The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 124 Everyone has their own agenda
Outside the water fort, on the south side of the city, Mo Zibu directly ordered the Lucky and another armed merchant ship No. 4 with twelve guns to turn the hulls horizontally in the Chao Phraya River, with the black muzzles aimed at the Burmese army's water fort in the river.

The Chao Phraya River has abundant water and a wide river channel, so it is impossible for the Burmese to easily build a water fort across the river.

So they had no choice but to bury hidden piles in the river and sink large ships to block the waterway. At the same time, they set up a water fort on each side, well, perhaps it should be called a small naval port.

But their design was to block the Siamese ships rushing out of Ayutthaya and heading towards the estuary.

They were not targeting the warships coming up from the mouth of the Chao Phraya River. They had never considered that anyone would dare to come to Ayutthaya at this time.

Therefore, these military measures of the Burmese army became a complete joke after Mozibu led the fleet north.

Don’t imagine that the Myanmar army is very professional and systematic just because they are killing people indiscriminately in Southeast Asia. In fact, it is still a quasi-feudal country with a strong slave society color.

Its ferocity is based on the excellent matching mechanism in the Southeast Asia region.

Not to mention the Qing Dynasty, if you move the Northern Zheng of Annan to the Chao Phraya River Plain, they can beat Myanmar into a daze.

So when Mo Zi Bu appeared unexpectedly, the Burmese army commander Thihapodi was quite nervous. He didn't know where this team, in which few people spoke Siamese, came from.

Then when he saw the flag of the Mozi tribe and thought of the army in Pattaya from the sea ships, he became even more nervous.

As a result, they were unable to make a decision in the first place, and Mo Zibu forced dozens of people to enter the south of the city and establish contact with the Chinese Volunteer Army in the south of the city.

But after waiting for two days, Tihapati regained his courage when he found that Mozibu had only three large and small warships, more than twenty fast crab boats, and two thousand sailors and soldiers.

But Mo Zibu decided to give him two hard blows first. The two warships aimed directly at the Burmese army's military port water fort on the right side of the Chao Phraya River, blocking it and bombarding it.

Well, the naval port was not without artillery batteries guarding it. Not only that, but they were 32-pound cannons taken from the old French warships, which were much more powerful than the 8-pound cannons on the Lucky.

If the Fortune were hit by a 32-pounder, it might be penetrated directly.

But unfortunately for the Burmese army, their defensive awareness was too poor. Before the Lucky entered the firing range of the artillery position, Chen Guangyao personally led 800 soldiers to capture the Burmese artillery position.

Subsequently, thousands of Burmese troops did not dare to attack under the threat of naval guns, and Thihapodi did not immediately understand the situation and make up his mind to fight, and as a result, he missed the best opportunity.

Now, Chen Guangyao turned the muzzle of the fort's 32-pound gun and bombarded the Burmese army's Shuizhai naval port together with the Lucky and Red No. 4.

Soon, the Burmese army abandoned this water fortress, which had become useless to them, sank the ships, burned down all the buildings, and then retreated.

Chen Guangyao also ordered his men to seal the fire doors of the fort with iron nails, and then continued to move upwards with the fleet.

After passing the water fort military port abandoned by the Burmese army, there are wooden stakes buried and sunken ships in front of you.

Mo Zibu did not have the manpower to remove these obstacles, so he could only stop here and order the army to assemble and prepare to support the Chinese volunteers in the south of the city.

At this time, the situation between the two sides was very complicated. Mo Zibu's fleet was located at a T-shaped estuary.

The fleet was at the I of the T. The place where the I and the - met was filled with hidden stakes and sunken ships and could not pass through.

The Chinese Volunteer Army in the south of the city was on the right side of the T, separated from the Mo Zibu fleet by an artificially dug moat. If they wanted to reach Mo Zibu's side, they had to cross this not-so-narrow moat.

The floating bridge on the moat had been destroyed, and the Chinese in the south of the city had no materials to build a floating bridge, only a dozen small boats.

Fortunately, the water was not fast, and most Chinese people in Siam knew how to swim.

Therefore, the Chinese can let people with limited mobility come by boat, while normal people can swim over.
I am just very afraid of the attack by the Myanmar army.

