In order to be able to transport the property confiscated from the city by the militia out of the city as much as possible, the command even ordered the temporary recruitment of thousands of people from the city to serve as porters to supplement the transportation capacity. , the latest chapter of the visit wèn:. Hundreds of people lined up in a long line, carrying all kinds of items in the imperial city one by one into the car, and then transported to the riverside outside the city to be loaded on the boat, looking like ants moving.

"I have to say, it feels really good to be a conqueror!" Yan Chujie said proudly, standing on the wall of the imperial city.

Since the establishment of the Hai Han militia, although it has experienced several large and small battles, it is the first time to conquer a large city of Hue's scale, and the city of Hoi An that was defeated last year is probably a little larger than the imperial city in Hue City, and the defense facilities and means are completely incomparable with Hue. The capture of Hue City can be regarded as the first battle in the history of the militia war.

"We've got to move fast, the North Vietnamese guys aren't going to be out of town all the time, they should be going into the city soon. Tom Wang reminded him beside him.

Tao Donglai raised his hand and looked at the time: "It's two o'clock in the afternoon, and the report half an hour ago said that the battle outside the city is almost over." However, I reckon they should need a little more time to deal with the captives. Tom, you take two companies to the West Gate, and if the North Vietnamese army plans to enter the city and block it first, say that we will pursue the fugitives in the city...... Anyway, excuse yourself to let them into town after five o'clock!"

"Okay, just give me this black face to perform!" Tom Wang smiled and took the task anyway.

Yan Chujie's statement is not entirely an excuse, Qian Tiandun and others are indeed leading a team to clear out the remnants of South Vietnam in the city, and arrest some South Vietnamese political dignitaries who have been included in the arrest list. Despite the assistance of a group of leading party leaders, it was not easy for the militia to find and capture a few targets from a large city with nearly 100,000 inhabitants at a time when the army was in chaos. Moreover, there is no way to confirm which people on the list are still hiding in the city, and which ones have escaped from the city by taking advantage of the 'chaos', and the results of the arrest operation are not optimistic.

Of course, the main reason why the militias tried to delay the North Vietnamese army's entry into the city was to buy time to get more oil and water. Outside almost every deep house compound, there are boxes piled up like hills, which are the result of the militia raiding homes. Yan Chujie even asked Tom Wang's naval warships to give up the continued blockade of the Xiangjiang River and take on the task of transporting goods temporarily.

"I've really dug up a gold mine this time!"

At this time, almost every militia fighter had the same idea, and it was probably the first time since they were born to see so much money gathered together, and it was impossible to say that no one was blushing. However, the Haihan military law is strict, and anyone who 'privately' embezzles the spoils of war must be severely punished. Several militiamen who were caught 'smuggling' hiding their belongings were hung from roadside trees with their hands tied behind their ropes, and they were not only subjected to such corporal punishment, but they were also expelled from the military and sentenced to a certain term of hard labor, which is not a terrible punishment.

The vanguard of the North Vietnamese Army arrived outside the West Gate about half an hour after Yan Chujie gave the order, but at this time the West Gate had already been controlled by Wang Tom, who had led the team, and the drawbridge over the moat was raised, and no response was made despite the shouting and scolding outside the city.

This delaying tactic lasted for more than an hour, and it was not until Zheng Bai personally came to the city to call for battle that Wang Tom appeared on the city tower, holding an iron horn and shouting to Zheng Bai across the moat: "General Zheng, now our army is exterminating the remnants of the city in the city, and the shape is more 'chaotic' and 'chaotic', in order to avoid accidentally injuring friendly troops, please take your troops outside the city for a while!"

Zheng Baiqiang held back his breath and said: "If there is anything, you put down the suspension bridge first, and let you cross the river later!"

"Then General Zheng wait a moment, I'll go and ask the headquarters first. After finishing speaking, Tom Wang didn't wait for Zheng Bai to reply, so he threw the iron horn to the subordinates next to him: "Look at them, if they don't try to cross the river, don't care what they say or do outside, call me if you have something!"

