Han Shizu

Chapter 2182 Peninsula History: Talking about Linyi
When the Kingdom of Annan was engulfed in war due to the "Wenwan Rebellion", the surrounding countries were paying close attention, especially the neighboring Linyi Kingdom. Its king Liu Jirong even recruited and formed an army of 30,000 and stationed it in Pingzhou in the north.

To the north of Pingzhou is Huazhou of Annan, which is an important city in southern Annan and where Da Nang is located. It is a place with a long history and a highly developed politics and economy. It is one of the top cities in the entire Indochina Peninsula.

Liu Jirong's move was nominally to guard against the rebels who might flee southward. When the battle in Yi'an was at its most tense, Liu Jirong even sent an envoy by water to Jiaozhi in the north to deliver his handwritten letter.

In the letter, Liu Jirong "sincerely" expressed his deep concern about the "Wen Wan Rebellion" and stated that he had prepared the army and if things went wrong, he could send troops north at any time to help suppress the rebellion.

Liu Jirong's letter naturally attracted the attention of the Jiaozhi court. To be more precise, it was fear and precaution. Not to mention the reactions of those noble ministers, even Liu Jidan himself was very vigilant.

Liu Jidan really disliked his cousin from the south (Liu Jirong was the eldest son of Liu Wenyan, the former king of Linyi, born in the eighth year of Yongxi, six years older than Liu Jidan). However, there was nothing he could do about it, as Liu Jirong was a strong-willed person, fond of conquest, and extremely ambitious.

During the regency of Empress Dowager Liu, Liu Jidan, who had just taken power, was invited by Liu Jirong to go south for a meeting. The two sides held a three-day banquet in Da Nang to coordinate and discuss exchanges between the two countries.

At that party, Liu Jidan was suppressed throughout the whole process and his image was very bad. Although some conflicts and disputes on the border and trade between the two countries were bridged, Liu Jidan was very disappointed. Since then, Liu Jidan has never accepted Liu Jirong's invitation again, and he only sent special envoys to discuss and deal with matters of state exchanges.

Therefore, when the country was in civil turmoil, Liu Jidan received a letter from Liu Jirong, and without anyone reminding him, he showed his rare wisdom and pointed out that this cousin had ulterior motives and bad intentions.

Liu Jidan originally wanted to ignore Liu Jirong's opinion, but after being persuaded by Princess Anping Liu Ying, he still sent an envoy to reply to maintain his dignity.

Liu Jidan also asked the scholars from Annan to write a reply letter, which first affirmed and thanked Liu Jirong for his concern and kindness, and recalled the blood-related relationship between the two countries. Finally, in addition to emphasizing the vassal system, he said that Annan still had the strength to quell the Wenwan Rebellion. If the matter failed, he would not spare his face and would not ask for military assistance from brother countries, and so on.

At the same time as replying to the letter, the Jiaozhi court sent urgent orders to the two states of Shun and Hua in the south, requiring local officials and soldiers to be vigilant and defend the city with all their might. However, this time, in addition to guarding against the rebels doing evil in the north, the focus would be on the brother country in the south.

Therefore, before the decisive battle of Huanzhou, the actions of Linyi State actually relieved the pressure on the Wen and Wan rebels. In the face of Jiaozhi's reply, Liu Jirong did not take any further action except sneering at Liu Jidan, the weakling, for being able to come up with such a polite reply.

Liu Jirong was indeed ambitious, but that didn't mean he was brainless and reckless. It wasn't difficult to lead an army out of Pingzhou and cross the border between the two countries. The difficult part was the pressure he and Linyi would face after taking that step.

To a certain extent, the nature of this is even more serious than the rebellion in Annan!
Therefore, Liu Jirong chose to continue to wait and see, expecting further changes in the chaos in Annan, but his expectations were dashed. With the end of the battle of Huanzhou and the two marquises fleeing west in embarrassment, Liu Jirong knew that there was no chance.

After a sigh of regret, he ordered the army to withdraw southward and leave the border between the two countries. However, the assembled army was not disbanded, but after a large-scale transfer by sea and river, it was transferred to the Tonle Sap Lake area.

There, Liu Jirong assembled 40,000 infantry and cavalry (the cavalry was divided into cavalry and elephants) and marched westward, targeting the remnants of Zhenla who had abandoned their old capital and migrated westward.

In the second year of Zhengtong, the Kingdom of Zhenla had completely collapsed under the continuous attacks of three generations of kings of Linyi for decades. The important symbol was that in the eighteenth year of Jianlong (1035), Liu Jirong led his army to the north to conquer Zhenla, annihilated its last "central army", destroyed its capital, destroyed its country, and exterminated its rulers and ministers, thus completely conquering and occupying the Tonle Sap Lake area.
Linyi has been established for 54 years since Emperor Shizu granted it the title of Emperor Taizu. It has been passed down to Liu Jirong for three generations. Liu Shu, the ninth son of Emperor Taizu, was a ridiculous nobleman who often made mistakes when he was young, but he was the founder of Linyi State. He started and consolidated the national destiny of Linyi State.

From the beginning of the kingdom, which only had a few states in the old Champa area, to the time of his death, it had occupied the central and southern parts of Vietnam and the vast area south of Tonle Sap Lake. Although many people know that the great development of Linyi Kingdom was mainly due to the military conquests of the crown prince Liu Wenyan and the general Liu Gong, if it were not for Liu Shu's good use and full support, how could the two have achieved such great success.

Liu Shu was on the throne of Linyi for a full thirty-five years, until the fifth year of Jianlong (1022), when he died in the Han Dynasty at the age of 67, which was considered a natural death.

However, since the third year of Jianlong's reign, Liu Shu had not returned to the south, but had stayed in Dongjing Nafu, the place where he grew up. In his later years, the unruly Duke of Chu and King of Linyi also fell in love with their hometown, and Emperor Shizong agreed to Liu Shu's stay.

After Liu Shu passed away, the crown prince Liu Wenyan, who had actually taken control of the military and political affairs of Linyi, ascended the throne without any setbacks, and also opened a new era for the Linyi Kingdom. At that time, Liu Wenyan was already 45 years old.

The inheritance that Liu Shu left to Liu Wenyan was still very rich. The Han and Yi population was over 1.5 million. In addition to the rich coastal plains and ports, there was also a preliminary developed lower Mekong Delta plain, and it extended deep into the mature Tonle Sap Lake area.

In fact, under the advice of Liu Gong in his early years, after the successive attacks by Liu Wenyan and Liu Gong, the Zhenla Kingdom had already collapsed. After all, even its capital was no longer safe and had been repeatedly attacked by the Linyi cavalry. Its rule over the Tonle Sap Lake was even more shaky.

At the beginning of Liu Wenyan's reign, he had actually already prepared for a large-scale march northward to destroy the Zhenla central court in one fell swoop and achieve complete occupation of the fertile plains in the southeastern part of the peninsula.

However, due to the discord between the emperor and his ministers, a turmoil broke out in Linyi, and this opportunity was missed. Specifically, it was Liu Wenyan and Liu Gong. As the military gods of Linyi, Liu Gong's prestige within the army even surpassed Liu Wenyan at one point.

The contrast between the two also lasted for more than 20 years. In the past, Liu Shu tried to mediate, but when Liu Wenyan became the king, the conflict inevitably broke out.
　I am tired of coding, so I can only write here first and continue tomorrow

　　
　
(End of this chapter)