The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 30 Everything is ready
In Da Nang, Ngoc Thuy Bu was counting the capital he had acquired through great effort and chance.

There were a total of 100 brave soldiers from the Wei family of Chaozhou, one large ship of over 200 tons, and three small boats.

After hearing about it, Hong Ahan sent another 15 soldiers from the Hong family, led by Wei Haikun's eldest son Wei Changle.

The people of Mingxiang in Hoi An were mainly 200 elite soldiers and a 140-ton red single ship provided by Grandpa Luo to Ou Zibu, commanded by Liu Zhisan of the Liu family.

This type of ship got its name from the fact that it needed to be inspected with a red list. It was usually painted black or red, had a very fast speed, and could carry more than 20 small cannons. It was considered a regular warship and was not comparable to the Wei family's armed merchant ships.

It is just more suitable for near-shore combat, and deep-water naval battles are still somewhat difficult.

There were also sixty Japanese ronin purchased by Ou Zibu from Lingyuan in the south of Hoi An City, and thirty strong men from the French and other Western countries.

Among these people, except for the Japanese Ronin who were musketeers, the Europeans were all technical soldiers.

Manuel Bonn had 97 soldiers and sailors under his command, including the fifth-class sailing cruiser Fortune and the armed merchant ship Treasure equipped with 26 eight-pound guns.

However, Manuel Bonn no longer has enough crew members to operate it, and Chinese sailors are not very good at operating soft sailboats, so training and deployment of personnel are needed quickly.

These people totaled 375 brave soldiers and 127 sailors and gunners.

There were more than 200 muskets of various models, more than 300 swords, more than 100 spears, and 40 sets of armor of various types.

The other main force was He Xiwen's fleet, which consisted of 1,377 pirates, 350 muskets, and more than 100 bows and crossbows.

Basically everyone was equipped with a set of waist swords and spears, and there were more than 30 sets of cotton armor, which He Xiwen obtained by killing the captain of the Guangzhou Navy.

There were eighty-nine warships, but only seventeen of them could sail at least as far as the Andaman Sea.

The main force was four black boats ranging in length from 220 to 410 tons, which could carry 26 to 30 guns.

However, the gun type is a bit outdated. It is an improved version of the Red Cannon made by the Ming Dynasty more than a hundred years ago. The barrel is too long, and its range and firepower are not as good as today's conventional European naval guns, but it still does not form a generation gap, and the gap is not far.

However, He Xiwen's fleet had a large number of family members, women and children who needed to be protected, so it was impossible to send out all of them. After discussing with He Xiwen, Ou Zibu decided to send out only 600 people and nine large main battleships.

This is all the property that Ou Zibu currently has, a total of 700 soldiers and 402 sailors.

But in fact, there is no obvious difference between sailors and soldiers, and they can also fight. So including the leader, the total number of people who can fight is about 1,150.

In terms of warships, there was a 411-ton level 5 cruiser, a 407-ton large black canoe, a 280-ton European armed merchant ship, and seven black canoe ships and red single ships ranging from 120 to 250 tons.

In addition, there are thirteen transport and supply ships of three to four hundred tons, and dozens of centipede ships used for near-shore combat and support.

This strength seems to be very powerful, stronger than most pirates, and only inferior to the navy of regular countries such as Myanmar and Siam.

However, this is only strength on paper. The origin of the fleet is too complicated. The Chinese alone are divided into several factions, and there are also a large number of Europeans and Japanese.

The key point is that although He Xiwen expressed his full support for Ou Zibu, in fact Ou Zibu could only command his people by discussing with He Xiwen. Without He Xiwen's approval, Ou Zibu could not command anyone.

However, Ou Zibu was unable to trust He Xiwen to take command. Although his command ability had been verified in history, He Xiwen's vision and understanding of the world were insufficient.

After arriving at the Andaman Sea in Myanmar, not far away were the Indian princes and nobles, as well as the Indian colonies of Britain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark and other countries. In addition, Myanmar has had a complex ethnic structure since ancient times, which He Xiwen had no way to handle.

Ou Zibu was more experienced than He Xiwen, but he could not command He Xiwen's subordinates.

Therefore, Ou Zibu could only form a deliberative assembly first, bringing in various forces, even Manuel Bonn, to work together to weaken He Xiwen's voice, and gradually take the initiative into his own hands through compromise and concession.

