I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 610: Elephant Soldiers Charge Artillery

The line officer suddenly knew that he could not hold on. The Ming army's artillery was too terrifying, and the city wall of rammed earth and stone could not stop the continuous bombardment.

The current weapons and equipment of the Ming Dynasty have obviously surpassed the Southeast Asian countries for an era. As conventional artillery, it is already a heavy artillery that is difficult to resist for these Burmese chieftains and the officers and soldiers of the Toungoo Dynasty.

Sun Yan's inspection and the alliance of chieftains only bombarded the city wall in Mengmi for one day. On the second day, the chieftain of Mengmi was fierce, and he personally rode a war elephant with a thousand elite chieftains and five thousand miners under his command. He went out of the city to fight, leaving only his son Xianweng regiment to sit in the city.

"Is Chief Meng Mi crazy? Is he planning to use war elephants to attack our army's artillery positions?" Sun Yan held a telescope with a look of disbelief on his face.

Line officer Meng had already personally led his elite elephant soldiers, slowly advancing towards the Ming army's formation. Five thousand miners were divided into two wings of the guard.

Even before the chieftain's army came close to the Ming army's position, the miners' army on both wings were already in some confusion.

The discipline of the mine soldiers is indeed stronger than that of the regular militia, but it is also limited, especially this kind of "mining army" that has never received military training and was pulled out temporarily.

Standing in formation inside the city was already a chore before, but now that they are out of the city and actively fighting, they still have to charge into such a terrifying artillery position. Even the elite elephant soldiers of Chief Meng Mi are a little timid.

Sun Yan put down his telescope and ordered directly to the messenger: "Let all the artillery positions be aimed at the enemy's elephant soldiers."

After all, the patrol force of the East Route Army was a partial division. Although it was equipped with muskets and some artillery, it did not have cavalry. At most, it only had a few temporarily dispatched sentry cavalry, and it was also a unique mountain pony cavalry in the southwest.

The chieftain's elephant soldiers were still advancing, but the Ming army's artillery could no longer hold back.

"Aim and test the gun!"

"Boom boom boom!"

Twenty rounds of artillery shells were fired, and the thundering sound directly shocked the chieftain soldiers who were still advancing into panic.

The line officer suddenly realized that something was not going well, and quickly shouted to boost morale: "Hold still, don't mess up, as long as our war elephants rush into the enemy's position, we will win!"

In Southeast Asia, elephant soldiers are indeed considered to be the top arms, but this is only if the enemy does not have artillery and cavalry.

"fire!"

"Boom boom boom!"

There was another volley of artillery fire, and a total of twenty shells were aimed at the chieftain's elephant soldiers' position.

Three of them directly hit the advancing war elephant in the center, while the remaining ten or so shells scattered into the miners' positions.

The two war elephants were injured by cannonballs. They went crazy on the spot and began to rush and trample on the surrounding areas.

Many of the elite chieftains who were guarding the elephant soldiers were directly trampled to death by the elephants. Those who were farther away saw the tragic scene and were also at a loss.

The war elephants trampled a large area of ​​their own troops to death before they even touched the enemy's hair.

"Kill the crazy war elephant quickly, and all the other troops will come to me!"

The line officer gave an urgent order.

However, it was too late, the Ming army's artillery fired again.

"Boom boom boom!"

Accompanied by the thunderous sound of artillery, the patrolling infantry of the Ming Army began to advance in formation, and the chieftain coalition forces also followed behind and launched a charge.

Chieftain Mengmi's elite elephant soldiers had never fought against serious artillery before. In previous battles with the Burmese army, they had fought only partial divisions. The real main force of the Burmese king had always been concentrated in Mengyang and Mubang. , three in Chiang Mai.

Moreover, even the Burmese army of the Toungoo Dynasty did not have many artillery pieces, and most of them were earthen artillery with poor power and a high rate of duds.

The artillery of the Daming East Road Inspection Army uses regular cannons.

Line officer Meng was completely dumbfounded. The elite elephant soldiers he spent a lot of money to build were just blown up by the Chinese army's artillery.

The war elephants of the front army were all out of control and went crazy under the bombardment of the Ming army. Not only did they go crazy, they also brought the remaining war elephants in the rear with them. Even the chieftain's war elephant, which was ridden by the line officer Meng, could no longer control it.

This guy could only hold on to the rope to prevent himself from being thrown off by the war elephant. In his ears, he could hear the frenzied war elephants charging and trampling on his own military formation. There were loud noises and howls and screams everywhere.

The line urns on the city wall trembled all over. The elite army his father brought out of the city, more than 6,000 people, were all destroyed in the blink of an eye.

The miners guarding the two flanks were either directly dispersed by the war elephants, or were frightened and fled for their lives on the spot.

