1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 398 The Aftermath
In order to be able to transport the property seized by the militia from the city out of the city as soon as possible, the headquarters even ordered thousands of civilians to be temporarily recruited from the city to act as porters to supplement the transport capacity.Hundreds of civilian husbands lined up to carry all kinds of items in the imperial city into boxes one by one, and then transported them to the river outside the city for loading. It looked like ants moving house.

"I have to say, it feels good to be a conqueror!" Yan Chujie said proudly while standing on the wall of the imperial city.

Since the establishment of the Haihan Militia, although it has experienced several battles, large and small, it is the first time to conquer a city of this size in Hue. The city of Hoi An, which was captured last year, is probably smaller than the The imperial city in Hue City is only slightly larger, and the defense facilities and methods are completely incomparable with Hue City.The capture of Hue City can be regarded as the first battle in the true sense in the history of militia warfare.

"We have to act quickly. The North Vietnamese guys won't keep watching outside the city. They should be entering the city soon." Wang Tom reminded him.

Tao Donglai raised his hand to look at the time: "It's two o'clock in the afternoon, and the report from half an hour ago said that the battle outside the city is almost over. But I guess they still need a little time to deal with the prisoners. Tom, you take Two companies go to the west gate, if the North Vietnamese army intends to enter the city and block it first, say that we are chasing fugitives in the city... In short, you have an excuse to let them enter the city after five o'clock!"

"Okay, leave this black face to me to perform!" Tom Wang smiled and accepted the task anyway.

Yan Chujie's statement is not entirely an excuse. Qian Tiandun and others are indeed leading a team to wipe out the remnants of the South Vietnamese soldiers in the city, and arrest some important figures in the South Vietnamese political circle who have been included in the arrest list.Although there is a group of leading parties to assist, it is not easy for the militia who are completely away from home to find and arrest a few target persons from a large city with nearly [-] residents in this turbulent time.Moreover, there is no way to confirm which people on the list are still hiding in the city and which people have fled out of the city in the chaos, and the effect of the arrest operation is not optimistic.

Of course, the main reason why the militias tried to delay the entry of the North Vietnamese Army was to buy time to make more money.Outside almost every deep house compound, there are piles of boxes like hills, which are the result of house raids by militia groups.Yan Chujie even asked Wang Tom's naval warship to give up continuing to blockade the Xiangjiang River, and instead temporarily took on the task of transporting property.

"This time I really dug a gold mine!"

At this time, almost every militia fighter had a similar idea. It was probably the first time they saw so much money gathered together after they were born. It is impossible to say that no one is jealous.However, Haihan's military law is strict, and any act of embezzlement of spoils must be severely dealt with.Several militiamen who were caught hiding their property were hung with their hands behind their backs by ropes and hung from a roadside tree to show the public. Not only will they receive such corporal punishment measures, but they will also be expelled from the army and sentenced to a certain period of hard labor. Heavy.

The vanguard of the North Vietnamese army arrived outside the west gate about half an hour after Yan Chujie gave the order, but at this time the west gate was controlled by Wang Tom, who led the team, and raised the suspension bridge on the moat. Nothing happens.

This delaying tactic lasted for more than an hour, until Zheng Bo came to the city to call for battle, and Wang Tom appeared on the tower, holding a metal horn and shouting to Zheng Bo across the moat: "General Zheng, our army is now in the city." Suppressing the remaining soldiers defending the city, the situation is quite chaotic, in order to avoid accidentally injuring friendly troops, please take your troops outside the city for a while!"

Zheng Boqiang held back his breath and said, "If you have anything to do, put down the suspension bridge first, and let me go down and cross the river!"

"Then General Zheng, wait for a moment. I'll go to the headquarters first." After finishing speaking, Wang Tom threw the tin trumpet to the subordinates beside him without waiting for Zheng Bai's reply: "Look at them, if they don't try to cross the river , don’t worry about what they say or do outside, just call me if you need anything!”

