Chapter 897 0892 [Hunting in the West, Hunting in the West]

The Dinh Dynasty and Le Dynasty in Vietnam had a standing army of 100,000.

It is said to be a standing army, but in fact it is not even as good as the Xiang army of the Song Dynasty.

They do not recruit soldiers based on their household registration, and they can sign up casually as long as they are willing to serve as soldiers.

And they don't give military pay, just a mouthful of food. Some troops were even denied meals, and all their rations were embezzled by the generals. If there is a war and there are not enough soldiers, go and capture the strong men.

After the establishment of the Li Dynasty, a series of reforms were carried out.

One of the most important reforms is to pay soldiers. The tax increased by three liters of rice per acre of land, and all the increased tax was used to support the army.

Men are registered in the yellow book at the age of eighteen, and in the rhubarb book at the age of twenty.

When recruiting troops, first recruit from the big yellow roll. If there is not enough, then recruit from the small yellow roll.

Exploded!

First, the combat power exploded, defeating all enemies at home and abroad.

Then came the fiscal explosion and growing standing armies. A big country has a standing army of more than 100,000 people, and they all need to be paid. Let’s not talk about whether to withhold or not, because the court must allocate food.

Over the past two or three decades, Annan has been disarmament.

After being dismantled, there are only 50,000 to 60,000 standing troops left.

Now facing siege from all sides, the troops are stretched thin, and they have to recruit troops according to the big yellow book again.

"Your Majesty, Jin-Tooth Man has agreed to withdraw his troops!" Grand Master Zhang Boyu hurried to the palace to meet him.

Li Yanghuan was overjoyed: "Really?"

Zhang Boyu said: "It's absolutely true."

The siege by the four countries will definitely not be able to withstand, and diplomacy must be used.

The Golden Tooth Kingdom, which had just become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, first broke the alliance to send troops.

Anyway, the Ming Dynasty has already canonized the Golden Teeth King, and getting this sign will give him legal authority. It doesn't matter if you betray the alliance and offend the Ming Dynasty, I won't recognize it even if you take back the king's golden seal. No matter how awesome you are in the Ming Dynasty, you can go through the land of Dali and Annan to beat me!

The Golden Tooth Kingdom naturally gained benefits by withdrawing its troops even if it offended the Ming Dynasty: Annan recognized the affiliated tribes in Laos as belonging to the Golden Tooth Kingdom in the future.

The battle on the southern front is still fierce.

Thirty thousand Annan troops faced off against 18,000 Champa and Chenla coalition forces.

The battlefield on the northern front seemed to be at a standstill.

One after another, 40,000 Annan troops gathered in the Lang Son area. However, Yang Zaixing only asked the native soldiers to defend the passes and led the main force to attack Qiyuan Prefecture and Guangyuan Prefecture.

The two states were in emergency and asked Annan to send reinforcements.

Annan ignored him and was determined to defend Lang Son anyway.

…

The guard general of Lang Son is called Yang Ying'er. He is very senior. He was also the minister of Tuogu ten years ago.

It was also Yang Ying'er who led the battle to defeat the Champa and Chenla coalition forces two years ago.

"Taiwei, the Nong chieftains from Qiyuan and Guangyuan prefectures have sent people to ask for help again!" Sima from the army came to report.

Yang Ying'er said: "Don't worry about it. Even if the Ming Dynasty takes over there, there won't be many troops stationed there. As long as we hold Lang Son, we can take back the two states in the future."

Yang Ying'er smiled and said: "The enemy general is a fool. Instead of attacking Shenglong Mansion in one go, he divided his troops to attack corners and corners, giving us the opportunity to increase our troops calmly. This is a waste of time. Wait until the weather gets hot. They will feel better then!”

Would Yang Zaixing not have thought of this?

"Lieutenant, Sumaozhou is gone!" A messenger rushed over.

Yang Ying'er was shocked: "Su Maozhou sent 5,000 soldiers to defend the city. Why did they suddenly disappear?"

Of course it was Yang Zaixing who went to Sumaozhou.

The only troops attacking Qiyuan Prefecture and Guangyuan Prefecture were the Guangxi garrison.

Yang Zaixing's 6,000 new troops marched to Sumao Prefecture, where Yang Yao's navy was cooperating.

Sumao Prefecture was located in the area of ​​Mong Cai and Haihe in later Vietnam, and its state government was within Haihe County.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, barbarians from Sumao Prefecture often invaded the border area, and Annan also sent troops from Sumao Prefecture to attack Qinzhou.

Even after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, barbarians from Sumao Prefecture would cross the border and plunder from time to time.

