The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 35: One Hundred Men Leave, One Returns
Chen Guangyao was wearing a straw hat and only a patched shirt in the cold wind, and even only a pair of tattered shorts.

Although Annan is in the tropics, the temperature is only around 10 to 20 degrees Celsius at this time. The cold wind makes people shiver uncontrollably. As for the ground under their feet, it is even more icy.

The few people following Chen Guangyao were so cold that their noses were running. This place was more than 20 miles away from Rong City, the outermost area of Zheng's army's defense. After landing at the mouth of Lanjiang, they advanced quite smoothly.

One important reason was that Zheng’s army had never expected that anyone would come to rescue Rong City from the sea.

Another reason is that after two or three years of fighting with the rebels, Dayi'an Province, where Rong City is located, has been tortured badly. The land is barren and a large number of people have fled everywhere.

While Zheng's army was digging long trenches to besiege Vinh City, a large number of civilian laborers were needed to work. Therefore, not only were the civilian laborers from Nghe An forcibly conscripted, but also many farmers from nearby Hanoi were conscripted.

This resulted in the composition of the civilians and militia outside Rong City being extremely complex, with accents from all over the place. People fled or even died every day, and people were forcibly recruited from their hometowns every day.

Chen Guangyao was so hungry that his stomach was sticking to his back. There was food in his small bag, but he didn't dare to take it out.

Because for civilians of his level, going hungry was the norm, and few of them had extra food.

Not only would he be easily exposed if he took out the food, he would also be likely to be watched or even snatched away.

Several Zheng soldiers who were talking and laughing loudly walked past Chen Guangyao and others. It seemed that their status was equivalent to that of a soldier of the Xiang army.

They did not have any armor. The only thing that distinguished them from the civilians was the black clothes and turbans of slightly better quality.

These Zheng soldiers were lucky. They were holding wild ducks that they had gotten from somewhere, and they looked proudly at the civilians who were like macaques in the mud.

"Huh!" A Zheng soldier suddenly looked at Chen Guangyao with confusion in his eyes.

There was no way. Although Chen Guangyao stripped off the dead man's rotten clothes and put them on himself, and deliberately smeared yellow mud on his face, his sturdy and strong body could not be concealed.

Zheng Jun, who was waiting for suspicion, took a few steps forward and immediately pulled out his knife.

Because Chen Guangyao and others' bulging muscles and healthy and shiny skin are not what laborers who eat little and have to do high-intensity labor can have. It can be seen immediately when you get closer.

The young officer of the Zheng army pointed, and Chen Guangyao knelt down smoothly, still sobbing, and his portrayal of a forcibly conscripted laborer was very vivid.

Chen Guangyao was not afraid of the swords in the hands of the Zheng army, but was afraid of the gong in his hand. If it was struck, the patrol soldiers of the Zheng army would come over immediately.

In a critical moment, Chen Guangyao's timely kneeling had a very good effect. This smooth operation made the Zheng army officer hesitate for a moment, and it was this one move that cost him his life.

Because Chen Guangyao was ready to exert force when he knelt down, he took advantage of the moment when Officer Zheng Jun hesitated and rolled in front of the officer. He grabbed his legs with both hands and pulled hard. The officer lost his balance and fell to the ground.

In an instant, Chen Guangyao flicked his sleeves, and a fine iron dagger was in his hand. With a flash of cold light, it stabbed into the officer's throat.

He even had time to catch the falling gong to prevent it from clanging.

The moment Chen Guangyao took action, several subordinates behind him also took action immediately. They quickly took out fine iron daggers from their arms, rushed forward, and stabbed him directly.

The Northern Zheng Shogunate was established several decades earlier than Nurhaci's uprising, and had just experienced the Quanwang Zheng Gang, who was even more turbulent than Emperor Ling of Han.

Although Zheng Ying began to turn the tide after he ascended the throne, Northern Zheng was actually basically corrupt from the highest level to the bottom.

The reason why their combat effectiveness can still be maintained is nothing more than the existence of their old enemy, the Nguyen Dynasty of Guangnan in the south.

