July 18, 1631, 8 a.m., Annam, Ha Long Bay.

Dense rain shrouded the bay, and it seemed that only the sound of the sea tide and mist remained between the heavens and the earth, and everywhere was misty, like a fairyland.

Ha Long Bay, located in the middle of the Beibu Gulf, is the outlet of the lower reaches of the Red River Delta where Hanoi (Thang Long) is located.

During the French colonial period in Halong Bay, the city of Hongji with coal mining as the core appeared. Later, Hung Kat City was renamed Ha Long City and was divided into Quang Ninh Province.

People from later generations have no moral purity in place names. Generally speaking, if the main travelers do not intend to show a bad taste, then most of the place names of this plane will continue to be familiar to them in their previous lives.

Therefore, the fleet that stopped at the mouth of Ha Long Bay today is about to land at Hongji Port.

Hung Kai Port is located at the west entrance of Ha Long Bay in the shape of a pincer.

During the French period, Hongji Port was a typical mining port. At that time, the French built the port of Hongji in order to export coal. Later, on this basis, with the passage of time and social development, Hongji City was gradually formed.

Of course, in the 17th century, when the traveler lived, the so-called Hongji Port was still a pristine sea area, desolate and natural, and there were no people around.

It is different from the coastal areas that were developed in later generations. In the Middle Ages, productivity was low, but coastal areas were bound to face specific scourges such as salinity, floods, backfilling, and piracy.

So the area closest to the coast is often also a no-man's land.

"I have to say, the scenery is still good."

Shao Qiang was wearing a gray Rains personality raincoat, holding a Sony digital handheld, standing at the bow of the boat, scanning around.

In later generations, Ha Long Bay was a tourist attraction in Beibu Gulf, with beautiful mountains and seas, and was known as the "New Seven Natural Wonders of the World".

There are more than 2,000 limestone hills and islands scattered in and around the bay. This emerald green stone peaks jutting out of the sea, lined with mountains and islands, and combined with the unique yellow and green natural background of the quasi-tropical region, and even the rain and mist lingering white air, it makes visitors enter a fairyland in minutes.

That's why Shao Qiang ignored the rain and stood at the bow of the boat to shoot a breath.

However, Sha Zhengming, who presided over the landing, was not so casual.

Most of the territory of Annam belongs to the tropical monsoon climate, which is characterized by high temperature and rain, and the dry and rainy seasons are obvious. The dry season is from November to April of the following year, and the rainy season is from May to October, with heavy rain, high temperature and high humidity.

Shao Qiang: The time of their arrival was July, in the middle of the rainy season, and rain was falling all the time in the Ha Long Bay area. This kind of weather is not good news for the fleet of twelve ships moored outside the harbor at the moment.

However, no matter how bad the weather is, the landing operation will also be carried out. Or else? Waiting on board for October?

The good thing is that the landing conditions are not bad, except for the rain. At this moment, the wind is low and the sea is calm, and there are no hostile wild tribes on the shore...... After all, this is Halong Bay Beach, not Omaha Beach.

Soon, under Sha Zhengming's order, a group of dinghys that had been lowered from the merchant ship set off.

There were more than a dozen advance team members on each dinghy. These people are uniformly dressed in canvas raincoats, with wide home-grown waterproof mirrors on their faces, high-top cowhide boots under their feet, and various hot and cold weapons in their hands, which can be said to be armed to the teeth.

........................................................

Wu Meng and Wu Sanye propped up their waists, stretched their necks, and glanced left and right.

The vision through the lenses is blurry, and everywhere you see is sea fog and rain. Just more than ten meters away, he couldn't see Young Master Yusheng's face clearly, but the third master knew that Young Master Yusheng and the rest of the team were on the dinghy next to him at the moment.

Although the wind and waves on the sea are not high, it is still shaky for the crew who are paddling hard.

Holding the handle of the knife at his waist with one hand, Wu Meng grabbed the cold edge of the boat with his other hand in the swaying...... He has not been a big brother for many years, and at this moment he suddenly remembered the days when Zhang Sutan was defeated and ran away. It was also a cold, cold and rainy morning, and he sat in the boat, holding the hilt of his sword, for fear that he would be caught up by the gunmen sent by Master Xiong and lose his life.

"I don't know how Master Xiong has built Lao Tzu's Zhang Sutan, it must be a day to make money!"

The next moment, looking at the coast that was getting closer and closer, Wu Sanye, who was slapped in the face by the cold rain, turned his thoughts back.

After the destruction of the city of Macau, each of the pioneers who participated in the war received a considerable amount of silver. After Wu Sanye and them rested on the spot, they had a relatively comfortable time. The daily work is simply to maintain law and order, study internally, and visit the city in your spare time, consume and spend, and pull the local economy to stop falling and rebound.

However, it didn't take long for the good times to pass, and the style of painting changed. The time for internal study has increased, and the content is full of information about the climate and geography of Annam. Wu Sanye's team, which had long been familiar with the rules of conduct within the crossing forces, began to increase self-study again.

