An interesting anecdote is that during the Yuan-Myanmar War hundreds of years ago, the Burmese army was the first to enter the Yunnan border.
At that time, Kublai Khan condemned envoys to pacify Burma, and the king of Burma also sent envoys to Dadu. In the next two years, the Burmese people did not come to pay tribute, so Kublai Khan sent envoys to urge them.
The Yuan Dynasty envoy never returned. According to historical records in Myanmar, the Yuan envoy refused to take off his boots when he met the Burmese king and was executed.
Chieftain Ahe felt something was wrong and took the initiative to join the Yuan Dynasty.
The Burmese king was furious and sent more than 40,000 troops and 800 war elephants to pursue Ahe all the way to Yunnan. The Mongolian Qianhu led 700 cavalry to rush to the rescue, divided into three teams, and attacked halfway across the river. The Burmese army was in chaos. "Thieves and elephants"
The dead bodies of the horses trampling each other filled the three giant ditches, and the corpses of the Burmese army trampled each other to death filled the river ditches.
In this way, the 700 cavalry of the Yuan army faced off against the Burmese army of more than 40,000 and 800 war elephants. They pursued them for more than 30 miles and did not stop until the leader of the Yuan army was injured.
Only one of the Yuan soldiers died, and it wasn't in battle. Instead, he captured a war elephant, couldn't figure out the elephant's temper, and was trampled to death by the elephant...
At this moment, more than 300 war elephants and thousands of Burmese military elites quickly rushed to the river.
The Burmese generals who were ambushing further downstream, seeing that the war elephant troops successfully attacked, also led 30,000 Burmese troops to rush out with small boats and bamboo rafts.
The Burmese troops encountered by Ding Jiasheng were all "feint attack" troops. Seeing the lively fighting downstream, the Burmese felt that many of the Datong troops upstream should have been transferred there, and launched a brazen attack similar to a decisive battle.
The river upstream was originally narrow, only more than ten meters wide. Suddenly, so many Burmese troops crossed the river, and the river surface was densely packed.
The main force of the Burmese army's artillery team was also concentrated here, with more than thirty artillery pieces firing wildly at the Datong Army's position.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
The artillery positions of the Datong Army in the upper reaches were all arranged on the mountainside. The angles were adjusted 20 days ago. As long as the artillery was fired, it would definitely hit the middle of the river.
When a cannonball falls, it has a high probability of hitting a boat or bamboo raft directly. Even if it misses, it can still overturn the boat or bamboo raft.
A large number of Burmese troops blocked the river and the situation was chaotic.
The war elephants further upstream had already entered the water and were walking forward on the river bottom. Thousands of Burmese military elites followed in small boats.
"Moo Ang~~~~"
The falling shells made the war elephants restless and roared.
Elephants are very smart animals. After sensing danger, they are determined not to move forward, and some even automatically turn around and want to escape.
"boom!"
A cannonball entered the water and hit the elephant's leg underwater.
The elephant finally went crazy and rushed sideways.
"Raise the gun!"
"Bang bang bang bang!"
From a distance of tens of meters, volleys of guns were aimed at the war elephants. Although it was not easy to kill them, they beat the war elephants so painfully that they went crazy. The shells kept falling, and half of the more than 300 war elephants had lost their minds.
The Burmese army following behind them was the first to suffer misfortune. Small boats and bamboo rafts on the river were knocked over one after another.
"The cavalry listened to the order, abandoned the muskets and medicine pouches, and followed me across the river to pursue us!"
Yang Zhan's hair was gray, but his arrogance was still the same. He handed over the position to his deputy general and ordered the deputy general to organize the infantry to cross the river. He then rushed out with his war horse. The horse could swim, and the soldiers swam across the river together with the war horse.
More than 3,000 cavalrymen quickly swam across the river more than ten meters wide.
Yang Zhan got on his horse, drew his sword and shouted: "Kill!"
The more than 30,000 Burmese troops here have collapsed, especially the few thousand elites, who were driven to pieces by their own war elephants. They originally fled downstream along the bank, but when they saw the Datong Army chasing after them, their remaining sanity was gone.
Several hundred of the Datong Army's infantrymen took off their clothes and went down to the river. They pushed back the boats and bamboo rafts in the river, and then the main force of the Datong Army's infantrymen crossed the river to pursue them.
Not long after, all the troops of a regular division crossed the river, and the Mon servant troops also rushed behind.
In order to confuse the Datong army and hide his initiative, Hei Ludao divided more than 100,000 people into several piles and arranged them to camp along the river.
This kind of long snake formation has now become the way to death.
The defeated Burmese army was chased to the nearest camp. Many of the Burmese soldiers here were by the river. After being rushed by the defeated army, and seeing the Datong cavalry chasing them, they subconsciously turned around and ran away, and they ran towards the city of Bagan.
