prosperous age

Chapter 1120 1211 Defeating the Enemy
"Stop the man and ask him why he retreated."

To the west of the Ming Dynasty’s Dianbao Mountain City in Yunnan, after passing through two groups of hills, you can reach the bank of the Lujiang River.

At this time, the road through Lujiang City was densely packed with Ming army soldiers.

However, this time, they did not advance arrogantly as they had done before, chasing the fleeing Burmese troops in front of them, but instead formed a defensive formation.

In front was a shield wall composed of sword and shield soldiers, followed by three rows of musketeers and several rows of spearmen at the back.

In front of them, the vanguard of the pursuing Ming army was retreating in a vast expanse along both sides of the road. It was obvious that they were defeated by the Burmese army they were pursuing, which was why they were retreating in such a mess.

The Ming army had been out of the city in pursuit for two days and had passed a hill. They were now on a relatively flat terrain between two hills, which belonged to Piaopu Town.

Soon, the vanguard lieutenant general Ma Ruilong was brought over by several personal soldiers, followed by several guerrillas under his command.

"General, I am incompetent and request to be punished."

Ma Ruilong was also a bachelor. When he arrived in front of Li Chengliang, he knelt down on one knee and apologized.

Ma Ruilong was a general selected by Li Chengliang in Sichuan. He was suppressed by other senior officers in the garrison and felt frustrated, so he took the initiative to surrender to Li Chengliang during his inspection.

He was one of the first people to join Li Chengliang in the southwest.

"Why retreat?"

Under normal circumstances, Li Chengliang would have whipped him to death.

Because that was how he was when he was in Liaodong.

In the army, no matter what position you hold, you are not as high as him, so naturally you can only be ordered around by him.

But this time, although the Ming army's vanguard was retreating, they were doing so in an orderly manner and did not seem to be fleeing, so he asked patiently.

After all, they are people who have come to serve you, so you can't be too harsh on them, otherwise the generals around you might become disloyal.

This is also why some people in high positions need talented people around them, but also some people who can only flatter and have no ability.

These people are often among the first group to join the leadership and need to be promoted further by the leadership. They are like horse bones that are worth a thousand gold coins.

"General, I was careless. I was in such a hurry to chase them that I forgot to bring my cannon."

"Speak the key."

Li Chengliang directly interrupted Ma Ruilong. He was only concerned about the Ming army's pursuit, why they were defeated and chose to retreat.

"The Burmese army suddenly formed a battle array, with a large number of rattan shields piled up in the front row. Our musketeers could not penetrate the shields, and the archers' projectiles could only cause some casualties to the Burmese army behind the battle array.

Afterwards, the Burmese army launched an attack without regard for casualties. I was worried that the Burmese army would outflank us, so I could only order my men to retreat slowly. "

At this time, because the Ming army's rear troops had blocked the road, the retreating Ming army in the front had also stopped.

"Didn't I tell you to bring the big and medium-sized French cannon to chase them? We need to use cannons to deal with rattan shields."

Li Chengliang frowned slightly and spoke unhappily, with a tone of disappointment in his voice.

"I was careless, thinking that the Burmese army would only flee and would not fight back."

Ma Ruilong lowered his head at this time and did not dare to look up at Li Chengliang.

He had been with Li Chengliang for quite some time and had already figured out his temper.

"Where is the falconet that was assigned to you?"

It was just a small blocking battle. The Ming army was retreating, not fleeing, so Li Chengliang did not intend to punish Ma Ruilong for it.

Ma Ruilong raised his head and looked towards the avenue for a while. He finally saw a few flags. He pointed to a group of Ming soldiers behind the army formation on the avenue not far away and said, "Over there."

"Bring the artillery team and give chase immediately. If it happens again, you can just commit suicide."

Li Chengliang turned his head and looked behind him, then immediately gave the order.

"The general will obey the order."

Ma Ruilong did not dare to delay. He had just retreated and thought that the Burmese army on the opposite side had just gathered and prepared to retreat. He immediately got up and gave orders to the generals around him. A guerrilla general then ran over there quickly.

Soon, a mule and horse convoy of several hundred people broke away from the main group, followed the vacated road, passed through the defensive army formation, and quickly moved forward.

The Ming troops that had been retreating previously also turned around and, under the command of the team leader, began to pursue the enemy again.

The Ming army's infantry were able to advance quickly in such a hilly area, but the roads along the way lacked special maintenance, and it seemed that the Burmese army had intentionally destroyed them during their retreat. At this time, the road was bumpy, and the mule and horse convoys were still moving slowly, requiring the soldiers to work together to push forward.

"Move in some men and help push those mule carts."

Li Chengliang frowned as he watched. The southwestern Ming army was so poorly equipped. Not only were there not many war horses, but there was also a severe shortage of mules and horses for transporting logistical supplies. He really didn't know where all the things allocated by the court had gone.