Sure enough, after a period of expedited training, Wu Meng's team, as the elite advance team of the pioneer army, was transferred to the transport ship to Qiongzhou. A few days after arriving in Qiongzhou, with another oath-taking meeting in the Baisha Military Port, six transport ships escorted by six warships of the southbound fleet set off.

In the end, Wu Sanye and his twenty brothers appeared on the two shaking dinghys today.

Seven or eight small boats, which were traveling side by side, quickly crossed the shallow water and came to the shore of Hongji Harbor as the crew rowed hard.

"Disembark, hurry, hurry!"

What the third master didn't know was that his first action of jumping off the boat was of profound significance. This small move represents that since the Ming Dynasty revoked the Jiaozhi Cheng Announcement of the Political Envoy in 1428 AD, the Han forces have once again expanded their territory in a real sense after 200 years.

Dozens of well-trained advance team members quickly jumped out of the dinghy and, after trekking a few steps in knee-deep water, landed on the beach.

In the rain, after running a few steps on the muddy beach, the third master looked sideways left and right, and then began to assign tasks to the fan area that the team was responsible for according to the previous training on Qiongzhou beach. In order not to mishear his subordinates in the interference of the tide and the sound of the rain, he gave a loud order, stretched out his arms, spread his five fingers, and made tactical instructions.

"Flatten, ahead!"

"Xinhui Tsai, right!"

The order was given to the spearhead soldier He Biandan, and another black and sturdy Xinhui boy. Both of them are good at using cold weapons, and under such difficult conditions, the two of them are the only ones in the whole team who are still wearing half-length steel armor under their raincoats.

The next moment, He Biantan and Xin Huizai, who were carrying long knives, began to search in their respective directions according to the instructions of the third master. Behind them was the third master and his party who pulled out the straggler line.

The last young master Yusheng who stayed behind. The rainy weather greatly reduced the firing rate of muskets, so Yusheng led 4 musketeers to stay in the rear to press the formation.

The coast of Annan, which is in a tropical climate, is still different from the Daming coast in the north. When Wu Meng's team and the rest of the team walked on the beach less than 50 meters away, sparse vegetation appeared in front of them. Fifty meters further, a variety of tropical plants suddenly appeared, including some scattered mangrove forests, and at a distance of two or three hundred meters, vegetation quickly obscured the search team's view.

After discovering the lush vegetation in front of him, the third master, who had been in battle for a long time, thought that Feng Lin was not entering, so he raised his right fist and shouted: "All stop!" Stay on guard! ”

Soon, the herald ran backwards and came to the communications corps, surrounded by Yusheng and his musketeers.

The appearance of the communications soldier is a bit funny, with a small military radio wrapped in a waterproof canvas on his chest and a folding square umbrella propped up behind his back to protect him from the rain.

After hearing the news brought by the herald, the signal corps quickly transmitted back the situation ahead by radio.

In the current visibility situation, the flotilla far above the sea cannot see the situation on the shore and can only wait for news from the front. So after receiving the radio signal, the dinghy, which had already turned back, quickly sent the second group of team members ashore.

Since there were already guard posts on the shore, there were some more people in the second group of boats. After two rounds of transport, 200 advance team members completed the landing operation.

After this, all the dinghy of the fleet was lowered. The general dispatch quickly arranged the channel, and dozens of small boats began to carry workers and tools ashore in a steady stream.

Up to now, although the landing operation has been very smooth, Sha Zhengming, commander of the fleet, still frequently looks at his watch: Everyone knows that the first 24 hours after the landing in front of the enemy is the most crucial, and this has a bearing on whether or not it can stand on its feet.

Although the intelligence showed that the North Vietnamese army in the 17th century would most likely not appear in Ha Long Bay, Sha Zhengming did not dare to take this risk at all: the so-called intelligence was just some historical information and a simple pre-reconnaissance ship to observe the shore, and there was no Beidou system above his head now, so who knows if the North Vietnamese soldiers would rush out from behind those lush vegetation in the next moment?

Failure to prepare a plan for the worst-case scenario is a dereliction of duty on his part as a soldier.

The North Vietnamese soldiers of this era were quite combat-ready - this information Sha Zhengming did not doubt it at all. After all, Vietnam had already entered the mode of civil war between the north and the south during this period, and unlike the Ming Dynasty, which was peaceful in the interior, it was impossible for North Vietnamese soldiers not to fight.

Strange enemy country, unfamiliar coast, lush vegetation, rain and fog with extremely low visibility, and reduced rifle power...... This kind of bad environment is simply the standard equipment used by the weak to slap the strong in the face.

Just as the US imperialists also fell into the sand on this land back then, Sha Zhengming now does not know whether these "colonial militias" who have only undergone hastily training can hold the beachhead in an emergency.

The construction workers, who felt the tense atmosphere, did not dare to stop for a moment after going ashore. After reaching the shore and advancing for a while, they quickly dug a drainage ditch at a location and began to set up their tents.

Others rushed to the vegetation line that blocked the view with their tools: the field of vision is the advantage of the strong, and it must be cleared as soon as possible.

Theoretically, this kind of dangerous and low-level work should be left to slaves. But there are no slaves at the moment, so the "regular workers" can only desperately eradicate the vegetation.