On the Yunnan border, a war is about to break out.

However, Mu Chun was in a very relaxed state of mind, and it could even be said that he did not take the Three Kingdoms Allied Forces seriously at all.

This feeling is not only reflected in Muchun, but also in all the generals, thousand-householders, hundred-householders, and general flags.

Even the chieftains who followed the battle did not show any fear towards the more than 100,000 people on the opposite side. Instead, they were full of anticipation.

In their eyes, the opponents were not more than 100,000 enemies, but more than 100,000 delicious buns waiting to be fought over and compete for the credit.

The soldiers in the back were even worried that if they were a little late, the credit would be taken away by the front army.

At least leave us a bowl of soup.

It’s no wonder that the soldiers on Muchun’s side had such thoughts. It was mainly because the previous battle of Dingbian was a bit too exaggerated.

The Battle of Dingbian, as a key battle in the early Ming Dynasty to crush Luchuan's hegemony in Southeast Asia, was even more significant than the Battle of Luchuan in the Ming Yingzong era, which crushed Luchuan's ambition to restore its old territory and expelled Luchuan to northern Myanmar.

In the Battle of Dingbian, General Mu Ying defeated Luchuan's army of 300,000, causing the Luchuan Kingdom to collapse from a southwestern power with a population of millions to a local state. The heroic and exciting battle was truly heart-wrenching.

At its peak, Luchuan’s sphere of influence was extremely vast, dominating the southwest, and even Myanmar was under its control.

Before the Battle of Dingbian, the Luchuan Kingdom had expanded to the limit of its territory. Its sphere of influence extended to Yongchang and Dali in the north, Mengrun in the south, Assam in India in the west, and Menglao in the east. Its population was around two million.

It is certainly impossible to compare with the Ming Dynasty, but in Southeast Asia, it seems that there is no rival.

The surrounding small countries had to pay a large amount of tribute every year to avoid being invaded by the Luchuan Kingdom.

Luchuan captured Weiyuan and Yuangan prefectures in the late Yuan Dynasty.

Yongchang and Jingdong were occupied only after the Ming army entered Yunnan.

During the Yuan Dynasty, the Luchuan Kingdom nominally accepted the Mongol enthronement, but was actually completely independent and not subject to any restrictions, just like the tributary states of the Ming Dynasty today.

The fact that the Luchuan Kingdom was able to maintain such a state under the Mongol cavalry shows how powerful it was.

Of course, this does not mean that the Luchuan Kingdom could deal with the Mongol cavalry. It is just because of the special geographical location that the combat effectiveness of the Mongol cavalry was greatly limited in such an environment.

In the early days of the Yuan Dynasty, after Kublai Khan's expedition to Japan failed twice, he also failed in his attack on Annan.

The climate environment in the southwest is similar to that in Annan.

Although the Mongol army was invincible in that era, it was also conditional.

They are not suited to jungle warfare.

The Mongols originally lived in the cold grassland area, and the humid and hot jungle climate made them completely unadaptable.

In such places, they are prone to illness and are more likely to cause plague.

The Mongol and Yuan Dynasty's tactics were mainly based on cavalry assaults, long-range raids, tactical encirclement, and mounted archery.

This tactical style made them invincible on the battlefields in Europe and West Asia.

But such tactics have no effect at all in the jungle.

Because the cavalry couldn't run at all.

Cavalry cannot charge, nor can they fight in the cavalry style.

Therefore, when the Mongol army fought against the Annan army, it was almost equivalent to "using one's own weakness to attack the enemy's strength."

Any general with some sense on the Annan side would not be stupid enough to confront the cavalry head-on. If the battle was delayed, the Mongols would be the ones who would suffer.

After the defeat in Annan, naturally, they had no ideas about these places in the southwest.

The Luchuan Kingdom, which dominated the southwest, took advantage of the weakness of the Mongols in the late Yuan Dynasty and continued to expand its territory.

When the Ming army entered Yunnan, the Luchuan Kingdom, which had already tasted the benefits, did not show any restraint and was not afraid at all to compete with the new Ming Dynasty.

Before the Battle of Dingbian, Luchuan had fought three battles with the Ming Dynasty, winning two and losing one.

Except for the minor defeat in the Battle of Moshalezhai, Siwafa and Silunfa won the battles of Yongchang and Jingdong respectively, allowing the control line to continue to advance northward to Yongchang and Jingdong.

Until the twenty-first year of Hongwu.

Lan Yu's battle at Buir Lake enabled the Ming Dynasty to gain a phased victory, but the defeat in the southwest region made Zhu Yuanzhang very unhappy.

The destruction of the remnants of the Northern Yuan Dynasty allowed the Ming Dynasty to free up more troops to pacify the southwest.

Following Zhu Yuanzhang's decree, an army of 200,000 was assembled, ready to attack Pingluchuan in one fell swoop.

Although the 200,000-strong army was not entirely composed of combat soldiers, just like the expedition to Japan, it also included many auxiliary troops.

But with the Ming Dynasty's combat power, these soldiers are all veterans of the battlefield, and with their winning streak, their morale is high.

The Luchuan Kingdom also has its own ambitions.

