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The Southern Route Army led by Ding Jiasheng and Yang Zhan camped directly on the opposite bank of Bagan City.

The Bagan city in front of us, like the Pyay city we bypassed before, was the capital of Myanmar’s ancient dynasty.

In Myanmar, sometimes the Mon people establish a dynasty, sometimes the Bamar people establish a dynasty, and sometimes the Dai people establish a dynasty. No matter which dynasty it is, when it becomes powerful, it will frantically build capitals and temples, and gather the power of the whole country to build a city.

Bagan City has a total of 12 gates, and the height and thickness of the city wall are roughly equivalent to those of state cities in China.

A strong attack can definitely be won, but it will definitely take more than two months.

Two months are enough for the Datong Army on the North Road to attack, so why should we sacrifice the lives of soldiers to attack by force? Wouldn't it be better to set up camp here and attract the Burmese army to make the enemy sleepless and foodless?

I also thought about besieging the city and calling for reinforcements, but it was really unrealistic.

First, there is a lack of intelligence network, and it is impossible to detect the movements of the enemy's reinforcements based on a few careful operations; second, this is Myanmar's elite land, with rice fields everywhere, making it difficult for the cavalry to exert their maneuverability and find out the enemy's situation from a distance; Third, the Myanmar reinforcements were very careful and did not come directly to Bagan City for rescue. Instead, they gathered in cities upstream and downstream of Bagan City.

The Irrawaddy River has a sharp bay in the city of Bagan, and the alluvial fertile flat land on the other side.

The Datong Army camped on that flat land, with towering mountains behind it, a wide river in front, and tributaries flowing into the river on the side. There are mountains on one side and water on two sides, forming an open triangle.

The cavalry was divided into several teams and patrolled the banks of the tributaries. No matter where the Burmese army came from, they could quickly snipe them.

Ding Jiasheng squatted on the ridge of the field, stroking the rice leaves and asked: "When will this rice be harvested?"

The Mon guide said: "From transplanting to harvesting, it can take as short as three months and as long as four months. It depends on the rain and weather."

"The rice in Myanmar grows so fast?" Ding Jiasheng was quite surprised.

Surprised, Ding Jiasheng laughed again: "Then I don't have to worry about military rations. When the food and grass in my hands are finished, I will go to the river to harvest rice and taste the new Burmese rice."

There are many rice fields near the Datong Army's camp.

The banks of the Irrawaddy River and its tributaries are also covered with rice fields, and whoever wins the fight will harvest them.

Even the fortifications built by the Datong Army on the riverside came from stepping on the rice fields. First, the water in the fields was drained, all the rice stalks were stepped on, and silt was dug out to build up the ridges of the fields. The soldiers stepped on the collapsed rice stalks to move around.

More than a thousand ships were all docked by the river, their baggage had been moved ashore, and a large amount of firewood was piled in the ships.

At a critical moment, the ship can be set on fire to prevent the Burmese army from landing.

Yang Zhan personally boarded the hot air balloon to observe and waited until the fuel burned out before getting down.

Ding Jiasheng asked: "Old Yang, what's the enemy's movement?"

Yang Zhan answered the question: "The pagodas in the city are very beautiful. If the Burmese people put all their efforts into building pagodas and use them all to strengthen the city wall, I won't even think about attacking the city."

"How long have you been up there admiring the scenery?" Ding Jiasheng couldn't laugh or cry.

Yang Zhan said: "What else can we do? The enemy troops are gathering more and more, but they dare not cross the river to attack. They are just wasting their lives every day."

There are Buddhist temples and pagodas everywhere inside and outside Bagan. The tallest pagoda is more than 50 meters tall.

Even here where the Datong Army camped, there were Buddhist temples and pagodas on the mountains behind the camp. The monks in the temple were all controlled. While preventing them from causing trouble, they were also asked to help dig ditches and build low walls.

The presence of a large number of Buddhist temples, pagodas, and monks indicates that this area is extremely wealthy, otherwise there would not be so much food to support the monks.

Just when the Datong Army on the North Road, led by Huang Yao, arrived at Taigong City by boat, the Burmese king Mangbai had already arrived at Bagan City in person.

