The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 245: Decisions in the Ever-Changing World

On the tenth day of the seventh month, Qui Nhon, Annan, located in the tropics, almost reached its hottest peak.

Under the scorching sun, if you dare to do strenuous work, you will at best feel unwell, or even fall to the ground and endanger your life.

Therefore, even though both sides were prepared, they never launched a decisive battle.

Lei Ahu was wearing a pair of calf-nose shorts, straw sandals, and a simple linen jacket. The only thing that revealed his identity was the belt around his waist.

This was designed under the order of Mo Zibu, with reference to ancient Chinese jade belts and modern military belts.

Its characteristic is that it has many pockets, which is more suitable for the wide variety of things that need to be carried, such as lead bullets, gunpowder, etc. in modern muskets.

Some pockets are sealed with crocodile leather or cowhide, which also has a certain waterproof function.

The scorching sun shone through the gaps between the leaves, and in this sultry weather, even the leaves seemed to wilt a little.

However, even in such a hot environment, the impatient mosquitoes still flew over with a buzzing sound.

Lei Ahu took a small copper spoon and carefully took out a little bit of light yellow oily substance from a porcelain bottle.

The surrounding soldiers immediately gathered around and looked at Lei Ahu eagerly.

Lei Ahu looked at them with disdain and cursed in a low voice, "You are all so stingy. You can't even bear to spend five cents."

Huang Silang first got a small piece from Lei Ahu. After applying it to his temples and nose, a cool and refreshing feeling came over him, making him close his eyes beautifully.

After applying some on their limbs, even the number of mosquitoes surrounding them decreased a lot.

"Tiger, stop talking about others. You got this cooling oil from Chief Mo Qian of the Longmen Group. How did you spend a penny on it?"

Upon hearing this, Lei Ahu was so angry that his nose was crooked. After closing the porcelain bottle, he slapped Huang Silang on the head several times.

"You are such a heartless bastard, why don't you just go find Mr. Mo Qian and ask for his help? You still need me to flatter you."

"Also, I'm a staff sergeant, and you, a private, have to call me petty officer!"

This thing called cooling oil is another powerful tool invented by me, King Mo, to colonize Southeast Asia. It can promote blood circulation and reduce swelling, relieve pain and itching, and is very good at preventing and inhibiting mosquito bites.

Since it can inhibit mosquito bites, it also plays a certain role in preventing malaria.

Historically, cooling oil was invented during the Guangxu period by Hu Wenhu, a famous patriotic overseas Chinese in Myanmar whose ancestral home was Yongding, Fujian. He was also the inventor of headache powder.

I, General Mo, am very familiar with this because when he was in Africa, this thing was also one of the essential medicines.

So although he didn't understand the pharmacology, he knew that this thing was made of menthol, camphor, cinnamon, eucalyptus leaves, etc. After asking more than a dozen doctors to conduct repeated experiments, he quickly produced it.

As for imitation, as long as you know the general direction, it is much easier than invention.

After applying cooling oil, the group continued to lurk in the jungle.

Not long after, a grain transport convoy of the Xishan Army was seen coming with creaking ox carts.

Lei Ahu made a gesture to keep quiet and stretched out three fingers. The three non-commissioned officers in the team of fourteen immediately took out black bombs at the same time.

The junior officers of the Xishan Army who were escorting the grain were very vigilant because they had been frightened by this small-scale infiltration war.

In the current situation, the 40,000 Xishan troops have far exceeded the upper limit of logistics supply, so they cannot gather all the troops together to form a fist to fight.

They could only be divided into three camps: north, east and west. Spreading out would reduce the difficulty of collecting and distributing food and fodder, and using smoke signals, flags and messengers to coordinate each other's actions.

Lei Ahu and his men had already reached a place more than 30 kilometers north of Anren City.

With the cooperation of some local descendants of the Pei and Fan families, the Xingtang Army was no less familiar with geography than the Xishan Army.

