The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 182 Plague Blame and Flexible Loyal Ministers
Outside Laoguantun, in the Qing army camp, it was overcast and rainy, and the camp was full of puddles of various sizes trampled by people and horses and mules.

The puddle was filled with muddy sewage. If you stepped a little harder, the rising mud and water would splash all over your body.

A Sauron soldier with tough features on his face was shivering from the cold. The crudely built barracks were completely unable to withstand the increasingly heavy rain.

And unlike what most northerners have in mind, this kind of rain in the south is not the kind of rain in the north that falls directly on the roof in square shapes.

The rain in this place can easily turn into bursts of water mist when it approaches the ground, and these water mists will float horizontally into the room under the blowing of the cold wind.

When it rains, it is not just a matter of getting rain on your head, but your whole body will be covered in this wet mist, with no place to hide.

Especially the barracks of the Qing army, which were simply built with wet wood, were leaking everywhere.

Myanmar in December is not as hot as imagined. On rainy days like this, the temperature can drop to a minimum of around 15 degrees Celsius.

It's 15 degrees Celsius and there's mist everywhere. Just imagine how uncomfortable it is.

The Qing army was completely unprepared for this situation. Almost all the soldiers only had thin clothes on and were shivering from the cold.

The most important thing is that the fifteen degrees on a rainy day does not mean that your body is only fifteen degrees.

If the temperature feels like 15 degrees, it is no problem for a strong person to wear less, but the water mist that wraps around the body will quickly take away the heat from the body, causing the body temperature to drop rapidly.

It is said to be fifteen degrees, but the coldness and dampness felt by the body are far below fifteen degrees.

In this simple and damp barracks, the shivering Sauron people huddled together, holding the rice in their hands and chewing on it, which had already turned into sand.

This kind of dry rice is made according to ancient methods, going through several processes such as boiling, steaming and finally drying, so it is not tasty in the first place.

Now, after being soaked in Myanmar's mist, it has suddenly become something like powdery sand, mixed with the equally watery pickles. It is so disgusting and unhygienic.

Occasionally, the screams of pigs were heard, and the Sauron soldiers just raised their heads and looked numbly. There were four or five wild boars of different sizes lying on the open space in the barracks.

These Saurons, who are skilled in hunting in the mountains, are very good hunters. Now that military rations are scarce, they will of course hunt some game to improve their meals.

But what they didn't expect was that although they had killed the wild boar, it started to drizzle for five or six days, and they couldn't find suitable dry firewood to cook the wild boar.

So they had no choice but to tie up the wild boar and throw it into the barracks.

After a few days, the rain became heavier and the mountains, forests, rivers and streams were all flooded.

This was not a big flood. Although it did not destroy the Qing army's tents, it soaked and destroyed the toilets in many of the Qing army's camps.

Some of the Qing army's toilets were built on high ground, which was even worse.

Now the mountain is flooded with water, and all the grains and things in the toilet are washed into the barracks on the mountainside and plain ground.

At first glance, it seemed that there was no impact. Then after a day or two, the weather suddenly cleared up, the temperature suddenly returned to 34 or 35 degrees, and the fierce sun began to scorch the earth.

The human and animal feces that were washed all over the barracks began to dry up rapidly, and the stench was overwhelming.

The stinkiest of them were the wild boars hunted by the Sauron people and the livestock that died in the flood.

They soaked in water for many days, absorbed a lot of water, and then experienced the scorching sun, and their abdomens quickly swelled to an exaggerated and terrifying size.

The Qing army was afraid of the explosion and did not dare to go up and drag it away, so some of the stupid Saurons did.

Well, it’s not that they are stupid. It’s just that these northerners who grew up in the wilderness and jungles of Northeast China and even Outer Northeast Xianbeilia have never seen the horror of tropical malaria.

These foolish Saurons shot wild boars, mules and other livestock with bloated bellies with bows and arrows from a distance. With a bang, all kinds of foul-smelling internal organs and feces splattered everywhere.

They then walked over, dragged the livestock, and threw them outside the barracks. When they came back, they didn't even need to wash their hands with boiled water, or they simply washed them twice with rainwater from the large vat in the barracks, which looked clean but was actually full of bacteria.

He was completely unaware that his body and hands were covered with tiny specks of dirt.

Someone handed over a rice ball. The Sauron soldier took it with a smile, and started to eat it in big mouthfuls.

