In the second year of Hongxing in the Ming Dynasty, the first year of Delong in the Li Dynasty of Annan, 1649 in the Western calendar.
The sixth day of the sixth lunar month in the Chongzhen calendar.
The sky was clear and the scorching sunshine once again shone on the narrow strip of land close to the sea in the southern part of Annan Kingdom.
On the north bank of a large river called Xiangjiang, there is a square Chinese-style city with a circumference of about seventeen or eight miles.
The fluttering flag with the word Nguyen indicates that the owner of this city is Nguyen Phuc Bin, who rules the three provinces of Hue, Quang Nam and Tai Ninh in southern Annam. This is Fuchun, the base city of Nan Ruan.
The land of Sanfu ruled by Nguyen Phuc Bin was called "Quang Nam Kingdom" by Westerners and Ming people who traded with each other. However, the successive Ruan lords, including Nguyen Phuc Bin, never called themselves the lords of Quang Nam or the kings of Quang Nam. Although Lord Nguyen has all the power that a king of a country can have, he is the de facto monarch in the three provinces of Hue, Quang Nam and Tai Ninh.
However, in Annan, which is deeply influenced by Confucian culture, justice and honor are still important. Lord Zheng in the north had the power of life and death over Emperor Li, but he still regarded himself as a minister of the Li Dynasty and did not dare to usurp Li as Zheng.
Although the Ruan Lord in the south has run an independent kingdom and has been ruling the roost for four generations, he still does not publicly establish a kingdom and claim the title of king. Moreover, he had to fight against Lord Zheng in the north under the banner of "Zhongli".
Similarly, although the Later Li Dynasty regarded themselves as emperors in Annan, they still had to regard themselves as ministers when facing the Ming Dynasty. He was even obsessed with the title of "Capital" and "King" - in the years since the "Resurgence" of the Later Li Dynasty, Annan's envoys had asked the Ming Dynasty to be crowned king more than once.
However, even if the country in the north was caught in internal and external troubles, it did not relent on this issue.
However, various forces in Annan have become accustomed to this matter. Annan wants to talk about justice and honor, and the northern kingdom also likes this tune - the Dutongsi is an internal vassal, while Annan is a foreign vassal!
If the internal vassal becomes an external vassal, it will lose ground on its books. Naturally, this matter cannot be accomplished.
The Annan kings and ministers, who knew this set of rules, did not have much hope. They were also playing with the concept of "status" when they asked for the title of king for Emperor Li. In fact, they call themselves emperors behind closed doors...
However, Ruan Phuc Bin did not expect that Emperor Le's restoration of the title of king suddenly became apparent. The new Emperor Hongxing of the Ming Dynasty, who came to power in the Ming Dynasty, somehow became interested in Annan, Champa, and Chenla. Last year, he sent a heavyweight envoy to visit by sea. Not only did he express that he could consider restoring the status of the Kingdom of Annam, but he was also willing to mediate the civil war in Annam, which could lead to a stable situation in which the four principalities jointly protect the King of Le.
As for rewards - in the past, the Celestial Empire only wanted to save face and didn't care much about actual interests, but this time they seem to have changed their temper and actually want to obtain the Jin Mau land in Chenla for reclamation... This matter is worth mentioning. The previous Ruan Lord Ruan Fulan was in trouble for a while! However, at that time, Lord Zheng happened to invade the country, so Ruan Fulan relaxed.
I originally thought that after repelling Lord Zheng, I would try to disrupt the Ming Dynasty's reclamation of Jin'ou Peninsula, but who knew that the Ming Dynasty's envoy was an unreasonable barbarian and actually went directly to Pu with two Western warships. Brother Li An is still firing in the Jiulong River...dozens of 24-pound Hongyi cannons are firing in volleys!
After several rounds of volleys, Puliango’s deputy king of Zhenla, Ude, agreed to everything...
The way the Ming Dynasty handles things now is really worrying!
But at that time, the Ruan family had no intention of taking care of Shuizhenla. They had to be busy dealing with the battle of Chang De Lei.
Although the battle of Chang De Base was bitter, the Ruan family army finally tasted the sweetness of victory. The only regret was that Ruan Lord Ruan Fulan died of illness before the end of the battle... With his death, the Ruan family had to There is a change of power, and there is no time left to pursue the victory.
I thought that Zheng Jie, an old immortal, had escaped another disaster, but I didn't expect that even more sensational news reached Fuchun City - 50,000 Ming troops took advantage of Zheng Zheng's tragic defeat and his vitality was severely damaged, and marched from Yunnan along the Taojiang River. (Lihua River) came to kill and captured Shenglong Mansion in a surprise attack!
