Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 336: Unilateral Massacre and Russian Envoys

After the generals finished speaking, Chen Yucheng continued.

"Vietnamese reinforcements are coming."

"In this case, it will be convenient for our army to surround the point and attack the reinforcements."

Upon hearing this, all the generals responded in unison.

Chen Yucheng looked around and began to make tactical arrangements.

"Commander Fang, lead our fleet to feint an attack on Hanoi City. Make sure the Vietnamese troops in Hanoi City are unable to leave the city to support the reinforcements coming from Taiyuan."

"Commander Zhang, while your troops are feinting to attack the east of Hanoi, send troops across the river, build fortifications and camps, and prepare to fight the Vietnamese army on the north bank of the Red River."

As soon as Chen Yucheng finished speaking, Zhang Guoliang and Fang Haiyang responded in unison.

Afterwards, all the generals of the Tang army took their leave and went down to prepare for the battle.

The entire Tang army began to get busy!

……

A breeze blew, the clouds dispersed, and the sky became clear.

The big sun in the sky shines directly on the ground.

Vietnam is located at a low latitude and has a hot climate. Although it is still a new village, the air has begun to feel a little dry and hot.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Huang Weiqi, the general of Taiyuan, Vietnam, rode on horseback and urged his horse to go faster.

"Hurry! Hurry up!"

"Hanoi is in danger. The Emperor has ordered us to rush to Hanoi to help. There must be no mistakes."

"Hurry up, otherwise if we delay the battle in Hanoi, we will be blamed."

Under Huang Weiqi's urging, the marching speed of the Vietnamese reinforcements increased significantly.

However, as they marched, many of the Vietnamese soldiers began to breathe heavily, and their steps became disordered.

The Vietnamese army lacks training on a daily basis and their food is not very good, so their physical fitness cannot keep up.

A forced march revealed the true colors of many people.

In a very short period of time, the overall Vietnamese army's team went from being neat and tidy at the beginning to being sparse.

Seeing that they were getting closer and closer to Hanoi, but their own troops were out of touch and their formation was loose, Huang Weiqi could only order his troops to rest in place.

And sent people to scout the battlefield.

Soon, someone reported back.

"Report, General, the Tang army has crossed the river."

"The Tang army's infantry crossed the river and arrived at the north bank of the Red River, where they deployed their troops, seemingly preparing to fight our army."

When Huang Weiqi heard this, the expression on his dark face kept changing, and he looked very conflicted.

After hearing that the Tang army had taken the initiative to cross the river and arrived at the north bank of the Red River, Huang Weiqi realized that the Tang army was definitely well prepared.

In this case, if he rashly led his troops south to fight, he would be in danger.

However, the reason why Huang Weiqi led his troops south was because the Vietnamese emperor personally gave him an order to lead his troops south to reinforce Hanoi and then seize power from Lin Weijia and Pan Qingjian.

If he didn't even have the courage to confront the Tang army and just fled without fighting, then Huang Weiqi would not be able to explain to the emperor.

So, Huang Weiqi was in a dilemma.

He couldn't decide whether to fight or flee.

However, at this moment, the Vietnamese scout who was sent out started to report.

"General, Hanoi is in danger."

"In addition to sending troops across the river to prepare to fight our army, the Tang army also arranged troops to launch an offensive against Hanoi City."

"The Tang army's artillery fire is so fierce that the walls of Hanoi are almost destroyed. Hanoi... Hanoi can't hold on any longer."

Huang Weiqi took a deep breath after hearing this, and after gritting his teeth for a while, he finally made a decision.

"Pass the order down, let all our troops rest where they are."

"Half an hour later, the army will march south to reinforce the war in Hanoi. Hanoi is an important town in northern Vietnam and the hub of the Red River. We must not lose it."

Huang Weiqi understood that he was taking a military risk by leading his troops south to reinforce Hanoi.

The best option before him now should be to lead his troops to stay where they are and wait for reinforcements from Cao Bang, Lang Son and other places to arrive.

Then they gathered the main forces of the Vietnamese army in the northern part of Vietnam and sent troops south to engage in a decisive battle with the Tang army.

But Huang Weiqi understood better that he could not afford the cost of the fall of Hanoi.

The only choice before him now is to go south immediately and fight a decisive battle with the Tang army to share the military pressure that Hanoi is now facing.

Otherwise, Hanoi will surely fall!
As Huang Weiqi's order was issued, the Vietnamese army began to rest on the spot.

Half an hour later, the Vietnamese army, which had completed its rest, marched south again and encountered the Tang army on the plain north of the Red River.

A fight broke out between the two sides!

……

"Kill!"

"Soldiers, charge! Kill all those Tang troops!"

"Long live Dai Viet!"

Huang Weiqi waved the flag and shouted loudly.

Under his command, the Vietnamese army rushed towards the Tang army that had crossed the river.