The cold weather in Northeast China isolates too many germs. Even in later generations, people from Northeast China who come to Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan still get infected with bacteria due to daily carelessness.

Or if you just throw the meat or vegetables around and find out later that they are inedible, let alone this time.

The god of plague was already waving at the Qing army, but the Qing army's commanders were completely unaware of the danger and were still holding intense military meetings.

At this time, it had become a fact that the Qing army was blocked in Laoguantun and could not advance. They had tried all kinds of methods, but they really had no way to take Laoguantun.

After a group of people discussed it over and over again, there were only two choices, or one choice.

That is to let Yunnan mobilize border residents, each of whom will carry iron blocks to Xinjie, and then cast larger caliber 5,000-jin or even 8,000-jin cannons on the spot in Xinjie.

At this time, craftsmen from the former Maolong Silver Factory came to the Qing army camp to seek refuge. They were proficient in casting various cannons and could build them on the spot for the Qing army.

However, this method takes a long time to take effect, at least three or four months. I don’t know if Yunnan’s supplies can withstand such consumption.

But everyone knew Emperor Qianlong's determination, so no one dared to retreat and could only continue to fight.

In fact, the Qing army had another killer trick to make a comeback, which was to select an elite force of thousands of people, bypass Laoguantun, and take the old road that Mingrui had taken to go straight to Ava.

In this way, if the Qing army divided its troops, the Burmese army would certainly be forced to divide its troops as well, and they would have to divide their troops significantly, because if the Burmese army fought in the field, they might not be able to defeat the Qing army even if they were to fight three against one.

In this case, the number of Burmese troops in Laoguantun will be greatly reduced, and the defense capability will be greatly reduced. If everything goes well, there is a high probability that the Burmese army will be exposed everywhere.

However, Mingrui's disastrous defeat in the third war has in fact blocked this path.

Commander Fu Heng thought of it, but he hesitated and didn't dare to mention it. Because if the division of troops failed, although the probability was small, it was not impossible.

If the division of troops fails and hundreds or even thousands of elite Eight Banners troops stationed in Beijing, such as the Jianrui Battalion and the Vanguard Guard, are killed, Fuheng, given his status, would probably have a hard time saving his life.

By the same token, even if Fuheng proposed it, Agui, Hailancha, Ha Guoxing, and Ye Xiangde would never dare to agree.

They don't have such a strong background as Fu Heng. If they fail, Fu Heng will not only lose his own life, but they may also lose the lives of their entire family.

Qianlong's method of training a small number of elite troops through generous rewards and strict military discipline had already begun to reveal its significant drawbacks. Under such harshness, no one dared to take responsibility. This approach of favor and punishment was far from balanced, completely depriving the generals of the option of taking a risk.

. . . .

The city of Pyin Uyen is about 300 kilometers away from Ava. According to Mozibu's current marching speed, it will take about 12 days.

But Mo Zibu couldn't advance immediately.

Because first he had to figure out why he was able to plunder all the way to Pyin Uyen so smoothly, a distance of more than 300 kilometers. It was not that he was unstoppable, but that he did not encounter any resistance.

Even if King Baixiang deployed all his troops in Xinjie and Laoguantun, he would still be able to mobilize tens of thousands of people to intercept in an emergency.

Secondly, although the officers had done ideological work on the soldiers, it would still take time to transport the silver, money, other supplies and female slaves. They had to wait for Li Xianwen to send a large ship to pick them up.

At the same time, Mo Zibu also had to give Li Xianwen some time to make preparations, because the influx of hundreds of thousands of taels of wealth was not a trivial matter just to register, as there were too few literate people.

Moreover, if these people in the rear do not sound the alarm, there will definitely be people who value money over their lives.

Li Xianwen also had to unify his thoughts in Yangon first and put on the tight ring before he could be prepared to take over.

Mo Zibu let out a long sigh. This was when he had a small foundation built up from eighty years of accumulation by his ancestors.

For example, the Mo family had more than 4 million taels of silver and 2 million dan of various grains.

For example, qualified civil servants, that is, talents in logistics, finance, and auditing, were trained by two generations of father and son, Ou Jiu and Ou Tianci, forty or fifty people, and all of them were given to Mo Zibu.

Only in this way can he build this platform. Without these, it would be very difficult.

