A formidable foe returns

Hahaha! My younger brother is truly an utter fool.

In the royal mansion of Bayinnaung in Mrauk U, hearty laughter rang out. He never imagined that his younger brother could be this stupid.

Pindalipha quickly stood up to request to lead the battle.

My King, This humble general is willing to serve as the vanguard to suppress the traitor Maha Bandula.

No, this time I will lead the troops personally. Pindalipha, you stay behind to guard Chittagong to prevent the Mughals from launching a sneak attack!

As the largest natural harbor in the region, Chittagong was Bayinnaung's greatest source of tax revenue. The Mughals had long been coveting it, so naturally, Bayinnaung could not afford any mishaps there.

In the second month of the second year of the new era name, civil war broke out in Toungoo just as the strong armies of the Mughals and the Qian Army were pressing down on the borders.

Maha Bandula forcibly recruited over fifty thousand troops and marched south from the capital, Toungoo City, to launch an offensive against Bayinnaung.

Bayinnaung, not to be outdone, personally led twenty thousand troops north from Pathein to actively intercept the southward-marching Toungoo imperial army.

Such a major turn of events naturally could not be hidden. Gao Yuan had just arrived in Chiang Mai when he received this news and was completely dumbfounded.

No way, have these two brothers gone mad? Can they not distinguish between primary and secondary priorities? Fighting a civil war at a time like this?

Liu Rengui was also speechless.

When this subordinate first received the report from the secret guards, I couldn't believe it either. I thought it was a trick by the toungoo people, so I sent two waves of spies to re-verify, and it was confirmed to be true.

What a pair of absolute gems for brothers! Maha Thihathura's coffin lid probably couldn't even be kept shut right now!

Gao Yuan speechlessy tossed the intelligence report in his hand aside.

Is there any news from the Mughal side?

Yes. According to the spies, the Mughal army is currently besieging Ava and Sagaing. These two places have high walls and deep moats, are guarded by thousands of soldiers, and have ample supplies. In this subordinate's estimation, they won't be able to take them for two or three months.

Good. Let them keep biting each other. It would be best if they both end up severely injured; that will make it easier for us to eat the meat.

Gao Yuan stood up and began to issue orders.

Pass on the order: the army will rest for three days. Three days later, the entire army will set out to first take Mawlamyine and Kengtung.

Understood!

Knowing that a siege was necessary, Gao Yuan naturally had not come unprepared. He had brought a large number of craftsmen, as well as a large quantity of reusable components crafted by Princess Consort Huang Yueying.

One of the most important markers of human civilization is the use of tools. The large group of craftsmen Gao Yuan brought this time had already reached the front line.

At this moment, they were working at full capacity to build Lu Gong carts—now called linchong siege towers—as well as large scaling ladders, battering rams, and other siege equipment.

He wanted to let these Toungoo bumpkins witness the prowess of Han civilization and let them experience what "dimensional strike" meant.

The brothers were still fighting fiercely around the two major cities.

Their siege equipment was still at the stage of bamboo ladders and bows and arrows; to put it bluntly, they were just using human lives to fill the gaps.

After filling for over a month, there was finally some progress. For several consecutive days, people had been able to climb onto the city walls.

This made Sangha, the commander on the Mughal side, feel that victory was close at hand.

Bago, an important port city south of Toungoo City, where a large number of maritime merchant ships would dock, providing Toungoo with a large amount of tax revenue.

Maha Bandula's army arrived in Bago first, standing in battle formation waiting for Bayinnaung's arrival.

Logically speaking, Bayinnaung was at a disadvantage in terms of troop numbers, but his strength lay in the fact that they were all elites, with combat capability far superior to the Toungoo imperial army.

Therefore, he should have chosen to seek a decisive battle in the open field, which would have had a higher chance of success, rather than taking the initiative to besiege the city.

This point, let alone the imperial army's commander, even the deputy generals under Bayinnaung were very confused.

However, as soon as they arrived at the west gate of Bago, the city gates slowly opened.

Seeing this, Bayinnaung immediately laughed wildly.

