"Big brother, I just received an urgent report from the Jiaozhi side that the rebels had launched an attack on Champa six days ago, and the two sides had started a fierce battle in Nasang City, an important town in the north of Champa State."

One afternoon at the end of September in the third year of Xuande, Li Yuntian, who had finished a day's official duties, was moving his body in the courtyard, and Lei Tingxing hurriedly walked from the door and told him a newly obtained news.

"It's finally begun." Li Yuntian's face couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard this, and then he looked at Lei Ting with a smile, "Sister, how long do you say Li Li will be able to take Zhancheng?" ”

In Li Yuntian's view, after many years of fighting, the rebels under Le Li's command undoubtedly had a higher combat effectiveness than the soldiers of the Champa State, and their strength was greater than that of the Champa State, so the Champa State could not resist Le Li's offensive.

"Three months is enough to hit many harbors!" Lei Ting groaned for a moment, and Jiao Sheng gave an answer.

"Dohai City is the strongest city in Champa, and the soldiers under Chief Dogesa are also the most elite troops in Champa State, and they can hold it for at least a year and a half."

Li Yuntian immediately laughed when he heard this, and stretched lazily, Lei Ting's speculation was the same as his thoughts, the Zhancheng State would definitely fall within three months, except for the fortified Duohai City.

Lei Ting smiled when she saw this, she was responsible for sorting out the information that Li Yuntian usually reads, plus she was in charge of Li Yuntian's daily life, and she knew a lot about the situation in Jiaozhi and Zhancheng from Li Yuntian, so it was easy to make a similar conclusion to Li Yuntian.

"Big brother, do you think Zhenla will take the opportunity to send troops to Champa as well?" Then, Lei Ting remembered something and couldn't help asking.

Due to geographical factors, several countries in Indochina have historical grievances with each other, and there are two hostile states in Chenla, one is Siam in the west, and the other is Champa in the east.

According to historical records, during the Jianyan period of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Zhancheng State attacked the Zhenla State, and the Zhenla State was defeated repeatedly, and it has been at a disadvantage for more than 60 years.

It was not until the Qing Yuan period of the Southern Song Dynasty that the Zhenla Kingdom regained its vitality, launched a large-scale counterattack against the Champa State, and occupied the Champa State in one fell swoop, and incorporated it into the territory. At that time, Zhenla had nearly 200,000 war elephants and a land area of 7,000 miles, becoming a power in the South China Sea.

Later, the Cham man Jaya Parami Shuravarman II raised an army to defeat the Chenla kingdom and drove the Chenla people out of the Champa city, thus becoming the king of the Champa kingdom and founding the Ninth Dynasty of the Champa state.

In view of the grievances and entanglements between Chenla and Champong, once the Li Li army attacked the city on a large scale, Chenla was likely to fall into the trap and take the opportunity to attack the city and divide the territory of the Champa state with the Li Li.

"King Zhenla will not do this, Li Li is a traitor of the Ming Dynasty, if he assists Li Li in attacking and occupying the city, he will be an enemy of the Ming Dynasty." Li Yuntian pondered for a moment and shook his head at Lei Ting, he believed that the king and ministers of the Zhenla Kingdom would clearly distinguish the current situation, and would definitely not make a wrong choice.

"The eldest brother is worried that the chief of Dogesa will hold on to Duohai City, if he really insists on it for a year and a half, then the eldest brother will not be able to take the city into the palm of his hand."

Subsequently, Li Yuntian's brows furrowed slightly, what he was worried about now was that the rebels would not be able to break through Duohai City in a short period of time, as long as the king of the Champa Kingdom was still alive, then he would have no excuse to annex the city to the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, the king of the Champa State accepted the canonization of the Great Tomorrow and was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and if the Ming Dynasty forcibly annexed it, it would definitely cause unease among other vassal states, and it would not be in line with the image of the Great Ming Dynasty.

What is particularly important is that the Champa State is the fifteen non-conscripted countries clearly stated by the Hongwu Emperor, and even the Yongle Emperor is subject to the ancestral system of the Hongwu Emperor, and only after the death of the king of the Annan Kingdom will Annan be incorporated into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Hongwu set the basic diplomatic principle of pursuing harmony in the foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty, which is not only the continuation of the Chinese traditional "Huairou Yuanren" way, but also the negation of the foreign expansion of the Mengyuan rulers.

In the second year of Hongwu, that is, in 1369 AD, Emperor Hongwu ordered the compilation of the "Emperor Ming Zuxun", announcing that fifteen overseas countries would be listed as "countries not to be levied", and warning future generations not to arbitrarily levy them.

The fifteen countries are, in order: Korea, Japan, Greater Ryukyu, Lesser Ryukyu, Annam, Chenla, Siam, Champa, Sumatra, West, Kuawa, Tsuheng, Baihua, Srivijaya, and Boni.

Because of Emperor Hongwu's ancestral teachings, it was not easy for Li Yuntian to take the Champa State, otherwise, those civil officials in the capital would definitely attack him en masse, impeach him for starting a war in vain, bullying the weak, and rebelling, and openly violating Emperor Hongwu's ancestral teachings, which would bring him a lot of trouble.

Therefore, Li Yuntian could only wait for Li Li's rebels to kill the king of the Champa State before he could logically take over the Zhancheng State after defeating Li Li's rebels, which is why he revealed the news that the king of the Champa Kingdom wanted to send troops to help the Ming Dynasty attack the Jiaozhi rebels.

"Big brother, you don't want to deal with the king of Champa, do you?" Lei Ting saw Li Yuntian's brows furrowed, and immediately realized that he was making an important decision, so she asked tentatively, she knew that the life and death of the king of the Champa Kingdom had a pivotal position in Li Yuntian's plan.

