Book Two Chapter Fifty

  Han Yuan in autumn 1659.

  People come and go in Beijing. The majestic imperial city in the distance has now become a place that everyone can visit, also bringing considerable income to the Chinese Empire.

  There are indeed many performers at Beijing Tianqiao. The monkey trainers, storytellers, and the hawkers selling candied hawthorns all proclaim a peaceful and prosperous world.

  A lone horseman galloped through the city gate, and from a distance, the sound of horseshoes pounding the ground and pedestrians scurrying for cover could be heard. The rider was dressed in a worn-out military uniform, exuding an air of authority. He dismounted his horse and strode directly into the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army.

  "What?" Zhu Xiao slammed his hand on the table in anger and said, "He, Zhu Youke, has actually escaped to Myanmar?" As he spoke, he looked at the officer standing by the door and said, "How did you guard him? Although it was house arrest, I don't think he had such good skills to escape." Everyone fell into deep thought.

  The officer stood at the door, looking at Zhu Xiao's furious face with a panic expression. Just as he was about to speak.

  "Alright, this matter can't be blamed on you. We underestimated him. I said why after the death of Emperor Taizu last year, he asked to return to Yunnan to retire. It turns out that it was premeditated." He looked at the officer and said: "Okay, you go down now. This matter is over, and now he can't do anything big. Oh, right, you go and invite Director Zhou Lun and Chief of Staff Peng Ying to come."

  Zhou Lun and Peng Ying walked in. Looking at Zhu's surprised expression, he said: "Your Majesty, this is not your style. Besides, our army has been conserving energy for a year without any battles."

  Zhu smiled and took a deep breath, saying: "I called you here to tell you some good news."

  Zhou Lun glanced at Zhu Xiao and said: "Your Majesty, what good news is it? Don't keep us in suspense here. Ah Xiao."

  Peng Ying also nodded in agreement with Zhou Lian's words.

  "Do you know a saying? It's called 'a good reputation for the teacher'. Haha. Now Zhu Yougao has given us a great opportunity, just in time to enter Myanmar."

  Peng Ying smiled and said: "Is that right? Zhu Yougan escaped to Myanmar?"

  Zhu smiled and nodded: "Not bad, Xiao Ying. You're indeed the Chief of Staff. So, who do you think should be sent to Myanmar?"

  Peng Ying smiled and pointed at the military strength distribution map on the wall: "I think we should send Gao Wengu to Myanmar."

  Tropical jungle shrouded in cloud and mist.

  Trees stretch to the sky, and dense forests continue endlessly. The dimly lit environment that can't see the sun makes people fearful. The mountain path is faint and obscure, making people feel that tens of steps ahead or even just a few steps ahead are unknown territories. Two people walk side by side, one turns around, and one person can shake off the other.

  The distant mountains are covered in a green mist that rushes towards me, bringing with it a dampness that is overwhelming. For someone from the northern plains, the dense forests of Yunnan's border with Myanmar are too green, so green that it's suffocating, making one yearn to see some yellow earth, black soil, or a patch of yellow leaves in the autumn breeze, or a flurry of snowflakes in the north wind... But there is none. All there is, is green: green trees, green grass, green vines, and even the air and rainwater are green, as if even the poisonous snakes and insects have turned green. It's an entire suffocating ocean of green!

  However, in this green world, a team is advancing at this time. This is a strange team.

  They were all wearing camouflage jackets, high-top leather boots on their feet, and holding the Empire's new-style rifles. (59-style, I named it 1659 because of my ignorance of firearms, so let's just associate this gun with the Han Yang Arsenal that year. If there's anything wrong, please forgive me.) A team of elephant troops was embedded in the middle of the army, with riders on the elephants holding rifles and wearing leather armor; the elephants' backs were loaded with food and spare equipment. Some elephants even towed large cannons with wheels. This army did not fly any flags, but from their hairstyles and uniforms, it was clear that they were troops of the Chinese Empire.

