The Trần Thi of North Vietnam did not unrealistically expect the Hai Han side to send armed forces to help them fight, but hoped to end the training of the current group of soldiers ahead of schedule and send them to the front line to withstand this wave of offensive by the Nguyen Thi of South Vietnam. (Baidu search update is the fastest and most stable)

Zheng believes that this group of soldiers has received almost two months of military skills training in the training camp, and the weapons they use are the most "advanced" Haihan firearms at the moment, and their combat effectiveness is at least many times stronger than that of the temporarily recruited peasant soldiers, even if they cannot defeat the enemy's main force, they can at least delay the opponent's offensive, so that their own side can have time to organize a defensive line and counterattack forces in the rear.

Naturally, Zheng's assumptions were not approved by the Haihan military advisers. Feng Anan pointed out to the special envoy sent by the Zheng clan that the training level of this unit was far from meeting the operational requirements of the firearms unit, and the actual combat strength that could be brought into play by the troops on the battlefield might not meet the expectations of the Zheng clan. Moreover, the tactics designed by the Haihan side for it also need to conduct joint training with spearmen, but at present, the trained soldiers in the training camp are mainly firearms troops, and joint training with spearmen has not yet begun, which will greatly reduce the defense capability of this unit. Even if the arquebuses purchased by the North Vietnamese were equipped with bayonets and had a certain ability to defend themselves, it was a very disadvantageous option for the North Vietnamese to use expensive musketeers to play hand-to-hand combat with their opponents.

There is also a very strict problem, and that is the mobility of this force. According to the information provided by Trung Thi, the current main battle area is in the area of Vinh An Port in Ha Tinh Province, and the North Vietnamese army has barely held the defensive line by relying on the difficult terrain of the area, but it is difficult to say how long it can hold on under the current unfavorable conditions. Annam's domestic rivers are dense, the war zone in the central region is crisscrossed by countless mountains and rivers, and the land transportation conditions are very harsh, and the firearms troops that rely on logistics and supplies must fight in this environment, which is even more difficult than the Yuan and Ming armies that went south to crusade, at least there are still a large number of horses in those two troops that can be used for baggage. The North Vietnamese army didn't have that many horses, and at most it would be nice to have some ox carts.

The military advisers briefly calculated that the distance from the Tushan Peninsula to the current war zone was 400 kilometers by land, and considering the geographical conditions on the march, it would probably take about ten days to measure this road on both feet. If you want to bring artillery, then you have to add at least a third of the marching time. By the time this tired division had arrived at the battle zone after a long march, it was difficult to predict what would happen there, and such a long march was simply an irresponsible adventure.

However, the Zheng side apparently regarded this unit as a lifesaver, and although the military advisers listed all kinds of shortcomings, the other side still insisted on letting the unit end its training and go to the battlefield in advance. As a last resort, Qian Tiandun also rushed from Heitu Port to the Tushan Peninsula to participate in the talks. Under his repeated interrogation, the envoy of the Trung clan finally confided an important situation, and an important reason for this military rout was that there was also a unit using firearms in the South Vietnamese Nguyen Thi troops. None of the North Vietnamese forces engaged with them could afford a one-sided killing, so they had no choice but to retreat. The retreat of the North Vietnamese army could not be stopped, and it took nearly 300 miles to retreat north from Quang Tri in one breath before it gained a foothold and reorganized the defensive line.

The information disclosed by Qian Tiandun made an exclamation from the audience. Although the Executive Committee has mentioned more than once that Western forces will gradually infiltrate Annam in the near future, it seems that they have entered Indochina faster and more quickly than the Executive Committee had anticipated, and they have provided direct military support to the South Vietnamese regime. Since firearms units had already appeared on the South Vietnamese side and had gained a certain advantage in the battle situation, it was no wonder that the Zheng clan was eager to pull this new army, which had not yet formed combat effectiveness, into the battlefield.

