Zhu Cizhao still underestimated the fighting ability of Nguyen Phuoc Hoi's troops. It was not without reason that the opponent was able to repeatedly thwart the Zheng family's large-scale march southward in the north despite being outnumbered.
At the beginning, they were able to repel the Zheng army's attack with a strength disadvantage of five times. When the combat effectiveness of the army did not decline significantly, they could still withstand the Ming vassal army's eastern expedition.
Based on the comparison of the combat modes and results obtained by both sides, if the number of people is equal, the combat effectiveness of both sides is actually almost the same.
Zhu Cizhao's troops destroyed the city along the way. If the rear was not frequently harassed by the Ruan army, they could have captured the opponent's capital in one go.
Nguyen Phuoc Hoi's troops were good at making detours and targeting the supply lines of the Ming Dynasty army.
If Zhu Cizhao's main brigade is considered a frozen persimmon and Min's barracks is considered a soft persimmon, then the baggage troops are considered a rotten persimmon.
Ruan Jun was eager to eat such "rotten persimmons", and he adopted this tactic after losing the important town of Lu Ning.
If Zhu Cizhao did not use the Dong Nai River route to transport supplies to the front line, more than half of the military supplies would have been destroyed by the opponent.
Nguyen Phuc Hoi implemented the Ming Emperor's special tactics, namely "you fight yours and I fight mine".
Due to the elusiveness of the opponent and the difficulty of guarding against it, the Ming vassal army's heavy supplies were now suspicious of the woods.
Even if a bird flies out, you may be frightened, fearing that another native will jump out from your side.
Fortunately, each supply camp is equipped with a tank company with twelve tanks under its jurisdiction, which can generally ensure everyone's safety.
If the opponent doesn't make a sneak attack during the day, it will be hard to predict at night.
No matter how powerful the tank is, it cannot protect everyone around the clock.
The tanks Zhu Cizhao obtained were all third-generation T-6 light tanks, powered by gasoline.
The main weapon is still the same as its predecessor, a 65mm breech-loaded cannon.
The secondary weapons are two machine guns, one on the front of the car body and one on the turret.
The total combat weight of the T-6 exceeds twelve tons, it has four members, and its cross-country range can reach about 150 kilometers.
The prototype of this tank is the Type 38T made in Czechoslovakia, but it is larger than the prototype.
Because after the internal space is increased, more ammunition will be carried, and the riding comfort of tank soldiers can be guaranteed.
The main gun has 30 rounds of ammunition and the machine gun has 4,000 rounds of ammunition. When using 40 rounds of large bullets, the continuity of firepower can be ensured.
The front armor of the car body and turret is 30 mm thick, and the side armor is 20 mm thick, which can basically withstand the long-distance bombardment of the small Folan aircraft.
This tank is prepared for troops fighting in tropical areas. It is light and easy to pass through the pontoon bridge set up by engineers.
Zhu Cixiang did have a tank like the T-7 weighing more than 20 tons (the prototype was No. 3), but there was no need to send it to the tropical rainforest area to fight.
The two batches of military assistance included 720 T-6 light tanks, enough for Zhu Cizhao to equip six armored brigades.
Plus other weapons and equipment, as well as the fifteen million silver coins sent over.
If you can't defeat Mr. Ruan, then he is really worse than King Dingzhi...
When Zhu Cixiang looked forward to the war situation in southern Annan, one of his younger brothers was already deeply involved in the quagmire of the war.
According to the estimates of his staff, at least four main brigades must be reorganized in order to break the current deadlock.
The annual expenses of these four brigades must exceed five million silver coins. Adding the original four brigades, wouldn't my wallet be emptied all at once?
Regarding this, Zhu Cizhao was extremely reluctant.
If my eldest brother provided the money, I would definitely happily approve the proposal to expand the army.
Now you have to get the money yourself, so that's a different matter...
Fortunately, his father helped him with another five hundred thousand silver coins, his mother and concubine also sent someone to send him five hundred thousand silver coins, and his brother, King Dingzhong, also sent five hundred thousand silver coins. It seemed that it was agreed upon.
Of course, Zhu Cizhao was very happy to receive 1.5 million silver coins, but it was still far from filling the huge financial hole that was about to be formed.
If you write again and ask for help, you may cause resentment to the other party.
In desperation, Zhu Cizhao had no choice but to order people to support themselves, cut down more trees, collect more spices, and collect more local specialties, so that they could exchange for more silver coins.
In view of the current bad war situation, Zhu Cizhao had to approve the reorganization of the two brigades in advance after thinking about it, otherwise he would really be in trouble.
By the autumn of the 79th year of Haojing (1722), the Ming vassal army fighting in the southern region of Annan had reached six brigades and 12 min barracks, with a scale of more than 35,000 people.
