1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 610 Preemptive strike ([-])

On August 1648, 8, Annan, Anxing (now Guang'an, Vietnam, north of Haiphong).

Zheng Tianshun, a guerrilla in Haiyang, looked at the ships of Qi State floating on the Baiteng River outside the city, and secretly groaned in his heart.Those gunboats bombarded just now, destroying almost all the wharves, villages, and river inspection halls on the river bank.Although not many people were killed, the fierce artillery bombardment still made people outside the city swarm towards the city.

Fearing that there might be enemy spies among the fleeing civilians, Zheng Tianshun did not allow anyone to enter the city, and asked the soldiers to shout to the civilians in the city to disperse and take refuge in the countryside.At the same time, he mobilized all the strong men in the city, and after only a little arming, he was driven to the top of the city, and together with more than [-] soldiers stationed in the city, he defended against the enemy's landing attack on the city.

I don't know if the messengers sent can reach Shenglong City smoothly, report the situation here to King Qingdu (Zheng Bing), and invite reinforcements.

Looking at the gunboats swimming back and forth on the river, it was obvious that the Hanzhou people from the south had killed them. They must have raided Annan with the advantage of boats to cooperate with the rebellion of the Ruan family who launched an offensive on the southern border more than ten days ago. rear.

In the past few years, Hanzhou has been helping the rebellion of the Ruan family in the south, resisting our Dali court, and hindering the Qingdu king's unification of Annan, which is really abominable.Now, five or six of their gunboats have actually attacked Anxing and blatantly bombarded the people of Dali, which is really deceiving people too much.

"My lord, the bandit army has sent a small boat to land!" An officer shouted loudly.

"The whole army is on alert! Don't go out of the city to fight in waves. The bandit army has sharp firearms, and our army is no match for it." Zheng Tianshun ordered.

"My lord, the bandit army only has a few small boats, and the landing force must be scarce..."

"How do you know that the bandit army's move is not to lure our army out of the city!" Zheng Tianshun glared at the officer, "We must guard the city carefully, and we must not be taken advantage of by the enemy."

On an armed galley on the river, Zou Zaixing couldn't help laughing when he saw that more than a dozen armed sailors had successfully boarded the pier without any counterattack.

"The people in Annan didn't even go out of the city to fight back. It must be empty in the city....Do you want to try to fight?"

"We have five or six small boats, and the total number of people is less than 300. I'm afraid we won't be able to attack this city." Geng Guan shook his head and said: "The governor just asked us to pretend to attack the city here to attract reinforcements from Shenglong City. If all our sailors disembark, don’t be stranded on land.”

"If it's just looting outside the city, there's not much money for it!" Zou Zaixing looked at Anxing City in the distance, and said regretfully, "You stay on the boat and I'll take some people ashore to have a look."

"...Don't attack Anxing City, it's hard to explain the loss of people." Geng Guan reminded again.

In the afternoon of the same day, more than a hundred armed sailors from the Qi State Fleet landed one after another. At the beginning, they were very cautious, advancing carefully from the dock to the shore.But one or two hours passed, and the armed sailors even approached more than 400 meters away from Anxing City with muskets, and there was no reaction in the city.Immediately, the landing sailors became more courageous and began to search the houses and houses outside the city, searching for possible remains of property.

In the evening, the sailors who had achieved a little, rowed the boats and returned to the galleys in the river one after another, and then sailed out of the river mouth and headed for the open sea under the twilight.

The Annan garrison in Anxing City did not dare to move lightly, and still maintained full vigilance to prevent the Hanzhou bandits from sneaking at night.
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When several galleys of the State of Qi pretended to attack Anxing City, a small-scale naval battle had just ended outside the mouth of the Red River [-] kilometers to the south.

Of course, this small scale is only for the fleet of the Qi State Navy, and for the Annan Zheng's Navy, it can be said to be a huge loss.After several years of hard work, the navy that was finally reorganized was hit hard again.

Of the three second-hand armed merchant ships purchased from the Dutch, two were wounded and became captives of the Qi State Navy. One fled to the south. After entering the water village, there were still sporadic boats fleeing into the mouth of the Red River.

During the battle, nearly 50 warships of the Qi State tried to line up in a row, practicing sea battle line tactics to attack the Annan Navy.However, the opponent did not cooperate at all. More than 20 large and small ships rushed over from three sides, and more than [-] small boats just... turned around and ran away!
Faced with this situation, the Qi State Navy Fleet didn't pay attention to any battle line tactics, and went directly into the formation, bombarded the opponent's ships with fierce firepower, and rammed the small boats that wanted to jump into close combat with their huge hulls.

The five professional warships immediately focused on the three Galen sailing warships bought by the Annan Navy.After forcing back a group of small boats, a local numerical advantage was formed, and gang fights started around the opponent.

