First day of bloody battle

In this era of inconvenient transportation and low logistical capacity, the consumption of transporting grain was enormous. Oftentimes, if two or three piculs remained out of ten sent to the front lines, it was considered a good outcome.

The toungoo people's expedition this time, including the laborers, numbered over a hundred thousand. The daily grain consumption was an astronomical figure.

Due to the lack of oil and fat in their diet, a single soldier had to consume one and a half to two catties of grain per day, resulting in a daily consumption of over ten thousand piculs.

Therefore, even if they carried enough grain with the army, they still had to constantly transport more every day to avoid any accidents.

On the roads from Phitsanulok and Phetchabun to Chaiyaphum, endless streams of transport teams could be seen every day.

Within the mountain forests, Liu Rengui pointed at the grain transport team below and said to Xia Luqi,

"Do you see that? That is the toungoo people's vital weakness. As long as we can block their supply lines, those hundred thousand toungoo people will collapse without a fight."

Xia Luqi nodded.

"Understood. Leave it to me; I will surely make the toungoo people so restless they can neither eat nor sleep."

"Good. This road is entrusted to you. Remember, never linger in battle no matter what. Leave as soon as you gain an advantage. Take what grain and baggage you can, and if you can't, burn it."

Xia Luqi slapped his chest, full of confidence.

"Rest assured, if even a single grain of rice slips through, then it's because I, Old Xia, was being lazy."

Entrusting that road to Xia Luqi, Liu Rengui took the Third Division to another main road.

In the days that followed, the Toungoo grain transport teams began to suffer elusive attacks from the Beiwei Army. In just five days, the toungoo people lost over fifty thousand piculs of grain, along with a thousand soldiers and over two thousand laborers.

With two of the three supply routes blocked, the news infuriated Bayinnaung. In a fit of rage, he dispatched twenty thousand troops to search along the routes, hoping to find those causing trouble behind his back.

In the end, after tossing and turning for several days and losing several hundred more men, they didn't find a single hair of the enemy, which made him even more livid!

"The Han people are all gutless rats, only capable of these sneaky, underhanded tricks!"

Bayinnaung slammed his fist hard onto the desk.

"Pass down the order: grain transport will change to once every five days with more troops assigned for protection. The main army will begin the siege tomorrow."

Relying on the fact that his supplies were still sufficient for now, he prepared to speed up the process of capturing Chaiyaphum, so that those little tricks in his rear would naturally lose their meaning.

As the toungoo people changed their strategy, Liu Rengui naturally changed his as well, joining forces with Xia Luqi to prepare something big.

On this side, after a five-day delay, the Toungoo attack was finally about to begin.

Following Huo Jun's suggestion, Gao Yuan divided the three divisions of the Xuanjia Army defending the city into three groups. Two groups rotated on the city walls, while the other group served as a reserve, responsible for filling gaps everywhere.

Meanwhile, the First Division and the Personal Guards were divided into four groups, responsible for checking and patching up any vulnerabilities on each city wall, ready at any moment to eliminate enemy troops that climbed up.

As for the laborers and the wounded, they were responsible for transporting arrows, stones, and logs. Women and children helped with cooking, washing clothes, and caring for the wounded.

To win this defensive battle, Gao Yuan mobilized everyone who could be mobilized.

"Woo, woo, woo..."

The dull sound of horns broke the silence of the early morning; the toungoo people began the siege.

Chaiyaphum was not a large city; it had no wide moat, and its walls were not particularly tall.

However, the rammed earth walls were very sturdy, and Liu Rengui had newly constructed arrow towers on the four walls.

There were over a dozen arrow towers, each with three floors, housing thirty crossbowmen who could provide continuous long-range firepower.

However, the toungoo people were no pushovers either; their front-line heavy infantry and the large shields in their hands could block a vast number of arrows.

"Don't release arrows yet. Wait until the enemy's heavy infantry gets close, then shoot the enemy troops behind them."

Seeing that not a single arrow had been fired from the city walls, the toungoo people breathed a sigh of relief, yet they did not become careless.

"Fire! Fire!"

The toungoo people were the first to begin lobbing arrows, but they were mostly blocked by wooden planks.

