The Southern Route Army led by Ding Jiasheng and Yang Zhan camped directly on the other side of Bagan City.
The Bagan city in front of us, like the Pyay city we bypassed before, was the capital of the ancient dynasty of Myanmar.
In Myanmar, sometimes the Mon people established a dynasty, sometimes the Bamar people established a dynasty, and sometimes the Dai people established a dynasty. No matter which dynasty it was, when it became powerful, it would frantically build capitals and temples, and gather the power of the whole country to build a city.
Bagan City has a total of 12 gates, and the height and thickness of the city wall are roughly equivalent to those of state cities in China.
A strong attack can definitely be won, but it will definitely take more than two months.
Two months are enough for the Datong Army on the North Road to attack, so why sacrifice the lives of soldiers to attack? Isn't it better to set up camp here, attract the Burmese army, and make it difficult for the enemy to sleep and eat?
I also thought about besieging the city and calling for reinforcements, but it was a bit unrealistic.
First, there is a lack of intelligence network, and it is impossible to detect the movements of the enemy's reinforcements by just a few careful operations; second, this is Myanmar's elite land, with rice fields everywhere, making it difficult for the cavalry to exert their maneuverability and find out the enemy's situation from a distance;
Third, the Myanmar reinforcements were very careful and did not come directly to Bagan City for rescue. Instead, they gathered in cities upstream and downstream of Bagan City.
The Irrawaddy River has a sharp bay at the city of Bagan, and the alluvial fertile flat land on the other side.
The Datong Army camped on that flat land, with towering mountains behind them, a broad river in front, and tributaries flowing into the river on the sides. There were mountains on one side and water on both sides, forming an open triangle.
The cavalry was divided into several teams and patrolled the banks of the tributaries. No matter where the Burmese army came from, they could quickly snipe them.
Ding Jiasheng squatted on the ridge of the field, stroking the rice leaves and asked: "When will this rice be harvested?"
The Mon guide said: "The time from transplanting to harvesting can be as short as three months or as long as four months. It depends on the rain and weather."
"The rice in Myanmar grows so fast?" Ding Jiasheng was quite surprised.
Surprised, Ding Jiasheng laughed again: "Then I don't have to worry about military rations. When the food and grass in my hands are finished, I will go to the river to harvest rice and taste the new Burmese rice."
There are many rice fields near the Datong Army's camp.
The banks of the Irrawaddy River and its tributaries are also covered with rice fields, and whoever wins the fight will harvest them.
Even the fortifications built by the Datong Army on the riverside were built by stepping on the rice fields. They first drained the water in the fields, trampled all the rice fields, dug out mud and built them on the field ridges, and the soldiers stepped on the collapsed rice fields.
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More than a thousand ships were all docked on the riverside, their baggage had been moved ashore, and a large amount of firewood was piled in the ships.
At critical moments, the ship 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 getting down.
Ding Jiasheng asked: "Old Yang, what's the enemy's movement?"
Yang Zhan answered the question: "The pagodas in the city are very beautiful. If the Burmese people put all their efforts into building pagodas and use them all to strengthen the city wall, I won't even think about attacking the city."
"How long have you been up there admiring the scenery?" Ding Jiasheng couldn't laugh or cry.
Yang Zhan said: "What else can we do? The enemy troops are gathering more and more, but they dare not cross the river to attack. They are just wasting their lives every day."
There are Buddhist temples and pagodas everywhere inside and outside Bagan. The tallest pagoda is more than 50 meters tall.
Even here where the Datong Army camped, there were Buddhist temples and pagodas on the mountains behind the camp. The monks in the temples were all controlled to prevent them from causing trouble, and at the same time, they were asked to help dig ditches and build low walls.
The presence of a large number of Buddhist temples, pagodas, and monks shows that this area is extremely wealthy, otherwise there would not be so much food to support the monks.
Just when the Datong Army on the North Road, led by Huang Yao, arrived at Taigong City by boat, the Burmese king Mangbai had already arrived at Bagan City with his own troops.
