I

The day after the Datong Army left Pyaoi City, Mangtai had already discovered it.

He first sent out a small group of troops to conduct a tentative attack, and found that the south and north of the city were all empty camps.

Even so, Mangtai did not dare to pursue immediately, fearing that the Datong army was tricking him into leaving the city. This guy was extremely cautious and sent a clipper to find out the news. It wasn't until the Datong Army marched tens of miles north that he dared to be sure that the enemy had really left.

Mangtai was both happy and angry about this situation.

Fortunately, the Datong Army dared to go all the way north alone without capturing Puyai. Sooner or later, they would be surrounded and annihilated by the Burmese army.

What makes him angry is that the Datong Army treats him like air and is not afraid of him following behind!

Mangtai left 10,000 refugees to defend the city and pursued with tens of thousands of troops.

Although he was angry in his heart, he did not dare to pursue him too fast.

First, there are only more than 3,000 main troops, and the remaining tens of thousands are all scum. If they march too fast, the team will collapse. The second is to be cautious, fearing that the Datong Army will fight back.

Every time he arrived at a city that had been occupied by the Datong Army, Mangtai would first defend the city, and then send spies to inquire about the news and confirm that the Datong Army had gone far before continuing the pursuit. At the same time, he quickly wrote a good report and recovered another city.

Finally, the Datong army arrived at the gates of Bagan and camped a few miles outside the city.

This news made Mangtai completely let down his guard. He led his army out of Shaobu City in the south and slowly advanced to fight a battle in Bagan City. By then, his troops will be in the south, and the reinforcements of the King of Burma will be in the north. Together with the troops from Bagan City, they will be able to completely annihilate this arrogant enemy force!

Outside Bagan, the Datong Military Camp is still there.

More than a thousand baggage ships and more than 8,000 Mon sailors were stationed on the riverside next to the camp. In the military camp, there are still 3,000 regular troops, 5,000 patrol troops, and more than 10,000 Mon servant troops.

The defenders in the city did not dare to come out and were still waiting for reinforcements.

The artillery of the Datong Army continued to bombard the city wall every day, and seemed to be planning to storm the city. It did not look like the main force had left at all.

"The enemy is coming, run!"

A small group of Burmese cavalry ran into the dragoons exploring the road and fled a long way away.

Yang Zhan was a little helpless when he heard the news: "The enemy general is not a fool. He is cautious all the way. He can be called a good general in China."

"Abandon the baggage and speed up the march!" Ding Jiasheng immediately ordered.

Thousands of dragoons took the lead in chasing them out.

The Datong Dragoons in the southwest region are, to be precise, mountain cavalry.

The horses they ride are all southwest ponies, which are good at climbing over mountains and ridges. Equipped with a squatting tiger cannon, it is easy to move quickly and fire in paddy fields and mountains. All members carry flintlock guns, no bayonets, only sabers and lances. Instead of wearing cotton armor, he only wore a layer of light chain mail and a rattan helmet to protect him from sun, rain and arrows.

To the south, Mangtai looked a little flustered when he received the news. The Datong Army actually made a comeback. Aren't they afraid of being chased down by the Bagan city defenders?

Or, how dare you divide your troops to attack your own army of tens of thousands?

"The whole army retreats to the camp!"

The so-called camp refers to the temporary camp they set up last night. Some wooden fences were inserted as walls, and a few trenches were dug, which was barely considered a defensive fortification.

Mangtai did not dare to rush back to the nearest city. As I said before, running too fast would scatter the troops.

The main force of the Burmese army is a standing army of tens of thousands. To expand the army during wars, local nobles also recruit peasants. Local nobles have their own private soldiers, and recruiting farmers within their jurisdiction can ensure the combat effectiveness of the peasant army.

But the Datong army killed too quickly, and the local nobles ran away with their private soldiers. Many did not flee north, but fled eastward to avoid the front of the army and went to the two cities of Bago and Toungoo to assemble.

Without local nobles to lead troops, it was difficult for Mangtai to effectively command the peasant army.

"The enemy is coming, the enemy is coming!"

Before the Burmese army could return to the place where they camped last night, the Datong Dragoons had already caught up.

Thanks to King Talong, who had passed away from illness, an official road was laid along the river. Otherwise, the river bank was covered with rice fields, and the cavalry would not be able to run.

This area belongs to the middle and upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River, and rice is harvested two or three times a year.

It is obviously winter, but the seedlings are already knee-deep.

Mangtai hurriedly deployed his army and led the main force himself to form a formation near the official road. More than a dozen local nobles, leading tens of thousands of peasant troops, marched on the rice fields and were distributed on both sides.

In order to pursue quickly, the Datong cavalry did not bring the squatting tiger cannon.

"Abandon your horses and form a formation!"

The cavalry general is called Qin Fuguo, and he is Qin Liangyu's grandnephew.

More than four thousand dragoons were instantly transformed into musketry infantry. They hung their lances on their horses, armed only with flintlock rifles and waist knives, and stood in formation on the field ridges.

The tens of thousands of Burmese peasant troops were not well organized to begin with, and they had to form formations in the rice fields. They dragged their feet for a long time and couldn't get it done. There is a mess everywhere, and it is not as good as the military training for middle school students.

If it were a flat, open terrain, the Datong cavalry would definitely charge forward, and the whole army would be broken up after three or two attacks.

Mang Sigu said excitedly: "Father, the enemy only has a few thousand cavalry, so they should be the vanguard. The cavalry is useless in this kind of terrain, but our army has tens of thousands of people. We should quickly encircle and annihilate them!"

"If we can't annihilate them all, let's see how many can be left behind," Mangtai said to the herald. "Raise the flag, blow the trumpet, and outflank us with the right wing!"

