On July 30, the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Xianglong, the envoy of the Ming Dynasty, submitted his credentials to the Mo, Zheng and Ruan clans who controlled the northern part of Annam, and the letters listed a total of 13 articles, including the unconditional recognition of the "Ming Sea Boundary Map", the unconditional release of the captured fishermen and the detained boats, the compensation to the fishermen, and the refusal to send warships to Jiuluozhou

However, as Song Youliang expected, Zheng Jie, who controlled the Li Dynasty, instead of replying to his own words, strengthened the armaments in the north. [No pop-ups. The leader of the Nguyen clique, who controlled the south of Thanh Hoa, also did not reply to the letter of state from the Ming Dynasty. Only Mo Jingwan, who had always been pro-Ming and controlled the Gaoping region bordering the Guangxi border with the Ming Dynasty, expressed his willingness to act as a guide for the Ming Dynasty.

On August 1, the Ming Empire officially declared war on the Lê Dynasty in northern Vietnam, citing the invasion of the Ming Maritime Frontier and the torture of the Ming people. The Ming soldiers were divided into four routes, and Li Dingguo led 40,000 soldiers and horses to march from Mengzi in Yunnan to the direction of Laojie; Ai Nengqi led 40,000 soldiers and horses from Pingxiang, Guangxi, to march in the direction of Langshan; Liu Wenxiu led 40,000 soldiers and horses from Yong'an Prefecture in Guangxi Province and marched south along the coastline; Shi Lang led the South China Sea Fleet to Da Luo (Hanoi)

Among the three routes, only Li Dingguo directly entered the territory of the Li Dynasty, and Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi both entered the sphere of influence of the Mo Dynasty first. Mo Jingwan, the king of the Mo Dynasty, sent his younger brother Mo Jingkuan to lead 10,000 Mo Dynasty soldiers and horses as a guide to lead the Ming army to attack the northeastern town of the Li Dynasty

Guarding the mountain was the Zheng general Wu Dayue, who had been defending the north (as opposed to the Li Dynasty) for many years and had been at war with the Mo Dynasty for a long time, so he was quite experienced in defending the city. For a while, Enench threw hundreds of corpses under the mountain city. The initial battle was unfavorable, and it was also defeated in front of the army of the servant state of the Mo Dynasty, and Ai Nengqi was furious, and immediately ordered a fierce artillery bombardment of the mountain city.

Boom!

The artillery of the Ming army carried out a covering strike in the form of ploughing and sweeping holes inside and outside the mountain city, and the newly developed fire dragon cannon was also used. The Fire Dragon Cannon is actually a slide rocket, which looks like a large feather arrow magnified thirty times in appearance. The body of the bomb is filled with viscous grease and crude oil, and the combustion performance is very violent.

"Launch."

As soon as the officer gave the order, countless rockets roared like fire dragons and pounced on the opposite mountain city, leaving gray-white arcs in the clear blue sky. The entire mountain city was instantly ablaze, and the blazing fire reflected the sky. The fire burned until midnight, and it could be seen clearly within a radius of dozens of miles. The Vietnamese soldiers who narrowly escaped from the fire were mercilessly shot by the Ming army, just like the fishermen they had mutilated in the Ming Dynasty.

The next day, the Ming army entered the mountain city that had become a ruin, and looking at the scene full of devastation, Ai Nengqi's heart couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt. Liu Wenxiu comforted him and said: "It's not my race, why should I regret it? ”

Ai Nengqi smiled: "No, I'm thinking, this fire is burned out, what reward should I give to my brothers!" ”

Mo Jingkuan, who was following behind Liu Wenxiu, asked cautiously, "Did the Heavenly Dynasty army use a description weapon?" ”

"Fire Dragon Cannon~!" Ai Nengqi replied: "It's a shame that your Mo family has always been friendly with Daming, otherwise, that one will be in Gaoping." ”

"Oh my god!" Mo Jingkuan lost his voice and said: "Our Mo family has always been very deferential to the Celestial Empire, and we will definitely not have two hearts." ”

"That's good!" Ai Nengqi smiled: "Our Ming Dynasty has never treated our friends badly, but we will not spare our enemies lightly. ”

As soon as the mountain was broken, Taiyuan (not Taiyuan, Shanxi), the metallurgical town of the Li Dynasty, appeared naked in front of the Ming army, Mo Jingkuan introduced: "Taiyuan is an important iron smelting town in northern Vietnam, if the Celestial Dynasty takes Taiyuan, then not only can it open the door of Daluo, but more than half of the soldiers in the Li Dynasty can only fight with wooden sticks with our army." ”

It is said that Zheng Jie heard that the army captured the mountain overnight, and burned Wu Dayue and tens of thousands of people in the city into black charcoal, and hated and feared the Ming army in his heart, so he put together 90,000 soldiers and horses to garrison Beijiang City in the middle reaches of the Jingtai River. This is a watery city, so it won't let the Ming army burn it down, right?

Beijiang is the gateway of Taiyuan, Taiyuan is the gateway of Daluo, Ai Nengqi naturally attaches great importance to this battle, seeing Zheng Jie personally leading the troops to come, Ai Nengqi is even more meritorious, so he immediately ordered the troops to be stationed on the spot, surround Beijiang, and dig fortifications at night.

Early the next morning, Zheng Jie was surprised to find that three trenches wider than the moat of Beijiang City appeared outside Beijiang City, "Oh my God~~ Do these Beikou (Indicating Army) know how to demons?" ”

Boom, boom, boom

The artillery of the Ming army raised its muzzles and launched a heavy artillery bombardment on the gates and walls of Bac Giang Fortress, and the Vietnamese defenders panicked, they had never seen such a formation. Although Zheng Jie hired the Dutch to imitate cannons and muskets for his army three years ago, first, the Dutch deliberately made them inferior goods, and second, after all, they had been living in the era of cold weapons, and they knew that they were using shuttle darts and bows to meet the enemy.

