As time goes by, the benefits brought by the Battle of Halong to the Chinese troops become more and more obvious.
First, troops from all over the three provinces were dispatched to escort back the seized money, grain, weapons, ships, livestock and other materials. After Sun Bin sent an urgent message to transfer Liang Xing from the Natuna Islands, after a few days of busy liquidation, they were sorted out. The total number of materials seized, including the treasury silver seized from various local governments and the ransom paid by the captured officials, was 1.04 million taels. The seized tea, cloth and other excess materials were sold and converted into silver of 200,000 taels.
Hai Phong, Quang An, and Hai Ninh are coastal provinces. Since France occupies the southern province of Annam, merchants in Annam in the north take advantage of the geographical advantage of being close to the French to buy tea, porcelain and other oriental luxury goods from the coastal areas, and then sell them to the French through sea transportation. , and then transported back to the European continent by French merchants to sell at high prices.
Merchants are only interested in profit, whether they are colluding with Shanxi merchants in Liaodong or Annan merchants, it is a virtue. After the three provinces fell under the control of the Chinese, Sun Bin was not polite to them. All Annan ships docked at the port were detained, and the tonnage exceeded the ocean-going requirements. All ships will be confiscated, and ships of smaller tonnage will be redeemed by their owners.
The merchants were wealthy but had a low political status. In addition, the war in Annam was raging, and the Hue court was so overwhelmed that it had no time to do anything and had no ability to uphold justice for them. Therefore, the Annam merchants had no choice but to pay the money honestly according to the requirements of the Chinese troops. Ransom, redemption of a portion of ships of smaller tonnage.
The tonnage of Annan merchant ships is small and not large. The total number of merchant ships detained as ocean transport ships is eight, and their tonnage is all between 400 tons and 800 tons.
Sun Bin plans to refit eight merchant ships and form a Nanyang fleet with three armed merchant ships. People with sea experience will be selected from the defected Chinese to serve as sailors and be responsible for protecting the security of Annan and the Natuna Islands.
Excluding the eight remaining merchant ships, the remaining ships brought an income of 300,000 taels to the Chinese army after redemption.
All kinds of seizures are counted together, and after deducting the rewards paid to soldiers and camp youths, the battle of Halong brought nearly 1.2 million to the Chinese army.
A gold belt for murder and arson. Looking at the mountains of real money piled up in the warehouse, Sun Bin couldn't help but sigh that war and robbery were the fastest ways to make money.
With abundant money and food, Sun Bin was able to carry out the tasks assigned by Li Mingyuan without restriction and recruit Chinese people on a large scale in the border areas of the northern Annan provinces and Annan mainland.
Using the weak to attack the strong, the Annan army of ten thousand people was wiped out in the first battle, and the control area reached three provinces. The sudden rise of Sun Bin's army attracted the attention of most Chinese forces at the junction of North Vietnam, Annan, and Guangxi, and he announced a large-scale recruitment Starting from the Chinese, Chinese from Haiyang, Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Taiyuan and other northern Vietnamese provinces came to join the army. The small peasant army entrenched in Lang Son Province invited Chinese troops to settle there and included the areas they occupied in the occupation. district.
Lang Son Province has more mountains and less land. It is close to the border with Guangxi and has an area three times that of Quang Ninh Province. Most of Lang Son Province is divided and occupied by armed peasant armies. The Annan Army only occupies a small area. After gaining access to local farmers After inviting the army's armed forces, Sun Bin sent Ye Chenglin to lead a thousand young men to march into Lang Son. After three or four days of emergency march-style fighting, the Annan army in Lang Son Province was wiped out. The peasant army armed forces along the way continued to join Ye Chenglin's troops. Finally, Three-quarters of the land in Lang Son Province fell under the control of Chinese troops. Only the two border counties occupied by Liu Yongfu had an unclear attitude and did not express any positive intention to surrender.
Most of Lang Son Province was under control, and the two small remote counties occupied by Liu Yongfu could not affect the overall situation. Therefore, Ye Chenglin, under Sun Bin's instructions, did not take armed action against Liu Yongfu's troops for the time being.
Taking advantage of the situation and going with the trend, there are only a few peasant army armed forces like Liu Yongfu who waver on both sides. Most of the peasant army armed forces and Chinese refugees still follow the general trend created by the Chinese army and abandon Wu Yazhong and other people who are short of money and food.
A large number of peasant soldiers were armed and changed their defection target to Sun Bin's army.
The local farmers launched a rebellion, and the Annan army did not dare to provoke Sun Bin's troops, who were gaining momentum at this time. They let the Chinese refugees and peasant army armed forces passing through the defense zone pass one after another.
Half a month has passed as the Chinese troops have made great strides in expanding their sphere of influence. Compared with the recruitment of Chinese immigrants a month ago, the influx of Chinese refugees this time is greater. The number of Chinese who have defected to Annan exceeds 50,000. I understand.
There are about 200,000 Chinese people in the four provinces of Shan, Haiphong, Guang'an and Haining, and there are 20,000 poor refugees who have crossed the border from Taipingfu, Longzhou, Pingxiang and other Guangxi border areas.
The total number of Chinese from different regions is about 280,000, exceeding the number of Chinese in Rio Grande do Sul.
Most of the 280,000 Chinese are distributed in the three provinces of Quang An, Hai Ninh and Lang Son. In addition to the soldiers stationed in Haiphong Province, ordinary Chinese are moving to the other three provinces.
Haiphong is the gateway and trading port of Hanoi, the important town in northern Annam. Forcibly occupying Haiphong will not only cause a backlash from the Annan court, but also offend the French.
Sun Bin didn't care about the attitude of the Annan court itself, but behind Annan stood the Qing army that had just wiped out the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. If the Annan court ignored the invitation of the Qing army for assistance, the territory that the Chinese troops had just conquered would be in danger of being destroyed.
Worried about the intervention of the Qing and French troops behind Annan, Sun Bin made arrangements in advance before occupying Haiphong. While rectifying the Chinese armed forces in the occupied area, he sent messengers to negotiate with the Hue court about the conditions for recruiting Annan.
The real decision makers in the Hue court were the civil servants headed by the consort Huang Jiyan. When Liang Xing, the representative sent by Sun Bin, brought Li Yuhe a sum of seized silver to visit Huang Jiyan, the two sides negotiated for four days and reached the conditions for recruitment and security:
A Chinese force withdrew from Haiphong Province and was not allowed to destroy the city defense facilities in Haiphong City or threaten the safety of officials before Annan troops took over.
2. Release the 10,000 captured Annamite soldiers and officers of all sizes.
Third, we must not secretly support the local rebels in Annan.
Four: Restrict the armed forces of the peasant army under his command and not collude with the peasant army under Wu Yazhong.
Five: Merge the two small provinces of Guang An and Hai Ninh into Quang Ninh Province, and appoint Sun Bin as the governor of Quang Ninh Province. The number of troops is 3,000. Private expansion of the army is not allowed...
There were a total of thirteen recruitment conditions on the surface, but some of the conditions behind the scenes were shady. For example, the Chinese troops surrendered to the consort Huang Jiyan and obeyed Huang Jiyan's personal command. The Hue court acquiesced to the actual occupation of Lang Son Province by the Chinese troops.
Give the Chinese troops 300,000 taels of silver in the name of military pay and hire them to encircle and suppress the local rebel forces...
On the surface, all the agreements behind the scenes were signed. The Chinese troops suddenly became vassals of the Annan court. Nearly 300,000 Annan Chinese had legal status. Sun Bin's actions in Annan also had another layer of cloak.