On the contrary, the Tây Sơn army, which had only a few thousand men when it left Gui Nhon, has now suddenly expanded to 40,000 men. Their familiarity with the local geography has actually decreased.

Lei Ahu picked up a crossbow. In an infiltration battle, this thing is much more useful than a musket. It does not make a loud noise and does not need to be moisture-proof.

Three Xishan Army soldiers stood in front and behind and searched forward, constantly chopping the surrounding bushes with the short knives in their hands, and picking up a stone from time to time and throwing it into the woods.

The big rock hit Huang Silang right on the head. He swayed slightly and warm blood began to flow down.

Huang Silang took a deep breath slowly, gritted his teeth and made no sound. He didn't even wipe the blood from his forehead, letting it drip from his forehead to the corners of his eyes.

A few more stones were thrown, and everyone's anger was aroused. They waited patiently, waiting for the searching soldiers to pass by.

A long-tailed broadbill with a black head, green body, yellow beak flew by with a sharp cry. Just now, a stone hit its nest and destroyed its home.

Several soldiers in charge of the search burst into laughter, and one of them imitated the croaking of a crow.

Crows are rare in the south, and their calls are studious and shrill, so they can serve as a vehicle for transmitting simple signals.

After hearing the soldiers who were exploring the way ahead say it was safe, the grain officer who was escorting the military rations waved his hand, and the convoy slowly began to pass through the path surrounded by dense forests.

Lei Ahu aimed at the officer and gently pulled the trigger of the crossbow. With a "puff", the officer shook slightly on the ox cart, and then suddenly reached for his throat.

At that moment, he didn't even realize what had happened. It wasn't until he saw his hands covered in blood that he realized something was wrong. He opened his mouth to roar, but blood foam spurted out first. The crossbow arrow pierced his trachea, and the grain officer could even feel the air leaking from his throat.

"Bang!" A black bomb fell onto the open ground in front of the grain officer. The fuse, still flickering with sparks, was the last ray of light he saw.

With the sound of the grenade exploding, the Xing Tang army soldiers who were ambushing on the roadside jumped up like tigers. They first fired a few shots with their pistols, and then slashed with their swords.

When the civilians transporting grain heard the explosion, they immediately panicked and ran around frantically, exposing the Xishan Army soldiers who remained in place.

Therefore, they quickly became the main target of attack, and suffered heavy casualties in a short period of time.

Huang Silang was furious at the Xishan soldier who was throwing stones. After seeing that the soldiers guarding the grain team were basically defeated, he chased after them with a javelin in hand and his hair red as if he was a god of war.

The Xishan Army soldiers, whose morale was completely suppressed, did not dare to resist at all. They ran away, but they could not outrun Huang Silang, who was full of anger.

From a few meters away, Huang Silang exhaled and shouted, then threw the javelin in his hand, which hit the Xishan Army soldier very accurately.

He was pushed forward two steps by the huge force. Looking down, he saw the spear head piercing through his abdomen. His soul immediately left his body and he fell to the ground, unable to get up.

"I am a member of the rebel army. I joined the navy when I was there. I have an emergency form and need to report it to the leader."

A fluent Cantonese voice was heard, and a Xishan Army soldier shook his braid and revealed his identity in a low voice.

Hearing the word "dragon head", Lei Ahu did not dare to delay and immediately transferred the man to the rear. Only his superior, Huo Ran, the captain of the guard search company directly under the general, could distinguish the real from the fake.

Huo Ran was not idle at this time. The search and arrest company under his command was attacking everywhere, specifically ambushing the Xishan Army's grain transport team.

They did not focus on killing people, but instead burned food and killed livestock that could undertake transportation tasks, intending to destroy the Xishan Army's food supply and the army's transportation capabilities.

When Lei Ahu brought the person over, Huo Ran asked a few simple questions and immediately confirmed the person's identity.