Must win!

…

The naval artillery was carried to the shore and dragged all the way to the outside of Sumaozhou City.

This earthen city is not big, and usually only has a few hundred defenders. It is mainly used by Annan to suppress the local barbarians.

Dozens of artillery bombarded the city for two days. As soon as the city wall showed signs of collapse, the defenders in the city began to flee.

They were frightened by the artillery. After all, it was their first time encountering this thing!

Yang Zaixing's new army and Yang Yao's marines took the opportunity to attack the city.

Killed hundreds of enemies and captured more than 3,000 alive.

"How to deal with so many prisoners?" Yang Yao asked.

Yang Zaixing said: "I haven't decided yet, I plan to kill them all."

Yang Yao smiled and said: "It is not good to massacre prisoners of war, but I have a way."

"What method?" Yang Zaixing asked.

Yang Yao said: "Some of it was transported back to Guangxi for mining. There are many mines there. I took some of it to Taiwan County and reclaimed the land for the barbarians on the island. I also took away the women and children. Taiwan immigrated to many singles and gave them to those singles as wives. , to save them from having too much energy and causing trouble all day long.”

Yang Zaixing nodded and said, "Alright."

The two led their troops to stay in Sumaozhou City, waiting for domestic merchant ships to pick up the prisoners.

We can't wait in vain and attack the surrounding barbarians. Instead of beating up the barbarians, they still wanted to plunder the border of Qinzhou.

Yang Zaixing's new army was divided into groups of several hundred people and dispatched, asking the prisoners for the address of the barbarian village.

The barbarians were beaten if they dared to resist, and no prisoners were kept, but all the young women were snatched away.

If the barbarians abandoned their stronghold and fled into the mountains, Yang Zaixing's new army would not pursue them and would burn all the barbarian villages and houses.

After destroying several barbaric villages in one go, Yang Zaixing and Yang Yao finally took a boat to the estuary of the Taiping River.

Annan had a professional navy. When it invaded the Northern Song Dynasty, the Eastern Route Army of Annan attacked Qinzhou by sea!

The two sides fought fiercely outside the Taiping River. The Annan Navy was defeated but did not flee. It kept fighting with the Ming Navy.

Finally, the Annan Navy retreated.

"Wave the flag, don't chase!" Yang Yao ordered.

The Ministry of War and the Privy Council are not just for show!

The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Rites looked through historical materials and excerpted cases of fighting in Jiaozhi from all dynasties. Then they sent them to the Privy Council and asked the veterans of the Privy Council to study strategies and tactics.

Yang Yao received the combat guidance from the Privy Council, one of which was very important: pay attention to the rise and fall of the tide and don't blindly chase the enemy ships.

Because in Chinese history, someone overturned a car at the mouth of the Taiping River!

The Jiaozhi regime set up hidden stakes at the mouth of the Taiping River to lure Chinese ships in when the tide was about to recede.

Jiaozhi's ships were smaller and had a shallower draft, so they could move forward and backward calmly at the estuary.

The Chinese ships had a deeper draft, and as the tide receded, they were stuck by the hidden stakes and could not move forward or backward.

"The enemy ships are coming again!"

Yang Yao personally picked up the telescope to observe, and immediately laughed: "It's just as the Privy Council expected. Pass the order, hit the enemy ships hard when they come, and don't chase the enemy ships when they retreat."

Soon, two Annan ships were hit, and the entire army retreated in panic.

The Ming Navy watched from a distance, without any intention of pursuing.

The Annan naval commander seemed very anxious, and after assembling the team, he ran to lure the enemy again. Because he was too involved in the play, he did not retreat in time, and three ships were sunk by the Ming Navy.

At this point, the situation was already very clear.

There were hidden stakes at the mouth of Taiping River, and they knew it all!

The next day, while it was still early before the tide went out, Yang Yao led the Ming Navy to enter the mouth of Taiping River to remove the hidden stakes.

The Annan navy came and was defeated and fled.

A few days later, Yang Zaixing and Yang Yao led their troops to Wu'anzhou along the Taiping River.

The Taiping River was too narrow and shallow for large naval ships to enter, and only small ships and merchant ships could come.

Yang Ying'er also brought his troops back, leaving 10,000 troops to garrison Lang Son and 30,000 troops to defend Wu'anzhou. At the same time, he urgently recruited soldiers from the Dahuang Book and recruited 10,000 peasant soldiers to assist in the battle.

There were 40,000 Annan defenders in the city.

There were only 6,000 people under Yang Zaixing and 1,000 marines under Yang Yao outside the city.

