Chen Mu's plan to attack Bai Gu from Yangon failed.

It takes only 200 miles of road, and after digging out the 100-mile river channel, you only need to march a hundred miles to reach Bai Ancient City.

But his subordinates took three days to walk fifty miles and were ambushed by the Baigucheng defenders out of the city. Fortunately, the scout made great contributions to the post and asked the follow-up troops to retreat in time. Only then did he avoid the ambush of the enemy who had been planning for a long time, but only dozens of flag troops were killed and injured in the back of the palace.

The setbacks in the initial battle did not put too much pressure on Chen Mu, but the Zongfan army had to withdraw to Yangon because nearly 10% of their subordinates had lost their combat effectiveness.

The reason is what people often call the southwest summer epidemic, mosquitoes and leeches.

When they set out from Yangon, they were still a tiger and wolf army. When they returned to Yangon, they were like defeated straitors and brave soldiers, supporting each other and returning to the camp with difficulty. Some people couldn't stand up as soon as they got off the boat.

Chen Mu, who stood outside the wounded camp with a calm face, greeted Cheng Hongyuan who walked out of the tent and asked, "What's going on?"

"Malaria may have been infected in Annan. There was a major epidemic after the disaster, which may be related to the heavy rain." The old doctor's face looked bad and said, "In addition to malaria, many soldiers in the marching were bitten by leeches and their legs were bleeding more... The medicines brought by the army were exhausted, and there were too many wounded soldiers. The military doctor could not do acupuncture. The general should mobilize medicine from the middle school as soon as possible."

There were large areas of paddy fields around Baigucheng. They walked on the way to retreat to prevent the enemy from chasing and breaking through the fields. The weather was hot here and the flag army was bitten by leeches.

"What medicine is needed?" Chen Mu rubbed his face, looked up at the dazzling sunlight in the sky, closed his eyes and nodded slowly: "I'll send someone to Guangzhou Prefecture to buy it."

"The hemostatic powder bite by leech is sufficient for the army. You can use malaria artemisia pills to treat malaria. Guangzhou Prefecture is not enough, so it must be done in Guangdong and Guangxi." Cheng Hongyuan was much more worried about the situation than Chen Mu. The old doctor looked embarrassed and said carefully: "Now hundreds of people in the army have fever and cold. This is the symptom of malaria. Malaria is lurking. At this time, there will be more in the future."

“There are more?”

Cheng Hongyuan nodded and said, "Artemisia annua, duck gallbladder, licorice, and realgar must be prepared. When the medicine comes, the general will also take it. If the general falls ill, he will have to withdraw his troops."

Chen Mu didn't care whether to take medicine or not. He cared about the scale of the malaria outbreak. He asked: "How many people in the army may be infected with malaria?"

The old doctor was not sure, and said, "Maybe five hundred, maybe five thousand, no one knows it before it is released."

"Oh, I'll take the doctors to acupuncture for the injured, so I won't disturb the general." Cheng Hongyuan sighed and reminded Chen Mu again: "The injured should be separated from the other banner troops. Anyone with fever and cold should also be separated, otherwise the army will not be protected. The general must remember."

At this time, Chen Mu suddenly realized that malaria itself is not contagious, but in places like the southwest where mosquitoes are widely distributed, it is easy to infect sergeants in the same tent.

"Isolate all the sick people in the army, build them up camps, and deliver food every day. Doctors and doctors must wear clothes to cover mosquitoes when going in and out."

The flag army retreating back to Yangon had no time to rest, and tens of thousands of flag army were divided into several camps, one of which was specially used as a camp to isolate the sick flag army.

The cotton cloth that was originally used to buy and sell goods on the ship was requisitioned in large quantities. Before he could sew clothes, Chen Mu ordered the flag army to cut the cotton cloth into strips, and the military doctors and the flag army sent food to tighten the cuffs and make scarves and masks.

