Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 319: South Conquest of Annan

"Don't let down your guard, always pay attention to the movements of the Ming army!"

"Yes!"

On the fifteenth day of the winter lunar month in the second year of Yongle, when the north was already covered with snow, a city standing on the south bank of the Qiqiong River among the mountains in the northern part of Annan, less than 20 miles away from Jilingguan of the Daming Dynasty, caught everyone's attention.

Its area is not large. Although it is the most important town in northern Annan, the number of troops stationed here usually does not exceed 3,000.

However, as the Ming troops from Guangxi continued to flock to Jiling Pass, more and more Vietnamese troops were stationed in Lang Son City. By the time the city became crowded, there were already 7,000 people stationed here.

As the most important town in the north, the north of Lang Son City is the jungle-covered mountains of Vietnam, and the south is the northern plain with rice fields and dense water networks.

Therefore, Lang Son is not only a transportation hub between Annam and Daming, but also a barrier gateway to Thang Long City, the former capital.

Lang Son City is surrounded by mountains such as Kuoma Mountain and Ba Wai Mountain and a series of highlands. The terrain is very steep, and the Qiqiong River serves as an obstacle to the southward movement from the north.

If you want to attack here, you will not be able to launch a large-scale battle across the river to seize the beach.

But if you want to use troops in northern Annam, Lang Son is the key place.

If you hold it, you can block the enemy in the mountains of Vietnam in the future.

If you take it, you will be able to reach Thang Long directly.

Since ancient times, when the Central Plains dynasty took Jiaozhi from the south, this was the place they had to pass through, and then they could make a decision through edicts.

It is very important, but it also has great shortcomings. The biggest shortcoming is that Jiling Pass, twenty miles away, is located higher than Lang Son. Once the Ming army attacks this place, it will form a condescending posture, which will make the Vietnamese army Very passive.

For this reason, they could only rush to build a section of the sheep's horn wall at the mouth of the plain north of the Qiqiong River in an attempt to block the Ming army that might move south in the future.

Of course, only they thought it was possible to go south in the future, and the Ming army was now ready to take Lang Son.

"Beep--"

At three o'clock on the 15th hour of the winter lunar month, when a harsh whistle sounded outside Jiling Pass, tens of thousands of figures were already standing here, standing upright in front of the not too wide Jiling Pass.

On the city gate, Fu Rang, Lin Su, Zhang Chun, Zhang Fu, Meng Ying and other five people wearing armor looked down at the dense crowd of people, and finally locked their eyes on the two columns of two hundred artillery pieces in the center of the team. .

There are 30,000 East Route Army, 50,000 civilians, 180 field guns, 20 siege guns, 4,500 draft horses, and 2,000 Southwest Army horses. This is the total data of the 30,000 East Route Army. .

Fu Rang turned around and saw more than fifty generals above Qianhuguan standing in front of him.

"I repeat, our army will take Thang Long City as its designated goal, and then divide the troops into six groups to capture the city."

"Every time a city is captured, each soldier and brother will be rewarded with a reward."

"Annan has 48 prefectures and 168 counties. How much reward the brothers below can receive depends entirely on your ability as a general."

"Again, I don't want casualty figures, I just want the results!"

"send troops!"

As Fu Rang finished speaking, more than fifty generals bowed in return, and led by Fu Rang rode out of the border on military horses.

At six o'clock in the morning, 30,000 troops from the east marched towards Lang Son.

At the same time, Mu Chun of Lin'an Prefecture also led an army of 76,000 officials and locals to march south, and appointed Qu Neng and He Fu as the vanguards, and Mu Sheng as the chieftain commander. As a general of the later army, he wiped out the villages and towns, and Qinzhou's navy also Under the leadership of Yang Zhan, they advanced towards Thanh Hoa, the western capital of Annam.

Amid the extreme tension of the Vietnamese army, the 126,000 Ming army divided into three groups and began to advance step by step towards the hinterland of Annan.

