prosperous age

"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 startled and hurriedly began to ask about the battle situation at the front.

"Reporting to the commander, General Qi said that the Burmese army seems to have been defeated. They must have suffered a defeat in Ava City, so they are fleeing back.

In the current situation, the northern and southern armies are suppressing the Burmese army. I think it will not be long before they surrender."

The messenger said immediately.

As a soldier, he certainly didn't understand what was said, but he could still sense that something seemed wrong with the situation on the opposite side.

It was not until Qi Jimei said that the Burmese army must have been defeated in Ava City and fled here that the soldier suddenly understood what was going on.

"The Burmese army was defeated?"

Li Chengliang was surprised at first, then his eyes narrowed.

How many soldiers did his eldest son bring with him to defeat tens of thousands of Burmese troops in Ava City?

If so, doesn't that mean
In an instant, Li Chengliang felt his hair stand on end.

Now on the Ming-Myanmar border, the Burmese army has been divided into two groups. One is the main force of the Burmese army led by Mang Yinglong. After several battles, there are only tens of thousands of enemy troops left.

There is another group, which is the Burmese army defending Hanlong Pass, which should have tens of thousands of people.

But at Hanlong Pass, it seemed that the Ming army only had 20,000 to 30,000 troops dispatched from Shi Dian, and the other was the army left there by Li Rusong.

If Li Rusong led the army to secretly leave Hanlong Pass, it is possible that the Ming army under Hanlong Pass would be less numerous than the Burmese army inside the city.

Thinking of this, Li Chengliang felt a little panicked.

If the Burmese army sees through the strength of the Ming army, we can't think about it any further.

Li Chengliang did not immediately ride his horse and lead his men forward to meet Qi Jimei, but directly ordered the following Ming troops to begin gathering towards Hanlong Pass.

After fighting to this point, the Burmese King Mang Yinglong should be doomed, so there is no need to pay too much attention to him.

Unless that kid doesn't want to live anymore and runs into the mountains with his men.

If we go up the mountain and then head south, it should not be far to the plains in central Myanmar.

Li Chengliang first issued several urgent military orders to mobilize the troops to Hanlong Pass, and then felt that there was nothing else to do.

This is all he can do. The rest depends on the performance of the Ming army outside Hanlong Pass.

At the moment, the priority is to force the Burmese troops in front of us to surrender.

As long as Mang Yinglong surrendered, the Burmese army at Hanlong Pass would collapse without a fight.

Thinking of this, Li Chengliang swung the whip on the horse's butt, clamped his legs around the horse's belly, and the warhorse began to leap forward quickly.

"Follow me, quickly."

At this moment, Li Chengliang didn't want to delay for a moment. He wanted to see Mang Yinglong as soon as possible and capture him.

Although the original intention was to kill all the Burmese chieftains in the war, the situation changed too quickly and the encirclement and annihilation war was not carried out. Instead, it became a pursuit war.

What else can I do?

Now his men were exhausted, and he knew that the Ming army had actually reached its limit and it would be difficult to continue pursuing the enemy.

That is to say, after winning the battle, the morale is still high and they are still holding on, so they all want to take advantage of the situation to make great contributions so that they can share the money and eat the meat.

This was what Li Chengliang had promised before, and everyone was waiting for him to fulfill his promise.

A team of cavalry galloped over twenty miles, which actually only took them more than half an hour.

If it were on flat ground, it would actually take less than half an hour to arrive.

Although it was a valley, the terrain was rugged, so it took a little longer.

When he arrived at the front army and met Qi Jimei, he learned shocking news.

"You said that the current commander of the Burmese army is the Burmese prince Mang Yingli? What about Mang Yinglong?"

Li Chengliang asked anxiously.

"It is said that he was captured and taken to Ava City. The eldest son led the cavalry to attack Mang Yinglong who was about to enter the city. He was careless, hehe."

Qi Jimei smiled.

Although he didn't finish his words, Li Chengliang knew what "hehe" meant. It must have been successful, otherwise the leader on the opposite side should be Mang Yinglong, not his son Mang Yingli.

"That's the boy's temper."

Although he was worried about his son, Li Chengliang still praised him.

Li Rusong had a problem, which was that he wanted to be the first to charge.

This has been the case since his first day in the military camp.

Li Chengliang did talk to him about this matter, but it was useless.

As long as Li Chengliang was not present, no one could restrain him.

After all, the Li family had a very high status in Liaodong, and only the governor and the inspector could suppress Li Chengliang.

However, it was the military that was in power in Liaodong, so the local generals had to give Li Chengliang some face. Over time, Li Rusong developed a domineering style, even tougher than him.

