Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 283 Burma Kills Han Emperor, Massacres Nation

Ava, the royal capital of Myanmar.

Inside the palace, King Mang Bai of Burma was waiting for news.

He didn't care about the life or death of Ming Dynasty officials.

As long as Emperor Yongli and Mu Tianbo don't die, that's fine.

One was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the other was the Duke of Qian, who had a huge influence in the southwest.

The rest of them are no big deal; they can be killed without consequence.

The palace was very quiet. Mang Bai sat on the throne, with several ministers standing below him.

Because the old king Mangda treated the Ming emperor and his ministers well, it caused dissatisfaction among the domestic forces, and thus he was overthrown by Mangda and his ministers.

Now, almost all of the upper echelons in Myanmar are disgusted with the Ming Dynasty's rulers and officials, and the Cursed Water Incident has gained the support of everyone.

After all, this action is understandable.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty was truly at its wit's end, in dire straits, and was nothing but an empty shell.

In contrast, the Manchu Qing dynasty had become a behemoth that they could not afford to offend, nor did they want to.

Using the Yongli Emperor and his ministers as a pledge of allegiance in exchange for the Qing Dynasty's friendly attitude towards Burma and numerous benefits was clearly a better choice.

Although the Qing court was busy dealing with Wu Sangui's Rebellion of the Three Feudatories and stabilizing the domestic turmoil, it did not have time to deal with Burma until the Qianlong era when the tributary relationship was normalized.

However, because of the cursed water disaster, Burma avoided a large-scale invasion by the Qing Dynasty, which was naturally a good thing for them.

"Have my orders been relayed? The lives of the Ming Emperor and the Duke of Qian must be spared."

Mang Bai said with some unease.

Minister Langpa bowed and said, "The order has been given repeatedly."

“I’m worried that the soldiers will become so engrossed in the fighting that they won’t care about this order. You should go there yourself.”

"Yes."

Langpa immediately agreed and left the palace to go to the Cursed Water.

Historically, he arrived after the Water Curse disaster, feigning concern as he ordered the Burmese soldiers: 'The King has decreed that the Emperor and Duke Mu must not be harmed.'

However, the massacre had already taken place by then, and Mu Tianbo had already been killed while drinking the cursed water.

Later, Mang Bai sent men to deliver gold, silver, and valuables to the Yongli Emperor, deflecting responsibility by saying, "The order to loot you was not given by me; it was all the work of the Burmese mob."

This is undoubtedly an attempt to blame the mob and cover up his political intentions.

However, both the History of the Southern Ming Dynasty and the historical records from within Burma clearly show that he orchestrated the entire process, demonstrating his treachery and hypocrisy.

The wait for news was long, and Mang Bai chatted with other ministers about their plans after capturing Emperor Yongli and Mu Tianbo.

They believed they could then wait for the right price and demand more benefits from Wu Sangui.

About half an hour later, Langpa suddenly rushed in, covered in sweat, and shouted, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!"

"Ok?"

Mang Bai frowned and asked, "What happened? Did they kill the emperor?"

But this is impossible.

Langpa had only been gone for half an hour, while they were sixty or seventy miles away from the banks of the Cursed River. Under normal circumstances, it would take at least three hours to get there. How could they have arrived so quickly?

Unless they had already finished their work and sent someone back to report, and then encountered Langpa on the way.

This is the only possibility.

Thinking of this, Mang Bai continued, "The Ming people are too weak. Were they all killed in such a short time?"

"No."

Langpa, his face contorted with grief, was so anxious he could barely speak. He said, "Just now, on my way to the Cursed Water, I encountered a group of merchants from Meng'a. They said...they said..."

"say what?"

Mang Bai was very displeased upon seeing this. Couldn't you just say what's on your mind?
"They say that a powerful Ming army has been conquering cities and territories, defeating all Qing forces in Guizhou and Yunnan, and Wu Sangui has also been defeated. Now the entire southwest of Qing territory belongs to Ming."

Langpa's voice was trembling with sobs.

Myanmar is mountainous and remote, with a harsh, humid, and hot climate. There was not much contact between Myanmar and the Qing Dynasty, and the main contact was with Wu Sangui, which made it very isolated from news.

Their launching of the Cursed Water Incident was driven not only by their own political considerations, but primarily by Wu Sangui's coercion and enticement, and his constant attempts to win them over.

However, Southeast Asia has been rich in spices, timber, and medicinal herbs since ancient times, so the two sides have had trade relations since ancient times. Even the establishment of the tributary system was for the purpose of this continuous trade.

Therefore, many merchants traveled between Southeast Asia and the mainland along the southwestern border, the most famous of which was the Tea Horse Road.

There are three main routes of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. One route starts from Chengdu, goes west through Ya'an, Kangding, Changdu, and Lhasa, then turns into Bhutan and heads south to India.

