Chapter 346 The Portuguese’s concerns

Although the South Vietnamese court and the local Portuguese had a certain willingness to exclude Hai Han products and expected to use trade sanctions to crack down and restrict Hai Han's commercial activities, they underestimated the role of economic laws and simply wanted to

To completely prohibit the entry of Haihan goods through legal means has involved the interests of too many people, and it will be difficult to achieve at a time.

Therefore, when Qian Tien Don and others strolled through the streets of Hoi An, it was not difficult to find that Haihan products can be seen everywhere, and their presence is even comparable to that of Guangzhou. In addition, people wearing Ming Dynasty costumes can be seen everywhere.

For Chinese, almost all the accents heard in Fuguang area, and the buildings on the streets are mostly Chinese-style buildings. Qian Tiandun didn’t walk long before he saw the Chaozhou Guild Hall, Fujian Guild Hall, Guangzhao Guild Hall, and Qiongfu Guild Hall.

Where Chinese people live together, there are also Chinese-style religious buildings such as Mazu Temple and Guandi Temple, which seem to be quite popular.

Judging from the scene on the street, it is no different from the towns along the coast of Guangdong. It is hard to imagine that this is actually another country thousands of miles away from Guangzhou. But in this way, there are no language and cultural barriers, and it is better to give money.

Tian Dun's reconnaissance mission saved a lot of trouble.

Based on the information collected and compiled by relevant departments in advance, as well as some information provided by Zhan Gui, Qian Tiandun set the targets into two categories when formulating the reconnaissance plan. One was local military targets, including local garrison conditions, military

The location of the facilities, the main means of defense, the status of the army's defenses, and nearby large-scale garrison areas, etc.; the second is the local economic goals, in other words, the targets to be attacked and plundered in the raiding war.

Hoi An City is located on the north bank of the Thu Bon River. The area near the mouth of the sea is an alluvial plain formed by the Thu Bon River for thousands of years. There are many river forks. Therefore, South Vietnam does not have enough power to defend on the water surface.

.As the largest maritime trade port in South Vietnam, although there is also a small navy here, in Qian Tiandun's view, its main purpose of existence is to maintain the security order of port shipping, and the military aspect can play a role.

Their role is extremely limited. A fleet of small boats like this, all with a displacement of less than fifty tons, can hardly pose a substantial threat to the heavily armed Haihan warship.

As for the so-called Hoi An City, its city defense facilities are not even as good as those of a county town in the Ming Dynasty. For example, although Yacheng is adjacent to Victory Port, although it is suspected of being in disrepair, compared with the low brick buildings of Hoi An City

The earth-mixed city wall is still much better in reliability. As for South Vietnam's army strength, Qian Tiandun has seen it on the battlefield before, which is about the same level as North Vietnam.

Perhaps because they have stayed in this trading port for a long time and are used to the bustling scene of people coming and going, the South Vietnamese troops here are not very alert to the outside world - of course, they may never have thought that anyone would be thinking of attacking here.

Qian Tiandun and his team encountered almost no obstacles in their reconnaissance activities, and collected a large amount of military intelligence information on the first day.

When it got dark, Qian Tiandun and others returned to the Chinese Association where they had stayed, and found Zhan Gui pacing back and forth at the door with an anxious look on his face. When Zhan Gui saw them coming back, his expression relaxed, and he hurried up to greet them.

: "Brother Qian, why are you back at this time? Are things going well?"

"Smooth, much smoother than expected. Let's go in and talk!" Qian Tiandun knew that Zhan Gui was too nervous and didn't want him to reveal his flaws in a public place, so he quickly pulled him into the club.

Zhan Gui has been handling transactions at the dock today. Half of the goods loaded on this ship have been sold and he has made several thousand taels of silver. But Zhan Gui is not happy at all now. After Qian Tiandun left, Zhan Gui

Zhan Gui followed this thought. Every time he saw patrolling South Vietnamese soldiers coming from the dock, Zhan Gui would worry whether they were here to arrest him. Although Qian Tiandun had promised him this trip to Hoi An,

Nothing would happen, but Zhan Gui still couldn't completely relax.

