"Isn't he afraid that I might mutiny?"

Angkor Dynasty.

After the King of Zhenla announced that the eldest prince of Zhenla was his heir, he ended the court meeting immediately.

Hu Er ignored Gao Xiangping.

After the meeting, Gao Xiangping's face turned pale.

He also wanted to force his way into the meeting, but he suppressed himself in the end.

After all, he was not rebelling and still needed to follow the rules of the palace meeting. If he resisted forcefully at this time, who knew what the dying king would do.

Of course, the most important thing was that he was a little worried. He didn't know what kind of support the Great Prince of Zhenla had obtained from the Ming Dynasty in the coastal ports.

His Majesty the King suddenly dares to be so strong, he must have a trump card.

"Wait for news. Our people will be able to bring back intelligence about the Ming Dynasty to the port tonight at the latest."

"Remember not to act rashly at this time. You were right not to embarrass His Majesty at the palace meeting."

The person who spoke was Gu Luozhi, a position equivalent to the Minister of Revenue in the Ming Dynasty.

The two of them were in charge of Zhenla's purse and military power respectively, so they were able to go against King Hurna and help the third prince ascend to the throne.

"I always have a bad feeling that the Ming Dynasty will support the eldest prince. According to the news from the envoy, Sultana has already married the Ming Dynasty's grandson."

"Sultana is so beautiful, she must be favored by the Ming Dynasty's grandson."

"We shouldn't have let Sultana go to Ming in the first place. Who knew she would meet the Ming crown prince?"

"Now it's really restricting our hands."

Gao Xiangping's tone was filled with strong regret.

As a princess of the Zhenla Kingdom, especially one who was so beautiful, it was impossible for her to have the opportunity to go to the Ming Dynasty.

Knowing that the Zhenla prince planned to exchange Sultana for the general of Lancang Kingdom in exchange for support, he devised a plan to instigate Sultana to go to Ming Dynasty.

In their plan, Sultana, the most important bargaining chip for the Grand Prince of Zhenla, left Zhenla.

The Ming Dynasty has been in decline for more than a few years, and the king's condition is so serious that there is definitely no chance for him to come back.

Who could have thought that the wealthy Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty would also fall in love with Sultana and actually make her his concubine.

In fact, it doesn’t matter. Under normal circumstances, the Ming Dynasty would not have enough time to support the eldest prince of Zhenla.

But it just so happened that the Ming Dynasty had developed an ocean-going fleet, and now it had come to Zhenla, just when the king of Zhenla was most seriously ill.

In the luxurious mansion, the two men frowned.

I always feel that this time the eldest prince of Zhenla is likely to take the throne directly.

"If he becomes king, he will definitely deal with both of us."

After a while, Gao Xiangping spoke in a deep voice.

The fight for the throne is often bloody.

Once the fight fails, the consequences will be obvious.

In fact, in history, the eldest prince of Zhenla, Canrepa Piyya, eventually became king, and it was not because of the Sultana.

It was taking advantage of the day when King Hurna died.

The eldest prince of Zhenla was forced into a corner, and secretly planned to take more than a thousand palace guards, kill the two men by surprise, and then announce their crimes.

This act of cutting off the source of power left many of his followers leaderless, and only then was he able to successfully sit on the throne.

However, because of this mutiny, Zhenla's military power was dispersed, which sowed the seeds of its destruction.

Angkor was eventually occupied by Siam.

"The Great Prince of Zhenla is still at the port. It is impossible for him to come back so soon."

"If...if His Majesty the King dies in the next two days and the Third Prince takes the throne first, then even if the First Prince of Zhenla comes back, it will probably be too late."

After a long while, Gao Xiangping spoke.

Gu Luozhi was silent.

He knew that Gao Xiangping was planning to launch a mutiny and seize Angkor.

Theoretically, it is very possible.

"We met the general of the Ayutthaya Dynasty last year. I can write him a letter and ask them to attack the city. At most, I can give them two more cities."

“Only in chaos do we have a chance.”

"The Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet only has 50,000 to 60,000 troops. Even if they are powerful, not all of them will come to support the eldest prince."

"This is our only chance."

Gu Luozhi's eyes flickered. As the one who controlled all the financial power, he would naturally be instigated by the Ayutthaya Dynasty.

Gu Luozhi was quite loyal to Zhenla.

But at this critical juncture, it is not impossible to betray the interests of Zhenla.

The border troops of Zhenla are under the control of the king. Only by diverting their attention can a coup be carried out better.

