"What's wrong? What's the situation? Both men threw away their cigarettes at the same time and grabbed the flintlock pistols that were held aside. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Outside the barracks gate, more than a dozen people came from afar, and a simple sedan chair was carried in the middle.

Jiang Beiming and the others heard the bell, and a lot of them came out. "What's the situation, what's the situation?" Sun Tianhao asked thoughtlessly.

The sentry came running from a distance: "Report to the sir, someone has been found outside the barracks who are moving towards our barracks, probably from Annam." ”

"How many people, are they carrying weapons?"

"Report sir, a dozen people, unarmed."

Jiang Beiming waved his hand, let the sentry go down, and then turned to Sun Tianhao and the others and said, "Don't mess around, you guys are waiting here." Xu Tianbin, take the guard platoon with me and the chief of staff to see what the situation is. Cheng Yiyi, go and invite Yao Han's family. ”

Jiang Beiming and Xu Lang stood at the gate of the barracks and waited for more than ten minutes, and more than a dozen Vietnamese wearing brown five-body jackets carried a dilapidated sedan chair and slowly came to them. On the sedan chair sat a little old man with a dark complexion, and the folds on his face could not tell how old he was.

The sedan chair stopped, and the little old man did not get out of the sedan chair, but pointed to Jiang Beiming and Xu Lang and said something, but the two of them didn't understand a word.

Cheng Yiyi, Yao Han, and Yao Chun rushed over from the camp.

"Mrs. Yao, what is this person talking about? Who are they? Jiang Beiming asked.

Yao Hanshi stepped forward to negotiate with the little old man in Vietnamese, then turned around and said to Jiang Beiming and the others: "This person is the governor of Annan, and he asked us where we came from and what we are doing here?" ”

"Zhizhou? Annam also has a Zhizhou? What an official. Xu Lang asked.

Yao Hanshi thought for a while: "The official system of Annan was modeled after my Ming Dynasty, and their Zhizhou is about equivalent to our Ming Dynasty's county order, of course, Annan's county is much smaller than our Ming Dynasty's county. ”

"Mrs. Yao, please tell this Zhizhou. I am the Ming Dynasty Hainan Wei Qianhu, we are here to serve the will of the imperial court, we are going to meet their Qing capital king Zheng Jie. Jiang Beiming temporarily raised his official position by two levels.

After listening to Yao Han's translation, the little old man got down from the sedan chair and looked at Jiang Beiming back and forth for several minutes. Suddenly, he pointed at Jiang Beiming and began to chatter again, not knowing what he was talking about.

When the little old man finally shut up, Yao Hanshi said to Jiang Beiming: "They said that we are pretending to be from the Ming Dynasty, and he said that he has seen Ming officials, and they are not wearing clothes like yours, and your military uniforms are a bit like Westerners." He asked you if you were the Westerners who were assisting the Nguyen clan, and he asked to see your official documents. ”

"Grandma's, I really can't fool him." Jiang Beiming secretly scolded in his heart, "Mrs. Yao, please tell him that the official documents are not for officials of his level, and we will hand them over directly to Zheng Jie." Also, our military uniforms are different from those of the Ming Dynasty, because we are the latest army of the Ming Dynasty. ”

After Yao Hanshi translated Jiang Beiming's words, the little old man didn't say anything, but simply said a few words and then creaked away in a broken sedan chair.

"How did he go, and what did he say in the end?" Xu Lang asked on the side.

Yao Han's face showed a slight sadness: "He said that we should leave here within 2 days, otherwise his Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals will come to destroy us." ”

"Heavenly Soldiers?" Not only Xu Lang and Jiang Beiming, but even Cheng Yiyi and Yao Chun next to them laughed unconsciously.

Yao Hanshi couldn't help frowning: "Ladies and gentlemen, there are no heavenly soldiers and heavenly generals, but the people advise you not to take it lightly. Although Annam said that the country is small and weak, their soldiers are not weak, especially because they still have war elephants. ”

"War elephants? And they still have elephants? Cheng Yiyi asked.

Jiang Beiming didn't wait for Yao Han's answer and said directly: "Mrs. Yao, please go to the big tent to talk about it." ”

In the big tent of the Chinese army, the three-person team of the highest decision-maker, Xu Lang, Zhou Lei, Wang Zhaoxing and others were all sitting together, and Yao Han was briefing them on the situation of war elephants in Vietnam.

