On the fifth day when Liu Xin's troops were stationed in Phnom Penh, Ruan Huang had already led more than 12,000 Dingnan garrison troops and 8,000 Cambodian troops from Kampong Chhnang after initial reorganization. A total of 20,000 troops rushed to the scene. arrive.
Originally, after Musali left Kampong Chhnang, the number of defenders who surrendered in Kampong Chhnang was as high as 23,000. If Ruan Huang's standards were used in his early years in Annam, there would still be at least 18,000 of these people. Joining the army.
However, Ruan Huang has now completely surrendered to Jinghua, and is the first person to take charge of the First Department of the Jinghua Garrison as General Annan. His selection standards have been improved a lot. If selected according to his current standards, only a fraction of the 23,000 people could be retained - only 3,000 people. However, the situation is still relatively sensitive now, and such a harsh reorganization cannot be carried out, so he finally retained 8,000 people.
He left only a very small number of troops for Angkor. He led the army to Phnom Penh. Naturally, he had important matters. This important matter was to prepare to carve up Cambodia according to Huang Zhiting's wishes.
In fact, Huang Zhiting's letter has not yet reached Gao Pragmatic's hands, and it is still open to question whether this matter will succeed. However, Huang Zhiting believes that even if her husband does not completely agree, he definitely needs to establish a "Sixteen Articles" in Cambodia. , "Nineteen Articles" came out, and Ruan Huang's troops rushed to Phnom Penh, which will definitely make this matter go more smoothly.
Moreover, the reorganization of the Musali Department also requires the cooperation of Ruan Huang's department to exert pressure. Otherwise, even if Liu Xin has the ability to suppress it, there is no guarantee that he will not be restrained.
After all, in Huang Zhiting's view, even if the Kingdom of Cambodia remains, it will definitely not need so many troops. When the Kingdom of Cambodia's military force becomes the "Phnom Penh Garrison" like other countries in the future, the original strength of at least 70,000 or more troops will be at least It will be cut in half, and it will probably only remain around 30,000. And this will definitely reduce the troops in Musali's hands. Ruan Huang's troops marched into Phnom Penh to take precautions.
Liu Xin's 21,000 plus Ruan Huang's 20,000 are equivalent to 32,000 garrison troops, 1,000 Japanese surrender troops, and 8,000 Cambodian surrender troops, which is enough to deter the Musali and Phnom Penh garrison forces.
In fact, things went more smoothly than Huang Zhiting expected. When Ruan Huang arrived, Liu Xin had basically completed the reorganization of the Cambodian Guards - well, maybe it's more appropriate to call it purging.
Under Musali's identification, the hard-liners in the Cambodian Royal Guards, as well as unstable factors such as the royal family and relatives, were all counted out. Liu Xin ordered on the spot to kill five officers who were secretly collaborating, including one royal family, two The relatives and the two generals then "packed" the remaining people and sent them to Dingnan, waiting for Huang Zhiting to deal with them personally.
Then, the Cambodian Guards Army immediately ushered in the reorganization.
The nature of the Cambodian Royal Guards' responsibilities is more like that of the Ming Dynasty's Beijing Camp, but its internal personnel situation is more similar to that of the Royal Guards. Meritorious officials and even members of the royal family will be sent to the Royal Guards in order to gain gilding qualifications, or to control the army on behalf of the royal family.
The Cambodian royal family has a long history, and there are many people with royal ancestry in the country. Although most of them are very distant from the king himself, there are still many royal descendants in the Royal Guards, and even many ordinary soldiers have royal ancestry. .
Liu Xin will definitely not let them stay in the army now, so the royal bloodline has changed from a bonus item in the past to a deduction item now, and it is also the kind of deduction that involves a single vote.
Thanks to the fact that the Royal Guards had many soldiers of royal blood, the quality of the soldiers in the Guards was better than that of the Kampong Chhnang defenders. At least in terms of physical fitness, the Guards had obvious advantages.
After such a purge, only 3,000 of the original 8,000 imperial guards were left. And because Liu Xin did not have the power to deploy people from the guard army to control these 3,000 people, these 3,000 people were not assigned weapons and were not given weapons. Still stationed in the barracks waiting for follow-up arrangements.
Originally, Musali believed that those who were eliminated from the Royal Forest Army were all "unstable factors", so he suggested that Liu Xin simply eradicate the roots and kill all these people, but Liu Xin disagreed and only said, "There are other arrangements." ".
Musali was a little worried about this. He was afraid that Liu Xin was a woman after all and might be a little soft-hearted in killing people. Moreover, he also knew that killing prisoners was considered unlucky by the Han people.
