Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 283: Sword Pointing to Saigon
Singapore is only 800 kilometers away from the mouth of the Mekong River. The sailing fleet led by King Zheng Guohui of Chu set out early in the morning of the previous day and arrived at the designated sea area smoothly in the evening of the next day.

it's here

The expedition sailing fleet met up with the lead ship that had been lingering here for a long time. Under the guidance of this ship, the sailing fleet sailed northeast for about 20 kilometers and arrived at a secluded bay covered with lush mangroves.

The five ironclad warships that arrived early were now quietly anchored deep in the bay.

The expeditionary sailing fleet also dropped anchor in the bay. For a time, this secluded bay, which was only 20 kilometers away from the mouth of the Mekong River, was filled with masts like a forest. A total of 30 warships were anchored here, and the main forces of the Chu Navy were all gathered here.

Gather strength and prepare to launch a thundering attack.

After the large sailing ship "Guangming" dropped anchor, Major Luo Xiang, deputy director of the Fifth Department of the Ministry of the Interior, boarded the lead ship to report.

This man was dressed like a middle-aged fisherman who had been weathered by the sun and rain. His face was dark red and his beard was unshaven, making him look much older than his actual age. Only his eyes occasionally showed a gleam of light, indicating his extraordinary origins.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu called this man into the cabin, listened to his report, and interrogated him carefully for a long time before giving up and leaving.

After Major Luo Xiang left, King Zheng Guohui of Chu lit a cigar and took two deep puffs. Soon, the strong smell of cigar tobacco filled the cabin.

Major Luo Xiang brought detailed intelligence on this trip, as well as more than 20 strong guides. Some of them were officers from the Fifth Department, and some were elite children of local Chinese families in Saigon, with distinguished backgrounds.

After returning to the lead ship, it immediately set sail and, against the backdrop of the sunset sky, headed towards the distant sea with shimmering golden waves.

The lead ship will head to the designated sea area to continue the unfinished mission.

Subsequently, a troop transport fleet from the Hainan Islands, the home island of the Chu State, will arrive at the designated sea area for rendezvous at some point this evening or tomorrow morning.

This troop transport fleet carried more than 4 troops of the 7200th Expeditionary Division, plus two newly formed infantry regiments, totaling more than 1.32 troops, a total of more than people.

This was the main force used by the navy fleet to land and capture the city after it destroyed the French Far East Fleet.

At this point, the distribution of Chu's military forces was roughly clear.

The 4st Expeditionary Division and the 2.6th Expeditionary Division remained on the mainland islands, mainly the Hainan Islands in the north and the Tongzhou Islands in the south, with newly formed infantry regiments and a total strength of about people.

Together with the garrison regiments of more than 1.2 people in various fortresses, the total force is about 3.8 people.

If the British fleet launches a large-scale attack, the large number of Chinese militia and local militia groups can be mobilized at any time to unite and fight the enemy.

There is also the Singapore Expeditionary Force, with the 1.66nd Expeditionary Division as its main force, equipped with three newly formed infantry regiments, with a total strength of , which will expedition to Singapore.

There was also the Malayan Expeditionary Force, with the 1.33rd Expeditionary Division as its main force, equipped with two newly formed infantry regiments, with a total strength of people, which occupied and conquered three states in East Malaysia.

Subsequently, large-scale immigration will be carried out to completely annex the area.

In addition, all the main forces of the Chu Navy were deployed in an effort to annihilate the French Far East Fleet in one fell swoop, occupy and massacre Saigon, and deal a heavy blow to the French colonists.

The main force of the land warfare is the 1.32th Expeditionary Division, which is equipped with two newly formed infantry regiments, totaling more than 2000 troops, plus more than 1.5 sailors for landing operations, a total of more than troops.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu's strategy towards Saigon was to "burn, kill and loot". After a successful attack, he quickly withdrew and did not linger on.

Subsequently, the main force of the army was divided into two groups, and a firepower strike formation consisting mainly of five heavy armored ships entered the Port of Singapore to strengthen the defense of the port.

All other naval warships and army forces were withdrawn to Manila to begin preparations for homeland defense operations.

In this way, the local defense force will rapidly increase to more than 5, forming two major heavy military groups in the south and the north, which can provide assistance at any time through convenient long-distance submarine telegraph communications.

The navy's sailing fleet also retreated into Manila Bay to avoid a head-on confrontation with the powerful British Royal Navy's sailing battleship fleet, which they really could not withstand.

In the cabin
A hand-drawn map centered on Saigon was spread out on the table. It was a map presented by Major Luo Xiang.

This map refers to the French and British maps of Indochina, and enlarges the area around Saigon to show more details.

You can see it on the map
Saigon is located in the northeast of the Mekong Delta, on the right bank of the Saigon River, a tributary of the Dong Nai River. It has wide and unobstructed river shipping and the city is 80 kilometers away from the sea.

The place where the "Guangming" sailboat was anchored is about 110 kilometers away from Saigon, and it takes about ten hours to sail there normally.

This is because after entering the Saigon River, the wind force is greatly weakened compared to the sea, and the speed of the sailing warship can only be maintained at about six to seven knots, which is a usual level.

