The temporary third mixed brigade of the Guards moved south under the escort of the Guards fleet. It first passed through the Guangdong and Hong Kong Navy for some supplies, and then went straight to Nanyang and arrived at the Cam Ranh Bay Naval Base in Hue Province.
Here we conduct adaptability training in the tropical rainforest area, while waiting for the arrival of a series of subsequent supplies, as well as the mobilization of other friendly forces.
After all, in this war, the army is the main force, and the Guards... they are here to take the credit.
The Army's mobilization is actually simpler, and there is no need for adaptive training. After all, the troops mobilized by the Army this time are originally oriented to the Southeast Asia region, and the subjects of year-round training are operations in tropical rainforests.
Whether it is the Eighth Division in the Yunnan direction or the Fourteenth Division in the Malacca area, they are also standard tropical mountain divisions, and their weapons and equipment are mainly lightweight.
Especially their artillery, which is basically not equipped with heavy plain field artillery, but is equipped with lightweight field artillery and howitzers.
Even the smoothbore musket is a tropical type 23-year-old percussion gun produced by the Guangdong and Guangxi Arms Company. Compared with the standard musket, this musket has a shorter barrel. At the same time, the barrel has better corrosion resistance and is widely equipped with the Marine Corps. Troops stationed in Southeast Asia, India, Africa and other places.
On the contrary, the overseas troops stationed in the Americas use the same standard flash cap percussion guns as in the homeland.
The usual training and equipment are all prepared for the Nanyang region. These two first-class divisions do not need to conduct any adaptive training at all, nor do they need to supplement additional equipment. Even detailed combat plans do not need to be re-formulated, because They themselves have a series of predetermined battle plans.
Therefore, the two first-class divisions directly gave the order and could start taking action immediately.
The 37th Division stationed in Hue is a second-class standing division. In peacetime, this division only maintains the main framework and combat personnel, as well as part of the troops in combat readiness. If the entire division is to operate on a large scale, it is necessary Replenish enough auxiliary personnel, mainly logistics personnel, mules and horses, etc.
However, weapons, equipment, ammunition and other reserves are also very sufficient. Only a few thousand auxiliary personnel and a few thousand logistics mules and horses are needed to basically transfer directly from standing readiness to combat readiness.
The second-class divisions and first-class divisions of the Great Chu Empire were actually exactly the same in terms of organization, tactics, and equipment. The main difference was in the auxiliary personnel and mules.
In other words, the A-class division can be dispatched with its full strength at any time, while the B-class division can only dispatch about a mixed regiment of troops immediately. Only by urgently replenishing auxiliary personnel can the entire division be dispatched.
However, this is limited to mobile operations, but local defensive operations. If long-distance maneuvers are not required, the actual impact will be small.
The mobilization of the 37th Division would not be very troublesome. In order to mobilize quickly and avoid too many negative situations, such as letting the impact of the war spread to the civilian population, the Army's mobilization of the 37th Division was not even carried out. Mobilization in the true sense of the word.
Instead, some personnel of the C Division garrison troops from Hue Province and Thang Long Province were transferred from the nearest province to supplement them with active troops.
Just because we are attacking two indigenous countries, we cannot carry out local mobilization and start recruiting veterans, or urgently recruit new soldiers. This would have too great an impact.
The army prepared very quickly, prepared well and finalized the attack date, and also notified the Guards and the Navy.
According to a series of combat plans, the Army's large-scale military operations need to wait for the troops of the Guards to land in Bangkok and the Marine Corps to land and station in Dagon, ensuring the security of these two colonies in the hinterland of the enemy and containing them. After the enemy reaches a certain strength, the army will launch a large-scale attack from the border.
Therefore, strictly speaking, the overall military operation was launched first by the Guards and the Navy.
On December 26, in the cold winter before the Spring Festival, the Third Temporary Brigade of the Guards left Cam Ranh Bay under the escort of the Guards fleet and began to head for Bangkok.
At the same time, the navy's fleet also escorted their 7th Marine Regiment to Dagon.
After several days of sailing, on the second day of the Lunar New Year in the 34th year of Chengshun, the Guards soldiers who had spent the Spring Festival on board arrived in Bangkok and landed.
The Chu army landed on a large scale in Bangkok to increase its troops, thus arousing the vigilance of the Kingdom of Siam!
