On the third day after Van Mendi led the Dutch Navy's Second Fleet in the Far East to leave Fangcheng Xingang, the Tianxiong Army and the Guanning Army gathered in Fangcheng Xingang, and the Ming army was about to start attacking Annam! The warships of the Beiyang Naval Division and the Beihai Fleet entered the dock in turn, and groups of soldiers boarded the battleships in an orderly manner, and the grain, grass, baggage, and artillery were slowly transferred to the deck, and even the war horses were all loaded onto the ship.

Half a day later, everything was finally ready, and the huge fleet began to slowly sail towards the port of Haiphong in Annam.

The commander-in-chief of this operation is the chief general of the Tianxiong Army, five-star general Lu Xiangsheng, when he led the army to charge, he was a fierce general who could not be fiercer, but this time it was not just a charge, why did Zhu Cijiong let him command the battle?

The reason is very simple, he is not only a fierce general, but also a Confucian general!

This seems to be a bit contradictory, no matter how you look at the fierce general and the Confucian general, it is a bit incompatible, but he is really a Confucian general, you must know that he is from a jinshi, and he is not from a third-class jinshi, but a second-class jinshi. There are no less than millions of Daming students, and it takes only three hundred Jinshi in three years, and there are less than 100 people in the first and second grades, that is to say, the second class Jinshi is already considered to be one in tens of thousands of Confucian elites, so he is first a Confucian general, and then a fierce general.

The reason why Zhu Cijiong asked him to command this battle is because he is a civil and military all-rounder, he is not a pure fierce general like Zu Er's stunned son Zu Dabi, and he is also proficient in the art of war and strategy.

At this time, he was summoning the other three commanders for a combat meeting, and the four of them stood in a cabin and discussed around a simple sand table model.

Although Cao Wenzhao is also a five-star general, he once served as a deputy under Lu Xiangsheng, and he admired Lu Xiangsheng's courage and strategy, so he respected Lu Xiangsheng very much, and at the beginning of the discussion, he asked: "My lord, look at how we fight this time." “

Lu Xiangsheng looked at the sand table, pondered for a while, and then said: "This battle is mainly a stable word, according to our strength and equipment, if the Zheng family's 100,000 or so horses face us head-on, they will be vulnerable at all, and their only hope for a turnaround is to use the terrain to carry out a sneak attack, so we must be stable." Fortunately, the Dutch fleet has slipped away, so we basically don't have to worry about naval battles. “

Indeed, although Annam also has a naval division, but they are all small warships, not even Fuchuan battleships, in front of the Beiyang Naval Division and the North Sea Fleet is simply a dish, the only thing to worry about is the Dutch Far East Second Fleet, they have fifty super battleships, but now that the Dutch have slipped away, this naval battle is no longer suspenseful, there is no need to think about it at all.

Lu Xiangsheng saw that Cao Wenzhao, Huang Long and Yang Geng only knew how to nod vigorously, and did not mean to express an opinion at all, so he simply pointed to the sand table model and said: "Haiphong Port in Annam is a small port, not suitable for a large army to land, and there are a small number of earth artillery, so it is a bit troublesome to attack, so I think we should simply land on the beach on this small peninsula below Haiphong Port, and then turn back to surround Haiphong City, so that there will be no damage." “

Cao Wenzhao and the other three all nodded in appreciation, Lu Xiangsheng pointed to the sand table and continued: "There is also a Haiyang City between Thang Long City and Haiphong City, after capturing Haiphong, we will first advance to the northwest and take Haiyang City, so that there will be no worries." In addition, there is no threat from the sea anyway, and the two generals Huang Long and Yang Geng are also asked to support 5,000 musketeers each to help us defend Haiphong City and Haiyang City, so that we can concentrate our forces to attack Thang Long City. “

Huang Long and Yang Geng nodded hurriedly in response, and Lu Xiangsheng continued: "Although there are plains all the way from Haiphong City to Thang Long City, there are many woods, so we must arrange enough scouts when we march to prevent ambushes and sneak attacks, I think so, anyway, the cavalry will not play much role in the siege battle, simply scatter them on the left and right flanks of the army, one for every 10,000 people, divided into ten shares, search and advance on the left and right, the Tianxiong Army is responsible for the left flank, and the Guanning Army is responsible for the right flank, as long as the communication is kept unimpeded, Even if Annam's 100,000 troops were all ambushed in one place, it would not hurt that 50,000 iron cavalry would be enough to defeat their 100,000 troops on the plain. “