After being occupied by French colonists, Saigon gradually became the center of the French colony. The French put a lot of effort into building urban buildings, repairing roads and bridges, and invested a lot of money.

Saigon is full of rich French architectural style. When you walk around, you may mistake it for a French city, so it is called the "Paris of the East".
The port bases, warehouses and barracks of the French Far East Fleet, the seat of the French colonial governor, colonial garrison barracks, troop deployments, military and police checkpoints, concentrated residential areas for French white colonists, Chinatown and other landmarks are all clearly marked.

With these detailed and important military intelligence, King Zheng Guohui of Chu gained confidence greatly.

The French had two military forces in Saigon. One was the French Far East Fleet stationed there, which consisted of three sailing battleships and eight sailing frigates, with a total number of about 8 sailors.

Among them, 411 sailors stationed at the Saigon Naval Base and Naval Warehouse are clearly marked on the map.

The total strength of the army under the French Saigon Governor-General's Office was more than 9600 people, with a total number of less than .

They were stationed in Tonkin, Cambodia, Da Nang, Ba Lat, and the three western provinces of Cochinchina, scattered like pepper. In 1867, the French Governor-General of Saigon sent troops to occupy Vinh Long, An Giang, and Ha Tien provinces, making the already limited military force even more tense.

From the map

The French Governor-General of Saigon drew a large circle from east to west in Indochina. At each point, there were as many as five or six hundred to over a thousand troops, and as few as two or three hundred troops, and they were showing an aggressive offensive posture in every direction.

It suppressed the Kingdom of Siam in the west, invaded Cambodia in the north, and pressed the Hue Dynasty of Vietnam in the northeast, as if it wanted to eat people.

Now they have declared war on the State of Chu. I really don’t know what these French guys are trying to do?
Always

World powers such as Britain and France were rampaging in East Asia and even in the South Pacific. Relying on their powerful military force and their ability to get whatever they wanted, they were really arrogant and never took the Orientals seriously.

It was for this reason that he rashly made the decision to declare war on the State of Chu.

In the eyes of the British and French powers, these Asians were submissive, easy to bully, and easy to enslave for a long time, making them the best place to develop colonies.

So with less than 8000 French troops, how could they promise to send troops to the Anglo-French coalition?
The secret here lies in the "skirmishers" of the French colonies, which are called "trained soldiers" in Indochina, that is, the indigenous servant troops.

France has always had a tradition of using colonial soldiers, and the so-called foreign mercenaries are also part of its supplementary military forces.

As early as several decades ago, "skirmisher regiments" appeared in French Libya, such as the "Seventh Libyan Skirmisher Regiment", and became a powerful helper for the French white people to rule the colonies.

The Governor-General of French Saigon was prepared to replicate this successful approach, so he recruited nine "training regiments" with a total number of about 5000 people.

Each "training regiment" had about 550 people, with white people serving as commanders at all levels. It was divided into four battalions, each with 4 squads, and each squad had 12 people.

The accompanying team consists of one person, one gun carrier (two people), two people with flintlock rifles, two swordsmen, and four spearmen.

The Chu army referred to these as indigenous vassal troops and scoffed at their combat effectiveness.

The French army dispatched more than 2,000 people from the Far East Fleet, added more than 5,000 indigenous vassal troops, and removed more than 1,000 white colonial troops, which totaled more than 8,000 troops.

In the whole of Saigon, the French Governor-General's Army did not exceed 2200 troops. The remaining troops were scattered across the Indochina Peninsula from east to west, used to bully the local indigenous people.

For example, in the three provinces of Vinh Long, An Giang and Ha Tien, which were just occupied in 1867, there were more than 2700 French troops stationed in six or seven important towns, exercising colonial rule over the local area and suppressing the resistance of the indigenous rebels.

The French Saigon Governor's Office used these white colonial troops on a "one against ten" basis. The local garrison of more than 2700 people had no problem dealing with to indigenous resistance troops.

In the early days of colonization, resistance from local indigenous peoples arose frequently.

For example, in 1862, the people of the three western provinces of Cochinchina in the Kingdom of Vietnam launched an anti-French war to resist oppression. The flames of war spread everywhere, but unfortunately it was bloodily suppressed by the French colonial army.

Among the best-equipped local militias in the anti-French war, only 50 or so people could be allocated a rifle, and the others could only fight with swords and spears.

Using backward swords, spears and guns to fight against the muskets of the white colonial army is almost tantamount to committing suicide.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu cast a deep gaze on the map, carefully pondering the details of each strategy in his mind, trying to consider perfection as much as possible to avoid unexpected situations.

According to the principle of leniency

He planned to have 6000 troops in French Saigon, which included the possibility that during the attack on the city, the local French white civilians in Saigon would spontaneously arm themselves to fight against the expeditionary force.

Similarly, the expeditionary force could temporarily mobilize the Chinese expatriates in Saigon to participate in this feast of blood and fire.

Throughout Saigon, the Chinese population accounts for about 30% of the local population, which is a very high proportion.

The French can mobilize local white people to join the war, and the expeditionary force can also mobilize Chinese to join the war. After offsetting each other, the expeditionary force still has an absolute advantage in military strength.

(End of this chapter)