Regardless of whether Li Rusong was absolutely right or wrong, at least no one dared to confront Li Rusong at that time.

We have to give Li Chengliang face.

Li Chengliang could only hope that Li Rusong would mature as soon as possible and realize that being a general was not just about fighting and killing, but that commanding thousands of troops was more important.

But given Li Rusong’s age now, it is definitely impossible to convince him, so he can only let it go for the time being.

"What the other side said, let Mang Yingli come over to surrender."

Li Chengliang asked about Qi Jimei's previous exchanges with the Burmese army.

"They are willing to surrender, but they demand to set up camp independently and guarantee the safety of the Burmese king."

Qi Jimei said immediately.

Obviously, the Burmese officials in the circle now don’t know how to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty and where the bottom line is.

After all, they were used to pushing all the problems to Mang Yinglong and letting him make the final decision.

Mang Yingli is not yet ready to take over.

It should be said that Mang Yinglong now feels that he is in good health and can still hold on for a few more years, so he has no intention of handing over power.

"Have you contacted Ava City?"

Li Chengliang did not answer Qi Jimei directly, but asked another question.

"They sent people to contact us by bypassing the mountains. Now Ava City has sent 20,000 soldiers to camp about ten miles ahead. The Burmese army of 60,000 to 70,000 has been surrounded by us within a ten-mile radius."

Qi Jimei said immediately.

Li Rusong did a very good job in this regard.

Although the Ming army initially planned to defend the city of Ava, not all troops stayed in the city.

Li Rusong sent some scouts into the mountains to monitor the movements of the Burmese army.

It was also to contact the Ming army pursuers behind and point out the attack route for them.

With the information provided by these spies, the Ming armies on both ends are now actually in touch.

"Ten miles."

Li Chengliang frowned slightly, glanced at the other side, and asked, "The signal cannon sounded here, but the other side shouldn't be able to hear it, right?"

“I can’t hear it, but I can tell the truth from the movements of the Burmese army.”

Qi Jimei instantly understood what Li Chengliang meant.

Although messengers could cross mountains and rivers to contact Li Rusong's troops, it was definitely not as fast as a cannon.

By using signals, both sides can take action almost simultaneously, which will put more pressure on the Myanmar army.

It seemed that the commander-in-chief was not going to accept the Burmese army's conditions and was going to kill them. During this period, two more Ming armies arrived and became the new reserve forces, bringing the number of troops under Qi Jimei's command to nearly 20,000.

Later, there was a steady stream of Ming troops on the way.

In the direction of Ava City, there were also 20,000 Ming troops.

Although it seemed that the Ming army had only about 40,000 soldiers, war was never fought with a larger number of people.

If it were that simple, no one would have to die.

Everyone can pull out their soldiers and horses to compete to determine the winner, and then go home and continue doing what they were doing.

Now that the Burmese army is surrounded, morale is at its lowest.

At first, they thought they could reach Ava City to rest and then have a decisive battle with the Ming army.

But now the city of Ava is long gone, and the anger in my heart was lost all at once, and it cannot be replenished in the short term.

On the other hand, the Ming army was at its peak of momentum.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

In fact, there is no need to continue to send in reinforcements. With the 40,000 troops at hand, they can completely encircle and annihilate the Burmese troops.

If Qi Jimei could think of it, Li Chengliang must have seen it long ago.

He looked around at the mountains on both sides, raised his hand and pointed, asking: "Are there scouts on the mountain?"

"Yes, most of them were sent by the city of Ava."

Qi Jimei replied immediately.

"Send a message to Rusong. If there are three signal arrows, have him use all his forces to attack the Sha-Mian army.

Since the cannon can't deliver the message, let the scouts on the mountain be responsible for relaying the message."

Li Chengliang immediately gave the order.

"Marshal, do you really want to kill me?"

Qi Jimei hesitated for a moment, but still asked.

"Give them one last chance. Let Mang Yingli tie his hands and surrender. No conditions. All of them, lay down their weapons."

Li Chengliang looked ahead, expressionless and said in a serious tone: "Otherwise, I will kill you without mercy."

The Ming army is now clearly in an advantageous position, so how could they possibly negotiate terms with the Burmese army at this time?

What he had to do was to end the war here as soon as possible and then begin to fully occupy Myanmar.

The tens of thousands of young and strong people here should be the most brutal group of people in Myanmar. If they are all killed here, there will be less resistance in the implementation of future plans.

Li Chengliang wanted to kill him at this time, so he directly put forward the most stringent conditions, even conditions that would humiliate Mang Yinglong, in fact, forcing him to make a final resistance.

In this way, the Ming army could massacre them in large numbers.

As for the basis for future rule over Burma, the Ming army already had 100,000 Burmese prisoners of war, so they were worried that no one would strive for this military household position.

