Chapter 1108 1199 Capture the City
Myanmar, outside Taungoo City.
The vanguard of the Ming army, two thousand soldiers and horses led by Wang Shike, has set up camp twenty miles away from Toungu City.
Looking at Taungoo City in the distance and its tall city walls, Wang Shike had to sigh: "The royal capital is different."
Along the way, there are also many large and small cities in Myanmar. The four are all small walls similar to Bago City, and they simply cannot withstand the destruction of the Ming army's artillery.
The current Ming army only had four long-barreled cannons, and the Fran cannons were all placed on carriages and they were too lazy to unload them.
With a few cannons, the gate of Burma will be broken. Then fire a few cannons on both sides, and the army can enter the city.
The Burmese army's resistance was unusually slight. After all, they knew that even Bago City could not block the Ming army's attack, let alone their small number of troops.
It can only be said that the Burmese king Mang Yinglong took away all the soldiers and horses that could be fought in the country, and there were only a few troops to maintain public order in other places. Naturally, he was no match for the Ming army.
But the Taungoo City, the royal capital of Myanmar, in front of us is different. It looks a bit like a big city of the Ming Dynasty.
I don't know what's going on in the city, but the city wall is estimated to be three people high, surpassing most of the county towns in the Ming Dynasty at this time, and catching up with the prefectural cities.
Although most of the prefectures and counties in the Ming Dynasty built city walls to protect the city, those things were not built with funds from the imperial court, but were built by the local governments themselves.
From the money to the construction specifications, everything is decided according to your own situation.
Therefore, wealthy prefectures and counties build tall and majestic city walls, while those without money must build city walls for protection. The city walls are also low, but most of them are as tall as two people.
The only things the imperial court was responsible for spending money to build were border forts, which were planned and built by the Ministry of War in accordance with combat needs. They did not require local funding, or only raised a small amount of money. The Ministry of Works provided materials and recruited civilians. .
Although the fiscal and tax revenue of the imperial court in this era is quite small compared to the vast national power, the burden is actually not heavy.
To put it simply, in addition to the salaries of officials, what the court has to manage is military expenditures, as well as the flood control of large rivers such as the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers.
Finally, there is a local disaster, and the court wants to allocate money to provide disaster relief.
Other than that, the court had no serious expenses.
So, if the national power can pose a huge threat to the surrounding areas, stop the war, and the weather is smooth, even a small amount of income can support the operation of the national institutions and still have a surplus.
In fact, what led to the final financial collapse of the dynasty was often the emergence of huge military threats in the surrounding areas, which led to an increase in military investment expenditures.
The ancient imperial court was a truly small government, and its power did not even penetrate into the countryside. It was completely different from the big government of later generations that took care of everything.
What Wang Shike needs to attack now is a solid city, so naturally he will not overdo it.
Yu Dayou has long warned about this. Even if he has to consume the remnants of the Feilong Kingdom, he cannot consume them wantonly. He must still let them give full play to their value.
In fact, in order to wash away the stains on their bodies, these people fought very bravely.
For military generals, they like soldiers like this the most.
Wang Shike is not willing to consume them for political reasons, but plans to fight the war normally. If those people can survive in the end, they will be incorporated into military households and serve as guard posts in Myanmar.
Myanmar is thousands of miles away from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty, so it will not be an eyesore to some people in the court.
"Sir, do you need to unload the Franco cannon? We still have to set up camp"
Before his men finished speaking, Wang Shike waved his hand to interrupt and said: "Unload them all, this time Attacking Dongyu City may not be as easy as the previous times, so be careful.
The army has just arrived and is tired. We will inform you that the perimeter of the camp must be built according to the military regulations and the camp is set up. Tomorrow the whole army will have a good rest and wait for the commander-in-chief to supervise the army to arrive before fighting again. ”
Wang Shike knew that this was not the small towns he had passed before and had great political significance.
The Burmese army would not give up casually and would definitely choose to resist to the death.
Let your men recharge their batteries for two days before Fight, be fully prepared, and it is best to break the city with one strike to avoid additional casualties.
While the Ming army was preparing to rest, on the wall of Toungu City, the Prime Minister Zu Ya led the remaining ministers. We also went up to the city wall and watched the Ming Dynasty’s military camp in the distance
The opponent's military camp is not that big, at least not comparable to the one with more than 100,000 troops stationed outside the city more than half a year ago.
"The other party should only have two or three thousand people. Sir, do you want me to lead some people to charge tonight?"
The general in charge of guarding the city whispered to Zuya.
"Let's take a look first and see how well the military camp is packed. If it is strong, forget it. There is no need to increase casualties."
