The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 16 Is this a level cruiser?
When talking about these French troops captured by the Burmese, we must mention a place - Thanlyin.

This is a city located at the mouth of the Irrawaddy River and formerly belonged to the Arakan Kingdom.

In the early 17th century, it was occupied by Philippe de Brito, a famous Portuguese explorer and mercenary leader employed by the Kingdom of Arakan, and was later conquered by the Ava Dynasty.

By the 18th century, the Mon people in Thanlian rose up against the Burmese Konbaung Dynasty.

Due to the strength of the Konbaung Dynasty, the Mon people had to seek external assistance everywhere, and soon contacted the French in India.

More than six years earlier, in 1756, the Mon and French united to fight against the Konbaung Dynasty, but they were quickly defeated, Thanlyin was captured, and the local Mon people were almost massacred.

Because at that time, the Konbaung Dynasty of Myanmar was not only the most powerful empire in Myanmar's history, but also the most powerful empire that had ever appeared in the entire Indochina Peninsula. Its powerful military force was invincible throughout the Indochina Peninsula.

If we were to use a metaphor to describe the Konbaung Dynasty's status in Southeast Asia, perhaps only North Vietnam, which was later helped by New China, could be compared to it.

So the French were quickly defeated, including the chief military adviser, Major Bruno, and more than 500 French officers, soldiers, and sailors, along with three armed merchant ships, more than 70 naval guns, and 30 field guns.

There were also at least 3,500 muskets of various types, including 1,000 of the latest flintlock rifles, all of which became Burmese spoils of war.

Historically, these French mercenaries posed a great threat to the Qing army in the Qing-Myanmar War.

Relying on them, the Burmese not only defended the capital city of Ava, but also established an inland gunboat fleet on the Irrawaddy River, greatly limiting the Qing Dynasty's hope of transporting supplies through rivers such as the Irrawaddy River.

After these people were captured seven years ago, the French side had planned to rescue them immediately, but the Seven Years' War broke out soon. The French were beaten by the British all over the world and had no manpower to spare.

At this time, the Arakan Kingdom, which was increasingly threatened by the Konbaung Dynasty, was ready to take action.

They hoped that by rescuing these Frenchmen and destroying these artillery pieces, they could weaken the threat posed by the Konbaung Dynasty to the Arakan Kingdom.

If possible, the Kingdom of Arakan, which has a tradition of using European mercenaries for hundreds of years, also hopes to continue hiring these French people who know the strengths and weaknesses of the Konbaung Dynasty well to help them resist the Konbaung Dynasty.

It was under such circumstances that Manuel Bonn, who escaped from local rule, reached an agreement with the Arakan Dynasty.

Manuel Bonn planned to recruit a small fleet and no less than a thousand elite soldiers for the Kingdom of Arakan, and would be responsible for contacting the French prisoners and rescuing them when appropriate.

After hearing this, Ou Zibu waved his hand and said, "The Arakan Kingdom's monarch is incompetent, the country is small and weak, and it is directly under the threat of the Konbaung Dynasty. Even if you succeed, your final fate will not be better than Thanlian.

Why don't you cooperate with me and bring them here to work for me? When Guangnan is in chaos, we will occupy Hue together.

This is a kingdom that has existed for nearly two hundred years and has had more than ten monarchs."

Ou Zibu tried his best to seduce Manuel Bonn, but this time he resisted the temptation.

The Nguyen family's Guangnan Kingdom is a big country with a population of more than three million. It is not so easy to overthrow it, but this does not prevent him from deciding to cooperate with Ngoc Thuy Bu now.

There is no other reason. If he doesn't cooperate with Ou Zibu now, he will not be able to pass this hurdle.

Ou Zibu also knew that it was useless to say more at this time. Whether this Frenchman believed him or not depended on whether he could solve the problem for him next.

Although Manuel Bonn was down and out, he was still a ruthless man who dared to sell everything he had in Europe to buy armed merchant ships and recruit more than a hundred people to take risks in the Far East. It was impossible for him to be conquered by just a few words.

"Mr. Bonn, although these words may sound fantastical now, ten years from now, when you become a nobleman of this land, owning ten or even twenty manors and having thousands of servants under you, you will know that every word I say today is more precious than gold.

Now, before I start solving your problem, I'd like to see your ship."

