Zhu Gaochi's inspection of Annan was not peaceful.
We often encounter robbers.
Small-scale bandits retreated after seeing the grand display of Zhu Gaochi and his men, but there were still some powerful bandit groups that dared to challenge them.
Most areas of Annan are similar to Liangshan Marsh in the Water Margin in the Central Plains. They are not suitable for large-scale armies and are easy to defend but difficult to attack.
A small number of bandits do so because they have no food to eat, and most of them are indigenous peoples.
Even the Annan royal family had been troubled by this before.
Because there is no way to completely eradicate it.
"Brother was really amazing back then. If a large number of people were to be relocated to grow food in such a place, how many people would they have to feed?"
"Even without the high-yield crops, the yields here are still horrific."
It was not that Zhu Gaochi had never fought in a war. Whether in Japan or in Annan, he seemed very calm when encountering bandits and was able to easily repel them.
After learning about the specific situation in Annan, he thought of his elder brother Zhu Ying who had insisted on marching into Annan.
It can be said that if there was no elder brother Zhu Ying, today's Annan would not belong to the Ming Dynasty, and there would not be so many people coming to open up Annan.
For the Central Plains, the climate here is very difficult to adapt to and diseases are very likely to occur.
The hot weather makes people feel like their heads are buzzing every day.
When Zhu Gaochi arrived, he suffered from a severe wind-heat cold. Fortunately, the accompanying doctor cured the problem after prescribing some medicine.
When Zhu Ying initially sent 50,000 elite troops to help the Annan royal family to settle down, he sent many doctors to Annan.
The first is to enrich the medicinal materials used in traditional Chinese medicine, and the second is to specialize in studying common diseases that are easy to get in tropical jungle areas such as Annan, and develop special decoctions for treatment.
"Your Highness is indeed divinely assisted. He is able to accurately grasp the advantages of each region and try every possible way to integrate them into the Ming Dynasty to make it more prosperous. I have to admire you."
Xia Yuanji also sighed.
He was most proficient in arithmetic and finance, and understood Annan's priorities very well.
In fact, it was not uncommon for Annan to produce grain in the Central Plains dynasty, but few people thought of including Annan.
When talking about Annan, most people think of plague and miasma everywhere, and there is no image of grain piles at all.
"Brother, I will govern Annan. Sir, where do you think we should start?"
Zhu Gaochi asked modestly. He admired Xia Yuanji's talent very much. He was a real talent.
Especially from Japan to Annan, Zhu Gaochi could clearly understand that Xia Yuanji had very thoughtful ideas in all aspects.
Originally, I thought he was a talent in the Ministry of Revenue and was good at money management.
Now I find that Xia Yuanji is quite knowledgeable in all aspects.
The most important thing is that Xia Yuanji is different from ordinary talents. He can really enter the lives of the lowest level of people to observe, instead of talking about some frivolous ideas, and cares more about the actual situation.
When Xia Yuanji heard this, he pondered for a moment.
Over the past six months, I have been traveling around Annan to understand people's livelihood and the local political situation.
We are now on the way back. In ten days or half a month, we will be back in Thang Long, the eastern capital.
When we arrived at the eastern capital Thang Long, we were truly in charge of policy implementation and local governance.
Zhu Gaochi's questions also set the tone for future policy direction.
After a moment's silence, Xia Yuanji said, "If we want to thoroughly govern Annan and bring Annan under the Ming Dynasty, the first thing to do is to educate it."
After saying this, Xia Yuanji was suddenly startled.
Then he smiled bitterly and sighed, "The prince and I have been traveling in Annan for more than half a year, and only then did we realize that education is the fundamental issue. It is said that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has never been to Annan, but he is far away directing the establishment of a Chinese school."
"And we will do everything we can to cancel the current Nôm characters in Annan and replace them with Chinese characters from the Central Plains."
"His Royal Highness has already walked ahead of all of us in this regard. Now that I think about it, I just need to follow the guidelines set by His Royal Highness and implement them well."
"And His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has even thought of the follow-up arrangements. He has continuously relocated the people of our Ming Dynasty here, allocated good farmland, arranged for doctors, and dealt with the people's living problems."
"I really can't think of anything else that needs to be added."
There was a hint of decadence in Xia Yuanji's tone.
The so-called planning in the tent and winning the battle thousands of miles away is nothing more than this.
It seemed as if all the hard work he and the Crown Prince had put in over the past six months was just to prove that the Crown Prince's strategy was correct, without even any room to fill in the gaps.
"Sir, there is no need to be so. My elder brother is a banished immortal, even mortals like us can compare to him."
