The Southern Route Army led by Ding Jiasheng and Yang Zhan camped directly on the other side of Bagan City.

The city of Bagan in front of you, like the city of Baba that you bypassed before, was the capital of the ancient Burmese dynasty.

In this part of Burma, the Mon people established a dynasty for a while, the Burmese people established a dynasty for a while, and the Dai people established a dynasty for a while. No matter which dynasty it is, after its power is strong, it will frantically build capitals and temples, and gather the strength of the whole country to build a city.

Bagan City has a total of 12 gates, and the height and thickness of the walls are about the same as those of the state cities on the Chinese side.

The assault can definitely be defeated, but it will inevitably take more than two months.

Two months is enough time for the Datong Army on the North Road to kill, why do you have to sacrifice the lives of the soldiers to attack? Wouldn't it be nice to camp here, attract all the Burmese troops, and make it difficult for the enemy to sleep?

I also thought about besieging the city and sending reinforcements, but it was really unrealistic.

First, there is a lack of intelligence network, and it is not possible to detect the movements of the enemy's reinforcements from all walks of life based on a few meticulous efforts; The second is that it belongs to the elite land of Burma, and there are rice fields everywhere, and it is difficult for cavalry to exert their mobility and find out the enemy's situation from a long distance; Third, the Burmese reinforcements were very careful not to come directly to Bagan City to rescue, but to gather in the upstream and downstream cities of Bagan City.

The Irrawaddy River, in the city of Bagan, appears in a sharp bay, on the opposite bank of alluvial fertile flatland.

The Datong army was encamped on that flat land, with towering mountains in the background, a wide river in front and a tributary flowing into the river on the side. One side is surrounded by mountains and two sides by water, forming an open triangle.

The cavalry was divided into several groups and patrolled the banks of the tributaries, allowing them to quickly snipe wherever the Burmese army came from.

Ding Jiasheng squatted on the ridge, stroked the rice leaves and asked, "When will this rice be harvested?" ”

The Mon guide said: "From planting rice to harvesting, it takes three months for a short time and four months for a long time, depending on the rain and weather. ”

"Rice grows so fast in Myanmar?" Ding Jiasheng was quite surprised.

Surprised, Ding Jiasheng laughed again: "Then I don't have to worry about the military rations, and when the grain and grass in my hand are finished, I will go to the river to harvest rice and taste the taste of this new rice from Burma." ”

Near the camp of the Datong army, there are many rice fields.

And the banks of the Irrawaddy River and its tributaries are also full of rice fields, and whoever wins the battle will go to harvest.

Even the fortifications built by the Datong army by the river were trampled on the rice fields. First drain the water in the field, step on all the rice crops, dig up the silt and base it on the ridges, and the soldiers step on the collapsed rice paddies.

More than 1,000 ships, all docked at the riverside, have been loaded ashore, and a large amount of firewood and grass are piled up in the boats.

At critical times, ships can be set on fire to prevent the Burmese army from landing.

Yang Zhan personally boarded the hot air balloon to observe, and waited until the fuel burned out before coming down.

Ding Jiasheng asked, "Old Yang, what is the movement of the enemy army?" ”

Yang Zhan replied: "The pagoda in the city is very beautiful, if the Burmese people take out the strength to repair the pagoda and use it all to strengthen the city wall, I can't give birth to half of the idea of attacking the city." ”

"It's been a long time, are you looking at the scenery up there?" Ding Jiasheng couldn't cry or laugh.

Yang Zhan said: "Otherwise, what else can you do? The enemy army gathered more and more, but they did not dare to cross the river to attack, and they only dried up every day. ”

Inside and outside the city of Bagan, there are Buddhist temples and pagodas everywhere, and the highest pagoda is more than 50 meters long.

Even on this side of the camp of the Datong army, on the mountain behind the camp, there are Buddhist temples and pagodas. The monks in the temple were all controlled, and while preventing them from making trouble, they were asked to help dig a ditch and build a low wall.

The large number of Buddhist temples, stupas, and monks indicates that this area is extremely rich, otherwise there would not be so much food to support the monks.