Before setting out on the expedition, Lu Tianxiang gave a special lesson to the traversers of these expeditionary forces. Now Vietnam has a population of about 3 million, and the Trung clan controls three times the population of the Nguyen clan. There is also the Mo Dynasty that divided Gaoping, and the protectors of Xuanguang Town, Wu Degong and Wu Gongyi. The Trung clan ruled over a population of about 1.8 million, and the Nguyen clan ruled over a population of about 600,000. Mo and Wu each control a population of about 100,000. The population of the city is about 100,000. There were about 100,000 ethnic minorities in the plateau who were not under the rule of the Vietnamese government at that time. The Mekong Delta is about 100,000. The population of Tusi on the border of Beiyue, Lao Cai, Laizhou and other places is about 100,000.

In the Zheng Nguyen War, the Zheng clan was able to mobilize less than 100,000 regular troops plus people, but the remaining troops were about 50,000, and they had 500 elephants and 500 boats. The strength of the Nguyen clan was about forty or fifty thousand people, 100 elephants. The Mo clan and the Wu clan each had less than 10,000 troops.

"My lords, the women have seen their war elephants with their own eyes." Yao Han said, "The elephant is huge, covered in strong armor, and there is a watchtower built on the back of the elephant, and there are royal hands and archers in the watchtower. The elephant was usually slow, but when it did, it was said to be unstoppable. Especially since their flesh is hard and thick, and with the armor covered, ordinary knives and guns can't hurt them at all. ”

After Yao Han's introduction, the Annan war elephant went back to rest with Yao Chun. The rest of the time-travelers continued to discuss the current situation.

"Looks like I'm going to have a fight." Jiang Beiming said first, "I didn't expect that little Vietnamese old man to really be blind to him." ”

"What if they do send war elephants?" Zhou Lei asked, "That's several tons, the entire ancient tank, can our walls withstand their impact?" ”

"You don't have to worry about that." Jiang Beiming said, "Regarding the issue of war elephants, I really paid attention to it when I was studying war history at the military academy. Although they are very powerful, that is against infantry and cavalry. In the age of firearms, it was useless at all. In 1751, a battle broke out between the British and Indian armies at Prasay. As a result, in the face of the powerful artillery and flintlock pistols of the British, the Indian war elephants were completely wiped out, and the war elephants completely withdrew from the stage of history. We are now armed with flintlock pistols and artillery, and our guns are no worse than the British army 100 years later. So you don't have to worry about this problem. However, I am worried that if the war really starts, our total of more than 500 troops, the Yazhou and the 3 Damingfu ships have all gone back yesterday, in case the battle situation is not in our favor, only one God will not be able to carry so many people. ”

"What's the matter, you don't have confidence in the combat effectiveness of our mixed battalion?" Wang Zhaoxing asked.

"It's not that there is no confidence, it's a matter of numbers. Don't forget that Lu Lao said that Zheng Jie's left-behind troops may be 50,000 people, and we only have 500 people. ”

"What are you afraid of?" Lin Zhaolong was a little unconvinced, "I came with a machine gun." ”

"Machine guns are useless either." Xu Lang said first, "Don't you just bring a machine gun, and there are only more than 500 bullets. And apart from this machine gun, we didn't have a single modern weapon, all flintlock guns and artillery. ”

"I don't understand military affairs." Sun Tianhao suddenly asked, "But I want to know, with our current military camp and more than 500 troops, how many people can we carry at most?" ”

"I don't know what you mean by carrying." Jiang Beiming replied, "If you don't count the casualties, I think there should be no problem with the attack of four or five thousand people, but the problem is that we can't afford to kill people." As you all know, the last crossing meeting passed the "Measures for the Pension of Wounded and Wounded Soldiers", which is 200 taels for one dead and 100 taels for one seriously injured. Think about it, if there are 180 dead and wounded, then Sun Dalei will not be able to eat me. ”

"How do I think you're looking more and more like American GIs?" Cheng Yiyi said with a smile, "Human life is worth more than anything else." ”

"Isn't that right?" Xu Lang asked rhetorically, "Is there anything more valuable than life?" ”

"Of course there is, freedom and dignity." Cheng Yiyi replied.

"You know that's not what I said." Xu Lang was a little unrelenting.