The Burmese army was on the left side of the T-shape. Although they still had ships left, they were within the range of Mozibu's naval guns.

Therefore, they did not dare to pass directly through here, and had to take a longer detour to take the floating bridge controlled by them to attack the south of the city.

At the same time, about one kilometer above the top of the T-shape is the last fortress outside Ayutthaya, guarded by the Chinese general Luang Jathu.

He originally had 400 soldiers under his command, most of whom were Chinese, but now there are probably less than 300 left.

Mo Zibu and a group of officers discussed for a long time and felt that there was no way to stop the Burmese army from using the pontoon bridge to attack the Chinese crossing the river.

So, Mo Zibu steeled himself and looked at the officers and non-commissioned officers around him.

"Since we are here today, we must get things done. Coming here in high spirits and leaving in disgrace is not the true nature of our Kunlun Mountain Hall.

If going left or right doesn't work, then we will just land directly from the left and make it clear to the Burmese that we are here to pick up the Chinese from the south of the city.

If he dares to divide his forces, we will attack his main camp. If he knows what's good for him, he will let us go."

"I think we can fight!" Even here in Mo Zibu, after continuous division, there are still military leaders.

For example, Wu Wenyong who is speaking now, no matter how you analyze it, people from Annan, especially those from Northern Zheng, will naturally want to be closer to Wu Wenyong.

This natural attraction between fellow countrymen and people of the same ethnic group can only be diluted by time and money, and it cannot be resolved in a short period of time.

Therefore, although Wu Wenyong was the deputy commander of the Yicongtuan, he still had a certain influence on the Annamites who were split into the Ha Tien Regiment and the Staff Officers Corps.

"These Burmese have been attacking the Chinese south of our city with an army of tens of thousands for six months, suffering heavy casualties and still unable to defeat them. They have long been afraid of us Chinese. If we land with our elite troops, they will not dare to split their forces."

Wu Wenyong, an Annamite, said the word "Chinese" very fluently.

The title of "Little China in the South" is not just talk. Wu Wenyong has always firmly believed that he is Chinese, and that Siamese, Malays, Burmese, and Khmers are barbarians.

"I think we can fight. The most important task of the Burmese army commander is to capture Ayutthaya, not to kill all the Chinese in the south of the city.

As long as we can repel a few Burmese attacks and make them realize that fighting us is not worth the effort, and Longtou sends an envoy to the Burmese camp to explain the conditions, we can leave without worry." Wang Wubing has been studying very well recently and making rapid progress, so he directly grasped the core of this battle.

The Burmese army wants to capture Ayutthaya, and Mo Zi Bu wants to take away the Chinese in the south of the city. There is no conflict between the two sides, and it can be said that there is no irreconcilable contradiction. Now it depends on whether Mo Zi Bu can use war to promote peace and show his power.

. . . .

On March 25, after completing the agreement, Mo Zibu took the initiative to drive the warship to the left bank of the Chao Phraya River and quickly drove away the Burmese army's surveillance team on the left bank.

Afterwards, Mo Zibu ordered Li Guangcai to lead five fast crab boats to carefully pass through the hidden piles and appear in the northern river channel, to prevent the Burmese army from using small boats to cross the river to the south of the city.

Then, 1,300 army soldiers went ashore and formed a battle formation, a rather retro replica of the Spanish square, and slowly pressed forward towards the Burmese positions.

Upon hearing the news, the Burmese army commander Thihapati came here in person from the north of Ayutthaya. Looking at the Chinese army flags standing in the distance, he was speechless for a long time.

Wang Wubing was right. For the Burmese commander Thihapati, nothing was more important than capturing Ayutthaya.

But he has 35,000 troops here. If he is scared by more than a thousand people and dares not move forward, then he has no use for being the commander-in-chief.

Moreover, the Chinese in the south of the city had killed and wounded many Burmese soldiers. It would be better to kill them all, otherwise it would be difficult to explain to the soldiers below.

However, there is a very important fact: although Thehapati had an army of 35,000, it was impossible to mobilize all of them.

They are divided into three major camps in the east, south and north and the central army, each with their own responsibilities.

The 15,000 troops that were sent out some time ago to attack the Chinese in the south of the city were already the limit of what Tihapodi could mobilize.