Qian Tiandun called Zhan Gui into his room, dismissed the irrelevant people, and then asked Gao Qiaonan to take out a few pieces of equipment from his backpack. Zhan Gui saw that these things were square and flat, and some were like a small box.

, some are in the shape of a tube, and I can’t see them clearly at the moment.

Qian Tiandun picked up a thin booklet, opened the cover, flicked it with his fingers a few times, and handed it to Zhan Gui: "There are a few places, please ask Boss Zhan to help identify them."

Zhan Gui looked around and saw that this was not a brochure, but a flat piece of Haihan glass with black frames on all sides, and a clear picture in the middle, which was a building in the city. The painting was extremely detailed, far beyond human ability.

What he could describe was as if the real scene was placed in front of him. Zhan Gui was stunned and speechless for a moment. Although he had long known that the Haihan people had all kinds of magical tools, when he saw this thing in front of him,

Still he was shocked - is this magic or magic?

Of course, this is not magic or magic, but a tablet computer brought from the 21st century. It holds black technology that transcends the times, which gives the military great convenience when conducting reconnaissance missions.

There are all kinds of photography, video and recording equipment, so it is a trivial matter to secretly take some photos. During the reconnaissance process, Qian Tiandun took pictures of some buildings with unknown functions in the city, transferred them to the computer, and took them out when he returned to his residence at night.

Let Zhan Gui, who is familiar with the local situation, identify them one by one.

"Boss Zhan, do you recognize this place?" Seeing that he remained silent, Qian Tiandun urged him to ask again.

Zhan Gui suppressed his thoughts forcibly, and after looking at the scene carefully again, he responded: "This is the residence of Ruan Shan, a big businessman in this city. It is said that Ruan Shan is related to the Ruan family who is in power in Hue Prefecture."

Qian Tiandun nodded, flicked his finger on the screen, and then changed to another screen: "Then look at the next one..."

After looking at the pictures for more than an hour, Zhan Gui's errand was finally finished. Qian Tiandun stood up and sent him out of the room. When Zhan Gui walked to the door, he suddenly turned around and said, "Brother Qian, you took out this treasure just now.

Is there any possibility of selling it?”

Qian Tiandun was stunned and said: "You want to buy it?"

Zhan Gui plucked up the courage and said, "I am willing to give you a thousand taels of silver."

Qian Tiandun shook his head and said, "Sorry, we can't sell it."

"Then I'll add another thousand taels!" Zhan Gui felt that Qian Tiandun's tone was not very tight, so he decided to test it again.

"It's not a matter of money, you don't understand." Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "With the current conditions of Victory Port, we can't make this thing. We won't sell anything we can't make ourselves.

Boss Zhan should give up on this idea."

Zhan Gui did seem to understand, but Qian Tiandun's words also proved how precious this thing was. Zhan Gui reluctantly glanced back at the "treasure" on the table before stepping out of the room.

Door.

In the next few days, Qian Tiandun continued to lead his men to conduct reconnaissance activities in and outside Hoi An City. Zhan Gui discussed business during the day and helped Qian Tiandun organize intelligence pictures at night. Maybe he had a "baby"

Stimulated, Zhan Gui's enthusiasm for participating in intelligence work is obviously much stronger than before coming to Hoi An. He looks at photos for an hour or two every night without showing any signs of fatigue.

Five days later, the reconnaissance team completed its work and boarded the ship to evacuate Hoi An. When Zhan Gui left, he also took the concubine he married locally and disposed of his local property, because he knew that within this month, Hainan

The Han army will approach the city and attack this port city. The South Vietnamese military in Hoi An will definitely not be able to resist the offensive of the Hai Han militia. The fall of the city is just a matter of time. After this place is attacked, it will probably be destroyed within two or three years.

It is difficult to recover, and it is estimated that South Vietnam's maritime trade business will be difficult to reach its current level of prosperity in the future.