To the north of Dingbian is the famous Red River, which flows into northern Annan.

From occupying Yongchang and Jingdong to advancing to Dingbian, Luchuan’s strategic goal was to completely control the natural barrier of the Red River.

If they could move further north and occupy the Erhai Basin where Dali is located for defense, then the defense line would be completely perfect. Even if they could not occupy Dali, the rugged terrain at the source of the Red River would also be difficult to invade and deploy troops.

Therefore, after learning that the Ming army was gathering on a large scale, Luchuan King Silunfa mobilized the entire country and launched an army of 300,000 to attack Dingbian.

Silunfa occupied Luchuan, and except for areas such as Cheli, almost all the surrounding Tai-Shan ethnic areas were annexed by "Luchuan". Silunfa called himself "Luchuan King".

If Luchuan had really been able to occupy the natural barrier of the Red River and establish a solid defense before the Ming army entered Yunnan in large numbers.

Even if the Ming Dynasty gathered more troops, even if it had another 200,000 troops and its combat power was a little stronger, it would not be able to pose a threat to Luchuan due to factors such as natural dangers and logistics.

Then Silunfa, the King of Luchuan, is truly worthy of the title.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty's military strength in Yunnan was extremely small.

But Mu Ying still realized that Dingbian had to be saved.

Of course, if he suffered a crushing defeat or even was captured and killed by Luchuan, the Ming Dynasty's military power in Yunnan would completely collapse, which is exactly what Si Lunfa hoped for.

Therefore, Mu Ying's decisive battle with Si Lunfa with a small number of troops was undoubtedly a huge military adventure.

Silunfa was the grandson of Sihanfa, the founding emperor of Luchuan, although there are also claims that he was the youngest son.

He won the power struggle within Luchuan, killed the previous king Siwafa and succeeded to the throne, and defeated the Ming army in the Battle of Jingdong.

At this time, Luchuan was also in its rising period and was obviously a strong rival.

Luchuan's military force consisted of 300,000 troops and more than a hundred war elephants.

There is no distinction between military and civilians in the composition of Luchuan's forces. When they gather together, they are the military, and when they disperse, they are civilians.

When there was a battle, one soldier would be sent out from every three or five people, and the strongest ones would be selected as the regular army, called "Xila".

Xila led the troops to fight the enemy, and the rest of the people carried supplies.

Therefore, when the army marches to the frontline, there are less than 20,000 soldiers fighting.

Although all the people in Zeluchuan were soldiers, the division between combat troops and auxiliary troops was very strict. A total of 300,000 people were mobilized, and the combat troops should be between 80,000 and 100,000.

Mu Ying had only 30,000 men on his side, who made a long raid to Dingbian.

The strength gap between the two sides is extremely large.

Although Luchuan's infantry is not as good as the Ming army in phalanx combat skills, they are better at guerrilla warfare, ambushes and mountain combat. In terms of training, Luchuan also has elite warriors directly under the monarch.

As the overlord of Southeast Asia, Luchuan was able to recruit soldiers from the Indochina Peninsula. The high-quality servant archers from India, Myanmar and Laos cooperated with the elite javelin throwers and crossbowmen trained in Luchuan to form a strong long-range firepower.

Even in cavalry, Luchuan can be said to be quite powerful.

There was no shortage of Dian horses that could be used in combat, and the most primitive stirrups originated in the southwest region.

Due to the small size of the horses, the Luchuan cavalry could not wear heavy horse armor and had insufficient defense. However, they had strong endurance and were good at crossing mountains and ridges, making them more suitable for jungle and mountain warfare.

Mu Ying rushed to support Dingbian, and everyone rode a horse, but it was impossible that all of them were cavalry.

A large proportion of them were mounted infantry.

On March 15th, the Ming army arrived in Dingbian. At that time, the Luchuan army was besieging the city. They built strong earthworks and constructed a large number of siege weapons to attack the city, making it shaky.

Seeing that the Luchuan military camp was strong, Mu Ying did not launch a hasty attack, but instead set up camp fortifications opposite the Luchuan military camp to confront it.

Afterwards, 300 cavalrymen of the Ming army came out of the camp to challenge, and the Luchuan army sent out thousands of infantry and more than 30 war elephants to fight.

The leading general of Luchuan rode a war elephant and charged directly at the Ming army formation. Zhang Yin, the vanguard commander of Yunnan, led more than 50 vanguard cavalrymen and charged directly at the enemy's war elephants.

Zhang Yinfa shot the enemy general's war elephant in the left knee with his horse bow. After the elephant was injured and fell down, the Luchuan general was thrown off and then shot and killed by the Ming cavalry.

Three hundred cavalrymen of the Ming army took advantage of the situation and attacked the enemy formation. The Luchuan army could not resist and completely collapsed and fled back to the camp.

In this battle, the Ming army won a victory, beheaded hundreds of people, and dealt a heavy blow to the morale of Luchuan.

However, the enemy was limited in this battle and failed to break the siege of Dingbian Prefecture.

Afterwards, Mu Ying convened a military meeting. He believed that Luchuan was well prepared for the attack on Dingbian, with a large number of troops and a strong momentum.

