In mid-December 1790, Annan, Jiading, Guangnan Province.

Two years ago, Nguyen Phuc Ying took advantage of the Xishan Dynasty to fight against the Qing army and led his army to capture Jiading. After that, he mobilized 30,000 people to build this red fortress with a circumference of two kilometers according to the design provided by French engineers. This castle also has another title in the history of Annan, Bagua City.

Don’t think about it left. Ping'an Castle is actually a multi-angle star-shaped castle, which has nothing to do with gossip, but it is named because of its eight gates. If you look down from the sky, the whole castle is like a huge turtle lying on the west bank of the Chaibang River.

In a palace in the center of the newly completed Ping'an Castle, 28-year-old Guangnan King Nguyen Phu Ying and several important officials under him were listening to He Xiwen's report.

When He Xiwen learned from the mouth that the Northern Navy had taken only half a day to capture the Hue Imperial City, the hall suddenly became silent and the needles could be heard.

Whether it was the Thor who was rampant on the sea, the cannons that were dozens of miles away, or even the beaded guns in the hands of the Northern Navy, they all exceeded the understanding of Nguyen Phuc Ying and his ministers, and even beyond the understanding of the French officers. If it weren't for the news of the fall of the Hue Imperial City, they would have arrived in Jiading at about the same time as He Xiwen, these people would have thought He Xiwen was talking big.

However, after a moment, Nguyen Phoe Ying's confidant, Deng Chenchang, the military officer of the North City, stood up and bowed and said, "Congratulations to the king! Now I have another strong support in Guangnan!"

General Li Wenyue, who was a eunuch, said: "This is the destruction of the Nguyen clan in Xishan! The king should send people to Hoi'an quickly, contact the Beihai, and jointly send troops to the north to fight together."

Olivier de Pimanuel, the Frenchman in charge of training infantry and artillery, bowed and said, "Master Nguyen, I think such reinforcements must be fought for."

The general Rong Zhanqi Wuxing also stood up and said in a deep voice: "I think that if Beihai Town can cooperate from the sea and cover it with giant cannons, I can lead 5,000 people to seize Pingshun Mansion."

Pingshun Prefecture is only more than 300 miles away from Jiading. In April this year, Nguyen Phuc Ying sent Li Wenyun to lead 5,000 people to attack Pingshun Prefecture. With the Western-style army trained by the French, Pingshun was easily conquered. However, due to the discord between the generals, the Xishan Army took the opportunity to counterattack and took it back.

Speaking of which, the reason why the Guangnan Ruan tribe failed in the northern expedition for many years was first due to the monsoon. The time was only a few months for the cooperation between water and land. Once the time came, they had to retreat if they could not fight. Secondly, they had no money. The most obvious thing was that the shrinking trade of Chinese merchants brought about a significant reduction in tax revenue.

Areas that produce agarwood, ivory, pepper and other goods are located in the central Annan area, which is controlled by the Xishan Dynasty. The Jiading area, known as the "land of rice, fish and salt", has been a repeated battle between the new and old Ruans for many years. The original prosperous economy was almost abandoned under the ravages of the war.

Nguyen Phuc Ying has been encouraging farmers and implementing the policy of "combining troops with agriculture" over the years. Most of the rice produced is used for military spending and weapons.

According to the historical trajectory of another time and space, Nguyen Phuc Ying still had to continue farming, and only after three years could he regain Pingshun Mansion and eleven years could he take down the city of Hue.

Faced with the excitement of his subordinates, Ruan Phu Ying was shocked but calm. You should know that he had shouldered the heavy responsibility of fighting against the Xishan Dynasty since he was fifteen. More than ten years of war and life under others made his mind almost middle-aged. If he was still motivated by a few words at any time, he would have died without a place to die.

At this moment, he was more concerned about what kind of impact the emergence of Beihai Town would have on himself in politics and diplomacy, and how he should respond with ease and use it for my own use.

There is no free lunch in the world. Nguyen Phuc Ying never believes that the North Navy will help him at all costs in order to avenge the Chinese. Like the Siamese and the French, all foreign aid comes at a price. For example, the family that guarded Hexian for generations has been controlled by Siam. For example, the French aid was at the cost of cede Kunlun Island and Hoi An.

"The capital camp has made great contributions to me this time! I want to reward you a lot!" Ruan Phoe-ying smiled and stood up, helping He Xiwen, who was kneeling on one knee. Then he said to the eunuch beside him: "I have passed my order to reward He Xiwen, who is two hundred pieces of money, one million rice, and thirty pieces of silk cloth."

"The emperor thanked the king for his kindness!" He Xiwen pretended to kneel down and thanked him, thinking that this thing was worse than one percent I earned in Hue. Master Ruan was really poor enough.

This time he returned to Jiading, it was actually Deng Fei's instruction. Deng Fei learned that the French had trained the navy to Guangnan for a long time. Nguyen Phuc Ying had to rely on He Xiwen's men to dispatch the navy. If He Xiwen betrayed Guangnan now and openly defected to the Northern Navy, then the signing of Tongdeng and Lang Son may increase variables later.

