Author: Wen Ding
(1) The reasons for the Burmese invasion
The Ming Dynasty was rather erratic in its handling of relations with Burma.
On the one hand Chinese duty, adhere to the way of moderation, treat others with benevolence, rarely launch wars to invade other countries, and will not be polite in giving up three points when provoked. The Ming Dynasty was far away from Yunnan, and the mobilization of the masses was bound to have a great impact, and the military expenditure required was beyond the norm. Intelligence information is also inaccurate and does not allow for timely response. In addition, the sky is far away, the terrain is complex and dangerous, and there are many problems of water and soil dissatisfaction in long-range raids.
During the reign of Emperor Yingzong of Ming, Wang Ji spent more than ten years before and after his conquest of Luchuan, and the old man was rich and poor, and he was paid half the world, a lesson that the Ming Dynasty would not easily issue military mobilization.
Therefore, in dealing with the Burma issue, the Ming Dynasty has always adopted the principle of forbearance and compromise, and is in a passive defensive position, treating headaches and foot pains, and has not made up its mind to completely resolve border disputes. If the border generals were over-defended, the shangguan would also put in check, and Luo Rufang in the front was an example, originally Luo Rufang had led the Ming army and soldiers from Jingmai and Menggong into the Mang clan, and was insulted by the inspectors, intimidated by the "soldiers and disasters", inspector Wang Ningnai Chi stopped the troops, Luo Rufang was carefully deployed, wanted to complete the battle, after receiving the text, "angrily thrown to the ground, scolded and stopped."
The historian also said: "If it were not for Wang Ning stopping Rufang, Burma would not return to the horse, and Meng Yang would not end up in Burma, and his sin of mistakenly sealing the territory would be better than the curse!"
In addition to political reasons, the irresponsibility and greed of Ming officials were also important factors.
For example, during the Chenghua period, Zhou Binwu, a Jiangxi merchant, lured Meng Mihan into bribing Shi Wan'an, the first assistant university scholar who was "greedy for the world," and others to act as an umbrella for his annexation of Mubang land. Imperial court officials took the lead in taking bribes, sheltering bad people, triggering a toast conflict, "Southwest Yi resented the imperial court from now on", and the Ming court improperly employed people and lost its prestige.
(2) Mang Yingli led hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses to invade Ming in a large-scale manner
The cause of Hanba's treason was also extremely simple, and The Ming Dynasty officials, under the pretext of being cumbersome by the indiscriminate attack of soldiers and horses, demanded bribes from Hanba, causing Hanba's disgust, so he and his brother Hanzhang intercepted the goods on the way and cut themselves off from the Ming Dynasty. Later, because of the lack of salt due to the cut off from trade, the Mang clan saw that it was profitable, and generously gave 5,000 pieces of sea salt, and Han Ba was grateful for the zero, so he decided to join Burma.
The Mang clan also gave treasure belts, Burmese, white elephants, golden brocades, treasures, incense and other such things, and the two were immediately matched, about father and son. Han Ba volunteered to lure Lu Jiang to pacify the line Gui to Burma, "Rijinjin leaked China's falsehood, and taught to swallow neighbors and invade internally", the consequence of the local officials drowning in their duties was that the border tribes defected one after another, so at that time there was a rumor that "the official government only loved a piece of paper, and lost two thousand miles of the place", the dim-witted local officials were blocked as before, and the people were deeply ashamed, and they were also sad that the siege of the Mang clan had not been fully accomplished.
The Taoists covered their ears and wanted to cover up the situation, and even ordered that the talk of Burma be banned and the intelligence on the border conflict be strictly blocked.
In the tenth year of the Wanli Dynasty (1582), the border smoke rose again and became more and more intense. In this year, Mang Yinglong died, and his son Mang Yingli succeeded to the throne, and Mang Yingli inherited the mantle of his father and waved his master.
Mang Yingli was "particularly cunning and sinister, good at using soldiers, Rui Ti (Ying Long) and neighboring land, more than his father", more than his father. Just when Yue Feng and Han Ba were fighting, Han Ba was killed, and Han Ba's son Han Jinzhong defected to china. Yue Feng invited troops to Burma, and Mang Yingli poured out of the country and invaded Ming on a large scale.
Geng Ma Xuanwei Si Tu SheHan Qian and Mu Bang Han Feng aided and abetted the abuse, blocking han Jinzhong who was returning to Ben at every turn, each leading his troops in response to the burial of Ying Long, following the Wandian Tuzhi Prefecture Jing Zongzhen as the guide, pursuing Han Jin loyal to the Zhao Li River, sui Kou important town of Yao Guan, it was already the early spring of the eleventh year of the Wanli calendar.
By November, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses of the Burmese enemy chieftains Awa, Dong Wu, Mammoth, Mengmi, Manmo, Longchuan, Wuzhang, Yonghui, and Guangnai had come from the west, and Mang Yinglong personally led hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses from cheli, 800, Menggen, Menglian, and Gengma from the east, attacking in a murderous and large-scale manner, and conquering Shidian on the third day of november, breaking Yongchang on the sixth day of the first month, advancing east and west, quite threatening to destroy this dynasty.
(3) Deng Zilong burned the Elephant Legion
The Ming court then sent the veteran general Deng Zilong to defend against the Burmese army.
