These fireships had a shallow draft and were not hindered by chains. About two or three hundred meters away from Zeng Guangxian's flagship, the Vietnamese lit the fire boats and jumped into the river one after another.

Zeng Guangxian knew that he couldn't hinder these fireships, they were smooth sailing and fast. Once you get close to your ship, the wind will quickly bring fire to your ship.

There was no time to bother with the fireships anymore, the small boats of the Vietnamese had already come under the three battleships, dozens of ropes and hooks had climbed to the battleships, and all the sailors had already engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Vietnamese.

"Cut the rope and keep turning." Zeng Guangxian drew his command knife and joined the melee.

The flagship finally made a turn, but the three fireships also hit the stern, and the fire quickly burned along the wind.

Zeng Guangxian picked up a short axe from the deck, cut off a hook lock on the port side, and looked back at the flames in the stern: "Pass the order, all the battleships retreat at full speed." ”

"Sir." The first mate ran over and grabbed Zeng Guangxian, "We should abandon the ship, the fire is getting bigger and bigger." ”

"It's not time yet." Zeng Guangxian shook off the first mate's hand, "Execute the order and retreat at full speed." ”

The three battleships finally broke out of the encirclement of the Vietnamese, and Zeng Quang Hsien's flagship slowly slowed down with the fire.

"Order, all sailors leave the ship, let's abandon ship." Zeng Guangxian finally gave the order to abandon ship.

The boats were lowered one by one, and some of the sailors who couldn't wait jumped directly into the river. Standing at the bow of the boat, Zeng Guangxian could already feel the heat wave rushing from the stern.

"Sir." The first mate ran over and reported, "All personnel have left the ship, now please leave the ship." ”

Zeng Guangxian nodded, as the captain of the ship, the last to leave the ship is the Navy's regulations.

The other two warships approached and began to rescue the overboard crew.

Zeng Guangxian boarded Da Silva's battleship: "Da Silva, rescue the people who fell into the water, we will return to Jinpu." ”

"Sir." Da Silva wanted to say something, but saw Zeng Guangxian's sad and indignant expression, and didn't say anything.

Zeng Guangxian silently looked at the flagship that was slowly sinking, and he didn't know what it was like. Yulin Bay has been preparing for the landing of Annan for half a year, how can I fight like this in the first battle. Whether he is really incompetent or God wants to help Vietnam, Zeng Guangxian's mood is getting heavier and heavier, and he doesn't know what happened to Han Wantao.

Han Wantao is not much better. After Ye Zhan arrived at the place where Xu Lang said Zhi Ai, he stopped advancing and sent scouts to go around. The scouts came back to report that there was no trace of the Vietnamese, and Ye Zhan ordered the infantry regiment to move on.

But just after Zhiai walked out, there was a military camp in front of him that was not on the map. It looks like it has just been built, with rows of fences and earthen walls blocking the way. Before Ye Zhan could send a herald to report, a large number of Vietnamese poured out behind him to surround his infantry regiment.

The two sides soon fought, Ye Zhan did not carry artillery, nor did he have time to dig trenches, all the fighters all looked for favorable terrain and used the range advantage of rifled guns to barely stop the Vietnamese attack. But there was artillery on the side of the Vietnamese, and the infantry regiments suffered a certain degree of casualties under the blows of the artillery. Fortunately, Ye Zhan's regiment was all veterans, and there was no collapse. Ye Zhan gathered his troops, stubbornly persisted for more than two hours, and finally waited for Han Wantao's large army.

Han Wantao and Xu Lang were anxious when they learned that Ye Zhan was surrounded. Several charges of the two cavalry regiments did not break through the Vietnamese lines, but were wounded by Vietnamese artillery. In the end, Han Wantao transferred all the two artillery regiments, and finally opened a gap with artillery. The cavalry regiment rushed in, and the infantry regiment covering Ye Zhan retreated.

The Vietnamese also retreated, but it was getting late and neither side did anything more. Han Wantao ordered the construction of fortifications overnight and convened a meeting of officers at and above the regimental level.

"What the hell is going on?" Han Wantao roared at the meeting, "Xu Lang, haven't you personally checked the route of the march, why don't you see such a big military camp." ”

Xu Lang knew that it was useless to explain now, so he didn't say a word.