As early as a few days ago, the Chen Dynasty's surviving ministers began to appeal to the people in the hinterland of Annan, saying that the behavior of Hu Jiyao and his son was a wanton act of cruelty and cruelty to a country. They also listed the Hu family's two murders of the former Annan kings to occupy their country, and Chen The descendants of the Chen family were massacred and all other twenty major crimes were committed. It was also said that the arrival of the Ming army was to relieve the hardship of the people and to revive the Chen family's ancestral sacrifices in order to shake the people's hearts.

Sure enough, many Vietnamese people were disgusted with Hu's harsh rule and had no fighting spirit. They did not report the news to the Vietnamese army in Tuyuan Quang and Lang Son in time, which made the Ming army's march smoother.

At two o'clock in the afternoon on the 15th day of the winter lunar month, the Vietnamese troops stationed at the defense line of Liang Goat's Corner were still eating plantains and boiled game when they were suddenly attacked by the Ming army.

"Beep--"

"Enemy attack!!"

Bamboo whistles sounded at the goat's horn position in the mountain col. Many Annan soldiers had no time to finish their humble meals, so they put on their armor and relied on the goat's horn wall to observe enemy attacks.

The Ming army was too far away from them, and no one could see clearly what they were doing, but they knew one thing, that is, the Ming army sent troops from Jiling Pass and had arrived less than six miles away from the main city of Lang Son.

"Fixed shot reloading, direction Yinshi Sanji, distance one mile and two hundred steps, pre-fire one round, ready to... release!"

"Boom boom boom——"

At three quarters of noon, the Ming army's artillery position launched an artillery bombardment with 200 artillery pieces on the 2,000 Vietnamese troops stationed at the Yangjiaoqiao.

For a time, the stone ramrod wall became the most conspicuous target on the battlefield. Two hundred iron bullets weighing five kilograms fell on the Vietnamese army's position across a distance of one mile and two hundred steps.

"boom!!"

Unprepared, the Gauntlet suffered an unprecedented blow.

The two-foot-wide angular walls that could withstand car collisions had a mind-numbing effect when faced with iron artillery shells. Not only did they fail to protect the soldiers at the rear, but they began to crack internally while being bombarded, and some gravels The splash caused fatal injuries to the rear soldiers.

"kill!!!"

Suddenly, before the defenders of the Sheep's Horn Wall could react, a large number of well-armored Ming troops suddenly emerged from the jungles on the left and right sides.

Their armors were covered with green plants, and they looked like wild men, making them difficult to detect when hiding in the mountains and forests.

They launched a surprise attack from the left and right flanks of the Vietnamese army at the Sheep Horn Wall, causing the Vietnamese army to be in disarray under shelling one second, and to be in close combat with the Ming army the next, creating an unmatched sense of suffocation.

After only a quarter of an hour of fighting, they could no longer bear the casualties, so they withdrew from the defense lines of the trenches and the sheep's horn wall, and risked their lives to escape to the main city of Liangshan in the south, discarding their helmets and armor along the way, just to run faster.

"Son of a bitch! Is Ruan Jingtian's head made of shit?!"

"The Lang Son Pass was lost in less than a quarter of an hour of fighting. I want to kill him!"

In Lang Son City on the south bank of the Qi Qiong River, when the guard general Ruan Kang saw a large number of Vietnamese troops fleeing southward, he was shocked by the "muffled thunder" from the north a second ago, and immediately greeted the guard guard stationed at the sheep's horn wall.

At this moment, the Qiqiong River, which was less than 30 feet wide, became the only defensive barrier for the Vietnamese army. A large number of Vietnamese soldiers who fled south swam across the Qiqiong River without their helmets and armor. They were reassembled by the supervising team sent by Ruan Kang and asked. The reason why the camp on the north bank was breached.

"Where is Ruan Jingtian?!"

