Chapter 56 of the Flying Dragon: The Nine Dragons River Locks Sing Heavenly Grace (6)
Nguyen Phuc Lan –
Dead -
Nguyen Phuc Nguyen has never been able to believe this fact.
Three days ago, when the news of the defeat of the front side came again, he was still a little relieved, and it seemed that his heart in his throat finally did not need to be anxious because of the roaring guns of the thieves, and as for the victory over the siege, he was about to give up.
But Nguyen Phuc Lan died, this is one of his favorite sons, and even at some times this son has a place in his own mind than his brother Nguyen Phuc Qi is more in line with the image and ability of a son, he thought that this son could be a good life in the future to assist his brother in his career.
Now, this son has become a mess of meat, and if it weren't for the scarred armor on his body and the words of the marquis around him, Nguyen Phuc Yuan would never have connected this mess of meat with his son, even if those loyal marquis had taken great risks to snatch it, and before that, he even had a momentary unrealistic illusion about the soldiers approaching the fortress wall, although that fantasy was quickly awakened by the rapid gunfire.
Now the only thing that can be relieved is that Nguyen Phuc Lan has a newborn son, and he has secretly made up his mind to take this grandson to raise him personally when he returns to Hue, so as to comfort his grief for his son.
Ruan Fuqi was standing beside his father in plain clothes at the moment, his face was sad, but he was secretly happy in his heart, although it was not the son Ruan Fuqi who died, but it could be regarded as removing an opponent, but he couldn't make it public with this kind of happiness, and he had to pretend to regret his brother.
As for Tao Weici and his ilk, they didn't dare to say much, and it could be seen that the Buddha's trust in him had dropped to the freezing point.
Another change is more obvious in the Quang Nam army, that is, since the death of Nguyen Phuc Lan, no one has taken the initiative to mention the battle in the past few days, for three days in a row, the camp is calmer than usual, except for the mourning white linen marking the death of a 'prince', it seems to be more peaceful than the previous days, the most significant is that the fierce attack of the Quang Nam army has stopped, the weather has begun to become boring, and the battle situation is also anxious.
Obviously, it has only entered the dry season, but the face of the Buddha is not sunny at all.
It is no wonder that the army has lost three battles in a row, and finally there are already dead soldiers about to climb the fortress wall, but they don't want to be forced back by those wigs who assist in the defense, especially the continuous fire of the muskets placed on the sides of the prismatic fortress, which is a fatal blow to the soldiers who are forced to the fort gate. At least more than 300 people died directly under the terrifying firearms, neither the rattan armor nor the shield could withstand the force of its blow, and many warriors were torn to shreds in the palpitating clatter.
After a round of defense that day, Xie Ming simply withdrew Zhu Daizhen's troops to the fort for repair, and defended with the reserves and militia teams around him, with the example of the Beiwei army, even the militia's will to fight became extremely firm, and the defense behind was relatively much easier. Further back, there were no more people near the fort walls, and Nguyen Phuc Lan was beaten into a sieve by one of the heavy machine-gun fires.
For three days in a row, Nguyen Phuc Anh observed the fortress in front of him from a distance of several miles every day, and when the sun fell again, there was still no sign of progress ahead, and the only consolation now could only be the delicate balance on the battlefield, and this balance was only maintained because the thieves did not counterattack because of the number of the Quang Nam army, in fact, with his current comparison of the forces of the two sides, this situation is only a hypothesis, if the combat power of the two sides is exchanged, Nguyen Phuc Yuan is even confident of a decisive victory.
And now he can even clearly feel that the balance of victory has tilted in favor of the other side, and there is actually nothing new in today's collegiality, except for listening to the amount of grain and grass and the news from the north, there is nothing new in the rest, every day after dark, there are sporadic thieves around the camp, hunting and killing lone soldiers, and this kind of exchange of sneak attacks is even more ugly than that of Guangnan, so far not even the shadow of the thief has been caught, so far the Guangnan army has not been able to catch a single one, so that the Guangnan army has been crying for a while.
Three days later, the night fell in this somewhat trembling atmosphere, and the atmosphere of singing and feasting in the camp had long since been lost, and the ministers absentmindedly acted as escorts, as if sitting on pins and needles.
There have been many people who have speculated that it may not be far from the time of the class teacher, in fact, for the time being, being able to eat the previous land, according to the previous achievements of Guangnan, is not a loss-making deal, but this thief is indeed tricky, not to mention the loss of one of the most outstanding sons of the Buddha.