The visitor actually knew Huo Ran because he had also served in the navy.

"Major Li asked me to inform the general that the Xishan army is surrounding but not attacking in order to wait for support from the Zheng army in Beihe.

"Nguyen Van Duong's Grand Tutor Zhang Wenxian persuaded this thief to take 40,000 Tây Sơn troops and defect to the Zheng Lord of Bac Ha State, becoming the chief garrison commander of Qui Nhon in Bac Ha State."

. . . .

In the military camp, Mo Zibu smiled faintly, "Bei Zheng's army is still in Hue. In this scorching July, expecting them to march south will take at least twenty days. It's absolutely impossible."

The surrounding officers immediately formed a circle in front of Mo Zibu. The staff officers immediately opened the battle map. A senior staff officer in French uniform took out the information and said:

"According to our intelligence, the Beihe Zheng State doesn't have a strong fleet. Their small boats couldn't even defeat the Guangnan State before, so there's no need to worry about them using their fleet to transport soldiers south."

The second Tanka monster laughed and said, "If they dare to send their fleet south, it will be in our favor. We can intercept them at sea and send all the Zheng troops to the sea to feed the whales."

All the generals burst into laughter, except Brigadier General Reinstein, who habitually stroked his elegant blond hair and said in a deep voice:

"Through my simple analysis of Nguyen Van Nhut, I found that although this person gives people the impression of being very powerful, he actually has a strong mentality of relying on the powerful.

I believe the intelligence reported back is true, but Nguyen Van Yue is not waiting for the entire Beihe Kingdom army, but their cavalry."

Mo Zibu stroked his chin, thought carefully, and asked, "You mean, Nguyen Van Yue was defeated twice by the Northern Zheng cavalry in major battles, which led him to exaggerate the role of the Northern Zheng cavalry in his mind. So he hopes to wait until the cavalry arrives before engaging us in a decisive battle."

"That should be the case." Brigadier General Reinstein nodded, "But no matter what Nguyen Van Yue thinks, we must make changes to the tactics we formulated earlier.

The cavalry of the Zheng army in the Northern River Delta only traveled 300 kilometers south from Hue.

According to the speed of European hussars, they would definitely arrive within ten days. Although Zheng's cavalry was weaker, they would definitely arrive within twenty days.

As soon as they arrive, our encirclement and annihilation tactics will be greatly affected, so I suggest launching an attack now and eliminating the Xishan Army before the Beizheng cavalry arrives."

Mo Zibu's original tactical plan was to let the Xishan Army attack the position he had built.

That is, in the hills outside Qui Nhon City, Mo Zi Bu built simple fortifications and installed cannons in both directions facing Qui Nhon and Anren.

The purpose is to let the Xishan army come and fight with them, and then wait until they are exhausted and their morale is low, and then surround them from the rear and kill them.

For Mo Zibu and the Xing Tang Army, defeating the Tây Sơn Army was not difficult. The difficulty lay in killing or arresting all the leaders such as Nguyen Van Yue and the backbone members of the Tây Sơn Army so that they could no longer hide and cause chaos.

Therefore, Mo Zibu used the strategy of making his soldiers arrogant all the way and gave up key cities like Anren City, because he was afraid that the Xishan Army would not be able to capture Anren and enter the pocket prepared by Mo Zibu for them.

But now it seems that Ruan Wenyue has actually turned to Beizheng. Even with the protection of Beizheng's two or three thousand cavalry, Mo Zibu is also unable to fight an annihilation battle.

In that case, we might as well start fighting now.

"Major General." Mo Zibu looked at Major General Fragosse and said:

"Order the fleet to set sail, recapture Hoi An, and prepare to capture Hue, but do not deploy the Jingning and Zhongzheng."

"The entire army is making final preparations for battle. We will suspend training tomorrow to allow the soldiers to rest. In three days, we will launch our offensive."

(End of this chapter)