Dingbian was under siege and could hardly hold out.

If we cannot win a quick victory and the battle drags on, Dingbian may be lost and the situation will be unimaginable.

So all the generals unanimously agreed, issued a declaration of war, and had a decisive battle with the Luchuan army the next day.

On the second day, the Ming army was divided into three teams. Governor Feng Cheng led the front team, Governor Tongzhi Ning Zheng led the left team, and Tang Zhao led the right team.

Mu Ying issued a military order, "Anyone who retreats must be killed."

Except for leaving a small number of troops to besiege the city, the Luchuan army also went out of the camp to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army. The formation was huge, like a vast ocean, with no end in sight.

After the two armies met, the Luchuan army drove the war elephants to charge.

All of their war elephants are covered in armor and have battle towers on their backs, where the elephant soldiers stand and shoot arrows.

There is a short spear on each side of the war elephant to assist the elephant in charging.

At Mu Ying's command, the musketeers opened fire one after another, and the air was filled with smoke.

The magical arrows were also fired at the Luchuan army.

When the infantrymen of Luchuan heard the sound, they didn't know what it was and were terrified.

Luchuan clearly lacks sufficient understanding of firearms. After all, the southwest is remote and information is not easy to spread. A lot of intelligence is still from the Yuan Dynasty.

However, the war elephants had undergone rigorous training and were extremely brave. At first, they were not afraid of firearms and continued to attack the Ming army despite the artillery and muskets.

The Ming army formed into three rows as planned and fired circularly with firearms. This was the three-stage firearm attack that Mu Ying trained, and that enabled the Ming Dynasty to conquer the world and win victory after victory.

After three rounds of fire from the muskets, the war elephants were gradually frightened and all turned around and ran back. The huge formation of the Luchuan Army was hit by the war elephants, and the central army collapsed inward rapidly.

At this time, the well-trained Luchuan cavalry rushed down from the hillsides on both sides like sharp arrows.

However, Commander Zhang Yin and Captain Zhang Rongzu immediately took advantage of the victory and led the cavalry to follow up and fight with the Luchuan cavalry.

The Luchuan cavalry fought with spears and lances and were close combat cavalry. However, due to the breed of their horses, they lacked armor. Although they had an advantage in numbers, they were still unable to withstand the fierce attack of the well-armored Ming army.

The reason why the Central Plains Dynasty was able to pass on for thousands of years was that its advantage in military equipment was unmatched by any other ethnic group or country in the world.

Although Luchuan is strong, the southwest is a barren land. Except for a few generals, the rest of the soldiers can be said to be simple and crude compared to the Ming army.

At this time, Mu Ying even deployed cannons and crossbows and fired them together. The sound was deafening, and the violent firepower hit the Luchuan army formation, making the Luchuan army more chaotic.

The Luchuan Army tried to escape into the fortifications, using the fortifications to resist in layers to neutralize the impact of the Ming Army.

However, the Ming army used artillery to destroy the key parts of the fortifications, broke through the Luchuan camp, and then set it on fire, causing the Luchuan army to collapse and flee.

Unwilling to give up, Silunfa still wanted to fight a desperate battle, so he ordered his brave general Xilayi to lead the elite warriors directly under the king to charge directly at the left side of the Ming army.

These warriors maintained their order in the midst of the chaos. They first threw javelins with a very high hit rate, causing huge casualties, and then charged with swords. The left wing of the Ming army was actually forced to retreat for a while.

Mu Ying was in control of the overall situation from a high position, commanding the entire army to fight with flags and orders. When he saw the enemy troops charging in and out of the formation, he immediately responded, took out his sword and asked someone to take the head of the left-wing general, the governor-general, and the co-governor Ning Zheng.

Because there was a military order that "anyone who retreats must be killed."

Ning Zheng saw someone running down from the high ground holding Mu Ying's sword. He was terrified and cried out to the sky in order to make merit and atone for his sins.

Ask Mu Ying to give me another chance.

Mu Ying certainly didn't mean to kill him, so he allowed him to make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence.

The governor-general and deputy governor Ning Zheng did not dare to slack off any longer. He personally led his troops into the enemy camp, exerted all his fighting power, and turned defeat into victory.

Xila, the general of Luchuan, also saw that Ningzheng's troops suddenly became a hundred times more powerful. Although he didn't know why, he could no longer hold on and retreated into the battle formation.

The army of the Barbarian King Silunfa lost their fighting spirit, and their elite soldiers were dragged down by the less disciplined army and immediately collapsed.

The Ming army won a great victory, beheading more than 30,000 people, capturing more than 10,000 people, and capturing 37 war elephants.

Almost all of the Luchuan war elephants were lost. In addition to being killed or captured by the Ming army, the soldiers were injured, lost, or starved on the way back. The number of deaths was unknown, and the corpses were piled high.

The Battle of Dingbian shattered Luchuan's hegemony, and Silunfa's prestige collapsed, forcing him to pay compensation and surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

It is because of this past glory that Mu Chun now has the strength to look down on the coalition forces of the Three Kingdoms.

After all, except for Mu Ying being replaced by Mu Chun, the rest of the generals are still alive.