Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 333: Forming an Advance Camp

Under the gaze of everyone, Chen Yucheng explained.

"It is better to destroy the main force of the Vietnamese army in northern Vietnam by besieging and attacking the reinforcements in Hanoi than to let our soldiers go to the mountains in northern Vietnam and play hide-and-seek with the Vietnamese army who are familiar with the environment."

Why did the Tang army attack Vietnam by sea instead of attacking Vietnam by land and sea?
Is it because you don’t want to?

Of course not.

The reason why we didn't advance by land was simply because the land route was difficult to travel.

Fighting is easy. With the current combat effectiveness of the Tang army, it will not be a problem to defeat the Yue army with ease.

The problem was that after defeating the Vietnamese army, the Tang army's supplies could not keep up.

The north of Vietnam is full of mountains. Looking at the map, the distance between the two points doesn't seem far.

But the actual walking distance is several times the straight-line distance on the map, and the road is all rugged mountain roads, which is really difficult to walk on.

It would be too costly to cross the numerous mountains to the north and supply the army by land transport.

Therefore, what Chen Yucheng has to do now is to attract as many Vietnamese troops as possible to the city of Hanoi and then annihilate them in one fell swoop.

This would prevent the Tang army from using troops in the mountainous areas of northern Vietnam, which would turn the war into a disastrous one.

Upon hearing this, all the generals responded in unison.

Chen Yucheng nodded and began to make arrangements.

"First, we need to arrange our troops to launch a feint attack on Hanoi."

"To create military pressure on Hanoi, thus forcing the defenders in the city to ask for help."

"Secondly, we need to send personnel to build camps near Hanoi to support our landing forces."

"Third, send scouts to the north to investigate and determine the movements of the NVA."

Upon hearing this, all the generals responded in unison.

Suddenly, Zhang Guoliang made a suggestion.

"Commander, I heard that the current Vietnamese commander in Hanoi is Lin Weijia, the governor of Hanoi."

"And this Lin Weijia is from Mingxiang."

"I think that our Tang Dynasty might try to recruit Lin Weijia and let him serve our Tang Dynasty."

"If we can successfully persuade Lin Weijia to surrender, the entire northern Vietnam may be conquered by a single order."

The Mingxiang people as a collective have considerable political influence in Vietnam, or in the whole of Southeast Asia.

Many prominent families, local officials, and even central government officials were born in Mingxiang.

If the Tang Dynasty could make use of the Ming people, then after conquering Vietnam, the cost and difficulty of stabilizing the local area would be greatly reduced.

After hearing this, Chen Yucheng thought for a while and then nodded.

"Yeah, sure!"

"That's a good idea."

"Since this matter was brought up by Commander Zhang, then let Commander Zhang be in charge from now on."

"If you can persuade Lin Weijia to surrender, it will be a great achievement for you."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Guoliang immediately clasped his fists in agreement.

……

Outside Hanoi!

A camp is under construction.

The Tang army soldiers served as supervisors, holding rifles to urge the Vietnamese prisoners of war to work.

"Hurry up, don't dawdle."

"If you don't finish repairing this section of the wall by today, you will all lose your heads."

Jin Yong cracked his whip impatiently, urging the Vietnamese prisoners of war in front of him to speed up.

The whip made a crisp sound when it was whipped. Although it did not hit the Vietnamese prisoners of war directly, it still made them subconsciously speed up their movements.

Faced with the superior Tang army soldiers, these Vietnamese soldiers who had been frightened on the battlefield behaved quite docilely.

Although there was only one person supervising them and there were dozens of Vietnamese prisoners of war working, they still did not dare to resist.

Seeing that the prisoners of war were working faster, Jin Yong nodded with satisfaction.

Then he put his hands on his hips and looked towards the city of Hanoi in the distance.

Looking at the towering walls of Hanoi in front of him, Jin Yong's eyes were full of eagerness to try.

Although Jin Yong is only a squad leader now, he has accumulated enough merits. If he can make meritorious contributions in the next battle, he will be promoted to platoon leader soon.

Although he is still just a grassroots officer, the platoon leader can be promoted to the rank of lieutenant. After being promoted to the rank of captain, he is an officer, not a sergeant.

It can definitely be considered a not-so-small class leap!

Just as Jin Yong was staring at Hanoi City in the distance, a group of people came over.

Jin Yong looked up subconsciously and saw a face that was very familiar to him.

"I have met the brigade commander and the chief of staff."

Jin Yong subconsciously stood with his legs together and saluted.

Liu Yongfu turned and nodded to Jin Yong, then spoke to the brigade chief of staff Shi Jian beside him.

"Old Shi, are you going to do it, or should I?"

Shi Jian smiled and then declined.

"It's better for you to come, the host!"

Seeing this, Liu Yongfu was no longer polite. He walked up to the Vietnamese prisoners of war and spoke loudly.

"You barbarians, who do not know the will of heaven and resist the king's army, deserve to die."

"But the heavens are merciful and we, the Tang Dynasty's royal master, do not wish to commit more crimes. Therefore, I am willing to give you a chance to redeem yourself and return to the Tang Dynasty."

"Next, I will select the best from among the prisoners of war and organize them into an army as the vanguard of the main army."

"If the chosen one makes military achievements, he can be promoted to serve in the Tang army in the future, and even be awarded a Tang household registration."

"If you are interested, please sign up. The number of places is limited, and the treatment will be preferential. First come, first served..."

The Tang army's main focus is still on the front line in Shandong and Zhili.

