Chapter 624: Punishing Rebellion (IV)

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As officers along the entire battlefront shouted orders in unison, over 5,000 Northern Vietnam soldiers roared and surged out from the camp.

From this moment on, the fragile agreement between North and South that had lasted only a few short years was completely shattered, and the war drums of Zheng sounded once more.

Three days earlier, after the Southern Vietnam Navy had been utterly annihilated at the Zhengjiang Estuary, the overjoyed Zheng Zhuang, while arranging the aftermath, also ordered the troops and horses that had arrived first to launch probing attacks against the Southern Vietnam Fortified Zone.

These three days of probing attacks were a tactical necessity.

On one hand, the Northern Vietnam army had not yet finished gathering and needed time to assemble troops, horses, and provisions. On the other hand, in a large-scale war involving over 100,000 men, probing engagements in the early phase were inevitable; both sides needed to feel each other out and gather intelligence for the subsequent large-scale offensive and defensive operations.

Three days later, the first round of formal, large-scale land offensives began abruptly.

If following normal historical precedent, using three days as a warm-up before a major battle would certainly be insufficient. Whether in the Kingdom of Annam or any other nation of this era, large-scale siege warfare was typically measured in months, and war records spanning years were also commonplace.

But this time was different. The Northern Vietnam's "Retired Emperor" — Sheng Nan, Delegation Leader of the Great Ming military Observation Group — after three days of "feeling out" and investigation, bluntly and directly advised the Northern Vietnam army to commence a full-scale land offensive.

Expert guidance offered by Sheng Nan, backed by the prestige of his great naval victory, was something the Northern Vietnam people were certain to treat with utmost seriousness.

Of course, the rolling thunder of the gunboats bombarding Shenglong Prefecture earlier had also provided a powerful footnote for Sheng Nan's opinion.

In truth, the Northern Vietnam people were very clear in their hearts: the very reason they had mobilized the masses, with men eating and horses chewing, to travel all the way to the Zheng River — wasn't it precisely because "Ming Reinforcement" was the core driving force? Therefore, no matter what, as long as the military plan Sheng Nan proposed was not exceptionally contrary to common sense, regardless of whether they felt comfortable about it, the Northern Vietnam decision-making strata, from Prince Zheng Zhuang on down, would most likely carry it out.

Sheng Nan's reasoning was very simple: since the decisive factor for ultimately breaching the Fortified Zone was foreign-aid arms and munitions, then the Northern Vietnam people's full-scale offensive should be launched as early as possible.

There were also hidden reasons within this.

From the overall "international" strategic picture, the Vietnam War was merely one link in the freshly-minted Great Yan Empire's overall southward strategy. The faster this link was completed, the higher the evaluation Sheng Nan would receive from the rear.

As for the unnecessary casualties the Northern Vietnam people would bear from a hastily launched land offensive — wicked imperialists do not care whether cannon fodder live or die. From a certain angle, even, the more cannon fodder that die, the more advantageous it is for the subsequent "Long-Term Peace and Stability."

After the military Observation Group put forward its suggestion, the Northern Vietnam decision-making strata discussed it, and in the end, as expected, formally agreed to launch a large-scale offensive.

A campaign of such importance was naturally not to be missed by a certain power base that would need to operate/deploy force in the South Asia environment next — this was all invaluable first-hand data.

Therefore, early that morning, Sheng Nan led the Observation Group's young Staff Officers across the river by boat, arriving at the forward encampment. They had prepared all kinds of equipment, including advanced instruments like cameras, ready to record the actual state of the battle up close.

In the early morning, after the soldiers had eaten their fill, the scene from the beginning of the article unfolded. Accompanied by the drawn-out sound of ox-horns and military orders, the Northern Vietnam army charged out from the camp to form ranks, then slowly advanced.

Large numbers of soldiers holding wooden shields were at the front, soldiers holding hook-spears and bladed polearms were in the middle, and the rear ranks were ranged troops holding matchlocks and bows.