"Quick, collect the arrows and send them up to the arrow towers."

The soldiers hurriedly pulled the arrows from the wooden planks and handed them to the laborers behind them.

Soon, the Toungoo army rushed to the foot of the wall, set up scaling ladders, and began to swarm the city like ants.

"Scaling ladders, battering rams, rolling stones, logs, and fire oil—get ready!"

Stones and logs were thrown down from the walls, and the crossbowmen on the arrow towers also began to exert their strength, firing into the densest parts of the enemy ranks.

There was no need to aim; a stone or log thrown down at random would hit at least one person.

The same went for the crossbowmen; a random shot with eyes closed could hit an enemy, with startlingly high killing efficiency.

As for the soldiers pushing the battering ram, they fared even worse. Flaming clay pots were tossed from the walls, and in an instant, they were surrounded by a great fire.

Bayinnaung stood on high ground, watching the distant siege scene, and confirmed his suspicion.

"It seems there really is a master of city defense inside the Han city."

At this moment, a hint of retreat had already sprouted in his heart. He judged that capturing this city would cost at least thirty to forty thousand men.

The best way would be a long-term siege to fight a war of attrition, while he split his forces to occupy other counties.

But now, there was an elusive enemy force constantly harassing his rear, making a war of attrition unrealistic.

Having confirmed his thoughts, he decided to write a letter to report to his father, Maha Thihathura, as soon as he went down.

Just as he was about to descend, he suddenly saw a magnificent banner.

He pointed at the banner and looked at those around him.

"What banner is that?"

The deputy general shook his head.

"It's too far to see clearly."

Bayinnaung felt as if he had grasped something important and urgently commanded,

"Go to the front line and check immediately."

Soon, his doubt was answered.

"Reporting to the Prince, This humble general has investigated clearly. That is the commanding banner of the military governor of diannan circuit of the Great Qian."

"The military governor of diannan circuit? Could it be?"

"It is precisely that man named Gao Yuan."

A look of wild joy appeared on Bayinnaung's poker face. At this moment, he felt that even if all hundred thousand troops were exhausted, it would be worth it.

"Pass down the order: the first to scale the wall will be promoted three ranks and rewarded with a thousand acres of fertile land and ten beauties. Whoever captures Gao Yuan alive will be enfeoffed as a Marquis of Ten Thousand Households!"

Under great rewards, there must be brave men. The toungoo people, upon receiving Bayinnaung's promise, became even more frenzied, shouting as they climbed the scaling ladders.

Inside the city, Ma Song came before Gao Yuan, who was resting with his eyes closed.

"Third General, isn't this too risky?"

"I want the toungoo people to know I am in the city. Otherwise, after suffering a setback, they might very well retreat."

Gao Yuan opened his eyes and glanced at Ma Song.

"Since the toungoo people have come, they must leave something behind. Otherwise, who will compensate us for such great losses?"

Ma Song was speechless. At this moment, he felt that this Third Young Master, who looked as beautiful as a woman, exuded a domineering aura no less than that of his father, Gao Wu.

Time reached noon, and the Toungoo offensive continued unabated. The defenders on the walls began to rotate.

Gao Yuan put on his tubular sleeve armor, took up his bright silver spear, and led a team onto the city walls.

When defensive supplies were sufficient, it was as difficult as ascending to heaven for the enemy to climb the walls.

Even if someone occasionally managed to climb up by luck, what awaited them were the spears and broadswords of the Beiwei Army.

This afternoon, Gao Yuan only managed to kill a dozen or so lucky ones; there wasn't even a trace of blood on his body.

At dusk, the sound of the golden gong rang out. Gao Yuan knew that today's battle had ended.

The Toungoo laborers began to come forward to clean up the battlefield, carrying away the corpses and the wounded on the ground.

The defenders did not break the rules either; they only sent people to count the spoils of war and did not attack these unarmed laborers.

In the evening, just as he put down his bowl and chopsticks, Ma Song rushed in excitedly to report the results.

"Reporting to the Third General, today's battle results have been tallied. A total of 1,345 enemy troops were killed or wounded at the South Gate, and at the East Gate... a total of 5,328 men."