After the merchant ship set sail from Hoi An, it did not rush back north. Instead, it stayed for a day at Cham Island, which is less than ten nautical miles away from Hoi An. This island is actually an archipelago composed of seven neighboring small islands. The largest Cham Island

Po Island covers an area of ​​about 13 square kilometers, and there is a small natural haven on the island. The base camp has already taken a fancy to the geographical location here when formulating the operational plan, and plans to use it as a near-shore base to launch offensives when implementing the operation.

.According to the investigation results of the reconnaissance team, there is only a small fishing village on the island, with about twenty households. By then, the Haihan Militia can easily take over the harbor on the island.

After completing the last reconnaissance mission, the merchant ship returned to Yong'an Port in the north along the original route. After dropping off a group of people belonging to the Black Tu Port Military Region, it shipped a batch of North Vietnamese specialties and dozens of selected people locally.

immigrants before returning eastward to Port Victory. It is worth mentioning that although Qian Tiandun could use various black technologies in his reconnaissance activities, these data could still only be sent back to Port Victory using the most primitive methods. Therefore, it was not until July

In the middle of the year, the Military Commission finally received the first-hand information sent back by the reconnaissance team.

With this information, the military's combat plan can be planned in more detail. Especially after the city is breached, the targets that need to be attacked and plundered are basically based on the information sent back by the reconnaissance team. At that time, each individual

The company can use photos as a reference, and it will be much easier to find targets in the city.

However, just as the military was making final preparations in full swing, an uninvited guest came to Port Victory - the Portuguese envoy João Enrique Badac Thomas from Macau.

"Dear Mr. Tao, it's an honor to meet you again!" This guy was still wearing flashy European clothes and spoke a Cantonese Mandarin that was seriously inconsistent with his appearance. Tao Donglai, who had always greeted him, greeted him loudly.

"Mr. Enrique, we meet again." Tao Donglai did not forget that this guy had asked him to call him "Enrique" when he took the initiative to build a relationship last time.

"This is really a great port city! Mr. Tao, as a businessman who has traveled to many countries, it is really hard for me to believe that you have completed such a miracle in just over a year!" Enrique came up.

He unabashedly praised the prosperity of Victory Port. From his professional perspective, the terminal design and work efficiency here have far exceeded traditional trading ports such as Macau and Guangzhou, and the Haihan people in

I have only been here for a little over a year.

"If you are willing to live here for a while, I think you will see more miracles." Tao Donglai was not very modest in his appreciation of the other party. After all, the facts are right in front of him. East Asia in this era is indeed

It is difficult to find another force that can build a port city with the efficiency of the Crossing Group.

"I would be happy to stay in this beautiful place for a while. The sunshine and beaches here look very good!" Enrique praised sincerely: "And it seems that the environment here is also very safe!"

Like other outsiders who came to Port Victory for the first time, Enrique was also attracted by the forts and fortifications at the port. This was the first time he had seen such a density of forts in East Asia. Although the Ming Dynasty

There are also several forts along the Pearl River Estuary, but their density is far less than that of Victory Port. Moreover, the Haihan people's forts were obviously not built as a scary display. When Enrique's ship sailed into the harbor, it was only a few meters away from the shore.

From dozens of meters away, Enrique could clearly see the artillery pieces on the emplacement. With his knowledge of weapons, he could easily tell from the diameter of the muzzle that it was an artillery piece of about 24 pounds - which was also

It is almost the largest caliber artillery that the Portuguese can equip on armed merchant ships in East Asia.

Of course, the range and performance of the artillery mounted on the ship cannot be compared with this kind of coastal defense artillery. Enrique also knows this very well. The barrels of the artillery on the ship are generally shorter to facilitate placement and loading, and the range is mostly controlled within

Within 500 meters, and because there is no space limit for coastal defense artillery, the barrel can be made thick and long, and it is normal even if the range exceeds 2,000 meters. The fort fortifications on the left and right sides of the Victory Port entrance are at least more than 100 meters long.