These soldiers are similar to the wing troops of the two Song dynasties, so their combat effectiveness can be imagined. Moreover, they just drew their swords, which did not mean they were completely sure that there was something wrong with Chen Guangyao and others. They were just pretending to be superior to the civilians out of habit.

As a result, as soon as they met, they were immediately slaughtered by Chen Guangyao and his men. However, they were outnumbered after all, and one of the escaped fish screamed and took off running. Just as Chen Guangyao was about to chase him, he saw a civilian sitting on the ground stretch out his legs, and the Zheng soldier fell to the ground.

And at the moment he fell to the ground, silently and without any command, the surrounding civilians rushed forward and overwhelmed the Zheng army.

An extremely suppressed scream was heard. After more than ten seconds, the laborers dispersed, and a nearly naked Zheng Jun appeared in front of Chen Guangyao.

He crawled on the ground, with a bloody hole behind his head and snow seeping out. The clothes on his body, the dry food in his arms, and the duck in his hand were all completely gone.

Chen Guangyao suddenly felt the pressure, and he asked his three subordinates to step back a little.

Several Zheng soldiers on the ground were not completely dead yet, and the fallen wild duck corpses were covered in blood, it was unclear whether it was duck blood or human blood.

Several civilians dressed similarly to Chen Guangyao looked at them strangely, not understanding why they had to move aside. After hesitating for a moment, they talked to each other for a few words, and then countless thin and hungry figures emerged from the dark, muddy trench.

There was a rustling sound, as if it was the sound of mice collecting food. Within a few tens of seconds, the four Zheng soldiers lying on the ground instantly turned into naked white sheep like the other Zheng soldier.

After a while, a few people who looked like leaders came out. They directed people to carry these Zheng soldiers to a bend where Chen Guangyao could not see.

All of this is silent and weird, making people feel like they are in hell.

A Tanka pirate who had been active in Beizheng for many years grinned with a bitter look on his face.

"It's so tragic. I heard people in Haiyang say Yi'an is like a hellhole. No one has enough to eat. Once you're drafted, you can't go home. It seems to be true."

"I've heard that even human flesh can be sold for money, but I didn't expect it to get to this point."

Chen Guangyao was somewhat surprised. Although the people in Guangnan were still living in dire straits, fortunately there was no such cruel war to fight.

The people could sell their children, borrow money at high interest rates, and then freeze to death in the cold winter, unlike in Beizheng, where they were directly thrown into the meat grinder.

"We can't go any further. Take out all the food. We're going to negotiate with someone and let these Beihe people gather information for us."

Chen Guangyao made a decision quickly. The nine-month siege had turned Rong City inside and outside into a living hell. If he and his few men went deeper into the city, they might not be able to get out.

. . . .

In the Zheng army camp, Mo Zibu's intelligence was accurate, and a riot did break out at the Huaiyuan Copper Mine in Lang Son.

The reason was that Lord Zheng could no longer tolerate nearly 10,000 miners occupying important land and only paying a mere 1,000 taels of silver each year.

Therefore, the commander of the Zheng army, Duke of Huan, Nguyen Dinh Huan, has been ordered to lead 2,000 cavalrymen north. Now the commander of the more than 10,000 Zheng troops is Nguyen Dinh Shi, the younger brother of the commander, Nguyen Dinh Huan.

Ruan Dinh Shih did not have as much ability as his brother, and he had been at the grassroots level for a long time, so he knew very well what it was like down there. Due to the lack of food and fodder, the laborers at the grassroots level had united into a group in order to save their lives.

The current situation is that the main force of the Zheng army has more than 10,000 people and is escorting 40,000 to 50,000 civilians, and can generally hold on.

But feelings of anxiety and panic were spreading everywhere, and any pressure would likely lead to big problems. The situation was not much better than that of the two or three thousand bandits in Rong City.

Ruan Dinh Shi's face was full of anxiety. If this continued, he would collapse if the food in Rong City could not last until this winter.

(End of this chapter)