At this time, the French missionary Peter, who was standing on the left of Nguyen Phuc Ying, bowed slightly and said, "Master Nguyen, if you allow me to go to Hoi An on your behalf and talk to the people in Beihai Town about cooperation?"

Peter is now an advisor to Nguyen Phuc Ying and the teacher of the prince. Although he claims to be in charge of diplomatic power, his actual status in the Guangnan regime is in name only and has been marginalized for a long time. When this missionary returned to France for help, he once said that I would provoke the Indochina changes alone, but it was just a helpless word to slap the swollen face and pretend to be fat.

Nguyen Phucing paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, and suddenly said, "Li Wenyue, He Xiwen, Zheng Huaide, I ordered you and the three of you to go to Hoi'an immediately with the priest Peter, contact the Northern Navy, and discuss the attack on Nguy, the West Mountain."

"I received the order."

After Nguyen Phuc Ying retreated, Peter frowned while walking out and pondering: "Beihai Town? I must have heard of this name, but where is it?"

The news that Hoi An was occupied by the Northern Navy made him very uneasy. According to the Treaty of Versailles signed by Nguyen Phuc An and the French government, it will be ceded to France in the future. If the Northern Navy occupied it and did not leave, it will be troublesome.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! Well, because of the emergence of Beihai Town - to be correct, because of the appearance of Zhao Xin, the development process of many people and things in East Asia in this time and space has been mixed up, and will be expanded to the entire Europe and the Americas in the near future.

Do you still remember Count La Piluz? The leader of the French expedition appointed by Louis XVI visited Beihai Town two years ago and witnessed the first electric lights in Beihai Town.

Speaking of which, when Count Laperus left Beihai Town, Deng Fei had a lot of words when he saw him off, which led to a major change in the fate of him and the crew.

Deng Fei's original words were: "Earl, I think the financial crisis of your government may not be that simple. If your king ignores the requirements of the third level and the nobles and clergy continue to maintain tax exemption privileges, then a national unrest is right in front of you. The heavily exploited civilians and the third level will retaliate against the nobles in a crazy way. What will your family do if you continue this journey?"

Because during his time in Beihai Town, Count La Peruz had many conversations with Deng Fei, and Deng Fei knew a lot about the history before the French Revolution, and many "personal opinions" surprised him and agreed very much.

The more he thought about it on the way south, the more he felt it was reasonable, so he did not go to Samoa, which should have killed him, but went to Pondicherry, the governor's palace in the French Indian colony, to inquire about the news. If nothing unexpected happened, he certainly got nothing.

Originally, let alone the French Revolution had not begun, even if it had begun, the news would have spread from Europe to Asia for at least half a year.

Coincidentally, he met Peter there who recruited officers and prepared weapons for Nguyen Phuc Ying. The two mentioned Beihai Town during their chat.

Although Peter was willing to hire Count La Peruz to Annan, the other party was on the mission of the king after all. So when the Count's fleet left India and continued to go to Batavia, Peter, who was already busy, threw the interesting news about Beihai Town behind.

Although the northeast wind blows on the sea in Annan in winter, as long as it is not a naval battle, the sea boats can walk, just slow down. More than ten days later, Peter and his party finally arrived in Hoi'an at the end of the Gregorian calendar. The first thing that caught their eye was the Thor who was anchored in the southwest of Dazhan Island.

"My God!" Except for He Xiwen and his men, the others on the ship all fell on the ground. Even the two warships Peter brought back from India were incomparable to Thor.

Last year, Peter was struggling with two warships from the local governor Conway, Governor Conway, to get two warships, one was a frigate and the other was a third-class battleship. Peter used the funds he raised to equip the two ships with cannons and ammunition, and then recruited sailors and deserters from the local governing, and then drove the two ships back to Jiading.

This was the first time Annan had obtained a Western-style warship in history. Nguyen Phuc Ying, who was overjoyed, named the two ships "Dragon" and "Phoenix" respectively, and began to build his naval army.

After He Xiwen's serious contact, the next morning, Peter and his party climbed the gangway of the Thor as if Liu Laolao had entered the Grand View Garden.

As soon as they got on the ship, the surging "March of Steel Torrent" immediately resounded around the deck, and fifty soldiers in white military dresses standing straight in two rows of North Navy Marine Battalion were even more murderous.

Such a formation suddenly made the Guangnan envoys, including He Xiwen, feel a little at a loss. Everyone thought they didn’t see a band playing, so where did the sound come from?

In fact, if He Xiwen hadn't said hello in advance, the scene would have been even more awkward, because what makes people feel more awkward than music is actually the dress of both parties.

Everyone, look at me, and I look at you, and both of them think that each other's clothes are really weird enough!

The Northern Navy was covered with big brimmed hats, with tops and pants separated, and neither round collars nor cross collars. The buttons were shining. They were wearing light-colored combat boots on their feet, and they were hidden in their trousers. It was like Europeans, at least Europeans had never touched their feet. But if they were like Han people... Zheng Huaide scooped his stomach and felt that he had never dressed like this in any ancient book.

