prosperous age

Chapter 1090 1181 Burmese Wall

“Marshal, Wang Shike has already led his men ashore. The Burmese army has not fought back, which shows that their morale is low. Should we order him to take advantage of the situation and capture Pegu City?

I think at this point, even if the city knew the news, it would be too late to react.”

At this time, Yu Dayou's right-hand man Wang Zhao was looking at the orderly formation of the Ming army on the shore, and whispered a reminder in Yu Dayou's ear.

"Not urgent."

Yu Dayou waved his hand and smiled, "Now our army is strong and powerful, and our strength can crush the enemy.

However, after a long voyage, the soldiers were exhausted and needed time to rest and adapt.

Sending troops to Bogu now can certainly take the city by surprise, but our army will also suffer heavy casualties.

It would be better to stabilize the port, rest for two days and then attack the city.

If the Burmese defenders dare to attack after seeing my momentum, I will send people to launch a surprise attack on Pegu City.

  But when they saw the momentum of our army, they fled instead. What does this mean?

Haha, the Burmese troops in the city are probably asking for help from everywhere at this time.

However, the main force of the Burmese army is now in the direction of Yunnan, so it is impossible for them to get back in a short time.

I expect that the surrounding cities that received the news would not only not dare to come to the rescue, but would also choose to defend the city to the death, lest they lose the city and be punished by Mang Yinglong.

In this case, why should our army rush to attack the city?'

Based on the performance of the Burmese troops at the port, Yu Dayou judged that the troops remaining in the south were probably not elite and therefore not very powerful.

If he uses sneak attack tactics against such an opponent, although it can achieve miraculous results, it may not be a good thing for him.

After all, the Ming army was attacking across the sea and had no backup at all.

These people who came were almost all the troops of the Ming army.

Even if troops were urgently transferred from Old Port and Luzon, not to mention the delay in between, there would be no shortage of troops.

As for drawing troops from the Ming mainland, not to mention the numerous preparations before the expedition, even if the Ming Dynasty forcibly requisitioned ships from Yuegang and other places, it is likely that not many people would be able to be sent.

Therefore, what Yu Dayou has to consider now is how to reduce casualties as much as possible, advance steadily, cause the Burmese army in the north to become demoralized, and help Li Chengliang achieve success.

As long as Li Chengliang can hold back the main force of the Burmese army, great things can be accomplished.

When Wang Zhao heard Li Chengliang say this, he naturally knew that it was the Marshal's decision after careful consideration, so he decisively chose to shut up.

Yu Dayou had more battlefield experience than them. The Ming Dynasty had a vast territory from north to south, but there were not many generals in the Ming army who had experienced the war between the north and the south. The only one who could stand out was the general he followed.

Although Qi Jiguang performed well in the battle against Mongolia in the north, the people around Yu Dayou naturally sided with Yu Dayou.

Only if Yu Dayou continues to be promoted will they have the opportunity to make progress.

Therefore, even some generals in the army who had fought side by side with Qi Jiguang would only speak well of Yu Dayou and praise his military talents, but would never mention Qi Jiguang again.

This is also the reason why factions are formed in the military.

Only when the superiors move up can the people below them follow suit and make progress, right?

At this time, the Burmese army camp next to Pegu Port had been occupied by troops sent by Wang Shike.

Because the terrain here is slightly higher, Wang Shike chose this place as Yu Dayou's tent. Standing on the top of the slope, you can vaguely see the city of Pegu in the distance.

At this time, the Ming army had completely controlled the port and its vicinity, and the camp was set up in an orderly manner.

Regardless of the outcome of this battle, this place has been chosen by them as the most important base of the Ming army in southern Myanmar.

After all, going upstream along the river mouth, one can reach Toungoo City, the heart of the Toungoo Dynasty, where one can station a large army and move forward and backward freely.

At this time, the once prosperous city of Bago no longer had the hustle and bustle of the past. There were very few pedestrians on the streets, and they were all in a hurry to go out.

On the streets, Burmese soldiers began to check house by house, and any young and strong people they found would be forcibly conscripted.

Although the soldiers defending the city found it unbelievable, they could not help but believe it when they saw so many coolies running towards them from the direction of the port and heard the faint sound of artillery fire earlier.

In addition, a sharp-eyed porter said that he saw Chinese characters on the oncoming warship, which might be a Ming warship, which further confirmed the news of the enemy attack.

So, the captain of the soldier squad sent someone to report the news of the port to his superiors, and at the same time closed the south gate of Pegu City.

However, after the port garrison escaped, the door was briefly opened to let them in.

This time, not only the coolies at the port brought back information, but the Burmese army also brought back a general picture of the situation.

According to the defeated soldiers, the Ming army had countless warships and thousands of Ming soldiers had landed.