This is almost the limit of Zhu Cizhao's financial resources. If he continues to reorganize his troops, he will really be unable to bear it.
Since the Nguyen family's capital is far away in Hue, thousands of miles away from the battlefield, they can use large-scale guerrilla warfare in the war zone.
The less than 40,000 people under Zhu Cizhao's command were not from the regular army, but had only received corresponding training.
The soldiers and horses who were far inferior to the imperial court in terms of fighting will, coupled with the looting of the local area, caused people to turn against them.
Most of the natives in southern Annam were willing to be loyal to Nguyen Phuc Hoi and viewed the Ming vassal army as invaders.
With proper tactics, favorable climate, and united will, the Ruan army was still inextricably linked to the Ming vassal army even though they had no weapon advantage.
Hue is a coastal city, so Zhu Cizhao very much hoped that his eldest brother could order the fleet to bombard Hue to relieve his hatred.
Of course Zhu Cixiang would not let Jiexuan do what he did, but he didn't know that giving Concubine Tian Guifei the elixir was the hatred of his beautiful mother!
Of course, Jiexuan would not get involved in unnecessary matters when he did not receive an imperial edict and did not need to make his own decisions.
The warships of the Ming Navy patrolled along the coastline of Annam, sometimes very close to Hue, but they did not fire their guns.
After Tian Guifei learned about this, she first approached Zhu Cihong, hoping that for her own sake, she would send troops to help her younger brother.
Zhu Cixiang's reply to this request was simple.
With my own money, I have already taken tens of millions of silver coins and shipped ten ships of weapons and ammunition.
This younger brother can be said to have a strong army and a strong horse. How can he be compared to the Ruan family who has no foreign aid?
I've already helped you to this point, but if you still can't win, what use do I need from you?
If the imperial court sends troops, this land will not be given to you!
Afterwards, the scapegoat asked about the war situation in the south of Annan. No doubt it was Concubine Tian who blew the whistle.
Zhu Cixiang also answered truthfully, there was no concealment and there was no need to conceal it.
The scapegoat even tried to pull over the guard battalion that was protecting him...
Zhu Cixiang found it very interesting and commented, if the Guards Battalion still cannot turn the tide of the war, what should his father do?
It should be noted that in order to deal with the Zheng family in the north, the imperial court dispatched 13 brigades of the army, three marine brigades, a special operations brigade, and thousands of fighter planes. They bombed indiscriminately for more than a year, even using carpet bombing. On.
In addition, 200,000 Japanese troops came to help in the battle. In the end, Zheng Fan was rounded up in the southern region of Guangxi. It took a lot of effort to capture the prey.
After the opponent's main force is eliminated, they will then have to deal with guerrillas everywhere. The war is expected to last four or five years.
The total investment in the Northern War and the later period of Yimin was no less than 500 million silver coins, and may reach 1 billion silver coins.
Even though the Ming Dynasty's annual income is now very high, the total cost of this war is extremely shocking.
It can be said that just to eat the northern Annan, it cost money to build ten "Scharnhorst"!
The troops that the Army had previously sent to fight in northern Annan were being repaired and could not be dispatched immediately to fight again.
It is completely insufficient to invest only the Guards Battalion in the south of Annan. The unit may also be crippled and defeated by the local climate and mosquitoes.
But it's not easy to offend the blame-shifting father directly. Since his favorite son is Zhu Cihuan, the king of Burma, let this younger brother take action.
Zhu Cihuan was the earliest among Tian Guifei's three sons to join the vassal, and had the largest fief area. After so many years, he was naturally the strongest. He had been watching the excitement for a long time, and it was time for him to make his debut.
As before, Zhu Cihong gave Burmese King Zhu Cihuan a start-up capital of five million silver coins and weapons and equipment for three brigades, and he left the rest to his own decision.
Regarding this method, the blame dumper agreed. At least Zhu Cihuan would listen to him, unlike some very shameful rebellious son...
After receiving the money and arms, King Zhu Cihuan of Burma asked for an extra portion before he was willing to send troops. The excuse was that he had to prevent a fire in the backyard.
Zhu Cixiang did not counteroffer, and he was not short of the money.
Seeing that my eldest brother actually agreed readily, my father urged me again and again.
Zhu Cihuan could no longer shirk it. After the expeditionary force was reorganized, it was easier to send troops in the autumn of Haojing's 80th year (1723).
It has been a year since Zhu Cizhao asked for help. A certain emperor even doubted whether the two brothers were biological brothers...
King Zhu Cihuan of Burma only dispatched three brigade of troops, led by his general Zhou You.
Zhou You's tactics were not in line with Zhu Cizhao's wishes, because King Burmese's troops would not fight deep into the inland areas.
