Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

“Frequent appearances in front of people always make people tired.”

Five-star general Li Jinglong, a special critic of "Ming Pao" who is far away in Annanguo, said this.

Li Jinglong had just finished hunting, and he had gained a lot. He personally brought back two hares, four mouse deer, and a dozen plump river fish from the forest.

These will be a staple at tonight’s dinner.

Li Jinglong likes the forest of Annan very much. It is lively and full of vitality, and there are running wild game everywhere. It is different from the forests in the Ming Dynasty that have been "intensively cultivated" by hunters. As for the "talking trees" that Jiang Xinghuo reminded him of, so on and so forth , Li Jinglong has never seen it.

"Annanguo is really like a paradise! Compared with Ming Dynasty, it is much more comfortable!"

Li Jinglong walked towards his tent in a happy mood, followed by several generals and dozens of cavalry. The team was filled with laughter and laughter.

No one has any objection to this.

After all, Li Jinglong here is the out-and-out Supreme Emperor of Annan Kingdom. What kind of former Supreme Emperor Hu Jiya? Then was before, now is now!

Li Jinglong's main job now is to be responsible for the reconstruction, training, and reorganization of the entire Annan army, and then let the Ming army's advisory team lead these ragtag groups to gain practical experience by eradicating local banditry, thereby reducing the burden on Ming's garrison. possible early withdrawal.

For the Ming Dynasty, as long as they have Thanh Hoa Port, a contracted port that can garrison troops and supply ocean-going naval forces, they will have a foothold if they want to intervene in the situation in Annan at any time, because Annan Kingdom is now basically There is no naval force, and Thanh Hoa Port has now built a permanent fortress group. With the combat quality of the Ming army, a small number of troops can be enough to hold it for several months or even half a year.

And judging from the entire map, the Ming army not only had regular troops in the Jiaozhi Chief Envoy to the north of Annan State, but also had some troops stationed in Champa State further south of Annan State, and could order the Champa State army to assist in operations. .

Now the Hengshan Pass in the south and the area to the north have been ceded to the Champa Kingdom by the Annan Kingdom. The Annan Kingdom has lost the Furiang River defense line in the north. The natural barriers in the north and south no longer exist. The entire shrunk country is just a large plain. With the combination of mountains and hills, with mountains to the west and the sea to the east, it can be said that the development space has been completely locked up.

However, this is in line with Chen Tianping's intention, because for Chen Tianping, he has personally witnessed the power of the Ming Dynasty. He has no intention of confronting the Ming Dynasty like the Hu family and his son did. Moreover, the rebellious chieftains in the north used to rely on their territory. They are all in complex mountainous areas, and there are many "local soldiers" who are good at mountain warfare and do not obey the orders of the Central Committee of the Annan Kingdom. Now these burdens can be dumped on the Ming Dynasty, and Chen Tianping can rest peacefully.

In fact, this is indeed the case. Han Guan, the general who conquered the South, took over this job. Now he led the wolf soldiers of Guangxi Dusi and the garrison troops of Jiaozhi Dusi to exterminate the chieftains who disobeyed orders and refused to surrender to the Ming Dynasty in caves and ravines one by one. This It's what he does best.

As a result, Li Jinglong had a much easier time fighting the domestic security war in Annan Kingdom.

Although there are many opponents of Chen Tianping in the Annan Kingdom, the vast majority of the country is covered with plains and hilly terrain. The Ming army's advantages in firearms and elite cavalry are very easy to use. Killing these opponents is like killing It's like killing a chicken like a dog.

As for these people shrinking into the mountains to the west, Li Jinglong didn't care.

It's not entirely because Li Jinglong doesn't want to withdraw his troops as soon as possible and wants to continue to live a comfortable life here, but it's because he really can't control it.

In these places, only some of the chieftains from Sanxuan and Liuwei could be helped, but these chieftains were actually acting in a shady manner. If it had not gone too far, Ming Dynasty would not have gone across the mountains and forests to conquer them because of these things.

