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Volume Three: The Wind Rises in the South Chapter 15 Chapter 15 Before the War

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    "What?" Batu frowned. It turned out that in order to reduce the logistical burden, the Shun army reduced the number of pack animals and carts carrying food, and the shortcomings were solved by purchasing from local residents.  In order to adapt to the relatively backward economic level of the residents along the way, Shunjun not only brought enough money with him on this trip, but also brought some commodities that the residents along the way liked, such as salt and swords, and the prices were also relatively favorable.  Coupled with the communication from the guide sent by Lashio, the whole journey went smoothly.  "What about salt and swords?" Chen Zaixing on the side interjected: "As long as they are willing to provide civilians and food, it doesn't matter if the price is lower!" "I tell you, sir, they don't want salt and swords. These barbarians want to use food in exchange for soldiers."  The generals don¡¯t dare to make any decisions about the firearms in our hands. Please make your decision!¡± ¡°What, how is this possible?¡± Batu was furious when he heard this, and Chen Zaixing on the side gently tugged on Batu¡¯s sleeves.  , whispered: "A little impatience will mess up a big plan. Now we are fighting against every second and can't waste time here. At most, we can give them a few rifles. We only need to let the chiefs and the best hunters in their villages serve as guides in the army."  That¡¯s it.¡± Batu immediately understood that the firearms exchanged by the barbarians naturally belonged to the chiefs and the best hunters. As long as they were in the army, there was no harm in giving them a few guns.  He nodded, turned to the officer and said loudly: "Just do as Mr. Chen said. As long as they are willing to serve as guides in the army, they will be allowed to exchange guns for food, but no more than ten guns at most!" "  "Yes!" Looking at the backs of his men leaving, Batu whispered: "Brother Chen, we are only a third of the way through the forest. It will take at least fifteen days to get out of the forest, and two more days to go out of the forest."  It takes a genius to reach Mandalay. We are now three to four hundred men short. Calculating this, we will probably only have a little over 2,000 soldiers left in Mandalay. If we want to conquer a country with just this amount of troops  "Brother Ba!" Chen Zaixing kept Batu's words "Isn't it a little short" in his stomach and whispered: "If we want to conquer Burma, not to mention two thousand people, even if we have all the six battalions of the imperial army to defend Hanjing,  It is not enough to go out. Myanmar is thousands of miles away and has a household registration of millions. How can it be regarded as a small country?" "Then why do you insist on going out?" "Brother Ba, think about it, why did Meng Ji choose to start the uprising in April?  "This must be a coincidence!" As soon as Batu said this, he felt something was wrong. He had been in Myanmar for a long time and knew the local situation very well. After thinking about it for a while, he suddenly had an idea and said, "Could it be the weather?"  "That's right, Brother Ba, think about it. When the rebels rebel and lure the British as foreign aid, they will definitely think of my Dashun army for conquest. April is the junction between Myanmar's dry season and the rainy season.  The rain is heavy all day long and the roads are damaged, so our army cannot move forward. By the time the rainy season ends in September, his power has been stabilized, and the British troops have arrived and their wings are full. " Batu heard this.  , couldn't help but nodded and said: "This guy is really cunning!" Chen Zaixing said with a smile: "Since ancient times, the great evildoers must have something extraordinary, otherwise why would they do evil? The reason why I strongly advocate the rainy season march and start as soon as possible is that  In order to catch him off guard, this rainy season is not only good for him, but also good for us." "Is it also good for me?" Batu was stunned when he heard this and asked, "I would like to hear the details!  My brother has been in Myanmar for a long time, and I must know that the Burmese people depend on rice. During the rainy season, if they don¡¯t build the Pitang dam, it will not be completed. Now that Meng has ascended the throne, he will definitely use a lot of people to build the dam to prevent floods.  Otherwise, as soon as a flood breaks out, civil unrest will break out in the country before Dashun can send troops. If I advance quickly with light troops, even if I cannot win, I only need to occupy the high ground first, blow up a section of the dike, and use the water as an army to defeat the thieves.  !" When Batu heard this, a layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Chen Zaixing's plan was really vicious. Mandalay is on the bank of the Irrawaddy River. If the dam is blown up by the Shun army, even if Mandalay is not flooded, the surrounding areas will be destroyed.  The crops in the villages and the criss-crossing canals and irrigation canals are definitely not guaranteed. In this way, even if Meng can repel the Shun army, he cannot stay in Mandalay and has to move the capital.  Meng Ji was originally just a usurper, and his name was unfair and unfair. Mandalay was the ancient capital of Myanmar for hundreds of years. It has a large number of temples and holy places and has high prestige in the hearts of the Burmese people. If Meng Ji loses  Naturally, he can no longer sit firmly on this throne.  Chen Zaixing's move was indeed very effective as the final move to break the game.  Seeing Batu's appearance, Chen Zaixing knew that the other party could not bear it, so he smiled and said: "Brother Badu, in fact, this is just the last resort. From what I can see, I'm afraid it's useless. The Yingyi and the false king seem to be inseparable. I'm afraid  "Brother Chen, why do you say that?" "Think about it, the British barbarians support the puppet king's rebellion, just to establish a new treaty, gain the right to trade and build roads, and get generous gifts.  Thieves join forces,?There should be a contract released.  But so far, not only has no treaty been announced, but the false king has also secretly sent an envoy to Kunming to beg for canonization. From this point of view, the false king is quite good at being between the two powerful powers. He can rely on it to stand on his own. He may not be willing to be a slave of the British barbarians. Since  In this case, how could the Yingyi give their weapons to them in vain?  " "What Brother Chen said is true!  "When Batu heard this, he couldn't help but clapped his hands and said: "Although we have few soldiers, if we attack the enemy unprepared, we have a chance of victory. Even if we lose, we only need to use water as a soldier to force the puppet king to abandon the city, and our army has not yet  Even if the damage is done slowly, it can also help the new king to ascend the throne. It is indeed a winning strategy.  "At this time, he fully understood the source of Chen Zaixing's confidence. He couldn't help but cheer up and shouted loudly to his soldiers: "Send the order, speed up the march, and we must get out of the forest area within fifteen days.  "Fourteen days later, the Shun army finally walked out of the dense forest. What they saw in front of the soldiers was no longer a dense forest that blocked the sky, but a much sparser bamboo forest and subtropical fruit trees such as mango trees and jackfruit. Between these woods.  In the fine rain and fog, the soldiers could vaguely see Burmese farmers and cattle working in the fields, and they could also see them farther away in the vast fields that were already planted with rice.  When we arrived at the golden dome of the Burmese pagoda, when the farmers saw this unfamiliar army, they dropped their farm tools in panic and drove their cattle towards the village. This familiar sight made most farmers who were farmers before joining the army feel comfortable.  The soldiers of the army felt very friendly, especially after the arduous march just ended. In that terrifying dense forest, the army lost more than a quarter of its personnel and half of its livestock, which was quite a lot.  Shocking loss. Under a temporary bamboo shed, Batu and a dozen staff officers were surrounding a very crude map, marking the location of his army and the next march route they had just captured.  Several Burmese farmers learned that this place is less than an hour away from a small town called Xingai. Batu, who is very familiar with the geography around Mandalay, knew that Xingai is only two kilometers southwest of Mandalay.  About ten kilometers. This news made all the officers very excited. They unanimously requested to capture Xingai immediately and let their soldiers rest for two days to recover from fatigue, and then launch the attack on Mandalay.  , how do you think Mandalay should be attacked?  "Chen Zaixing asked. Like the civil and military officials in traditional Chinese politics, his relationship with Batu in this task force is very delicate. He has been authorized by Wu Hanmin, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, and has the authority to control everything here.  However, Batu, as the temporarily appointed commander, is the highest military commander of this detachment and has full authority over military operations. The powers of the two people have a vague overlap, but they are escorting the two princes of the Burmese king back to Shun.  A tacit understanding has been formed through our experience, and instead of constraining each other, we complement each other. "First we occupy Xingai and use it as our old camp, and the prince also stays there. Then we want to march north and pretend to attack."  Mandalay look.  At this season, most of the puppet king's troops must be preparing for river defense near the embankment. When he gets the news, he will definitely concentrate his troops as much as possible to attack us. At this time, we only need to turn around and defeat this rabble.  "Batu drew on the map with his finger, with a relaxed smile on his face. "Is it that simple?  You must know that we only have two understaffed brigades, about 2,000 soldiers, and very few artillery. The puppet king can easily mobilize an army four or five times more than ours.  "Chen Zaixing looked at Batu with some worry. "It's that simple!  Batu saw Chen Zaixing's worries, and he said with a smile: "Chen Zanhua, a war is not won by whichever side has more people. When I was a captain in the Burmese Colonel's Mansion, I knew us very well."  opponent.  This is an army at the end of the seventeenth century, with front-loaded muskets, obsolete muskets, linear infantry tactics, ignorant aristocratic officers and equally ignorant illiterate peasant soldiers. How do many soldiers use them correctly?  Not even the rifle in hand.  With the right command, a few volleys and a bayonet charge are enough to defeat them!  " "What if the false king doesn't attack and can't hold on?  So can you capture Mandalay?  This is a walled city!  "Chen Zaixing asked. "Chen Zanhua, that is just a city wall from the cold weapon era. There are no well-built forts, and there are no multi-faceted forts and tunnels for soldiers to defend. Soldiers will just get beaten in vain on it.  As long as we occupy the artillery position on Mandalay Hill outside the city, the entire Mandalay City will be within the direct fire range of my eight 75mm guns. It only takes a few rounds of grenades to make the defenders in the city aware.  Being stubborn is just a waste of time and life!  If it doesn't work, we can blow up the river embankments and use floods to solve everything.  Batu explained patiently. At the end, he explained with a smile: "Military science has made great progress in the past ten years."  ¡± A trace of embarrassment flashed across Chen Zaixing¡¯s face, and he said to himself??Ashamed of military ignorance, as a layman, he lowered his head and shut his mouth.  The Shun army moved very quickly. After twenty minutes of fighting, Xingai fell into the hands of the attacking party. This place was more like a market than a fortified city. There were rows of rude buildings around the market.  The bamboo fence was planted with thorny shrubs next to the fence. Soon these shrubs filled the gaps in the bamboo fence, and the local residents used it to replace the city wall.  But this could not withstand the bayonets and rifles of the Shun army. Batu was surprised to find that there was a large amount of new rice in the warehouse. These were part of the taxes from nearby villages that were about to be sent to Mandalay. With these, the Shun army did not have to disperse their troops to the surrounding areas.  The familiar countryside is collecting military rations.  Chen Zaixing immediately ordered the flags of the old Burmese king and Shun army to be erected on the top of the tallest house in Xingai, announcing the arrival of the orthodox royal family to Mandalay.  At the same time, an outpost force was sent to Mandalay to collect intelligence and launch a tentative attack.  Mandalay, Royal Palace.  Diok knelt on the ground, his face close to the ground, and reported in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, the Chinese are here, and they have occupied Xingai!"
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