Chapter 399 Victory and Triumph

When the two sides signed a series of agreements on the "concession", the North Vietnamese court was eager to exchange seemingly less useful vacant areas for Hai Han's military assistance, and did not pay special attention to the impact that some of the provisions would have in the future.

After all, the ideologies of those in power are limited by the times and the environment, so they lack strategic foresight when making decisions. However, these provisions that were once considered irrelevant by the North Vietnamese court are slowly beginning to come into play after a period of time.

Effects - some effects that made North Vietnamese officials feel uncomfortable but helpless.

Even if Zheng Bai was dissatisfied with the decisions made by the court, he had no way to change the status quo. After all, he was just a warrior and did not have much influence in the court. Although Zheng Bai wanted to capture all the Ruan family members

But now the Haihan people want to stand up to protect them, and even use the "concession" as a shield. All Zheng Bai can do is to reflect the attitude of the Haihan people. As for whether he will follow up with Haihan on this

Wrangling is also the task of civil servants, and it is no longer something Zheng Bai can participate in.

The only thing Zheng Bai felt fortunate about was probably that the Haihan people did not open their mouths before the war and asked Hue to come as a concession. Of course, this condition was more likely to be rejected by the North Vietnamese court, but if the Haihan people were in the city

If there is a request to set aside a "special exclusive area" in the form of a concession outside the city or even in the city, the possibility of it actually happening is quite high. If that happens, the local officials stationed in Hue will be in big trouble in the future.

However, Zheng Bai's worries are actually unnecessary. Hai Han has never had the idea of ​​occupying Hue City from the beginning to the end. Compared with the big cities of the same era, the conditions in Hue are pretty good, and the city defense facilities are quite complete.

There are vast arable lands around the city that can provide food, and there are waterways leading directly to the sea. However, in the opinion of the Executive Committee and the Military Commission, the location of Hue City is actually not very suitable for Hai Han’s development strategy, as it is twenty miles away from the coastline.

It is far away and there is no natural harbor topography to develop large-scale maritime trade. The four southern ports that the Executive Committee requested from the North Vietnamese court are superior to Hue City in terms of sea trade development potential. Of course, if you want to do it in the short term

The construction of port cities in several seaport areas that are still in a state of wilderness can only be realized with the organizational and operational capabilities of Hai Han. The North Vietnamese court certainly does not have such great courage.

"Take a good look here again. After you leave Hue this time, you may not be able to come back for several years." On the dock outside Hue, Wang Tom said to a group of South Vietnamese surrenderers who were about to embark on an unknown journey.

: "The imperial court in the north does not want to see you in the Hue area again. In order to save your lives and property, there is no other way. We can only help here."

The Nguyen clan members saved by the Hai Han Militia this time were actually far more than the ones on the list that Yan Chujie gave to Zheng Bai. The names on the list all provided real assistance to the Hai Han Militia during the attack on Hue.

people, but in addition, there are many people with illegal hukou who are not included in the list. Most of these people are the family members of officials who were captured by the Haihan militia after the city was broken. Some of them were separated from their families due to the war.

Some were blocked at home before they had time to escape.

The next thing is very simple. In order to save their lives, these Ruan clan members "actively" paid valuable protection fees to the Haihan militia in exchange for the "freedom and security" promised by the Haihan people. Of course, even if

Even though they spent money, the Hai Han people still insisted on leaving their hometown and leaving Hue. The so-called "freedom and safety" only refers to the process of leaving Hue.

The Haihan Militia only relied on this unplanned revenue to earn more than 300,000 taels of silver, nearly 20,000 taels of gold, and several jewelry items. In terms of gold and silver alone, this is more than the income from the imperial palace.

Even more generous. Several senior military officers even held a meeting to discuss whether they should come forward to save the senior Nguyen family officials captured by North Vietnam. After all, these people still have quite a lot of various types of real estate in the private sector, which will be sold off in the future.

It’s a lot of money.

