"Frequent appearances in front of people are always tiresome."

Li Jinglong, a five-star general who is a special critic of "Ming Pao" in Annan, said.

Having just finished his hunting, Li Jinglong had a good harvest, and he personally brought back two hares, four mole deer, and a dozen fat river fish from the forest.

These will all be a staple of tonight's dinner.

Li Jinglong likes the forests of Annan very much, lively and full of life, full of running game, different from those forests in the Ming Dynasty that have already been "intensively cultivated" by hunters, as for the "talking tree" Yunyun that Jiang Xinghuo reminded him, Li Jinglong has never seen it.

"Annan is really like a paradise! Compared to Daming, it is much more comfortable! ”

Li Jinglong walked happily to his tent, followed by several generals and dozens of cavalry, and the team was full of laughter.

There is no objection to this.

After all, here Li Jinglong is the out-and-out emperor of Annan, what former emperor Hu Jichen? It was before, and now it's now!

Li Jinglong's main job now is to be responsible for the reconstruction, training, and reorganization of the entire Annan army, and then let the advisory group of the Ming army take these rabble to gain actual combat experience by eliminating local bandits, so as to reduce the burden of the Ming garrison and achieve the early withdrawal of troops as soon as possible.

For the Ming Dynasty, as long as there is a contract port that can garrison troops and supply ocean-going sailors in hand, then if you want to intervene in the domestic situation in Annam at any time, you will have a foothold, because Annam basically has no naval division strength now, and Thanh Hoa Port has now built a permanent fortress fortification group, with the fighting quality of the Ming army, a small number of troops, it is enough to hold it for several months or even half a year.

Moreover, judging from the entire map, the Ming army not only had regular troops in the Jiaozhi Political Envoy Division in the north of Annam, but also had a part of the garrison in the Champa state further south of Annam, and was able to order the Champa army to assist in the battle.

Now the Hengshan Pass in the south and the area north of it have been ceded to the Champa State by the Annam State, and the Annam State has lost the defense line of the Fuliang River in the north, and the natural dangers in the north and south no longer exist, and the entire shrunken land is a combination of a large plain and mountains and hills, with mountains in the west and the sea in the east, so it can be said that the development space has been completely locked.

However, this is very much in line with Chen Tianping's meaning, because for Chen Tianping, he has personally witnessed the strength of the Ming Dynasty, and he has no intention of confronting the Ming Dynasty like the Hu family and his son, and those unruly Tusi in the north used to rely on the complex mountainous areas, and there are many "native soldiers" who are good at mountain warfare, and they do not obey the orders of the center of Annan, and now these burdens can be thrown to the Ming Dynasty, and Chen Tianping can lie down comfortably.

In fact, it is true, Han Guan, the general of Zhengnan, took this job, and now he takes the wolf soldiers of the Guangxi Metropolitan Division and the garrison troops of the Jiaozhi Metropolitan Division, one cave after another, to exterminate the Tusi who disobey the order and refuse to submit to the Ming Dynasty, which is what he is best at.

So much so that in the domestic security war in Annan, Li Jinglong also fought a lot.

Although there were many opponents of Chen Tianping in Annam, the vast majority of the country's territory was plain and hilly, and the Ming army's advantage in firearms and elite cavalry was very good.

As for these people retreating into the mountains to the west, Li Jinglong didn't care.

It's not entirely because Li Jinglong doesn't want to withdraw his troops as soon as possible and wants to continue to live a comfortable life here, but he really can't manage it.

In these places, only some of the toasts in the three Xuan and six comforts can be helped, but these toasts are actually yang and yin, if they are not excessive, the Ming Dynasty will indeed not cross the mountains and forests to conquer them because of these things.

In addition, Li Jinglong believes that there is no need to completely exterminate these opponents.

After all, the complete elimination of opponents would only benefit Chen Tianping's rule.

But why did Da Ming let Chen Tianping's rule be completely stable?

