The Yuanjiang River is the Red River, and the army must first reach the Yuanjiang River and then follow the Red River eastward.

The men and horses under Zhu Gaoxu's command were divided into five routes, except for Wang Bin's vanguard, the rest of the men and horses were divided into four groups and marched one after another. Zhu Gaoxu took tens of thousands of people to pass through Mengzi County, Lin'an Prefecture first, and saw Yuanjiang in two days, which was already the beginning of July.

Along the Yuanjiang River, the road is relatively easy to walk, and most of them are undulating hilly areas. However, when the weather is clear, you can see the shadows of the mountains on the north and south sides, and the mountains and mountains in the distance. The ancient river has chosen a path for people to pass without being blocked by high mountains.

The weather in July is still hot, Zhu Gaoxu can't feel the breath of autumn, and it rains often. However, now everyone is still on the territory of the political envoy in Yunnan, because there is no war, there are no casualties among the soldiers in the military camp, and there is no outbreak of disease. By the time we arrived in the territory of Annam and were about to prepare for a big war, it was almost the middle of autumn.

The army reached Jiling Pass (Lao Cai), an important town on the northwest border of Annam, and there was no fighting, not even a conflict. The Annan army abandoned this pass, digging ravines and carrying rocks to block the road; However, it is useless, the Yuanjiang River Basin, after reaching Jiling Pass, the terrain of the river valley is even flatter than in Yunnan. The vanguard army Wang Bin has cleared the road and marched to Qin Station.

Zhu Gaoxu led the crowd to set up camp near Jiling Pass, waiting for the armies of all roads to arrive and gather one after another, and sending people to the villages around Jiling Pass.

Every time the Ming army team arrived at a village, they first gave a letter and ordered each village to requisition military rations according to the size of the population, and only one to two buckets of grain were levied for each ding. As long as the villagers paid the tax, the Ming army posted a list of the people, promising that the autumn would not commit any crimes and would never kill the people indiscriminately, and also issued a pennant of Chen's loyal ministers in the village as a commendation.

This is what Zhu Gaoxu has been accustomed to doing since the "Battle of Jingyan," and he does not advocate arson and plunder. According to the veterans, conniving at the soldiers can make everyone work harder on the battlefield; However, Zhu Gaoxu thought that this would exacerbate the contradictions between the soldiers and the locals, and create new troubles. He usually robbed the treasury in an organized manner and scraped the land proportionally, rather than killing and wasting resources, and then rewarding and compromising the soldiers, or setting up camps so that everyone could get real benefits.

As soon as the Zhongyuan Festival passed, the Chinese army received a report from Wang Bin, the first battle of the Ming army in Annan took place in Qinzhan, and the Annan army only had two military villages, which were easily broken by Wang Bin's forward army.

Zhu Gaoxu ordered the armies of all walks of life to march to Qinzhan one after another according to the arrangements after 20 July, and he rushed to Qinzhan with more than 300 cavalry guards.

The cavalry marched south along the official road on the bank of the Red River, and as soon as Zhu Gaoxu left the Jiling Pass area, he immediately found that the terrain here was different from that in Yunnan.

The area around the road is still undulating hills, with many low hills, but the woods are getting denser and denser, and the mountains and forests are endless. However, the Annan army did not attack and harass in these places, Wang Bin's troops did not encounter the slightest resistance, and Zhu Gaoxu's hundreds of men and horses were not attacked.

Zhu Gaoxu found that at this time, all countries and Tusi rarely used guerrilla tactics, and after careful consideration, perhaps the enemy army was not only because of the problem of concept, but also because of the constraints of conditions. At this time, many conditions were not as good as those of later generations, the transportation of grain and grass, the control of the government, and the lethality of weapons were not very good, and it was a problem for guerrillas to feed themselves in the mountainous areas. Therefore, whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the Annan Kingdom, the real important town is not only based on the terrain, but also on the richness of the surrounding land and whether it can support so many troops...... For example, Jingzhou, an important town in the mainland.

Since the Annan Army did not understand the jungle guerrilla tactics, or could not do it at all, Zhu Gaoxu was already a lot relieved.

There is a city tower in the pass of Qin Station, and the architectural appearance is no different from the city tower of the Ming Dynasty. When Zhu Gaoxu came to Annan, in addition to the different languages, looking at its scenery, there was an illusion that he was still in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Bin and other generals greeted him. There was a lot of noise under the city tower, many enemy prisoners were crying and shouting there, and the surrounding Ming soldiers were holding weapons and shouting and scolding.

"Meet the prince!" Wang Bin turned over and dismounted, clasped his fists and saluted.

Zhu Gaoxu returned the salute with his fists on the horse, and pointed at the mess under the city tower with a horsewhip, "What's the matter?" ”

Wang Bin said: "At the beginning of the year, our envoys and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were slaughtered here, and I captured two Annan people from the military village, and they were about to cut off their heads and comfort the soldiers here. ”

Zhu Gaoxu didn't stop everyone, and stepped forward to watch. Seeing this, Wang Bin waved his hand to the military generals on the hillside, and after a while, he heard a burst of fire crackling, and then the soldiers of the Ming army lined up with swords and guns, and cut people when they saw them. Most of the captives had their hands tied behind their backs and strung with ropes, unable to run, unable to resist, crying and screaming louder, and the smell of gunpowder smoke and fishiness in the air.

