Chapter 76 is imminent

Hue's geographical location with a mountainous backdrop and facing the sea was destined to be unfavorable for defending against a sea offensive, and Hue's large area of flat terrain near the sea was completely unable to establish an effective defensive position.

Now the news about the possibility of war is still in a completely closed state, after all, this is also unpredictable and explosive information, Xue Chao received an order to immediately start planning to protect the evacuation of Chinese merchants and Chinese once the French army began to attack Hue. As for the direction of evacuation, Qin Kai's intention was to move to the mountains.

Speaking of transfer, Xue Chao recommended a person, it was Song Yunze, the eldest son of Lu Guogong, Song Yunze had been under Qin Kai for several months, when he first arrived, with his background, he wanted to roll among the low-level officers and soldiers, but he also had some xiǎo thoughts, I felt that this Lord Qin was not testing him, he had also experienced in the Vietnamese army from xiǎo, although he was not good at muskets, but the kung fu of weapon sticks was quite capable.

However, after walking around the new barracks in Hue, he suddenly discovered the gap, after seeing the power of rifles and submachine guns, his proud kung fu completely lost the advantage on the battlefield, and his previous arrogance was dispelled at once, this is no longer the era of bravery! However, he was well-educated, and he immediately corrected his mentality and participated in the training with peace of mind.

Apparently well-informed and superior in terms of physical elements, he soon showed superior abilities in training and subsequent advancements of the Mutual Masonic Society, and is now the second captain of Xue Chao's direct management. Xue Chaojian asked Song Yunze to ask, after all, he knew more about the surrounding situation of Hue City.

Seeing Song Yunze, Qin Kai still felt a little unfamiliar, the first time he met the prince of Lu Guo, who was quite arrogant, but now he was unexpected and looked very stable, he smiled slightly, "Yun Ze, please sit down, I have something important here and I need you to come up with an idea!" ”

Song Yunze has seen Qin Kai for so long, and today is the second time they have met, but when he goes home occasionally, he hears his father Song Xing taking care of him every time, and he must show himself well in the army, and the future achievements of the Song family depend on this young Lord Qin! In this regard, he still had some complaints, but the more information he learned in the Hue recruit camp, the more he admired this Lord Qin!

It's not that Qin Kai has engaged in any personality cult education, but that these recruit instructors are all brought out by him, not to mention the student soldiers, they are all knowledgeable and educated new young people, even those native-born rural soldiers, now they can write family letters with a pencil head, and everyone has a deep understanding of their personal growth experience under the leadership of Qin Kai.

This kind of thinking naturally affected the training of recruits, and what every recruit heard the most was what Instructor Qin said, and Instructor Qin formulated such and such tactical regulations...... Even a recruit with a deep background like Song Yunze, every day, what he sees and hears is a new world, and he can only admire and look up at Qin Kai, who created this qiē!

However, seeing Qin Kai, Song Yunze did not look timid at all, hearing that Qin Kai wanted to listen to his opinion, he pondered for a while, and immediately proposed a building, the city of Guangzhi north of Hue is the fief of Lu Guogong, and Guangzhi is surrounded by mountains and rivers, and can take xiǎo-type wooden boats, but not large warships, which is very suitable for the current Hue ten battalion recruits to defend.

Qin Kai immediately decided to let Song Yunze take two teams of recruits to Guangzhi City to make preliminary arrangements, and it was necessary to establish a resettlement area in the mountainous area behind Guangzhi, and at the same time mobilize the Chinese Merchant Alliance to purchase food and other living materials from the river for reserves, while Xue Chao immediately began to mobilize in Hue City.

"Instructor, in the Chinese village north of Hue, I have completed the preliminary plan, and I will step up in the next two days to send away the Chinese who are willing to work at our bases in Quang Ninh and Ha Hui!" Xue Chao continued to talk about the plan here.

"Xue Chao, not only Chinese, Zhou Ruidong did a good job in Quang Ninh, he expanded the scope of Freemasonry, there are many ethnic groups in Vietnam, remember, as long as we support us, we will give them back, and put them into our circle of influence, there are interests to have mutual aid!" Qin Kai smiled hesitantly.

