Dominate the Country

The atmosphere in Thonburi was tense, like a dynamite barrel 'sitting' on a pyre.

The explosion that sounded along the Chao Phraya River was a ignited fuse. Countless people watched helplessly as the fuse shortened little by little, and the sparks burned, heading towards the gunpowder barrel little by little. But everyone just cast a body-holding technique on someone, and they could only watch helplessly, but they were unable to move to extinguish the spark.

In the dark night, the entire Thonburi is as bright as day. With the Royal Palace as the center, piles of bonfires and torches illuminate Thonburi as brightly as a city that never sleeps.

There are soldiers on guard in the streets and alleys, and a curfew is enforced at night. No one is allowed to go out without a badge. Even if your wife wants to give birth and needs to find a midwife, it still won't work.

Even the large and small rivers in Thonburi City are patrolled by a boat to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the chaos to enter and leave Thonburi through the waterways. Cause more trouble to Tong Luang.

However, in this era, it is not easy to prevent waterway damage on a large scale.

In particular, several places where fishing nets were caught have been informed by the Military Intelligence Bureau. Now a team of elite action team members dispatched by the Military Intelligence Bureau quietly entered the water from the river outside the city, wearing masks and passing through breathing tubes disguised as reeds. Breathing for air, he walked into the city without anyone noticing.

The fire can only illuminate the surface of the river, but cannot penetrate the water. When they discovered the Siamese patrol fleet, they dived completely. The underwater surroundings were so quiet that they could only hear the sound of the boats paddling. Each member of the action team is proficient in diving techniques. Holding one's breath for more than five minutes is the threshold for selection of this team member, so that they easily arrived at the target location of their group - a small area, but in Siam Buddhism It is a Buddhist temple with an extraordinary status in the world.

There is a group of Siamese soldiers stationed around the Buddhist temple for a long time, and a group of Siamese soldiers pass by for inspection every twenty minutes, but this is not a problem.

With internal responses, no matter how tight the defense is, there are still loopholes.

The leader of the action team opened a small box wrapped in oilcloth with three layers inside and three outside. Inside was a pocket watch, but the hands and numbers were all fluorite, and there was a circle of fluorite inlaid around it, allowing him to see clearly. The time is now 1:45 at night, and in five minutes a patrol will pass by the Buddhist temple.

And in another fifteen minutes, that is, at two o'clock in the morning, a vegetarian meal will be given to the Siamese soldiers in front of the Buddhist temple.

Buddhism is sacred in Siam. Not only the kings of Siam have supported Buddhism and made Buddhism the state religion of Siam, the monks are highly respected by people from all walks of life and have a great say in all walks of life. Even everything in life is deeply imprinted with Buddhism. For example, men must become a monk before getting married, and Zheng Xin has become a monk.

When he was 13 years old, his adoptive father gave him a "topknot shave" on the Paya Festival. It is a traditional custom in Siam. Keeping a bun, and shaving the top bun means shaving off the bun, which means that the boy has reached adulthood; it has a similar meaning to "hair binding" in ancient China. After the topknot shaving ceremony was completed, Zheng Xin became a novice monk and went to the Sandian Temple outside the city of Ayutthaya to study Buddhist scriptures and Pali scriptures. After returning to secular life, he was introduced into the officialdom by his adoptive father and served as the king's bodyguard in the inner court.

It is the same as the noble sons of the Eight Banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty who entered the palace as bodyguards. It was a shortcut to enter the officialdom. Facts have proved that Zheng Xin did start his career quickly as a bodyguard, and at a young age he was regarded as a pillar by the then king of the Ayutthaya Dynasty.

But judging from Zheng Xin’s life experience, we can also see the huge influence of Buddhism in Siam.

Therefore, the vegetarian meal in the Buddhist temple was not only a bowl of rice soup, but also a mouthful of cold water, which flattered these Siamese soldiers.

"Savadikhara..."

"Savadikhara..."

