prosperous age

At the foot of Ava city, more than ten fast horses came from a distance. After arriving at the city wall, one of them dismounted and ran quickly to the foot of the city wall.

At this moment, a hanging basket was lowered from the city wall, and the man got in without hesitation.

As the basket slowly rose and reached the city wall, the man climbed out of the basket and climbed into the city wall.

"Major General, the Burmese troops have run away. They have all run away."

The man was half-kneeling in front of Li Rusong and Li Rubai, reporting what he had just discovered when he went out of the city.

"There was no trace of Burmese soldiers in the area of ​​more than ten miles. Judging from the traces on the ground, they all ran north."

"Ha ha."

Hearing the scout's report, Li Rubai laughed uncontrollably.

Li Rusong also had a smile on his face at this time, and said to the Burmese King Mang Yinglong who was tied up and escorted by two personal soldiers next to him: "See, your soldiers are all defeated."

After Li Rusong finished speaking, he saw that Mang Yinglong's face had already turned pale, and he couldn't help but feel secretly proud.

Later on, the expressions of several Burmese princes and ministers captured in this attack were no different from Mang Yinglong's, all of them looked decadent.

"Brother, should we send troops to pursue them? Now is the time to strike hard at the fallen dog."

Li Rubai, who was standing nearby, interrupted at this time and rubbed salt into their wounds again.

Li Rusong turned his head to look at his second brother, then looked back at Mang Yinglong and said with a smile: "So, your son doesn't even want you, his employee, and just ran away with his people, hahaha"

Before being surrounded by the Ming army, Mang Yinglong asked his personal soldiers to protect Mang Yingli as he ran, while he attracted Li Rusong's attention, giving them a chance to escape.

Mang Yinglong thought that if he was trapped in the enemy camp, his son would be able to regroup and lead troops to attack the city and rescue him if he escaped.

However, after hearing the Ming army scouts report that the Burmese army had retreated across the board, Mang Yinglong had actually guessed the truth to some extent.

His son’s prestige is not enough to revive the Burmese army. In fact, the Burmese army is probably out of control now.

As for other chieftains and leaders, they are probably making their own plans at this moment, and perhaps they will choose to surrender to the Ming army in the next second.

We have to admit that Myanmar is doomed.

Even when he knew that the Ming army had occupied Toungoo City, Mang Yinglong was not as desperate as he is now.

"Send 20,000 troops to pursue the Burmese army."

While Mang Yinglong was still grieving, Li Rusong had already issued the order.

Just as Li Rubai said, now is the time to give the downtrodden dog a beating.

Soon, the Ming army waiting inside the city wall received the order, the north gate was opened, and the Ming army marched out of the city in an orderly manner, heading north.

In front of Qi Jimei, after the Burmese prisoners of war in the Ming army camp shouted, there was no movement from the other side.

However, in Qi Jimei's opinion, the Burmese troops on the opposite side seemed to be gathering in larger and larger numbers.

Yes, the last soldier was blocked by the Ming army, but the people behind them didn't know it yet and were running back.

When we got here, we found that the way ahead was blocked, but more and more people gathered.

Finally, a chieftain defeated countless Burmese troops and arrived here.

However, he was also dumbfounded when he saw the Ming army ready for battle in front of him.

Quietly, the Ming army around Qi Jimei had grown from one formation to two.

A troop led by another guerrilla of the Ming army had already arrived. They went straight down the road and set up their battle formation in the fields, closely following the main battle formation of the Ming army.

In front of the Ming army, a row of black cannon muzzles were facing them. In front of them were the bodies of those killed by the Ming army and the wailing wounded. The remaining Burmese troops really did not have the courage to charge forward.

At this time, the Ming army's battle formation had been completely deployed, with a row of tiger-crouching cannons in the front, falconets in the back, and three rows of musketeers waiting in line behind.

If the Burmese army launched an attack at this time, there is no doubt how many people would die on the way to the charge before engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the Ming army.

Soon, more chieftains and generals arrived, and these people quickly gathered together to discuss.

The battlefield was quiet, except for the occasional groan.

The people who were wailing before were either dead or had no strength left and could only make slight moans.

There were also calls in Burmese from the Ming army camp, asking them to surrender.

The situation is a bit chaotic now, and the chieftains don’t know what to do.

But they knew that there were now two paths before them.

Either surrender or fight to the death, carve out a bloody path, find a fork in the road to run into the mountains, and then find a route back to their respective territories.

Qi Jimei was not in a hurry at this time. The longer the time dragged on, the more Ming troops would arrive, and the more troops he could command.

Soon, a participant arrived at the battlefield with thousands of his men.

