Chapter 1120 1211 Defeat the Enemy

Chapter 1120 1211 Defeat the Enemy

"Stop the people and ask them why they are retreating."

To the west of the Ming Dynasty Yunnan Dianbao Mountain City, after passing two hills, you can reach the Lujiang River.

At this time, the road through Lujiang City was densely packed with Ming soldiers.

But at this time, they did not advance arrogantly as before, chasing the Burmese army fleeing in front, but arranged a defensive formation.

In front was a shield wall composed of sword and shield soldiers, followed by three rows of bird gunmen and several rows of long spearmen in the back.

In front of them, the vanguard of the pursuing Ming army was retreating along both sides of the road. It was obviously defeated by the Burmese army they were chasing, so they retreated in such a mess.

The Ming army had been out of the city for two days and passed a hill. At this time, they were on a relatively flat terrain between two hills, which belonged to Piaopu Town.

Soon, the vanguard Lieutenant General Ma Ruilong was brought over by several personal soldiers, and behind him were several guerrillas under his command.

"General, I am incompetent, please punish me."

Ma Ruilong was also a bachelor. When he arrived in front of Li Chengliang, he knelt down on one knee to apologize.

Ma Ruilong was a general selected by Li Chengliang in Sichuan. He was suppressed by other senior officers in the garrison and was frustrated, so he took the initiative to surrender to Li Chengliang during his inspection.

He was one of the first people to surrender to Li Chengliang in this area of ​​southwest China.

"Why retreat?"

If it were normal, Li Chengliang would have whipped him.

Because he was like this in Liaodong.

In the army, no matter what position you are in, you are not as high as him, so you can only be ordered by him.

It was just this time that he saw that although the vanguard of the Ming army retreated, it was well-organized and did not seem to be fleeing, so he patiently asked a question.

After all, they are people who surrendered, so they cannot be too strict, otherwise the generals gathered around them may be disunited.

This is also why some people in high positions need both talented people and some people who can only flatter and have no ability.

These people are often the first batch to surrender, and need to be promoted by the leaders. They are like the horse bones that can be sold for thousands of gold.

"General, I was careless. I was too eager to pursue and didn't bring the cannon."

"Speak to the point."

Li Chengliang interrupted Ma Ruilong directly. He only cared about the pursuit of the Ming army, why they were defeated and chose to retreat.

"The Burmese army suddenly formed a formation, and a large number of rattan shields were piled up in the front row. Our bird gunners could not penetrate the rattan shields, and the archers' throwing could only cause some casualties to the Burmese army behind the formation.

After that, the Burmese army launched an attack without counting casualties. I was worried that the Burmese army would outflank, so I could only order my subordinates to retreat slowly."

At this time, because the rear team of the Ming army had blocked the road, the retreating Ming army in front had also stopped.

"Didn't I ask you to bring the Dazhong Portuguese cannon to pursue? You have to use cannons to deal with rattan shields."

Li Chengliang frowned slightly and said unhappily, with a tone of regret in his voice.

"I was careless, thinking that the Burmese army would only flee and would not fight back."

Ma Ruilong lowered his head at this time, not daring to look up at Li Chengliang.

He had been with Li Chengliang for quite some time, and had already figured out his temper.

"Where is the Portuguese cannon assigned to you?"

It was just a small blocking battle, and the Ming army was retreating, not fleeing, so Li Chengliang did not intend to punish Ma Ruilong for it.

Ma Ruilong looked up and looked at the avenue for a while, and finally saw a few flags. He pointed to a team of Ming soldiers behind the army formation on the avenue not far away and said, "Over there."

"Take the artillery team and chase them immediately. If there is a next time, you can just commit suicide."

Li Chengliang turned his head and looked behind him, and immediately gave an order.

"I obey your order."

Ma Ruilong did not dare to delay, and he had retreated not long ago. He thought that the Burmese army on the opposite side had just gathered their troops and were preparing to continue retreating. He immediately got up and ordered the generals around him, and a guerrilla general ran over there quickly.

Soon, a mule-horse team of several hundred people left the main team, followed the vacated road, passed through the defensive army formation, and quickly moved forward.

The Ming army, which had retreated before, also turned around and, under the order of the team leader, began to pursue the enemy again.

The Ming army infantry was able to advance quickly in such a hilly area, but the roads along the way lacked special maintenance, and it seemed that the Burmese army had deliberately destroyed them during the retreat. At this time, the road was bumpy, and the mule-horse team was still not moving fast, and the soldiers needed to work together to push.

"Move the team to help push those mule carts."

Li Chengliang frowned as he looked at it. The equipment of the southwest Ming army was too poor. Not only were there not many war horses, but mules and horses for transporting logistical supplies were also in short supply. I really don't know where the things allocated by the court went.