"Alright, alright, now is not the time for you to argue about this." Jiang Beiming stopped the quarrel between the two people, "That's it, Lao Wang, move half of the artillery on your ship, let's arrange 7 naval guns and 6 three-pounder guns, attach them to flintlock guns and thunderbolts, form crossfire from far and near, fortunately, we have more flintlock guns, 300 pieces." Lin Zhaolong's machine gun could not be used until the last moment, and after firing these 500 rounds, the machine gun would become a burning stick. ”

"Do you think the Vietnamese can really come, and will they be scaring us?" When Wang Zhaoxing heard that his artillery was going to be moved, he was a little reluctant.

"You have to take precautions, and it doesn't hurt to be prepared first." Jiang Beiming stood up after speaking, "Let's go and prepare." Damn, I didn't expect to have to fight first when I first arrived in Vietnam. ”

A few days later, in the morning, a torrential rain fell from the sky. Xu Lang, Jiang Beiming and others were soaked when they returned to the tent after inspecting the defense line. Several people took off their military uniforms and burned a fire while wringing water.

"What the hell is the weather." Xu Lang sat by the brazier and scolded, the ground under his feet, which was originally quite flat, was already muddy.

"I didn't expect it to be so cold when it rained in Vietnam." Zhou Lei was shivering, and took a dry coat from the side that I don't know who it was and put it on his body, "This Vietnamese haven't come for so many days, are they really scaring us." ”

"Who knows. However, this kind of weather is the most suitable for eating a hot pot and drinking a little wine. Sun Tianhao quipped on the side.

Jiang Beiming was naked, stretching out his hands to roast on the fire, and just as he wanted to speak, there was a rapid ringing of the bell from the watchtower at the gate of the barracks.

"No, it won't." Several people were stunned, "Just this ghost weather, the Vietnamese are here?" ”

Several people rushed out of the tent and ran to the fence topless, without even putting on clothes.

"What's the situation?" Jiang Beiming asked Ye Zhan, the officer on duty.

"Report to the sir, the Annanites have been spotted ahead." Ye Zhan replied as he raised his finger to show it to a few chiefs.

Jiang Beiming raised the telescope and looked in the direction of Ye Zhan's finger: "Pass the order, first-level battle alert." ”

Looking through the binoculars, a dense crowd of Vietnamese people was heading towards this direction, numbering in the thousands.

"Damn, there are a lot of them. Is this really going to be a war? I don't give any face. Sun Tianhao did not forget to be humorous at this time.

Jiang Beiming didn't bother to deal with him: "Wang Zhaoxing, go to the artillery position immediately and prepare for artillery shooting; Zhou Lei, 2 infantry companies are handed over to you; Lin Zhaolong, Xu Tianbin, take your people as reserves; Liang Chengdong and Cheng Yiyi, you go to take charge of the medical team; Yiyi, protect Yao Han's family; Sun Tianhao, Gu Yunkun, your pioneer group is ready for logistics. All actions depend on my command, and there must be no mistakes. ”

Everyone shouted "yes" in unison and went down to get ready to go.

"How's it going, how do you feel?" Jiang Beiming put on the military uniform brought by the orderly and asked Xu Lang, "This is a real formal war, the first time." ”

"yes." Xu Lang also put on his clothes and said with emotion, "It's a mule or a horse, it's time to pull it out for a walk." We've been training so hard for so long that we can't fight any battles and have to rely on machine guns. No matter how well we fight this time, it will be beneficial to the future development of the armed forces. After the battle, I will be responsible for the summary of the battle. ”

Jiang Beiming suddenly patted Xu Lang: "Do you still remember the first time we went ashore to kidnap Lin Chao and Lu Xing, at that time, your teacher Xu was nervous and his palms were sweating." ”

"Hehe, you remember." Xu Lang smiled, "This time and that time." When Zhang Hai and I encountered He Lao Liu, the first time we shot someone, Gu Yunkun was so frightened that I cried, and I vomited. ”

"yes, it's the first time. But now you dare to throw a grenade. Jiang Beiming said as he handed the telescope to Xu Lang, "They don't seem to have a war elephant this time." ”

Xu Lang held the binoculars and looked at it for a while: "No, but there are a lot of people, I think there are some rules when I look at their arrangement, but I don't understand." ”

"Huh." Jiang Beiming laughed in his mouth, turned his head and shouted: "Herald, pass the order, 30 naval guns can attack." ”