Two o'clock arrived on time, and the door of the Buddhist temple was opened. The Siamese soldiers stationed in front of the temple had already completely gathered at the temple gate. Under the leadership of the officers, they lined up neatly and respectfully waiting for the monk.

"Let's go..."

The leader of the action team said softly. At the same time, he rewrapped the box and stuffed it into the box on his waist.

There were not many people, only five people in total. The bonfire illuminated their figures very clearly. If it were not for the vegetarian meal at the Buddhist temple that caused all the Siamese soldiers to gather in front of the Buddhist temple, the five members of the action team would have just rushed ashore without a trace. It took only a few steps to be discovered.

The side entrance of the temple was dark, and no one noticed that five people wearing black clothes had just entered here. Even the watermarks on the stone steps were not left. The distance from the river bank to the temple was very close, but it was still dozens of meters away. The tens of meters of dirt road had long since absorbed the water.

…

The Marine Corps of the Nanyang Navy broke through the defense line set up by the Siamese on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River without any effort! Are the Marine Corps truly so brave?

No, of course not. The reason why the Siamese army was completely defeated in this battle was mainly due to the low fighting spirit of the Siamese army!

Their 'hearts' had already given in before the war started.

Therefore, after the war started, the Siamese Army, which was under continuous artillery fire, found that their rockets could not make the Nanyang Marine Corps retreat. The Siamese Army was chased by the Marine Corps like rabbits and fled the front line of the Chao Phraya River. Not surprising.

The Siamese soldiers on the entire front line were in a bad state. How could they stop the ‘people’ that even rockets could not stop? Facing the desperate attack of the navy and land forces, more than 10,000 Siamese troops were scattered at the first touch, some surrendered, some surrendered their weapons, the soldiers had no will to fight, and they knelt on the ground.

Then the navy and land forces continued to attack the second line of defense of the Siamese army, and they still conquered it with one attack and broke it with one poke.

In the spirit of ‘it is better to pursue the defeated enemy with the victorious one’, they immediately chased the fleeing soldiers and headed straight for the East Gate of Thonburi City. There were still many Siamese army strongholds and defensive strongholds outside Thonburi City in that area. If these were flattened in one blow, the army would be able to see the pagoda in Thonburi City.

…

"Asshole, asshole. Isharasongtun, this useless guy, ruined my plan, ruined my plan!"

The sound of gunfire from the east of the city had reached Thonburi City, and of course reached Thongluan's ears. It had only been half a day, and Isharasongtun's entire army was defeated, and Thongluan was very furious.

More than 10,000 troops, that's more than 10,000 troops.

Even if the morale is not high, they can hold on for two or three days, right? After all, their opponents are only more than 5,000 people. At least they have to let the Chinese add reinforcements once. In this way, the "defeat" will be "face-saving". But in just half a day, the Chao Phraya River defense line not only collapsed, but also affected the second line of defense.

Let the Chinese fight outside Thonburi in one breath.

In theory, the current Siamese army is also a capable army that fought against the Burmese. At that time, they had experienced many bloody and hard battles on the battlefield in Burma. Their tenacity was obvious to all and won the praise of Nanjing. How come a group of wolves has become a nest of rabbits in the blink of an eye?

Let alone Issarasongtun has more than 10,000 men under his command, that is more than 10,000 pigs digging around on the Chao Phraya River, which also caused a lot of trouble for the Nanyang Navy Land Warfare Force. So, those people are not even as good as pigs.

If Issarasongtun was not his son, Tong Luan would have wanted to chop off Issarasongtun's head to warn everyone.

Of course, it is also a blessing in disguise that his own troops did not suffer major losses.

Issarasongtun was only a regiment commander before. The Siamese army learned the regularization of the Chen Han National Defense Army, and since it was regularized, it had to follow the rules and regulations. So Issarasongtun was 30 years old and was still only a regiment commander, and also served as the deputy brigade staff officer. Of course, the regiment under his command is the direct force of the Thong Luan family. It had also experienced several bloody battles in the Burmese War before. After the incident, it expanded from about 2,000 people to 3,000 or 4,000 people. They were all veterans of the Burmese War. They were well-equipped, with the best batch of muskets in the Siamese Army, all of which were Chen Hanxin flintlock rifles, not second-hand flintlock rifles eliminated by the National Defense Army. The combat effectiveness should be very strong.

