The Jinghua fleet stopped in front of the Xiangfumen Pier in Thang Long City. Two hundred large and small ships almost obscured this section of the Red River, and the black muzzles of the open-deck heavy guns were even more... It made the entire Shenglong City silent.
Thang Long is the capital of Annam, and its layout is divided into inner and outer cities.
From the outside to the inside, the inner city is divided into the capital city, the imperial city, and the forbidden city. The forbidden city is where the emperor's concubines lived, which is the Annan version of the "Forbidden City"; the imperial city is where court ceremonies and offices are; the capital city surrounds the imperial city, which is the imperial city. It serves as a city guard and a market, neighborhood and residential area.
As for the outer city, in fact, it should be more accurately called "outside the city". It is actually equivalent to the suburbs and is not surrounded by city walls.
Thang Long City, like countless cities in this era, was built on the river, with Thang Long on the right bank of the Red River. Shenglong has four gates: Xiangfu Gate in the east, Guangfu Gate in the west, Daxing Gate in the south, and Yaode Gate in the north. One of them, Xiangfu Gate at the east gate, is the wharf.
At present, Jinghua's fleet is parked in the middle of the river in front of Xiangfumen Pier. The hulls of all ships are facing the city gate. All deck guns, as long as the design allows them to be positioned to aim at Shenglong City, have been positioned. In a position where cannons can be fired at any time, there are countless dark muzzles, like the mouths of giant pythons that choose to devour people. One glance at them makes people's scalp numb and their whole body trembling.
One thing in particular must be mentioned. Although Thang Long was the ancient capital of the N Dynasty and the largest city in Annam, the current size of Thang Long City is actually less than one-tenth of the size of Hanoi in later generations.
The Jinghua fleet anchored on the river outside Xiangfu Gate. Even though the power of the current naval guns is far less than that of later generations, the range of the most powerful ones can cover almost half of Shenglong City. Since the imperial city is far away from the Red River, Close, so this range is almost enough to send artillery shells into the imperial city or even the forbidden city.
The ship had been moored for half an hour, but Gao Jue still didn't wait for a response from Shenglong City. He was already a little impatient. He was about to order the escort group to disembark and land on the city to forcefully attack the city. Someone came to report that someone from Shenglong City was coming.
The visitor is a eunuch named Zhang - well, it's not that Annan Commander-in-Chief Mo Maoqia doesn't give face, but that he hasn't figured out how to face this fleet yet, especially his company's fleet. I don’t know who the general is or what his rank is. His majesty is the emperor, er, no, he is the commander-in-chief. It is really inconvenient for him to come forward now.
When Gao Jue heard that the first thing he did was to send someone to ask about his "title", he was so angry and funny.
What title does he have?
"I am just the servant of Mr. Gao, the censor of Guangxi Province. I am a servant who guards the regiment. I have no rank." Gao Jue said calmly: "However, I brought Jun Ling from Gao Yuntai. You call your family the capital. Just let the envoy come out to receive the order."
Eunuch Zhang's face suddenly turned red - You are such a head servant, how dare you use a commanding tone to ask me, the Emperor of Dai Viet, to come out to take orders?
Okay, even based on your official rank in the Ming Dynasty, your master is only a seventh-rank official, so why should he dictate to everyone who is a second-rank official?
The muscles on Eunuch Zhang's face twitched and he didn't say anything for a long time. Gao Jue was dissatisfied. He straightened his face and frowned: "Why, your commander-in-chief wants me to fire off cannons to welcome you?"
Eunuch Zhang was stunned for a moment: "Is there such a gift?"
"Hahahaha!" Gao Jue was amused by him. He pointed at the cannon on the nail plate with a smile and said: "I have more than two hundred warships with two thousand cannons. If you all want to see the cannons fired, , I don’t mind bombing Shenglong City to let him see enough!”
Of course, two thousand huge guns is a boast, just like sending 80,000 troops and claiming to be 300,000. Not to mention the guns on these ships now. Except for the guns on Jinghua's 60 armed transport ships, they can barely be regarded as the heavy guns in East Asia in this era. Most of the naval guns and naval guns mounted on other ships can only touch the sides of the city wall. The so-called bombing of Thang Long City is pure nonsense.
