The multi-state town was the gateway to Annam, where Annam's 150,000-strong army was hoarded. The vanguard of the 20,000 Ming army that arrived in Duobang did not dare to attack Duobang, after all, the disparity in strength between the two sides was too great, but the Ming army had won every battle in recent years, and it was so powerful that the Annan army did not dare to take the initiative to attack the Ming army.

On November 17, the main force of 50,000 Ming troops arrived in Duobang.

"The king of Dingxing County once took advantage of the night to surprise attack many states with five thousand strange soldiers, and captured many states in a battle. Can we use this tactic in this battle? Lai Xiucai asked. Lai Xiucai has made many military exploits in the north, and has now been promoted to the deputy governor of the Guangzhou Metropolitan Governor's Office.

"When the king of Dingxing County conquered Annam, although Duobang claimed to have two million people, the king of Dingxing County also commanded 300,000 troops at that time, and this time our army was only 100,000 people including miscellaneous soldiers and people, and Duobang alone had 150,000 main forces of the Annan army, and if you count the miscellaneous soldiers and people, it was about 500,000. And it's impossible to use surprise soldiers in the same place. Sun Chuanting shook his head and said.

"Then there is only a strong attack, when the king of Dingxing County marched south to Annam, our army was inferior to Annan in firearms, but this southern expedition, Annam's firearms are far inferior to the empire, I think although there are seven fortresses in many states, they will all be taken within ten days." Lai Xiucai said.

"Relying on firearms, it is not a big problem for our army to storm many states, come to the deputy governor, and you will command the battle tomorrow." Sun Chuanting said.

"No." Lai Xiucai said happily.

……

On the 18th of November, the Ming army set up a position and prepared to storm the first fortress of Duobang.

To deal with the fortress-like defense with walls, the Ming army first used heavy artillery and other artillery bombardment. In the use of artillery, the Ming army used the theories of Westerners to form a set of more perfect theories.

In just one morning, the Ming army blasted open the first fortress of Duobang. Within a day, the Ming army captured the first fortress.

"Vulnerable, I originally thought that this battle would take ten days, and it seems that the battle can be ended in five days at most." Lai Xiucai said proudly.

"Come to the deputy governor, don't take it lightly, I expect that tomorrow the Annan army will take the initiative to attack, they have seen the power of our artillery today, they must not dare to be trapped in many states anymore, sit back and wait for death." Sun Chuanting said.

"It doesn't matter, if the Annam thieves dare to take the initiative, our army will take many states in one fell swoop." Lai Xiucai said.

"Tomorrow I will send a large army on your left and right flanks to make a response." Sun Chuanting said.

"My lord, no." Lai Xiucai immediately refused.

"Why not?" Sun Chuanting said suspiciously.

"Today I found that most of the firearms used by the Annan thieves are bird guns, only a small number of flintlock muskets are equipped, and the 78th Army and the 79th Army of the Southern Expedition are equipped with apocalypse guns, I only need the 78th Army and enough ammunition, even if his 500,000 troops come together, I am confident that I can block them all, and the Lord only needs to send 5,000 dragoons as a countermeasure, and when the Annan army breaks and fles, take the opportunity to seize many states." Lai Xiucai said.

Sun Chuanting thought for a while and said, "The Seventy-eighth Army is left to you, the Seventy-ninth Army is left in your right rear as a response, and the five thousand dragoons are left in your left rear for assault." ”

"No."

……

On 19 November, the Ming army again launched an assault on the second fortress in Dobang. In yesterday's battle, the Ming army captured a castle in Duobang in one day, making the so-called solid town of Duobang beaten into a sieve by the Ming army, and the biggest impact was the morale of the Annam army. The commander of the Annam army understood that if the Ming army captured another fortress today, then Duobang would be completely finished, and he decided to take the initiative to attack before the Ming army captured the second castle.

Just as the artillery fire of the Ming army began to bombard, the Annan army took the initiative to attack. The rate of firearms and equipment of the Annan army is also very high, and it is said that the firearms of the army are still imported from Annan, but now Annan's firearms have lagged far behind the Ming army.

Although the Ming army was equipped with the Apocalypse gun, the attack method used was still intensive three-stage shooting, while the Annan Army also used three-stage shooting, but the gap between the two sides in firearms was too large, and the advantage of the Apocalypse gun was too obvious, and the Annan Army could not enter the range of firearms at all.

After several rounds of offensives, the commander of the Annam Army knew that nothing could be done and ordered the entire army to retreat.

When Lai Xiucai saw the retreat of the Annan army, he immediately launched a counterattack. At this moment, Sun Chuanting ordered the whole army to launch a counterattack at the same time, although it was a mountain battle, which was not conducive to the cavalry to give full play to its advantage, but the speed of the five thousand dragoons was still the fastest, and they launched an attack from the right side of the Annan army. In the mountains, the cavalry lost the advantage of speed and could only attack with the horse pistol in their hands.

The Annan army was not in chaos at the moment, they fought and retreated, and adopted a strategy of shrinking the defense. The greatest pressure on the Annam army came from Lai Xiucai on the front and the dragoons on the right.

Under the tremendous pressure of the Ming army, the Annan army released elephant cavalry. The direction of the elephant cavalry's main attack was the dragoons of the Ming army. The five thousand dragoons fought the elephant cavalry for the first time, and the huge elephant roar made the horses of the Ming army a little flustered.

"Array, throw grenades!" The Ming army had long known that the Annam army had a large number of elephant cavalry, and as for how to deal with the elephant cavalry, it had been studied long before the expedition.

The dragoons immediately stopped pursuing the Annam army and immediately waited for the elephant cavalry to come closer. As soon as the elephant cavalry entered the firing range, the dragoons in the first row fired a round of carbines, and then threw grenades, and after throwing the grenades, the dragoons in the first row quickly dispersed to the sides, setting the dragoons in the second row to the front. Although the dragoons were affected, they were still faster than the elephant cavalry.

After a few rounds, the ground was covered with the corpses of war elephants, and the power of the Ming army's firearms made the elephants that survived turn their heads and rush towards the military formation of the Annam army. The dragoons would not miss such an opportunity, and they followed the elephant to cover the past, this time using swords.

With the Annan army's own war elephants, the dragoons broke into the Annan army's military formation in one fell swoop, and the Annan army's military formation began to be chaotic. Although the chaos of the Annan army's military formation had just begun, under the coordination of the Ming army in the front, the spread of this chaos was extremely fast, and the Annan army was soon completely defeated, and countless people were killed for a time, trampled on each other and died.

The Ming army captured the entire important town of Duobang in the first battle, and in this battle, only 30,000 people escaped from the 15th Annan army, and the rest were either captured or killed in battle. At the end of the war, the Ming army captured nearly 400,000 Annamite people, and obtained enough food to support the army for five years.

(End of chapter)