At this time, the traitor Jingzong came to complain and informed him that the Burmese army had crossed the Chui River (Nu River), and Deng Zilong pretended not to believe it, and said to Jing Zongzhen: "The thief is still far away, and I am going to build the Songpo camp", so he went to Songpo. Before leaving, Deng Zilong ordered the soldiers to take five feet of large bamboo each, pretending to be used as a water vessel. Songpo is three days away from Yao Guan, and Jingzong is really happy. Thinking that by the time Deng Zilong returned, Yao Guan was already in the burmese pocket, so he secretly reported to the Burmese side that the Ming army commander would leave Yao Guan and Yao Guan at his fingertips.
Jing Zongzhen had just sent out the information, Deng Zilong suddenly turned back, rushed from the West Mountain to Xiaojiang, connected the prepared bamboo with a cable, and built a simple pontoon bridge overnight, Deng Zilong quietly sneaked back to Yaoguan, only one day before and after.
The hundreds of thousands of Burmese troops who came with great momentum first saw the grain and grass left behind by the Ming army's "looking at the wind and rushing", and they believed even more that the Ming army was vulnerable and more paralyzed to the enemy. "When the thieves saw that the battalions were not in order, they laughed and said: 'I know that the Han soldiers are cowardly, and they have abandoned their grain and gone away'", and used their light horses to pursue the Ming army. Deng Zilong did not fight with it, and retreated and led.
On the second day of November, the Burmese army crossed the river at Mengboro, and the next day dawned into Boyao Pass. The two sides confronted each other on the grassy slope in front of the pass. The Ming army occupied favorable terrain, and the Burmese army was in a forward attacking posture. Deng Zilong ordered the former army chen xinbu to fight with a banner, and then ambushed the soldiers in the ravine, and he himself climbed to resist the battle, and when it was almost evening, the Burmese army was still unable to advance and was helpless.
In the evening, the Burmese army, which was hungry and thirsty, relaxed its guard, and Deng Zilong seized the opportunity in time to personally lead the Chinese army commanders Zhao Feng'ao, Yang Pengxiang, Chen Tao, Zhang Guangyin, and the left and right ambush troops to kill together.
The Ming army ambushed crossbows in unison, the red-clad leaders on the elephants were successively hit by arrows, Zou Liangchen and Du Liang, who were hidden behind the ancient woods of Senyu, attacked the Burmese army, and after three days and nights of fierce fighting, the Burmese army was defeated, Deng Zilong beheaded one of the red-clad giant chieftains, and his subordinates beheaded a thousand people, "the corpses were all over the mountain, and the blood was full of streams", the remnants ran along the grass slope, and the wolf ran and could not bear to see it, so far the grass here could not be pointed, so it was named "Yancao Slope".
In order to further expand the results of the battle, Deng Zilong pursued him to the Panzhihua Land (in present-day Shidian Yaoguan Mountain, named after the multi-climbing branch flower tree on the riverside) for a night battle. The Burmese army was defeated and fought for the crossing, and Deng Yong had destroyed the bridge on the MingLi River, and the Burmese army threw corpses into the water like ants, and there were thousands of heads in the waves, "the water is black", and was slashed and killed by the Ming army for a while, and fled in defeat. After the two battles of Yao Guan and Panzhihua, the two enemy soldiers had been killed and retreated, and even the traitor Jing Zongzhen died in the rebellion. The specific achievements of Deng Zilong's army were:
In addition to killing tens of thousands of people who were killed, burned, and drowned, they were killed one hundred and eighty-eight, twenty-four were captured, five elephants were captured, one elephant was beheaded, a total of 715 pieces, ten warhorses, and 15 cattle were captured.
The tactics used by Deng Zilong to attack elephants with fire were very correct. When the Burmese army attacks only elephant horses with well-trained war elephants as the forward, they can rampage and be invincible, and the Han people will hold their heads and run when they see elephants, so the enemy must first subdue their elephants.
The most direct and effective way to deal with elephants is to attack with fire, and there are many successful examples of battles in the Ming Dynasty alone, such as:
In the twenty-second year of Hongwu (1389), Mu Ying, the king of Qianning, sent 300,000 soldiers to Silun in Longchuan with a crowd of 30,000 people, and he relied on cannons and crossbows to burn more than 100 si barbarian elephants and obtain 37 elephants.
In the fourth year of Hongwu (1371), Hou De of Yingchuan broke the Shu Xiang Dai Shou, Shou Yi Elephant Battle, Fu Youde ordered the crossbow firearm to strike hard, the elephant turned away in the middle of the fire, trampled on each other, and Dai Shou surrendered.
In November of the sixth year of orthodoxy (1441), king Ji of Jingyuan dynasty conquered Longchuan Sirenfa, then his elephant array, accumulated salary and set fire, and the enemy soldiers burned to death, and Si Renfa fled to Burma in defeat.
Deng Zilong was well aware of the successful battles of this dynasty, and he also defeated his opponents with fire attacks. Before the war, he had prepared a large number of red cages, among which were firearms that his opponents were not familiar with, and he had sealed the news tightly, and at this time he was indeed very powerful.
The Burmese army, which mastered cold weapons and used traditional tactics, lost not so much to Deng Zilong as to the Ming army, which mastered advanced weapons such as hot weapons.
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