The second route starts from Kunming, Yunnan, passes through Pu'er, Dali, and Lijiang, and then heads west through Myanmar into India.

The last route is to go south from Guangxi into Vietnam, then west through Laos and Myanmar, or go through Laos to Thailand and then to Myanmar, and finally head towards India.

However, these trade routes are not fixed.

For example, the second trade route could bypass Dali and Lijiang, and instead go directly south from Pu'er into Myanmar, taking the third trade route.

Or they could simply stop doing business in India and instead focus on Southeast Asia.

Therefore, many caravans traveled along these ancient roads, often starting from Kunming, heading south to Pu'er, and then from Pu'er to Jinghong and Menglian, or to Laos and Vietnam, or to Myanmar and Thailand, trading goods such as spices, medicinal herbs, and furs.

The caravan that Langpa encountered came from Pu'er and took the route through Jinghong, which is Xishuangbanna. They completely missed the direction of Bai Wenxuan, Chen Gui, and Yang Heng, and successfully arrived in Ava, the capital of Myanmar, to trade.

On the way, he encountered the Burmese minister Langpa. Under Langpa's questioning, he also learned that earth-shaking changes had taken place in Yunnan Province under the Qing Dynasty.

Overnight, the banners of power changed hands across the southwestern city, and the once invincible Qing Dynasty was defeated in an instant.

At that moment, the white man was dumbfounded.

Even if he's stupid, he knows what this means.

Mang Bai launched the Cursed Water Calamity in order to curry favor with the Manchus.

However, the Manchus were defeated by the Ming army, and the southwest fell into their hands.

Even if the Manchus later reclaimed Yunnan and Guizhou, the Ming army, which had already occupied the southwest, would inevitably have to bring the emperor back first.

But he did something stupid: he launched the Cursed Water Incident to attack the Yongli Emperor. When the Ming army found out, they were furious.

Under such geopolitical circumstances, if the Qing dynasty is blocked from providing support by the Ming army, Burma will be the first to bear the brunt and become the target of the Ming army's fierce retaliation.

Back then, Bai Wenxuan and a few thousand men were enough to defeat the Burmese army of tens of thousands. If tens of thousands of Ming troops had come, wouldn't Burma have been destroyed?
Thinking of this, Mang Bai was on the verge of tears and almost collapsed on the spot. He immediately shouted, "Quickly, ride over there at full speed! No, I'll go myself. We must save them!"

"Your Majesty, it may be too late to go now."

One minister, his face grim, said, "It's more than sixty li from the capital to the Cursed Water. Even if we set off now, we won't arrive until dark."

"We still have to go."

"But what should we do then? If the Ming emperor dies, the Ming army in Yunnan will surely destroy our Burma. If the Ming emperor does not die, he will go back and complain to the Ming army in Yunnan, and we will still destroy our country."

"What do you mean?"

After being told what the minister said, Mang Bai immediately realized what was going on.

The minister said, "We must give them an explanation. The Ming army's main enemy is still the Qing. As long as the Ming emperor is alive, it hasn't come to the point of mutual destruction. Giving them an explanation might calm things down."

"Well"

Mang Bai immediately understood and said, "That's right, these are the work of local rioters. We only just received the news and went to rescue them. Quickly, assemble the army. As long as we kill them all, everything will be fine."

This was the explanation given to the Ming army in Yunnan.

They shifted the blame to the mob, then killed all three thousand soldiers and the envoys who had lured Emperor Yongli to silence them, creating a situation where there was no way to verify the truth.

Even if Emperor Yongli could certainly guess that he was behind it, firstly, there was no evidence, and secondly, even if the Ming army recaptured the southwest, their main enemy would still be the Manchus.

If Emperor Yongli hadn't died, the conflict wouldn't have reached the point of no return, and he should have been able to escape.

After all, although it would certainly be easy for the Ming army in Yunnan to destroy Burma, the journey from Kunming to Ava was more than a thousand miles long, mostly through mountainous terrain, and the long expedition would be extremely costly, with the Manchu Qing dynasty watching them from behind.

As long as Mang Bai kills the soldiers who attacked him, giving them a way out, the Yunnan Ming army will at most send someone to reprimand them and won't take it too seriously.

It must be said that Mang Bai did understand politics to some extent. However, he clearly underestimated the strength of the Ming army in Yunnan, treating them as ordinary rebel forces.

If it were an ordinary rebel army, perhaps things would really turn out as he imagined.

However, what he didn't know was that regardless of whether he offered a way out or not, the Ming army in Yunnan was there to destroy his Burma, and they wouldn't care whether he was silenced or not.

But now Mang Bai thought he had seized a chance and immediately said, "Yes, let's do it this way, Qin Maosheng."

