On the fifteenth day of the winter month, this may be a day worth writing about, in the face of the attack of the Ming army, Hu Yuancheng, the commander of the northern defense line of the Vietnamese army, led more than 20,000 soldiers and horses to pour thousands of miles.

When the Tang cavalry reported the news of Hu Yuancheng's retreat, Mu Chundang sent Qu Neng and his son to lead more than 3,000 cavalry in the southwest to pursue.

In the face of the 50,000 people who were left behind by Hu Yuancheng, Mu Chun did not wield a knife and slaughtered, but divided 3,000 foot soldiers and escorted them to Nandian, which was 1,000 miles away, and handed them over to Wang Xuan's father and son to build a post road in western Yunnan.

Because Hu Yuancheng escaped in time, the three thousand foot soldiers led by Gu Cheng were not able to intercept it, but Mu Chun did not blame Gu Cheng, after all, the speed at which Hu Yuancheng applied oil on the soles of his feet was not even expected by himself.

The next day, when he obtained from the spies of Xuanguang City, such as Jinyiwei and Xichang, Hu Yuancheng led the remnants of the army to flee to Xuanguang, 200 miles away, and recruited local men as people's husbands, Mu Chun's mind also changed.

"Guogong, we march forty miles a day, is this speed too slow?"

At noon on the official road of Annan, when 70,000 Ming Tuguan troops led 150,000 people to the south, their target was Hu Yuancheng in Xuanguang City.

Their march was too slow and did not conform to the rules of the imperial court, so He Fu raised the question.

In this regard, Mu Chun, who was sitting on horseback, looked at the Red River not far away, and the alpine jungle on the left, and then spoke:

"It will take a lot of time for us to send troops to sweep the tail by ourselves, but Hu Yuancheng's speed of forcibly recruiting people is very fast."

"The spies of Xichang and Jinyiwei came to report that after Hu Yuancheng retreated to Xuanguang, he immediately began to forcibly recruit men as civil husbands in Xuanhua Prefecture, Guihua Prefecture and other two states."

"His move is undoubtedly contrary to the will of the people, and we can give him time to take the opportunity to capture the people this time and take them to western Yunnan, or stay in central Yunnan to reclaim wasteland."

Mu Chun said his thoughts, but He Fu frowned and worried after hearing this: "But what His Highness means ......"

"I know what Your Highness means, and I can achieve my goal with this move." Mu Chun interrupted without waiting for He Fu to finish speaking, and added at the same time;

"I won't take too many people, after all, Yunnan can't support so many people, so two or three more batches of capture are enough."

"How many things were saved from the fire last night?" Mu Chun diverted the topic, and He Fu also looked at a servant who was following the two of them.

"Returning to the country, last night I rescued more than 54,200 stones of Annan rice from the fire, as well as more than 30,000 catties of various sundries."

"Not bad." Mu Chun bowed his head, looking at the road ahead while his eyes were smart.

"Take advantage of this opportunity, just use these captured men to build a wide and strong official road from Xuanguang to Kunming, if there is something here in the future, Yunnan can also rush to help."

Mu Chun's vision is outstanding, he has realized that Annan will not settle down, even if Zhu Gaoxu has given the order, but it is impossible for them to scorch Annan, so the turmoil in Annan will last for a long time.

In this situation, the number of Ming troops stationed in Annam was definitely less than the population of Annam, so it was difficult for them to cope with a large-scale rebellion on their own.

At this time, Guangxi and Yunnan became reinforcements to the local area.

Guangxi is not under the jurisdiction of Muchun, so he can't control whether to build official roads, but Yunnan is.

From Kunming to Xuanguang for more than 700 miles, as long as an official road can be built from Kunming to Xuanguang, it will only take about 12 or 3 days to reach Xuanguang at the normal marching speed of the Ming army.

As long as Xuanguang is not lost, the Ming army can send cavalry to sweep the North Plain and encircle and eliminate the rebels who are trying to occupy the local area one by one.

Since he had the topographical sand table of the southwest and Indochina Peninsula provided by Zhu Gaoxu, Mu Chun had a clear grasp of the key points and key points of various countries in the southwest and Indochina Peninsula.

He had already decided that after settling Annan, he would have to readjust the pass cities in Yunnan, and he would have to adjust the direction of the rebellion Tusi accordingly.

As for whether his adjustment can be approved by Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, he didn't think about this, he just wanted to finish what he had to do, and then guard this land for the imperial court.

"Drive!"

Shaking the reins of the horse, Mu Chun took He Fu and them to rush forward from the side of the marching team, and the team of more than 200,000 people was long, more than ten miles, but they were dispatched in Mu Chun's hands in an orderly manner, and they couldn't find the possibility of being attacked and ambushed at all.