"Okay, let's do it." Gao Xiangping nodded.

The key to a coup d'état is secrecy, speed, and taking advantage of people's unpreparedness.

…

An army of more than 100,000 captured the royal palace of Zhenla.

Unintentionally, the King of Zhenla was completely imprisoned, and the entire Angkor was controlled by Gao Xiangping.

But even so, the third prince had no way of inheriting the throne.

Because King Huerna is not dead yet.

Even if a coup d'état occurred, Gao Xiangping did not dare to kill his master and could only wait for Huerna's death.

"Is His Majesty the King still alive?"

Gao Xiangping asked the doctor in a gloomy tone.

The doctor just shook his head: "Although your majesty's condition is very serious, he has been holding on."

"Then how long will it take?" Gao Xiangping asked.

The doctor spread his hands and said, "Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, or maybe in half a month, no one can tell."

Gao Xiangping was so angry that his teeth were itching, but he did not dare to give the order to the doctor to kill the king.

Zhenla has been passed down for 600 years, and there have been many struggles for the throne in its history.

There are successes and there are failures.

But there is a bottom line that the entire Zhenla must abide by, and that is that one cannot murder the king.

If anyone plots to murder the king, all the nobles can oppose him.

Even Samit only wrote a letter to tell the king about the situation along the coast of Hurna, hinting at his suicide, but he did not dare to actually tell it.

Having been passed down for six hundred years, some rules have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the nobles.

Gao Xiangping didn't dare to take the risk.

Fortunately, on the fourth day after the coup, the Siamese army approached, forcing the Cambodian army on the border to have no time to return to Angkor.

This was Gu Luozhi's method. He gave an unknown amount of money secretly, and he also promised to cede two cities after the success.

One of them is an important city in Zhenla.

As for the third prince, he is almost like a puppet.

A coup was carried out in his name, but he had no say at all.

The news soon spread to the coastal port of Zhenla.

The eldest prince of Zhenla was shocked. He didn't expect that these people would dare to stage a coup.

This was something Samit had not expected either.

"Now we can only rely on the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet."

Samit said in a deep voice.

They no longer have any way out.

According to estimates, the Crown Prince of Zhenla now has only more than 2,000 soldiers and horses.

Even if the soldiers at the port are included, the total number is less than 20,000.

In Angkor, there were 100,000 soldiers guarding the city.

At first glance, the Great Prince of Zhenla had no chance.

Even if Li Jinglong's troops were included, the number would only be 40,000.

Moreover, it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to send all its people over.

Angkor was the capital of Chenla for 600 years. It had strong and tall city walls. It was difficult to conquer it in a short period of time even if there were tens of thousands of people, let alone hundreds of thousands of people.

"There are very powerful artillery on the Ming Dynasty's large ships. If the Duke of Ming Dynasty is willing to use these artillery to help, even the walls of Angkor will not be able to stop them."

"Now it depends on whether Ming Dynasty is willing to help us."

Samit's voice echoed in the ears of the Great Prince of Zhenla.

Another meaning of this statement is that under such circumstances, it is necessary to pay a higher price to please the Ming Dynasty.

"No matter how much it costs, even if Zhenla becomes a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, we cannot let them succeed."

The eldest prince of Zhenla spoke slowly.

In fact, this matter has been what the Crown Prince of Zhenla has been thinking about in the past few days.

Because in his mind, he was about to become the king of Zhenla.

However, he saw no hope at all for the future development direction of Zhenla.

The Ayutthaya Dynasty of Siam is now becoming increasingly powerful and is retreating step by step on the border.

The eldest prince of Cambodia knew his own strengths and weaknesses. Not to mention leading Cambodia to counterattack Siam, it was unknown whether he could completely control the military power.

Without external influence, Zhenla might have no choice but to give up Angkor.

Angkor was located too close to Siam, especially after losing several key territories.

That was originally the territory controlled by the family of the eldest prince of Zhenla.

The Siamese army, which broke through the border, needed less than three days to reach the city of Angkor.

The reason why the Zhenla Prince had such an idea.

This is because during the last conversation with the Duke of Daming, the Duke of Daming suggested that he could intervene and mediate Siam’s invasion of Cambodia.

When the Zhenla prince looked back, he realized how powerful the Ming Dynasty was now.

Zhenla is close to Champa, and the Ming navy is currently stationed in the waters of Champa.

