The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 36 The Big Gunboat Arrives from the Sea
After receiving the information sent back by Chen Guangyao, Mo Zibu couldn't help but take a breath. He really didn't expect that the fighting outside Rong City had become like this.

More than 40,000 laborers had only one and a half pounds of dried vegetable cakes to eat every day, and nothing else. They also had to work digging long trenches and keeping watch at night.

Under the threat of hunger, Chen Guangyao witnessed cannibalism more than once.

No wonder the common people in history were so afraid of performing corvee labor. It was really like one out of a hundred men was returned!
"Everyone, come and see. According to the intelligence provided by Guangyao, there is a Zheng army camp on each of the three sides of Rong City: the north, west, and south.

Each camp stretched for several miles, with approximately 3,000 men each, the elite of which were the 3,000 Eastern Army cavalry transferred from Tokyo."

This Tokyo is not the Tokyo of Wa in later generations, but refers to Hanoi.

When Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty recovered Annan, he named Hanoi City Dongguan. After Le Loi drove out the Ming army and gained independence, he changed Dongguan to Dongjing.

"It seems that the Zheng army really didn't prepare for an attack from the sea, and they didn't even set up camp on the east side." Li Xianwen said excitedly:
"Our army is entering from the south, and Rongshi City in the north can serve as a barrier. So what we are actually facing is the 3,000 men of the Zheng army's southern camp. This will be much easier to defeat. We can directly deploy our ships and bombard them."

"Then let's mobilize immediately. I've had enough of this sea breeze." Mo Zibu said loudly, "Go and prepare three thousand kilograms of rice. We'll keep our word."

The direct reason why Chen Guangyao was able to complete the task so well this time was that he promised 3,000 kilograms of rice, fully mobilizing the Zheng army and civilians to work for him. This amount of rice should be given.

. . . .

In the city of Rong City, the little pirate Chen Xu from Xianyou was sitting complacently with a group of brothers from the clan, while the higher-up Ruan Tuoqiu was pacing around anxiously, finding it difficult to make up his mind.

"Master Tuo, why are you still hesitating? Are you reluctant to part with the wealth in this city? We are almost dead now, what's the point of having these dead things?"

Chen Xu said with a little dissatisfaction that this guy was also a god. When he asked for help, he never thought that anyone would come to save them, so he didn't ask Ruan Tuo for a report at all.

It was not until Chen Guangyao sent people into the city at night that he realized that someone had really come to rescue him, so he hurried to report to Ruan Tuo.

"Alas, it's not that I'm willing to give up a few pieces of gold and silver, but I'm not used to sailing. If I were in the mountains and forests, I could still be called a hero, but on the sea, my future is uncertain!"

Ruan Duoqiu was very clear that if he followed these Tang people, his foundation would be lost and it would be difficult for him to return to his hometown in the future.

"Master Tuo, you must think carefully. If you don't leave now, you will end up following the general's footsteps!"

Chen Xu narrowed his eyes and reminded him that although he had not read many books, he was an old man who had lived on the edge of a knife and was well versed in the ways of the world.

He didn't care whether Ruan Tuo left or not, but the 80,000 taels of wealth were very important.

This is his token of allegiance, and Ruan Tuo must be asked to hand it over.

Hearing what Chen Xu said, Ruan Youqiu couldn't help but shudder. The great general Chen Xu mentioned was his father, Ruan Youqiu, who called himself the great general protecting the country and the people of the host country. He was captured and brought to Tokyo more than ten years ago, and was eventually cut into pieces by the Zheng Lord.

"Forget it, forget it. Only by keeping myself useful can I plan for the future." Ruan Tuoqiu gritted his teeth.

"I will go and take out all the food. The three armies will have a good meal. We will fight the traitors tomorrow."

Well, the Zheng Lord called the rebels including Huang Gongzhi and Ruan Youqiu cunning thieves, and the rebels called the Zheng family treacherous ministers who held the emperor hostage.

The so-called "putting things together" is just an elegant way of saying "letting go".

Others came to rescue him for 80,000 taels of silver, so it was impossible for them to rescue all the more than 4,000 Ruan soldiers. Being able to promise to take away nearly 100 of his confidants was already a great honor.

So the remaining people have to be abandoned. Their only use is to take the initiative to attack and attract the attention of Zheng’s army.

. . . .

Nguyen Dinh Thik woke up a little early today, having drunk quite a bit the previous night, but he was still excited, feeling much better. News had just arrived that General Huang Wufu, a former eunuch, had defeated Huang Gongzhi in the upper reaches of the Tuo River, cutting off Huang Gongzhi's attempt to reinforce Nguyen Tuoqiu in Vinh City.

