Even from the boat, you can see a series of fortresses built by the Ruan family on the coastline, especially at sea and land strategic points and places suitable for ship berthing. You can see the fortresses built by the Ruan family everywhere, many of which are European-style. Although it has obvious "monkey version" characteristics from scale to materials, it is undeniable that the Ruan family's "Westernization" of military ideology and technology is much more advanced than that of the Ming Dynasty. 【Read full text】
In this battle between Vietnam and the North and South, not only European colonialists in Southeast Asia were involved, but Chinese pirates were also involved, providing naval power for the fighting between Nguyen and Zheng, and the fight was endless. Both sides did not hesitate to throw all kinds of "official positions", "titles" and "commissions" to the pirates. Anyway, all it cost was a piece of paper, a big wooden seal, and a nondescript official uniform. You can bring in countless people and ships to work for your side, why not do it.
As for the reward, it is to freely plunder the wealth of the enemy's land.
Ping Qiusheng suddenly remembered something: "Commander! Order Wang You to report to the poop immediately!"
Wang You, who served in the Battle of the Pearl River Estuary, originally participated in logistics work in the joint logistics class at Ma Niao Base. He used to be the senior camp manager of the pirate group. He was originally responsible for logistics, but now he is a professional counterpart. This time when I went to Southeast Asia, I selected naturalized civilians from within the military system who were familiar with the Southeast Asian environment, so I temporarily seconded Wang You.
"Have you been here with Zheng Bao?" Ping Qiucheng asked Wang You in a confused tone.
"Yes!" Wang You's posture of standing at attention was not very standard. Although he was among the pirates, he was essentially a pen-wielding master. He was also older, so the effectiveness of "formalized" training was far less than that of other colleagues. The navy uniform on him looks a bit like a patriot who just wore Western clothes during the Meiji Restoration.
Wang You looked at the familiar coastline: Wang You briefly described his "combat" with Zheng Bao's fleet in this area - the so-called battle meant burning, killing and looting in this area. This was a good deal at first. The Ruan family had no defenses on this coastline, and the fleet easily captured many ships and plundered a large amount of goods. Except for a part paid to Zheng, the rest belongs to the fleet itself.
But gradually this coastline became less easy to chew. There were more and more forts and beacon towers. Not only did you often have to brave the artillery fire to land ashore, but you would sometimes encounter the Ruan family's fleet to intercept them, and the two sides fought. The loss of men and ships was heavy.
It was precisely because this business became more and more dangerous that Zheng Bao thought of returning to Guangdong.
"How many Ming pirates are still fighting for Zheng and Ruan now?"
"Report! I don't know the specific figures. When Zheng Bao was recruiting sailors and ships in Jiangping last year, there were still more than 30 people fighting for the Zheng family. They were all given official titles."
The number of these pirates and the number of men and ships often changes. Whether it is the Zheng family or the Ruan family, the Chinese pirates under their command are all "rebels" and are neither inspected nor paid. Just give them the name to harass the other party. Except for a few large-scale battles, they are rarely assembled to conduct unified command operations. As for coming and going, you are free to come and go as you wish. So once the summer typhoon season arrives, these pirates basically all retreat to the coast of China.
As for the Chinese pirates fighting for the Ruan family, there are much fewer. Relatively speaking, the Ruan family is far away. It is not easy to replenish men and ships. However, there are more than a dozen stocks that he has heard of and dealt with at sea. However, he also said that many pirates have been canonized by both sides at the same time. Switch positions frequently to find gold in this chaotic situation.
Of course, many people died in the gold rush. Wang You knew that several shopkeepers who used to work for Mr. Zhu Cai had fallen into disgrace here. So when the ship arrived here, he couldn't help but feel sad again.
Quark often passes through this area and has heard a lot about the war. He pointed to several buildings deep on the coastline: "That is the granary of the Annamites. I heard that there are many more inland, the largest is at the east gate of Hue City. God bless, these barbarians killed each other several times. The Portuguese also participated in the war, and they hoarded a lot of food, but I guess if the killing continues like this, no one will be able to eat it soon."
"Are the firearms they used provided by the Portuguese?" Ping Qiusheng asked. He saw a large number of forts and forts that should be equipped with artillery. The total number was staggering.
"The Portuguese have had a foundry in Hue for a long time, casting artillery and cannonballs. They can also produce matchlocks. They have made a lot of money!" Quark said enviously. He is a businessman and is relatively well-informed about this kind of information. He has always been envious, jealous and hating this. Is there anything in the world that is more valuable than arms? He was very enthusiastic when Li Luoyu wanted to cooperate with him to set up a cannon foundry.
Quark explained earnestly that he still hoped that Ping Qiu Sheng would agree to his "Australian chart". Although the sea ■ that Liu San once showed to Quark was a pipe product, the Senate had already printed the small-precision latitude and longitude chart. A batch is a gift for future business partners with a large number of trade contacts.
