The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 217 Fish Enter the Sea and Birds Fly into the Sky
In Jiading, Mo Zibu's army continued all the way, waving the flag of the Ming Dynasty. With the support of the Mingxiang people, they advanced very quickly in the last twenty kilometers.

There was no need to recruit, as thousands of refugees, men, women, young and old, spontaneously came forward to tow the fleet's boats. Some of those with quick legs went around to inform others.

When the army began to go upstream, all the people of Mingxiang came rushing over after hearing the news. They came from all directions, carrying food and simple weapons, led by family elders.

"I have prepared food and drink to welcome the royal army. Is this the time when Emperor Taizu Gao can recover his homeland north of the Yangtze River?"

Zheng Qing walked enthusiastically beside the army, his feet stepping in the mud, but he walked faster than anyone else.

Ten miles away from Jiading City, there is a fort guarding the Saigon River and a small fortress.

A few decades later, Nguyen Phuc took advantage of the French and built a bastion fortress here called Anqing Fort, which was very strong.

Although this artillery fort at this time was not as formidable as those in later generations, it still had four large-caliber naval guns and a garrison of 800 soldiers. It could control the river and block the pontoon bridge, and was the greatest reliance of Jiading City's defense.

But Mo Zibu had the support of the Mingxiang people. He asked Chen Chengshan and Wu Wenyong to lead a hundred men each, carrying pistols and short knives, and blend into the fleeing crowd.

When the defenders saw the Mingxiang people coming from all over the mountains and plains, carrying the elderly and children, they did not suspect anything. Instead, they guarded the other end of the pontoon bridge and extorted money from the people based on the number of people.

Zheng Qing saw that the large fleet was about to arrive, and if he delayed any longer he would be exposed. He made up his mind, helped his wife to the front, and ordered the maid to follow.

The Zheng family is a wealthy merchant family. His wife is beautiful, and even the maids are dressed in red and green like butterflies. This makes them very conspicuous among the people who only wear white and black.

When the soldiers from the five battalions guarding the artillery fort saw this, they could no longer hold back. Seeing that the pontoon bridge was crowded, they immediately opened the spare one and specifically invited Zheng's wife and the colorful maids to cross the bridge.

When they were halfway there, the team responsible for guarding the pontoon bridge saw the appearance of Zheng's wife, and saw that she was crying so hard that she almost lost her soul. They laughed and told them to come quickly.

At this time, Zheng Qing suddenly ran forward, shouting that he was from the Anchang team, and threw out a large number of silver coins, claiming that they were money for the passage.

The bridge guards were so captivated by the beauty that they refused to take Zheng Qing's money. They ordered their soldiers to step forward, stop the refugees following Zheng's wife, and bring the beauty over.

But the soldiers didn't care about that. Such a beauty was not theirs at all. They might as well pick up the silver coins on the ground.

Seeing that the soldiers did not listen to their orders and the beauty walked very slowly, the team finally became impatient and walked down from the artillery platform, ready to carry the beauty directly to the barracks.

At this moment, Wu Wenyong stepped onto the pontoon bridge and crossed more than ten meters in a few steps. The hunched soldier on the pontoon bridge behind him also suddenly stood up.

The team was obsessed with lust and only saw Wu Wenyong flying towards them when they reached the bridge. Just as they were about to run away, Wu Wenyong pulled the trigger.

The flintlock pistol immediately sprayed out a stream of orange-red flames, directly smashing the team's heads into a pulp.

Immediately, soldiers mixed in with the crowd rushed over and slaughtered all the soldiers from the five battalions. This most important artillery position outside Jiading City was captured almost without any casualties.

Afterwards, a large number of civilians assisted the soldiers in turning the guns and directly bombarded the barracks of the fifth battalion of soldiers at the foot of the mountain.

Seeing the soldiers being bombarded for no apparent reason and then collapsing and running around, Wu Wenyong was speechless and then burst into laughter.

"How could the southern barbarians be so foolish as to dare to build their own barracks directly within the range of the artillery? They are courting death."

There is also discrimination between the north and the south in Annan. Generally speaking, the people of Beihe (northern Annan) would contemptuously call the people of Guangnan (southern Annan) southern thieves and southern barbarians.