A carriage was only equipped with one mule and horse. No wonder it couldn't keep up with the speed of the soldiers.

Of course, if the road is smooth, this situation will not happen.

"Come here, tell the other troops about this and ask them to send some men to help push the cart.

The enemy's rattan shields and bird guns are useless.

The Southwest Army is also short of archers, so they can only use cannons to break through the enemy’s formation.”

Li Chengliang thought that in addition to this group, there was another group on the left and right chasing the Ming army, so he immediately sent someone to bring them a letter.

As for Shidian, Li Chengliang believed that it would not make any mistakes.

It was on the city wall of Shidian that he first learned about the power of the Burmese army's rattan shields, so he specially dispatched a batch of artillery to help.

With the lessons learned from the past, if the Ming army in Shidian made such a big mistake again, it would be unforgivable.

Anyway, most of the people over there are local generals in Yunnan, or they are close confidants of Mu Changzuo or someone else, so Li Chengliang will not be lenient in dealing with them.

Li Chengliang looked back at the soldiers behind him and whispered to the guards beside him: "Send someone to the front to check and report the situation in time."

"Yes, Marshal."

The personal guard agreed and rode away. Soon several fast horses broke away from the personal guard team and chased after the Ming army ahead.

"Maintain the formation and rest where you are."

After leaving Piaopu Town today, the army had been marching for half a day and was already showing signs of fatigue.

The reason why we let Ma Ruilong's troops continue the pursuit is that according to the plan, they will be replaced tomorrow, so you must squeeze out all the strength of his troops today.

The central army began to rest, while Ma Ruilong in front and his men rode their horses and quickly passed through the Ming army and came to the front.

He knew that there couldn't be any mistakes in this pursuit.

While arranging people to investigate the movements of the Burmese army, he urged his men to chase them as hard as possible.

“Tell the brothers that after the battle today, I will prepare some wine and meat for them after we set up camp. Feel free to eat and drink. We will not charge to the front tomorrow.

After you kill the turtle son, don't forget to cut off his head. If you save a few of them, you will have money to marry a wife when you go home."

Having been in the army for a long time, Ma Ruilong naturally knew what those soldiers wanted.

The southwest is not a stable place. Local chieftains cause trouble from time to time, so the soldiers in the garrisons feel uneasy.

But who can blame them for being military households? They can only serve in the army for generations.

Therefore, the wish of these soldiers is to marry a wife and have a son as soon as possible after they have money. It is not because they want women, but to pass on the family line.

Although being a soldier may lead to severe deductions from superiors, it is still a job that pays the emperor.

There is little land in the southwest, so it would not happen that military households from the mainland were forced by their superiors to help them farm.

Anyway, we were in the military camp, training every now and then, and then just waiting for meals to pass the time, and then getting some food and money to go back.

When we set out from Sichuan this time, we were given a silver ingot. If we finish the battle early and return home early, the reward should be enough for us to marry a wife.

This is what most soldiers thought, so under the urging of the team officers, the soldiers quickened their pace.

The mule and horse caravan behind them moved much faster with the help of more Ming soldiers pushing the carts, and was able to keep up with the Ming army.

"Report."

“Tell me, where are the Burmese troops?”

"General, the Burmese rear guard is about twelve miles away from our army and is running towards Lujiang River."

Soon, the scouts sent out discovered the movements of the Burmese troops ahead.

"Explore the surroundings to see if there are any ambushes nearby."

The surrounding hilly terrain makes it difficult to hide a large army, but it is still possible to set up small ambushes. Ma Ruilong also fought against the chieftains when he was in Sichuan.

However, those were all small-scale battles. Most of the larger battles took place in Guizhou and Guangxi, especially Guangxi. Yu Dayou participated in two campaigns to quell rebellions in Guangxi.

Each time, the rebellion gathered tens of thousands of people, and the situation became uncontrollable before it was reported to the court, which then selected generals and sent troops to quell the rebellion.

Ma Ruilong doesn't want to lose again.

Yes, the previous time, he had actually lost the battle, but he didn’t say so. He only said that he retreated on his own initiative because he saw the enemy was too powerful.

Come to think of it, back then in Sichuan, they also had rattan shields, but they were not as powerful as the Burmese army's here, and they could still be penetrated at close range.

However, this time he found out it didn't work after a brief try. No wonder Governor Li had specifically told them to use their ground-based falconets to target the enemy's rattan shield soldiers.

The Ming army quickened its pace of advance. Although everyone felt tired, no one dared to be lazy.

Try stealing one. The captains of each team are not just for show. If they see someone about to fall behind, they will often whip him. It depends on whether you eat it or not.

Even if you get beaten, you still have to chase after him, otherwise you won’t be able to pass the military law.

