The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 34 People die for money, birds die for food

The Lan River is the fourth largest river in Annan. It originates in Laos and flows from west to east into the South China Sea.

The water from the estuary to the small port of Rong City is enough for ships of two to three hundred tons, and even large ships of about one thousand tons can pass through at high tide. The port conditions are very good.

This was Mo Zibu's original plan. The entire fleet was waiting in the open sea, and when the tide rose, they would rush to the city of Rong City, pick up those dozens of Xianyou people, and then run away.

After all, the civil war in Annan lasted for more than a hundred years, so Mo Zibu imagined it from the perspective of the late Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Images of the Northern Palace Army, the Baibao Xianbei cavalry, the Wei Bo soldiers, the man-eating Cai thieves, etc. flashed through his mind, and he almost couldn't breathe from the pressure.

If he, who is only a thousand men, collides with such a strong man, he will definitely be beaten to death!

Moreover, this first fleet voyage made Mo Zibu look very embarrassed.

There was no radio communication equipment for long-distance sea voyages at that time, and the flag signals would not work if they were a little far away.

Not to mention the lights, at that time whale oil lamps and tung oil lamps were still the main lights, and you couldn't see that little light at sea.

Therefore, whether the fleet can maintain its formation and integrity when it sets sail at this time depends entirely on the tacit understanding between the captains of each ship, and whether the captains' command ability and the sailors' operating ability are strong enough.

It just so happens that Mo Zibu’s fleet is lacking in these items.

So, my goodness, just after leaving Da Nang, a northeast wind blew, and Mo Zibu, on the flagship Red No. 1 black boat, watched helplessly as the fleet was blown to pieces.

Although he quickly raised the red flag symbolizing the flagship and called on all ships to gather quickly, three warships still disappeared in the waves.

Mo Zibu was very anxious. He estimated that the country should be not far from the sea off Hue. Guangnan Kingdom also had a fleet. Although it was not strong, given the current state of Mo Zibu's fleet, if they were caught, they would definitely have to go through a fierce battle between weaklings.

Fortunately, this extreme situation did not happen. After the fleet waited for a day on Tiger Island north of Hue, the three warships that had drifted away returned one after another.

Mo Zibu simply stopped being anxious and started large-scale field training with Tiger Island as the center.

So it would have taken six days to reach the sea off Vinh City, but it ended up taking thirteen days.

There is a small island called Mai Island off the coast of Rong City. Although the island is not big, there were no typhoons near the coast in late autumn.

Mo Zibu simply ordered the fleet to be stationed there, and the fleet officers and soldiers disembarked in batches and walked around the island a few times to let them adapt to the land, so that no one would be unable to stand steadily after suddenly getting off the boat.

After waiting for about a day, the spy bribed by Hong Ahan brought two pieces of news.

One is that Hong Ahan said that the Chen brothers guaranteed to him that there were gold, pearls, jade and other valuables looted by Ruan Tuoqiu and others in Rong City, with a value of at least 80,000 taels of silver.

Eighty thousand taels of silver!

Everyone showed greedy expressions. You know, the pirate leader here even owned a ship of dozens of tons. Even if he robbed for a lifetime, he might not be able to save three thousand taels of silver.

At that time in Beizheng, a prefectural title was only worth 1,800 taels of silver, and filling a vacancy was only worth about 3,000 taels.
It can be seen how attractive this treasure of 80,000 taels of silver is.

What's even more exaggerated is that Mo Zibu clearly felt that after the news that there were 80,000 taels of gold and silver treasures in Rong City spread, the morale of the army actually rose visibly.

Many old pirates who were used to being free and undisciplined and could not be disciplined even with spirit infusion sticks, suddenly began to look strict and disciplined elite.

People die for money and birds die for food. This saying is really true.

The second situation involved a large-scale riot at the Huaiyuan copper mine in Lang Son, north of Hanoi. The troops besieging Vinh City had already withdrawn at least 3,000 men a month or two earlier. Well, the Ming and Qing dynasties were different from the Song.

Lingnan had not been fully developed during the Song Dynasty, and Yunnan was not within the national borders, so the relationship between Annan and the two Song Dynasties was not close.

Even because of the richness of the Red River Plain, Annan had certain advantages over the Guangxi border of the two Song dynasties.

By the Ming and Qing dynasties, with the full development of Guangdong and Guangxi and the greatly increased control over Yunnan, Annan's Red River Delta was no longer able to compete.

And as their number increased, their ties with Guangdong and Guangxi became increasingly close.

For example, at this time, all the mines in northern Annam were occupied by Qing Dynasty miners. It would be good if they could give 10% of their mining profits to the Northern Zheng Shogunate.

At the beginning, the rulers of Beizheng had limited the number of workers in each mine to no more than 300, but now, the largest mine even has tens of thousands of miners.

The Huaiyuan Copper Mine in Lang Son was one of the best. Thousands of men and young men worked there. The chieftains of Guangxi and high-ranking officials of Manchuria and Han ethnicity in Guangzhou all had stakes in it. They almost took over Lang Son. Their tyrannical style made the local villagers miserable. They even dared to harass the Annan government in Lang Son.

Not only because there are many people, but also because miners have strong combat effectiveness and have always been a profession that produces elite soldiers.

In history, Feng Zicai's anti-French resistance and Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army both recruited a large number of Vietnamese miners to fight, which shows their extraordinary combat effectiveness.

"Great! There are nearly 10,000 men at the Huaiyuan Copper Mine. If Lord Zheng wants to suppress it, he'll probably have to mobilize tens of thousands of elite troops to deter them. Even if something happens in Rong City, they won't be able to take care of it."

Tanka No. 2, who often hangs out at the mouth of the Red River, has already started rubbing his hands excitedly.

"Let's do it, Dragon Head!" Zhou Yuanquan was also a little excited.

“Although the Zheng army is brave, we are no pushovers. Moreover, we have dispatched eight warships with a total of nearly 200 artillery pieces. The Zheng lord only has a few dozen at most.

We can just sail across the Blue River and bombard them with artillery, and they won't dare to get close."

Mo Zibu gritted his teeth. Now the entire army was blinded by the 80,000 taels of silver. If he refused, there would definitely be chaos below.

Suddenly, Mo Zibu began to understand why some commanders in history would fall into the enemy's trap even if they saw it was a trap.

Sometimes, once the soldiers and generals below form a collective will, if you don’t have abilities close to Han Baiwei Huo’s, most of the time you have to follow their wishes, and at most you can make minor adjustments to a certain extent.

"Okay, let's do it!" Mo Zibu waved his fist, and the generals below immediately cheered.

"But we can't just go on like that. Who's willing to lead ten boats and a hundred brave men to go ashore and scout out the enemy?"

This can also be considered a little trick. As the head coach, Mo Zibu doesn't want to play big, so he needs to throw out this kind of hard work to test the determination of his subordinates.

If the people below are hesitant to accept this extremely dangerous job, then you can legitimately stop them.

Unexpectedly, the people below were very enthusiastic. A large number of team leaders who were in charge of about 50 people were talking about asking for credit, and finally the task fell on the head of the sentry officer Danjiaer.

Mo Zibu also nodded. Although Tanka No. 2 had low emotional intelligence and a hot temper, he was very smart on the battlefield. In addition, there were many Tanka people on the coast of northern Vietnam, so it was just right to let Tanka No. 2 go.

However, Mo Zibu was still a little worried, so he simply waved his hand at Chen Guangyao and said, "Ayao, take ten red-coated and silver-sworded soldiers with you and make sure you find out the situation."

(End of this chapter)