Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 368 Cleansing Saigon Port
Just as Zhu Youdong was weaving a big net and preparing to go south to close it himself on a certain day, on May 20, the Saigon Port attack, which was intended to show muscle, deter Annan and cover up the real strategic intentions of the Ming Dynasty, was officially launched.
At 6:40 a.m. local time , the sky was just getting light. Dozens of signal flares were launched along the six-kilometer-long battle line controlled by the Ming army. Then, at Liu Zhaosun's command, hundreds of artillery pieces on the Ming army's battle line roared in unison.
The sound of the cannon was so loud, and the sound of hundreds of cannons was so shocking. The ground within a radius of one or two kilometers with the Ming army's artillery position as the center was trembling. As for the thunderous and dragon-like cannon sounds, they went straight up to the sky and spread beyond the entire battlefield...
The Siamese had three lines of defense outside the Saigon Fortress, which were made up of trenches, wooden stakes, and even a small amount of barbed wire. This line of defense, combined with flintlock soldiers and nearly peak-level muzzle-loading smoothbore cannons, made the commander here, Ah Xin, confident that he could hold out for at least three months.
However, under such intensive and terrifying artillery attacks, the Siamese first line of defense lasted less than half a day!
Limited by the means of communication of that era, the Ming army could not play the game of slow barrage and infantry-artillery coordination. But the Siamese did not know the corresponding defense methods such as elastic defense and reverse slope. Therefore, in the first round of concentrated artillery fire from the Ming army, the Siamese defenders deployed on the front line were either directly killed or killed by the huge sound waves. The dense fortifications were broken into countless large holes. When the artillery bombardment was suspended and the Ming army infantry rushed up, the battle that took place was not even fierce.
"How magnificent! Commander Liu, although the emperor has described this scene in his letter, only by being there in person can you feel the power brought by this concentrated artillery fire!"
"Hahaha, yes!" After taking out the tiny cork from his ear, Liu Zhaosun let out a long sigh: "This method is good, but it's a bit expensive. Who knows, after this battle, I will have to go to President Cao to get scolded again."
"Humph! Cao Sanxi, the tofu merchant, is so short-sighted. What is this battle for? To show the might of the Ming Dynasty to the surrounding barbarians! This battle cannot be just about cash. In the words of the emperor, it cannot be just about economics, it must also be about politics!"
After scolding Cao Sanxi with his usual contemptuous tone, Xiong Tingbi said, "General Liu, do you want to continue pushing forward?"
"Hahaha, Commander, today I am going to push down the city wall in one go. Then I will decide whether to do earthwork or continue to wash the ground based on the range of the enemy's fortress artillery. Mm! Washing the ground, your Majesty, I really like this word."
"Hmm..." Holding up the telescope, Xiong Tingbi looked at the brave infantrymen on the front line, and the artillerymen pushing the artillery carts forward not far away. He put down the telescope and turned around: "General Liu, if the enemy's fortress artillery is powerful, our army will have to resort to trench digging. But only in this place?"
"Ah? Hiss~ Hey, this is indeed quite troublesome. This place is the mouth of the Mekong River. If we dig with a hoe, I'm afraid there will be springs everywhere. Zhijun, if we really need to dig trenches, you have to come forward and organize the princes of Annan to contribute manpower."
"Haha, no problem. Isn't that what I do? Hmm~~" Taking a deep breath of the smoke, Xiong Tingbi said, "General Liu, please continue to command at the front. I'll go to the back. I think those guys will be here soon."
"Hehehe, please do as you please, commander. I will definitely clean up the three lines of defense outside the city before the sun sets today."
In fact, once the sea route is opened, everything will come alive.
The victory in the East China
In this battle , Liu Zhaosun's Second Army entered Annan from Guangxi on foot. The soldiers only had flintlock rifles, a small amount of bullets, bayonets and other items. As for food, it was naturally provided by the Mo family, the Zheng family, and the Nguyen Phuc family. The artillery and its shells were shipped all the way by sea.
In the historical dimension, when describing the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, Western missionaries in the 16th and 17th centuries said that the Ming Emperor was rich and that the ships he owned could be connected one after another from Macau to Manila.
Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty government in history was simply unable to mobilize these tens of thousands of civilian ships.
But Zhu Youdong did it.
The establishment of the war fund made the wealthy merchants of the Ming Dynasty frantically eager for their country to win the war as soon as possible. In order to achieve this goal, they spared no expense, even if they did not spare everything.
A large number of ships were fully mobilized, whether it was transporting soldiers and equipment of two towns from Liaodong to the north, or transporting tens of thousands of soldiers and equipment from Taiwan directly to the Gulf of Siam. Even a large number of cannons and ammunition were transported from the artillery factories in the two capitals to Annan. The transportation capacity was extremely sufficient.
Cao Sanxi, who was controlling and dispatching the operations behind the scenes, was able to accurately grasp the power of the Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants in this way, and accumulated detailed data for the Ming Dynasty Customs to collect comprehensive commercial taxes in the future.
Moreover, although the Ming Dynasty still had not found the formula for smokeless gunpowder at that time, it already had Dara explosives. Then, Sun Yuanhua, who had grown into an explosives maniac, under the guidance of Zhu Youdong, created the unscrupulous cannon that frightened the enemy even in the 20th century.
The propellant is not smokeless powder, so after it is used once, there will be residue left at the bottom of the gun chamber? It doesn't matter. Anyway, the diameter of the barrel is wide enough. After firing a shot, can I have someone crawl in to clean the barrel?
The range is only 50 to 100 meters? That doesn't matter. I will use traditional muzzle-loading cannons to clean up the area, and the flintlock soldiers will guard the front. Finally, I will use the conscienceless cannons and the increased amount of Dara explosive packs.
Such a wicked configuration resulted in less than 1,000 of the 30,000 Siamese soldiers in the three defense lines outside the Saigon Fortress being killed on June 1. More than 3,000 were killed by shock!
Therefore, the battle of the day began in the early morning of June 1. At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Ma Shilong, who was in charge of the specific command at the front line, reported: Our army had broken through three lines of defense of the enemy and was bombarded by the enemy at a distance of about 300 meters from the city wall.
Then, after arranging the guard troops, Liu Zhaosun withdrew his troops back to the camp with great satisfaction.
He was satisfied, but the heads of the various Annan clans who were watching the battle on the surrounding fronts were all terrified!
The Siamese were strong enough to build such a magnificent fortress in just over half a year. If we were to build it, I'm afraid it might not be completed in ten years, right?
Yes, Siam is really strong, and our Nguyen Phuc family is very professional in defense. But half a year ago, 3,000 people were stationed here, and they were killed by the enemy's charge!
But Siam, which was so powerful, had no ability to fight back against the Ming Dynasty?
We originally thought that it would take at least three to five years to take down such a strong fortress. But who knew that it would only take three to five months to take it down?
This, is this the Ming Dynasty?
Is the Ming Dynasty already so powerful?
No, we must not anger the Ming Dynasty at this time. No, we must not anger the Celestial Empire!
We must make friends with Governor Xiong and Marshal Liu of the Celestial Empire. If the Celestial Empire can sell us those weapons just now, we will definitely be able to unify Dai Viet quickly!
Yes, even if the Celestial Empire doesn’t give it to us, we must never sell it to the other two companies!
At the same time, the Mo family, the Nguyen Phuc family, and the Zheng family all thought of this problem. Even the Emperor Li, who had been a puppet for many years, had a different idea at this moment.
In a short while, Xiong Tingbi's tent was quickly crowded with envoys sent by various Annan families, some openly and some secretly.
