1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 399 Victory Triumph
When the two sides signed a series of agreements on the "concession", the North Vietnamese court was eager to exchange seemingly unusable vacant areas for Haihan's military assistance, and did not pay special attention to the impact of some of these provisions in the future. .After all, the ideology of those in power is limited by the times and the environment, so they lack a strategic vision when making decisions. However, these terms that were once considered insignificant by the North Vietnamese court are slowly beginning to play a role after a period of time ——Some functions that made North Vietnamese officials feel uncomfortable but helpless.

Even though Zheng Bo was dissatisfied with these decisions made by the court, he had no way to change the status quo. After all, he was just a warrior and did not have much influence in the court.Although Zheng Bai really wanted to arrest all members of the Ruan family, but now the Haihan people want to stand up to protect them, and even use the "concession" as a shield. Reflecting it, as for whether to argue with Haihan in the future, that is also the task of civil servants, and it is no longer the scope of Zheng Bai's participation.

The only thing Zheng Bai felt lucky about was that the Haihan people did not open their mouths like lions before the war, and they also wanted to come to Hue as a concession—of course, it is more likely that this condition will be rejected by the North Vietnamese court, but if the Haihan people are in the city It is requested to designate a "special exclusive area" in the nature of a concession outside or even in the city. In fact, the possibility of success is quite high.If such a situation really happens, then the local officials stationed in Hue will be in big trouble in the future.

However, Zheng Bai's worries are superfluous. Haihan never had the idea of ​​occupying Hue City from the beginning to the end.Compared with the big cities of the same era, Hue's conditions are considered good, the city defense facilities are quite complete, there are vast cultivated land around the city to provide food, and there are waterways leading directly to the sea.However, from the perspective of the Executive Committee and the Military Commission, the location of Hue City is actually not suitable for Haihan's development strategy. It is a full twenty miles away from the coastline, and there is no natural seaport terrain to develop large-scale maritime trade. , the four ports in the south that the Executive Committee requested from the North Vietnamese court are superior to Hue City in terms of sea trade development potential.Of course, only Haihan's organizational and operational capabilities can build a port city in a few seaport areas that are still in a wilderness state in a short period of time. The North Vietnamese court certainly does not have such courage.

"Take a good look at this place again. After you leave Hue this time, you probably won't be able to come back for many years." On the pier outside Hue City, Wang Tom said to a group of South Vietnamese surrenders who were about to embark on an unknown journey. : "The court in the north doesn't want to see you in the Hue area again. In order to save your lives and property, there is no other way. We can only help here."

The members of the Ruan clan who were protected by the Haihan militia this time were far more than those on the list that Yan Chujie handed over to Zheng Bai.The names on the list are all those who actually provided assistance to the Haihan militia during the attack on Hue, but in addition, there are many black accounts that were not included in the list.Most of these people were family members of officials captured by the Haihan militia after the city was broken. Some were separated from their families because of the chaos of the war, and some were blocked at home before they could escape.

The next thing is very simple. In order to save their lives, these Ruan clan members "voluntarily" paid a valuable protection fee to the Haihan militia in exchange for the "freedom and safety" promised by the Haihan people.Of course, even after spending money, the Hai Han people still insisted that they leave their homes and leave Hue. The so-called "freedom and security" only refers to the process of leaving Hue.

The Haihan Militia only relied on this unplanned revenue to take in more than 30 taels of silver, nearly 2 taels of gold, and several jewelry utensils. In terms of gold and silver alone, this is more than the income from plagiarizing the palace. rich.Several senior military officers even held a meeting to discuss whether they should come forward to protect the senior Nguyen officials captured by North Vietnam. After all, these people still have quite a lot of real estate in the private sector, and it is not a bad idea to sell it in the future. Less money.

Ruan Jinggui cupped his hands and said, "Thank you Haihan for keeping your promise. After my Ruan clan leaves Hue, I will ask you to take care of me!"

