Myanmar is a strategic location in South Asia, with a very important geographical location bordering China's southwest border to the north, the Indian Ocean to the south, Siam and Laos to the east, and the Indian Peninsula of the South Asian subcontinent to the west.

In particular, India was the most important of the British overseas colonies, known as the "crown jewel of the British Empire", and the Sino-Indian border was a towering Himalaya, which was not suitable for large-scale military operations, so China could only cross Burma to threaten the Indian peninsula. At the same time, the southern territory of Myanmar is deeply inserted into the Malay Peninsula and can directly threaten the choke point of the Asian sea route, the Strait of Malacca.

At this time, Burma had been divided into six parts, including Kavir and Manipur in the Indian state of Assam, the Arakan region on the southwest coast, and the Tanah Salin region on the Malay Peninsula, which had already been occupied by the British in the First Anglo-Burmese War 60 years ago.

The remaining two major blocks are Upper Burma, north of the 19th parallel of north latitude is Upper Burma, the important town is Mandalay (also known as Wacheng), the south is Lower Burma, and the important town is Yangon. Mountainous and forested between Upper and Lower Myanmar, it is connected by three major rivers from north to south, namely the Irrawaddy River, the Sedang River (also known as the Sidang River) and the Salween River.

Lower Burma had already been occupied by the British during the Second Anglo-Burmese War, and the two sides had not even signed any treaties or agreements, so it was still legally part of Burmese territory.

The current Gongbang Dynasty actually only owns Upper Burma and has become a landlocked country, with Mandalay as its capital. Mandalay is the political center of Upper Burma, the hub of transportation, the confluence of land and water, and a battleground in history.

Inside there is a splendid palace, the palace is square, 3.2 kilometers long, with four main gates and eight side gates. The red brick palace wall has a wide moat outside the wall. There are 104 large and small halls in the palace, and the whole building complex is a wooden structure, and the buildings are mainly red and gold, which are exquisitely carved and magnificent.

At this time, the atmosphere in the palace was tense, and Wu Dashi turned his hands behind his back, looked up at the sky, and said nothing. On the opposite side, the king of tin robes discussed with the ministers such as Than Shwe and Aung San, looking shocked and uncertain.

Wu Dashi has long been clear about the situation in the Burmese court, and the king of tin robe is a puppet at best, and it is the queen Suhayala who really decides government affairs. Speaking of which, this is indeed a barbarian country, just like beasts, the two queens of the tin robe king are actually his half-sisters, and there is no concept of incest in his head. And in order to seize power, her sister Queen Suhayara killed her own mother, and the king of tin robe only watched from the sidelines.

Such a dynasty has fallen into madness, and its demise is a relief, but these ignorant rulers are unaware of it, and still feel good, and they rebuke China's demands for friendly trade, and until today they receive an "Zuihou ultimatum", no matter how ignorant people are, they will always have a sense of crisis.

After some hesitation, the king of the tin robe claimed to discuss it, and then replied at noon, and Wu Dashi went back to his lodging to wait, and there was no news until dark. According to his experience, these ignorant Burmese people often inexplicably fail to keep their promises, and they don't take it seriously when they are obviously serious, and they have the virtue of not shedding tears when they don't see the coffin.

Confused, he rushed to the palace, and when he inquired, the king of tin robes actually went out of the city with the two queens, and he has not returned yet. It turns out that people have long forgotten about this stubble!

Wu Dashi was really angry and funny, and when he came back, he immediately sent a message to Tengchong, Yunnan, and at the same time ordered to pack up and return to China overnight. In a barbaric country like this, if it runs a little slower, it is only afraid that "the two countries will fight each other and kill them".

On June 3, Wu Dashi and others ran along the Irrawaddy River to Myitkyina, and at the same time, the troops stationed in Ding Ruchang were also ready. The number of this independent brigade of the Guards Army is 359, so it is also called the 359 brigade. The number of the first 100 digits of the Guards is reserved for divisional units, and from 101 to 299, it is the number of the brigade directly under the division. As for the number of this brigade weishenme is 359, just as the number of the capital guard brigade is 8341, no one except the emperor knows it.

At this time, Ding Ruchang held the emperor's "Shang Fang Sword": as long as he knew that Burma had not agreed to the "Zuihou ultimatum", he would send troops directly and did not need to ask Beijing for instructions.

On the afternoon of June 3, an infantry battalion commanded by Hu Kunshan, the forward unit of the 359th Brigade, officially crossed the Sino-Burmese border and entered the wet and muddy mountainous mountains of northern Myanmar, targeting Myitkyina. A large number of Guards soldiers rode in ox carts, including equipment, ammunition, food, medicine, and even field guns, which had to be dismantled into many parts and parts, and relied on ox carts to carry them.

You must know that the battle of Burma will be a battle of mountains and jungles, so Ding Ruchang has been conducting special training for his troops to adapt to fighting in a special geography. Strictly speaking, the 359 Brigade is a mountainous infantry brigade, which is characterized by the fact that it does not have large-caliber heavy artillery and is not equipped with many machine guns, and mainly relies on the cooperation of a small number of field guns and light weapons to minimize the burden and reduce the pressure on logistics and transportation. Moreover, the officers and soldiers were all dressed in short clothes and carried a large number of mosquito repellent and malaria medicines. Because I had to think about camping in the wilderness often, I carried a lot of tents. The main means of transportation is as many as 800 ox carts.