The local noble generals took action immediately after receiving the order, leading a small number of private soldiers to move forward slowly. However, the peasant army under their command was unable to quickly learn the military orders and could only follow them subconsciously.

Crooked and messy.

Qin Fuguo almost laughed out loud when he saw this: "The whole army mounted and retreated two miles."

More than four thousand soldiers ran back to the official road from the field ridge, mounted their horses and fled. They have all run away, the Burmese army is still dilly-dallying, and the outflanking troops have become a mess.

In this situation, Mangtai was a little confused.

He had tens of thousands of troops, but he didn't dare to pursue them. If he pursued them, it would be even more chaotic, and if he wasn't careful, the whole army would collapse.

"Collect all the ministries and slowly withdraw to the camp last night!" Mangtai ordered helplessly.

Seeing that the Burmese army had retreated by half, Qin Fuguo immediately issued an order: "The rear team becomes the front team, catch up, dismount and form a formation!"

"This is too much!"

Mangtai was so angry that he did not dare to gather his troops anymore and ordered them to be deployed again.

They haven't gathered yet, but they are about to form their formation again. The tens of thousands of peasant troops are becoming more and more chaotic.

Lost!

Mangtai called his son: "Prepare to lead the main force to retreat. This battle cannot be fought. The enemy cavalry is stalling for time. Once the enemy's main force arrives, our entire army will definitely be wiped out. Except for the baggage on the ship, we abandoned everything else and fled back at full speed. We are stationed in Shaobu City and waiting for friendly forces in the north to move."

"Don't want so much food?" Mang Sigu was a little reluctant.

"It's important to keep the troops," Mangtai said.

The Burmese ships docked in Pyay have been snatched away by the Tatung Army. Mangtai could only collect small boats along the way. How much luggage could hundreds of small boats carry? The baggage of tens of thousands of people was carried entirely by livestock and manpower.

"Outflank the enemy!"

Mangtai continued to give orders to the miscellaneous soldiers, and at the same time asked the main force to prepare to flee.

As long as the main force can escape smoothly, tens of thousands of civilians will die. And most of them will not die, they will be defeated and running around, and many of them will definitely be able to escape back to their hometowns.

Seeing that the Burmese army was spreading again, Qin Fuguo ordered a retreat again. He believed that if this happened a few more times, the Burmese army would collapse in chaos.

"The whole army is pursuing you!" Mangtai waved the command flag and blew the charge horn.

The local nobles rushed forward with their private soldiers, and tens of thousands of civilians followed suit. It can't be flushed, it's all rice fields filled with water, one foot is deep and one foot is shallow, and the other foot is moving forward.

It was too difficult to walk through the rice fields. More and more Burmese troops rushed to the official roads and field ridges, blocking the passages that allowed quick movement.

"Let's go!"

Mangtai felt that the time had come and quickly ordered the main force to retreat.

Qin Fuguo was riding on horseback and was furious when he saw this: "Damn it, the enemy general has no conscience, he actually abandoned the army and ran away! Kill him!"

Tens of thousands of Burmese troops crowded the official roads, blocked the fields, and could be seen everywhere in the rice fields.

They rushed towards the Datong Army with weapons raised, and the Datong Army also dismounted and marched in formation in the rice fields.

"Raise the gun!"

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The fire cannon struck in three stages, a burst of gunpowder smoke dissipated, and the enemy in front of them had been routed.

Countless Burmese refugees ran to the official road one after another, trying to escape along the official road, completely blocking the official road. The Burmese army further away was still coming over in a mess, and they were somewhat confused about the situation here.

"Come back and mount your horse!" Qin Fuguo shouted.

The bugle sounded, and the Datong troops in the rice fields retreated to the official road one after another.

The official road is very narrow and can only accommodate three horses running abreast, but if you want to gallop, you can have up to two horses running abreast.

Qin Fuguo rushed to the front on horseback, wielding his sword to kill the defeated soldiers blocking the official road. But there was too much blockage in front, and it would be impossible to rush through it for a while. The more they cut and killed, the more corpses there would be on the official road, and the cavalry would not be able to rush forward at all.

The Datong cavalry in the rear squatted on the official road, quickly reloaded their ammunition, and took turns shooting at the rice fields on both sides.

At this time, more and more Burmese troops discovered that their commander had already fled with the main force. The local nobles reacted first, summoned the private soldiers and fled, and the nearby militiamen immediately followed.

The surrounding rice fields were all filled with broken troops, and the Datong army was unable to pursue them.

After killing all the way, the defeated soldiers on the official road finally took the initiative to jump into the rice fields to escape.

"What the fuck!"

After the defeated troops on the official road dispersed, Qin Fuguo finally discovered that there were still countless baggage and even several artillery blocking the road ahead.

The baggage of tens of thousands of troops were all lying on the official road, and it would be a shame if the cavalry could pass by.

Qin Fuguo roared angrily: "Get off your horse and enter the fields, capture prisoners, and transport heavy supplies!"

There is no way to pursue them. By the time these baggage items are moved away, the main enemy force will probably have fled back to the city. We can only capture as many prisoners as possible, seize the baggage and return it for delivery.

This battle was a nonsense. Although the enemy army was defeated, the main force fled.

Fortunately, the supplies were seized!

When Ding Jiasheng and Yang Zhan led the main force of the Datong Army in pursuit, they were equally dumbfounded by this situation.

Thanks to the enemy generals, they came hundreds of miles away and turned around and left after delivering the supplies, without even staying to hear a thank you.

No matter what, the Chinese army, which is deeply alone, does not have to worry about food problems for the time being.