This is Mu Chun, a famous southwestern general who should have fallen in the Hongwu Dynasty in history, and now he is still shining in the Yongle Dynasty.

At the same time, the Western Route Army, hundreds of miles away, also launched a general attack on Langshan City under Fu Rang's order.

"Uhh

"Boom, boom—"

The dull sound of cannons was endless, and the flying stone projectiles smashed through the wall battlements, and the flying rubble hit the people's faces, even if they did not penetrate the skull, the power also broke the people's necks, and killed and injured countless people.

The sound of screams, shells bombarding the walls, and battlements was endless.

Some of the less accurate iron cannonballs flew into the city, smashing heavily on the ground, and the sand flew several feet high, and if they were unlucky, they would have scattered flesh and blood on the spot.

Ruan Kang's bold words yesterday turned into a virtual shadow in such a terrifying scene, and at this moment, he hid in the arrow tower with the military attache with a higher official rank in the city.

Rao was so, and they could still feel the vibration of the iron cannonball hitting the outside of the arrow tower.

"The Ming army has begun to cross the river!"

"We don't have the strength to go out of the city to intercept."

"Catapults and ballistas were shattered by the iron shells of the Ming army."

"What should I do now?"

"Don't make noise! Don't be noisy! ”

In the arrow tower, the Vietnamese generals in Lang Son City quarreled, they did not have the courage to go out of the city, so in the face of the Ming army's river crossing movement, they could only vent the quarrel.

Ruan Kang's eyes flickered, he knew very well that without the protection of the Qiqiu River, more than 5,000 of them were about to face the siege of tens of thousands of Ming troops in Hebei.

Judging from the power of the Ming army's artillery that can break the battlements across 300 steps, Langshan City may not be able to hold it.

"Passing on my military order, Hu Shaoji led 4,000 people to defend Langshan City, and Ben will personally lead 1,000 people to break through the siege and go south, and ask for help from the soldiers and horses of Jingbei and Taiyuan two towns!"

Ruan Kang gave this order, and it seemed that he had left the most dangerous task to himself, because yesterday they had already seen that the Ming army had cavalry, and it was a downhill road all the way south from Lang Son, so if he was caught up by cavalry, it would be a dead end.

However, Ruan Kang knew very well that as long as he walked out of Langshan City, he could take people to the mountains and forests, and then he could easily avoid the pursuit of the Ming cavalry.

The generals are not fools, although they don't know Ruan Kang's thoughts, but they know Ruan Kang's personality.

Ruan Kang is sanctimonious on the surface, but he has actually fought with the generals below many times, such a person will never put himself to death, so he can definitely live if he follows him.

"The last general is willing to go with him!"

"The Last General ......"

For a time, a large number of generals asked to follow Ruan Kang south.

"Straight sissy thief!" Looking at the actions of the generals, Ruan Kang didn't know that his mind was exposed, but he was not ashamed, but agreed to the generals.

Under the threat of Ming artillery, they quickly gathered hundreds of soldiers.

It's a pity that the Ming army moved faster than them, but in two quarters of an hour they had successfully crossed the Qiqiao River and began to prepare for the siege.

Upon hearing the news, Ruan Kang didn't care about the number of troops, so he directly chose to open the south gate, and fled to the south with four or five hundred people while the Ming army had not yet launched a siege of Lang Son City.

After they left, the remnants of the Vietnamese army in Lang Son City all shrank to the root of the city wall and defended hard, and the entire Lang Son City was surrounded by the Ming army led by Fu Rang without resistance.

After a short time, the sound of artillery stopped, and the artillery and gun carriage were split across the river.

It took two hours for 200 artillery pieces to be stationed at a distance of less than 50 paces from Lang Son Fortress, ready for shelling.

"At such a close distance, the thief army still doesn't know how to counterattack?"

Not far from the artillery position, looking at the city wall close at hand, Zhang Chun sighed, and Zhang Fu and Meng Ying on the side also nodded in approval.

Obviously, the Vietnamese army has been frightened, after all, at a distance of fifty paces, even bows and arrows can shoot at artillery positions, not to mention other medium and long-range cold weapons such as ballistas.

"Put!"

"Boom, boom—"

The dull sound of artillery was like the sound of a death horn, and this time the Ming army did not fire iron shells, but fired a round of shotguns.

At a distance of fifty paces, the 200 guns, loaded with 1,000 catties, roared and fired out the shotguns, covering Lang Son Castle like a dark cloud.

