Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Due to the dual reasons of climate environment and productivity, the armor rate of the armies of the Chenla-Angkor Dynasty was not high.

Except for elite troops, generally only officers wear armor.

Most of their armors are made of leather, mainly rhinoceros skin, shark skin, etc. Low-level armor only protects the chest and abdomen, while high-level armor has a complete body, sleeves and skirt.

Bows and arrows are also weapons only equipped by officers.

Most ordinary soldiers are equipped with shields, javelins, and machetes.

The long-handled weapon is a curved knife that can be stabbed, chopped, whittled, and cut. It is very useful against Southeast Asian armies that lack iron armor. And during the march, it can also be used to cut through thorns and bushes and vines that block the road.

Suryavarman II was still very cautious. He had been preventing Annan's army from going south and left a total of 6,000 defenders in Vijaya City.

Zhu Kang's number one general, Han Jing, only brought 3,000 Ming troops and 6,000 Annan troops this time. Even the civilians were forcibly recruited in Champa City itself.

There are another 10,000 Annan soldiers who went south by land and are still on the march - military discipline is very poor, and they are burning, killing and looting along the way.

Arriving at the foot of Vijaya City, Han Jing forced the civilians who occupied the city to carry earth to fill the trenches, and also asked craftsmen to build various siege equipment.

Large Lugong chariots and ladders were thrown into the battlefield, which stunned the defenders of Zhenla, who had few bows and arrows and a severe shortage of armor. The elite Ming army only needed to use siege equipment and suppress the city head with muskets and crossbows to easily capture the city wall.

It took seven or eight days to build siege equipment and fill in the moat, but the actual siege battle only took one day.

Immediately, Zhu Kang, in the name of King Yu of the Ming Dynasty, sent a message to the princes of the feudal states who occupied the city, asking them to immediately bring troops to drive away the invaders together.

Many of the princes of the feudal states who occupied the capital were plundered by the Tu family, but some escaped quickly or surrendered quickly.

The princes who fled or surrendered responded to the call of King Yu of the Ming Dynasty.

You take dozens of people, I take hundreds of people, and gather cautiously towards Vijaya City.

Half a month later, the number of troops under Zhu Kang's command increased significantly, totaling: 3,000 elite Ming troops, more than 16,000 Annan troops, and more than 4,000 troops of the princes of the city.

Not only was the military discipline of the Annan soldiers extremely bad, but the princes who occupied the city were not much better. They even looted their own people - not in their own territory anyway.

Zhu Kang personally went to the army to sit in command and issued a military order prohibiting plunder: previous plundering behavior will not be investigated, but it will be severely punished in the future.

There are still people who don’t believe in evil!

"Bring it up!"

More than a hundred miles south of Vijaya City, Zhu Kang finally took action and caught two guys who were looting the village.

One is Li Changlu, the Marquis of Baoning in Annan, and the other is the son of the prince of the Champa state.

Of course, these two people were not the only ones who disobeyed military orders. They were just established as models, and their identities were selected.

Li Changlu was tied up and led in front of Zhu Kang, and shouted in Ming Dynasty Mandarin: "Your Highness, I am the first Annan general to follow you. I learned to speak Ming Dynasty Mandarin from the Han people. I am still the Baoning Marquis of Annan, and I just ransacked a It’s just a village, even if you disobey military orders, you will not be punished with death..."

"Gag his mouth!"

Zhu Kang shouted angrily:

"You were corrupt and perverted the law in Annan. You often disobeyed orders, and you repeatedly embezzled and deducted military pay. How many times have I warned you overtly and secretly? If I hadn't seen you surrender early, I would have dealt with you under military law."

"This time I asked you to lead the troops south by land. I reminded you to pay attention to military discipline before going out. You robbed me all the way from the Annan border. I tolerated these actions. After reiterating the military order, you still set off to plunder. Have you still captured me? Do you take military law seriously? "

Li Changlu's mouth was blocked and he could only make a sound of "Ouch".

He already understood at this time that Zhu Kang deliberately operated on him. Firstly, you can take the opportunity to establish your authority, and secondly, you can annex his troops.

As Li Changlu was dragged to be beheaded, his subordinates all changed their looks.

Zhu Kang read out another list of names, all of them were Li Changlu's confidants, and they were all executed for disobeying military orders.

If they just kill people, Li Changlu's troops will be useless, and there will definitely be a large number of people fleeing, and the morale of those who don't escape will be at the bottom.

Zhu Kang continued: "Ruan Zuobin has always been brave and good at fighting, and his army has strict discipline. He temporarily takes over Li Changlu's military position. The rest of the generals who were executed will be replaced by adjutants. When the battle is over, rewards will be given according to merit, and those who fight bravely will be strictly guarded. Those who serve as military commanders will have their temporary positions converted into formal military positions.”

"From generals to soldiers, you should keep the looted property yourself, and I will not pursue it again. But if you disobey military orders, you will be punished for all your past sins!"

The herald immediately spread these orders to the entire army.

"Long live, long live!"

Soon, the voices of "Long live" came one after another, and morale was restored at once.

As long as those soldiers under Li Changlu were still alive, they could keep the looted property, and some of them were even promoted.

As for the son of the prince of the feudal state of Champa, Zhu Kang also beheaded him as soon as he scolded him.

That night, the prince of the local state who had his son killed was angry and afraid and led his troops to escape at night. Zhu Kang had been on guard for a long time. Those troops were stopped not far from the camp and all were killed on the spot without leaving any survivors. Their soldiers, armor and property were rewarded to other princes.

Through this series of operations, Zhu Kang finally took full control of the army, and the poor military discipline also improved.

