Chapter 653: Questioning the Discipline

[I am much better today, I want to eat, I went to Pizza Hut to eat pizza, and I was sad to find that the taste has not recovered, and eating cheese is bitter......]

Ava is located in northern Burma, south of Mandalay, the former capital of the Burmese Gongbang Dynasty, which rose after the defeat of the Taungoo Dynasty, and was the ruling center of several Burmese dynasties. The Donghu Dynasty also set this place as the capital, and there was a prince-level clan to guard it, and there were 30,000 or 40,000 elite soldiers stationed there.

The reason why the Burmese king Daningh was not in Ava is the sad tradition of Ava. The city of Ava was actually the front line of defense for the Taungoo Dynasty to suppress the Shan, Kachin and other northern ethnic groups, and was very similar in nature to Beijing in China. But this essence is not guaranteed by material conditions, once the situation changes greatly, Ava is the first target to be invaded, and basically cannot resist for long. Whether it was the Ming Dynasty Wanli period to conquer Burma, or Wu Sangui to oppress Burma to extradite Emperor Yongli, the army smoothly attacked the city of Ava, putting great pressure on the Burmese dynasty, so it was not necessary, the king of Burma was basically not in Ava City, but in the south of the nest Donghu.

Burma's military technology is poor, except for war elephants, relying on the early tradition of contact with Europa colonists, flintlock pistols are widely used, and the sources are complex and diverse, but the tactical level of infantry is extremely low. In Li Xian's previous life, in the Qing-Burma War in the Qianlong era, Fu Heng, the commander of the Qing army and a "famous general", once said that the Burmese army is a third-rate strategy, second-rate combat power, and first-class armament. The Qing army was finally defeated and returned to the country, and it was defeated under such a "321" army.

In addition to the tactical level of infantry, the Burmese are also very unfamiliar with artillery and city defense fortress technology, of course, the technology of building stupas is first-class, which is also a trick of Southeast Asian countries. Daguang on the other side of Saleem, that is, Yangon in the future, is still a small fishing village, but there is a golden Rui Daguang pagoda.

Therefore, when Fang Tangheng led a vast army of different nationalities, such as the Shan, Kachin and Yunnan Tusi soldiers, to the city of Ava, he saw that there was an additional earthen defense line around the city, similar to the style of a fortress, and he immediately understood that there must be Europa people in the city of Ava, so he didn't know which country's troops it was, and he didn't know whether it was a company mercenary or a free mercenary.

"The layout is very standard, it is the technique of the French, but it is a tradition of the Burmese army to have so many wooden frames on the outside. Judging by the position, if it is a company mercenary, the number will be very small, and it is very likely that it is a free mercenary. ”

Fang Tangheng found the civil engineering supervisor of the Eagle Yang Army, and after some evaluation, he came to such a conclusion. Back then, Li Shi took Yinghua to gamble on the national fortune and blatantly killed the Spaniards in Luzon, and he gained too much. Civil engineering has also become a formal military science, not only in the army academy, but also in the army units with special civil engineering supervisors, and attempts to form engineering units.

At present, the engineering unit is still a little ahead, but the officers of the civil engineering supervisor are experts who are familiar with Chinese and Western fortifications and fortress systems, and they can see through the details of this newly built defense line at a glance, and give professional advice on restraining it.

"Don't talk about the 30-pound cannon, there are no 20-pound cannons, let's come from Yunnan, and the 12-jin cannons are all carried by war elephants. It is a waste for the Burmese to use elephants for war, such a good large pack animal, it has to pierce its ears as a war horse to charge......"

Fang Tangheng rejected the simple and crude restraint countermeasures of the civil engineering officers, and Myanmar was densely jungled and rich in timber resources, so he developed a set of carpentry techniques. It is very effective in the era of cold weapons, and even in the era of hot weapons that lack artillery, but it is defenseless under Yinghua's artillery, and it can even have a serious collateral damage effect due to the collapse of broken wood.