At this time, the main force of the Zheng army had been on guard against Huang Gongzhi who was coming south from Shanluo, the upper reaches of the Tuojiang River, which is the Dien Bien Phu area in later generations. Therefore, the troops to besiege Rong City were insufficient.

Now that Huang Gongzhi has been defeated, Huang Wufu's main force will be able to reach Rong City within a month at the latest.

This meant that as long as Nguyen Dinh Thịch held out for another month, not only would the crisis be resolved, but he would also be able to gain military merit by capturing and killing the bandits. How could he not be happy?

At this moment, there was a loud bang of a cannon, and orange-red flames flashed across the sky. Then, endless shouting and yelling were heard, and soon, the guards were seen crawling over.

"Sir, the cunning bandits in the city have suddenly risen up and seem to have mobilized their entire army to attack. I'm afraid they will break through!"

Ruan Dinh Thach laughed heartily, "If the enemy had not come out, they could have held out for a while. Now they are desperate and crying, risking everything, and lining up their infantry on the plain to take advantage of our elite cavalry. Isn't that a disadvantage?
Beat the drums and gather the generals, ordering the cavalry from the west and south battalions to mount their forces immediately and join us in encircling and suppressing the bandit army!"

Amid the rumbling sound of war drums, the rebels, well fed and watered, charged forward bravely. At the beginning, they only killed civilians, local militia and a few soldiers in the north.

But the battle lasted less than three quarters of an hour when more than a thousand cavalrymen from the Zheng army's western and northern camps arrived.

Although these cavalrymen had more leather armor than iron armor, and their horses were the short Dian horses, they could still show their power when facing infantry with average organization and basically no armor.

Fire guns flashed continuously, arrows rained down, and every cavalryman of Zheng was possessed by Zhao Zilong, killing the rebels so hard that they screamed in agony and fell to the ground in large numbers.

On the east side of Rong City, Ruan Daoqiu, Chen Xu and others opened the east gate wide, and the civilians outside the east gate also received rice and grain, and made way for a small path in advance.

When Nguyen Dinh Thich saw that his army had won, he thought that he, Nguyen Dinh Thich, could defeat the bandit army without Huang Wufu's arrival, and he was immediately very excited.

He even wondered if he should go in and pretend to take a nap, and wait until the generals had finished defeating the bandits and came back to see them. Wouldn't that make him famous in history as the story of Ruan Ansu defeating bandits in a dream?
Unfortunately, his idea was good, but before his legs could move, he saw the sea sparkling with the rising sun in the distance.

In the shining sunlight, huge sails suddenly appeared, and the fleet was connected front and back, and it was unknown how many ships there were.

"Where does this fleet come from? Is it from Haiyang?" The generals around were a little confused. They had never heard that the court had sent another navy!
Suddenly, someone pointed in the distance and screamed, "Southern bandits, the southern bandits are coming!"

It turned out that Mo Zibu had someone raise a large yellow dragon flag of the Quang Nam Nguyen family on the bow of the ship.

At this time, the Zheng Lord called the Nguyen family the southern bandits, and the Nguyen family called the Zheng Lord the northern bandits.

Ruan Dinh Shi thought he had achieved a great success, but he didn't expect that there was an hidden danger behind him, and his defense was immediately broken.

"It turns out the cunning thief has colluded with the southern thieves. Send an urgent messenger to the capital to report this.

Hoist the red flag, light the signal smoke, and order the Southern Camp to rush back to support."

At this time, the rebel army that broke out of the city was about to collapse. When they saw the Guangnan fleet coming, they actually thought that Tuoye Ruan Tuoqiu had asked for reinforcements, and they ran towards the fleet crying.

Mo Zibu's face was stern and merciless, "Captain Bonn, I order the Lucky's right gun to remove its gun covers and all musketeers to form a battle array to prevent the fleeing soldiers from attacking our ship.

The messenger sent a flag signal to the Red Fleet behind, telling them to be on guard and not let any of the Annan people here board the ship.

Mo Zibu knew very well that the rebels in this situation were like drowning people. If they were allowed to grab a life-saving straw, they would definitely rush to it without caring about their lives.

If thousands of people were not dealt with, the Lucky, which was already deep in the water, might be stranded.

And just as Mo Zibu expected, when the rebels saw the big ship that could hide from Zheng Zhu's cavalry, their eyes immediately turned red. Countless people ignored the cannons that had been uncovered, and jumped into the water crying and tried to climb onto the ship!
"Fire!" Mo Zibu waved his hand and gave the order loudly.

(End of this chapter)