The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 242: Flaws Everywhere, Yet the Military Is Godlike
Qui Nhon Province is located in the northeast of the Dak Lak Plateau, at the end of the remnant of this plateau that stretches across southern Vietnam.

So when Mo Zibu led his army north from Suihe Prefecture and crossed the Qiu River, he immediately saw a vast plain that was very different from the mountains and hills of Fu'anying.

This vast plain is the foundation for Qui Nhon Prefecture to become the most important city south of Hue at this time. Its existence supports more than 100,000 people in Qui Nhon Prefecture.

However, Qui Nhon City is not located on this plain. It is at the end of the plain. The entire city is located on a peninsula extending into the sea.

At the same time, on the only side of the peninsula connected to the land, a hill that is not very high but very steep suddenly appears, which can provide perfect cover for Qui Nhon City.

To face Qui Nhon City directly, we must first take down the passes on these hills, and then we can see the whole picture of Qui Nhon City.

Therefore, most attacks on Qui Nhon City are carried out by attacking the port of Schneider from the sea.

After capturing the port, since Qui Nhon City was surrounded by the sea on three sides, they could easily surround it and bombard it from three sides with naval guns. It was only a matter of time before the city was captured.

Therefore, not only did Nguyen Van Lu send out a large number of warships, he even released disguised fishing boats to conduct reconnaissance outside the port of Schnee.

When Nguyen Van Yue returned to provide assistance, he also continuously sent people to enter Schneider Harbor by water to investigate whether Mo Zibu had used the navy.

And they got the news that Mo Zibu did not send out the navy.

After confirming the news, Nguyen Van Yue was overjoyed and led his troops south at a faster speed.

Some generals in the Xishan Army even speculated that the famous Prince Consort Mo was just an embroidered pillow and had no idea how to fight.

Although Ruan Wenyue was a little confused, he also felt a little contemptuous.

Only Nguyen Van Hue firmly believed that Mo Zibu's fleet was already waiting somewhere, and the reason they did not enter Schneider Harbor was just to encircle and attack the reinforcements.

The matter is obvious. The Hexian Mo family started out as a maritime trader. Every year, they send hundreds of large ships to the Guangzhou tin mines. Who would believe you if you said they don't have a navy?

Therefore, Nguyen Van Hue kept sending people to remind Nguyen Van Yue, but this kind of operation that was ignorant of the ways of the world soon annoyed Nguyen Van Yue.

Nguyen Van Yue was fed up with his brother Nguyen Van Hue always reminding him like a fool, so he simply stopped meeting with Nguyen Van Hue's envoys and led his army south according to his own judgment.

However, not all of Nguyen Van Hue's predictions came true, because Mo Zibu's navy did not set out and was all resting in Cam Ranh Bay.

The reason for this arrangement was that Mo Zibu was not worried at all about not being able to capture Guiren.

What a joke! He had an army of 38,000 marching north, and there were 12,000 combat soldiers, including more than 200 artillery pieces and 10,000 flintlock rifles.

With such firepower, it would be strange if he couldn't take Qui Nhon. He could take Qui Nhon without the navy.

In addition, if Mo Zibu decided to surround and attack the reinforcements now, and took Qui Nhon early, he would be making a choice for Nguyen Van Yue.

So what Mo Zibu has to do now is to try his best to give Ruan Wenyue good news to encourage him to continue moving south.

Of course, there was another more important reason, which was that Mo Zibu wanted to keep the fleet to deal with Beizheng.

He wanted to go straight to Xialong Bay and rush in from the mouth of Baiteng River in the future, but he didn't want to expose his strength too early and make Beizheng alert.

In early June, Nguyen Van Hue led more than a thousand vanguards to 20 kilometers north of Qui Nhon and occupied the extremely important stronghold of An Nhon City.

This city controls the key road from Qui Nhon to Hue and Hoi An in the north. Historically, anyone going north would occupy this place.

After Nguyen Van Hue occupied An Nhon, the army could set up camp with its back to the hills in the An Nhon area and face the large plain between An Nhon and Qui Nhon.

The Xing Tang army camped between Anren and Guiren was bound to be attacked from both sides and was in an absolutely disadvantageous position.

Seeing that Mo Zibu didn't even occupy Anren, Ruan Wenhui felt that she really couldn't figure out the mind of this Prince Consort Mo.

