When Liu Ximing and the others arrived at the sea off Hue, it was already January 13.

Unlike the Truong family, which was based in the Red River Delta, the Nguyen family had a long and narrow coastline and relied more on trade by sea, and there were significantly more merchant ships here than in the north.

It's just that just like in the north, all the merchant ships and fishing boats that see the Liu family's fleet are all like frightened birds and turn around and run, so that Liu Ximing's idea of grabbing his tongue can't be realized.

Although Hue is not far from the coastline, it is still not on the beach, and looking at the Xiangjiang River extending from the land, Liu Ximing is a little depressed.

In the fleet of the Fubo Division, three bird ships with a shallow draft, including the Nanchong, were again sent to the estuary to measure the water depth.

After working for most of the day, the measurement results made Liu Ximing scold again.

Cruisers and frigates could barely get in, but battleships still couldn't.

Fortunately, the three bird boats were not completely without achievements, and on the coastal edge on the north bank of the Xiangjiang River, there was finally a place with a water depth suitable for stopping the boats, and the Fubo Division could at least land here.

At night, the fleet is like a door god guarding the sea off Hue, and the lights on it are as bright as day.

Inside the flagship Sun Wu, Liu Ximing was discussing with a group of officers how to act at this time.

Although the three bird ships such as the Nanchong had 24 guns each, they were also powerful gunboats in this era.

Relying on their own firepower, these three ships also explored Hue along the Xiangjiang River for a while, just because Liu Ximing had not yet set a strategy and did not directly start a war with the Ruan family.

But in this way, Liu Ximing at least did not know anything about Hue.

"If we land from the coast, we will have to march twenty miles to reach the outside of Hue City, and with the cooperation of frigates, it seems that we can also fight." , Fubo Division Judge Liu Dehui put forward his opinion.

You Degao took a hard puff of his cigarette and spat out strings of smoke.

"The key is how many people we have to send to fight, if we send less, I am afraid that the Ruan family will make dumplings, and if we send more battleships, we will not be able to play the role of fire cover, because no one will operate the artillery."

"I think there must be at least 4,000 people, it's a big force anyway."

"With our firepower, I think 3,000 people should be enough."

In the captain's room, a group of officers such as You Degao and Zhao Jingyong argued.

Liu Ximing carefully took the simple map drawn by the Nanchong and thought about it over and over again, and finally shouted, "Okay, don't make any noise." ”

In the smoky captain's quarters, many rebellious officers were as quiet as cats.

Liu Ximing raised his head and kept poking Hue City on the map with the baton in his hand.

"Let's first figure out what we're doing in Hue this time."

Liu Ximing looked at the officers who were concentrating, "Our primary purpose is to sell goods, not to conquer, so the battle is only based on deterrence, and its purpose is to get the Ruan family to agree to our exclusive right to operate." ”

"With such a local force as a market, I believe that our cotton cloth will not be sold, if the Ruan family really doesn't know what to do, we have to have a good fight."

"Guided by this line of thought, we can't send too few people this time, after all, we are not familiar with the place, and we have to play our prestige at one time."

"I command!"

You Degao snapped and straightened up.

"4,000 officers and men from the entire fleet were selected as marines, plus 500 people from the guard battalion, a total of 4,500 people participated in this operation."

"Nanchong, Pengzhou, Yilong and other bird ships and frigates are along the river to help in the battle, and the main force of the fleet is assembled in the open sea to wait for orders."

Liu Ximing took a deep breath, and his tone was full of solemnity.

"If we lose, the fleet is responsible for providing fire cover, so it is not to be taken lightly."

"Whoa"

The Fubo division of 10,000 people is already overequipped for 48 warships.

However, in order to ensure the operation of the warships, each ship must be equipped with at least enough sailors and artillerymen, and now Liu Ximing has transferred most of the personnel, and the fleet suddenly fell into a state of emptiness.

As early as when the Nanchong and other ships were heading up the river, the Ruan family had already received specific information about the Liu family's fleet.

When it was discovered that it was really as Rili Fortress said, after the Liu family's big ship towered into the clouds, a group of old ministers of the Ruan clan were all as pale as earth.

Could it be that the Ruan family is really going to destroy the country.

As for the Portuguese in Hue City, although they have been cooperating with the Nguyen family for many years, the Portuguese are only a few dozen people in Hue City at the moment, and there is only one frigate, which is a little better than the firepower of the Nanchong.

