Although Ava City is one of the largest cities in Dongwu, its tallness and solidity, as well as the size of the town, can only be compared with the second-tier towns in the Central Plains region.
This time, King Thalong gathered Dongwu's all-powerful troops. There were about 230,000 troops on the side of Ava City. With the size of the city of Ava, there is absolutely no room for so many troops in the city. Therefore, except for King Talon's direct bodyguards who were stationed in the city, there were about 200,000 others who were camping with their backs to Ava City.
With so many troops, from a distance, it looked like a continuous camp, almost covering the city of Ava, and the momentum was really scary.
But this is just that in the eyes of outsiders, like Emperor Chongzhen and other people who are used to fighting, the more soldiers the enemy has, the easier it is to fight! There is no other reason. The more troops there are, the more food and supplies are needed. If your troops are not strong enough, you can fight with a favorable wind, but if the wind goes against you, it will be like the elementary school students of later generations playing King of Glory. In addition to scolding your mother and complaining about your teammates (he is the king), you will just hang up (escape) and get killed.
The two armies fought, first of all, the Ming army Ye Bushou and the Donggo scouts fought for control of the battlefield.
At the beginning, King Talong took advantage of the large number of people and sent out scouts, which were all small-scale troops. However, even if this was the case, they would often suffer heavy losses if they kept fighting the Ming army, which was at least twice as many in number, at night. So much so that at the end of the fight, when it was the tribe's turn to send out scouts, they were all complaining.
Under the strict orders of King Talong, the scouts sent out often quickly withdrew when they saw that the Ming army refused to collect at night. So much so that later on, the Ming army wandered near Ava City at night, becoming extremely arrogant, but on the Dongwu army's side, no scouts dared to fight.
As a result, King Long lost his understanding of the surrounding situation, and the battlefield was completely blocked by the Ming army, which he could not bear. But when he urged each tribe to send their elites to fight for control of the battlefield, almost all the tribes complained on the spot.
"Your Majesty, those Ming army scouts are all real elites. They are tall and powerful. Their strength is several times that of ours. Moreover, their arrows are so accurate that they cannot be hit at all!"
"Yes, Your Majesty, the Ming army's firearms can be fired without ignition. It's really strange. How can we fight like this!"
"The Ming army scouts are all equipped with armor. We managed to shoot them, but we couldn't penetrate their armor. What's this?"
"Also, the Ming Army scouts' riding skills are very superb. They are like a man and a horse. When the war horse is running, the Ming Army scouts can sleep on their horses!"
"..."
Amidst the screams, he, King Long, had a sullen face. He didn't care and wanted to force it. But when these tribe leaders saw that there were more people complaining, they became more courageous, and some of the bad-tempered ones immediately started to fight.
"Your Majesty, the Ming army scouts are the imperial guards of the Ming Dynasty. They are the most elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty. And I, Dongwu, the most elite, are also the king's imperial guards. It is not as good as the imperial guards sent by the king. Is it only fair that the elite go to fight the Ming army scouts?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, we must send out Dongwu's elite, otherwise, we will all be underestimated by the Ming army."
"Yes, Your Majesty, those Ming army scouts are so arrogant. They dare to come and urinate in front of our army camp. This is really unbearable. This is definitely contempt for the Majesty of the King!"
"..."
Listening to the tribal chiefs below talking nonsense, King Long's expression became even more gloomy. At this time, he already understood in his heart that if he did not send the imperial guards directly under him to compete with the Ming army scouts for control, the tribal chiefs might be disobeying him in this war.
If it's just one or two, he doesn't mind killing to establish his authority. However, there were too many people and there was nothing he could do.
King Talong naturally knew how important battlefield control was. Moreover, from a certain perspective, he had to admit that what these tribal leaders said still made sense.
Naturally, he had seen the elite scouts of the Ming army on the top of the city. After weighing it in his mind, he agreed to the request of the tribal leaders and sent the elite of his imperial guards to compete with the Ming army scouts for control of the battlefield.
However, the army brought by Emperor Chongzhen was an army tempered by the southern and northern wars. The army was not closed at night, and it was the elite who fought against Jianlu Tanma and finally had the last laugh. So what if Dongwu sent out the so-called elites to fight in this plain near Ava City, and the Ming army did not stop him at night to attack the elite guards of King Long?
Looking at the men who go out every day, they all end up returning with broken troops. After several days in a row, the casualties made him, King Long, a little bit too much to bear. In the end, he had no choice but to admit it and let the Ming army remain arrogant outside at night.
He didn't say anything about this. As long as King Talong didn't ask them to send any more scouts out, the tribe chiefs would pretend they couldn't see him.
However, although they failed in the scout battle, Dongwu's army was almost ten times more numerous than the Ming army, which still made them feel confident in winning the war.
