There are nearly 13,000 people from the first association, the second association of the second town of Dingnan Garrison, and the first association of the third town. Surrounded by the wolf soldiers of Huang Zhiting's direct line, the Annan Anbang garrison envoy, more than 4,000 people from the Zhongjun town have just passed. Nakhon Ratchasima Plateau and rushed to Udon Thani City in the south of Vientiane.
The defenders and generals of Wulong City did not resist, and they all surrendered to the city. It is not right to say that they surrendered, because they opened the city under the banner of respectful welcome.
Why welcome? This is because the Nanzhang National Policy Advisory Group, on behalf of King Nokyuu Kumon, issued an invitation to Beijing, inviting Beijing’s armed forces stationed in Annam, Siam, Cambodia and other places to go to Nanzhang to stabilize the situation.
As for the reason, it is that after the king became a monk, some people in Nanzhang may be uneasy about the status quo. At the same time, the national policy advisory group was entrusted by the king to be responsible for selecting the successor king, so it has the responsibility to maintain the stability of the kingdom.
In a word, following the edict issued by the National Policy Advisory Group Dainuo Jiaogumeng, Huang Zhiting and other Beijing garrison troops were invited. Civil and military officials from all over the country must not only treat each other with courtesy, but also cooperate with them.
Since we were walking through the Korat Plateau, the march was quite tiring. Huang Zhiting had just settled down and planned to rest the army in Udon Thani for a day tomorrow before heading north to meet up with Mo Yulin. Who would have thought that just after lunch, I heard a report saying that Mo Yulin, commander of the Vientiane Guard Army, wanted to see him.
This news made Huang Zhiting frown a little. Didn't Mo Yulin station troops to monitor the northwest of Vientiane? Why did he come to Wulong? Could it be that he suffered a defeat and withdrew to join himself?
But he soon learned that Mo Yulin did not withdraw the Vientiane Guard Army to Udon Lai. He only brought his own soldiers, and the Vientiane Guard Army remained in place to monitor.
Mo Yulin was a surrendered general of the Mo Dynasty in Annan. Although he accepted the reorganization at that time, because Nguyen Huang of the Later Le Dynasty surrendered on his own initiative, Gao Pragmatic left some military power in Nguyen Huang's hands. In order to balance Ruan Huang's power, Gao Jingshi also retained some military power for Mo Yulin and Ruan Jian, two generals of the Mo Dynasty.
Mo Yulin was later appointed as the commander of the Vientiane Guard Army. An important reason was that Nguyen Huang served as the commander of the Phnom Penh Guard Army. All in all, out of Annan's three surrendered generals, only Ruan Juan remains in Annan.
Since he still had some of Annan's military power, Mo Yulin was not alone when he came to Vientiane to take office. He also brought a thousand troops with him, similar to the nature of the servants of the Ming Dynasty. It is these thousand steps that are accompanying him today, which can ensure that the surveillance of Vientiane City is not affected.
Huang Zhiting originally thought that Mo Yulin's arrival did not have much significance, because according to the planned itinerary, she would be able to meet him at Wanxiang City in three days.
However, when she saw Mo Yulin, Huang Zhiting realized that his visit was not just a show of loyalty, but actually a show of merit.
Mo Yulin told Huang Zhiting three things: First, he took all the food and grass in Vientiane City out of the city. There was not a single grain of military food in the city. Even if Princess Bijue collected the surplus food from the people, the amount of surplus food would not be too large. It won't last long.
Secondly, the armory in Vientiane City was also emptied. Even if Princess Bijue gathered her 30,000 veterans, they would still be short of soldiers and armor, and it would be impossible for them to have much combat effectiveness.
Thirdly, when the security forces withdrew, he brought out the senior officials of the Nanzhang Kingdom, including Nuo Jiaogu Meng, who had become a monk, as well as the advisory group stationed by Jinghua, and they are all now in Ban Yi. Wait.
In other words, the Nanzhang court was actually just out for an "outing", and the political power was still firmly controlled by Jinghua. Huang Yinglei and his wife were now completely alone in Vientiane City.
Huang Zhiting was overjoyed at first, and then couldn't help but sigh in her heart: Am I the only one who never expected that Ying Lei would rebel?
Thinking of this, my heart tightened: If this were the case, what would your husband think of my loss today? Or maybe Mo Yulin made these preparations just because of his intention?
