The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 240 Finally everyone's expectation
In Jiading City, everyone knew that General Mo Da was going to go to war.

Ordinary people saw that the number of soldiers on the streets was increasing day by day, and huge amounts of supplies were constantly gathering in Jiading.

Those who know the business realize that General Mo now has 16,000 navy and army troops. These are not ordinary soldiers, but fully dedicated soldiers.

Someone did the math for General Mo Da and found that the monthly salary for these 16,000 soldiers would cost at least 80,000 taels, and their food and bedding would cost 20,000 taels.

Now, the entire Xingtang Prefecture has an annual land tax of 110,000 taels, a population tax of 60,000 taels, a mining tax of 100,000 taels, a commercial tax of 250,000 taels, and a profit of 500,000 taels from the tin mining trade.

General Mo Da's various mines had a profit of about 150,000 taels.

The total income is 1.17 million taels per year.

Based on this consumption, even if all of it was used for military purposes, there would still be a gap of 30,000 taels of silver, not to mention that Xingtang Prefecture could not make a full profit, which would cause big problems.

However, in such a chaotic era, it is impossible to cut the military's benefits.

If we can't save money, we have to increase revenue.

There are two directions for open source. The first is to continue to attract more people to Southeast Asia. People are productivity, especially the hardworking Chinese on the mainland.

At this time, only about 20% of the Mekong Plain has been developed. With the current productivity, it can still support at least two million people.

Only with people can we bring in a large amount of taxes, grow enough food to supply the army, and revitalize the economy.

However, since General Mo Da basically stopped spending money to buy people to go to Southeast Asia, the number of people coming from the mainland to Xingtang Prefecture each year dropped sharply from about 110,000 to less than 70,000.

Therefore, it is unrealistic to rely on mainland immigrants to increase revenue at present.

The only option left is war. At least all the territories of the Nguyen family in Guangnan must be taken over so that General Mo can afford to support this 16,000-strong army.

Mo Zibu certainly knew this, so he announced in Jiading with great fanfare that as soon as the imperial order arrived, he would immediately mobilize his troops and march north to support the king.

This situation continued until March, when the fleet sailing south from the mouth of Shunan River finally arrived in Jiading.

Grandpa Luo supported Nguyen Phuc Chu and brought five or six members of the Nguyen family, and told Mo Zibu with tears in his eyes.

Prince Ding originally wanted to visit Hexian, but when the boat was halfway through the journey, Prince Ding held a banquet on the big colorful boat, and most people were drunk.

As a result, a sudden storm arose at sea, and the oil lamp tilted and ignited the liquor. Finally, the fire spread to the armory, causing a secondary explosion, and almost no one survived.

Several nearby ships tried to rescue but were affected instead. In the chaos, dozens of royal family members, including Nguyen Phuc Chong and Nguyen Phuc Chuen, fell into the water and died.

As Mo Zibu helped Grandpa Luo up, he felt deeply moved by the sacrifice of his eldest son Luo Zhongda.

He tried his best to recall every name Grandpa Luo said, but he never heard the name Nguyen Phuc Anh, which he was most familiar with.

Did this guy change his name, or is he still staying with Nguyen Phuoc Duong in Hue?
Well, this question will become a question that troubles General Mo for a long time.

Because he only remembered the name Ruan Fuying, he didn't know who Ruan Fuying's father was, and he couldn't even tell how old he was.

So he never thought that the Nguyen Phuc Chong who was pushed off the boat by Lord Luo was the Nguyen Phuc Anh in history.

Mo Zibu was a little distracted here, but the warrior Zun over there had already reacted.

He was dressed in white and ran over from a distance with a howl. He cried so miserably that anyone who heard it was heartbroken and cried.

Seeing Wu Shizun's behavior, Mo Zibu suddenly realized that he should cry.

He let out a scream, and reached out to pinch his nose bridge without leaving any trace. The pain rushed to his forehead, making General Mo burst into tears.

"Beihe bullied my Southern Kingdom and abducted my lord. This is truly despicable. The bandits in Xishan are extremely rebellious. I swear to destroy them."

After saying this, General Mo Da grabbed Nguyen Phuc Chu, the only surviving member of the royal family, and shouted, "Order the three armies to march out immediately! I want to go north to protect the emperor!"