Ruan Jinggui stepped forward and cupped his hands and said: "Thank you, Mr. Haihan, for keeping your promise. I, the Ruan clan, will ask you to take care of me after we leave Hue!"

These Ruan clan members will not be sent to the same settlement. For safety reasons, the Haihan side will separate them and resettle them in different areas. Some maritime merchants like Ruan Jinggui will be resettled in the south in the future.

Several newly opened ports, while most of the others will be transported back to Hainan Island and assigned to various resettlement sites under the executive committee. As for the very few, after paying protection fees, resettlement fees, transportation fees and other fees,

For those who still have a certain amount of property but are unwilling to place themselves under the protection of Haihan, the military also gives them another option, which is to send them to the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty to land. As for their future destination, it is completely up to them.

It fends for itself.

On March 30, the first batch of ships carrying trophies and Ruan immigrants sailed out of the Xiangjiang estuary and returned to Sanya. The total value of the trophies carried on these ships alone exceeded two million taels of silver.

This is a level that has not been reached in the past several attacks by the Haihan Militia. Although the current communication with the base camp can only be through brief messages, several senior officers in the frontline headquarters can basically imagine what the executive committee members will get.

Smiling from ear to ear after the news.

For the military, the biggest gain from this war is not the amount of materials and money seized, but the expansion opportunities it will gain. The military's various military expansion and war preparation plans have always been regarded as "budgets" by the executive committee.

The military was denied or cut off in the name of "too high", but this time the troops were dispatched to Hue and the amazing income proved that the Military Commission's development method of "fighting to support war" is quite feasible. This time I will go back and report to the executive

When the committee submits a report on military expansion, I believe that the executive committee members will no longer be able to use old excuses to prevaricate.

Even out of practical considerations, the next expansion of the Haihan Militia is imperative. After the battle of Haihan, there were four more ports to be built in Indochina, including

One is Cam Ranh Bay, a military port that the military has coveted for a long time. Even if these four ports are configured with the lowest military strength, they must have at least two to three thousand permanent troops. And the militia army currently stationed in Annan plus the reserve militia

The total is only about half of this number, and the gap in military strength is still quite large.

In the expansion of military strength in Indochina, the soldiers will not just come from the local area, a considerable part of them will come from the Sanya area. According to the principle of serving in other places, the soldiers recruited from the Indochina Peninsula will take turns to serve in Hainan Island, while those from the Ming Dynasty will

The soldiers recruited from the regions will be sent to serve overseas one after another. If nothing unexpected happens, most of the first batch of troops stationed in the four new ports will be troops from the Sanya Military Region.

However, the militia troops participating in the Battle of Hue did not evacuate immediately with the cargo ship, because although the destruction of Hue symbolized the collapse of the South Vietnamese regime, the battle for the reunification of Annan did not end there. In Hue, south of Dong Hoi

In the Guangzhi area to the north, there are at least thousands of remaining South Vietnamese forces controlling Guangzhi City. In the offshore area south of Hue to the southern tip of the Indochina Peninsula, there are also at least a dozen states and counties that do not know Hue.

The two sides must also reach an agreement on the subsequent military operations. In other words, everyone must first settle the previous accounts and then consider whether to fight the subsequent battles together.

"General Yan, last month our army has not sent an observation team to station in your army. The accounts for last month... I think there are some issues worthy of discussion. The daily expenditure for this cruise is 8,000 taels of silver. Where did it come from?

?How to confirm?”

"Oh? General Zheng can't trust our army's accounts? So in General Zheng's eyes, our army's credibility is not enough? We send more than twenty ships to patrol the waters off Hue every day to block the ships sent by South Vietnam.

Soldiers go out early and come back late every day, and they have to perform tasks at sea for six or seven hours, but now that you are talking about it, all their hard work has been in vain?"

Regarding the huge military expenditures involved in this battle, the generals on both sides insisted on their own opinions and refused to give in. If not for everyone wearing military uniforms and speaking solemnly, this scene would really feel like a market hawker haggling.

