Chapter 1271 Ava and Pegu

In the city of Ava, Li Ermao was walking on the 'street'. On both sides of the stalls that had begun to flourish because of the Ming army's move in, those men and women were soliciting in broken Chinese.

"Alright! Change!"

In the oil pan, the blackened oil was still frying fish, shrimp and rice balls. This is a high-end product that the locals cannot afford. That is to say, the Ming army is rich and has a large number of people, so they often come to sweep it up.

More than a dozen ivory tusks were placed on the muddy floor, and an old woman sat by the side. Seeing Li Ermao wearing a green shirt, she grinned and greeted Li Ermao in local dialect.

Li Ermao shook his head, during the last expedition to the south, Fang Xing brought back dozens of ivory tusks, which were still left in the warehouse to gather dust.

The so-called streets are not as clean as that of a county town in Daming. They are all uncompacted dirt roads. Once it rains, this place will be a muddy pond.

The houses on both sides are mostly thatched houses, surrounded by bamboo mats as walls. This is the only thing that can be seen. Just a fire can turn these houses into torches.

The weather is hot, and the merchants are not in the mood, and they are all hiding in the house.

The original residence of King Ava became the headquarters of the Ming army, and Li Ermao nodded at the sergeant guarding the gate and entered.

"What do you mean by Pegu? The envoys don't come, and they don't fight. What do you want to do? Is Rasattari determined to be an enemy of Daming?"

The spacious Buddhist hall was turned into a temporary meeting place. When Li Ermao arrived, Fang Zheng was spitting wildly.

"Shang Qi, tell me, what are they going to do?"

Li Ermao sat down on the side, and nodded with several generals.

Shang Qi is familiar with the southwest direction, and also has some research on Burma, so Fang Zheng relies heavily on him.

"My lord, I thought that Rasattari would not give in."

"Why?"

"Because of the mountains!"

There is a map on the table, Shang Qi pointed to Pegu and said: "If we take the initiative to attack, they only need to drill into the forest and finish the job, and then come back after we leave. The second is sneak attack, based on the Burmese's previous methods. Look, what they like most is sneak attack, give us a surprise attack."

Fang Zheng turned his gaze and said, "Surprise attack, this is a problem. Where are the follow-up people?"

Fang Zheng's team is only responsible for attacking,

Later, there will be troops entering Myanmar to take over the task of guarding public order.

Shang Qi said: "It's about the same, according to the distance, at most half a month."

Fang Zheng's face paled, "If you arrive late, the military law is ruthless!"

"No, we have cleaned up everything along the way, and the weather is good, so it won't affect the march."

"Li Ermao, tell me what you think about the present."

Fang Zheng sat down, took a sip from his teacup.

Li Ermao got up and walked to the table, and said: "My lord, Ava was defeated by us. Besides Daming's military prowess, there is another reason, that is, they have fought against Bagu for more than 30 years. , the population loss on both sides is too much.”

"Xiaguan has been looking around recently and found that the cultivated fields in many places have been abandoned and no one has planted them. What does this mean? It means that there are fewer men. Even if Daming doesn't fight over, they themselves have to stop fighting!"

"What do you want to say?"

Everyone knows this truth, and Fang Zheng thinks that Li Ermao is a literati's rotten habit of selling off.

Li Ermao drew a circle around the place representing Myanmar with his fingers, and said, "The people feel at ease, this is Daming's opportunity, we just need to stay where we are, and Bagu will be embarrassing."

Fang Ze pointed at him and scolded with a smile: "You boy, we are talking about how to fight with Bagu, but you are lucky, you have already thought of how to manage this place. Come on, you are idle anyway."

Shang Qi was a little curious about Li Ermao, he was young, and according to people on the road, he was still cutting firewood for a living to support himself and his mother a few years ago.

As a result, the lucky star from the sky was taken into the Zhixing Academy by Fang Xing, and then he got out of hand, and it is said that his current official status was given by Zhu Di himself.

After a few years of hard work, this person has been completely reborn. It seems that Xing He Bo has more cultural and educational power than he did during the Southern Expedition. It is hard to say what will happen in the future!

"My lord, this is not just about governance. This is true for Ava, so it must be true for Bagu. That is to say, Bagu is in a difficult situation at this time. They are afraid that Da Ming will attack, so they are hesitant. The officials think that they must be lucky. It’s still going to be all or nothing in the same old way.”

"Sneak attack? Hmm!"

Fang Zheng got up and said: "I think so too, go, let the brothers move, check the city wall, and send out those who are loyal to Daming, and get a big reward for the exact news , well, let’s all go.”

"wait."

Fang Zheng stopped Li Ermao, and after they left, he said: "The latest news, Your Highness He Xing and Bo went to sea to declare their prestige and wiped out Java."

Li Ermao said happily when he heard it: "Then Siam must be panicking."

"Yes! Their envoys have arrived, but they were not seen by the official. Let them go to the capital and drag them to the Ministry of Rites."

"Burma is here, and Siam has been attacked before and after. Once Ming makes a move, Chenla will definitely take advantage of the opportunity. It's no wonder they don't panic."

"Siam is not small, and the folk customs are tough. Your Majesty means that it is best to subjugate the enemy without fighting. We will make plans after Daming's fleet expands in the future."

This is to advance both land and water. If Siam does not know how to do it, it will probably be dangerous.

Li Ermao recalled Fang Xing's previous analysis, and said, "My lord, Siam is not easy to attack. If they don't surrender, then they can isolate it and stir up their internal struggles."

Fang Zheng looked at the map and said, "It's not up to us to decide, but your idea is good. Since you've captured Ava, let's appease you. Do you have any suggestions?"

"trading!"

Li Ermao said: "This place is rich in precious stones, and there are also some good woods, as well as a lot of gold and silver. Daming can clear the trade roads, and sell some cloth and things they don't have. They have money, so they can live. Slowly. After they develop, they will rely on trade with Ming..."

Li Ermao hesitated for a while, and finally came up with an idea: "For example, we have a large output of potatoes. We can make vermicelli and powder and ship them here for sale. It will be cheaper. This will make the people feel that growing food is not good. Later ..."

"If they turn their faces in the future and Da Ming pinches the business, they will go hungry!"

Fang Zheng stood up and patted Li Ermao on the shoulder, saying: "Sure enough, a famous teacher has produced a high-ranking apprentice. Although the scheme is a bit vicious, I like it. You can get a jar of wine yourself as a reward."

Li Ermao bowed to leave, and the eunuch of the supervising army came in and said: "This son is really talented, no wonder Xinghe Bogan let him out, let's see! He is much better than that Ma Su."

The relationship between Fang Zheng and the supervisor was okay, and he said after hearing the words: "Li Ermao grew up through hardships, and he didn't have any fame, so if he wants to get ahead, he must have credit, and this is the main reason."

"As for Ma Su, he is Fang Xing's first disciple. He is afraid that he will be plotted against if he is released. The influence will be too great."

"Oh! I heard that those literati and Xing and Bo have been hostile to each other, so you should be cautious."

After the gossip, Fang Zheng discussed: "The grain and grass in the army must be transported from Yunnan/South. Although we have seized the granary, it is not enough. I plan to let the soldiers farm in their spare time. What do you think of the supervising army?"

"Good thing! The climate here is good, we have more varieties here, and Daming will transport less. Hey! The loss of grain transported this way is astonishing! If there is no potatoes, this battle will have to worry the Ministry of Households!"