I have to leave him some thorns in the eye and thorns in the flesh, so that Chen Tianping's throne can sit still, but if he feels pierced, there won't be so many miscellaneous thoughts to study others.

In addition to these military tasks that are not onerous and can be handed over to his subordinates, Li Jinglong actually has some work to do that must be done by himself, that is, to safeguard the interests of the Ming Dynasty in Annam.

A lot of docking work in politics was handed over to the chief and deputy angels of the Ming Dynasty Angel Pavilion in Annan, that is, the fat and thin heads Tuo Zhu Quan and Zhang who came to be envoys before.

However, as the supreme commander of the Ming army stationed in Annam, Li Jinglong was also responsible for communicating with Chen Tianping, the king of Annam, and coordinating pro-Ming civil officials in Annam, such as Wang Ruzhou, Chen Gongsu, Mei Xiufu, and Jiang Bin.

In other words, the Ming Dynasty not only wanted to maintain the overall stability of the Annan Kingdom, but also left some opponents for Chen Tianping, in addition, among the civil officials and military generals, it was also necessary to support some pro-Ming forces.

In terms of civilian officials, it is natural that these middle and high-ranking civil officials who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty in the war against Annam.

And in addition to these people, in fact, in the civil officials, Chen Tianping himself has no henchmen, and most of them in the court are left over after the purges of the Hu family and his son, not to mention that he has no loyalty to the Chen Dynasty, even to the Hu family and his son, there is no loyalty, not to mention Chen Tianping, the grandson of the Chen Dynasty who has a bit of a bloodline.

In terms of military generals, because the current Annan army, the skeleton is adapted from the Annan troops that were surrendered by the Ming army before, and some new recruits have been supplemented, since it is trained and reorganized by the Ming army, then it is natural that the Ming army will exert influence on this new Annan army.

In addition to these, it is to ensure the free circulation of Ming commodities in the territory of Annam.

In fact, as far as this point is concerned, as long as the local bandits are eliminated, it is basically enough.

After all, the imperial court of Annam signed a free trade contract with the Ming Dynasty, and did not prohibit the goods of the Ming Dynasty from entering the domestic circulation of Annam through Thanh Hoa Port.

In this process, the small folk textile industry and cottage industry in Annam were naturally completely crushed, but it was a very profitable thing for the domestic authorities and local tycoons in Annam.

Because the merchants of the Ming Dynasty were only responsible for transporting the goods to the ports of Annam, as for the distribution of goods into the inland land of Annam, which was still in a state of partial war, it was carried out by the Annam merchants entrusted by the domestic elites of Annam, and these Annam merchants, as first-level distributors, would further distribute the goods to the local tycoons who occupied the actual dominant position in the local capital as second-level distributors.

In fact, of course, the merchants of the Ming Dynasty also wanted to go deep into the interior of Annam and eat all these profits, including trade and distribution, in one bite, but the embarrassment of the problem was that they could not do it.

In addition to security factors, the Ming merchants had just received official approval for overseas trade, and their overall power was weak, and with the conquest of the Ming fleet, they had gained a market far beyond their own sales capacity, so they had to adopt this distribution model.

But this distribution model also happened to alleviate the contradiction between the domestic forces of Daming and Annan, and achieved a win-win situation in a sense.

Li Jinglong pondered all the way, and after converging a large number of troops, thousands of cavalry began to advance in the direction of Thang Long Mansion.

Of course, Li Jinglong's hunting trip this time also attracted many people in Thang Long Mansion to watch.

He wanted to keep a low profile, but he couldn't resist the enthusiasm of the people.

Prior to this, because of the continuous wars with neighboring countries such as the Champong State, the folk customs in Annam were much stronger than those of other dynasties, and they admired force and military merit more.

And this somewhat deformed worship has now been transferred to the Ming army with the military victory of the Ming army.

