national surname chiming

Chapter 496 Capture of Ava
On the second day of November in the fifth year of Xiaokang, Shenshi is in the afternoon.

In Kyaukmei County, which has been sawed repeatedly, burned and razed to the ground, tens of thousands of the main force of the Burmese army stationed here are in the most relaxed state——

At least, compared to other times in the last half month, today is indeed the most lax.

There are a total of 8 or [-] Burmese troops in the surrounding area, and more than half of them are stationed in Kyaukmei County.But because the city was too small, the troops who couldn't be stationed had to camp along the Jiaoshan Valley Road and set up camp one by one.

And the reason why they dare to be so lax is not without reason.Who made it rain again this morning?As the rainy season is about to come to an end, it has been holding back for several days without rain, but it started to rain again today, and the rainfall is relatively long-lasting.
The heavy rain has been falling from Sishi to Weishi, and it has not stopped completely at this moment, and it is still a little drizzling, just like the last residue of a prostate patient who can't stop urinating.

Under such weather, the muskets bought by the Burmese army from the Dutch were completely unusable. Presumably, the Ming army also became a tiger with its teeth pulled out. What else is there to worry about?
Even the Burmese King Mangbai himself thought so.So much so that even the arrangement of sentries and scouts has been reduced, and the mountain road is difficult to walk in such a heavy rain. Since it is destined that there will be no enemy attack, why bother?

However, people are not as good as heaven.Just at the beginning of Shenshi (3:[-] p.m.), the guard of Jiaomei County suddenly received a report from the scouts, indicating that the army had already reached less than [-] miles away from the county seat.

After all, when the army is stationed, scouts still need to be sent. Whether the weather is good or bad, and the probability of a battle, only the density of the scouts and the distance of the scouts will be affected, and it is impossible to completely eliminate them.So no matter how slow the Burmese army was, when the Ming army almost touched the face, they still responded in time.

Mangbai was taking a lunch break at the time, and when he heard the report from his subordinates, he felt incredible.

"What? The Ming army actually attacked at this time? They have retreated dozens of miles a few days ago, and now they are killing their carbines. Didn't they start marching when it rained just now? Is Li Dingguo looking for death?
Quick, order the whole army to go out of the city to meet it!The Musketeers changed to bayonets to supervise the battle at the back, let the archers take the lead to defend against the enemy, and prepared to fight along the valley! "

The subordinates were a little puzzled, and someone suggested: "Your Majesty, why rush to fight in the field? If the Ming army dares to come, why don't we just defend the city?"

Mangbai glanced at the cowardly general with disdain, and said proudly: "It is rare for Li Dingguo to take the initiative to attack and die, of course he must be bitten to death, so that he cannot get rid of the pursuit after the defeat, and finally kill him and severely injure him!

If our army is defending the city, once Li Dingguo is weak in the attack and retreats in an orderly manner, and our army rushes to open the city gate to pursue, how can we hold Li Dingguo?How to make sure that Li Dingguo's haste and panic when he retreated was fully utilized?

Moreover, Jiaomei County has been breached twice in just half a month. Every time the defenders withdrew, they set fire to it and deliberately dug up the city defense. As for the current city defense, there is no difference at all, since there is nothing worthwhile. Taking advantage of the favorable location, it is better to go out to fight in the field and hold on tight!

You don't need to be afraid, Li Dingguo has been besieged by us for many days, he must be at the end of his battle, and many soldiers under his command have died from festering wounds!The mosquito miasma must have greatly reduced the fighting power of the Ming army, and today is just their last fight! "

Individual cowards will be reprimanded, and other flattering generals will praise: "Your Majesty predicts the enemy's opportunities first and uses troops like a god. This time Li Dingguo wants to die with all his heart, so we will fulfill him!"

……

The atmosphere has been enhanced to this point, and I am a little sorry for the audience if I don't.A quarter of an hour later, the two armies lined up at the mouth of the Jiaoshan Valley, and the battle was imminent.

Because of the cramped mountainous terrain, although the Burmese army had three times the number of the attacking Ming army, the frontal width of the formation was almost the same.

Both sides were more or less pulled into a long snake formation, and there were still many rear troops who could not be separated at all. At that time, they could only use refueling tactics to enter the battlefield one by one.

Mangbai was very confident and even came to supervise the battle in person, but he also heard that the Ming army had a rifled gun that had a long range and was accurate, so he wouldn't be so stupid as to show his face directly.Therefore, he always brought countless guards with swords and shields by his side, and if he wanted to shout, he would ask the messengers to find the scolding soldiers in the front row to execute them.

There is nothing much to say in the mouthpieces of the two sides. It is nothing more than reprimanding the other party for treachery, greed, and unrighteous teachers.Anyway, no one can hit the opponent's morale. After a brief confrontation, the Ming army launched an attack with stacked formations.