. . . .

At the mouth of the Thu Bon River, Ou Zibu's face turned green as he gazed at the two warships in the distance. Manuel Bonn's face was also filled with trepidation. These two warships, especially the Fortune, which was said to be a regular French fifth-tier frigate—well, it was indeed a fifth-tier frigate, and it did indeed possess thirty-two naval guns.

but.

However, anyone who hears the name of a Tier V cruiser will basically think it is a big guy like the HMS Charming, or at least a standard Tier V ship like the French classic Tier V cruiser, the Elsaine class.

The former has a displacement of 930 tons, a gun deck 45.5 meters long, equipped with 26 12-pound cannons on the gun deck, 6 6-pound cannons on the open deck, and 4 36-pound howitzers, for a total of 36 guns.

The latter displaced 600 tons, had a gun deck 43.9 meters long, was equipped with 26 12-pound cannons on the gun deck and 6 8-pound cannons on the weather deck, for a total of 32 guns.

Such firepower is not worth mentioning in Europe, but in the South China Sea, it is a very fierce gunboat, and it can run very fast. As long as it is equipped with twenty or thirty Chinese-style Guang ships or Fu ships as auxiliary ships, the Spanish Governor of the Philippines will have to come to pay homage.

But now, what was in front of Ou Zibu was the lowest-equipped of the five-level cruisers. It should be a ship of the same class as the legendary French Navy battleship Vignette.

The ship had a meager displacement of only about 400 tons, a gun deck 28.6 meters long, and was equipped with 26 8-pound cannons on the gun deck and 6 6-pound cannons on the open deck, for a total of 32 guns.

Although the Lucky had 32 guns like the Witch class, they were only 8-pounders, which meant that they had to fight as close as possible.

But at close range, its open-deck gun was only 6 pounds, while its opponents of the same level generally had 8-pound guns, and some even had 32- and 36-pound howitzers. Two shots could smash the Lucky's open-deck into pieces.

As for why the Fortune was not equipped with a 12-pound cannon, it was because its displacement was too small, its hull was too light and thin, and its keel's bearing capacity was insufficient. The recoil of the 12-pound cannon would likely crack the ship during battle.

Look at the sailors recruited by Mr. Manuel Bonn. Damn, they are basically old hands in their thirties, and there are quite a few disabled people among them.

In this era and at this age, most people are unlucky enough to have retired from the military but failed to get enough pension.

Their physical strength has reached a point of rapid decline. They have combat experience, but their fighting skills and courage are definitely insufficient.

Because countries around the world are now short of experienced naval soldiers and sailors. If they really had good combat capabilities, they would not have fallen to this point.

"It's okay, it's okay. Getting started is always difficult." Zhu Zibu resisted the urge to give up and kept giving himself a mental massage.

"Where are the officers from Pondicherry? Why are there only sailors and Tamil servants here?"

Ou Zibu still had one last hope, which was the dozen or so regular naval officers who rushed out from the local government with Manuel Bonn.

Manuel Bonn's expression grew even uglier. After moving his mouth for a moment, he replied in a very low voice:
"Most of them left in the past two years, with only Lieutenant Jean-Pierre still in Hoi An.

But he has completely lost his faith, married a Japanese woman, and has become a drunkard who has lost all his ideals."

"Huh!" Ou Zibu took a long breath, "Mr. Bonn, I've discovered that you're not here to explore, you're here to die!
A mediocre naval officer with a crew that was about to be buried and had completely lost the courage to fight, who gave you the courage to cross the ocean and come here?

These words made Manuel Bonn's face flush red. He stood up and glared at Ou Zibu, "Mr. Ou, you are too arbitrary!

Without having witnessed their professionalism and courage, I have come to such a conclusion. As a proud French naval officer, I cannot accept such an insult from you. If I were in Europe, I would definitely challenge you to a duel!

"Okay!" Ou Zibu smiled instead of getting angry, "Mr. Bonn still has some military spirit. I'll give you one day.

By this time tomorrow, I want to see your command ability. I want to see these people rejuvenated and at least able to drive this poor cruiser.

Only if you demonstrate the qualities you deserve, our cooperation will continue!"

(Thanks to Qiyue book friend for the 1500 points reward. I will continue to ask for your reading and votes.)
(End of this chapter)