prosperous age

Chapter 1147 1238 Mang Yinglong's Decision
Knowing that Mang Yinglong would soon arrive in Ava City, Li Rusong was so excited that he couldn't sleep.

When he was observing the city of Ava on the mountain before, he also observed the environment around the city. It should be said that the surrounding terrain is not conducive to ambush.

Yes, although there are mountains on the east and west sides of Ava City, and valleys on the north and south sides with flat terrain, it is possible to launch a large-scale ambush on the left and right sides.

Unfortunately, this valley is too wide. How can we set up an ambush in a valley of more than ten miles?
Moreover, the Jinsha River flows to the west of Ava City.

Finally, according to the information obtained from the reconnaissance, Mang Yinglong has tens of thousands of troops around him, stretching for several miles. How big is this encirclement?
Can their tens of thousands of people complete such a large-scale siege?
Of course not.

Li Rusong was still clear-headed and was not carried away by victory.

At this time, in the Ava Palace, a group of Ming army generals stood at the bottom. Li Rusong sat on the chair that once belonged to the King of Burma, and his brother Li Rubai stood next to him.

Below them, a dozen Ming army scouts were half-kneeling and reporting the information they had gained from this reconnaissance.

However, what Li Rusong asked about at this time was the terrain along the way of dozens of miles.

For a scout, it doesn't matter if he has little cultural knowledge, but he has to know a lot of words.

Even if you don't know how to read, you have to have a good memory and strong observation skills.

Therefore, although they traveled from Ava City to Ruibo in a hurry, and most of the time they traveled at night, the surrounding terrain was still imprinted in their minds.

At this time, Zhang Tou, the team leader of the scout team, was reporting the terrain along the way in detail bit by bit, and from time to time he would ask his subordinates behind him to check for omissions and fill in the gaps.

After asking Li Rusong the questions he was interested in, he said, "You have worked hard. Go down and have a rest first. The reward is outside. You can take it back directly."

Li Rusong inherited Li Chengliang's habits. Although he was greedy for money, he always kept his promises to his soldiers.

The scout team was promised a generous reward if they completed the mission, so he certainly would not break his promise.

Outside the hall, there was already a personal soldier holding a plate with one hundred Ming Dynasty silver treasures on it.

One hundred taels of silver were earned at the cost of the lives of these dozen scouts.

When conducting reconnaissance in such an unfamiliar area, every step is extremely risky. For some people, they are unwilling to accept such a task.

Therefore, Li Rusong simply said that if there is a big reward, there will be brave men, so just throw the money.

They will only do it if they are willing to do it.

As for issuing orders as a superior, not to mention whether these people will find a place to hide after leaving the city, and not putting in any effort, that would be a delay in important matters.

For warriors, their style of doing things is to die for money and birds for food.

Although they all understand that money is something that you have to be alive to earn and spend.

But there are always people willing to risk their lives to earn this money.

The team of scouts led by Zhang Tou-fu was just the example of Li Rusong spending a huge sum of money to buy horse bones.

From now on, as long as they continue to spend money and send out dangerous tasks, the desperate criminals under their command will surely flock to them.

Who can remain unmoved when seeing their comrades making a lot of money? They will only snatch the opportunity to be rewarded for their meritorious service next time.

"It seems that there is no chance of setting an ambush and capturing Mang Yinglong alive."

Li Rusong sighed and spoke.

"Brother, we can only defend the city and prevent Mang Yinglong from bypassing the city. Dad and his pursuers should be not far away from them.

As long as we can hold them off for two or three days, we should be able to attack them from both sides and wipe out the main force of the Burmese army in one battle."

Li Rubai spoke at this time.

"Yes, we can only use force. Unfortunately, we don't have any insiders. If that guy named Guess surrenders, we can just close the door and beat the dog. We can first lure Mang Yinglong into the city and capture him alive."

Li Rusong was not very interested in other Burmese troops. He was only interested in capturing the enemy chief.

If he succeeds, his name may spread throughout the Ming Dynasty and the Emperor may also see his name.

They did not capture any important Burmese generals in Ava city, so it would be difficult to deceive them.

Of course, it is difficult to implement the tactic of luring someone into a trap.

"Over at the north gate, put all the Burmese army flags back."

Li Rusong suddenly gave an order to the general in charge of the north gate.

"Yes."

The Ming army general in charge of defending the north gate immediately stepped out and saluted with his fists clasped.

"Major General, what if the bandit sends someone to contact us?"

The general immediately asked again.

"Let them into the city and capture them. We can't let them leave Ava anyway."