"Archers get ready!" On the Burmese army's side, the front-line supervising generals were also ready to order the archers to shoot arrows as if they were facing a big enemy.

In the tropical regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia, crossbows are rarely used, and bows and arrows and muskets are mainly used.The range of bows and arrows is often much shorter than that of northern peoples' bows.

This is because the humid tropical climate will make the tendons of animals age rapidly, so the bows and arrows in the tropical rainforest climate are made of less elastic materials such as flax fibers as bow strings, and the elastic potential energy when shooting arrows can only rely on the bow The elastic deformation of the body wood is done.

The reason why the crossbow is not used is also because the hard crossbow body of the crossbow is poor in deformation and energy storage. The crossbow mainly relies on strings to deform and store energy.

Such a harsh environment led to the bow and arrow range of the Burmese army, which had been severely suppressed by the Ming army's muskets before.Archers even need to charge forward for a while under the firepower before they can start shooting arrows.Therefore, in the previous battles, the casualties of the Burmese army were so miserable, and we can only pin our hopes on tropical viruses and minor wound infections.

But today, the Burmese archers dared to stand still and wait for the Ming army to approach, instead of rushing up and rushing to release arrows, it was obviously because soldiers at all levels had been encouraged by the above before the battle.
Knowing that the Ming army's musketeers have no use today, they can only rush up to fight with bayonets, so the morale of the Burmese army's archers can be uncharacteristically high.

It's a pity that this high spirit was quickly disillusioned as the Ming army entered the range of the muskets made in Wuchang.

The front-line generals of the Burmese army did not give the order to release arrows for a long time, and were still waiting for the Ming army to get closer, but the Ming army in the front row shot first.

"Bang bang bang—" Thousands of bullets flew through the air, instantly setting off a bloody storm in the formation of the Burmese army on the opposite side.

The Burmese army seemed completely unresponsive, and was beaten for a few seconds, until the second and third rows of Ming troops stepped forward and opened fire.The chaos in the Burmese army broke out completely.

"The muskets of the Ming army can fire after a heavy rain!"

"The rain hasn't stopped completely, can it be used at this time?"

"Could it be that the rain doesn't affect the muskets anymore? Hurry up, let our musketeers go forward and shoot at each other, we must suppress the Ming army!"

From the officers of the Burmese army at the grassroots level, to the senior generals, and even the Burmese King Mangbai, everyone was shocked for an instant, and then reacted in different panics.

Some ordinary soldiers only wanted to escape, and some grassroots officers wanted to force the archers to rush up immediately and get close to shoot.Mangbai, on the other hand, was thinking of smashing the jar, taking a gamble to see if his Dutch musket could be used in such a critical environment.

It's a pity, with tens of thousands of troops congested together, how could it be possible to change formations and moves so quickly?

The one-sided massacre lasted at least five or six minutes, or even ten minutes, before the Burmese army could respond effectively.And under this kind of cross-fire density of tens of thousands of bullets per minute, it is impossible to imagine how the morale of the army will collapse in 6 minutes.

Slices of barrage, or walls of bullets, whizzed and rammed the faces of Burmese soldiers, and rows of Burmese archers fell to the ground screaming, blood flowing like rivers.

The Ming army was not in a hurry to charge and advance. The soldiers who fired in each round only walked three or four steps in front of their teammates in the previous round, then stopped, and then opened fire.The distance of two hundred steps between the vanguard of the enemy and us, the Ming army needs to be sparing, otherwise it will rush to the enemy in a short while.

The chaotic Burmese army was not all waiting to die and fleeing, but there were also those who rushed up against the trend.

It's a pity that the firepower density of the Ming army's musket array could have ensured that the charge of the Manchu cavalry was completely blocked as early as 15 years ago, let alone the Burmese charge on foot on the mountain road at this moment?

Because of the hot and humid environment, the Burmese army generally lacks armor.When the front-line generals of the Ming army saw the soldiers rushing up, they immediately ordered all their soldiers to be replaced with shotguns.

Within a hundred paces, the smokeless gunpowder shotgun hits an unarmored target. It's so cool that it doesn't need any description. Any earthling who has played a gun game can imagine it.

In the end, the most fierce, resolute, and fastest warriors of the Burmese army only rushed sixty steps in front of the Ming army, and then they were all taken away.Not even a single person rushed within the fifty pace mark.

When these Burmese troops who had rushed up with blood and courage at the beginning were all killed, leaving no one behind, the Ming army switched to double-headed slugs again, and the battle was basically over, and the rest was just garbage time.

Thousands of Burmese soldiers were ruthlessly massacred and killed in the chaotic congestion, and even Burmese King Mangbai could not suppress it.

