The rainy season in Quang Nam has just ended, and then the cool season is the most comfortable in the dry season.

In fact, everything was as Tao Weici expected, the news from the north was never interrupted in the rainy season, and the open and secret battles in Tokyo became more and more intense, so that the Zheng clan did not have the energy to free up their hands to go south, and Gao Ping's spies replied that the Mo clan was also secretly reorganizing for war, and it seemed that they were waiting for Zheng Songtian to take a holiday, and the Zheng clans were in civil strife.

Now it seems that Nguyen Phuc Xuan commanded 3,000 troops to guard the Ri Lihai Gate, which was quite a safe arrangement.

However, the progress of the southward army seemed to be slower, and this time the main camp assembled by Nguyen Phuc Nguyen plus the vassals of the barbarian Tusi everywhere, the total strength was nearly 40,000, and it was claimed that it was 100,000 to the outside world, so that the Cham king, who had just submitted to the Australians, immediately surrendered as soon as he saw the arrival of the army.

Before the end of the rainy season, Nguyen Phuc Yuan followed Tao Weici's suggestion to add Shun towns in the newly occupied southern territory, and set up two provinces in the north of Champa's hometown, Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan, to settle Liuguan, where the fields are rich and there are a number of agarwood producing areas in the South Seas.

However, the results since the southern expedition have stopped there.

Those Nanpan and Huaying natives who were on the same page with the people of Dayue in the past were all instigated by the thieves to oppose the officials and soldiers, and the Tusi of the water houses and fire houses who came to take advantage of the fire to loot also had an unclear relationship with the Cham people, and they had no motivation to clean up the local people.

The terrain in this area is narrow, it is extremely difficult for the army between the mountains and the sea to spread, and those natives are mostly harassing along the way, once the main army goes to clear it, they will immediately sneak into the Fuliang Mountains in the west, and the official army will not be able to disturb it.

As for the frontal battlefield, at the beginning, the camp on the edge of the town was like a bamboo, and after the Champa king Bharami 'anyway', he took his troops as the vanguard, and with the assistance of war elephants and Portuguese mercenaries, it took less than ten days to advance all the way south for more than 300 miles. However, not only did they not encounter the main force of the thieves along the way, but they did not even encounter decent resistance, but the rice fields along the way were already so looted that the marching team soon had to stop due to rain and supplies.

And when Tao Weici thought that the repaired main camp was about to cross the last Shenmu Ridge Pass and arrive at the Jiulong River Plain, a strong defense line that the Australians had just built appeared in front of him. Centered on the Panshi Fort (near Kim Phan Thiet), which was built in the northeast of Saigon City three months ago, and within a distance of 10 miles to the north, the southernmost point of Mount Shenmu Ha Chau (note: the medieval Vietnamese called the mountainous plateau area in the west as Shang Chau, and the sea plain area in the east as Ha Chau) is a solid fan-shaped barrier consisting of five small fortresses with a length of nearly 60 li, and the interval of 10 li allows these forts to echo each other, and the whole Quang Nam slopes' In the days when the country came, it was these five fortresses and 300 soldiers on the land route that protected the Jiulongjiang Plain from military disasters, and all production activities were carried out normally.

Tao Weici did not think of detouring to the rear of the Xiyuan raid thieves, but the entire Fuliang Mountains in the south, except for this mountain pass, the nearest hole road is further north at Fu'an, from where it takes several times the distance to reach the river to the south, and now the messengers and fine sakus who travel to and from Wudong are still passing on this route.

But marching and fighting is a different story, and even the slightest military commander will understand that marching along the mountain valley during the rainy season is a more unwise act than putting soldiers under enemy fire, and the Buddha will not allow the elite of the main camp to be consumed on such a senseless 'surprise attack'.

Of course, if the barbarians of the water house and the fire house are willing to do it for them, Tao Weici will never object, but even the barbarians are not stupid, they follow the Guangnan army to make a gain, and they will never consume the strength of the family for Da Yue.

It was the army that set up a forward battalion in a place called Suifeng in the northeast of Rock Fort and left 5,000 people to garrison it, and then it has been in a confrontation with the Australians, and there were also regular battalion troops in the middle who tried to break through the defense line of the mountain pass, but once the forward was inserted between the ridges, it would be immediately attacked by reinforcements from the rock and the superior firepower in the fortress, and the Australians' firearms could still be fired in the rain, which made the rainy season operation even more unfavorable. After several losses, these regular battalion troops also lost their spirit, and agreed that it was really difficult to break through the strong defense line of the Australians in the rainy season, and it was better to enjoy the newly captured women in the big camp, and it was not too late to eat and drink until the dry season began.

