Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 401: Turmoil in Southeast Asia
Unlike what Edgar and others knew, the current "king and ministers" of Annan had not severed ties with the Ming Dynasty.

In the 25th year of Wanli's reign, after conquering the Mac Dynasty, Zheng Song returned to the capital Thang Long with Le Viet Tam, whom he supported. He sent envoys in the position of "Captain Marshal and Grandfather of State Affairs" in the hope that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty would grant him the title of King of Annan.

The Ming Dynasty only gave him the title of Annan Governor-General.

What else can Zheng Song do? Now he has the title of King Ping An.

Anyway, in the 27th year of the Wanli reign when he was crowned king, the 32-year-old Li Weitan died young and was given the temple name of Shizong. Then, his 11-year-old son Li Weixin succeeded to the throne.

In Annan, Li Dui Xin could be crowned emperor, and Zheng Song could also be crowned king by "asking for favor". But the Ming Dynasty did not recognize it, and it always lacked something to reduce the difficulty of suppressing other forces.

This time is an opportunity.

"The Ming Emperor has defeated the Yuan people and is now in high spirits, so he has been touring the south to Guangzhou to ask the vassal states to pay homage to him." Zheng Song warned his son Zheng Chun, "If we can let the Ming Dynasty enthrone the King of Annan while he is in a good mood, then Nguyen Hoang will have no excuses!"

Ruan Huang was the son of Ruan Gan, and Zheng Song's elder. His wife was Zheng Song's aunt. But Ruan Huang's youngest daughter was Zheng Song's daughter-in-law and Zheng Chun's wife.

It was Zheng Song's father Zheng Jian who sent Nguyen Hoang to govern Hue and Guangnan at the same time. As there were continuous wars in the north, the Nguyen family became more and more stable in the south.

Nguyen Hoang is now 86 years old. Although he is not young anymore, his son Nguyen Phuc Yuan is not someone who will give in easily. Now that the Nguyen family controls the south, they are actually a local king.

Zheng Song has the Li Emperor in his hands, but how can he easily eliminate these separatist forces?
But if the Ming Dynasty could enthrone the Li family under his control as the King of Annan, the situation would be much better.

"Father Shang is right!" Li Weixin, who was already 23, looked even more serious and expectant than Zheng Song. "Brother, please!"

This Emperor Li was the son-in-law of Zheng Song and the brother-in-law of Zheng Chun.

Of course, he was serious and looked at Zheng Chun eagerly: "If this great event is accomplished, it will be an unprecedented achievement for the country!"

Zheng Chun looked at his brother-in-law, then looked at his father, and nodded solemnly: "I will definitely live up to your trust!"

Zheng Song felt very relieved.

Nguyen Hoang will eventually die, probably in the next few years. When the time comes, we will uphold the legal system recognized by the Ming Dynasty and make all places submit to Thang Long.

He did not notice the other meaning in the conversation between his son-in-law and his son.

The father and son discussed the details of the pilgrimage to ask for the title and left. It seemed that there was no need to tell the Emperor Li about these things.

Only Zheng Chun nodded to him before leaving.

Li Weixin looked at their backs, his hands gradually tightening the robe on his knees.

Since childhood, he knew that he was just a puppet, and his life and death depended on the thoughts of his father-in-law.

Including his father who died under unclear circumstances.

Of course he was dissatisfied. But now, he had no one around him to use. The only person he could use was Zheng Chun, the de facto "crown prince" who was also eager to gain the power of dictatorship.

However, he, the Emperor of Li, was actually a "minister who followed the dragon."

Zheng Song will not leave Thang Long again. As long as he gets the title of "King of Annan", it will be Zheng Chun's turn to lead the army out to conquer.

And your life will definitely be saved.

When Zheng Chun returns triumphantly, can he force Zheng Song to retreat? Only when all the loyal ministers from all over the country come to Thang Long will he have the opportunity to regain power.

He must continue to be patient.

After an unknown number of years, the Ming Dynasty finally summoned the vassal states to pay homage again.

The times have changed. Annan and its west have already entered the Age of Chaos.

At the southern tip of Burma, the Portuguese occupied Thanlyin, where the chieftain Philip was given the honorary title of "Vice-King of Burma" by the Governor-General of India in Goa and the King of Spain, who was now their co-lord.

