"What?" Ba frowned. It turned out that in order to reduce the logistics burden, Shunjun reduced the load of animals and large trucks carrying food, and the shortcomings were solved by purchasing them from local residents. In order to adapt to the relatively backward economic level of residents along the way, Shunjun not only brought enough money, but also brought some goods that residents along the way liked, such as salt and swords, and the prices were also ordered. With the communication from the guides sent by Lashio, the journey was very smooth.

"Where is the salt and sword?" Chen Zaixing, who was standing beside him, said: "As long as they are willing to contribute to the civilians and food, it's okay to give in to some price!"

"Report to the Lord, they don't want salt and swords. These barbarians want to exchange food for the guns in the hands of the soldiers. The generals dare not make any decisions. Please decide the two masters!"

"What, how can this be done!" Badu was furious when he heard this. Chen Zaixing, who was beside him, gently pulled Badu's sleeve and whispered: "A little impatience will cause chaos. Now we must fight every second, and we must not waste time here. At most, we can have a few rifles with them. Just let the chief and the best hunters in their village be guided in the army."

Ba Du immediately came over. The guns exchanged by the barbarians naturally belonged to the chief and the best hunters. What's the harm in giving them a few guns as long as they were in the army. He nodded and turned to the officer and shouted: "Let's do as Lord Chen said. As long as they are willing to be guides in the army, they will agree to exchange guns for food, but at most, no more than ten!"

"yes!"

Looking at the back of his subordinates leaving, Ba Du whispered: "Brother Chen, this forest has only been one-third of the forest. It will take at least fifteen days to get out of the forest. It will take another two days to get out of the forest. We have already lost three or four hundred people. In this way, in Mandalay, there will probably be only more than two thousand soldiers left. Just a few soldiers, wanting to conquer a country..."

"Brother Ba!" Chen Zaixing blocked Badu's words, "Is it a little less?" and whispered: "If you want to conquer Myanmar, not to mention two thousand people, even if the six camps of imperial guards guarding Hanjing are coming out together, it is not enough. Myanmar is thousands of miles in a radius and a million household registration, so how can a small country consider it?"

"Then why do you still insist on starting a military mission?"

"Brother Ba, think about it, why did Meng Jixuan start the uprising in April?"

"This must be a coincidence!" As soon as Badu said that, he felt something was wrong. He was also in Myanmar for a long time and knew the local situation very well. After a moment of thinking, he had a flash of inspiration and said, "Is it the weather?"

"Yes, Brother Ba, think about it. If the traitors are raising a rebellion and seeking rebellion and attracting British and foreign aid, they will surely think of my army launching a large army to fight. April is the junction between the dry season and the rainy season in Myanmar. During that rainy season, heavy rain is magnificent and endless, and the roads are damaged. Our army cannot stop. By the end of the rainy season in September, the power has stabilized, the British army has arrived, and the wings are full, so our army cannot be easily released."

When Ba Du heard this, he couldn't help but nodded and said, "This guy is really cunning!"

Chen Zaixing smiled and said, "Since ancient times, all the traitors and evil people must have extraordinary points, otherwise why do they do evil? The reason why I strongly advocated marching in the rainy season and set out as soon as possible is to catch him off guard. Moreover, this rainy season is not only beneficial to him, but also to us."

"It's good for me too?" Ba Du was stunned when he heard this and asked, "I would like to hear it carefully!"

"Brother Ba has been in Myanmar for a long time, and I believe that the Burmese people feed on rice. During the rainy season, if they do not build ponds and dams, they will not be able to complete their years. Since Meng has become the new throne, he will definitely make great efforts to build dams to prevent floods. Otherwise, once the floods are caused, the people will not wait for my Dashun to send troops, and the country's central government will have aroused civilians. If I advance with a light army, even if I cannot win, I just need to occupy a high place first, blow up a section of dams, and use water as a soldier, and can also destroy the thieves!"

When Badu heard this, a layer of cold sweat had already oozed from his forehead. Chen Zaixing's plan was really vicious. Mandalay was on the bank of the Irrawaddy River. If the dam was blown up by the Shun Army, even if Mandalay was not submerged, the surrounding villages and crops, crisscrossing canals and irrigation canals would definitely not be guaranteed. In this way, even if Meng could repel Shun Army, he could not stay in Mandalay, so he could only move the capital. Meng Ji was just a usurper, and he was not right. Mandalay is an ancient capital of Myanmar for hundreds of years. It has a large number of temples and holy places, and has a lofty prestige in the hearts of Burmese people. If Meng Ji lost it, he would naturally not sit steadily on this throne. Chen Zaixing's move was indeed very effective as the final trick to break the deadlock.

When Chen Zaixing saw Ba, he knew that the other party was a little unbearable, and smiled and said, "Brother Ba, this is actually just the last move. As far as I see, I am afraid it is not necessary. The British and the fake king are in harmony with each other, and I am afraid they will not have much arms with him."

"Why did Brother Chen say that?"

"Think about it, the British support for the fake king to be rebellious is nothing more than to establish a new treaty, to trade and build roads with them, and to obtain generous gifts. If the two thieves merged, a contract should have been issued long ago. But so far, not only has there been no treaty been announced, but the fake king also sent envoys to Kunming to beg for enthronement. In this way, the fake king is quite a bit between the two powerful people and to beg for self-reliance, and may not be willing to be a slave to the British. If that is the case, how could the British king give him the weapons for nothing?"

