Then, to Henry's despair, the deafening sound of gunfire on the other side of the valley never stopped. The cries of killing and screams rang out incessantly, blowing into his ears along with the smoke from the mountain wind.

After more than two hours, the 5,500 infantry and artillery led by Ross finally reached the bank of the river, and at this time, the flood in the river valley was slowly receding, although the river was knee-deep, but it was not waist-high, except for artillery, the soldiers could cross the river.

The gunfire on the opposite side had stopped, and the smoke had dissipated, leaving only dozens of gunshots and the faint neighing of war horses.

After a while, as more than 500 cavalry escaped, they brought back a shocking news: the British army that crossed the river, 1400 cavalry and more than 1700 infantry, except for these 500 cavalry, escaped, the rest of the 900 cavalry and 1700 infantry, all lost. If you add the 500 or so people who were swept away by the flood, as well as the 300 troops lost in the fierce battle across the river valley just now, 3,400 troops were lost in just half a day.

He did not expect that the backward Burmese army would use this oldest primitive method to block the river upstream and then release the water. It was also his own carelessness, eager to pursue the enemy, and did not go upstream of the river to reconnoiter the opponent's movements. No wonder the Burmese soldiers stayed in the vicinity for so long, and it turned out that they were damming upstream.

But Ross still insisted on marching! The more we suffer defeat, the more we can't give up, and we must redeem it with an unusually hearty victory.

Although they have suffered this heavy loss, fortunately, most of the losses are mostly Bengali mercenaries, and the British native soldiers have not suffered many losses, which is really a blessing in misfortune. Moreover, with the more than 8,000 soldiers left behind, there are nearly 7,000 native British soldiers, with their sophisticated equipment, as long as they are careful, they can find the enemy army in a frontal field battle, if not all the enemy troops can be annihilated, at least they can defeat the other side.

After sending scouts to inspect the river upstream, they crossed the river in batches, but the enemy did not come to disturb them, and the British army soon crossed the river smoothly.

……

And in the direction of the British attack in the village of Jessor.

A tall and burly officer in a Burmese military uniform also issued an order at the same time: "Order the whole army to withdraw from Jessor village." At the same time, according to the predetermined plan, we will give these Brits a warm welcome! ”

This Chinese-speaking officer was Li Kaifang, who had led the original 21,000 soldiers of the 2nd and 22th Divisions from Yunan into Burma.

When he entered Burma, he lay dormant for a period of time, and after finding out the situation in Burma, he took the initiative to secretly contact the Burmese prince Ganang, on behalf of the Chinese Empire and Burma to restore the suzerain-vassal relationship, and promised to help the prince of Jiaang to win the throne of Burma, and Jiasang also expressed his willingness to pay tribute to the Chinese Empire in the Central Plains like the ancestors of the Gongbang Dynasty.

However, in fact, the Gongbang Dynasty became a vassal state of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which was only a superficial title, and it fought several times with the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but won many victories, but because the Manchu Qing had many generals and knew that they could not offend the Manchus too much, and they were afraid of the Manchu Qing and Siam attack, so they reluctantly called the vassal. In fact, whether he surrendered or not, Li Kaifang is unknown. For the time being, though, Prince Karang, who wants to be the new king of Myanmar, promises well.

Soon after, Li Kaifang led elite soldiers disguised as Burmese soldiers in the city and entered the Irrawaddy River, assisted Prince Ganang to launch a coup d'état, imprisoned the monarch Meng Tong, and made him the new monarch of the Gongbang Dynasty.

After he became the new monarch, he probably realized the strength of the Central Plains Dynasty, and he kept his promise to unify Burma and become a vassal state of the Chinese Empire. attacked Burma all the way, and marched to the northwest with Li Kaifang's army all the way to attack Bengal.

He probably also knew that without the help of the suzerain, his Gongbang dynasty and the whole of Burma would sooner or later be annexed by the British. And the Central Plains Dynasty, which has always been a ceremonial state, will not annex Burma. Who to turn to, naturally, is very clear.

Thus, the previous scene appeared.

However, what made Li Kaifang depressed was that the 30,000 troops sent by the Burmese Gongbang Dynasty had 5,000 cavalry, but its commander, Meng Huo, who was also the prince, was afraid of the British like a tiger, and even if he repeatedly invited, he still did not dare to attack behind.