Zheng Bai waited patiently outside the city for another half an hour, seeing that there was no movement on the top of the city, he couldn't help but also began to curse.However, this kind of emotional venting is useless, except for hoarseness, it has no practical effect at all.

Seeing the time passing by every minute and every second, Zheng Bai was thinking about whether it was time to tear up his face and send troops to storm the west gate, when he heard creaking sounds from the tower, and the suspension bridge was finally lowered slowly.

Tom Wang came out of the door with an apologetic expression on his face, and greeted him from a distance: "General Zheng, I'm really sorry for delaying you for so long! All the people from the headquarters went to supervise the battle in various parts of the city just now, and they couldn't find them for a while. It’s hard for me to ask for their opinions one by one, and then I rushed back to open the door for you. General Zheng is not in a hurry, right?”

Zheng Boxin thought that I was relieved that I didn't die here, so he just snorted and said: "Your army agreed to attack Hue City together in advance, and it's kind of unkind to make such an arrangement when the matter comes to an end!"

Wang Tom has been with people like Yan Chujie for a long time, and his face has long been as thick as a city wall. How could he be affected by Zheng Bai's level of ridicule? He immediately defended: "Our army is only worried that after your army enters the city, because the number Misunderstanding due to unclear identification. Now that our army has handed over a complete city of Hue, what dissatisfaction does General Zheng have?"

Zheng Bo knew that he couldn't argue with these Haihan people, so he stopped arguing with Tom Wang, cupped his hands and said, "I'm leading an army into the city, please send someone from your army to help, so as not to cause misunderstanding."

"It should, it should." Tom Wang replied with a smile on his face.At this time, seven or eight out of ten of the wealth of the big households in the city have been packaged and shipped out of the city, and all kinds of valuables in the palace have also been packed and shipped out of the imperial city by category. Arrived in the urban area actually controlled by the Haihan militia.The North Vietnamese army had only entered the city at this time, so there was no need to expect extravagant meat, at most some soup would be nice.

At this time, the remnants of the defenders could no longer be seen on the main streets of the city, and the various urban areas gradually returned to calm. For ordinary people, the war had come to an end.Even if there were still a small number of South Vietnamese soldiers hiding in the city, they did not dare to show up again. Those who had the courage to show up were either killed by the Haihan militia or captured and taken as prisoners.However, the chaotic fighting continued on this day, and there are still many places in the urban area that have left obvious battle marks. From time to time, the North Vietnamese army entering the city can see the corpses of the defenders lying dead by the roadside, or the houses that are still emitting green smoke. ruins.

Zheng Bai’s first place to go is of course the Imperial City, where a large number of documents related to the South Vietnamese regime are stored. Information such as the status of cultivated land, population distribution, and military deployment under his rule must be obtained by the North Vietnamese court. There is also a large amount of wealth accumulated by the Ruan family in charge of South Vietnam for decades.

When he saw the intact imperial city tower, Zheng Bai was still secretly glad that he should have come in time, maybe the Haihan people hadn't had time to move the things in the city.But when he crossed the moat and entered the imperial city, he was almost frightened by what he saw and fell off his horse.

Right in front of him, about a mile away, the tower on the other side of the imperial city had been reduced to a pile of rubble on the ground, and a large gap about ten feet long appeared in the middle of the city wall.Zheng Bo's army is also equipped with a lot of artillery produced by Haihan. He still has a deep understanding of the power of this weapon. It may be very difficult to forcefully knock down such a long section of the tower with artillery. Zheng Bo It is hard to imagine what terrible things the Haihan people have done to the imperial city in the past few days.

After arriving in the central area of ​​the imperial city, Zheng Bo discovered that many palaces in the city had obvious scars from being hit by shells, and a large piece of the roof at the southeast corner of the Qinzheng Hall was directly collapsed, which shows that the Haihan militia invaded the imperial city. Sometimes the scene is very violent.Seeing these situations, Zheng Bai's heart sank, and he no longer had too much hope for what he could gain in the imperial city.

