1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 346 Portuguese Worries

Although the South Vietnamese imperial court and the local Portuguese have a certain willingness to reject Haihan’s products, hoping to use trade sanctions to attack and restrict Haihan’s business activities, they underestimate the role of economic laws and simply want to To completely prohibit the entry of Haihan goods through legal means has already involved the interests of too many people, and it will be difficult to achieve it at once.

Therefore, when Qian Tiandun and others strolled in the street market in Hoi An, it was not difficult to find that the presence of Haihan products can be seen everywhere, and its presence is even comparable to that of Guangzhou.In addition, you can see Chinese dressed in Ming Dynasty costumes everywhere here, and almost all the accents you hear are from the Fuguang area, and most of the buildings on the street are Chinese-style buildings.Qian Tiandun didn't go for a long time, and he saw the places where Chinese people live together, such as Chaozhou Guild Hall, Fujian Guild Hall, Guangzhao Guild Hall, and Qiongfu Guild Hall. There are also Chinese-style religious buildings such as Mazu Temple and Guandi Temple. The incense seems to be quite good. .

Just judging from the scene on the street, it is no different from the towns along the coast of Guangdong. It is hard to imagine that this is actually another country thousands of miles away from Guangzhou.But in this way, without language and cultural barriers, Qian Tiandun's reconnaissance mission was saved a lot of trouble.

According to the information collected and organized by relevant departments in advance, and some information provided by Zhan Gui, Qian Tiandun set the targets into two categories when formulating the reconnaissance plan.One is the local military target, including the local garrison situation, the location of military facilities, the main means of defense, the deployment status of the army, and nearby large-scale garrison sites, etc.; The target to be attacked and looted.

The location of Hoi An City is on the north bank of the Thu Bon River. The area near the mouth of the sea is an alluvial plain formed by the Thu Bon River for thousands of years. There are many river forks. Therefore, the South Vietnamese side does not have enough strength to defend on the water surface. .As the largest sea trade port in South Vietnam, although there is also a small-scale navy here, in Qian Tiandun's view, its main purpose is to maintain the order of the port shipping, and the role that the military can play extremely limited.Such a fleet of small ships with a displacement of less than [-] tons can hardly pose a substantial threat to the large Haihan warships armed to the teeth.

As for the so-called Hoi An City, its city defense facilities are not even as good as a county town in Daming in Qian Tiandun's opinion.For example, Yacheng, which is adjacent to Shengli Port, is suspected of being in disrepair, but it is still much more reliable than the low brick and soil mixed city walls of Hui'an City.As for the strength of South Vietnam's army, Qian Tiandun had already seen it on the battlefield before, and it was on par with North Vietnam.

Maybe it's because they have stayed in this commercial port for a long time and are used to the bustling scenes of people coming and going. The South Vietnamese garrison here is not very vigilant to the outside world—of course, they probably never thought that someone would have the intention to attack here. .The reconnaissance activities of Qian Tiandun and his party encountered almost no obstacles, and they collected a large amount of military information after the first day.

When it was getting dark, Qian Tiandun and others returned to the Chinese club where they stayed, and found that Zhan Gui was pacing anxiously at the door.When Zhan Gui saw them coming back, his expression relaxed, and he quickly walked up to him and said, "Brother Qian, why did you come back at this time? Is everything going well?"

"Smooth, much smoother than expected. Let's go in and talk!" Qian Tiandun knew that Zhan Gui was too nervous, and didn't want him to show his flaws in public, so he hurriedly dragged him into the guild hall.

Zhan Gui has been handling transactions on the dock today, half of the goods loaded in this ship have been sold, and he has made thousands of taels of silver, but Zhan Gui is not happy at all now.After Qian Tiandun left, Zhan Gui followed suit. Every time he saw patrolling South Vietnamese soldiers coming from the pier, Zhan Gui would worry that they were here to arrest him.Although Qian Tiandun had promised him that nothing would happen during this trip to Hoi An, Zhan Gui still couldn't completely relax.

