The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 439 This is what Master Guan agreed to
Siam, Samutprakarn.

This is the largest city at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River (Mekong River) and the most important barrier to the south of Thonburi, the capital of Siam.

After passing Samutprakarn Province, it is only twenty kilometers away from Thonburi City.

The temperature in Nanyang in September is actually not as hot as you might imagine. If there are no extreme temperatures, the highest temperature is only 32 or 33 degrees Celsius, and it may even drop to around 20 degrees Celsius at night.

Of course, this September refers to the September of the Gregorian calendar. If it is the September of the lunar calendar, it will be even cooler.

Even in such a not-so-hot weather, the coalition forces, seven or eight kilometers away from Samutprakarn Province, still looked listless and lazy.

If it was a normal case of saving the emperor's father-in-law, these soldiers would have shouted and fought desperately, but Zheng Xin's position was really embarrassing.

Faced with such a task, no one felt that they should be the one to take the lead.

This situation did not change until September 8th of the Gregorian calendar, which was August 30th of the lunar calendar.

The fleet, which had been repaired in Nanji Island (Java Island), consisted of more than 20 warships. Taking advantage of the last few gusts of southeast wind, it sailed to the Gulf of Siam under full sail and docked in Chonburi.

As soon as Zheng Mincheng saw it, he knew that the emperor who was forced to serve as the Prime Minister of Nanyang was about to arrive in Nanyang, otherwise Chen Lian would never have arrived so quickly.

Sure enough, only three days later, the retired emperor Mo Tianci rushed directly to Chonburi without even returning to Ha Tien.

As soon as he arrived, the atmosphere changed. The emperor emeritus was not just the emperor emeritus. He had enough reputation among the fellow villagers in western Guangdong, Mingxiang people, Khmer people and other ethnic groups.

In terms of age, he is undisputedly the first, and in terms of seniority, there are few living people older than him.

Even Zheng Xin, although he is Mo Tianci's relative, there is an age difference of almost 40 years between them, so Zheng Xin can be said to be Mo Tianci's junior.

"The Emperor has ordered you to come and quell the rebellion in Siam, and you have been eagerly awaiting news of victory in Guangzhou, the southern capital of Chengtian. However, you have been procrastinating and presumptuously trying to interpret the Emperor's intentions.

Zheng Mincheng, Luo Fangbai, Jiang Wusheng, and Phraya Chanthaburi, each of you should submit a letter of apology. I will deduct half a year's salary as a warning to others!"

Mo Tianci, the emperor emeritus and prime minister of Nanyang, did not hold the position for nothing. He was quite capable. With just these few words, he wiped away any possible stains on Mo Zibu in advance.

Zheng Mincheng, Luo Fangbai and others certainly understood that the deduction of six months' salary was a punishment, and there would definitely be no other punishment.

The rescue of Zheng Xin this time was indeed delayed too long, which was a bit unreasonable. This was also for the emperor's reputation, allowing them to take a little blame. This is called tacit understanding.

"We acknowledge our guilt and are willing to accept punishment!" Four people hurried out, knelt down in unison, and took the blame.

"It's good that you admit your mistake. This time, we have tens of thousands of elite soldiers by land and sea. Defeating the traitor Chakri will be a piece of cake. But remember, saving King Zheng's life is the top priority."

Sure enough, after they confessed their guilt, Mo Tianci immediately changed his awareness of guilt into awareness of his mistakes.

"We, the ministers, will keep this in mind and make the safety of King Zheng our top priority." Zheng Mincheng, Luo Fangbai and others also understood the latter part of this sentence.

It seems that the higher-ups have reached a consensus on the arrangements for King Zheng, and it is indeed best to save his life.

. . . .

Samutprakarn Province is divided into two fortresses, the water fortress and the land fortress. The water fortress was built at the narrowest part of the river and had an inland fleet consisting of hundreds of small boats. There was also a position with thirteen cannons on the shore opposite the water fortress.

It looks quite decent and is indeed enough to intercept some pirates who want to rush into the Chao Phraya River to rob, but in front of the Chinese Navy, it is as defenseless as a parapet.

On the morning of the seventh day of September, the Siamese garrison in Samutprakarn Province had just gotten up and started its activities.

When the first breeze blew from the sea, the Chinese Navy, led by the Mu Tianbo class 3 battleship, took advantage of the strong wind and rushed in directly.

The rebels in the artillery fort didn't even have time to take off their gun covers. They had been accustomed to the lazy confrontation for almost a year and had never thought that the Chinese Navy would increase the intensity of their attack now.

With a loud bang and amid the rebels' screams, more than seventy artillery pieces fired a volley at the artillery positions on the riverside.