Tao Weici actually had similar thoughts, if the land of Sanfu that had been collected in his hands at the moment made him grow a lot of face in front of the Buddha for a while, then the delay in the main camp would make him inevitably worried. After being stopped by the Australian defense, he also felt that he should wait for the end of the rainy season before launching a general attack, but the supplies during this period really broke his brain, because the idea of feeding the enemy became a joke, and the transfer officer of the Minister's Department became the most aggrieved errand of these days.

For this reason, Tao Weici's camp was also moved to Pan Lang in the north of the Ying River at his suggestion, which was just in the middle of Phu An Province and Shun Town, which was the key point between the north and the south, and there were the temples and rooms of the old Cham Po, which were easy to renovate and build, and more importantly, the water camp in Quang Nam was now anchored in a natural harbor called Yunfeng Haikou (later Cam Ranh Bay) more than 60 miles north of Pan Lang City. Not only will the goods above be selected for useful supplies to be 'bought and bought' by the Quang Nam government at extremely low prices, but even some ships in better condition will be requisitioned.

Tao Weici hoped that when the rainy season was over and a general attack on the Australians was launched, the water battalion would be able to take the opportunity to raid the thieves from the sea.

In today's Yunfeng Haikou, in addition to the official and military water camps and the warships of the Portuguese, there are also many civilian ships collected, and there are also a few pirates who want to follow them to the south to fight the autumn wind.

The weather was fine for several days, and the whole camp was convinced that the time had come to attack.

When he arrived at the newly established Khanh Hoa Mansion in the middle of the night, Nguyen Phuc Nguyen had been waiting for a long time.

Located in the north of Yunfeng Haikou this place called Nha Trang was once the royal city of Cham after moving south, the whole rainy season, Nguyen Phuc Yuan's line is located here, even in the rainy season, the climate here is also very pleasant, for the Buddha who is nearly sixty years old is really a rare place to strategize.

The 'Imperial Palace' is located on the site of the Champa royal city, surrounded by eight stone temples dedicated to the goddess Tianyi, who once guarded the southern part of the Champa, but now it is inhabited by the warriors of Quang Nam, and the tall black shadows are terrifying against the background of the torches.

Through the starlight and under the shade of a towering ancient tree, a small wooden hall built on stilts in the style of Annam, which is incompatible with the surrounding stone buildings, is Nguyen Phuc Yuan's dormitory.

"How's going down to the south?" The Buddha went straight to the point and asked about the topics he cared about.

"It's still the same, the thief has been holding on." The highly valued military advisor replied honestly.

"Didn't the thieves send reinforcements from Borneo?"

"I'm afraid it can't, Matalan hasn't withdrawn yet, I heard that Aceh's warships are also on the sea, and they won't be able to live in peace if they want to come to Wudong, and now the thieves are in internal and external difficulties, and it is the time for our army to wait for work." Tao Weici bowed up again, "I came here to tell the Lord of the Buddha that the army is about to attack in a few days, and the warships in the mouth of Yunfeng Sea will also go south together. ”

"Who are you going to hand over to the Forward Battalion?" Ruan Fuyuan thought for a while, and suddenly asked.

"Ruan Chaowen is old-handed, and there are quite a few dead soldiers under him, and his subordinates think they can be used." This person was one of the former ministers who went south with Ruan Huang back then, and he was very respected by Ruan Phuc Yuan, but the transfer of Ruan Chaowen from Shecha Division to the front line was not only because of his qualifications.

"Yes, he has a good son......" Ruan Fuyuan pondered for a moment before muttering, faintly appreciative.

Tao Weici said with a smile: "Ruan Youyi, this kid is indeed both civil and military, presumably with his help, his father and son will definitely be able to make contributions." ”

"I hope so, by the way, will the Franc machine and the barbarians of the two houses of water and fire also march together?"

"From the following ministers' point of view, the two houses of water and fire should only be noisy from the side to strengthen their momentum, but the mercenaries of the Franc machine man are indeed considerable, and this strong attack should be used."

Although he was not satisfied with the expected progress, but compared to the previous two defeats, this time Tao Weici stepped by step, at least for Guangnan to win the land of Sanfu, for the upcoming war, Guangnan's master also had a few more points, he said to Tao Weici: "It's good if you have a plan, look at the time is almost up, tomorrow morning order the camp." ”

After Tao Weici retired, Ruan Fuyuan took out a new page from the couch, and judging from the wrinkles of the page, he has been looking through it a lot in the past few days.

On the header of the page are four large characters of "Xinhua Daily", and below are small characters painted with iron hooks and silver, which are divided into small boxy pieces, each of which is an article. The content of the article is so simple and easy to understand that even a person like Ruan Phuc Yuan, who is fluent in Chinese, can read it in general.