Especially when the Annam locals found out that the arrival of the Ming army did not seem to make their living conditions worse, but began to open warehouses everywhere to release grain to help the victims, and a large number of high-quality and cheap cotton textiles poured in.

Although these cotton textiles will destroy the corresponding domestic industries in Annam, there is no doubt that for the ordinary people of Annam, in terms of the current actual life experience, it is obvious that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

Why?

The reason is also very simple, although the cotton textiles imported by the Ming Dynasty have gone through shipping and inland distribution, the price is still significantly lower than that of Annamun, which is always not low because of the cost of handwork.

Moreover, Daming's cotton textiles are not only low in price, but also higher than the native cloth of Annan in terms of quality, because Daming's cotton textiles are uniformly selected raw materials and produced on the assembly line, and the quality is also very stable.

In addition, there are many cotton textile patterns in the Ming Dynasty.

Towels, sheets, kaftans, skirts, liners. It can be said that there is everything, only the unexpected, and there is nothing that Daming can't make.

For the people of Annam, they spent very little money to buy goods of good quality and low price, and in their opinion, they must have made money.

In short, because the living conditions have not changed for the worse but for the better, and the military discipline of these Ming troops stationed in the country is quite strict, and there have been no frequent and large-scale harassment of local residents, and while helping to suppress bandits, they are still withdrawing troops, so the people in Annam do not hate the Ming army.

Under the vigorous propaganda, eighty or ninety percent of the people in Annam believed that the Ming army was here to help them overthrow the rule of the usurping tyrant and restore order in the country.

As for the remaining one or two percent, except for those who instinctively hate the Ming army, there are some people of insight.

There are two kinds of people of insight in Annam, one is the "Great Annam people", who believe that although the Ming army overthrew the Dayu, that is, the rule of the Hu Dynasty over Annam, but also, it also cut off the key Red River Delta in the north of Annam, so that Annam lost the defense line of the Fuliang River, which was a natural danger, and the significance of this defense line to Annam is the same as the significance of the Yangtze River to the southern regime in ancient China. At the same time, the cession of Hengshan Pass and the land north of it to the Champa State, which was beaten by Annan and could not hold its head up, was also considered a shame by these people, and it was a concession forced by the Ming Dynasty to make by Annan.

The other is people who do not have this sense of identity, but are worried about the economic colonization of the Ming Dynasty, of course, there are smart people in Annam who can see the situation, and the Ming Dynasty has spent so much effort, why did he withdraw his troops? In addition to the high cost of occupation, it is natural that the overall foreign policy of the Ming Dynasty has changed.

A series of actions of Zheng He's ocean-going fleet have now been gradually spread to all parts of Southeast Asia after a few months, with the exchange of maritime trade merchants from various countries.

Obviously, the Ming army was different from the Yuan army in the past.

Whether the Yuan army attacked Annam, Champa or Java, it was an expeditionary conquest and then directly sent troops to occupy and garrison, while the Ming army was not like this at all, whether the Ming army withdrew in Annam or the port of Manila in Luzon, or the new port of Srivijaya showed that the Ming army was not interested in direct rule over these overseas lands.

What the Ming needed was to control key shipping routes and ports, import goods into these countries, and continuously obtain wealth, which could then be used to expand production and feed the army.

This routine has been perceived by some far-sighted people in Annam.

But it didn't work.

Don't say that you can't see through it, even if you see through it and say it, what's the use?

Daming's strategy is an out-and-out conspiracy.

I didn't bully you, I signed a free trade agreement, and your goods can also be sold to Daming!

Moreover, commodity transactions are fair and free, the people of your country buy the goods of the Ming Dynasty, that is because the goods of the Ming Dynasty are of high quality and low price, if you feel that you have encroached on your market, then you can reduce the price or improve the quality, this is fair competition.

Of course, it is impossible to find fault with the words, so in the controversy of the Shilin in Annam, few people can say that the trade of the Ming Dynasty to Annam is unfair.

