Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 707 No One is an Idiot
The main commanders of the European Union Army were almost all top military strategists of this era. Therefore, they had long noticed that something was wrong with the Ming army.
However, as Ma Shilong analyzed at the Guilin Conference, on the one hand, they had to further seize the wealth of Indochina and fight to support the war. On the other hand, they had to continue to advance in order to encourage the indigenous people of Indochina to rise up against the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, although they knew that the other side might be planning a counterattack, Gustav, Wallenstein and others still frowned and led the army across the Shan Plateau and continued to advance.
Of course, as an outstanding commander, Gustav was known for his bravery in battle and his love of personally participating in the battlefield, but this did not mean that he was a reckless man. On the contrary, after the main force entered the central plains of Siam, he consciously stopped blindly pursuing Liu Zhaosun's large force, but led the main force of the European Union Army to turn south, along the Chao Phraya River, and head towards Bangkok.
This made Liu Zhaosun very embarrassed: I wanted to lead you to the great plain between the Chao Phraya River and the Mekong River. What do you mean by ignoring me and heading south directly?
Therefore, Liu Zhaosun had no choice but to turn around and attack the main force of the European Union with inferior forces.
Early morning of August 5, 1641.
"Good morning, your majesty."
"Good morning, Mr. Chief of Staff. Did you sleep well last night?"
"Well, it's not bad. Although Siamese women are ugly, they are humble and obedient enough."
"Hahaha, I agree with you on this point."
After a brief greeting, Gustav sat down at the main seat in the conference room and asked, "How much damage did the Chinese Liu cause us yesterday when he attacked us?"
"Your Majesty." A young staff officer stood up and said, "Yesterday, General Liu of China mobilized at least 100,000 people to launch a large-scale attack on us. After a day of fighting with them, our Durren Legion defeated the enemy. According to preliminary statistics, our casualties are around 3,000, and the enemy's casualties should be a little more than ours."
"Another 3,000 men are gone." Pulling his beard painfully, Gustav asked, "Where are our reinforcements?"
"Your Majesty, we have two routes of reinforcements. One route is to land in Yangon and cross the Arakan Mountains and the Shan Plateau. Although this route is by land and takes more time, because there are telegraph stations set up along the way, the message can be transmitted more quickly. According to the telegram received this morning, this route of reinforcements has a total of three divisions and 45,000 people. They have crossed the Salween River (Nujiang River) and will arrive in Chiang Mai the day after tomorrow."
"Well, once we get to Chiang Mai, the Ping River (the upper reaches of the Chao Phraya River are called the Ping River and the Nan River respectively. The Chao Phraya River is called the Chao Phraya River after the two rivers merge) can provide inland shipping, which will be very fast. So, what about the other route?"
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. The other reinforcements are also three divisions, 45,000 people. They are transported by the navy and are preparing to land in Bangkok. Well, since there is no telegram, I don't know where they are at the moment."
"Damn it, hasn't the radio research on the mainland made any decisive progress? After the telegraph was invented, I suddenly felt that the troops that couldn't send telegrams in time were not the troops under my command."
"Hahaha, Your Majesty, I deeply agree with you on this point. But what can we do? Even His Majesty Philip has to be humble and tolerant when facing those great scientists of the Academy of Sciences of Asturias."
"Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, you are right. Well, praise our scientists, praise His Majesty Philip. Speaking of which, I am indeed very grateful. After all, after our troops suffered heavy losses, the reinforcements from the rear came so quickly, which was far beyond my imagination."
Yes, when the European Union Army first landed in Burma from India, it had 500,000 fully equipped troops. After six months of fighting, its losses were not the 100,000 estimated by Liu Zhaosun, but more than 135,000.
The reason for the large error is that Liu Zhaosun overestimated the other party's medical level with his own medical level - in short, the Ming Dynasty military doctors who learned from Zhu Youdong were able to rescue a considerable number of wounded soldiers, but the EU doctors could not do it.
However, despite the loss of nearly one-third, thanks to the timely replenishment of troops from the rear, Gustav still had about 430,000 troops at this moment, not counting the six divisions that were still on the way.
The reason why the EU was able to replenish its troops so quickly was that, in addition to mastering the sea power and being able to replenish troops in large quantities through the Suez Canal, the Indian Ocean, and the Strait of Malacca, the most critical point was that the wealth obtained from India and Southeast Asia, after being transported back to Europe, stimulated the whole of Europe's strong desire for aggression and expansion.
In the historical plane, after Spain obtained a large amount of wealth from the American colonies, this wealth either became the pillar for the royal family to maintain a luxurious life, or became the military expenses for endless wars with almost all countries in continental Europe. In short, this money failed to be transformed into productivity, nor did it benefit the people at home. On the contrary, because these precious metals flowed into other European countries in large quantities, a price revolution occurred, causing a large number of small and medium-sized landlords in Spain to go bankrupt, farmers became increasingly poor, and the entire country fell into irreversible decline.