Thirty artillery pieces, this kind of firepower density was simply despairing. Enrique didn't need to make too complicated calculations to know that his own armed merchant ships had basically no chance of breaking into the Port of Victory with their firepower advantage.

And when he saw the rumored giant steel ships deep in the harbor, he completely gave up the idea of ​​having a showdown with the Haihan people at sea. Enrique had been to many countries in Europe and had seen countless ships.

, but I have never seen any country that can build such a huge sea-going ship, and the whole body of the ship is made of steel! Enrique is not an ignorant man, he knows very well that he wants to build such a big ship.

The ship needs to be so advanced in shipbuilding technology, not to mention that it is made of heavy steel. The fact that the Haihan people can drive such a large ship across the sea to Qiongzhou Island at least shows that their shipbuilding technology is far ahead of Western countries.

.

Before that, rumors that the Haihan people were good at shipbuilding and could build iron ships with millions of kilograms of fine iron also reached the ears of the Portuguese in Macau. Of course, this extremely low-credibility rumor was not taken seriously by many people.

Thing - they believe that in terms of navigation and shipbuilding in this world, the Portuguese are at least among the top three. Shipbuilding technology that even the Portuguese have never heard of cannot exist in this world. But Enrique confirmed this with his eyes.

After this fact, he began to secretly curse the pedantic officials in the Portuguese Council in Macau. Those arrogant guys should really come to Port Victory to see with their own eyes, so that they could give up their attempts to use sea power to suppress the Haihan people and submit.

thoughts.

After months of protracted quarrels, the Portuguese Council of Macau finally received news of the Haihan militia's attack in Panyu County - although the official communique described the situation as the Lijiazhuang militia defeated thousands of rogue bandits besieging the local area.

However, it has long been rumored among the people that it was the local rich man Li Jifeng who spent a lot of money to invite the Haihan people's regiment training militia from Qiongzhou Island to achieve the final victory. However, the rogue bandits besieging the local area were far more than what the official said.

There were thousands of people, some said three to five thousand, some said six or seven thousand, and some even claimed that there were tens of thousands of heroes from all walks of life who attacked Lijiazhuang at that time. But no matter which theory is used, these bandits and bandits, green forest heroes were in the battle.

The casualties were heavy, but this is a recognized fact.

The Portuguese Council confirmed at least a few things from this: First of all, the Haihan people on Qiongzhou Island do have the ability to fight across the sea. Regardless of whether the battlefield is in Annan or Guangzhou, they can carry out operations across this distance if necessary.

Attack. Secondly, Haihan's equipment level is very high, including muskets, artillery and other weapons. Although this was also mentioned in the earlier information from Annan, the Portuguese in Macau at the time generally believed that this was

It was just an excuse for the defeat in Annan, but now it seems that this is not an excuse thought up by the defeated, but a terrible fact. Third, with the strength of the Portuguese stationed in Macao, they can only temporarily organize a

There are more than 500 armed forces, and there seems to be a big gap between this strength and the Haihan people. This is enough to make the council start to feel a little uneasy.

A few days after the incident in Panyu, Macau received new news that the Haihan people had united with many wealthy businessmen to build a stronghold on an uninhabited island at the mouth of the Pearl River, and it seemed that armed personnel were stationed there.

.Now the council couldn't sit still at all, because the Pearl River Estuary waterway is the only waterway for our merchant ships to go south. To have a foreign armed force establish a stronghold in this location is almost tantamount to being strangled.

throat.

If it were a year ago, if it encountered such a troublesome matter, the Council might take advantage of the opponent's fledgling power and decisively use force to solve it. But now, the risk of using force against the Haihan people is too great.

, not to mention that it also involves a large commercial bank called "Qiong Lianfa" that has recently become famous in Guangdong Province. This super commercial bank established by more than a dozen wealthy businessmen from Fujian and Guangdong provinces can be said to be rich and powerful, no matter in private

Officially, no one dared to openly offend them, and the Portuguese were no exception - if they offended these powerful businessmen, it might become difficult to even purchase Ming Dynasty goods in the future.
Chapter completed!