On the contrary, Annan's fist products, such as jadeite, rhino horn, ambergris, etc., have indeed been imported into the Ming Dynasty, and these local giants with the power to produce products are quite supportive of free trade.

Daming in trade, did not carry out any obstruction, as long as you feel that you can sell without losing money, then you come to Daming to sell, normal customs duties on the line.

This kind of fair, just and open free trade is difficult for people to pick out in terms of reason.

In short, Li Jinglong, as the supreme commander of the Ming Army stationed in Annan, still has a good image in Annan.

In addition to the strong psychology of some Annan people, more is the efforts made by Li Jinglong himself in political showmanship.

In the eyes of the people of Annan, Li Jinglong, the Duke of the Ming Dynasty, is not only a five-star general, but also has outstanding military talents, although he was the defeated side in the civil war of the Ming Dynasty, but in view of the Ming Emperor's unparalleled, monster-like military ability, it seems that this is not a big shame, after all, looking at the entire known "world", it seems that no famous general can be better than Zhu Di.

On the contrary, Li Jinglong beat An Nanjun, which was indeed a hand-held pinch.

Moreover, Li Jinglong's image is quite good, tall, eyebrows and eyes, and his demeanor looks very graceful and magnanimous when he participates in all activities, and his conversation is also quite extraordinary.

And Li Jinglong basically does not show the arrogance of the victors, for ordinary people of Annam, they are from the newspapers. Yes, modeled after "Ming Pao", Annan also established its own official newspaper, and in the reports in the newspaper, Li Jinglong always helped the people of Annan through various personal actions.

Eradicate local bandits, open warehouses to release grain to help the victims, distribute free clothes to the poor, build schools to encourage Annan students to go to school, and provide publicly-funded places to study in the Ming Dynasty.

During this period of time, Li Jinglong has obviously done a lot of good deeds, as if he is a great good person.

As for what to do in a disaster year after Annan consumes the reserve grain, who will pay for the cost of studying in the Ming Dynasty, few people care about these issues, anyway, all parties have benefited, and the only thing that needs to be funded seems to be the imperial court of Annan, but Chen Tianping dares to say half a word? He must not dare, because once he opposes it, then he will not only be unable to get along with Daming, but also with all levels of society that benefit from these activities.

In addition to these, Li Jinglong strictly restricted military discipline and gave full play to his talent for [military training], which was feared by the new army of Annan, so he became more and more prestigious.

Li Jinglong returned from hunting and led his army to the gate of Thang Long Mansion, where the gatekeepers knelt respectfully on the ground and opened the city gate to welcome Li Jinglong into the city, while the army behind them slowly passed through the city gate.

This scene seems ordinary, but it actually contains a certain message:

Li Jinglong's authority has overpowered the restored king of the Chen Dynasty.

And the king of the Chen Dynasty of Annam, at this time, was in the city of Thang Long Mansion, discussing a series of withdrawal requests from the Ming Dynasty submitted by Li Jinglong before.

In the palace of Annam, Chen Tianping is sitting on the throne, and other civil and military generals are also sitting on the chairs in the main hall, which is quite different from Huaxia, but quite the style of the Tang Dynasty.

Well, there is a little story about this, the ministers stood in the court, and it started from the Song Dynasty.

One day in the court, Zhao Kuangyin pointed to the chapter and said that there was a person who said he didn't know, and motioned for the prime minister Fan Zhen to come forward to take a look, but when he came back after relieving the emperor's doubts, he found that his chair was missing, in fact, Zhao Kuangyin had arranged in advance for people to withdraw, Fan Zhen and Zhao Kuangyin, you look at me, I look at you, the two of them did not speak, and then Fan Zhen had to stand in the original position immediately, and the ministers saw that the prime minister was standing, and they were embarrassed to stand up, and the ministers went to court the next day. It was found that all the seats in the main hall had been withdrawn, and from then on the ministers stood before the court.