"Uhh

The screams came out after a few breaths, and the wail was like a terrible ghost in the eighteen layers of hell, and it was terrifying to hear.

It was unlikely that a shotgun bombardment at such a distance would have hit the armor of the crossing army after falling into the city, but Fu Rang did not think of using shotguns to harvest the Vietnamese army, and his target was the people who lived in Lang Son City and were responsible for escorting food.

"Replace with solid shells and prepare for shelling."

Fu Rang used a telescope to see that the city and the arrow tower did not have the Vietnamese army rising, so he ordered Zhang Fu to adjust the artillery bombardment.

Zhang Fu listened to the order, and then sent the Tang cavalry to convey the military order.

After a few hours, when the iron cannonballs were stuffed into the chambers, the gunners began to light the line of fire, and in the sound of snorting and burning, the two hundred guns roared again.

"Boom, boom—"

Two hundred iron cannonballs smashed on the city wall, and the high-power artillery bombardment at such a close range soon caused cracks to appear in the city wall of Lang Son.

The ramparts, which had been able to cope with the return cannons and the bowls, were overwhelmed by the cannons, but after four rounds of shelling, the rammed earth layer was already exposed.

"Go on!"

Fu Rang's face did not change, and Zhang Fu also continued to command the artillery battalion to continue the shelling of Lang Son City.

After two hours of incessant bombardment by 200 artillery pieces, the eastern section of the city wall in the north of Lang Son City began to collapse in a large area. ”

"Yes!!" Zhang Fu, Meng Ying, and Zhang Chun returned the salute.

Two quarters of an hour later, tens of thousands of Ming troops flocked to the gap in the city wall, which was no more than twenty paces wide and less than one zhang high.

When a large number of Ming troops climbed onto the cloud cart and jumped into Lang Son in groups, the Vietnamese army was caught off guard, so that the Ming army gained a foothold.

This foothold continued to expand, and the Ming army used the tactics of sword players, pikemen and arquebuses to achieve proud results in street fighting.

The sword player half-crouched to cover the lower body of the pikeman, and the pikeman attacked in a spear formation, advancing step by step.

As the Vietnamese army formed a long spear formation, the pikemen half-crouched, and the musketeers raised their guns and began to fire in a row at a distance of less than thirty paces.

After the three rounds of guns were over, the pikemen and sword players launched a charge, slaughtering the Vietnamese troops whose formation had been disrupted.

Since the Ming army launched the siege at 6 o'clock (18:30), the shouts of killing in Lang Son City lasted for three full hours.

Three hours later, with the opening of the city gates, the entire "enemy army" of Lang Son City had been cleared.

At the same time, the sound of the hooves of the horses in the south was also heard.

A team of Tang horsemen turned over and half-knelt on the ground and handed out Lin Su's waist card: "Hundreds of enemy troops fleeing south have been completely annihilated by Lin Tongzhi, and the guard general Ruan Kang has been beheaded by Lin Tongzhi!" ”

"Good!" Fu Rang's tone was flat, but it revealed firmness.

He set his sights on the city of Lang Son that was burning in the dark night: "All the seizures will be handed over, and after the counting, forty percent will be sent to the soldiers tomorrow morning, one percent will be sent to the generals above 100 households, and the remaining fifty percent will be sealed and handed over to the imperial court after the war subsides." ”

"Those who dare to have someone to hide it privately, military law will do it!"

"The last general commands!" The generals around were fighting one after another, and Fu Rang also walked towards Langshan City with steps.

At six o'clock on the sixteenth day of the winter month of the second year of Yongle, the Eastern Route Army captured Langshan City, and the defenders in Langshan City were completely wiped out......

In the early morning of the next day, the wolf smoke and warning of Lang Son City reached the two towns of Jingbei and Taiyuan, and the two towns sent the news to Thang Long City.

Like them, there was also Hu Yuancheng who retreated to Xuanguang Town, so when Hu Jichen saw the three military information, the whole person was as depressed as a frosted eggplant.

"The Ming army has even entered the city, and now it has entered the North Vietnamese Plain......"

Hu Jichen was depressed and completely lost his pre-war spirit.

"Your Majesty, there are still more than 80,000 people in our army, and we can completely withdraw to the western capital of Thanh Hoa."

In the Qinzheng Palace, more than 50 Hu officials from the left and right classes expressed their attitudes one after another, obviously shocked by the news that the Ming army advanced more than 100 miles on the third day and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were wiped out.

"Yes, there are still 80,000 troops ......"