She suddenly became a little anxious. After briefing each other on the current situation with Mo Yulin, she said: "I originally planned to repair it for a day tomorrow, but now it seems that there is no need. I will continue to go north tomorrow and work with you to repair this earlier. Let’s settle the matter.”
Mo Yulin was startled and replied: "This... doesn't seem to be necessary. The Jinggang garrison will arrive a day or two later, so there is enough time."
Huang Zhiting didn't answer, shook her head, and the matter was settled.
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At almost the same time, war between Spain and England actually broke out, although the two sides did not declare war on each other.
At that time, Philip II's army was fighting in the Netherlands under the command of the Duke of Parma. It had successfully recovered the southern Netherlands, but was blocked by the British Expeditionary Force, and the two sides fell into a confrontation in the Netherlands.
Parma's weakness is that it only has a strong army and lacks coordination at sea. As a result, the waters of the Netherlands are completely controlled by the Anglo-Dutch forces. The Anglo-Dutch can freely supply supplies by sea and completely blockade Parma on land. . Moreover, Parma failed to even control a deep-water harbor, which would have a devastating impact on the Armada later on.
Philip II invested heavily in building his Invincible Fleet. Although this fleet seemed numerous and huge in tonnage, it also had many problems, such as a serious lack of long-range artillery.
Moreover, shipbuilding requires a large number of boards that have been dried for many years. However, because of the famous British pirate, Drake, the commander of the West Fleet, made a surprise attack on Cadiz Bay and burned a large amount of Spain's reserves. This hindered the preparations for the Armada, and also forced many materials on the fleet to use substandard wood, which made the actual storage time of food and drinking water on the fleet far shorter than expected.
In order to ensure the smooth operation of the fleet, Philip II also launched the War of Three Henrys in France to ensure that France would not take the opportunity to invade Spain.
Philip's original plan was that after the fleet set sail from Lisbon, it would first sail through the strait to join the army at Calais anchorage and Parma. After the army boarded the ship, it would then sail to England to choose an opportunity to land. According to legend at this time, there should be one-third or even two-thirds of the Catholic population in England. If the Spanish army can land, these Catholics can be called upon to rebel against the Queen of England. The Catholic Pope in Rome also promises justice and funds. support.
The British once tried to march straight to Lisbon and destroy the Armada on the estuary, but encountered a storm in the channel and Drake was blown back to the port of Plymouth. This allowed Britain to finally confront the Armada in the Channel with nothing to do. From the perspective of later generations, this may be the decisive reason why the English fleet was able to win.
The reason why I say this is that we first need to understand the naval battles of the 16th century. In this era, naval warfare mainly took the following forms:
One, artillery battle: use side string guns or bow guns to fire solid projectiles. Second, short-range musket shooting: infantry fired muskets on the deck and ship building. Third, follow-up battle: use grappling hooks to capture ships, and then infantry land on the other side's ships to fight.
Artillery battles should be further divided into two categories: first, long-range shooting: using long and heavy artillery to shoot at a distance of hundreds of yards. Second, close range side salvo: at the range of the musket, or even as recently as less than half the range of the musket, face the opponent sideways, and then fire the artillery salvo.
In this era, the only things that can truly destroy the opponent's combat effectiveness are follow-up battles and side-choice salvos. Follow-up battles can directly capture the opponent's ships, and side-choice salvoes can truly destroy the opponent's hull structure.
As for long-range artillery battles, with the accuracy and destructive power of current European artillery, it can basically be described as falling behind. In fact, after the Armada entered the strait and encountered the British main fleet (Drake's West Fleet), both sides used ships on the sea. The cannons fired from a long range for four days and fired all the shells. However, no warships suffered fatal damage, and the total casualties on both sides were only a few hundred.
This situation is similar to the contact fighting that occurred in the South China Sea during Huang Zhiting's previous expedition to Myanmar. The only difference was that the opponents fighting the Spaniards were different, and both opponents - Jinghua and Drake - chose to fly kites and not engage in a side battle with the Spaniards.
The funny thing is that no one knows this now, and it is the first time for everyone to experience such a large-scale sea battle. The British have always believed in the power of long and heavy artillery, but the Spanish did not believe it at first. However, after the fleet that fought against Jinghua returned home and gave a detailed report to Philip II, the Spanish also changed their thinking and thought that artillery can Destroy the opponent's ships from a long distance.
However, a series of battles proved that this was still just a fantasy.
