The dispatch of troops to Dongyu was arranged a year ago. The 19th Army of Mu Qiyuan in Yunnan and the 20th Army of Lin Chengxiang were the mainstay, and the 17th Army of Chen Zizhuang of Guangdong was the support. The three armies exceeded 100,000 soldiers. , Temporary formation of the Third Army, Mu Qiyuan concurrently commander of the Army, unified command of these three armies.
Chen Zizhuang's Seventeenth Army arrived in Kunming, Yunnan after the Xinyuan, and joined forces with Mu Qiyuan and Lin Chengxiang.
On the tenth day of the first lunar month in the fifth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1632), the army was assembled and all grain, grass, and equipment were in place. On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, the 100,000 Burmese army was uniformly dispatched by Mu Qiyuan and officially embarked on the road of expedition.
Myanmar, now called the Tongyu Dynasty, is the remnant of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the northeast. It is full of lofty mountains and high terrain. The northernmost Kumenling, commonly known as the Savage Mountain, is an undeveloped mountain and dense forest. The mountains are full of miasma and various poisonous insects. Birds and beasts were rampant. During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of the Kingdom of Shu, once captured Meng Huo seven times here.
From northwest to northeast, there are Minjin Mountains, Bangnia Mountains, Longerang Mountains and Rakhine Mountains. Sandwiched between the east and west mountains are a large number of river valleys and plains. There are dense rivers. The longest Ayeyarwady River in the country extends from the northeast. West flow, almost across the entire country.
Because the roads in northern Myanmar are isolated and unsuitable for military travel, Mu Qiyuan is ready to break through the middle road.
Lin Chengxiang's 20th Army set out from Dali, entered Myanmar from Tengyue (now Tengchong), passed Bhamo, and went straight to Ruigu.
At this time, the main force of the army was in the Ayutthaya dynasty of Siam. In the north of Ayutthaya, Thalong personally commanded one hundred thousand Toungoo troops, from north to south, ravaged the land of Ayutthaya. In the south, Toungoo was In the southeast of Ayutthaya, Chen has 50,000 soldiers. Once Toungoo wins a decisive victory in the north of Ayutthaya, they are ready to open a second battlefield and give Ayutthaya the deadliest blow.
This time, Talon almost devoted all the power of the whole country, and he was preparing to completely annex the big city.
Toungoo’s country is rather empty. All 50,000 soldiers are mainly distributed in Baigu, the capital of the country, and Ava, a major town in the north. Thalon is not worried about the domestic situation. The northwestern part of Toungoo does not threaten the powerful country of Toungoo.
Lin Chengxiang’s 19th Army had more than 30,000 soldiers. The soldiers were all equipped with flintlocks, as well as artillery for siege of the city, and easy-to-carry mountain runs. The defenders in various small cities along the way either fled in the wind or were completely destroyed. The land was wiped out, and the Twentieth Army was able to preserve its complete structure, and it was not until the ancient city of Rui that it formally set up the barracks.
Ruigu was originally the land of Daming and belonged to Mengyang Xuanweisi. However, the main population of Mengyang is not Han people, but Shan people. Under the rule of the Tongyu Dynasty for nearly 30 years, the hearts of the people are no longer oriented towards Daming. At present, there are about three thousand defenders in the city. The defender is called Ahan.
Seeing that the Ming army was powerful, Ahan did not dare to go out of the city to fight. He closed the four doors tightly, guarded closely, and prepared the Ming army to fight a protracted battle.
Lin Chengxiang surrounded Ruigu on all sides and camped under the city. There were three thousand Dongyu troops. Lin Chengxiang did not take it seriously, but the soldiers under him ran long distances and climbed over a large number of plateaus and mountains. Now he is extremely tired. He did not immediately Siege, but let the soldiers rest for a day and night.