The Burmese army has an elite force of 30,000 people.
There were also private soldiers led by nobles and peasants recruited by nobles, numbering as many as 160,000.
This has not reached the limit of the Burmese army. Decades ago, Burma dispatched a total of 300,000 troops in order to annex Mu State.
He Lutao stood on the wall of Bagan and climbed up to observe the situation of the Datong Army. This guy also had a telescope, which he got from the Portuguese. He observed carefully for a long time, and he was so depressed that he wanted to curse.
"Can you beat it down?" Mang Bai asked.
Hei Lutao shook his head and said: "It's difficult. The mountains are too high and steep to go around. The river is too wide and it's difficult to cross. The only place where we can attack is the tributary on the northeast side, but the enemy has built many low walls along the river.
, there are deep ditches blocking the path in front and behind the low wall. The enemy cavalry patrols the passage along the river, and there are infantry checkpoints at each section."
Mang Bai said: "How about we stop attacking the Han soldiers here. Just take the nobles, officials, soldiers, money and food to the Arakan Mountains to hide until the weather gets hot. The Han soldiers will definitely withdraw by then."
Hei Lutao still shook his head: "We can't leave without destroying the enemy in front of us. So many people have moved to the mountains, and the trains stretch for several miles. If the Han soldiers come after them, the whole army will be wiped out if they are not careful. It must be
Attack with force and hurry up, otherwise the enemies from the north will come and kill us."
The next day, the watchman living in the temple on the mountain suddenly blew the warning bugle.
Three hot air balloons on the riverside quickly took off for observation.
Yang Zhan found Ding Jiasheng: "The enemy is about to attack. The first few waves must be a test. Don't waste our artillery shells. Move half of the cavalry to the north. The river there is very narrow. Be careful of the enemy sneaking across at night."
Ding Jiasheng said with a smile: "You guard the north, I will guard the south, and I will give you 70% of the cavalry. There are rice fields everywhere here, and there are too many cavalry to deploy."
Along the banks of the Irrawaddy River and its tributaries, there were Burmese army flags everywhere. Peasant soldiers and civilians were drawn out, and they had no idea which area to focus on.
In the east river, dozens of enemy ships rowed over.
In the river to the north, more than a hundred enemy ships appeared.
On the other side of the two places, the sound of artillery could be heard from time to time, and the Burmese army's artillery was firing at the Datong Army position.
The Datong soldiers all hid behind the low wall. Afraid that the low wall could not withstand the bombardment, they huddled in the trench, with the bottom of the trench filled with rice straw.
The Burmese army ships were all in the middle of the river, but the Datong Army still did not fight back.
Hei Lutao frowned and said, "Why are there no movements from the Han soldiers?"
Mang Bai said excitedly: "This is just right, let's take the opportunity to cross the river and kill him!"
"I'm afraid there will be some difficulties. We have to rely on the war elephants in the north." Heludao said.
The Burmese army's warships crossing the river were just a pretense to attract the attention of the Datong Army. More than 300 war elephants and thousands of Burmese army elites had already detoured to the upper reaches of the tributary yesterday. The closer to the mountainous area, the shallower and narrower the river becomes.
It's like you can cross the river directly by treading water.
The more powerful the feint attack is 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 were all peasant troops, and they came purely to consume ammunition.
They bypassed the docked ships of the Datong Army and cautiously landed on the shore. Then they raised their weapons and walked forward in a chaotic manner, and they couldn't even figure out where the Datong Army was defending.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
The nearby Datong Army soldiers came out of the trench and hid behind the low wall to shoot.
After the first round of volleys, hundreds of Burmese soldiers collapsed and fled back to the ship in panic. More than two hundred Datong cavalry took the opportunity to rush out and chased the fleeing Burmese soldiers to chop melons and vegetables. The Burmese who successfully escaped back to the ship
The army consisted of less than a hundred men, and many who had no time to board the ship jumped directly into the river.
"Lots of muskets!"
Hei Ludao was horrified. The firepower of the Datong Army was completely beyond his imagination.