After all their efforts to resist failed, they had to retreat, and the port of Pegu had been lost.

Now the main force of the Ming army is still landing continuously, and it is estimated that there are at least tens of thousands of people.

The response of the general defending Pegu City was consistent with what Yu Dayou had guessed. In fact, all generals would make the same choice when faced with such a situation. On the one hand, they would prepare to defend the city, and on the other hand, they would send letters for help to the surrounding cities, especially Toungoo City, to report the situation in Pegu City.

If Yu Dayou really organized his troops to launch a surprise attack on Pegu City immediately after the Ming army landed, the commander here would probably not even have time to send a letter asking for help.

The news that Pegu City was lost was known to the city of Toungoo because of the defeated soldiers who were chased to the outskirts of Toungoo City by the Ming army.

The only things needed to defend the city are naturally young and strong people and food.

The commander immediately sent people to recruit young and strong men from all over the city to defend the city. Didn’t he say that with tens of thousands of Ming troops attacking, how could the more than 2,000 defenders in the city resist?

In addition, troops were sent to occupy several granaries in the city as supplies for the army to defend the city, and the merchants were not allowed to transport the grain away.

Although many of these merchants had connections in Toungoo City, at this time, naturally no one would blame him for such a small amount of food.

Moreover, even if he was angry, he didn't care. The most important thing was to defend the city of Pegu, otherwise the Burmese king would not forgive him when he returned.

As for the people in the city, after those coolies fled into the city, the news had already spread and could not be stopped at all.

So the current scene emerged: the city was in a state of depression, with only soldiers going door to door on the streets to conscript able-bodied men.

As for preparing supplies for defending the city, there is no time to do so at this moment.

When the Ming army attacked the city, they could only demolish the houses close to the city walls and use the bricks, stones and wood to resist the Ming army's attack.

"Bang bang."

Two heavy collision sounds were heard, and Yu Dayou's boat docked steadily at the pier of Pegu Port.

The officers and soldiers under the ship caught the rope thrown from the ship and tied it up quickly. Another soldier carried the gangplank and quickly set it up. At this time, Yu Dayou and generals including Wang Zhao were already standing on the deck waiting.

After the gangplank was set up steadily, Yu Dayou took the lead and walked onto the gangplank. In a few steps, he rushed down the boat and stood on the dock.

"Commander."

Wang Shike and a few of his men welcomed Yu Dayou ashore at the dock. Originally, Yu Dayou was supposed to land later in the afternoon.

However, seeing that the Burmese army did not put up fierce resistance and the Ming army's landing was surprisingly smooth, they naturally went ashore earlier.

"Marshal, I have already sent people to build a big tent on the hillside. You can move in and rest later."

Wang Shike said again.

"Have you sent out scouts?"

Yu Dayou asked.

“Several groups of people have been sent out, and there should be news soon.

But from what I have observed, there seems to be no movement from Pegu City, and no reinforcements are coming to the port."

Wang Shike continued. The dock was actually a bit messy now, and because no enemy was found, Wang Shike asked his men to land as soon as possible.

This inevitably caused chaos among the ships. Some ships that were supposed to queue up at the back to dock and unload passengers saw that there were empty spaces and squeezed to the front.

However, this chaos was only temporary. Most officers and soldiers were able to quickly find their units and return to their teams after landing. The centurions received orders from Wang Shike and could go off to carry out their missions with their troops.

Only a very small number of officers and soldiers who landed early could not find their chief officers for a while and could only wait there in confusion.

“They should be preparing for the defense of the city and will not send anyone here in the short term.

However, send out more scouts. I think the city should send people to check and catch them. I want to know the news in the city."

Yu Dayou ordered.

Catch the tongues and fight intelligence wars. Although this tactic was not systematically summarized in ancient times, those who led troops knew the importance of information, so many times they took every possible way they could think of to obtain intelligence from the enemy.

The phrase "know yourself and know your enemy" actually reflects the essence of intelligence warfare.

"I will arrange it right away."

Wang Shike agreed.

In fact, it is simple to capture the enemy's scouts. Just hide some people near the port, in a place where it is easy to observe the port situation, and then suddenly attack and capture them when the enemy gets close to gather intelligence.

Yu Dayou led his men directly up the hill and looked at the busy Ming army all around. In the distance, several military formations had already been set up, facing the direction of Pegu City.

Although we anticipated that the Burmese army would not dare to attack proactively, we still had to take necessary precautions.

Looking back at the dock, a large group of soldiers were struggling to drag a long, thick black iron rod from a large boat that had docked.

In later generations, its name was the Red Cannon, and now it is called the Mighty General Cannon.

Six of these heavy cannons would be removed from the warships and used as weapons by the Ming army to attack the cities of Pegu and Toungoo.