"Brother Chen said so much!" Ba Du heard this and couldn't help but slammed the high-fives: "Although I have few soldiers, I am not prepared to attack the enemy, and I have a chance to win. Even if I cannot win, I only need to use water as a soldier, and I can force the pseudo king to abandon the city and leave. Our army has not been damaged, and we just need to advance slowly and help the new king ascend the throne. This is a sure victory strategy." At this time, he had fully understood the source of Chen Zaixing's confidence, and couldn't help but cheer up and shouted loudly to his soldiers: "Send orders to speed up the marches, and you must walk out of the forest area within fifteen days."

Fourteen days passed, and the Shunjun finally walked out of the dense forest. In front of the soldiers were no longer dense forests that covered the sky, but sparse bamboo forests, mango trees, jackfruit and other subtropical fruit trees. Between these forests were large fields full of rice or wasteland that had just been reclaimed and had no time to sow. In the fine rain and fog, soldiers could vaguely see Burmese farmers and oxen working in the fields, and even further away.

The golden dome of the Burmese stupa, when farmers saw this strange army, they threw down their farm tools in panic and drove the ox to escape to the village. This familiar scene made most of the Shun Army soldiers who were farmers before joining the army feel very friendly, especially after the arduous march, the Shun Army lost more than a quarter of its personnel and half of its livestock in that terrible dense forest. This was a very shocking loss.

Under a temporary bamboo shed, Badu and more than a dozen staff officers were surrounding a very crude map, marking the location of their army and the next march route. They had just learned from the several Myanmar farmers that they had captured that it was less than an hour away from a small town called Singgai. Badu, who knew very well about the geography of Mandalay, knew that Singgai was only about twenty kilometers southwest of Mandalay. This news made all the officers very excited. They unanimously demanded to occupy Singgai immediately and let their soldiers rest for two days to recover from their fatigue, and then launch an attack on Mandalay.

"Dazheng Brigade, how do you think you should attack Mandalay?" Chen Zaixing asked. Like the civil and military officials in traditional Chinese politics, his relationship with Badu in this task force is very subtle. He was authorized by Wu Hanmin, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and had the right to regulate all matters here. However, Badu was the temporary appointed master brigade and was the supreme military commander of this detachment. He had full authority over military operations. The power of the two people was vaguely intertwined. However, in the experience of escorting the two Burmese princes back to Shunguo, they had formed a tacit understanding. Not only did they not have the same situation of mutual restraint, but they complemented each other.

"First occupy Xingai, take it as an old camp, and the prince stays there, and then we want to march north and pretend to attack Mandalay. This season, most of the puppet king's army must be preparing river defense near the embankment. When he gets the news, he will concentrate his troops as much as possible and attack us. At this time, we just need to turn around and defeat these mobs." Badu drew on the map with his fingers, his face full of relaxed smiles.

"That's so simple? You must know that we only have two brigades that are not satisfied with the organization, about two thousand soldiers and very few artillery. The pseudo king can easily mobilize an army with four or five times more people than us." Chen Zaixing looked at Badu with some concern.

"It's that simple!" Badu saw Chen Zaixing's worries, and he smiled and said, "Chen Zanhua, war cannot be won by any side. When I was a commander in the Malay Malay Captain's Mansion, I knew our opponents very well. This was an army that was still in the late 17th century, with smoothbore guns in front, smoothbore guns that were eliminated, linear infantry tactics, ignorant noble officers and illiterate peasant soldiers who were equally ignorant as they were. Many soldiers would not even use the rifle in their hands correctly. As long as they had the correct command, a few volleys and a bayonet charge would be enough to defeat them!"

"What if the fake king doesn't attack and can't stand it? Then do you have a way to capture Mandalay? This is a city with a wall!" Chen Zaixing asked.

"Chen Zanhua, that was just a city wall in the era of cold weapons. There were no good turrets or multi-faceted forts and tunnels for soldiers to defend. Soldiers would be beaten in vain. As long as we occupied the artillery positions on Mandalay Mountain outside the city, the entire Mandalay city was within the range of my eight 75mm guns' direct aiming fire. Just a few grenades were needed, and the defenders in the city would realize that stubbornness was just a waste of time and life! If it really didn't work, we could blow up the river embankment and solve everything with floods." Badu explained patiently. At the end, he explained with a smile: "In the past ten years, military science has made great progress."

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Chen Zaixing's face. He was ashamed of his military ignorance. As an outsider, he lowered his head and closed his mouth.

The Shun Army was very quick. After twenty minutes of battle, Xin Gai fell into the hands of the attacking party. This place was not so much a fortified city as a market. There was a row of crude bamboo fences around the market, and thorny shrubs were planted next to the fences. Soon these shrubs filled the gaps of the bamboo fences, and local residents used this to replace the city walls. However, this could not resist the bayonets and rifles of the Shun Army, and they were surprised to pull them.

The discovery was that there were a large amount of new rice in the warehouse, which was part of the taxes that were about to be sent to Mandalay in the nearby villages. With this, the Shun Army would no longer have to disperse its troops to collect military rations in unfamiliar villages around. Chen Zaixing immediately ordered the banner of the old Burmese King Heshun Army to erect on the top of the tallest house in Xingai to announce the arrival of the orthodox royal family to Mandalay. At the same time, a forward army was sent to Mandalay to collect intelligence and launch a tentative attack.

Mandalay, Royal Palace.

Dioc knelt on the ground, his face pressed against the ground, and he reported in a trembling voice: "Great Your Majesty, the Chinese are here, they have occupied Xingai!"
Chapter completed!