  Gao Wengu's army had been marching into the mountains for nearly a month. To achieve surprise, they did not follow the official road but instead followed a Tu ethnic guide into the dense forest. On the first day of climbing, they walked along a winding mountain path, which was difficult to traverse but still manageable. From the second day on, they entered the primeval forest, where ancient trees blocked out the sky and sunlight. As soon as they entered this gloomy and humid environment, the stench of rotting plants and animals assailed them, making people feel nauseous and suffocated. The countless green monkeys above their heads added to the eerie atmosphere with their cries that sounded like children wailing. The ground was covered with thick layers of fallen leaves, which felt like walking on a soft mattress, but it was also very tiring. As a result, after not too long, the soldiers were all annoyed and anxious, muttering curses under their breath. Before long, everyone felt as if they were walking on thin ice when traversing this "soft" leaf-covered path, and they couldn't help but be nervous and fearful because some deep pits were hidden beneath the leaves, like traps set by hunters, and some were even bottomless abysses that would be impossible to rescue anyone who fell in.

  In people's impression, forests are often thought to be the mysterious place where birds inhabit and beasts roam. However, for those who live in the northern plains, few can truly understand the horror of a large forest, let alone imagine the terror of a primitive forest. But these selected soldiers were from the 9th Corps of the 3rd Group Army under Gao Wenguizhi's command. Most of the soldiers were chosen from Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, so when they knew they had to go to Burma, they all clearly understood that crossing the primitive forest would be a difficult task.

  Gao Wenguang led the troops into the primeval forest, and the strange environment without sky or day was terrifying. The towering trees blocked the way, and the dense undergrowth made it difficult for people to move forward. Moreover, the cries of various birds and beasts in the darkness were even more frightening. Fortunately, this was not a small team of explorers, but a large army of tens of thousands of people, so they would not be intimidated by the terrifying environment, although they moved slowly, the troops continued to advance through the thorns and brambles.

  The engineering troops took on the task of "opening roads and building bridges" - modern weapons were so fragile here. Only by using primitive methods, letting soldiers with machetes clear a path, could they open up a truly "unprecedented" road. When crossing cliffs, they also had to set up handrails to prevent falling into the deep abyss. There were some single-plank bridges that were extremely difficult for the troops to pass through, and they had to add more wooden planks. Then, they would use wooden boards to pave a slightly wider road, allowing the elephant team and artillery to pass through. The original plan was to rush out of the mountains before the rainy season arrived, but unexpectedly, the rain came early this year. In fact, just a few days after entering the mountains, torrential rains poured down from the sky. The rainy season in Burma brought endless heavy rain, as if the sky had been punctured by a huge hole, and the rain poured down continuously from this hole. Every day, from dawn till dusk, from dusk till dawn, it rained non-stop, only changing from heavy to medium to light rain, and then back to heavy rain... repeating endlessly. Even in dry season, the mountain gorges that were passable became raging torrents with white foam flying everywhere, like waterfalls. Therefore, crossing the gorges also required building bridges. However, due to the rapid currents, bridge-building was not easy, and often the bridge would be washed away by the strong currents as soon as it was built, requiring repeated attempts before succeeding. As a result, the slow pace of the march was beyond anyone's expectations, and they could only advance a few miles each day.

  The first few days, everyone only regarded the giant python as the most terrifying threat, so the soldiers were all on high alert, guarding against a sudden attack by the beast. In fact, the animals in the forest had already fled far away due to the loud noise and light from the large army entering the woods. It was only at night that the soldiers would discover the wild beasts' fearful red-green eyes staring at them from afar. Because the soldiers were focused on the python, they underestimated the black ants crawling on the trees. The soldiers also found piles of white bones along the way, which wasn't a frightening sight for them - after all, with flying birds and animals around, it was natural to see some remains. However, no one noticed that there were only white bones without any animal corpses - not even rotten ones or fur. Why was that? In fact, compared to those tiny insects, the python was truly insignificant. The dense forest could block out sunlight but not rainwater, and puddles formed under the soldiers' feet, bringing forth leeches. Because the soldiers were all barefoot or wearing straw sandals, the leeches bit their feet, and everyone's attention was diverted by the environment. Moreover, when leeches bite people, it doesn't hurt much - in fact, it feels even milder than a mosquito bite - so they often wouldn't be discovered until later. Even if they were found, they couldn't be slapped away because if a leech is slapped or pulled off and its body breaks apart, its head burrows into the skin and continues to harm the human body. As a result, the paths where the soldiers walked soon became stained with blood - a true "blood road"!

