Chapter 158: Where is Li Dingguo?
The Wu army arrived in northern Myanmar in just three days at a speed of lightning speed, and captured Bansai, a small city in northern Myanmar. Everything seemed to be under the control of Wu Sangui.
The people in Bansai City did not resist at all. Instead, some riots began to rush into the city to loot. Wu Sangui was furious when he heard the news. It was no big deal to loot. However, he just captured a small city and plundered everywhere. When the city he encountered in the future heard the atrocities of the Wu army, he would not be willing to submit easily. At that time, united and sacrificed his life to protect the city. Wouldn't he shoot himself in the foot?
"All personal soldiers went to the city for inspection, but those who harass the people will be beheaded on the spot." Wu Sangui snorted coldly.
"twitter!"
After some rectification, the security in the city has indeed improved. The Burmese people hid in the house and did not dare to come out, and the Wu army did not dare to enter the house to harass them. All streets posted notices of peace. In addition to some left-behind soldiers, Wu Sangui ordered to bury the pot and make rice. After eating and drinking, the entire army rested for two hours and continued to go south.
After eating, the sky gradually dimmed. The temporary camp tents built outside the city were winding continuously to the riverside several miles away. The stars in the sky shone faintly from the clouds and mist, and reflected with the bonfire on the ground, forming a brilliant spot of light. All the soldiers were ordered to rest in the tent, and they woke up in the middle of the night and had to continue marching. However, Wu Sangui could not fall asleep, so he put on his python robe and came out of the tent. He led several personal soldiers at the door to patrol the camp, a layer of brown and black mud was exposed on the green flat ground, and he stepped under his boots to make a slight creaking sound. Wu Sangui walked through the tent group, thinking about the possible movements of the Dingbei Army with his hands.
Since Wu Sangui led the Qing army into the pass, he relied on the Guanning cavalry to sweep across the Central Plains. When he arrived in Yunnan and Guizhou, he was repeatedly defeated by Li Dingguo. If Li Dingguo had not been outnumbered, he would have to cover Yongli's entry into Myanmar. It is still a problem for the Wu army to be able to defend Yunnan and Guizhou.
Nowadays, Wu Sangui is full of wings, with many soldiers and a wide range of generals, and the amount of food and money accumulated in the warehouse is countless. However, Li Dingguo also had a base and supplemented food and money. With the source of troops to be recruited, Wu Sangui was not sure of the decisive battle.
"Prince, this storm is built exquisitely, and I don't know what it is used for? If you ride a fast horse, what should you do with such a flat storm? These Burmese people are really incredible." A confidant soldier whispered from behind.
Outside Bansai City is a straight road leading to the south, about one meter wide, and I don’t know what material the land is used for. The road is smooth and tidy, and even the road paved by the green bricks in Kunming City is far inferior to it. Although the personal soldiers’ words are lower, they came into Wu Sangui’s ears in this quiet night. Wu Sangui’s eyes flashed, and suddenly thought of something. Then he became confused again. He shook his head and said, “No. Even if Haidu City recruits all war horses, it is only three thousand at most. Even if the three thousand cavalry rushes along such a road to help northern Myanmar, it will probably be useless.”
"Maybe I am worried too much." Wu Sangui smiled unconsciously and said loudly: "Go back to the camp to rest. In another two hours, I will wake up and continue walking.
After the renovation, the Wu army continued to go south and headed towards Taluo City along the road. The thick fog in the morning had not yet dissipated, and the Daluo City was almost unprepared. Wu Sangui estimated that after the breach of Bansai City, Li Dingguo had learned the battle report on the front line. Time was the key to determining the outcome. In addition to the remaining soldiers who stayed behind in Taluo City, Wu Sangui hurriedly urged the army to continue to march south. In one day, he captured three or four cities.
At this time, Wu Sangui felt something was wrong. Tens of thousands of troops headed south all the way south, and the city it destroyed was not prepared. So far, except for some militia groups to assist in defending the city, no Dingbei Army appeared.
Where is the Dingbei Army? Where is Li Dingguo? A chill appeared on Wu Sangui's back. He knew this opponent so well. Every time he fought with Li Dingguo, you would never find him, just like an assassin in the dark. At the moment the cold light of the dagger cuts into your skin under your neck, you would never guess his whereabouts.
Could it be that there was a detailed work of the Ming army in Kunming? From the moment the place where the troops were sworn to send troops, the detailed work had quickly spread the battle report to northern Myanmar? Wu Sangui immediately woke up. He wanted to conquer the Northern Army off guard and force Li Dingguo to fight to the decisive battle. Unexpectedly, there was an insider in the city. It was nothing to have an insider. The moment the insider received the news, his army had also been dispatched. There were mountains in the southwest and it was not suitable for fast horses to rush. Even if the insider was first to transmit intelligence, the army might have already attacked northern Myanmar when the information was sent to Li Dingguo. What method did Li Dingguo use to obtain information so quickly?
"It's a carrier pigeon." Wu Sangui patted his naked forehead in annoyance, and suddenly realized that he had missed this one after another.
