon as the Ming army's rear team sent people into the forest, the sound of horns was heard from the opposite side, which was the signal for the Burmese army's attack.

"Use artillery to bombard the opposing war elephant, and the gunners will use all their strength to kill the driver on the elephant."

There are war elephants acting as human shields in front, and the cannons cannot hit the Burmese soldiers behind them, so they can only attack the Burmese soldiers on the elephants' backs.

The charge of hundreds of war elephants was unimaginable in power, which greatly shocked the Ming army. In front of the formation, the Ming army felt as if the ground was shaking, and the power was greater than the charge of thousands of cavalry.

Qi Jimei stared at the battle ahead and saw that his own soldiers felt powerless in the face of this invincible existence in the cold weapon era.

It can only be said that the Fran cannons he brought seemed to be too few. If there were hundreds of cannons, there might be a chance to defeat the enemy.

"Bang bang bang"

After the Burmese soldiers drove the war elephants towards the Ming army and entered the artillery range, the Ming army gunners immediately fired the artillery.

Because against the Burmese army, the only requirement for the Ming army's artillery was to break the formation, so the sub-cartridges used live ammunition without preparing shot shells. Therefore, the artillery did not need to change the warhead before it was brought into the formation, and it started to fire quickly.

Amidst the intensive sound of Fran machine gunfire, one shell after another accurately hit the Burmese army's war elephant.

If it is a bird gun, the power of lead bullets in this era is basically unable to effectively kill elephants, and its rough and hard outer skin can withstand the shooting of bird guns.

Even at close range, it is difficult to cause substantial damage to an elephant without fear of exploding the chamber and increasing the amount of explosives.

Even if the Spanish and Portuguese were equipped with a small number of heavy muskets at this time, their lethality against elephants was actually very limited.

However, if it is replaced by a Fran cannon with greater impact, the effect will be obviously different.

Although the distance was far away at this time, and the Fran cannon had limited long-range lethality due to the loose airtightness, the fist-sized shells hitting the elephant were enough to give it a drink.

The Burmese army's war elephants are relatively dense, perhaps to deal with the enemy on the opposite side at once, so there is no need for the Ming army to aim and shoot, they only need to fire artillery shells towards the opposite side.

"Ang ang ang"

Several war elephants on the opposite side that were hit by Fran cannons were in pain. They began to shake their proboscis and sway their bodies uneasily, as if this would make them feel more comfortable. At the same time, they kept whining out of their mouths because of the pain.

The effect of the Fran cannon on the elephant soldiers was very obvious. More than ten war elephants were no longer under the command of their drivers and did not dare to move forward.

Animals actually have a certain level of intelligence and know how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

They were beaten just before they moved forward, and it was very painful, so no matter what the driver did, they chose not to move forward.

More than a dozen war elephants were in pain and refused to move forward, blocking the war elephants behind them.

Without the driver in the second row paying attention, nearly twenty war elephants collided with each other.

Because their sight and ears were blocked, they mistakenly thought each other was the enemy, and actually started to collide with each other. Even if the driver tried his best to separate, they couldn't.

The scene in front of him surprised Qi Jimei, but he soon fell into ecstasy.

He had already realized something. He had also heard that the northern Mongols would choose to cover their horses' ears in order to prevent their horses from being frightened by the Ming army's firearms.

In the storybook, heavy cavalry such as Lianma will also cover their horses' eyes to prevent them from being afraid of the enemy's formation and directly destroying the attack formation.

Horses are not stupid either. When they see the spears on the opposite side, they will rush forward regardless of life or death.

The war elephants on the opposite side fell into internal fighting so easily that Qi Jimei immediately guessed the reason why the war elephants in front of them were not afraid of the roar of the Fran machine cannon.

Generally speaking, animals are afraid of such sounds.

In fact, even people will be instinctively afraid when they hear the sound of gunfire when they don't know what's going on.

The remaining war elephants were still charging towards the Ming army formation, but the Ming army gunners did not look at the effect of their first round of shelling. They just mechanically took out the fired cartridges from the cannon belly, replaced them with new ones, and then Launch at the war elephant rushing forward.

"Bang bang bang"

Continuous shelling sounded again.

The replaced cartridges were loaded by the gunners behind the formation, but they were still taking a peek ahead under the tense situation.

Yes, Ming army gunners are not expendable. In fact, when the enemy rushes in front of them, their training is to abandon the cannon, pass through the military formation behind them, and hide behind.

Because when the enemy troops rush up, it is difficult to lift the cannons away quickly, and they are usually discarded directly in front of the formation.

After the battle, just pick up the cannon.

As for if the battle is defeated, well, as long as you are alive, don't think about picking up cannons.

After firing more than ten Fran cannons and more than sixty cartridges, nearly half of the war elephants lost control.

At the beginning, due to the dense positioning of the war elephants, the Ming army's artillery hit rate was quite high.

However, as batches of war elephants continued to lose control, the war elephants approaching the Ming army became sparse, which in turn led to a decrease in the hit rate of the Ming army's artillery.

As for the three rows of gunners, after finishing the shooting, they retreated to the military formation and began to load ammunition nervously.

"Bang bang bang"

After the six sub-cartridges were fired, it was too late to put the newly filled sub-cartridges into the belly of the gun and fire. The Burmese army's war elephant had already rushed closer.

"Run quickly."

I don't know which gunner shouted something, and the others dropped what they were doing and rushed back in a swarm.

Taking advantage of the gap specially made for them, the gunners quickly hid behind the military formation, drew out their daggers and nervously observed the enemy's situation.

After the gunners retreated, the Ming army no longer had any weapons that could truly threaten the war elephants.

Qi Jimei was also observing the battlefield nervously at this time. It had just passed not long ago, and there was no firewood coming from behind. If he was directly defeated by the enemy, he would definitely be defeated.

It can only be said that not only him, but also Li Chengliang was too optimistic and did not expect the huge power of the opponent's elephant soldiers.

Perhaps Li Chengliang had thought about it, but he thought that Mu Ying more than a hundred years ago could scare away elephants with firecrackers, and the same should be true now.

Therefore, he only paid attention to the shields equipped by the Burmese army that could resist bird cannons, but did not take into account the enemy's war elephants.

When the Burmese army's war elephants rushed in front of the Ming army's formation, the seemingly tight military formation was unable to stop the impact of the elephant soldiers at all, and directly broke through the Ming army's formation.

Even though the surrounding Ming troops were still struggling to stab the elephants and the Burmese troops on their backs, the effect of killing the enemy was not obvious.

The Ming army's military formation was like paper in front of the war elephants, and wherever they went it was like entering an uninhabited land. All the Ming army soldiers were knocked away, and many people were directly trampled to death.

The Ming army's military formation collapsed amid the wails of the wounded.

The soldiers began to turn around and run back. Even their commander, Qi Jimei, could only turn his horse's head with difficulty and run back when he saw this situation.

"Sleep inside the wood, sleep inside the wood"

Seeing the miserable situation of the Ming army, the Burmese soldiers shouted excitedly.