And the result was indeed as he expected, the huge imperial city was empty, not to mention the gold and silver treasures, even the shelves in the royal archives were quite empty.Zheng Bo didn't know how many things the Haihan people had removed, but it was obvious that they had already made a comprehensive plan, otherwise it would be impossible to remove all the valuable things in the city on the day they attacked the imperial city.

"Although the buildings in the city are somewhat damaged, it shouldn't be a big problem to repair them. Some old houses, I think it's time to renovate them." As if fearing that Zheng Bai wasn't angry enough, Yan Chujie promptly repaired them. hit.

Zheng Bo held back his anger and said: "The artillery fire is short-sighted, and it is inevitable that these palaces will be damaged in the fire of war. But doesn't General Yan feel that the imperial city is a little too empty?"

Yan Chujie nodded in agreement and said: "I thought that although Nanyue was a local separatist force, it should have some property anyway. I didn't expect to come in and see that it was empty everywhere, and there was nothing of value. Look at it. It also looks like all the money was spent on the war."

"You..." Zheng Bai couldn't respond to Yan Chujie's clean-cut statement.The things in the palace are gone if they say they are gone, the Haihan people refuse to admit it, and Zheng Bo has no other choice, and he can't really tear himself apart with the Haihan people because of money without evidence.

Zheng Bai's old blood was holding back in his heart, he was so angry that his head was a little dizzy, and his feet began to stagger and he couldn't stand still. Seeing this, Yan Chujie hurriedly shouted: "Help General Zheng quickly! It seems that General Zheng has been overworked for days. Hurry up and send General Zheng out of the city and back to the camp to rest!"

The Haihan militia completely withdrew from the imperial city the next morning, and handed over the control of several urban areas in the city and several gates in the outer city to the North Vietnamese Army. Bai breathed a sigh of relief.Judging from these actions, at least the Haihan militia did not intend to stay in Hue City for a long time—if the Haihan people really did this, Zheng Bai would have no way to forcibly drive them away.

Of course, besides the good news, there is also news that makes Zheng Bai not so happy.For example, some spies reported that the Haihan people carried a large amount of goods to the ships docked on the river bank outside the city that day, and they loaded as many as five or six cargo ships.But Zheng Bo can only listen to this kind of news. He can't ask what the Haihan people loaded on the ship. It's just making yourself uncomfortable for nothing.

Zheng Bai was thinking about it while lying on the hospital bed. Although the Haihan people took the lead in the attack on Hue this time, the North Vietnamese actually achieved their strategic goals at a very low cost. There were almost no casualties and material consumption. The city of Hue has been controlled, and most of the target figures in the Nguyen family have been captured, such as Nguyen Fuyuan, Nguyen Thong and others, who were captured by the North Vietnamese army when they fled after the city was broken.

If the North Vietnamese Army had to fight independently to achieve such a result, Zheng Bai believed frankly that the North Vietnamese Army would probably have fought fiercely under the city of Hue for more than ten days, paying the price of thousands of casualties before breaking through the outer city.As for the imperial city, which is as strong as the outer city, Zheng Bo felt that he was not completely sure that he could win it, because at that stage of the war, the logistics supply of the North Vietnamese Army was probably unable to support it, and it was very likely that the final outcome would be North Vietnam chose to withdraw its troops voluntarily when it had the upper hand.

Judging from this inference, the cooperation with the Haihan Militia was an easy one to pick up. Zheng Bai estimated that the saved combat funds alone would cost nearly 10 taels of silver.The most important thing is that the Haihan people simply made the final decision this time, directly copying the old nest of the South Vietnamese regime. In this way, there will be no established regime in the South Vietnamese ruling area that can compete with the North Vietnamese court, and the unification of Annan is only a matter of time.

On March 28, the Hai Han Militia, which had completely withdrawn from Hue City, met with Zheng Bai again outside the city to discuss some aftermath matters after the war.

