Wu Sen walked out of the Sailor Yamen, looked down at the talisman in his hand, and shook his head helplessly. Although he persuaded his boss last night and got the right to transfer troops, Wu Sen was not happy at all. It took him a lot of saliva to finally get his boss to promise to send ten more ships to him today to see if there would be a chance to attack the Haihan fleet, but Wu Sen himself knew very well that this scale of troop mobilization would hardly pose a substantial threat to the huge fleet at the mouth of the Xiangjiang River.

It is difficult for Vu Sen to have any resentment against his boss's slamming of the door, not because his boss is not aware of the severity of the situation, but because there are still a large amount of materials that need to be transported from the south bank of the Xiang River to Hue City on the north bank at this time. At this time, being able to transport a few thousand catties of grain into the city may mean that Hue City can stay for one more day. In contrast, it is indeed less cost-effective to send a limited number of ships on hand to carry out an uncertain or even futile attack.

But Wu Sen still refused to give up the plan to attack, he knew that the only chance for the sailor to win was to take advantage of the opponent's unstable foothold to catch him off guard, if he waited until the Haihan people finished the preparations and advanced steadily to the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River step by step, it was likely that there would not even be a chance to fight back at that time. At that time, the warships of the Haihan people cut off the Xiangjiang River, which is equivalent to cutting off the connection between Hue City and the vast area south of the Xiangjiang River, and Hue will completely become an isolated city, and will completely fall into the situation of being passively beaten. Therefore, even if there is only a very slim chance of taking the initiative to attack, Wu Sen is determined to give it a try.

However, the gathering of troops took much longer than expected, so that Wu Sen's plan to set off before dawn had to be abandoned. And the final assembly of personnel also made Wu Sen feel a little sad - the full number of soldiers should be 280 people, but in fact, only 200 people gathered at the dock.

Wu Sen no longer needs to ask what happened, since the news of the failure of the peace talks at the end of last year came out, the situation of desertion in the army has not stopped. A considerable number of people were pessimistic about the imperial court's abandonment of continuing the peace talks and intending to fight a decisive battle with the Haihan people to the end, and those in the army who were unwilling to continue fighting for the precarious Nguyen dynasty became deserters, and the sailors were no exception.

Wu Sen believed that after he left the Navy Division's Yamen last night, the order had already spread among the Navy Division, and fighting against the Haihan people on the water was basically a mission with no return for the South Vietnamese Naval Division's current situation, and naturally there were many people who deserted overnight. In the end, we were able to gather two-thirds of the manpower here, which is already a very good result.

Wu Sen did not make any more cheering preaching, but had the silver box carried up, and handed out two taels of silver to those present—almost all the belongings he could get out of his hands. In his opinion, those who are willing to stay and participate in the war at this time do not need to make any more ideological mobilization, but send some money down, which can stimulate their battle even more.

After the money was distributed, Vu Sen announced his departure, and more than 200 people sailed in eighteen boats from the dock on the south bank of Hue City and sailed downstream.

Wu Sen stood on the deck, letting his own soldiers put on his armor for him. This armor weighs more than 30 catties, and Wu Sen usually does not wear it on patrol, but the next battle may have to face the sharp artillery fire of the Haihan people, and wearing armor can play some protective role - even if it is only psychological protection, it is better than not wearing any protective gear.

At the same time that the fleet led by Vu Sen left the dock of Hue City, Gao Qiao Nan defeated the South Vietnamese patrol downstream, so Vu Sen did not know that his opponent was no longer the Haihan warship at the mouth of the Xiang River, but the Haihan militia army unit that was trying to build a fort to block the river.

"Don't think that the battle in the morning was robbed by the people of Heitu Harbor, I tell you that in this battle against Hue, our army is the main force, and there are many battles to be fought in the back, and the battle in the morning is just an appetizer! Cheer me up and keep an eye on the river! If anyone lets go of a boat, don't say that I am looking for trouble in Tiezhu!" Yu Tiezhu was cheering up his subordinates at this time, the battle in the morning was stolen by Takahashi Nan, and his subordinates were somewhat unconvinced, so the first battalion of the militia was also a trump card descendant directly under the Military Commission, how could the gang of savages in Heitu Harbor have the upper hand?

"Company commander, don't brag, last year when we sent troops to Annan twice, which time was not the main force of the navy? Those people in the navy are now looking at people with their nostrils, how can there be a chance for our army to show off!" Someone complained at the moment, and it sounded like a veteran with some seniority.

Yu Tiezhu replied: "This time is different from last year, this Hue city is not close to the sea, even if the big ship comes in along the Xiangjiang River, it can only be used as a mobile battery on the river, and this siege task must be completed by our army in the end! This time in Hue, we are the main force, and the navy is only worthy of washing our feet!"