In addition, Li Jinglong believes that there is no need to completely eliminate these opponents.

After all, the complete elimination of opponents would only benefit Chen Tianping's rule.

But why did the Ming Dynasty want Chen Tianping's rule to be completely stable?

There must be some thorn in his side and flesh for him. In this way, Chen Tianping can sit on the throne, but if he feels prickly, he won't have so many miscellaneous thoughts to study other things.

In addition to these military tasks that are not too heavy and can be left to his subordinates, Li Jinglong actually has some tasks that he must do on his own, which is to safeguard Ming's interests in Annan.

Much of the political liaison work was left to the chief and deputy angels of the Ming Dynasty's Embassy in Annan, namely Zhu Quan and Zhang, the fat and thin heads who had come to serve as envoys before.

However, as the highest commander of the Ming army stationed in Annan, Li Jinglong was also responsible for communicating with Annan King Chen Tianping, and coordinating the pro-Ming civilian officials in Annan such as Wang Ruzhou, Chen Gongsu, Mei Xiufu, and Jiang Bin.

In other words, the Ming Dynasty must not only maintain the overall stability of Annan Kingdom, but also leave some opponents for Chen Tianping. In addition, it must also support some pro-Ming forces among civil servants and military generals.

As for the civil servants, they were naturally the middle and senior civil servants of the Annan Kingdom who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty during the war to conquer Annan.

Apart from these people, in fact, Chen Tianping himself did not have many confidants among the civil servants. Most of the people in the court were left over after the purges of the Hu family and his son. Not to mention that they were not loyal to the Chen Dynasty, even to the Hu family and his son, they had nothing to do with it. Loyalty, not to mention Chen Tianping, the evil grandson of the Chen Dynasty who has quite a bit of pedigree.

As for the generals, since the skeleton of the current Annan army was adapted from the Annan army that the Ming army surrendered before, and some new soldiers were added. Since it was trained and reorganized by the Ming army, the Ming army is naturally indispensable. The influence exerted by this new Annan army.

In addition to these, it is to ensure the free circulation of Ming products within Annan Kingdom.

In fact, for this point, as long as the local banditry is eliminated, it is basically enough.

After all, the Annan government signed a free trade contract with the Ming Dynasty and did not prohibit Ming products from entering Annan for domestic circulation through Thanh Hoa Port.

In this process, the small-scale folk textile industry and cottage industry in Annan were naturally completely destroyed, but for the people in power and local powerful people in Annan, it was a hugely profitable thing.

Because the Ming Dynasty merchants were only responsible for transporting goods to the ports of Annan. As for the distribution in the interior of Annan, which was still in a state of war, it was Annan merchants entrusted by Annan’s domestic dignitaries, and these Annan merchants, as The first-level distributors will further distribute the goods in various cities and prefectures to the local powerful people who hold the actual dominant position in the local area as second-level distributors.

In fact, the businessmen of the Ming Dynasty certainly wanted to go deep into the interior of Annan and take advantage of all the profits, including business channels and distribution, but the embarrassing part of the problem was that they couldn't do it.

In addition to security factors, Ming merchants had just received official approval for overseas trade, and their overall power was relatively weak. With the conquest of the Ming fleet, they gained a market that far exceeded their own sales capabilities, so they had to adopt this distribution model. .

However, this distribution model also invisibly alleviated the conflict between the domestic forces of Ming Dynasty and Annan, achieving a win-win situation in a certain sense.

Li Jinglong thought about it all the way. After gathering a large number of troops, thousands of cavalry began to advance towards Shenglong Mansion.

Of course, Li Jinglong's hunting trip also attracted many people in Shenglong Mansion to watch.

He originally wanted to keep a low profile, but he couldn't bear the enthusiasm of the people.

Prior to this, due to the continuous wars with neighboring countries such as the Champa State, the folk customs in Annan were much stronger than those of other dynasties, and they worshiped force and military merit more.

And this somewhat abnormal worship has now been transferred to the Ming army with the Ming army's military victory.

