The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 244 Arrogant soldiers
Mo Zibu looked at Pei Dexuan, who was trying hard to maintain a bit of a scholar's demeanor, but his expression was no longer tense and he wanted to kneel down and beg for mercy.

This guy really wasn't talking nonsense, except that Pei Changwu was not his cousin but his nephew, and Pei Shichun was his niece.

It's just that the Pei family is the largest family in Guiren, with a population of at least 20,000 to 30,000. Pei Dexuan and Pei Changwu have different initials, and they are already out of the fifth generation.

However, their relationship is not as distant as imagined. The reason why Father Pei has made such a great reputation in the south of Guiren is that he has the Pei family as his backer.

He took his son and daughter to kill the brother-in-law of Nguyen Ke Xuan, the governor of Qui Nhon. In fact, it was Pei Dexuan who came forward to explain.

Because at that time Ruan Kexuan was jealous of the Pei family's wealth and had begun to encroach on the Pei family's property.

So Pei Dexuan asked his father Pei and others to kill Ruan Kexuan's concubine's younger brother. After losing this white glove, the Pei family got a temporary respite.

And this is also the reason why the Pei family, as a noble Han family that studies Confucianism, got involved with the Xishan Army.

Mo Zibu smiled and looked at Pei Dexuan with an embarrassed expression without saying anything.

Because up to now, he has almost won over all the high-ranking Han families here.

Now it is not so easy to come in and get Mo Zibu's preferential treatment.

Even when Mo Zibu needed support in the early days, Wu Shizun, Ruan Shanquan, Huang Zhongxin and others chose to follow him as soon as he entered Jiading. They helped him stabilize the people's hearts in Jiading and other places and made great contributions.

Later, the Zhu family of Fu'an and the Yang family of Pingkang were given preferential treatment. They either sent the war horses that Mo Zibu urgently needed, or donated a large amount of food to save the army's transportation capacity.

The Pei family of Guiren had already donated a large amount of food and young men to the three Nguyen brothers of Tây Sơn and became a shareholder of the Tây Sơn army.

It is a bit unrealistic to think that he can get the same preferential treatment just because he is Pei Changwu's uncle.

Of course, the most important thing is that Qui Nhon is not like Fuan and Pingkang. This place is the bridgehead for controlling the central and southern parts of Annan. It will definitely not be controlled by the aristocratic families, but will be directly governed by the imperial court.

Pei Dexuan stood there awkwardly for a long time. Seeing that Mo Zibu was still handling government affairs, he hesitated several times and couldn't figure out how to start the conversation.

He originally wanted to offer his beautiful sister Fan Shilian, but when he saw Mo Zibu's behavior, Pei Dexuan knew that it would not have any effect at all.

Because Mo Zibu's strict and methodical way of handling things was very much like Pei Dexuan's grandfather, and the air of a political strongman was almost overflowing.

For such people, beauty is just an object to establish relationships, and success or failure depends on interests.

After thinking for a long time, Pei Dexuan stepped forward and said, "General, our Pei family was once oppressed by that villain Nguyen Kexuan. We had no choice but to form an alliance with the Tây Sơn Nguyen brothers to protect ourselves. Now we have repented and hope that the General will accept us."

Mo Zibu tilted his head slightly and said, "Brother Pei, what you said goes against the teachings of the saints.

If people rebel against injustice and oppression, then what loyalty, filial piety, and propriety are left in this world?"

As he spoke, General Mo Da brought up his past deeds to demonstrate his loyalty and righteousness.

"For example, I suffered so much injustice in Hue, but I didn't gather my followers to rebel against the court."

Pei Dexuan rolled his eyes because of choking, but suddenly he broke out in a sweat because he suddenly realized something.

That is, in his eyes, the Hue court had run out of luck, and their Pei family followed the Tây Sơn Nguyen brothers in rebelling to replace the old with the new.

But in the eyes of the character created by Mo Zibu, this is a fucking rebellion!

Rebellion is actually not that scary. The emperor takes turns to be my emperor this year.

But the rebellion was defeated, which seemed like a sign of impending disaster.