This coup also disrupted the "regularization" of the Siamese Army. After Thong Luan took control of the power in Thonburi, Issarasongtun was promoted three levels by Thong Luan, from a regular regiment level to a deputy division level - the second number of the Royal Guards.

As a result, in the battle of the Chao Phraya River, the troops of this regiment fought like mud, but unexpectedly, the soldiers of this regiment were all sprinters. After running back to Thonburi, they counted and found that there were still 2,600 to 700 people. Although the loss was great, the skeleton foundation was still there, which was rare.

To be honest, Tong Luan was not afraid of the more than 5,000 land forces, nor was he afraid of the Nanyang Navy fleet floating on the sea. At worst, he would give up Thonburi's sea defense line. Your Nanyang Navy is awesome in the water, can you still drive the warships to the shore?

And the more than 5,000 land forces are very fierce, but Tong Luan still has a lot of troops around Thonburi.

Now they have killed outside the east gate of Thonburi, which has indeed added a big chip on the Chinese side of the scale, but it is impossible to really take Thonburi with only these more than 5,000 land forces.

In Tong Luan's vision, this force is to echo with Chen Lian, Wen Ma, and the National Defense Force of Myanmar. When all the armies have broken the punitive army he sent out and approached Thonburi together, setting off a great trend, this force located on the edge of Thonburi will then play the role of "the last straw that broke the camel's back".

But what Tongluan never expected was that the Chinese would be so impatient.

Five thousand people dared to attack Thonburi. Did they really think that the tens of thousands of troops in Thonburi were made of mud? Even if the Siamese army was defeated in the battle of Chao Phraya River, Tongluan's inner belief would not be shaken.

Three times is not enough, what about ten times? He didn't believe that all Chinese soldiers were made of iron.

"The Chinese underestimated us. Let's take the opportunity to eat their vanguard!"

Tongluan sneered and ordered several generals under him: "Dispatch all the guards, and the third, fourth and fifth divisions. More than 30,000 people, six times the strength of the Chinese, I don't believe that we can't deal with this Marine Corps."

Tongluan also has a most direct unit in his hand-the second division, which is his lifeblood, but this unit is used to guard Thonburi. He is also unsure about the combat effectiveness of the Siamese army. The battle of Chao Phraya River was a big blow to him. That was a three-fold advantage in military strength, yet they were beaten into such a miserable state that Tong Luan almost lost all his confidence!

But let’s put it one way or another. No matter how unconfident and nervous Thong Luang was about the Siamese army, the Siamese army was a force he had to rely on. But he would not easily send his trusted troops to the battlefield, as that was the basis for him to intimidate the various armies of Thonburi. If he rashly went into the war, he would suffer many casualties once the battle started. If he performed poorly and was looked down upon by other Siamese troops, it would be a big deal.

“Charge, charge. Push them back…”

A battlefield east of Thonburi, with a hilltop facing the water, was relatively flat and suitable for artillery. The Siamese army attached great importance to this point and arranged a large number of gullies and soldiers for defense around the hilltop, and spent a lot of manpower to transport more than 20 cannons to the hilltop.

The height of the hilltop was not high, but the geographical location was indeed very important. In terms of the coverage range of the artillery, it could block half of the city of Thonburi.

And the Marine Corps really came to attack.

They did not "give up the difficult and take the easy" because of the "gap" on the other side.

They chose to face the challenge head-on.

The attacking marines did not take the land route, but the water route, which was very different from the attack direction envisioned by the Siamese.

The side of the mountain facing the water was the weakness of the Siamese defense, because the Siamese did not think that the marines would attack from that direction. It was a desperate place, with swamps and mud, making it difficult to move, and the Siamese army occupied a high position, which restricted their attack.

But the marines launched the attack from the swamps and mud.