Especially when the people of Annan discovered that the arrival of the Ming army did not seem to make their living conditions worse, they began to open warehouses everywhere to provide food relief to the victims, and a large amount of high-quality and cheap cotton textiles poured in.

Although these cotton textiles will destroy the corresponding industries in Annan, there is no doubt that for the ordinary people of Annan, judging from the current actual life experience, the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages.

Why?

The reason is also very simple. Although the cotton textiles imported by the Ming Dynasty have gone through shipping and inland distribution, the price is still significantly lower than the Annan homespun cloth, which is always not cheap due to manual costs.

Moreover, the cotton textiles of the Ming Dynasty are not only low in price, but also higher in quality than the homespun cloth of Annan. This is because the cotton textiles of the Ming Dynasty are all made from uniformly selected raw materials and produced on assembly lines, and the quality is very stable.

In addition, there are many varieties of cotton textiles in Ming Dynasty.

Towels, sheets, gowns, skirts, linings. It can be said that everything is available. Only the unexpected, there is nothing that Ming Dynasty cannot make.

For the Annan people, they spent very little money to buy high-quality and low-priced goods. In their opinion, they must have made a profit.

In short, because the living standards have not gotten worse but have gotten better, and these Ming troops stationed there have fairly strict military discipline and have not harassed local residents frequently and on a large scale. While helping to suppress bandits, they are also constantly Withdrew the troops, so the people in Annan did not hate the Ming army.

Under the vigorous propaganda, eighty-nine percent of the people in Annan believed that the Ming army was here to help them overthrow the rule of the usurping tyrant and restore domestic order.

As for the remaining 10% or 20%, apart from those who instinctively hate the Ming army, they are some knowledgeable people.

There are two types of knowledgeable people in Annan. One is the "Great Annan people" who believe that although the Ming army overthrew Dayu, that is, the Hu Dynasty's rule of Annan, they also cut off the Annan Kingdom. The key Red River Delta in the north caused the Annan Kingdom to lose the Furiang River defense line that relied on it as a natural barrier. This defense line meant to the Annan Kingdom what the Yangtze River meant to the southern regime in ancient China. At the same time, it also meant to those who were attacked by the Annan Kingdom. The Champa State, which could not hold its head high, ceded Hengshan Pass and the land to its north, which was considered a shame by these people. It was a concession that the Ming Dynasty forced Annan to make.

The other type is those who do not have this sense of identity, but are worried about the Ming Dynasty's economic colonization. Of course, there are smart people in Annan who can understand the situation. Why did the Ming Dynasty withdraw its troops after so much effort? In addition to the high cost of occupation, it was naturally a change in the Ming Dynasty's overall foreign policy.

A series of actions of Zheng He's ocean fleet, now a few months later, have gradually spread to all parts of Southeast Asia with the exchanges of maritime trade merchants from various countries.

Obviously, the Ming army was different from the Yuan army in the past.

Whether the Yuan army attacked Annan, Champa or Java, they all adopted the mode of expedition to conquer and then directly sent troops to occupy and garrison. This was not the case at all for the Ming army. Whether it was the Ming army's withdrawal operation in Annan or the attack on Manila Port in Luzon, Or the strategy of Srivijaya New Port shows that the Ming army has no interest in directly ruling these overseas lands.

What the Ming Dynasty needed was to control key routes and ports, import goods to these countries, continuously obtain wealth, and then use this wealth to expand production and support the army.

This routine has been discovered by some far-sighted people in Annan.

But it's no use.

Don't say you have seen through it, but you don't have to say it. Even if you see it through and say it, what's the use?

Ming's strategy is an out-and-out conspiracy.

I'm not bullying you either. It's a free trade agreement and your products can be sold to Ming Dynasty!

Moreover, commodity transactions are fair and free. People in your country buy Ming Dynasty products because they are of high quality and low price. If you feel that your market is being invaded, you can lower the price or improve the quality. This is originally It's fair play.

Of course, people cannot find fault with words, so in the debate among scholars in Annan, few people can say that Ming Dynasty's trade with Annan is unfair.