Li Rusong immediately said, "Arrange some people to hide outside the city, and attack from both sides when the time comes. Don't let anyone escape."

It is difficult to deceive the Burmese army, so try to expose the news that Ava city was captured by the Ming army as late as possible.

As I said, Mang Yinglong only learned the news of the fall of Ava City when he was not far away from it. At that time, even if he wanted to change the route and escape, he couldn't.

Behind them, there must be Ming troops chasing closely, and they have no time to find another way.

Because Ming troops were deployed to intercept Ava City from the north and south at the beginning, the messenger sent by Mangchai did not release the news that Ava City was attacked by the Ming army. Otherwise, Ripple City would definitely take big actions to strengthen the defense of the south gate.

Even during the reconnaissance, Zhangtou's team of scouts would encounter scouts sent by Ruibo City.

It was the city of Ava that had been responsible for sending people to communicate with nearby towns from time to time, so the city of Ribo did not send people to the south for investigation. They only sent scouts to the east and north to guard against sneak attacks by the Ming army.

Of course, this also constitutes a reason that can confuse Mang Yinglong, that is, Ava City is still safe.

As long as there is no news of threat from the Ming army in Ava City, it will be safe for them to continue moving south.

In fact, this was exactly the case. Just over two hours ago, in the hall of the City Lord's Mansion in the center of Ruibo City, Mang Yinglong, his son Mang Yingli and other Burmese princes and ministers met with officials from Ruibo City to learn about the situation from them.

It is known that in recent times, in addition to the news that Mengguang, Mubang and other places were occupied by the Ming army, the surrounding cities are still under the control of the Burmese army.

"Will Mangchai send someone to contact you regularly?"

Mang Yinglong asked.

“Yes, my king. Ava City didn’t send anyone to contact us regularly, but from time to time someone came to deliver messages.

Lord Mang asked them to send people to investigate the enemy situation in the north and east, and report to him in time if they found anything.

If he discovers the enemy, he will contact us immediately."

The leader of Ruibo City immediately replied respectfully.

Although he looked respectful and obedient to Mang Yinglong at this moment, he was actually cursing in his heart.

It's fine if he lost the battle this time, but he still ran to his Ruibo City. Before coming in, he had sent people to contact some of the lower-level Burmese troops and learned that the Ming army was chasing behind.

Are you kidding? The King of Burma is right here. It is absolutely impossible for the Ming army not to capture him.

If Mang Yinglong had been killed or captured by the Ming army earlier, Ruibo City would have safely survived this crisis.

As for the anger of the Ming Dynasty, it would probably be quelled after Mang Yinglong was killed and his relatives were captured by the Ming army.

All that would be required is that Myanmar elect a new king and show loyalty to the Ming Dynasty.

However, although he thought so in his heart, he did not dare to express it at all, and he had to appear to be more submissive than usual.

Mang Yinglong should still be frightened now, and he will be more sensitive than ever.

If you do something that doesn't please him, you might be beaten to death.

“Arrange meals for the soldiers and let everyone have a good night’s rest. We will set off for Ava City tomorrow.

Once there, it’s time to plan the next course of action.”

At this time, through previous communication, Mang Yinglong had already learned the news that the Ming army had captured Toungoo City.

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There was no point in continuing to rush back south. He now needed to gain a foothold in Ava City, not only to give the tired soldiers a rest and a break, but he also needed to think carefully about what to do next.

To the south of Ava City is central Myanmar. There, outside the mountains of northern Myanmar, transportation is very convenient, whether you continue to move south or east or west.

Now, Mang Yinglong had to consider how to regroup his troops and fight back to Toungoo City.

Fortunately, good news was received in Ruibo City, that is, Ava City was still in their hands, and according to the enemy situation discovered by Mangchai, the Ming army in the south did not advance northward in large numbers, but instead captured cities and seized territories in southern Myanmar.

This means that although northern Myanmar is no longer safe, there are still many places in central Myanmar in his hands, and he still has the opportunity to gather troops to fight back against the invasion of the Ming Dynasty.

The sumptuous meal was soon served. During the journey, not only Mang Yinglong had not had a good meal for several days, but the generals under him were the same, not to mention the soldiers under him.

If he had not forced each unit to take turns to cover the rear, and if the army had not found ways to destroy roads and bridges after marching to delay the Ming army's pursuit, it would have been difficult for them to reach Ruibo City.

They had been caught by the Ming army in Yingjiang before. If they had not abandoned tens of thousands of troops in time, they would not have been able to escape back to Myanmar alive.

Later, they were chased by the Ming army in Manmo, Jiangtoucheng and other places.