The horizontal formation arrayed by the 5,000 soldiers was like a broad, black tide, stuffing the entire front of the Battlefield. And what this tide was Facing was a modern defensive system composed of irregular Moats, chevaux-de-frise, stone walls, and bastions.

Indeed, in the seventeenth century, an era of fierce transformation in both weaponry and tactics, this permanent fortified zone built by the Southern Vietnam people on the southern bank of the Zheng River, having received guidance in Franciscan military thought, already possessed many characteristics of the defensive systems of Later Generations.

Aside from things like iron wire traps and machine guns, which were absent due to the limitations of the era, the remaining aspects were already about the same as the earth-and-timber defensive lines in a Transmigrator's Memory.

Not long after, having marched on foot for roughly one li, the tide slapped against the embankment.

Overall, this First Northern Vietnam Wave was still mostly probing in nature; neither the attacking nor the defending side expected any enormous combat results to come of it.

This point could be seen from the attackers' caution. The soldiers positioned at the front mostly held thick shields, meant to counteract the kinetic energy of the lead bullets shot from the opposite side. And among the soldiers in the middle of the formation, many held hook-spears, meant for clearing obstacles on the Battlefield.

The atmosphere grew increasingly tense. When the attacking side approached to a distance of 50 meters outside the Moat, as if by prior agreement, the continuous crackle of Volley Fire and a tremendous roar of shouting erupted simultaneously.

The tremendous roar of shouting came from the Northern Vietnam soldiers. The shield-bearers in the front rank, while bellowing, raised their shields and advanced with bent backs. Upon reaching the edge of the Moat, these shield-bearers propped their shields against the ground.

Meanwhile, the soldiers in the middle began using their hook-spears to drag and pull at the forest of chevaux-de-frise.

A Scene common in film and television dramas appeared in the sky: a dense black mass of feathered arrows blanketed the air, the visual effect superb.

At the same moment the Northern Vietnam people launched their three-axe opening gambit, from the stone walls and bastions less than 0 meters away on the opposite side of the Moat, the first round of Volley Fire shot forth.

The distance of the Moat had been precisely calculated to bring out the maximum power of the matchlocks. Therefore, despite the cover of thick shields, under such dense Shooting at this range, layer after layer of soldiers still collapsed in time with the sound of Volley Fire.

The sight of dying men was something the Vietnamese, who had fought wars year after year, had long grown accustomed to. The soldiers on the attacking side remained unmoved, using every second of the race against time to complete their mission with full effort.

This so-called race against time was also a bitter lesson the Northern Vietnam people had learned the last time their great army came to assault the lines. The Southern Vietnam people would not permit their foes to leisurely dismantle obstacles on the Battlefield.

Sure enough, in the next moment, a tremendous roar overwhelmed the din of the Battlefield: the Southern Vietnam people's Cannons had fired.

The Portuguese, the earliest to come to East Asia, had established relations with various Native regimes through the arms trade and were important disseminators of war technology.

The Portuguese not only opened the Bocarro Foundry in Great Ming's Macau, but likewise also opened a foundry in Shunhua, the capital of the Southern Vietnam regime.

This was also the key reason why, Historically, the Southern Vietnam separatist regime could rely on the Fortified Zone to prolong its national destiny for over a hundred years: no army of this era could withstand a three-dimensional assault by hot weapons.

The Southern Vietnam people, who manned the stone walls year-round, were certainly not idle, doing nothing but scrolling through Douyin every day. The cannonballs fired from behind the stone walls were both accurate and ruthless, their firing data clearly having been pre-calculated long ago. Whenever a particular Cannon on the defensive line fired a projectile, it was almost certain to blast right into the middle of a crowd.

The effect of the bombardment was immediate. Although the Cannons actually firing were not many, whether it was a small-caliber Franciscan Sub-cannon or a 6-inch Cannon, most of the cannonballs gouged out a path of blood through the crowd.

At this, the attacking side could no longer hold. The great formation visibly loosened and deformed under the cannon fire, and the soldiers' morale dropped at a rate visible to the naked eye.

At this moment, at the rear of the great formation, a Northern Vietnam general standing atop a wooden tower-cart lowered the monocular export-model telescope in his hand and, with perfect timing, ordered the horns blown and the gongs sounded for Retreat.

