Wanli 1592

Chapter 344 Scorched Earth
Many years later, in a monograph describing the history of the East by Westerners, a Western historian used the notes and biographies of Westerners who fought as mercenaries in the Eastern land at the end of the sixteenth century as the original material, and evaluated such a A famous fire—the fire of Phitsanulok, burned not only a prosperous city, but also the fate and future of a country and a nation.

After King Narisuan made up his mind, the strategy of the scorched-earth war of resistance was determined. The sudden attack of the Burmese made Xiao Ruxun and King Narisuan unprepared. losses, but also some understanding of the Burmese's decisiveness.

In the face of desperation, some people will sit down and wait for death in despair, and some will rise up and fight for the last chance of life, and these Burmese people are obviously the latter, whether it is Mang Yinglong or Mang Yingli, they are all heroes in troubled times, and they are the heroes of troubled times The ending is either creating history or dying in battle. There is absolutely no other ending. As the most powerful fighter of his own nation, Mang Yingli chose to resist to the end as a matter of course.

Xiao Ruxun also knew that such an enemy would never surrender, and would definitely fight to the last moment.

At the same time, the specific number of troops sent by the Burmese this time has also been roughly and accurately judged. The spies from Daming and Siam described the Burmese army raging in Phitsanulok Province together, saying that it was like blocking the sky. There are not only a large number of elephant soldiers, but also a large number of musketeers and gunners. The Siamese army has more than 5000 people, and it collapsed after only a quarter of an hour of resistance.

Thanks to the smooth implementation of the scorched earth strategy, before the Burmese army occupied Phitsanulok, Phitsanulok had been burned down. The raging fire burned for three days and nights without stopping. Houses, warehouses, elephant farms, temples, etc. were all burned down. It is estimated that there are 2 Siamese who died in this fire. For Siam, this is a disaster, a disaster that shakes people's hearts
It’s just that for the Burmese, this is also a disaster. The Siamese would rather burn down their hometown than hand over their land, food and weapons to the Burmese. This made Min Qide furious, and he led his troops to rush What is the slow forced march for?What is the purpose of leaving the handymen and leading the elite soldiers and horses to rush all the way?for what?
Seeing the raging fire, he almost immediately ordered the army to fight the fire and save food and weapons. However, the fire was so fierce that the Burmese army was burned to death by hundreds of people, but nothing was taken out. Then the fire became bigger and bigger. Unable to control it, until the early morning of the fourth day, a downpour extinguished the fire. The heavy rain lasted all morning. After the fire was extinguished, Min Qide, with bloodshot eyes, ordered to search for the ruins.

What lies beneath the ruins?They couldn't find anything except the charred ones, which were charred and black. Occasionally they found some broken walls, broken tables and broken benches, but they were useless at all. Not only did they not get a grain of food or a weapon, they even got a The locals couldn't catch them. Those Siamese who were caught at the border said that Phitsanulok had a lot of reserves, so they came all the way. Now Phitsanulok may have a lot of reserves, but all of them were reduced to ashes.

After a wild march, all they got was a ruin and nothing. It is conceivable how Min Qide felt, and it is also conceivable how the morale of the Burmese army was hit. Under such circumstances , the Burmese army is already at the end of its strength, and it is impossible to continue to move forward and snatch other things.

Min Qide watched his army fall into depression with red eyes. He wanted to organize another army to attack the city to seize food and grass to boost morale, but he was shocked to find that he had used the army too hard before. After rushing here, they hardly had a full day of rest. The troops were extremely exhausted and had reached the verge of physical breakdown.

Under such a major premise, even if Min Qide is furious, he can only let the troops rest, otherwise, a mutiny will inevitably occur. He can only camp in the ashes of Phitsanulok, waiting for the miscellaneous soldiers who have fallen behind before and some of the main surveillance force .

On the other hand, the scorched-earth strategy did cause Siam a huge loss, but it prevented the Burmese from going further south, which gave Siam a precious breathing opportunity. He dispatched generals, armed the army, issued excellent weapons, and instructed his subordinate officials to prepare food and grass urgently, and prepare to go north to attack at any time. At the same time, he also informed the Ming army that he hoped that the Ming army would accompany them and prepare to attack.

Xiao Ruxun and Yuan Huang studied the information obtained so far, and made a complete analysis of the Burmese army.

The main force of the Burmese army is about [-], which is estimated to be all the elite main forces that can go out in the country. They have a desperate plan to end the war in Siam and destroy Siam by the way. Eliminating all threats is an extremely bold strategy and tactic, but it is unexpectedly effective. In a short period of time, Phitsanulok, an important northern town in Siam, has been broken, and Chiang Mai and other places in the north have been isolated. King Ruixuan's previous strategy was in jeopardy.

The combat arms of the Burmese army include musketeers and gunners. There are not many people, but they are powerful and there are a large number of foreigners in them. There are also elephant soldiers, with about three to five hundred war elephants. They are very terrifying from a distance. The impact of war elephant groups will produce extremely terrifying war effects, which can be described as shaking the earth; there are also traditional swords, guns, swords and archers, with the largest number of people, and they are the main force of the Burmese army.

"For the enemy's pawns and gunners, our army and the Siamese army have corresponding firearms units, which can compete with them and are not to be feared. Moreover, our army's bird blunderbuss and Franc machine blunderbuss account for an overwhelming majority, so in terms of firearms We will not be at a disadvantage at all. As for the war elephants, the Siamese also have corresponding countermeasures. The Siamese war elephant troops can compete with the war elephants of the Dongwu Kingdom. Xin, your artillery tactics can come in handy."

Yuan Huang made a brief analysis of the current situation, and concluded that any military branch of the Burmese army, the coalition forces of the Ming army and the Siamese army can fight.

"This is just the most ideal state, Mr. Yuan. If it rains heavily before the battle, it will be bad. I am really good at using firearms. I also use artillery to occupy a high place to cover the war elephants of Dongwu, causing war elephants However, once it rains, all firearms cannot be used, and that is a real hand-to-hand fight. Our army and the Siamese army add up to more than 10 people. It is quite difficult to fight against the main force of the armed forces with [-] people."

(End of this chapter)