When the news of Zheng Jun's defeat in Shanxi reached Huilong Mansion, Lin Yueshan, as the Ming ambassador to Vietnam, was also a little incredulous. After all, the heavily armed Zheng Jun went to attack a group of mud legs who were still farming in the fields more than a month ago, and in his opinion, it was impossible for him to lose so ugly.

The defeat in this battle not only sent a large amount of weapons and equipment to the rebels of the Nguyen brothers, but also dealt a great blow to the prestige of the Zheng clan, causing the local tycoons outside Thang Long City to further stand on a neutral position, ready to wait and see the direction of the wind before deciding whether to continue to obey the Zheng clan's orders.

The embassy of the Ming Dynasty in Thang Long Province is located in the southeast corner of Thang Long Province on the edge of a lake called Qimu Lake, and there are several neighborhoods where Chinese businessmen live next to the embassy, so it is also called China Square. Thang Long Province, located in the humid Red River Delta, is surrounded by a large number of lakes in and around the city, although Hoan Kiem Lake is the most famous in the city, but this seven-acre lake is also surrounded by green trees, like a green shining jewel, and the scenery is very beautiful.

Lin Yueshan fell in love with the scenery here, so the embassy was built on the west side of the lake, and with the construction of the embassy here, Chinese businessmen and Chinese gradually gathered, and in just a few years, it formed a city within a city dominated by Chinese. The continuous influx of Chinese businessmen has also made this wasteland in the city, which was originally mostly rice fields and vegetable fields, gradually become a commercial center in the southeast corner of the city, from the quiet of the past to the hustle and bustle of today.

Although this change was contrary to Lin Yueshan's original intention of selecting a site here, the expansion of Chinese influence in Thang Long Province was a very good achievement for him, the ambassador to Vietnam, and he could only adopt an attitude of happiness to see it come to fruition.

Now, because of the defeat of Shanxi, Lin Yueshan has temporarily lost the idea of whether to restrict the industry of the shops around the embassy, and summoned the members of the embassy and the members of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Thang Long Province to a meeting to discuss how to deal with the situation after the defeat of Shanxi.

The focus of the discussion at this meeting was actually to evaluate whether the Zheng family still has the value of continuing to support. After all, in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, there is more than one card of the Zheng family now, there is the Li royal family in the Thang Long Mansion, and there are the Xuan Quang Wu clan, the Gao Ping Mo clan, and the Quang Nam Ruan clan outside the Thang Long Mansion.

Lin Yueshan, appointed by the Prime Minister Yamen, was not a sour talent from the imperial examination, and the Chinese businessmen in Thang Long Mansion were not political scholars, and their primary criterion for considering things was not to maintain the dignity of the Ming Dynasty, but whether it was beneficial to the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, if the Trung clan has been betrayed by the whole of Vietnam, they will naturally not defend it out of any moral sense, and they will have to use real money to support the continuation of the Trung regime. If someone can do what Zheng did for the Ming Dynasty, they wouldn't mind changing someone else to make Vietnam their home.

For businessmen, this is like losing money in trading, so try to change the shopkeeper, there is no need to keep a non-profitable shopkeeper dragging down their business.

However, the discussion at this meeting was like the continuous heavy rain outside the window, and the discussion never came to a conclusion. Gao Ping's Mo clan was the first force to go out, and the Mo clan did not belong to the serious forces of the Later Li Dynasty, strictly speaking, the two sides were in a hostile relationship, and supporting the Mo clan may cause common opposition from the forces of the north and south of Vietnam.

As for the Xuan Quang Wu clan, although it seems that he is extremely obedient to the Ming Dynasty now, the Wu clan has never been out of Xuan Guang, and let him replace the Zheng clan, I am afraid it will be difficult for the powerful people in northern Vietnam to bow down to their orders.

Quang Nam Nguyen doesn't have to think about it, it's not that Nguyen is bad, but that Nguyen is too good. With the talents of the Nguyen clan, once they are allowed to enter Thang Long Province, the reunification of the north and south of Vietnam may no longer be able to be stopped. Will a united Vietnam still bow to the Ming as it does now? Having been in Vietnam for so long, Lin Yueshan naturally understands the danger.

So the best choice was the Nguyen Brothers rebels in Shanxi, which now won the admiration of the rebels everywhere, but was incompatible with the separatist forces in various places, even if they supported them to enter Thang Long Province, they also needed the support of the Ming Dynasty to establish their ruling power over North Vietnam, which naturally had many opportunities for the Ming to intervene in local affairs in Vietnam.

As for the Le royal family, all forces, including the Ming Dynasty, hope that this family will continue to maintain the current role of the god card, so as to unite the hearts of the Vietnamese people, but not to interfere in the actual government affairs of Vietnam.

Although they came up with a conclusion that was most appropriate, they soon realized that it was just wishful thinking. Because according to Tran Shang Jiu, a businessman who came into contact with the Nguyen brothers, "... The Nguyen brothers were probably not the kind of country fools who could be satisfied with a little sweetness, because after they occupied Shanxi and Bac Ninh, they withheld grain, iron ore and other materials that were originally exported to China, and only allowed the sale of handicrafts such as raw silk and porcelain, and also raised the taxes on these export goods.

