Chapter 1145 1236 Capture the City

Chapter 1145 1236 Capture the City

"Kuakuakua"

The sound of horse hooves hitting the ground caused great psychological pressure on the defenders at the city gate. Although only more than ten guns were fired, only two people were injured.

When the soldiers responsible for closing the city gate fled into the city gate in a panic, the east gate of Ava City never had a chance to close again.

When the first team of cavalry rushed into the city gate, facing the Burmese army around them, the Ming army soldiers decisively picked up the bird guns and three-eyed guns and fired several rounds.

Then, they threw away the firearms in their hands, saw the horse road on the city wall beside the city gate, and rushed up with sabers and spears.

The Ming cavalry that continued to enter the city quickly filled their vacancies and continued to attack the Burmese army that was preparing to counterattack not far away.

After a panic, the generals of the Burmese army were already in place. They just found a place to rest beforehand.

Now there is such a big commotion, they have already reacted.

Immediately began to assemble the messy soldiers and prepare to counterattack the city gate.

In fact, victory or defeat was just a matter of a moment. As long as they could close the city gate first, they still had a chance to defend the city.

However, the city gate was not spacious, so the location where they gathered the soldiers was very close to the city gate. The three-eyed gun might not have much killing power, but it was still within the attack range of the bird gun.

Li Rusong had already entered the city at this time. He commanded more than 200 people to rush up the city wall and disperse the Burmese soldiers gathered on the city gate tower to prevent them from shooting arrows and throwing rolling logs and stones on the top of the city to block the subsequent Ming army from entering the city.

After the Ming army entered the city, the sound of fire guns never stopped. The cavalry soldiers kept firing pre-prepared firearms at the Burmese army, disrupting their arrangements.

After gathering hundreds of people, the Burmese generals also commanded the soldiers to counterattack the city gate.

Soon, a fierce battle broke out between the two sides in the city gate.

Some Ming soldiers dismounted and blocked the city gate directly to prevent the Burmese army from capturing the city gate. Li Rusong led dozens of knights to use their skilled horse control skills and take advantage of the short open space to accelerate and crash into the Burmese army.

Every time they came into contact, dozens of sabers swung left and right, and the wailing of Burmese soldiers came from under the swords.

The city gate was already in chaos at this time. The Ming and Burmese soldiers were fighting desperately, just wanting to kill the enemy and survive.

The chaos at the city gate, the city garrison general Mangchai soon got the news. Although he didn't know where the Ming army came from, he decisively issued an order to let all the soldiers in the city rush to the east gate, and at the same time all the other three city gates were closed.

For safety, Mangchai let his family, with the protection of his personal guards, retreat to the palace of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last feudal dynasty of Myanmar in the center of the city.

Since Ava City was once the capital of the king, it naturally had a palace, and it was located in the center of the city.

Not only is there a city wall here, but most importantly, there is a moat several dozen meters wide dug around it, making the entire palace an isolated island with only one bridge for passage.

At that time, even if Ava City cannot be defended, the remnants of the defeated army can still retreat here.

As long as the bridge is defended, the offensive of the Ming army can be blocked, and they still have a chance to catch their breath and wait for rescue.

The recognition of the Ming army is too high. With red uniforms, there is no need to doubt who the enemy is.

Therefore, Mangchai made a judgment so quickly and gave up abandoning the city and escaping, but prepared to retreat to the palace, also considering that the surrounding area was still under the control of the Burmese army and there was no news of the arrival of a large group of Ming troops.

He judged that there were not many Ming troops arriving, so they still had a chance.

As long as they could wait for the support of the Burmese army in nearby towns, they still had a chance to win.

For this reason, he has issued an order for the Burmese army in the surrounding towns to rush to Ava City for rescue as soon as possible.

In order to obtain intelligence before, he sent his few soldiers to nearby towns to station and collect intelligence from all parties.

Now, there are only 16,000 to 17,000 Burmese soldiers left in the city, most of whom are newly recruited soldiers in the past half month.

Relying on these untrained and almost negligible combat power, he does not think he can defend the huge Ava City.

However, if he defends a bridge, there should still be a chance.

The Burmese army is mobilizing troops, and Mangchai is still trying to retake the city gate and rely on the city defense to resist the attack of the Ming army. At this time, the Burmese generals at the east gate have fallen into despair.

"Great Ming will win. Great victory"

At the east gate of Ava City, 5,000 infantrymen who followed the siege have arrived at the city gate and started to enter the city.

After arriving at the city gate, the soldiers shouted the Ming army war trumpet and rushed into the city gate.

The arrival of the fresh force boosted the spirit of the Ming cavalry.

Although their surprise attack on the city gate seems dangerous, in fact, as long as they can enter the city, it is not difficult for them to defend the city gate for a while.

