"Hahaha, I'm not short of money", Liu Ximing looked left and right at You De and others, and burst into laughter.

"But I am satisfied with your attitude, so be it, you are now my captives, and must serve me, and after some time, I will allow you to pay the ransom."

"Your Excellency, ......," Van Limbau said with a bitter face, intending to intercede.

Liu Ximing's face turned blank and he waved his hand directly to stop it, "Enough, you are just captives, there is no room for bargaining." ”

He looked at Senior Officer You De, "Scatter these red hairs on every ship to assist our men in their work, and they will remain on the Sun Wu as my nautical advisers." ”

"Whoa"

Vanlinberg was not a member of the East India Company, which at this time was mainly composed of the Governor, the Director of Trade, the Senior Merchants, the Intermediate Merchants, and the Junior Merchants, representing the interests of the Board of Directors of the East India Company.

At best, Van Linenberg was just a merchant who ventured to the Far East to make huge profits, but Liu Ximing was also satisfied, after all, the Dutch had been crisscrossing the South China Sea for many years, and they were more familiar with all kinds of shipping routes than him, and these experiences would always play a role.

On 18 January, the newly renovated Fubo Division successfully landed in Vinh Linh County, Quang Binh Province.

In order to ensure this operation, Liu Ximing once again transferred 6,000 troops of the Fubo Division, plus a total of 6,500 troops from the Guards Battalion to meet the battle.

As a result, the battleships in the fleet were almost emptied, but fortunately there were cruisers and frigates to protect the fleet, so there was no risk.

The 6,500-strong team of the Fubo Division was fully equipped and began to set off towards the defensive line set up by the Zheng family on the other side of the Lingjiang River.

At this time, the area around Quang Binh is still a wild land, and there are rivers everywhere except for the jungle along the way.

Fortunately, the Zheng family built a perfect road in order to ensure the front-line transportation, and with the Ruan family's spies leading the way, the soldiers of the Fubo Division were able to avoid falling into the dilemma of fighting in other places.

Liu Ximing had an extra mind, and asked the Fubo Division scouts to pay attention to the surrounding terrain along the way and start drawing maps.

The results of the Battle of Caoyu have not yet been transmitted back to the Zheng family, but the Zheng family's defense line in Lingjiang has received a battle report from Thang Long in Tokyo, and the defenders of Donghe, Xinlin and other walled cities along the line have also begun to assemble.

Not long after Fuboshi landed in Yongling County, Zheng Wei, the Zheng family's guard in Donghe, had already learned the news.

In order to gain an advantage before the Nguyen attack and avoid the fate of being attacked from both sides, Zheng Ruo decided to lead 20,000 defenders out of the city to meet the battle, and then deal with the Nguyen family after breaking the enemy's surprise attack.

After almost two hours of marching, both sides discovered the existence of the other, and nearly 30,000 troops lined up on a hill south of Yongling County, and the atmosphere of slaughter filled the battlefield.

In addition to the different colors of military uniforms, the Annan army in front of Liu Ximing and others is almost not much different from the Ming army, and of course, the thin figure of the Annan people cannot be compared with the Ming army.

However, Liu Ximing's focus at this time was not on these, but on the main weapons of the Zheng family's army.

Among the team of more than 20,000 people, a considerable number of them were also carrying muskets, and in front of the large army lined up in a phalanx, several Furlong machine guns were placed.

In the array in the middle of the troops, there was also an elephant corps of more than fifty elephants.

"It's good to keep Van Lienberg and the others, otherwise we would be in front of us."

Liu Ximing smiled at You Degao.

"Hehe, it's just a chicken, a dog, didn't the red hair say, these are muskets produced by the Annan people themselves, it's good to be able to fire, and we won't let them break through to the closer." , You Degao looked disdainful.

In fact, at this time, the Annam army had a higher degree of firearms than the Ming army, with the help of the Portuguese and the Dutch respectively, and both the Truong and Nguyen clans mastered the method of making firearms.

It's just that because of the backward smelting process and manufacturing process, the quality of firearms is indeed worrisome.

At present, the two sides are fighting in formation, and Liu Xi ordered the chicken thief to set up his position on the hillside five miles away from the Zheng family, which happens to be the place where the artillery of the Fubo Division can exert its greatest power, but the Zheng family has to continue to drive the army forward.

"Target southeast, open fire."

With the roar on the artillery position, the battle of Liu Zheng began.

The Zheng family's army, which was bombarded by artillery, looked confused, although the spies had already explored the position of the Liu family's army.

But in fact, on the battlefield where the terrain is undulating and covered by trees, Zheng Ruo could not see the situation on the opposite side with the naked eye, let alone let the artillery attack.