After the rise of the Toungoo Dynasty in Myanmar, Lanna, which was called the Eight Hundred Great Kingdoms by the Ming Dynasty, fell into war. Chiang Mai has been captured several times, sometimes by the Toungoo Dynasty in the west, and sometimes by the Ayutthaya Dynasty in the south. Today, Lanna is still in civil strife, fighting for the title of Vice King of Lanna. As for whether this Vice King is the Vice King of Myanmar or the Vice King of Ayutthaya, it is not important.

The Ayutthaya Dynasty south of Lanna was also in the process of fighting for the throne. King Agathosarud just passed away this year, and the next king has not yet been decided.

Malacca further south and Luzon to the east share the common feature of great turmoil after the arrival of Europeans.

Many strategic locations were opened up by Europeans, the space for interests became smaller, external forces could be used, and the originally stable regional power structure was being broken up. Some have already disappeared, some are cooperating with Westerners, and some are resisting.

The sea is not peaceful in midsummer.

There are many storms and even more pirates.

This is a route from Malacca to Luzon, and then to Ryukyu and Japan.

There is another route to Guangzhou in the Eastern Empire.

The Ming Dynasty's tribute system was not abolished, and the Southeast Asian countries that had been enfeoffed in the early years still had the qualification to pay tribute and trade and arrived at the Guangdong Maritime Customs.

There are also many private traders among the people.

A fleet was sailing on the sea. This fleet consisted of one large ship and three small ones. The three small ships had guns on their sides. The one in the middle was just a pure merchant ship, and its style was very different from the other three.

The fleet was sailing through a storm with strong winds and waves.

In the cabin of the ship, a young man with a pale face was holding on to the pillar of the table in the room, trying to keep his balance. Opposite him was a Westerner. This Westerner was dressed like a general, with a short musket on his waist, sitting on a chair with ease.

"Your Highness, although we lost five years ago, the Portuguese presence in the Spice Islands will soon disappear, and it is only a matter of time before you take back your former capital. Right now, Aceh is your more pressing enemy. Since you have the help of the Dutch, why do you still need to ask for help from Ceres?"

The young man was actually not that young, but his face was pale due to the rocking of the ship, making him look younger.

He looked at the leisurely fellow opposite him and snorted coldly, "Don't think that my father and I don't know! All the people in Banda Aceh are yours!"

The Dutchman sighed when he heard this: "I have said this many times, Your Highness Jalil. Banda Aceh has us Dutch and British people, but we all came too late. The people who helped the Sultan of Aceh came from Constantinople. The Ottoman Empire has hundreds of military advisers there, guns, shipbuilding, land and sea battles, all of which are helping Aceh. However, you should also thank Aceh."

He put on a playful smile and said, "If Aceh had not conquered Batu Sawar seven years ago and captured Sultan Liayat to Aceh, your father would not have become the King of Johor today."

The Johor prince named Jalil's eyes turned cold, and he immediately returned to the capital: "What about you? You boasted so much before, but you suffered a disastrous defeat in the sea west of Lachido!"

The Dutchman's expression was no longer relaxed, and his face flushed a little. "The Portuguese will never lose Malacca again! Afonso de Castelo, the Governor of Goa, brought all the warships that have joined us from Portugal! All of them! The Conceicao weighs a thousand tons! They also have three 900-ton warships! The entire fleet has 20 ships, and except for a small boat called Antonio, almost every ship is larger than our flagship Orange!"

Jalil laughed: "Doesn't this just prove that you are unreliable?"

"...We are just a small Dutch advance fleet!" The Dutch began to curse and say something that Jalil could not understand.

How could he, a descendant of the lost Malacca dynasty, understand the situation in Europe? The descendants of the Malacca royal family are now divided into many small countries such as Johor and Aceh, and they are fighting each other.

Jalil ignored him and just said, "No matter what, since we have the news that the emperor of the upper country has ordered the vassal states to pay homage, we will go! Before you Westerners came, the upper country had set up a Xuanwei Division in Jiugang. Now, the people of the upper country's vassal states in Southeast Asia are all trapped in hardship and war. Decades ago, we asked the upper country to help us expel the Portuguese and restore our country to the old capital. But at that time, the upper country did not want to care about our vassal disputes so far away."

There was hope in his eyes: "It's different now! I heard that the new emperor of the Ming Dynasty defeated all the enemies in the north and is now looking at us!"

Now it was Jalil who had a playful expression on his face: "There are so many of you here, and I have heard a lot of stories. It turns out that the Mongols from the northern grasslands have been fighting all the way to your place. Did you know that it was the Mongols that His Majesty defeated? Instead of pinning our hopes on you, we should of course see if the country above is willing to send troops to help us."