Especially facing the soldiers of subordinate vassal states, the sense of superiority of the Celestial Empire makes them not think they will fail.

As for death, the battlefield is full of blind swords and guns, and casualties are inevitable.

Now, the arrival of the Ming army infantry also indicates that they have completed their mission and won the surprise attack.

Groups of Ming army infantry entered the city, and they formed a tight military formation to directly block the Burmese soldiers who rushed in.

"Pah pah pah."

The dense sound of bird guns rang out again, and then a shield wall composed of shields appeared in front of the Ming army formation, and countless spears stretched out and stabbed the Burmese soldiers who rushed in.

"Get on the horse."

Just when the cavalrymen breathed a sigh of relief and were about to rest, Li Rusong, who had led the team back at some point, appeared at the gate and shouted loudly.

The knights had no time to breathe, so they had to find a war horse nearby and then climb on the horse.

A cavalry team of nearly two hundred people appeared at the gate of Ava City again, commanding two teams of Ming army infantry to go up the city wall and replace the knights on the tower.

The horse path was divided into two. On one side were the Ming infantry rushing up the city wall, and on the other side were the cavalry descending the city wall.

The horses that had been scattered and abandoned at the city gate soon received their owners, although they may not be their real owners.

That's the good thing about war horses, they don't recognize people.

During the rapid formation of the cavalry, the Ming army infantry had defeated the surrounding Burmese soldiers.

Now, they were about to enter the streets and begin to disperse the gathered enemies along the streets.

On the city wall, the Ming army's military formations also began to spread to both sides along the city wall, defeating the Burmese army who came to support from the north and south city gates.

Outside the city, Li Rubai saw the Ming army cavalry and infantry entering the city one after another. Knowing that the battle was stable, he immediately called two guerrilla generals and asked them to lead their men to rush to Ava City to increase the Ming army's strength in the city.

Occupying the city gate is not the goal. As long as the resistance of the Burmese army is ended as soon as possible, the top priority is to completely occupy the city of Ava.

In this regard, we can only mobilize as many soldiers and horses as possible to the city.

The reason why not all the Ming army entered the city was also particular.

If all the subordinates enter the city, although the number of Ming troops in the city will be piled up in a short period of time, if there are too many troops, it will easily create chaos and poor command.

When groups of Ming troops enter the city, they can each capture a target according to Li Rusong's order.

Now Li Rusong has given the two guerrilla generals the task of capturing the north and south gates of Ava City. After capturing them, they will be responsible for guarding them and do not need to continue attacking the west gate.

Li Rusong only led the revitalized cavalry to attack the market and completely dispersed the remaining Burmese troops. After he had returned to the east gate tower, he began to dispatch and command the Ming troops entering the city, directing them to attack various areas in the city. target.

Thanks to the guide he brought with him, he had been to Ava City many times. Although it was the first time for the Ming army to arrive, they had a preliminary understanding of the city, which made Li Rusong's command as easy as a fish in water.

Another two groups of Ming troops arrived at the city. Li Rusong immediately ordered: "Han Qing, Gao Fuju, you lead people through the city to attack the west gate, and guard there without making any mistakes."

The two generals leading the army immediately received the order with fists clasped, quickly descended from the city wall, and rushed into the street with their soldiers and horses.

The target is the west gate. This is the east gate. Rush along the street and you will reach there naturally.

There were four to five thousand soldiers and horses in these two teams. At this time, Ava City had almost lost all organized resistance. Even if they advanced along the street, they did not encounter too strong resistance.

At this time, seeing the overwhelming power of the Ming army, Li Rusong's young face, which had always been stern, gradually relaxed and smiled.

"Report to the general that the enemy troops retreated to the center of the city, where a river blocked our pursuit.

The enemy troops resisted desperately on the bridge and were unable to attack it for the time being. "

Not long after, the various ministries of the pursuing Ming army sent people to report the latest results, and Li Rusong also received news that the Burmese army had retreated to the palace in the center of the city.

Soon, news came from the northern and southern divisions of the Ming Army outside the city.

Although Mangchai issued an order to close the city gates and prohibit entry and exit, when the Ming army came, thousands of people still opened the city gates and fled out of Ava City.

However, they were all captured by the Ming army outside the city.

In front of the strict military formation, the common people and deserters had no intention of resisting at all costs.

On the west side of the city, the Ming army did not send troops to intercept, which also resulted in countless people either choosing to hide at home or fleeing out of the city after learning about the Ming army's breach of the city.

But now the west gate has become their only place of escape. The city gate that should have been closed was opened, and countless people flocked out of the city. The soldiers on the city gate and the city wall have also disappeared.

Perhaps they were the first wave of Ava people to escape from the city.

Although many people chose to flee the city, there were still many Burmese soldiers who gathered at the palace. About two to three thousand people gathered here.