Although the Bangkok area has been ceded to the Chu Empire, the Chu Empire can legally and reasonably station troops in the Bangkok area.
But usually, Chu State only has a thousand people stationed here, and sometimes there are only a few hundred people.
Now that four to five thousand people have arrived, and many warships have arrived, the Kingdom of Siam is naturally extremely worried about this.
On the one hand, they tried to contact the Chu people, inquired and tested the purpose of the Chu people's move, and on the other hand, they also stepped up their vigilance.
Chu's unusual move to mobilize troops made them very worried.
In fact, their concerns are not wrong.
When their envoys came to inquire, the envoy of the Domain Affairs Department of the Ministry of Rites and Education of the Chu Empire in Bangkok, who had full authority to handle the affairs of the Siamese vassal, formally submitted his credentials to the Kingdom of Siam.
On the pretext that a non-existent caravan was killed in the Kingdom of Siam, the Kingdom of Siam was required to relax military control and allow the Chu Empire to send troops to investigate. At the same time, the Kingdom of Siam was required to hand over the murderer and strictly deal with the failure to handle the matter. A group of senior officials from the Kingdom of Siam... This list almost hit all the powerful senior officials in the Kingdom of Siam.
Then he asked the Kingdom of Siam to cede a large area of territory... This large area means more than 80% of the territory in the Kingdom of Siam, leaving only a small amount of poor land in the northeast for the Kingdom of Siam.
The Chu Empire never expected the Kingdom of Siam to agree to this letter of credence...
In short, it is clearly telling the Kingdom of Siam that we are coming to attack you and annex most of your rich territories. You will have to decide what to do next. If you do not resist, we will leave some dignity to your royal family and get you a Continue living in a protected area or something like that.
If you resist, no chickens or dogs will be spared...your royal family will be destroyed soon.
After the royal family of the Kingdom of Siam received the credentials of the Chu Empire, the whole country panicked...
From the royal family to the many noble ministers, everyone is panicking... What should I do?
The royal family has actually seriously considered this series of conditions. Why? Because it can't be defeated anyway, but if the conditions are accepted, the royal family can still leave some private land, and the survival of the royal family can be guaranteed.
But those noble ministers disagreed... This list almost included all the powerful figures in their Kingdom of Siam.
If they don't have the Kingdom of Siam, they don't want it... So no matter what the royal family thinks, these noble ministers are not willing to surrender even though they know they can't defeat it.
So they firmly support the stubborn resistance...
Of course, this is only on the surface!
In fact, on the day they received the letter of credence, several powerful people in the Kingdom of Siam quietly found the Chu people's envoys and expressed that the Celestial Kingdom wanted to annex the Kingdom of Siam, and we fully supported it. Ah...I will definitely not object.
We have only one humble request, and that is to implore Heaven to accept our surrender.
Therefore, the official credentials of the Chu Kingdom and the formal rejection and resistance of the Kingdom of Siam... these are just appearances. In fact, a large number of powerful people in the Kingdom of Siam are waiting to lead the way.
As for the Chu State, if the other party has its own internal strife and the army surrenders on a large scale to reduce resistance, it is also willing to quickly destroy the Siamese Kingdom's regime in a lower-cost and lower-casualty way, annihilate and capture their The main force.
Therefore, sometimes the diplomatic slogans between countries are loud, but they do not represent the actual situation. The actual situation is more complicated.
After all, the interests of people are the same. The royal family of Siam and the aristocratic ministers in the Kingdom of Siam also have different interests. The interests of the royal master and aristocratic ministers of Siam are also different from those of ordinary middle- and low-level Siamese. Different.
As far as the Chu Empire was concerned, it was actually not very interested in the survival of the Siamese royal family. It was okay to live or die.
The same is true for the princes and nobles in the Kingdom of Siam.
The empire does not care about the life and death of a few indigenous people. If necessary, the Dachu Empire can even accept them.
If they are of high enough value, the Chu Empire can even give them a noble title, allowing them to become Chu people and continue to live happily.
The Chu Empire used this method when dealing with the Mongolian issue in the early years. However, the leaders of many Mongolian tribes who took the initiative to surrender basically received preferential treatment from the empire. Some leaders of large tribes were even awarded the title of earl. Even the Marquis.
When necessary, the Dachu Empire is still very generous!
