Chapter 1496: Eternal Sinner Zhu Zhanji
Let’s briefly review Annan, which is known as Little China.
This regime emerged later than Champa, and became independent during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, when the country was in chaos at the end of the Tang Dynasty. Even the name "Annan" was given to the country during the Southern Song Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, the martial-minded Emperor Yongle sent troops to Jiaozhi and incorporated Annan into a provincial government. The "county of Annan" was not just to show off his military prowess, but had a deeper strategic consideration, which was to realize the military presence of the Ming Dynasty in the Indochina Peninsula and echo Zheng He's invincible fleet. From both land and sea routes, the tribute system of the Celestial Empire in Southeast Asia was jointly consolidated.
But later, his grandson, Xiaohei Zhu Zhanji, stopped going to the West, and naturally felt that there was no need to spend huge military expenses to fight against the rebel forces and maintain the rule in Jiaozhi. In the second year of Xuande, the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration was abolished, and Annan was returned from a vassal state to a vassal state.
History has proven that this move is exactly the same as Liu Daxia's plan to burn the treasure ship. Both are short-sighted moves that only care about immediate economic accounts and ignore the long-term interests of the country.
Because Annan is located at the junction of the Ming Dynasty and the Indochina Peninsula, its geographical location is very important, and it is the springboard for the Ming Dynasty to conquer the West. After all, Zheng He's fleet is temporary, but the existence of the Ming Dynasty Jiaozhi Province is long-term!
By controlling Annan, the Ming Dynasty could exert its power at ease, and control Siam and Cambodia on the Indochina Peninsula. In the distance, it could control Malacca and Sumatra, Old Port, Java, and Brunei near the peninsula. As Emperor Yongle declared, "The Annan Li thieves have all been captured, and the South China Sea is clean and peaceful!"
As long as we continue to manage the country for a few more decades and kill off the remnants, we will be able to conquer Jiaozhi without a fight.
Don't say that the treasury is empty and there is no other way to withdraw the troops. In fact, the solution is right in front of us - the wise men of the Ming Dynasty proposed to follow the example of Mu Sheng, Duke of Qian, who was stationed in Yunnan forever, and Zhang Fu, Duke of Ying, who was stationed in Annan forever.
Yunnan's separatist forces at that time were not much weaker than Annan, and even the degree of monarchy was far inferior to the latter. Moreover, Mu Sheng was not even qualified to carry Zhang Fu's shoes. It would take several generations of hard work to completely digest Yunnan. Zhang Fu had the merit of destroying a country. Annan was conquered by him. As long as he was there, Jiaozhi would not be in trouble. With just an order to "permanently suppress Annan", the court could make Jiaozhi the 14th province of the Ming Dynasty at a very small cost. By then, Nanyang would also belong to the Ming Dynasty forever!
Alas, after all, it is because the rulers who rely on blood inheritance are inevitably inferior to the previous generation. Zhu Di and his grandson did not have the courage of Chongba Ge who started with a bowl...
In short, the event of "abandoning Jiaozhi" dealt a heavy blow to the Ming Dynasty's international reputation in Southeast Asia, seriously shook the Celestial Empire's status as the suzerain state, and ultimately led to the Ming Dynasty losing Southeast Asia and losing its ticket to the Age of Navigation.
Oh, by the way, there is another story worth mentioning.
In fact, during the Chenghua period, another outstanding eunuch, Wang Zhi, the director of the Western Factory, saw that Annan was defeated by Laos, and urged the emperor to take the opportunity to recapture Jiaozhi. The Chenghua emperor was very interested, so he asked the eunuch to go to the Ministry of War to check the files of "taking Annan during the Yongle period".
The person in charge of the Ministry of War’s treasury was Liu Daxia, a doctor in the Ministry of Personnel. The result was exactly the same as last time, ‘Daxia hid it’ – this coward bastard actually hid the information again! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Then he secretly informed the Minister of War Yu Zijun: "Once the war breaks out, the southwest will be in chaos." As a result, the Minister of War was persuaded, and then persuaded the emperor, and the matter was dropped...