The Burmese army has an elite force of 30,000 people.

There were also private soldiers led by nobles and peasants recruited by nobles, numbering as many as 160,000.

This has not reached the limit of the Burmese army. Decades ago, Burma dispatched a total of 300,000 troops in order to annex Mu State.

Hei Lutao stood on the wall of Bagan and climbed up to observe the situation of the Datong Army. This guy also has a telescope, which he got from the Portuguese. He observed it carefully for a long time, and was so depressed that he wanted to curse.

"Can you beat it down?" Mang Bai asked.

Hei Lutao shook his head and said: "It's difficult. The mountains are too high and steep to go around. The river is too wide to cross. The only place where we can attack is the tributary on the northeast side, but the enemy has built many low walls along the river. , there are deep ditches blocking the path in front and behind the low wall. The enemy cavalry patrols the passage along the river, and there are infantry checkpoints at each section."

Mang Bai said: "Why don't we attack the Han soldiers here? Just take the nobles, officials, soldiers, money and food to the Arakan Mountains to hide until the weather gets hot. The Han soldiers will definitely withdraw by then."

Hei Lutao still shook his head: "We can't leave without destroying the enemy in front of us. So many people have moved to the mountains, and the trains stretch for several miles. If the Han soldiers come after them, the whole army will be wiped out if they are not careful. It must be Attack forcefully and hurry up, otherwise the enemies from the north will come and kill us."

The next day, the watchman living in the temple on the mountain suddenly blew the warning bugle.

Three hot air balloons on the riverside quickly took off for observation.

Yang Zhan found Ding Jiasheng: "The enemy is about to attack. The first few waves must be tests. Don't waste our artillery shells. Move half of the cavalry to the north. The river there is very narrow. Be careful of enemy troops sneaking across at night."

Ding Jiasheng smiled and said: "You guard the north, and I will guard the south. I will give you 70% of the cavalry. There are rice fields everywhere here, and there are too many cavalry to deploy."

Along the banks of the Irrawaddy River and its tributaries, there were Burmese army flags everywhere. Peasant soldiers and civilians were drawn out, and they had no idea where to focus their attack.

In the river to the east, dozens of enemy ships rowed over.

In the river to the north, more than a hundred enemy ships appeared.

On the other side of the two places, the sound of artillery was heard from time to time, and the Burmese army's artillery team was firing at the Datong Army position.

Datong's soldiers all hid behind the low wall. Fearing that the low wall would not withstand the bombardment, they still huddled in the trench, the bottom of which was filled with rice.

The Burmese army ships were in the middle of the river, but the Datong Army still did not fight back.

Hei Lutao frowned and said, "Why are there no movements from the Han soldiers?"

Mang Bai said excitedly: "This is just right, take the opportunity to cross the river and kill him!"

"I'm afraid there will be some difficulties. We have to rely on the war elephants in the north." Heludao said.

The Burmese army's warships crossing the river were just a pretense to attract the attention of the Tatung Army. There are more than 300 war elephants and thousands of Burmese military elites who have detoured to the upper reaches of the tributary yesterday. The closer you get to the mountains, the shallower and narrower the river becomes, and elephants can directly cross the river by treading water.

The more powerful the feint attack in the south is, the easier it will be for the war elephants in the north to cross the river.

The first wave of Burmese troops who crossed the river by boat were all peasant troops, and they came purely to consume ammunition.

They bypassed the docked ships of the Datong Army and cautiously landed on the shore. Then he raised his weapon and walked forward in a chaotic manner, and he couldn't even figure out where the Datong Army was defending.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The nearby Datong Army soldiers came out of the trench and hid behind the low wall to shoot.

After the first round of volleys, hundreds of Burmese soldiers collapsed and fled back to the ship in panic. More than two hundred Datong cavalry took the opportunity to rush out and chase the fleeing Burmese army to chop melons and vegetables. Less than a hundred Burmese soldiers managed to escape back to the boat, and many who were too late to board the boat jumped directly into the river.

"Lots of muskets!"

