On the side of the incense case, a group of Ming generals knelt down to receive the order.

The high-spirited Jinyi Wei read out the emperor's will aloud, and sprinkled a paragraph, but it was said that when His Majesty Emperor Hongwu was in power, the general of the Northern Expedition often died of illness in the spring, and the deputy general Cao Guogong Li Wenzhong was ordered to take over the whole army and defeat the Yuan army. Determined to follow the example of his father, he ordered Zhang Fupei, the Marquis of Xincheng, to conquer the seal of General Yi, as the commander-in-chief, to replace Zhu Neng to lead the whole army, live up to high expectations, continue to conquer Annan, and give Shang Fang a sword, regardless of the rank and size of the official position in the army, if there is a disobedience to the decree and delay the military aircraft, all will be killed.

It turned out that although Zhu Di knew that although Zhang Fu and his father followed him and had been in battle many times, after all, he was still young, and he was afraid of prestige when he was ordered to be in danger, and his qualifications were difficult to convince the public.

Zhang Fu took the holy decree with both hands, and replied in a deep voice: "Weichen Zhang Fu respectfully obeys His Majesty's will, when the liver and brain are smeared on the ground, and he will do his best to exterminate the Hu family's traitors and thieves, so as to boost the prestige of the Ming Dynasty." All the famous generals behind him bowed their hands and said: "Weichen respectfully obeys His Majesty's will and does not dare to violate military orders." ”

In the tent, two columns of Ming army generals stood on both sides. A military Chinese book recited aloud a text against the rebellion, but it was said that the Chen family was originally the lord of Annan, Hu Yiyuan, and Hu Hancang's father and son killed the lord and made trouble, stealing his position. deceived and obedient, killed Chen Tianping, who was canonized by His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and returned to the country to take over the throne, and ambushed the army of the Ming envoys, which is not punishable. He was ordered to send troops, but the Li father and son and their fellow evils must be obtained, their coercion and innocent people will be released, and the sinners will be obtained, that is, the sage of the descendants of the Chen family will be selected to establish them, so that one side can be pacified. Annam generals, officials who are still loyal to the Chen family, can rest assured to come to the Heavenly Dynasty to join the royal division, depending on the size of their merits, they will be rewarded.

After the recitation of the rebellious text, Zhang Fu stood up, glanced at the solemn Ming army generals, and said in a deep voice: "After the generals returned to the camp, they led the soldiers to cut down the bamboo, and wrote the bamboo pieces on the wooden board, and put them into the river and went downstream, so that the officials and generals of Annan would know that our great master was famous and wanted to crusade against the rebels." ”

Seeing that after Zhang Fu took over the position of commander of the army, the first order passed down had the purpose of disturbing the hearts of the enemy's army, and they couldn't help but be impressed in their hearts, and they all agreed with a bang. It turned out that the army was stationed within a radius of dozens of miles, and many rivers meandered down the river, flowing towards the territory of Annam.

A few days later, another Ming army under the command of Mu Sheng, Marquis of Xiping, sent from Yunnan to Annam. Hu Yiyuan and his son killed Chen Tianping, and after Yu Shi Nie Cong, he also reorganized his army to fight, but unexpectedly, the two armies of the Ming army were divided into joint attacks, and they couldn't help but take care of one and lose the other, and hastily mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to ambush in the Qinzhan Mountains, intending to rely on the geographical advantage to hit Mu Sheng hard.

Since the Hongwu years, the son inherited his father's business, led the army to guard Yungui, the Xiping Marquis Mu Sheng, a young man who fought with his father, was not an easy generation, since the attack into Annan, he immediately collected those local officials who were still loyal to the Chen family, and after finding out the terrain and the place where the enemy was ambushed, he relied on the superior military strength to besiege the enemy legion, and the main general of Annan, Hu Hancang, led the army to break through and was chased and killed by Mu Sheng, and fled in a hurry after losing more than 10,000 soldiers and horses.

There is no shortage of people in the center of the Annan officials who cherished the Chen family, and when they saw Hu Hancang fleeing in defeat, many of the people at both ends of the head and rat couldn't help but waver, and many of them led their subordinates to return to the Ming army.

Under the leadership of Zhang Fu and Mu Sheng, the two Ming armies were like bamboos, and they drove straight into the heart of Annan.

Between the Yangtze River and the Qinhuai River outside Nanjing, there are more than a dozen ponds made by manual excavation. On several huge wooden boats, countless craftsmen were busy and rushed to work. Originally, this was the Longjiang Shipyard under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, where sea ships were manufactured.

On the avenue, hundreds of brocade guards wearing flying fish suits and embroidered spring knives on their waists are currently opening the way. Li Zhaoxiang, an official of the Ministry of Industry who was in charge of the shipbuilding affairs of the Longjiang Shipyard, immediately led his officials to kneel on both sides to welcome the arrival of the emperor.

