During the first half of 1628, the entire group was busy preparing for the next overseas military operation, no less busy than the period before the colonization of the port of Black Earth in July of the previous year.

Most of the more than 20 sailing ships under the Ministry of Shipping have been assembled in Shengli Port and Heitu Port, and for this reason, the two routes between Shengli Port and Guangzhou and Heitu Port have been temporarily suspended. Not all of these ships will be put into operation, but the transportation plan made by the Ministry of Shipping has set aside a few ships for maneuvering in case of emergency.

At present, there are more than 1,400 tons of coal stored in Shengli Port, and even if the coal transportation route of Heitu Port is temporarily suspended, there is no need to worry about the shortage of coal in the local area within two months. In Guangzhou, because a large number of merchants have recently prepared their own ships to cross the sea to trade in Shengli Port, there will be no major problems in the transportation and throughput of goods in the short term. Due to the limited local production of industrial goods, ships returning to the mainland from Victory Port generally had a large number of empty tanks. The materials to be sent to the Guangzhou Office from the base camp can also be temporarily rented from some closely related businesses for shipment.

The carpentry workshops and shipyards in Port Victory were working 24 hours a day to add armor plate mounts to the ships. For technical reasons, the ships anchored in the port of Black Earth could not carry out such wartime modifications, and could only be used as pure means of transport. But on the other hand, even if all cargo ships can be refitted, there are not so many gunners available. Up to now, the number of qualified gunners who have entered the regular establishment is not large, and this operation has even had to temporarily requisition a group of rookie gunners who are still in the training period, and they will be assigned to the gun emplacements of various sailing ships, and the task of landing operations will be completed by the newly formed artillery company.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that at the beginning of the new year, the Military Police Department once again recruited militia members from the region, and relaxed the inherent quota restrictions in the past, and a large number of young and strong people who had not yet obtained naturalized citizenship chose the "shortcut" of joining the Haihan militia. In particular, under the guidance of the conscious policies of the relevant departments, the Li and Miao ethnic groups and the newly arrived North Vietnamese immigrants regarded enlisting in the army as the only way to make a fortune, and their enthusiasm for joining the army was very high. In just five days, four more companies of reservists were added to the subordinate establishment of the Military Police Department, and even Yan Chujie, who had always been unsmiling, had recently become much more relaxed.

However, this time, not all of the recruits will go to the militia groups, but at least a third will be diverted into the security department, which is the police system, which is already in the final stages of preparation. With the rapid increase in the population of the district, the original security forces were somewhat uncomfortable in terms of the number of personnel and management authority, and the military and police department also felt that it was time to separate the functions of the army and the police. Of course, this split is not to separate the police department from the current military police department, but to adjust the internal administrative structure, and to add independent divisional units under the ministry level, giving the police system more internal functions and powers. Of course, this institutional adjustment will have to wait for a while, and a decision will be made at the first anniversary of the crossing in two and a half months.

On 16 January, mobilization meetings were held at all levels of the Military Police Department and the Ministry of Maritime Transport to finalize the course of action. The military was commanded by Yan Chujie as the commander-in-chief of the operation, and the obscure Ha Lugong unexpectedly defeated many competitors to take the post of deputy commander-in-chief, while Tom Wang, who had previously been very popular, took the position of chief of staff and was fully responsible for the communication between the military and the Ministry of Shipping. As a candidate who is regarded as a future general by the Military Police Department and the chief officer of the Heitu Port garrison, it is understandable for Qian Tiandun to hold this position.

At this time, it is definitely not appropriate to hide from the people below that it is a military exercise nearby, after all, this trip is not a trip that can be returned in two or three days. The new statement is that "a joint military exercise will be conducted on the coast of Annam with friendly forces in Annam in the near future," and the specific location and time of the exercise will not be announced until after the troops have set off. (Baidu search update is the fastest and most stable)

Under the supervision of the Executive Committee, the propaganda department also began to give a briefing to the local people about the importance of maintaining trade with Annam. The Executive Committee believed that when the local people realized that the stability of the North Vietnamese region played a role in promoting the economic development of the Victory Port area, they would be able to understand and support the subsequent military intervention of the Hai Han militia in North Annam.

In the past few days, Mu Xiabai and Feng Annan, who arrived in the fighting area as an advance team, also constantly sent back to the base camp in the form of briefings on the battle situation on the front line and the construction of the temporary stronghold in Yong'an Port.

As long as the weather was good, the South Vietnamese army had always maintained an attack on the North Vietnamese line at least once a day. And with the gradual increase in casualties of the North Vietnamese regular army, the strength of the defense and morale also showed a downward trend. After all, it is difficult for any unit to maintain high morale and combat effectiveness for a long time if it is so passively beaten every day. In the battle that took place on January 13, the South Vietnamese infantry had even climbed the wall of the last line of defense, and if it were not for Zheng Bai personally commanding, the other side would have directly broken through the mountain line. But even if the offensive was finally held, the North Vietnamese defenders paid the price of thousands of casualties, while the South Vietnamese army saw the hope of breaking through the defensive line and further intensified its attack on the mountain line from this day.

