The capital city staged an offensive and defensive war after the "Fake Demon Book Case", and far away in the southwest border, Myanmar also staged a... No, it was a series of offensive and defensive wars. The wars followed one after another, and the offense and defense were exchanged, even more than the capital city. The political conspiracies are even more ups and downs.
On the third day of April, Liu Wei's troops defeated the main force of Mang Yingli who had retreated from Mengding southward seventy miles south of Mubang City. The Burmese army was in chaos under the attack of landmines and artillery, and was killed by Liu Wei's brother and sister. He threw away his helmet and fled in disgrace.
In this battle, the Ming army killed more than 3,000 people in formation, and Liu Wei himself killed the Burmese king Shu Mangzhuo in formation. In the collapse, the Burmese army trampled on each other and fought and lost more than 2,000 people. In addition, there were more than 7,000 prisoners. As for the part that was lost due to the collapse of the army, the Ming army was unable to calculate it, but according to Liu Wei's report, it was estimated that it was likely to be much greater than the previous three losses combined.
Based on this calculation, the Ministry of War believes that the Burmese army lost at least 30,000 people in this battle, which is enough to be called a beautiful victory. Even if it is not as shocking and decisive as the Battle of Monan, you must also know that Monan The actual main force in the battle was the Tumote cavalry. Although the Ming army had such shining points as "breaking through the formation with bayonets", in the final analysis, they were still fighting.
The Battle of Mubang was different. Although it was an ambush battle, it was a battle in which the Ming army attacked completely and defeated the strong with the weak. This battle completely shattered the myth of Myanmar's invincibility among the southwestern vassals for decades, greatly boosted the morale of Yunnan's military and civilians, and frightened some vassal states and internal chieftains who had ulterior motives and wavered. Its influence outside the battle Even more than the battle itself.
Since the war has not yet ended, the imperial court did not immediately grant promotions to Liu Wei and other meritorious generals. Including Deng Zilong, who had been on the front lines of Yongchang and Shunning to support Mangyingli's main force for more than a month, the Yunnan frontier generals have currently received They are all just "verbal commendations" from the Ministry of War. The only thing worth mentioning is that the second batch of military pay for the Yunnan War is already on the way, and the amount is as high as 350,000 taels of silver - this amount may not be impressive in the capital, but for the poor For the Yunnan frontier troops who are used to it, this is really worthy of celebrating with lanterns and colorful decorations.
However, in the Battle of Mubang, all the gunpowder, mines and other items under Liu Wei's command were completely destroyed, so he did not dare to pursue him immediately. Instead, he only advanced southward to Xibo City and then stopped temporarily, turning back to get through. Communication lines with mainland Yunnan to avoid logistical disruptions.
After Deng Zilong cleared the rear and led his army south to Xibo City, Liu Wei surrendered Xibo City to Deng Zilong's troops and led his army westward to Anzhengguo City.
Anzhengguo City is located directly north of Ava City, the last important town in northern Myanmar, and Sibo City is northeast of Ava City. These two cities are in the hands of Liu Wei and Deng Zilong, which means that the Ming army has taken the initiative in the war and can take the initiative at any time. They can launch a pincer offensive to jointly attack Ava. At present, the reason why they are holding back is mainly due to logistical issues.
From Yunnan to Taungoo, in terms of terrain, there is first the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, then the mountains and forests of northern Myanmar, and then the Shan State Plateau. There is no good road at all. It is difficult to maintain a front-line army on this kind of terrain.
In particular, the Ming army and the Burmese army face different logistical pressures: there are very few firearms in the Burmese army. Only one Portuguese mercenary has 300 muskets and eight cannons, and the Burmese army's own degree of firearms is almost negligible. ——This is also an important reason why they have never been able to defeat Deng Zilong's defense.
In terms of food and fodder, in addition to carrying it themselves and providing its own logistics, the Burmese army also requires provision from the vassal states in northern Burma that had surrendered to them earlier. Roughly one-third is provided by the vassal states, and two-thirds are supplied by Myanmar itself, and its logistics "transshipment center" is the city of Ava, an important town in northern Myanmar.
If Myanmar lost a few vassal states, but since they themselves retreated to Ava City, the logistical pressure would be very small - the location of Ava City was roughly in Mandalay, the second largest city in Myanmar in later generations. This place was regarded as "central Myanmar" in later generations of Myanmar. At that time, those places in northern Myanmar were still foreign vassals under the control of Yunnan, so Awa was northern Myanmar.
Under the circumstances, the logistical pressure at this time was transferred to the Ming army.
Where did the Ming army's logistics come from? Dali City.
From Dali to Anzhengguo City and Xibo City, the straight-line distance has exceeded 1,100 miles, and it is in a plateau mountainous area. There is no straight line to go. Needless to say how big the logistical pressure is?