"Look at the current Ming Dynasty. In just a few years, it has completely changed from what it was before. It has become the heyday of our Ming Dynasty. Such a thing is incredible no matter which dynasty it is in."
"Big Brother's strategy is good, but we have to do the actual implementation. These six months have not been in vain. At least we know better how to complete Big Brother's arrangement."
Zhu Gaochi obviously thought it was more relaxed.
Ever since he met Zhu Ying in Peiping, he had already known Zhu Ying's talents.
Later, he became his elder brother in a mythical way. Then, various changes took place in the capital of the Ming Dynasty. If he had wanted to compete with his elder brother in intelligence and talent, he would have been thrashed to pieces long ago.
"Your Highness is right. It is I who am ignorant."
Xia Yuanji adjusted his mindset and thanked Zhu Gaochi.
Just as Zhu Gaochi said, no matter how good a policy is, it still needs people to implement it.
Often times it’s not the strategy that’s bad, but the people who implement the strategy fail to implement it properly, which leads to more trouble and ultimately the good idea fails.
The reason why Xia Yuanji fell into such a confused state was mainly because of his pride in his own talent. When he felt a more powerful existence, he was prone to self-doubt.
This is also a common problem among most talented people.
After returning to Thang Long City, the eastern capital of Annan, Zhu Gaochi began to govern Annan in all aspects.
It was at this time that Li Jinglong's ocean-going fleet landed off the coast of Zhenla.
Zhenla is close to Champa, and has little contact with Annan mainly because of the barrier of the Hengduan Mountains, so it does not belong to the Han cultural circle.
The powerful ocean-going fleet, simply docked at the ports along the coast of Chenla, posed a strong deterrent to the Khmers.
Anyone who sees such a tall treasure ship as big as a city wall for the first time can hardly avoid the shock in their eyes. In this era, it can be said to be a real dimensionality reduction attack.
Especially in the eyes of ordinary people, this is simply a miracle of divine power.
The King of Zhenla suddenly became terminally ill and lay in bed in the palace, unable to move.
When the news reached the Zhenla palace, it was naturally the Zhenla prince, Canlepopiya, who was responsible for coming to greet him.
The most important thing is that the eldest prince of Zhenla, Canlepopiya, has received the news that his sister Sultana has become the most powerful concubine of the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty.
Although Zhenla did not belong to the Han cultural circle, it had tributary exchanges with the Central Plains dynasties in history.
After all, the power of the Central Plains Dynasty was something that the monarchs of all surrounding countries had to ignore.
As early as the Sui Dynasty, Zhenla sent ambassadors to pay tribute.
It continued to be practiced during the Tang Dynasty.
During the Zhenguan period, Zhenla had a very good relationship with Emperor Taizong of Tang. Emperor Taizong gave Zhenla many gifts in return, and Zhenla was not stingy either.
Thirty-two precious white elephants were sent, all specially trained to kneel and dance, and they performed in the palace gardens during festivals.
Later, Zhenla split into Land Zhenla in the north and Water Zhenla in the south, and both sides maintained good relations with the Central Plains dynasty.
The Zhenla prince once led his entourage to visit the Tang Dynasty, and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty bestowed on him the honorary title of "Guoyi Duwei".
Not long after, the Zhenla Vice King Po Mi and the Queen came to visit the Central Plains in person.
Emperor Daizong of Tang attached great importance to this visit and received him as a state guest. He also gave him the Chinese name "Bin Han", which means a distinguished guest from the Central Plains, as a commemoration.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty and the beginning of the Song Dynasty, the two kingdoms of Zhenla, land and sea, were unified again, which is now the Khmer Empire, also known as the Angkor Dynasty.
This also marked the time when Zhenla was at its most powerful and glorious, and its territory was the most extensive in history.
At the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhenla had nearly 200,000 war elephants and a territory of 7,000 miles, becoming a first-class power in the South China Sea. Even most of Champa's territory was under the control of Zhenla.
To date, the Angkor Dynasty has ruled for more than 600 years, from the end of the Tang Dynasty to the beginning of the Song Dynasty to the present 30 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.
The current fortune of the dynasty is slowly coming to an end.
The prosperity of a dynasty has always been built on the blood and sweat of the common people. Due to large-scale construction and foreign conquests, the blood and sweat of the common people were drained, and uprisings by the common people and resistance in the conquered areas continued.
As a result, Zhenla not only lost a large amount of territory, but also lost many elite soldiers.
External worries are one thing, but internal troubles are also not small.
