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An interesting anecdote is that during the Yuan-Myanmar War hundreds of years ago, the Burmese army was the first to enter the Yunnan border.

At that time, Kublai Khan condemned envoys to pacify Burma, and the king of Burma also sent envoys to Dadu. For the next two years, the Burmese people did not come to pay tribute, so Kublai Khan sent envoys to urge them.

The Yuan Dynasty envoy never returned. According to historical records in Myanmar, the Yuan envoy refused to take off his boots when meeting the Burmese king and was executed.

Chieftain Ahe felt something was wrong and took the initiative to join the Yuan Dynasty.

The Burmese king was furious and sent more than 40,000 troops and 800 war elephants to pursue Ahe all the way to Yunnan. The Mongolian Qianhu led 700 cavalry to rush to the rescue, divided into three teams, and attacked halfway across the river. The Burmese army was in chaos. "Thieves and elephants and horses trampled each other and the dead filled the three huge ditches." The corpses of the Burmese army who trampled each other to death filled the ditch.

In this way, the Yuan army's 700 cavalry faced off against more than 40,000 Burmese troops and 800 war elephants. The pursuit lasted for more than thirty miles and did not stop until the Yuan army general was injured.

Only one member of the Yuan army died, not in battle. Instead, he captured a war elephant, couldn't figure out the elephant's temper, and was trampled to death by the elephant...

At this moment, more than 300 war elephants and thousands of Burmese military elites rushed to the river quickly.

The Burmese generals who were ambushing further downstream saw that the war elephant troops were successfully attacking, so they also led 30,000 Burmese troops to rush out carrying boats and bamboo rafts.

The Burmese troops encountered by Ding Jiasheng were all "feint attack" troops. Seeing the lively fighting downstream, the Burmese felt that many of the Datong troops upstream should have been transferred there, and brazenly launched an attack similar to a decisive battle.

The river in the upper reaches was originally narrow, only more than ten meters wide. Suddenly, so many Burmese troops crossed the river, and the river surface was densely packed.

The main force of the Burmese army's artillery team was also concentrated here, with more than thirty artillery pieces firing wildly at the Datong Army's position.

"Boom boom boom!"

The artillery positions of the Datong Army in the upper reaches were all arranged on the mountainside. The angles were adjusted 20 days ago. As long as the artillery was fired, it would definitely hit the middle of the river.

When a cannonball falls, it will most likely hit a boat or bamboo raft directly. Even if it misses, it can still capsize boats and bamboo rafts.

A large number of Burmese troops blocked the river, and the scene was chaotic.

The war elephants further upstream had already entered the water and were walking forward on the river bottom. Thousands of Burmese military elites followed in small boats.

“Moo Ang~~~~”

The falling shells made the war elephants restless and roared.

Elephants are very smart animals. After sensing danger, they are determined not to move forward. Some even turn around and want to escape.

"boom!"

A cannonball entered the water and hit the elephant's leg underwater.

The elephant finally went crazy and rushed sideways.

"Raise the gun!"

"Bang bang bang bang!"

From a distance of tens of meters, guns were aimed at the war elephants. Although it was not easy to kill, the beating made the war elephants go crazy with pain, and the shells kept falling. Half of the more than 300 war elephants had lost their minds.

The Burmese army following behind them was the first to suffer misfortune. Boats and bamboo rafts on the river were knocked over one after another.

"The cavalry listened to the order, abandoned the muskets and medicine pouches, and followed me across the river to pursue them!"

Yang Zhan's hair has turned gray, but his arrogance remains the same as before. He handed over the position to the deputy general and ordered the deputy general to organize the infantry to cross the river. Then he took the war horse and rushed out. The horse could swim. The soldiers helped the war horse and swam across the river together.

More than 3,000 cavalrymen quickly swam across the river more than ten meters wide.

Yang Zhan got on his horse, drew his sword and shouted: "Kill!"

The more than 30,000 Burmese troops here have collapsed, especially the few thousand elites, who were driven to pieces by their own war elephants. They originally fled downstream along the bank, but when they saw the Datong Army chasing them, their remaining sanity was gone.

Hundreds of Datong Army infantrymen took off their clothes and went into the river, pushed back the boats and bamboo rafts in the river, and supported the main force of the Datong Army infantry across the river to pursue them.

Not long after, all the troops of a regular division crossed the river, and the Mon servants followed.

In order to confuse the Datong army and hide his initiative, Hei Ludao divided more than 100,000 people into several piles and arranged them to camp along the river.

This kind of long snake formation has now become the way to death.

The defeated Burmese army was chased to the nearest camp, where many of the Burmese soldiers were by the river. After being rushed by the defeated troops and seeing the Datong cavalry chasing them, they subconsciously turned around and ran away, and they ran towards the city of Bagan.