Most of the soldiers of the Annam Army wore wide-brimmed hats like bamboo hats, or because it rained in Annam, it was easy to shelter from the rain. The generals wore armor and helmets, and the armor was quite similar to that of the Ming army.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu heard someone tremble in Chinese with an inaccurate pronunciation: "The bright moonlight in front of the bed is suspected to be frost on the ground...... My heart is to the Ming Dynasty, I love poetry and Ming cuisine, don't kill me...... Peacocks fly southeast ......"

Zhu Gaoxu followed the sound and saw a military general of the Annan Army wearing armor, who was crying there with his head raised in Chinese. Zhu Gaoxu immediately pointed at the man: "Don't kill him, bring it here!" ”

Wang Bin immediately shouted at his subordinates to rush over and escort the man over. But the man was no longer able to stand steadily, and was dragged from the ground by the two to Zhu Gaoxu's horse.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at it, this person's skin was whiter than other Annan people, and he was so frightened that he trembled, and it seemed that he was not a battlefield general, but he might have just become a military general because of his good background...... What's more, people who can recite poems and write endowments, even in the Ming Dynasty, are mostly children of wealthy families, not to mention that Annan people can sing Chinese poems.

"Hahaha......" Suddenly there was a burst of laughter around. Zhu Gaoxu smelled a foul smell, and he realized that the pants of the person in front of him were already wet, his face was flushed, he was afraid and ashamed, and he was simply embarrassed.

"Spare your life!" This person's Chinese accent is strange, but he speaks fluently, "I don't want to be an enemy of the Ming Dynasty, nor am I a thief with a heart for the Hu family!" The Hu family knew that this place could not be defended, and all the cronies and horses were transferred, and the rest of us were all abandoned pawns......"

Zhu Gaoxu said: "What's your name?" ”

"Ruan Zhi."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said, "Ruan Zhi, are you willing to restore the orthodoxy of the Chen clan and abandon the darkness and turn to the light?" ”

Ruan Zhi nodded desperately without hesitation, bent down and said, "Thank you for the grace of not killing!" ”

"Don't embarrass him." Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand.

Wang Bin hugged his fists and said: "Get the order!" ”

After Ruan Zhi was taken away, Zhu Gaoxu immediately asked directly: "Have you captured the Annan arms?" ”

Wang Bin said: "Back to the prince, there is!" There are hundreds of firearms in the two villages, most of which can still be used, and the Annan army has a large number of firearms. ”

"Get on the horse and lead the way." Zhu Gaoxu said briefly.

A group of people turned over their horses one after another, stepped straight through the headless corpses and blood stains under the city tower, and went straight to the Qin Station City Tower.

When they came to a military camp, all kinds of captured firearms, blades, and armor were placed in the open space, and the soldiers of the Ming army also built thatched huts to cover the rain.

Zhu Gaoxu dismounted and threw the reins to Zhao Ping next to him. Although Zhao Ping is a military general who leads hundreds of elite soldiers, in front of Zhu Gaoxu, he is still a horseman!

Zhu Gaoxu picked up a fire gun and inspected it. Wang Bin said beside him: "This fire gun is loaded with arrows, and it is farther than our copper fire gun!" However, the cannons, bows, and crossbows of the Annan army are not as good as ours. ”

Sure enough, as Zhu Gaoxu expected, there is no essential difference between the guns of the Annan Army and the Ming Army, from the casting process to the principle. Although Zhu Gaoxu is not a craftsman, he can also see that the things that are cast and forged are different, and the fire gun in his hand is still mainly cast with copper; The difference is that the caliber is smaller and slightly longer than that of the Ming army.

Zhu Gaoxu pondered for a moment, and remembered that the length of the gun and the barrel of the gun in later generations was longer than the range of the hand gun, and it was common sense that the length of the gun was helpful to the range.

He also pondered that the bullet actually had an acceleration from stationary to high-speed discharge, which was Newton's kinematics in junior high school.

The thrust of acceleration depends on the explosion of the gas burned by the gunpowder. When the thrust is about the same, the longer the barrel and the longer the acceleration time, the faster the disemboweling speed...... Zhu Gaoxu did the math, and he roughly understood the reason.

Zhu Gaoxu carefully observed each part, and he gently flicked his finger on the mouth of the gun, and found a little sawdust, which was the residue of the Trojan horse. Obviously, the Annan army also learned to use Trojan horses to increase air tightness, otherwise the cluster of arrows could not be sealed, and the estimated range could only hit the front.

He also ordered his men to shoot at targets with the captured Annam muskets, which he found could not penetrate the planks at a distance of twenty paces; It is also the ignition method of receiving an open flame.

Therefore, the Annan army's firearms fought farther than the Ming army's bronze firearms, but the Ming army also had bows, crossbows, and artillery to make up for the long range.

Zhu Gaoxu made a judgment: The slightest difference in the armaments of the two armies cannot fundamentally affect the outcome of the battle. For a while, his mood gradually improved.

At this time, the generals predicted the victory or defeat of the battle, and still according to the concept of thousands of years ago, the time and place were favorable. It is mainly based on factors such as the general righteousness, the people's support, the pros and cons of the situation, the climate, the terrain, and other factors, and generally depends on the opponent's military appearance and discipline, and whether the equipment is well-equipped or not.

And Zhu Gaoxu knew about the Opium War, and the enemy army was here to rob the money, and there was a bird's righteousness. So he also attaches great importance to the technical and tactical aspects of weapons. When there is an essential gap in one factor, the philosophical ideas of the sages cannot be fulfilled.

However, at present, Zhu Gaoxu will not face these problems. He also found that the armies in the southern hot belt area were generally very poorly organized and disciplined, and the battle of the dignified array was completely inadequate!

He was more confident.