After the gongs sounded, the Northern Vietnam people rapidly retreated. Although they were a Local Force transferred from various regions, the Northern Vietnam people had fought for years and their troop quality was very high. During the Retreat, they not only took away the chevaux-de-frise but also carried away the corpses of the casualties.

The results of this first Offense were, for both attacker and defender, undoubtedly acceptable. The attacking side had dismantled One Part of the obstacles and probed out the strength of the Southern Vietnam people's defensive line. Meanwhile, the Southern Vietnam people had used hot weapons to kill and wound quite a few of the invading enemy, with an exchange ratio that was satisfactory.

On the Battlefield, besides the Southern Vietnam people, there was one other person who was also rather satisfied: Sheng Nan.

"Not bad, not bad!" Just as the Northern Vietnam people were retreating in good order, Sheng Nan, observing the Battlefield through his telescope, nodded repeatedly: "The Defense has discipline, and the Retreat is also very timely. Very NIE."

However, after lowering the telescope, Sheng Nan, who bore the responsibility of instruction, became serious in Expression: "Have all the firing points been marked?"

"Reporting, all have been marked. Furthermore, based on the size of the muzzle flash, the Caliber of the enemy firing points' Cannons has been preliminarily noted."

"Mm." Teacher Sheng, upon hearing this, merely nodded slightly, then raised a finger, pointing at the Vietnamese army ahead that had already retreated to a safe distance, and offered a few words of appraisal: "This is an army possessing considerable military competence. If you encounter them in the future, you absolutely must not be careless. In my view, aside from our own regular army, the remaining auxiliary units cannot reliably beat them, even if our side possesses firepower superiority."

"As for the troops and horses of the imperial court—"

Sheng Nan, having said this, shook his head: "Do you all understand my meaning?"

"Your subordinates understand!"

Seeing the several dozen young faces before him, full of vigor and vitality, Sheng Nan in the next moment continued to keep his face taut: "We will now begin assigning homework."

"Taking the Southern Vietnam Fortified Zone as the hypothetical enemy, under conditions of no naval gunboat support, with our regular army and Pioneer Army as the attacking side. Each of you, before tomorrow morning, must produce at least two tactical plans, complete with map exercises."

"Mission will be accomplished without fail!"

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In the days of the Offense that followed, on this first day, the Northern Vietnam people, with mountain-toppling, sea-overwhelming shock waves, organized and launched three assaults of scale or larger against the Southern Vietnam Fortified Zone, in the morning, at noon, and toward evening respectively.

Among these, the last one escalated in Manpower to the ten-thousand scale, and the casualty rate greatly increased. The state of battle could be said to have reached its climax from the very first day, and it was, without doubt, exceedingly brutal.

However, there were also results: at least a thirty-meter width of the Moat had been filled flat by the Northern Vietnam people using human lives, just waiting for the second day to launch a close-range forceful assault.

And that very night, the frontline general of Northern Vietnam came in person, and with humble words requested that Sheng Nan give the order to deploy the large-caliber mortar "Gelongde" on the Ming battlefield.

Sheng Nan agreed without the slightest hesitation.

Although that mortar belonged to the "Ming Reinforcement" and was nominally munitions gifted to the Annamese, the munitions manufactured with modern technology were simply not something the Annamese could operate. Its matching gunpowder, shells, and even the supporting artillery company — all of these were held in Sheng Nan's hands.

This routine, in later generations, had a master that no one dared claim to surpass: the Russian bear.

Its various underhanded routines against India were truly a marvel to behold.

Yet the very moment after the Annamese general stepped out, four or five men in the field tent, led by Staff Officer Yang Weili, immediately stood up and, with agitated words, urged Commander Sheng to delay the mortar support. The reason was simple: the Annamese had shed too little blood.

After quietly hearing out the staff officers' reasons, Sheng Nan did not get angry. In fact, with a calm expression, he felt rather gratified inside: "Not bad, they all have an international perspective now. It seems Han Bo and his people did accomplish some real work over these past few years."