In the end, in order to prevent his central flag formation from being overwhelmed by the retreating soldiers, Mangbai even had to let the sword and shield fighters of the flag formation slash and kill the retreating archers and spearmen.

Then let all the musketeers of the Burmese army put on bayonets, and stab any chaotic soldiers who dare to rush into their own positions.Although the Dutch-style muskets used by the Burmese army musketeers can be removed in a combat environment to try long-range shots, they are not as convenient as the hoop-type bayonets of the Ming army, which caused even greater confusion.

"Kill Mangbai! Kill the Burmese thief! Kill Mangbai! Kill the Burmese thief!" The Ming army's slaughter speed did not decrease at all, frantically crushing and driving the rebels to collapse and flee.

The soldiers of the Burmese army fought against each other for a long time, but finally Mangbai couldn't resist. Even he himself was injured by shrapnel, so he had to seize his horse and let the guards kill him to open a bloody road to escape.And as the king's personal guards began to hack and kill their own people to seize the way, the Burmese army was completely over.

Tens of thousands of rout soldiers ran wildly along the Jiaoshan valley, and the [-] to [-] wounded who were originally stranded in Jiaomei County were all withdrawn from the front during the previous ten days of attrition, and they were completely abandoned at this moment. Regardless of the life and death of these people who have lost their mobility.

……

Li Dingguo's pursuit finally lasted for half the afternoon and half the night, but the soldiers were only allowed to sleep for less than two hours in the middle of the night when the night was completely dark, and then started to chase and kill on the road again at Yinshi the next morning. More torches were lit to illuminate the mountain roads, and some officers even used the samples of kerosene lamps that had just been trial-produced by the Daming Academy of Sciences in the rear.

The next day was another whole day of chasing and killing, adding up to fifteen hours of chasing and killing back and forth.

The nearly [-] wounded left over from previous battles of the Burmese army were all abandoned, and the Ming army would not waste precious medicines, so they all ended their suffering, and the new casualties in this battle were also more than [-] to [-]. huge.

By the early morning of the fourth day of November, counting the losses of all parties, Mangbai had lost at least 9 combat power, of which more than 4 people died directly (including the wounded who were executed by supplementary knife), and the others were injured or missing ——And in a combat environment like Jiaoshan, the so-called disappearance, in fact, has a high probability of falling into the valley directly on the way to escape, leaving no bones left.

Li Dingguo took a short rest and spent a few days clearing out the remnants of the enemy on the two wings and ensuring the logistics supply route in the rear. After replenishing a wave of supplies, he hurriedly launched a new offensive again on the seventh day of October.

Finally, within two days, they completely penetrated the Jiaoshan mountainous area, entered the valley plain of the Irrawaddy River, and reached the city of Ava.

The Burmese army, on the other hand, was injured by shrapnel a few days ago because Mangbai himself was injured by shrapnel, and the army was panicked, and failed to make adjustments during the window period of these few days of rest.In the end, Li Dingguo forced him to come up in vain.

The size of the Burmese army in Ava City is still at least several times that of Li Dingguo's Ming army.However, the proportion of the wounded was too high, and the morale of those who were not injured was extremely low.The main reason is that they were completely frightened by the muskets of the Ming army that could still fire after heavy rains, and they couldn't imagine such existence at all.

Due to the lack of troops, Li Dingguo was determined to attack the city, but he was really not sure about encircling the city on all sides, so he finally chose to attack only one side and give up the other three sides.

Faced with Li Dingguo's posture of trying to attack, Mangbai, who was still recovering from his injuries, stood up and asked the guards to carry him to patrol the city defense, comfort and encourage the soldiers, and asked the defenders to bring all the Hongyi cannons over to prepare to confront Li Dingguo. .

"All generals must fight to the death! There is still hope for our army in this battle! Previously, Li Dingguo was nothing more than relying on the sharp guns of the Ming army to break through some places without fortified cities! But Awan is my accompanying capital in Myanmar, how can it be compared to the small county of Kyaukmei?
The red barbarian cannons I have accumulated over the years in Myanmar are definitely more powerful than the firearms that the Ming army came over the mountains, and I will definitely be able to defend them! "

This encouragement from the king of Burma also played a little role.Many generals of the Burmese army finally remembered that the Burmese army still has an absolute advantage in one aspect, and that is the cannons for defending the city!

It's not that Burma's Hongyi cannons are stronger than those of the Ming Dynasty. This is impossible. After fighting for several months, they have also recognized the situation.

But the Burmese generals all knew that the Ming army’s really powerful heavy artillery could not be pulled over the Jiaoshan Mountains to the city of Awa, so the Ming army either had no artillery, or only had light artillery that could go over the mountain with the army.