"Your Majesty."

A general stepped forward and bowed.

"Gather the troops and follow me to cast the spell on the water."

"Yes."

Qin Maosheng hurriedly left.

Mang Bai quickly changed into royal robes and clothes that were easy to ride, and hurriedly left the palace.

Under the protection of the King's Guard, Mang Bai mobilized a large army, more than 30,000 men, almost half of the Burmese military force, and set off towards the sorcery.

It was already noon. The calamity of the cursed waters had broken out at dawn, and Chen Gui had led his army to nearly annihilate the Burmese army.

However, hundreds more have escaped and are fleeing towards Ava, the capital of western Myanmar.

The Burmese were used to hiking in the mountains and had considerable stamina. Moreover, they were lightly armed and carried out their missions without armor. Although the Ming army was also not wearing armor, they still had to carry firearms, so they were unable to catch up in a short time.

After chasing for a while, Chen Gui had to gather his troops and slow down the pursuit, heading towards the Burmese capital at a pace of walking.

By noon, he was less than 20 kilometers from the capital and expected to arrive in another three hours.

Just then, a large contingent of Ming troops came from behind.

Chen Gui then stopped and waited.

Then they saw Yang Heng and his group riding bicycles at breakneck speed behind them, arriving in no time.

Myanmar is mountainous and densely forested, but the area near Ava is a rare plain. Although the vegetation is lush, there are relatively few mountains, mainly concentrated in the Mandalay Range to the north. Therefore, the roads are wide and flat, and the rammed earth roads are very suitable for cycling. Yang Heng and his group traveled at a speed of more than ten kilometers per hour, covering a distance of more than forty kilometers in just over two hours.

"Damn, I'm exhausted. Did you bring Red Bull?"

Chen Gui sat on the earthen slope on the right side of the road, the sun blazing down his head, sweat pouring down his forehead. He rolled his eyes as he watched Yang Heng leisurely riding his bicycle.

As Yang Heng took a bottle of Red Bull from the bag on his bicycle, he also took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to him, saying cheerfully, "Who told you to rush to come and carry out this mission? You can't ride a bike here to carry out a mission."

"This is no place for a human to live."

Looking at the dense swarm of mosquitoes around them, almost forming a dark cloud, Chen Gui opened a Red Bull, took a sip, and said, "If it weren't for the mosquito repellent, we would have been covered in bites by now."

"Let's be patient a little longer. Looking at the map, we're not far from Burma. Once we destroy Burma, we'll take Emperor Yongli back immediately."

"By the way, should we massacre Burma?"

"We are a civilized army under the rule of our founding emperor, how could we do such a thing?"

Yang Heng said righteously, "The instructors have repeatedly told us that the army is about obeying orders and suppressing bestiality with humanity. We cannot let our humanity be extinguished and turn us into killing machines, nor can we direct our anger at civilians."

In this respect, they were quite relaxed and had virtually no lingering effects of war trauma.

The main source of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the constant tension on the battlefield and the ever-present fear of death hanging over one's head.

Modern warfare has escalated, with both sides engaging in fierce firepower battles. Human lives are being taken as easily as burning weeds, and soldiers live in constant fear.

But the Hongwu soldiers didn't feel that way at all.

After all, no one could threaten them; they were always the ones killing the enemy. Therefore, lacking a sense of crisis and the constant tension, they were relaxed and calm, without PTSD.

This is precisely why they are able to receive modern military training in our country. They learn to avoid venting their anger on civilians and to maintain a sense of restraint.

However, Chen Gui curled his lip and said, "Come on, the Taizu Emperor already crushed the Jurchen Tartars of the Chongzhen era to dust. The Burmese attacked and killed our Ming emperor. I don't believe His Highness Prince Yan didn't take action against such a huge crime."

"No action was taken, perhaps His Highness the Prince of Yan forgot. He doesn't really care about the Yongli Emperor, but the Burmese have slapped the Ming Dynasty in the face, and they must be taught a severe lesson, but it's not easy to ask for instructions on such matters."

"Then let's not ask for permission and just do it ourselves."

"Don't."

Yang Heng, being more astute, reached out to stop him. After a moment's thought, he suddenly laughed and said, "Why should we do it? Bai Wenxuan heard that the Burmese attacked and killed the Ming emperor, and in his anger, he attacked the Burmese capital and massacred the Burmese people. What does that have to do with us?"

"Damn it, you deserve to be promoted later!"

Chen Gui gave him a thumbs up and said, "Old Yang, remember to take care of me when you become a general. I'll be your little brother."

"Hey hey hey."

Yang Heng chuckled.

Just then, the drone operator in charge of observation shouted, "Report! A large group of people is approaching from about five kilometers to the west."

"Oh?"