In desperation, Li Kaifang had no choice but to lead his troops to intercept the British army on the other side of the river valley, but he did not want his captive army to suffer too much loss, so he did not fight the British head-on, but only attacked the British army from the flank according to the battle plan formulated by the division staff. Unexpectedly, in the ancient way of blocking the river, the sneak attack on the British army was successful, although in the early stage of the battle, the capture army also lost nearly 400 people, and the later encirclement and suppression of the east bank of the British army lost more than 100 people, but the British lost 3 or 4,000 people, which can be described as a great victory!

I just don't know if the plan set up by the General Staff in this small village in Bengal will work again.

An hour later, Li Kaifang received a report from the front-line reconnaissance: "Division commander, the British have become very cautious, and they are very disciplined, only a few dozen people were fooled into eating those poisonous food, wine, and food, and they immediately saw through our strategy. Now that they are chasing, whether to fight or withdraw, division commander, you have an idea! ”

Li Kaifang sighed with some disappointment: "The British are really cautious. I thought I could poison at least a hundred people. Hey, how far are they? ”

"It's only five or six miles away!"

"The British are very powerful and well-trained, and they must not fight hard, otherwise I am afraid that many of my brothers will die in this foreign land. Immediately inform the prince of Burma, and let him lead the infantry to lay an ambush on the hill ahead, and prepare to ambush the British army, and the 3,000 cavalry, and immediately make a detour to the north and south sides to the village of Jesore, and flank the British army. Tell Meng Huo that if he wants to flee or sit back and watch the tiger fight, we will join forces with the British to attack Burma! I, Li Kaifang, do what I say! After Li Kaifang finished speaking, he personally ordered the whole army to continue to retreat to the east.

Although he knew that his soldiers were all waiting for battle, through the battle in the river valley west of Jessore Village, Li Kaifang still knew that these British still had two fights, even if they were surprised by ambush and shooting, they did not take much advantage, and the British's muskets were vaguely more advanced than their own side, and the soldiers' individual combat ability seemed to be much stronger. Therefore, Li Kaifang avoided frontal combat as much as possible, and tried to attack together with the Burmese army, and if possible, it was best to use the Burmese people as the vanguard to attract British firepower head-on.

Therefore, Li Kaifang still endured and let the captives retreat.

After continuing to retreat more than three miles to the east, the reconnaissance company reported that the British had quickened their advance and had caught up.

It seems that the British were also enraged, and fearing that there would be any more conspiracy, and were anxious to seek battle. At this time, the messenger came to report that the cavalry of the Burmese prince Meng Huo had rushed to the northern flank and was ready to attack. And the main force of Meng Huo's infantry was also ambushed, not far from the front.

Li Kaifang was overjoyed. The commanders of the regiments were ordered at the moment to prepare for battle. They turned around, detoured to the ambush, and headed southeast.

The British soon caught up. It has to be said that the British are indeed well-trained, wearing a uniform red military coat with black lapels, white half-length trousers and black leather shoes and long shoe covers on hot days, which is the uniform attire of the famous "lobster soldiers" in later generations. But they marched in an orderly manner, without complaining, and the pace of the march was not much slower than that of the captives.

Li Kaifang ordered the captives to spread out on several hills in the southeast corner, set up an ambush formation, and asked the soldiers to check their guns one last time and prepare for battle.

At this time, the British army was getting closer and closer to the place of ambush. However, dozens of British scouts had been hovering three miles from the main force in front, and soon spotted the Burmese ambush on the hill.

The British hesitated a little, then prepared for battle, and no longer marched, but spread out in a line of columns, waiting for the artillery behind them to come forward. Soon, more than 30 cannon field guns were erected, and the British opened fire before the Burmese ambush opened fire. The artillery exploded violently on the hilltop, and the Burmese prince Meng Huo couldn't bear it anymore and hurriedly ordered to return fire, but their backward muskets were simply not enough to shoot at all, but they were shot and killed by the new single-shot front-loading rifled muskets in the British army, and they could only rely on the small-caliber guns buried in advance to return fire.