The elite chieftains responsible for protecting the war elephants and cooperating with the war elephants in combat were too "sophisticated" in equipment and were covered in armor. Therefore, they had no time to escape when faced with the collective madness of the war elephants.

These elite chieftains, without exception, were all trampled to pulp by the war elephants. The Ming army's firecrackers had not even reached the firing range, and all the chieftains had collapsed.

Sun Yan put down the telescope and was quite speechless: "This chieftain Meng Mi is really crazy. He used elephant soldiers to charge the artillery position. It's a shame he could have imagined it."

Indeed, the last person to do this in Myanmar was the Ava Dynasty established by the Dai people.

At that time, the Toungoo Dynasty and the Ava Dynasty were competing for the city of Pyay. The Burmese cavalry in Toungoo acted as bait to lure the Dai elephant soldiers into the ambush, and then cooperated with the artillery fire to directly blow up the elephant soldiers of the Ava Dynasty. The collapse established the Toungoo dynasty's dominance in Myanmar.

Speaking of which, Tusi Meng Mi is also a Dai, so this can be considered a traditional performance!

While Sun Yan was speaking, Meng Mi, the fierce line officer on the battlefield, finally couldn't bear it anymore.

How strong is the war elephant? After all, manpower has its limits. He didn't last long. This guy failed to catch a single person and was thrown away on the spot.

"Clap!"

The line officer fell hard to the ground. Severe pain shot through his body. Before he could even cry out in pain, an elephant foot stepped on him.

"Father!"

Of course, Xianweng Tuan didn't see where his father was, but the problem was that there was no one on the backs of all the crazy war elephants. It was obvious that his father had been thrown off at some point.

Such a war elephant goes crazy and is thrown down. Even if it is lucky enough not to be trampled to death by the elephant, if it is thrown so hard, the internal organs will bleed, and then it will die of illness.

"Block the city gate and don't let the Chinese army come in!"

Xian Weng Tuan had tried hard to persuade his father to surrender before, but now he became stubborn.

Not only was his father killed by the Ming army, he had already been beaten to this extent. Even if he was willing to surrender now, it is estimated that the Ming army would not let their family go.

However, as soon as the Xian Weng Group gave the order, the city gate opened wide.

But those Han miners knew that they had no way to save their lives, so they simply killed Meng Mi's chieftain's army and opened the city to welcome Wang Shi's heavenly soldiers.

Anyway, they are all Han people and have lived here for a long time. When Wang Shitian's troops are stationed in Mengmi, they must need some of their own people who are familiar with the local area to do things.

The war came and went quickly.

Chieftain Mengmi's city has been completely controlled by the Ming army, and they are now arresting prisoners everywhere and clearing out the chieftain's army in the city.

Those Han Chinese miners who participated in the fight against the Ming army were individually selected and settled and naturalized, but all of them were classified as criminals, in accordance with Liaodong practice.

They were not allowed to own their own land for several years, and they had to bear free corvee service from the government. This was their punishment for resisting the heavenly soldiers.

Of course, this is a preferential treatment only given to Han miners, and it is mainly for the purpose of reproducing the Han population, while slave miners of other ethnic groups do not have such good luck.

Although slaves are not allowed to exist in the Ming Dynasty, they are all punished to go to the mines to work as miners for life. Even if they say they are not slaves, it makes no difference.

But at least he can still survive, which is good.

"General, we have captured a person. After identification, he appears to be the eldest son of Chief Meng Mi."

Two Ming soldiers escorted one person, who was the Xianweng regiment that had been fighting to the death not long ago.

Sun Yan glanced at him: "The eldest son of Chief Meng Mi?"

Although the Xian Weng Tuan didn't understand much, they still recognized Sun Yan from his clothes and armor as a big shot in the Ming army. They quickly kowtowed and begged for mercy: "General, have mercy! General, have mercy! I am the eldest son of Chief Meng Mi. I am Chief Meng Mi." I would like to surrender to His Majesty the Emperor of China, Ming Dynasty!"

Daoxi was puzzled and spoke at the right time: "General Sun, this guy said that he is indeed the eldest son of Chief Meng Mi."

Sun Yan nodded slightly: "In that case, let's chop him down! His family members and relatives who are close to him will also be dealt with."

Although Mengmi is a small place, it is rich in mineral resources. Not to mention the silver mines, the emeralds here are the best in the world.

In today's Nanjing, jade has long been a precious gemstone and can be sold for extremely high prices.

This is partly due to the emperor Zhu Yijiong, who promoted it in the imperial newspaper a few years ago in order to prepare for the attack on Meng Mi.

Emperors all like jade, so even ordinary people who don't know anything think that jade must be a treasure.

Chieftain Meng Mi must change his ways and return to his homeland. If they voluntarily join, they may have to find reasons to deal with it, but now it's easy, just cut them all off!

(End of this chapter)