1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 122 Overseas Investigation ([-])

Thanh Hoa is a rather unfamiliar city to the expedition team.The information in the hands of the expedition team is basically the domestic situation of Vietnam before the crossing. We only know that this is the capital of Thanh Hoa Province in later generations of Vietnam, and it is one of the big cities in the eastern coastal area. However, this information is not enough to judge the current situation. It is almost useless as a reference.

At the critical moment, the expedition team still thought of asking for help from the base camp. At least there were some semi-professionals like Ning Qi who were more familiar with history, and they might be able to provide some useful information.Sure enough, the expert team at the base camp did not disappoint the expedition team this time. After receiving the request for help, the expedition team quickly got advice from the expert team.

Before this operation, Ning Qi mentioned the domestic history of Vietnam during this period in the training course of the expedition team. One of the important historical events was that Vietnam gained independence from the rule of the Ming Dynasty in 1427.The Vietnamese Le Loi who led this independence movement was born in Thanh Hoa. He launched an armed rebellion against the Ming Dynasty in 1418 in Shou Xuan County, Thanh Hoa, Vietnam. Vietnamese history books call it "Blue Mountain Uprising".Le Loi single-handedly established the Le Dynasty with the national name Dai Viet. Although this dynasty was in a state of division for a long time during its rule, it barely maintained until the end of the 18th century when the Nguyen Dynasty came to power, and the Le Dynasty withdrew from the stage of history.By the way, it is worth mentioning that the current country name "Vietnam" is the country name used by the Nguyen Dynasty in the early 19th century.

100 years before the people who traveled through time and space came to this time and space, that is, in 1526, the then emperor of the Li Dynasty, Li Zhaozong, was killed by the power minister Mo Dengyong. The next year, Mo Dengyong usurped the throne and established the Mo Dynasty.At that time, the ministers of the Li Dynasty, Ruan and Zheng, supported Li Zhuangzong, the son of Emperor Zhaozong, to succeed him in Qinghua, forming a situation in which Li and Mo faced each other in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.During this period, Thanh Hoa existed as the ruling center and de facto capital of the Le Dynasty.It was not until 1592 when the general of the Le Dynasty, Zheng Song, destroyed the Mo Dynasty, that the capital of the Le Dynasty was moved back to Hanoi, which was then called "Thang Long Mansion".

However, after Zheng Song came to power, he immediately became a new generation of powerful ministers. The emperor of the Le Dynasty continued to be reduced to a puppet, while another powerful minister, Nguyen, occupied Hue in the south as a stronghold, forming a new confrontation between North and South.The Annan Civil War, which started in 1627, was a head-on collision between these two major forces in the country.And the former temporary capital Thanh Hoa has become the first choice for war refugees fleeing north to settle down.

But as for the situation of Thanh Hoa at this time, the strength of the garrison and the political situation, the expert group in the rear cannot provide more detailed information.After all, the expert group is all keyboard historians in the final analysis, and their limited energy is basically spent on researching domestic and European history. It is not easy to have such a level of understanding of a country of Vietnam's level.

After getting this information, the expedition team held a group discussion again, and finally formulated several rules for the next day's operation.One is to avoid the local army as much as possible, because the country is still in a state of civil war, and it is hard to say whether the appearance of the expedition team will attract military attacks; the second is to maintain an appropriate safe distance for the large number of refugees that may appear After all, there is only one letter difference between refugees and bandits, and people who are under the pressure of survival can do anything; the third is to find suitable anchorages in the coastal areas, in case they may transport immigrants here on a large scale in the future Fleet stops, if possible, to see if there is a suitable environment for setting up places like refugee camps.

On June 1627, 6, the ninth day of the expedition, the expedition continued to sail south along the coast.This section of the voyage went smoothly, and the expedition team only took three hours to complete the 25-nautical-mile voyage and arrived in the sea off Tsing Hoa.

The two guides invited by the expedition team moved out of Tsinghua just a few years ago. According to them, it is about [-] miles away from Tsinghua, which is located inland. There are two options for waterway.However, the expedition team didn't need to go to Tsinghua City to find out the situation. The two boats made a circle around the mouth of the Tsinghua River, and they saw a lot of people on the shore with their bags and baskets on their backs.

"This should be the war refugee we want to see." Xie Chun muttered, then turned to the two guides and asked, "Why do these people gather here?"

"They are waiting for a boat to cross the river." One of the guides answered Xie Chun's question: "They want to continue going north."