Now that the arrow is on the string, I have to fire it. Since it has come, Wu Sangui can only continue to fight this battle. In his anger, Wu Sangui immediately calmed down. Since the surprise attack cannot work, he can only take every step to avoid going deeper alone.
In the newly occupied Karen City, Wu Sangui ordered the entire army to repair the city, while sending a large number of scouts to inquire from all directions.
"Has Yuan Rang's army entered Myanmar?" Wu Sangui held his chin and kept observing the map in the yamen lobby of Karen City. Behind him were several solemn generals.
"Report to the prince, Yuan Rang will arrive here tomorrow."
Wu Sangui nodded thoughtfully, pointed to the direction where Karen City is located in the map and said, "This city is surrounded by mountains on both sides, which is the only passage to enter Myanmar. If Yuan Jie can arrive tomorrow, he will lead his troops as the pioneer. I will support Karen in the middle of Karen. I don't believe it, and Li Dingguo will not come out."
After a brief deployment, Wu Sangui already had a new plan, which was to let the 10,000 people led by Yuan Rang to open the way for the vanguard and fish out Li Dingguo. As long as Yuan Rang was attacked, he could quickly send troops to help and annihilate the Dingbei Army in one fell swoop.
If Li Dingguo didn't come out, it would be fine. Then let Yuan Rang's 10,000 troops attack the cities in northern Myanmar everywhere, and the entire northern Myanmar was lost. It depends on what Li Dingguo used to explain to the Xinshi Emperor.
"Does the scouts sent out have any echoes?" Wu Sangui touched the thorny forehead, and his braids of money-sized behind his head were wrapped around his neck. He sat on the chair with big eyes and asked with half-squinted eyes.
"Never came back, relying on the humble opinion, these scouts are of no use even if they are released. Li Dingguo is very cunning and cunning, and will never be exposed until the last moment." A trusted general said with a smile.
"Well." Wu Sanguihe nodded: "It should be used even if it is useless. When marching and fighting, scouts are our eyes. Our noses. No matter whether we can find the traces of Li Dingguo, we still have to look at them with our eyes and smell them with our noses. Even if we explore the path and survey the terrain."
"The prince is truly insightful and has received teachings from humble positions." The general looked like he suddenly realized.
"Everything goes down and rest. You don't need to wait here. If you have anything to do, I will invite you to come." Wu Sangui yawned. He hadn't slept well last night. In the middle of the month, he hurriedly got up and drove the troops to go on the night. Wu Sangui was old and could not bear it.
"Go away with a humble position!" Several generals, guerrillas, knelt down together and beat a thousand like flowing water, and said goodbye.
That night, the sky above Karen City was pitch black, and the stars and moon hid in the thick clouds, and occasionally a slight flashed out of the light. On the road several miles away from Karen City, hundreds of soldiers in Dingbei Army uniforms were escorting dozens of carriages and rushing towards Karen City.
The style of the carriage is very strange. There is a horse pull in front, but a huge caliber cannon at the back. On both sides of the cannon are a pair of iron wheels. This is the new cannon developed by Haidu City based on the Franco Cannon Institute. There is a chassis below the cannon and two wheels are installed. As long as it is pulled upside down by the horse, you can walk quickly on the galloping road. It is many times lighter than the previous bulky cannon.
After the artillery was developed, more than a dozen were sent to Dingbei and delivered to Dingbei Army for use. Li Dingguo attaches great importance to this new thing and specially set up artillery battalions of hundreds of people, often practicing in the wild. Now, taking advantage of the night, the soldiers of these artillery battalions are all out, and the direction they selected is Karen.
Although there were hundreds of soldiers in the artillery battalion, there were only more than fifty gunners, and the rest were cavalrymen, wearing long swords around their waists and steel crossbows behind them to serve as the guards of the artillery battalion.
At this time, all the war horses were carrying chews to prevent neighing, and the horse's hooves were covered with cotton cloth. Hundreds of war horses made no noise. Only the iron wheels under the cannon cart made a rattle sound, and were then annihilated by the cry of insects and birds in summer nights.
"Damn it all, Lao Zhang, please pay attention to see if you have reached the range of the artillery." A general dressed in Qianhu urged in a low voice. In the dark night, Karen City in the distance was emitting a faint light.
The man named Lao Zhang looked at the distance of Karen City with great confidence and said with great confidence: "Walk two hundred feet further and you can get a cannon."
When everyone heard this, they all accelerated their speed again. After half a stick of incense, Lao Zhang's horse gradually slowed down and waved his hand and signaled softly.
"Stop, stop, guns, guns, calibrate, the rest of the brothers looked around and put all the crossbows on me to prepare for battle." Qianhu whispered the order, and a soldier beside him whispered the flag with a small white flag.
The gunners were familiar with the war horses that pulled the cannon and turned the dock. More than a dozen black muzzles were aimed at Karen City. Some people started to load gunpowder, but the other gunners did not stop and kept swinging their gun bodies to calibrate.
After a moment, the gunner, who had everything ready, began to ignite the fire and was ready to ignite the lead behind the barrel at any time.
Qianhu's hand was raised high. After a moment of pause, he suddenly pulled down from the night sky: "Start the fire and blow it up."
"Boom...Boom...Boom..."
Chapter completed!