Therefore, when the Tang Dynasty sent troops to Vietnam, the number of troops mobilized was not large. The land forces only had a division of 15,000 people at most.

Even if the sailors and soldiers of the navy fleet are included, the total strength of the Tang army is just over 20,000.

Such a small number of troops may be enough for combat, but it is definitely not enough to garrison and clear out local areas after the war.

That's why Li Yi wanted to bring down the Tokugawa shogunate.

But in Li Yi's imagination, those Japanese soldiers would at most be used to implement the Three Alls Policy and clear out the local areas, but it would not be their turn to guard the local areas.

Otherwise, if the troops guarding the local area were all from the Tokugawa shogunate, then did the conquered Vietnam belong to the Tang Dynasty or the Tokugawa shogunate?

Isn't it equivalent to the Tang Dynasty making wedding clothes for the Tokugawa Shogunate?
Therefore, while making use of the Tokugawa shogunate, Li Yi also instructed the front line to try to recruit prisoners of war for their own use after defeating the Vietnamese army.

A vassal army was formed to assist the Tang army in garrisoning the area.

Now, Chen Yucheng is preparing to besiege Hanoi and attack its reinforcements. The war has slowed down a bit, so naturally, the matter of forming a vassal army should be put on the agenda.

As soon as Chen Yucheng finished speaking, an interpreter beside him began to repeat what he had just said.

After the translator finished retelling, the Vietnamese prisoners in front of him became agitated in just a moment.

Everyone raised their hands and shouted.

"I regestrated!"

"I'm signing up!"

"I am willing to serve the Tang Dynasty..."

"..."

Faced with the Tang Dynasty's request to recruit vassal troops, the Vietnamese prisoners were very active.

The reason for this was, first of all, that they had been frightened by the Tang army on the battlefield.

Under the influence of the psychology of admiring the strong, the Vietnamese army not only did not resist surrendering to the Tang army, but instead felt a slight sense of honor.

The second reason was because of Liu Yongfu’s promise that those with outstanding performance could become citizens of the Tang Dynasty.

You have to know that at that time, the Tang Dynasty was the undisputed big daddy of East Asia.

It’s the big daddy of East Asia who just beat up the Eight-Nation Alliance of Western barbarians.

It is a time of great prestige.

As a secondary civilization of Chinese civilization, Vietnam has an innate yearning for the original civilization.

As long as the Tang Dynasty is willing to make a change in the household registration system and give Vietnamese people a chance to become naturalized citizens, there will definitely be no shortage of Vietnamese traitors and guides.

Seeing this, Liu Yongfu nodded with satisfaction, and then ordered the officers around him to go forward and count the number of people.

Then he turned and left with his Chief of Staff Shi Jian.

On the way, the two got together to discuss.

"Once the advance battalion is formed, the first thing we will do is to take them to the battlefield and see some blood."

Liu Yongfu spoke.

Shi Jian nodded and agreed.

"What the host said is very true."

"Now our army is preparing to surround Hanoi and attack its reinforcements. Before the Vietnamese reinforcements arrive, our army cannot directly capture Hanoi."

"But if our army just surrounded Hanoi without attacking it, it would seem too fake."

"It's just right. Let the newly formed advance battalion go up there to practice..."

The fate of the advance camp was decided during their conversation.

They had to take their lives to perfect the Tang army's strategy of besieging Hanoi and attacking its reinforcements.

Since we are going to surround the point and attack the reinforcements, we have to act out the whole show.

It would certainly not work if we didn't attack Hanoi.

But it would be a bad idea to let Tang Jun go forward and act.

Poor acting is one thing, but if the Vietnamese army takes advantage of the situation and attacks during the performance, resulting in casualties, it would be difficult to explain.

But if the advance battalion were sent to attack Hanoi, there would be no such concerns.

The first is that the advance battalion has limited combat effectiveness. Sending them to attack Hanoi can put pressure on Hanoi without taking it down directly.

The whole scene of besieging a point and attacking reinforcements can be performed.

Secondly, the lives of the advance camp were worthless. Even if there were casualties during the siege, the Tang army did not need to provide compensation.

Thirdly, they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of attacking Hanoi to let the advance battalion show their loyalty and exercise their combat effectiveness.

This way, we can kill two birds with one stone!
……

Soon, the first batch of advance camp personnel were selected.

The Tang army selected a group of strong men from the prisoners of war and took them to the battlefield.

Each of them was given a knife, spear, or musket and ordered to attack Hanoi.

Behind them were machine gun and artillery positions that had been set up in advance.

If the soldiers of the advance camp are truly loyal to the Tang Dynasty, then these machine guns and artillery will provide fire cover for their siege.

But if they dare to have second thoughts, these machine guns and artillery can be transformed into supervisors of the battle.

It's nothing more than turning the muzzle of the gun and adjusting the shooting parameters.

Boom!dong dong!

The dull sound of war drums resounded.

The Vietnamese soldiers who surrendered to the Tang Dynasty understood that this was an order to march.

Everyone couldn't help but look at each other in surprise.

Just a few days ago, they were part of the Vietnamese army, fighting against the invasion of the Tang army for Dai Viet.

But now he has transformed himself into a member of the Tang army and is going to attack the important city of Hanoi in Dai Viet on behalf of the Tang army.

This strong sense of separation makes many people feel quite complicated.

The shame of being a traitor and the pride of working for the Chinese father are intertwined in everyone's hearts.

(End of this chapter)