The Annamites in the south will try their best to prove that their ancestors were also Chinese people who migrated south from Tokyo (Hanoi).

The roar of artillery finally made the defenders in Jiading City realize that something had happened outside, but before they could send troops out to check the situation, the main force of Mo Zibu's army had already arrived.

There were a total of five regiments and five thousand land forces, plus six warships, more than thirty fast crab boats, and more than a thousand sailors.

Zongshi Yan was still eating when he suddenly heard a sound like thunder outside the city.

As the highest military and political official in Jiading, he did not even think that it was the sound of a cannon. He thought it was thunder and even went out of the room to the central courtyard to look up at the sky.

The newly-married concubine also yawned and looked at Zongshi Yan with resentment. The old man was almost dying and had to rely on Mr. Jiao for everything, yet he still took her in to be a widow.

"Master, why is there thunder in broad daylight? It sounds a bit like cannon fire."

The concubine, Zongshi Yan, was from a family of regular soldiers of the Fifth Battalion. Their ancestors had wielded swords and guns and eaten the emperor's food. Yet, they were actually more familiar with the affairs than Zongshi Yan.

Then, another thunderous boom sounded, and the concubine screamed, "Master, this must be a cannon fire, not thunder!"

Zongshi Yan was still a little skeptical. Cannonballs and gunpowder were very precious to the five battalions of soldiers. Without his permission, the artillery outside the city would not dare to fire.

"Sir, the enemy army, tens of thousands of enemy troops are coming from the south of the city. River Immortal Ou Tianci is really going to take action!"

The commander of Pingshun Camp, Ruan Juzhen, another confidant of Zongshi Yan, came crawling in.

He was defeated by Chen Guangyao last time, so he was punished to drink three cups of wine and was transferred back to the city to wait for orders. The "good thing" of besieging the Chen family in Bentong was snatched away by the commander Song Fuqia himself.

Zongshi Yan was extremely anxious. Although his mind was dazed, he shouted reflexively, "Quick, close the city gates and gather the troops inside to defend the city."

"Why are we still defending the outer city? We definitely can't hold it. Move everyone into the inner city and send someone to notify Song Fuqia and the others to come back."

Ruan Juzhen stamped his feet and shouted, he knew that the outer city could not be defended.

Because it is only ten miles from the south city fort to Jiading City, the enemy may have arrived by now, so there is no time to close the city gate. Only by defending the small and strong inner city may there be some hope.

Unfortunately, just as he stamped his feet, gunfire suddenly rang out from the city like drumbeats, one after another, and Ruan Juzhen's face changed drastically. "Oh no! The Qing people in the East City have taken action. They are the only ones with so many muskets. Damn it, these northerners are really on the side of the northerners!"

At that time, there were about 50,000 people in Jiading City. In addition to more than 10,000 Mingxiang people and more than 30,000 Guangnan people, there were also 3,000 to 4,000 Chinese in the east of the city.

However, they are not Mingxiang people, but the Qing people mentioned by Ruan Juzhen.

These people were Chinese who went to Southeast Asia one after another in the late Kangxi period. A small number of them were engaged in trade, and most of them were craftsmen and farmers.

Originally, they had no close relationship with the Mingxiang people. Some of the land they cultivated was snatched from the Mingxiang people by clan members such as Zongshi Yan, and they often had quarrels with each other.

Of course, these Qing people did not participate in robbing the Mingxiang people. They were just tenants of Jiading's high-ranking nobles and military officers.

Unexpectedly, the Qing people took action before the Mingxiang people in the city began to resist.

However, the Qing Dynasty Chinese in the east of the city had other plans. Kang Liangbao from Foshan Fort, Nanhai, Guangdong, ran very fast with his brothers. They soon captured a warehouse of the Guangnan people that they had always coveted.

The warehouse is filled with a large number of swords, guns and muskets, all of which were made by them for the five battalions of soldiers. Now they have become weapons for these Chinese in the Qing Dynasty.

"Kill him, kill him!" Excited roars came from outside. Kang Liangbao jumped out of the warehouse and saw a group of Huang family members holding machetes, chasing and killing dozens of soldiers from the Fifth Battalion.

Kang Liangbao suddenly felt that these guys looked familiar. They seemed to be the soldiers guarding the east gate.