Zu Ya shook his head and did not immediately agree with the defense. Will's suggestions.
He knows better than anyone how many families there are in the city now. There are 5,000 troops stationed in Toungoo City itself, and more than 2,000 people have been mobilized from the surrounding areas for reinforcements. Now there are 7,000 regular troops in the city.
In addition, thousands more people were temporarily recruited from the city and other places. The total number of combatable soldiers in the city was less than 15,000, and nearly half of them had almost no combat power.
Such troops and horses are not enough to defend the city. How can they be sent out to steal camps?
Although there is news that the Ming army's landing force only had five or six thousand people, they were very powerful, especially since they used a large number of firearms to kill the city defenders. This is not good news.
The Bago City and several other cities in front were knocked down by the opponent's cannons that directly destroyed the city gates.
"Are the city gates blocked?"
Zu Ya thought of this and asked immediately.
“It has been blocked with big rocks, leaving only the north gate for entry and exit, but we have also prepared a lot of sandbags. If the Ming army attacks the north gate, just block it with sandbags immediately.”
Although Toungoo City is a new city, it was built according to the big city, so it naturally gathered most of Myanmar's wealthy families, and the city has a large population.
Such a big city consumes huge amounts of supplies every day, so traffic needs to be kept smooth because they need to transport supplies from outside the city into the city.
Although, transportation volume has been increased these days, and many things have been stocked in the city.
The reason why they dare to do this is because the Burmese army knows that the Ming army has insufficient strength and it is difficult to surround the city on all sides and completely cut off traffic.
According to the current situation, the most likely directions for the Ming army to attack are the south gate and the east gate. Not far from the east gate is the Bago River. Where the Ming army warships can sail, it must be the Ming army's food and grass. A place where baggage is stored.
"Since the Ming army has arrived, starting today, the number of patrol soldiers on the city will be doubled, and we must be even more careful about Ming army sneak attacks."
Zu Ya finally gave the order, and several war horses in the distance They were quickly approaching the city wall. Judging by the clothes of the people on the horses, it was clear that they were scouts sent by the Burmese army to monitor the movements of the Ming army.
Soon, the hanging basket was lowered, and a captain under the city dismounted and sat directly in, and was lifted directly up the city wall by the hanging basket.
"Greetings, sir."
The captain went up to the city wall and knelt down on one knee, saluting Zuya and other adults in the city.
"What did you find?"
The guard general of Toungu City asked next to him.
"Your Excellency, the Ming army's camp was very strong. At least three trenches were dug outside the camp and many traps were set up.
There were also two levels of horses outside the camp gate, and sentry towers were built at intervals. , It seems that the cannon was moved up there."
The scout. The captain reported in detail what they observed, and finally said: "Compared with the camps of the previous days, this Ming army camp is very strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack."
Outside the city There are several teams of scouts, and they have been lingering around the Ming army these days, keeping close surveillance.
The Ming army expelled them several times at first, but the effect was not great.
The opponents are all cavalry, and they come and go very quickly. After setting up a trap to ambush a wave, the Burmese army scouts became more cautious. In the end, they had no choice but to let it go.
“How many of the Ming army’s scout teams are out there?”
At this time, Zuya suddenly asked.
The Burmese army sent a scout team to monitor the Ming army, and the Ming army naturally also sent scouts to investigate nearby.
The scout teams often encountered each other in the wild, and fierce battles broke out.
Relatively speaking, the Ming Dynasty's scout team suffered a little more, because there were relatively few Ming army scouts who were good at bows and arrows, and most of them carried blunderbuss.
For encounters, the most important thing is to fire the most bullets in the shortest time.
In this regard, blunderbuss cannot be compared with bows and arrows.
After the Ming army suffered several losses, it changed its method and increased the number of scout teams. Now a team of the Ming army is dispatched, usually with a size of thirty or fifty people. Compared with the Burmese army or a normal scout team, There are no more than ten people, which is a huge overstaffing.
However, the effect was also significant. After the number of people increased, the Burmese army did not benefit from several collisions. They no longer struggled with the Ming army and chose to retreat.
Even if they assembled several scout teams to attack together, the effect was not great.
Because there are enough people, the Ming army's bird cannons can be fired in batches, similar to a three-stage attack, which can offset the threat of archers.
"The Ming Army has two teams of scouts outside, and they are currently cruising outside the east gate."
The captain of the Burmese army's scout team replied immediately.
Although they are not fighting against the Ming army, they are still monitoring the opponent's movements.
The Ming army was not afraid of their surveillance, and only cared about themselves according to their own tasks.
"East Gate, that should be the next location of the Ming Army's camp."
