The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 74 The Destiny of the Destined
It is about 240 kilometers from the city of Pyay to the mouth of the Irrawaddy River.

Mo Zibu carefully studied the map provided by Peter.

They are now less than 30 kilometers away from the city of Pyin Uyen, which is a Burmese military camp. Chen Guangyao brought his soldiers here last night under cover of darkness and eliminated more than 30 Burmese soldiers here.

Fortunately, the White Elephant King despised the Kingdom of Arakan, so he did not leave many soldiers garrisoned there.

But Mo Zibu and his men also had to make a decision as soon as possible, because the Burmese army outposts transmitted messages every five days and changed posts every ten days.

Even if the general stationed in Pyin Uyen City was rather numb, he would have noticed something was wrong within ten days at most.

“The plan must be revised, for instead of 700 prisoners we are to take away only 350 French artillerymen and a small number of sailors, the others taken with them, as well as the Portuguese musketeers, having already been drafted.

But at the same time, these French captives brought with them a large number of family members, estimated to be 1,100 people including children.

It would be impossible to take them all away with the ships we have now."

Wang Wubing came up and said, “According to the confessions of the Burmese prisoners, it is very difficult for a large ship weighing several hundred tons to sail upstream, and it can only travel about 120 to 130 miles.

If we send out centipede boats upstream to meet them, the best we can do is reach a town called Aobo, which is about here, about 300 miles from the estuary."

"That's enough. If we can meet them at a distance of about three hundred miles, then it will be less than two hundred miles south from Pyin Uyen. Let the women, children, and baggage take the boats, while the men will follow along the river."

As one of the few naval officers following Mo Zibu, Tanka No. 2 nodded in agreement.

"Longtou, I will immediately go south along the Irrawaddy River to explore the waterway. You will then send someone to quickly notify the Sittwe fleet and have them sail upstream to meet us."

Mo Zibu thought about it and agreed, because although the Konbaung Dynasty was powerful, it also had a fatal weakness, which was that its population was only around four million.

The size of the population determines the upper limit of the national potential of the entire Konbaung Dynasty.

King Meng Bo of the White Elephant could devote himself to military expansion and raise an army of 60,000 to 70,000, and he could also store a large amount of food to support his wars with Siam and the Qing Dynasty at the same time.

But he did not have the ability to maintain such a strong army while also maintaining a strong navy.

Therefore, the ruling core of the Konbaung Dynasty has always been near Ava in the middle, which is the area of Mandalay, the new capital of Myanmar in later generations.

The main force of the Konbaung Dynasty's navy was also in Ava City, mainly to guard against the Qing Dynasty's attack from the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River, namely the Jinsha River, Dulong River and other rivers in China.

So after killing the Mon people and French in Thanlian seven years ago, King Mong Bo of the White Elephant destroyed the coastal defense batteries in Thanlian and Yangon, which is now called Shwe Kwang.

The White Elephant King transported these cannons away and used them to strengthen the defenses of Ava and sink the Mon warships.

He also strictly prohibited the Mon people from building large sea ships, and even destroyed their shipyards, and detained all the craftsmen who knew how to build ships in Ava.

This gave Mo Zi Bu an opportunity. His fleet could go upstream without worrying about the Konbaung Dynasty's navy and coastal defense artillery.

"Then what remains is that we must eliminate the more than 1,000 Burmese troops in Pyin Uyen City.

If we don't kill them, we won't be able to take the women and children away safely. More importantly, all those artillery pieces are in Pyin Oo Lwin."

As Mo Zibu spoke, he smacked his lips. He wanted these experienced French artillerymen, but he wanted the artillery in the city of PyeongChang even more.

According to reliable sources, there were sixteen French-made four-pound cannons, five eight-pound cannons, three six-inch howitzers, and six new Austrian-made three-pound cannons.

These guns are all European style, with gun carriages that can be pulled by livestock.

With them, Mozibu could form two artillery battalions to provide sufficient fire support for at least 1,200 musketeers.

If we can form a cavalry team of about 150 people, it will be a regular European elite field infantry regiment.

Such military force, let alone in Southeast Asia, would be enough to fight the Qing Dynasty as long as we don't take the initiative to attack and let the Qing army attack southward.

For example, in the Red River Plain in northern Annam, it could at least stop five or six thousand Qing troops.

Historically, the Konbaung Dynasty relied on this artillery and used it to provide fire support. The Burmese fought hand-to-hand, inflicting heavy losses on both the Ayutthaya Dynasty of Siam and the Qing army.

Of course, Mo Zibu estimated that it was impossible for the White Elephant King to completely stop withdrawing these artillery troops, but as long as half of them could be left for Mo Zibu, it would be a great victory.

"Then why don't we just dress up in Arakanese clothing, pretend to plunder the Burmese village, and show up in Pyin Uyen City with open arms to lure the Burmese army out to fight, and then kill them outside the city."

Guangyao chuckled, and all the generals felt that they could fight. They now had more than 500 people, and they had nothing to fear as long as the garrison in Pyin Uyen City was not the White Elephant King's royal guard.

Mo Zibu and his men arrived at the right time, catching the Konbaung Dynasty off guard.

Because a big city like Pyin Uyen would not be guarded by only a thousand second- and third-tier troops.

This is an important town in Lower Burma. The original garrison consisted of 3,000 people, including hundreds of elite Burmese troops.

Only with a strong army stationed there would the White Elephant King feel comfortable placing the important French prisoners of war outside the city of Pyin Uyen. However, after successfully capturing Cheli Tusi (Xishuangbanna) last July, the White Elephant King Mengbo immediately began his campaign of conquest against Siam.