Besides these, the logistics of supporting over a thousand men and dozens of warships were also major challenges. They included how to allocate grain, whether a reward was needed to boost morale, how to overcome language barriers among the soldiers, and how to select suitable Chinese sailors to learn to operate soft sails.

Even issues such as how these more than a thousand people would set up camp and go to the toilet had to be considered by Ou Zibu.

Fortunately, He Xiwen was very supportive of Ou Zibu. Whenever Ou Zibu encountered something he didn't understand, he would teach him step by step. If neither of them understood, they could only discuss it together.

At the same time, bad news continued to come. After the main camp troops from Hue retreated last time, Zhang Fuluan sent his trusted official Cai Sheng to demand an explanation from Hoi An.

Zhang Fuluan was unpopular in Guangnan. After his second son's tragic death, everyone except his confidants secretly applauded. When the order to arrest Ou Zibu was issued, everyone just made a big noise but did nothing, pretending not to do the job seriously.

But now, Zhang Fuluan probably suppressed the political turmoil in Hue City caused by the trouble caused by his son, and was able to spare the time to send Cai Sheng to supervise.

Mr. Cai was Zhang Fuluan's most trusted confidant. When he came out to supervise, many local officials dared not disobey him.

Ou Zibu has received the warning from Master Luo that Guangnan Kingdom can mobilize 20,000 soldiers. If they are determined to surrender the people, Master Luo will not be able to hold on for long.

Originally, Ngoc Thuy Bu planned to stay in Hoi An for a while before leaving, but now the plan has changed, which has brought great pressure to the Minh Huong people in Hoi An.

If Ou Zibu wanted to unify the Chinese in Southeast Asia, he had to take the people's sentiment into consideration and could not wait until Guangnan Kingdom really mobilized its troops to break off relations, because he alone would bring danger to all Hoi An people.

Ou Zibu estimated that Grandpa Luo could hold out for about half a month, and then he would have to let the Guangnan soldiers enter the city to search, and then he could release smoke to confuse the public by saying that Ou Zibu had escaped.

But in a month at most, Mr. Cai will definitely find out some of the facts and come back to interrogate him. That will be the final moment.

Therefore, Ou Zibu had to complete the integration within one and a half months, and then take the initiative to cut off ties with Hoi An.

After an anxious wait, Ou Zibu finally saw the light of day. Pei Shichun excitedly ran into Ou Zibu's room with a piece of letter.

"Fifth Young Master, my father has sent me news that the Ha Tien Fleet will arrive in Da Nang tomorrow afternoon."

Ou Zibu was overjoyed that his trusted confidants had finally arrived. However, he didn't know whether his mother would be able to help him and how many people she could send.

The next day, at 4 p.m.

In the distance, three warships, one large and two small, slowly sailed into Da Nang. Ngoc Thuy Bu recognized them at a glance. These were the main warships of Ha Tien.

The two smaller ones were Cantonese-style Wutan ships of around 200 tons, carrying about 20 guns, while the larger one was a 400-ton armed transport supply ship.

When he saw the person leading the fleet, he felt even more emotional. Ou Long was one of the most famous water generals in Hexian. He was the adopted son of Ou Zibu's grandfather Ou Jiu in Hexian. In terms of seniority, Ou Zibu had to call him uncle.

Behind Ou Long were Zheng Xiu, Mo Guanghai, Wu Shiying, Wu Shixiu and others.

These people were all servants selected and trained by Ou Jiu himself. They were equivalent to logistics staff officers and were very good at logistics calculations, document issuance, military law compilation and other tasks. It can be said that they solved Ou Zibu's urgent needs.

At the same time, his second uncle Chen Dasheng also sent a hundred soldiers with red coats and silver swords to Ou Zibu. The leader of the soldiers was Ou Zibu's distant cousin Chen Chengshan, who was also a fierce general from Mingxiang, Jiading.

"Fifth Young Master, the Lord asked me to tell you that as a general you must be careful, cherish your life but not be greedy for it, be brave but not reckless, only then can you lead the troops well.

The Lord also said that as long as you have ten large ships, no one can do anything to you even if you kill Zhang Fuluan."

After saying this, Lu Long still said in a low voice with a lot of emotion: "The master still feels sorry for the fifth master."

However, his words were in vain, because Ou Zibu was completely immersed in his imagination and excitement about the future and did not listen at all.

(End of this chapter)