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Such an escape route is tantamount to continuing to attack the Burmese army positions ahead.
In less than half an hour, Yang Zhan led more than 3,000 cavalry and overran three Burmese army camps and positions one after another. The Burmese army collapsed and was overwhelming, with a total of 50,000 to 60,000 people fleeing.
When Ding Jiasheng, who was downstream, saw this, he also seized the opportunity and ordered: "Raise the artillery and bombard the Burmese army positions, and the rest of the troops will cross the river and rush to kill!"
On the downstream shore, there are more than a thousand boats piled with firewood docked.
The Datong army boarded the ship, threw down the firewood, and took the ship to kill the other side.
Helutao's command position was at the intersection of the Irrawaddy River and its tributaries. When he saw the densely packed troops in the upper reaches, he had no intention of continuing to fight, so he shouted in panic: "Go back to the city and hold on!"
In the Burmese artillery unit at the edge of the woods, all the Burmese had fled. A group of Portuguese and Armenian artillerymen came over to surrender with their hands raised.
The main infantry force of the Datong Army upstream did not even look at the prisoners. They ran along the river bank in pursuit and threw the prisoners to the Mon servants.
Yang Zhan led the cavalry and once again broke through an enemy camp and chased them to the intersection of the river. Tens of thousands of Burmese troops broke up and jumped into the river. They had to swim across the river to enter the city.
"Collect ships!"
Ahead was the wide Irrawaddy River, and Yang Zhan did not dare to swim across it rashly.
Downstream, Ding Jiasheng's troops passed by boat.
The Burmese army has only a few artillery pieces and hundreds of musketeers deployed here, and the remaining long-range troops are all archers.
The musketeers of the Datong Army squatted on the bow of the ship and fired at the enemy.
Although the Datong Army suffered more casualties, the Burmese army guarding the shore was terrified. As the Datong Army ships continued to approach, cries came from the other side, and it was visible to the naked eye that all the broken troops were flapping in the river. The Burmese army here finally
Unable to bear the psychological pressure, they gradually abandoned their positions and ran for their lives.
After running like this, the Burmese army, which was still organized, instantly turned into groups of defeated troops. They did not dare to turn around and block the attack. They just wanted to escape into the city as soon as possible, and they would be safe after entering the city.
There are twelve gates in Bagan City, but only four have urns.
After Heludao led his troops back to the city, he only dared to open these four city gates. Countless Burmese soldiers rushed to the city gates and began to trample on each other outside the city gates, which greatly slowed down the entry into the city.
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Seeing the Datong Army chasing after them, the Burmese Army blocking the outermost perimeter rushed towards the city gate without hesitation. They were so frightened that they fled around the city.
Ding Jiasheng's cavalry came after them, and saw that the moat was filled with broken troops, many of whom were squeezed down when crossing the bridge. Between the moat and the city wall, there were Burmese troops running aimlessly everywhere.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
After a burst of musket fire, the already chaotic Burmese army collapsed, like boiling water boiling and bubbling.
Most of them had lost their minds and brandished their swords to look at the friendly troops blocking them in front of them. More people fled north along the city wall. They no longer wanted to enter the city. It didn't matter where they fled. It was best to escape all the way back to their hometown.
Hei Lutao organized the troops entering the city to guard several urn forts, but was helpless against the chaos outside the city.
Finally, the infantry and Mon servants under Ding Jiasheng also followed and fired arrows at the Burmese army outside the city.
Crying, roaring, wailing... can be heard endlessly.
More defeated troops fled around the city towards the north, and the Datong Army fired continuously along the way, keeping the defeated soldiers of the Burmese Army in a state of panic and dementia.
The cavalry followed the moat and circled to the north bridge.
Tens of thousands of defeated soldiers were escaping across the bridge there, and from time to time some people were squeezed into the moat. Even if they successfully crossed the bridge, they would be killed by the Datong cavalry, and thousands of Burmese troops knelt down and surrendered.
On the Heiludao side, seeing the infantry of the Datong Army chasing outside the moat, they hurriedly ordered: "Set the arrows and close the door!"
The arrows were fired not at the Datong Army, but at the Burmese Army in Wengcheng.
A large number of arrows from the Burmese army were shot at the gate of Wengcheng. The nearby Burmese army broke up, some fell down after being hit by the arrows, and some were so frightened that they crowded outside. The Burmese army in the inner city took the opportunity to close the city gate.
I don’t know how long it took, but the battlefield finally became quiet.
Of the more than 100,000 Myanmar troops, only less than 20,000 managed to escape into the city.
On the other hand, the Datong Army only captured more than 30,000 prisoners.