Zhu Di, who was wearing a dragon robe, rode his horse slowly, and saw that the huge ship in the pond in the distance was far better than the sailor warship he used to cross the river in the past, and he couldn't help but be very happy, and turned his head to Zhu Quan, who was not far behind him and followed on foot, and smiled: "Old Seventeen, you see that this boat is more than twice as big as when we crossed the river in the past." Speaking of this, he asked Zheng He, who was accompanying him, with great interest: "How long and wide is this ship?" ”

"Your Majesty, this ship is forty-four zhang long and eighteen zhang wide." Zheng He replied respectfully.

Zhu Quan looked at the huge ship standing quietly in the dock in the distance, beyond his imagination, and couldn't help but feel excited, unable to help himself, and replied: "A sea ship of this size is indeed beyond the imagination of Wei Chen. He really couldn't understand what kind of wisdom and strength these skilled craftsmen who relied only on manpower to build such a giant sea ship that was 130 meters long and more than 50 meters wide.

As we got closer, the three-story high, near-finished ship became more and more majestic in the eyes of everyone.

Jin Yiwei commanded Ji Gang to see that on the empty deck, a group of construction craftsmen had already been expelled from the ship by Jin Yiwei, and His Majesty the Emperor in front of him was still reluctant to get off the sweat and blood horse, and immediately scolded a group of subordinates to put several pieces of solid wood side by side on the side of the ship, and bowed to Zhu Di and said: "Weichen respectfully asks Your Majesty to take the boat on the horse." Since he followed Zhu Di in Jinan in the Battle of Jingnan, didn't he know that His Majesty the Emperor likes to ride and shoot horses, and the reason why he did not bring a group of civil officials such as Shangshu Shilang to come today is because such a move of riding a horse out of Beijing is really not in line with the many etiquettes of the emperor's travel, so he simply ordered himself to lead a group of brocade guards to escort him, so as not to let the rotten Confucians in the Ministry of Etiquette make noise in their ears and spoil the temperament of riding horses.

Zhu Di whipped down in high spirits and drove his mount along the gangplank to the deck of the ship.

After Zhu Quan boarded the deck, he took a closer look, and found that the deck was not only made of extremely solid wood, but also painted with a thick layer of paint, and he didn't know what it was, so he couldn't help but show curiosity, and turned his head to Zheng He who was not far away and asked: "The sea water is completely different from the water of the river, the wood has been soaked in water for many years, and is it not afraid of damage and leakage?" ”

"Somehow, the decay of the timber of a ship is better than that of a ship of a river. However, this sand ship is made of 100-year-old wood and repeatedly coated with high-quality tung oil, which is far better than ordinary sea boats. Zheng He followed the fleet to the north in the past, and also carefully saw the decay of those seagoing ships after being immersed in seawater for a long time, and since he was appointed to supervise the shipbuilding of the Longjiang Shipyard, he had many contacts with the skilled craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry and even the sailors, so he was clear about the wood and anti-corrosion methods of shipbuilding.

"Sand boats? What are the names of the other three? Zhu Quan knew that Zheng He would lead such a fleet of such huge sea ships to go to sea one day, and he was also very interested in ancient sea ships, so he couldn't help but ask.

Zheng He replied with a smile: "The sand boat is better than the bird boat, the lucky boat, and the wide ship is that the draft is shallow and it is not easy to run aground. The second is to use the wind with the sail to adjust the Russian fight, even if the wind is against the wind. Third, the hull is wide and far more stable than the other three types in the rough seas. Fourth, it has many masts and sails, and the masts are high and the sails are large, which makes it easier to borrow wind power to travel at speed. He also took the trouble to tell the characteristics of the other three kinds of sea vessels. Originally, ancient Chinese sea ships were roughly divided into four types: sand boats, fortune boats, wide ships, and bird boats.

At this time, Zhu Di rode his horse around the boat and then turned over and dismounted, climbed the bow of the ship along the gangway, and looked at the vast Yangtze River in the sky with his hands in his hands.

Under the cover of night, in the city of Duobang, an important town in Annam, Hu Hancang looked at his father Hu Yiyuan, who was pale, and said in a deep voice: "The enemy army has won consecutive battles, and tomorrow I will lead the elephant soldiers to charge into battle. ”

Hu Yiyuan, who was wearing armor, groaned for a while, and then bowed his head and said, "Tomorrow, I will cheer for my father's drums in the city." As long as they inflict heavy losses on the enemy army under the city, although they are strong, they will not be able to endure a protracted battle, and they will inevitably retreat. "Originally from Hu Hancang led the army to ambush Mu Sheng in the Qinzhan Mountains, but was beaten to lose his armor, and after the defeat and fled, the two Ming armies led by Zhang Fu and Mu Sheng went hand in hand, and almost did not encounter any stubborn resistance, so they met in Baihejiang.