A carriage was only equipped with one mule and horse, no wonder it couldn't keep up with the speed of the soldiers.

Of course, if the road was smooth, this situation would not happen.

"Come here, tell the other troops about this and ask them to send troops to help push the carts.

The enemy's rattan shields and bird guns are not good.

The Southwest Army is also short of archers, so they can only use cannons to break the formation."

Li Chengliang thought that in addition to this group, there was another group chasing the Ming army on the left and right, so he immediately sent someone to bring them a message.

As for Shidian, Li Chengliang believed that they would not make mistakes.

At the beginning, he knew the power of the Burmese army's rattan shields on the top of Shidian City, so he specially sent a batch of artillery to help.

With the lessons learned from the past, if the Shidian Ming army still makes such a big mistake, it will be unforgivable.

Anyway, most of the people over there are local generals in Yunnan, or close confidants of Mu Changzuo or others, and Li Chengliang will not be merciful when dealing with them.

Li Chengliang looked back at the soldiers behind him and whispered to the soldiers next to him: "Send someone to take a look at the front and report the situation back in time."

"Yes, Marshal."

The soldiers agreed and turned their horses to leave. Soon several fast horses broke away from the soldiers and chased the Ming army in front.

"Keep the military formation and rest where you are."

After leaving Piaopu Town today, the army marched for a short time and was already showing signs of fatigue.

The reason why Ma Ruilong's soldiers and horses are allowed to continue the pursuit is because according to the plan, they will be replaced tomorrow, so you must not squeeze out the strength of his soldiers and horses today.

The Chinese army began to rest, and Ma Ruilong in front, with a group of his men, quickly passed through the Ming army on horseback and reached the front.

He knew that this pursuit could not go as wrong again.

While arranging people to detect the movements of the Burmese army, he urged his men to pursue them hard.

"Tell the brothers, after the battle today, the laborers will prepare food and wine for them after setting up camp. Then feel free to eat and drink. We will not rush ahead tomorrow.

Don't forget to cut off the head even after beheading the turtle's son. If you save a few more of those things, you'll have enough money to go home and marry your wife. "

Being in the army, Ma Ruilong naturally knew what the big soldiers wanted.

The southwest is not a safe place. The local chieftain will cause trouble from time to time, so it is not safe in the presence of the guards.

But who calls them military households? They can only serve as soldiers for generations.

Therefore, it is the wish of these big-head soldiers to marry a wife and have a son as soon as possible when they are rich.

It's not that I want women, but that I want to continue the family line.

Being a soldier, although he was greatly exploited by his superiors, was still a job where he had to eat the royal food.

There is little land in the southwest, so it is unlikely that military households from the mainland would be driven by Shangguan to help them farm.

Anyway, he was in the military camp. He would come out every now and then to practice, and then he would just wait and eat, and then go back with some food and money.

It is said that this time I was pulled out of Sichuan, I was also given a piece of silver. It should be enough to finish the fight and go home early. Together with the reward, I can get a wife.

This was what most of the soldiers thought, so under the urging of the team officer, the soldiers speeded up their pace a lot.

The team of mules and horses behind them moved much faster with more Ming troops helping to push the carts, and they were able to keep up with the speed of the Ming troops.

"Report."

"Tell me, where are the Burmese troops?"

"Report to the general, the Burmese army's rear column is about twelve miles away from our army and is running towards Lujiang."

Soon, the scouts sent out detected the movements of the Burmese army ahead.

"Explore around to see if there are any ambushes nearby."

It is difficult to hide a large army in the surrounding hilly terrain, but a small ambush is still possible. Ma Ruilong also fought against chieftains when he was in Sichuan.

However, those were all small battles, and the larger ones were fought in Guizhou and Guangxi, especially in Guangxi. Yu Dayou participated in two rebellions in Guangxi.

Each time, the rebels gathered tens of thousands of people, and when the situation could no longer be suppressed, they reported it to the court, and then selected generals to send troops to quell the rebellion.

Marilon didn't want to lose another battle.

Yes, the previous battle was actually a defeat, but he didn't say that. He only said that he retreated on his own initiative when he saw the enemy's strength.

Speaking of which, back in Sichuan, there were actually shields there, but they were not as powerful as the shields of the Burmese army here, and they could still be penetrated at close range.

But this time he found out that it didn't work after just a little try. It's no wonder that Governor Li specially sent them a message because of this, telling them to ground the Franco machine gun specifically to attack the opponent's Tengpai soldiers.

The Ming army accelerated their advance. Although they all felt tired, no one dared to be lazy.

Try stealing one. The banners of each team are not just decorations. When they see someone who is about to fall behind, they will often go up and give them a whip to see if they eat or not.

Even after being beaten, he still chases after him, otherwise he will not be able to pass the military law test.

