1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 397 The difference between inside and outside
For a commander commanding tens of thousands of troops, the most frightening situation is not how powerful the enemy is, but the blockage of external information makes it impossible for him to see the trend of the battle situation, make timely and reasonable judgments and take effective countermeasures measure.After Zheng Bai led his army south to the outside of Hue City, he faced this very depressing situation.

Although the battle plan agreed with Haihan at the end of last year was that "the two armies will join hands to attack Hue City after joining forces in Hue", the current actual situation seems to be slightly different from the agreement at that time-this "joint forces" "It has already arrived, but the "combined attack" seems to be still open to discussion.

For the North Vietnamese court, the significance of conquering Hue was not only to realize Annan unification politically, but also the wealth in Hue City was an important means to save its fiscal deficit.Before Zheng Bo sent his troops to the south, the Qing capital king Zheng Bing issued a secret order to Zheng Bo, asking him to collect as much gold and silver treasures in the city as possible after conquering Hue and transport them to the north.After the war between the North and the South, the northern imperial court must pay a considerable amount of military expenses to the Haihan militia. At this time, the treasury has already been exhausted. Whether it can avoid the huge debt owed to Haihan again depends on the Let's see how much oil and water the troops of the Southern Expedition can get from the South Vietnamese ruled area.

But it is clear that the North Vietnamese family is not the only one eyeing Hue City. After Zheng Bai led his army south, he found that his allies also had the same thoughts.The Haihan people asked the North Vietnamese to deploy their troops in the area west of Hue City, saying that they wanted to prevent the remnants from fleeing into the mountains, but they couldn’t wait to launch an offensive against Hue City alone. Zheng Bai believed that this was entirely because the Haihan militia wanted to eat alone. which performed.The information returned by the military observation team sent to the Haihan Army to perform surveillance tasks is basically relayed by the liaison officer of the Haihan side, often with only a few numbers, only "today's fighting is very fierce, and the two armies are attacking and defending each other." Or descriptions such as "our army killed more than a thousand enemies in front of the formation" did not mention the specific progress of the siege at all.

Of course, Zheng Bo was not a fool. He knew that the observation team he sent probably would not have the chance to watch the battle at all, so he sent many spies to the surrounding areas controlled by the Haihan militia to inquire about news.However, the information fed back from various channels is varied and inconsistent, and it is difficult to judge whether it is true or false. It is reported that the Haihan militia is storming the northeast corner of Hue City for days, but no substantial progress has been made; there is also news that the Haihan militia has broken through the city wall. After entering the city, they have even secretly occupied the imperial city; there is even more exaggerated news that Haihan has accepted the terms of peace proposed by the South Vietnamese court, and the two sides have secretly reached an alliance under the city, and they may strike back at any time.

For these widely divergent statements, Zheng Bai had difficulty judging the truth and falsehood for a while. According to his own judgment, the information was incomplete and untrue.Haihan people have been attacking Hue City for several days with fierce artillery fire. This offensive cannot be faked, and it is unlikely that there will be no progress.But if it is said that the Haihan people have already occupied Hue City, there is no large group of defenders fleeing from Hue City.In recent days, a small number of stragglers sneaked out of Hue City and tried to escape, but were captured by North Vietnamese patrols. After interrogation, it was confirmed that the Hai Han people had indeed invaded the city, but the battle seemed to be still in a stalemate.

Judging from the frequency of deserters, the Haihan people should not have captured the core area of ​​the city, and the defenders have not completely given up resistance, which made Zheng Bai feel a little relieved.If this situation can be maintained for a period of time, Zheng Bai is actually happy to see it—the strength of the Haihan militia is too strong, and it is actually good for North Vietnam to let them spend a little more time in Hue City.Moreover, Hue City is so big that Zheng Bo doesn't really believe that with the existing strength of the Haihan Militia, after Hue is captured, the city's defenses can be completely controlled.