Zheng Bai waited outside the city for another half an hour, and when he saw that there was no movement in the city, he couldn't help but scold. However, this kind of venting is useless, except for roaring hoarsely, there is no practical effect at all.

Seeing that the time was passing minute by minute, Zheng Bai was thinking about whether it was time to tear his face and send troops to attack the west 'gate', when he heard a creaking sound from the city tower, and the drawbridge was finally slowly lowered.

Tom Wang greeted the 'door' with an apologetic face, and greeted him from afar: "General Zheng, I'm really sorry to delay you for so long! Just now, the people in the command headquarters went to all parts of the city to supervise the battle, and I couldn't find anyone for a while, so I finally asked for their opinions one by one, and then rushed back to open the 'door' for you." General Zheng didn't wait for a hurry, did he?"

Zheng Bai said in his heart that Lao Tzu was not killed in a hurry, and it can be regarded as a great relief, so he just snorted and said: "Your army said in advance that they would attack Hue City together, and it would be unkind to arrange it like this when the matter comes!"

Wang Tom and Yan Chujie have been 'mingling' for a long time, and their cheeks have long been trained to be as thick as the city wall, how can they be affected by Zheng Bai's level of ridicule, and immediately defended: "Our army is just worried that after your army enters the city, there will be a misunderstanding because of the unclear identification of the number." Now that our army has a complete Hue city with both hands, what is General Zheng dissatisfied with?"

Zheng Bai knew that he couldn't argue with these Haihan people, so he no longer argued with Wang Tom at the moment, and arched his hand and said: "I have led the army into the city here, please send someone to help your army to avoid misunderstanding." ”

"It should be, it should be. Tom Wang replied with a smile on his face. At this time, seven or eight out of ten of the property of the big families in the city had been packed and transported out of the city, and all kinds of valuables in the palace were also packed and shipped out of the imperial city in different categories. The North Vietnamese army only entered the city at this time, and there was no need to hope for 'meat', at most it would be good to drink some soup.

By this time, the remnants of the defenders were no longer visible on the main streets of the city, and the various urban districts were gradually returning to calm, and for the common people, the war was over. Even if there were still a small number of South Vietnamese soldiers hiding in the city, they did not dare to appear again, and those who dared to come forward were either killed by the Haihan militia or captured as prisoners. However, the 'chaotic' battle continued on this day, and there were still many places in the city that left clear marks of the battle, and the North Vietnamese troops entering the city could occasionally see the corpses of the dead defenders on the roadside, or the ruins of houses still smoking from the roadside.

The first place Zheng Bai went to was of course the Imperial City, where a large number of documents related to the South Vietnamese regime were stored, and the information on the status of cultivated land, population distribution, and military deployment under his rule was necessary for the North Vietnamese Imperial Court, and there was also a large amount of wealth accumulated by the Nguyen family in the Imperial City over the decades in South Vietnam.

When he saw the intact Imperial City Tower, Zheng Bai was still secretly glad that he should have arrived in time, maybe the Haihan people had not had time to move the things in the city. But as he crossed the moat and entered the Imperial City, he was almost so frightened by what he saw before him that he fell off his horse.

Just about a mile in front of him, the other side of the imperial city had turned into a pile of rubble on the ground, and a large gap about ten zhang long appeared in the middle of the city wall. Zheng Bai's army is also equipped with a lot of artillery produced by Haihan, he still has a deep understanding of the power of this weapon, to rely on artillery to collapse such a long section of the city tower may be very difficult, Zheng Bai can hardly imagine what the Haihan people have done to the imperial city in the past few days into the city.

After coming to the middle area of the imperial city, Zheng Bai found that many palaces in the city had obvious wounds from cannonballs, and the roof in the southeast corner of the Qinzheng Hall was directly collapsed. Seeing these conditions, Zheng Bai's heart had sunk, and he no longer had too much hope for what he could gain in the Imperial City.