Ye Zhan stood up and defended Xu Lang and said, "Sir, that military camp should have just been built, and Chief of Staff Xu didn't have it when he surveyed. ”

Han Wantao also knew that this was not about Xu Lang, and his tone was a little softened: "How many casualties have you suffered today?" ”

Xu Lang replied: "Ye Zhan's regiment suffered more than two hundred casualties, and the cavalry regiment was close to one hundred. ”

"Oh yes." Han Wantao scolded fiercely again, "Why is it like this, why are the Vietnamese prepared." ”

"Wan Tao, don't get angry yet." Lin Zhaolong persuaded, "Ye Zhan, how many troops can that barracks have?" ”

"Sir." Ye Zhan replied, "It is estimated that there will be an army of about forty or fifty thousand people. ”

Ye Zhan's answer surprised everyone, forty or fifty thousand people, could it be that the main forces of North Vietnam are all here, didn't they follow Ruan Qi to the south, how could there be so many people here.

Xu Lang figured it out a little: "Wan Tao, I think it's better to break the meeting, let the troops strengthen their vigilance tonight, and I want to talk to you about some things alone." ”

This officer meeting ended in less than half an hour, and Xu Lang left Han Wantao, Lin Zhaolong, and Xu Tianbin alone.

"Let's have a little meeting." Xu Lang said, "The current situation is obvious, Zheng Ji must have known about our Annan landing plan, and he deceived Li Fuqiang." Ruan Qi led his troops not to the south, but to stop us here. ”

"Chief of Staff." Xu Tianbin asked, "How could Zheng Jie know about our plan?" ”

"I don't know about that." Xu Lang replied, "It may be that someone reported to him, or it may be that we changed the guard of the army and made Zheng Jie alert." But these are not important now, and we are afraid that we will have to change the battle plan for important things. ”

"How do you want to change." Han Wantao asked.

"I guess Zeng Guangxian is also in trouble, and he may not be able to get to Thang Long Mansion. If Zeng Guangxian also returns to Jinpu, it means that Vietnam is very well prepared, and our strategic intention of a quick victory will not be achieved, and we must think of other methods. ”

"What's the other way?" Han Wantao asked.

"Don't worry, listen to me." Xu Lang lit a cigarette, "We have two choices now, the first is to abandon the Annan landing plan and retreat to Yulin Bay." ”

"It's not going to work, it's definitely not going to work." Han Wantao and Lin Zhaolong shouted at the same time.

"I know it's not going to work." "So we can only keep fighting." Our new army is 20,000 people, and the Vietnamese side can use 100,000 troops. But we have the advantage of artillery and rifled guns, and if we push through it, the final result may be our conquest of Vietnam. But time, this war may drag on for half a year or even a year. ”

"One year is one year." Han Wantao became popular again, "Lao Tzu will also fight Vietnam in a year." ”

"Wan Tao, don't forget one more thing." Xu Lang reminded, "If we push Vietnam and the war lasts for more than a year, it will cause great damage to Vietnam." And the purpose of our conquest of Vietnam this time is to use Vietnam's population and resources, and with such a play, we will lose more than we gain by turning Vietnam into ruins. ”

"One more point." Xu Lang said again, "I now suspect more and more that this news was told by Tao Min Zheng Jie, although I don't know how Tao Min knew the news." But Tao Min's intentions were obvious, to drag us down with Vietnam, and then he would attack Japan. By the time we conquer Vietnam, he will probably conquer Japan as well. Then we will be more passive. ”

"Chief of Staff." Xu Tianbin asked, "What you said is very reasonable, if we defeat Vietnam now, it is very likely that we will not be able to get Vietnam's population resources." The Vietnamese and the Japanese are different, and if Tao Min conquers Japan, no matter how much damage is done to Japan, the Japanese will obey him, which is the personality of the Japanese. But in that case, we won't get soldiers, and Tao Min might get Japan's population resources. Tao Min can even kill Huang Taiji first and unify Mongolia, Northeast China, Korea and Japan by himself, and the Ming court will not be able to bear it. ”

"Tian Bin." Lin Zhaolong said with a smile, "Your little head is getting smarter and smarter now, and you can still think of such a long-term thing." ”

"No kidding." Han Wantao was upset, "What the hell should I do, you all tell me what you think." ”

"I'll give you a few suggestions." Xu Lang said, "First, let's withdraw Jinpu, this is necessary, we can't spend it here, Zeng Guangxian will also retreat." ”

"I understand this." Han Wantao agreed.