After a brief arrangement, the second batch of Burmese military ships prepared to cross the river in a mighty manner. They were all small boats that could only carry a few people. They were not only flexible and fast, but also suffered little damage even if they were hit by artillery.
There are two to three thousand small fishing boats, and the Datong Army must open fire.
"Boom boom boom!"
The sound of artillery was continuous, and the sound one after another made Hei Ludao frown. How many artillery were there?
One after another, small boats of the Burmese army were sunk, and many were tossed around by the waves, but more than half of the boats were rowed over to land.
The Burmese troops who landed this time were obviously more decent, and many of them were private soldiers of the nobility.
Several noble landowners who successfully crossed the river were overjoyed to see that they had not been attacked after landing ashore. They formed a team by the river, waiting for more soldiers to cross the river, and then went to attack the low wall of the Datong Army together.
Behind the low wall, the Datong Army was transporting the Crouching Tiger Cannon.
Two people can carry the cannon, and a few more people can carry the shells. Wherever the Burmese army gathers more, the Crouching Tiger cannon will be transported there, and iron sand and gravel will be stuffed into the barrel.
Standing on the other side of the river, Hei Lutao saw the Burmese army successfully landing and gathering. He suddenly felt infinite hope and ordered: "Send another boat across the river and occupy those river beaches quickly!"
Ding Jiasheng observed the mobilization of the Burmese army and ordered: "The enemy troops crossing the river will not move, and the cannons and artillery should not fire!"
Although the riverside positions constructed by the Datong Army were not as scary as the bastions, there were only a few riverbanks suitable for landing and gathering troops. Ding Jiasheng had heavily deployed nearby, and the Burmese troops were all exposed to firepower.
Seeing that the Datong Army had been silent, the Burmese army became more and more excited, and more and more people successfully landed.
Finally, there were nearly 2,000 Burmese soldiers gathered on a river beach. The noble landowners who led the troops felt that they could do it, so they arranged the melee soldiers in front, holding shields to defend against bows and arrows, while the archers followed behind.
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The earthen walls of the Datong Army were short and brittle, and could easily be breached.
"Boom boom boom!"
Six squatting tiger guns were aimed at nearly 2,000 Burmese troops and opened fire. From a distance of tens of meters, iron sand, lead sand, and gravel flew out like a goddess scattering flowers.
Hundreds of people fell down on the spot, and hundreds of Burmese soldiers were crying and shouting that the shields in the front row were useless.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
"Fire the bayonet!"
The musketeers fired a volley and then rushed out with bayonets in hand.
These Burmese troops had been stunned, and the noble landowners who led the troops were also hit by the iron sand. They turned around and ran away, screaming in pain.
When the Datong Army caught up, only two to three hundred Burmese soldiers boarded the boat. A large number of Burmese soldiers were pushed into the water, and hundreds of Burmese soldiers were blocked on the river beach. They had completely lost their organization. Faced with bayonets, they jumped into the river to escape for their lives.
Hei Ludao was dumbfounded on the other side. The fighting method of the Datong Army completely refreshed his three views.
Everywhere on the riverbanks, the Burmese army was defeated.
Hei Ludao could only be glad that he did not let the real elite cross the river. No matter how many miscellaneous troops died, he would not feel bad.
"This kind of fighting method is useless no matter how many of us there are." King Mangbai of Burma muttered to himself, feeling extremely frightened in his heart.
The nearly 200,000 Burmese troops could only use refueling tactics when encountering such rough terrain. Even if tens of thousands of people were allowed to cross the river at once, they would still be crowded on the river beach and used as targets until the ammunition of the Datong Army was exhausted.
Yang Zhan in the north, hearing the lively fighting in the south, became more and more certain that the enemy was trying to sneak across.
This is the easiest place to cross the river. The Burmese army is not stupid, so how could they just ignore it?
"elephant!"
shouted the lookout on the hot air balloon.
More than 300 war elephants and thousands of Burmese military elites emerged from the woods.
Yang Zhan smiled and said: "Finally we are here, strike halfway across, then move closer and strike again."