"General, Pei Dexuan was mistakenly allowed to board a pirate ship. I beg for mercy. I am willing to allow the Pei family members in the Xishan Army to make meritorious contributions while serving their sentence."

After knowing that he was going to become a traitor, Pei Dexuan finally panicked. He knelt down with a plop and stated his conditions.

But Mo Zibu ignored him because the benefit was too small and General Mo looked down on it.

So he shook his head and said: "This general will lead the national righteous army to destroy the rebellious bandits in Xishan like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

Whether the Pei family members have achieved merit or not should be determined by their intentions, not by my demands."

However, after Mo Zibu said this, Pei Dexuan felt more at ease, because this meant that they could still talk, but the conditions were not enough.

"General, the Guiren Pei family is only a branch; the Haiyang Pei family is the main branch. My uncle, Pei Shida, serves as an attendant in the Northern Zheng government."

Pei Dexuan's original intention was to say that his distant uncle Pei Shida was an attendant of Northern Zheng, and when Mo Zibu went north to recapture Hue, he could help mediate.

Before he could finish his words, Mo Zibu's eyes suddenly lit up.

Because Haiyang Prefecture in Beizheng is located at the mouth of the Baiteng River, if there are local people as insiders when they go north the next day, they will be more confident in their grasp of hydrological and other conditions.

At least there would not be a situation like the Southern Han's expedition against Wu Quan, where the warships were pulled back into the sea by the tide and ended up in defeat.

The entourage was high-ranking officials from Beizheng.

In the abstract and patchwork bureaucratic system of the Beizheng Fu Liao (Bakufu), the superstructure was set up with reference to the Ming Dynasty.

The chief of staff of a government official is called Cancong, with a fixed number of one person, similar to the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty, and a fixed number of two to four attendants, similar to the cabinet ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

Pei Shida holds a high position as an attendant and has great influence on the Northern Zheng court. There are definitely many areas where he can be used in the future.

"Stand up and tell me about the situation of the bandits in the West Mountain. Considering that the Pei family has only been with the bandits for a short time and Pei Changwu and others have made great contributions in protecting them, this general will consider it."

Well, although I need it, I, General Mo, will still try my best to squeeze out every bit of surplus value.

. . . .

Sixty kilometers north of Anren, Nguyen Van Hue was found in a daze by the army scouts.

He led 1,500 men as the vanguard, but was beaten so badly that he barely escaped with his life, and only six or seven trusted guards were left by his side. It was a miserable situation.

Nguyen Van Hue didn't have time to change his wet clothes and went straight to the camp.

He was about to remind his brother Nguyen Van Yue that the elite troops under Mo Wu were definitely superior to any enemy the Tây Sơn army had encountered, and were even superior to the Zheng army in Bắc Hồng.

But before he reached the camp, Nguyen Van Hue heard women screaming and crying everywhere, and the laughter and shouting in the camp could be heard from far away.

Ruan Wenhui was stunned for a moment. He stood there and looked around.

In the Xishan Army's camp, senior officers hugged the captured ladies and beauties, eating big mouthfuls of meat and drinking big bowls of wine, while also engaging in some primitive activities.

Middle and low-ranking military officers cannot get beauties of this level, but there are still a considerable number of civilian women available for sexual pleasure.

Even when Nguyen Van Hue was looking around, he saw several naked women running out of some small rooms crying, with young officers chasing them in dishevel.

The soldiers did not have these privileges and could only eat dry rice balls. Therefore, whenever they saw a woman running out, they would laugh and pounce on her, touching and kneading her until the officers impatiently drove them away.

The laborers of lower status gathered together with sallow faces. They wore ragged and patched clothes and huddled together numbly, using each other's body heat to resist the cold evening wind.

The entire Tây Sơn Army camp looked more like a hellish den than a military camp. Ruan Wenhui had initially thought nothing of it, but at that moment, he recalled the valiant and swift Red Army and the scene described to him by Pei Dexuan, who had been left behind.

It is said that when Mo Xuande entered Suihe Prefecture, his soldiers did not harm anyone and even did not allow them to trample on the rice fields in the countryside. The elders of Suihe Prefecture welcomed him with food and drink as if he were a royal army.