Qian Tiandun called Zhan Gui to his room, screened out irrelevant people, and then asked Gao Qiaonan to take out a few pieces of equipment from his backpack.Zhan Gui saw that these things were square and flat, some were like a small box, and some were in the shape of a tube, so he couldn't understand it for a while.

Qian Tiandun picked up a thin booklet and opened the cover, flicked it with his fingers a few times, and handed it to Zhan Gui: "There are a few places, and I need to ask Boss Zhan to help identify them."

Zhan Gui looked at it and saw that it was not a booklet, but a flat piece of Haihan glass with black frames on all sides and a clear picture in the middle, which was a building in the city.This painting is extremely detailed, far beyond human ability to describe it, as if the real scene was in front of him, Zhan Gui was so dumbfounded that he couldn't speak for a while.Although he already knew that the Haihan people possessed all kinds of miraculous tools, he was still shocked when he saw this thing in front of him—is this a demon technique or a fairy technique?
Of course, this is not magic or fairy art, but a tablet computer brought from the 21st century.The black technology that surpasses the times is in hand, which gives the military great convenience when conducting reconnaissance missions. There are all kinds of photography, video recording, and recording equipment. It is of course trivial to take some photos secretly.During the reconnaissance process, Qian Tiandun took pictures of some buildings with unknown functions in the city and transmitted them to the computer. After returning to his residence at night, he took them out for Zhan Gui, who was familiar with the local conditions, to identify them one by one.

"Boss Zhan, do you recognize this place?" Qian Tiandun saw that he had been silent all this time, so he urged him to ask again.

Zhan Gui suppressed his thoughts forcibly, and after carefully looking at the picture again, he responded: "This is the residence of Ruan Shan, a big merchant in this city. It is said that Ruan Shan is related to the ruling Ruan family of Hue Prefecture."

Qian Tiandun nodded, flicked his finger on the screen, and changed to another screen: "Then let's look at the next one..."

After looking at the picture for more than an hour, Zhan Gui's errand was finally finished.Qian Tiandun got up and sent him out of the room. When Zhan Gui walked to the door, he suddenly turned around and said, "Brother Qian, you took out this treasure just now, is it possible to sell it?"

Qian Tiandun was taken aback and said, "Do you want to buy it?"

Zhan Gui summoned up his courage and said, "I would like to offer you a thousand taels of silver."

Qian Tiandun shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, I can't sell it."

"Then add another 1000 taels!" Zhan Gui felt that Qian Tiandun's tone was not very tight, so he decided to try again.

"It's not about the money, you don't understand." Qian Tiandun shook his head and said, "With the current conditions of Shengli Port, we can't make this thing. If we can't make it ourselves, we won't sell it. Boss Zhan should give up on it."

Zhan Gui did understand half-understood, but Qian Tiandun's words also proved the preciousness of this thing from the side.Reluctantly, Zhan Gui glanced back at the "baby" on the table before stepping out of the door.

In the next few days, Qian Tiandun continued to lead his men to carry out reconnaissance activities inside and outside the city of Hoi An.On the other hand, Zhan Gui talked about business during the day, and helped Qian Tiandun sort out the intelligence pictures at night.Perhaps because of the stimulation of "baby", Zhan Gui's enthusiasm for participating in intelligence work is obviously much stronger than before coming to Hoi An, and he does not show the slightest tiredness after looking at photos for an hour or two every night.

Five days later, the reconnaissance team completed their work and boarded a ship to evacuate Hoi An.Before leaving, Zhan Gui also brought his local concubine with him and disposed of his local real estate, because he knew that within this month, the Haihan army would approach the city and attack this port city.And South Vietnam's military strength in Hoi An is definitely not able to resist the offensive of the Haihan militia, and the fall of the city is only a matter of time.After the attack here, I am afraid that it will be difficult to recover within two or three years. In the future, the sea trade business in South Vietnam may hardly reach the current level of prosperity.

