Lu Ming

Among them, the 3000 North Vietnamese support department was negotiated before.However, after discovering that the Ming people harbored bad intentions and planned to breed tigers, the support troops sent by the North Vietnamese immediately shrank.Not only has the number and quality shrunk, but the mood of the troops is also very wrong.

Followed by the Nguyen tribe headed by Nguyen Phuc Yuan.

Nguyen is sincerely seeking refuge.

The entire Ruan family escaped from the tiger's mouth this time, all relying on the support of the Ming people.In addition, the Shi Ruan family can still retain the establishment of 2000 core members, which is also the result of the Ming Dynasty's human resources protection.This result made the North Vietnamese Xin Dynasty extremely resentful, and because of this, the Ruan clan had no choice but to side with the Ming people.

Therefore, in the formation of the coalition this time, all the remnants of the Ruan family came out.

It doesn't matter if you don't come out.

Fearing the repression and persecution that the new imperial court would surely bring afterwards, the Ruan family not only accompanied the army this time, but also entrusted the old and the young to withdraw all of their own family and some of their affiliated families from the Vietnamese territory.

This is just like running away with the whole family and taking refuge in Ming people.

The Nanyang Governor's Mansion is definitely happy to see this.Having such an attached local aboriginal force as the leading party can greatly increase the speed of control over the Chao Phraya Plain in the early stage.

In the end, it was the reluctant Champa troops.

The people of Champa, who live in a corner, have no good looks towards either the Ruan family or the Zheng family.They know very well that as long as a Vietnamese is in power, they are all raccoon dogs, and they will endlessly encroach on the land of Champa.

As for this group of Ming people who suddenly appeared... the Zhancheng people had hope at first, but after contacting them, they discovered that the Ming people were not a good thing.

The Ming did not promise the Champas that Champas would not be annexed.

The Ming people only promised to "mediate" the conflict between the new dynasty and Champa during the period when the Champas sent troops.

In this way, the Champas did not want to send troops when they sent troops.

However, it is impossible not to send troops.In this matter, the Ming people's attitude was extremely tough-since ancient times, kings sent troops, and princes followed suit.If you, Jimizhou, don't respond to the call this time, then I will unite with other people to destroy you first.

The Champa people who were weak inside had no choice but to succumb after a certain force showed their vicious face, and promised to send 1500 troops and another 2000 auxiliary troops to join the coalition.

In this way, a coalition with many internal contradictions was formed.

In the next two months, the coalition forces successively assembled in a small town in Champa.

The frightened Champa people felt as if they were facing an enemy, and even slept with one eye open, fearing that they would be wiped out overnight.

In fact, the proposal of destroying Champa had appeared a long time ago, but it was rejected by the traversers: at present, keeping Champa is more useful than destroying it, and it is used to contain the Zheng court.

Theoretically speaking, such a scattered and contradictory coalition has no combat effectiveness.However, for the traversers, such a troop is enough - it's just cannon fodder, it doesn't matter if it's high quality or not.

In the past two months, Wang Bo, the commander of the pioneering team in charge of forming the coalition army, did nothing else and spent all his time on the army's epidemic prevention training.

In the future, he will operate in the tropical regions of South Asia. It is impossible for the troops to rest during the rainy season as before.

The most important thing that hinders the army's actions during the rainy season is epidemic prevention.

The rainy season was fatal to the destruction of ancient armies.The hot and humid environment with many mosquitoes and lack of sanitary protection can cause a strong army to suffer from dysentery overnight, and it can also cause the army to fall in front of malaria.

In fact, regardless of China or foreign countries, the vast majority of battles are carried out in cold weather.In ancient times, it was hot and humid, and for a group of troops, it was a biochemically lethal environment that was more powerful than the enemy.

Relying on the breech-loading guns of the 2000 Pioneering Army and the full cooperation of the Ruan clan, Wang Bo finally spent two months establishing the health concept of the coalition army from scratch.

This kind of hygiene concept can be seen by others, but it cannot be learned.Just a large amount of disinfectant and bleach is not something any army can provide.

Fast forward to late June.After the break-in, the Governor's Office ordered that the coalition forces move out... Target: Saigon City.