"He was hit to death by something falling from the sky..."

On the city wall, when Ruan Kang saw a soldier being brought back, he immediately asked about the whereabouts of the gable guard, but what he got was a misleading answer.

Fortunately, he had dealt with the Yuan army and knew that the bowl-mouth gun could shoot stone bullets the size of a fist, otherwise he would not have known what could fall from the sky.

"It's either a returning artillery or a bowl-mouth blunderbuss. That thing can hit more than 200 steps, but don't worry, there is Qiqiong River as a barrier from the north bank of Lang Son City, and it is 200 steps away from Qiqiong River. The Ming army's firearms can't hit that far !”

At this moment, Ruan Kang was like a rock for the Vietnamese army, calming down the originally shaken military morale.

But compared to his words, the situation in the north is truly miserable.

Two thousand cavalrymen riding southwest army horses slaughtered the group of Vietnamese soldiers who had lost their will on the broad plain on the north bank of the Qiqiong River, driving many armored Vietnamese soldiers down the Qiqiong River, and many people drowned.

Within half an hour, the Sheep's Gable Wall position at Lang Son Pass was lost. Of the two thousand defenders stationed there, only a few hundred successfully fled south, and the rest were all killed.

The Ming army did not make any move to surrender, which was the most nerve-wracking behavior in Ruan Kang's opinion.

"Prepare trebuchets and ballistae. If they dare to cross the river, call them!"

Ruan Kang could only forcefully calm down and command the remaining 5,000 people in Lang Son City to defend the city, while he himself was always paying attention to the movements of the Ming army.

An hour later, dense crowds began to appear in the distance in the Hebei Plain.

The Ming army, wearing bright armor, came to the north bank and brought artillery pieces that resembled bowl-mouthed blunderbuss.

These artillery pieces were mounted on vehicles and pulled by horses. At this moment, they were lined up in a row, standing on the north bank of the Qiqiong River, with their muzzles pointed at Lang Son City on the south bank.

"What do you want Akito to do?"

"Are you going to hit us?"

"Are you kidding? This place is three hundred steps away from the North Shore. Why are they hitting us?"

"Hahahahaha..."

Although there was laughter, the faces of the generals were full of nervousness.

The words used to pretend to be calm did not have the effect of appeasing the morale of the soldiers. Instead, they made the defenders of Lang Son City extremely nervous, because in front of them, in addition to the large number of artillery, there were also tens of thousands of people. .

Nearly 30,000 Ming troops appeared on the north bank, and the civilians who followed behind them also piled up bags of military rations carried on their shoulders and began to use tools to chop down the surrounding trees and bamboos.

“They’re making rafts, what are we going to do?”

After swallowing, Ruan Kang's lieutenant asked him, but at this moment Ruan Kang didn't know what to do.

"Securing Lang Son City, we have plenty of food and grass, and we have enough wood stored in the city. Even if they surround us for half a year, we will still have something to eat."

"I don't believe that the most important town in North Vietnam will be lost in my hands!"

Ruan Kang encouraged himself, but facing the nearly one hundred thousand team, even though he knew that most of them were civilians, he still couldn't help but worry about his future.

While he was worried, Fu Rang also made plans for his future.

"Lin Su led the Guilin guards in two groups. They penetrated into the enemy's rear from the upper and lower reaches, and went around to the rear of Lang Son City to set up an ambush. Don't let anyone escape. I want to capture these 7,000 people."

"The last general takes command!"

In the open-air command post on the north bank, when Fu Rang used his command pole to plan on the sand table, the fate of Ruan Kang and the more than 5,000 Vietnamese troops in Lang Son was already doomed.

"I'll give you half a day and one night. If you fail, pack your bags and go back to Bohai."

Fu Rang gave Lin Su ruthless orders, which made Zhang Chun, Zhang Fu, and Meng Ying on the side take a breath and turn their attention to the sand table.