"Yue Feng, lead the troops to set up the formation on the right side."

Qi Jimei immediately gave the order.

"Yes, my lord."

Lieutenant General Yue Feng immediately clasped his fists and directly ordered his soldiers to begin to form a battle array in the open space on the right side of the road.

The results of more than a year of training were very significant. In a very short period of time, artillery and musketeers were in place in the front row, followed by sword and shield men and spearmen, and the Ming army formation was set up layer by layer.

If we say that at the beginning the Ming army only deployed its military formation in the center of the road and seemed a little thin on both sides, with the arrival of its three troops, the Ming army quickly completed the arrangement of three military formations in front of the formation, relying on and caring for each other, and its combat effectiveness has been greatly improved.

Even if more Burmese troops came to attack at this time, Qi Jimei would not be afraid at all.

Cannons and muskets had already played a huge role in the fight against the Burmese army. If a large number of war elephants appeared in front of the Burmese army at this time, he might have to worry.

But now, they are all Burmese infantry, so he has nothing to fear.

It is obvious that the Burmese army actually suffered a great defeat in Ava City, so the Burmese army's rear troops fled back in a hurry.

At this time, as long as we can withstand the Burmese army's offensive, attacking from both sides is no longer a dream.

The two sides began to stalemate, and it depended on whether the Myanmar army could withstand the current pressure.

In the Burmese army, more and more chieftains and generals fled to the back. They also understood the current situation and knew they had no way to escape.

"Kill it"

"Surrender now. The king has been captured."

A heated debate broke out among the generals.

People like fence-sitters are always used to avoiding risks. Now they have reached a dead end. When there is no way out, choosing to surrender is a good way to save their lives.

Among the Burmese generals, there are also some who are brave and aggressive. They are used to solving problems with fists and will not give up until they reach the Yellow River.

"There's no need to fight. The king has been captured, so why should we fight?

After all, the Ming people still want us to rule Burma, and when it’s over, we can do whatever we want.”

The two groups tried to convince each other that there was no need to continue to increase casualties at this critical moment.

Finally, someone pulled a few warlike generals aside and started whispering.

"Since we have already lost, there is no need to continue to let our men die in vain. The Ming people have a good saying: If you keep the green mountains, you will not be afraid of running out of firewood. When the Ming army retreats, we will regroup and avenge today's hatred."

"You mean a false landing?"

"What else? The Ming people still rely on us to control Burma. If the king is trapped in the enemy camp and we surrender, we may still have a chance to rescue them. If we really die here, the king will lose his role and the Ming people will definitely kill him."

No matter what the intention was, someone finally calmed down a few militants and they stopped shouting for war.

Indeed, if one looks at the Ming Kingdom with an old perspective, they would not be willing to take over this remote place.

In the eyes of the Ming Dynasty's literati, Yunnan was already a poor and remote place, and Myanmar was even worse.

Even though Myanmar has gem mines that produce various gems, that’s all.

As long as they pay tribute to the Ming court every year, there is no need to waste energy ruling here.

And there's another benefit to this.

Let the local people rule, and there will be no major civil unrest.

When the Ming Dynasty ruled Annan, it was unable to stay there for long and had to choose to withdraw its troops.

Therefore, Myanmar must be handed over to the Burmese.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

Find a defeated subordinate to continue to be the king of Myanmar, so that he will have awe of the Ming Dynasty, and it can also prevent many troubles in the southwest.

However, they understood it this way but did not know that there was an outlier in the Ming Dynasty court, and he had a different way of thinking from the literati of that era.

It’s not that he is smarter than other officials, it’s just that he knows how the times are developing and has a deeper understanding of the future of land and mineral resources.

Not to mention the benefits of the geographical location to China, which has a port and an outlet directly in the eastern Indian Ocean.

In Wei Guangde's opinion, it would be worth it even if it took a hundred years.

Only in this way can China have four sea fleets in the southeast, northwest, northeast and southwest, a true four sea fleet.

Naturally, Siberia would not be left to the Russians, but would continue to be ruled by the Ming Dynasty in the name of Nurgandusi.

The North Sea is a vast area of ​​sea extending from the waters near Sakhalin Island to the Bering Strait and into the Arctic Ocean. It can even control Alaska through the Bering Strait and enter North America.

After all, the Ming Dynasty has not been able to find a route to America until now, and it may not be able to do so for a long time.

Expanding by sea was also very risky for the Ming Dynasty at that time.

It would be better to learn from Tsarist Russia and reach America by land.

Of course, everything can only be realized after Zhang Juzheng's reforms are completed and the Ming Dynasty's financial and tax revenues are prosperous.