With the King of Zhenla now seriously ill, various internal forces are fighting for power and do not care about the people and the border at all, so that the eldest prince of Zhenla, Canlepopiya, who is next in line to the throne, can only find ways to seek help from the outside world.
"This...this...this...is the Ming fleet?"
At the coastal ports, the great prince of Zhenla, Canlepopiya, came with the palace guards in advance to welcome the arrival of the Ming ocean-going fleet.
Like everyone else, when he saw the Ming fleet, he felt a strong sense of suffocation.
In fact, the countries in Southeast Asia had long heard of the power of the Ming Dynasty. After all, the region where the Ming Dynasty's imperial gazette was most popular was Southeast Asia.
It was just hearsay. Most of the nobles treated some of the contents in the Ming Dynasty capital's gazette as stories, and some even thought they were too exaggerated.
Envoys from many countries have been to the Central Plains dynasties and have some understanding of the situation. It is not as exaggerated as what is reported in the court bulletins.
The great prince of Zhenla, Canlepopiyya, also thought so before.
Until now, I have seen rows of giant ships as tall as city walls.
Below these huge ships, the merchant ships anchored in the harbor looked as ridiculous as babies.
It was not until the treasure ship docked, the stairs were lowered, and thousands of cavalrymen lined up at the harbor that Canlie Popiyya came to his senses.
If the eldest prince of Zhenla is like this, the situation of others is certainly not much better.
Li Jinglong rode on a white horse and led the Ti cavalry slowly towards the port.
It has to be said that Li Jinglong, who was born noble, looked like a god from heaven after putting on the specially made light armor.
His every move was so graceful and elegant that anyone who just watched him would feel humbled.
The eldest prince of Zhenla, Canlepopiya, was just a young man in his twenties, with dark skin and dressed in gorgeous silk clothes. Even though he was covered with gold and jewels, he still pales in comparison to Li Jinglong.
When he arrived in front of him, Li Jinglong dismounted.
The eldest prince of Zhenla, Canlie Popiyya, touched his chest and bowed his head to express his highest respect to the Ming envoy who came to Zhenla.
It’s not that Zhenla is so humble, but the eldest prince has long known that the person in front of him is not an ordinary envoy, but a member of the royal family of the powerful Ming Empire.
When it comes to language, both parties can only rely on translators.
After all, the culture is completely different.
This also made Li Jinglong feel very novel.
Although Champa did not belong to the Han cultural circle, due to the strength of the Ming Dynasty and as the first stop in Southeast Asia, with a large amount of maritime trade, most of the people who made a living there knew some poor Chinese.
Especially in recent years, greatly influenced by the Ming Dynasty, some newly built buildings tend to be in Ming style.
This is also the reason why Zhu Ying secretly promoted and educated people.
Li Jinglong entered the city received by the Grand Prince of Zhenla.
With the continuous translation and conversation, Li Jinglong began to understand more about Zhenla.
The King of Chenla was the supreme ruler of the country.
There were five ministers under him: Guluozhi, Gao Xiangping, Poheduoling, Shemoling and Randuolou.
Under the minister there were several other officials, and every city in the country had a commander to govern it.
Ministers, commanders, and officials are all relatives of the king.
There were strict class restrictions in Zhenla. Officials of different ranks had different levels of sedan chairs and umbrellas when going out, and the height, width and length of houses were also customized.
The official residences and the houses of the common people were not mixed together. The common people could only build their houses with thatch, while only the royal relatives and ministers were allowed to use tiles.
It constitutes a relatively complete and hierarchical order.
The agricultural economy of Zhenla was very developed. Li Jinglong could see a series of criss-crossing canal networks and various water storage measures in the distance.
This shows that Zhenla’s water conservancy projects are very well done and are very beneficial to agricultural development.
Li Jinglong knew that these Southeast Asian countries were rich in resources, with three or four harvests a year, and the climate was not much different in the four seasons, so natural disasters and food shortages rarely occurred.
Therefore, many powerful countries lasted far longer than the dynasties in the Central Plains.
"Your Highness, there is no need to be so polite. Your sister is now the concubine of the grandson of the Ming Dynasty. In other words, the Ming Dynasty and Zhenla are now one family."
In the mansion in the city, Li Jinglong said with a smile, and the translation was immediately carried out beside him.
Upon hearing the translation, the Zhenla prince's eyes lit up and he immediately spoke a long paragraph.
The translator next to him said, "The eldest prince said that he felt very honored that his sister could marry the grandson of the powerful empire, and he hoped that Zhenla could maintain a better and more friendly relationship with the Ming Dynasty."
Li Jinglong looked at the translator suspiciously and asked, "He said so much, and you only translated these few sentences?"