During this period, the largest Dutch colonial institution in the Far East was the East India Company, and the headquarters of the East India Company was located in Batavia, at the western tip of the island of Java, about 1,400 nautical miles from Hue Province.

Batavia's location not only held the Sunda Strait, an important waterway from the Indian Ocean to the Java Sea in the Pacific Ocean, but also posed sufficient threat to Manchuria, which was still under Portuguese control to the north. Although the Portuguese were the first to discover the spice islands in Southeast Asia, the Dutch came later, and after establishing a colonial base in Batavia, they quickly took control of the Savu Sea, the Banda Sea, and the Maluku Sea area west of Java Island, and incorporated the spice-rich Maluku Islands under their rule.

In addition, the Dutch established a foothold in Taiwan before the Portuguese and Spaniards, and controlled the shipping route through the Taiwan Strait to the northern Ming Dynasty, Korea and Japan. The benefits to the East India Company from this area were even far greater than those of the Spice Islands, enough to make other European competitors jealous.

Judging from the current distribution of the Dutch East India Company's base in the Far East, there is a lack of a reliable transit point on the route from Batavia to the island of Taiwan for nearly 2,000 nautical miles, and the Indochina Peninsula, which is located at the middle of this long route, is undoubtedly an excellent choice for establishing a base. Previously, the South Vietnamese court had chosen to cooperate with the Portuguese, and at the request of the Portuguese, this cooperation was strongly exclusive, so the Dutch were not given the opportunity to establish an exclusive base here, but if there was an opportunity to change this situation, the Dutch would certainly not let it go.

At a time when the Portuguese's global competitiveness was in decline, and the Kingdom of Spain was preoccupied with the European theater and had no time to pay attention to the changing shape of the Far East, the Dutch would surely be able to gain sufficient naval dominance in the South China Sea - provided that there was no unplanned power in the time and space, of course.

The South Vietnamese court chose to ask the Dutch for assistance, whether in exchange for money or ports in Indochina, and the Dutch must have been happy to see it. As for whether the Dutch would make other demands or even threaten them after they came in, the South Vietnamese court, which was eager to reverse the unfavorable situation, could no longer care so much - there was such a life-saving straw to grasp in front of them, and there was no other choice to hesitate.

The Haihan fleet began to blockade the coastal waters of Hue Province in early January, which made the South Vietnamese court, which had enjoyed a short suspension of war for more than two months, suddenly nervous, and all the ships sent to the Ming Dynasty to buy arms were gone. The court of South Vietnam knew that it would be useless to send envoys to Haihan to negotiate peace, so it could only resort to the last resort and send people to Batavia to bring rescue troops. In the eyes of the South Vietnamese court, only the strong intervention of the Dutch would probably be able to make these crazy Haihan people suspend their military operations.

However, this last struggle was of no avail, not only were the Dutch armed merchant ships that came from Batavia to investigate the news forced away by the Haihan fleet, but even the envoys sent by South Vietnam were caught by the Haihan warships blockading the open sea.

After Qiao Zhiya completed a simple interrogation on the ship, he knew that he had made a meritorious service by mistake this time. If the ship did manage to slip out of the blockade and go to Batavia, and then the Dutch accepted the quid pro quo offered by the South Vietnamese court to intervene in the civil war in Annam, the situation would have changed dramatically. Although the Haihan militia will not retreat because of this, the battle plan formulated before will definitely have to be overturned and restarted. After all, the naval strength of the Dutch was several orders of magnitude higher than that of Nangao, and it would be careless for the militia navy to confront them, and the timetable for ending the civil war in Annam would certainly be greatly delayed as a result. (Baidu search update is the fastest and most stable) and this time he caught the South Vietnamese envoy at sea, which basically eliminated this possibility.

The ship carrying the South Vietnamese envoy Nguyen Zhu returned to the temporary camp on Cham Island the next morning, and the first thing Qiao Zhiya did when he came ashore was to find Wang Tom and report the previous day's harvest. He did not do this in a hurry to show merit, but wanted Wang Tom to take a closer look at the credibility of the matter and the possible changes in the situation.

Wang Tom first carefully examined the handwritten letters of the puppet emperor of South Vietnam and the seal letter of the special envoy Nguyen Zhu that the militia had found from the ship, and then compared the confession obtained by Qiao Zhiya, basically ruled out the possibility that this was a hypothetical situation of South Vietnam.

"But according to the captive's account, a month ago, Hue Province had already sent an envoy to Batavia, but the level was not as high as Nguyen Zhu. It is very likely that the two Dutch armed merchant ships we expelled a few days ago came to Hue to negotiate terms. Do you think the Dutch will stick to the action?" said Jochia, who was not very confident about the current situation.