  Tens of thousands of people in a large army marched and fought with great momentum, but after entering the primeval forest, it was as if they had entered an endless ocean, where no force could be exerted.

  On the first day of entering the deep mountain forest, Gao Wengui felt that something was not quite right. But since the leader had chosen him to complete this battle, he only had one wish: to get out of the big forest as soon as possible. Otherwise, the longer they stayed here, the more likely it was that something would go wrong.

  Gao Wengu's worries were confirmed, and it wasn't long before the troops began to fall ill. The Ninth Army's field hospital was also slow to follow, lagging behind at the rear. Although there were hospitals following along, there were also stragglers among the officers and men; in this environment, falling behind was almost synonymous with "death". Marching in the heavy rain, combined with fatigue, the physical condition of the soldiers gradually weakened, especially after being bitten by mosquitoes, more and more people became infected with the "plague", and the number of deaths increased day by day, from a few people per day to tens, dozens, and hundreds. Due to the rapid increase in the number of infections, the field hospital's medical supplies were also in short supply, and many officers and men died after suffering from high fever for several days.

  One after another, cruel events unfolded: wounded soldiers voluntarily suggested not to hold back the troops. They were not allowed to be carried by others. After convening an enlarged meeting of company-level cadres and above, Gao Wenguiz decided to dispatch a troop to protect the military hospital. As a result, the wounded soldiers were abandoned. However, such a decision no longer posed any threat to life, even hospitals could not accommodate so many wounded soldiers. What's more, there was no medicine. Death was only a matter of time. Finally, the troops had to harden their hearts and abandon the seriously ill soldiers. A group of seriously ill soldiers were abandoned by the troops. Some were still struggling, leaning on sticks to follow the team; some rolled on the ground, wailing: "Brothers! Brothers! Please don't throw me away! Don't throw me away!" Because everyone knew that in this environment, falling behind was death, let alone being sick?

  The dead man's affairs were no longer enough to attract anyone's attention. On the marching route, more and more people fell down.

  What's even more miserable is that there are countless ants and unknown crawling insects in the forest, attacking the fallen ones. A fallen one would be left with only a pile of white bones within two hours, which is the mystery of those white bones! Faced with such a miserable situation, Gao Wenguang was anxious and realized that his team had entered a terrifying battlefield without enemies. The only way to escape was to speed up the march and leave the forest. Several battalion commanders responsible for opening the road were demoted by Gao Wenguang one after another, and the team's marching speed finally accelerated somewhat.

  After marching for five more days, unexpectedly, they found groups of naked mountain people in the mountains. The men and women of these mountain people only wore a piece of cloth to cover their lower bodies, and they were not surprised when the army passed by, standing on the mountain curiously watching. The soldiers were naturally curious about this discovery, discussing it heatedly, and even wanted to go closer to understand and comfort them. Gao Wengui heard about it and was afraid that the soldiers would cause trouble, so he hastily ordered: Quick passage, strictly forbidden to contact the mountain people.

  The troops went through thousands of hardships and finally arrived at the plain after nearly two months of day and night marching. The vanguard reported that the troops had arrived in Gamai, northern Myanmar, still about 200 miles away from Mandalay.

  Gao Wengu looked at Song Mang and Pan Zengwei, ordering them to set up camp on the spot and have the troops rest. The casualties of each battalion were reported one after another, with a total loss of over 5,800 people... It was already the end of 1659. A decree flew into the Burmese palace, Gao Wengu commanding the King of Burma to hand over the former Ming rebel Zhu Yujian, otherwise he would launch a large-scale attack!