According to the figures provided by the Hai Han side, the North Vietnamese court must provide more than 1.8 million taels of silver as compensation for the Hai Han militia's battle. Under Zheng Bai's strong request, the Hai Han side made a slight concession.

, deducting the first year's rent for the four southern ports, and offering certain financial compensation for North Vietnam's release of thousands of South Vietnamese surrender troops, reducing the overall cost by about 10%.

However, even so, compared with 1.6 million, there is no substantial difference for the already extremely poor North Vietnamese court. Zheng Bai originally planned to use Hue City to search

property to offset the military expenses required by the Haihan militia, but the actual situation was too different from what was imagined. Just entering the city one day late, most of the property in the city was taken away by the Haihan people. Zheng Bai spent tens of thousands

People searched the city for five days, and the money they got was only more than 300,000 taels of silver.

Zheng Bai's estimated figure before the war was no less than two million taels, but the gap in the actual figure was simply too big for him to accept. Such a small amount of money was still far away, let alone paying the military expenses of the Haihan people, even if it was to pay the imperial court.

Not enough - Over at Thang Long Palace, King Zheng Chao of the Qing Dynasty was eagerly looking forward to the capture of Hue City. After paying Hai Han's military expenses, a few dollars would be left in the national treasury. However, now it seems that all this is just

Delusional, it was hard for Zheng Bai to imagine whether Zheng Jie would be so angry that he vomited blood when he received the report a few days later.

For practical reasons, Zheng Bai certainly hopes to continue to cooperate with the Hai Han Militia, which can save the North Vietnamese Army a lot of consumption. However, although the combat effectiveness of the Hai Han Militia is good, the military expenses are really high and the North Vietnamese cannot afford it.

Zheng Bai is not the Minister of Finance and does not have the authority to make decisions. All he can do now is to try to keep the price of the military expenditures that need to be paid as low as possible, and then report the figures to the Shenglong Palace for decision-making. Of course, the final figure of the money does not matter, no matter how high it is

Whether Long Mansion can pay it all in one lump sum, it must be admitted. Otherwise, Zheng Bai cannot guarantee whether the Hai Han militia will simply choose to go north by sea to the Red River Delta and attack Thang Long Province after they leave Hue. This gang

Since the lunatics have a way to tear down the inner and outer walls of Hue City, then the city defenses of Thang Long Palace may not be able to stop them.

Although Zheng Bai really wanted to continue to cooperate with the Haihan Militia to wipe out the remaining forces in South Vietnam, Yan Chujie's attitude was also very clear. If the previous accounts were not settled clearly, the Haihan Militia would not participate in subsequent military operations. And Haihan left

The time limit given to North Vietnam was also very short, only five days - which was not enough to run back and forth from Hue to Thang Long, or even one way.

On April 3, the Hai Han militia, which had not waited for a confirmed response from North Vietnam, began to organize troops to evacuate Hue. Seeing this scene, Zheng Bai was really mixed with joy and worry. What was good was that these troublesome guys were finally leaving Annam -

- The Hai Han Militia has extremely high requirements for logistical supplies. Almost all the poultry and livestock within thirty miles of Hue have complied with their request and been used as food supplies for the Hai Han Militia. If they don’t leave, Zheng Bai may

We have to send the tens of thousands of people under our control out to hunt and fish.

The worrying side is that after the Hai Han people leave, the operation to wipe out the remaining South Vietnamese forces will inevitably slow down. After the Hai Han militia withdraw, the corresponding maritime transport capacity will also be greatly reduced. In the future, there will only be limited maritime transport capacity to support the North Vietnamese Army.

The clearing operation only required a lot of energy and materials from the North Vietnamese Army to maintain a long supply line. If nothing else happened, Zheng Bai estimated that he would spend most of the next half year in constant marching and fighting.

.

On April 8, the militia troops returned to Sanya by boat. Although they missed the celebration of the second anniversary of the crossing, the Executive Committee still mobilized the people in the Sanya area to come to the port area to welcome the troops back from the expedition with honor. This welcome event was also

The militia army was mobilized in the largest scale since several times. All members of the executive committee and more than 10,000 people came to the port area to welcome the victorious militia army back home.

