Many, many years later, in a monograph of Westerners describing the history of the East, a Western historian used the biographies of Westerners who fought as mercenaries in the East at the end of the 16th century as the original material to evaluate such a famous fire — Peng Shiluo's fire not only destroyed a prosperous city, but also the fate and future of a country and a nation.
After King Naresuan made up his mind, the scorched earth strategy of resistance was determined. The sudden attack of the Burmese caught Xiao Ruxun and King Naresuan off guard. King Naresuan lost his hometown and thousands of villagers. Although Xiao Ruxun didn't suffer any losses, he had some understanding of the Burmese's decisiveness.
When faced with a desperate situation, some people would sit on the ground and wait for death, while some people would rise up and fight for the last chance of survival. These Burmese people were obviously the latter. Whether it was Mang Yinglong or Mang Yingli, they were both heroes in troubled times. The ending of heroes in troubled times was either to make history or to die on the battlefield. There was absolutely no other ending. As the strongest warrior of his nation, Mang Yingli naturally chose to fight to the end.
Xiao Ruxun also knew that such an enemy would never surrender and would definitely fight to the last moment.
At the same time, the exact number of Burmese soldiers was estimated. The scouts from Daming and the scouts from Siam described the Burmese army that was wreaking havoc in Peng Shiluo's mansion. They said that the army was so large that it covered the sky and the sun. There were not only a large number of elephant soldiers, but also a large number of musketeers and cannoneers. The Siam army had about five thousand people, but it only resisted for a quarter of an hour before it completely collapsed.
Fortunately, the scorched earth strategy was successfully implemented. Before the Burmese army occupied Peng Shiluo's Mansion, it had already been burned down. The fire didn't stop for three days and three nights. Houses, warehouses, elephant fields, temples and so on were all burned down. It was estimated that ten to twenty thousand Siamese died in the fire. For the Siamese people, it was a disaster, a disaster that shook the hearts of the people.
However, it was also a disaster for the Burmese. The Siamese would rather burn down their own homeland than hand over their land, food, and weapons to the Burmese, which made Min Qide furious. Why did he lead the army to march so quickly and forcefully? What was the point of abandoning the odd-job soldiers and leading the elite troops to charge and attack? What was it for?
Seeing the raging fire, he almost immediately ordered the army to put out the fire and rescue the food and weapons. However, the fire was fierce, and hundreds of the Burmese army were burned to death by the fire. They couldn't rescue anything. Then the fire grew bigger and bigger, out of control. It was not until the morning of the fourth day that a heavy downpour extinguished the fire. The rain lasted for the whole morning. After the fire was extinguished, Min Qide, whose eyes were bloodshot, ordered to search the ruins.
What else was under the ruins? Nothing could be found. Occasionally, they found some broken walls, tables, and benches, but they were all useless. Not only did they not get any food or weapons, but they didn't even catch a single local. The Siamese people they caught at the border all said that Peng Shiluo had a lot of reserves, so they rushed all the way here. Now, Peng Shiluo might have a lot of reserves, but all of them had turned into ashes.
Min Qide could imagine how Min Qide was feeling, and the morale of the Burmese army was also affected. In such a situation, the Burmese army was like an arrow at the end of its flight, and they couldn't go any further to grab anything else.
Min Qide's eyes were red as he watched his army fall into a state of depression. He wanted to organize the troops again to attack the cities and seize the rations to boost their morale, but he was shocked to find that he had used the troops too ruthlessly before. They had fought a long way to get here, and they had not had a full day of rest. The troops were extremely tired, and they were on the verge of collapse.
Under such circumstances, no matter how angry Min Qide was, he could only let the army rest. Otherwise, it would definitely cause a mutiny. He could only set up camp in the ashes of Peng Shiluo and wait for the soldiers who had fallen behind, as well as some of the main surveillance forces.
On the other hand, the scorched earth strategy did cause the Siamese to suffer great losses, but it stopped the Burmese from advancing further south, which gave the Siamese precious time to breathe. Narexuan urgently mobilized the army, armed the army, and gave them excellent weapons. He ordered his subordinates to prepare food and be ready to attack at any time. At the same time, he also told the Ming Army that he hoped the Ming Army would accompany him and be ready to attack.
Xiao Ruxun and Yuan Huang studied the information they had so far and made a complete analysis of the Burmese army.
The main force of the Burmese army was about 100,000 people, which was probably all the elite main force in the country that could be sent out. They had the plan to end the war in the Siamese territory and destroy the Siamese along the way, eliminating all the threats in one battle. This was an extremely bold strategy, but it was surprisingly effective. In a short period of time, they had conquered Peng Shiluo, an important city in the north of the Siamese Empire, and isolated Chiang Mai and other places in the north. They had broken King Narexuan's previous strategy, and the situation was very dangerous.
The combat units of the Burmese army included gunmen and gunners. There were not many of them, but they were very powerful. A large number of foreigners organized them. There were also elephant soldiers, with about three to five hundred war elephants. From afar, they looked very scary. Once the war started, the war elephants would charge at them, and it would create a terrifying effect. There were also traditional swords, swords, and archers. They were the main force of the Burmese army.
"As for the enemy's gunmen and gunners, both our army and the Siamese army have corresponding firearms units, which can compete with them. Moreover, our army has an overwhelming number of muskets and Francs, so we will not be at a disadvantage in terms of firearms. As for the war elephants, the Siamese also have corresponding countermeasures. The Siamese war elephants can compete with the Dongwu war elephants. Our army only needs to support them, and we don't need to be the main force. As for the main force, Ji Xin, your artillery tactics can be put to great use."
Yuan Huang made a brief analysis of the current situation. The conclusion he came to was that the joint forces of the Ming Army and the Siamese army could compete with any type of the Burmese army.
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