Overnight, Annan Kingdom once again faced the crisis of life and death!
In this case, the old fox Zheng Jie also used the name of Emperor Li to issue an edict to "stop private wars and unite to resist the Ming Dynasty".
At the same time, Zheng Jie's grandson Zheng Qiao also visited Changde Base and proposed a ceasefire and reconciliation and a unanimous resistance to the Ming Dynasty.
Just when the Nguyen family's monarchs and ministers were a little undecided, Nan Ruan's secret agent ambushing in Thang Long sent another shocking news.
The Ming Dynasty King Yunnan who occupied Thang Long seemed to be a good guy... He did not want to destroy Annam, nor did he intend to seize the Annan capital of the Le family, nor did he even want to stay in Thang Long for a long time.
He just used Annan's land to escape because he was defeated by the bandits. As a result, the old guy Zheng Zhi misunderstood him, and he entered Shenglong City by mistake - this thing sounds ridiculous! Ruan Phuc Bin didn’t believe it at all.
But what happened next was that the King of Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty granted fiefdoms to Mo Zhu and Baozhu, Ruan Phuc Bin could not take it lightly...
The family of the bitter bones in these two tombs has a mansion!
How can anything be so cheap in the world? My family and Master Zheng have been fighting for more than 20 years, but they haven't managed to capture even half of the mansion. They sent people to Thanglong, and the whole family got one mansion...
Is this Ming Dynasty King Yunnan really a good person?
Just when Nguyen Phuc Bin was wondering whether he should also send an envoy to Thang Long to see if he could be tricked into returning to a province, a good man from the Ming Dynasty came to his door and arrived at Hoi An Port in Quang Nam Province (known in the West as Port Fifford).
And not one good person, but a whole thirty ships of good people... Five of the ships are Western-style Galen warships, which are very large (500 tons), even bigger than the largest warship of the Nan Nguyen Navy. many!
The remaining twenty-five ships are Chinese-style big bird ships, which are similar in size to the five Western-style ships. They should be the war fleet of Duke Zheng Zhilong of Quan State...
"Lord, the fleet of the Ming Dynasty was led by Zheng Zhilong's second son Zheng Jianguo. The task was to escort Chen Yongxi, the Jinou camp envoy of the Ming Dynasty, and Shi Daxuan, the deputy envoy, to Chaigun. Among them, Chen Yongxi also brought an autograph from the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty cabinet. Letter, and hope to come to Fuchun to meet the Lord in person."
The person reporting to Lord Ruan the visit of the "good people from the Ming Dynasty" was Ruan Youjin, the admiral of the Ruan navy. Hoi An Port is not only a commercial port, but also the base of the Nguyen Navy.
In the recent Battle of Changde Base, the navy commanded by Ruan Youjin rushed into the Linghe River, cutting off the Zheng Army's retreat, and contributed greatly to the Ruan Army's victory.
Ruan Youjin's father-in-law was Tao Weici, the founding military advisor of the Ruan regime. With this relationship, he could be regarded as a core figure of the Ruan regime.
"What did the letter say?" Ruan Fulin asked directly without reading it himself.
"My lord, Wei Zaode, the chief assistant of the Ming Dynasty, proposed a way to easily capture the city by raising the dragon... I hope that we can use the rising dragon to exchange for our suzerainty over the city. Then let the army of King Yunnan of the Ming Dynasty go. Go to Champa by sea.”
"Hmph, isn't this going to lead the trouble to my backyard?" Ruan Phucin snorted coldly.
"Lord," Ruan Youjin said, "but this is also an opportunity for us to bypass the three prefectures of Yi'an, Qinghua, and Yanzhou and go straight to Thanglong! The three prefectures of Yi'an, Qinghua, and Yanzhou are the Zheng family's lair. It is deeply rooted there and it is difficult for us to take it quickly. If the war lasts for a long time, our population is too small and we cannot afford it!
If you can get Shenglong or Xin'an Prefecture (prefecture on the northern coast) from the Ming people, the Lord can share the Northern Dynasty with Lord Mo, Lord Baozhu, and the Zheng family.
Maybe it will be possible for the four masters to jointly protect King Li! "
Ruan Youjin's words have already moved Ruan Phucin's heart. Although he controls three prefectures and also owns two vassal states of Champa and Nanpan (which are also separated from Champa). The territory is not small, but the small population under his rule is always a problem. hurt.
Otherwise, the combat effectiveness of Nan Ruan's army would not have been suppressed by Beizheng.
Ruan Phuc Bin was silent for a while and exhaled: "Let that Chen Yongxi come to Fuchun! I will talk to him personally!"