In this battle, nearly 2,000 combat personnel and nearly 1,000 civilians were dispatched to the Sanya area. During the battle, 174 people were killed and more than 60 were seriously injured and disabled. However, the brilliant results achieved

In theory, this number of casualties is enough to be proud of.

Yan Chujie, Qian Tiandun, Qiao Zhiya, Wang Tom and others who achieved meritorious service in this battle were all publicly commended by the Executive Committee at the welcome ceremony on the pier, while internal promotions of the Military Commission will be held at another date.

Announcement. Yan Chujie, on behalf of the frontline command, read out the list of all those who died in the war at the welcome ceremony, and distributed pensions and commendation orders jointly issued by the Executive Committee and the Military Commission to their families on the spot. All those who died in the war were awarded posthumously to individuals.

Second-class military merits and corpses will be admitted to the Martyrs Cemetery, and their families will receive corresponding policy care in terms of work, house purchase, and children's education.

After completing these face-saving projects, the Executive Committee held a welcome reception for the military officers who went on the expedition at Fort Victory that day. In addition to internal personnel, the attendees also invited many foreign merchants, business representatives in Sanya, and of course

Official representatives of the Ming Dynasty such as Luo Shengdong were indispensable to attend.

The main reason for inviting these outsiders is that the Executive Committee wants to use this victory to promote military force. While shocking people, it also gives more confidence to those pro-Hai Han forces and interested allies.

Let them understand how terrifying the Haihan Militia is.

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, Tao Donglai stood up, made a group salute and said loudly: "Everyone, please listen to me."

After the venue calmed down, Tao Donglai continued: "I believe everyone knows that the reason for coming here today is to help our militia soldiers to clean up their dust. But where did they go to fight, what was the process, and what was the result? I believe

Most of the people here may not be very clear about it. In order to give you a more intuitive understanding of how our militia groups fight for Haihan's interests outside, we have specially arranged a small program this time. Please stay where you are for the rest of the time.

Sit down, don’t move around casually.”

After Tao Dong finished speaking, he clapped his hands, and the lights in the room were turned off. Just when everyone present was confused, they saw a light curtain on a wall, and what was reflected on it was the Haihan Militia.

The scene when the expedition left Victory Port in February. Seeing such a scene, some people immediately exclaimed, and some people who had seen it knew that this was the secret technique "point shadow" uniquely mastered by the Haihan people, and they immediately whispered

explain.

This shot should have been taken on a certain warship on an expedition. Dozens of large ships sailed out of the harbor one after another, lining up in a line and towing a fleet that was several miles long on the sea.

Next, when the camera turned, several Haihan warships were seen chasing a sailboat on the sea. At this time, Wang Tom’s voice sounded at the scene: “This is us chasing South Vietnamese cargo ships. These cargo ships are South Vietnamese in Daming territory.

We purchased supplies, but most of them were intercepted by us on the way back."

The camera soon switched to the landing of the fleet. Wang Tom explained: "This is our landing at the mouth of the Xiong River east of Hue. This place is about 20 miles away from Hue City."

The next scene made the spectators' blood boil. More than ten artillery pieces were lined up on the river bank, bombarding dozens of ships on the river. From the picture, it can be clearly seen that these ships were hit by bullets and burst into flames.

In the process, the South Vietnamese soldiers on the boat jumped into the river to escape, while the boat slowly sank into the water. This was the first time for many people to see real war scenes. With the rumbling sound of artillery fired from the live speakers, many people were shocked

Everyone's two legs are fighting, and they almost want to escape.

"This is our naval force annihilating South Vietnam on the banks of the Xiangjiang River. Of course, to them this is the navy, but to us it is just a pile of broken wood floating on the river." Wang Tom explained.

The poem is full of disdain for the South Vietnamese navy and pride for its own militia. Although the tone is arrogant, it is taken for granted in the eyes of the onlookers - under Hai Han's fierce artillery attack, this is not just a pile of broken wood.

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Chapter completed!