According to Zheng Bai's own estimates, the combat limit of the North Vietnamese defenders is probably around the end of the month, when the morale and material supply of the North Vietnamese army will fall into a trough, once the mountain defense line is broken, then the North Vietnamese army is very likely to collapse for thousands of miles, from the current combat zone to Thang Long province in the north, there is no natural danger similar to this place to defend. It is best for the advance team to build the base camp to get their own reinforcements in place before the end of the month, so as not to develop the situation out of control.

On the other hand, the construction of the advance team in Yongan Port is also underway. Zheng Bai was the man of his word, and promised that the 500 men assigned to the advance party would be in place the next day, and under the command of the sappers, he would begin to build the seaside trestle and wharf, level the foundations necessary for the construction of warehouses and camps, and build basic fortifications at the two mountain passes to the south. However, because these men lacked sufficient iron tools for labor, the progress of the project could only be described as slow, which was not expected when the advance party went south. However, after receiving the news, Heitu Port has urgently requisitioned 200 people engaged in infrastructure construction, brought a large number of tools and building materials, and rushed to Yongan Port by boat to support.

The two companies of the Black Soil Port side have completed the assembly and material preparations, and have arrived on the Tu Son Peninsula in two large ships, and are now seizing the time to conduct joint exercises with the North Vietnamese musket units in the training camp. The rest of the ships are basically refurbished, loaded with supplies and crews, and can depart from Heitu Port at any time. During the period when Qian Tiandun led the militia to go on the expedition, Zhou Hengxing, the chief civil affairs officer, will temporarily serve as the local military chief. It stands to reason that this position should be held by the local chief executive, but the Executive Committee felt that Gu Kai's pacifist philosophy could easily lead him to make a wrong judgment about the position of the form, and after weighing it up repeatedly, it still handed over this temporary authority to Zhou Hengxing.

Gu Kai did not express any dissatisfaction and resistance to this work arrangement, after all, he would not continue to do his position in Heitu Port, the preparatory work of the judicial department was waiting for him to return to preside over the overall situation, and his future career direction was not in the small place of Heitu Port. And he knows very well that the executive committee's favorite candidate for the successor of Heitu Port is Zhou Hengxing, who has outstanding comprehensive ability. Zhou Hengxing can start to get acquainted with the affairs of other departments earlier, which is also beneficial for Shun to take over Gu Kai's position in the future.

On 18 January, the preparations for the base camp finally came to an end, and the Executive Committee issued an order to the Military Police Department to start the "Full Moon Operation." The so-called "Full Moon" is just a homonym for directly taking aid to Vietnam. In the afternoon of the same day, the Executive Committee announced that the Shengli Port area had entered a state of combat readiness, and that a curfew would be imposed on the port area after 8 p.m., and that all non-duty personnel, including the crossers, would not be allowed to enter and leave at will, and this curfew would continue until the return of the militia troops who had gone out on the expedition.

This will certainly affect the business of various facades in the port business district, which has just begun to operate, but it is indeed a helpless move. After the militia marches out, the local defense will have to be undertaken by the original security team and some militia reserves, and the pressure on law and order will be relatively great. The Military Police Department believed that the short-term curfew would help maintain law and order in the area, and the Executive Committee agreed to this approach after weighing the pros and cons.

Luo Shengdong and Wei Ping, who smelled the news, took the initiative to say that they could assist the Executive Committee in maintaining local law and order, but the Executive Committee did not intend for them to interfere at all. These two guys are staring at money, and no matter how obedient they are, to the executive committee, they are people outside the system, and it is impossible to be fully trusted. The task assigned to them by the Executive Committee was to have the Inspection Division fill the port docks with a façade, and the ships of the Navy Division to maintain a frightening cruising density in the coastal waters outside of Victory Harbor, which was already the limit at present.

In the early morning of January 19, the weather was fine. At the dawn of the day, the barracks on the east bank of the port of victory had already completed the assembly of troops, with three infantry companies, an artillery company, a comprehensive company composed of engineers, signal soldiers, medical soldiers, cooks, and ordnance repair personnel, plus 200 civilian men in charge of logistics and baggage, forming the main force of this cross-sea expeditionary force. If we include the officers at all levels who led them, the total number of people has exceeded 800, and the fighters and civilians who will go to the war zone from the Heitu Port side, as well as the crew and sailors of many ships participating in the war, the total number of personnel dispatched this time has exceeded 1,800, of which about 800 are combatants, and the scale is also the largest foreign operation since the crossing.

Due to confidentiality considerations, no grand departure ceremony was arranged at Shengli Harbor, and all participants will board the ship directly at the barracks pier. Of course, this kind of conscious low-key handling does not mean that the executive committee does not pay enough attention to it, on the contrary, the executive committee members in Shengli Port have come to the camp dock early to practice for the soldiers who are about to travel.

As the helmsman of the crossing group in the actual sense and the real power of the military and police department, Tao Donglai also improvised an enthusiastic speech to cheer for the soldiers of the militia: "...... The significance of this operation is very far-reaching, and it is very likely that the first battle of our Haihan People's Regiment since its establishment will start in this operation! Everyone has received training here ranging from six months to several months, and whether they have formed combat effectiveness and whether they have become the strongest contingent in the South China Sea region, I believe that you will be able to prove this point to the Executive Committee very well!"

