Without the fighting of thousands of troops and the might of artillery fire, the Ming army advanced like a hot knife through butter and entered the Champa capital of Shuncheng Town at lightning speed.
The resistance was feeble, symbolic at best. A few Ming cannon shots, a dozen rockets, and the Champa army surrendered, laying bare the weakness of the nation and its military.
This is the Champa Kingdom that had confronted Annan for more than a thousand years. Is this a well-prepared war to annihilate the country?
Generals such as Wu Xiang and Xu Zhiqi were somewhat surprised, even though they had thought it would be a relatively easy battle before the launch.
"For nearly a hundred years, Champa has been completely no match for Annan. The fact that it has been able to maintain its autonomy is just a way to survive."
Xu Zhiqi shook his head with emotion. He did not have much sympathy for Champa. From nothing to something, from prosperity to decline, this was the law that had been followed throughout the dynasties without exception.
It is extremely difficult for Champa to survive until now, and its demise is an inevitable result.
The only option for the Champa royal family was to surrender the city without resorting to violence, and they would still live a rich and prosperous life and avoid the destruction of their country and race.
A horseman came galloping up, jumped off his horse and reported: "The Nguyen army has retreated thirty miles and has lost contact with our army."
Hehe, Wu Xiang laughed twice and said, "The generals of the Ruan family are wise and decisive."
With such a short time, it was obviously too late to report to the higher authorities and get a response. The Nguyen generals made the decision to retreat, which was a risk.
Of course, in terms of manpower and military strength, the Nguyen army was no match for the Ming army. Moreover, the Ming army was eager to fight the Southern Nguyen so that they could extort money from them.
The Nguyen Dynasty was bound to succumb to the situation. The South China Sea Fleet had already arrived in Da Nang to demonstrate its military power, and there was also heavy pressure from the Zheng family in the north. How could they dare to make enemies on two sides?
Outside the city, the Champa king Po'a, along with the royal family and ministers, knelt down and listened respectfully to the imperial edict of the Ming Emperor.
"…Change Champa's name to Shuncheng, confer the title of Earl of Shuncheng upon Po'a, and have him come to the capital to pay homage to the emperor immediately…"
With the imperial decree, Champa finally became history and became a state in Mekong Province, even its name was changed. The king of Champa, Poa, became a Duke of the Ming Dynasty, a position without real power.
After the situation stabilized, the royal family, ministers, and some of the people of Champa were gradually relocated and resettled in various places. The emperor arranged for them to be settled in Dongfan, Hainan, and Borneo.
After a dozen or even dozens of years, through continuous cultural education and edification, the clothing and language of these Champa people will completely change. After one or two generations, they will be assimilated into the Ming Empire and become citizens of the Ming Dynasty, no different from the Han people.
Chinese civilization is inclusive and has had a profound impact on Asia. Under the emperor's more powerful promotion, it will spread far and wide and achieve greater glory.
As the last dynasty, Champa had a relatively good ending.
The Champa king was granted the title of Suncheng Earl to perform the Champa sacrifices. This allowed the royal family to survive, and no matter who the princes and princesses were, they were lucky to live a good life as commoners.
Without large-scale massacres or destructive wars, Champa disappeared almost silently in the long river of history.
How could the country’s weakening power happen overnight?
After a rough inventory of the Champa royal family's wealth, the Ming army generals may have an answer. Although it is not certain, it is one of the reasons.
For such a small country that was barely surviving and could be destroyed with just a few thousand men and horses, the wealth of the royal family exceeded everyone's expectations.
"I'm afraid the Emperor would be surprised too." Wu Xiang put down the register and curled his lips in disdain. "It's a pity that despite having so much money, it's not being used properly. Even if the wealth was distributed among the people, whether the kingdom rises or falls, the people would be excited or lament it."
Xu Zhiqi took the register and looked at it, then said with a smile, "That's great! Besides the money handed over to the court, we can leave a portion for the Champa royal family. After deducting the expenses of this operation, there will still be quite a lot left."
Wu Xiang nodded and said, "This will be the purpose of waging war from now on. Simply put, it's about making money."
"That's the only way to become stronger and stronger." Xu Zhiqi said, "A business that loses money won't last long, and no matter how big your family business is, you can't afford to lose it."
Wu Xiang chuckled, stood up, and said, "I'll go ahead and take a look. Although the Ruan family doesn't dare to engage in battle with our army, we must not neglect the necessary defenses. Our five thousand men will be stationed here permanently from now on!"
Xu Zhiqi nodded in agreement and said, "General Wu, thank you for your hard work. I will go and inspect the city defenses to ensure that everything is safe."
After annexing Champa, the Ming army forced the Southern Nguyen army to retreat. The Southern Nguyen troops originally stationed in Yong Xie, Pan Li and Pan Lang to guard Champa were now abandoned and a new defense line was established dozens of miles away.
The Southern Nguyen army's generals had a clear goal: to avoid conflict with the Ming army. They abandoned strongholds that were too close to the Ming army and left a buffer zone to prevent the Ming army from creating trouble and finding an excuse to start a war.
The Ming army was not polite and occupied Yongxie, Panli, Panlang and other places, temporarily determining the territorial division with the Southern Nguyen forces.
The northward expansion of Mekong Province not only curbed the pace of the Nguyen's southward expansion and expanded its territory, but also enabled the navy to strengthen its control over Cam Ranh Bay.
For the Southern Nguyen, because it is located in a narrow and long area, although it has the advantage of mountainous terrain, what it fears most is that the enemy will land from the coast and divide it.
If the Ming army were to advance from south to north, the Southern Nguyen could still resist for a while, but the Ming navy really frightened the Southern Nguyen.
Even if it was not a landing operation, if the Ming navy blockaded Da Nang, the Southern Nguyen would not be able to obtain the supply of firearms from the Portuguese and would certainly find it difficult to resist the offensive of the Northern Zheng.
Therefore, after the Ming Dynasty annexed Champa, the Southern Nguyen took the initiative to retreat and quickly sent an envoy to Mekong Province to negotiate and show goodwill.
After being summoned by Governor Dong Yingju, the envoys of Southern Nguyen expressed their willingness to become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty and offered tribute of gold, silk and elephants.
You should know that the fuse of the Zheng-Nguyen War was Zheng's demand that Nguyen surrender, pay tribute of elephants and ships, and send his son to serve.
In other words, apart from sending their sons to serve the Ming Dynasty, the Southern Nguyen Dynasty promised almost all the conditions proposed by the Northern Zheng Dynasty.
In name, the Northern Zheng regime, which controlled the real power of the Later Le Dynasty, also paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty and was a vassal of the Ming Dynasty.
It is said that "the emperor governs the barbarians by not governing them, and when the barbarians attack each other, it is beneficial to China."
Therefore, although the Ming Dynasty recognized the Later Le Dynasty and appointed King Le Vi Dam as the Governor-General of Annan and gave him a silver seal, the same title as that of the Mac family, it refused to confer the title of "King of Annan" on him and still recognized the Governor-General of Annan conferred on the Mac family.
At the same time, the emperor also sent people to inform the Li Zheng regime, ordering Xu Mo Jinggong to settle in Taiyuan and Gaoping, which also marked that the Gaoping Mo regime was able to survive in Annan.
Similarly, the emperor had to accept the Nguyen's submission to the Southern Nguyen Dynasty, appoint an envoy to the Annan governorship, and let the Zheng, Nguyen, and Mo families be on the same level, and stage a Three Kingdoms War in Annan.
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