War Palace and Knee Pillow, Austria’s Destiny

The book continues from the previous article.

After witnessing the powerful combat power of the Skitarii, Guan Jinpan and others decided to join the church.

As the battle ended, many family members of the rebels found Kampong Som, and the total number of Chenla rebels reached nearly 8,000.

Food for these eight thousand people is a problem, plus the shelter they need.

There was a heated discussion in Kampong Som, although the various factions disagreed on how to deal with Chenla's rebels.

Some people think that the Chenla Rebel Army should be placed in the Xiangshan Mountains and let them consume the strength of the Vietnamese. Others think that they are embarrassing and useless. It is better to set aside a special area for them to contribute to the construction of the territory.

But one thing can be agreed upon, that is, Guan Jinpan's team cannot be allowed to enter the city.

There is a saying that has been believed in Southeast Asia since ancient times: princes, generals and prime ministers would rather have their own kind?

Now that the Chenla royal family is in decline and the country is fragmented, I am afraid that there are many people who have other ideas. This kind of good use will be of great benefit to the construction of Kampong Som, but if not used well, it may suffer greatly.

The main problem now is that the original Zhenla army had eight thousand people, and almost everyone had a gun, and most of them were strong laborers.

In addition to the eight hundred skitarii, Kampong Xun's combat strength was the church's fighting brothers, but the two together only amounted to more than a thousand people.

It would be okay if it was a frontal battle or a defensive battle, but it would be very troublesome if the other party launched a sneak attack. Once these people were allowed into the city, the situation would be completely out of control.

The only way the Austrians in Chenla could think of was to write letters to their country asking for help, and at the same time recruit parishioners for simple training. Once an emergency occurred, they would be given weapons to help defend the city and fight.

However, this can only ensure the safety of Kampong Som City, but cannot guarantee the safety of the entire area. At the same time, it also limits one's own activities.

In fact, Franz had already thought of this possibility, and the solution he proposed was to divide and disintegrate.

First of all, Chenla officials who had long-term trade relations with Austria could become religious and enter the city.

Secondly, if you can provide treasures, information, or special personnel who can speak German, you can also join the church and enter the city.

Thirdly, those who want to join the religion and the city can be trained first and then selected. The outstanding and pious ones will be retained to participate in actual combat. Those who have outstanding performance in three consecutive battles can join the religion and the city.

At the same time, one thing must be implemented well, the two basic points of the church and the German language. The new parishioners must be able to speak German, and the class must be downplayed in the city, especially among the Chenla people, while the class must be strengthened outside the city, so as to facilitate the rule.

News of the defeat of Renyu and Luo Jian quickly spread to the rear, and the Vietnamese generals who led the troops were in disbelief.

Fan Zhu and Zhang Mingjiao were both second-rank generals, but they were always bullied by Zhang Mingjiao. If the news of this defeat was used by Zhang Mingjiao, he might not be able to keep his position as general.

As for the words of the Zhenla puppet army in front of him, Fan Zhu didn't believe it at all. He didn't believe that any army in the world could hurt people with black smoke. On the contrary, he felt that these Khmer spies might be pretending to defect to Dai Viet, and at this moment they were using nothing more than a bitter trick.

Their purpose is just to delay him. At the same time, Fan Zhu also understands that failure is not allowed in the Dai Viet army. The loser will only die. So what Fan Zhu has to do now is to kill all these Khmer people. , and then personally captured Keng Xun and gave an explanation to the leader of the Yue Kingdom.

Guan Jinpan and others were surprised by the changes in Kampong Som. They did not expect that the former fishing village had turned into a city.

The city walls of Gundam are as grand as any other big city in Chenla, and coupled with the large Western-style buildings, it gives people an unreal feeling.

Guan Jinpan also noticed a feature. The parishioners here actually wore foreign cloth. Compared with homespun cloth, foreign cloth was beautiful and strong, and only few people in Zhenla could afford it.

At this time, there was less trade between Chenla, Vietnam, and the West, so this situation occurred.

The previous officials Jinpan and Parasu forged the edict of the former King Anzan and assigned Kampong Som and its surrounding counties to Austria.

Now Guan Jinpan was holding a document of revolt and a document granting the two provinces of Kampot and Koh Kong near Kampong Som to the Austrian Empire.

Guan Jinpan had seen how powerful Kung Xun was at this time in the previous battle. Now he just wanted to find a good supporter for his tribe and exchange the two documents in his hand for one to spend the rest of his life in peace.

Franz is very satisfied with the fact that Guan Jinpan forged the edict of Emperor Zhenla. After all, it is best to die without proof, which can save Franz a lot of trouble.

Of course, Franz also knew very well that Jin Pan, the edict official, could forge one copy and many copies. So Franz did not want the edict, but the tool for forging the edict, which was Anzan's jade seal. For this reason Franz was willing to give Guan Jinpan a position as assistant to the bishop.

Although the assistant bishop is a priest, at this time Kampong Son is equivalent to the second-in-command, because this place is temporarily controlled by the church.

Ambrosius also returned to Kompong Son. He successfully found the ship anchored on the shore, but the people on it were not French people, but spies from the church who had penetrated into Vietnam.

Kampong Son is still nominally the Grand Duke's territory of Ambrosius, and he is also the supreme commander here, so Kampong Son is very happy that he can come back.

But before they had time to celebrate, a sentinel sent back news that more than 20,000 people from the Pham Chu Department of the Vietnamese army were trying to cross the Xiangshan Mountains.

Franz had already taught Archbishop Rauscher a lesson, and the way to deal with this situation was fire attack. These things were written in the holy book that Rauscher sent to the priests of Kampong.

As a talented commander, Ambrosius also understood that setting fire to the mountain was the best choice at this time.

The purpose is not to burn all the opponents to death on the mountain, but to slow down the enemy's progress and disrupt the opponent's deployment.

As for whether it is possible to set fire in the tropical rainforest climate, please refer to the Amazon forest fire and Zhuge Liang's burning of the vine armor soldiers.

The reason why the Austrian army used fire to attack was also because the Vietnamese did not follow the usual path and had to imitate Hannibal and cross the Xiangshan Mountains. If they could make a circle and attack from the main road, it would take them at least an extra month. .

At the same time, the so-called "big roads" in Vietnam in this era were not wide, and as long as a few bridges were blown up, they would have to wade across the river. As we all know, "landing on the beach" is never an easy task, plus the Vietnamese army The main weapon is the matchlock gun, which cannot be used once it is soaked in water.

Austria's main weapon in Kampong Soun is a needle gun that is not afraid of water. This is also the source of Franz's confidence that a few hundred people can defend Kampong Soun.

This is also the reason why there are thousands of guns in Kampong Son's warehouse, but there are only 800 people in the Skitarii.

Because in the warehouse in Kampong Som, most of the firearms are flintlock guns prepared to be sold to the Zhenla people, and only those used by the Skitarii and the Austrian army are needle guns.

Fan Zhu's team was very large and easily identifiable in the mountains. Kampong Som's scouts set fire to the mountains, and the mountain fires soon turned into raging flames.

Faced with the raging mountain fire, Fan Zhu could only choose to retreat.