It can be said that during the days when they escaped from the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army’s pursuit was really fierce, giving them no chance to breathe.

It was not until they passed Taigong City that the Ming army's pursuit slowed down, but according to reports from the rearguard troops, the Ming army was only half a day's journey away from them.

They were trying to survive, so the soldiers could run away while starving.

At that time, Mang Yinglong actually guessed that the Ming army was limited by the lack of food and supplies, so they could not catch up.

"Xingu City was conquered by the Ming army two or three days ago. It is estimated that the Ming army will arrive at Ruibo City the day after tomorrow at the latest."

After Mang Yinglong finished speaking, he looked at the officials and generals of Ruibo City and continued, "You must recruit young and strong men overnight and go up to the city wall to resist the attack of the Ming army.

I will rush to Ava as soon as possible and recruit more people from the central cities, and then send troops to support you."

Mang Yinglong was not quite sure how Li Chengliang's troops attacked the city so quickly. He originally thought that not to mention other cities, even Lujiang City should be able to stop the Ming army's pursuit.

But unexpectedly, the Ming army broke the city in one battle and continued to pursue him relentlessly.

The following cities did not seem able to withstand the Ming army’s offensive for even a day and were soon lost.

Their value is just to delay the fighting for a day or two.

Mang Yinglong never thought that Li Chengliang would distribute the various tribes in order according to the fighting style of Liaodong.

He Mang Yinglong ordered the various units of the Burmese army to take turns to cover the rear, but in fact the Ming army's pursuers were also taking turns to rush forward.

When a part of the army participated in attacking a certain place, the Ming army arriving behind them would not directly participate in the battle, but would directly pass by them and continue to pursue.

Therefore, Mang Yinglong thought that the Ming army would stop in order to capture those Burmese cities. In fact, it would not affect anything at all. As long as the city gates were taken in one battle, the Ming army would control most of the city.

By this time, the Ming army behind them had also arrived.

They would not waste even half a day here, but would leave directly because behind them, there were still various Ming troops coming in an endless stream.

The night passed quickly, and at dawn, the city of Ripple was still bustling.

Yes, last night, the officers and soldiers in Ruibo City went out to capture able-bodied men from house to house to defend the city.

Not only in the city, but also in the rural areas outside the city, many people were sent to capture young and strong people to join the army.

At the same time, the surrounding people must be forcibly brought into the city and all usable supplies taken away.

The Myanmar version of "scorching the walls and clearing the fields" is happening.

This was raised by a Burmese official last night, who said that when the Ming Dynasty was at war, if the situation was unfavorable, it would defend its territory and deny the enemy any resources it could use.

Early in the morning, the south gate of Ruibo City was opened, and teams of Burmese troops filed out and continued to march southward.

The destination this time is the city of Ava, which will also be their resting place.

This time, Mang Yinglong had sent someone to pass on the message that the army would rest and replenish in Ava City and would not continue to move south.

As for whether the Ming army would continue to pursue, Mang Yinglong no longer dared to retreat.

If the city of Ava was lost, the Ming army could continue to move southward and sweep across central Myanmar, which would be almost like giving away all the remaining territory.

Since there is no way to retreat, we can only risk everything.

Moreover, the city walls of Ava are not as high as those of the Burmese cities along the way. Not only are the walls low, but the city is also relatively small.

After all, Ava City was once the royal capital. Its high city walls could withstand the attacks of the Ming army and it was the best defensive area.

In fact, if the army had not been demoralized at the time and most of the troops had not been surrounded and annihilated by the Ming army on the edge of Yingjiang, Nanyaguan would have been the best place for resistance.

However, at that time, no one of the remaining Burmese troops was willing to stay at Nanyaguan, and they almost broke away and passed through the city directly.

Under such circumstances, Mang Yinglong really didn't dare to force anyone to lead the troops to hold the position.

All the soldiers ran to the front, only some generals are left, and there is no way to defend the Nan Ya Pass.

Then we retreated all the way to here.

Mang Yinglong left Ruibo City surrounded by a large crowd. He looked back at the city wall of Ruibo City and sighed.

Although the attack on Ming failed, Mang Yinglong believed that he had learned a lot of experience, such as the construction of the city wall.

The walls of cities in Myanmar are generally not high, because everyone is brave and aggressive and is used to fighting outside the city, so it is rare to see people defending the city.

Moreover, Myanmar is too powerful and there are no threats from its surrounding areas, so this issue has been ignored in the past.

The city of Ripple should not be able to stop the Ming army, so we can only rely on the city of Ava.

Mang Yinglong was still thinking, which did not affect him at all as he led his troops hurriedly south.