After hearing about the size of the Liu family's fleet, the Portuguese directly rejected Nguyen Phuc Khi's request for help, and their commander Paul da Silva even proposed that the Nguyen family surrender.

"Your Excellency, such a powerful firepower must have been poured out by the Dutch people, although we don't know how the Zheng family made them send the Batavian fleet over, but it is obvious that under the strong firepower of our Europe, you have no chance of winning."

Hearing Paul's bold words of persuasion, Ruan Fuxi almost couldn't help but want to strangle him to death.

What is said on weekdays is all over the place, what is the strength of the country and the advanced firearms, why is it cowardly today.

If it weren't for the fact that in the future, Ruan Fuxi might have turned his face directly, and at this time he had to force himself to squeeze out a smile.

"Mr. Paul, then we can only rely on our own strength to defend, the Ruan family will not be easily defeated, you wait."

Paul, dressed as a traditional Western-style gentleman, shrugged his shoulders, these Southeast Asian monkeys, since they don't believe me, let's go and hit their heads and bleed themselves.

It is now the eleventh year of Chongzhen, and it has only been a few decades since the Ruan family officially established its foundation, and Guangnan is now vast and sparsely populated, and the whole country is only 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers and horses.

On the other hand, the Zheng family, which occupied the north at this time, was able to launch a 100,000 army to invade the south, which shows the huge disparity in strength.

In addition, it is necessary to deploy defense on the front line of Rili, and after a few days of hard work, only 6,000 soldiers and horses have gathered in Hue City, and the people in the city are panicking.

On the ninth day of the first month of February, the energetic soldiers of the Fubo Division landed on the coast one after another, with Liu Ximing present, and there was no need to worry too much about logistics, so the landing of 4,500 people took only one morning.

After a hasty lunch, the majestic army of the Liu family opened the road along the river bank and advanced towards Hue.

More than 20 frigates, including the Nanchong, have been escorting along the river.

Knowing that the enemy from the sea had only sent an army and did not let the battleships like giant beasts attack, the Nguyen family and the ministers of Hue were all relieved.

But the news that came immediately afterwards still made Nguyen Fu Lan chrysanthemum tight, four or five thousand troops, and it seemed that they were all equipped with firearms and weapons.

Nguyen Phuc Lan was frightened again, and now there is no need to say much, the defenders of Hue can only defend the city.

The left flank was escorted by ships such as the Phong Zhou, and a small number of cavalry reconnaissance on the right flank.

There was no one outside Hue City, Liu Ximing and a group of officers laughed directly, just defending the city and not fighting, then the Ruan family was not an opponent, but in this way, the Liu family might be able to end the battle with zero casualties.

The city of Hue in front of him is only a small city with a circumference of a few miles, with a population of tens of thousands, but because of the help of the Portuguese, a few cannons are still arranged on the head of the city, which has a deterrent effect on the Fubo division.

Liu Ximing and his troops stopped five miles outside the city and began to set up artillery positions nearby.

At the head of Hue City, Nguyen Phuc Xi, who was sent over to supervise the battle and command, watched the Liu family's luxurious lineup, but the army without a banner stopped directly outside the city, and was a little at a loss as to what they wanted to do.

However, a quarter of an hour later, the roaring sound of cannonballs suddenly shattered all the conjectures in his heart, and the defenders of the Ruan family on the city wall all rushed with their heads in their hands.

This cannon is even farther than the Furlong man! Ruan Fuxi's heart was shocked.

After four rounds of firing, the city wall facing Liu Ximing and others was finally hit head-on by artillery, and seven or eight soldiers of the Ruan family who could not dodge in time were directly beaten into pulp.

Liu Ximing calmly took the binoculars to observe, and at the same time let the artillery continue to bombard.

It wasn't until Shen Shi in the afternoon that the artillerymen who took turns firing finally made a gap in Hue City.

The Fubo division erupted in a burst of earth-shattering cheers, and Nguyen Phuc Binh, who had already dodged the city wall, thought that the enemy army outside the city was about to attack the city, and was directing the soldiers to enter the city again.

Unbeknownst to him, there was a sudden silence outside the city, and a knight with a white flag came out on horseback and went straight to the city.

"It's Han, it's Han, it's not the Zheng family!"

Hearing the words shouted by the knights under the city from afar, the soldiers with sensitive ears immediately shouted loudly, and the soldiers of the Ruan family, who had just reacted, didn't care about being pressed to the ground by others and rubbed them together, and immediately cheered.