At present, at the insistence of Qian Tien Dun, the North Vietnamese side has not issued an order for the transfer of this new army, but if the tide of the war continues to be unfavorable to North Vietnam, then it is only a matter of time before this new army is transferred to the south to confront the South Vietnamese firearms troops. In the last part of the report, Qian Tiandun reminded the Executive Committee to pay attention to the changes in the war situation and political trends in Annam, and that the defeat of the Trần clan in North Vietnam and the intervention of Western forces would greatly affect the strategic layout of the Crossing Group in the Indochina Peninsula. As for whether or not to provide further military assistance to North Vietnam, Qian Tinten-dun also asked the Executive Committee to convene a special discussion meeting to make a resolution.

After this shocking news broke, some people didn't have much of the heart to listen to the work reports of other departments in the future, yes, yes, these undecided people were basically members of the military and police department.

Finally, when the afternoon meeting ended, a group of members of the military police department immediately blocked several members of the executive committee and demanded that a discussion meeting be held to discuss strategies to deal with the changes in the war situation in Annam. Except for Gu Kai, a pacifist, the rest of the executive committee members also agreed to respond to this as much as possible. Even Old Man Yuan made a rare mistake this time, and expressed his attitude: "If North Vietnam loses, and the forces of foreign devils occupy Annam, won't it be in vain for us to do so many things in front of us?"

So that night, the Executive Committee held an emergency discussion meeting on the war situation in Annam to discuss what kind of countermeasures should be taken at the moment. In addition to all the members of the Executive Committee and some senior officers of the Military Police Department, the participants also included the heads of the Ministry of Maritime Transport and some military industrial units.

A map of the Indochina Peninsula was hung in front of the venue, and Qian Tiandun first explained the civil war situation in Annam. This explanation was much more detailed than the afternoon's work report, which not only pointed out the places of engagement, but also provided general information on the military strength of both sides.

At present, the main battlefield of the North-South War in Annam is located at the junction of Ha Tinh and South Quang Binh provinces, and the mountains that stretch for more than 100 miles from northwest to southeast here almost completely block the land route, and the South Vietnamese army had to slow down its offensive due to the geographical environment.

If the South Vietnamese army wanted to continue northward, one way was to follow the mountain range, from the mountain valley to the northwest for hundreds of miles to bypass the area directly, but the route of the march was almost entirely in the primeval forest, and the march of the large army would be difficult. The other way is to go directly north along the coastline, only need to climb over a few hill passes to enter the coastal plain of the North Vietnamese region, since then there are no large mountain obstacles to the north, but at present the North Vietnamese army is holding these dangerous passes, so that the South Vietnamese troops are temporarily blocked here.

Of course, there was also a third route of marching, which was to bypass the area by sea by boat and attack directly into the coastal plains of North Vietnam. However, there are two problems with this: first, the military forces invested in the north will face supply problems and will not dare to fight inland, and second, South Vietnam's maritime transportation capacity is far from sufficient to carry out large-scale long-range troop projection.

The North Vietnamese army deployed nearly 50,000 troops on this defensive position, of course, a considerable number of them were peasants and soldiers who were in charge of logistics, and the regular army was less than half of them. The South Vietnamese troops claimed to be 300,000, but according to North Vietnamese estimates, the number of North Vietnamese troops assembled on this front probably did not exceed 80,000, and the composition of their troops was not much better than that of the North Vietnamese.

At present, North Vietnam is mobilizing troops from all parts of the north to move south, trying to stabilize this line of defense first, and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack. The South Vietnamese side regarded this as a key battle to defeat the North Vietnamese regime, and even did not hesitate to use firearms to protect their own skills.