According to Liu Wei and Deng Zilong's estimates, it will take at least two months to launch the next wave of attacks on Ava City. If the rear is unstable or transportation is unfavorable, then the expected Battle of Ava may be postponed to autumn. of.
As a landowner in Myanmar, they are obviously more aware of this situation, so Mangyingli only rested for one day in Awa City, leaving 30,000 people and the troops of Awa City to guard the northern Xinjiang. He continued to go south without stopping, preparing to rescue Taungoo. .
Taungoo City is the capital of Myanmar, and its defenses are actually quite good. Although they warn Mang Yingli every day, saying that they will fall if they don’t rescue them, but in fact this is just a deliberate act by the dignitaries in the city who are eager to get the King of Myanmar back. , In fact, the situation in Toungoo City is not very critical.
Because Huang Zhiting's troops were limited, he did not overly threaten Dongyu City.
Not counting the sailors on the fleet, the main land force in Huang Zhiting's hands totaled only 20,000. Relying on these 20,000 people, she not only captured the old places of the Bago Dynasty such as Bago, Daguang, and Pathein, but also raised an army of Mon servants in a very short period of time.
But the servant army cannot be recruited and used. Those who are recruited and used are called cannon fodder. Huang Zhiting does not intend to use this Mon army as complete cannon fodder, because she has few troops at hand. If this Mon army can only be used as cannon fodder, then what is the use of gathering it? Just like the Mongols, can't they just capture the people and put them on top?
Huang Zhiting requires this Mongolian army to have a certain degree of combat effectiveness. Even if it cannot defeat the Burmese army one-on-one, it must be able to defeat it at least two-on-one. So she just sent about 5,000 elite troops along the Xidang River north to Biaoguan, pretending to attack Toungu City at any time. The remaining 15,000 main troops were concentrated in Bago City, and at the same time, the Gao family's generals began to attack. Train the Mon army.
Most of the Gao family servants in Huang Zhiting's army had participated in the formation and training of the two major Annan garrison armies. They were very good at training foreigners, and they were even more familiar with how to quietly "change the flag" of an army dominated by foreigners.
From the very beginning, the Mon army has used simple Chinese as its battle command, and for the selection of Mon officers in this army, the first criterion is the mastery of Chinese.
In other words, even if you are a noble remnant of the original Bago dynasty, if you do not understand Chinese, you will not be able to become an officer in the Meng army. Fortunately, Chinese in this era is similar to the lingua franca of East Asia to a certain extent. Even if ordinary people don't know it, nobles and senior officials usually know it.
Perhaps it is because the Mon people have been "ruler and thieves for a long time". The formation of the Meng army was extremely fast, with nearly 50,000 people gathered in less than a month. Considering that the Mon people may only have a total population of just over one million at this time, this The proportion can be said to be amazing.
However, out of control considerations, Huang Zhiting only organized 30,000 of them into a regular army, which he called the "Bago Guard Army" in a highly pragmatic style. The remaining about 20,000 people were left to "Vice King of Bago" Alabang, and she asked him to use the 20,000 people to form a second-line army to be responsible for the local security of the "Bago New Dynasty" that God knows whether it counts.
For something like the army, it is not enough to have people. We must also have weapons and equipment, which is very troublesome.
Huang Zhiting actually considered bribing the local armed forces before setting off from Annan, and brought some of them with her. However, the situation developed too fast after arriving in Myanmar. That part of the army was definitely not enough for an army of 30,000 people. In fact, it could control up to 3,000 people. .
It is not that there is no remaining supplies, but they are prepared for the battle losses of the own army, and it is impossible to give them to the newly formed "Bago Guard Army" - besides, this army has just been formed, and no one can guarantee its loyalty now. How far can the speed go? How can we give them the best weapons and equipment?
Fortunately, when we captured the old territory of Bago, we took control of a few Burmese munitions warehouses. Thanks to Burma's aggressive militarization over the years, there were not many other things in these warehouses, except for spears, which was enough to avoid the Bago garrison being left empty-handed. The embarrassment of going into battle.
But that’s all. Myanmar has been busy fighting wars in recent years, and its economic level is not as good as that of Yunnan. It is simply unrealistic to expect them to reserve a large amount of armor in the rear while launching a war. Bago, Daguang, The total number of armors found in warehouses in Pasen and other places was less than 200, and even the officers couldn't get them all. In the end, only those with an official rank of more than 100 households were issued a set of armor - this is what Huang Zhiting started from. It took more than a hundred sets from the fleet's inventory to put them together.
Huang Zhiting was only responsible for the establishment and equipment department, and the training was originally left to the Gao family's servants, but within a few days she found that it was not possible.