And the result was indeed as he expected, the huge imperial city was actually ten rooms and nine empty, not to mention the gold and silver treasures, and even the shelves in the royal archives were a lot empty. Zheng Bai didn't know how many things the Haihan people had moved, but it was clear that they had already made a full plan, otherwise it would be impossible to empty the valuable things in the city on the day of the attack on the imperial city.

"Although the buildings in the city are a little damaged, it shouldn't be a problem to repair them, and I think it's time to renovate some old houses. As if he was afraid that Zheng Bai's anger was not big enough, Yan Chujie made up for it in a timely manner.

Zheng Baiqiang endured the anger in his heart and said: "The artillery fire is not long-sighted, and it is inevitable that these palaces will be damaged in the war. But doesn't General Yan think that there is a little space in this imperial city?"

Yan Chujie nodded approvingly: "I originally thought that although this South Vietnam was a local separatist force, it should have some belongings, but I didn't expect to attack it and look at it, there were empty 'dang' and 'dang' everywhere, and there was nothing valuable, and it seemed that all the money was smashed in the war." ”

"You ......" Zheng Bai was speechless for Yan Chujie's statement of pushing clean. The things in this palace are gone, the Haihan people don't admit it, and Zheng Bai has no way to think about it.

Zheng Bai's mouthful of old blood was held in his heart, he was so angry that his head was a little dizzy, and his feet began to stumble a little and he couldn't stand steadily, Yan Chujie saw this and hurriedly shouted: "Hurry up and hold on to General Zheng! It seems that General Zheng has been '' overworked for days, send General Zheng out of the city and back to the camp to rest!"

The Haihan militia completely withdrew from the imperial city the next morning, and handed over to the North Vietnamese army the control of several urban areas in the city and several city 'gates' in the outer city, which made Zheng Bai, who was lying in the camp outside the city in a hurry, breathe a sigh of relief. Judging from these actions, at least the Haihan militia did not intend to stay in Hue for a long time - if the Haihan people did so, Zheng Bai would not be able to forcibly drive them away.

Of course, in addition to the good news, there is also news that makes Zheng Bai not so happy. For example, a spy reported that the Haihan people carried a large number of goods on the ships docked on the riverbank outside the city that day, and they loaded as many as five or six cargo ships. But Zheng Bai can only listen to this kind of news, he can't ask the Haihan people what they have shipped on the ship, even if they ask, the Haihan people only need a sentence of "war materials" to prevaricate, that is just to find themselves unhappy in vain.

Although the battle against Hue was taken away by the Haihan people, the North Vietnamese actually achieved the strategic goal at a very low cost, almost no casualties and material consumption had already controlled the city of Hue, and captured most of the target figures in the Nguyen family, such as Nguyen Phuc Yuan, Nguyen Thong and others, who were captured by the North Vietnamese army when they fled after the city was broken.

If the North Vietnamese Army were to rely on the North Vietnamese Army to fight independently to achieve such a result, Zheng Bai was very frank that the North Vietnamese Army would probably fight under Hue City for more than ten days, paying the price of thousands of casualties before it was possible to break through the outer city. As for the imperial city, which was no less fortified than the outer city, Zheng Bai felt that he was not completely sure that he could take it, because at that stage of the battle, most of the logistics supplies of the North Vietnamese army could no longer hold on, and it was very likely that the final outcome would be that the North Vietnamese chose to withdraw their troops on their own initiative when they had an advantage.

Judging from this inference, the cooperation with the Haihan militia is very easy to pick up a ready-made, and the saved combat funds, Zheng Bai estimates that it will cost nearly 100,000 taels of silver, to say the least. The most important thing is that the Haihan people have made a final decision this time, and directly copied the nest of the South Vietnamese regime, so that there is no longer a formed regime in the South Vietnamese ruling area that can compete with the North Vietnamese court, and the unification of Annam is only a matter of time.

On 28 March, the Hai Han militia, which had completely withdrawn from Hue City, met with Zheng Bai outside the city again to discuss some aftermath matters after the war.