Compared with Saigon, a name that only appeared in the Ming Dynasty, people of later generations should be more familiar with another name: Ho Chi Minh City.

The Mekong Delta is the affluent plain at the southernmost tip of the Indochina Peninsula.This place is located between Vietnam and Thailand, with high temperature throughout the year, fertile soil, dense water network, and a long history of rice planting. It is the area with the highest rice yield in Asia.

Saigon, located in this core area, has developed from a fishing village to an important town early on due to its location in the center of the water system and its function as a seaport.

Like Shijiazhuang in later generations, this process was naturally driven by history.The development of Saigon began many centuries ago. In the Ming Dynasty, it became an important trading port and grain distribution center.

The Ming Dynasty indirectly influenced this.

In the Ming Dynasty, from the third year of Yongle to the eighth year of Xuande, the Ming Empire sent Zheng He on seven voyages to the West.

Seven voyages to the West established the latest tribute trade system of the Central Plains Dynasty.

After that, many countries in East and West Asia, the Middle East coast, and East Africa started trade (tributary) with the Ming Dynasty.

As a result, Saigon became an important port for tribute ships from the West to berth.

Over time, this place was called "Saigon", which means "West tribute" in Chinese.At this point in time when the traversers arrived, Saigon, a strategic location, still belongs to the Kingdom of Cambodia.

At this time, the territory of the Kingdom of Cambodia was not small.Its country not only included the northern plateau on the map of later generations, but also controlled the downstream Mekong Delta.

Corresponding to the northern plateau, the Mekong Delta was called "Lower Cambodia" in this era because it is a plain area.

And the most important city of Saigon in the delta, due to its special status, the Kingdom of Cambodia even sent a deputy king to guard it.

However, this situation is about to change soon.

In real history, the Nguyen regime in South Vietnam, which was defeated this time, continued to expand southward while resisting the invasion of North Vietnam, and finally annexed Champa.

Champa is the southernmost point on the long and narrow map of Vietnam.

After annexing Champa, the Nguyen clan of South Vietnam will face the sea.Then, the next generation will naturally turn their attention to the prosperous delta in the southwest.

This historical process did not last long.Finally, in the seventeenth century, the Mekong River Plain, including Saigon, was incorporated into Vietnam's territory and became the territory of Vietnam known to later generations, as well as Ho Chi Minh City.

And this time, although the ultimate goal of the coalition forces is the Ayutthaya Dynasty, the goal of the first stage is undoubtedly to stand in front of the Mekong River Plain in the center of the grain-producing area.

...Amidst the sound of the horn, the poorly armed soldiers, resisting the same simple bamboo ladder, rushed towards the tall city of Saigon in the rain.

This is the beginning of a traditional tough battle.However, with the resistance on the top of the city, the battle soon ended.Not long after, the besiegers, who had left some corpses behind, retreated back to their starting line.

Outside the city of Saigon, what used to be a market has become the first front line of ramparts and ditches.

Behind the battle line, there is a rare two-story stone brick building built by a wealthy businessman.This mansion has long since been emptied, occupied by outsiders, and has become the frontline command center.

On the roof of the second floor, there was a bamboo shed built before, which was probably used by businessmen to drink tea leisurely, and this will just happen to be used to shelter from the rain.Under the bamboo shed, a group of dignitaries sitting on bamboo chairs watched the retreating soldiers from the front line.

"Let's put the meal away, and attack again in the afternoon."

Wang Bo, who put down his binoculars, spoke calmly after watching the clumsy siege performance of the natives again.

On the left hand side of Commander Wang, sitting next to him is the former general of the defeated army: Nguyen Phuc Yuan, the leader of the Nguyen clan.

Ruan Fuyuan, who was wearing a short robe, put down the binoculars at the same time, and nodded in agreement: "That's right, it's past noon, it's time for dinner."

As soon as the voice fell, the orderly who had been prepared at the side brought up two iron plates, which contained rice and minced fish porridge.

There is not so much attention to detail on the battlefield.All the generals of the coalition forces, including the commander, ate their jobs as soon as they picked up their jobs.