"It's very unlikely. Tom Wang shook his head and said: "The reason why Hue Province sent an envoy of Nguyen Zhu's level is probably to prepare to sign an agreement with the Dutch in the past, but if there were no heavyweights from South Vietnam present, the Dutch probably would not have taken the risk and rashly chose to send troops." The South Vietnamese region had never been the traditional territory of the Dutch, and without the presence of high-ranking South Vietnamese figures, it would have been difficult for them to trust the South Vietnamese court, which had been cooperating with the Portuguese. ”

Tom Wang's analysis undoubtedly hit a key point in the relationship between the two sides -- the Dutch and the Portuguese have always been rivals, and the coastal ports of South Vietnam have been controlled by the Portuguese for a long time, and the Portuguese have always been the guests of the court of South Vietnam.

Coupled with the fact that the opening of bilateral trade between the Portuguese and the Haihan was no secret at this time, and the Haihan were intent on overthrowing the regime supported by the Portuguese, the decision-makers in Batavia would surely be puzzled by the intricacies of Annam, and they would probably not lightly consider sending troops as a last resort until they really understood the relationship between the three parties.

"The envoy sent by South Vietnam earlier should have informed the Dutch of the news of the complete withdrawal of the Portuguese from Annam, but if you were a Dutchman, would you believe it?" Wang Tom smiled and said: "The savior chosen by South Vietnam is the right person, but the key is that this savior will not trust them at all, if there is no envoy with a special identity like Nguyen Zhu to go to Batavia to prove the sincerity of the South Vietnamese court, the Dutch should not risk sending troops." ”

After listening to Tom Wang's analysis, Qiao Zhiya also felt that there was some truth, so he changed the topic and asked, "Then do you think this Ruan Zhu's special identity can be of any use to us? For example, threaten Ruan Tong with his life?"

"It's probably not going to be practical. Wang Tom shook his head lightly and said: "In addition to serving as an envoy, most of the Nguyen Thong sent him to Batavia with the intention of sending hostages to the door, otherwise what else can the South Vietnamese court use to exchange for the trust of the Dutch? This Nguyen Zhu is in our hands, and it is in the hands of the Dutch, in fact, there will be no substantial difference for Nguyen Thong." ”

"That's it......" Qiao Zhiya was inevitably a little disappointed, although it was a credit to be able to capture the South Vietnamese envoy, but if he could use this prisoner to make some more chapters, maybe there would be more gains, and Wang Tom's opinion obviously denied this possibility.

"Lock everyone up first, maybe it will be of some use later. Wang Tom saw Qiao Zhiya's disappointed expression, and it was not easy to hit him again.

As a result, the second generation of South Vietnamese officials, Nguyen Zhu, and his crew were imprisoned in a temporary prison on Cham Island, and before the two sides officially started the war, the Hai Han side captured as many as 100 prisoners of war of various statuses. Of course, adhering to Haihan's consistent concept of making the best use of things, these prisoners could not sit and enjoy happiness, but had to build their own prison cells by themselves.

During the blockade of the coast of South Vietnam by the Haihan warships, the shipping route from Victory Port to Cham Island also began to be busy, and many cargo ships kept going back and forth between the two places, transporting large quantities of war supplies from Shengli Port to the forward base on Cham Island.

Since the scale of the combat personnel in this operation plan has far exceeded that of last year, the planned combat time will be relatively longer, so the combat materials required have also increased a lot. The Central Military Commission has decided to transport some of the combat materials to the forward base before the start of the war, so as to avoid a situation in which ammunition is already scarce at the end of the battle, as was the case last year. Moreover, North Vietnam's maritime capacity is insufficient, and it is difficult to expect North Vietnam to do anything excellent in the transportation of materials and personnel, and maybe even Haihan will have to spare some ships to help North Vietnam transport troops.

Beginning in early February, North Vietnamese troops gradually concentrated on the Dong Hai line, confronting nearly 30,000 South Vietnamese defenders across the Dong Hai River. The North Vietnamese army did not rush to attack this moat line, because according to Hai Han's battle plan, the first place to attack was not Dong Hai, but Hue province in the south. At that time, the militia group would take the lead in launching a landing offensive on the coast of Hue Province, and the only thing that the South Vietnamese court, which had become a frightened bird, could do, was to transfer troops back from the northern defense line to strengthen the defense. By that time, it would have been much less difficult for the North Vietnamese army to advance south across the trench line than it is now. It is even possible that there is no need for large-scale operations at all, and it will be possible to march all the way south at the pace of the retreat of the South Vietnamese army.

On 14 February, the main force of the North Vietnamese Army took the lead in completing the assembly on the north bank of the Dong Hai River, and nearly 50,000 troops were divided into five large battalions and deployed along the 20-mile-long Dong Hai River. Most of the garrisons in the north were requisitioned south, and even half of the garrison of the imperial city was transferred out to participate in the attack. In addition, it is said that the number of people who were conscripted to the front line for this campaign was also about 50,000. Almost 100,000 people are stationed here, and even if there is no war, the amount of supplies consumed by people eating and chewing horses every day is a huge number. It is no exaggeration to say that the North Vietnamese had already regarded the war as a gamble on their national fortunes, and had staked almost all of their chips in their hands.