According to the strength of the thieves now, it is almost impossible to continue to advance southward, and the south will always face such a threat in the future, and it will inevitably need to invest a lot of material resources and manpower to build defenses, and even the northward advance will become quite constrained.
After a 'supper' that tasted like chewing wax, all the ministers went back to their respective camps.
At this time, it was already dark, and there was no moonlight tonight, but there was a person in a hurry to come from the hastily paved official road in the north, because the night hunt of bad people before made the Guangnan army patrolling the outpost extremely nervous, and almost shot the messenger from the north.
Because of this, there was a lot of commotion, and in less than half an hour, the nearest generals of the camp had already received a terrible news - three days ago, the sailors of the thieves had raided Hoi An.
Hoi An concentrated the bulk of the materials for the southern expedition, whether it was land transportation or sea transportation, the grain platform was from there, in addition, Quang Nam's tax revenue also depended on him, and the thief's silent raid on Hoi An was hit on the seven inches of Quang Nam, but who would have thought that the thief's sailor would be able to run so sharply for a long distance, and there was no wind all the way.
After being afraid, the news was like a winged firefly, especially conspicuous in the dark night, and it didn't take long for it to spread to every camp of the Quang Nam Army, even though the order to withdraw had not yet come, but every camp had moved, and all this did not escape the eyes of the bad people.
…………
Ruan Bicheng was no longer as surprised as he was when he saw the scene in the night vision device for the first time, as if he had such a clear vision in the night as a matter of course, thanks to the special conditions of the night, the bad people were able to approach the reconnaissance, and the situation in the Quang Nam camp could be seen more clearly.
And it was obvious before me that there was chaos in the camp.
"Chief, is it just until dawn?" Young vocal voice.
After seeing the night hunt a few days ago, the waiting now seems a little silent.
"What? Sleepy? ”
"Where you will be sleepy, it's just a little boring to wait."
"Don't worry, the show has just begun."
The young man listened to the chief's words, a little excited, he knew that the chief could 'spread the sound of thousands of miles' with the old camp in Australia, and he would not deceive him, and these days, he also felt more and more that he was really lucky to be able to do things with bad people, no need for the chiefs to say, he had already felt that this team was not something that could come if he wanted to, even in the Australian army, the bad people were also one in a hundred. He was able to get the blue eyes of the elder thanks, or because of Pei Dongzhu and his alertness and intentions all the way south.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for meteors to rise on the side of the fortress, and those flying stars slowly rose into the air, and then they fell quickly towards this side, rocket night attacks may have become commonplace for other elders, but Ruan Bicheng saw it for the first time, and he had never even heard of it before, and at first he didn't even associate this vision with the leaders.
But when he began to realize that all this was actually an Australian creation, the Quang Nam military camp below the hill was already in flames.
If you observe it closely, you can understand that such flames may not pose much threat to the soldiers after they fall to the ground, but the already sloppy military spirit has become more and more uncontrollable under this round of attacks, and the flames are full of fleeing figures.
When it was almost dawn, it was already clear that it was a Quang Nam soldier, and the thieves were probably about to attack, and the rumors about the north were also spreading, and a strange army of thieves raided Hoi An, and the back road had been cut off.
It was in this anxiety that Quang Nam's army began to set out in its entirety, and by this time their size was less than seventy percent of the size of the previous night, and at least a third of the soldiers had fled during the night.
And although Nguyen Phuc Nguyen had received the exact news about the north last night, it was extremely difficult to escape by taking advantage of the night, and the appearance of the thieves who seemed to be better fighting at night also worried him, so he had to arrange for the withdrawal of the army until dawn.
However, the soldiers have long lost their will to fight, and the burned fences and camps cannot make the Quang Nam Army have the slightest idea of defense.
It was at this moment that the bugle suddenly sounded.
Out of nowhere, the Beiwei army and militia came up from three directions: the plains and the mountains and forests, and although there were not many of them, they seemed to be menacing.
For the Quang Nam Army, all this is hopeless.
The south is not enterable, and the return route in the north is also cut off by the sudden appearance of the 'thief', although there are not many people and horses intercepted, but looking at its array is the elite, coupled with the previous series of battles, the Guangnan army has long lost its will to fight. In the west, there were also thieves in the mountains, although there were only three or four hundred, but they occupied high points, and it was difficult to attack from the back, and soon the Quang Nam army was attacked by artillery from the mountains, so that those soldiers immediately gave up their plans to flee into the mountains from the west.
At present, there is only one way of life left on the sea to the east, and there are indeed many Guangnan and Nanhai ships moored for transshipment, some of which were even requisitioned from maritime merchants, and as for the fact that the thieves themselves are good at boating, these people have probably forgotten about it, and no one will ignore the enemy in front of them and consider the possible threat from the sea.