When Cao Wenzhao heard this, he nodded his head in a hurry, Lu Xiangsheng pointed to Thang Long City on the sand table and continued: "The last thing is to attack Thang Long City, there are not too many tactics to attack the city, and then it will depend on who has more artillery and whose soldiers are fierce!" “

When Cao Wenzhao, Huang Long and Yang Geng heard this, they couldn't help but glance at each other with a smile, competing with "King Lu Yan", I'm afraid there is no one in the world!

The tactics must be certain, the Beiyang Naval Division and the Beihai Fleet went straight to the small peninsula south of Haiphong City, at this time the hundreds of small warships in Annam were hiding under the earthen forts in Haiphong Port and shivering, where they dared to run out to fight with the Ming Navy, so the landing process was extremely smooth, there were no casualties, that is, when the artillery went ashore, it was more difficult, but there were many Ming soldiers, and it didn't take much time to carry 200,000 horses and horses, but it didn't take much time, it only took one day, and the Tianxiong Army and the Guanning Army completed the landing.

At this time, the Annan army in the direction of Haiphong City had already become a mess, and the Annan Zheng clan did not expect that the Ming army would attack from the sea, and Fan Mendi did not realize that the Ming army would use warships to transport the army, and the Ming army he saw alone was hundreds of thousands, and it was transported by warships, so when would it be transported, he thought it was impossible at all, so he did not remind Zheng Jie at all.

Zheng Jie thought that the Ming army only had one way to attack Thang Long City from the north over the 100,000 mountains, because it was like this in history, so he concentrated all the main forces in Thang Long City, and Haiphong City did not arrange many men and horses to garrison at all, even if the defenders of the naval division and the earth fort were less than 5,000 people in total, how could they resist the Ming army's 200,000 army and 200,000 navy?

Early the next morning, when Lu Xiangsheng organized a large army to prepare to attack Haiphong City, spies came to report that the defenders of Haiphong City, including the defenders on the fort and the sailors at sea, had all fled! Cao Wenzhao immediately proposed to lead the cavalry to chase and suppress, Lu Xiangsheng didn't want to say no, the so-called poor Kou Mo chase, in the case of unfamiliar life, it is not advisable to send cavalry to chase and suppress, in case of the enemy's ambush, the cavalry will surely suffer heavy losses, it is better to fight steadily and steadily, and the whole army will advance together.

Lu Xiangsheng did not rush to Haiyang City, he first led the Tianxiong Army into Haiphong City, searched carefully, and confirmed that there were no Annan Army soldiers in the city except for civilians, so Huang Long arranged for 5,000 naval musketeers to take over Haiphong City and the batteries on the shore, and then led the Tianxiong Army, the Guanning Army and the 5,000 musketeers of the Beihai Fleet to line up and slowly rush to the direction of Haiyang City.

At noon the next day, before the 200,000 troops led by Lu Xiangsheng arrived at Haiyang City, there were spies in front of them to report, and the defenders of Haiyang City also ran away!

Lu Xiangsheng still led the army to Haiyang City, searched carefully, and then left the 5,000 musketeers of the North Sea Fleet, and then lined up again and slowly rushed to Thang Long City.

There was no enemy situation along the way, and the Annan army seemed to have all retreated into Thang Long City, preparing to defend the city and fight to the death with the Ming army.

Lu Xiangsheng led the army to walk unhurriedly for two days, and finally arrived outside Thang Long City at noon on the third day.

Thang Long City is completely imitating the city planning of the Ming Dynasty, with a city wall and a moat, but the city wall is only five meters high, and the moat is only twenty meters wide. “

Although he did not surround Thang Long City in this arrangement, but the four directions are all under control, if the Annan army wants to escape, the east and south of the city will naturally not be able to pass, even if they go to the west and north of the city, the cavalry can quickly catch up, and when he arrives here, he doesn't care what poor Kou Mo chases, almost all the troops of the Zheng clan in Annan are gathered here, as long as they are all annihilated here, Annan will be settled, so the Annan army in Thang Long City, don't even think about running!