These members of the Ruan clan will not be sent to the same place of residence. For safety reasons, the Haihan side will separate them and place them in different areas.Some maritime merchants like Ruan Jinggui will be resettled in several newly opened ports in the south in the future, while most of the others will be transported back to Hainan Island and assigned to various resettlement sites under the administration of the executive committee.As for the very small number of people who still have some family property after paying various fees such as protection fees, resettlement fees, and transportation fees, but are unwilling to put themselves under the protection of Haihan, the military also gave them another option, which is Send them to the coastal areas of Daming to land.As for their future whereabouts, that is completely left to fend for themselves.

On March 200, the first batch of boats carrying the booty and the Ruan immigrants sailed out of the mouth of the Xiangjiang River and returned to Sanya.The total value of the booty shipped on this batch of ships alone has exceeded [-] million taels of silver, which is a level that the sum of the harvest of the Haihan militia's several attacks in the past has not reached.Although the communication with the base camp can only be done through brief telegrams, the senior officers of the frontline headquarters can basically imagine the smiles of the executive committee members from ear to ear when they got the news.

For the military, the biggest gain from this battle is not how many materials and money they have seized, but the expansion opportunities that will be gained from it.The military’s various military expansion and preparation plans have always been denied or cut in half by the executive committee in the name of “excessive budget”, but this time the military dispatch to Hue proved that the military committee “supports war with war” with its astonishing income. The way of development is quite feasible.Go back this time and submit the military expansion report to the Executive Committee. I believe that the Executive Committee can no longer use the old excuses to prevaricate.

Even out of practical considerations, the Haihan militia's next military expansion is imperative.After the Haihan battle was over, there were four more ports to be built in the Indochina Peninsula, and one of them was the military port of Cam Ranh Bay, which the military had coveted for a long time. Even with the lowest military configuration, these four ports There must be at least two to three thousand permanent troops, and now the militia army stationed in Annan and the reserve militia are only about half of this number, and the gap in military strength is still quite large.

In the expansion of military power in the Indochina Peninsula, the soldiers will not only come from the local area, and a considerable part of them will come from the Sanya area.According to the principle of serving in different places, the soldiers recruited from the Indochina Peninsula will serve in Hainan Island in turn, while the soldiers recruited from the Daming area will be sent overseas to serve in succession.If nothing else, most of the first batch of troops stationed in the four new ports will be troops from the Sanya Military Region.

However, the militia army participating in the Battle of Hue did not immediately evacuate with the cargo ship, because although the fall of Hue symbolized the collapse of the South Vietnamese regime, Annan's unification battle did not end here.In the Quang Zhi area south of Dong Hoi and north of Hue, there are at least thousands of South Vietnamese remnants holding the city of Quang Zhi.In the offshore area from the south of Hue to the southern tip of the Indochina Peninsula, there are still at least a dozen states and counties that are not aware of the changes that have taken place in Hue.The two sides must also reach an agreement on the next military action. In other words, everyone has to settle the previous accounts first.Then consider whether to fight together in the next battle.

"General Yan, last month our army did not send an observation team to station in your army. This last month's accounts... I think there are some things that are questionable. This cruise costs 8000 taels of silver per day. Where did the evidence come from? How to prove it?"

"Oh? General Zheng can't trust our army's accounts? So in the eyes of General Zheng, our army's credit is not enough? We send more than [-] ships to patrol the sea off Hue every day to block the ships sent by South Vietnam. The soldiers go out early and return late every day, and they have to perform six or seven hours of missions at sea, but it turns out that it’s all for nothing if you talk about it?”

Regarding the huge military expenditure involved in this battle, the generals of both sides insisted on their own opinions and would not give in.If it weren't for everyone wearing military uniforms and speaking solemnly, this scene would really have the flavor of a vegetable market vendor haggling over prices.