Because even among the two major garrison armies of Annan, the Gao family's servants, due to their pragmatic emphasis on firearms, almost all their tactical training revolved around gun formations, and even emphasized "infantry and artillery combination." But now it was suddenly replaced by a spear unit. As a result, except for queue training, it was almost difficult to carry out tactical training.
Huang Zhiting had no choice but to intervene personally.
Fortunately, the Huang family's wolf soldiers are very good at training spear troops. If this matter is left to them, they can at least "sharpen their spears before the battle, and it will be a waste if they are unhappy."
However, the wolf soldiers are very different in style compared to the two major Annan garrison systems. If the style of the garrison relies on strict discipline and formation to win, then the wolf soldiers rely on personal combat effectiveness and morale to win.
Whether it is a gun volley or a bayonet formation, the requirements for discipline and mentality are extremely high. You must be able to withstand the opponent's almost "face-riding" attack and fight back neatly and meticulously. Therefore, the characteristic of the garrison is stability. First of all, you must stand firm. Stay, and then consider whether you can attack it.
The Wolf Soldiers rarely engage in such defensive counterattacks. Their habit is only two words: attack!
Huang Zhiting was originally worried about whether the Bago garrison was capable of such tactics. However, after several inspections, she realized that she might have been overly cautious, because these Mon people seemed to really want the Burmese to die.
Although they live in the coastal plains of southern Myanmar and are indeed not on par with the wolf soldiers in terms of physical fitness, the murderous intent they displayed during training was actually no worse than the wolf soldiers, so much so that Huang Zhiting heard her officers lecture the Pegu guards. When I was a new recruit in the army, the most commonly used sentence was: "You have to imagine that this spear was thrust at a Burmese!"
Every time he said this, the opponent's spirit became obviously excited, even to the point of being distorted. The force of the spear thrust even made the wolf soldier instructors grin with joy.
This kind of training lasted for another twenty days, and Mang Yingli finally returned to Toungoo City. He only repaired for three days, and then the Burmese army began to move south.
Mang Yingli suffered heavy losses in this Northern Expedition, losing more than 50,000 troops, and this only counted the Burmese army, not the chieftains of northern Burma who originally belonged to him.
The Burmese Army was said to have 200,000 soldiers at the time. In fact, the Burmese Army alone was just over 100,000, probably more than 110,000 and less than 120,000. No one knows the strength of the chieftains' troops. Just like the Cen family and the Huang family in the early years, it may be two to thirty thousand in normal times, but if necessary, it may be possible to pull out a hundred thousand soldiers. It can be said that almost all the people are soldiers.
But no matter how much moisture there is in the 200,000-strong army, in short, his losses are obvious. The more than 100,000 Burmese troops have lost at least 40%. The Burmese army who escaped back has only 60,000 to 70,000 left, plus Yue Feng and others A group of chieftains, big and small, also brought with them almost 20,000 people, barely able to make up an army of 80,000 to 90,000.
However, he could not bring all the 80,000 to 90,000 people to the south, so he left another 30,000 in Awa City, so the actual number of troops brought back to Toungoo City from northern Myanmar was only over 50,000.
However, Toungoo City itself also has an army, and there are more than 10,000 troops left behind. When Mang Yingli set out from Awa City to go south, he had already ordered the concentration of troops from various places. Bagan City, Linhan City, Xuanlichatala City, Pyaimai City and other important Burmese towns have sent troops to support, so now Toungoo City is not only " "Resurrected with full blood", he gathered an army of 80,000, and Mang Yingli brought out 70,000 at a time.
Although Mang Yingli was aggressive in military affairs and had just been defeated in northern Burma, he was a man who had fought for decades with his father Mang Yinglong, and he knew very well that it was better to pacify matters in the rear quickly rather than too slowly.
He and his father Mang Yinglong both pushed for the "assimilation of the Mon people". Now that the old land of Bago is lost and the Mon people are out of control, the oppressive force of forced assimilation has disappeared. It can be said that with every day of delay, his prestige will drop further. What's worse is that this drop in prestige will be accompanied by the rise of the Mon people's sense of resistance, making it more difficult to continue to assimilate them in the future.
After all, the assimilation of the Mon people by the Burmese people relied on force, rather than relying on culture like the assimilation of the Han people. Once this kind of force proved to be a paper tiger, failure was already scheduled in advance.
Besides, losing the rear also means that one's own strength has been weakened. The longer it is lost, the more severe this weakening will be.
Therefore, Mangyingli couldn't even wait for the last reinforcements from Bagan City to arrive, so he led his 70,000 troops southward, known to the outside world as 150,000, and pounced on Bago with the force of a tiger descending from the mountain.
Huang Zhiting sent 5,000 men stationed at Biao Pass to learn the news. Without saying a word, they immediately followed the previous order and evacuated southward. The target was also Bago.
The Battle of Bago, which determined the direction of the war in southern Myanmar and even the entire Myanmar, finally began.
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