On the contrary, Annan's flagship products, such as jade, rhinoceros horn, ambergris, etc., were indeed imported into the Ming Dynasty. These local powerful people who have the power to produce products all support free trade.

Daming did not hinder any trade. As long as you think you can sell it without losing money, then you can sell it in Daming and pay the customs duties normally.

This kind of fair, just and open free trade is difficult to find fault with in theory.

In short, Li Jinglong, as the supreme commander of the Ming army stationed in Annan, has a good image in Annan.

In addition to the greedy mentality of some Annan people, it is more due to Li Jinglong's own efforts in political showmanship.

In the eyes of the Annan people, Li Jinglong, the Duke of the Ming Dynasty, was not only a five-star general, but also had outstanding military talents. Although he was the loser in the civil war of the Ming Dynasty, in view of the unparalleled and monster-like military capabilities of the Ming Emperor, It seems that this is not a big shame. After all, looking at the entire known "world", it seems that no famous general can be better than Zhu Di.

On the contrary, when Li Jinglong beat Annanjun, he was really pinching him with both hands.

Moreover, Li Jinglong himself has a pretty good image. He is tall, has clear eyes, and looks very dignified in his manner. He appears very graceful and dignified in all activities he participates in, and his conversation is also quite extraordinary.

Moreover, Li Jinglong basically does not show the arrogance of a winner. For ordinary Annan people, they learn from the newspapers. Yes, following the "Ming Pao", Annan also established its own official newspaper. According to the newspaper reports, Li Jinglong He always helps the people of Annan through various personal actions.

We wiped out local banditry, opened warehouses and released grain to provide relief to the victims, distributed free clothes to the naked poor, built schools to encourage scholars from Annan to attend school, and provided publicly funded places to study in the Ming Dynasty.

During this period of time, Li Jinglong has obviously done a lot of good deeds, and he seems to be a good person.

As for what Annan will do in a disaster year after it consumes its grain reserves, and who will pay for the expenses of scholars studying in the Ming Dynasty, few people care about these issues. Anyway, all parties have benefited, and the only one who needs to contribute money seems to be Annan. The court, but does Chen Tianping dare to say no? He certainly wouldn't dare, because once he opposes it, he will not only have trouble with Ming Dynasty, but also with all strata of society who benefited from these activities.

In addition to these, Li Jinglong strictly enforced military discipline and used his talents in military training. He was respected by the Annan New Army, and therefore became more and more prestigious.

Li Jinglong returned from hunting and led his army to the gate of Shenglong Mansion. The gatekeepers knelt down respectfully and opened the gate to welcome Li Jinglong into the city, while the army behind them slowly passed through the gate.

This scene seems ordinary, but actually contains some kind of information:

Li Jinglong's authority had already surpassed that of the restored King of Chen Dynasty.

The king of the Chen Dynasty of Annan State was currently in Shenglongfu City, discussing a series of withdrawal requests from the Ming Dynasty that had been submitted by Li Jinglong.

In Annan's palace, Chen Tianping was sitting on the throne, and other civil servants and generals were also sitting on chairs in the main hall. This was quite different from China, but it was quite the style of the Tang Dynasty.

Well, there is a little story about this. It started in the Song Dynasty when ministers went to court standing.

One day when he went to court, Zhao Kuangyin pointed to the memorial and said that there was a person he didn't know, and asked Prime Minister Fan Zhi to come forward and have a look. However, when he came back after clearing the emperor's doubts, he found that his chair was missing. In fact, this was Zhao Kuangyin's advance arrangement. Okay, let them evacuate. Fan Zhi and Zhao Kuangyin looked at me and I looked at you. The two of them did not speak. Later, Fan Zhi had to stand in his original position. When the ministers saw that the prime ministers were all standing, they also I was embarrassed to stand up. When the ministers went to court the next day, they found that all the seats in the hall had been evacuated. From then on, the ministers all stood up to go to court.

