Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 328: Conquer Yue! Conquer Yue!
Don’t the Tang thieves want southern Liaoning?
In this case, the Qing Dynasty gave southern Liaoning to the British, French and other powers.

If the Tang bandits want to take southern Liaoning, they must first get past the great powers such as Britain and France.

As long as the Tang army fails to defeat the British and French powers, the Qing Dynasty will be safe as long as there are powerful countries standing in front of it.

The reason why Yi came up with this idea was that the inspiration came from the report sent back by Shengbao from outside the Great Wall.

Since Tsarist Russia is willing to stand on the side of the Qing Dynasty and help the Qing Dynasty fight the enemy.

What about Britain, France and other countries?

Given the current situation of the Qing Dynasty, it is on the brink of national destruction.

In order to save the Qing Dynasty, Yi did not mind selling out his country for help and introducing foreign forces to intervene in the war.

Anyway, no matter how bad the situation gets, it won’t be worse than it is now!

Everyone in the Grand Council understood Yi's meaning and bowed down immediately.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

……

The 20th day of the first lunar month, the fourth year of the Zhaowu reign of the Tang Dynasty.

Ten days after Guo Songtao handed the declaration of war to the Vietnamese envoy, the Tang army dispatched troops from Guangzhou. Amid the cheers of the people of Guangzhou, the fleet left the Pearl River Estuary and headed towards Vietnam in a mighty manner.

"Ten thousand victories! Ten thousand victories to the Tang Dynasty!"

"Punish the rebels and the king's army will win!"

"..."

The commander-in-chief of the Tang army's expedition to Vietnam was Chen Yucheng.

The troops that invaded Vietnam were mainly composed of navy and land forces.

Among them, the main force of the navy is the Tang Dynasty South China Sea Fleet, which has three new steam ironclad ships, five sailing battleships, ten armed merchant ships, and fifty red single ships.

The commander is Fang Haiyang, commander of the Tang Navy.

The land combat force was the 16th Infantry Division of the Tang Army, with Zhang Guoliang as the division commander.

Zhang Guoliang was previously the commander-in-chief of the Qing army's Jiangnan camp. During the battle of the Tang army to recapture Nanjing, he defected and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.

Later he was required to study at the Military Academy.

After completing his studies and passing the assessment, he was appointed commander of the 16th Infantry Division of the Tang Dynasty.

It can be considered a high position!
After setting out from Guangdong and leaving the Pearl River Estuary, the Tang army fleet headed westward.

The route is through the Qiongzhou Strait towards the Beibu Gulf.

In this battle, the Tang army's first target was the mouth of the Red River.

The Tang army was preparing to cross the Red River, go upstream, and drive straight to Hanoi, an important city in northern Vietnam.

Although the capital of the Nguyen Dynasty of Vietnam was in Hue, the Tang army could directly attack Hue and capture the leader first, or even destroy Vietnam in one battle and end the war.

But the problem is that the main purpose of the Tang army in this war was not to destroy the country, but for food.

Since it is for food, the Red River Delta, the main grain producing area, must be given top priority.

Moreover, although Hanoi is not the capital of Vietnam now, it is the most important city in northern Vietnam. Taking it down can gain great political influence.

Even forced Vietnam to surrender!

Taking into account many factors, it was actually a very normal thing for the Tang army to choose Hanoi as the target of the first battle in the conquest of Vietnam.

After the Tang army set out from Guangzhou, they advanced very quickly because they took the sea route.

Before the end of the first month of the year, the Tang army had reached the mouth of the Red River.

Chen Yucheng stood on the deck, raised his telescope and looked towards the Red River estuary in the distance with a sad look in his eyes.

"It's interesting that Vietnam actually built a coastal defense fort at the mouth of the Red River in advance. It seems that they must have been prepared for the Tang Dynasty to send troops to attack them."

Fang Haiyang, who was standing by, heard this and spoke.

"Don't worry, Commander."

"It doesn't matter even if Vietnam has been prepared. It makes no difference to our Tang Dynasty Heavenly Soldiers."

“Even if you wrap an egg with a few layers of cotton, it still cannot change the fact that it is just an egg and will break if you hit it.”

Fang Haiyang doesn't care about Vietnam's coastal defense batteries.

The reason was very simple. He was quite confident in the lethality of the Tang army's naval guns.

It is worth mentioning that Tang Jun’s Foshan Arsenal made another breakthrough in artillery technology some time ago.

Mass production of 150-caliber large-caliber naval guns has begun and they have been equipped to the troops.

If this caliber was used in World War I and World War II, it would certainly not be considered heavy artillery. At that time, the caliber of the main guns of battleships were as high as four or five hundred.

Take the Japanese's famous sea coffin as an example. The main gun caliber of the Yamato battleship was 460 mm.

But in today's era, the 150mm caliber naval gun can still be called a heavy artillery.

I can’t say anything else, but at least the wooden-hulled warships and artillery batteries of this era were all fragile in front of him.

As long as we can hit the target, one shot kills!
If the Tang army fleet had been able to mass-equip itself with 150-caliber naval guns when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded last year, the Tang army naval fleet would have been confident of repelling them head-on in a naval battle even if the Eight-Nation Alliance fleet had the advantage in numbers.

Chen Yucheng nodded and said.

"Very good, signal with the flags and order our fleet to advance to the Red River according to the plan drawn up by the General Staff!"

As soon as Chen Yucheng finished speaking, Fang Haiyang immediately responded.

Soon, flags were waving continuously in the Tang army fleet.

The Tang army fleet, with three steam ironclad ships as the spearhead, marched towards the mouth of the Red River.