Just when the Datong Army on the North Road, under the leadership of Huang Qi, arrived at Taigong City by boat, the Burmese king Mangbai had already arrived in Bagan City with his own conquest.

The Burmese army is elite, with 30,000 men.

There were also private soldiers led by the nobles, as well as peasants recruited by the nobles, the number of which was as high as 160,000.

This is not even the limit of the Burmese army, which deployed 300,000 troops to annex Mu State decades ago.

Standing on the wall of Bagan, he climbed to observe the situation of the Datong army. This product also has a clairvoyant, which was obtained from the Portuguese, and after careful observation for a long time, I was so depressed that I wanted to scold my mother.

"Can you take it down?" Mang Bai asked.

Hei Lu shook his head and said, "It's difficult, the mountain is too high, and it's steep to go around. The river is too wide to cross. The only place where the attack could be made was the tributary on the northeast side, but the enemy had built a lot of low walls along the river, and there were deep ditches in front of and behind the low walls. The passage by the river was patrolled back and forth by enemy cavalry, and there were infantry posts at every stretch. ”

Mang Bai said: "Otherwise, don't attack the Han soldiers here." Directly take the nobles, officials, soldiers, money and food, and go to the Rakhine Mountains to hide until the weather becomes hot, and the Han soldiers will definitely withdraw at that time. ”

Hei Lu still shook his head: "If we don't destroy the enemy in front of us, we can't leave at all." So many people migrated to the mountains, and the baggage team stretched for several miles, in case the Han soldiers chased after them, the slightest carelessness would wipe out the whole army. It is necessary to storm and hurry, otherwise the enemy from the north will be killed. ”

The next day, the lookout, who lived in the temple on the mountain, suddenly sounded the warning trumpet.

Three hot air balloons by the river hurriedly rose into the air to observe.

Yang Zhan found Ding Jiasheng: "The enemy is about to attack, the first few batches must be a temptation, don't waste our shells." Half of the cavalry was transferred to the north, where the river was very narrow to prevent the enemy from smuggling at night. ”

Ding Jiasheng smiled and said: "You guard the north, I guard the south, and the cavalry will give you seventy." I'm full of rice paddies here, and there are too many cavalry to deploy. ”

The banks of the Ayeyarwady River and its tributaries were full of Burmese army flags, and the peasant army and the people had pulled them out, not knowing which place to attack.

In the river to the east, dozens of enemy ships rowed over.

In the river to the north, more than 100 enemy boats appeared.

On the opposite bank of the two places, the sound of artillery was heard from time to time, and the artillery team of the Burmese army was firing at the position of the Datong army.

The Datong sergeants and soldiers all hid behind the low wall. Fearing that the low wall would not withstand the shelling, they shrank into a trench, the bottom of which was covered with rice crops.

The Burmese ships were all in the middle of the river, and the Datong army still did not return fire.

Hei Lu frowned and said, "Why didn't the Han soldiers move?" ”

Mang Bai said excitedly: "This is just right, take the opportunity to cross the river and kill it!" ”

"I'm afraid it's a bit difficult, and I have to rely on the war elephants in the north." Hei Ru said.

The Burmese warships crossing the river were just a pretense to attract the attention of the Datong army. More than 300 war elephants, as well as thousands of elite Burmese troops, had already circled the upper reaches of the tributary yesterday. The closer you get to the mountains, the shallower and narrower the river becomes, and elephants can tread water directly across the river.

The more powerful the feint in the south, the easier it will be for the war elephants in the north to cross the river.

The first wave of Burmese troops who crossed the river by boat all belonged to the peasant army, and they came purely to consume ammunition.

They bypassed the docked ships of the Datong Army and landed on the shore tremblingly. Then he raised his weapons and walked forward in a mess, and he couldn't even figure out where the Datong army was defending.

"Bang bang bang!"

Nearby soldiers of the Datong Army, who came out of the trenches, hid behind the low wall and fired.

After the first volley, hundreds of Burmese troops collapsed and fled back to the ship in panic. More than 200 Datong cavalry took the opportunity to rush out and chase the fleeing Burmese army to chop melons and vegetables. Fewer than 100 Burmese soldiers managed to escape back to the boat, and many of them jumped into the river before they had time to board the boat.