"At present, we have 2,773 South Vietnamese soldiers who chose to surrender during the siege, and 1,682 people who were captured in the battle, and these personnel will be 'handed over' to your army in the next two days. Yan Chujie put down the information in his hand and added: "We have promised the South Vietnamese soldiers who choose to surrender that we will release them after the war, and I hope that this promise can be fulfilled by your army." As for the other prisoners, they can be used to offset the military expenses of our operation in accordance with the agreement agreed between our two sides before the war. ”

Zheng Bai thought about it for a while and agreed, holding these prisoners was a great logistical burden for North Vietnam, and it was no good to kill these people, and most of the soldiers of the surrendered South Vietnamese army should be recruited by the North Vietnamese court, after all, these people's positions were not so firm, and they could still be fully recycled. This is not a problem as for the labor required by the Haihan, who were sent to the territory of the Haihan after the great war early last year, more than half of the tens of thousands of South Vietnamese captives were eventually sent to the territory of the Haihan to do hard labor to offset military expenses. If nothing else, after the end of the Annam Civil War, thousands more South Vietnamese would be sent to Sanya to serve the Haihan people.

"Another thing, the people on this list have provided assistance in many ways during our siege, and we have also promised to save the lives and property of their families after the battle. Yan Chujie said and handed the information to Zheng Bai.

"Are they all surnamed Ruan?" Zheng Bai saw at a glance that almost all of these dozens of names were surnamed Ruan, and he couldn't help but ask.

"It is because so many people with the surname Nguyen have jumped out that we can conquer Hue so quickly. Yan Chujie replied without concealment.

"I see...... Zheng Bai has already figured out a lot of things when he sees this list. The Haihan people have such a force of several thousand people, and after entering the city, they have to deal with the defenders, attack the imperial city, and collect money everywhere. Zheng Bai hadn't figured out the reason before, but now he finally understands that with the assistance of these people surnamed Ruan, the Haihan people will probably play as easily as the home team, even if they copy the house, they will be more purposeful.

"Is there anything difficult about General Zheng?" Yan Chujie saw that Zheng Bai answered and then disappeared, so he took the initiative to ask.

"Don't hide it from General Yan, before he led his troops to the south, the imperial court issued an order, all the men of the Ruan family, those who entered the Southern Dynasty as officials were beheaded, and the rest were demoted to civilians, confiscated family property, and exiled to Gao Ping. Zheng Bai shook the list in his hand and said: "It is also very clearly written on it, half of them have official positions in the Southern Dynasty, how can they sit idly by?"

"The will of the imperial court is dead, people are alive, Hue City can be taken by Shun lì, and these people have contributed to some extent. Otherwise, you and I may still be eating ashes on the battlefield at this time, how can we sit in the tent so leisurely and discuss these things?" Yan Chujie still continued to persuade Zheng Bai.

Zheng Bai shook his head and said: "The military order is in my body, and I can't obey my orders!"

Yan Chujie nodded and said, "As a soldier, I understand your insistence, so let's change the word." These people are the ones you want to arrest, but if these people have already been captured by us, can we transfer the right to deal with them?"

Of course Zheng Bai understands what Yan Chujie meant--this means that no matter what you Beiyue plans to do, these people will be protected, but I will give you a face now, set up a ladder so that you can step down, and you can do it yourself.

Zheng Bai hesitated for a moment before responding, "These people can't appear in Hue again...... Not only Hue, but also other parts of the country!" "Then the concession is okay, right?" Yan Chujie's words seemed to be asking Zheng Bai's opinion, but his tone was not very polite. Zheng Bai was tempted to say "no," but the two sides had already signed a series of agreements on the sovereignty of the concession last year, including an explicit stipulation that all affairs within the Haihan concession were governed only by the Haihan regulations, and that the Annan side had no right to enforce the law within the Haihan concession. This means that the North Vietnamese court has no right to interfere in the affairs of the Haihan Concession.