The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 152 The Silly Victim

Mo Zibu guessed correctly that the Towai lord Manjimaloye had no idea about the details of the Third Qing-Myanmar War.

The report he received was that King Baixiang had defeated the Qing army in the north again, killing more than 50,000 Qing soldiers and driving the invaders out of the country.

Thanks to the miraculous rapid rise of the Konbaung Dynasty in recent years, in the eyes of ordinary Burmese people and even officials, it has become extremely common for the White Elephant King to win one victory after another in his never-ending conquests.

Therefore, Mankimaloye did not doubt the authenticity of the news at all, he just had a little opinion of his own about the results of the battle.

According to Manjimaloye's estimation, killing 50,000 people would definitely be nonsense, but killing 10,000 or 20,000 people would be enough to achieve a great victory.

According to this theory, Manjimaloye was greatly surprised when he received the request from the White Elephant King to advance into the Siam region and investigate the movements of the Siamese Restoration Army.

This idiot thought that the White Elephant King wanted to reward him for his obedience and let him go to Siam to plunder.

Why do I say that? Because this guy is also a Meng.

However, he was not a Mon who was a resistanceist but an integrationist, advocating that the Mon people should integrate into the Burmese, even if it meant becoming second-class citizens.

Historically, the Mon people went from being a large tribe to a small tribe of only a few million people, and people like Mankimaloye made great contributions.

Many Mon people, at least hundreds of millions, have integrated into the Burmese.

Therefore, Manjimaloye thought that this was a reward from the White Elephant King, a reward for them, the fusion faction.

Of course, General Suki is also a fusionist, but compared to Manjimaloye who has no bottom line, General Suki is relatively cautious.

General Suki has also become obedient now, because the officers under him have already drunk the oath of allegiance with Mo Zibu in accordance with the Mon tradition and tattooed tiger patterns on their legs to show their loyalty to Mo Zibu.

The Mon people love tattoos, which have a very special meaning to them. For example, tattooing a pattern collectively has the same meaning as the Japanese practice of writing letters of allegiance.

In addition, before the army set out, Mo Zi Bu specially brought 4,000 Mon people to the Chao Phraya River to hold the Buddha Bathing Festival.

This festival is very important to the Mon people, or to the southwestern ethnic minorities such as the Mon, Dai and Wa in Myanmar.

After being captured, the Mon people's second biggest worry, besides fearing for their lives, was that they would not be able to participate in the Buddha Bathing Festival.

Mo Zibu fulfilled their wish and specially asked the monks from Hexian Jinding Temple to come and hold a Buddha Bathing Festival ceremony for the Meng people.

The Mon and Khmer peoples have similar languages, cultural customs, and this ceremony helped Mo Zi Bu establish initial trust with these Mon soldiers.

However, Mo Zibu knew that the effects of these were always just consolation.

It just shows that Mo Zibu is willing to treat them well. If he really wants them to obey, it depends on Mo Zibu's own strength.

In addition, Mo Zibu also learned the reason why General Suki sent five or six thousand people but was unable to defeat him.

Because in the South Camp at that time, except for a small number of elite soldiers and cavalry who were Burmese, the rest were recruited from various ethnic groups, and there were even Thai traitor troops.

After Mozibu defeated the elite Burmese musketeers and cavalry, General Suki could no longer fight.

Because the combat effectiveness of the Mon people is far lower than that of the Burmese army, they are just better at operating the navy. It is because of this that General Suki was able to get the position of commander-in-chief.

. . . .

In the 1768rd year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty, at the end of March AD, Taksin led an army of and marched westward to resist the army of Mankimaroya, the lord of Towa.

Mo Zibu still served as the vanguard and partnered with Chen Lian and Huang Zhen, leading an army of 2,500 as the vanguard.

Khun Aphayebudi, who had always followed Mo Zi Bu, was brought by Zheng Xin as his musketeer guard.

At this time, Zheng Xin's group was still in a very difficult period. After accepting a large number of refugees, the number of soldiers commanded by each general had decreased a lot.

The tight supply of military rations also prevented Zheng Xin from mobilizing too many troops, because for an army, if there was no training on weekdays, a soldier could survive on one and a half kilograms of rice a day.

But if you are marching or fighting, the demand will basically double, and fish, bacon, animal oil, etc. will have to be rationed.

Therefore, Zheng Xin could not dispatch too many troops, and had to grit his teeth and go forward with only these 8,000 people.