The Chao Phraya River estuary is too flat, with few hills or anything like that, so the fort can only be squeezed on a few small hills.

The result was that they were easily targeted by concentrated fire, with cannon barrels of all sizes flying everywhere in the air along with scattered human bodies.

A heated shell hit the rebel battery's powder magazine, causing an even more terrifying explosion.

After the brilliant flames, a huge mushroom cloud rose into the sky.

Afterwards, the warships took advantage of the wind to rush into the Chao Phraya River, destroyed the artillery batteries, lowered their sails, and then relied on the momentum of the Chao Phraya River to slowly surround the Samutprakarn Water Fort.

"Use incendiary bombs and don't let any boat escape!" Lieutenant General Sufran ordered loudly.

After receiving the order, Cai Qian, who was far away, and his classmates from the Quanzhou Xiamen Naval Academy, drove out first in an old lock ship with twelve guns.

The incendiary bombs at this time were actually grenades, but unlike hollow explosive grenades, the grenades used for arson were filled with turpentine, resin, refined animal fat, saltpeter and other flammable materials and combustion aids.

The most energetic people in the Chinese Navy now are Cai Qian and his group. Taking advantage of the favorable conditions of large-scale colonization and the establishment of a large navy, anyone who can be admitted to the Naval Academy and complete the basic cultural courses and graduate successfully will start as an officer, with good treatment and a glorious life.

Therefore, this old lock ship, whose officers and sailors were entirely composed of students from the Naval Academy, was extremely brave. Cai Qian stood at the bow, full of high spirits, as if this was what he was destined to do.

In the distance, a Siamese rebel ship weighing over 100 tons was pushing its cannons to the bow with a lot of noise.

"You dare to charge at me, traitor, you are looking for death!" He roared, pushed a fourteen-pound howitzer over, quickly loaded it, then raised his thumb towards the opposite side, calculated the distance, cut off a piece of the fuse of the shell and quickly lit it.

With a loud bang, the old ship swayed in place. The fourteen-pound howitzer fired a huge incendiary bomb. Cai Qian's ranging was very accurate, and the incendiary bomb exploded just over the oncoming Siamese ship.

In an instant, all kinds of flammable materials splashed all over the ship. When the hot resin stuck to people, it was like a maggot on the tarsal bone, which could not be shaken off at all.

The sails of the boat were also ignited, and with the help of the wind, they soon burned violently.

"Bang" another incendiary bomb was fired, but it was not an explosive type, but a heated red iron bomb.

The shells smashed into the cabin of the small boat, and the hot shells quickly ignited various wooden items in the cabin. Suddenly, the fire spread uncontrollably. The Siamese rebels on the small boat saw that they could not put out the fire, so they followed the firemen hit by the incendiary bombs and jumped into the water.

On this side, the sailors on the old lock ship immediately raised their flintlock rifles and fired, as easy as shooting a wild duck in the water.

But Cai Qian was still not satisfied. He waved his hands and shouted, "Use the club! Don't waste your Majesty's lead bullets and gunpowder!"

At Cai Qian's shout, the cadets on the ship put down their flintlock rifles and picked up a long stick with a small iron lump on the top.

This thing can be used to prop up an oncoming fire ship, or to hit the enemy sailors who fall into the water, and they will be killed without a sound.

This is an oriental-style weapon that is already outdated for the navy, but it is very suitable for fighting rebellion wars.

Encouraged by Cai Qian and his men, more than a dozen smaller ships rushed into the harbor and attacked indiscriminately, quickly defeating the Siamese rebel patrol boats that were caught off guard.

Then they rushed into the port and began to attack the warships anchored at the dock with kerosene and incendiary bombs. Soon, a raging fire broke out and the water fort was completely engulfed in flames.

The large battleships, under the cover of some small centipede ships, blocked the water fort to prevent any fish that had escaped from the net from rushing out, and also to prevent the small number of patrol boats outside from rushing back.

The Marines had already climbed to the top of the water fort and took control of the few coastal defense guns.

The country of Siam has always had a reputation for martial virtue. It's okay under the excellent matching mechanism in Southeast Asia, but when it really faces China, it's completely inadequate.

By the time Thong's nephew Anutravi, the third king of the Chakri Dynasty in history, who was guarding the city of Samutprakarn, heard the explosion, it was too late.

Before he sent out reinforcements, Mo Tianci, dressed in gorgeous armor, personally led the army to besiege the city.

This time, the general assigned by Mo Zibu to his father Mo Tianci was Chen Chengji, the admiral of the Bac Ha military affairs, the commander of the three guards of Hue, and the major general of the army.