However, his worries did not last long, because on the next day, Liu Xin announced the decision to deal with this group of people: in order to "atone for their sins", they were organized into a group and sent to Puliango to participate in the port construction.
Priango is the name of Cambodians at this time. This place is actually Saigon in later generations, which is Ho Chi Minh City after the end of the Vietnamese Civil War in original history. The specific location of Ho Chi Minh City in later generations is in the northeast of the Mekong River Delta, on the right bank of the Saigon River, a tributary of the Dong Nai River, 80 kilometers away from the seaport, with an area of 2,090 square kilometers.
However, the current name "Priango" has a broader meaning and is the general name of a region including Ho Chi Minh City. In his previous planning, Gao Jingshi listed this place as a place where a city needs to be built in the future - because the current ancient city of Puliango is not big. In fact, it is at most the level of a lower county in the Ming Dynasty, or even far away. Not as good as Xinzheng County, Gao's hometown.
However, the original Saigon in history was formed spontaneously, and Gao Pingshi believed that the location of Ho Chi Minh City in later generations was not satisfactory to him - mainly because it was too far from the port, 160 miles (80 kilometers) away. The Saigon River flows through it, but it is still not a pure port city.
Jinghua’s habit has always been to give priority to the development of port cities. This is determined by Jinghua’s strategic situation. Therefore, Gao Pragmatic also adheres to this principle when it comes to building a new city in Puliango. The location given for the city is actually for future generations. Located south of Ho Chi Minh City and facing the sea, this place was called "E Gong" in later generations. It belongs to Tien Giang Province and is located between the estuaries of the Mekong River and Saigon River.
Of course, since Gao Pragmatic has never been to the local area and does not know the specific topography of the area, the area he drew is still relatively large, giving southern Xinjiang a larger choice to avoid building a big city in a place that is inconvenient. The place is a waste of resources.
At this time, Musali knew Liu Xin's intentions. It's hard to say whether she was soft-hearted or soft-hearted, but she was definitely good at making use of waste. It's just that Musali didn't know that this method of handling was actually not new to Jinghua. Gao Pragmatic had done it this way in the past, and Liu Xin was actually Xiao Gui and Cao Sui.
After Ruan Huang rushed to Phnom Penh, Musali had a premonition and knew that the troops he had at hand were now a hot potato, but he did not dare to hand over power easily for fear that Jinghua would come and kill the donkey.
This possibility completely exists in his opinion, because he has a high prestige in the Cambodian military, and now he has eliminated many political opponents in the Cambodian army and even the Kingdom of Cambodia through Liu Xin's hands. In other words: he himself It became more obvious and stood out from the crowd.
The principle of hitting the first bird with a gun is universal everywhere. Now he is the only strongman left in Cambodia's military and political affairs. If Jinghua thinks that someone will threaten its rule, then this person must be Tamsali.
Should he hold on to a strong army as the basis for his livelihood, or should he honestly hand over power and gamble on the courage of Jinghua or Gao Gongbao?
This question was difficult for Musali, because he had never even seen Gao Pragmatic in person. Rumors alone made him sincerely believe that Gao Pragmatic was a "magnanimous and noble" person, which was really difficult.
So Ruan Huang showed up, and Ruan Huang was indeed "very courageous". He went to Mousali's camp in Phnom Penh alone, met with Mousali, and talked for most of the night. Send him back to camp.
The next day, Musali took a group of generals to the "Sokong Tuo Courtyard" next to the Grand Palace to see Liu Xin. In front of Liu Xin, he handed over half of the tiger charm symbolizing military power (the other side was originally kept in the Grand Palace and has been Captured by Liu Xin), the generals under his command also handed over the great seals given by Jita I to show the surrender of military power.
Liu Xin comforted them with satisfaction, and then ordered her subordinates to take out the order Huang Zhiting had prepared earlier in front of them. She took out three orders from a box and picked one to announce.
The three orders were seen by Musali and others with their own eyes, and they were shocked at the time - it was obvious that three decisions to deal with them had been prepared in advance, and which one to choose was determined by Liu Xin It depends on the actual situation.
The decision that Liu Xin has taken now seems to be the best for them: after Musali handed over his military power, he went to Dingnancheng to report for "other important uses". His generals were divided into Shenglong and Jinggang Garrison, each with their own appointments. ——All are deputy positions, but the overall level has been improved by half a level.
The order even made it clear that the half-level increase was a reward for their initiative to hand over power, and "all served as deputy positions" because the garrison's combat methods were different from those of the backward Cambodian army. They needed to learn and become familiar with the garrison system before they could "Reform".