The low brick and wood city wall is the opponent of the Ming cannons? After only three volleys, the eastern gate of Bac Giang City collapsed. Zheng Jie was anxious, brandishing his knife and ordering the soldiers to plug the gap. As soon as the Vietnamese soldiers arrived at the gap with the timber on their shoulders, the shells and bullets of the Ming army poured down like raindrops. The "brave" Vietnamese soldiers went forward one after another, and the gap in the city gate was like a bottomless pit, constantly devouring the lives of Vietnamese soldiers until no one dared to fill it anymore.

Zheng Jie had to change his strategy and said to his soldiers: "No matter how fierce the artillery fire of the Beikou is, they will not be able to occupy the Beijiang River without entering the city." Let's make every house in Beijiang City become Beikou's grave. ”

"Look, my lord!" Zheng Jie wanted to say some more inspiring words, but suddenly someone pointed to the sky and said, "Look, what is that, my lord?" ”

Zheng Jie looked up, only to see countless huge arrowheads dragging their long tails flying over his head, and with the roar of these big guys landing, Beijiang City suddenly burst into fire on all sides.

"Is this the kind of firearm that burns the mountain?" Zheng Jie, who was also a Cao Cao figure in Vietnam, decisively ordered some of them to continue to block the breach, and some of them went to the Jingtai River to get water to extinguish the fire.

The Vietnamese did not know that the incendiary bomb was filled with grease and crude oil, and the result of extinguishing the fire with water was to spread or spread rapidly. Grease and oil float on the surface of the water and spread around as the water spreads around. In a very short period of time, the fire in Bac Giang City got out of control

Zheng Jie had no choice but to jump on a bamboo raft and flee along the Jingtai River. The more than 70,000 Vietnamese troops still stationed outside the city were first subjected to heavy artillery fire by the Ming army, and then they were also ravaged by fire dragon cannon incendiary shells. At this time, when he found that Zheng Jie had fled, the army was suddenly in turmoil and wanted to flee. At this time, Liu Wenxiu blocked the gap from the north, Mo Chao Mo Jingkuan blocked the gap from that side, and the scattered Zheng army could only jump into the Jingtai River like dumplings to escape, drowning, trampling to death, and countless Vietnamese troops died for multiple cannibalism, and the Jingtai River became the second red river

As soon as the Beijiang River broke, Ai Nengqi went straight to Taiyuan, while Liu Wenxiu continued to go south to the lower reaches of the Jingtai River to pick up Shi Lang.

The place where Shi Lang arrived was the future Haiphong City, but at this time it was still a fishing village with only more than 100 people. As soon as Shi Lang arrived in the local area, he immediately expelled all the local villagers. This was followed by the creation of a fortress along the coast and the establishment of a naval base. After Li Dingguo conquered Lao Cai, his troops pointed directly at An Pei, and at this time, the Ming army surrounded Daluo City from three directions: northwest, north and east.

Zheng Jie, who fled back to Daluo City, is really sitting in the city of sorrow, the enemy situation continues, it is not good news, Beijiang has fallen, Beining is in an emergency, Anpei has fallen, Yuechi is also in danger, and the most troublesome thing is that the sailors of the Ming army have entered the mouth of the Red River. The Ainengqi army has conquered Taiping and Nanding, and is going up the Red River all the way, and it seems that it is about to hit its own Daluo City. Zheng Ji knew very well in his heart that with his current 60,000 troops, he would not be able to hold Luocheng no matter what, so should he just give up?

At this time, one of Zheng Jie's ministers, Li Meteorite, said: "When the Central Plains was the Song Dynasty, the Song army invaded our country, and my ancestor Li Changjie, the Duke of Yueguo, deployed defenses in the Ruyue River, and finally defeated the enemy army. ”

Zheng Jie was a little confused at this time, so he said: "Do you know how Li Changjie defeated the Song army back then? ”

Li Meteorite replied: "Don't hide it from the king, I am the twenty-fourth grandson of General Li Changjie." ”

Zheng Jie was overjoyed and said, "If you can follow your ancestors to defeat Beikou, then I will let you inherit Li Changjie's title and eat ten thousand households." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Li Meteorite thanked him and said: "The key to this battle is whether the enemy's sailors can be organized to enter the hinterland of the inland river, and the minister thinks that he can ask the Dutch for help." ”

Zheng Jie was reminded by Li Meteorite, and only then did he remember that there were more than 500 Dutch mercenaries and three warships in the area of the Red River Estuary in the south, namely the Dutch ships Qiwei, Naxuejiale, and Wickendbuk. "Then the king will send to the south to ask the Dutch to help."

On August 20, the fourth year of Hongde in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and the Mo Dynasty assembled and stationed on a front about 30 kilometers long from the Ruyue River Ferry to Yanluo Mountain. The number of troops involved in the battle was reduced from 130,000 to 90,000, and most of them were used to garrison the rear to prevent the remnants of the Li Dynasty troops from fleeing into the mountains and old forests from attacking the rear.

There were originally seven wooden bridges and three stone bridges on the Ruyue River, but they were all demolished by the Vietnamese army at the moment. In addition, Li Meteorite also prepared many rafts and fireboats full of large stones in the upper reaches of the Ruyue River, and only released the rafts and fireboats from the upstream when the Ming army crossed the river. At the same time, Li Meteorite also mobilized more than 100 large and small ships and three Dutch warships to the mouth of the Jingtai River, trying to prevent the Ming army's naval division from moving south to the mouth of the Ruyue River.

The Ming Yue Ruyue River War broke out

[.26dd.]