The casualties in Thonburi seemed relatively normal to the soldiers of the Chu Empire.
Since the Funiu Mountain Uprising, the Chu army has always suffered very few casualties in battles. Relying on more advanced weapons and equipment and sufficient material supplies, it has brought innovative new tactical concepts.
This allows the Chu army to often gain an almost crushing advantage when fighting against other enemies who are still in the alternating era of hot and cold.
This point has been fully reflected during the Civil Unification War.
Many times, the Chu army fought a battle involving tens of thousands of people against the Ming army or Dongjie. The enemy suffered thousands or even tens of thousands of casualties, but the Chu army's casualties were usually only a few hundred.
The casualty ratio has remained at one to ten or even higher for a long time.
And this is also the reason why the Chu Empire was able to sweep across the north and south of the Yangtze River to unify China and overturn the Eastern Conquest in just a few years.
Without the support of a powerful army, how could Luo Zhixue unify China?
Just because he is handsome and attractive, he is able to learn from others?
Of course, a strong army also needs productivity as support. Guns, ammunition, other military supplies and even elite soldiers all require a lot of money and food as support.
And this is actually what Luo Zhixue is better at.
He has the basic experience of future generations. Once he has a starting platform, he can continue to snowball through innovative productivity. When the snowball reaches a certain level, he does not need any superb military command capabilities and can simply crush it. It's done.
This was also the pattern adopted by the Chu Empire after it captured Huguang and the Jiangnan region.
In the early days, you can see that the Chu army also carried out various surprise attacks, long-distance raids, etc. Especially in the early days, they fought a series of field battles with Lu Xiangsheng. From the perspective of command art, they were actually quite exciting.
But after the middle and late stages, you can hardly see the Chu army playing so-called surprise attacks... They are all dull battles pushed past.
This is not to say that the command level of the generals in the Chu army has declined. In fact, although the command level of the Chu army in the early days has not been very good, it is impossible to regress. On the contrary, it continues to rise.
What's more important is that after the snowball has grown, the Chu army has no need to take risks.
This is also reflected in the series of expansion campaigns after unification.
How did the Chu army fight in the previous battle in the Qingkang area?
It just pushed forward step by step. It seemed to be very slow, but it was very smooth and solid. The attack made the Heshuo Special Department and the local chieftains breathless. In the end, in order to protect themselves, the Heshuo Special Department directly moved the Qingkang area. The chieftains were sold to the Chu Empire.
Going forward to fight against the Eastern captives is basically a routine.
Now in Southeast Asia, it is no exception!
In the battle with the Great City Kingdom, the Chu army dispatched more than a hundred ships of various types in one go, and the first batch of ground troops to land for combat included 7,000 people!
You know, in the past several wars between Western colonists and indigenous countries in Southeast Asia, they basically dispatched hundreds, but not more than a few hundred, of ground troops.
And the Dachu Empire... brought over 7,000 people in one go.
And there are tens of thousands of people waiting to come to Cam Ranh Bay behind. At the same time, the Chu Empire has also recruited troops through the Kingdom of Cambodia, a puppet state controlled by itself.
It didn't take long for the Dachu Empire to organize at least several thousand troops, plus tens of thousands of servants to come on the ground to kill them.
This is a complete crushing game... It's a damn thing that Ayutthaya Kingdom can stop it.
On May 7, the thirteenth year of Chengshun, more than 6,000 Chu troops landed and attacked Ayutthaya, the capital of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
However, the king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom had fled northward three days ago with a group of dignitaries, known as the "Northern Patrol", leaving only some nobles to take charge of the defense of Ayutthaya City.
At this time, Ayutthaya City actually had a lot of troops. The tens of thousands of remnant soldiers who had retreated from the front, and the thousands of troops who originally stayed in the city, were estimated to be around 15,000 in total.
The Chu army that had reached Ayutthaya and was preparing to attack the city now only had 6,000 people.
Logically speaking, the attacker's strength is only about 25% of the defender's. This kind of offensive battle is impossible. Under normal conditions, the attacker's strength must be at least several times or even ten times that of the defender. I have a relatively high degree of confidence in taking it down.
However, this routine is useless to the Chu army!
In the previous battles of the Chu army, whether it was domestic or foreign battles, from a clear point of view, they rarely gained a military advantage.
However, this does not mean that the Chu army is really at a disadvantage. In fact, the Chu army is still at an advantage, and it is a huge advantage.
Bidige
Because the comparison of firepower between the two sides is not on the same level at all!
When the Chu army was in the battle of Thonburi, the ground forces used more than fifty field guns of various types, and the navy also temporarily supported more than ten heavy guns.
The Siamese army on the opposite side seems to have more than 30,000 people, but there are always only a dozen or so artillery pieces, and they are all old and not very powerful.