The three of them are no longer new recruits. They each have their own ideas on how to win Lang Son City, but the current coach is Fu Rang, so they can only follow Fu Rang's ideas.

"His Highness said that we should deal with Annan with the idea of ​​​​annihilation, and we can't have any luck." Fu Rang stepped in front of the sand table, with his hands behind his back, and while scanning the sand table, he did not forget to teach: "That's why the battle is annihilation, so we will Expose your whereabouts two months in advance to attract the rebels' strength."

"Now the rebel army has gathered one hundred thousand soldiers and horses in the north, and there are less than fifty thousand old, weak, sick and disabled in the south. Once these one hundred thousand soldiers and horses and two hundred thousand civilians can be completely annihilated, I don't need to explain the outcome."

"At the critical moment, don't be kind to women!"

Fu Rang glanced at Lin Su, Zhang Fu and the others with a sinister look. This was not their first time on the battlefield, and they all bowed: "The general will understand!"

"Okay, get ready to rest and attack Lang Son City tomorrow morning!"

Putting down the command pole, Fu Rang walked towards the many tents that had been set up in the distance. Lin Su and Zhang Chun also wiped the non-existent sweat on their foreheads and breathed a sigh of relief:

"Old Fu's aura is getting stronger and stronger now."

"After all, if the fight is successful this time, Duke Ying's title will be lost. If it were you, I'm afraid your aura would be stronger than his."

Lin Su patted the sighing Zhang Chun. Zhang Chun immediately became happy when he heard the title: "If you give me a prince, I will definitely catch Hu Ji Yao with my own hands and present him to His Highness."

"Do what you can." Lin Su laughed and scolded, then looked at Zhang Fu and Meng Ying who were still studying the sand table.

"Wen Bi, Zong Bi, after this battle is over, I guess you will also be knighted."

"Don't dare..."

After hearing Lin Su's words, Zhang Fu became humbled, but Meng Ying looked at the sand table after hearing this: "I am afraid that the credit for recovering Annan cannot support so many titles, but by guarding here, I might be able to get a count. "

Meng Ying could see clearly that Annan on the sand table was high in the west and low in the east. There were many jungles in the west, which was very suitable for guerrilla warfare.

Although he had learned a lot of jungle guerrilla warfare methods in Nanjing, it might not be effective for a long time when used against the Vietnamese army.

As long as the Vietnamese generals are not stupid, they will definitely learn their own style of play, so it is better to be cautious when guarding this place.

"I wonder how Duke Qian and the others are doing."

When Zhang Chun spoke, he looked towards Xuanguang in the direction of the march of the West Route Army. Lin Su replied without thinking when he heard this: "To enter Xuanguang, we must uproot the camp stationed in the southeast of Wangnong Mountain."

"The Vietnamese army built fortifications there and stationed 30,000 infantry, but..."

Lin Su looked at the scene in the distance where the corpses of the Vietnamese soldiers were being thrown into the Qiqiong River, and chuckled: "These 30,000 people are probably not enough for the Duke of Guizhou to plug the gaps in his teeth."

"put!"

"Boom boom boom——"

Just as Lin Su said, at this moment, at the Ming-Vietnam border, an army composed of 76,000 Ming-Tu officers and soldiers was pouring artillery shells on the Vietnamese army, which was building fortifications on the side of the Red River and relying on the mountains.

Solid bullets and explosive bullets continued to hit the Vietnamese camp, causing screams and dodging.

The West Route Army has rich experience and is frighteningly courageous.

Fu Rang was still cautiously placing the artillery position one mile and two hundred paces away, but Muchun directly placed the artillery position three hundred paces away from the Vietnamese camp.

Having dealt with Southwest Chieftains for so many years, he knew very well the urinary nature of this group of people.

They thought they would be safe if they exceeded three hundred steps, but now the Ming army will tell them what it means that the times are progressing!

"This field gun is easy to use. If we had this thing earlier, the knife fight would have been over in a month at most."