Just then, Dali Ah San from the Huang family ran past him. Kang Liangbao grabbed him and pointed at the Guangnan soldiers running around like wolves and pigs and asked, "Is this a soldier from the East City Gate?"

Dali Asan's face flushed with excitement. "What a bunch of idiot southern barbarians! More than 200 people were defeated by just a few dozen people from our Huang family."

The contempt chain in this world is very interesting. The people of Lingnan have been called southern barbarians by the people of the Central Plains for hundreds of years, but of course they don't admit it, because in their hearts, these Annan people are the southern barbarians, not them.

Kang Liangbao was speechless for a moment. "Go to hell! Damn it! Go back, everyone, go back and guard the east gate to welcome the soldiers into the city. Why are you still chasing them now?"

So, under the leadership of Kang Liangbao, a large group of people rushed to the east gate to guard the city gate and stopped rushing in and killing indiscriminately.

These Chinese people with braids on the back of their heads basically came from Foshan City, which was still called Foshan Fort at that time, and their main surnames were Kang, Chen and Huang.

They are actually the overflow of the current internal circulation of Foshan's iron smelting and handicraft industries. These people cannot compete with their predecessors with superb skills in Foshan, so they choose to go south to make money.

As a result, these craftsmen with average skills became masters as soon as they arrived in Jiading.

Therefore, even though they knew that these Chinese people lived in the east of the city, had a large number of swords, guns and muskets in their hands, and had more than a thousand young men who worked as blacksmiths all year round, the royal family still turned a blind eye.

Because Jiading cannot do without these blacksmiths, everything from weapons to farm tools to iron pots, spatulas and other tableware needs to be made by Chinese.

Of course, Zongshi Yan was not stupid. When he was exploiting and seizing the property of the Mingxiang people, he would still give some of the benefits to these Chinese who were called Qing people in order to win them over.

At the same time, he would occasionally sow discord between them.

Well, this is very useful on a daily basis, but it is not useful when external forces suddenly come.

Because there is no language barrier between these Han people from Foshan and the Mingxiang people, who are mainly from western Guangdong, they are not like the Chaozhou people and Hakka people who cannot understand each other.

This resulted in the two ethnic groups becoming increasingly close due to language, customs, and blood ties, despite the constant instigation of the clan leader, and even sharing information, materials, and intermarriage.

These blacksmiths in the city were strong men with weapons in their hands. As the saying goes, holding a sharp blade makes them murderous.

They knew very well how much benefit the clan members like Yan had benefited from the Mingxiang people, as Kang Liangbao said when he instigated the Chen and Huang families.

"It's better to eat the meat of the southern barbarians than to eat the bones they throw away. It makes sense to help outsiders instead of fellow villagers."

Therefore, Mo Zibu's attack on Jiading was like an armed parade. Before he reached the south fort of the city, the fort was captured.

When the army arrived at the fort, the east gate of Jiading was wide open, and thousands of men were waiting there with great joy.

When Mo Zibu entered the outer city of Jiading, almost all the Mingxiang people nearby had come. Together with the Han people who came from the Qing Dynasty, there were about 20,000 people in total.

With their help, Mo Zibu quickly transported more than 20 eight-pound cannons from the warships into the city and began to bombard the inner city of Jiading together with a dozen field guns of the army.

In the inner city, Ruan Juzhen ran to the garrison and saw that even at this time, the royal family member Yan was still busy packing up the treasures and taking his beloved concubine with him.

Seeing that this old man was so stupid, Ruan Juzhen immediately took Bai Baishi's confidants and ran out of the North City before Mo Zibu surrounded them.

By the time Zongshi Yan had packed up his belongings, with Ruan Juzhen's escape, the more than 1,500 soldiers in the inner city had become headless flies. Outside, Mo Zibu's army, with the cooperation of the Mingxiang people, completed the encirclement, and he had nowhere to escape.

The royal family member Yan was terrified. He had just left with a large amount of treasure and family, and now he wanted to return to the garrison to hide.

But the servants around him refused to obey orders and began to snatch the property of the royal family, and then fled in panic.

Zongshi Yan was furious. He drew the musket from his waist and was about to fire at a servant who was carrying a piece of silk cloth when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head.

Before the world spun and fell, his butler, a Cham man with gold teeth, was sneering at him.

(End of this chapter)