"My nephew's words make sense! In the past, the southern thieves invaded our three prefectures of Qin, Lian, and Yong, slaughtered tens of thousands of our soldiers and civilians, and also took away our land in Guangyuan Prefecture. They were really heinous. If they were not punished, how could they show the power of the celestial dynasty? Powerful!"
Zhao Chen's idea immediately received the full support of Zhao Shu. He and the Annan Li regime had been fighting a terrible war on the territory of the Champa State for several years, and the war has not ended yet!
Previously, Zhao Huan was too cowardly and refused to give him more troops. He only gave 5,000 new army infantry and let him deal with it casually. Therefore, although Zhao Shu achieved an unprecedented victory in Dazhan Haikou, he was unable to expand his victory. He only expanded the colony in Dazhan Haikou and established a Pingnan Army after the Battle of Dazhan Haikou.
Now Zhao Huan has finally abdicated, and the Song Dynasty has been unified. Whether it is Zhao Kai in the north or Zhao Chen in the south, they both look aggressive and not kind... So now is the time to attack Annan What a great opportunity for Li!
Zhao Qi shook his head and said: "Fifth brother, although Annan is a small country and has few people, it is in a miasmatic land, far away from the central land, and the terrain is difficult, making it difficult to attack, and it is even more difficult to defend it! In my opinion As long as they are willing to show their loyalty, there is no need to mobilize troops to attack."
"Sixth brother said it was wrong!" Zhao Shu said with a smile, "The area under the jurisdiction of the Annan Protectorate is not large, but the population is quite large!
The heartland of the Annan Protectorate's jurisdiction is a land of fish and rice like the Jiangnan water town. It is rich in rice and is extremely prosperous. The Jiaozhi County of the Han Dynasty was located in that area. According to historical records, the three counties of Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen and Rinan in the Han Dynasty had more than 143,000 households and more than 900,000 people. The land of Guangdong and Guangxi only had this small population until the Southern Han Dynasty. And now the population of the land under the jurisdiction of the Annan Protector is in the millions. Although the country is small, the people are not few!
Moreover, although the Annan Protected Area has a lot of malaria, it is about the same as Guangdong and Guangxi. After all, the hometown of Jiaozhi County in his heart is mature land that has been developed for a thousand or two thousand years. How can it be compared to those wild lands?
In addition, the area under the jurisdiction of the Annan Protectorate is not too far from China..."
"How come it's not far away?" Zhao Qi interjected, "If it wasn't far away, it would have been included in my Song Dynasty territory!"
"It depends on how you get there," Zhao Shu said with a smile. "If you go by land, it will take thousands of miles and it will take more than a hundred days to get there. But from Xiuzhou to the sea, take the north wind For the southbound trip, more than twenty days are enough for the five thousand miles sea journey... Can this be considered far?"
From Xiuzhou, where the planned Great Shipping Envoy will be stationed, we can take the sea route to Annan, which can be reached in more than 20 days. This is definitely not that far!
Not only is it not far away, but it is also of great economic value. If it only takes more than 20 days to travel south from Xiuzhou by the north wind, then it only takes more than 20 days to travel north to Xiuzhou from Annan by the south wind... Rice from Annan can be transported to Xiuzhou in more than 20 days. We will arrive in Tianjin in more than twenty days.
With the land and population of Annan, it is not a problem to transport one million stones of rice to Tianjin every year!
Zhao Shu then added: "As for the terrain of the Annan Protectorate's jurisdiction, haha, if we want to capture it by land, it will be very difficult. Not only do we have to climb mountains and ridges, but we also have to cross several large rivers. It is indeed very difficult.
But if we enter by sea, then the Annan Li family will have no danger to defend! The heart of Annan is the water town, right on the edge of Haikou. The Annan Li family's lair, Shenglong, is only more than 200 miles away from Haikou, and it is also adjacent to a large river that leads to the sea.
We only need to occupy the Annan Haikou area first, then build an inland river turtle boat, and then go up the river on land and water side by side, and then we can go straight to Thang Long. "
Vietnam has a long and narrow terrain and a long coastline. If the enemy attacks from the land, they can defend it step by step with great depth... To penetrate the Annan Protectorate from north to south will have to advance at least a thousand miles!
But it's different when we march troops by sea. With such a long coastline and seaports everywhere, we can't defend it at all!
Moreover, when the enemy advances by sea, Annan's defense depth will be lost. The long and narrow southern part of Annan can easily be cut off by enemies coming from the sea, and the seaport in the northern part of Annan will also be occupied by enemies.
If the enemy builds river boats in the Haikou area and then goes up the river, it will be easy to capture Sheng Long.
Zhao Shu's analysis already made Zhao Chen smile.
In fact, there is no need for any "driving the tiger to swallow the wolf" strategy. Zhao Chen also had to send troops to fight against the Annan Li family...not to avenge the people who died in Qin, Lian, and Yong states, but to feed them. There are 200,000 land and sea troops, hundreds of thousands of indentured servants, thousands of scholar-bureaucrats, and a large number of officials and soldiers from Guangdong and Guangxi!