Hu Jichen remembered his soldiers and horses in Shenglong, Xuanguang, Taiyuan, Jingbei, Haiyang and other towns, and after his heart was lively, he immediately opened his mouth and ordered:

"Send an edict to the soldiers and horses of each town, if it is unfavorable to defend the city, you can retreat to Duobang City, relying on the four rivers of Xuan, Tao, Cang, and Fuliang as barriers!"

"The ministers and other ministers ......" The ministers of the Hu family returned the salute one after another, and the uneasiness in Hu Jichen's heart also subsided a little.

However, as the lord of Annam, he seemed to have forgotten how the emperor in the north had obtained the throne.

"Whoa-la-"

Almost at the same time as Hu Jichen's order, a large fleet came from the north and circled a cliffed island on three sides to its southwest.

Here, a natural harbor has emerged, and a more basic pier has been built on the island.

"Woo-woo-"

As the horn of a certain warship began to sound, hundreds of ships more than ten or even twenty zhang long responded with horns.

The sound of trumpets one after another declares the sovereignty of the Ming Dynasty over this place.

In the midst of the fleet, a treasure ship of five thousand materials sailed in the sunlight towards the humble docks.

The whirring wind sounded in my ears, and the treasure ship rode the wind and waves, and the waves set off were like an invisible python sliding on the sea.

As the Governor of the Navy and the envoy to the West, Yang Zhan and Zheng He stood solemnly at the bow of the ship, looking down at the dock that was getting closer and closer.

When the treasure ship entered the dock under the guidance of several sand boats and came to a stop, the boat ladder was quickly lowered, and Zheng He and Yang Zhan stepped off the treasure ship one after another, and met Cui Jun, who had arrived here early.

At present, Zheng Jun stayed on the Yinqi Islands and was responsible for the construction of the Whale Sea Guard, so many important matters of the Western Fleet were handed over to Chen Xuan and Cui Jun by him to do, and his father Yang Li was left in Nanjing by him so that he could report to the emperor and the East Palace at any time.

"How's this island going?"

When Yang Zhan and Zheng He met Cui Jun, they took a look at this nameless island with rich vegetation.

"Yes, there is fresh water and a harbor where you can moor, and there is arable land that can be developed, and it is the best harbor island in the Beibu Gulf to go to XSQD."

Cui Jun said, and at the same time took Yang Zhan and them to the beach on the island.

In places that can be seen by the naked eye, thousands of people, including Cui Jun, who arrived here first, have already built rows of concrete bungalows, more than 100 in two rows.

"I'm afraid you've used all the cement on the ship here, right?"

Zheng He looked at Cui Jun with a smile, and at the same time walked towards the row of bungalows.

Cui Jun also led the way and explained with a smile: "There is always some worry about ships anchoring at sea with grain, so these bungalows can be used for living and can also be used as warehouses at critical moments. ”

Cui Jun opened one of the bungalows, the inside area is about one cent (61 square meters), the ground is also paved with concrete, and there is no sign of resurgence, it can be seen that Cui Jun is very careful to run this place.

"There's a vegetable patch over there."

Cui Jun said, personally led the way in front, and took Zheng He and Yang Zhan to the back of the bungalow not far away.

Here, more than a dozen acres of cultivated land reclaimed by manpower are displayed in front of everyone's eyes.

"It's dry land, but as long as there is water, it can still be planted, I think this piece can be planted at least three or four hundred acres of dry land, but I don't know if the water is enough."

Yang Zhan squatted down and grabbed a handful of soil, felt its dryness, then sprinkled it on the ground and clapped his hands, and glanced back at Cui Jun.

"There are enough fresh water pipes, in my opinion, dozens of families can be relocated to live here, or a hundred soldiers can be stationed, so as to ensure that the imperial court can control this island."

Cui Jun said, and Yang Zhan also nodded: "It's a good place here, but the Japanese are rampant, and the immigrants are not easy to protect, so it's better to directly garrison a hundred households." ”

After that, he looked back at Zheng He, and Zheng He also smiled and said: "It can be operated like this in a month, this place is still good, and it can also provide vegetables for official ships traveling between Guangxi and Annam in the future, and troops can be stationed." ”

"Okay, you can leave a hundred households to be stationed, and now start loading fresh water into the ship."

Yang Zhan commanded, then took out the map from his arms, spread it on the ground and said to the two:

"There are still 300 miles to get to Thanh Hoa from this island, and today it is a north wind, which is just enough to help us get to Thanh Hoa."

"If we set off before nightfall, with the speed of the fleet, we can arrive in Thanh Hoa early the morning after tomorrow at most, just enough to catch them by surprise."

"Indeed." Zheng He squatted down without a frame, looked in the direction pointed out by Yang Zhan, nodded in approval of his idea, and also measured the "five roads" in southern Annan with his hands.