The falconet can be used to attack people, but it is obviously not powerful enough for attacking cities. Only this kind of heavy artillery can be used to blow down the enemy's city walls.

He stretched out his hand and the soldier behind him quickly handed him a telescope.

After obtaining the telescope, Yu Dayou opened the tube and began to observe the distant city of Pegu.

The distance is a little far, but I can still see it roughly.

This location is really good. It is considered a high ground in the surrounding area and you can see very far away.

"They have closed the city gates. They are preparing to defend the city."

Yu Dayou raised the corner of his mouth, revealing a wise smile.

The city gate was closed, and it could be seen clearly through the telescope, and the figures running on the city wall could also be seen clearly.

Although I couldn't see clearly what they were doing, I knew after thinking about it that they were definitely moving the city defense equipment.

"what"

Suddenly, when Yu Dayou was observing the city wall of Pegu, he couldn't help but let out a cry of surprise.

"Marshal, what's wrong?"

Wang Zhao at the side asked.

"The Burmese city wall seems to be similar to the wall of my yard."

Yu Dayou didn't keep the question secret and said directly, "I just don't know if the wall of Toungoo City was also built in this way. Otherwise, we can really conquer that so-called capital in one battle."

"Let me see."

When Wang Zhao heard Yu Dayou say this, his interest piqued and he quickly reached out his hand.

The telescope had just been introduced to the Ming Dynasty and there were too few of them, so Wang Zhao didn't actually have one.

That is to say, only when Yu Dayou comes ashore and hands over the fleet to him for command will he give this treasure to him to use.

This landing is a big battle, and Yu Dayou must take his telescope with him.

It’s a pity that last time in Luzon, they planned to purchase a batch of telescopes from the Spaniards. They had agreed on the deal at the beginning, but when it came to the final transaction, the Spaniards went back on their word and refused to sell.

Yu Dayou put down the telescope and handed it directly to Wang Zhao.

Wang Zhao took it and raised it impatiently, looking towards the direction of Pegu City.

The city wall that came into view was indeed very low, just as the Marshal had said.

Although the distance was far, Wang Zhao could still roughly judge the height of the city wall by looking at the length of the busy figures on the city wall.

"The city wall is about two people high, but the battlements are nearly one person high. It looks very strange. There are no shooting holes on the battlements. Oh, I see. They use the battlements to hide their bodies."

Wang Zhao analyzed while observing the city walls of Myanmar through a telescope.

Indeed, the Burmese city wall in front of us is completely different from the Ming Dynasty city construction, but the battlements are much higher.

Soldiers could stand upright behind the parapet, look over the side, shoot arrows down, or do other things.

But when facing the enemy, it seems there is nothing we can do.

After all, if you stick your head out from the battlements of the city wall, you will definitely be a target.

"It seems that we don't need to prepare too many ladders. A simple wooden ladder can be enough to climb up the city wall."

Yu Dayou also said with a smile.

Such low city walls undoubtedly made it much easier for the Ming army to attack the city, and it did not take much effort to capture such a city.

It seems to be similar to the city walls of some small counties in the Ming Dynasty.

It can only prevent theft, but not enemy attack, and even its ability to prevent thieves is very limited.

This kind of city wall can barely stop bandits, let alone a siege by regular troops.

The city walls of the Ming Dynasty were generally built according to the degree of risk. There were few wars in the inland areas, so the city walls were also low.

In coastal areas and some places close to mountains, the city walls are built higher because of the Japanese pirates and bandits in the early years.

Even in some county towns, there is no city wall, just a low earthen wall, similar to the farmhouse of a wealthy family.

"Marshal, Myanmar is really the overlord of this area. No one has ever attacked here, so it is built like this."

Wang Zhao chuckled and said, "That's great. It saves us a lot of trouble."

The situation is just as Wang Zhao said. It is good enough that Myanmar does not attack the surrounding countries. Who would dare to tickle the tiger's beard?

Therefore, over the years, no one has ever thought about improving the defensive capabilities of the cities in Myanmar, and raising the city walls is simply a luxury.

That is the newly built Toungoo City. Because it was the capital of the dynasty, the city wall was built a little higher and was also built with reference to the Kunming city wall. The interior of the city was also designed based on the layout of Kunming.

For the Burmese, the only big city they can see is Kunming.

Of course, Kunming was actually considered a big city in the Ming Dynasty, but because it was located in the southwestern border, it was still far inferior to Jiangnan and other important cities.

All this also meant that the Ming army's siege of cities and strongholds would be extremely smooth.

Li Chengliang had a more miserable journey. Although there were no tall city walls to conquer, he was really helpless in the face of the complex terrain in northern Myanmar.