Today's Guangdong and Guangxi cannot be compared with those in the 21st century. Not to mention it is a barbaric land, it is also a territory with not much oil and water. Only Guangzhou and Leizhou prospered due to maritime trade, but the revenue from shipping was simply not enough to support a ruling group with hundreds of thousands of people.
Of course, father and son Zhao Huan and Zhao Chen did not come to Lingnan empty-handed, but came to Lingnan with goods worth tens of millions. Relying on these assets alone, Zhao Chen's ruling group can last for several years.
But it’s all in vain!
If Zhao Chen cannot establish enough territory in Tiannan within a few years, his regime will die due to poverty.
"Fifth uncle, can you tell my nephew where he should start to ensure the safety of the south?" Zhao Chen did not care about Zhao Shu's position and directly asked the question in the main hall.
Zhao Shu seemed to have known that Zhao Chen would ask this question, so he immediately took out a scroll and asked the servant waiting at the side to show it to Zhao Chen, "My dear nephew, this is the strategy for Pingnan that Zhao Buqiu and I wrote together. .....I planned to give it to your father before heading north, but I will give it to you now."
Zhao Chen quickly took the scroll and started reading it in front of Zhao Shu, Zhao Qi, Zhang Bangchang and Manchao Wenwu. The more he read, the happier he became!
Because Zhao Shu and Zhao Buqiu spent a lot of energy in the past two years on how to pacify Annan... not only came up with a feasible military plan, but also proposed a politically effective plan to govern the Annan Protectorate. The plan for the jurisdiction - semi-feudal!
Well, semi-feudalism is of course incomplete feudalism, it is almost 50% feudalism.
If complete feudalism means feudal state-building, then the military colonial feudalism proposed by Zhao Shu and Zhao Buqiu is incomplete feudalism - they proposed to form a group of military-political-civilian "legions" before attacking Annan. And select a group of brave and popular officials to serve as military envoys.
Then the navy would send them to the Annan coast to occupy land, build forts, and farm fields as a long-term solution.
In fact, these are some military colonial regiments.
The land occupied by these military colonial groups belongs to them. The envoys of these military colonial regiments became hereditary leaders, and their positions could be passed on to their descendants.
The members of the legion also became hereditary officers and military households. They also occupied some land and ruled some local people. And their territories and people are all hereditary... This is feudalism!
However, these feudal colonial legions are not all, only half. Because there is no way for them to gain a foothold within the jurisdiction of the Annan Protectorate... They must also get the support of the South Vietnamese Navy!
Therefore, these feudal colonial legions can only be legions and can hardly become states.
The navy of South Vietnam cannot be based on feudal colonial regiments, because feudal colonial regiments are ultimately armed landlords, and their foundation is land and tenant farmers, not the ocean. Therefore, the navy of South Vietnam can only be based on trading cities, which are under the jurisdiction of the Royal Court of South Vietnam, such as Guangzhou, Leizhou, and Pingnan Military City.
These trading cities can provide enough sailors, build ships, and cast artillery. Relying on them, South Vietnam can maintain a strong navy.
With a powerful navy, the colonial development of South Vietnam can continue, and the isolated feudal colonial strongholds can be connected through the ocean. When we are connected, we can support each other. On the map, they are just a bunch of dots, which seem very isolated, but in fact, when one side is in trouble, help comes from all directions. If we can build a few more triangular fortresses covered with rammed earth and bricks, and install dozens of cheap camel cannons...then we will have a stable territory!
This way of occupying territory determines that South Vietnam can "pick and choose", occupying the best and most familiar territory first, and leaving aside the bad areas that are difficult to control.
In this way, the cost of colonial expansion was very low. Low cost means it can be expanded quickly and maintained for a long time!
"Hahaha, the fifth uncle is indeed my nephew's son-in-law, my nephew's Kong Ming!" Zhao Chen finished reading the "Ping Nan Ce" presented by Zhao Shu and was already laughing so hard that he couldn't close his mouth, "With uncle's We have a brilliant plan, Tiannan is determined!”
Although Zhao Shu's "Pingnan Policy" only talked about how to defeat Annan... and it was not to conquer Annan in one fell swoop, but to slowly encroach on it.
But this set of "semi-feudal and semi-colonial" methods can be used throughout Tiannan!
Because the land in Tiannan is distributed around the Nanyang Sea, and Zhao Chen happens to have a navy at hand that can dominate Nanyang. In addition, there are hundreds of thousands of exiled officials, soldiers and civilians who have lost their homes, as well as firearms technology and fortification technology that are not available in other countries in the south.
Therefore, he can apply this method to all the countries in the Tiannan region... He does not need to conquer each country at all, nor does he need any means of distant communication and close attack. He can completely send legions to all countries at the same time. , occupying the most fertile coastal land on the territory of these countries, and at the same time, they can retain those countries and make them vassals of the Southern Emperor of the Song Dynasty.
So with this method, Zhao Chen can build a half-feudal, half-colonial maritime empire in a short period of time at a very low cost... and at the same time, he can find hundreds of thousands of followers. Not a bad way out!