But the problem is that the Eagle Yang Army, like the Zhanwenda Department that attacked from the east, was limited by the rugged roads and difficult supplies, so the artillery basically only carried four-kilogram cannons and six-kilogram flying cannons, and a small number of twelve-kilogram cannons. Twenty pounds, thirty pounds, and even thirty pounds of flying cannons, that is a benefit that only troops from the south to the north can enjoy, and their road conditions are much better. …,

Fang Tangheng complained about the Burmese people's obsession with war elephants, in fact, he also knew that in Burma, Laos, Siam, and Cambodia, war elephants were the chariots of ancient China, and whoever had a strong army of war elephants could dominate the battlefield. In that year, Li Dingguo resisted the Qing Dynasty and also organized a large number of war elephant troops in Yunnan and Guangxi.

But he has in his hands a threefold magic weapon to restrain the Burmese war elephants, the first is naturally his own war elephants, but as he said, he is more interested in the significance of the big elephants in logistics support, and the enthusiasm for fighting is not high. The second is that the British and Chinese army have artillery, and the four-pound cannon is enough to clean up a large group of war elephants. The third magic weapon is sharper, the skin of the war elephant is rough and thick, and it is difficult for ordinary muskets to kill effectively, but the rifled gun is enough to penetrate the thick skin of the war elephant, and in order to deal with the Burmese war elephants, some rifled gunners even wrap steel nails in lead bullets. Before Mengmi Baojing, the Burmese army drove more than 80 war elephants to counterattack, and relied on forty or fifty rifled gunners riding on the backs of war elephants to break up the opponent's offensive.

War elephants could not crush these defensive lines or tear down the walls of Ava......

Retracting his scattered thoughts, Fang Tangheng focused his attention on the city of Ava in front of him, when a large group of colorful and strangely dressed people surrounded him, and it was the leaders of various ethnic groups in northern Myanmar led by the Shan and Kachin ethnic groups.

"We have war elephants to charge!"

"We have warriors to storm the city!"

"Our state divisions used to cut off tribute, and they were all harmed by the Burmese! The heart of loyalty to the Celestial Empire has never been severed. After defeating the Burmese, I hope that the Celestial Empire will understand the difficulties of our small state and small division......"

The heads of all ethnic groups made generous statements and had a very low attitude, but even Fang Tangheng, who had a dull sense of political smell, also heard a strong sense of appreciation, what kind of reward? Nominal or secondary, the key is region! To cut the flesh of the Burmese regime...... They also knew that they would not be rewarded for their worthlessness, so they stood up one after another and wanted to use the lives of their clansmen to earn this blood reward.

"I can't make up my mind about this, let someone who knows how to go, who? The No. 2 female general in the country, yes, she is also here. Hey, you really don't understand these things, Rollo...... Well, there are also tribes in Myanmar, and the number is not much, and there are slightly more in Siam. Let Long Zhilan coordinate these toasts in northern Myanmar. ”

Someone recommended himself to be cannon fodder, of course Fang Tangheng wanted to laugh at it, what blood reward might be given, this was not within his responsibility, so he had to find Cheng Yingde. Cheng Yingde introduced another person, Guizhou's pacification envoy, Long Zhilan, the queen of Heiyi. In recent years, relying on the support of the central government's righteous name, she has integrated the Heiyi tribes in Guizhou, Xiangxi, Guangxi, and Yunnan, and has become a veritable Heiyi queen.

"How far is Ava from Malacca?"

Fang Tangheng was also a little impetuous, he was also a master with high eyes, and the marriage had not yet been settled, for a moment, he wanted to work this queen, but he was asked by the other party to pour ice water on the top.

The rumors that have been circulating for several years are really true, this queen is a lover, and the reason why she has to squeeze to Myanmar is actually more to get closer to Jia Hao.

Fang Tangheng reluctantly smiled and said, "It's a lot closer than Guizhou......

Long Zhilan's eyes swept away, Fang Tangheng's voice was dry, but he heard the queen say again: "You, the deputy governor, are too slow with your hands and feet, and you only arrived at the city of Ava in the first month of Burma, so for the sake of my business, I will help you with my heart." ”

Fang Tangheng couldn't cry or laugh, sure enough, the matter of conquering Myanmar is not your business, you are going to meet your lover, and it is wishful thinking.