But Ruan Phuc Yuan understood that there was no way back at sea, and when he stopped to look back at the Australian fort in the south and got farther and farther away, he had mixed feelings in his heart.
The relatives around him hurriedly reminded, "Lord Buddha, it's too late if you don't leave." ”
"The old minister is willing to lead the family to the palace, and His Royal Highness should put the country first and quickly break through and return to the north." Ruan Chaowen arched his hand, his tone was resolute, and Ruan Youyi behind him was also sympathetic.
Ruan Fuyuan glanced at them with mixed feelings, but heard Ruan Fuyuan also stand up.
"The son is willing to be the queen of his father's palace, and he also asks his father to return north quickly, and if he hesitates, I am afraid that something will happen." Ruan Fuyu said righteously, with a fearless look as if he was the right son.
Ruan Fuyuan was suddenly a little moved, nodded silently, and went north under the escort of a group of relatives.
At this time, the gunfire was approaching, and Ruan Chao Van took his family to command the defense on a nearby mound, and he could see that although the army of the thieves was not large in number, it responded very quickly, and it did not give the large force of Quang Nam a chance to break through.
The attack of the Beiwei army gave Nguyen Chao Van a clearer idea of the field strength of the Australians, but it seemed that it was too late. The only horses were all given to Nguyen Phuc Yuan's old camp, and although the Ruan family was able to fight, they were also a little powerless. But the situation is like this, and the biggest group of thieves is standing in the way of the north, and they can only bite the bullet, Ruan Chaowen gave an order, and the family members waved swords and rattan cards one after another, and rushed in front of Ruan Fuyuan's old camp.
The guns rang out, the Quang Nam soldiers kept falling, and from time to time there were cold guns from the mountains on both sides, and even the family members who rushed into the Nguyen clan quickly couldn't resist the defeat. However, Nguyen Chao Van Van rushed to kill this array brought a fleeting opportunity to Nguyen Phuc Yuan, and the old battalion of the Chinese army was able to rush through the side of the Beiwei army array, and they did not even think about outflanking this small group of thieves from the flank and fled one after another, but the machine guns deployed on the flank still left hundreds of corpses of the Quang Nam army.
Seeing that Nguyen Phuc Nguyen had successfully broken through, Nguyen Chao Van also commanded the remnants of the army to go to the mountains to the west.
On the battlefield to the south, the sergeants of the battalions, who had lost their commanders, were scattered to the narrow strip of land by the sea like lambs to the slaughter, and some who tried to seize the ship and flee were immediately shot, and many more discarded their weapons under the guidance of the sound of the loudspeaker, and knelt on the beach with their hands raised and waited for disposal.
Just when it seemed that the situation was decided, the young Nguyen Bi Thanh noticed something that excited him - a Quang Nam army was making a detour along several burned barracks towards the flank of the Beiwei army's position to the south.
The news quickly spread back to the command headquarters and fed back to the front-line troops, but the Quang Nam army did not know about all this.
The person who led the team was Ruan Fuyu, and at this time, his eyes had long since lost the determination to pat his chest to his own Lao Tzu, but had a little more expectations.
He touched the pocket on his chest, there was a letter that he secretly asked a Chinese merchant to write in Chinese a few days ago, which painfully stated the perverse behavior of Ruan Fuyuan and his sisters-in-law in the country, and praised the virtue of the Great Song Dynasty, about the real situation in Australia, it was from the Chinese businessman, this is also after the First World War that day made him completely sober, will focus on understanding the details of the Australians, and it is under the understanding that he is secretly frightened by the strength of the Australians, but in a blink of an eye, it seems to be an opportunity.
At the end of the letter, the style of the painting changed, indicating that if the Song army was willing to help him return to the country to take charge, he would also do his best to conquer the country. He has inquired clearly, as long as the white flag is hoisted in battle, the Australians will not be embarrassed, and he has prepared a lot of money by taking the opportunity of Ruan Fulan's new funeral, but in his opinion, he has to get closer to do it, otherwise it will be a little unpleasant to wait for the other party to come up and disarm.
But he never told anyone what he was thinking, let alone had contact with the backshits on the other side, which led to the tragedy that followed.
When Nguyen was about to give the order to hoist the white flag, the first wave of rapid-fire artillery fire had already covered the team that was acting secretly.
Ruan Bicheng only heard the chief's clear taunt in his ears, "This leader is still a loyal ......."
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