After dawn, the fifty-eighth division Lu Yufeng’s department concentrated all the forty artillery of the entire army at the east gate. With the experience of the Usti-Tibet War, Lu Yufeng no longer commanded soldiers to forcibly attack the city, and the soldiers’ casualties would be great. , He would use artillery to directly blast open the city gate.
Forty artillery pieces stopped at a distance of a thousand steps from the east city gate. The gunners began to calibrate the artillery. One thousand steps is the effective range of the Ming Army’s artillery, but the Tongyu Army’s bows and arrows, even if they start shooting from the city’s head It's far out of reach.
A Han was standing at the head of the east city. He narrowed his gaze and stared closely at the Ming army entering outside the city like an ant.
Yesterday, the Ming army did not launch an offensive. The soldiers spent a day without war, but Ahan knew that this was just a brief calm before the storm came. The Ming army came all the way to Ruigu and would definitely launch an attack on Ruigu City.
The Dongyu Army was on the defensive side. The initiative of the war was not in A Han's hands. He could only wait for the Ming Army to attack. There were tens of thousands of Ming troops outside the city, and A Han did not dare to go out to fight.
As soon as the sky lighted up today, the guards reported to Agam that the Ming army outside the east city showed signs of abnormality, and Agam came to the east city to supervise the battle.
Seeing the Ming army coming a thousand steps away, Ahan estimated that the Ming army was about to attack. He didn't know if the first wave of the Ming army's attack would be particularly violent, and how many casualties of his soldiers, he turned his gaze to the head of the city. , The soldier on the front of the city looked very nervous. He wanted to comfort him, but he couldn't think of a suitable language for a while.
The Ming army had adjusted the artillery. The muzzle of the black hole was facing the direction of the east city gate. A Han thought it was a trebuchet, but the trebuchet did not have such a black iron pipe. He asked the soldiers next to him and he didn’t know. what is that.
There were originally 20 trebuchets in the city, but Talong wanted to attack the big city with all his strength, so he transported all the 20 sophisticated trebuchets away. Ruigu City has been free from war for 30 years, and no one thought that the Ming army would suddenly appear. it's here.
If the 20 trebuchets were still there, maybe they could now drop stones into the Ming army positions outside the city. Agam estimated that the trebuchets should be able to send small stones to such a far place.
Without the trebuchet, Ah Han could only wait until the Ming army attacked the city and let the soldiers throw the stones directly under the city. Anyway, the Ming army would attack the city sooner or later, and the same would be true for hand throwing.
"Boom... Long..."
"Boom... Long..."
"Boom... Long..."
…
Forty artillery shots were fired at the city head almost at the same time. A Han was shocked by the artillery fire, and his mind was short-circuited. He thought that the Ming army threw stones at the city head.
Instinctively told him that these stones were so powerful that he let the soldiers avoid the stones while leaning against the inside of the city wall.
It was the first time Ahan saw the blossom bomb. The speed of the blossom bomb was far beyond his imagination. He had just hid on the corner of the city wall. The blossom bomb exploded at the head of the city. The huge sound shook the city head. stand up.
The soldiers’ limbs and blood were everywhere on the city. Half a palm, half a thigh, and even a mutilated head almost made Ah Han vomit. The screams of the wounded soldiers made Ah Han more worried, even more worried than flowers. The explosion of the bomb is still terrifying.
Fortunately, the city walls did not collapse, and the city gates were not severely damaged.
Ahan discovered that what the Ming army threw at the city’s head was not a stone. The stone would not explode. “How could the Ming army have such a terrifying firearm?” He was a little desperate, who had faced tens of thousands of guns before. The Ming Army, Ah Han did not have enough confidence in defending the city. Now that the Ming Army has such a terrifying firearm, his soldiers can only be beaten, and they have no ability to fight back.
The gunners of the Ming Army didn't know how Ah Han felt. They were calibrating the muzzle and preparing for the second strike.
A Han’s soldiers saw that the Ming army was reloading the bombs. They were the first to wake up and drag A Han away from the city. Although A Han was unwilling to leave the forefront of the battle, he was dragged away by the soldiers like a puppet. .