Such an escape route is tantamount to continuing to attack the Burmese army positions ahead.

In less than half an hour, Yang Zhan led more than 3,000 cavalrymen and destroyed three Burmese army camps and positions one after another. The Burmese army collapsed and was overwhelming, with a total of 50,000 to 60,000 people fleeing.

Upon seeing this, Ding Jiasheng, who was downstream, also seized the opportunity and ordered: "Raise the artillery and bombard the Burmese army positions, and the rest of the troops will cross the river and rush to kill!"

On the downstream shore, there are more than a thousand boats piled with firewood docked.

While the Datong army boarded the ship, they threw down the firewood and took the ship to kill on the other side.

Heludao's command position is at the intersection of the Irrawaddy River and its tributaries. Seeing the densely packed troops upstream, he had no intention of continuing to fight. He shouted in panic: "Go back to the city and hold on!"

In the Burmese artillery unit at the edge of the woods, all the Burmese had fled. A group of Portuguese and Armenian artillerymen came over to surrender with their hands raised.

The main infantry force of the Datong Army upstream did not even look at the prisoners, ran along the river bank in pursuit, and threw the prisoners to the Mon servants.

Yang Zhan led the cavalry and broke through an enemy camp again, chasing them to the intersection of rivers. Tens of thousands of Burmese troops fled and jumped into the river. They had to swim across the river to enter the city.

"Collect ships!"

Ahead was the wide Irrawaddy River, and Yang Zhan did not dare to swim across it rashly.

Downstream, Ding Jiasheng's troops passed by boat.

The Burmese army has only a few artillery and hundreds of musketeers deployed here, and the remaining long-range troops are all archers.

The musketeers of the Datong Army squatted on the bow of the ship and fired at the enemy.

Although the Datong Army suffered more casualties, the Burmese army guarding the shore was terrified. As the ships of the Datong Army continued to approach, cries came from the other side, and it was visible to the naked eye that all the defeated soldiers were flapping in the river. The Burmese army here finally could not bear the psychological pressure, and gradually gave up their positions and ran for their lives.

After such a run, the Burmese army, which was still organized, instantly became groups of defeated troops. They didn't dare to turn back and stop the attack. They just wanted to escape into the city as soon as possible. Once they entered the city, they would be safe.

There are twelve gates in Bagan City, only four of which have barbicans.

After Hei Ludao led his troops back to the city, he only dared to open these four city gates. Countless Burmese troops were defeated and rushed to the city gate. They began to trample on each other outside the city gate, which greatly slowed down their entry into the city.

Seeing the Datong Army chasing after them, the Burmese Army blocking the outermost perimeter rushed towards the city gate without hesitation. They were so frightened that they fled around the city.

Ding Jiasheng's cavalry came after them and saw that the moat was filled with broken troops, many of whom were squeezed down when crossing the bridge. Between the moat and the city wall, Burmese troops were running aimlessly everywhere.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

After a burst of musket fire, the already chaotic Burmese army collapsed, like boiling water rolling and bubbling.

Most of them have lost their minds and waved their swords to look at the friendly forces blocking them in front. More people fled north along the city wall. They no longer wanted to enter the city. It didn't matter where they fled. It was best to escape all the way back to their hometown.

Hei Ludao organized the troops entering the city to guard several urns, but was helpless against the chaos outside the city.

Finally, the infantry and Mon servants under Ding Jiasheng also followed, shooting and firing arrows at the Burmese army outside the city.

Crying, roaring, wailing... are endless.

More defeated soldiers fled around the city towards the north. The Datong Army kept firing along the way, keeping the defeated soldiers of the Burmese Army in a state of panic and dementia.

The cavalry followed the moat and circled to the north bridge.

Tens of thousands of defeated soldiers were escaping across the bridge, and from time to time some people were squeezed into the moat. Even if they successfully cross the bridge, they will be killed by the Tatung cavalry, and thousands of Burmese troops will kneel down and surrender.

On the Heiludao side, seeing the Datong Army infantry chasing outside the moat, they hurriedly ordered: "Set the arrows and close the door!"

The arrows were fired not at the Datong Army, but at the Burmese Army in Wengcheng.

A large number of Burmese arrows were fired towards the gate of Wengcheng. The nearby Burmese army was defeated. Some fell down after being hit by arrows, and some were so frightened that they pushed outside. The Burmese army in the inner city took the opportunity to close the city gate.

I don’t know how long it took, but the battlefield finally became quiet.

Of the more than 100,000 Myanmar troops, only less than 20,000 managed to escape into the city.

On the other hand, the Datong Army only captured more than 30,000 prisoners.