Xue Chao recalled the instructor's words, this is a clear conspiracy, but this is all for the well-being of the Chinese, of course, for those who are sincerely willing to become a member of the Chinese family, we will not refuse, but of course it is true and sincere. ,

At noon, when the ironclad ship sailed into the port of Hue, the Vietnamese king Nguyen Phuc Dinh had an anxiety attack, and immediately called several important ministers, but fortunately, the Hou Nguyen Pu Hung of Zhendong did not know where to get the news, saying that this time the Qin mission was just passing through, and he was going to the south to inspect it, which was to pretend to be for Vietnam.

Hearing this good news, the king of Vietnam was a little relieved, but Qin Kai never came to visit him, which made Ruan Phuc Trần a little disappointed, but thinking that Qin Kai came to visit, he was a little panicked, which is really a contradictory question...... So Song Xing soon received Ruan Phuc Dien's will and assigned him to prepare a rich gift to comfort the Shangguo Qincha.

After all, this time the Great Qing State sent troops to inspect Nanyang, and it was also planned and promoted by the Shangguo Qincha, and now that the matter is done, how can it not be said that one or two. It's just that Song Xing didn't expect that he hadn't gone to comfort yet, but Qin Kai had found mén.

As soon as they met, Qin Kai told him the expected situation, and the French who Qin Kai foresaw last time would attack Vietnam, and soon the war broke out at Ha Tinh Pass, but with the Vietnamese hoarding troops in the important town of Shanxi, France did not continue the next move, but the reconnaissance showed that the French fortress had been established in Ha Tinh Pass, and the purpose of the base established in this throat was self-evident.

Although Qin Kai may not have any conclusive evidence for this news this time, for the previous reasons, Lu Guogong naturally did not dare to take it lightly.

"Lord Qin, tell me the news, I don't think the Lord wants the King of Vietnam to know!"

Qin Kai laughed, "Grandpa Guo, that's true, I won't tell you that my Nanyang Naval Division has a fleet patrolling the Nanyang more than ten days before me, and there is no news so far, so I have to make this worst-case plan!" I came to you today for two things......"

"Lord Qin, but it's okay to say it!" The explosion thrown by Qin Kai really stunned Song Xing, and a fleet of the Great Qing Kingdom went missing while patrolling the South China Sea......

"First, in the event of a war, according to my estimate, the artillery fired from the harbor could cover most of Hue City, so the battle to defend the city must be extremely difficult! By the way, the máo breech rifles that were delivered in the early stage, I wonder if the pro-army in Hue has been proficient? ”

Hearing this, Lu Guogong smiled awkwardly and shook his head helplessly. This musket cào practice, by no means as simple as you think, especially the breech rifle provided by Qin Kai is very narrow, in fact, the front-loading rifle reliability at this time has been greatly enhanced, and the use of fixed paper shell fire and projectiles, when the Western army uses breech guns, the standard loading shè firing formula has more than 20 steps, and now let these Vietnamese slowly mō find a set of army design patterns, it is undoubtedly a big problem for Qin Kai for them, this progress can only be described as turtle speed.

"Lu Guogong, you also understand, within the range of the cannon, the 20,000 pro-army in the city, I don't think the French will attack first, they will collapse first, so I decided under the construction of Yunze that once Hue City is attacked, I will organize Chinese Freemasons and Chinese merchants to retreat to Quang Chi City. But in that case, you still need a lot of help from the national government! ”

Hearing Qin Kai mention his own son, Lu Guogong also smiled slightly, in fact, he had already instructed Song Yunze to propose his own fief as a retreat for the new army stationed here at the right time, and this Lord Qin wanted to bring the Chinese Freemasons and Chinese businessmen, which meant that it was intriguing.

"Lord Qin, this is no problem at all, I will send someone to Guangzhi to deal with this matter! The county order of Guangzhi City, that is my family's brother, I will inform him! The war was imminent, and Lu Guogong was secretly glad that he had reached a tacit agreement with Qin Kai before, and he could take advantage of this opportunity to expand his influence in Vietnam.

