I

Meng Mi.

This is a powder keg. The southwest border rebellion in the Ming Dynasty was more or less related to Meng Mi - it was the largest jade production base at this time.

To give a random example, Emperor Wanli sent mine tax inspectors all over the country, and the chieftains of the southwest did not escape this. At that time, the eunuch Yang Rong was guarding Yunnan and opened a new jade mine in Mengmi. The uneven distribution of the spoils directly triggered a rebellion, and then the miners revolted. Chieftain Meng Mi wiped the eunuch's butt and killed thousands of people, but still could not calm down.

The Wanli court decided to send troops to quell the rebellion, but due to lack of food and money, they had no choice but to give up. From then on, the chieftains saw the weakness of the Ming Dynasty and completely ignored the court. Even chieftain Meng Mi, who wiped the eunuch's butt, turned against him.

At this moment, thousands of miners are standing in the east and west.

Chief Meng Mi Si Kuang, wearing armor all over his body, began to lecture: "The Han people are coming to kill you. You also know that the Han people are the most cruel and unreasonable. Now we will organize you into an army. Those who have made great achievements will no longer be miners, and those who have made small achievements will no longer work as miners." You can be a foreman... As long as you hold it for a month, the Burmese king will send reinforcements. As long as you hold it for three to five months, the Han people will retreat in the summer!"

One after another, crude weapons were distributed to the miners. Some miners did not receive weapons and continued to use mining tools.

Many of these miners were snatched slaves, and some were even Han Chinese from Yunnan.

Although they were exploited by Chief Mengmi, they had not yet reached the point of rebellion. On the contrary, the brutality of Han officials has always been engraved in the genes of the miners and has become a nursery rhyme passed down from generation to generation.

Half of the blame for the southwestern chieftain rebellion should be shouldered by local officials and eunuchs, who were often forced to rebel.

"Kill the bandits and you will live!"

Si Kuang took the lead and yelled a few words, and thousands of miners followed suit.

Behind Si Kuang, there were more than 2,000 chieftain soldiers standing. Among them, 800 people are fully armed and equipped with armor, and they can be called elites.

Sure enough, the mine owners are still rich.

Guarding the world's largest emerald base in the 17th century, Chief Meng Mi had plenty of money to equip his army.

However, Si Kuang was destined not to wait for reinforcements from Myanmar, because Bhamo further north was the real strategic location in northern Myanmar. The reinforcements from the King of Burma are destined to go to Bhamo first.

More than 200 ships were patrolling and anti-smuggling ships were temporarily used as a fleet to transport baggage. Hundreds of commercial ships mobilized by the private sector, carrying more than 10,000 patrol troops, rushed toward Chief Meng Mi's residence.

Si Kuang stood at the top of the city, looking at the densely packed ships, and was suddenly shocked and angry.

Does a small chieftain like himself need so many soldiers to fight? You have so many soldiers, why don't you start from Tengyue and go directly to the strategic location of Bhamo? As long as Bhamo is captured, we can take the capital of Myanmar directly by going down the river!

It's very simple. There are more troops attacking Bhamo, and they attack from both sides of the Dajinsha River and Daying River.

"Father, do you want to surrender?" Sihong was already frightened.

Si Kuang said: "We cannot surrender. Once we surrender, the jade mines will be gone. The Han emperor will definitely send eunuchs to take over all our mines."

After leaving the Ming Dynasty and occupying the mines for only a few decades, Chieftain Si was already used to living a life of wealth and would rather die in battle than live without a mine. The king of Burma is so kind. He just gives away some money every year. But when the Han people come, they will rob the mines.

Sihong said: "But we can't defeat them."

Si Kuang said: "Just hold on to the walled city. As long as we hold on for a month or two, the Burmese king's army will definitely come to rescue."

Si Hong muttered: "We have so many soldiers coming to fight here. I'm afraid there are more enemies on the Bhamo side, and the reinforcements from the King of Burma..."