"In order to settle the occupation once and for all, the king of Zhancheng must not be allowed to escape to Duohai City!"

Li Yuntian groaned for a while, turned his head to look at Lei Ting, and instructed in a deep voice, "You send someone to sue Sù Lili, just say that the war in Zhancheng is together, and the emperor will definitely order General Ben Dingnan to raise troops to the south to attack his rear, General Ben Dingnan only gave him five months, if he can't capture Zhancheng within five months, then he must withdraw his troops from Zhancheng, otherwise General Ben Dingnan can only send troops!" ”

"Also, if he captures Champa within five months, and Champa has no royal family to inherit the throne, then General Ben Dingnan will make a proposal to the emperor and give him the land of Champa and make him the first Tusi of the Indochina Peninsula!" As he spoke, Li Yuntian's eyes flashed, and he added in a deep voice.

"That's what I'm doing!" Lei Ting was stunned for a moment when she heard this, and then bowed her hand to Li Yuntian, and left the courtyard quickly, although Li Yuntian did not say it explicitly, but the meaning of the words had already euphemistically told Li Li that he must destroy the royal family of the Zhancheng State, and the fate of the royal family of the Zhancheng State had been decided at this time.

"If you want to complain, complain about this troubled world, since you are also the king of a country, you must be ready to die for the country." Waiting for Lei Ting to leave, Li Yuntian looked up at the sky and muttered to himself.

The king in his mouth naturally refers to the king of the Champa country, the two have never known each other, and they can be said to have no grievances and no enemies, but in this world of the jungle, the two have become opponents invisibly.

The envoy Li Yuntian sent to see Li Li this time was the one who came last time, after all, the transaction between him and Li Li was a top secret, and it was not appropriate for too many people to know about it.

Li Li had long known that Li Yuntian would never ignore his attack on the Champa State, after all, the Champa State was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and once the two vassal states went to war, the Ming Dynasty had the duty of mediation.

Besides, Li Li is a rebel army in Jiaozhi, and the officials of the Ming Jingshi will definitely not sit idly by and watch him wantonly attack the city state, and will definitely let Emperor Xuande order Li Yuntian to take the opportunity to attack the rebels.

However, Li Li was not too worried that Li Yuntian would send troops, and he now knew very well that Li Yuntian was not rearmament in Guangxi and Jiaozhi, but was busy dealing with the government affairs of Guangxi and Jiaozhi, otherwise the summer grain in the territory under the jurisdiction of the Ming army in Jiaozhi would not have a bumper harvest.

In Li Li's view, Li Yuntian's troops on hand were only 40,000 or 50,000, and they were all gathered in Guangxi to suppress bandits, so he had no time to take care of Jiaozhi at all.

Moreover, because Li Yuntian had already ordered the old, weak, sick and disabled in the Ming army of Jiaozhi to be discharged and returned to the field, the Ming army in Jiaozhi at this time was only twenty or thirty thousand, which was the weakest time for Jiaozhi's troops.

This shows that Li Yuntian is not willing to go to war with him, so he gives it a go and prepares to attack the city state to get the rebels out of their current predicament.

In fact, Li Li did not have the idea of annexing the Champa at this time, he just wanted to obtain the money and materials needed by the rebels from the Champa state.

But Li Yuntian drew a big pie for him at this time, which made his mind change quickly, if he concentrated his strength, it would not take five months to capture the city of Zhan, and then he would wait for the canonization of Emperor Xuande and officially own the land of the city of Zhancheng.

It is worth mentioning that the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty were divided into different types, such as tributary states, vassal states, service vassal states, tribute-giving states, screen vassals, and feudal states.

For example, Japan, a tributary state of the Ming Dynasty, received the canonization of the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, but had independent sovereignty.

The countries adjacent to the Ming Dynasty, such as Korea and Annam, were vassals of the Ming Dynasty, and the establishment of their kings had to be approved by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and were regarded as the sphere of influence of the Ming Dynasty.

As for countries that do not border the Ming Dynasty, such as the Champa State, they belong to vassal states or tribute-giving countries, etc.

This is also why the Ming Dynasty attached so much importance to Korea and Annan, when Korea was invaded by Japan, the Wanli Emperor wanted to send troops to rescue, and the reason why the Yongle Emperor wanted to pacify the civil strife in Annam.

The Ming Dynasty has always adopted a policy of gentleness towards the vassal states and does not interfere in their internal affairs, but the vassal states will help when they encounter difficulties, among which neighboring vassal states such as Korea and Annam are the objects of the Ming Dynasty's focus and ensure their safety by force.

In countries such as Champa and Siam, the Ming Dynasty will not provide military protection, once there is a war, it is more to mediate, and if the mediation fails, it will be allowed to develop, because no matter which king of those countries comes to power, he will submit to the Ming, and the Ming has no need to go on an expedition.

It is for this reason that Li Li will attack the state of Zhancheng, as Li Yuntian said, as long as he can capture the city within five months, then it is very likely that under Li Yuntian's construction of Emperor Xuande, he will obtain the territory of Zhancheng as a Tusi of Jiaozhi.

Due to the gentle policy adopted by the Ming Dynasty towards the southwestern states, they usually did not forcibly interfere in their coups and wars, which just gave Li Li a golden opportunity.

However, before that, Li Li had to solve one thing, that is, he must not let the people who are eligible to inherit the royal family of the Champa State live, otherwise once those people go to the capital of the Ming Dynasty to complain, Emperor Xuande and the ministers of the court will definitely not allow him to occupy the territory of the Champa State.

In the end, Li Li is still the people of the Ming Dynasty, how can he ignore the bitter masters of the Zhancheng State, and most importantly, this also violates the ancestral precept of Emperor Hongwu's "country not to be conquered".