At this time, the Lord of Dawei, Manjimaloya, had also arrived in Kanchanaburi Province, Siam.

There were still more than 2,000 Burmese troops in Kanchanaburi Province and the neighboring Ratchaburi Province. After Mankimaraya arrived with 12,000 troops, the total strength was about 15,000.

"What do you think of Manjimaloye?" Mo Zibu asked Suki beside him.

This time, Mozibu brought Suki and his son Deleng, as well as dozens of elite Mon soldiers and officers, because they were familiar with Mankimaloye.

"He's a shameless villain. He sided with the Burmese during the Battle of Thaleng. He's the best at flattery."

Before Suki could answer, his son Deleng answered with gritted teeth.

Before he finished speaking, the other Meng people who followed him also had expressions of mixed anger and excitement, and began to curse.

“Manjimaloye is a traitor to our Mon people, but he is not a big shot.

The main reason he became the Tuva lord was because his family was a powerful Tuva family, and he flattered the White Elephant King without any bottom line.

Su Ji said very calmly that he was not like young people like De Leng, who did not have so many concepts of good and evil.

In his opinion, Mankima Luoye's choice is neither right nor wrong. On the contrary, at least so far, it is correct.

Mozibu also had a plan in mind. As long as Manjimaloye was not a brave and warlike lord, it would be no problem for his side to use 8,000 elite soldiers to fight against more than 10,000 Burmese troops.

"Speed up the march, reach Wangong Village before dark, and prepare for defense!"

. . . .

Wangong Village is about 15 kilometers away from Ratchaburi City, and is located at the narrowest part of the Mae Kong River (Mekong River), the largest river in Ratchaburi Province.

Because the river is narrowest here, there are two stone bridges on the river, which are extremely rare in Siam. There are also some small wooden bridges in the distance. It is the most important traffic artery on the Ye Kong River.

At the same time, this village is also the only way from Kanchanaburi Province to Ratchaburi Province, and its strategic location is extremely important.

When Mo Zibu forced his way to Wangong Village, he found no signs of the Burmese army's presence. At the same time, the people in the village had already fled.

This is a very normal phenomenon in Southeast Asia. When facing invasion, the most common tactic used by the various ethnic groups in Southeast Asia is to hide.

They hide deep in swamps and rainforests, where invaders cannot find them and find it difficult to gain a foothold. They rely on the food provided by nature to consume their opponents in the swamps and rainforests until the enemy feels that there is no profit in retreating.

At this time, not only were there few people left in Wangong Village, but there were also almost no people in Ratchaburi Province, so the Burmese army could not plunder much supplies.

At the same time, Tuwei is not a particularly wealthy province. Manjimaloye led more than 10,000 people over mountains and rivers, and the logistical pressure must have been considerable.

Therefore, Mo Zibu judged that as long as he defended Wangong Village, he could force the Tuva army to attack.

So, Mo Zibu immediately deployed the small amount of field artillery he brought to several key locations in the village, and then abandoned some places near the river mouth.

The Burmese army had a small inland fleet on the Mae Kong River, and Mo Zi Bu only brought the land army, while the navy remained in Thonburi with most of Taksin's troops. Therefore, he had no ability and no need to control the waterway at this time.

After working for most of the night and arranging the light and dark sentries, Mo Zibu only slept for three or four hours before being woken up by Huang Zhen.

The Burmese army arrived.

Mo Zibu climbed up the village tower and saw that the overwhelming army in the distance had begun to surround the village.

They were dressed in black and white and looked quite neat. There were at least six to seven thousand of them as far as the eye could see, and more were coming from afar.

But we only saw dozens of war elephants and not many artillery pieces.

"Have Wang Wubing lead four hundred flintlock soldiers and one hundred heavy musketeers to form the battle line.

Wu Wenyong will lead 300 sword and shield soldiers to cover the artillery of Jean Jacques's guard and test the quality of these Tuva people.

After receiving the military order from Mo Zibu, Wang Wubing immediately led three companies of the Yicongtuan to fight against Huang Zhen's two hundred musketeers.

Wu Wenyong also covered four eight-pound field guns on the left and right sides of the flintlock soldiers, ready to provide cover and attack.

The Tuva lord, Manjimaloye, was a fat black man. He sat on a huge brown war elephant. When he saw Wang Wubing and more than 800 others coming out of the village to challenge him, he frowned.