"Second, I will write a letter to my family and make a detailed report on the situation in Vietnam, and the final decision is to let my family pick it up." Xu Lang didn't say a word, he suddenly felt that the decision made by the Crossing Conference to go south first and then go north was wrong. But I was also hindsight, and I didn't expect to be blocked in Vietnam. Besides, even if they went north first, an army of 20,000 people would not be able to conquer Japan.

"That's for sure, and there's more." Han Wantao asked again.

"I will give the family a few options and let the family have an idea. First, we push Vietnam, but this push is not a simple flat push, we are strong and clear. Since our goal this time is to send all the Vietnamese population that can be controlled to Yulin Bay, and let the family reorganize them, in fact, it is also looting. ”

Xu Lang said the word robbery and felt that it was not appropriate: "Anyway, that's what it means, you just need to understand." The second suggestion is to negotiate with Zheng Jie, and we will clearly tell him that our goal is not him but the Manchus in the northeast. We really cooperated with him to defeat South Vietnam this time, but our condition was to integrate the South Vietnamese army into the Yulin Army and transfer it to Hainan Island. I think Zheng Jie's method may be able to agree, because he may not be able to control these armies. ”

"I think it's enough." Lin Zhaolong had just said something before being interrupted by Han Wantao, "Zhaolong, don't talk yet, listen to Xu Lang." ”

"The third suggestion is to immediately stop the landing in Annan and transfer the Combined Fleet to Dengju to prevent Tao Min from attacking Japan." After Xu Lang finished speaking, he shook his head again, "I also know that this suggestion is unlikely. ”

"I think the second suggestion should be the best thing to do." Xu Tianbin said.

"I have one more suggestion." Xu Lang asked, "Do you think even if we don't interfere with Tao Min's fight against Japan, how long will it take for him to conquer Japan?" ”

Lin Zhaolong thought for a while: "Whatever, it will take a year at the earliest." ”

"That's right, we hit the time difference." Xu Lang said, "No matter what method is used, we will strive to end the affairs in Vietnam within half a year." Then he joined forces with Zheng Zhilong to attack Tsushima Island and block Tao Min in Japan. Uniting with the Japanese again, annihilating his new Korean army in Japan, and turning back to take Korea, haven't the Japanese always been very interested in Korea? ”

After listening to Xu Lang's suggestion, the three of them didn't speak, and Han Wantao asked: "You want to cooperate with the Japanese to fight North Korea, you are not afraid that Chongzhen will eat you." Have you thought that without the Ming Dynasty's view of the Japanese Invaders, you could become a traitor. ”

Xu Lang scratched his head: "That's what you said, it seems a little inappropriate to do this, but if you can unite with the Japanese to defeat Tao Min, or even defeat the Manchu Qing." It's really hard to choose. ”

"I don't think it's impossible." Xu Tianbin said, "It is definitely not possible to unite Japan to attack Korea, but it is possible to unite with Japan to annihilate the new Korean army and prevent Japan from falling into the hands of Tao Min." ”

"Let the family decide this matter." Han Wantao asked, "Do you have any other ideas?" ”

"Nope."

"Okay." Han Wantao finally ordered, "Tomorrow, all departments will reorganize their troops, slowly retreat, and return to Jinpu to talk about anything else." ”

Early the next morning, the armies on both sides were nervously guarding each other, but Ruan Qi sent someone to deliver a letter. In the letter, Nguyen Qi strongly criticized the operation in Yulin Bay, and clearly told Han Wantao that Zheng Jie had gathered 100,000 troops, and if Yulin Bay still insisted on going its own way, then North Vietnam would attack Jinpu. And now Thang Long Mansion has four gates of martial law, only allowed to enter and not allowed to exit, once there is any accident, more than 1,000 Ming merchants in Thang Long Mansion will be all imprisoned, and all the consequences will be taken care of by Yulin Bay.

Xu Lang immediately sent a letter back to Nguyen Qi, repeatedly claiming that the conflict was a misunderstanding and that Yulin Bay had no intention of attacking North Vietnam. and asked Ruan Qi to agree to the withdrawal of the Yulin Army to Jinpu, and he would find an opportunity to explain the situation to Zheng Jie in the future.

After several days of correspondence between the two sides, Ruan Qi finally agreed that the Yulin army should withdraw to Jinpu and station, and that it was not allowed to leave Jinpu for half a step.

Han Wantao had already received the news from Jinpu that Zeng Guangxian's three warships had been burned down, and Zeng Guangxian had also withdrawn to Jinpu.