After the merchant ship sailed from Hoi An, it did not rush back north, but stayed at Cham Island less than ten nautical miles away from Hoi An for a day.This island is actually an archipelago composed of seven adjacent small islands. The largest Champa Island covers an area of ​​about 13 square kilometers. There is a small natural shelter on the island.The base camp has already taken a fancy to the geographical location here when formulating the combat plan, and plans to use this place as an offshore base for launching an offensive when implementing operations.According to the investigation results of the reconnaissance team, there is only a small fishing village on the island, with about [-] households. At that time, the Haihan militia can easily take over the harbor on the island.

After completing the last reconnaissance mission, the merchant ship returned to Yong'an Port in the north according to the original route. After putting down a group of people belonging to the Heitu Port Military Region, it shipped a batch of North Vietnamese local products and dozens of people selected there. The migrants returned east to Port Victory.It is worth mentioning that although Qian Tiandun can use various black technologies in reconnaissance activities, these materials can only be sent back to Victory Port in the most primitive way.Therefore, it was not until mid-July that the Military Commission finally obtained the first-hand information sent back by the reconnaissance team.

With this information, the combat plan formulated by the military can be planned more carefully.Especially after breaking through the city, the targets that need to be attacked and looted are basically based on the information sent back by the reconnaissance team.At that time, each company can use the photos as a reference, and it will be much more convenient to find targets in the city.

However, just as the military was making final preparations, an uninvited guest came to Victory Port-João Enrique Bardac Thomas, a Portuguese envoy from Macau.

"Dear Mr. Tao, it's an honor to meet you again!" This guy was still dressed in flashy European clothes, speaking a Cantonese-style mandarin that was seriously inconsistent with his appearance, and greeted Tao Donglai who had always greeted him loudly.

"Mr. Enrique, we meet again." Tao Donglai did not forget that when this guy took the initiative to court him last time, he asked himself to call him "Enrique".

"This is really a great port city! Mr. Tao, as a businessman who has traveled to many countries, I really find it hard to believe that you have accomplished such a miracle in just over a year!" Enrique came up He unabashedly praised the prosperity of Victory Port.From his professional point of view, the wharf design and work efficiency here have far surpassed those of traditional commercial ports like Macau and Guangzhou, and the Haihan people have only settled here for a little over a year.

"If you are willing to live here for a while, I think you will see more miracles." Tao Donglai was not very humble about the other party's admiration. After all, the facts are right in front of us. It is difficult to find a second faction that can build a port city with the efficiency of the crossing group.

"I would like to stay in this beautiful place for a longer period of time. The sun and the beach here look very good!" Enrique admired sincerely: "And it seems that the environment here is also very safe!"

Like other outsiders who came to Victory Port for the first time, Enrique was also attracted by the fortifications in the port.It was the first time he had seen a fort of this density in East Asia.Although the Ming Dynasty also had several forts along the Pearl River Estuary, their density was far less than that of Victory Port.Moreover, the forts of the Haihan people were obviously not repaired as a scary display. When Enrique's boat sailed into the harbor, it was only tens of meters away from the shore, and Enrique could clearly see the door on the emplacement. door artillery.Based on his knowledge of weapons, it is easy to tell from the diameter of the muzzle that it is a gun of about 24 pounds-this is almost the largest caliber gun that the Portuguese can equip on armed merchant ships in East Asia.

Of course, the artillery on the ship cannot compare with this coastal defense artillery in terms of range and performance, and Enrique is also very clear about this.The barrels of artillery on ships are generally short to facilitate placement and loading, and the range is mostly controlled within 500 meters, while coastal defense guns can be cast thick and long because of the lack of space, even if the range exceeds 2000 meters. Rice is normal.As for the fortifications on the left and right sides of the entrance of Shengli Port, there are at least more than [-] artillery pieces. This kind of firepower density is simply desperate. Enrique does not need to make too complicated calculations to know that his armed merchant ships basically have no The possibility of storming Victory Harbor with superior firepower.