As for the rumors that the Haihan people negotiated peace with the South Vietnamese court, Zheng Bo didn't believe it at all. He knew that the Haihan people were not good people, and spent so much energy destroying all the seaports in South Vietnam and driving away the Portuguese. The army is approaching the city and victory is in sight, how can it be tempted by some conditions offered by Nanyue?Besides, the conditions that South Vietnam can offer, can't North Vietnam offer them?Comparing the two, the Haihan people will definitely choose an ally with a solid relationship instead of an opponent who has been fighting for more than a year.

According to Zheng Bai's estimate, after the Haihan people invaded the city, they would inevitably suffer a frenzied counterattack from the defenders who were forced to die. As long as the battle lasted for a few more days, the Haihan militia would suffer more casualties, and Yan Chujie would naturally come to invite them. Send troops to help.But what he didn't expect was that an organized leading party appeared in the city, and they took the initiative to stand up and cooperate with the Haihan people, allowing the Haihan militia to easily control a small part of the urban area, and relatively smoothly set up a forward position in the imperial city Just one mile away.

When the situation developed to this point, the final outcome was basically finalized. The defenders did not know the actual strength of the Haihan militia. They only knew that the enemy had already advanced half of the city and reached the outside of the imperial city after breaking through the outer city. .As soon as the news spread, it was quickly interpreted by some of the defenders as "our dynasty is about to end", which in turn led to large-scale chaos in the city and the loss of organized resistance.This also reduces the pressure of the Haihan militia in a disguised form. Otherwise, if the tens of thousands of defenders in the city really want to overwhelm the militia army, let alone be able to fight, but the militia will suffer more casualties and ammunition. The consumption of materials is definitely inevitable, and it will also delay the time for them to attack the imperial city.

When Zheng Bai received the news that the Haihan militia was about to launch an official attack on the imperial city today, his first thought was to send troops to attack the west city.Since the defenders in the city want to resist the Haihan militia's attack on the imperial city, they must have no way to allocate too many troops to defend the outer city. If this opportunity is seized well, then the North Vietnamese army should still be able to break through the imperial city in the Haihan militia Having entered Hue City before, relying on the strength of our own troops, at least half of the fat in Hue can be drawn into our own bowl.

Zheng Bo immediately raised his account and transferred troops, ready to arrange an attack.But the North Vietnamese army had just assembled and had not had time to pull the team out of the camp when the gates of the western city of Hue suddenly opened wide, and thousands of South Vietnamese troops rushed out and rushed towards the North Vietnam camp.

At first, the North Vietnamese thought it was the defenders' initiative to attack, but soon found that something was wrong—the march of the South Vietnamese army did not maintain the proper formation, it was almost a messy swarm, and this was obviously not their normal combat level.Zheng Bai made a judgment after personally confirming that the South Vietnamese army was not launching an attack, but fleeing for their lives!

The emergence of this situation may mean one thing, that is, the Haihan militia has broken through the imperial city!
The anxious Zheng Bai wished to let his tens of thousands of troops fly into Hue City immediately, but his reason told him that he could not let go of these rebels who abandoned the city, because the big men of the Ruan family were probably It was mixed among these chaotic armies.If they escaped, it would be tantamount to leaving troubles behind. Maybe they would organize a new resistance army further south in a month or two.Moreover, among the tasks that Zheng Bing gave him at the beginning, the first priority was to capture the core figures of the Ruan family, and the second was to control the wealth in Hue City.

"Array! Stop these rebels, and none of them will let go! But if there are rebels, kill them!" Zheng Bo made a decision without hesitating for too long.Regardless of the situation in the city, he must first catch the people who must be caught.The blame for not getting the money can be passed on to the unkind Haihan people, but if the city is broken but no one is caught, then he, Zheng Bo, as the commander-in-chief, cannot escape the blame.

