Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 375: Fight for the Intersection of Three Prefectures
"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang~"
"The thief is here again!"
"Shoot, shoot! Grenades!"
On a small mound whose height and slope were not dangerous, hundreds of Ming soldiers shouted to each other, encouraged each other, and tried their best to block the Siamese army that rushed up from the mound like a tide, again and again, but had no choice but to retreat every time.
On June 20, Raja Buddha led an army of 50,000 to the west to attack the Mon people.
At three o'clock in the morning on the 25th, more than three thousand Ming ships appeared in the Gulf of Siam.
At 6:45 am that day, after receiving the news, Lan Ya, who was in Bangkok, immediately sent several messengers to rush west to find her king.
At nine o'clock in the morning on the 25th, Zhao Lushi, who had not yet sorted out the issue of the soldiers' return after the landing, sent out 1,180 soldiers headed by Luo Xiong. Under the guidance of Li Shi , they attacked to the northwest, trying to cut off Luo Jifutu's return route.
After galloping northward for two days, on the morning of the 27th, the Luo Xiong team arrived at the junction of the three provinces of Nakhon Pathom, Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi.
At that time, Siam had a population of only five to six million, and most of the area was covered with dense primeval forests. As for the area where the three provinces meet, it is even more desolate.
However, this place is also a major transportation route: Raja Buddha has been in charge of this country for fourteen years, and in Siam, a cement road has been built from Bangkok to Ayutthaya. From Bangkok to various border provinces, there are also roads .
At the intersection of the three prefectures, there is a dirt road passing through. On both sides of it are two high mountains, and into the mountains is a dark primeval forest. So Luo Xiong immediately decided to build simple fortifications here and wait for Luo Zhifu to come back - if he wants to come back.
In fact, Rājabuddha had to come back.
He received the news on the 28th. When he received the news, the vanguard of his army had already engaged in a battle with the Mon people. Due to their superior equipment and training, the Mon people were repelled a long distance as soon as the battle started.
But what was annoying was that the Siamese didn't get many heads - as soon as the battle started, the Mon people quickly retreated from various towns and villages into the mountains.
When Luojafutu was asking his staff to make the next plan, the news from Bangkok came, and he almost collapsed on the spot. For a moment, he wanted to give up completely and just kill himself.
However, this thought only flashed through his mind: it is better not to experience the experience of being beaten with an axe if possible, and he should still struggle to his death.
So he immediately sent an army of 3,000 men to return: having been a king for so many years and having personally led the army in so many battles, he still had the most basic military knowledge - the Ming army was very likely to come to cut off his retreat, and judging from the distance and time, it was very likely that they were at the junction of the three prefectures!
When the Siamese army arrived at the junction of the three provinces on the 30th after rushing, Luo Xiong had already led his troops there for three days.
In three days, Luo Xiong had dug this 10-meter-wide dirt road into a horrible sight: three trenches would have been fine, but the key point was that each trench extended 10 meters into the forest beside the road. Moreover, each trench was dug extremely deep: from the highest point of the retaining wall facing the enemy to the lowest point of the trench, it was as deep as 3.5 meters!
Of course, the retaining wall is actually only 1.2 meters above the ground, and the lower 2.3 meters are all covered with wooden boards.
Then, when the Siamese, facing a rain of flintlock bullets and suffering more than a hundred casualties, finally approached the first trench, the Ming soldiers shouted and retreated.
The Siamese officer in charge was overjoyed and immediately urged his soldiers to move forward quickly. Then... the fastest warrior fell into the pit where the wooden planks had been removed, and was easily shot and killed by the Ming soldiers who were standing outside the pit at their leisure.
Afterwards, the Ming army soldiers, led by Luo Xiong, successfully counterattacked and quickly defeated the Siamese army.
On July 1, the defeated army encountered Raja Buddha, who was leading the main force back. After learning about the battle, the King of Siam was furious and shot the commander directly. Then he personally led the army and arrived at the intersection of the three prefectures on July 2.
However, the person he met was Luo Xiong, who was educated in Fangshan School and who was all about practicality and who refused to care about morality or style.