As soon as he left the city, the second wave of the Ming army's explosive bombs fell.
In this wave of attacks, the Ming army mainly aimed at the east city gate, and the number of bombs falling on the city’s head did not increase much. Defenders who were still in the city, or whose brains were shocked and temporarily deaf, became new targets. , The defenders who had been wounded, but died a little bit more thoroughly.
The wooden east city gate was overwhelmed and torn apart by the bomb.
The Ming army did not immediately attack the city. In order to reduce the casualties of the soldiers, Lu Yufeng asked the gunner to extend the flower bomb forward by three hundred and five hundred steps, and two rounds of shelling respectively.
The east gate of Ruigu has become an undefended gate.
As soon as the artillery fire stopped, the infantry of the Ming army, like the tide, began to rush towards the east city gate.
Lu Yufeng left a regiment of soldiers to guard the east city gate. Because the Dongyu garrison in the city had few casualties and should still have combat effectiveness, he did not dare to be careless. The soldiers were divided into regiments and began to approach the city and the north and south city gates.
All the soldiers and civilians of Tonggu who resisted were shot and killed. The war had just begun. The Ming army was temporarily unable to take in prisoners. Moreover, the Ming army was still deep in Burma, and the food was not rich enough to feed the soldiers of Tonggu for nothing.
The four city gates were quickly occupied by the Ming army. When the entire 20th army entered the city, there was no suspense in the war. The Ming army relied on the superiority of the flintlock to hunt down the soldiers and civilians of Toungoo everywhere in the city, even Ah Han was dead. Under the chaotic gun.
At the beginning, the Ming army shot and killed the main soldiers of Toungoo. After the soldiers of Toungoo were killed or wounded, even the people who were running at random on the street were shot and killed by the Ming army. In the eyes of the Ming army, they were civilians. , But those who are still running on the street at this time must be helping the army of Toungoo. Since they are enemies, they should be eliminated, whether they are soldiers or civilians.
Throughout the morning, the Ming army has been pursuing the enemy in the city. If the people want to survive, they must stay in their own homes for the time being, so that the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty should not cause misunderstandings.
In the afternoon, Lin Chengxiang sent a staff member of the army to calm the people in the city: the Ming army returned to Ruigu to restore the Mengyang Xuanwei Division established during the reign of Emperor Taizu. As long as they support the Ming army, the people in the city will be protected by the Ming army.
Now in Ruigu City, there is only Ming's army, and the people have no choice.
The military staff recruited the leaders in the city and asked them to beat the gongs and drums on the street to strongly promote the return of the Ming army.
Tunku has fought for years and the people are taxed very heavily. They have no good impressions of Tarong. Moreover, among the people in the city, there are very few Burmese people, mainly the Shan population. They are homologous to the Dai in Daming and are in the Tunku dynasty. , Their status was not high, and they even missed the loose management during Ming Dynasty's rule.
There are also some Han people in the city. When the Ming army occupied Ruigu city, they acted as the vanguard to welcome the Ming army.
The army rested in the city for a day. When the order in the city gradually stabilized, the 20th Army left a brigade of soldiers, ready to sweep the surrounding remnants of the Tongyu Army and restore the entire Mengyong Division under the guidance of the local Han people. .
And Lin Chengxiang led the rest of the soldiers along the Irrawaddy River to the south, and went straight to Ava (now Mandalay), the northern town of the Tunku Dynasty.
Mu Qiyuan and Chen Zizhuang did not march from Dali, they first stationed troops in Pu'er, Yunnan.
After Lin Chengxiang went west to Burma, Mu Qiyuan sent people to contact the Ayutthaya dynasty to discuss how to join forces. By the way, he asked Ayutthaya to honor the food promised in the contract. While advancing westward from Menglian, along Bangsang and Mengya, he also rushed Xiang Ava.