Without money, everything is just wishful thinking.

However, the financial expenditure on Myanmar must be earned back from Myanmar's gem mines and gold, silver and copper mines. This is something Wei Guangde and Tan Lun had already reached a tacit understanding on in private.

Only after the Ming army completes its occupation of Myanmar will Wei Guangde be handed over to the Ming court.

In the name of recovering military expenses, the United States continues to station troops in Myanmar.

After all, the Annan incident was too tragic for the Ming Dynasty, and even Zhang Juzheng might not support the Ming army's long-term garrison in Myanmar.

These were arranged by Wei Guangde. The Li family knew some of them, but others didn’t.

The judgments made by Burmese generals and chieftains with old perspectives are doomed to fail.

When the Burmese prince Mang Yingli finally fled here in a panic, most of the chieftains and generals had reached an agreement, which was to surrender to the Ming army in exchange for the life of the Burmese king Mang Yinglong.

Correspondingly, the Burmese royal family would pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty for generations.

In this regard, Mang Yingli, who was already in a state of confusion due to his father's capture, quickly chose to accept it.

"General, there is movement on the other side."

Amid the tense confrontation, the Burmese side finally took action. A selected representative, along with a few people, slowly walked out of the Burmese army line and headed towards the Ming army formation.

Qi Jimei turned around and said to the guards behind him: "Send a quick report to the commander-in-chief, tell him that the Burmese army may surrender, and ask him to come to the front as soon as possible."

Qi Jimei then gave an order not to open fire and watched the Burmese envoy talk.

More than ten steps away from the Ming army formation, the Burmese envoy stopped and began to talk incoherently.

Qi Jimei frowned slightly. He knew that the other party was speaking Burmese, or Burmese Mandarin.

But is it necessary to do so in this situation?
"I don't want to hear what he said. Tell him to send someone who can speak Ming dialect."

Qi Jimei didn't want to talk to a deaf ear, so he spoke directly to the captives.

Now, they are the translators of the Ming army.

Qi Jimei had heard that many of the Burmese high-ranking officials could speak a few words of Chinese, otherwise they would not have been able to communicate with the Ming envoys.

Not to mention, before this, various Burmese ministries had to submit memorials to Yunnan every year to report on their respective situations.

"Ming general, I think this is all a misunderstanding. We are willing to lay down our arms and negotiate peace."

After the Chinese translation, the Burmese official who had been speaking Burmese immediately switched to Chinese and spoke to the Ming army.

"No peace talks, lay down your weapons, save your life, refuse, die."

Qi Jimei squeezed the horse's belly slightly, and the warhorse under his crotch moved forward slowly. After passing through a passage, he arrived in front of the Ming army and answered loudly.

Hundreds of thousands of Burmese people have invaded the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but they still say it is a misunderstanding.

If there were civil officials here, they might be polite and welcome people in to show the magnanimity of a great country, but there are only military generals here.

The nearest Ming Dynasty civil official is Luo Rufang, but he is at least several hundred miles away from here.

"This"

When the other side heard the Ming general's tough statement, they were speechless for a moment.

"If you can't make the decision, go back and ask someone who can make the decision to come and talk. We promise that we won't use force against them."

Qi Jimei said with disdain.

No matter what the final outcome of the negotiations is, he will not be nice to these people.

He was so damn good at running. They were so exhausted after chasing him all the way. It was impossible for them to say that they didn't feel any resentment in their hearts.

As for whether the negotiations would fail because of his one or two words, leading to renewed war.

Then let’s fight. We’ve already fought this far, so there’s no harm in having one more round.

In this expedition to Burma, everyone from the generals to the soldiers of the Ming army felt that the power of firearms was indeed extraordinary.

As long as we exert strong enough firepower on the enemy in front of the battle line, the enemy will be defeated directly without even close combat.

Firepower is king, and this has taken root in the hearts of the southwestern Ming army of this era.

At this time, Li Chengliang had just come out of Ruibo City.

Only seven or eight miles out of the city, they were met by a messenger sent by Qi Jimei to deliver a message.

"What did you say? We encountered the Burmese army only thirty miles away from Ruibo City, and the two sides are still in a standoff."

Li Chengliang was frightened. The first thing he worried about when he heard the news was that the Burmese army had set up an ambush in the valley and ambushed the pursuing Ming army.

If Qi Jimei was even slightly careless, the Ming army would be surrounded and things would be very bad.

The key point is that the front army was attacked and suffered heavy losses, which would inevitably affect the morale of the Ming army. His beloved eldest son was still in the front Ava City waiting for help, so how could he not worry? (End of this chapter)