The Ming Dynasty also had a little humane treatment, with the option of "sitting", and the general old and frail ministers, as long as it was not a formal court meeting, had the treatment of sitting, although they usually sat on the Jindun instead of a chair.

Speaking of returning to the Chen Dynasty of Annan, the people sitting under Chen Tianping are the former Tianchang Road Dutong, Shaobao Wang Ruzhou, and the former Sanjiang pacification envoy Chen Gongsu.

Now Wang Ruzhou has become the prime minister of Annan, and Chen Gongsu has become the deputy prime minister.

"Your Highness, I think that you should accept the conditions of the Ming Dynasty in its entirety."

At present, Chen Tianping has retired from the emperor title when the Hu family and his son established Dayu, and he does not dare to engage in the small trick of calling the emperor inside and calling the king externally, so even if it is a court meeting, he can only be called "His Royal Highness" instead of "Your Majesty".

The scheming Wang Ruzhou stood up.

He is over the age of old, gray hair, but the spirit is strong, the eyes are bright, and now he is the most respected Zaifu in Annan, because in the past Chen Dynasty, he served several emperors of Annan with Hu Jichen, and personally sent Hu Jichen away, and now in terms of qualifications, Wang Ruzhou is no longer invincible.

Moreover, when Chen Tianping succeeded to the throne, there were still many voices of opposition in the civil official system in Annan, and even many old ministers of the Chen Dynasty had reservations, but this old man fully supported Chen Tianping's succession.

Although this is from the instructions of Daming, there is also Wang Ruzhou's own choice.

Therefore, Chen Tianping reciprocated the favor and gave him the position of prime minister, and Chen Tianping always believed that although Wang Ruzhou was very old, he had a clear brain and could always give the right advice at the right time.

As the saying goes, if there is an old man in the family, if there is a treasure, Chen Tianping still attaches great importance to Wang Ruzhou's suggestion.

However, the conditions for the withdrawal of the Ming army were a bit harsh.

The Annan version, which was more harsh than other countries' versions of the "Free Trade Pact", was signed by Chen Tianping because he had no choice.

If he doesn't sign it, let alone go back to Annan to be the king, he can't even say whether his life can be saved, after all, in the case of the wounding of the mission of the Champa State, there are many people who were hacked to death by random knives in the end.

But now, after all, Chen Tianping has ascended the throne and become king, and he has fulfilled his promise to Daming and ceded so much land.

And the conditions for the withdrawal of the Ming Dynasty are basically known to the ministers.

It's okay to say that it's not unacceptable to pay money or lose face to do things that violate the traditional etiquette, the key is one of them, which makes the ministers mutter.

The Ming Dynasty demanded the establishment of a separate angel area in the eastern capital of Thang Long Mansion, and to move out of the residents of Annan, the angel area was protected and managed by the Ming Dynasty's own garrison, and Annan had no right to interfere, and the worst thing was that the angel area was located not far from the Annan Palace.

At the same time, the western capital of Thanh Hoa Province was set up as an undefended area, and the port of Thanh Hoa was assigned to the Ming army to establish a military base, and the defense from the western capital of Thanh Hoa Province to the eastern capital of Thang Long Province was dismantled, and the Ming Dynasty carried out a small number of garrisons at relevant nodes to maintain the security of the main trade routes.

The Ming Dynasty was already doing the matter of using Thanh Hoa Port as a military base, but it was just written down, and the establishment of a separate angel area and the garrison of troops at the trade nodes of the eastern and western capitals made the ministers of Annam feel that it was very difficult to do.

And these two things are still bundled into one clause.

It's hard to do, can you not do it?

Not quite really.

The withdrawal of the Ming Dynasty is imminent, and inside and outside the country of Annan, even if it is a pro-Ming faction, they want to send these tens of thousands of garrisons away first, otherwise it is like a sword hanging on the top of the brain.

And if you don't agree with Da Ming's conditions, no one can say whether this sword will fall immediately.

Although Daming's conditions are harsh, it seems to endure it. It's not that it can't be?