According to what is known so far, the number of firearms troops possessed by South Vietnam is about 1,000 to 1,200 men, and the main weapons are arquebuses and spearmen, which is basically the combat mode of the Spanish phalanx, and a small number of Francophone cannons are used as fire support to cooperate with the operation. In any respect, this unit will not be the opponent of the North Vietnamese firearms unit after it has been trained, but time waits for no one, the South Vietnamese have already shown their weapons, and the North Vietnamese side does not have a force of comparable strength that can confront it head-on.

After Qian Tiandun introduced the details of the battle situation, he also briefly expressed his opinion: "I think that according to the current situation, we can determine three things. First, the Western powers had reached some kind of cooperation with the South Vietnamese regime. Secondly, they have not been involved for a long time, and there has not been a large-scale rearmament of weapons, and from what we know, the training of the South Vietnamese firearms unit is not ideal, and it only relies on the power of the weapons. Thirdly, there is a possibility that the North Vietnamese army will be defeated, and we must consider how to ensure our interests in the North Vietnamese region if this happens. ”

Tao Donglai took over and said: "Let's put aside the involvement of foreign devils in South Vietnam, as far as our own situation is concerned, the biggest source of immigration, energy, and food is in North Vietnam, and we have also paid a lot of manpower, material and financial resources for this.

Tao Donglai's words basically set the tone for the crossing group to deal with the changes in the situation in Annam, and in order not to damage its own interests in the local area, it could not sit idly by and watch North Vietnam be unilaterally beaten until there was a military rout. Of course, the expulsion of Western forces from the Indochina Peninsula is also a long-term policy that the Executive Committee must have determined a long time ago, and it is also an important part of the overall South China Sea strategy.

Yan Chujie said: "Lao Tao is right, but there is one thing I think we still have to dig into which force is now supplying weapons to South Vietnam?"

After Yan Chujie raised this question, most of the participants' eyes were focused on Ning Qi. Among the people here, only Ning Qi knows more about Vietnamese history, although he is only an amateur, but at least his level is much higher than that of these half-people here.

Ning Qi cleared his throat and explained: "If you look at it geographically, the closest to the war area is the Dutch East India Company, which now controls the waters of the Strait of Malacca, Sunda Strait, Java Sea and Maluku Islands, and is bent on expanding its territory to the north. If they can establish a stronghold or port on the Indochina Peninsula, it will effectively link the South China Sea with the strongholds they occupy in Taiwan, forming a safer sea lane. ”

Ning Qi paused, and then said: "However, judging from the situation introduced by Lieutenant Qian, the weapons used by the South Vietnamese firearms troops are more like those provided by the Portuguese or the Spaniards, and the Spanish stronghold in Southeast Asia is Manila, and the possibility of them crossing the entire South China Sea to make trouble in the Indochina Peninsula is not very large, but the Portuguese are more suspicious, after all, they are well-known arms dealers, and they have even done such things as selling the guns on the British shipwreck to the Ming Dynasty, we can't overestimate their integrity." ”

"That's not sure!" Tao Donglai nodded and asked, "Then is there any foreign trade port in South Vietnam?"

"Yes!" Ning Qi responded, "It's Hoi An south of Da Nang." ”

Hoi An became an important seaport of the Champa state as early as the 5th century AD, and since the 15th century, merchant ships from Western countries have also come to this largest foreign trading port in Annam. However, it is the Chinese merchants who sing the leading role here, and there are so many Chinese here that even in Hoi An City, it is divided into Fujian, Guangdong, Chaozhou, Hainan, Hakka and other residential areas. In later generations, Hoi An City still retains a large number of Chinese-style buildings, various guild halls, temples, and residences, all of which have left a deep imprint of Chinese culture. If necessary, the Crossing Group can also claim this place for itself in the future with the help of words such as "since ancient times".

However, in the eyes of the crossing group, the port conditions of Hoi An are far from meeting the requirements, and the place is just the estuary of the Hoi An River, and there is neither a natural harbor nor dangerous terrain to defend, so this port has never even been included in the future development plan in past discussions.