Hei Ludao was horrified. The firepower of the Datong Army was completely beyond his imagination.

After a brief arrangement, the second batch of Burmese military ships prepared to cross the river in a mighty manner. They are small boats that can only carry a few people. They are not only flexible and fast, but also suffer little damage even if they are hit by artillery.

There are two to three thousand small fishing boats, and the Datong Army must open fire.

"Boom boom boom!"

The continuous sound of artillery made Hei Ludao frown. How many artillery were there?

Burmese army boats were sunk one after another, and many were tossed around by the waves, but more than half of the boats rowed over to land.

The Burmese troops who landed this time were obviously more decent, and many of them were private soldiers of the nobility.

Several noble landowners who successfully crossed the river were overjoyed to see that they were not attacked after landing. They formed a team by the river, waiting for more soldiers to cross the river, and then went together to attack the low wall of the Datong Army.

Behind the low wall, the Datong Army was transporting the Crouching Tiger Cannon.

Two people can carry the cannon, and a few more people can carry the shells. Wherever there are more Burmese troops gathered, the Tiger Crouching Cannon will be transported there, and iron sand and gravel will be stuffed into the barrel.

Standing on the other side of the river, Hei Lutao saw the Burmese army successfully landing and gathering. He suddenly felt infinite hope and ordered: "Send another boat across the river and quickly occupy those river beaches!"

Ding Jiasheng observed the movement of the Burmese army and ordered: "The enemy troops crossing the river will not move, and the cannons and artillery should not fire!"

Although the riverside positions constructed by the Datong Army were not as terrifying as the fortresses. However, there are only a few river beaches suitable for landing and gathering troops. Ding Jiasheng has deployed heavy troops nearby, and the Burmese troops are all exposed to firepower.

Seeing that the Tatung Army had been silent, the Burmese army became more and more excited, and more and more people successfully landed.

Finally, nearly 2,000 people from the Burmese army had gathered on a river beach. The nobles and landowners who led the troops felt that they could do it, so they arranged the melee soldiers in front, holding shields to defend against bows and arrows, while the archers followed behind.

The earthen walls of the Datong Army were short and brittle, and could easily be breached.

"Boom boom boom!"

Six squatting tiger guns were aimed at nearly 2,000 Burmese troops and opened fire. From a distance of tens of meters, iron sand, lead sand, and gravel flew out like a goddess scattering flowers.

Hundreds of people fell down on the spot, and hundreds of Burmese soldiers were crying and shouting that the shields in the front row were useless.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

"Fire the bayonet!"

The musketeers followed with a volley, then rushed out with bayonets in hand.

These Burmese troops had been stunned. The nobles and landowners who led the troops were also hit by the iron sand. They turned around and ran away, screaming in pain.

When the Datong Army caught up, only two to three hundred Burmese soldiers were on board. A large number of Burmese troops were pushed into the water, and hundreds of Burmese troops were blocked on the river beach. They had completely lost their organization and jumped into the river to escape in the face of bayonets.

Hei Ludao was dumbfounded on the other side. The fighting method of the Datong Army completely refreshed his three views.

Everywhere on the riverbanks, the Burmese army was defeated.

Hei Ludao could only be glad that he did not let the real elite cross the river. No matter how many casualties the miscellaneous troops died, he would not feel bad.

"This kind of fighting method is useless no matter how many of us there are." King Mangbai of Burma muttered to himself, feeling extremely frightened in his heart.

The nearly 200,000 Burmese troops could only use refueling tactics when encountering such rugged terrain. Even if tens of thousands of people were allowed to cross the river at once, they would still be crowded on the river beach and used as targets until the ammunition of the Datong Army was exhausted.

Yang Zhan in the north, hearing the lively fighting in the south, became increasingly convinced that the enemy was trying to sneak across.

This is the easiest place to cross the river. The Burmese army is not stupid, how could they just ignore it?

"elephant!"

shouted the lookout on the hot air balloon.

More than 300 war elephants and thousands of elite Burmese troops emerged from the woods.

Yang Zhan smiled and said: "Finally we're here, strike halfway across, then move closer and strike again."