Liu Yongfu put down the telescope in his hand and waved expressionlessly.

"Order our artillery to aim at the charging Vietnamese troops and fire three rounds of rapid fire!"

"Hit me hard!"

As soon as Liu Yongfu finished speaking, the sound of artillery fire rang out.

The shells were fired from the muzzles amidst the fire and smoke, whistling towards the charging Vietnamese army.

The shells landed among the crowd and explosions were heard immediately.

In the blink of an eye, the shock wave spread out, sweeping away everything around.

All the Vietnamese troops within a radius of ten meters were torn to pieces by the shock wave, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.

The Vietnamese soldiers further away were swept away by the shock wave, spitting blood and with their internal organs shattered.

Even if he doesn't die for a while, he will die soon.

At this moment, screams and wails resounded throughout the battlefield.

boom! Boom boom!

The shelling continued.

Shell after shell fell on the Vietnamese army's formation, harvesting lives with impunity.

Faced with the Vietnamese army who were still using dense arrays of cold weapons to launch group charges, the firepower coverage of the Tang army's rear-loading artillery and explosive bombs was simply a one-sided massacre and harvesting of lives.

After several rounds of artillery fire, the charging Vietnamese army collapsed.

They left a streak of broken limbs and countless body parts on the battlefield, then turned and fled.

Many of the surviving Vietnamese soldiers had been stunned by the explosion. They stood there in a daze, looking around at the chaotic battlefield, and then collapsed to the ground with powerless bodies.

Huang Weiqi was forced to flee by the fleeing soldiers. He shouted loudly, trying to control the fleeing soldiers to fight again, but he was completely unable to do so.

Seeing this scene, Liu Yongfu immediately waved his hand and gave orders.

"Blow the charge!"

"Go on the bayonet!"

"Order the entire army to launch a bayonet charge!"

The next moment, the tick-tick-tick-tick sound of the charge horn resounded throughout the battlefield.

The Tang army soldiers jumped out of the trenches, holding muskets with bayonets, and rushed forward.

"Brothers, kill!"

"Kill the barbarians, and the Tang Dynasty will win!"

The Tang army soldiers rushed forward and began to kill the corpses lying on the ground.

After completing the finishing blow, the charge of the Tang army’s center army stopped.

The Tang army soldiers began to clean up the battlefield and had no intention of continuing the pursuit to expand the victory.

The reason for this is that, on the one hand, the Tang army is unfamiliar with the local environment in Vietnam, and if they pursue rashly they may fall into a trap and suffer casualties.

Secondly, the Tang army’s siege of Hanoi was intended to surround and attack the reinforcements and wipe out the main force of the Vietnamese army in northern Vietnam.

If the Tang army wiped out Huang Weiqi's troops in one battle, and frightened the rest of the Vietnamese army so much that they dared not come to reinforce Hanoi, it would be a loss. Therefore, the Tang army chose to stop the battle at the right time.

Hit, but don’t hit too hard, quit when you’re ahead!
Wait until the main force of the Vietnamese army gathers in the north, and then make every effort to wipe them out.

As for whether the Tang army can win after the main force of the Vietnamese army gathers together?
Haha, let me put it this way, with the Tang army's current firepower density, which is the highest in the world, the thing they fear least is the enemy engaging in a large-scale battle with them.

Given the density of military combat formations of this era, even if the enemy had a large number of people, heavy artillery and machine gun fire were enough to deal with them.

On the contrary, if the enemy troops were dispersed, they would fight guerrilla warfare or street fighting with the Tang army in the mountains.

The Tang army will really have a headache.

Soon, as soon as the war north of the Red River ended, Chen Yucheng received the news.

He immediately ordered the Tang fleet to end its feint attack on Hanoi.

Well, if we don’t stop, the walls of Hanoi will soon be destroyed by the Tang army’s heavy artillery.

What if the city wall really collapsed and the defenders of Henei collapsed? How would the Tang army surround Henei and attack its reinforcements if it lost the point?

"How many casualties did our army suffer in this battle?"

Taking his eyes away from the ruined city walls of Hanoi, Chen Yucheng asked casually.

Zhang Guoliang on the side smacked his lips and said.

"Except for one unlucky guy who stepped on air and twisted his foot in the crater, which was a minor injury, no one else was injured."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yucheng nodded in understanding and was not surprised.

In this battle, the Tang army did not even have time to engage in close combat with the Yue army.

When the soldiers of both sides were closest to each other, there was still several hundred meters between them.

To put it bluntly, the Vietnamese army was defeated by the Tang army's artillery in this battle.

By the time the Tang army charged, the Yue army had already fled far away, and all that was left on the battlefield were basically corpses or wounded soldiers.

Just finish off the enemy!

There was no contact between the two sides at all, so how could there be any casualties?

……

On the city wall of Hanoi, Henan Governor Lin Weijia and Pan Qingjian looked at the battle situation on the other side of the Red River.