It is indeed not an easy thing to go against the will of heaven.

Finally, now that discipline has been restored, the rectification movement cannot but continue.

From now on, there will be no more looting. Military discipline must be strictly enforced and no looting is allowed until we reach the city of Ava, or even before we capture Ava.

Otherwise, there are still three hundred kilometers to go, and if we keep fighting all the way, the army will eventually lose its fighting spirit.

It would be better to impose strict restrictions now, and then loot indiscriminately after taking Ava to boost the morale and appetite of the soldiers.

At the same time, Mo Zibu gradually began to understand that it was imperative to expand the army, otherwise the people below would be fed.

Even if the army was expanded, the elite troops of his Kunlun Mountain Hall could only be used to conquer Annan at most, and most of them would no longer be able to be mobilized.

To proceed to the next step, we must prepare the next available army now. It seems that we need to start training it after the Burma Campaign is over.

The methods include but are not limited to recruiting orphans to form the Yier Guards.

They began to promote nationalism, recruiting children aged eight to twelve from the mainland to go to Southeast Asia and instilling nationalist ideas such as expelling the Tartars.

By training batches of people, perhaps we can establish a university dedicated to this task.

After more than ten years, when Annan is all under our control, most of these children will be in their teens and twenties, and there will be a population of several thousand to tens of thousands. Then we can proceed to the next step.

. . . .

Five days later, new news arrived. The reason why the White Elephant King knew nothing was because the cunning guy Balamindin knew that he had ruined the White Elephant King's plan and was afraid of being killed by the White Elephant King.

He did not return to Ava at all, but fled and hid himself for fear of punishment.

This resulted in the White Elephant King being completely unaware of what was happening in Lower Burma. He still thought that Balamindin was performing his duties faithfully in the area from Pegu to Mawlamyine.

This news came from Yangon, and the person who provided the information was a Burmese officer who had an old acquaintance with General Suki.

Mozibu immediately realized the problem and ordered General Suki to pass the message to Balamindin.

He told Balamindin that King Mok had not harmed his people whom he had left behind in Mawlamyine, and that if he was willing to turn from evil to good, all his people would be returned to him.

The land in Mawlamyine was gone, but he could choose any good land north of Yangon, and Mok Zi Bu was willing to confer him the title of marquis, just like General Suki.

Seven days later, someone came from Yangon, riding a fast horse day and night. His identity turned out to be Balamindin's eldest son Manglo.

Mang Luo had been a guard in Ava and was very familiar with Ava. Mozibu was overjoyed and immediately handed over to him the 1,500-man Burmese traitor army formed in Pyin Uyen and rewarded him with gold, silver and silk worth 1,000 taels.

He also appointed Mang Luo as a guard officer and brought dozens of people as Mo Zibu's personal guards to show his closeness.

Well, I, King Mo, am a martial arts expert. I wear twenty kilograms of chain mail and carry two flintlock pistols on my waist.

Two martial arts masters, Pei Shichun and Pei Changwu, were on duty day and night, and two sharpshooters, Wang Wuchu and Li Quan, were also by his side.

Even if there were changes, Mang Luo's thirty or so men would not be able to hurt Mo Zibu easily.

Mang Luo saw that Mo Zibu trusted him very much, and also saw that the morale of the Kunlun Mountain Hall army was high.

When we think about the White Elephant King being besieged by four countries (Manchu, Siam, Ha Tien and Arakan), it is very similar to Mang Yingli who was at the end of his rope and was besieged by the Ming Dynasty, Siam, Arakan and Lanna, and was eventually captured and killed.

Moreover, in addition to the sin of defeat in battle, Balamindin also had original sin.

This guy was originally a subordinate of Sinmaha, the uncle of the White Elephant King and the younger brother of Yongjiya, the founding king of the Konbaung Dynasty.

After Yongjiya's death, Sin Maha occupied Toungoo and rebelled. Balamindin also participated, but he was lucky enough not to be executed in the end. However, there was a mark on his body.

Now he has messed up Lower Burma and is absconding for fear of punishment. It can be said that apart from surrendering to Mozibu, Balamindin has no choice but to wait for death.

Things are impermanent!
This is politics.

Balamindin, who barely escaped death from the attack by Mo Zibu in Zedi a few months ago, will soon become a "loyal minister" of my King Mo.

(End of this chapter)