Oh, Boss Hu and Boss Li's boats are better because they have been equipped with Jinghua's cannons, but they are actually only equipped with medium-sized cannons, which can only make it into the city.
But Eunuch Zhang obviously doesn't understand artillery. He only knows that the artillery on the big sea ship he is on is bigger than any cannon he has seen in the past, and on this ship alone, there are There are at least twenty dozen such cannons, so if the warships covering the sky and sun in the Red River channel all fired at the same time...
Eunuch Zhang shivered. He felt that let alone Shenglong City, Mingren's own Nanjing City might not be able to hold it, right?
Of course, he didn't dare to ask this question now. In fact, it was useless to ask. Gao Jue had never considered it from this perspective.
"I, Dai Viet...well, I, Annan, have always been a barrier to the Celestial Dynasty. Now that your army has come and behaved so arrogantly, aren't you afraid that Emperor Wanli will blame you?"
Gao Jue didn't expect that he actually knew that the current era was called Wanli, but he still smiled and said: "I want you to know that my master is the emperor's companion, and he sent us here this time to ask for permission. Yes. Regarding the Annan matter, the emperor asked my master to take charge of it... Well, you know what it means to take charge of it, right?"
Eunuch Zhang was really panicked now and said: "This... our family can't decide, so we have to go back and ask your Majesty... Commander-in-Chief, please wait for a moment."
Gao Jue glanced at the hourglass and said, "Okay, I'll give you an hour. If you don't open the city to welcome him after one hour, then... I will go to the city myself to question you."
Eunuch Zhang didn't dare to say anything, so he hesitated and ran away as if his buttocks were on fire.
Boss Hu and Boss Li walked out with a smile. Boss Hu said: "Gao Tuanzuo, it seems that the Annan people are afraid. We went straight to the outside of Sheng Long City. They didn't dare to send anyone to stop them, and now they are harassing us." What titles and etiquette, it’s really ridiculous.”
Boss Li also said cheerfully: "Yes, Gaotuanzuo, although Shenglong City is empty now, no matter what, ten thousand soldiers and horses will always remain, right? There are tens of thousands of troops, but they don't even dare to stop them. This The Commander-in-Chief of Annan... Haha, it's really weird that they can still suppress Li Chao and fight."
Gao Jue smiled slightly and said: "I think the news about Lang Son and Gaoping has reached Thang Long. Maybe Lang Son and Gaoping have been captured by the Huang and Cen families, especially Lang Son... ...After Lang Son was lost, Annan’s Mo’s army went south to fight again. What could Mo Moo Chia do to stop my master from taking revenge? Under such circumstances, it’s not surprising that he can’t be strong-willed when facing us.”
Boss Hu looked thoughtful, thought for a moment, and said, "Gao Tuanzuo, do you think Mo Maoqia will really surrender to Kaicheng?"
Gao Jue pondered: "It's hard to say. After all, he still has a large army outside. Although we came very quickly, we came by sea after all, and the fleet couldn't get ashore. Shenglong City is on the west bank of the Red River... Even if he If you are afraid of the wolf soldiers from the Cen and Huang families coming from the northeast, you can also flee directly to the west city. When the time comes, you will join his southern expedition army, and you can also make long-term plans for war or peace."
Boss Hu was taken aback and said hurriedly: "Then should we quickly send troops to block the West Gate?"
Gao Jue smiled and shook his head, saying: "Why are you blocking the city? The mission I gave me was to take Shenglong, but I didn't say that I had to fight against Mo's army. If he really ran away, wouldn't he just Did Shenglong City give up?"
Boss Hu was startled for a moment and then said hesitantly: "Aren't you going to take Annan away?"
Gao Jue raised his eyebrows slightly: "I don't dare to make random guesses about whether the master wants to take Annan all, but... even if the master had this plan, he did not assign such a task to me. I want to bring the 50,000 wolf soldiers from the Cen and Huang families. This goal should be achieved, right?”
Boss Hu suddenly understood - the members of the Gao family are all private property of Gao Jintai. Since it is private property, how can it be wasted casually? You know, the death of a servant of the Gao family is equivalent to the loss of Gao Press. What's more, Gao Jiantai has a group of chieftains from the Cen and Huang families at his disposal. These two chieftains have guarded western and southern Guangxi for hundreds of years. How can the two together only have 50,000 wolf soldiers?