There are not many ethnic groups related to the Black Yi in Myanmar, but they are not strangers, and there are Long Zhilan who are willing to show up to explain the Anglo-Chinese ethnic principles with the treatment of the Black Yi, and the Shan and Kachin ethnic groups finally have an idea of what kind of blood reward they can receive, and at the same time the willingness to return to China is also stronger. …,

After a few days of preliminary preparations, Fang Tang Heng was preparing to command the allied forces of all ethnic groups to attack, and Cheng Yingde finally played the value of a civilian official again.

"There are 800 French mercenaries in the city, although they are bearing the sign of the French East India Company, but they are Portuguese subcontractors, in other words, these are free mercenaries in the skin of the company's mercenaries, and the military intelligence supervisor in the army has not reported this to you?"

"yes, so what? This only shows that those 800 people are very weak and will not fight to the death. Knowing this, I was even more relieved. ”

"You, you just don't read history......"

Cheng Yingde hated and reprimanded Fang Tangheng, fortunately he followed, otherwise he didn't know what kind of vicious battle he would have to fight, and he would have to use it if he had a more convenient way. Now the Chanbunda tribe has captured Taunggyi and is advancing towards Mitiera. The army of Wu Ya in the south is also approaching Bagu, and if the northern road is not clever, it will drag the whole of Burma back.

Although Fang Tang Heng and his confidants also denounced the Privy Council's group of civilian officials dressed in martial arts for becoming more and more harsh on the troops, the civil officials in the political hall are also like picking bones in eggs, always examining whether the martial artists are using force to coerce the government. I heard that the Metropolitan Procuratorate has been writing a letter requesting that the scope of supervision be extended to the military personnel, rather than being supervised by the Military Justice Department of the Privy Council, which makes the military personnel have no good impression of civilian officials.

But people like Cheng Yingde, he can't hate it, on the one hand, he is the governor of a province, on the other hand, he knows the emperor's intentions best, and everything he does in the local area is practical, just like Xiang Shanxuan and Yang Junli's gang who joined the army back then, they also followed the martial artists all the way.

Therefore, even if Fang Tangheng was one of the only dozen or so major generals in the country, he didn't dare to hold it up in front of Cheng Yingde, and said respectfully: "Please give the governor advice......

Cheng Yingde smoothed his beard and said leisurely: "When Deng Zilong entered Burma, he also met five hundred Portuguese mercenaries hired by Mang Yingli, the king of Burma......

Mercenaries are not unique to Europa, but they also brought this military tradition to Asia when Europeans traveled the globe through great voyages. The governments of the Europa countries were not yet able to control Asia, and the East India Companies were in their own position, and the standing armies they had created were in fact mercenaries.

However, the East India Companies were still engaged in plundering merchandise, and had little interest in direct colonization, so there was no need to maintain a large standing army, which was the basis for the widespread existence of free mercenaries in addition to the corporate mercenaries. They were hired not only by the East India Company, but also by projects in various Asian countries. Burma, Siam, Cochin and Annam have all employed Portuguese, Dutch, French and even Spanish mercenaries.

Free mercenaries were also prevalent in Asia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. At this time, although the eighteenth century had come to an end, it still stubbornly refused to retreat from the stage of history.

But unlike Europa's mercenary history, after all, the local traditional forces are strong, and the mercenary involvement is not at the key level, so the scale is not large, so Asians have not had much in-depth contact with the discipline of free mercenaries, and European countries have learned enough about the discipline of free mercenaries.

But in China, Deng Zilong brazenly exposed the discipline of free mercenaries. Of course, Mang Yingli led his army north to attack Yunnan, and there were 500 Portuguese mercenaries in the army. Deng Zilong bribed this group of mercenaries with a lot of money, not only eliminated a strong enemy, but also obtained the tactical intelligence of the Burmese army, and destroyed the Burmese army that was preparing to ambush him.