On the battlefield, Qu Neng, who was the vanguard, couldn't put it down holding a five-pound iron cannonball and kept throwing it back and forth between his two hands.

He looked at the hundred field cannons in front of him with eager eyes, not only him, but also Gu Cheng, He Fu, Qu Yu, Qu Tao, Mu Sheng and others.

Of course, compared to their eagerness, the southwestern native officials and chieftains who followed them on their southern expedition were a little shuddering.

They saw with their own eyes that the Vietnamese army camp was defeated, and the thickness of the Vietnamese army camp was almost the same as the fortresses of most of the chieftains among them.

Only two hours after the war started, the camp that the 30,000 Vietnamese troops spent two months building was in ruins.

The Vietnamese army's camp is like this, but what about their fortress?

Thinking of this, they all looked at the Duke of Guizhou, Muchun, who made them fearful.

At this moment, he was holding a telescope and observing the extent of the destruction of the Vietnamese camp without saying a word.

"The imperial court asked us to come, I'm afraid it's not because of lack of soldiers and horses, but to show our strength..."

For a time, this idea came to all the native officials' minds. No matter how big the chieftains were among them, they couldn't help but weigh the power of the field artillery when they saw it.

If the imperial court were to attack not Annan but these chieftains this time, who among them could resist?

I'm afraid even Luchuan in its heyday would have difficulty fighting against the current army, right?

"Mu Sheng!"

Muchun suddenly put down the telescope, and as soon as he opened his mouth, everyone focused their attention on him.

Among the team, a general in his early thirties trotted up to Muchun.

He is not as handsome as Muchun, and he is not as tall as Muchun, but even so, he is still a being that the southwestern chieftains need to look up to.

"Brother." Mu Sheng came to Mu Chun and felt the eyes of others looking at his eldest brother, and he couldn't help but feel proud.

"You lead the local soldiers and prepare to send troops. Once Jianchang Bo (Qu Neng) breaks the camp of these 30,000 people, you let them enter Annan to wipe out the troops."

"In the villages and towns along the way, as long as they can take away, whether it is people or houses, they will belong to them, and those who cannot be taken away will be disposed of on the spot."

"70% of the gold and silver they seized must be handed over to us. If anyone dares to hide it secretly, you can dispatch troops to suppress it directly."

Mu Chun said these words with a cold face, which made Mu Sheng, his younger brother, stunned.

He knows his brother too well. Although he has outstanding abilities, he has excellent moral character. Such words coming from his mouth are simply a fantasy.

However, Mu Sheng quickly realized that although his eldest brother had outstanding abilities and excellent moral character, he still had one shortcoming, and that was his stupidity and loyalty.

This kind of military order cannot come from his mouth, it must be the intention of the imperial court.

"The last general takes command!"

After Mu Sheng guessed who issued the military order, he said no more. He turned around and summoned the local officials and chieftains to mobilize the army in the rear. At the same time, he told them the news he had just received.

In response to this, the local officials and chieftains were stunned for a moment, and then they all complimented Mu Sheng.

For many chieftains who were still in the slave system, being able to arrest slaves unscrupulously was a blessing from God, not to mention that they could sweep them away at will.

As for the 70% of the gold, silver and copper coins, they were stolen anyway. When they were handed over and more were kept secretly, the officers and soldiers might not find out. Anyway, it was an opportunity to make a fortune.

Thinking of this, the local officials looked hotly at the precarious Vietnamese camp.

If eyes could turn into cannonballs, I'm afraid the Vietnamese camp would have completely collapsed, but it didn't.

The Western Route Army's artillery bombardment lasted for four hours. Finally, near dusk, the walls of the Vietnamese army camp collapsed in large areas and had large gaps.

Sons, follow me and charge! "

Qu Neng, who had been waiting for a long time, raised the iron gun in his hand, led the two brothers Qu Yu and Qu Tao, and rushed towards the Vietnamese camp.