"Ahem."

Deputy Prime Minister Chen Gongsu spoke slowly and methodically at this time.

"Your Highness, the minister has a plan."

"Prime Minister Chen, come on!"

Chen Tianping looked at this theoretical "important minister of the same clan" and hurriedly said.

"The matter of the angel zone, you can agree."

Before the ministers could object, Chen Gongsu twisted his beard and smiled, and only said: "The tree moves the nest to die, the person moves the nest to live, and His Highness will build a new summer palace dozens of miles outside." ”

As soon as these words came out, the ministers were suddenly stunned.

Good strategy!

If it is believed that the purpose of Da Ming's establishment of the Angel District is to have the ability to accumulate troops to attack the palace of Annan at any time to launch a coup d'état, then Chen Tianping can completely build a palace outside instead of a palace, so that even if Da Ming is shameless, it is impossible to open an angel area next to the palace, so that the threat will naturally be canceled.

As for Chen Tianping, in order to escape the summer and relax, he deliberately built a palace not far from the palace, and the Ming Dynasty must not be able to control it, judging from the history of China, many emperors have this kind of operation, which is understandable.

In this way, the threat of the Angel District to the royal palace will be self-defeating.

Chen Tianping only needs to live in the palace more.

"As for the matter of garrisoning troops at critical junctures to maintain the security of the trade road. Lao Chen felt that he should also look at it from two aspects. ”

Chen Gongsu said: "On the one hand, the garrisons at these key nodes, as well as the inability to fortify, are indeed used by the Ming Dynasty to deal with the unsafe things; On the other hand, these garrisons can indeed maintain the trade and reduce our pressure, and if there is real chaos, wouldn't it be a blessing for Your Highness? ”

Chen Gongsu said vaguely, but in fact, he was telling Chen Tianping, don't think so much, it's not impossible to lie down and accept fate, although there are drawbacks in the garrison of the business road node, but if someone really overthrows you, Daming can also quickly support you, so that the road will not be blocked, if there is really a day of domestic coup d'état in Annan, then this road is actually a life-saving channel for Chen Tianping, whether it is waiting for support or escaping.

"Of course, some specific details, such as the number of garrisons and specific nodes, are negotiable."

Chen Tianping pondered for a moment, obviously understanding what Chen Gongsu meant.

Chen Tianping pondered for a moment, made a decision, and said, "Prime Minister Chen, this king thinks so too. ”

He raised his arm slightly, motioning for everyone to calm down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Hu Dynasty has fallen, and the current Annam is different from before, 'only when things are big can we survive', we must keep in mind the experience from Goryeo......"

Chen Tianping then recounted his views on the 475 years of Goryeo's continued existence because of its consistent pursuit of the "Great Doctrine of Affairs."

No matter which country is strong, the Tang, Liao, Song, Jin, and Goryeo kingdoms can always rely on this diplomatic policy to maintain the existence of the country, while those large countries served by Goryeo have dissipated one by one like a passing cloud, which is undoubtedly worth learning from small countries.

Therefore, Chen Tianping did not regard the Ming Dynasty as an enemy, but believed that the other party was the guarantee of the security and stability of the Annan State, so he intended to accept the proposal of the Ming Dynasty on the main terms, but he also tried his best to protect the interests of the country without suffering too much loss, and to be able to send the Ming Expeditionary Force stationed on the territory of the Annan State away, for them, it was already a huge political victory, not only to breathe a sigh of relief, but also to explain to the people.

Everyone was silent, and this was indeed the most reasonable choice at the moment.

Moreover, the bottom line, if you retreat a little, then you can naturally retreat again and again.

Since the Ming Dynasty is not regarded as an enemy, then it is not a kind of progress to send the Ming expeditionary force away, restore the power of Annan in its own internal power, and at the same time have its own army to maintain domestic order?

In short, these monarchs and ministers of Annan still have a good idea of their status.

(End of chapter)