Hu Yiyuan hastily mobilized more than 400,000 troops from all over the country to cut down trees and build a village according to the four natural hazards of Xuanjiang, Taojiang, Tuojiang and Fuliangjiang, stretching for more than 900 miles, and placed wooden piles along the river, requisitioned all domestic ships, arranged them in piles, and placed horizontal logs at all river estuaries to strictly prevent the Ming army from attacking. Unexpectedly, this made a big taboo against the scattered troops, and could not stop the attack of the Ming army with concentrated troops, and many generals and officials in the Annan army defected in battle, and finally the Ming army led by Zhang Fu and Mu Sheng succeeded again and again, and attacked the city of many states.

After all, Hu Yiyuan is also a military background who has experienced battles, and he originally wanted to rely on the tall walls of many states and lead a total of 300,000 troops outside the city to defend the city. In his opinion, as long as the Ming army can be killed with the might of elephant soldiers tomorrow, then the officials and generals at both ends of the head and rat under his command will no longer have the courage to surrender to the enemy army in groups as in the past.

In the endless Ming army camp outside the city, a middle-aged man in his early thirties, with a handsome face, a sturdy figure, and a helmet and armor stepped into the marshal's tent and reported the results of his inspection of the barracks to Zhang Fu, the commander of the army who was sitting behind the marshal case. He is the deputy marshal of the Ming Dynasty army, the son of Mu Ying, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty, and the current Xiping Marquis Mu Sheng.

Zhang Fu heard that the camps in the army were safe, and he couldn't help but bow his head slightly, thinking back to asking several Annan generals who surrendered not long ago, and hearing that they said that Hu Yiyuan and his son had collected a lot of elephants in the army, Rao was used to seeing battle formations, and he couldn't help but be a little anxious. It turns out that the elephant is not strange in Annam, but it is quite rare in the Ming Dynasty, and he has only seen such a huge animal since he led the army into Annam. If hundreds of elephants with such rough skin and thick flesh and are not afraid of swords and arrows rush into battle, I am afraid that they may not be able to resist it by fighting with the strength of their soldiers alone.

After sitting down, Mu Sheng heard Zhang Fu complain of his worries, and replied with a smile: "The general doesn't need to worry, the father and son of the Hu family want to drive the barbarian elephant as a soldier and fight a decisive battle with us, but it is just a dog jumping off the wall after losing a series of battles." When the last general followed his father when he was a young man, and when he was under the command of the Duke of Yingguo to conquer the Tartar King Liang, he had seen the Yuan army drive the barbarian elephants to charge into battle. Although elephants have rough skin and thick flesh and can withstand swords and arrows, they are not invulnerable, and they are not invulnerable. The last general asked for an order to lead the army tomorrow to fight to the death with the enemy. After that, he explained in detail his strategy for dealing with the enemy.

Zhang Fu heard Mu Sheng tell that in the past, he had followed Fu Youde, the Duke of Yingguo, and his father Mu Ying, against the elephant soldiers of the Tartar Liang King, and all kinds of countermeasures were also the first to go, so he couldn't help laughing, and his worries were gone, and he immediately ordered Mu Sheng to lead 150,000 soldiers and horses from Yungui to meet the enemy early tomorrow morning.

Before dawn, a group of Ming soldiers began to bury the pot and cook. Seeing the dawn, Mu Sheng, Marquis of Xiping, immediately ordered his generals to lead the army out of the camp and line up.

Coincidentally, Annan's 100,000 troops outside the city of Duobang also gradually marched out of the camp under Hu Hancang's strict order, waiting for the sky to dawn before they had to fight the Ming army in the wilderness outside the city.

At three o'clock in the morning, both armies were gradually assembled. On the tower of the city gate, Hu Yiyuan, who was wearing armor, waved his drumstick and smashed it the cowhide war drum.

Outside the city, Hu Hancang, who was riding a gray horse, looked back and saw his father beating drums and cheering, gritted his teeth fiercely and waved his hand, and issued an order to attack. In the past, he had already seen the Ming army drifting down the river, in order to recruit the generals of Annan, those carved wooden plaques of the people, knowing that the enemy army was attacking in a big way, and he would want to get his father and son to be willing, and the Hu family really had no way to retreat, so he personally led the army to fight, and Zhang Fu, Mu Sheng fought to the death.

With the sound of three horns and cannons, the soldiers in front of the Annan army in rattan armor beat their mounts with spears, and the elephants in armor slowly accelerated and charged towards the Ming army.

Although the elephant is docile by nature, it gradually becomes furious under the fierce blow of its master, and rushes forward with heavy steps and long snouts.

Hu Hancang struggled to draw his long sword, roared angrily and slashed diagonally, and rode away with his horse. Seeing that the main general was personally in battle, the Annan army couldn't help but boost their morale, and they waved their swords one by one and followed up.

However, after a while, 100,000 soldiers poured into the river, and under the leadership of the Annan "Meat Tank" forward corps composed of more than 200 elephants, it gradually formed an unstoppable offensive like a wild wave and attacked the Ming army.