Whenever Zhao Hao read this part of history, he couldn't help but howl, damn Liu Daxia, was he a member of the enemy country who traveled through time?
Unfortunately, he came at the wrong time, so he couldn't ask the old bastard in person, HOWOLDAREYOU?
Why the hell is it always you!
So Liu Daxia is a sinner for all eternity. As the young minister said, even if Jesus came, it would be of no use!
Of course, Zhu Zhanji is an eternal sinner!
It’s just that Master Zhao doesn’t have the courage to build another ‘Eternal Sinner Zhu Zhanji’ in such a short time…
~~
Therefore, regaining actual control of Annan is an important mission that Mr. Zhao has entrusted to the Taiwan Garrison. However, the difficulty of this matter is far greater than that of the past...
Then, as if it was destined, 110 years after Annan regained its vassal status, it was legally incorporated into the Ming Dynasty again not long ago, and at least in name it was once again part of China's territory.
This was mainly because after the Ming army withdrew from Jiaozhi, the Later Le Dynasty that ruled Annan was usurped by the powerful minister Mac Dang Dung. In the sixth year of Jiajing, Mac Dang Dung forced the king to abdicate and established the Mac Dynasty.
However, after he usurped the throne, another powerful official, Nguyen Gan, led his people to flee to the south and supported the youngest son of Le Zhaozong as emperor, and Thanh Hoa in the south confronted the Mac Dynasty in the north. Since then, Vietnam has officially started the cycle of confrontation between the north and the south!
In the 16th year of Jiajing, the Southern Le Dynasty sent envoys to Beijing to file a complaint, crying that Mo Dengyong had killed two kings appointed by his father and deceived his father by saying that the royal family was extinct, and asked his father to fight against the rebel!
The following year, Emperor Jiajing appointed Qiu Luan as the governor and Mao Bowen as the military advisor, and stationed troops at Zhennan Pass in preparation for entering Vietnam to attack Mo.
With the Qing army approaching, the Mo Dynasty was attacked from both sides. Mo Dengyong had no choice but to send envoys to Zhennan Pass to ask for surrender and to once again present the land book and household register of Annan to the Ming Dynasty.
On the third day of the winter month in the 19th year of the Jiajing reign, Mo Dengyong and dozens of ministers tied themselves up and knelt down, and entered the Zhennan Pass to surrender to the officials of the Celestial Empire. He requested that Qinzhou in Guangxi be included in the territory. At the same time, he ceded large tracts of land in the Gaoping area, including Anguang, Yonganzhou, Xifu, Jinle, Gusen, Liaoge, Anliang, and Luofu Caves, to the Celestial Empire.
How cunning was Emperor Jiajing? Seeing such a good opportunity, he issued an order to cancel the attack, changed the Kingdom of Annan into the Annan General Administration, and changed its thirteen prefectures into the thirteen Xuanfu Divisions, downgrading it from a vassal state to a vassal territory.
Then he appointed the Mo family as the hereditary governor of Annan, with the rank of second grade, and brought Annan back into the territory of the Ming Dynasty!
However, the aftermath of this incident was not small. Many Vietnamese people denounced Mac Dang Dung as a "Vietnamese traitor" and many people fled to the Le Dynasty in the south. As a result, the Le Dynasty lost its legitimacy but won the hearts of the people. In addition, after Mac Dang Dung died of illness, his descendants started a civil war, which greatly damaged the vitality of the Mac Dynasty.
However, a powerful figure named Zheng Jian emerged in the south, allowing the originally disadvantaged Le Dynasty to gradually catch up. For the first time, a balance of power was formed between the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and several major battles were won and lost on both sides.
Now that Zheng Jian is dead, the one in power in the Southern Dynasty is Zheng Song, the third-generation leader of the Zheng family, who is in power together with Mo Jingdian, the general of the Northern Dynasty at that time. They are known as the "Monkey version of Yu and Liang". The two sides fought back and forth, but neither could do anything to the other.