The same is true for the current city of Ayutthaya. There seem to be more than 15,000 Siamese troops in the city, but many of them don't even have spears... Well, there are tens of thousands of these 15,000 people. People all ran away from the Battle of Thonburi. When they ran, they wished their parents had given them two less legs. Naturally, they threw away everything they could in order to escape.
With so many Siamese troops, they couldn't even manage a single cold weapon, and guns and cannons were even scarcer. There were only a few old short-barreled artillery pieces on the city walls that were old.
In addition to poor weapons and equipment and low military morale, what's more important is that these people have not built new anti-artillery fortifications...
Judging from the experience of the Chu Army, as long as the opponent does not build various types of anti-grenade fortifications in advance, then the fight will basically be a unilateral defeat...
And this is indeed the case. After the Chu army arrived, they rested for a day and began to attack the city the next morning!
Dozens of field artillery fired simultaneously, and large-caliber siege howitzers transported by multiple ships also fired at Ayutthaya City.
A large number of nine-pound, eighteen-pound, twenty-four-pound, and forty-eight-pound grenades fell inside and outside the city, causing a large number of casualties to the Siamese army on the spot, which in turn triggered a large-scale escape.
Fighting with the enemy is actually not terrible. What is terrible is that the enemy infantry is still several hundred meters away, but our own side continues to suffer heavy casualties from the enemy's shelling.
The next thing is simple. After the enemy was defeated from the city wall, the Chu army's grenadiers also came on stage!
These grenadiers, wearing heavy full-body plate armor, were armed with steel knives and thick shields under the cover of long-range firepower from the rear. Some grenadiers also carried several pistols, and some even dragged two Half a pound of field artillery rushed forward.
These grenadiers, who are armed to the teeth, are basically living targets in a field battle... As long as a volley of guns comes over from the opposite side, these grenadiers will be finished.
But in this kind of offensive battle, especially when the enemy is an indigenous army with few firearms, let alone flintlocks, these grenadiers wearing heavy armor are almost invincible.
This is also the reason why the Chu Empire has clearly entered the age of flintlock guns, and even after the howitzers have wooden ammunition stocks and wooden fuses, they are still equipped with armor on a large scale, and they continue to equip their grenadiers with full-body heavy armor.
This is because when dealing with enemies with cold weapons - armor can still bring great protection to the musketeers.
And when fighting against tough odds, commandos wearing heavy armor are still the best choice!
How should I put it? The enemy does not have a large number of guns and artillery. If he still uses cold weapons, fortifications and a small number of guns and artillery, you can't go without armor and let the soldiers go to war barefoot.
Whether weapons and equipment are good or not, and whether they can be used or not often depends on the enemy...
If the enemies around the Chu army all use flintlock guns, even if they are large square formations that use matchlocks and spearmen like Europe, the Chu army will not hesitate to give up their armor, and then concentrate on queuing up to shoot and add grenades. !
But the problem is that many areas around the Chu army still use cold weapons. Although there are guns and cannons, they are very few in number, and they rarely use the large square formations of Western musketeers and spearmen.
In this case, armor becomes very valuable.
When the grenadiers, wearing heavy armor and transforming into heavily armored commandos, attacked, the city of Ayutthaya was officially declared to have fallen into the hands of the Chu army.
After seeing that nothing could be done, a royal general from the Ayutthaya Kingdom who was responsible for the defense of the city was forced to declare surrender.
Just three days later, the king of the Great City Kingdom, who had already patrolled the north, also sent an envoy to sue for peace... expressing his willingness to fully agree to several requests made by the Chu Empire, including liberalizing all markets and ceding coastal ports.
Several consecutive battles have completely frightened the Ayutthaya Kingdom, and the reason that prompted the Ayutthaya Kingdom to sue for peace so simply is related to another news!
On May 8th, the Toungoo Dynasty of Myanmar dispatched more than 20,000 troops into the Kingdom of Ayutthaya!
Myanmar and Thailand have been fighting for the hegemony of the Southeast Asian peninsula for hundreds of years. After the Toungoo Dynasty saw that the Ayutthaya Kingdom had the audacity to provoke the Chu Empire, it had already anticipated the disastrous defeat of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
Starting more than a month ago, they were ready to beat up the drowned dog...
No, after the Chu army officially launched the war in late May, it was early May when the news was urgently transmitted to Myanmar. Once they got the news of the Chu army's landing, the Burmese army didn't even know about the victory of the Battle of Thonburi at that time. We don’t know the outcome of the subsequent battle in Ayutthaya City.
But out of confidence in the Chu Empire, they chose to send troops without hesitation.
If one wants to kill you while you are sick, prepare to bite off a large piece of meat.
Of course, they did not forget to urgently notify the Da Chu Empire, saying that as a vassal state of the Da Chu Empire, the suzerain country wanted to conquer the Dacheng Kingdom. Naturally, their Toungoo dynasty would not sit idly by and had already sent troops to launch an attack to contribute to the great cause of the suzerain country. A force...
What he said... he immediately positioned his troops to help the Chu Empire.
