Li Dingguo's twists and turns were speeded all the way, and they were sent to Jiangning City in just ten days, and they were placed on Su Yan's imperial case.

The resistance of the Annamite people was expected by Su Yan, in his opinion, this is not a problem at all, no matter how much the Annamite people resist, can their scale be as large as the Han people after the Qing court forced them to shave their hair and change their clothes?

Since the Han resistance forces that swept the whole country could be forcibly suppressed by the Qing court, which had just entered the Guannei and had an unstable foundation, Annan really did not see enough of this.

Dare to rebel? Kill!

If it is not enough to kill one, then kill two, kill him and the blood will flow like a river, and it is a big deal to wash the human race on the land of Annam, and give the vacated land to the Han people who moved south, so that Su Yan will also save the trouble and effort to educate the Annamite people.

Li Dingguo's concern that it was not enough was also reasonable, the number of Xia troops led by him was still a bit small, and there were not enough troops to stabilize the occupied areas.

For this reason, Su Yan decided to send more troops to Annam, and he ordered the military department to transfer the second town guarding Liangguang to Annam, where it was dispatched by Li Dingguo, and the soldiers and horses of the second town were composed of the Russian garrison and the Cossack infantry, who were waiting to change their muskets into new Brown-Bess rifles.

It is worth mentioning that the name of this 1730-style Brown-bass rifle was not retained, and Su Yan brazenly changed its name to a more oriental name - that is, the Wu'an two-year flintlock smoothbore rifle, referred to as the Type II rifle.

Since it was decided to transfer the second town to participate in the war, their redress was also advanced, and Su Yan ordered the armament department of the Governor's Office to transport enough Type II rifles from the sea to Guangzhou, and then rush to the battlefield of Annam after the unified reloading.

At the same time as the deployment of troops, Su Yan did not forget to reply to Li Dingguo, he directly issued an order to tell Li Dingguo that the barbarians are not afraid of virtue, and there is no need to adopt a gentle strategy, just suppress it to the fullest, and deter the Annan people with slaughter, until no one dares to resist anymore.

After such a murderous will was delivered to Li Dingguo, he no longer cared about it, and ordered revenge on any Annan people who dared to attack the Xia army - that is, the villages within a radius of several miles of the Xia army would be considered enemies, and the Xia army would mercilessly slaughter and retaliate against them.

As soon as this order was issued, the Xia army immediately launched a massacre of dozens of surrounding villages, both men and women, and the Annan people in them were slaughtered, their houses were set on fire, food and any supplies were looted, and rice fields were destroyed.

The brutal methods of the Xia army undoubtedly aroused great fear and hatred among the people of Annam, and a new round of resistance intensified, but they were only subjected to more cruel revenge from the Xia army.

The resistance of the people of Annam also succeeded in delaying the situation, and it took almost a month for the Xia army to occupy a small city called Sinong after setting out from Taiyuan Town.

Taking advantage of this time, Zheng Jie also gathered more than half of the domestic troops and dozens of war elephants, counted the soldiers and horses in the north of Tokyo, and after the oath meeting, he led the army north, intending to fight the Xia army in Beihe Province.

Li Dingguo trained many guides and scouts when he was in Nanping Mansion, so he was still able to grasp the movements of the Annan army in advance through scouts in Annan, and after learning that Zheng Jie dared to take the initiative to face the battle, Li Dingguo also decided to follow his wishes and respond to Zheng Jie's decisive battle.

In mid-June, the weather in Annam became hotter, and the soldiers of the Xia army had to take off their bulky armor and go into battle lightly.

However, although the Xia army was accustomed to the weather in Annam in advance, it was still unable to resist the mosquito bites raging in the dense forest, and since the army entered Annam in May, a month and a half has passed, and hundreds of people have fallen in the Xia army.

Under these circumstances, on 20 June, the Xia army and the Annan army encountered each other on the bank of the Beijiang River, and the two armies set up positions on the riverside, and the Annan army had already purchased a large number of arquebuses from the Portuguese, and the penetration rate of firearms in the army was as high as 70 percent, and the 38 war elephants in the army were even more majestic.

On the other hand, on the side of the Ming army, the army under Li Dingguo was basically dominated by cold weapons, supplemented by bird gunners and crossbowmen, and there were only thirteen war elephants in the army, and the strength was less than that of the Annan army.

Even so, Li Dingguo was still brave

After the war began, the Annan army opened the way with 38 war elephants and took the initiative to attack the Xia army, while the Xia army concentrated artillery and shot at the enemy war elephants.

Although the war elephant is tall, it is still flesh and blood, and it is also an extremely timid animal, and it quickly panicked at the rumbling of artillery, and then under the shelling, it was thrown into disarray, and ran wildly on the battlefield, trampling in the infantry formations without distinguishing between the enemy and the enemy.

The loss of control of the war elephants dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Annan army, but they continued to advance under artillery fire, and after entering the range of the arquebus, they continued to fire at the Xia army on the opposite side.

The Xia army's number of birds and hands could not compare to the other party, so naturally they would not choose to shoot at the other party, Li Dingguo gave an order, and at this time released a war elephant, covering his own sword and shield hands to charge.

In the neighing sound of the war elephants, the Xia army waved the battle flag into the charge, and on the way to the charge, their own crossbowmen continued to shoot at the enemy, and the Annan infantry rarely wore armor because of the heat, so they quickly suffered many casualties under the fire of the Xia army's crossbowmen.

The Xia saber and shield bearers also fell one after another under the fire of the Annan arquebusiers, and the shields they protected in front of them could not stop the penetration of the bullets at all, and the war elephants were also startled by the piercing gunshots, and shook their noses irritably.

"Kill!"

In the earth-shattering shouts of killing, the Xia army finally rushed to the front of the Annan army, and the arquebusiers hurriedly retreated, wanting to leave the battlefield to the sword and shield behind them, but the Xia army took a step faster and rushed into the Annan army formation, they brandished their waist knives and slashed the arquebusiers who lacked armor and melee weapons, and the two sides fought fiercely, but the Annan army was obviously defeated.

The two sides only fought for more than an hour, and Zheng Jie took the initiative to withdraw his troops, and the Annan army was defeated in the first battle, leaving behind thousands of corpses, all the way to Tsz Shan Mansion, which was only one river away from the city of Tokyo.

Zheng Jie was not a qualified general.

To be precise, he was more suited to be a politician in the city of Tokyo than to be on the battlefield to direct the battle, and before the Xia army moved south, the Northern Dynasty he actually controlled had been defeated by the Ruan lords in the south many times, let alone the Xia army that had been killed in the troubled times.

He thought that his people were outnumbered, and he was equipped with a large number of firearms purchased from the Portuguese, not to mention that he could successfully defeat the Xia army, at least it would make the Xia army unfavorable, but he didn't expect the Xia army's combat effectiveness and will to be so high.