Of course, early stage is necessary!
This is necessary and you need to show your value.
What was the value of those Mongolians back then?
This was due to the large number of nomadic cavalry in their hands, and also because the Chu Empire was still in its early stages of founding, and the overall cavalry strength was not enough. It was obviously impossible to conquer the grasslands with infantry and artillery alone.
In order to avoid a protracted tug-of-war and high military costs, the senior leaders of the Chu Empire chose to offer a certain price to accept these Mongols, allowing them to integrate into the empire and become Chu people.
But except for the early Mongols, the subsequent indigenous peoples of various countries basically rarely received this treatment.
For example, in the Kazakh Khanate in Central Asia, their tribal leaders did not receive such good treatment. They basically fought to the death in the war, and a few fled to Russian territory.
As for other overseas indigenous people, let alone that, Chu State basically did not give these overseas indigenous people any preferential treatment... because they lacked the strength to fight against Chu State and could not bring any benefits to Chu State.
If we can accept your surrender, spare your life, and grant household registration to the activists, that is already considered very good... The fate of most of the indigenous people is to die on the battlefield, or be expelled, and some are caught. captive!
You, a powerful person from an indigenous country or tribe, do not have tens of thousands of troops at your disposal, and these tens of thousands of troops do not have enough strength to cause certain troubles to the Chu State. Why do you ask for preferential treatment from the Chu State? Because of your big face?
No matter what, you must bring certain benefits to the Great Chu Empire, and then the Great Chu Empire will give you preferential treatment.
Just because you simply surrendered, Chu State would accept you and give you the preferential treatment of a noble title.
What are you dreaming about in broad daylight?
Therefore, some powerful people in the Kingdom of Siam who wanted to surrender found that they could not sell their country at a high price...
At first, they hoped that after surrendering, they would be able to buy themselves an official title by selling off the royal family and other powerful factions, and even hoped to obtain the title of nobility in the Great Chu Empire.
But after contacting it, I realized... I thought too much.
The envoy told them clearly that it is possible to surrender, and there will be benefits, such as giving you household registration and allowing you to retain certain private assets; if you are not satisfied, we can also give you gifts out of the country and send you to India or Somewhere in Africa.
But if you want to directly grant an official position... How can it be so easy to be an official in our Great Chu Empire?
You want to be an official without passing the civil service examination?
Where do you put the many students in our Great Chu Empire who have studied hard for many years?
Not to mention the title, let alone you, even if your king surrenders, there is no guarantee whether he will get the title.
This traitor cannot be sold at a high price and cannot resist, so what can be done?
What else can you do? You have to sell it even if you don’t pay the price. It’s better than waiting for the Chu army to kill you.
In the future, I will be able to obtain a Chu household registration and become a Chu citizen.
So, after some intensive negotiations, the diplomats from the feudal affairs department of the Ministry of Etiquette and Education of the Great Chu Empire accepted twelve powerful people from the Kingdom of Siam on the condition of 150 household registrations and allowing them to retain a certain amount of private assets. The surrender of officials and nobles.
The surrender of these people will also directly lead to the surrender of the main force of the Kingdom of Siam of about 50,000 people, that is, the regular army, which is all equipped with ordnance exported from Chu, equipped with matchlocks, smoothbore cannons, plate armor, and spears.
Even these surrendering troops of the Kingdom of Siam will cooperate with the Chu army to attack other recalcitrant Siamese armies.
After the negotiations were reached, the diplomats from the Domain Affairs Department quickly transferred the relevant information to the military in Bangkok, namely Guards Major General Xu Jiaqi, who was in charge of the war here.
Major General Xu Jiaqi of the Imperial Guard did not know what to say when he looked at the series of reports handed over by the Domain Affairs Department on the voluntary surrender of some powerful factions in the Kingdom of Siam...
According to this report, before he even started fighting, most of the main force on the other side had surrendered, including a main force from the Kingdom of Siam around Bangkok.
From Bangkok to the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, there will be basically no military resistance along the way. Only at the capital of the Kingdom of Siam, there will be resistance from about 10,000 troops directly controlled by the royal family.
This means...the war hasn't even started yet, the other side has collapsed, and I can reach directly outside their capital city without firing a single shot.