After giving up the battle for scouts, King Talong used a new trick, ordering all the ministries to take turns to attack, using wheel battles to consume the strength of the Ming army.
The first tribe to go to war was the Kunda tribe, which was the stronger among the Dongwu tribe, with a strength of about 15,000 people. There were two other tribes who also sent troops to help them plunder the formation. Their total strength reached about 30,000, which was almost equal to the total strength of the Ming army.
On the top of the city, King Talong and others were watching the formation.
After all, scout warfare is not an atypical warfare. The key to victory in the war lies in whether this kind of conventional warfare can win. Although there have been estimates of the strength of the Ming army, everyone still wants to see with their own eyes what the Ming army's combat power is.
Seeing so many people leaving the city, Dongwu's side became more courageous, or they didn't want to lose their own prestige, so they started to comment one after another.
"Did you see that the Kunda tribe is indeed a powerful tribe among our Dongwu tribe? The army alone can pull out 15,000 people, and the Kunda tribe is also famous for being brave and good at fighting. Look at the Ming army. What should I do next?"
"What else can we do? The whole army must attack! Otherwise, if we lose this first battle, morale is affected, and the Ming army is completely defeated, the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom will have to answer here!"
"Actually, if you ask me, we might as well just swarm over them. If everyone pees, they can drown the Ming army!"
"Yes, hit early and go home early!"
"..."
Faced with these discussions, King Talong listened to his ears and said calmly: "If you are the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and our entire army is pressing on you, do you dare to go to war?"
Not to mention the question of whether the army can deploy with more than 200,000 troops. This numerical power alone would definitely scare the Ming army away from leaving the camp to fight.
Not to mention anything else, the Ming army was really good at setting up camp. At first glance, it seems to be relatively sturdy and difficult to fight. It is worthy of the Central Plains dynasty that has been fighting for thousands of years!
When he heard this, all the civil servants and generals of King Long nodded, and they all agreed in their hearts. If he were the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, so many troops would come together to fight him, and he would definitely not be able to come out to fight. Are you crazy?
Among them, only Tai Tai Tun didn't think so. Among all the Dongwu people, he was the only one who had seen the regular combat situation of this Ming army. Although several months have passed, the memory is still vivid. In particular, the coordinated and cooperative operations of the Ming army's multiple arms made him fearful and envious even in his dreams.
After hearing the words of those people and the comments of his King Long, Tai Taiton looked at them. He originally wanted to remind them not to make blind guesses to avoid being slapped in the face, but he finally put it out. Because he understands a truth: no matter what you do, don't go against the vast majority of people, as it will not lead to any good results.
Just when the atmosphere on the top of the city was relatively relaxed, suddenly, I saw the camp gate of the Ming army opened wide, and groups of Ming troops filed out, forming formations in front of the two armies, preparing to fight.
"Hey, the Ming army really dared to come out, okay, now let's see how the Kunda tribe beats these Ming army!"
"The king is absolutely right. Only by sending a small number of our troops can the Ming army dare to go to war. Otherwise, they must be hiding in the camp and trembling in fear, haha..."
"It doesn't seem right. Where are the people? Why haven't the Ming troops continued to come out? Are the Ming troops behind them afraid?"
"Yeah, what's going on? How come there are so few people? Three thousand, four thousand, five thousand people? There will definitely not be more than six thousand at most!"
"What does the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty mean by this? If we send a small number of troops, he will also send a small number of troops. Is this because he wants to save face and suffer the consequences?"
"Five thousand vs. our 30,000 troops, no, fifteen thousand troops. Isn't this a big difference in numbers?"
"That's wrong. If the war really goes smoothly, what do you think the raiders are doing and they can attack it? This is five thousand against our thirty thousand, six each. Is the Ming Emperor really a fool? So what if the Ming army is really elite, can they win?"
"..."
Listening to their discussion, he, Prince Long, was in a good mood and had a smile on his face. However, he suddenly caught a glimpse of Tai Taitun looking outside the city with a serious face, and his heart sank.
He remembered that although Tai Taitun said that he was defeated because of the rebellion of the chieftain army in front of the battle, he was at least someone who had fought against this Ming army. Judging from his current expression, could it be that he is not optimistic about Kundabu?
Thinking like this, he asked with a gloomy face: "Taitaitun, you have fought against the Ming army. How was this battle?"
After hearing his words, everyone turned to look at Tai Taitun, a little curious in their hearts, wondering how Tai Taitun, who had experience, would comment on the upcoming war.
Tai Taitun originally didn't want to say it, but when King Long called his name, he had to answer truthfully. Otherwise, after the fight was over, he would definitely be angered by King Long if he made a mistake.
With this in mind, he bowed to him and said, "Your Majesty, I feel a little hung up on this!"