The Ming Dynasty also had a slightly more humane treatment, with the option of "sitting". Generally, elderly and frail ministers were treated as sitting, as long as it was not a formal court meeting, although they usually sat on Jindun instead of chairs.

Returning to the Chen Dynasty of Annan Kingdom, the people sitting in Chen Tianping's hands were the former Tianchang Lu Dutong, Shaobao Wang Ruzhou, and the former Sanjiang pacifier Chen Gongsu.

Now Wang Ruzhou has become the prime minister of Annan Kingdom, and Chen Gongsu has become the deputy prime minister.

"Your Highness, I think we should fully accept Ming's conditions."

At present, Chen Tianping has withdrawn from the imperial title that Hu and his son had when they founded Dayu, and he does not dare to engage in the little trick of proclaiming himself emperor internally and king externally, so even if it is a court meeting, he can only be called "Your Highness" instead of "Your Majesty".

The wily Wang Ruzhou stood up.

He is over seventy years old, with gray hair, but he is energetic and has piercing eyes. He is now the most virtuous and respected prime minister of the Annan Kingdom, because in the past Chen Dynasty, he and Hu Jishao served several people of the Annan Kingdom. The late emperor personally sent Hu Jiya away again. Now in terms of qualifications, Wang Ruzhou is unmatched.

Moreover, when Chen Tianping succeeded to the throne, there was still a lot of opposition in the civil service system in Annan. Even many veterans of the Chen Dynasty had reservations. Only this old man fully supported Chen Tianping's succession.

Although this was an instruction from Ming Dynasty, there was also Wang Ruzhou's own choice in it.

Therefore, Chen Tianping reciprocated the favor and gave him the position of prime minister. Chen Tianping always believed that although Wang Ruzhou was very old, he had a clear mind and could always give appropriate advice at the right time.

As the saying goes, an elder in a family is like a treasure, so Chen Tianping still attached great importance to Wang Ruzhou's advice.

However, Ming's withdrawal conditions were somewhat harsh.

The reason why Chen Tianping pinched his nose and signed the Annanguo version of the "Free Trade Contract" that was more harsh than other countries' versions was because he had no choice.

If he didn't sign, let alone return to the Annan Kingdom and become the king, there was no doubt whether his life could be saved. After all, in the case of the Champa State mission's wounding case, many people were hacked to death with random knives. .

But now, after all, Chen Tianping has ascended the throne and proclaimed himself king, and has fulfilled his promise to Ming Dynasty and ceded so much land. At this time, Ming Dynasty's withdrawal conditions are a little difficult for Chen Tianping to accept.

The ministers also basically knew the Ming Dynasty's withdrawal conditions.

It's okay to say otherwise, it's not unacceptable to pay money or lose some face to do things that violate traditional etiquette. The key is one of them, which makes the ministers also murmur.

The Ming Dynasty requested the establishment of a separate Angel District in Thang Long, the eastern capital, and moved out the Annan residents there. The Angel District was protected and managed by the Ming Dynasty's own garrison, and the Annan State had no right to intervene. What's terrible is that the Angel District is just outside Annan. The location is not far from the palace.

At the same time, Thanh Hoa, the western capital, was set up as an undefended area, and Thanh Hoa Port was placed under the control of the Ming army to establish a military base. The defenses from Thanh Hoa, the western capital, to Thang Long, the eastern capital, were dismantled. The Ming Dynasty stationed a small number of troops at relevant nodes. To maintain the safety of major trade routes.

The Ming Dynasty had already made Thanh Hoa Port a military base, but it was just written down. However, the establishment of a separate Angel District and the garrisoning of troops at the nodes of the east-west trade routes made Annan officials feel very uncomfortable. It’s difficult.

And these two things are still bundled into one clause.

It’s difficult to handle, can we not do it?

Not very good either.

The Ming Dynasty is about to withdraw its troops. Inside and outside the Annan Kingdom, even the pro-Ming faction wants to send away the tens of thousands of garrison troops first, otherwise it will be like a sword hanging on the top of their head.

And if you don't agree to Ming's conditions, no one can say whether the sword will fall immediately.