For these deserters, the line of defense several miles wide on the plain is simply an insurmountable moat.After the hundreds of rebellious soldiers rushing to the front were knocked down by the intensive musket fire of the North Vietnamese army, the speed of the rebellious troops behind them immediately slowed down.A South Vietnamese officer on a horse began to yell and organize the surrounding soldiers to form an army formation. However, in this chaotic time, it is really difficult to maintain military discipline in the chaotic army.Except for a small number of imperial forest troops who protected the nobles from the imperial city, most of the other South Vietnamese troops had actually lost their original organizational system at this time, and there was no effective command at all.

Zheng Bo didn't have the patience to wait for these rebels to slowly reorganize on the plain, and now entering the city a moment later may mean that there is less oil and water to be scraped from Hue.For the North Vietnamese court, the life and death of the ruler of the Nguyen family was not important, as long as they were kept. Therefore, Zheng Bai decisively ordered the artillery to be aimed at several places in the enemy's formation where the military flags were held and began to bombard them.

The sharp artillery fire quickly dispersed the few formed troops among the South Vietnamese deserters, and the rebel army who fled in a panic did not have any heavy weapons that could compete with them—who cares about taking those soldiers when they are fleeing for their lives? Hundreds of cannons weighing hundreds of kilograms were brought out.

"Give me the order, the cavalry battalion will attack and drive the enemy south!" Zheng Bai saw that his army had gained an advantage by virtue of long-range weapons, so he issued a new combat order.

The cavalry battalion of the North Vietnamese Army is not large, only less than [-] horses, and the horses are all of the relatively short-bodied Dian horse breed, which is very suitable for carrying loads, but it is almost meaningless as a charge horse.In terms of the breed of horses alone, they are actually not as good as the Haihan Cavalry, which currently has less than [-] riders.However, in the current environment where the situation is dominant and the terrain of the battlefield is relatively flat, it can play a very significant role in the battlefield.Hundreds of cavalry led the attack, beheading the South Vietnamese soldiers who tried to flee to the north one by one, and drove the South Vietnamese deserters to the south of the Xiangjiang River like sheep.

But although this process was smooth, the battle to clear the deserters did not end in a short period of time, because there were still strands of deserters pouring out of the city, and later even the North Vietnamese cavalry troops who rushed too far south were given to the army. caught in the middle.By the time the North Vietnamese army cooperated with infantry and cavalry, most of the deserters were forced to the bank of the Xiangjiang River. It was already noon, and at this time, almost three hours had passed since the Haihan militia entered the imperial city from the Peace Gate.

"Good stuff! Put it away, be careful not to hurt it!" Yan Chujie admired while carefully handing a blue and white porcelain vase to the militiaman next to him.

"Is this bottle very valuable?" Qiao Zhiya asked Yan Chujie blankly as he watched the militiaman take out the bottle as if holding a treasure.

"Well, it's very valuable." Yan Chujie nodded and said, "That's a blue and white lotus vase with twining branches from the Xuande period. They were all tributes to the court, and they couldn't be bought in the market at all. Look at this, it's a blue and white seawater white dragon. The patterned flat pot is also from the official kiln... and this seawater banana leaf patterned statue, this dragon patterned bowl... Tsk tsk, this time I really found a treasure! Move it away, move it all away!"

"I didn't realize that Mr. Yan is still an expert in porcelain!" Qiao Zhiya couldn't help saying in admiration when he saw that he was speaking clearly and logically.

"Experts can't say, in fact, it's been a lot of hard work recently." Yan Chujie said with a smile: "Since the attack on Hue was settled at the end of last year, this guy Ning Qi grabbed me and forced me to make up for my lessons and hard for me to make up for cultural relics. Knowledge. He said that there are many valuable and good things in Hue City, and it would be a pity if we don’t know the goods and smash them as ordinary pots and pans.”

In addition to being used by the court, the refined porcelain produced by the official kilns of the Ming Dynasty also had another important destination, which was to be given to some servant countries as rewards. During Zheng He's seven voyages to the West in the early 15th century, Annan and Champa were the areas that Zheng He's fleet visited many times. At that time, these two countries each obtained a lot of exquisite porcelain from the official kilns of the Ming Dynasty.These collections in Hue City are all genuine goods with well-documented origins. Ning Qi told Yan Chujie early on that he must collect these good things as much as possible and transport them back to Victory Port.