In less than two hours, the Annan navy began to be defeated, and some ships simply raised their flags and surrendered under the threat of the Qi navy's muzzle.When inspecting the harvest, the navy officers and soldiers found mercenary officers and sailors with Western faces on the two captured Galen sailing warships.

After a little interrogation, it turned out that he was a naval employee of the Dutch East India Company, who was hired by Annan with a high salary to help the other party get familiar with and master the operation and use of the Galen sailing warship.In addition, I also learned from them that in the Annan Zheng family's firearms battalion, there were also more than ten hired firearms instructors to guide and train the Annan Musketeers.

Looking at the estuary of the Red River in the twilight, Qi Dajiang couldn't help but feel a little worried about the troops of Qi State who went up the river to attack Thang Long City (now Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam).

The troops of the Qi State who raided Shenglong City were divided into seventeen medium-sized galleys and more than thirty fishing boats, traveling against the Red River on the winding river.All Annan fishing boats and river patrol officers and soldiers encountered on the way were all killed or captured.Although it is not expected to completely conceal the behavior of the troops, it is still hoped to delay the reaction speed of the Annan people to the greatest extent.

In the early morning of August 8, the fleet rushed to more than 29 miles from Thang Long City. Considering that it would be intercepted by the opposing navy, more than 30 soldiers disembarked. After a short rest, they quickly attacked the Annan capital.

After defeating several teams of the Annan local garrison who heard the news and came to stop them, and disregarding several cities and towns along the way, the Qi army went to the city of Shenglong before the evening of the same day.

Although the city has received news of a powerful enemy attack, and has also made some military deployments.But Annan's army did not expect that the enemy would come so fast.

More than 500 musketeers in black and gray uniforms approached [-] meters from Thang Long City, lined up in a neat formation, staring at the Annan defenders at the head of the city.Some soldiers and horses began to dig trenches, set up tents, and prepared to establish a camp.

The enemy army coming from outside the city is indeed the soldiers and horses from the small Fanbang country in the south - Qi State!

A few days ago, several prefectures and counties in Anxing, Haiyang, and Nanding received a warning message, claiming that they were attacked by a powerful enemy at sea, with thousands of bandits, "guns and guns are endless", the city is also "dangerous", and there are all defenders "Bravely kill thieves", try to protect the territory.But the thieves' weapons are so sharp that they may not be able to last long, so please call Wang Jing's imperial guards to rescue them.

For this reason, Qingdu Wang Zhengyi ordered the deputy commander of the imperial guards to lead [-] soldiers to rush to the seaside to support several attacked prefectures and towns along the coast.Not a few days after the reinforcements were dispatched, alarms were continuously received from the banks of the Red River, saying that a large number of ships were going up the river along the river, and they seemed to be targeting Wang Jing.

At the beginning, Zheng Bing still didn't believe this news. Shenglong City is more than [-] miles inland, and there are more than a dozen city passes along the way. How dare the enemy army dare to rush in and penetrate into our Annan territory?
Aren't you afraid that my army will cut off their retreat, trap them under Shenglong City, and gather them together?
But when another warning signal came from tens of miles away, the enemy army had already abandoned their ships and landed, defeated several blocking troops and horses along the way, and quickly came towards Shenglong City.Zheng Bing was a little panicked. In addition to deploying troops to defend the city, he also sent more than a dozen messengers to the military towns of the prefectures in Annan to call the local garrisons to come to King Qin.

Looking at the tens of thousands of Qi troops lined up outside the city, the generals of Annan's garrison did not dare to move lightly and guarded the city.

Thang Long City is located on the Red River Plain, and it is close to the sea. It is rich in products, and it is also a place where the population thrives.Its earliest prototype was the ancient Luocheng built in 200 BC.In the Annanbei period (that is, the period of Chinese rule), it was called "Songping" and later "Dragon Belly".In 886 AD, it became a fortress and was called "Da Luo"

In 1010, Li Taizu, the first emperor of the Annan Li Dynasty, moved his capital to Daluo City.It is said that he saw a dragon rising from the Red River, so he named Daluo "Shanglong". Before Annan's capital was moved to Qinghua (Western Capital) in 1397, Thang Long was the capital of Annan. After the capital was moved to Qinghua, Thang Long became the eastern capital.

In 1408, Annan once again belonged to Daming in the north, and the eastern capital was renamed "Dongguan" by Daming. In 1428, Li Li, the founding father of the Le Dynasty, rebelled against the Ming Dynasty. Annan gained independence from the Ming Dynasty, and the city of Dongguan was renamed "Tokyo".

In 1592, General Zheng Song defeated the northern Mo Dynasty and rebuilt the Le Dynasty (Later Le Dynasty), so Thang Long City was used as the capital.

After more than 600 years, the city has been expanded many times and has become the main city in Annan.There are 12 city gates built in the city, the most important of which are the five gates of Amaranth Gate (Anning Gate), Yeshi Gate (Shengguang Gate), Dongmomen (Qinglang Gate) and Guanchang Gate (Donghe Gate).