The Ming army pursued quickly, and the effect was remarkable. Not long after, Ma Ruilong, who was running in front, saw several Burmese army spies on the high ground by the roadside.

After seeing the Ming army pursuing them, the opponent immediately turned his horse's head and ran back.

Apparently he was going back to report the news, but the Ming army that had just escaped caught up with him again.

Ma Ruilong glanced at the sun. According to the scout's report just now, they were only five or six miles away from the Burmese army. He thought that the other party knew that he was catching up and would not continue to run away.

Yes, if the enemy catches up and surprises the army while it is marching, the losses will be heavy.

Therefore, when the army at the rear discovered that the enemy was coming, they could only turn around and form a formation to resist.

"Slow down a bit, conserve your energy, and ask the two men to eat something to cushion their bellies. This is almost the last battle of the day. After the chase, it's almost time for us to take a rest."

Ma Ruilong gave instructions to the soldiers around him, and the soldiers quickly ran back and conveyed his orders to the commanders he met along the way.

Soon, the Ming army's pursuit began to slow down, and many soldiers took out the cooking cakes and started to eat them while walking.

Fighting relies on strength. If there is no food in the stomach, the strength will be gone.

In the army, fancy martial arts are of no use at all. What is actually needed is a strong man with infinite strength.

Now I have something to eat to cushion my stomach. Later I will fight with the Burmese army, and I will have even less time to support myself.

When two armies fight, whoever survives will win.

As for any whimsical and flexible command, that is actually nonsense.

Everyone knows that Cao Cao defeated the strong with the weak in the Battle of Guandu, but has anyone ever thought about what would happen if Yuan Shao's garrison at Wuchao Granary resisted Cao Cao's sneak attack troops?

It doesn't mean that you will definitely win if you sneak attack. You should know that the surprise troops sent by Cao Cao are not necessarily stronger than the enemy's troops.

It's just that Yuan Shao's army was too confident because of its own strength and had no defense at all.

If it were Cao Cao's soldiers, they would definitely be on high alert and would not give Yuan Shao's army a chance.

Therefore, after the defeat in the Battle of Wuchao, no one would care about the Battle of Guandu, because Cao Cao had few soldiers and generals, so it was normal for him to lose.

And the sneak attack on Wuchao would not be noticed as a fantastic surprise attack.

Sure enough, not long after, Ma Ruilong received news from the front that the rear team of the Burmese army stopped fleeing again and lined up in front. The two armies were only five miles apart here.

Immediately, Ma Ruilong also began to set up the formation, but the most important thing was to urge the mule and horse team behind to come up and send up the falconets he needed most.

The bird guns could not penetrate the rattan shields, but when they encountered the falconets with larger and heavier bullets, they would make a hole with one hit, and directly smash the army formation.

The front formation was still full of bird gunners, but there were no swords and shields in the back, but spearmen were directly sent, and the sword and shieldmen were sent to the two wings for guard.

The falconets had been lifted off the carriage, and the gunners were loading cartridges behind the formation.

Ma Ruilong did not let those spearmen stand in a row, but divided them into six columns, which was completely an attack formation.

The opposite side, as before, sent out the rattan shieldmen to fill the front row, and it seemed that the rattan shields were laid down in two layers.

No wonder there were no casualties on the opposite side when the bird guns were fired before.

With only one layer of rattan shield, the lead bullets fired by the bird guns were already difficult to penetrate, not to mention the rattan shields stacked behind them.

This time, Ma Ruilong looked carefully.

It can only be said that they were not Wei Guangde's own sons, nor were they the elite of the Ming Dynasty, so the telescopes that were in short supply at this time were not even heard of in the southwest, let alone available.

But for example, the generals that Wei Guangde deliberately cultivated were different, at least one for each of them.

A craftsman must first sharpen his tools if he wants to do his job well, and Wei Guangde understood this better than anyone else.

When both sides finished their battle formations, with an order, dozens of gunners carried more than a dozen falconets and cartridges through the passage, stood in front of the battle formation, and quickly arranged the gun positions.

At the same time, three rows of bird gunners prepared to load ammunition.

Ma Ruilong did not give the other side time to react and directly issued an order to fire.

The previous battle was a bit frustrating, and he wanted to recall the field.

Dozens of cartridges were put into the cannon in turn and fired, all of which were live ammunition, directly smashing holes one by one.

When the Burmese shieldmen in front of the Burmese army were panicking, the Ming army's bird guns began to fire at the exposed gaps.

After the three rows of bird gunmen finished firing in turn, the six teams of spearmen rushed directly to the already panicked Burmese army on the opposite side.

The Burmese troops at the rear were originally small in number, and they were mainly strengthened with rattan shields and archers.

However, the Ming army broke the rattan shield defense with cannons, and the Burmese army behind was naturally defeated, and the outcome of the war was decided.

The Burmese army fled, and the Ming army began to pursue.