The Dachu Empire is too lazy to pay attention to this. Fight if you like, as long as it doesn't affect the empire's strategy.
After being attacked by the Toungoo Dynasty, the Ayutthaya Kingdom felt that it was on the verge of national subjugation... On the one hand, it urgently gathered troops to march westward to face the Burmese army, and on the other hand, it sent envoys to the Chu Empire to sue for peace.
The reason is to ask the Chu army to mobilize troops to resist the Burmese army, not the other way around...
That's because the Dachu Empire needs a market at most, and if it is exhausted, it will need a coastal port to establish a colony.
The Toungoo dynasty of Myanmar wants large tracts of territory and the destruction of the Ayutthaya Kingdom. If this is not handled well, the country will be destroyed.
Between ceding territory, paying indemnities, opening up the market, and subjugating the country, every fool should know what choice to make.
It's just that after the envoys from the Dacheng Kingdom came to sue for peace, the Dachu Empire's appetite was no longer just about opening the market and ceding a coastal port.
"That's the condition before we send troops!"
"Now, we have dispatched more than a hundred warships and tens of thousands of soldiers, spending millions of military expenditures. In addition, during the war, the imperial merchants suffered great losses, and these must be adequately compensated. Preliminary draft The amount is 10 million Chu Yuan, which will be paid in equivalent gold."
"In addition, not one, but at least three coastal ports were ceded, one at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River, one on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, and one on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula!"
"The Kingdom of Dacheng must hand over the criminals who massacred the citizens of our Great Chu Empire and started the war to be tried by the Great Chu Empire!"
"The kingdom of Ayutthaya surrendered and paid tribute to the empire, accepted the canonization, and sent the royal family's legitimate daughter to Jinling to get married."
"In order to avoid another bad incident that is hostile to the empire and destroys the citizens of the empire, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya must accept the supervision of officials and generals sent by the empire, and allow the empire to send soldiers to garrison Ayutthaya to protect the subjects of the empire."
"The imperial army can freely pass through the territory of the Ayutthaya Kingdom without any interference!"
"If the Ayutthaya Kingdom signs a foreign treaty with any country or force in the future, it must obtain the empire's approval!"
…
There are still more than a dozen new conditions left!
If the Ayutthaya Kingdom really agrees, although it will not lead to the subjugation of the country, it will be no different from the subjugation of the country.
Naturally, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya will not agree easily, especially in terms of allowing imperial soldiers to garrison the city, granting military passage rights, and accepting the supervision and diplomatic approval of officials sent by the empire.
If this is agreed, it means that even domestic power, military power, and diplomatic power will be completely lost.
By then, it will be no different from a puppet state.
Well, the Dachu Empire is really trying to create a puppet state.
Tens of thousands of troops were mobilized, and the military expenditure was not a small amount. It was not really just to open the market and a trading port in the concession.
The Chu Empire wanted to turn the Kingdom of Ayutthaya into a replica of the Kingdom of Cambodia.
Otherwise, they would not go directly to their capital, land and fight directly at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River, and then blockade the Gulf of Siam. In the end, the Ayutthaya Kingdom would still give in and agree to the conditions of the Chu Empire.
But not the Da Chu Empire. They directly occupied the capital of the Dacheng Kingdom and defeated tens of thousands of their troops.
They are here for a big harvest.
But in fact... this war has already paid for itself after taking the city of Ayutthaya!
Ayutthaya City has been the capital of the Ayutthaya Kingdom for hundreds of years. Countless wealth has been accumulated in the city, including gold, silver and other precious metals, as well as various other precious gems, handicrafts and so on.
Not to mention other things, the centuries-old wealth accumulated by the King of Ayutthaya’s royal family was wiped out by the Chu army... After the Chu army invaded the city, they directly started moving, even the precious wood in the palace was wiped out. Moved away...
And needless to say about other places in the city... you can basically move whatever you can, especially those temples with a lot of wealth, and there are a lot of various gold products in them.
In countries where religion is prevalent, religious places are often where wealth is concentrated.
The Chu army had seen it before when they were doing trouble in other places, so this time they were fighting in Siam and naturally they would not forget various temples when searching for loot.
In addition, they also robbed a wave of businessmen from other countries in Ayutthaya City...well, it can't be said to be guns, but to clean up the battlefield.
Anyway, during the war, there were a lot of messy things. The defenders in the city were too brutal and killed the merchants from various countries and stole their goods. Then the Chu army maintained order and killed various indigenous rebels and obtained some loot. This is normal!
Because there were so many trophies of all kinds, the Chu army even had to requisition a large number of nearby ships for transportation.
It is conservatively estimated that the gold, silver, copper and other precious metals obtained from this military operation alone are worth five million Chu Yuan.
Then there's also tons of loot with a lot of bad stat value.
These seizures alone were enough for the Chu army to cover the military expenditures of this military operation, and even make a fortune.