"Don't talk nonsense and defend the city with peace of mind!" Si Kuang scolded.

Outside the city, the inspection division had already set up camp, and the leader Sirong said: "General, there can be at most two or three thousand soldiers in Mengmi Walled City. If all the miners are brought to defend the city, the number of troops will only be seven or eight thousand. The Chinese artillery should be aimed at the southern city wall, which has collapsed before and is definitely not as strong as the other walls."

The division commander Pan Kai smiled and praised: "If we can capture this stronghold, I will be credited with the first achievement."

Si Kuang and Si Rong used to be a family.

Their respective grandfathers are named Siren and Sizhong respectively.

The brothers fought for the throne, Siren won, and Sizhong defected to Burma.

It is also mixed with an ethical love story. Sizhong leads the Burmese army to kill, while Siren escapes with his mother. On the way, Siren asked to marry his sister-in-law (Sizhong's wife), but his mother firmly disagreed. When the mother ran away with her sister-in-law, Siren actually led the elephant soldiers to chase her, trying to snatch her sister-in-law away from her mother. Because he failed to grab it, Siren became angry and defected to Myanmar.

Siren was more valued by the Burmese king and continued to be the chieftain of Mengmi. Sizhong, who defected to Burma first, gained nothing, and his mother and wife were still controlled by the Ming Dynasty...

"When attacking a city, the last general is willing to be the first to attack!" Sirong eagerly requested a battle, wanting to settle the grievances of three generations, and at the same time, he also wanted to win the favor of the court.

Pan Kai was indeed very satisfied and praised: "Jun Zhen is a loyal and brave man."

Next came another boring siege, with dozens of artillery aimed at the once-collapsed southern city wall.

The simple city wall made of earth and stone could not withstand the bombardment, and large cracks appeared in just one day.

The artillery of the Datong Army was too terrifying. Sikuang felt that he could no longer hold on, so he called his favorite general Meng Cai: "Tomorrow we will leave the city for a decisive battle. Your mission is the most important. The entire army will cover your elephant soldiers. You must seize the opportunity. Riding an elephant to trample the Han army into chaos!"

"I guarantee that the Han people will be trampled into a pulp!"

Meng Cai's father had fought with the Ming army and knew that the Han soldiers had little combat effectiveness.

What's more, Chief Meng Mi is getting richer and richer, and his ordnance and equipment are much better than before. This guy puts on a suit of armor and rides on a war elephant, and he feels invincible.

The next day, early morning.

The Datong patrolmen were about to leave the camp to form a formation, when Pan Kai suddenly received news that the city defenders actually opened the city gate.

The defenders formed a formation two miles away from the city. In the front line of the central army were ordinary chieftain soldiers, followed by elephant soldiers and elite chieftains. Thousands of miners were lined up on both wings.

"Is Chief Meng Mi crazy? Does he want to use a war elephant to attack my artillery?" Pan Kai held a telescope and had no idea what the enemy general was thinking.

The chieftain's military formation advanced slowly, and the miners on both sides were slightly confused.

Pan Kai said to the artillery commander: "Aim all artillery at the war elephants."

The chieftain's army was still advancing, but the temporary patrol division had no cavalry, and all the infantry were waiting in formation.

"Test the cannon!"

"Boom boom boom!"

More than ten rounds of artillery shells were fired, which caused the chieftain's front army to become a little confused.

"Hold on, the war elephant will charge you and win!" Si Kuang shouted, personally boosting morale.

The chieftain's troops advanced another hundred meters.

"volley!"

"Boom boom boom!"

Dozens of artillery shells were all fired at the war elephant.

The loud sound of cannons has already made the war elephant restless. As the shells continued to fall, three war elephants were directly hit, and one of them was not dead.

The war elephant, whose leg was scratched, went crazy in an instant, disobeying the rider's orders and charging randomly in his own formation. The war elephant was surrounded by elite chieftains, and more than a dozen of them were trampled to death on the spot. The other chieftain soldiers were left at a loss what to do.