"There are three provinces and fifteen roads in Annam, and there are five roads in Thanh Hoa and south of Thanh Hoa, namely Thanh Hoa, Yanzhou, Nghe An, Tan Binh, and Hue."

"The total number of defenders on these five routes will not exceed 30,000, of which Thanh Hoa accounts for at least half."

"Taking Qinghua means directly cutting off Hu Jichen's back route to flee south, so this battle must be fought fast enough."

"In addition, these five roads are where Hu Jichen started, so they will not be as easy to incite as the north, and they must not be benevolent."

Although Zheng He was a eunuch, he was not a weak person, otherwise he would not have done anything to conquer the capital of Ceylon and capture its lord.

Since Zhu Gaoxu confessed that he would be ruthless to the enemy, he would naturally not be soft-hearted.

In order to avoid a rebellion after defeating the South Fifth Road, he could only use ruthless hands to deter the Hu diehards of the South Fifth Road.

"Your Highness said that we can't get our hands dirty......"

Yang Zhan frowned, although he supported Zhu Gaoxu, he didn't quite support letting the army do this kind of thing.

In his opinion, this kind of thing can be completely handed over to the Tusi soldiers in Mu Chun's hands to do, not only can things be done beautifully, but also can be used as an excuse afterwards to organize the Annan people to recruit Tusi, intensifying the contradictions between the two sides, and constantly depleting the population of Annan and the southwest Tusi in the future development of the southwest.

"If that's going to happen, then we'll have to keep enough troops to the south to prevent a rebellion."

Zheng He looked at Yang Zhan and wanted to see his attitude from his face, but although Yang Zhan was thoughtful, he didn't argue with him, and said straight to the point:

"Zheng Zheng led 10,000 troops to stay on the South Fifth Road, and Cui Jun and I led 10,000 troops to the north to attack the north and south with the East and West Route Army."

Yang Zhan and Zheng He already knew each other very well, and naturally knew that Zheng He was also a person who knew soldiers and was good at fighting, so he handed over 10,000 navies to him, whether it was Yang Zhan or Cui Jun, they were very relieved.

"If there are 10,000 left-behind soldiers, then I can guarantee that there will be no problems on the South Fifth Road."

Zheng He nodded solemnly, and Yang Zhan simply planned when he saw this: "In this case, the three of us will lead 20,000 troops to take Qinghua, and then leave 10,000 troops for you to go south, and Cui Jun and I will take the remaining soldiers and horses north to Jianxing Road." ”

"Good!"

After assigning the task, the three of them got up and put away the map, and then began to direct the 1,000 defenders on the island to fill the buckets of fresh water and transport it to the fleet in sand boats.

Little by little, the time passed until dusk was completely over.

Yang Zhan, Zheng He, and Cui Jun, who had returned to the fleet, began to give the order to set sail and march towards Annam in the southwest direction at dusk.

Standing on the deck, a eunuch walked up to Zheng He's side, scratching his ears and cheeks with a notebook, attracting Zheng He's attention.

"What's wrong?" Zheng He turned around and asked, and the eunuch also smiled embarrassedly when he saw this: "Envoy, the island is unknown in the history books today, how should this news be reported to the palace?" ”

"Nameless?" Zheng He thought for a moment, then turned his head to look at the island that was gradually disappearing into the sea level.

"I see that it has spring water, and it can be cultivated vegetables, like a floating island on the sea, so it is better to call it floating water island island."

"Yes!" The eunuch smiled when he heard this, and hurriedly wrote the four big characters of Fushuizhou Island on the note in his hand.

"Records of Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "On the seventeenth day of the winter month, Zheng He led the fleet to the northwest of Qiongzhou, met the island, the island was uninhabited and there was a spring, which could be cultivated, and was given the name Fushui Island. ”

"Ming Taizong Record": "On the sixteenth day of winter, the governor Fu let Kelang Mountain City and beheaded more than 20,000 thieves. Mu Chun, the Duke of Qianguo, pulled out the king and made the mountain thief army, beheaded thousands of levels, and captured 50,000. ”

"Records of Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "Ji Qin heard that the heavenly soldiers broke Langshan, fearing that the Chinese in Annan were the internal response, and the arson captured tens of thousands of Chinese by the river, set fire to death, and abandoned the corpses to cover the wild Saijiang. His army was defeated, and he ignored Huayi in order to collect money and goods, but those who did not obey were set on fire, causing the people of northern Vietnam to be displaced, and three or four out of ten died of starvation. ”

"Southern Expedition": "When the official army first entered Annam, the native soldiers plundered women's property along the road and could not control it, and there were many dead. ”

(End of chapter)