The general is not afraid of death, not to mention the soldiers below.

As the Xichuan Legion that followed Qu Neng in his southern and northern campaigns, they rushed into the Vietnamese camp with long spears and short hammers.

Not long after, the camp was ablaze with flames and shouts of killing went straight into the sky.

The Xichuan Army of nearly ten thousand people fought with the Vietnamese army. Although the enemy's army was three times our own, they were suppressed by the Xichuan Army.

"Uncle Zhenyuan..."

Seeing that the sky was about to turn completely dark, Muchun also turned to look at Gu Cheng: "Please lead three thousand soldiers to swim across the Wangnong River in the north to cut off the rebel army's retreat."

"General, take your orders!" Needless to say, the Southwest Legion's cooperation didn't need to be elaborated. As soon as Mu Chun opened his mouth, Gu Cheng knew how to fight.

The 30,000 Vietnamese troops and the 50,000 civilians responsible for supplying them must be here, otherwise there will be no such good opportunity in the future.

Gu Cheng led his troops into Wangnong Mountain in the northeast. At the same time, Qu Neng also captured the trenches, sheep's horn walls and other defensive lines of the Vietnamese army. The Vietnamese army had no choice but to retreat to the highlands in the southeast.

The person commanding this army was Hu Yuancheng, the eldest son of Hu Jiya, who was also a member of the Hu clan with good ability to lead troops.

Seeing that his side was forced to retreat, and more than 2,000 people were killed or wounded in less than an hour of fighting, Hu Yuancheng began to think about retreating.

As a famous general in the southwest of the Ming Dynasty, Muchun was powerful throughout the Indochina Peninsula. Even the southernmost Siam and Khmer had heard of his reputation. After all, Luchuan was considered the leading force in the Indochina Peninsula. As a result, such a force was at war with Muchun. Got beat twice.

Because of this, Hu Yuancheng also carefully studied Mu Chun's fighting style. When he saw that the fortifications he had spent two months building were destroyed, he understood that if he did not retreat in time, he would most likely be outnumbered by Mu Chun. Dumplings surrounded and annihilated.

Therefore, when facing nearly 10% casualties, he decisively ordered a breakout.

"The whole army retreats to Xuanguang in the south. Beware of ambushes set up by the Ming army along the way. Burn all the food and grass that cannot be taken away. Don't leave a grain of rice to the Ming army!"

"Yes!"

In the big tent, Hu Yuancheng's words made countless generals feel heartbroken, and at the same time they also felt the feeling of surviving the disaster.

The bravery of Qu Neng and his son were vivid in their minds, but they were not sure that they would be able to block Qu Neng's fierce attack tomorrow.

If you retreat now, you might be able to make peace with the Ming Dynasty later with the help of your troops and horses.

Thinking of this, the Vietnamese generals began to implement Hu Yuancheng's military orders. The Vietnamese army of less than 30,000 abandoned 50,000 civilians and began to flee south under the cover of night...

　"Records of Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "In the winter of the second year, the Hu family in Annan massacred my subjects, and millions of Chinese were killed by his hands. At that time, the Chen family's survivors secretly reported, and the superiors were horrified when they heard about it, and cried: "The people of the Heavenly Dynasty were massacred like this. How can my heart be at peace? Nowadays, prosperity and destruction are continuing, and it is in line with the law of heaven to punish the people and punish them. "So he issued a proclamation and sent Duke Muchun of Guizhou and Governor Fu Rang to attack with 300,000 soldiers."

　　"History of the Ming Dynasty": "In the winter of the second year, the emperor sent the Duke of Guizhou to conquer Annan. The officers and soldiers slaughtered many people. Along the road, the bones were white and green, the city was deserted, and villages were left everywhere. The people did not die but moved to their ears. From then on, Annan was wasted. That’s it.”

　　

　

(End of this chapter)