Fang Tang Constant gasped as if he had a toothache: "The governor is saying that the mercenaries in the city can be directly bribed?" ”

Cheng Yingde sneered: "You give everyone 10,000 taels of silver, and the head of the Burmese royal brother can be given out immediately!" Not only will the whole city surrender, but it will also give you the vanguard of the southern expedition! ”

Isn't this nonsense......... "If you give a hundred taels, you can only target this mercenary." ”

As soon as Cheng Yingde said this, Fang Tangheng thought about it seriously, and after a while, he sighed and said, "I suddenly feel that our martial artists are less and less like the martial artists of the past......

Late September is the tail of the rainy season in Burma, and the reason why we want to march in the rainy season is to seize the advantageous position of capturing the big cities of Ava, Taungoo, Bago and Salian before the end of the rainy season. When Wu Ya received the battle report of the capture of Ava City by the North Road in a fishing village in the Western Ocean in Burma, he excitedly and curiously said to himself: "How did this Fang Tietou get it?" ”

After opening the battle report and taking a closer look, Wu Ya's face changed, and it took a long time for him to sigh like a toothache, "Special expenses...... Another hundred thousand ...... less"

How did Ava fall?

It was bought by Fang Tangheng for 100,000 taels of silver, although a complete trench was dug, although the city gathered 40,000 troops shrinking from the north, and there was plenty of grain and grass, but these could not stand the discipline of the eight hundred mercenaries.

Fang Tangheng felt that it would not be possible to buy them for 80,000 taels of silver, so he bid 100,000 yuan to buy them to open the city. The technical details of this period are not understood at all by the Burmese people, who have too few cities in the country and are seriously inexperienced in city defense. Coupled with the Shan army pretending to be the Burmese royal army, the Burmese army in Ava City has not yet reacted.

When the whole city was in chaos, the royal brother who guarded Ava thought that his subordinates were in trouble. It wasn't until the red-clothed soldiers, guided by the mercenaries, rushed all the way to the palace and surrounded him, that he came to his senses.

"This Fang Tietou seems to want to be on par with Jia Gouzi...... Hum! ”

For Wu Ya, who chopped off people's heads like throwing stones, the lives of foreigners were not worth anything at all, and they should be piled up with human heads, so he was a little dissatisfied with Fang Tangheng's move. But Ava was the capital of the Burmese, and he could take it so lightly, and he could only bury this complaint in his stomach, looking at his target with dissatisfaction.

Bagu ...... It's not qualified, Sha Lian, just right, it should be a tragic battlefield with artillery fire and flesh flying, which is in line with his Wu Shishi's violent aesthetics.

To the south, thousands of miles away in Pattani, Jia Hao quietly looked at a yellow man kneeling at his feet, and the little white hat on the man's head made him think.

"In the past, you Chinese in Pattani also contributed to the attack on Luzon, and the state opened a commercial hall in Pattani through the Nanyang Company, giving many preferential treatments, and the returns were also sufficient. Now that the country wants to collect Malacca, whether it can use you, how to use you, this is a difficult problem, the difficulty is difficult, how can I believe you, I do have the heart to return to China. ”

Wu Ya complained that Fang Tangheng began to follow Jia Hao's example, and was used to solving problems by means other than the battlefield, but this complaint was not to the point. Because Jia Hao is different from him, he has always dealt with the problem of integrating the military and the government. The main point in the capture of Malacca is not military, but on the Chinese in Pattani, north of Malacca. Malacca, unlike Funan, is a densely populated area, and it is impossible for even the most ferocious Mongols to commit genocide in such a place. Yinghua must rely on other forces to gain a foothold in Malacca.

The Chinese in Pattani are very close to Malacca and are also self-contained, and they also swore allegiance to Li Shi in Funan in the past, and also besieged Luzon with Jia Hao, so this experience seems to be very reliable.

But Jia Hao has a thorn in his heart, he believes that this is also the reason why Li Shi asked him to take charge of Malacca's affairs, the Chinese of Pattani are no longer pure Chinese.