He is the elder brother of the Imperial Noble Consort's younger cousin Chen Yizhen. He has been staying in Nanyang to be in charge of the garrison troops in Guangnan and Rinan provinces. This time, he will lead 3,000 people from the three guards of Hue to accompany them south.

Together with the three companies of Yuan guards already in Siam and the garrison troops from various provinces, there were a total of 25,000 people, not counting the navy.

Samutprakarn is said to be a key city, but in fact it has no city walls. In this rainy Southeast Asia, not many rammed earth walls can last long. Buildings made of pure stone like Thonburi and Ayutthaya are too far beyond the national strength of Siam.

Therefore, in the history of this place, there are many records that when foreign enemies came, they directly attacked the capital. This is the reason why the capital is often the only city in the entire country that has complete city defense.

Chen Chengji did not have large-caliber artillery, but he had a lot of three-pound, four-pound, and six-pound field guns. Samutprakarn Province looked like a military camp, with a stone foundation not even one meter high, and it was impossible to withstand artillery bombardment.

The Imperial Army used only one round of volleys to blast countless large holes in the wooden palisade wall of Samutprakarn Province. Then, 1,500 soldiers rushed in with wooden ladders on the moat outside the city.

The Siamese soldiers on the wooden wall fired a few scattered shots, then were hit by a volley of bullets. Then they dropped their weapons and fled, shouting.

By the time Anutrari led 300 elite soldiers out of the city to stop them, Samutprakarn Province was already in complete chaos.

The reason why these people behave so badly is actually largely due to their inner fear.

What is hard for future generations to imagine is that China's military power is still very deterrent to these small countries.

Just like the bald eagle in later generations, although in our opinion his army is a bit weak and he did not fight well in Afghanistan and other places.

But apart from big countries like China, few people want to face the US military.

This was the case at that time. The Siamese relied on China's help to restore their country twice, and a large number of Chinese also passed on their awe of the court to a large number of Siamese people.

In addition, not only did they have to face the Dayu army and navy, they were also rebels themselves, and they felt very insecure.

Therefore, although Samutprakarn had a total of 15,000 people, the Chinese Army successfully entered Samutprakarn without any fierce fighting.

After breaking into the city, Anutravi, feeling that something was wrong, went straight into the Buddhist temple with his confidants.

This is the stereotype. Anutravi thought he had entered the temple. According to Siamese custom, the attacking party should send someone to negotiate at this time.

But he was wrong. Jiang Wusheng took a quick look and took out a pair of sheep horn hexagrams, holding them in his hands. He looked at the soldiers around him and said loudly:
"Master Guan, this Southern Buddhism sect doesn't respect you either. I think they're a bit disobedient. So, Master Emperor, give me some instructions. If you say to fight, then we'll fight. If you say not to fight, then we won't fight!"

Then Jiang Wusheng picked up a pair of sheep horn hexagrams and threw them three times in a row. The first time, the back was straightened first and the back was straightened - the holy hexagram. The second time, both were straightened - the yang hexagram. The third time, the back was straightened first and the back was straightened - the holy hexagram.

Jiang Wusheng laughed heartily, "Gods are in the east and ghosts are in the west, calm the soul and protect the Qingyang. Five sheep and one tiger are the main omen, nine out of ten will die and it will be difficult to survive."

"Master Guan said that this temple is inhabited by ghosts in the west. We are the divine soldiers who came from the east. Let's get going and eradicate this devil's lair!"

At that time, people in Fujian and Guangdong were still quite superstitious, especially those who went to sea, but since Guan Yu said it was okay to do it, there was no problem.

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Baohua and others pulled over a six-pound cannon and fired at the temple gate.

How could this wooden door withstand such an explosion? It shattered into pieces in an instant. After the door was blown open, Li Baohua and others did not rush in, but continued to fire incendiary bombs inside.

Soon, a big fire broke out in the temple, and many people in ochre-yellow monk robes ran out crying. The soldiers guarding the door didn't care at all and stabbed everyone who came out to death.

When Anutravi saw that the army outside was killing even monks, he became frightened and organized a group of soldiers to rush out. However, their actions had already been seen by the soldiers lying on the wall.

By the time Anutravi ordered his guards to rush out, the six-pound cannon was already filled with shotgun shells.

As soon as the Siamese soldiers appeared, sixty-seven shotgun shells swept over them like a storm, and more than thirty soldiers were hit, with bones and muscles broken and flesh flying everywhere.

The rest were so frightened by the tragic scene that they retreated back inside, rolling and crawling.

But after a while, the fire inside burned even bigger. They could not bear it any longer and could only kneel on the ground and crawl out one after another.

Jiang Wusheng laughed, "Catch Anutravee and show that traitor Tong the consequences of betraying the emperor."

(End of this chapter)