Young Master Zhao knew that at this point, no matter which side the Coast Guard Fleet joined, it would receive extremely generous rewards - Annan's territory is long and narrow and along the coast, which is exactly where the Coast Guard Fleet can be used!
However, that would lead to one side becoming bigger and then unifying Annan. This was obviously not in the long-term interests of the Ming Dynasty and the Jiangnan Group, so Zhao Hao decided to wait and see.
The Great Prophecy told him that in seven years, Mo Jingdian would die of illness, and the power of the Moc Dynasty would decline rapidly. Zheng Song would take advantage of this opportunity to launch a large-scale northern expedition in the next few years, conquer Thang Long, and destroy the Moc Dynasty.
However, the power of the Mo family was not completely eliminated. They gathered in the Gaoping area that had been given to the Ming Dynasty before, and took refuge under the protection of the Celestial Empire. They survived until the demise of the Ming Dynasty... Of course, this is a story for later.
If you don't take what God has given you, you will be blamed! Zhao Hao has already formulated a plan to re-establish the 'county of Annan'. The establishment of the Champa garrison was his first step on this chessboard! It was also a decisive step!
He told his subordinates that as long as they managed Champa well, they would then dismember Annan like a butcher cutting up an ox. Then they would smash their bones and turn Annan into a delicious rib that would be easy to chew and spit out.
If you don’t believe it, just wait and see.
~~
After leaving Champa, the fleet stopped at the Kingdom of Tanah Loi, which was later known as Pattani in Thailand. This place is located in the coastal plain and is a key point in the east-west voyage. It has been an international trade distribution center since ancient times. There are so many Chinese living here that when the fleet arrived in Pattani, it felt like they had returned to Guangdong.
This city-state located in the central part of the Malay Peninsula, although always a vassal state of Siam, maintained a high degree of autonomy and rebelled whenever the Thai people were weak.
However, Siam, which once dominated Central and South China, is now in a state of decline. It was annexed by the Burmese Toungoo Dynasty in the third year of Longqing. Of course, the result of swallowing an elephant is indigestion. More than a decade later, the Toungoo Dynasty had to spit out Siam again, and its capital was counterattacked. Since then, it has never recovered.
But at this point in the first year of the Longqing reign, neither Burma nor Siam cared about the Great Ni Kingdom in Pattani. The independence drama was not staged again because this place was now the sphere of influence of the Portuguese.
In front of the Portuguese, none of the sultanates on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra could fight back and could only listen to the words of their red-haired wild father.
Portuguese merchants set up trading houses in Pattani, and their fleets also visited regularly, making it an important trade center and a springboard for projecting their influence to the Indochina Peninsula. They did not have the strength to annex Pattani, so maintaining the status quo and avoiding chaos became the most beneficial option.
Zhao Hao was very interested in setting up a large muddy police zone in Pattani. The reason was similar to that of Champa. But the rabbit will bite when it is anxious. It is not appropriate to provoke the Portuguese at present, so the matter was put on hold for the time being. According to the agreement, the expedition fleet was ordered to set up a trading house here as a trading point and supply station on the future route.
Of course, Zhao Hao’s trading house has multiple identities. The director and his subordinates also have to collect intelligence, contact local Chinese, and... build a relay station for pigeon communications.
According to historical records, during the Tang Dynasty in my country, merchant ships sailing to Persia and Ceylon used carrier pigeons to communicate with the country.
One of the special tasks of this voyage was to establish a long-distance pigeon communication line. Therefore, each ship had a pigeon house, and after the ship left the Strait of Malacca, five pigeons were released every other day to the relay station in the country of Da Ni.
The staff in charge of the pigeons at the trading house determined the communication limit of the pigeons by the time and number of arrivals of the pigeons, and thus determined the appropriate location of the next relay station. In this way, they pushed westward step by step, and eventually built a fast communication line across the Western Ocean.
I don't know how much money this method will cost and how many pigeons will be sacrificed, but it's worth it. Once it's completed, it will be a priceless treasure!
ps. Post first and modify later.
(End of this chapter)