In October, in order to capture Chiang Mai, an important city in the north of Siam, Meng Bo transferred 600 Portuguese musketeers and 600 elite Burmese troops from the vicinity at one time.

This is also the reason why the White Elephant King Mengbo chose to accept the submission of the Arakan Kingdom and offered very favorable conditions.

Because he wanted to withdraw the elite troops of Prome and even the captured French artillery, he had to appease the Kingdom of Arakan first.

By September last year, the news of Cheli Tusi's capture could no longer be concealed.

When I realized I had been tricked, I was furious and imprisoned Liu Zao, the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and sent his confidant, Yang Yingju, the Minister of the Han Army Banner and former Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, to take over as the Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou.

Yang Yingju led hundreds of elite Green Camp soldiers from Shaanxi and Gansu to the south, and at the beginning of this year he showed his intention to teach the Konbaung Dynasty a lesson. In February, he captured the Menggen chieftain's vassal state of Myanmar and other places.

King Mengbo of the White Elephant was unwilling to lose the great opportunity to conquer Siam, so he did not return to his army. Instead, he once again transferred more than 4,000 troops from Pyin Uyen and other places to the north to build a fortified city and clear the countryside.

At the same time, he also sent envoys north to try to negotiate with the Qing Dynasty, with the idea of waiting until he destroyed Siam before fighting the Qing Dynasty.

As a result, the heavily defended Pyaym was left with less than a thousand second- and third-line conscripts.

What is the destiny of those who achieve great things? This is destiny!

Mo Zibu's troops of only a few hundred men, which could barely be considered elite, plunged into the heart of the Konbaung Dynasty at its peak. Not only did they not encounter any strong resistance, but instead they were like Monkey King entering the belly of a monster.

. . . .

The Irrawaddy River passes through the west of Pyay City. The convenient shipping and irrigation conditions make the area outside Pyay City extremely prosperous, with large paddy fields everywhere.

A large number of oxen working the land can be seen in almost every village, and a large number of fishing boats are seen on every river. Almost every household is taking advantage of the rare spring sunshine to take out salted fish and bacon to dry in the sun.

Such a rich place would naturally be severely destroyed by invaders like Mo Zibu.

Under Mo Zibu's command, more than 500 Kunlun Mountain Hall soldiers were having fun.

They were not good people to begin with. After Mo Zibu announced that military discipline would be ignored within two days, the true nature of these scumbags from the East and the West was exposed.

They killed the farmers' oxen and ate their food until their mouths were full of oil. They threw the leftover salted fish and bacon into the water, and only ate rice from the previous year's harvest.

They also captured a large number of women and forced them to do laundry, cooking and other tasks, and would set fire to their huts if they were not satisfied.

All the larger fishing boats were collected and the fishermen were tied up with hemp ropes and used as laborers.

After only a day and a half, Mo Zibu could no longer bear it and directly ordered an end to the carnival.

When these scumbags did evil, Mo Zibu was terrified. It was probably better than the Japanese invaders who came into the village and committed massacres at every turn.

In the city of Pyin Uyen, the defenders suddenly found that people were running into the city everywhere to ask for help, and almost all the villages in the west had been looted.

Considering that there had been no news from several outposts and military camps east of Anguan for at least five or six days, a bad feeling lingered in his heart.

But then, the 'good news' came back. These sudden invaders were still looting everywhere. They stole everything and were definitely wearing typical Arakanese clothes. There were about three hundred of them.

Well, of course there were only about three hundred people, because the other two hundred people did not go out to plunder at all. They were just enjoying the food they looted in a valley, gathering their strength and waiting to fight the Burmese army out of the city.

Under this erroneous information, the defender of Beimiu immediately made an "accurate" judgment.

This must be a riot near the Arakanese Anguan, because if the Arakanese came to attack, it would be hard to say whether they had the courage and the transportation capacity to transport a large number of troops across the Arakan Mountains.

If these people were coming to attack, they would definitely be attacking the city instead of looting the countryside, and there would not be only a few hundred people.

Therefore, the commander of the Beimu immediately decided to go out of the city to encircle and suppress the enemy. To be safe, he also recruited people from the village where French prisoners such as Bruno lived, and ordered Bruno to lead 60 French prisoners armed with flintlock rifles to attack with him.

My goodness, this is exactly like the rhythm of not taking the road to heaven and forcing your way into hell!
As soon as the eight or nine hundred Burmese troops assembled from Pyin Uyen City left, Mo Zi Bu had already received accurate news.

When they reached a small river and were about to wade across it, Mo Zibu personally led 500 elite soldiers from Kunlun Mountain Hall to attack from three directions.

At this time, the Burmese musketeers had not even distributed gunpowder and lead bullets. Only a small half of them had crossed the river, and most of them were taking off their pants to wade, completely unprepared.

When the battle started, Bruno fled with the French prisoners, leaving the flank to Mo Zibu and others. The soldiers of Kunlun Mountain Hall came very quickly, and the sharpshooters killed a small number of musketeers equipped with ammunition.

After fighting for about half an hour, more than 800 Burmese soldiers were almost wiped out, and most of them were hacked to death in the stream. The piles of corpses almost blocked the river.

After annihilating this group of Burmese troops, Mozibu did not stop. He immediately ordered his soldiers to change into Burmese army uniforms and marched towards Pyin Oo Lwin, carrying the looted pigs, cattle and other supplies.

The more than one hundred Burmese soldiers who stayed behind had no suspicion at all and directly let Mo Zibu and others into the city, and then tragedy happened.

(End of this chapter)