Although these porcelains are not as valuable as later generations at this time, and they can be sold for tens of millions or hundreds of millions at auctions, they are still rare and rare objects that are rarely seen by the people. Places for display, such as Guangzhou Office, Haihan Bank, etc., will still have a significant effect on improving the style.

In addition to these porcelains, there are also many exquisite handicrafts from Ming Dynasty, calligraphy and painting works of celebrities in the palace.Although this is just a small imperial court in a peaceful corner, it is still a powerful party after all. In addition, the maritime trade with Daming has always been close, and it has unexpectedly collected a lot of good things.Although Yan Chujie had spent two months supplementing his knowledge of cultural relics, he still only knew things by looking at pictures. Those who had seen pictures and materials could roughly tell one, two, three, and those who hadn't seen them could only rely on ignorance.It is difficult for him to identify things like calligraphy and painting. Although there are author's signature and seal on the back, most of them are characters and numbers. Get up and go.

Cultural wealth is certainly important, but for the Haihan militia, the most important thing is the more practical things like gold, silver and jewelry. After all, when the bonuses were distributed after the war, it was impossible to bring things like vases, plates, and banners. Send out the militia.Although the issued certificates are negotiable certificates, they also need to use real money as bank reserves.Several bigwigs from the Military Commission had already made up their minds before the war. If they couldn't get a hundred thousand taels of silver from Hue City this trip, it would be a real failure.

However, when they cleared the treasury of the household department the day before, the scene made Yan Chujie and others almost feel cold. The official treasury of the Nanyue court contained less than 5 taels of silver and more than 3000 taels of gold. The Haihan Bank Exchange Center in Victory Port is incomparable.Looking at the empty warehouse, several senior military officers at that time wondered whether the expected gains from this cross-sea battle before the war were a little too high.

It is not surprising that such a situation occurred. At the beginning of last year, the Haihan militia destroyed the Donghai Port north of Hue. In the second half of the year, it turned Hoi An south of Hue into ruins, and successively destroyed the two largest ports in South Vietnam. After the seaport, the Portuguese chose to withdraw from the South Vietnam border, and the Haihan militia blocked the waterway from Hainan to South Vietnam. Various factors caused the sea trade business under the South Vietnam court to be greatly affected, and the trade volume shrank to only [-]-[-]% of the original.At the same time, the huge military expenditure has not decreased at all. In order to maintain the military confrontation with North Vietnam, the South Vietnamese court can only squeeze out military expenditure as much as possible from the financial expenditure, which leads to the rapid emptiness of the treasury. If Hue is not attacked at this time, as long as this situation continues for a few more months, the South Vietnamese court will also fall into bankruptcy.

But fortunately, the raids on the homes of the rich and powerful families in the city did not disappoint the military leaders. Only in the home of Ruan Tong, who was in charge of the business power in South Vietnam, the militiamen confiscated 13 taels of silver and more than [-] taels of gold from the underground bank. , all kinds of jewelry and jade are measured in hundreds of catties, and there are hundreds of handicrafts. The valuables copied by this family alone are enough to load more than [-] carts.Yan Chujie couldn't help sighing that this Nanyue was in the same line as the Ming Dynasty, and it also managed to "store wealth in the people". The treasury was empty, but the rich and powerful were all fat.Seeing that the state power is about to go bankrupt, these people are still reluctant to spend their money on military operations, and they deserve to be ripped off by the invaders.

With this kind of case in front of them, the militiamen became more enthusiastic about raiding their homes. On the day before the attack on the imperial city, the Haihan militia confiscated property from the homes of big households in the city. The value of gold and silver alone exceeded one million taels.This also gave Yan Chujie plenty of time to slowly appraise the various art collections in the Nanyue Palace after entering the imperial city, so as to show off his humanistic and artistic accomplishments.

(End of this chapter)