Hahaha, our inside man has arrived. Men, attack! Remember, those with white cloth tied around their heads are our own people.

The Toungoo imperial army commander was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected that there would be a traitor in his own ranks.

He had originally planned to hold out for ten or fifteen days, waiting until Bayinnaung's morale was low before seeking a decisive battle.

He hadn't expected that in less than half a day, someone would voluntarily open the city gates and immediately turn their weapons against them.

Most of these Toungoo imperial troops were commoners who had been forcibly conscripted on a temporary basis, and they had no real will to fight.

Seeing this situation now, they simply gave up; those who could flee did, and those who could surrender did.

Even the capital's Imperial Guards, who served as the main force, included many who had fought alongside Bayinnaung in the past.

Compared to that good-for-nothing king in the capital, they admired Bayinnaung more.

Therefore, the majority of this strongest combat force also chose to surrender.

The street fighting in Bago lasted less than a day before it was declared over.

Bayinnaung not only occupied Bago but also gained over fifty thousand prisoners.

Excluding the commoners, the actual soldiers numbered over ten thousand, and his strength skyrocketed.

Immediately, Bayinnaung divided his troops into two paths: one to capture Mottama, and the other to march on Prome.

The defending troops along the way either surrendered or abandoned their cities and fled.

In less than half a month, Bayinnaung brought nearly sixty thousand troops to surround Toungoo City.

At this moment, Maha Bandula finally panicked. He couldn't figure out why he had been utterly defeated in less than a month.

At this moment, he thought of the absurd things he had done over the past month, and then looked at the still-charming Queen Mother.

Suddenly, an extremely ominous premonition welled up in his heart.

M-Mother, if... if Bayinnaung enters the city, I am worried you will be humiliated...

The Queen Mother rolled her eyes at her son. How could she not know about the terrible things her son had done?

Thinking that she was about to follow in others' footsteps, she suddenly felt a mix of despair and anticipation.

I heard that the eldest prince is very mighty!

There were only about four thousand defenders in Toungoo City, and it was unknown how many of them were willing to die for Maha Bandula.

In any case, after Bayinnaung besieged the city for just two days, Toungoo City, one of the most formidable fortresses on the Indochina Peninsula, was declared breached.

Maha Bandula tried to run but didn't make it; he was captured alive. As for the Queen Mother, who had just turned forty...

It is said that Bayinnaung was very satisfied with her skills and took her into his harem to enjoy.

It is said that he would occasionally have the iron cage holding Maha Bandula brought into the bedchamber for close-up observation.

A true Cuckold Chief!

The turmoil in Toungoo lasted less than a few months before it was declared over.

The national strength of Toungoo did not suffer much loss because of this turmoil.

Bayinnaung stayed in Toungoo City for over a month. After slightly stabilizing the situation, he began to reorganize his army and march north.

Compared to the Qian Army, he chose to squeeze what he considered to be the softer persimmon.

Just as Bayinnaung was reorganizing his internal affairs, over on Gao Yuan's side, all preparations for the siege had been completed.

Two linchong siege towers, several zhang high and nearly ten zhang wide, stood outside the south gate of Mawlamyine.

Outside the east and west gates were ten huge scaling ladder carts each, as well as one battering ram with a leather-covered roof.

As the rumbling of war drums sounded, shielded by heavy armored infantry, pulled by pack horses, and pushed by soldiers...

These massive pieces of siege equipment began to move slowly toward the city.

On the city walls, the desperate Toungoo soldiers tried their best to shoot arrows from their hands.

Unfortunately, these arrows were either blocked by large shields or landed on animal skins, having no lethality whatsoever.

The first to reach the foot of the city wall were the scaling ladder carts. The scaling ladder carts leaned against the city wall, forming a slope that could be climbed easily.

This made the defenders' rolling logs and boulders completely useless.

The Beiwei Army was in the lead. Clad in full iron armor, they began to climb like a solid bulwark, blocking the vast majority of attacks.

Of course, there were also unlucky soldiers who were hit by arrows, screaming as they fell from the scaling ladders.

However, as long as they still had a breath left, they would be dragged back by their comrades and handed over to the military medics for treatment.