Joining the Ming army is equivalent to becoming the new ruler of Myanmar.

Opposing the Ming army will become nutrients that nourish the animals and plants in this world.

In fact, it is very easy for people to make choices.

As the saying goes, "A good death is worse than a miserable life." I believe no one wants to die, especially at a young age.

If there were any chance, they might be more willing to surrender.

However, the Burmese soldiers had no choice.

Power lies in the hands of Burmese nobles and chieftains, and they can only obey orders.

Li Chengliang had enough reasons to kill those people in the opposing army.

Only when they died would Myanmar become like a blank sheet of paper, and the Ming Dynasty could paint on it as it pleased.

The biggest reason why the Ming Dynasty conquered Annan by force but finally retreated back to its own country was that it did not completely eliminate the local clans, but instead wanted to appease and recruit them like the domestic aristocratic families did.

During the Ming Dynasty's rule over Annan, although the Hu Dynasty was destroyed and Jiaozhi was established, the local aristocratic families were not completely eliminated.

The Ming Dynasty implemented policies to change customs and promote Confucianism in Annan, but there were some problems in the implementation of these policies. In particular, the officials sent were frequently transferred, the garrison general Li Bin died early, and the eunuchs sent by the Ming Dynasty were heavily taxed. These problems aroused the resentment of the Annan people.

The areas hardest hit by the taxation were naturally the local aristocratic families.

As a result, under their instigation, many conflicts broke out between local people and the Ming army.

What affected the rule was that the Ming army did not gain the upper hand in this conflict.

Li Chengliang had already thought deeply about this.

The army brought into Myanmar this time will not return to the capital after winning the battle like the Yongle Dynasty, but will stay in Myanmar to continue to strengthen its rule over the local area. At the same time, it will be assisted by more than 100,000 Burmese prisoners of war to help control the local area.

Let the Burmese rule the Burmese, and the Ming Dynasty will just sit in the highest position and act as a referee.

Of course, the penalty will definitely be biased towards the Myanmar army.

Only after these Burmese troops have gained sufficient benefits will they become real helpers of the Ming army in ruling Myanmar.

Because if the Ming Dynasty withdrew, their status would plummet. Even if they had weapons in their hands, they could not kill all the people.

The incident in Annan was actually caused by the Ming army returning too early.

The locals had not yet gotten used to being ruled by the Ming Dynasty, so Zhang Fu left with his army.

Although there were many Ming troops left in Annan, they were still not at an advantage compared to Annan's population.

This was the reason why the Ming army had to retreat and eventually withdraw from Annan.

Using the Burmese to rule the Burmese instead of the Ming army was the result of discussions between Li Chengliang and Wei Guangde. In fact, it can be said that it was a copy of the model of the Eight Banners ruling the Han people.

The Ming army commanded the Burmese army, and the Burmese army ruled the people.

As for changing customs and promoting Confucian education, they naturally would not be given up.

But that had nothing to do with Li Chengliang. It was the imperial court that arranged for a governor to go to Myanmar to exercise rule.

"Marshal, when will you tell the other party the requirements?"

Li Chengliang had already made up his mind, so Qi Jimei naturally did not dare to stop him.

Even if Mu Changzuo was here, he would probably just obey orders obediently. Perhaps only Luo Rufang would be dissatisfied.

After all, the Ming army had already won, and in the eyes of the literati, there was no need to commit further murder.

“Pass the message to Rusong and the message will be delivered.

Give them only three sticks of incense to think about it, or they will be killed."

After saying this, Li Chengliang looked at the Ming army formation in front of him.

The soldiers have been standing here for quite some time, but they still dare not relax at all.

"Send them a message first and tell them that the news is being reported and it may take time."

After saying this, Li Chengliang pointed in the direction of the army and continued: "Take advantage of this opportunity to let the soldiers rest and have a good meal so that they can kill the enemy."

A murderous intent came out of Li Chengliang's mouth, which made Qi Jimei shudder.

He knew that Marshal Li had decided to kill him, although he didn't know why.

"Yes."

Qi Jimei received the order and immediately arranged for someone to do it.

As for whether Mang Yingli would surrender alone, Li Chengliang didn't really care.

If they surrendered, Mang Yingli's prestige would naturally drop after he accepted the surrender with his hands tied, and Mang Yinglong would fall into the hands of the Ming army. It would be impossible for them to continue staying in Myanmar.

As for those chieftains and Burmese officials, they would naturally be packed up and sent to the capital to participate in the ceremony of presenting prisoners. It would be impossible for them to come back.

It seems like it would be nice to have tens of thousands more soldiers to help rule. (End of this chapter)