In this dimension , with the historian Philip, Spain would certainly not make such a mistake.
During the 30 years that he was in charge of the country, Philip managed the kingdom's finances very well, and a large amount of funds were invested in various industries, thereby generating greater wealth. Moreover, as a time traveler, he himself had almost no interest in luxury and pleasure, and he always hated spending a lot of money on various boring parties. On the contrary, he was extremely generous to his soldiers and citizens.
Take the current Indian expedition as an example. The families of the soldiers who died in the Indian expedition all received a pension of 300 double columns: what a concept. You have to know that even the skilled workers working in the Spanish national shipyard at that time only earned 50 double columns a year.
As for those who were wounded and returned to Europe, the royal government allowed them to turn two-thirds of the spoils into their own income. As a result, tens of thousands of wealthy small landowners were born.
There were so many people who became rich overnight that it greatly stimulated the middle and lower classes throughout Europe. Going to the Far East, you can get rich regardless of life or death. It has become a consensus among the European people!
Therefore, in Europe, not to mention the reservists clamoring to go to the Far East, even those who tried every means to evade military service in the past have found the military service bureaus in various places again with a lick of face: "Hey, brother, I have become more conscious recently, do you think it is... "
Therefore, in the past six months, Gustav has received more than 60,000 reinforcements from his homeland, and another 90,000 are on the way.
"Dongdong" The two-meter-tall giant knocked lightly on the conference table, which still made a loud noise. After successfully focusing everyone's attention in the conference room, Gustav cleared his throat and said, "Everyone, we have landed in Burma for more than half a year, and now we have finally arrived in Siam. However, I believe you have all felt that the smell in the air is a little abnormal."
"Yes." Wallenstein nodded heavily. "According to General Li Yongfang, two railways running from north to south have been built in China. Therefore, although China is very large, it will take at least three months to mobilize troops on a large scale. And now, it has been a full six months since we first fought General Liu on the opposite side, and the other side has not sent a large-scale support force. Moreover, although General Liu's troops on the opposite side are not our opponents, they are unwilling to retreat. And once we were about to break contact with them, they came up again, which is very telling. In short, the longer this time drags on, the larger the scale of the counterattack planned by the other side will be."
"Yes, according to His Majesty Philip's instructions, the Chinese mainland population is close to 200 million. God, if a country like this really pushes their emperor into a corner, it won't be a problem to mobilize 5 million troops... So, everyone, the theme of today's meeting is the next direction of our advance after we enter the plains, and how to deal with the enemy's possible large-scale counterattack."
"Your Majesty Gustav ." Wallenstein stood up again. "According to the war chess simulation organized by the General Staff in the past half month, we believe that if the Chinese want to launch a counterattack, they can only rely on General Liu's troops to lure us deep into the central plains of Siam, and then oppress us from the north with heavy troops. The most extreme case is that the enemy will come down from the Shan Plateau and cut off our retreat."
"Yes, I agree with that. Well, if that's the case, our response is very clear."
The two-meter-tall man stood up and walked to the large map hanging on the wall of the conference room: "I suggest that the main force of our army ignore Liu's army in the east, and resolutely move south along the Chao Phraya River and head straight to Bangkok. There, we have the support of the navy, and we can attack or defend. We are already in an invincible position."
"Your Majesty." A young staff officer raised his hand. "If we go south, then Sukhothai has already publicly raised its flag to support us?"
"Let their king go with us. We will use his name to liberate Ayutthaya and Bangkok. We must let the Siamese people in the southern plains and the port area see that their king has returned."
"Understood."
"Also, let the King of Sukhothai provide us with some money for the expedition and food. Tell him that Sukhothai will soon be occupied by the Chinese army. He can just plunder all the food and leave the hungry people to the Chinese to take care of. If he doesn't give us enough food and money here, it will be difficult for me to guarantee the maintenance of our military discipline after entering Bangkok. Once Bangkok is looted by our soldiers, he will no longer be the King of Thailand."
"Puchi~ Sorry, Your Majesty. Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will make King Sukhothai obedient."
"Now, is there any force to our south, that is, in the lower reaches of the Chao Phraya River, that can stop us from advancing?"
"According to the scouts' report, the two Chinese princes, King Zhou and King Tang, were enfeoffed to our south. Their two kings organized an army of 30,000 to block Ayutthaya, but the vast majority of the soldiers in this army are Siamese."
"Hahaha, I suddenly remembered the Chinese proverb that General Li Yongfang gave me. Hmm? What's it called? Oh, a mantis stretching out its arms to block a huge wheel is not bravery, but stupidity. Send a message to the troops on the south side of my army and have them defeat the resistance of the two princes who overestimate their own capabilities as quickly as possible."
"Yes, sir!"
"Write a letter to Major General Durrenni. I will give him seven divisions and ask him to serve as the rear guard to block the harassment of General Liu's corps in the east. In short, we will go to Bangkok first, and after getting naval support, we will make the next battle plan based on the situation."