Yu Tiezhu's merciless complaining attracted a round of applause from his subordinates, for these army soldiers, the various treatments of the navy after its establishment did make them a little blushing. The military budget allocated by the Executive Committee to the Navy is obviously more than that of the Army, and you must know that the cost of an "Exploratory-class" warship is already more than the military expenditure of an integrated company for one year, while the Navy has built more than a dozen "Expedition-class" ships with a larger tonnage and is also building new ships day and night. In order to seize the time to build more warships, the Victory Port Shipyard even reduced the number of slipways for the construction of cargo ships from the original four to two, and prioritized the freed slipways for the construction of naval ships.

On the other hand, on the side of the army, although in May last year we heard that the "Haihan Ordnance" had produced a new type of rifle, and its performance was much better than that of the Type 28 flintlock pistol equipped by the militia regiment, it was not until August when the militia was dispatched to Hoi An that the militia began to install new guns on a small scale, and the speed of the entire army was even slower, basically replacing new weapons at the rate of one company per month, and it was not until the end of the year that it was decided to send troops to Annam, that the speed of replacement was accelerated. As for artillery, apart from the introduction of large siege mortars of astonishing caliber, there were basically no new products in the whole of last year. Of course, naturalized civilian officers like Yu Tiezhu did not know the R&D and production process of the military industry, what they saw was that the naval guns used by the navy were constantly being modified and improved, and every warship launched was equipped with one, and even the gunners were given priority to the navy.

In fact, it has only been a year since the militia split the navy, and many of the officers of the two armies are familiar with each other, and there is not much resentment between the two sides, but there is definitely a mutual dissatisfaction. Army officers like Yu Tiezhu have long been holding back their strength to use actual combat achievements to enhance the prestige of the Haihan Army.

According to the operational plan of the command, the army will not continue to march southward for the time being, but will take reconnaissance and the completion of the blockade of the river as its main combat mission. In addition to the 1st Battalion and 2nd Company of the militia regiment led by him, a fully equipped artillery company with a total of 12 artillery pieces was deployed on the position where the iron pillar was located.

Ten of the twelve guns were used to block the river, and the other two were erected on both sides of the pontoon bridge of the tributary river to block the pontoon passage, and if necessary, two shots were aimed at the pontoon bridge to isolate the enemy south of the river. Under normal circumstances, this lineup is enough to withstand the simultaneous attack of an enemy army of 1,000 men from both land and water. Yu Tiezhu was certain that the South Vietnamese Naval Division would not give up the opportunity to reconnoiter or even launch an attack from the Xiang River, and the order he received was to use artillery fire to intercept all ships coming from the upper reaches of the river - simple, crude, but the army's favorite mode of warfare.

At ten o'clock in the morning, an arrow suddenly flew on the bank of the river about two miles south of the outpost of the Haihan militia, which immediately attracted the attention of the sentinel. This ringing arrow came from the special operations unit of Heitu Harbor that carried out the reconnaissance mission, and according to the signal agreed in advance, a sounding arrow meant that there was a ship coming down from the upstream. Yu Tiezhu immediately ordered all personnel to enter the combat position, and the artillery was reloaded with ammunition in advance.

Wu Sen, who was still on the river upstream, naturally noticed the sound of arrows flying from the bushes on the shore, and couldn't help but tense his nerves, and ordered all ships to pay attention to the possible enemy forces on the riverbank—but only to be vigilant, these ships were hardly equipped with long-range weapons and could not effectively strike at the enemy on the riverbank.

However, the opponent was far more arrogant than Wu Sen expected, and after a few more miles downstream, the ships that had opened the way in front signaled that there was an enemy on the riverbank, and began to slow down. Soon Wu Sen also noticed the enemy troops on the river bank in front, obviously the other party did not have any intention of covering up his tracks, hundreds of sand bags on the bank formed a low wall about ten zhang long, with several battlements in the middle, although he could not see the situation behind the low wall, but Wu Sen could already estimate what the opponent would put behind the battlements.

"Rush over!" Wu Sen didn't hesitate for long, and then gave the order. If they were blocked by the Haihan militia in this place, and they would return in vain, the last breath of the South Vietnamese sailors would probably be exhausted. In any case, Wu Sen had to fight, perhaps the Haihan people made this temporary fort on the river bank just to scare people, and there was nothing behind the fortifications made of sand and dirt bags that he feared.

However, the reality was far more cruel than expected, and when there were still about thirty or forty zhang away from the Haihan position on the shore, black cannon barrels stretched out from the battlements, pointing towards the river.

"Spread out the formation!" was the last thing Wu Sen could think of. He really didn't have much else to do but rely on the scattered formation to reduce the intensity of his opponent's artillery fire.

Yu Tiezhu, who had witnessed the change in the formation of the South Vietnamese naval division from the shore, only let out a sneer, and ordered the artillery on each gun position to start aiming at their respective targets and preparing to fire.

When the artillery on the shore began to fire, Wu Sen was desperate to find that any tactics were futile in the face of absolute fire suppression. The ship closest to the river bank was strafed by a raging shrapnel about ten feet away, and the hull and crew were torn to shreds, and disappeared into the river almost instantly. The ships that were a little farther away were also unable to escape the storm, the entire river was shrouded in the range of the artillery, and there was no shelter at all to provide cover and cover, such a target was not difficult for the artillery on the shore to operate.