This means that the entire South China Sea waters have been controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

When you see the treasure ships of the Ming Dynasty, you will understand that in today's world, no country's fleet can compete with that of the Ming Dynasty.

Not to mention the Ming Dynasty's huge influence on the Southeast Asian countries.

In terms of trade alone, the interests of almost all nobles were affected.

The eldest prince of Zhenla did not have any psychological burden to be a younger brother of the Ming Dynasty. Instead, it depended on whether the Ming Dynasty was willing to accept him as a younger brother.

Then, the Grand Prince of Zhenla brought Samit to pay a visit to the Duke of Ming again.

"It seems that there are big problems in the eldest prince's country."

"Regarding the matter of Angkor, I have received news here. At this time, I have sent people to convey the intention of the Ming Dynasty to Siam, asking them to withdraw their troops and return to the city, and not to interfere with the affairs of Angkor City."

Li Jinglong spoke first.

For Li Jinglong, this was just a matter of passing on an order, which was relatively simple.

As for whether Siam would be obedient, Li Jinglong didn't care.

However, it is highly likely that the Ayutthaya Dynasty will not go against the wishes of the Ming Dynasty.

The eldest prince of Zhenla was quite surprised to hear this.

He didn't expect that the Duke of Ming Dynasty would really help him sincerely.

If the border concerns were resolved, he could then let the border troops return to Angkor, which would give him a great chance of victory.

"If the eldest prince doesn't mind, I can mobilize a hundred cannons from the ship and bombard the gates of Angkor for a day and a night."

Li Jinglong said with a smile again.

Cannons were the Ming Dynasty’s powerful siege weapon.

The cities in Nanyang are said to have high walls, but in fact they are only the size of a county town in Daming Dynasty and cannot withstand artillery bombardment.

When it comes to things like siege, it's simply too simple.

Samit and the Great Prince of Zhenla did not expect that happiness would come so suddenly, and they immediately bowed deeply to express their gratitude to Li Jinglong.

Li Jinglong just smiled and said nothing.

Already familiar with the habits of the Duke of the Ming Dynasty, the Great Prince of Zhenla, Canlie Popiya, immediately stated that as long as he could become the king of Zhenla, Zhenla would become the most loyal vassal state of the Ming Dynasty in the future.

The laws of the Ming Dynasty will be implemented in Zhenla.

He would even go to the capital of the Ming Dynasty in person to accept the emperor's enthronement.

Li Jinglong was also shocked.

He didn't expect that the eldest prince of Zhenla would be so direct.

Although at present, all countries neighboring the Ming Dynasty are nominally vassal states of the Ming Dynasty in terms of tribute trade, in reality the Ming Dynasty has no power over them at all.

Even in the letters that Timur wrote to the Ming Dynasty, he referred to himself as a minister.

But Zhenla's behavior was equivalent to becoming a de facto vassal state.

The situation for vassal states is completely different. Even the king of Zhenla needs to be enthroned by the Ming Dynasty before he can succeed to the throne.

This gave the Ming Dynasty the power to station troops in Zhenla.

The most important thing is that such an event can be regarded as a huge achievement for Li Jinglong.

For a great country like Zhenla, which had been passed down for 600 years, to become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, such a huge achievement was completely equivalent to the title of a duke.

It is equivalent to expanding the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

The title of Duke of Cao was hereditary, but now Li Jinglong himself had made contributions comparable to those of a Duke.

"Don't worry, Prince. Zhenla's affairs are the affairs of our Ming Dynasty. I will definitely do my best to help you quell the rebellion in the country."

Li Jinglong spoke without hesitation.

This finally gave the Prince of Zhenla the confidence to retake Angkor.

While integrating troops along the coast.

Li Jinglong's letters also reached Siam.

After only a brief hesitation, Siam chose to withdraw its troops regardless of the promise made by the Cambodian minister Gu Luozhi.

In Siam, everyone was looking forward to the arrival of the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet, which represented huge wealth.

Besides, Siam had no intention of offending the Ming Dynasty. Instead, it hoped to conduct tribute trade with the Ming Dynasty more often and obtain more porcelain and silk.

There is no need to be so anxious about invading Zhenla.

The king of the Ayutthaya Dynasty did not think that Cambodia would pose any danger to Siam.

Siam's power is constantly increasing. It is the most foolish behavior to offend one's own God of Wealth for the sake of a few cities.

Besides, this is not in the interests of the Siamese nobles.

Now it was the turn of the rebel forces in Angkor to panic.