"Rush over quickly!"

Si Kuang shouted.

However, the ordinary chieftain soldiers at the front had been beaten by a round of artillery fire. They had not fought a major battle in more than ten years, and even if they could withstand dozens of artillery salvoes, more than half of them were so frightened that they ran away.

Pan Kai ordered: "The whole army comes forward!"

"Boom boom boom!"

As the infantry advanced, another volley of artillery fire was fired.

The remaining war elephants couldn't hold it anymore, and more than a dozen war elephants went crazy collectively, running rampant like headless flies.

Si Kuang looked around blankly, the sudden defeat was completely beyond his imagination. He had never seen so many artillery pieces, nor had he seen a war elephant destroyed by artillery fire.

In the entire Myanmar region, the last time a war elephant was destroyed by artillery was the Battle of Pyay more than 100 years ago. The Portuguese artillerymen were hiding halfway up the mountain. The cavalry and elephant soldiers of the Ava Dynasty were lured over by the Burmese cavalry, and all collapsed under the salvo of artillery.

"Father, leave quickly!" Sihong shouted, but a war elephant rushed over.

Si Kuang wanted to cry but had no tears. He sold a lot of jade and spent a lot of money to build an elite army! Such an awesome army can move sideways in various chieftain territories in northern Myanmar.

The infantry of the patrol division had not even reached the firing range of the firecrackers, and the chieftain's army had already begun to disintegrate.

The miner troops on both wings dropped their weapons and turned around to flee. The ordinary chieftain soldier in the middle was beaten by artillery and his morale was negative. And those elite chieftain soldiers were completely trampled to pieces by the crazy war elephants.

Meng Cai, Yelang's arrogant commander of the elephant soldiers, was directly thrown away by his own war elephant. After being thrown to the ground hard, he was stepped on by the war elephant.

Si Kuang and Si Hong, father and son, fled on Yunnan horses.

They did not dare to return to the city, abandoned their families, and walked around the city, trying to escape into the valleys and mountains to the east.

The inspector's only dozen or so cavalry, originally sentry scouts, were now pursuing them at full speed.

Pan Kai once again reiterated the military order: "Don't kill people indiscriminately, capture more prisoners, and use them all to work as miners!"

Jadeite, which began to emerge in the mid-Ming Dynasty, has become more expensive in recent years (Emperor Zhao liked jadeite). And Mengmi is the largest jade producing area. It is definitely profitable to conquer this place. Every miner is a treasure.

The inspector captured Meng Mi on this road and had to rest for a day before setting off again.

The next march route is to take a boat back to the north, enter the tributary and turn to the southwest, then abandon the boat and cross the mountains to the west. After leaving the mountains, you will reach the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River.

As long as the inspection division reaches there, even if the troops stand still, they can cut off the retreat route of the Bhamo Burmese army. If they go north along the river bank, they can cooperate with the two friendly forces to form a three-sided attack on Bhamo.

Bhamo and surrounding strongholds were the core battlefields of the Qing-Burmese War. The Qing and Burmese armies fought there for several years.

If Huang Yao's army is in a stalemate with the Burmese army, this patrol division that destroyed Meng Mi will directly take the back road to besiege, blocking the food route and starving the Burmese army to death.

Pan Kai led the inspection division and marched in the mountains for more than a month. More than 300 soldiers fell ill due to acclimatization.

Then, he saw the grain transport ship of the Datong Army on the Irrawaddy River.

"Did Governor Huang win?" Pan Kai stopped the grain ship and asked.

The captain smiled and said: "A few days ago, Governor Huang's army went south."

Pan Kai was speechless. He thought that by outflanking the enemy's retreat, he would definitely be able to achieve great success. But who would have thought that he only fought for three days, and spent the rest of the time marching, and in the end he didn't even get a bite of hot dog shit.