Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 987 Cam Ranh Bay

Even from the boat, you can see a series of forts built by the Ruan family on the coastline, especially in the sea and land hubs and places suitable for berthing ships. You can see the fortresses built by the Ruan family everywhere, many of which are European-style, although There are obvious "monkey version" features in terms of scale and materials, but it is undeniable that the "Westernization" of Ruan's military thinking and technology is much more radical than that of Ming Dynasty.

In this battle between the Northern and Southern Dynasties in Vietnam, not only the European colonialists who were active in Southeast Asia participated, but the Chinese pirates also mingled among them, providing naval power for the fight between Ruan and Zheng, and they fought happily.Both sides did not hesitate to throw all kinds of "official titles", "noble titles" and "desires" to the pirates-anyway, all that was spent was a paper document, a large wooden seal, and a nondescript official uniform.You can pull countless people and boats to work for your own side, so why not do it.As for the reward, it is to freely plunder the wealth of the enemy's land.

Ping Qiusheng suddenly remembered something: "The messenger! Order Wang You to report to the cockpit immediately!"

Wang You, who served in the Battle of the Pearl River Estuary, originally participated in the logistics work study in the joint logistics study class at the Ma Niu base. He used to be the old battalion manager of the pirate group.This time, when I went to Southeast Asia, I selected naturalized civilians who were more familiar with the environment in Southeast Asia from within the military system, so I temporarily seconded Wang You.

"Have you been here with Zheng Bao?" Ping Qiusheng asked Wang You.

"Yes!" Wang You's posture of standing at attention to answer is not quite standard-although he has been with the pirate group, he is essentially a master who plays with pens, and he is also too old, so the effect of "regularized" training is far inferior to that of other peers them.The navy uniform on his body has the demeanor of a Meiji Restoration meeting who just wore a foreign uniform.

Wang You looked at the familiar coastline: Wang You roughly described his "combat" with Zheng Bao's fleet in this area-the so-called combat refers to the burning, killing and looting in this area.It was a very good deal at the beginning. The Ruan family had no defenses on the coastline in this area, and the fleet easily captured many ships and plundered a lot of property.Except for paying a part to the Zheng family, the rest is all the fleet's own.

But gradually the coastline became less easy to chew. There were more and more forts and beacon towers. Not only did they often have to brave artillery fire to land, but sometimes they were intercepted by Ruan's fleet, and the two sides fought each other. , People and ships suffered heavy losses.

It was precisely because the business became more and more dangerous that Zheng Bao had the idea of ​​returning to Guangdong.

"How many of the Ming pirates are still fighting for Zheng and Ruan?"

"Report! I don't know the exact number. When Zheng Bao recruited sailors and ships in Jiangping last year, there were more than 30 shares that fought for the Zheng family. They were all appointed officials."

The number of these pirate stocks and the number of people and ships often changed. Whether it was the Zheng family or the Ruan family, the Chinese pirates under his command belonged to the "rebel army", and they were neither counted nor paid.Just give it a name to let it harass the other party.Except for a few large-scale battles, few will gather together to command operations.As for coming and going, it is even more free, as long as you are willing to come and go, you are welcome.So when the summer typhoon season comes, these pirates basically retreat to the coast of China.

As for the Chinese pirates fighting for Nguyen, there are far fewer—relatively speaking, Nguyen is far away.It is not easy to replenish men and ships.However, he has heard of more than a dozen people who have dealt with at sea.However, he also said that many pirates were canonized by both sides at the same time.Switch sides frequently to help pan for gold in this chaotic situation.

Of course, there are not a few people who died in the gold rush.Wang You knew that several past shopkeepers under Zhucai's old hand fell down here.So when the boat arrived here, he couldn't help but feel sad again.

Quark often travels through this area, and has heard a lot about the war.He pointed to several buildings deep in the coastline: "There is the granary of the Annan people. I heard that there are many more inland. The biggest one is at the east gate of Hue City. God bless, these barbarians killed each other several times In [-], the Portuguese were also involved, and they hoarded a lot of food, but I guess if the killing continues like this, no one will be able to eat these things soon.”

"Are the firearms they used provided by the Portuguese?" Ping Qiusheng asked.He saw a large number of forts and forts, all of which should be equipped with artillery, and the total number is astonishing.

"The Portuguese set up a foundry in Hue very early on, casting cannons and shells. They can also produce matchlock guns. They made a lot of money!" Quark said enviously.He is a businessman, and he is relatively well-informed about this kind of information. He has always envied and hated it-what in the world is more valuable than arms?When Li Luoyou wanted to cooperate with him to set up a cannon factory, he was very enthusiastic.