"Didn't they say Wangong Village isn't very big and the Chinese army doesn't have many people? How dare they come out and challenge my army?"

Several trusted lords nearby laughed and replied, "Blessings from the White Elephant King! This is the Buddha protecting us!
The Chinese army is unaware of the strength of our Tuva warriors and has ignorantly challenged us outside the city. This is the perfect opportunity for us to deal with them."

After hearing this, Mankimaloye's brows immediately relaxed. He smiled, and the black fat on his cheeks was trembling.

"That's great, generals. Send out three thousand men and defeat them. We will march into Thonburi tomorrow. This time we will capture fifty thousand Siamese slaves to farm for us."

The sound of elephants came from the Tuva army, led by six war elephants, with musketeers scattered on both sides of the elephants. Behind the musketeers were a large number of hand-to-hand combat soldiers holding single swords.

These guys were still a few hundred meters away when they started to roar and cheer themselves up. The war elephants were also infected by this fanatical atmosphere.

As the elephant slaves continued to feed the war elephants rice balls made of refined white rice and cane sugar, the elephants also neighed excitedly.

It looks like...it doesn't look like people are attacking, it looks like a group of animals are attacking.

The Tuva people did not have many flintlock rifles, and with their poor financial resources they could hardly afford them.

The Mon people have been in poverty ever since they lost Thanlian, Rangoon, Bago and Mawlamyine.

In terms of military, although they were brave, their combat methods and weapons were still relatively old-fashioned.

"103rd and 107th Companies, each dispatch fifty heavy riflemen. Concentrate fire on the opposing war elephants. Make sure they are killed!"

Wang Wubing gave the order calmly. The companies of the Hexian Regiment were named starting from the 101th Company, and the Yicong Regiment started from .

Heavy musketeers are gunners who use heavy matchlock guns. This heavy matchlock gun has a long range, heavy projectiles, and greater lethality than ordinary flintlock guns. The disadvantage is that it is slow to reload and has worse shooting accuracy.

However, it is perfect for sniping large targets such as war elephants. Fifty rifles can be fired at the same time, and accuracy is guaranteed.

When the Tuva army saw that the Chinese army dared to send out a hundred people to continue advancing, they roared even louder and the war elephants began to speed up.

But at a distance of 110 to 120 meters, the Chinese army opened fire.

In order to train these musketeers, Mo Zibu spared no expense in raising lead bullets, and their accuracy was far more accurate than most people thought.

An elephant slave, whose cheeks were deformed from chewing betel nut, roared loudly to stimulate the war elephant. The war elephant raised its head, shouted "Ram Ram" and started to sprint.

Suddenly, the charging war elephant tilted its head. The elephant slave looked in horror and saw that in the rising smoke on the opposite side, several holes suddenly appeared on the iron plate covering the war elephant's forehead, and blood was still oozing out.

Immediately afterwards, a huge lead bullet hit the elephant slave, and his mouth was instantly smashed into pieces. The huge impact force caused him to fly off the ground, and then he fell heavily to the ground.

When the war elephant saw the elephant slave who accompanied it day and night fall down, it subconsciously looked back, and then more lead bullets suddenly hit the huge beast.

Even with the thickness of elephant skin, it is difficult to withstand the impact of one or two large lead bullets.

The war elephant let out a painful roar, blood blurred its eyes, and severe pain spread throughout its body.

The problem with elephants is that they are too smart.

It soon realized that the humans on the opposite side possessed a particularly terrifying weapon that it could not contend with.

So it not only turned around and ran away, but also tried its best to make a warning roar to inform its companions.

At the same time, the war elephant shook violently, shaking the humans, saddles, etc. on its back to the ground, reducing the weight and making it easier to escape.

But after running a few steps, it fell to the ground due to rapid blood loss, and also knocked down several musketeers who were very close to it.

This war elephant happened to be the leader of the Tuva war elephant herd. Its fall and wailing immediately frightened the other war elephants.

It was clear that the Chinese heavy musketeers only shot down two war elephants, but the remaining five seemed to have been hit hard themselves.

They also shook violently, threw everything off their backs, and then turned and ran.

The Tuva melee soldiers behind were caught off guard and had no time to fight. They howled and began to hide.

Although not many people were trampled to death, the formation was completely disrupted.

Even one of the war elephants was so frightened that no matter how they tried to appease it, it was useless. The Tuva people had to knock it over with their spears.

The first attack ended so abruptly.

(End of this chapter)