My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 247 Unbelievable Ruan Duofang

When Fan Keyong heard the news of Li Cang's death, he was more shocked than when he had lost the battle.

From Prime Minister Li to General Ruan, and then to himself, when they heard that the Ming court sent troops to suppress the rebellion of the chieftains in Yunnan, they all thought that it was Li Cang who instigated the chieftains to rebel and made a great contribution. Unexpectedly, Li Cang died?

But why did the Ming court suppress the chieftain? Was it trying to trick him?

No, Master Li sneaked into Yunnan secretly, but now it seems that the Ming court has already known about Master Li’s existence!

When Xu Da saw Fan Keyong's shocked expression, he suddenly understood something. It turned out that this was how to break through the psychological defenses!

"Li Cang, the son of Li Jilan, plotted to instigate a rebellion against the chieftain of the Dai tribe, but was beaten to death by the villagers. It was a tragic scene. His head was beaten like a pig's, and his brains were smashed out."

Xu Da stared at Fan Keyong closely, his eyes were extremely sharp, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly, and he said jokingly: "It seems that you don't know about this!"

At this time, Fan Keyong was completely confused. Master Li was beaten to death by the natives in the village?

How is this possible? The Annan army is waiting to welcome him back to be the General of Cavalry!
However, the 150,000-strong army was defeated by the 20,000 Ming troops, and 60,000 soldiers were captured. Even if Li Cang was still alive, this position of General of Cavalry would be of no use.

At this moment, he remembered what Li Jinglong and Zhu Di said.

“The crushing of agricultural society by industrial society.”

"The Ming army will also be equipped with better firearms."

In front of such a Ming army, no matter how many troops Annan had, he was just a sitting duck. He was really scared by firearms.

In the end, Prime Minister Li's dream of becoming emperor was just a pipe dream.

There is really no point in persisting like this. Fan Keyong sighed deeply, lowered his proud head, and said helplessly:

"Whatever you want to ask, just tell me and I'll tell you."

Xu Da and Li Wenzhong looked at each other and smiled. They didn't expect that Fan Keyong would surrender so quickly.

Soon, Fan Keyong told Annan's military deployment and combat plan in Laos in detail.

In addition, he told Xu Da and Li Wenzhong all the information he knew, such as how many troops Annan had now, who the generals were, etc.

After obtaining the information he wanted, Xu Da ordered his men to take Fan Keyong away and put him under house arrest. However, he ordered his men to treat him to good food and drink. After all, Fan Keyong was the third most important figure in the Annan army, and he had to be brought back to the Ming Dynasty intact as a prisoner. This would be a great achievement!

The next day, Xu Da ordered his men to escort the captives and the intelligence they had obtained back to the Ming Dynasty, while they continued to stay in Laos and sent out a reconnaissance team to conduct reconnaissance in Chuang'an, in order to capture the remaining Annan troops as quickly as possible.

In yesterday's ambush, the Annan army surrendered before the logistical replenishment of bullets arrived at the front line. In addition to the unused bullets they carried the first time, they still had more than 25 million bullets left, which was more than enough to attack the remaining 50,000-plus Annan troops.

However, if they want to attack Annan, they have to wait for bullet support from the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, this does not mean that the Ming army was unscathed. Apart from the dozens of people injured by the first round of arrows shot by the Annan archers, there were also a few unlucky guys who were injured by friendly army bullets while chasing the fleeing Annan army.

This made Xu Da reiterate the discipline on the battlefield in front of the army, which was to strictly follow the three-three system of tactics. The most important one of the three-three system of tactics was to prevent accidental injuries to friendly forces, and not to be carried away by the impending victory when fighting a favorable battle and then shoot indiscriminately with guns.

At this time, in the base camp of the Annan army in Xieng Khouang, Nguyen Duo Fang was sitting in his tent looking at a map. He was not thinking about the war, but was wondering which piece of land Le Qui Wan would grant him to make him a marquis after conquering Laos.

Fan Keyong had been leading his army for several days. The distance from Chuankuang to Nanzhang was only a few hundred miles, not too far. If everything went well, the 20,000 Ming troops should have been wiped out by now. He did not think Fan Keyong was bragging about the military order to destroy the Ming army in one day. 150,000 against 25,000, anyone who was not a fool would know who would win.

At this moment, a messenger ran into the tent in a panic, awakening Ruan Duofang who was immersed in his fantasy. He immediately shouted angrily:
"Why are you so flustered? How can this be so embarrassing?"

The messenger panted and said, "General, it's bad, General, the troops heading north have returned!"

"Bullshit! If you keep talking nonsense, I'll skin you alive!"

Ruan Duofang was immediately furious. He drew his sword and pointed it at the messenger, saying angrily, "How dare you say that the army is back?"

"Report to the general." The messenger said with a sad face, "The ones who came back are the remnants of the defeated army!"

"The remnants of the defeated army?"

He thought he had heard wrongly, "Say it again, if you tell me even a lie, I will chop off your head immediately!"

"General, come out and take a look. We are defeated. We are defeated by the Ming army!" said the messenger tremblingly.

Ruan Duofang felt as if struck by lightning. He stood still in place, his head buzzing. After a long while, he came to his senses, pushed away the messenger, and hurried out of the tent.

As soon as he walked out of the tent, he saw a scene that he would never forget. Hundreds of ragged soldiers were standing in the camp, their bodies covered in blood, their faces dejected, like dogs that had lost their homes.

Where is the army? Where is my 150,000-strong army?

Ruan Duofang looked at the hundreds of people who looked like beggars in astonishment, and couldn't believe that what he saw was real.

The troops stationed in the camp looked at them in disbelief. They had a vague answer in their minds, but they did not dare to believe it.

This is simply incredible!
He walked over, grabbed an officer by the collar and shouted, "What happened? Where are my 150,000 troops?"

The officer immediately knelt on the ground, crying, "General, we are defeated, completely defeated. The Ming army is too terrifying!"

"Asshole, my magnificent army of 150,000 is not able to defeat a mere 25,000 Ming troops?"

He slapped the officer hard in the face. In an instant, blood, snot and tears flew all over the officer's face, and a red palm print was left on his face.

"Did the Ming army send reinforcements? Did the Ming court send new troops into Laos? How many people did they send? 100,000, 200,000, or 300,000?"

"General, the Ming army, the Ming army has no reinforcements, only those 20,000 people!" The officer covered his face and spoke vaguely, his eyes full of fear.

"Twenty thousand people, just twenty thousand people defeated my 150,000-strong army so badly?" Ruan Duofang was completely furious.

"You are all shit eaters, right? Even 150,000 pigs are more useful than you!"

"General, the Ming army's firearms are too terrifying. We, we simply cannot defeat them. We didn't even see the shadow of the Ming army, but we were shot to death by their firearms!"

The officer suddenly stood up and grabbed Ruan Duofang's hands like a madman.

"General, let's run away! The Ming army is invincible, invincible!"

(End of this chapter)