"Distribute the salt in the baggage to the flag army, and strictly order that the knife will not be cut off after being bitten by leeches, and all leeches will be sprinkled with salt. I don't have more intention to see the infected flag army."

The commander of the Central Army was sent by Chen Mu. Although there were only less than a thousand injured in the army, it was enough to minimize their morale. This time he wanted to withdraw his troops more than in Nanshan, Qinghua, but he had no choice. "Wars are not waiting for people, and he has to bite the bullet and fight the war. The later he captured Bai Gu, the more people died in the north."

This is not the military operation of the Nanyang Military Palace. Meng Yang, Longchuan line in northern Myanmar, Sigu, Yang Yinglong, and the Ming army, who led their troops into the San Xuan and Liuwei from Yunnan, were confronting the main force of Mang Yinglong. They were all waiting for Chen Mu's army to conquer the city and strife in the enemy's empty defense to shake its huge army.

"Mang Yinglong is not the closed princes of Annan, so he is much more difficult to deal with. To be fair, the Myanmar army's military is no worse than the Ming army, and even more bird guns." Chen Mu looked at Deng Zilong and Zhang Shijue and said, "Select four Ministry of Households with fewer injuries in the flag army. You two stay one of them in Yangon, and the other one follows me and then go to Baigu."

"Even if you use warships to hit the fortress, you have to knock it down!"

As he said that, Chen Mu looked at the commanders sitting in the Mo and said, "Shiqi, Baigu Coast Fortress, how many people could find out?"

Zhang Shijue clasped his fists and asked for a fight, but Deng Zilong wanted to speak but stopped.

He knew that Bai Gucheng must be treated, but he also heard that malaria can be transmitted, and maybe when the infection will occur.

Now it is useless to pick out four soldiers from the Ministry of Revenue. What if they all fall ill when they arrive on the coast?

"There are many cannons and many guns. My subordinates are worried about the loss of ships and have not driven the ship to approach the port, but from the fact that they fired the cannons, they were mostly small cannons of one or two kilograms." Shiqi said what Deng Zilong wanted to say, "After the first malaria, no one knows how many flag troops are sick. It is better to wait for the general for a few more days, and the north will be confrontation."

"Shishuai Liu and Yu are all great men on the battlefield, and they won't attack rashly without temptation." Shiqi clasped his fists and said, "It's not too late to wait for a few more days!"

Chen Mu waved his hand and said, "Don't wait. Press the six thousand-stuff warships together with the Chihai. I don't believe that Baigu Fortress can be stopped. As long as I am fast, even if the flag army is infected with malaria, it can break Baigu City!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Deng Zilong stood up and fisted and said, "Master General, if you don't fight like this, you will be in Yangon. Deng and Commander Zhang lead the fleet to attack Bai Gu. Even if you can't occupy Bai Gu, you will definitely remove the fortress."

"One of the time, neither Beizhi nor Commander Zhang had any experience in dealing with malaria. Secondly, even if we retreated, it would have no effect on morale. If the general led the army, we would not be able to stay in Yangon, so we could only return to Malacca."

Chen Mu leaned on the chair, squinted his eyes and thought for a moment before nodding slowly.

He wanted to lead troops to fight Bai Gu. Malaria broke out in the army, which gave him the strength to hold it in his heart but had nowhere to vent. However, what Deng Zilong said was reasonable and what he said was relatively good.

The actual meaning is that this battle is very unsafe. What we are afraid of is not that we cannot lead the army, but that we are afraid of being defeated. Once Chen Mu leads his army to be defeated, the impact on morale can be imagined.

The question is not whether Chen Mu is willing to take responsibility for defeat, but that their army, which is stuck in the back of Mang Yinglong, cannot withdraw.

"Since that's the case, then you two will lead five thousand Ministry of Households to attack Baigu from the sea by warships. They do not demand to attack Baigu, but they must break the fortress to achieve the purpose of shaking the Mang army." Chen Mu took a deep breath and said, "I am here, working with the doctor to save more flag soldiers' lives."
Chapter completed!