Qin Kai glanced at Song Xing, to be honest, this man has always been a figure who makes him not very reassured, capable, ambitious, and good at grasping the general trend, just by looking at him as the only high-ranking official of the Chinese clan in this Ruan dynasty, you can draw some clues.

"The second thing, the imperial court is very concerned about the shape of Vietnam, especially the safety of the king of Vietnam, if it is a critical moment......" Qin Kai said here picked up the teacup, untied the top lid, and began to blow the tea leaves.

What kind of person Lu Guogong is, he naturally understands the meaning - coercing the king of Vietnam to order Vietnam, he was silent for a moment, and suddenly said: "This matter is related to the interests of the Chinese, and I am duty-bound, but I can't do without manpower!" ”,

"Manpower, ask Commander Xue to ask, this matter can only be done with the trend, and must not be in a hurry, when there is great righteousness in front!" Qin Kai took a sip of high-grade Pu'er tea, smashed it, smashed it, and said with a smile.

"Go with the flow...... Righteous ......" Song Xing had a question mark on his face.

"Righteousness is always the rhetoric of the victor...... Guogong, I will naturally understand at this time", Qin Kai arched his hand and said goodbye, and suddenly said before leaving, "Guogong, Yunze can be of great use!" ”

Song Xing was depressed for a while, this is to clearly warn himself that the rise and fall are all in one thought! It's just that I've been secretly investigating for a long time, and I'm still clueless about this powerful Shangguo Qincha who suddenly appeared.

On the same day, a mobilization meeting of all sailors and soldiers was held, and Lu Han and Xu Shoushan mobilized first, which made everyone very aware of the difficulties and dangers that may be encountered in continuing to go south, and also pointed out the great significance of this southward inspection, where there are countless xiǎo islands and a vassal land belonging to China, which are now occupied by the French.

has been in the Mawei military training has been constantly instilled in the military honor and the concept of rejuvenating the country and patriotism, and the Mawei shipbuilding brought them a gradually rich life, but also let these young people deeply integrate into this collective, for the determination of this mission, Qin Kai raised it to the height of the rise and fall of the Mawei shipbuilding, which greatly aroused the enthusiasm of everyone, although facing unforeseen dangers, the morale of the soldiers is still high!

This kind of appearance made Qin Kai quite satisfied with the training of Lu Han's pipe bands, and on the accompanying Ji'an ship, only Chen An and Chen Mo's uncle and nephew were invited to participate in the mobilization meeting, and for the soldiers who were like a rainbow, both of them looked at each other and smiled, and they saw too many exciting situations along the way, which made Chen Mo more determined in his thoughts.

After the meeting, Xu Shoushan proposed to Qin Kai to let Chen Mo come to the 501 ship to start from the soldier's position, but considering Chen Mo's ability, he proposed to let Chen Mo serve as a personal soldier by his side. However, whether he can stand out or not depends on his own ability, but he is still a very serious request, Chen Mo must go to every position below to rotate and train, which is a must.

The next day, facing the incomparably brilliant sunrise on the sea, Qin Kai's fleet was divided into two at Hue Port, and three merchant ships that had unloaded their goods carried the first batch of Chinese youths who went to Ha Hui and Quang Ninh Province to return north, and this time there were several slightly xiǎo cargo ships also joined the team, which was the four xiǎo type cargo ships purchased by the Vietnamese Chinese Entrepreneurs Alliance, and officially joined the Mawei Shipping Company, and the first batch of Chinese young people officially boarded the big stage of Mawei Shipping Administration.

After the other two sailors trained merchant ships to unload their cargo, they were loaded with coal and food, and followed the 501 ship and the Ji'an ship for long-distance supply voyage training, Qin Kai stood next to the nautical chart, pointing to Da Nang and Quang Ngai in the south of Hue, "Gungtang, let's go!" ”

Just when Qin Kai was discussing with Lu Han and Xu Shoushan along the way about the countermeasures that might encounter the enemy, Liu Shenzheng and several of his pipe belts were troubled by the direction of sailing.

After leaving the southbound channel a few days earlier and heading westward, Commander Liu, a new sailor, had lost his way a little, and when he had not been able to find his preset reference for two days in a row, he finally expected that his fleet might deviate from the direction, or more clearly, on the sea.