The South Vietnamese sailors on the river had no other way to think of than desperately leaning towards the bank on the other side. However, this struggle did not have any practical effect, and the shotguns used by the Haihan militia did not need to be aimed very accurately, just aim at a general direction and then fire. A single shotgun with a large killing area is enough to cover a considerable area at a distance of two hundred meters, so although the rate of fire of the artillery on the shore is not high, it is still enough to kill the ships on the river one by one.

The most terrible thing is that these ships are still loaded with a large number of ignitions, and as long as they are hit by shells, even if they sweep to the side, they will be ignited immediately. The crew who were lucky enough to survive had no other way than to escape by jumping into the water, and soon there was a pile of burning wreckage on the river.

Wu Sen, who was in the rear of the fleet, almost burst his blood vessels after witnessing this process, although he also knew that his poor lineup was probably not the opponent of the Haihan Mintuan, but he didn't expect the difference in strength between the two sides to be so big. However, more than ten or twenty shells smashed the fleet he had painstakingly organized.

Just as Wu Sen was about to give the order to continue rushing forward, the soldiers behind him had already rushed up to hold him down and stripped him of his armor. Wu Sen shouted angrily: "What are you doing!"

"My lord, the war is unfavorable, why bother to die! Take off this armor, you can still escape!" said the pro-soldier as he kept his hands on it, and he had already untied the armor on Wu Sen's body.

"When the country is in trouble, how can you steal your life!" Wu Sen yelled bitterly. He was really unwilling to be defeated without the ability to resist, so many ships, so many lives, he couldn't even create a little trouble for the opponent, and the only loss caused to the opponent was probably only a few dozen rounds of ammunition.

Seeing that the ships rushing in front were basically swept away by the shells of the Haihan people, and the most conspicuous thing on the river was the ship Wu Sen, the artillerymen consciously began to adjust their muzzles and face this conspicuous target without an order. After a volley, Wu Sen's ship turned into a fire and burned on the river.

"How many ships have you just hit, write them down well, and then report to the command headquarters again!" Yu Tiezhu ordered to the book with a happy face.

It was undoubtedly a very easy battle for the two companies stationed here. And the use of artillery fire on land to destroy the South Vietnamese naval division was enough to squeeze the navy out of the battle plan for the attack on Hue City even more. The only regret is probably that the number of enemy troops killed and wounded in this battle cannot be counted, and no prisoners can be captured alive. The South Vietnamese soldiers who were able to escape in the shelling just now probably had already swam to the other side of the river to escape.

The battle, which lasted less than ten minutes, knocked out nearly a third of the ships and troops of the remaining South Vietnamese naval division, and when the news reached Hue City, there would probably be no more ships that would dare to go down the river to find out what was going on. Large cargo ships that have stayed at the mouth of the sea can now confidently and boldly enter the Xiangjiang River and deliver all kinds of war materials directly to the frontline through guò waterway.

The two small boats that were sent to clean up the battlefield finally captured the South Vietnamese Naval Division Staff General Vu Sen in a swamp near the river bank on the other side. Although he was stripped of his armor and pushed off the ship by his own soldiers, he was trapped in the swamp and could not get out for a while, and eventually became a prisoner of the Haihan people. And this is also the highest-ranking of the personnel captured by the Haihan militia on the first day of the official war.

Yu Tiezhu originally planned to pry out some intelligence from Wu Sen, but he only received military training, and he was not good at intelligence work. After two hours of interrogation, apart from confirming Wu Sen's identity, he did not find any valuable information. Considering that the captive was also a small officer, Yu Tiezhu did not take the liberty of extorting a confession by violence, but sent someone to escort him to a camp by the sea, where a group of trial experts would deal with relevant matters.

In the two days that followed, Haihan's position did not continue to advance further to the south, but remained in its current position. On the contrary, the reconnaissance team of the southern belt of Gao Qiao was active in the periphery of Hue City, and basically figured out the general scope of the large fortification system outside Hue City. Although Gao Qiao Nan also learned a lot about building defensive positions during his studies, this area outside Hue City was still an eye-opener for him, because there was no area so comprehensive among the various defense methods he had learned. It took Takahashi two days to find no obvious loopholes in this area, so he could only draw a sketch first and bring it back for the high-ranking officials of the command to refer to.

"These monkeys are very good at playing!" After seeing the sketch of the fortifications outside Hue sent back by Gao Qiao Nan, even Yan Chujie couldn't help but complain. Although he has not yet seen the scene of that position with his own eyes, according to the sketch and Gao Qiaonan's description, Yan Chujie can roughly make up seven or eight points of the local situation. He really didn't expect that the South Vietnamese court would quietly build such a large area of fortifications outside Hue City, and it seemed that the battle plan for attacking Hue City would not be as smooth as expected. Qian Tiandun smiled: "No matter how you can play, a monkey is always just a monkey." It can be seen that they have indeed put a lot of thought into this, probably hoping that this position can hold us back, and then slowly consume our supplies and troops, and finally force us to choose to retreat automatically. ”