On 17 February, the special operations battalion at the port of Heitu, led by Qian Tien Dun himself, arrived at a small uninhabited island about 15 nautical miles off Quang Tri City, southeast of Dong Hai, on board a fleet of seven troop carriers and five supply ships, and this is also one of the closest islands to Hue Province in the South Vietnamese-controlled area.

This time, the Heitu Port Military Region dispatched more than 800 combat personnel, and Qian Tiandun almost pulled out all the elite troops under his command, and Yong'an Port and Tushan Port each stationed only one platoon of recruits, while Heitu Port simply handed over full responsibility for defense to the reserve militia and police force.

On 18 February, the first batch of militia army units from Sanya arrived at the temporary base on Cham Island after nearly three days of drifting at sea, and the second group of main forces also arrived here a day and a half later. More than 2,000 warlords have arrived outside the small bay in the western part of Cham Island, where more than 2,000 warlords have overcrowded the island's already small residential area. The multiple troops that arrived here at the same time could not even complete the assembly on the shore at the same time, so they could only land ashore in batches.

On 19 February, Yan Chujie, the commander-in-chief of the Haihan militia who personally supervised the war, also took the "Lightning" to escort the last batch of war materials before the war to Cham Island, which also meant that the military operation jointly launched by North Vietnam and Haihan against the South Vietnamese court was about to begin.

On the night of Yan Chujie's arrival on Cham Island, he held a pre-war preparation meeting to learn about the rest and preparation of various troops. However, the special operations battalion in the north of Heitu Port was too far away from Cham Island, and no one was sent to participate in the combat readiness meeting, and only a brief report on the situation was made on the Guò radio.

“...... All the troops participating in this operation from Sanya have already arrived on Cham Island, and a small number of soldiers have a strong seasickness reaction because they are not adapted to the sea conditions during the march. However, the field hospital was completed this morning and began to treat those who are not accustomed to the soil. The inventory of war materiel is still in progress, and it is expected that this will be completed by tomorrow morning at the latest. Wang Tom, as the person in charge of the preliminary combat preparedness work, briefly reported the current situation to Yan Chujie.

Yan Chujie nodded and said: "There is not much time left for us to recuperate, today I received a telegram from the liaison office of the Donghai camp, and the North Vietnamese generals are urging again." ”

"They are not afraid that we will not do it, but they are afraid that they will not be able to afford the consumption of the 100,000 people in Donghai if it drags on like this. Tom replied with a smile.

Haihan dispatched less than 5,000 men, but the amount of supplies needed was already an extremely staggering amount. The North Vietnamese had nearly 100,000 combat troops and civilians on the front line of Dong Hai, and the long supply of the supplies they consumed was enough to put the North Vietnamese logistics department on the verge of collapse.

"It's good that you understand. Yan Chujie stretched out two fingers and said: "Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, we will rest for two more days, and at six o'clock in the morning on the 22nd, the operation will officially begin." ”

However, the space for movement on Cham Island is too limited, and all the troops can only take turns to use the same open space when they want to assemble as a team, and the so-called combat preparation time can really only be based on rest and recuperation, and at this time the difference between new recruits and veterans can be clearly seen.

Soldiers who have been in the army for more than a year and have participated in the operation to aid Vietnam in January last year, the battles of Lijiazhuang and Dangan Island in May, and the attack on Hoi An City in August are basically very calm. They had faced an enemy several times their size on the battlefield, and they had personally experienced the process of winning more with less, and they knew very well that the unit they belonged to had a very terrible combat effectiveness. Stepping on the battlefield of South Vietnam again is, at best, just another battle to beat the opponent, and there is really nothing to be nervous about. Instead of worrying about what will happen after stepping on the battlefield, it is better to first calculate how much bonus military salary you can get after the completion of this combat mission.

Although the officers and veterans had repeatedly told them before this that all the enemies who dared to go against the Haihan militia were local chickens and dogs, and they would all kneel down in front of the invincible firepower output of the Haihan militia, the recruits still could not avoid nervousness and anxiety until they witnessed the legendary "crushing battle" of the militia. And if this kind of tense situation is not handled well, it is very likely to evolve into a fear of war. The solution to this problem is to let the officers at the grassroots level do as much psychological counseling as possible on the one hand, and on the other hand, they have also stepped up propaganda on the calculation of military merits and military salaries after the war, so as to divert the attention of the recruits from the unknown war situation as much as possible. As long as the battle starts, these recruits will naturally grow up quickly after experiencing the baptism of war. At that time, they will be as fortunate and proud to serve in an invincible army, just like these calm veterans now. After two days of rest, on the morning of 22 January, the militia soldiers began to board the ships in batches and set out on their journey. At the same time, the generals in the North Vietnamese battalion who received the news of the departure of the Hai Han militia were finally relieved, and the attack of the Hai Han militia meant that the defenders on the south bank of the Dong Hai River would soon receive an order to retreat to the rear. As long as the North Vietnamese army crosses the Donghai River in front of them, there is nothing in front of them that can stop their own moats.