Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 549: The Burmese Expedition (Part )

Sun Wenhuan felt that under normal circumstances, Mangbai would probably set up camp not far from the river, and it would be unlikely that it would be far away from the river bank. After all, the food and grass had to be transported from the river bank to the camp. If the distance was far, there would be a risk of being attacked by the enemy.

After thinking for a while, Wu Sangui also thought that this plan might work, so he ordered his men to set up a dam upstream. However, when Wu Sangui was about to order his men to move the camp, he was stopped by Sun Wenhuan.

Sun Wenhuan said to Wu Sangui: "General, our camp has already been set up. The Burmese soldiers must have already spotted our camp. If we move the camp now, the enemy will surely become suspicious!"

Wu Sangui frowned when he heard this, but before he could speak, Wu Guozhu beside him asked in confusion: "If the camp is not moved, and the water is dug down, our army's camp will still be above the enemy. Then the water attack will not flood the enemy camp, but will flood us first?"

Sun Wenhuan replied: "When I was transporting the baggage, I have already observed the river. The water flow of this river is not fast. Even if we set up a dam, it will not be able to overwhelm the Burmese army like a flood. The strategy of attacking with water is to overwhelm their baggage. The enemy has more than 100,000 troops and consumes a huge amount of food every day. The enemy must have stored a large amount of food with the army. Once it is soaked in water, how can they hold out for long!"

Wu Sangui suddenly understood, clapped his hands and smiled, saying: "Wen Huan is indeed a talented general. If we win this battle, Wen Huan will be the first to make a contribution, and he will be awarded a title of nobility and a general in no time."

………………

Mangbai's army was mighty and marched up the river. When Mangbai heard that Qian Dynasty had only dispatched more than 40,000 people and that he had twice as many as the opponent, he felt relieved.

But Mangbai also knew that the Qian Dynasty had just unified the Central Plains from a great melee, and the army must be very powerful. Therefore, Mangbai did not dare to underestimate the enemy. After all, his life and everything he had were in this battle. If he lost, the consequences would be something Mangbai could not bear.

Mang Bai led his entire army out. In fact, he was also very hesitant in his heart, but he had to fight. Mang Bai killed his brother to come to power, and there were countless people in the country who were dissatisfied. If it were normal times, he could slowly stabilize the situation, but now he encountered the invasion of Qian Dynasty. If Mang Bai could not defeat Qian Dynasty with thundering force and establish his own prestige, then the longer the time was delayed, the more dangerous it would be for Mang Bai.

The two armies were more than ten miles apart. For safety reasons, Mangbai ordered the army to stop. Then his subordinates asked Mangbai where to camp. Mangbai was confused, so he ordered his subordinates to choose a place to camp by themselves.

For convenience, Mangbai's troops camped a mile away from the river bank. When Wu Sangui learned about this, he was overjoyed. The only thing he was worried about now was that it would take two or three days to build a dam on the river.

On the one hand, Wu Sangui ordered his general Wu Guozhu to work day and night to complete the project as soon as possible. On the other hand, he sent out all the light cavalry in the army. The cavalry surrounded the area around the dam and killed anyone who appeared there, no matter who they were.

To be on the safe side, Wu Sangui decided to hold on to the camp and wait for the enemy to attack, just to delay until the dam was completed.

After setting up camp, Mangbai summoned his generals to discuss the war. All the generals believed that the Burmese army was powerful, with several times more troops than the enemy, and could defeat the Qian army in one battle. Therefore, everyone agreed to invite the enemy to a decisive battle in the wild.

However, Wu Sangui ignored Mangbai's invitation for a decisive battle. Seeing that Wu Sangui ignored him, he continued to strengthen the camp defense. Mangbai's generals Si Hongfa, Mingkang and Xidu believed that the Qian soldiers knew that they were outnumbered by the Burmese army, so they held the camp and waited for reinforcements.

Wu Sangui's refusal to come out made Mang Bai breathe a sigh of relief. If he didn't fight, it meant that the Qian Dynasty was afraid of him. It seemed that the Qian Dynasty was not as powerful as he imagined.

The general's words also made Mangbai feel that the Central Plains was vast and rich in resources, with a large number of troops. This army might be an advance force, and the Qian Dynasty would certainly send more troops later. Therefore, in order to eliminate this vanguard force, Mangbai ordered a full-scale attack on the Qian army camp.

The war machines roared. After a day of rest, the Burmese army rushed to Wu Sangui's camp like a tide on the third day of camping. At this time, Wu Sangui had completed the river dam project. He only needed to wait for the river to be full so that he could break the dam and release the water, rushing into the Burmese camp in one fell swoop.

On the battlefield, the Burmese army's catapults and ramming carts swarmed towards the Qian camp. Arrows were fired at once, flying in the air like locusts, dust was flying, and shouts of killing resounded through the sky.

Around the camp, battering rams rammed the camp walls like wild bulls, and wave after wave of Burmese soldiers tried to break through the walls.

Wu Sangui, wearing armor, stood in the camp, looking at the battlefield ahead. The strength of this attack was not enough to worry him. He saw the firearms soldiers extending their firearms from the holes behind the village wall and firing continuously. Every scream meant that a Burmese soldier had fallen to the ground.

Mang Bai was standing behind the formation, his brows furrowed more and more as he looked. He then whispered a few words to a general beside him. A moment later, a special group of mercenaries appeared on the battlefield.

This mercenary group formed by the Portuguese has a number of 500 people and is the largest mercenary group of the Portuguese in Southeast Asia. Mangbai has invested a huge amount of money to resist the Qian Dynasty.

As the saying goes, if you take money from someone, you have to help him get rid of his troubles. The captain of the Portuguese war group, Serra, was very dedicated and did as much as he was paid. Since he had received so much money, it was only natural for him to fight for the King of Burma.

Serra's troops, beating drums and marching towards Wu Sangui's camp, stood out in this noisy battlefield.

After entering the range of the muskets, with Serra's order, the sound of muskets crackling rang out, and bullets hit the wooden wall, forming holes one after another.

Some Qian army soldiers were also hit by muskets and fell to the ground. The Qian army reacted quickly to the sudden situation here. Batches of firearms soldiers were dispatched to shoot at the Portuguese mercenaries.

The Qian army had the camp wall as cover, and the number of mercenaries was too small. After only ten rounds of shooting, Sera could not bear the casualties and retreated in panic. In just a short moment, nearly half of the 500 mercenaries were gone.

Mang Bai looked at the tense battlefield, feeling very annoyed and with impatience on his face. At this moment, his general Si Hongfa explained to Mang Bai that the Yan Qian army was quite good at fighting. Although their numbers were not as good as ours, they were firmly defending their camp and it would not be possible to break through in one day.

After being comforted, Mangbai's expression relaxed a little. On the battlefield, every wave of offensive by the Burmese army was blocked by the Qian army. Even if the village wall was destroyed, the Burmese army could not cross the Qian army's defense line. The battle lasted until dusk, and Mangbai withdrew his troops and returned to the camp.

The camp wall had become a hellish Shura field, with countless corpses lying under the wall. In this battle, the Qian army suffered more than 3,000 casualties, while the corpses of the Burmese army were at least twice as many as those of the Qian army.

After nightfall, Wu Guozhu secretly informed Wu Sangui that the water flow had reached its highest point! !