This tactic is the same as the one used by Jiexuan back then, which is to use armored ships to attack cities and seize territory along the coastline. To put it bluntly, it is to scrape the territory!
You want to say help?
It doesn’t really have much effect!
Do you want to deny it?
They actually came!
Since landing, Zhou You's troops have been invincible, and they have conquered nearly twenty towns within a month. The results are brilliant!
But this seemingly brilliant victory made Zhu Cizhao feel a little sick, as it was like his younger brother came to compete with him for the fruits of victory.
The more victories the opponent achieved, the more uncomfortable Zhu Cizhao became. Those should all be his trophies!
This bastard brother must have had some plans in this area. If he had known this, it would be better not to let him come to help in the battle!
The southern coastal area cannot be said to be a definitely wealthy place, but with the gun support of ironclad ships, it is definitely easier to succeed than inland.
Zhou You took advantage of this to quickly achieve victory, and without hesitation led his troops to advance north along the coastline. The final destination was Hue City!
Of course, as long as there are enough local coastal towns, he doesn't mind leading his troops to fight in the war zone for three to five years...
Zhou You turned a deaf ear to Zhu Cizhao's order to move his troops inland, and replied that he would be outside and would not accept his orders.
The meaning is very clear, he only listens to the orders of King Burma, and other people's orders are another matter.
If Emperor Haojing comes, he can happily obey.
Zhu Cizhao has been named the "King of Lan", named after the Lancang River.
The original name was "King Mekong", borrowing the first word from Mekong River, but it didn't seem to sound very nice.
But Zhu Cican took advantage and became the King of Wu because of "Angkor".
Now the lower reaches of the Lancang River, especially the delta area near the outlet, have fallen into Zhu Cizhao's hands.
But this was far from satisfying Zhu Cizhao's appetite. In addition to the two river basins, he also wanted to eat the east of Dong Nai River.
After paying such a high price, the fiefdom must at least reach Bajiang on the Duole Plateau.
If you can allocate the area south of Hue to yourself as a fiefdom, that would be great...
According to Zhu Cizhao's logic, if he does not compete with his brother for the inland area, then the coastal areas must belong to him.
At that time, both his father and mother will support him.
"hehe!"
When Zhu Cihong saw a younger brother's request for dividing the fiefdom, he laughed.
The battle was not going well, but the territory grabbing was quite active.
Doesn't this mean that you just spent two yuan and you want to win the five million grand prize?
The Lancang River Delta and even the inland areas further east can be given to you, but up to Bajiang.
Moreover, the coastal area east of Dalat (Tong Leyin) must be owned by the imperial court, because the due east of the city is Cam Ranh Bay!
This is one of the most ideal anchorages for the Ming Dynasty Navy in Southeast Asia in the future, even better than Manila Bay.
There are frequent storms over there, but things are much better here in Annan. Cam Ranh Bay is extremely suitable for becoming a naval base.
Together with Manila, one to the east and one to the west, together with the many islands in the South China Sea, it just blocks the access to this water area.
After the good news spread frequently, the Burmese king Zhu Cihuan, who had harvested the spoils of war (mainly treasures), sent three more brigades to scrape the land.
Zhou You's performance did not disappoint him. In this case, he can increase his efforts to attack the enemy. His six brigades can help his brother with both arms!
This move also caused Burmese King Zhu Cihuan to send troops to the south of Annan, which was close to Lan Wang Zhu Cizhao. Fortunately, he did not continue to increase his troops.
Jiexuan never sent a fleet to help from the beginning to the end. The troops of Burmese King Zhu Cihuan all arrived in Annan on merchant ships.
Zhu Cihuan himself has two fourth-level ironclads, four third-level ironclads, four second-level ironclads, and eight first-level ironclads that have been eliminated by the Ming Dynasty.
Although the size of the fleet is not very large, and they are all second-hand ships of considerable age, in South Asia, this lineup cannot be underestimated.
The Ming Navy has bases in Ceylon, the Andaman Islands, and Sumatra. If something happens, it can reach the waters of the Burmese king's fiefdom within three days.
In fact, the only neighbors of King Zhu Cihuan of Burma were Siam in the east and India in the west. The former was an ally of the Ming Dynasty, while the latter was so chaotic that even the Ming Dynasty didn't want to pay attention to it...
To the north is Mu Tianbo's territory, and to the south is the sea. It can be said that as long as the local disobedient natives are beaten to death, the remaining defense pressure will be almost zero!
The eighteen armored ships were all bought by Emperor Haojing in batches and given to Zhu Cihuan. Their combat effectiveness was not very high, and they were mainly used to support the scene.
If a large-scale naval battle really breaks out in South Asia, Jiexuan doesn't expect the Burmese king's fleet to make a difference!