Wherever Mo Xuande arrived, he would publicly make three agreements with the local nobles and common people, just like Emperor Gaozu of Han did when he entered Guanzhong, and thus gained the unanimous support of the gentry and common people.

The more Ruan Wenhui thought about it, the more scared he became. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that only someone like Mo Xuande could accomplish anything, while their Tây Sơn Army...

Just when he was doubting himself, Ruan Mingmin, who had run back earlier than him, came over with an angry face to accuse him.

"Third General, our urgent reports were intercepted and never reached the Grand General.

We thought the army would arrive day and night, but they marched less than thirty miles a day, and were not serious about rescuing Qui Nhon, but were instead busy plundering and pillaging everywhere."

Ruan Mingmin also suffered a great defeat, so naturally he wanted to push a lot of blame onto others and exaggerate his words.

But Ruan Wenhui was still young and could not fully understand people's hearts. In addition, he had just been stimulated and was already very dissatisfied.

Hearing what Ruan Mingmin said, he was immediately furious and strode towards the commander's tent, ready to question the generals.

Inside the commander's tent, huge oilcloth torches were burning. Meat from various animals, whose origins were no longer clear, was simply cooked with other ingredients and then piled on long tables.

Dozens of guards were gnawing on a piece of meat in one hand, and holding a jar of wine in the other to fill it for the leaders.

On both sides of the long table, beauties wearing scanty clothes were dancing slowly with tears in their eyes in panic.

Some of them were so excited that they stretched out their big, greasy hands that had just been touching the leg of lamb, pulled over a beauty and started touching her randomly, causing these poor women to scream in fear.

But this scream not only did not attract any sympathy, but instead made everyone in the field laugh obscenely.

Suddenly, Ruan Wenhui remembered what his master Zhang Wenxian had told him about the scene in Journey to the West where Tang Monk and his disciples crossed the Lion Camel Ridge.

"Skulls are like mountains, bones are like forests. Human hair has turned into felt, and human flesh has rotted into dust. Human tendons are tangled in trees, dried and scorched, shining like silver. It is truly a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, and the stench is truly unbearable."

Someone saw Nguyen Van Hue coming back and laughed out loud. There was no worry or pain on her face due to the forward's defeat, but instead her face was full of joking.

"Third General, aren't you invincible? Why did you return in disgrace this time with so many casualties?"

"Third General, you kept saying that Mo Wu was going to surround the enemy and attack their reinforcements, and that his troops were incredibly powerful. Turns out it's true, hahahahaha!"

A young man like Nguyen Hue, who had his brother's protection and had been raising an army and winning battles all the way, naturally had no control over his words, was very arrogant and looked down on everyone.

In the past, because there was a psychopathic boss like Li Jiting to take the blame, no one said much about him.

Now that Li Jiting is gone, he still shows up and points fingers everywhere. Naturally, many people can't stand it, so at this time, there are still many people mocking Ruan Wenhui.

The same happened in history. Nguyen Van Hue eventually parted ways with his brother Nguyen Van Nhut and set up his own faction with Chen Guangyao, Wu Wenyong, Nguyen Minh Minh and others. However, his personality was not liked by the old men of the Tây Sơn Army.

"Third General, it doesn't matter if we lose the battle, as long as we don't lose our balls. Come, come, this beauty is yours. Have her, and I guarantee you'll regain your manliness."

A fat black man pushed the woman next to him towards Nguyen Van Hue, his face full of ridicule.

"Fuck your mother!" Ruan Wenhui's eyes turned red, and she pounced on the fat black man and knocked him to the ground.

"Nguyen Van Hue!" Nguyen Van Yue shouted, his hair and beard standing on end with anger. He walked quickly forward and grabbed Nguyen Van Hue.

"You have such a bad temper! After such a huge defeat, instead of coming to apologize, you even dared to hit someone. Get out of here and put them in solitary confinement for five days!"