Chen Gui and Yang Heng immediately became interested and picked up their tablets to watch the video.

Sure enough, a large group of people from the west arrived in haste.

At first glance, it appears to be at least tens of thousands.

Having such a large military presence within Myanmar undoubtedly indicates that it represents the main force of Myanmar.

In the middle was a throne carried by horses, and behind it were a large number of war elephants, which looked quite impressive.

"It should be support from the Myanmar army."

"The one in the middle might be the King of Burma."

"How to say?"

"What else can we say? Let's take him down."

"go!"

Without further ado, the two immediately assembled their troops and marched westward.

They numbered only five hundred men in total, while Bai Wenxuan's troops behind them had arrived at Zhoushui and were pacifying Emperor Yongli and his ministers.

Although their numbers were small, they didn't take the tens of thousands of Burmese soldiers seriously at all. They mounted their bicycles and sped westward like a pack of howling wolves.

At this moment, Mang Bai was also drenched in sweat and ordered his soldiers to quicken their pace.

All he can do now is pray that Emperor Yongli is still alive.

As long as Emperor Yongli is alive, there is still room for maneuver.

If Emperor Yongli were to die, things would get really messy.

Just then, dozens of disheveled Burmese soldiers could be vaguely seen on the road in the distance.

As they drew closer, their numbers increased, and they began to run at breakneck speed.

Seeing this, Khin Maung Sein, the general leading the main force of the Burmese army, was puzzled and reined in his horse to rebuke them, "What are you doing?"

"It's the General! We're saved!"

"General, the Ming people, the Ming people are all monsters."

“They killed many of us, and we can’t defeat them.”

"Run! They're catching up!"

The scattered Burmese soldiers explained to Khin Maung Sein incoherently.

Qin Maosheng was completely confused, so he told them to stop and sent someone to take them to the Mangbai area behind.

After a while, the person was brought over, and Mang Bai asked in confusion, "What's going on?"

"Your Majesty, they are soldiers responsible for surrounding and killing the Ming emperor."

A general came over and said, "They said that when they were besieging the Ming emperor, they were defeated by the Ming emperor's guards."

"what?"

The white man was dumbfounded.

He sent three thousand men over there.

As far as he knew, the other side only had about three hundred followers, and they were basically unarmed.

Ten times the number of the enemy, and the enemy had no weapons, yet they were still killed?

Just how incompetent are your own troops?
But he quickly realized what was happening, and a hint of murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

This is just right.

The Yongli Emperor was safe and sound.

He could then take the opportunity to kill all these people, send their heads over, and explain to the other side that it was a rebellion.

He then sent more supplies, indicating his intention to form a permanent alliance with Emperor Yongli.

In this way, when the Ming army from Yunnan arrives, Burma will be safe and sound, and will not be attacked by the frenzied Ming army.

Thinking of this, Mang Bai prepared to order them to be killed.

But just then, a strange sound faintly came from the sky.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

The sound of something cutting through the air grew closer, and everyone looked up.

They saw hundreds of black dots appear in the sky at some unknown time, falling towards them.

While the Burmese army was still wondering...

"Bang bang bang!"

In an instant, an explosion rang out.

"Roar!~"

The loud roar of elephants.

The startled elephants immediately ran back.

The crowd erupted in chaos, thrown into disarray by the bombing, resulting in heavy casualties.

But before the Burmese army could react, a few seconds later, another explosion rang out, and many people were blown into the air.

It was only then that the Burmese army realized they had been attacked and began to flee in panic.

"Run, run."

"What's going on? The gods are angry."

"Help, help, I don't want to die."

The Burmese army was far inferior to Wu Sangui's Qing army; it collapsed almost immediately after being bombed.

The next moment, groups of Ming soldiers poured out, carrying machine guns and assault rifles, and opened fire on the Burmese troops.

The Burmese army suffered countless casualties, and a large number of them fled in disarray, with almost no ability to resist.

"kill!"

Chen Gui and Yang Heng shouted.

The Ming army swarmed in and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Burmese army.

Even the Burmese King Mang Bai fell from his throne in the chaos and was trampled to death by the disorganized crowd.

is the day.

The Ming army pursued them relentlessly.

Bai Wenxuan was furious upon learning that Emperor Yongli had been attacked, and led tens of thousands of Ming troops to rush to the Burmese capital.

He cut off Mangbai's head and hung it at the gate of Avadu, then led his army into the city and massacred the inhabitants!
The Nanyue people killed the Han envoy and were slaughtered, resulting in the destruction of nine commanderies; the King of Wan killed the Han envoy and had his head displayed at the northern gate; the Joseon people killed the Han envoy and were immediately exterminated.

Myanmar has now committed the absurd act of massacring the emperor of a superior nation; it deserves to be destroyed!

(End of this chapter)