It was only at this time that Tao Donglai mentioned the situation of "possible fighting" to the militia soldiers for the first time in his official capacity, but at this time, the militia soldiers, who had already fallen into a state of excitement, did not pay much attention to what this sentence meant. Even if a few smart people noticed this detail, there is no chance to regret it now. Military orders are like mountains, and whoever wants to retreat from the battle at this time can only be dealt with by military law.

Although the Executive Committee has great confidence in the fighting capacity of the militia groups, it does not have much confidence in the psychological state of the militia. After all, it was the first time for these militiamen to set foot on the battlefield, and the Executive Committee was very worried that letting them know the news in advance would increase their psychological burden, coupled with the need for secrecy, so it began to reveal the truth of the matter little by little before they set off.

After Tao Donglai's speech, a simple flag-awarding ceremony was held, and Tao Donglai handed over the red flag symbolizing the crossing of the regime to the commander-in-chief Yan Chujie. Since the Haihan militia will not reveal their identity on the battlefield in this operation, there is no text or pattern on this military flag, but even so, it has attracted a burst of cheers from the militia who lined up to watch the ceremony.

After the process was completed, the various companies boarded the sailing ship under the command of the officers. In addition to the muskets on their shoulders and the bayonets on their waists, the militiamen also carried a backpack with a thin blanket, an iron lunch box, a cowhide water bladder, ammunition for the combat base, and a small amount of wound medicine, matches, and other items.

The equipment of the officers who crossed was much more advanced, and they were basically the armaments and weapons that were collectively purchased by the preparatory committee before the crossing. There were more than 30 people in total, and all the officers at the platoon level were served by the crossers. In addition, personnel in special departments such as communications and medical care are also held leadership positions by the crossers. The bearded Johnson was once again left at the base camp to look after the family, while the careless old Morgan took his family and happily led a group of medical cadets with the team. Wu Zhuo, who had already taken up the post of communications director of the Ministry of Information Industry, was also transferred back to the Military Police Department this time to be responsible for the maintenance and use of the radio station with the army.

To this end, the Ministry of Shipping dispatched six large ships to take charge of the transportation of personnel and materials from Shengli Port, and the "Exploration" and "Speed" also participated in the military operation as maritime fire support units and fast liaison ships respectively. The supplies had been loaded onto the ship the night before, and in addition to the combatants, only some livestock were supplied as food on board this morning, which was probably the biggest contribution that the Ministry of Agriculture could make to this expedition. In order to prevent the strong smell of these chickens, ducks, pigs and sheep from bothering the soldiers on the voyage, the Ministry of Shipping also used a special ship to transport these living creatures and some war materials, and the relevant preparations were also done extremely meticulously.

At eight o'clock in the morning, all the personnel had already completed boarding, and under Yan Chujie's order, the ship successively lifted anchor, untied the cable, and hoisted the sails, and slowly left the wharf and sailed towards the south of the departure waterway.

The fleet's itinerary was still to arrive at Yinggehai, which is located 50 nautical miles from Shengli Harbor in the southwest corner of Hainan Island. After an overnight stay there, we set off for a straight sea crossing to the port of Vinh On, which is located behind the war zone. The straight-line distance of the latter leg is about 130 nautical miles, and the shipping department expects that it will take about two days, depending on the conditions at sea.

At this time, another group of people from the North Vietnamese side had already boarded ships on the Tu Son Peninsula and set off. Compared with the fleet from Victory Port, the fleet heading south from the Tu Son Peninsula was much larger, because this fleet not only carried three companies of Hai Han militia officers, but also more than 1,000 trained troops from the North Vietnamese side, as well as a small number of baggage men and logistics personnel. With so many personnel, the amount of daily necessities, supplies for the army, and all kinds of combat materials is not a small amount, and the Ministry of Shipping has mobilized 14 seagoing ships for this purpose, and it is only then that the shipment task can be barely completed at one time.

Just two days after the militia departed, the Executive Committee announced to the local people the shocking news that a merchant ship belonging to the Hai Han Executive Committee had been sacked by South Vietnamese rebels off the coast of Annam, killing several of its attendants and destroying the vessel. At present, the Executive Committee has issued an order for the militia groups to cooperate with the North Vietnamese rebel army to carry out military retaliation against the South Vietnamese rebels.

Of course, no merchant ships were actually sacked by the South Vietnamese rebels, and if the South Vietnamese rebels had such a capability at sea, they might have bypassed the mountain defenses and attacked the plains to the north. The Executive Committee made up this reason only so that it could have a more plausible reason for joining the war, and if the overwhelming majority of the people were to be unable to understand what they said about the long-term interests, the overall situation, and the vision of development, I am afraid that it would backfire and create unnecessary anti-war sentiment among the people. As for the people of Shengli Port or Heitu Port, because the source of the news channel is very limited, it is impossible to verify the authenticity of such news.