The remaining Burmese soldiers who disappeared were either killed in action, fell into the water and drowned, or fled to their hometowns.

Hei Lutao and Mang Bai stood at the top of the city, the monarch and his ministers looking at each other.

Just yesterday, they were besieging and annihilating the Datong Army with more than 100,000 people, but now they were besieged in the city.

Ding Jiasheng stood on horseback outside the city: "Build siege equipment and attack the city on a different day!"

But he saw a basket hanging on the city and a Burmese envoy running towards him.

The messenger knelt down and cried: "My king is willing to surrender. I am willing to compensate for all the losses suffered by the Celestial Empire."

Yang Zhan sneered: "If you want to surrender, let King Burma come out on his own!"

When the messenger returned to the city, Mang Bai became at a loss.

Hei Lutao said: "If we send an envoy out at night and promise a lot of money to bribe the Han generals, we may still have a chance of survival."

"Yes, yes, yes, give them all the money. If there is not enough money, we will transport it from Ava." Mangbai said quickly.

This teenage king of Myanmar has always been smart and calm.

But after all, he had never experienced any major events. Now that he was trapped in the city and could die at any time, he immediately became timid and afraid of death.

In the evening, the troops were withdrawn and returned to camp.

"General, we caught Xi Zuo, claiming to be the envoy of the King of Burma!"

"bring it here."

The envoy could also speak Chinese, and when he saw him, he lay prone on the ground and said, "My king is willing to open the city and surrender, and I also ask the general to give a few kind words to the emperor of China. All the land of the chieftains in the north can be returned to China, and China will be compensated." Gold and silver treasures. If the royal family can be saved, my king is willing to give the general a thousand taels of gold and fifty thousand taels of silver."

Ding Jiasheng blinked at Yang Zhan, and then looked delighted: "Really...ahem, this little gold and silver is not enough."

The messenger said: "Then add three hundred taels of gold and ten thousand taels of silver."

"That's unreasonable!"

Yang Zhan stood up angrily: "Why should I only give him money? Where's my share? If I don't have any money, the entire royal family of Myanmar will die!"

"Yes, yes, this general also has it!" the messenger said quickly.

"How much can I get?" Yang Zhan asked.

The envoy wanted to say that you will share the money equally, but he was afraid of offending Yang Zhan, so he answered bravely: "This... villain needs to go back and ask for instructions."

"Go quickly, go quickly!" Yang Zhan urged.

After the envoy left, Ding Jiasheng and Yang Zhan looked at each other, laughed, and ordered the craftsmen accompanying the army to speed up the construction of the siege ladder.

The envoy returned to the city and told the situation in detail: "There are two generals of the Han people, and tens of thousands of taels of silver are not enough. The chief general is very young. When he heard that he had taken the silver, his eyes lit up. The deputy general was older and roared. He also wants money, but if he can’t get it, the king...the entire royal family will die.”

The next day, the messenger continued to come to negotiate the price.

In the end, it was agreed that Ding Jiasheng would be given 1,500 taels of gold and 60,000 taels of silver, and Yang Zhan would be given 1,200 taels of gold and 50,000 taels of silver. Since the army did not have so much gold and silver, we first paid 50,000 taels of silver as a deposit, and the rest was shipped from the capital, Ava.

After agreeing on the price, Mangbai and Heiludao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Then, troops were sent to search the city and break into the homes of wealthy households to extort money.

The soldiers took the opportunity to extort money, and at least half of the gold and silver they obtained were divided privately, making it difficult to collect tens of thousands of taels of silver. The people in the city were miserable and full of resentment.

But the Burmese defenders are becoming more and more lax, jealous of the money that can be made from the raiding troops.

More and more Burmese soldiers, under the leadership of mid-level officers, did not receive orders to obtain money, but extorted money in the name of the king.

The entire city of Bagan was in a state of chaos caused by the army.

At this moment, two clippers came from the north to report the news.

The messenger was intercepted by the Datong Army, and Huang Yao's main force had already reached Anzhengguo City (Xingu). The patrol division on the east line of the North Road, with the chieftain coalition, has already approached Meimu City.

The Burmese army in Anzhengguo City relied on the defense of the strong city to block Huang Yao under the city.

On Mei Miao's side was the chieftain's army, which was originally affiliated with the chieftain of Mubang. When encountering the joint army of the patrol division, they surrendered without saying a word and even served as a guide to open the way for the Chinese army. There is only more than 200 miles away from the capital of Myanmar, Ava, but there is no way to take a boat. You have to climb over the mountains, and it takes about half a month to reach the city of Ava.

"Let these messengers pass," Ding Jiasheng said with a smile, "tell the Burmese king that my general is going to increase the price and ask him to give him an additional ten thousand taels of silver."