"Ang, Ang", with a high-pitched roar, three elephants appeared in front of the eyes of the Tang officers and soldiers.

Most of the Tang troops who went out this time were from the northwest region, and they had never seen elephants, so they were very surprised by the huge bodies of elephants.

Li Hong, head of the overseas intelligence bureau in the south, said: "This is called an elephant, and there are many such elephants in Linyi country. King Fan Fanzhi of Linyi had an army of 12,000 men, the most powerful of which was an army of 5,000 elephants. ”

Next, he introduced the operational characteristics of the elephant soldiers.

Elephant warfare is a swarm charge. The herd of elephants rushed forward, like a cluster of tanks charging, black and oppressive, invulnerable, unstoppable. Its long snout curled the person up with a slight touch, and then smashed the person to pieces. The great elephant's hoof stepped on the man, and the man became a meatloaf.

The elephant soldiers fought extremely well, and the ordinary cavalry troops were no match at all.

The prince specially organized a force of 12 elephants and demonstrated the situation of the elephant soldiers charging in groups, which left a deep impression on the Tang army.

How to deal with the elephant troops of Linyi Kingdom? The generals of the Tang Army had a bit of a headache.

On this day, the prince once again organized an attack by the elephant troops, and then he organized a counterattack against the elephant troops, and after he used a trick, he quickly routed the elephant troops. The generals of the Tang Army were more confident.

Before the Spring Festival in 641, all the units of the Tang Army participating in the southern expedition reached Yongzhou, and the headquarters of the expeditionary force was formally established, with Li Jing as the commander of the expeditionary force and Xue Rengui as the chief of staff. It has jurisdiction over the Flying Tiger Army, 3 cavalry divisions, 2 infantry divisions, 2 baggage regiments and other support forces, with a total of 118,000 men.

The crown prince and Zhang Xuansu respectively served as the deputy envoy of Linyi Xuanfu.

On the 8th of January, Yongzhou Thorn Mansion.

The command of the expeditionary forces held the first operational meeting.

Li Hong, head of the Overseas Intelligence Bureau in the south, gave a briefing on the situation in Linyi: Linyi has a total of 7 counties, 37,000 households, a population of 146,000, an army of 12,000, and a reserve of 23,000 soldiers.

When Li Hong was introduced here, the generals talked about it. A cavalry division commander said disappreciatively: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, the barbarians only have more than 10,000 troops in total, and one cavalry division is enough for me, why do you need to use hundreds of thousands of troops?" It's also a waste. ”

The prince said: "You are right, if it is a battle between the two sides, the heroic Tang army can crush the enemy with a single charge. However, things are not what you think. ”

He described what he would encounter when fighting in the country of Linyi.

The climate of Linyi is a tropical rainforest climate, humid and rainy, with muddy roads and lush vegetation, making it difficult to pass. And poisonous insects are rampant, and the smoke miasma is full, and it is difficult for northerners to adapt and they are very prone to illness.

Cavalry units were largely unwieldy here, and horses could only play a role in improving the mobility of the troops. The Tang army's weapons were advanced, and the bows and arrows and swords were extremely powerful, but it was difficult to deploy them in the jungle.

Moreover, the succulent forage horses in the south cannot adapt to it, and they also need to carry their own forage for the horses, and the material support is under great pressure.

In order to ensure victory in the war, 10 times the enemy's strength is indispensable.

At the meeting, it was decided that the Tang Army would carry out two months of adaptive training, and on March 20, it would officially launch an offensive.

Next, the military god Li Jing is in charge of military affairs, so there is no need for Li Su to worry about it. For the god of war Li Jing, with 120,000 well-prepared Tang troops, attacking the 12,000-strong army of Linyi State, if he can't win, then he is not called the god of war.

Li Jing and the generals of the military were unimpressed with this war, feeling that the prince was a little too cautious, and they thought that it was a bit embarrassing to win the battle. In Li Jing's opinion, as long as he was given 6,000 men and horses, he would be able to defeat the army of Lin Yi State, where to use the 120,000 army.

Li Su felt that even if it was an army of 120,000, it was a little insufficient.

What Li Su wanted was not to defeat the Linyi State, nor to occupy the Linyi State, but to permanently annex the Linyi State.

Since Qin Shi Huang unified the Six Kingdoms, the Qin State occupied Vietnam and established Xiang County. Later, all Chinese dynasties occupied Vietnam, France, Japan, and the United States occupied Vietnam, what was the result?

Vietnam is still Vietnam today! Because outsiders are a minority after all.

It is difficult to expand the territory, but it is the most difficult to be able to consolidate it. Genghis Khan built a huge empire, the former Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, etc., which were strong for a while, and eventually disintegrated.

History has proven that the only way for a country to consolidate its territory is through national assimilation. Otherwise, sooner or later, it will still split off.

If the Tang Dynasty wanted to truly annex the Linyi Kingdom into the Tang Dynasty, the only way was to make the Tang people the majority of the population there.

Before the Spring Festival, all provinces in the southern part of the Tang Dynasty received the task of mobilizing 70 families in each of the 596 counties to prepare to move to Linyi State. The conditions are preferential – each household gives away a set of real estate, or the government allocates funds to build it locally. The land occupation is double that of the mainland, and the tax exemption is 5 years and the tax is reduced for 3 years.

At the same time, each county is ready to accept 50 households of Linyi people.

Zhang Xuansu is a capable person, and this time Li Su specially transferred him to serve as the supervisor of Annam Province, which was preparing to be newly established in Linyi State.

After everything was ready, on March 26, 641, Li Jing commanded a large army to launch an attack on the state of Linyi.

The terrain of Linyi is long and narrow, and Li Jing commands the army to advance in parallel, and the momentum is like a bamboo.

Lam Eup King City Pheasant Stick (Saigon).

Fan Fanzhi, the king of Linyi, felt very helpless after receiving the report of the Tang army's attack. Lin Yiguo only has an army of 12,000 people, and it is still scattered all over the country, and he can only concentrate 7,000 people now, and there is no way to face the attack of more than 100,000 people in the Tang army.

Fan Fanzhi had no choice but to urgently ask for help from Ba Povarman II of the Chenla Kingdom (Cambodia).

The Kingdom of Chenla was a large country at that time, with a population of 540,000 and an army of 75,000 people, including 20,000 elephant soldiers.

Fan Zhimin, the prime minister of Fan Fanzhi, came to the capital of the Chenla kingdom, Bai Nang Ben (Phnom Penh), and asked to see Baba Varman II.

Unexpectedly, Babavaman II did not see him at all.

At this moment, Baba Varman II was receiving the envoy of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Yifei.

In the palace, Wang Yifei opened four large boxes, which were filled with all kinds of exquisite glass crafts.

The obese Babavaman II, a pair of swollen eye bubbles were pierced into a slit by dazzling glass artefacts. His fat hand caressed the smooth glass beads, and it felt like caressing a woman's smooth skin, which was extremely pleasant.

There was some friction between the Linyi Kingdom and the Zhenla Kingdom, and Babhavarman II could not offend the powerful Tang Dynasty for the sake of the Linyi Kingdom.

Fan Fanzhi was helpless and determined to rely on the elephant soldiers to fight the Tang army.

On this day, on the field on the right bank of the Saigon River, a tributary of the Tongnai River, Xue Rengui led the 9th Cavalry Division of the Tang Army to confront the main force of Linyi State.

Fan Fanzhi personally led the elephant troops, overwhelming the mountains and seas, and pounced on the Tang army.