He even thought that Mo Zibu might not understand military affairs, otherwise he would never set up camp like this.

At this time, Mo Zibu's army had just arrived.

It turned out that ever since Mo Zi Bu forcibly relocated the Champa king Nguyen Van Triet to Terengganu and abducted a large number of Champa people who believed in the Muslim religion as forced labor.

Many Champa people who were lucky enough not to be captured took refuge with the Champa Queen Thi Huo, who had originally joined the Tây Sơn army in the uprising.

Before Mo Zibu's army entered Yanqing Prefecture, Shi Huo fled in a hurry. After Mo Zibu left, she returned with tens of thousands of Champa people.

Unexpectedly, Mo Zibu did not go far at all. He killed Shihuo with a surprise attack, captured him on the spot, and executed him on the spot in Yanqing Prefecture. He also punished all the Champa people who participated in the riot as slaves.

"General, scouts report that the Tây Sơn army that entered An Nhon City is led by Nguyễn Văn Hué, numbering approximately 1,500 men."

Mo Zibu was just about to call together the generals to make detailed pre-war plans when he heard this news.

My General Mo Da's eyes suddenly lit up. He was not familiar with others, but he was very familiar with the name Nguyen Van Hue. He was the backbone of the Tây Sơn Dynasty.

"How far is the main force of the Xishan Army?" But to be on the safe side, Mo Zibu still asked another question.

"It's still about 150 miles away. They're not going very fast, so it'll take at least three days for them to arrive."

"Surround him!" Mo Zibu felt relieved and realized that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He waved his hand.

"No, eat him!"

"Chen Chengji, I will give you 1,500 Chinese volunteers and 30 field artillery pieces. Send out your Bien Hoa Regiment to attack from the front and draw the enemy's attention."

"Wang Wubing, order the Yuanzong Guards to move out immediately, outflanking the flanks and closing the gap through which the Xishan Army of Anren City can retreat."

"Pierre Ney!" Mo Zibu shouted, and a short and strong cavalry major with a Germanic mustache that was rare among French people and dark brown curly hair walked in.

These were the elite cavalry recruited by Brigadier General Reinstein for Mozibu in Europe. They were the brave warriors who had fought with him in the Battle of Rossbach and confronted the Prussian Hussars head-on.

Although Pierre Ney performed bravely at the Battle of Rossbach, he was further marginalized. This was a battle that brought shame to the French nation. The more brave you are, the more incompetent others will be exposed.

So after the war, Pierre Ney was forced to retire and returned to his hometown to repair beer barrels.

He married Margaret, a woman from the same village, and had two sons. The eldest son was named Jean Ney and the second son was named Michel Ney.

It was not until Brigadier General Reinstein invited him to go to the East to make a living that Lin Tong, after observing him, thought that this man was skilled in guns and horses, good at using hand guns and long swords, and had good ability to lead and train troops.

So he directly quoted a monthly salary of 350 livres, equivalent to 15 pounds and 45 taels of silver.

Pierre Ney, who was reluctant to leave his family because his second son was only one year old, came to the East without hesitation.

This is vision. Although Lin Tong didn't know that Pierre Ney's second son was named Michel Ney, he still discovered the great value of his father.

After arriving in the East, Mo Zibu also keenly saw this man's abilities. He might not be able to lead an army of more than 500 people, but he was very suitable to be an officer commanding two or three hundred elite cavalry.

"Pierre, I want you to lead the Longchamp Guard Cavalry Battalion through this forest. Once the enemy in Anren City breaks out, intercept them and kill their general. This is extremely important!"

Mo Zibu pointed to the map to Pierre Ney and said, "This time, General Mo will leave Nguyen Van Hue in Anren City."

Pierre Ney quickly took the order and left.

Originally, according to Brigadier General Reinstein's design, Mo Zibu's Longxiong Guards Cavalry Battalion should have been a cuirassier cavalry battalion equipped with half-cuirass.

But the time is not ripe yet, because what Mo Zibu lacks is not the cuirassiers who can make the final decision. He can defeat the enemy by relying on infantry and artillery.

What he lacked were hussars who could penetrate, cover, pursue and restrict the movement of enemy artillery, so Pierre Ney and others continued to do their old job of hussars.