Covering the mud with reeds and then covering it with bamboo rafts and wooden boards, the dangerous mud and swamps became a flat road. The Siamese artillery on the top of the mountain would of course turn the muzzle to block, but Chen Han's artillery was more sharp in terms of artillery.

The quality of the Siamese army's gunners was not as good as Chen Han's army. Now Chen Han still had the calibration balloon, which had a pair of "eyes in the sky", and the effect of the two-way artillery fire was even more different.

It didn't take too long for the entire mountaintop to become a mess, and the Siamese army's artillery positions also became a mess. The more than 20 artillery pieces that the Siamese had worked so hard to transport to the top of the mountain were all over the place, and the whole army was annihilated.

The Siamese army could only watch the navy and the land forces pave a path through the swamps and mud little by little.

Such battles are not surprising in Chinese history, but for the Siamese, they are really amazing. Swamps and silt are a dead end in the eyes of many Siamese, but the Chinese easily changed their perception.

The rocket bombardment on both sides was very cruel and cruel, and both sides suffered heavy casualties. However, the difference between the two sides was that Chen Han's marines dared to charge forward despite heavy casualties, while the Siamese were in a mess after being bombarded by rockets.

The marines that successfully advanced mixed with the Siamese army.

The Siamese could not afford the consequences of losing this stronghold easily, and the commander of the position deployed troops to fill the gap.

The Nanyang Marines attacked this hill with only two battalions, with a total strength of only about 1,000 people, while the defenders were expected to have 3,000 to 4,000 people. The rocket bombardment caused the attacking marines to lose 200 to 300 people, but the remaining soldiers were still attacking forward. When they landed on land and the soldiers of both sides mixed together, it was the Siamese army, which had an absolute advantage in numbers, that was defeated.

At the critical moment, the reinforcements of the Siamese army arrived. So the marines that had just occupied a position immediately switched to defense.

An officer with a silver star on his collar was lying in a crater, gasping for breath. To be honest, they were very tired. Many people had a bowl of hot rice in the morning and had not had a drop of water yet. Whether it was paving the road or hand-to-hand combat, it was very physically demanding.

Now they could only take out the dry military rations in their pockets, nibble on them, and then take out the canteen behind their buttocks to drink a mouthful or two of the strange-tasting salt and sugar water.

This was real salt and sugar water, made by mixing salt, sugar and water. It was different from the oral rehydration salt commonly known as "salt and sugar water" by the people in later generations.

While they were eating and drinking, their hands were constantly busy.

- Strengthening the position.

The Siamese army, which was numerous and powerful, counterattacked. The explosions of rockets and grenades, gunshots, and shouts of killing were intertwined above the position.

The explosive power of a single grenade is not great, and it is far less shocking than a rocket, but when the explosions of grenades as dense as raindrops are connected together, the effect is also very deterrent.

"Boom-boom-boom-"

Countless explosions sounded, and the two armies were mixed together again, like two bulls meeting on a narrow road, and the screams were instantly clearly heard by every soldier of the two armies.

"Brothers, kill--" A left lieutenant of Chen Hanjun rushed to the front of the team with a rifle with a bayonet.

"Kill--" With a murderous aura, all the soldiers of the navy and marines rushed out like tigers, and panicked calls sounded in the Siamese army.

The god of death happily harvested "death" with his sickle.

Those bright bayonets and bullets harvested the lives of soldiers on both sides at a shockingly fast speed. Many soldiers were ruthlessly killed by bullets and bayonets before they had time to show their skills.

A wounded Siamese soldier staggered to his feet. This man must not be in a clear mind. If he was clear mind, he would just lie on the ground and continue to pretend to be dead.

A Marine soldier rushed up and stabbed the man in the heart.

Then he pulled out the bayonet from the corpse, and without time to adjust the direction of the bayonet, he turned the muzzle upward, raised the butt of the gun and smashed it hard on the head of the Siamese soldier who came again. In an instant, the Siamese soldier's head was completely blown apart, and blood mixed with brain matter covered his butt of the gun, and also splashed his body with white and red.