The army continued to move south, and princes from local states continued to lead their troops to surrender along the way.

There were even princes who surrendered to Chenla, bringing cities, troops, and food to serve.

A prince named Sanghavarman also brought news about Chenla's army: "King Chenla heard that Vijaya City had fallen, and instead of returning to the north, he panicked and fled westward."

Zhu Kang continued to advance, and King Bintonglong led his army to greet him. He also called his Han friend Lin Haishang to join him.

The two sides met enthusiastically and seemed extremely harmonious.

At night, a merchant surnamed Lin asked to see him: "Lin Deyuan from Zhangzhou, pay homage to His Highness the King of Yu!"

"Sit down." Zhu Kang smiled.

Lin Deyuan bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Zhu Kang casually asked about Lin Deyuan's business. After Lin Deyuan answered, he took the initiative to talk about Bin Tonglong's situation.

Both sides are testing.

Finally, Lin Deyuan could not bear it any longer and asked: "May I ask Your Highness, Zhenla has withdrawn its troops, when will Your Highness return?"

Zhu Kangyi said sternly: "Zhenla disobeys the king's orders and repeatedly invades the brothers' country. Now he has killed the whole family of the king of Champa and plundered countless villages and cities. How can he be forgiven if he withdraws his troops? I want to fight all the way to Chenla In the royal city of Angkor, King Zhenla went to Luoyang to plead guilty!”

Lin Deyuan asked again: "Not only was the king of Champa killed, but in recent years there have been internal fighting in Champa, and there are not many royal family members left. Which successor king does the court intend to canonize?"

"Who do you think is the most suitable?" Zhu Kang asked with a smile.

Lin Deyuan said: "Bintong Dragon King is a distant relative of the Champa royal family and also has royal blood. Moreover, this man fought bravely and resisted the Zhenla army for half a year. He also admired the Ming Dynasty, learned the Four Books and Six Classics, and learned the southern Fujian dialect. If he can become the king of Champa, he will be loyal to the court for generations to come."

Zhu Kang asked: "Are you here to be a lobbyist?"

Lin Deyuan said: "If Your Highness can speak kindly, Bintong Dragon King will definitely reward you generously!"

Zhu Kang said: "The imperial court plans to annex Annan and make Annam a province of Cochin. And I will establish a country in Champa and become a feudal king. What do you think of this?"

Lin Deyuan was shocked and did not dare to answer for a while.

Zhu Kang smiled and said: "If you are loyal to me, there will definitely be benefits. You can think about it carefully, whether I can give you more benefits, or that Bintong Dragon King has more benefits."

Lin Deyuan didn't think for long before he left the table and knelt down: "I am willing to serve His Highness as my Lord."

Zhu Kang said: "Go and test it out."

Lin Deyuan said: "Although Bintong Dragon King is a barbarian, he has always had great ambitions. If His Highness wants to establish a country and occupy the city, it is best to get rid of this person. There is no need to test him at all. He will definitely choose to surrender to Your Highness, but what he does in private is up to him. You know it yourself.”

Zhu Kang said: "If you are willing to surrender, there is no need to plan to eradicate him. After all, this man resisted Zhenla and has a high prestige in the hearts of the people in Champa. How old is he?"

Lin Deyuan said: "In his early forties, he is in his prime."

"So better, I'm younger than him." Zhu Kang smiled.

Zhu Kang had no choice. He only had 3,000 Ming troops at his disposal, and the number of subsequent Han immigrants from the imperial court would be at most 10,000 to 20,000.

With such a small base, we must win over the local indigenous people.

The plan has long been made:

With the Han army and immigrants as the core of rule, Annan troops and immigrants were moved in to check and balance the local nobles and common people in the city. Carry out enlightenment step by step and centralize power step by step.

If a local prince like Bintong Dragon King dares to openly rebel, he will be directly destroyed. If people are willing to surrender, then keep them for the time being, and then issue favor orders in the future. There is no need for military conquest - even if Bintong Dragon King is destroyed, Zhu Kang will not have enough strength to digest it, and he will have to support other princes by then. .

After another conversation, Lin Deyuan went back to see Jaya Harivarman I.

"What? The Ming prince wants to stay in Champa and become the king?" Jaya Harivarman exclaimed.

Lin Deyuan said: "There are not many royal families left in Champa, and you are just a distant relative of the royal family. The prince of Ming Dynasty will be the king of Champa. In fact, he can convince the public more than you. At this time, you must not offend King Yu, otherwise Bin Tonglong will The danger of national destruction.”

"How could I not know?" Jaya Harivarman sighed.

The continuous internal strife in the Champa royal family fueled the ambition of Jaya Harivarman. He had been developing silently for twenty years, just waiting for opportunities to replace him.

Unexpectedly, the Prince of Ming Dynasty also set his sights on the position of king.

Lin Deyuan continued: "His Royal Highness King Yu promises that as long as you support him as king, he will give you some land further southwest."

"The land further to the southwest?" Jaya Harivarman was stunned.

Lin Deyuan nodded: "Take it from Zhenla."

Jaya Harivarman thought over and over and said helplessly: "Okay, I support him to be the king of Champa."

Since he can no longer obtain the throne, he can get a little bit of it, and it would not be bad to bite a piece of territory from Zhenla.

Later, Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, including the entire Mekong Delta, belonged to the territory of the Angkor Dynasty in Chenla.

Zhu Kang wanted to take a piece of it and beat the Zhenla Dynasty to cede territory and seek peace.

Firstly, it can expand one's own territory, and secondly, it can also enhance one's prestige.