Myanmar's geographical advantage is, after all, the last and hardest card of the Burmese army!Even if the war is lost in the end and forced to cede land to beg for mercy, Li Dingguo's attempt to siege the city should be defeated before he can seek peace. Otherwise, the Ming army's asking price may be so high that Burma will die!

With the last confidence, the main force of the Burmese army did not choose to retreat and give up Ava, but the whole army guarded the city, and even sent messengers to all parties to order troops to come to the king, and urgently deployed reinforcements from the capital of Bagu in the rear.

……

While the Burmese relied on cannons to defend to the death, of course Li Dingguo would not be idle. As soon as he arrived at the foot of the city of Ava, he first set up a solid siege camp, and then relied on the camp to dig trenches forward and do soil work. Extends under the city wall.

The Burmese couldn't understand what he was doing, so they could only let him do it.

There is no doubt that Li Dingguo's purpose is to reproduce the Vauban siege method invented by the Ming Dynasty at the end of the Ming and Qing Wars.Moreover, the Vauban siege method used by Li Dingguo today is absolutely pure and incomparable——

Because the 33-year-old General Vauban Sebastian Lepresre Vauban himself was also in Li Dingguo's army, contributing to today's tough battle.

Vauban was recruited by Da Ming about five or six years after Zhu Shuren recruited Descartes. He has been in the Ming army for 12 years now.

It's just because the peaceful era has been relatively long, and it is not easy to get good results directly in the army. In the past few years, Vauban was often seconded to the Academy of Sciences to do military engineering research, and this year he finally got the opportunity to actually fight again.

The trench construction of the Vauban siege method is relatively slow. Generally, it takes one or two months to dig a traffic trench of more than [-] yards and a semi-buried artillery position with a fan ring of thousands of yards.

But anyway, it's only late November, and the New Year will be just around the corner in a month or two, and the weather is not too hot. As long as the Ming army is well supplied with ammunition and medical drugs, they are not afraid of being unable to take root.

At first, the Burmese city defenders saw that the Ming army had arrived under the strong city, but instead changed to high fortifications and deep ditches, dug trenches in various ways, and tried to go out of the city in a roundabout way, and after counterattacking the Ming army, they cut off Li Dingguo's supplies.

It's a pity that the Burmese army's previous series of disastrous defeats were too tragic, and they didn't have the strength to fight in the field.Anyone who left Ava City was given away for nothing. They were lured and annihilated by Li Dingguo, and Li Dingguo's supply line could not be blocked.

In order to reduce the logistical pressure, Li Dingguo used all his transportation capacity to transport ammunition and medicines, and all the food was supplied by looting on the spot. Even if Awa City was not broken, the surrounding area of ​​Awa City is the most fertile agricultural area in Myanmar. Grain can be harvested three times a year, and seeing that it will be harvested at the end of the year, Li Dingguo can harvest the immature grain in advance.

After such a stalemate for a month, as the time came to the end of the year, Vauban's siege construction finally took shape. The Ming army could push the cavalry artillery, which was over a thousand catties, to a position more than a mile outside the city wall. The semi-buried underground fire method uses high-throwing ballistics to launch explosive bombs to bombard the city.

It wasn't until this moment that the Burmese army guarding the city completely panicked.They desperately bombarded them with heavy Hongyi cannons that were two or three times heavier than the Ming cavalry cannons.But their shells could only hit the ground of Vauban's carefully dug half-buried artillery positions, and then bounced away.

In desperation, the Burmese army wanted to change the traffic trench of the Ming army, but the trajectory of the shells also could not hit the bottom of the trench, and they all bounced off the side walls and the ground.

It wasn't until this moment that Burmese people fully realized that Ming's attainments in ballistics and defensive ballistics engineering were many times higher than those of the illiterate Southern barbarians.

But the room leak happened to be raining all night, and when Awa City finally started to be bombed by the Ming army, there was urgent bad news from the direction of the southern capital Bagu.

"Your Majesty! It's not good! Zheng Chenggong's fleet attacked the Indra River Estuary outside Bagu City, and even launched a landing operation at the Indra River Estuary! The warships of the Ming Army have already penetrated the Indra River Estuary and entered the inland river!"

"What? Why did the Ming army come from the south? Hurry up! Go back to Bagu!" Mangbai felt blood rushing to his head.

The main force of his army has been exhausted by Li Dingguo's repeated annihilation battles, and the remaining troops are all stuck in the meat grinder of Ava City.

Now the city of Ava has once again been bombarded in vain by unilateral massacres because of the Vauban siege law.The only hope that "the supply of the Ming army can be cut off" has come to naught because of the appearance of Zheng Chenggong. Mangbai has realized that he has completely lost everything.

(End of this chapter)