After it was reported that the Ming army occupied the four gates and gradually controlled most of the city of Ava, the only thing left unoccupied was the former imperial palace in the center of the city.

"Stuck on the bridge? Haha."

Li Rusong issued an order to seize the bridge, but because it was too narrow, the Burmese army resisted to the death. Several attacks ended in failure of the Ming army.

Even if the bridgehead fired volleys of cannons to clear the way, the Burmese army used shields to defend themselves and continued to fire arrows to counterattack the Ming army.

"Let the French cannons be brought into the city from outside the city and let me use them to bombard the bridge."

Li Rusong knew the situation of the battle and immediately asked the surrounding Ming army to surround the palace and clean up other remaining enemy troops. He began to mobilize the artillery outside the city to enter the city.

There is no better weapon than a cannon to fight in a place like this.

In the past, when the Ming army did not have cannons, they could only fight with each other to see who could not resist the collapse of will first.

There is no need for it now. The Ming army is equipped with a large number of firearms, which are the best weapons for fighting this kind of war.

Li Rubai received the news outside the city and knew that the city had been basically captured, so he immediately led a team of soldiers and horses to escort the cannon and gunners into the city.

"Second brother, you lead the people to attack the palace and bombard them with cannons. Don't worry if they don't surrender."

Although the moat of the imperial palace could organize the Ming army to besieged on all sides and facilitate the defense of the defenders, it also blocked their escape route. It could be said that they were completely blocked there and could not escape even if they had no wings.

As soon as the artillery fires and the Burmese army's casualties increase, the morale of the surrounded Burmese army will immediately dissipate.

Surrender is their only option.

Otherwise, the only option is to die.

"Yes, brother."

Li Rubai was so happy that he immediately accepted the order and led the people to the palace.

He knew that this was an opportunity for his elder brother to make meritorious deeds.

The eldest brother was responsible for destroying the city, and he was responsible for capturing the city.

Eliminating the last remaining enemy forces in the city was no small feat.

Li Rubai quickly rushed outside the palace with the cannon. He felt a little regretful when he saw that the opposite place, which used to be the most noble place in Myanmar, was now covered with corpses on the ground.

The casualties of the Ming army were not large, and many people were only injured by arrows released from the opposite side.

Many of the corpses on the bridge were shot by the Ming army with cannons.

Although the Burmese army set up a shield at the bridgehead, the Ming army standing by the moat could shoot at the enemy troops on the bridge from three sides, so the casualties on the opposite side were not small.

At this point, the Burmese army had no choice but to defend the stone bridge.

Once the Ming army attacks, it will be completely over.

Therefore, Mangchai invested almost all his troops here, while in other places, only a small number of Burmese troops patrolled to prevent the Ming army from crossing the river.

The width of the moat was actually not too difficult for the Ming army.

However, with the Fran cannon in his hand, Li Rubai could only sneer when he saw the dense enemy formation on the opposite side.

Is this resistance useful?

In the age of cold weapons, they were really useful. Both the offensive and defensive sides could only invest human lives to fill them.

But things are different now. Although the firearms are still very primitive, their lethality is enough to allow them to break through the defense of the Burmese army.

"Put up the cannon for me and kill the enemy troops on the bridge."

Li Rubai immediately sent troops to set up the cannon. Six medium-sized Fran cannons were carried to the front, and the gunners began to load the sub-cartridges.

Gunslingers were assigned to both sides to shoot at the Burmese army from the side. Directly opposite the bridge, the Ming army's gun and shield array had been set up, and there were more than a hundred archers behind to cover it.

In a military formation, archers are more useful than musketeers.

They could hurl arrows and shoot cuttings from the heads of their comrades without disturbing the integrity of the formation.

As for the bird gunners, they were mostly on the outside of the military formation, and would retreat back to the military formation after the attack.

No matter how diligently the military formation is in training, some gaps will inevitably appear during this change of formation, giving the opponent a chance to make a surprise attack.

Although the time was short, the chaos caused by the change of positions of the soldiers was inevitable.

"fire."

By the time the Franco gunners were ready, the Ming infantry had already lined up.

"Bang bang bang bang"

Six Fran cannons were fired rapidly, and thirty-six projectiles quickly flew into the ranks of the Burmese army. The only sound left was the screams and wails of the Burmese army.

The human body can never block projectiles containing powerful kinetic energy. Although the Burmese army's military formation was not penetrated, the Tengpai defense line was completely broken.

"Papa pa pa"

There was a dense sound of gunfire, and countless projectiles flew into the Burmese army's formation, causing greater damage.

"attack."

Seeing the army formation on the verge of collapse on the opposite side, with expressions of fear on the soldiers' faces, Li Rusong commanded the infantry formation to rush towards the bridge.