"In this way, it is not too difficult for us to inquire about the specific situation in Hoi An?" Yan Chujie asked.

"There are a lot of Chinese businessmen who go to Hoi An to do business, and it should be easy for us to find one or two. Ning Qi thought for a while and said, "That shopkeeper Zhan, who has been running the sea for many years, is likely to have been to Hoi An Port, and you can find him to understand the situation when you go back." In addition, you can also ask the Guangzhou Office, there should be more news channels in Guangzhou. ”

"Okay, put Hoi An's aside in advance and get back to business. Tao Donglai rearranged the topic: "No matter which country is providing military support to the South Vietnamese regime, we should not directly make enemies of it at present, after all, our sea power is still quite limited, and we should not rush to set up an opponent for ourselves." ”

In this regard, the participants all agreed that whether it is Portugal, Spain, or the Netherlands, their maritime strength in East Asia is much stronger than that of the current crossing bloc, and once they go head-to-head, it is likely to directly affect the safety of the bloc's shipping routes, and at the same time, it will also have a negative effect on the normal diplomatic relations and trade with Western countries in the future. The expulsion of Western forces from Indochina is mainly done by supporting agents of interest.

"If you can't directly fight with the foreign devils, then you can only count on the North Vietnamese army? I don't think that this army, which has not even completed military training, will be able to achieve any results on the battlefield, and maybe they will not be able to defeat the South Vietnamese firearms unit that has already been formed. "Yan Chujie is quite unoptimistic about the trend of the war in Annan.

"We would do well to pray that doesn't happen because the North Vietnamese regime doesn't have the patience to give us enough time to train a second force. Schneider also expressed his opinion: "They are big military buyers, and we have to find ways to maintain their military superiority, and they will be interested in buying more weapons from us if they win a few more battles." ”

"How can we win? Do you send our militia to join the war? Don't forget that our militia has no combat effectiveness at all, and the longest military veteran is only half a year, and they are just fishermen and farmers in half a year!" Gu Kai heard that the limelight was wrong, and immediately spoke out against it.

"The number of militias we can mobilize is only a few hundred at best, and even if the weapons are advanced, how much of a role can such a few people play in a battle of tens of thousands?" Meng He also questioned.

"Iraq's terrorists only need 800 men to beat 30,000 regular troops, and that's when the weapons and equipment are at a disadvantage...... The battle on the battlefield is not a competition in the number of soldiers, and there are many factors that can affect the outcome of the battle situation, such as the level of equipment, the will to fight, the use of tactics, and the command on the spot. If you can predict the result by looking at the number of jù on paper, then we don't need to develop, and go directly to the Ming court to return to obedience. Yan Chujie immediately counterattacked the two oppositionists.

"Iraq is Iraq, we are now in the 17th century! We have trained so many hundreds of soldiers in half a year, if we send them out to fight them, can we guarantee that nothing will happen in the next window period?" Meng He retorted unconvinced.

"If the army does not go to the battlefield, it will never be able to talk about its actual combat effectiveness, and if it is not pulled out to fight, how can it go out to expand its territory in the future? A keyboard military strategist will always only move his lips, and a real military strategist will not stand out after the baptism of war?" Yan Chujie also did not give in.

"The battlefield is so far away from the base camp, how can we ensure the combat supply and the mobility of the troops?"

"It's just a bay, and it's only a few hundred kilometers? What should we do if we attack the mainland in the future? Do we need the executive committee to follow the troops to the front line to supervise the battle?"

Seeing that the discussion began to become chaotic, Tao Donglai hurriedly stood up to calm the situation: "Okay, okay, it seems that we have to have a vote first." Everyone has carefully considered whether we need to intervene directly if the situation in the civil war in Annam does not improve in the near future. We can vote on this matter before we can move on to the next steps. ”

After Tao Dong said this, everyone calmed down and began to think about the impact of the Annan war situation on the crossing group and the feasibility of military intervention in the Annan war situation.