Ruan Wenyue was originally a little worried about his brother. After Ruan Mingmin ran back, he immediately sent scouts to look for him everywhere. He only felt relieved after receiving the report that Ruan Van Hue was found.

But now, seeing that his younger brother still acted like the boss and he was second only to him, he couldn't hold back his anger any longer.

You know, although Nguyen Van Hue only lost more than a thousand people, strictly speaking, it can be said that he suffered serious injuries.

Because these more than a thousand people are the best soldiers in the entire Xishan Army. Even though the Xishan Army now has about 40,000 people including civilians, most of them are forced to join the army and cannot be considered elite soldiers.

What does this amount to?

For example, Mo Zibu now has 30,000 to 40,000 people, but if the Yuancong Guards of the Imperial Guard lose 500 to 600 people, although it is only less than 2% of the entire army, it is still considered a serious blow.

After Nguyen Hue was taken away, Nguyen Van Yue lost interest. He took a big gulp of wine and shouted:

"Starting tomorrow, we will rectify military discipline and march out three days later to defeat Mo Wu's Southern Army. If he dares to lay siege to Guiren, I will make sure he can't even defend Jiading!"

"Pan Wensui, I will give you three thousand men. Set out tomorrow at 3 p.m. and reach Anren within two days to recapture the city."

"Ruan Mingmin, go down and select 1,500 men to serve as support. If we lose this time, you don't need to come back."

Phan Van Thuy was Nguyen Van Yuet's trusted general, commanding Nguyen Van Yuet's elite troops, and had good combat effectiveness.

During the last battle, Ruan Mingmin ran away quickly when he saw the situation was not good, and the core two or three hundred people did not suffer many losses. If he could be allowed to pick thousands of people from the young and strong camp, he would still be able to fight according to his previous habits.

. . . .

On June 20th, Pan Wensui and Nguyen Minh Minh led more than 5,000 troops to Anren City.

Mo Zibu had already received intelligence from Pei Dexuan's people. He arranged in advance for 1,500 Chinese volunteers and two companies of the Dragon Flag Regiment to guard the city. He also specially asked them to change into red clothes to disguise themselves as elite soldiers.

On the other hand, Mo Zibu began to vigorously capture the fortress on the hill west of Guiren City. The rumbling sound of artillery could be heard more than ten miles away.

Five days later, Nguyen Van Yue arrived in person with a large army, and more than 40,000 Tây Sơn troops came across the mountains.

Nguyen Van Yue heard the sound of artillery from the direction of Qui Nhon City, and the scouts he sent out also discovered that the Xing Tang army was indeed using artillery to capture the fortress outside Qui Nhon City.

Ruan Wenyue no longer had any doubts. He set up camp in the north of Anren City and led his personal guards to supervise the battle.

The Chinese volunteers in Anren City had already lost more than 200 people and the battle was quite difficult. Seeing that the time had come, Mo Zibu ordered them to withdraw in batches and pretend to be exhausted.

On the first day of July, the last Chinese volunteers and a company of the Dragon Flag Regiment in Anren City withdrew, and the Xishan Army occupied Anren City.

Ruan Wenyue was overjoyed, thinking that he had figured out the combat effectiveness of Mo Zibu's Southern Army. It was slightly weaker than he expected, but not far off. It seemed that there were no traps and they could fight.

So, after taking An Nhon City, Nguyen Van Yue sent people to cross the blockade line and enter Qui Nhon City by water to negotiate with his second brother Nguyen Van Lu who stayed in the city.

The two armies used beacons, flags and drums as signals, and waited for the main force of the Xishan Army to attack the Southern Army, and then immediately attacked from the front and back to eliminate Mo Zibu.

At this time, Nguyen Van Hue was basically a commander without troops, and he really wanted to persuade Nguyen Van Yue not to fall into Mo Zibu's trap of making his troops arrogant.

However, he could no longer say it because he knew that no one would believe him even if he said it.

　Sad news! Today, during a company team-building event, Tiger overreached himself by participating in tug-of-war and ended up straining a muscle in his right hand. He can't even hold a bowl. I managed to write this little bit, and will go buy some plaster later. I'm really sorry for the 2,000 words missing today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)