The remaining Burmese soldiers who disappeared were either killed in action, fell into the water and drowned, or fled to their hometowns.
Hei Lutao and Mang Bai stood at the top of the city, and the monarch and his ministers looked at each other.
Just yesterday, they were besieging and annihilating the Datong Army with more than 100,000 people, but now they were besieged in the city.
Ding Jiasheng stood on horseback outside the city: "Build siege equipment and attack the city on a different day!"
But he saw a basket hanging on the city and a Burmese envoy running towards him.
The envoy knelt down and cried: "My king is willing to surrender, and I am willing to compensate for all the losses suffered by the Celestial Empire."
Yang Zhan sneered: "If you want to surrender, let the Burmese king come out on his own!"
When the messenger returned to the city, Mang Bai became at a loss.
Hei Lutao said: "If we send an envoy out at night and promise a lot of money to bribe the Han generals, we may still have a chance of survival."
"Yes, yes, yes, give them all the money. If you don't have enough money, bring it back from Ava." Mangbai said quickly.
This teenage king of Myanmar has always been smart and calm.
But after all, he had never experienced any major events. Now that he was trapped in the city and could die at any time, he immediately became timid and afraid of death.
In the evening, withdraw the troops and return to camp.
"General, we caught Xi Zuo, claiming to be the envoy of the King of Burma!"
"bring it here."
The envoy could also speak Chinese, and when he saw him, he lay prone on the ground and said: "My king is willing to open the city and surrender, and please ask the general to give a few kind words to the emperor of China. All the land of the chieftains in the north can be returned to China, and China will be compensated."
Gold and silver treasures. If the royal family can be saved, my king is willing to give the general a thousand taels of gold and fifty thousand taels of silver."
Ding Jiasheng blinked at Yang Zhan, and then looked delighted: "Really...ahem, this little gold and silver is not enough."
The messenger said: "Then add three hundred taels of gold and ten thousand taels of silver."
"That's unreasonable!"
Yang Zhan stood up angrily: "Why should I only give him money? Where's my share? If I don't have any money, the entire royal family of Myanmar will die!"
"Yes, yes, so does this general!" the messenger said quickly.
"How much can I get?" Yang Zhan asked.
The envoy wanted to say that you should share the money equally, but he was afraid of offending Yang Zhan, so he answered bravely: "This... villain wants to go back and ask for instructions."
"Go quickly, go quickly!" Yang Zhan urged.
After the envoy left, Ding Jiasheng and Yang Zhan looked at each other, laughed, and ordered the craftsmen accompanying the army to speed up the construction of the siege ladder.
The envoy returned to the city and told the situation in detail: "There are two Han generals, and tens of thousands of taels of silver are not enough. The general is very young, and his eyes lit up when he heard that he had received the money. The deputy general was older and shouted.
He wants money himself, but if he can’t get it, the king... and the entire royal family will die.”
The next day, the messenger continued to come to negotiate the price.
In the end, it was agreed that Ding Jiasheng would be given 1,500 taels of gold and 60,000 taels of silver, and Yang Zhan would be given 1,200 taels of gold and 50,000 taels of silver. Since the army did not have so much gold and silver, 50,000 taels of silver would be given as a deposit first, and the rest would be paid from the capital Awa.
Shipped over there.
After agreeing on the price, Mangbai and Heiludao finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, troops were sent to search the city and break into the homes of wealthy households to extort money.
The soldiers took the opportunity to extort money, and at least half of the gold and silver they obtained were divided privately, making it difficult to collect tens of thousands of taels of silver. The people in the city were miserable and full of resentment.
However, the Burmese defenders are becoming more and more lax, jealous of the money the raiding troops can make.
More and more Burmese soldiers did not receive orders to obtain money, but under the leadership of mid-level officers, they extorted money in the name of the king.
The entire city of Bagan was in a state of chaos caused by the army.
At this moment, two clippers came from the north to report the news.
The messenger was intercepted by the Datong Army, and Huang Yao's main force had already reached Anzhengguo City (Xingu). The patrol division on the east line of the North Road, with the chieftain coalition, had already approached Meimu City.
The Burmese army in Anzhengguo City used the strong city defense to block Huang Yao under the city.
On the other side of Meimu was the chieftain army, which was originally affiliated with the chieftains of Mubang. When they encountered the joint army of the patrol division, they surrendered without saying a word, and even served as a guide for the Chinese army. There were only more than 200 soldiers left there from the capital of Myanmar, Awa.
However, it is impossible to take a boat and must cross the mountains. It takes about half a month to reach the city of Ava.
"Let these messengers pass," Ding Jiasheng said with a smile, "tell the Burmese king that my general is going to increase the price and ask him to give him an additional ten thousand taels of silver."