At the same time, the Vietnamese navy stationed at the mouth of the Red River was slowly leaving the port.

On the vast sea, flags are flying in the wind.

A large number of sampans, led by several Western sailing battleships and armed merchant ships, came towards the Tang army fleet.

He attempted to repel the invading Tang army through a naval battle.

Chen Yucheng raised the telescope again to observe the battlefield. Looking at the Vietnamese warships on the sea, his expression was slightly solemn.

"If I'm not mistaken, those few ships leading the Vietnamese army should be the Western Barbarians' sailing battleships and armed merchant ships, right?"

"It seems that the Western Barbarians have really gotten involved in the war between our Tang Dynasty and Vietnam."

"Hmph, these Western barbarians really don't know how to live or die!" Although Chen Yucheng had long known that the reason why Vietnam dared to attack the Tang Dynasty this time was because it had the support of the Western barbarians behind it.

But when he actually saw the Western barbarians' warships on the battlefield, he couldn't help feeling a little angry.

Seeing this, Fang Haiyang on the side said immediately.

"According to the information sent back by the Military Intelligence Department, most of these Western warships in the Vietnamese navy are from France."

"When the Nguyen dynasty founded Vietnam, France contributed a lot. Although the relationship between France and Vietnam gradually became distant and even cold after the Nguyen dynasty founded Vietnam, there is always some friendship between them."

"Supporting Vietnam to contain the Tang Dynasty is mainly due to France's involvement."

Chen Yucheng nodded in agreement, then turned around and asked.

"Commander Fang, are you sure you can defeat the enemy?"

Fang Haiyang nodded immediately.

"Commander, rest assured. The Vietnamese navy has quantity but not quality. Most of them are sampans and small boats. They pose limited threat to our army."

"Our army will definitely be able to defeat the enemy in this battle!"

Chen Yucheng nodded and said.

"Soon, let's defeat the enemy as soon as possible."

"Then cover our Marines to complete the landing and capture the Vietnamese coastal defense artillery positions."

To attack a fort, you can't just rely on the fleet's naval guns to bombard it.

Even if we can win, the price we have to pay is too high.

No matter how poorly the fort was built, it was still much stronger than a ship.

After all, the Tang army only had three ironclad ships, and the rest were just wooden ships.

Moreover, most of the wooden-hulled ships were armed merchant ships or civilian ships such as red single ships, rather than professional warships.

Such a ship cannot withstand artillery shells, and if it is hit by a shell, it will definitely be damaged.

Therefore, to attack the fort, it is best to use both land and sea forces in a coordinated manner.

Only in this way can we achieve the greatest results at the lowest cost.

However, if the Tang Army's Marines wanted to complete the landing, they had to first destroy the Vietnamese Army's surface forces.

Otherwise, if the Vietnamese army's surface forces attacked the landing Tang army troops, the outcome would be too tragic.

No matter whether it is Chen Yucheng or Fang Haiyang, no one would allow such a thing to happen.

The navy and army of the Tang Dynasty are not like the Japanese navy and army. Although their relationship is not very good, they will not betray each other.

The Japanese navy and army are betraying each other because the emperor above them is just a decoration and cannot actually control the army.

Coupled with the hostile practices that began when the navy and the army were first established and continued to escalate, they were able to trip each other up to that extent.

But in the Tang Dynasty, Li Yi is not the Japanese emperor who has prestige but no real power.

He has the power and prestige to completely control the army.

No matter whether it was Chen Yucheng, Fang Haiyang, or Zhang Guoliang, if anyone dared to deliberately betray his comrades, Li Yi could directly arrest him and send him to a military court to be shot without even going through the judicial process.

This is the prestige of a founding monarch.

As the founding monarch, Li Yi's power was almost unlimited.

Upon hearing this, Fang Haiyang immediately clasped his fists and accepted the order.

The Tang army fleet deployed in battle formation, with the warships lined up in a horizontal row on the sea, their gun ports open, and black broadside guns extending from the ports, with their muzzles aimed at the Vietnamese navy on the sea.

"Prepare for the first round of test firing!"

"Adjust shooting Zhuyuan!"

"put!"

boom! Boom boom!

Smoke was spewing from the sides of the Tang army warships.

Several artillery shells were fired at the Vietnamese troops on the sea.

Several water columns rose above the vast surface of the Beibu Gulf, and water mist spread.

In the first round of test firing, the Tang army fleet failed to hit the target.

But that's nothing.

Accompanied by a shout, the Tang army's fleet began to prepare for the second round of test firing.

"Prepare for the second round of test firing!"

"Load, aim, fire!"

Boom boom! Boom boom boom!

The sound of artillery fire rang out again.

As the distance between the two sides shortened, the hit rate of the Tang army's artillery fire was significantly improved.

An explosive bomb hit a small Vietnamese sampan.

The fuse of the shell was triggered and it exploded with a bang.

The flames spread along with the smoke, and the shock wave tore the small sampan into pieces.

The Vietnamese soldiers on the boat were blown to pieces without even a scream.

A few pieces of blood-stained and burnt planks were floating on the sea.

The Vietnamese fleet was terrified.

However, the leading sailing battleships and armed merchant ships in the Vietnamese naval fleet did not show any panic, but continued to advance forward.

The gun ports on the side of the ship opened, and the black muzzles of the guns extended out.

boom! Boom boom!

Faced with the bombardment of the Tang army fleet, the Vietnamese army chose to fight back.

The black shells broke through the air, making a whistling sound, and shot towards the Tang army warships.

(End of this chapter)