"A lot of muskets!"

Hei Lu was horrified, the firepower of the Datong army was completely beyond his imagination.

After a slight arrangement, the second group of Burmese army boats prepared to cross the river. They are all small boats that can only carry a few people, which are not only flexible and fast, but also do not lose much even if they are hit by artillery.

Two or three thousand small fishing boats, the Datong army must open fire.

"Boom, boom!"

The sound of artillery was endless, and the sound of one after another made Hei Lu brow furrowed, how many artillery pieces did this have?

One after another, small Burmese boats were sunk, and many were swirled by the waves, but more than half of the boats rowed over to land.

The Burmese troops who landed this time were obviously more presentable, and many of them were noble private soldiers.

Several aristocratic landlords who had successfully crossed the river could not help but be overjoyed to see that they had not been attacked after they had gone ashore. They formed a formation by the river, waited for more soldiers to cross the river, and then went together to attack the low wall of the Datong army.

Behind the low wall, the Datong army was carrying the tiger squat cannon.

Two people can carry the cannon, and a few more people can carry the cannonballs. Wherever there are more Burmese troops gathered, the tiger squat artillery will be transported to whichever side, and iron sand and gravel will be stuffed into the barrel.

Standing on the opposite bank, seeing the successful landing and assembly of the Burmese army, Hei Luna suddenly had infinite hope and ordered: "Send another boat to cross the river, and quickly occupy those few river beaches!" ”

Observing the movement of the Burmese army, Ding Jiasheng ordered: "If the enemy crossing the river does not move, do not fire the artillery!" ”

The riverside position built by the Datong Army was not as terrible as the fortress. However, there are only a few river beaches suitable for landing and gathering troops, and Ding Jiasheng has deployed heavy troops nearby, and the Burmese army is all exposed to firepower.

Seeing that the Datong Army had not moved, the Burmese army became more and more excited, and more and more people successfully landed on the shore.

Finally, the Burmese army on a river beach has gathered nearly 2,000 people. The aristocratic landlord who led the troops, thinking that he could do it, lined up the melee soldiers in front, and also held their shields to defend against bows and arrows, while the archers followed behind.

The earthen walls of the Datong Army were low and brittle, and they were easily breached.

"Boom, boom!"

Six Tiger squatting cannons opened fire on nearly 2,000 Burmese troops. At a distance of tens of meters, iron sand, lead sand, and gravel flew out like flowers.

Hundreds of people fell on the spot, and hundreds of Burmese soldiers were crying and shouting, and the shields in the front row were useless.

"Bang bang bang!"

"Get on the bayonet!"

The musketeers followed with a volley and then rushed out with bayonets in hand.

These Burmese troops have been defeated, and the noble landlords who led the troops were also hit by iron sand, and turned around and fled with a cry of pain.

When the Datong army caught up, the Burmese army only had two or three hundred people on board. A large number of Burmese troops were squeezed into the water, and hundreds of Burmese troops were blocked on the river beach, completely unorganized, and jumped into the river to flee for their lives in the face of bayonets.

Hei Lu was already stupid on the other side, and the way the Datong Army fought completely refreshed his three views.

Everywhere on the river beaches, the Burmese army was completely defeated.

Hei Lu can only be glad that he did not let the real elite cross the river, and no matter how many miscellaneous troops die, he will not feel distressed.

"This kind of tactic, no matter how many of us there are, it's useless." The Burmese king was white, muttering to himself, and his heart was extremely terrified.

Nearly 200,000 Burmese troops, when encountering such broken terrain, can only use refueling tactics. Even if tens of thousands of people were allowed to cross the river, they would be crowded on the river beach as targets until they ran out of ammunition for the Datong army.

Yang Zhan in the north, listening to the lively fighting in the south, became more and more convinced that the enemy was going to smuggle in.

He is the easiest to cross the river here, and the Burmese army is not stupid, how can he abandon it?

"Elephant!"

The lookout hand on the hot air balloon shouted.

More than 300 war elephants, thousands of elite Burmese troops, emerged from the woods.

Yang Zhan said with a smile: "It's finally here, hit halfway, and fight again when you get closer." ”

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