And the Nanyang guide is obviously a half-ass, for this inexplicable route around the Philippines, the guide is also powerless to say that he can't provide a basis for judgment.

A few xiǎo hours later, the "Yuan Kai" Tetsuwaki ship, which was conducting reconnaissance in front as the first sequence, sent a signal that a large island had been discovered! And on the nautical chart drawn by Commander Liu personally participated and managed, there should not be a single Xiǎo Island within 200 miles around now, let alone a large island......

After berthing off the ship, several pipe bands gathered to the flagship "Chengqing", on the hanging chart, the position of the fleet seemed to be confused, the deviation between the original scheduled position and the current actual position was completely unpredictable, several pipe bands stared at Xiǎo eyes, and did not know how to solve it.

As far as the entire South China Sea area is concerned, only the Xisha and Nansha Islands have large islands in storage, and now this island in front of them is bound to be one of them, but at present, they have sailed in a straight line at sea for three days, and if they return home, the coal on several large ships will not run out, but the coal stored on the 600-ton "Jingyuan" gunboat will definitely not be enough. ,

According to the chart, the distance between the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands is more than 800 kilometers, so he judged that the fleet should now be near the Paracel Islands, and as long as the westward route is maintained, the coastline of Vietnam can be seen as fast as 300 nautical miles (500 kilometers).

It's ridiculous that in addition to this Nanyang uncle, there is no other pipe belt proposed, Liu Shen looked at these pipe belts under his hands quite angrily, and it is very easy to use the sī goods on weekdays, this trip to the South China Sea, mmd, all of them are like pewter gun heads, completely useless......

Because according to this estimate, keeping a straight line is the only way to find the mainland, and Liu Shen naturally understands that in this case, the first continent he sees may not be the capital of Hue in Vietnam, after all, the entire narrow three sections of Vietnam, and now the entire South Vietnam region, according to the news given by Lord Ding, are all controlled by the French.

Therefore, Liu Shen put the entire fleet into a long line with an interval of 2 nautical miles, and the one in front of him was the "super martial" warship led by Wan Dafu, the sailor he valued, which was also a new Tiewei battleship that was just completed last year, with a maximum speed of 12 knots, and it was also a fast ship in the fleet.

The first day of sailing was quite smooth, the "Chaowu" warship in front of it has not hung any warning signs, and the only signal is that a Western freighter has been spotted!

Quang Ngai City, the coastal city closest to the South Vietnam region that the Vietnamese army now controls, because Quang Ngai City is 10 kilometers away from the coastline, and the land route to Quang Ngai is the xiǎo road over the mountains, so the French army has not attacked this military town surrounded by mountains, and the Vietnamese side has also set up two old-fashioned artillery batteries on two mountainsides along the coast, and stationed 5,000 Vietnamese border troops in the military camp in Quang Ngai, maintaining the fragile military balance here.

Early in the morning, the lookout post stationed on the coast sent five or six groups of soldiers to the rear barracks as if they had exploded, and three large warships suddenly appeared on the sea surface of Quang Ngai City, and the Vietnamese army stationed in Quang Ngai was obviously much stronger than the naval division under the command of Nguyen Ru Dan in Hue City.

Eight years ago, the French army also wanted to land in the broad sense, but because the coastline was full of rocks, and there were many offshore reef areas, and it required long-distance attacks, if there was a lack of artillery, even against the primitive army with spears and broadswords, it would not be able to conquer a city, so after a little temptation, they gave up the attack.

Wu Jing, the general of the garrison in Guangyi, was only forty years old, but when it came to the year of joining the army, he was also a veteran of the army, and he also personally experienced the last round of the Vietnamese-French War.

He thought twice, taking advantage of the fact that the officials of Guangyi City had already fled, he led his troops to disperse the granary of the Guangyi Mansion, rolled up the thousands of people who fled from Qiujiang and other places, counted the thousands of defenders in Guangyi, and pieced together five or six thousand heads at once.

Wu Jing has been a diligent person in the Vietnamese army in the past few years, and he has finally trained 4,000 strong troops, of course, his strong army is only relative to other Vietnamese armies......