My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 250 Cleaning up the battlefield
"Where are the cavalry? Quick, cavalry, come on!"

Ruan Duofang shouted orders at the top of his lungs, "The Ming army is less than a hundred feet away from us. This is a godsend opportunity. As long as the cavalry rushes forward and engages the Ming army in close combat, the Ming army's firearms will be useless!"

There were still several thousand cavalrymen left in the camp, which was the last hope of the Annan army. However, when the cavalrymen heard the order given by Nguyen Duo Fang, they were all dumbfounded.

The Ming army's surprise attack came too quickly and caught them off guard. The war horses were still in the stable behind the camp and even the saddles hadn't been installed.

Cavalry combat requires a quick charge, and before the charge, the formation must be arranged, otherwise there will be chaos.

The enemy has come to the door yet he is still thinking of using cavalry. Has Ruan Duofang lost his mind?

But the order had already been given, so the cavalrymen had no choice but to bite the bullet and run hurriedly to the warehouse to pick up their weapons and horse harnesses under the Ming army's hail of bullets. Then they rushed to the stables, put the saddles on the horses' backs, and then climbed on their horses.

After finally gathering a cavalry team of thousands of people, under Ruan Duofang's repeated urging, they rushed out of the horse farm in a hurry and galloped towards the Ming army.

"Everyone, pay attention! Cavalry is coming. Concentrate your firepower and attack the cavalry first!"

On the battlefield, the Ming army generals calmly issued combat orders. The soldiers stopped maneuvering and pointed their guns at the cavalry that were rushing towards them.

"I'm out of bullets, cover me!"

During the tense battle, Ming army soldiers could be heard shouting to their teammates from time to time, and their teammates also tacitly covered them until they reloaded their bullets.

In this way, in the mutual cover and alternating shooting, the Ming army maintained a powerful and long-range firepower, pouring countless bullets at the Annan cavalry!

Ruan Duofang watched helplessly as the cavalry, on which he had placed his last hope, were beaten to the ground by the Ming army, with no power to fight back.

"Damn you, bastard, so despicable!"

Ruan Duofang cursed with gritted teeth, almost breaking his back teeth, but there was nothing he could do. Facing the nearly invincible Ming army, his heart was filled with nothing but rage and deep despair.

The garrison in the camp was so frightened that apart from the occasional archers who could still shoot a few arrows, they could no longer organize an effective attack. And after the first wave of attacks was repelled, no cavalry dared to move forward.

No one wants to rush forward and die.

At this moment, Ruan Duofang's mind once again echoed the desperate words of the defeated soldiers, "The Ming army is invincible, and the Ming Dynasty cannot be bullied!"

In this Western Expedition, a total of 200,000 soldiers and horses were brought out, but they were defeated by the Ming army, which was ten times smaller than their own. The Ming army was really capable of fighting ten enemies at once.

He could never understand why the Ming Dynasty's firearms were so terrifying. It was things he didn't understand that made him feel extremely scared and desperate!

Soon, the Ming army rushed into the Annan camp, and the Annan soldiers threw down their weapons, knelt on the ground and surrendered to the Ming army.

Li Jinglong took the lead and rushed to Ruan Duofang, pressing the black muzzle of his gun against his head.

"Those who surrender will not be killed!"

Ruan Duofang knelt down on the ground helplessly. He knew that everything was over!
His dream of becoming a marquis, Li Jilian's dream of becoming emperor, everything, vanished in the face of the unstoppable Ming army.

"Come here, tie him up for me. No one is allowed to snatch him from me. I captured the commander of the Annan army. With such a great contribution, my uncle will definitely promote me when I go back and make me a thousand households or something."

Before he could finish his words, he heard Zhu Di scolding, "Get out! Without everyone's perfect cooperation, you can't catch Ruan Duofang alone. Dream on!" All the soldiers laughed. Ever since Young Master Li came to the Musket Battalion, seeing him being scolded by the Fourth Prince on a daily basis has become one of their pleasures.

Ruan Duofang looked at Li Jinglong and Zhu Di listlessly. All his dreams were shattered and he no longer cared who had captured him.

Li Jinglong curled his lips in dissatisfaction, but what his fourth uncle said was indeed true. The Ming army today emphasized mutual cooperation and most tabooed trying to be brave and fight alone. Without the mutual cover of comrades around them, how could they break into the enemy camp so quickly?

"Yes, yes, yes, Captain, you are right. It's all thanks to everyone!" Li Jinglong was used to being scolded by Zhu Di, but he still couldn't change his habit of talking back.

Xu Huizu also found this pair of funny people very interesting, but he still said: "You two should not be idle, and quickly count the battlefield. There are still so many prisoners who need to be taken back to the rear."

After working for a while, the Ming army finally completed the inventory. Excluding the hundreds of people who escaped, this raid killed nearly 10,000 enemies, captured more than 30,000 people, seized more than 3,000 horses, and countless bows, arrows and other weapons.

Including the ambush at Banla, this southern expedition killed more than 80,000 enemies, captured about 100,000 enemy soldiers, and seized more than 8,000 horses.

At this point, the Annan army that invaded Laos was completely wiped out, and the Ming army, except for a hundred or so injured people, suffered no more losses!
Of course, such an astonishing casualty ratio was not without cost. After all, the nearly 10 million bullets consumed made the Ming army soldiers who were clearing the battlefield miserable.

To be honest, it is more exciting to shoot with armor-plated bullets than with paper-wrapped bullets, but no matter how exciting it is, picking up the bullet shells is a real pain.

"Which bastard said he wanted to pick up the shell?"

"Who else could it be except Yang Siyi, the Minister of Revenue?"

"Tsk tsk, such a great minister, the God of Wealth of the Ming Dynasty, still cares about such a small bullet shell?"

"Don't you understand that the Ming Dynasty is short of copper? We can take these shells back and remelt them!"

"Lack of copper? That's easy. If there's a copper mine in a certain country, why don't we just go and take it down?"

Someone said, "Hey, why don't we ask the local soldiers to help pick up the shell casings?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the soldiers who were picking up the shell casings were stunned. They looked at each other, and all of them read the meaning of "Why am I so stupid" in each other's eyes.

In the battle of Laos, the Ming army won a great victory, but Xu Da and Li Wenzhong both knew that this was just the beginning of the southern expedition.

A force of several thousand people was assigned to escort the prisoners back to the country. After all, so many prisoners meant tens of thousands more mouths to feed, which the Ming army that was marching south could not afford to feed.

As for how to deal with so many captives, that is a headache for His Majesty. However, Xu Da thinks that it is most likely that they will be sent to work in mines. It is impossible for them to work in factories. It is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to train these captives into skilled workers. It does not have the kindness or the leisure to do so.

Next, the Ming army stationed in Chuanwu and immediately marched towards Annan as soon as supplies arrived.

During this period, Fu Youde and Mu Ying's suppression of the rebellion in Yunnan was nearing its end. In fact, although the rebellious chieftain had tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, when they encountered the Ming army, although they were very fierce at the beginning, they were quickly defeated after being shot several times by needle-fired rifles.

The only thing that caused some trouble for the Ming army was the continuous and rugged mountain roads.

After pacifying the chieftains, Zhu Yuanzhang cut the Gordian knot by changing the Xuanweishisi into the Provincial Administration, and directly airlifted the provincial administration officer from Yingtian Prefecture, thus completely undermining the foundation of the chieftains' rule in terms of institutional setup.

Fu Youde stayed in Yunnan and fulfilled his duties as the commander-in-chief. He also escorted the new governor, ensured the rule of the Ming court, and went deep into every village.

(End of this chapter)