When the Armada arrived at the Calais anchorage almost unscathed, the Duke of Parma refused to show up. On the one hand, he had already believed that there was no chance of winning in the cross-sea battle and had no intention of joining the navy. On the other hand, he has no ability to land a fleet at all: the water depth in Calais port is too shallow for the Armada to approach the coast, but Dutch flat-bottomed battleships can gallop back and forth. It is almost impossible for Parma to succeed under the close surveillance of the Dutch flat-bottomed fleet. Landing on the Armada.
The entire war situation took a fundamental turn in Calais. Compared with the actual war, in fact, the materials are enough to explain everything. After a series of battles in the Channel, the Armada had no artillery shells available and little food and drinking water. They only received a small supply of food and water at Calais.
Although both sides realized at this time that the true essence of naval battles lay in the side salvo of "the closer, the better", the Spaniards no longer had artillery shells, and their only chance of victory could only be to use overwhelming infantry combat power to engage. String war.
However, the balance of victory has completely tilted towards the English. Because the Armada had already arrived at Calais, the Eastern Fleet, which had been patrolling the ocean to prevent Parma from suddenly crossing the sea, also joined Drake's fleet at this time. This brought sufficient supply of artillery shells to the English fleet, and the British army was able to Use twice the force of the previous one to launch a fierce attack on the Spanish fleet.
Moreover, because the English warships are more flexible, the British ships can safely bombard each other at a distance of their own choosing, while the Spanish have no possibility of getting close enough to launch a follow-up battle.
So Calais became a slaughterhouse.
However, although the Armada suffered huge losses at Calais, it was not devastating. The truly devastating blow was the severe lack of food and drinking water.
The Armada retreated to the northeast, following the direction of the wind. Losing the possibility of returning through the Channel, this fleet, which had greater political significance than military significance, could only circle England from the north and return to Spain.
Moreover, there are no ports for supply in this direction, and countless ships desperately leave the fleet and sail to any possible land during the return journey. In Ireland, seventeen warships were stranded or crashed, and thousands of Spaniards were massacred on the beaches by the British troops in Ireland. At this moment, the Spaniards, defeated by hunger and disease, had no fighting ability.
There are several aspects that show just how terrifying ship life was in this era. From a Spanish perspective, there were four navigators on board the San Martín where the Commander-in-Chief was, three of whom died on the way. Almost all the commanders fell ill, and the commander-in-chief rested for several months before returning to work. Two squadron commanders died one after another a month after docking.
Even officers are like this, and the plight of ordinary sailors can be imagined. Gao Pragmatic has always been cautious and steady in requesting the establishment of a series of strongholds in Nanyang to form a "pearl necklace". If the Spaniards at this time understood it, they would be greatly moved.
However, although the Spanish were miserable, the situation of the English fleet was not much better. Shortly after the battle at Calais Anchorage, the English fleet returned to its home port. However, they did not lift their war readiness. Instead, they remained on standby among the ships in the port. Even in this safe and well-supplied situation, the crew remained Due to the rapid illness and death due to large-scale typhus, the casualty rate is estimated to far exceed the naval battle itself.
Looking at this battle, it can be said that the most powerful weapons are not the enemy at all, but storms, accidents and diseases. As soon as any ship is filled with crew, they will immediately begin to wither at an alarming rate. As the ship sails into the sea, it will soon encounter successive storms, lack of food and water.
In the battle between the English fleet and the Spanish fleet, what really played a decisive role should be the timely supplies provided by the vast ports on the south coast of England to the British fleet.
During the period between the departure of the Invincible Fleet and the defeat and return home, the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance was not idle. The nobles first selected the armed transport ships they thought were the strongest and strongest, and then selected the combatants from the armed servants who had been at sea for a long time.
The Jinghua Beiyang Fleet is fully prepared for war: ships expected to go into battle have returned to port for maintenance; they have also selected soldiers like the nobles...
The most special thing is that the Jinghua fleet carried a large number of special wooden frames. Each layer of the wooden frames was covered with thick soil. They also brought a lot of mung beans and soybeans - these were not used for cooking and eating. The purpose is to cultivate bean sprouts at sea and avoid sepsis, which is the most likely to cause death. Septicemia is an important reason for the huge non-combat deaths in Spain and the UK.
The preparations for the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance are becoming increasingly complete, and Gao Pragmatic finally received Huang Zhiting's reply, or statement.
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PS: After two days of acute enteritis, people have turned into the state of dehydrated cucumbers and frost-beaten eggplants...