In the eyes of Deng Fei and Wang Yuanfang, Li Wenyue, He Xiwen, Zheng Huaide and their followers were all dressed in ancient official uniforms, which seemed out of place with the Thunder God environment, like a group of performers. You should know that at this time, the official uniforms in Guangnan still followed the clothing system of the Later Li Dynasty. Those fancy things like costumes were only available after the establishment of the Later Ruan Dynasty.

Like Li Wenyue and Zheng Huaide, they are dressed in black hats, round-necked green gauze clothes, patches on their chests, and black boots on their feet, which is basically not much different from Ming-made clothes. As for those followers, they all wear flat hats on their heads, and the clothes are also round-necked green gauze clothes. The only difference is that these people's hair is scattered behind their heads and they are not covered with net towels.

The most eye-catching of these Guangnan officials was Peter, who had big noses and green eyes. He was wearing a black priest robe and a silver cross hanging on his chest.

"He Duying, this is the Northern Navy?"

He Xiwen, who came to his senses, also saw Deng Fei and Wang Yuanfang at this time. He hurriedly led everyone forward and helped to recommend.

"Everyone, this is Lord Deng, the Admiral of the Navy of the North Navy, and this is General Wang."

Peter was about to say hello when he heard Mr. Deng stretch out his right hand to him and said fluently in French: "Bonjour, Cher Monsieur le père."

"Ah, you can actually speak French?!" Peter reached out his hand in surprise and gently shook it with the other party. Then he suddenly thought of something and said in a lost voice: "I remembered that Count Lapeluz had mentioned to me that he had visited a magical city in the distant northern continent, where a gentleman named Fei Deng could speak fluent French!"

"My priest is wrong, my name is Deng Fei."

"Sorry, I probably remembered it wrong." Peter shook his head, then coughed lightly and said, "General Deng, my name is Pierre Joseph George Pinier, who is affiliated with the Paris Foreign Missionary Church. Now he serves Lord Ruan in Guangnan. Everyone calls me Peter."

"Petor?" Deng Fei then realized that the name should be a transliteration in Portuguese. You should know that the word "Pierre" is "Pedro" in Portuguese.

This means that if you can shake hands with Peter, the others will not be able to do so, so Deng Fei and Wang Yuanfang resumed their bowing ceremony. When they arrived at Zheng Huaide, they heard the man speak Fuzhou dialect: "I am going down to Zheng Zhishan, and I am now recruiting the Ministry of Justice of the Guangnan Prince's Mansion."

Wang Yuanfang, who had been in Fujian in another time and space for many years, said in surprise: "Are you from Fuzhou?"

"Zheng's ancestral home is Changle, Fujian."

Zheng Huaide, whose courtesy name was Zhishan, had his ancestors crossed the sea to Annan after the Qing army entered the pass because they did not want to be subordinate to the Qing Dynasty. The reason why Nguyen Phuc Ying asked this 25-year-old young official to come was because Zheng Huaide was a "Mingxiang man" and he was also one of the few survivors in the "Jiading Massacre".

After the establishment of the Ruan Dynasty in history, Zheng Huaide served as the Grand Secretary, and served as the Minister of Personnel and the Minister of War. The book "Jiading Tongzhi" which records the "Jiading Massacre" was written by him.

Didn’t Beihai Town’s “Emperoration against Ruan” say that he wanted to avenge the Chinese who died in Jiading? Ruan Phoeing sent a survivor to establish a relationship and used the identity of Mingxiang people to find out the situation in Hoi An.

When both sides sat down face to face through long tables, Peter went straight to the point: "The two generals, as the plenipotent representatives of Lord Nguyen, I really want to know why you have traveled thousands of miles to fight the Nguyen tribes in the West Mountain? Count La Peruz once told me that your territory is on the northern frontier of the Qing Dynasty."

Deng Fei smiled and said, "Mr. Peter, as a good friend of the Count, I will tell the truth that this time we went south, we came to fight the Xishan Dynasty."

After saying that, Jiang Fan, who was standing by, began to list many evidences of the Xishan Dynasty recruiting South China pirates and plundering the coast of Guangdong. As for the manifesto, it was only known after he came.

Although Peter and Li Wenyue were not familiar with Chinese, He Xiwen and Zheng Huaide helped the translation and the communication between the two sides was smooth.

After hearing this, Zheng Huaide became very excited. He immediately stood up and bowed to the ground, thanked Deng Fei and his two righteous actions, and told everyone about his experiences back then under the surprised eyes.

Deng Fei, Wang Yuanfang and Jiang Fan could not have encountered a survivor. Thinking of the tragic scene at that time, I couldn't help but sigh.

The conversation went on and Peter had confirmed that the North Navy was not hostile to Guangnan, so he asked: "Master Ruan hopes that the North Navy can help us attack Pingshun Mansion. Do you have any conditions?"

When the opera meat came, Jiang Fan immediately raised the issue of signing a treaty on the condition of Tongdeng and Lang Son in northern Annan, and also the issue of renting Kunlun Island as a supply base for the Beihai Town fleet to travel south.

After hearing this, Peter nodded expressionlessly and said, "We need to go back to report to Lord Ruan. Can we agree that he will decide on this?"
Chapter completed!