According to the figures provided by the Haihan side, the North Vietnamese court had to provide compensation of more than 180 million taels of silver for the Haihan militia's battle.Under Zheng Bai's strong request, the Haihan side made a slight concession, deducting the rent of the four southern ports for the first year, and expressed a certain amount of economic compensation for the North Vietnamese release of thousands of South Vietnamese surrendered troops, and the overall cost reduced by about one percent.

However, even so, there is no substantial difference between 180 million and 160 million for the already poor North Vietnamese court.At first, Zheng Bo planned to use the property confiscated in Hue City to offset the military expenses needed by the Haihan Militia, but the actual situation was too different from what he had imagined. He only entered the city one day late, and the property in the city was given by the Haihan people. Scraped most of it.Zheng Bo mobilized tens of thousands of people to search the city for five whole days, and the money he got was only more than 30 taels of silver.

Zheng Bo estimated the figure before the war to be no less than 200 million taels, but the gap in the actual figure was simply too large for him to accept.Such a small amount of money is not enough to pay the military expenses of the Haihan people, even if it is handed over to the court, it is far from enough. On the other side of the Thang Long Mansion, the king of the Qing Dynasty, Zheng Bing, is eagerly looking forward to the capture of the city of Hue after paying the Haihan military expenses. , and also dropped a few money into the treasury.However, now it seems that all this is just a delusion. It is difficult for Zheng Bo to imagine whether Zheng Bing will be so angry that he vomits blood when he receives the report a few days later.

Out of practical considerations, Zheng Bo certainly hoped to continue to cooperate with the Haihan militia, which would save the North Vietnamese Army a lot of consumption.However, although the combat effect of the Haihan militia was good, the military expenditure was too high for North Vietnam to bear.Zheng Bo is not the Minister of Finance, and he has no authority to make decisions. All he can do now is to try to keep the price of the military expenses that need to be paid as low as possible, and then report the figures to Thang Long Mansion for a decision.Of course, no matter how much the final amount of the money is, no matter whether Thang Long Mansion can pay in one lump sum, it must still be accepted, otherwise Zheng Bai can't guarantee whether the Haihan militia will simply choose to go by sea after they leave Hue. Go north to the Red River Delta and go straight to Shenglong Mansion.Since these lunatics have a way to tear down the inner and outer walls of Hue City, the city defenses of Thang Long Mansion may not be able to stop them.

Although Zheng Bo wanted to continue to cooperate with the Haihan militia to wipe out the remnants of South Vietnam, Yan Chujie's attitude was also very clear. If the previous accounts were not settled, the Haihan militia would not participate in subsequent military operations.And the time limit Hai Han left for North Vietnam was also very short, only five days—this was not enough for a round trip from Hue to Thang Long, or even a one-way trip.

On April [-]rd, the Haihan militia, which did not wait for a confirmation from the North Vietnamese side, began to organize the evacuation of Hue.Seeing this scene, Zheng Bai was really happy and worried. He was happy that these troublesome guys were finally leaving Annan—the Haihan militia had extremely high requirements for logistics supplies, and poultry and livestock within [-] miles near Hue , almost all of them were used as food supplies for the Haihan militia at their request. If they didn't leave, Zheng Bo might have to send tens of thousands of people under his command to hunt and fish.

The worrying side is that after the Haihan people leave, the battle to wipe out the remnants of South Vietnam is bound to slow down.After the Haihan Militia withdraws, the corresponding sea transportation capacity will be greatly reduced. In the future, there will only be limited sea transportation capacity to support the North Vietnamese Army's suppression operations. Just maintaining a long supply line will require too much energy and supplies of the North Vietnamese Army.If there were no accidents, Zheng Bai estimated that he would probably spend the next half a year in non-stop marching and fighting.

On April [-], the militia troops returned to Sanya by boat.Despite missing the celebration of the second anniversary of crossing, the executive committee still mobilized the people in the Sanya area to welcome the returning troops to the port area.This welcome event is also the largest since the militia has been dispatched several times. All members of the executive committee and more than [-] people came to the port area to welcome the victorious militia.