Before the arrival of the Ming Army, Zuya had ordered the ships to be hidden.
Myanmar does not have a navy, but it does have patrol boats. However, now all official boats and civilian boats have been confiscated and pulled ashore to choose a place to hide, so as not to be discovered by the Ming army.
The dock outside the east gate was also destroyed under Zuya's order.
However, such destruction has little effect. It will only make it more troublesome for the Ming army to transfer supplies from the ship at the beginning and delay some time.
When the Ming army repairs the dock, this action will naturally be useless.
As for preventing the Ming army from repairing the dock, well, that can only be thought about.
If there were elite soldiers in the city, he would not let the Ming army attack Toungu City. He would have sent troops to resist at all levels.
Looking at Taungyu City now, Zuya didn't know what to say.
Actually, he did not agree with Mang Yinglong choosing the capital here.
The terrain outside Taungu City is flat. Apart from convenient transportation, it seems to have no other advantages.
And now Dongyu City can only rely on its tall city walls to resist the Ming army's attack.
Of course, if Mang Yinglong did not move his capital to Donggu City, there is no doubt that the Ming army would not be able to attack at all.
Yes, it turns out that the capital of the Toungoo Dynasty was the old city of Ava Dynasty, Ava City, which was later known as Mandalay.
It’s just that as the center of rule, Ava City is far away from the south of Myanmar, which is not conducive to maintaining control of Myanmar’s economic center, so it chose to move south.
The location of Toungoo City is in the center of Myanmar, which facilitates the transmission of royal decrees and the convenience of water transportation on the Bago River, but it also facilitates the advancement of the Ming army from the south.
In fact, if the capital of Myanmar was still in Ava City, Yu Dayou might not choose to attack Bago, but would choose Dagon or Rakhine State in the west.
Dagon is the economic center and the most developed place in Myanmar, with dense cities and a large population.
After landing in Rakhine State, heading eastward is the closest road to Ava City.
But no matter what, the location is better than Taungu City. The most important thing is that Awa City faces mountains on three sides, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Its geographical location is much better than Taungu City.
It can only be said that if there is no development of maritime power, it is right to lose this option.
So later, with the development of the global economy, shipping played the most important role. Myanmar chose Yangon, now Dagon, as its capital for a long time.
As for later moving the capital to Naypyitaw, a location in central Myanmar, there were other considerations.
It is worth mentioning that Naypyitaw is actually located very close to Taungoo City. The two places are more than 200 miles apart, but it is a place surrounded by mountains that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
In Mubang City, the war has ended.
The Ming army's surprise attack caught the defenders off guard, and before they had time to close the city gate, Li Rusong rushed into the city first.
His impetuous behavior scared the soldiers behind him.
Generally speaking, when stealing a city, there is no strategy where the leader takes the lead and rushes in. Instead, the subordinates rush into the city and control the tower before entering the city. This can ensure the safety of the leader.
If there are any preparations in the city, the leader will take the lead and rush in, but he will be killed.
But although they received Li Chengliang's entrustment, they had no control over Li Rusong.
Except for Li Chengliang, who can suppress this man, he really doesn’t listen to others.
Fortunately, the Burmese army in the city was unprepared and seemed to have insufficient troops.
Obviously, Mang Yinglong thought the situation was too optimistic.
He believed that as long as the Burmese army maintained its offensive posture, the Ming army would be too tired to deal with it and would not attack its rear. Therefore, large cities like Mubang did not leave enough troops to defend.
The most important thing is that Mubang City is the main transportation route from northern Myanmar to Taungoo City. It can be seen that the military occupation of Mubang City is actually equivalent to cutting off the connection between the Burmese army and the country.
"Brother, what should we do with those Burmese people?"
Li Ruzhen hurried over with his soldiers. Just now he was responsible for gathering the Burmese surrender soldiers, but now everyone is gathered together, so he came to ask How to deal with these people.
Kill him or lock him up first.
As for his second brother Li Rubai, he was leading people to inventory the treasury of Mubang City and take stock of the gains from the city's destruction.
It can only be said that because Li Chengliang spent a lot of money raising private soldiers, the Li family took money very seriously.
Without money, you can’t support your family.
"Lock him up and let them help dig traps and trenches outside the city."
Li Rusong gave the order without much thought.
Mubang City will soon be attacked by the Burmese army, and they will naturally have to deal with it carefully.
Although he still wants to go north and try to carry out the plan to besiege the main force of the Burmese army in Qianya Prefecture in Longchuan, the prerequisite is that the defense of Mubang City must be stable.
Although Li Rusong is greedy for credit, he also knows the key points. Being stuck here is more important than anything else.