Among these articles, there are accusations against Ma Dalan's fierce guilt, and there are those that expose the Dutch's greed for money and murder, but the one that has always attracted him in the middle is about Guangnan, and the title of the article is very simple, even he has heard it even if he is less involved in Chinese nationality, it is a story about Confucius lamenting the fall of royal power.

The name of the title is - is it tolerable, which is intolerable!

There is also a small line next to it - the strongest protest against the encroachment of the Quang Nam bandits on Chinese territory and the creation of new serious bloodshed.

It's hard to say whether Nguyen Phuc Yuan's concern about the thieves came from the newspaper that came with the merchant ships half a month ago, but he struggled with the numbers, which said that in the past two years, 741 people from the border of Da Viet had been killed and injured in the past two years due to disputes over land and water and trade and trade.

This is a list of numbers with zero and round, which has never been encountered in any opponent in the past, and he vaguely feels that his understanding of the thief in the past is too superficial, he thinks so, and there is already a sound outside, it seems that all the departments have received the military order passed by Tao Weici, and they have begun to sort out their baggage.

He shook his spirits again, and no longer thought about the article, this battle with the Australians is not impossible to fight, and if he wins, Nguyen Phuc has a promising future, and the land and people of Quang Nam will be multiplied, and if he loses, not only will the strategy of the north and the south be completely defeated, but Quang Nam will also face military pressure from two directions.

After figuring out the situation, Ruan Fuyuan gritted his teeth and secretly made up his mind in his heart.

This decisive battle, no matter how big the price is, it will be closed in one fell swoop.

…………

Three days later, at night, the battle command room at Fort Rock was brightly lit.

The elders sat around the sand table and were making their final deductions, while among them, a native was waiting to be questioned.

Xie Ming glanced at the young man in front of him who was still panting, "Where is Ruan Fuyuan's formation?" ”

"Pan Lang, who passed by the morning the day before yesterday, the villain was able to rush over after seeing the car drive into the Suifeng camp."

A young man dressed as a local in Annam answered Xie Ming's question in fluent southwestern Ming Mandarin, and his speed fluctuated, as if he had just gone through a vigorous exercise.

Xie Ming handed the young man a glass of water and motioned for him to finish drinking.

A few sips of water poured into his stomach, and the boy gradually calmed down.

"How many troops are there in Suifeng now?"

"It's endless along the way, and there are always 10,000 and 5 numbers."

"What about the water camp in Yunfeng Haikou?"

"When the villain went south, the ships had not yet anchored, and I heard the proprietor say that it would take a few days to prepare supplies, and I thought that no matter how early I came, I would not leave until the day after tomorrow."

Xie Ming pondered for a moment when he heard this, and then said, "Go down and receive the reward, and go back to ask the descendants of Pei Dongzhu." ”

Hearing this, the other elders showed their original expressions, and now on Xie Ming's intelligence line, the name Pei Guangpao is no secret.

This person is the Annan merchant who was saved by Shen Yourong back then, he was noticed by Xie Ming when he was trading in Saigon at the beginning of the year, and found out his relationship with Shen Yourong through a background check, so the Senate immediately asked Shen Yourong to draft a private letter through Zheng Jiefu, in which he only talked about the old friendship and nothing else, and after informing Pei Guangpao through the content of the telegram, Xie Ming really gained his trust.

In addition, since Guangnan used the army, he was quite unfriendly to maritime merchants, and Pei Guangpao was a small boat owner with only a few ships, he had a good impression of Xie Ming, and he was able to catch the ship of the Senate, so he naturally decided to take refuge here.

And the first task Xie Ming gave him was to go to Pan Lang's camp in the north, in the name of doing business to find out the truth of the Guangnan Army, there was not much risk in this matter, and it did not delay his business, Pei Guangpao agreed to it, but today this kid is a fresh face, if it is not for the incision, Xie Ming is not sure, it seems that it is indeed because of the military emergency, Pei Guangpao specially found this young man to pass the message.

But the young man has his own plans, "The villain doesn't plan to go back, he wants to ask for an errand next to the chiefs." ”

Xie Ming was surprised for a while, and first glanced at the elders before saying, "You are Hermes-Epitek, right?" ”

The young man raised his head and said, "The ancestor of the villain is indeed Hanmin. ”

"No wonder you speak Chinese so well." Xie Ming thought for a while and made a decision, "Our army will counterattack tomorrow, you go and be a guide for the bad guys." ”

The young man was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately sang.

It's just that when the guards led the young man down, Xie Ming asked more, "What's your name?" ”

The corners of the boy's mouth twitched, revealing a mouth full of white teeth.

"Ruan Bicheng—"

[References]

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