And the Qi army came along the Red River, attacked the city, and faced Guan Zhangmen.Originally there was a water village by the Red River here, but because they learned that there were enemy troops going up the river by boat, most of Annan's officers and soldiers in the water village had already boarded the boat to block the enemy fleet, and there were few guards. The self-salvation army broke through the gate of the village, and then set a fire, which illuminated the entire gate of the officer.

At around four o'clock that night, the fleet of ships from the Qi State along the Red River arrived at the wharf of Thang Long City. The hulls and sails of many ships had signs of damage, presumably after a fierce battle on the river.

In order to launch an attack on Thang Long City as soon as dawn tomorrow, the sailor officers and soldiers who arrived regardless of fatigue, unloaded more than ten cannons from the ship overnight, shouted chant, and dragged them to the temporary camp.

The Annan garrison in the city looked at the brightly lit and noisy camp of the Qi army outside the city, and was in a state of surprise. They kept reporting the news to the king of Qingdu in the city, saying that the bandit army seemed to be attacking the city overnight. He went to the city with the people in the city to assist in the defense.

Before dawn, Zheng Bing brought a group of civil and military officials to the top of the city to watch the attacking Qi army outside the city.

Yesterday evening, the general of the defenders at the top of the city reported back, and learned that the enemy troops outside the city must not exceed 5000. Zheng Ting was shocked at first, and then annoyed. I am a majestic Li Dynasty, with a population of millions, and more than [-] armored soldiers. Let a small foreign country thousands of miles away come to the capital.What a shame this is to my Da Li Dynasty!

Although, a few days ago, more than 4000 troops were sent to coastal prefectures and counties to deal with the raids of the bandits, but there are still [-] soldiers left behind in Thang Long City, and they have a solid city defense. Many people can conquer this huge city.As long as the soldiers and civilians in the city are united and guarded for four or five days, the soldiers and horses from the military town of the nearby state capital will naturally gather here to wipe out all these overwhelmed bandits under the city.

Through the faint light in the morning light, Zheng Yi vaguely saw that the Qi army camp outside the city was extremely quiet, and the dozen or so huge bonfires outside the camp gate seemed to be about to burn out, emitting faint fireworks, and there were no signs of fire. The soldiers on duty, like the bandit army who had been tossing around in the middle of the night, fell into a deep sleep again.

Seeing this situation, Zheng Bing ordered people to go out of the city to investigate the movement of the bandit army.

Then, when more than a hundred Annan soldiers sneaked to the ditch outside the Qi army camp, they were shot and killed a dozen of them on the spot by sporadic firecrackers, and the rest quickly fled back to the city in embarrassment.

Although the distance is far, it is hard to see how the bandits outside the city counterattacked, but judging from the sound of the firecrackers, the opponent is not a neat row of firecrackers, but scattered firecrackers.This surprised Annan from top to bottom. How accurate are the firecrackers of the bandit army outside the city?
With the rising of the sun and sporadic musket fire, the Qi army camp slowly came to life.

A group of township soldiers crossed the temporarily dug trench outside the camp, moved forward for more than 200 meters, and then formed a tight shooting array.Afterwards, continuous queues poured out of the battalion, gradually thickening the thin military formation.

Under the watchful eyes of the Annan defenders at the head of the city, the formation of the Qi army rolled forward alternately, and more than a dozen artillery pieces followed behind the team, slowly and firmly approaching the city of Shenglong.

"The thieves are mobilizing all their nests, do they want to launch a full blow on my Shenglong City?" Zheng Yan watched in disbelief as the Qi army outside the city slowly approached the city wall, posing as if he did not make any temptations, and immediately attacked with all his strength. The posture of the city.

You know, Shenglong City is the largest city in Annan, the capital of the Dali Dynasty, with a population of more than [-], and the circumference of the city wall is more than [-] miles. Thousands of bandit troops outside want to break through this city?
This is a bit exaggerated!

In fact, Thang Long City, the capital of Annan, has been breached several times by foreign forces in the hundreds of years of history, not to mention that the powerful dynasties in the north have not only breached this city several times, but also destroyed the Annan regime several times.Even the weak city of Champa in the south has a record of capturing Thang Long City. At the end of the 14th century, the Champa monarchy Peng E took advantage of the weakening of the national power in the last years of the Tran Dynasty of Vietnam to capture this city for three times. The Annan people are proud of it. the great city, and returned with plunder.

Today, an army from a small foreign country thousands of miles away has come to Shenglong City again, trying to break through this big city that symbolizes the dominance of Annan people in the central and southern regions.

"Let's start!" Niu Hu looked at Shenglong City in front of him, then took a deep breath, and ordered in a deep voice.

(End of this chapter)