As for the war horses, when he was staying in the local administration, Hyder Ali, the Chief Minister of the Mysore Kingdom, gave him two hundred horses as a gift, and Lin Tong bought another two hundred horses at a low price.

When Haider Ali saw the huge fleet sent by the French, he had always wanted to form an alliance with Xingtang Prefecture to fight against the British, so he was very willing to do so.

These 400 war horses are descendants of the famous Indian Fold horses and local horses in southern India. They are more heat-resistant and better adapted to hilly warfare.

The disadvantage is that the explosive power is still insufficient, but it is very suitable for tropical combat in Vietnam.

. . . .

"Boom!" The whistling shells slammed into the top of Anren City.

This city wall built with rammed earth is easily damaged in tropical Annan, and therefore cannot withstand artillery bombardment.

Although most of them were eight-pound guns and there were only two fourteen-pound guns, their power was still too great for the small city of Anren.

Chen Chengji was very generous and went straight into battle with thirty cannons, each firing ten rounds.

Anren City was not big, so many shells even flew over the city wall and hit the city, scaring the Xishan Army in the city into hiding like rats whose nests were discovered.

Nguyen Van Hue quickly brought his men to the southern city wall of Anren to organize defense, but he had no other choice at this time.

He was a vanguard, traveling light and moving fast, without any cannons. The enemy only bombarded him but did not come forward, so he could not fight back.

"How far is the army from here?" Nguyen Van Hue asked Bui De Xuan beside him. The Bui family is a big family in Qui Nhon. Their ancestry can be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty. They are a super local boss in Qui Nhon and are very familiar with the geography.

"It will take at least three days. They can't move too fast, otherwise they won't be able to fight in Anren."

Unlike Nguyen Van Hue, Pei Dexuan did not always dislike Nguyen Van Yue for procrastinating.

Instead, he understood that Nguyen Van Hue's troops were the elite of the Tây Sơn Army and could naturally be as swift as the wind, but it was impossible for all 40,000 soldiers to have this ability.

"Alas!" Ruan Wenhui slammed his fist on the city wall. "The speed is too slow. If we had another 3,000 people, we would have been able to defend Anren City and seize Mo Wu's huge mistake."

Because my General Mo's actions were so outrageous, Nguyen Van Hue now also thinks that Mo Zibu made a mistake.

Thus, he mistook Mo Zibu's military action to kill him as Mo Zibu's best efforts to remedy the situation.

"The Southern Army's artillery is fierce, and they have many muskets. We can't hold it. Let's retreat. There's a hilly area north of Anren City where the roads are difficult to navigate. The Southern Army's artillery can't be brought up. We'll hold it there."

However, although Nguyen Van Hue misjudged Mo Zibu, he was still very clear-headed and immediately prepared to give up the hard-won Anren City.

But just as Nguyen Hue had united his troops and the vanguard had not gone far out of the city, there was a sound of drums in the north of the city, and a large army suddenly appeared from the hill where he was going.

Nguyen Hue looked closely and saw that this army was wearing red short jackets, white trousers, red iron helmets on their heads, and the bayonets on their hand-held muskets were shining.

"General, these are the elite soldiers of the southern bandits!" Pei Dexuan was shocked. He had connections with the high-ranking Han family of the Southern Eighth Battalion, so he knew that Mo Zibu had a group of elite soldiers in red clothes under his command.

"Retreat, retreat quickly, don't let them intercept us."

In fact, even without Pei Dexuan's reminder, Nguyen Van Hue knew that these were elite troops. Those who could afford such uniforms and such strict formations must be elite troops.

But Nguyen Van Hue's order was still a little slow. This was the Yuan Dynasty Guards, the starting point of my General Mo's conquests.

There was only a short and sharp sound of a trumpet, and with a bang, the vanguard of the red-clad soldiers fired their muskets. Two or three hundred lead bullets swept in from a distance, immediately knocking down more than ten Xishan soldiers.

Then, without waiting for the Xishan Army to form a battle line, the red-coated soldiers shouted and rushed forward with shining bayonets.

Since the red-clad soldiers were ambushing from the back of the valley, the distance was very close. Nguyen Van Hue had no time to dispatch his troops, and the Tây Sơn army advancing in two columns was cut off.

Amidst the shouts and neighs of horses, Nguyen Van Hue's personal guards could only protect him as he retreated into the city. The main force was stunned by the attack and was driven far away.

(End of this chapter)