Xie Chun nodded, as if he approved of the guide's answer.Although from a geographical point of view, this place is already far away from the battlefield, but being able to cross one more river to the north will give us more confidence in saving our lives.What's more, just over 30 years ago, Thanh Hoa was the main battlefield of the North-South War. The Le Dynasty and the Mo Dynasty fought on the front line of Thanh Hoa for more than 60 years. out of this potentially dangerous area.Now that the Civil War is about to resume, the Vietnamese people who have suffered from it are naturally reluctant to stay in this place for too long. Perhaps in their opinion, it is better to leave the battlefield as far away as possible. As for where they can go in the end, it is not so clear. things.

The sudden appearance of two catamarans did not affect the determination of these refugees to flee north. Hundreds of refugees still gathered on the south bank, waiting for two or three small wooden boats on the river.According to the situation observed by the expedition team, there are hundreds of refugees at the mouth of the river, so there are at least thousands of refugees between here and Tsinghua City.But these small wooden boats on the river can only hold a dozen people at a time, and it will take a long time to transport all the increasing number of refugees to the north bank.

Roger, who was standing on the bow of the "Speed" to observe the situation, whistled: "If our New World can still move, it will be enough for the population needed for mining in the north."

"The New World is hopeless. Our remaining fuel reserves are no longer enough for it to drive from Victory Harbor to this place." Tom Wang also regrets what he sees. If the transport capacity is guaranteed, it should not be difficult to recruit some people from this place.These people just want to live a peaceful life. For those who want to live a good life, a stable environment is obviously more important than anything else.

The two sailing boats found a place with relatively few refugees to dock, then let two guides disembark, and brought twenty or thirty refugees nearby to inquire about the situation.As they thought, the vast majority of these refugees came from Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Ha Tinh and other areas in the south, and they left their homes in order to avoid military service and labor service that would immediately be sent to the battlefield.

According to the descriptions of these refugees, the current confrontation between the northern and southern armies is mainly between Hue and Quang Zhi. In the recent small-scale battles, it seems that the northern army has suffered a bit and there are signs of defeat.The Guangzhi area, which is about to become a frontal battlefield, has already had ten households and nine empty houses, and a large number of people began to flee northward.An older refugee claimed that there were at least [-] refugees fleeing north in just one area of ​​Guangzhi.In the eyes of these refugees, even though Thanh Hoa City is a full [-] miles away from Hue, it is not an absolutely safe place.As long as it is possible to advance, they will continue to march north, and some people even want to flee to the more distant inland areas northwest of Hanoi to avoid the war.

When the refugees were asked whether they would like to work in the undeveloped areas in the north under the premise of ensuring food, clothing and shelter, about two out of ten said they would.And when they learned that this place is only three or four hundred miles away, and they can get there by boat in two days at most, at least half of them expressed their willingness to go. Guarantee, the expedition team believes that this ratio will also show a substantial increase.The survey results made the expedition team feel extraordinarily excited. They had a vague premonition that the problem of labor population in overseas bases that had plagued the Executive Committee for a long time seemed to have found a key to solve it.

The expedition team kindly sent these refugees who cooperated with the investigation to the north bank by boat, and also gave them a small amount of salt.Before leaving, these refugees were told that if they were willing to wait here for half a month longer, a boat would take them to the north where there was no war to start a new life.

Two guides were also placed on the North Shore, and they had to walk home on their own.But it was no big deal to them, because in the end the expedition team gave them two taels of silver per person as an extra reward, which was already enough for their year's harvest.At the same time, the two guides were also reminded by the expedition team that there will be a fleet visiting their fishing village next time, hoping that more young people like them will join them.

The expedition team, who had already returned to their hearts, even gave up the burying pot and cooking that they had always done ashore, and set sail directly away from the coast of Vietnam, heading southeast at full speed.The next morning, the fleet arrived at Yinggezui in the southwest corner of Hainan Island, but the fleet did not stop for a rest, but continued to sail westward, heading for the base camp at the fastest speed.At two o'clock in the afternoon that day, the familiar mountains of Yulinjiao finally appeared in the field of vision, and the crew members who had sailed on the sea for 24 hours couldn't help cheering.Ten days after departure, the expedition team finally returned to Shengli Port intact, and brought back a large number of ore specimens and graphic and video materials of the field investigation.

Almost all members of the executive committee who got the news in advance rushed to Shengli Port to welcome the return of this group of members who had performed overseas missions for the first time.All the members who participated in this expedition have undoubtedly added a very important touch to their personal resumes.The people who can participate in this operation have been carefully selected, and their personal abilities are beyond doubt. The successful completion of the mission this time also proves from the side that the executive committee has a correct vision and employs people well.As long as there are no major accidents, these people will definitely be reused by the Executive Committee in the future development of the Time Travel Group.

(End of this chapter)