Yes, there is no need to go through all the trouble, just stick to Bangkok and wait for the army to attack first. You can lead your troops directly to Ayutthaya, the capital of Siam.
You can even skip the fight and let the Siamese surrender troops fight directly.
When it comes to fighting, it's better not to do it yourself or not. After all, no matter what happens in a war, there will be losses and casualties.
Let these barbarians fight on their own.
Immediately, Guards Major General Xu Jiaqi ordered to lead the Guards to temporarily form the third mixed brigade to Ayutthaya City.
At the same time, orders were given to surrender, and 30,000 natives in the area near Bangkok and Ayutthaya City surrendered. Chu's troops took the lead and launched an attack on Ayutthaya City.
He also promised in a personal name that if he led the army to capture the city of Ayutthaya and surrounded and annihilated the enemy, he could take credit for some of the surrendering generals who led the army, and he might even be able to get a better preferential treatment policy for them.
However, the effect of these surrendered barbarian soldiers besieging Ayutthaya City was not very good.
After all, the more than 10,000 indigenous soldiers controlled by the royal family on the opposite side resisted very stubbornly.
Both of them are equipped with some matchlock guns, spears, plate armor, light smoothbore cannons and other weapons and equipment imported from Chu State. There is no difference in weapons and equipment!
Although the attackers had more troops, they did not have the strength advantage required to form an absolute siege, so they could not attack for a long time.
But what really left Guards Major General Xu Jiaqi speechless was when he led more than 4,000 people from the temporary Third Mixed Brigade of the Guards to arrive outside Ayutthaya City, preparing to personally supervise the battle and let the barbarian indigenous forces continue to attack.
The Siamese royal family in the city sent an envoy, expressing their willingness to fully accept a series of conditions previously proposed by Chu State, and proactively stated that not only did they accept the original conditions, they were also willing to give up the territory in the northeastern region, and the Siamese royal family was willing to give up the throne. , completely dedicated the entire Kingdom of Siam, just to be a minister of the Chu Empire...
Well, after the surrender, the empire will give you a viscount, no, just a baron title.
If the title is difficult, it’s okay if you don’t want the title. If you give me a household registration, I will be an ordinary citizen of the Chu Empire... If it doesn’t work, you will treat me like a fart and I will go to India and Africa. !
In short, as long as you save my life, everything else is easy!
Well... they just gave up the entire country, not even the throne and the reservation. What a slap in the face... You can't stop them from surrendering.
But in this way, their experimental training plan of the Third Temporary Brigade of the Guards and their plan to practice new weapons and new tactics were completely in vain... After all, until the Siamese royal family completely surrendered, they had not fought even a single battle. What about particle bombs?
At best, it was an armed march, and then the war was declared over...
This disappointed Major General Xu Jiaqi!
The Army was even more disappointed... because the Army's troops had not yet begun to move, and the Kingdom of Siam announced its complete surrender.
What is this?
Many officers of the 14th Division and the 37th Division were very unhappy about this. We haven't fought this battle, how can you surrender?
What should I do if you surrender and don’t fight to gain my military exploits?
And because the troops of these two divisions have not yet been dispatched, let alone military exploits, they can't even gain military marching qualifications.
Big loss!
However, the ideas of the grassroots officers obviously could not shake the ideas of the higher-ups. Since the other side took the initiative to surrender, and it was almost unconditional surrender, they could not stop them from surrendering, so the newly appointed governor of Siam began to deal with the subsequent series of affairs, such as gradual takeover, eviction, and resettlement.
What the Great Chu Empire accepted was the surrender of the King of Siam and some powerful factions. For these people, the empire would grant them household registration and accept them. A few of them, such as their kings and powerful generals, might receive some preferential treatment and receive Low-level titles, low-level official positions and so on.
However, the Dachu Empire did not say that it would accept all Siamese, let alone issue imperial household registration to all Siamese. At most, it would leave them a reserved land... The place has been selected, in the northeast of India. area.
The feudal affairs department feels that there are quite a lot of natives in India anyway, so it shouldn't be a big problem to drive the Siamese natives there.
As for how these Siamese people will survive after they go to India and what conflicts and conflicts they will have with the local Indians, this is an internal matter of the indigenous people.
The Dachu Empire has never interfered in the internal affairs of the indigenous people!
At most you can sell them some guns, plates, armor or something like that!
(End of chapter)