"...Mongols." The Dutchman muttered to himself, his expression a little strange, yet a little solemn, "That was a long time ago. If they are still powerful, why is there no trace of them in Europe now? I advise you not to waste your time. Even if the Seres are powerful on land, I have never seen their warships at sea!"

"It's just that the country is vast and no longer pays attention to the ocean! Two hundred years ago, the fleet of the Ming Dynasty was much more powerful than the fleet you are coming here today! They didn't occupy the land, burn, kill and plunder like you do!"

"I have heard the story of this fleet." The Dutchman laughed. "But since we have already sailed so far, what is the point of not getting any reward? Forget it, you have to go there once and give up, then you can agree to our terms and continue cooperation. One day you will know how powerful our Dutch fleet is. As for the Portuguese and Spanish, their time is coming to an end."

Jalil stopped talking.

Because he was not sure about the outcome of this trip.

It has been a long, long time since the distant Celestial Empire came here to declare their existence.

They have been struggling to survive for so long since their capital was captured by the Portuguese and the Malacca Dynasty was destroyed nearly a hundred years ago, but the Ming Dynasty has never responded to the requests of its vassal states with action.

They searched through the few records, hoping that such a fleet would appear here again. After all, the fleet of the Celestial Empire, a country of etiquette, had passed through so many places, but there were no rumors of tyranny. Even if there were some stories, the Ming Dynasty only wanted nominal submission and tribute of precious products.

What’s more, there will be rewards as well?

On the contrary, when Westerners came here, they wanted land, ports, to station troops here for a long time, and special powers.

If the Dutch had not arrived late, they would have been like the Portuguese.

Seeing that he was silent, the Dutchman regained his composure: "Don't worry, Your Highness, this is not a big storm. We have sailed on the sea and encountered worse situations than this countless times. Trust our experienced sailors, even if this is just a so-called courtesy ship that they are not familiar with."

After that, he stood up. Although the boat was swaying from side to side, his body was as steady as if he were walking on flat ground.

As he walked out of the cabin, he said, "When we get to Seres, I'll see how powerful the Celestial Empire you mentioned is. Last time, our warships went there to seize the Portuguese stronghold, although they were unsuccessful. But the naval battle took place in front of them, and such a powerful Eastern Empire didn't react at all. If in Europe, the enemy's warships opened fire at the coast, it would be a war!"

Hearing his somewhat disdainful tone, Jalil seemed to become even more worried.

As the fleet swayed forward in the wind and waves, his mood fluctuated with it.

I was worried that all the Emperor wanted was a celebration, to see the grand spectacle of all nations coming to pay tribute, to satisfy his proud mood after defeating the powerful enemy in the north.

Why could the Ming Dynasty tolerate the Portuguese who stayed there for so long?

At this moment, all the Portuguese he was thinking about had boarded the ship and left Macau, leaving only Edgar.

The interpreter had already taken him back to Xiangshan County.

"He Zhixian, now that the Portuguese have left, we should clean up the area around Haojing'ao. The imperial court wants to demolish all of them and rebuild them into our Daming street market and wing houses. Don't worry, the money for the reconstruction will be paid by the Ministry of Property and the Maritime Customs."

"Yes, yes, I will hurry up. Thank you for your understanding, envoy!"

The magistrate of Xiangshan nodded repeatedly, thinking that what the interpreter had said before was very serious.

"You can go to Guangzhou with me to wait for the emperor." The Scripture Explanation Master said to Edgar, and then instructed another person, "Go to Dongguan, and after you meet Deputy Envoy Qin, tell me what I mean. I have sent a letter to the Fujian Coast Guard, from Penghu to Hepu, the two provinces' Coast Guards will patrol the sea and seal the borders. Western trading islands, private merchants and pirates will be eliminated when they are seen. The Nanyang Fleet is about to be built, and I hope the soldiers will be at your service. When your majesty comes to Guangzhou, only envoys, officials and merchants can enter the Pearl River estuary!"

"Your humble position is worthy of your order!"

The scripture interpreter nodded and walked out the door: "Let's go."

Edgar followed with trepidation, trying to figure out what he meant.

Is the Ming Dynasty going to ban maritime activities again?

There is also planning to build the South China Sea Fleet... What exactly is this huge Eastern empire planning to do?
(End of this chapter)