Quark explained diligently, and he still counted on the "Australian chart" that Ping Qiusheng promised him. Although the chart Liu San once showed to Quark was a controlled product, the small-precision latitude and longitude charts had already been printed by the Senate One lot, as a future gift to business partners with a lot of trade.

Looking at the buildings in the distance, Ping Qiusheng thought, these grains should have passed through the group. If it wasn't for the melee between the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Vietnam's food would not be so tight.Although the local coastal defense is well organized, this level of fortification is at best stronger than Daming's fort in Humen.Although Zheng Bao and others found it difficult, it was not a problem for them.If the fleet has a navy company, a small number of special investigation teams, and a few H800 Harmony ships, it will not be a problem for one guy to grab [-] to [-] shi of food and go back.But this time there is no need to think about it. The engine plan has already squeezed out various resources in Lingao, and many large-scale operations have been put on hold until next year.The proposal to rob the monkeys of food is estimated to be unable to pass the Senate in a short period of time.

Ping Qiusheng noticed that there was a natural reef separating the harbor in the open sea, and the berthing conditions inside were good. At this time, the people on the shore seemed to have noticed the arrival of the fleet and set off thick smoke as a warning, but no ships left the port. check.Obviously, the opponent does not have a standing navy that can leave the port to fight at any time.It just relies on the coastal defense system to prevent the opponent from landing and harassing.

A little further south is Da Nang, and you can already see the estuary of the Han River. This is the dividing line of the influence of Han culture on the Indochinese Peninsula.Vietnam in this time and space has not yet pushed its territory south to the sea.From the perspective of the Vietnamese court, going south from the Han River is Shengfan, which belongs to the territory they want to "educate" and "conquer".

After two days of sailing, the fleet arrived in the waters of Nha Trang.Ping Qiusheng ordered the fleet to anchor here, and sent a small team to land to get water, firewood and collect food.The landing party brought a little panic to the residents here.

The local villagers sent two old men to bring some food and drinking water to inquire about the intentions of the landers.Ping Qiusheng learned a little Vietnamese, but when he communicated, Ping Qiusheng realized that his 300 sentences in Vietnamese were completely useless. Chinese characters were not commonly used in southern Vietnam at that time, and modern Vietnamese based on the French alphabet could not communicate. The odd pronunciation is apparently a dialect from around the South Island.

The envoy from Laide Village can speak a little Chinese—of course, the pronunciation is very strange, and only ex-pirates like Wang You who have been to this area before can understand it.After Ping Yuan tried it, he still gave up his plan to go to battle, and he was translated by a former pirate who is familiar with this area.After a lot of hands and feet, a mixture of native language and Chinese, the two sides roughly understood each other's meaning.

Ping Qiusheng gave the villagers some commonly used gifts in trade: glass beads and a few machetes.Ask the village to provide clean drinking water and food supplies.The fleet can pay with the daily necessities that came with it, and Ping Qiusheng also gave the representative a small glass mirror, and the villagers went back with gratitude.On the same day, rice, chicken, duck, and many fruits and vegetables were delivered.

Fearing that they would be attacked by Ruan's army, all of them just camped on a higher place on the shore, and some people were left on board to guard them, but the elders obviously overestimated Ruan's control.As the area newly occupied by the Nguyen from Champa, they did not show much control.Its limited forces were apparently mobilized to the northern front.As local native villagers, they can be considered somewhat knowledgeable. Having experienced wars, pirates, and European fleets, they know that these outsiders are not something they can provoke.

Now that they understand the disparity in their own strengths, they can only cooperate with the various sea forces that appear here in this time and space. It seems that the Australians are still very polite, so the villagers are willing to cooperate with them as much as possible.

During the few days in Nha Trang, Lin Dan and his former "colleagues" enjoyed the beach here.The scenery in Nha Trang is so beautiful that Americans are very discerning in choosing this place as a base.

In Ping Qiusheng's mind, in the future Nha Trang will be the advance base for travelers in Southeast Asia, and it will also be a choice for veterans' resorts.

The elders of the long-distance exploration team who came with the ship took a small boat to conduct hydrological surveys in Cam Ranh Bay, south of Nha Trang.This natural harbor with extremely superior hydrological conditions is an excellent naval base and commercial port.In the future, the commercial and military strongholds based on Cam Ranh Bay and Nha Trang should have a very good development.

The south of Cam Ranh Bay is not the territory of Vietnam but the territory of Champa.While resisting the northern attack, the Nguyen Dynasty continued to "expand the territory" southward, continuously compressing the Champa Kingdom that was originally in this area, and compressing the remnants of Champa to the south of Cam Ranh Bay.Historically, the territory of Champa continued from Fanli to Hue.But now the power of Champa is only left in the Fanli area, and it can continue to survive for decades by relying on the mutual attacks and containment of the Northern and Southern Dynasties of Vietnam.

(End of this chapter)