The Burmese army commander looked around, taking in the expressions of the senior officers around him. He then turned to General Suki, the commander of the Southern Camp of the Chinese Army, and said:
"This battle will still be led by the Southern Army. General Suki, how many men do you think are needed to defeat the Chinese troops on the other side?"

Hearing what Thihapati said, the generals of the Northern and Eastern Armies immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

For them, even if these more than a thousand Chinese were all brave, they could not attack them. Since it had nothing to do with them, they naturally did not want to fight.

Given the combat effectiveness displayed by these Chinese troops in Pattaya, it would be impossible to take it down without the cooperation of five or six thousand infantry and cavalry, and we would have to be on guard against any failure.

They all saw what happened to the Great Cavalry Commander Wu Yue, and their heads were already dry with wind.

If the White Elephant King was here in person, or if the Burmese army commander, Prince Maha Arata, had not died of illness, with their prestige, they could directly order the three camps to dispatch elite troops.

The rewards after victory can be decided by just a word from them.

However, the current commander, Thihapodi, does not have this ability. He was promoted temporarily, and his prestige is not enough to command these 35,000 Burmese troops at will.

As for Thihapati's own confidants, they naturally could not be arranged to take the stage at this time.

Why do they support you, Thehapodi? Of course, it is because Thehapodi, as the coach, can bring them benefits!

As long as Thihapati gave the order, his confidants would risk their lives to accomplish such an unprecedented feat as conquering Ayutthaya.

But they must be crazy to fight a wrong battle with the elite Chinese soldiers over there at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

Just like now, Tihapodi is consuming the strength of Suki and the East Camp Army, and when the critical moment of breaking the city comes, he will replace them with his own confidants.

Being stared at by everyone, General Su Ji of the South Camp turned pale.

His troops had already shouldered the heavy responsibility of attacking the Chinese in the south of the city. They suffered thousands of casualties but did not achieve much credit, and the soldiers and generals under them were all complaining.

And now, he was asked to step forward and fight against the powerful Wu Yue army, which had almost been annihilated by the Chinese army. He was absolutely unwilling to do so.

But what can he do? In front of everyone, does he dare to say he won't fight?
Therefore, Suki could only receive the military order from the commander-in-chief Tihapodi with a sullen face, and then went to his own commander-in-chief's barracks. The soldiers and generals under him were immediately in an uproar.

You're bullying people, right? You let the honest people have to deal with all the hard stuff, right?

Fortunately, at this time, Mo Zibu's Chinese army stopped one kilometer away from the Burmese Army's southern camp.

What was the Spanish phalanx afraid of? It was not afraid of cavalry charges, but because it moved slowly, it was most afraid of artillery fire.

This is also the important reason why the Spanish Square Phalanx is completely unused in Europe now.

The progress of firearms is only one aspect. The most important thing is that after the mining and metallurgical industries of various countries have improved, the power and quantity of cannons have increased several times compared to a hundred years ago.

If the Spanish troops were to deploy a large square formation at this time, they would often become sitting ducks for artillery fire.

So Mo Zibu stopped here and pushed the army's fifteen field guns to the hillside and set them up. If the Burmese army deployed a large number of artillery, he would use artillery to fight back first.

Moreover, this position is very convenient. If you really can't win, you can retreat quickly to the protection range of the ship's guns.

At the same time, it can also threaten the two largest floating bridges of the Burmese army leading to the Chinese district in the south of the city. If Mo Zibu does not withdraw, the Burmese army will not be able to cross the river calmly.

General Suki's trusted generals also saw this and began to urge them not to fight hard. Suki narrowed his eyes and whispered to the surrounding generals:

"These Miaoxiang people must have come here to take away the Miaoxiang people in the south of the city. Since they are leaving, isn't it a good thing? Go down and select the smart ones to fight, and don't really fight to the death with the Miaoxiang people.

After all the Miao Xiang people in the south of the city have left, we will quickly send troops to occupy the south of the city, and then attack Ayutthaya from there, and take the credit for breaking the city.

Humph! That old fox, Thehapodi, wants to use the corpses of our warriors to build his own achievements. What a wishful thinking!

(End of this chapter)