It can be seen that if necessary, Gao Antai can continue to encourage them to send troops - it is nothing more than paying. The "price" of those wolf soldiers is not at the same level as the servants of the Gao family.
Boss Li interjected at this time: "I think it might be a good thing if Mo Maoqia really ran away from West City."
Boss Hu was stunned for a moment and asked: "Old Li, what do you say? If he runs away, after gathering the southern expedition army, if he comes back, wouldn't it be a big deal... uh, a big deal? Big trouble?"
Boss Li smiled and said: "If he can really lead the Southern Expedition army back, it will indeed be somewhat troublesome, but I think that as long as he leaves the city, it may not be that easy to come back."
Boss Hu cupped his hands and said, "I would like to ask Boss Li for some advice."
"How dare you? How dare you." Boss Li was polite and said: "I just feel that he sent troops to the south not long ago, and the south may have already taken over the war. The two sides have been enemies for generations. The so-called enemies are extremely jealous when they meet. Now that the fight has begun, where is it? Can the army be withdrawn immediately? By then he has lost Thang Long City, and is still fighting with Zheng Jun of the Li Dynasty in the south. He wants to come back... Haha, then he has to ask Zheng Song first if he agrees."
"Oh, so that's the truth." Boss Hu thought for a while, nodded in approval, and said: "If this is the case, it is really a good thing for Mo Maoqia to escape to the west of the city."
Gao Jue then added: "If Mo Maoqia really leaves, our infantry can enter the city, and a part of the fleet can be divided to sweep away the remnants of Mo Chao's navy in the Red River, and then concentrate and prepare to deal with Mo Maoqia." Return to the main force of the navy."
According to Gao Jue's meaning, he planned that if Mo Maoqia really wanted to run away, he would first occupy Shenglong City, and then use the power of the fleet to draw the Red River as the boundary. As long as the main force of Mo Chao's navy could not come back, or came back If you can't defeat yourself, then the best parts of the Mo Dynasty in the northeast of the Red River will all belong to Gao Pragmatism; the southwest part of the Red River was originally a good place, but the war with the Li Dynasty in recent years has damaged those places a lot, even if it is left to Mo Chao, Mo Chao can't make any trouble.
The only thing worth worrying about is whether the Mo Dynasty will find some way to reach an agreement with the Zheng family who is in power in the Le Dynasty. Not to mention turning enemies into friends, at least reach an armistice agreement first, and then use their troops to counterattack Thang Long, and Thang Long City On the west bank of the Red River, the fleet could not completely maintain artillery suppression.
When Mo Chao's 100,000-strong army comes, he may not be able to handle the more than 4,000 infantry troops - Gao Jue still doesn't know that Mo Chao suffered a huge defeat in the south.
He raised this issue and asked the two ship owners to consult. Boss Hu and Boss Li looked at each other and fell into thinking. After a while, Boss Hu said: "Gao Tuanzuo's worry is not unreasonable. Although Mo Chao and Li Chao are mortal enemies, after all, Zheng Song should also know the truth of the death of lips and teeth. From Zheng Song's point of view, Although it would not be a pity for Mo Maoqia and others to die, it would not be a good thing if the north is occupied by the Ming Dynasty..."
Boss Li seemed to have a different opinion, and mused: "Gao Tuanzuo, Lao Hu, do you think there is a possibility that although Zheng Song watched the Ming Dynasty capture Bei Annan, he felt that he could use the title of vassal to seek a title? How to ask the court to return Bei Annan to him? Oh, of course, the premise is that the Mo family has been destroyed by then."
Gao Jue suddenly felt a little overwhelmed. The issue the two of them were considering had turned to politics, but he didn't want to think about it. This matter was naturally for the master to consider. He only needed to figure out how to occupy Shenglong City first. Just stay and then pull up the Red River defense line.
As for taking Thang Long City, it doesn't make much difference to him whether Mo Maoqia opens the city and surrenders, or abandons the city and flees. Anyway, he is trying to do it without losing any blood. Now it depends on Mo Maoqia's choice.
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I managed to finish writing it in the midst of a fight, and it still exceeded 10,000 yuan in four updates...