When Nguyen Phuc Chu was young, he was imprisoned along with his father Nguyen Phuc and his brothers and sisters by Zhang Fuluan. He witnessed the murder of many relatives and even his father, and his brain had long been abnormal.

When he went south, he experienced the death of a close relative at sea, and only a little bit of thinking remained, and he was on the verge of going crazy.

Now, his wrist was being fiercely pinched by Mo Zibu, and he heard the people around him crying miserably. He immediately remembered everything that had happened in the past and was completely stressed out.

Psychopaths are usually very strong, so Mo Zibu, who was still acting, was caught off guard and was directly broken free by Nguyen Phuc Chu.

Then the prince began to run and shout frantically, crying, "Zhang Fuluan is here to kill him, Zhang Fuluan is here to kill him."

Holy shit, even Wu Shizun was shocked. He certainly didn't know that Mo Zibu was so cruel, nor did he know that Grandpa Luo and his son were willing to use themselves as bait to clear the way for Mo Zibu.

So he thought that Prince Ding Ruan Fuchun really died in an accident. After all, this gentleman was having a party on a ship in the sea, got drunk and started a fire and was burned to death. This was exactly in line with his personality.

Originally, Wu Shizun thought that the arrival of the thirteen-year-old Nguyen Phuc Chu would catch Mo Zi Bu off guard, so he had no choice but to nominate him to be the leader.

Unexpectedly, Nguyen Phuc Chu went crazy!

This is really what everyone wants.

April 1772, 4. March 22, the th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign in the Qing Dynasty.

Taking advantage of the rising southeast wind, Mo Zibu swore an oath in Jiading and dispatched 12,000 naval and land forces in two routes.

Li Xianwen was appointed as the Western Route Recruiting Envoy, leading the Longhu and Bianhe Regiments of Jiading Town and the Hakka Second Regiment of Tangshan Town, a total of 9,000 people in the three regiments.

They recaptured the Ping An and Phu An camps along the land route, and also captured the Tây Sơn Army's headquarters, Qui Nhon Prefecture. The reason why the three regiments had 9,000 men was because this was the normal strength of a regiment under Mo Zibu's command.

It is common sense that it is abnormal for the People's Liberation Army of the later Republic to have an entire regiment composed entirely of combat soldiers.

Under normal circumstances, even in the 21st century, the military organization of many countries is composed of a part of combat soldiers with a large number of auxiliary soldiers and civilian laborers.

Just like Mo Zibu now, there are about a thousand combat soldiers in a regiment, and they also undergo off-duty training on weekdays.

When wartime comes, a large number of temporary conscripts will be stuffed into this regiment, including about 600 to 700 Chinese volunteers and 1,500 to 1,600 civilian laborers and forced laborers.

Among them, Chinese volunteers generally engaged in combat support work on the battlefield.

This includes cleaning up the battlefield and collecting spoils of war, determining the number of enemies killed by the regiment or company, carrying weapons and ammunition for the soldiers, participating in battles on the battlefield in times of crisis, and forming an occupying force after conquering the territory.

Civilian laborers and conscripts were mainly responsible for transportation, including but not limited to transporting military rations and supplies, digging artillery positions on the battlefield, transporting artillery shells to artillery positions, handling enemy corpses, digging mass graves, etc.

So although Li Xianwen only brought three regiments, there were about 9,000 people.

If we include the civilian laborers who were temporarily recruited along the way and were not included in the establishment, there would be about 20,000 people.

Mo Zibu personally led the main force, took the fleet, dispatched 9,000 combat soldiers, and the remaining sailors, civilians, and laborers numbered more than 20,000.

They planned to sail north with the southeast wind, land directly in Hoi An, first repel Northern Zheng, and then make dumplings and eat the Tây Sơn army.

However, when Mo Zibu's fleet sailed to the vicinity of Takeshima Island, which is the waters opposite Nha Trang, Vietnam in later generations, they encountered a large number of small boats of the Minh Xiang people sailing south from Hoi An.

When they saw Mo Zibu, they came over and cried.

It turned out that the situation had changed since Li Jiting, Li Guangcai and Luo Zhongan led 4,000 people to leave the Tây Sơn Army and retreat to Hoi-an.