Ping Qiusheng looked at the buildings in the distance and thought, these grains should have passed through the group. If it were not for the melee between the North and the South, Vietnam's food would not be so tight. Although the local coastal defense is very organized, the level of defense is at best better than the Ming Dynasty's fort in Humen. Although Zheng Bao and his like find it difficult to bite, it is not a problem for them. If the fleet has a marine company plus a small number of special reconnaissance teams, and follows up with a few U800 Harmony ships, it will not be a problem for one guy to grab 70,000 to 80,000 dan of food and go back. But there is no need to think about it this time. The engine plan has stretched Lingao's various resources very tightly, and many large-scale operations have been put on hold until next year. The proposal to rob monkeys of food is unlikely to be passed by the Senate in the short term.
Ping Qiusheng noticed that there was a natural reef in the outer sea that separated the harbor. The berthing conditions inside were still good. At this time, people on the shore seemed to have noticed the arrival of the fleet and set off warning smoke, but no ships left the harbor. Inquiry. Obviously, the other party does not actually have a standing navy that can go out to the port to fight at any time. It just relies on the coastal defense system to prevent the other party from landing and harassing.
Further south is Da Nang, where you can already see the outlet of the Han River. This is the dividing line between the influence of Han culture on the Indochina Peninsula. Vietnam in this time and space has not yet pushed its territory southward to the sea. In the eyes of the Vietnamese court, south of the Han River was the territory that they wanted to "civilize" and "conquer".
After two days of sailing, the fleet arrived in Nha Trang waters. Ping Qiusheng ordered the fleet to anchor here and sent a small team to land to obtain clean water, firewood and collect food. The landing party brought some minor panic to the residents.
The local villagers sent two old men to bring some food and drinking water to inquire about the intentions of the landing people. Ping Thu Seng had learned a little bit of Vietnamese, but when he started communicating, he discovered that his 300 Vietnamese sentences were completely useless. Chinese characters were not commonly used in southern Vietnam at that time, and modern Vietnamese based on French letters could not be communicated. Those The weird pronunciation is obviously a dialect from the South Island.
The messenger who came to the village actually spoke a little bit of Chinese, but the pronunciation was very strange. Only a former pirate like Wang You who had been to this area before could understand him. After trying it, Elder Ping gave up his plan to go into battle, and instead let a former pirate who was familiar with this area translate. After some communication in a mixture of native language and Chinese, both parties roughly understood what the other party meant.
Ping Qiusheng gave the villagers some gifts commonly used in trade: glass beads and several machetes. Ask the village to provide clean drinking water and food supplies. The fleet could pay with the daily necessities they brought with them. Ping Qiusheng also gave the representative a small glass mirror, and the villagers went back with great gratitude. Rice, chickens, ducks and many fruits and vegetables were delivered on the same day.
Worried about being attacked by the Ruan family's army, everyone just camped on a higher ground on the shore, and some people were left on the boat to guard them. However, the elders obviously overestimated the Ruan family's control. As the area newly occupied by the Ruan clan from the Champa Kingdom, they did not show much strong control. Its limited troops were obviously mobilized to the northern front. As local indigenous villagers, they have some experience. They have experienced wars, pirates, and European fleets, and they know that they cannot afford to offend these outsiders.
Since they understand the disparity in their own strength, they can only cooperate with the various maritime forces that appear here in this time and space in addition to taking precautions. Now it seems that the Australians are still very polite, so the villagers are willing to cooperate with them as much as possible.
During the few days they stayed in Nha Trang, Lin Dan and his former "colleagues" enjoyed the beach here. The scenery in Nha Trang is breathtaking, and Americans are very discerning in choosing this place as their base.
In Binh Thu Sheng’s mind, Nha Trang will be the forward base for travelers in Southeast Asia in the future, and it will also be a choice for veterans’ vacation spots.
The veteran of the remote exploration team who came with the ship took a small boat to conduct a hydrological survey in Cam Ranh Bay south of Nha Trang. This natural harbor with extremely superior hydrological conditions is an excellent naval base and commercial port. In the future, the commercial and military strongholds built at Cam Ranh Bay and Nha Trang should have very good development.
The area south of Cam Ranh Bay is not Vietnamese territory but the territory of the Champa State. While resisting the attack from the north, the Nguyen Dynasty also continued to go south to "open up territory", constantly compressing the Champa state that was originally in this area, and compressed the remaining forces of Champa to the south of Cam Ranh Bay. Historically, the territory occupied by the city extended from Phan Ri to Hue. However, now only the Phan-ri area is left with the forces occupying the city. They can only survive for decades by relying on the mutual attacks and containment of the Northern and Southern Dynasties in Vietnam. ! .