But Ruan Fuyuan, an old man, seems to have a lot to worry about.After eating two mouthfuls, he looked up at the sky, and said thoughtfully: "I'm afraid it will clear up in the afternoon!"

Thinking of this, Ruan Fuyuan turned his head to the side and said to the two generals wearing national costumes: "It's a good thing, I'm going to ask you two to take action in the afternoon."

The two Champa Buddhist generals with gold ornaments on their bodies and iron armor over their monk robes seemed to have gotten used to this situation.Hearing this, he nodded, got up and went downstairs to make arrangements.

At this time, Ruan Fuyuan, who seemed to be enjoying himself in the coalition army, turned around and smiled at Wang Bo.

The coalition forces that sent troops in late June, after more than a month of fighting and marching, slowly advanced to the city of Saigon in August.

Today is the seventh day of the coalition siege.

As far as the naked eye can see, the resistance will of the Cambodians on Saigon City has weakened a lot, and now even the cannon fodder team of North Vietnam can fight in style.

The root cause of all this was yesterday—the fleet with the Kaiyuan as its flagship, carrying a large amount of supplies, forcibly broke into the mouth of the Mekong River and bombarded both sides of the river.

The defenders on the top of the city saw all this clearly.

Chapter 634 The embodiment of historical inertia and the promotion of the line of fire

While the fleet broke into the outer port of Saigon, Wang Bo received reports from outlying sentries one after another.

Sentinels are not all the way.Among them were scouts from the Pioneering Army dispatched by Wang Bo himself, as well as scouts from various ministries of the coalition forces.

Without exception, these sentries brought the same news: there was no sign of reinforcements from the north.

After finally gathering the information, Wang Bo could only let out a long sigh and said to the adjutant: "Oh, the fleet will definitely not be able to continue on land when the fleet enters the port. Let's call the team back to attack the city."

"Yes!"

The team mentioned here is their own team, the pioneer army.

For the early attack on Saigon City, several other coalition forces have been taking turns to play.

Doing so, of course, consumes a little cannon fodder, and the meaning of exercising the muscles and bones is in it, but this is not the main thing.The commander of the coalition forces, Wang Bo, stationed troops under the city of Saigon. What he wanted to do most was to besiege the city and fight for reinforcements, and eliminate the reinforcements that the Kingdom of Cambodia might send from the northern plateau.

For this reason, Wang Bo did not hesitate to go to war. First, he arranged for a part of the North Vietnamese Army with relatively poor military discipline to go to the north of Saigon City to "strike grass valleys" to drive out the people and create no-man's land on the battlefield.

Next, he dispatched 1500 main troops of the Pioneering Army to find favorable terrain to station in the north, spread out sentries, and prepare for a comfortable rescue.

However, except for a small number of troops who rushed into the city to support Saigon after receiving the news at the beginning, in the end, Wang Bo did not wait for reinforcements from Phnom Penh.

In other words, the Cambodian plateau kingdom with Phnom Penh as its capital has in fact abandoned Saigon City and the low-growing grain area of ​​the Mekong River represented by Saigon City.

"Is this the so-called historical inertia?"

When Wang Bo ordered the main force to be transferred back and was about to break through the city, he muttered something like this in his mouth.

……

The city of Saigon in history was also occupied in a situation of isolation and helplessness.

Prior to this, the Khmer (Cambodia) Empire, which controlled the Mekong Plain, was a powerful empire from the 9th century to the 15th century.

However, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the successive years of war with Siam (Thailand) led to the decline of the Khmer Empire's national strength.In the end, Angkor Thom, the capital, was captured and burned by the Siamese. The Cambodians had to retreat away from Siam and re-established the capital in Phnom Penh.

Since then, the Kingdom of Cambodia, which is basically located on the plateau, has gradually lost its ability to control the Saigon Plain.

In real history, during the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Saigon was finally occupied by the Ruan clan of South Vietnam.In the same way, when the city fell, Phnom Penh City also did not send support, watching its own territory lose.

"But that's 60 years later!"

Wang Bo was a little puzzled.The fall of Saigon in history was firstly caused by a large number of refugees flooded into the Chao Phraya River plain caused by the Vietnamese civil war. After that, Saigon was taken by the Vietnamese.