Both the Zheng army and the Tây Sơn army knew the importance of Hoi An. It not only had large tracts of fertile farmland, but also an excellent port and a large number of civilians who could be recruited as sailors.

So the two sides started fighting again over Hoi An, and this time it was again the Zheng army that defeated the Tây Sơn army.

After losing the troops of Li Jiting and Li Guangcai, the combat effectiveness of the Tây Sơn army dropped significantly. Unable to withstand the attack of Zheng's cavalry, it could only continue to retreat southward. Then the Zheng army began to attack Hoi An.

Seeing this situation, Mo Zibu simply ordered the fleet to turn back slightly and come to the famous military port of Jinlan Bay in later generations to make careful repairs and wait for further news confirmation.

Three days later, Luo Zhongan led several warships and escorted hundreds of small boats of various sizes to Cam Ranh Bay.

When tens of thousands of Chinese people evacuated from Hoi An saw Mo Zi Bu, they cried loudly and asked Mo Zi Bu to avenge them.

Luo Zhongan stepped forward and said with great remorse, "Hoi An was originally a commercial city, but after the wars, many people left.

After Ji Ting, Li Guangcai and I retreated to Hui'an, there were only 20,000 to 30,000 Chinese left in the city, and we were unable to withstand the attack of Zheng's army.

I was afraid that the Zheng army would massacre the city after capturing Hui'an, so I bribed the Zheng general with gold and silver, and only then was I able to take the opportunity to lead the elders to evacuate."

Mo Zibu helped Luo Zhongan up. "Brother Shi, it's not easy for you to do this. It's no pity to lose a small fortune. As long as we are alive, it's fine."

"Where are Li Jiting and Li Guangcai?" asked Mo Zibu.

Luo Zhongan's face revealed a look of resentment, "Li Jiting didn't trust the general, so he refused to come south and sneaked back to the mainland with a dozen of his confidants.

Not only did Li Guangcai, that bastard, refuse to come south, he also led his men to join the Western Mountain bandits again.

He also told me that the general would surely understand his difficulties, and that this bastard was just cowardly and wanted to take the general with him.

Mo Zibu touched his chin. Li Guangcai might not necessarily want to defect to the Xishan Army. Most likely, he still felt that he had not completed his mission and had done nothing, and was a little afraid that Mo Zibu would be dissatisfied.

But Mo Zibu couldn't be completely sure about this. Maybe Li Guangcai thought that the Xishan Army had more prospects.

Luo Zhongan probably didn't know Li Guangcai's mission, so he seemed very confused.

No! Mo Zibu thought about it again. The Luo family had done a lot of dirty things for him. Luo Zhongan might be using this method to express that he knew nothing.

After all, this kind of thing, as long as someone knows it, it will be a bomb for the monarch. Luo Zhongan doesn't know Mo Zibu's temper, so he naturally has to be careful.

So Mo Zibu pretended to be bold and said, "The wind follows the dragon, the clouds follow the tiger. Everyone has their own choices. Li Guangcai is a Tang man after all, so let him be."

After Luo Zhongan went down, Mo Zibu found other people to learn more about the situation, and then General Mo decided not to continue to use the warship to go north.

Now that Hoi An has fallen, although Luo Zhongan only mentioned money, Mo Zibu predicted that the more than 100,000 dan of grain and fodder stored in the city had most likely been given to the Zheng army.

Otherwise, Huang Wufu would not let these 10,000 or 20,000 Chinese leave. He would only agree if the Chinese in Hoi An promised not to burn the food.

In this case, Mo Zibu would lead 20,000 to 30,000 people north, but all supplies would have to rely on sea transportation, which was too risky.

And more importantly, if we take Hoi An at this time, we will be caught between the Northern Zheng and Tây Sơn armies.

Although Mo Zibu is fully capable of fighting two men alone, there is no need to do so. The lives of his men are also lives, so the losses should be minimized if possible.

Therefore, Mo Zibu left his army in Cam Ranh Bay and summoned Huang Zhongxin, Ruan Shanquan and others to join him there.

These two people are local tyrants and powerful families. They can be asked to persuade the Han nobles in Pingkang and Fu'an to surrender.

(End of this chapter)