From Tengchong to Myitkyina, an important town in northern Myanmar, the jungle is dense and lush, with only one simple road, and many of the sections are mountain trails that can only lead to one ox cart, and the roads are lined with mountains and wild jungles.

Such a road can be said to be a one-man pass, and it is impossible to open it. Ding Ruchang had always been worried that the Burmese court would be on guard, but after previous reconnaissance, he found that the country had indeed decayed to the extreme, and all his energy was on fighting for power and profit, ignoring the matter of national defense, and the entire border door was wide open, almost undefended.

Even so, Ding Ruchang deliberately chose to march on the Myitkyina line in the northwest, rather than the Lashio line in the east, which is closer to Mandalay. Because the west is inhabited by the Kachin ethnic group, in fact, it is the same ethnic group as the Jingpo people in Yunnan, the food language and culture are exactly the same, and it is relatively close to China, while the Shan State in the east is relatively estranged, so it is far but smoother to go from the western route.

On 4 June, the Hukun Shan battalion arrived at Myitkyina and quickly launched an offensive.

Myitkyina has thousands of Burmese officers and soldiers defending the city, but their equipment is backward, they have both hot and cold weapons, some of them are still holding knives and wooden handles, and many of the firearms are only 18th-century smoothbore guns, and the only two iron cannons have long been rusted, and even the spirit and fighting spirit are loose.

The Guards set up their field guns, and after a few bombardments, the Burmese magistrates ran away, and then with a charge, thousands of Burmese troops immediately shouted and scattered and fled.

Soon, this transportation hub in northern Burma was occupied by China, and that night, the entire 359th Brigade was stationed in Myitkyina. Wu Dashi feasted the Tusi of Kachin State in the city, making it clear that the Kachin people are a brotherly ethnic group in China, and that the Chinese government will support the local armed forces of Kachin State, and that as long as they are incorporated into China in the future, these Tusi will be "prosperous and rich, and there will be no end to the children and grandchildren."

He and Ding Ruchang had a clear division of labor, and were respectively responsible for military affairs and politics.

In the early morning of 5 June, Dinh Ruchang left a battalion to guard Myitkyina, while all the rest of the troops marched south, preparing to take Mandalay through the northern hills.

The places where the troops passed were mostly the Savage Mountains and Gaoligong Mountains, where the mountains overlapped, and the forests covered the sky, the gnats were swarming, and the population was sparse. The so-called road is actually overgrown with wild grass and trees, and there is silence everywhere. It's as if no one has been here since ancient times.

Moreover, after June, the rainy season arrived, and it rained every day, and the paths, which used to be used as roads during the dry season, were now often muddy swamps, which caused great difficulties for the march. The primeval forest is even more damp, leeches and mosquitoes are everywhere on the tree, after the bite, it is very easy to get tetanus, once the high fever is unconscious, plus the leeche sucks blood, mosquito bites, heavy rain washes, a few hours can make people lose their lives.

The Guards marched tenaciously for seven days against great difficulties, capturing small villages and towns such as Mogang, Gedu, and Indo, and finally came out of the mountains on June 12 and occupied Wendo in one fell swoop.

The news of China's attack and occupation of Myitkyina reached Mandalay on June 9, and the Gongbang dynasty realized that the "Zuihou ultimatum" was really not just a casual talk.

The Gongbang dynasty hurriedly transferred troops from the neighboring areas to the northern key road of Kamburu in an attempt to block the Chinese attack, and by the 13th, Kamburu had gathered more than 17,000 Burmese troops.

On 14 June, Ting Ruchang had already led his army to Kamblu, and through reconnaissance by some Kachin people, he had mastered the situation of the Burmese army's defenses. It felt that the enemy army was outnumbered, and occupied the mountain city, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack. And he did not have heavy artillery in his hands, and there would be great losses in a strong attack, so he adopted the strategy of luring the enemy.

On June 15, Hu Kunshan was ordered to lead the vanguard battalion to launch a feint attack, and retreated in a battle with the Burmese army. Chasing less than two miles, Ding Ruchang commanded a main force of 4,000 and suddenly launched a surprise attack from the flank, almost crushing the Burmese army with one punch.

The Burmese officers and men shouted, scattered and cried and fled, and all of them broke up in an instant, with more than 800 of them killed, more than 2,000 taken prisoner, and more than 10,000 fleeing into the jungle without knowing where to go. On the side of the Guards, there were only a few dozen casualties, and Ding Ruchang took advantage of the situation to capture Gamblu.

The news of Gamblu's defeat shook the Gongbang Dynasty into chaos, and the King of Tin Pao had no choice but to hand over the most elite 6,000 Royal Forest Army to the command of his trusted general Durariman and go to the gateway fortress of Mandalay, Kinwu Fort.

At the same time, the kings and ministers of the Gongbang Dynasty all ran to the Mahamuni Stupa and begged the Buddha to bless the statue of Shakyamuni covered with gold leaf.

That's all they can do now.

At this time, the sudden outbreak of armed conflict between China and Myanmar also made the British feel extremely surprised, they have long said that Burma is regarded as a forbidden country, and no one else can touch it, but they did not expect China to suddenly attack Burma, and there was no warning, so that the British side was a little caught off guard.

The British administrative commissioner in Yangon, the Marquis of Dalhousie, urgently reported to London: our strategy in South Asia is being challenged!