And when he saw the rumored giant steel ships in the depths of the harbor, he completely gave up the idea of ​​fighting the Haihan people at sea.Enrique has been to many countries in Europe and has seen countless sea ships, but he has never seen any country that can manufacture such a large sea ship, and the whole body of this ship is made of steel!Enrique is not an ignorant man. He knows how advanced shipbuilding technology is required to build such a large ship, not to mention that it is made of heavy steel.The fact that the Haihan people were able to drive such a large ship across the sea to Qiongzhou Island at least shows that their shipbuilding technology is far superior to that of Western countries.

Prior to this, the Haihan people were good at building ships, and rumors that they could build iron ships out of millions of catties of refined iron had also reached the ears of the Portuguese in Macau. Of course, this extremely low-credibility rumor was not taken seriously by many people. The thing-they think that the Portuguese are at least the top three in terms of sailing and shipbuilding in this world, and the shipbuilding technology that even the Portuguese have never heard of can exist in this world at all.But after Enrique confirmed this fact with his eyes, he began to curse in his heart the pedantic officials in the Portuguese Council in Macau, he really should let those arrogant guys come to Victory Port to see it with their own eyes, so that they can get rid of it as soon as possible Trying in vain to suppress the Haihan people's idea of ​​submission by relying on sea power.

After months of long quarrels, the Portuguese Council of Macau finally got the news that the Haihan militia had taken action in Panyu County. However, it has long been rumored among the people that the local tycoon Li Jifeng spent a lot of money to invite the Haihan people's regiment training militia from Qiongzhou Island, and won the final victory. Thousands of people came, some said three to five thousand, some said six or seven thousand, and some even claimed that there were tens of thousands of heroes from all walks of life who attacked Lijiazhuang at that time.But no matter what kind of statement it is, it is an accepted fact that these bandits and heroes suffered heavy casualties in the battle.

The Portuguese Council has confirmed at least a few things: First, the Haihan people on Qiongzhou Island do have the ability to fight across the sea. No matter whether the battlefield is in Annan or Guangzhou, they can cross this distance to carry out the war if necessary. attack.Secondly, the equipment level of Haihan is very high, with all kinds of weapons such as muskets and cannons. Although this point was also mentioned in the information from Annan earlier, the Portuguese in Macau at that time generally believed that it was Annan. It was just an excuse for the defeat of the frontier soldiers, but now it seems that this is not an excuse thought up by the defeated, but a terrible fact.Third, with the strength of the Portuguese stationed in Macao, they can only temporarily organize an armed force of no more than 500 people at most, and there seems to be a big gap in this strength compared with the Haihan people, which is enough to make the council Started to feel a little uneasy.

A few days after the incident in Panyu, Macau received new news that the Haihan people had united with a number of wealthy businessmen to build a stronghold on an uninhabited island at the mouth of the Pearl River, and it seemed that armed personnel were stationed there .Now the council can't sit still, because the Pearl River Estuary is the only waterway for our own merchant ships to go south. Being established by a foreign armed force in this position is almost tantamount to being choked by someone. .

If it was a year ago, when encountering such an annoying matter, the council might take advantage of the opponent's fledgling and decisively use force to solve it.But right now, it would be too risky to use force against the Haihan people, not to mention that a large "Qiong Lianfa" firm that had recently gained fame in Guangdong Province was involved in the process.This super firm established by more than a dozen wealthy businessmen from Fuguang and Guangxi provinces can be said to be rich and powerful. Whether it is private or official, no one dares to offend them publicly, and the Portuguese are no exception-offended these powerful Merchants, maybe even buying goods from Daming will become very difficult in the future.

(End of this chapter)