"At present, we still have 770 South Vietnamese soldiers who chose to surrender during the siege, and 680 soldiers who were captured during the battle. These personnel will be delivered to your army within two days." Yan Chujie Putting down the information in hand, I added: "We have made a promise to the South Vietnamese soldiers who chose to surrender, and we will release them after the war. We hope that this promise can be fulfilled by your army. As for the other captured personnel, we can follow the instructions of our two parties. The agreement negotiated before the war is used to cover our military expenses for this operation."

Zheng Bai thought about it for a while and then agreed. Locking up these captives would be a huge logistical burden for the North Vietnamese, and killing them would not do any good. Moreover, most of the surrendered South Vietnamese soldiers would be recruited by the North Vietnamese court. After all, these people's positions are not so firm, and they can still be fully recycled.As for the labor force required by the Haihan people, it is not a problem. After the war at the beginning of last year, more than half of the tens of thousands of South Vietnamese prisoners were sent to the Haihan people's territory to do hard labor to offset military expenses.If there is no accident, after the Annan Civil War, thousands of South Vietnamese will be sent to Sanya to serve the Haihan people.

"There is another thing. The people on this list provided assistance in many ways during our siege, and we also promised to save their families and property after the war. General Zheng, please take a look." After Yan Chujie spoke, he handed the information to Zheng Bai.

"They all have the surname Ruan?" Zheng Bai couldn't help asking when he saw that these dozens of names were almost all Ruan's surname.

"It's because so many people surnamed Ruan jumped out that we were able to conquer Hue so quickly." Yan Chujie replied without concealment.

"So that's how it is..." Zheng Bai had already figured out a lot of things when he saw the list.The Haihan people have only thousands of troops. After entering the city, they have to deal with the defenders, attack the imperial city, and ransack their homes to collect money. Even if they have eight hands, they probably can't take care of it. done.Zheng Bai hadn't thought about the reason before, but now he finally understood. With the assistance of these Ruan surnames, the Haihan people probably played the away game as easily as the home game, and even ransacked their homes with more purpose. sex.

"Is there any embarrassment for General Zheng?" Yan Chujie took the initiative to ask when he saw that Zheng Bai had no more to say.

"To tell you the truth, General Yan, before I led my troops to the south, the imperial court made a decree that all males of the Ruan family who entered the Southern Dynasty as officials would be punished and beheaded, and the rest would be demoted to civilians, their property would be confiscated, and they would be exiled to Gaoping." Zheng Bo shook his head. The list on Shaking Hands said: "It's also clearly written on it. Half of them have official positions in the Southern Dynasty. How can I just sit idly by?"

"The court's decree is dead, but people are alive. The city of Hue can be successfully taken, and these people have contributed to some extent. Otherwise, you and I may still be eating ashes on the battlefield at this time. How can we sit in a tent and discuss so leisurely?" These things?" Yan Chujie continued to persuade Zheng Bai.

Zheng Bo shook his head and said: "I have a military order, so please forgive me for not obeying my orders!"

Yan Chujie nodded and said: "As a soldier, I understand your insistence, so let's change the wording. These people are the ones you want to arrest, but if these people have already been captured by us, can you hand over the handling power to me?" square?"

Of course Zheng Bai understood the meaning of Yan Chujie’s words—that is to say, no matter what you Beiyue plan to do, this group of people Haihan will protect you, but I will save face for you now and set up a ladder so that you can step down. Figure it out.

Zheng Bai hesitated for a moment before responding: "These people can no longer appear in Hue...not only in Hue, but also in other places in Annan!"

"Is the concession okay?" Yan Chujie seemed to be asking for Zheng Bai's opinion, but his tone was not very polite.

Zheng Bo really wanted to say "No", but the two parties had already signed a series of agreements on the sovereignty of the concession last year, which clearly stipulated that all affairs within the Haihan Concession were only governed by the Haihan Law, and that Annan had no right to Law enforcement in the Haihan Concession.This means that the North Vietnamese court has no right to interfere with matters in the Haihan Concession.

(End of this chapter)