The Ming army's rapid pursuit had significant effects. Soon, Ma Ruilong, who was running in front, saw several Burmese spies on the high ground beside the road.

When the other side saw the Ming army chasing them, they immediately turned their horses' heads and ran back.

It was obvious that he was going back to report the news. The Ming army that had just escaped had caught up with him again.

Ma Ruilong glanced at the sun. According to the scout's report just now, they were only five or six miles away from the Burmese army. They thought that the other side knew that they were catching up and would not continue to run away.

Yes, if the army is caught up and attacked by the enemy while marching, the losses will be heavy.

Therefore, the rear guard troops, upon discovering the enemy approaching, could only turn around and form a battle formation to resist.

"Slow down, save your energy, and tell the guys to eat something to fill their stomachs. This is almost the last battle of the day. After the battle, we will continue chasing and then it's time for us to take a break."

Ma Ruilong gave an order to the personal soldier beside him, and the personal soldier quickly ran back and conveyed his order to the team commander he met along the way.

Soon, the Ming army's pursuit speed began to slow down, and many soldiers took out pancakes and started eating them while walking.

Fighting a war depends on strength. If you have no food in your stomach, you will have no strength.

In the army, fancy martial arts are of no use; what is needed are strong men with immense strength.

Eat something to fill your stomach now, so that you can hold out longer when fighting with the Burmese army.

When two armies fight, whoever survives wins.

As for any fancy and flexible command, that's all nonsense.

Everyone knows that in the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao defeated the strong with the weak, but has anyone ever thought about what would have happened if Yuan Shao’s garrison at the Wuchao granary had withstood Cao Cao’s sneak attack?

It doesn't mean that you will definitely win if you launch a surprise attack. You should know that the surprise troops sent by Cao Cao may not be stronger than the enemy's.

It was just that Yuan Shao's army was overconfident due to its own strong strength and was not prepared at all.

If it were Cao Cao's soldiers, they would definitely be on high alert and would not give Yuan Shao's army any chance.

Therefore, after the defeat in the Battle of Wuchao, no one would care about the Battle of Guandu, because Cao Cao had few soldiers and generals, so it was normal for him to lose.

The sneak attack on Wuchao would not be noticed as a fantastic surprise attack.

Sure enough, not long after, Ma Ruilong received news from the front that the Burmese army's rear guard had stopped fleeing again and lined up in the front. Here the two armies were only five miles apart.

Immediately, Ma Ruilong also began to deploy the troops, but the most important thing was to urge the mule and horse team behind to come up and deliver the falconets he needed most.

The bird gun could not penetrate the rattan shield, but when it encountered the Portuguese cannon with larger and heavier bullets, it would create a hole with one hit and directly destroy the army formation.

The front line was still filled with musketeers, but there were no sword and shield soldiers behind them. Instead, spearmen were sent directly to the rear, and the sword and shield soldiers were sent to guard the two wings.

The falconet had been lifted off the carriage, and the gunner was loading the cartridges behind the formation.

Ma Ruilong did not let those spearmen stand in rows, but divided them into six columns, which was completely an attack formation.

On the other side, just like before, they sent out rattan shield bearers to fill the front row, and it looked like the rattan shields were laid out in two layers.

No wonder there were no casualties on the other side when the bird guns were fired before.

With only one layer of rattan shield, it is difficult for the lead bullets fired from the bird gun to penetrate it, not to mention the rattan shield stacked behind it.

This time, Ma Ruilong looked carefully.

It can only be said that they are not Wei Guangde's biological sons, nor are they the elite of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, the telescope, which is in short supply at this time, is not even available in the southwest, let alone being heard of.

But the situation was different for the generals that Wei Guangde deliberately cultivated, at least one for each person.

If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. Wei Guangde understands this better than anyone else.

When both sides had finished their battle formations, at a command, dozens of gunners carried more than a dozen falconets and cartridges through the passage, stood in front of the battle formation, and quickly set up the gun positions.

At the same time, three rows of musketeers were preparing to load ammunition.

Ma Ruilong did not give the opponent time to react and directly issued the order to fire.

The previous battle was a bit frustrating, so he wanted to be recalled.

Dozens of cartridges were placed into the belly of the gun and fired in turn. They were all live bullets, which directly smashed holes in the gun.

As the shieldmen in front of the Burmese army panicked, the Ming army's bird guns began to fire at the exposed gaps.

After the three rows of musketeers finished firing in turn, the sixth team of spearmen rushed directly towards the already panicked Burmese army on the opposite side.

The Burmese troops at the rear were small in number to begin with, and were mainly reinforced with rattan shields and archers.

However, the Ming army used cannons to break through the rattan shield defense, and the Burmese army behind them was naturally defeated, and the outcome of the war was decided.

The Burmese army fled and the Ming army began to pursue them.