I once negotiated with them with the Yongxian Treaty, but Nguyen Phu Binh refused to recognize it, saying that they would not recognize all the traitorous treaties signed by the Trung traitors. Moreover, Ming merchants entering Vietnam to do business should follow the laws of Vietnam rather than the laws of the Ming Dynasty, although they will still recognize the suzerain-vassal relationship between Vietnam and the Ming Dynasty, but this relationship should not have the behavior of one party oppressing the other, otherwise they will continue to resist to the end even if they are weak..."

After listening to Chen Shangchuan's statement, everyone present seemed speechless. In the past, Nguyen Phu Binh may not have thought there was anything wrong with his statement, but after investing so much money in Vietnamese properties, they naturally wanted to make their wealth safer.

Over the years, these merchants have enjoyed a lot of benefits by virtue of the constitutional treaty signed between the Ming Dynasty and Vietnam, and now they are allowed to give up these benefits and return to the state of arbitrary slaughter by the former Vietnamese officials, which is obviously an unbearable condition for them.

After a long time, a businessman couldn't help but break the silence and said through gritted teeth: "If the Ruan brothers hold such an opinion, I'm afraid we won't be able to cooperate with them." I suggest that all channels of contact with the rebels should be halted and that the economic blockade of the areas occupied by the rebels should not be allowed to grow. ”

"Chen Weng is right, I seconded it." "I also second." …

In an instant, most of the people in the room chose to support the hostile Ruan brothers' claims, while the remaining small half of the people looked at Lin Yueshan, waiting for the official representative's statement.

Lin Yueshan showed a cautious attitude towards this, and he pondered for a moment before saying to everyone: "The Ruan brothers now occupy Shanxi and Bac Ninh, which is equivalent to cutting off the passage to the east and northeast of Thang Long Mansion, and now they have repelled the Zheng army's counter-rebellion army, and their power can be said to have increased greatly.

We have now resolutely severed our ties with them, and once they really enter Thang Long Mansion, I am afraid that it will be difficult to protect the interests of Chinese merchants in Thang Long Mansion, Hai Duong, Yongxian and other places. And now that we have broken off relations with the Ruan brothers, we can only choose the Zheng family to protect the interests of our Ming merchants in Vietnam, whether the Zheng family can do this, now it seems that it is also in jeopardy. ”

After listening to Lin Yueshan's opinion, a cadre of merchants could not say anything against it, although they did not understand military affairs, but sending troops from Bac Ninh could go down the river to besiege Hai Duong, and taking Hai Duong was equivalent to cutting off the connection between Thang Long Province and Yong Xian, so that Thang Long Province almost lost most of its external communication channels and became a lonely city.

Zheng's troops were mainly stationed in three places, one was the Lan River in the south, which was used to prevent the Ruan clan from going north, where the troops were the most abundant; the second is near Gaoping in the north, in case Mo and Ming sent troops south; The third is the army guarding Thang Long Province. The defeat of Shanxi made the army of Shenglong Mansion lose nearly one-third, which made the Zheng family a little unable to suppress the situation of Shenglong Mansion, and all cats and dogs climbed out to take advantage of it.

The troops near Gao Ping in the north were intercepted by the Nguyen brothers, and they were pinned down by the Mo clan of Gao Ping, and they did not reply to the capital without saying a word, which made the officials of the Li Dynasty in Thang Long Province suspect that this man might have turned his back on the Zheng clan, and it also made them suddenly emboldened. Although the Zheng army in the south of the Lan River was still loyal to the Zheng clan, the Nguyen clan was watching from the side, and it was difficult to march in the rainy season, making it difficult for this man to return to Thang Long Mansion.

Therefore, after the unexpected defeat in the Battle of Shanxi, the Zheng clan suddenly appeared in an extremely weak period, and now whoever can attack the Shenglong Mansion first may take over the Zheng clan's position and become the new master of the Shenglong Mansion. Even these businessmen who were not familiar with military affairs were hardly optimistic about the future of the Zheng clan, and for those feudal towns outside Thang Long Mansion, wouldn't it be even more gearing up?

This is also the reason why everyone has just abandoned the Zheng clan in the first place and wants to find a new force to support. After all, continuing to support the Zheng family at this time not only has a huge investment, but the return is not much, and even the risk is beyond estimate.

But because of the Ruan brothers, everyone realized that they didn't seem to have any choice, and when this perception was causing them a headache, Hainan businessman Chen Shangjiu stood up again and said: "Ambassador Lin, colleagues, I think that the Zheng family is not unsupportable.

Everyone had concerns before, but there were no more than two points, one is that there is no return on investment; The second is that it is difficult for the Zheng clan to resist the joint attack of the Nguyen clan and other feudal towns. In fact, as long as these two points are solved, everyone will have no worries. ”

Chen Shangjiu's words immediately attracted everyone's attention, and Lin Yueshan also waved his hand at him and said, "Yigong, if you have any ideas, just say it, these are all your own people, and there is nothing to say." You don't have to hide it. ”

Chen Shangjiu hurriedly arched his hand at Lin Yueshan, and then made a four-way gesture to everyone present, before clearing his throat and saying, "This first point, I think it's easy to solve..."