Such a clear statement made them feel at ease. Although it could not completely erase the worries of "rise and fall" in their minds, at least it seemed quite reasonable - they had also witnessed the artillery attack outside Phnom Penh that day. , asking themselves that they don’t know how to direct artillery battles, let alone artillery battles. Even if they have no idea how to change and use the bayonet formations and musket battle lines of the garrison, they have no idea at all.
Speaking of which, the most unreasonable thing in my mind now is Musali himself. Although his decision clearly stated that it was "for other important purposes", he first needed to go to Dingnan in person, which always seemed to mean "moving the tiger away from the mountain".
However, Ruan Huang nodded to him calmly, seeming to comfort him, "It's okay, don't worry." It's hard to say whether Musali was "relaxed," but it was already at this point, and it was definitely too late to regret, so he simply Expressed his willingness to "leave today" to Dingnancheng to visit his wife.
I don’t know since when, most of the people who used to call Huang Zhiting as “Deputy Chief Huang” now change their name to “Madam”. Perhaps it’s because the generals of the Jinghua Department are all highly pragmatic servants? Anyway, Musali didn't think much about it, he just followed the call casually. He just felt that this seemed to make him feel closer, which was in line with the way he should try his best to behave now.
Liu Xin did not correct him, but still advised him not to be so anxious, because next he had to reorganize the army he commanded - oh, it turned out that he commanded it - and it would definitely be more effective with him cooperating from the side.
Musali is not a bachelor, but he has reached this point anyway. Whether he is dead or alive, high or low in the future depends on how "magnanimous" Gao Gongbao and his wife are. Just cooperate from the side and behave honestly. These may still leave a good impression on others and strive for "lenience".
Due to the gathering of Beijing troops and the full support of Musali, the reorganization of Phnom Penh finally passed the dangerous period smoothly. It only took more than ten days to be basically completed. All that was left was to take the generals of the garrison. It is "mixed with sand". This has to wait for Huang Zhiting's unified dispatch, so we are not sure yet.
Musali bid farewell to Liu Xin and Ruan Huang and embarked on a trip to Dingnancheng with an uncertain future.
However, before he arrived in Dingnancheng, he learned a piece of news, which made him feel that his "other appointment" would have to wait for a while.
This news is good news, but it is for Jinghua: Huang Zhiting gave birth to a son successfully on February 15th.
On the way back, Musali felt the rule of Jinghua - the crowds along the way seemed to be celebrating the New Year, celebrating Mrs. Gao's smooth delivery and the birth of the young master.
What makes Musali more difficult to understand is that in addition to the Han people celebrating, there are also many local Siamese people participating in the celebration with smiles on their faces.
Musali shouted in his heart: What does the addition of Gao family have to do with you Siamese people? Why are you so happy?
Later, he sent his entourage to inquire and found out that the Siamese people really had a reason for celebrating.
Just after Huang Zhiting gave birth successfully and four female doctors jointly announced that the mother and child were safe, the Siamese royal family, which had almost completely retreated behind the scenes, suddenly jumped out and spread the word throughout the country, announcing publicly: In order to celebrate the birth of a son by Gao Gongbao and Mrs. Gao, the Siamese royal family Luo Quanguo will be exempted from taxes for one year.
This tax exemption is a complete exemption of all taxes and miscellaneous taxes, which is equivalent to Siamese people not having to pay any taxes for a year. As soon as the news came out, of course the whole country celebrated with great joy. This is why the Siamese people were so happy. Come.
Musali suddenly realized it at first, and then he felt that something was wrong - wait a minute, why was this news announced by the Siamese royal family on its own initiative?
After all, Musali was once a high-level official in a country, and he quickly discovered the trick: after the end of Siam's counter-insurgency war, the actual ruler of Siam was not the royal family at all, but Beijing. In other words, Huang Zhiting, who was entrusted by Gao Pragmatic and sat in Dingnan, was actually equivalent to the regent. All Siamese government orders should be issued from her hands, but she had just given birth, so it was impossible to issue them just to celebrate herself. Such an order.
So in other words, this "king's order" was made by the Siamese royal family by skipping Jinghua, but Jinghua didn't know why it didn't stop it - Huang Zhiting might not be able to stop it after giving birth, but Gao Mengnan and others are completely like this Ability can stop it, why can't it stop it?
The purpose of the Siam royal family's move is too obvious, which is to compete with Beijing for popularity, and not only for popularity. Since all the power in Siam is now in the hands of Beijing, if the Siam royal family's tax exemption order is continued, , wouldn’t Jinghua also suffer a big loss financially?
Why didn't anyone stop me?
Musali really couldn't figure it out.
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