It was a bad idea to defend blindly. As a veteran, Yang Ying'er took 20,000 soldiers out of the city to test.

He sent 5,000 soldiers to fight, and the rest of the troops were responsible for looting.

Yang Zaixing only sent 3,000 people, and the Annan army was defeated after fighting for only more than ten minutes because of the firearms and the mandarin duck formation.

Yang Ying'er sent troops to support them. At this moment, the Ming warships on the Taiping River suddenly fired at Yang Ying'er's central army.

When the two navies fought before, the Ming navy had been hiding the range of its artillery.

Yang Ying'er never expected that the artillery could reach so far.

The central army of the Annan army was in chaos, and Yang Zaixing and Yang Yao took the opportunity to rush out with their entire army.

Yang Ying'er's troops fled in a hurry, and nearly 10,000 people were killed or captured by the Ming army, and thousands of soldiers were scattered in the suburbs. He only took two or three thousand soldiers and fled back to the city in a panic, not daring to come out.

The Annan defenders in the city directly lost nearly half of their troops.

Yang Ying'er was so scared that he could not hold on, and wrote a letter back to Thang Long Prefecture to request reinforcements.

"Stay here to attack the city?" Yang Yao asked.

Yang Zaixing said: "Kill all the captives and kill all the way to Hanoi!"

Yang Yao said: "I'm afraid there won't be enough food."

Yang Zaixing said: "Annan will send troops to fight Champa and Zhenla, and will also divide troops to defend Lang Son. How many soldiers can a small country have left? Just bypass here and fight against the Taiping River to Thang Long Prefecture. The city ahead must be empty of troops. Moreover, the Annan garrison here needs food, and food and grass must be transported along the Taiping River. The cities along the way are our food stations!"

"Okay!" Yang Yao is also a daredevil.

Yang Ying'er stood on the top of the city and watched the Ming army go away.

The Ming army ships carried food and grass and a small number of soldiers, while most of the Ming army walked along the river. Just like this, they swaggered around the city, ignoring the food route and the rear!

Before leaving, they also emptied all the ships outside Wu'anzhou City.

There were only a few dozen light cavalry, half of them were exploring the way ahead, and half of them were on guard in the rear.

Soldiers wearing armor cannot walk fast, so they need to leave the enemy's sight and put the armor on the ship for transportation.

The fleet also divided into several ships, some to explore the way ahead and some to guard the rear. Prevent the enemy from suddenly attacking and the infantry from getting armor from the ship in time.

How could Yang Ying'er let them leave calmly? He led the elite troops to attack at night that night.

As a result, the Ming army took off their armor while rushing on the road, but took the armor from the ship and put it on before going to bed.

Yang Ying'er's night attack failed and fled back to Wu'an Prefecture in embarrassment.

The next day, Yang Zaixing sent 500 elite soldiers and suddenly accelerated by boat.

Unexpectedly, they came to the outside of Beijiang Road in front, where the defense was empty, and only hundreds of people were guarding the food and grass to be transported to Wu'an Prefecture.

They took it in one fell swoop.

This city is only a hundred miles away from the capital of Annan, Thang Long Prefecture!

Yang Ying'er, who was left behind, was impatient. Although he knew that it was dangerous, he could only lead his army to chase after it.

He was defeated again halfway!

You know, during the heyday of Annan, the army was extremely powerful. But when the Northern Song army attacked, they mobilized the elite troops from the north to attack, but the Annan army was still defeated.

Now Annan is no longer good. Not only has it been reducing its military, but corruption and embezzlement in the army have become more serious.

As for the morale, it is not much better than the Xiang army of Song Huizong.

In Thang Long City, upon learning that the Ming army was already a hundred miles away, the civil and military officials were so scared that they hurriedly packed up their property.

Zhang Boyu advised: "Your Majesty, please quickly go west and take all the officials and soldiers to the Ailao Mountains to temporarily avoid the sharp edge. The Ming army asked for the old land of the Song Dynasty, just give it to them, and we can take it back in the future!"

"How to take it back?" Li Yanghuan asked.

Zhang Boyu said: "The previous emperor was also defeated by the Song Dynasty, but after the Song Dynasty withdrew its troops, it harassed the border of the Song Dynasty every year. The Song Dynasty could not bear it and returned the stolen territory to us. This time, we can do the same. After the Ming Dynasty withdraws its troops, we will send troops to harass the border next year."

"Great, then go west." Li Yanghuan said.

Yang Zaixing was still a hundred miles away, and the King of Annan had already run away with all the officials...