Because although the Mon people had contact with Portugal in the early years and had a few matchlock guns, most of the militias actually fought purely with cold weapons. In addition, the Mon people lived in forest-covered mountainous areas. Therefore, the 50,000 troops of Rajafutu this time were all light troops advancing quickly, without heavy weapons such as cannons.
Faced with Luo Xiong's three trenches, the King of Siam had no choice but to order his soldiers to launch an ant attack.
Of course, although there were still 10,000 troops in his rear who were slowly retreating to prevent the Meng people from chasing and attacking him, his force was still dozens of times that of Luo Xiong. So he also sent a considerable part of his troops into the forest, trying to get behind Luo Xiong.
But Luo Xiong had laid countless traps in this forest: 500 engineers and 300 civilians, in addition to digging trenches, spent the rest of their time digging various pits in the forest...
In addition to traps, Luo Xiong also organized a small number of soldiers and some engineers. They lurked in the forest and used cold guns, sniping and assassinations to make the Siamese soldiers who entered the forest panic and unable to fight with all their strength.
Of course, the troops were limited, so in addition to the ten-meter trenches on the road, Luo Xiong at most set up some ambushes in the forests 30 meters deep on both sides of the road - but this was basically enough. If you really want to go well, a few people or a small army is completely possible. But this 50,000-strong army went into the forest of pure primitive landforms together? It's easy to get in, but after walking out, the entire organization will definitely be destroyed. If there happened to be a troop of the Ming army waiting outside, it would be a complete annihilation.
Therefore, Luojifutu still used his main force on ant-attachment attacks.
Ant-attachment attack is the least technically demanding, but it is the best way for a side with more troops to deal with a side with less troops. When Luojifutu ignored his own casualties and sent out waves of troops to attack repeatedly, the casualties of the Ming army began to increase rapidly.
Gradually, the Siamese filled the first trench with their own bodies, and then filled the second trench. Although the Ming army fought desperately, using long-range bullets, short-range grenades, and even bayonet and hand-to-hand combat, the difference in strength was too great. After two days of bloody battles, on July 4, when the Siamese paid more than 3,000 lives, the first two lines of defense in Luoxiong were completely lost. In the third line of defense, there were only more than 300 soldiers left.
"Have the engineers and civilian workers all withdrawn?"
"Reporting to the general, they have all retreated."
"Okay, now that the Siamese thieves have just been repelled, and the next wave of attack will take some time, gather all the grenades and hand them over to me, then you can retreat as well."
"General, are you trying to be a hero?"
"Yeah." Luo Xiong nodded indifferently and said, "I don't know what's going on. It's been seven days and the reinforcements haven't come. The order I received was to stop the Siamese bandit chieftain. Although there are no reinforcements, I haven't received an order to retreat either. Maybe I have to die here. Only if I die here, you won't be held accountable after you retreat."
"General!"
"Nonsense! Why are you crying, man? You must survive, so that the more than 800 brothers who sacrificed their lives in front of you will not die in vain, and so that the flag of our battalion can continue to exist! If we all die here, who will tell everyone how brave and tenacious we are here?"
"Then General, please let me stay with you!"
"Nonsense, you want to stay, he wants to stay too, if this goes on, who will dare to leave? Let's all leave, let's all leave!" After saying this, Luo Xiong's face changed, and he took out the officer's revolver: "After all, I am still the highest officer of this army, follow orders! Otherwise, are you going to force me to commit suicide?"
"..." After a brief sob, the officer below responded miserably: "Yes."
Soon, the team's remaining thirty or so grenades were gathered together. Luo Xiong tore off his torn battle robe, wrapped it up, and then carried it on his back.
"Okay, you guys retreat."
"Take care, General!"
"Take care, everyone. Thank you for following my orders and fighting to the death despite such a high casualty rate. I, Luo Xiong, feel so ashamed of you all!"
The remaining 300 soldiers supported each other and left in tears. Not long after they walked down the mound, a burst of dense footsteps approached from the front of Luo Xiong.
"Hahahaha, Luo Xiong, the guerrilla commander of the first battalion of the first brigade of the Ming New Army, is here! Siamese thieves, let me show you the courage of a Ming man!"