Therefore, in the face of the blow of the Liu family, the Zheng family's army, which was originally as stable as Mount Tai, suddenly panicked.

Solid shells continued to whistling and swept over the position, stirring up bursts of bloody rain, and the Zheng family's elephant troops were even more restless, almost not disturbed and fled.

"Quick, forward, march towards the enemy."

Zheng Ruo could only urge his army to approach the Liu family's army as soon as possible, and his original strategy of waiting for the Liu family to come forward and then attack suddenly failed.

On the Liu family's position, nearly 1,000 people operated nearly 200 cannons carried by Liu Ximing and continued to fire at the Zheng family's army.

Under such fierce firepower, the small jungle in the middle of the battlefield seemed to have been attacked by meteors, and the stumps and broken trees were spread all over the ground.

After almost three miles of marching, the Zheng family's army had eaten at least 4,000 shells from the Liu family's artillery.

Although the long-range attack hit rate of the artillery is pitiful, and the lethality of the solid bullet is also very limited, there are too many artillery that can't stand the Liu family.

In just such a journey, the Zheng family has already paid more than 3,000 casualties, and the troops have begun to be unstable.

Zheng Ruo was already in a dilemma at this time, he could face the collapse of the troops at any time when he advanced, and he would have to endure artillery bombardment if he retreated, which decision was very difficult.

In the end, the glory and wealth of the family occupied the upper hand in Zheng Wei's head.

Now that they have reached a place two miles away from Liu's house, the enemy army is already looming.

Zheng Ruo simply let the herald blow the horn,

Opening the way with elephant soldiers, Annan soldiers in dark red military uniforms swarmed up and directly pressed the whole army towards Liu's position.

Seeing that the artillery was about to lose its effectiveness, Liu Xi ordered the artillery unit to return to the team as soon as possible and form a phalanx to meet the enemy again.

One hundred and fifty steps, one hundred and twenty steps, one hundred steps......

A trace of excitement flashed in the eyes of Zheng Ruo, who was watching the battle from the rear, and if he rushed up a little more, this battle might still be won.

The range of the Zheng family's musket is thirty paces, as long as the elephant soldiers can resist it, let you dog thieves see how powerful my Dayue is.

"Bang", "Bang"

The musket that had sounded in advance from the Fubo division shattered Zheng Wei's illusions.

Like artillery, the current Long Xiang II also uses paper bullets, and only needs to puncture the gunpowder bag at the end of the tail and stuff it into the musket, and the rate of fire has increased by seven rounds a minute, so You Degao directly ordered to fire at a hundred paces.

The distance from one hundred to thirty paces was enough for the Fubo division to fire two volleys in turn.

In fact, by this time of the battle, Liu Ximing already felt a little bored.

On the battlefield, the Zheng family's army was no longer in array, some rushed forward, and some hesitated and wanted to retreat.

Many soldiers with muskets began to shoot in a panic from a long distance, and apart from making the battlefield a little more noisy, it had no effect on the Fubo division at all.

By the time the Zheng family's troops, who had charged to the front of the Fubo Division, scattered and fled like wolves under the bombardment of grenades, this battle, which lasted for nearly an hour and a half, basically came to an end.

The soldiers of the Fubo Division, who were full of physical strength, were divided into dozens of teams to capture the prisoners.

When it was time to count at night, the data that You Degao came to report made Liu Ximing a little surprised.

"Report, in this battle, our army killed more than 7,000 enemy soldiers, captured 8,000 prisoners, and our army suffered 79 casualties."

"Wounded brothers, hurry up and let the military doctor treat them," Liu Ximing sighed and ordered, "As for the Zheng Jun's prisoners, we will still take care of them and see if they can be sold to the Zheng family." ”

You Degao looked at Liu Ximing with some surprise, "Didn't you say that we only need money and food for the loot?" ”

Liu Ximing straightened his chest and said: "The spoils of war do not include prisoners, and besides, the Ruan family has not made any efforts, so we can't care about how we arrange them." ”

"Besides, the current situation of Annan Quartet is actually the most beneficial to us, and the Zheng family or the Ruan family is not what I want."

"After this battle, the Zheng family's strength has been greatly damaged, at least two places in Ha Jing and Guangping will be lost, if these prisoners are counted again, it will really hurt the muscles and bones."

You Degao's eyes lit up and he understood the relationship.

Of course, what Liu Ximing didn't say was that he also planned to take this opportunity to knock on the Zheng family's bamboo pole.

The Zheng family's population is three times that of the Ruan family, and it occupies the richest area of the Red River Delta.