At that time, it was already the 37th year of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty. There were Vietnamese people everywhere inside and outside the city of Saigon. The final fall can be said to be a combination of inside and outside.

This is the point that Wang Bo can't figure out.It’s only the 30s, there aren’t many Vietnamese refugees on the Mekong plain, and Cambodians are the majority inside and outside Saigon.

However, under such circumstances, he deliberately besieged Saigon for many days, but he did not see reinforcements from the direction of Phnom Penh... This made Wang Bo feel a sense of loss when his fist hit the air.

For him, eliminating the field corps that may appear in the northern Kingdom of Cambodia is a necessary step for the "long-term stability" in the future.

But in the current situation, he was a little confused: Are the Cambodians really weak and weak, or are they saving their energy to go down the mountain to fuck his ass?

The former possibility is due to historical inertia, which shows that the Cambodians have long been weak.In the latter case, he, Commander Wang, is nodding his head: long-term deployment of defenses against the northern plateau will undoubtedly stretch the Nanyang Governor's Mansion, which is not well-managed.

Commander Wang, who was in charge of the military, felt ashamed at this moment.

"It's really fucking bad luck, and you have to engage in intelligence and defense!"

Wang Bo, who failed to complete his work in one battle, was naturally not in a good mood.This caused him to have a gloomy face all day the next day, even when Saigon City opened.

Saigon Kaesong, and there are no waves.

In fact, if Commander Wang is willing, he can knock on the gate of Saigon on the first day of stationing troops.After all, the stronger Hue city can be knocked open, and Saigon city is not difficult.

The main force of the pioneering army mobilized back, adopted the high-tech means of "breech-loading gun suppression + artificial blasting", and easily blasted the Saigon city gate.

This clean and neat action exposed the large-scale organizational capabilities of the Ming Army for the first time, deterred the enemy and friendly forces, and allowed the various ministries of the coalition forces, which had been lacking intuition, to clearly understand the situation and put away their irrational thoughts.

Yes, it is bronze at home, but when going abroad, in front of these Nanyang bumpkins, the lightly armed pioneer army becomes the king.

After Kaesong, things went smoothly.After all, along the way, enough cities have been opened, and everyone is numb.

But the process has to go.After the pioneering army entered the city, the first step was to surrender the defenders and suppress all strategic locations in the city with muskets.

The operation to control the nodes of the city went smoothly, because the defender knights had already lost their will to fight.Had it not been for Wang Bo's intentional release of water before, there is a high probability that the defenders would not be able to persist today.

This point was quickly verified: According to the captives’ confession, the Cambodian deputy king who was in charge of guarding Saigon ran away from the city with gold, jewels and treasures on the night he saw smoke pillars from burning houses on the horizon.

After hearing the news, Wang Bo's gloomy face relaxed a lot: as the highest-ranking member of the Kingdom of Cambodia, the deputy king must know the inside story of the court.

This time, the deputy king fled without a fight, which most likely shows that the upper echelons of the Phnom Penh Mansion had acquiesced to give up the lowland territory long ago.

Commander Wang, whose mood turned from cloudy to sunny, led his entourage and rode into Saigon City on a tall horse on the afternoon when the army took over Saigon City.

Unlike the prefectures that the Ming people were accustomed to, the architectural layout of Saigon, a city with a lower latitude, was obviously much simpler than that of Vietnam.

The rivers in the city are densely covered, and densely packed boats can be seen everywhere. The largest number of buildings are the bamboo shacks where the poor live, and the frightened Saigon poor are hiding inside. There are few masonry buildings.

After recalling in his mind the South Asian dwellings in some TV footage "before he was alive", and found that it was similar to the real scene in front of him, Wang Bo could only shake his head and led his troops into the Vice-Prince's Mansion.

The messy Vice Prince's Mansion is the most luxurious building in the city, barely worthy of the Ming Dynasty gentry's grade of "deep house compound".

Commander Wang entered the mansion, sat down in the lobby, and executed the order without saying a word.

The first was to send the North Vietnamese away.