Seeing the Vietnamese army's defeat, both of them looked extremely ugly.

"Our reinforcements were defeated just like that?"

"National affairs are so difficult, national affairs are so difficult!"

Lin Weijia slapped his thigh with a sad face.

Meanwhile, Pan Qingjian, who had watched the entire process of the Vietnamese army's retreat, had a gloomy expression as he pondered over something.

He finally realized that the Vietnamese army had no ability to fight the Tang army in the field.

It only took a short time for the Taiyuan garrison of nearly 20,000 soldiers to be defeated by the Tang army.

And he was defeated without any ability to fight back.

This is really scary.

If this is the case, what should Hanoi do?
Where should these people go?

……

Huang Weiqi led his troops in a retreat all the way back to Taiyuan, only then did he stop his retreat and devote himself to reorganizing his troops.

Huang Weiqi was shocked when he counted the number of people.

"Why are there only so few people left?"

"How long has it been? From the beginning of the battle to our defeat, has it been half an hour? Seven thousand people are gone!"

“That’s seven thousand people!”

When Huang Weiqi led his troops from Taiyuan to rescue Hanoi, he assembled his troops and set out.

In other words, he brought all 17,000 defenders of Taiyuan with him.

But after a fierce battle, he only had less than 10,000 troops left.

In other words, in less than half an hour, the Tang army killed more than 7,000 of his men.

But what about the casualties of the Tang army?
Although Huang Weiqi had not actually understood the situation, just from the battle situation on the battlefield, he knew that the Tang army had no casualties at all.

The current battle situation really scared Huang Weiqi.

The generals opened their mouths, not knowing what to say.

The defeat of the Vietnamese army in this battle was indeed tragic.

"General, do we still need to reinforce Hanoi?"

There was silence in the military tent, and a Vietnamese general asked dryly.

Huang Weiqi gritted his teeth and said.

"Let's hold Taiyuan first and wait for reinforcements from Caoping and Lang Son."

"Our army alone will definitely not be a match for the Tang army."

"But once the other reinforcements arrive, we can gather our main forces and perhaps fight the Tang army."

Huang Weiqi knew that even if the main forces of the Vietnamese army gathered together, they would not be a match for the Tang army.

But now he can only deceive himself like this!
……

Jining, headquarters!
Li Yi sat upright on a chair. In front of him was a blond middle-aged man with a golden beard and obvious Slavic ethnic features.

This man's name is Nikolai Ignatiev.

From Tsarist Russia.

He was the special envoy and plenipotentiary minister sent by Tsarist Russia to the Tang Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, I extend to you the most cordial greetings from His Majesty the Tsar."

"May you be in good health, achieve what you desire, and may your empire prosper and grow stronger and stronger."

Li Yi smiled faintly, nodded slightly, and then spoke.

"I also give my regards to the Tsar."

"I also wish the Tsar victory in Crimea!"

Although the Crimean War was delayed due to the Tang Dynasty's butterfly.

However, this does not mean that there will be no fighting in Crimea.

Conflicts of interest between Russia and Britain, and between Russia and France still exist, and the situation in Crimea remains tense.

As far as Li Yi knew, after Britain and France suffered a setback from the Tang Dynasty, they began to prepare for the Crimean War again.

It is estimated that it will not be long before the Crimean War breaks out.

Nicholas nodded in response.

"I think His Majesty the Tsar will be very happy to receive the blessing of His Majesty the King."

The two of them exchanged a few more polite words, and Li Yi opened his mouth to ask.

"I wonder if the envoy has anything to do with the visit to me this time?"

Seeing this, Nicholas stopped beating around the bush and spoke directly.

"Your Majesty, I am here on behalf of the Tsar to visit the Tang Kingdom for the following purposes."

"First of all, for the sake of friendship between our two countries, I hope that the Tang Dynasty and Tsarist Russia can send ambassadors to each other and establish embassies to facilitate communication between the two countries."

Upon hearing this, Li Yi nodded and agreed without any hesitation.

Even if the Russian envoy did not mention this matter, Li Yi would have brought it up later.

Nicholas continued.

"The second thing is that I hope that the Tang Dynasty can open up trade with Tsarist Russia, so that both sides can exchange what they have."

Li Yi nodded as usual. As for trade, Li Yi would never refuse trade.

Nicholas continued.

"The third thing is that in order to facilitate future trade between Russia and the Tang Dynasty, Russia hopes to establish concessions in the coastal areas of Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, Shanghai, etc. in the Tang Dynasty."

"In return, Russia will send troops to assist the Tang Dynasty in its war against the Qing Dynasty."

"At that time, the land conquered by the Tang Dynasty will belong to the Tang Dynasty, and the land conquered by Tsarist Russia will belong to Tsarist Russia."

"I wonder if His Majesty the King agrees?"

(End of this chapter)