Nearly 170 combatants and nearly [-] civilian husbands were deployed in this battle in Sanya. Among them, [-] people were killed during the battle, and more than [-] were seriously injured and disabled.But in terms of the brilliant results achieved, such a number of casualties is enough to be proud of.

Yan Chujie, Qian Tiandun, Qiao Zhiya, Wang Tom and others who made great achievements in this battle were all publicly commended by the Executive Committee at the welcome ceremony on the pier, and the internal promotion of the Military Commission will be selected another day Announce.On behalf of the front-line headquarters, Yan Chujie read out the list of all those who died in battle at the welcoming ceremony, and distributed pensions to their families on the spot, as well as a commendation order jointly issued by the Executive Committee and the Military Commission.All those who died in battle will be posthumously awarded second-class military merit, and their bones will be entered into the martyrs' cemetery, and their family members will receive corresponding policy care in terms of work, house purchase, and children's education.

After completing these face-saving projects, the executive committee held a welcome reception for the crossing officers at Fort Victory that day.In addition to internal personnel, the participants also invited many foreign merchants and business representatives stationed in Sanya, and of course official representatives of Ming Dynasty such as Luo Shengdong were also invited to attend.

The main reason for inviting these outsiders is that the executive committee wants to use this victory to promote force, to shock people's hearts, and at the same time give more confidence to those pro-Haihan forces and allies with interests. Let them understand how terrifying the Haihan militia really is.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Tao Donglai stood up, made a group bow and said loudly: "Everyone, please listen to me."

After the venue quieted down, Tao Donglai continued: "I believe everyone knows that we are here today to clean up the dust for our militia soldiers. But where did they go to fight, what was the process, and what was the result? I believe Most people here may not be very clear. In order to let everyone more intuitively understand how our militia fights for the interests of Haihan outside, we have specially arranged a small program this time. Sister, don't move around at will."

After Tao Dong finished speaking, he clapped his hands, and the lights in the room were turned off. Just when the people present were puzzled, they saw a light curtain lit up on a wall, and it was the Haihan militia that was reflected on it. The scene when the expedition left Victory Port in February.Seeing such a scene, some people immediately exclaimed, and some people who had seen it knew that it was the secret technique "point shadow" exclusively mastered by the Haihan people, so they immediately explained in a low voice.

This scene should have been shot on a certain warship. Dozens of large ships sailed out of the harbor one after another, lined up, and dragged out a fleet several miles long on the sea.

Then the camera turned and saw several Haihan warships chasing a sailing ship on the sea.At this time, Wang Tom's voice sounded: "This is our pursuit of South Vietnam's cargo ships. These cargo ships purchased supplies for South Vietnam in Daming territory, but most of them were intercepted by us on the way back."

Soon the scene changed to the landing of the convoy. Wang Tom explained: "This is our landing at the mouth of the Xiangjiang River east of Hue. This place is about [-] miles away from Hue City."

The next scene made the blood of the spectators run wild. More than a dozen cannons were lined up on the river bank, bombarding dozens of ships on the river.From the picture, it can be clearly seen that these ships were shot and caught fire. The South Vietnamese soldiers on board jumped into the river to escape, while the ships slowly sank into the water.It was the first time for many people to see a real war scene. With the sound of rumbling guns from the live speakers, many people were fighting with each other and almost wanted to escape.

"This is our naval force that wiped out South Vietnam on the banks of the Xiangjiang River. Of course, it is a navy to them, but to us it is just a pile of broken logs floating on the river." Wang Tom explained The words are full of disdain for the Nanyue Navy and pride for their own militia. Although the tone is arrogant, it should be taken for granted in the eyes of the spectators-under Haihan's fierce artillery fire, this is not just a pile of broken wood ?
(End of this chapter)