Although Ming's conditions are very harsh, it seems that it is not impossible to endure it?

"Ahem."

Deputy Prime Minister Chen Gongsu spoke slowly at this time.

"Your Highness, I have a plan."

"Prime Minister Chen, please tell me quickly!"

Chen Tianping looked at this theoretical "important minister of the same clan" and said quickly.

"I can agree on the matter in the Angel District."

Before the ministers could object, Chen Gongsu twirled his beard and smiled, and simply said: "Trees will die when they move to their nests, and people will live when they move to their nests. Your Highness will just build a new summer palace dozens of miles outside."

As soon as these words came out, all the ministers suddenly understood.

What a plan!

If it is believed that the purpose of the Ming Dynasty in establishing the Angel District was to have the ability to accumulate troops to attack the royal palace of Annan at any time to launch a coup, then Chen Tianping could have built a palace outside instead of the royal palace. In this way, even if the Ming Dynasty was shameless, it would not be possible. Open another angel area next to the palace, and then the threat will naturally be cancelled.

As for Chen Tianping deliberately building a palace not far from the palace in order to escape the summer heat and relax, the Ming Dynasty definitely had nothing to do with it. Judging from the history of China, many emperors have done this, and there is nothing wrong with it.

In this way, the threat posed by the Angel District to the Royal Palace is self-defeating.

Chen Tianping just needs to live in the palace for more time.

"As for the matter of garrisoning troops at key nodes to maintain the security of trade routes, I think we should look at it from two aspects."

Chen Gongsu said: "On the one hand, the garrisons at these key nodes and the inability to fortify them are indeed used by the Ming Dynasty to deal with unexpected events; on the other hand, these garrisons can indeed maintain trade routes and reduce our pressure. At the same time, if there is an accident, Isn’t it the gospel of His Highness?”

Chen Gongsu said it in a vague way, but in fact he was telling Chen Tianping, don't think so much, just lie down and accept your fate. Although there are disadvantages in garrisoning the business road nodes, if someone really overthrows you, Ming Dynasty will be able to quickly support you. No. As for the blocked road, if there really is a domestic coup in Annan, then this road will actually be a life-saving channel for Chen Tianping, whether he is waiting for support or escaping.

"Of course, some specific details, such as the number of troops stationed and specific nodes, can be discussed."

Chen Tianping thought for a moment and obviously understood what Chen Gongsu meant.

Chen Tianping pondered for a moment, made a decision, and said: "Prime Minister Chen, I think so too."

He raised his arm slightly to signal everyone to calm down.

"Everyone, the Hu Dynasty has perished. Today's Annan is different from the past. 'Survival can only be achieved by doing great things'. We must keep in mind the experience from the Goryeo Kingdom..."

Chen Tianping then talked about his views on the fact that the Goryeo Kingdom was able to last for 475 years because it always adhered to the principle of "big things".

No matter which country is powerful, such as Tang, Liao, Song, Jin, and Goryeo, they can always rely on this diplomatic policy to maintain the country's existence, while those big countries served by Goryeo have disappeared one by one like a passing cloud. This is undoubtedly worth it. Learned from small countries.

Therefore, Chen Tianping did not regard Ming as an enemy. Instead, he believed that the other party was Annan's guarantee for maintaining security and stability. Therefore, he planned to accept Ming's proposal on the main terms, but he also tried his best to protect his country's interests without suffering too much loss. Being able to send away the Ming Dynasty Expeditionary Force stationed on the territory of Annan Kingdom is already a huge political victory for them. Not only can they breathe a sigh of relief, but they can also explain to the people.

Everyone was silent, this was indeed the most reasonable choice at the moment.

Moreover, if something like the bottom line is retreated slightly, it can naturally be retreated again and again.

Since the Ming Dynasty is not regarded as an enemy, then wouldn't it be an improvement to send away the Ming Dynasty's expeditionary force and allow Annan to regain its internal power and have its own army to maintain domestic order?

In short, these monarchs and ministers of Annan Kingdom still know their status well.