Father can be an enemy to the country

When he received the good news, Zhu Zhen was already on his southern tour. The summer heat in the southwest in August finally subsided a little, and he was finally released by the princesses.

Accompanying him on his journey south was his father-in-law Wang Bi.

Duke Dingguo escorted Wang Runer, mother and son, and arrived in Kunming last month. After resting for a month, he followed Zhu Zhen on his southern tour.

They set off from Yongchang, passed through Ruili, inspected the former capital of Luchuan Kingdom, and then took Baojing Road from Tengyue Prefecture to Yunyuanfu... which was later called Kachin State.

The good news sent back by Annan was received in the dense forests of northern Myanmar.

"How could a two-foot-thick city wall be destroyed by a cannon?" Wang Bi looked incredulous after reading it and asked, "Even if we blow off all the city bricks on the outside, we can't do anything to the rammed earth layer inside, right? "

"What if the rammed earth layer inside disappears?" Zhu Zhen asked with a smile.

"Ah?" Wang Bi opened his mouth and said, "How could a good person disappear?"

"This is Yao Guangxiao's plan. Otherwise, no matter how arrogant I am, I would not send only 20,000 troops to attack Annan." Zhu Zhen explained to his father-in-law:

"When the king Chen Riwei was still alive, he discussed with Dao Yan how to deal with Hu Ji Yao after killing his uncle."

"Dao Yan came up with a frame-up plan. At that time, the Shenglong City Wall suffered a serious collapse, and Hu Jisao was appointed as the 'Director of Construction of the Capital City Wall'. However, he was the prime minister and had to fight on the front line for most of the year. It’s too busy at all. This gives Dao Yan room to operate.”

"He discovered that the reason why the Thang Long city wall often collapsed was because the city was built too close to the Red River, and groundwater flowed under the foundation. Over time, the foundation was softened by the flowing water and collapsed, and the city wall above it was naturally destroyed. "

"This problem is difficult to solve. We can only keep filling in the foundations, and it will have to be rebuilt in ten or eight years, which will cause a great loss to the national power. So Hu Jiya offered a large reward to see if anyone can solve it once and for all. This problem."

"Dao Yan privately found Zhang Tianshi, who was deeply trusted by Hu Ji Ya, and asked him to recommend an architect who was known as the strongest architect in the Ming Dynasty. After the two met, Hu Ji Ya was deceived by that person, and he was convinced of his level. Doubtful. And the most cruel thing is that the person said that he can withhold the money, but if there is no problem with the city wall after 20 years, he will pay double the money. "

"Hu Jishao was completely impressed by this confidence, so he entrusted him with the task of rebuilding the city wall. The man demolished the entire east city wall and laid the foundation again. The project was huge, and he spent money like water. He killed more than 100,000 civilians and caused resentment in both the government and the public. "

"Chen Riwei also put eye drops on Hu Jiya every day, ordering him to reduce costs and complete the project within a deadline. Hu Jiya was under increasing pressure and could no longer take care of the century-old city wall or image projects. He also urged the architect to hurry up. Completed.”

"Now the supervision is not strict. He just has to go out to fight again. No one asks him what kind of work he does. Anyway, I hope he will finish the job quickly." Zhu Zhen smiled at Wang Bi and said: "Have you ever heard of the tofu project? ? It’s not easy to do a good job, but it’s not easy to do a bad job?”

"Actually, he had already begun to take action before Hu Jima relaxed his request. He had people dig two feet under the foundation of the city wall and fill it with sand. This greatly reduced the bearing capacity of the foundation, and once the groundwater passed by, It can be pulled out of the ditch directly.”

"Then when ramming the soil, a certain proportion of fine sand must be mixed to enhance adhesion and prevent cracking. However, there is very little fine sand in Thang Long, and sea sand cannot be used, so we have to go to rivers hundreds of miles away to find fine sand. . The architect replaced the fine sand with gravel in order to save costs. In fact, as soon as he relaxed his request, the peasants would intensify their efforts and even pour stones in. "

"The man also halved the frequency of ramming soil on the pretext of saving time... There are many other small tricks like this, but no one saw them through at all. Maybe some workers understood it and didn't bother to take care of it. It's the end of the dynasty, you know. "

"Understood." Wang Bi nodded. At that time, the common people wished that the country was over and all the dog officials should die. Who would care about this?

~~

"But that man had enough bricks. He built a house outside the rammed earth layer. It looked grand and strong, and no one could see through it. Before Chen Riwei killed his uncle, Yao Guangxiao went out of his way to find that man. After looking at the observation holes left behind, I saw that after several rainy seasons, the inside of the city wall was basically empty, and it was only supported by the outer brick shell. This is where his confidence lies. "

"Although brick walls have good load-bearing capacity, they are too rigid and cannot absorb stress at all, so they are easily broken by artillery shells." Zhu Zhen continued with a smile:

"Originally Yao Guangxiao thought that the city wall could withstand ten or eight rounds of shelling. Who knew that the quality of the bricks made by the Annan people was so poor that the city wall collapsed in one shelling. What a coincidence, the 'Huji Feo' was just right It was buried directly under the city wall."

"Now the army has no owner and is in complete chaos. My fourth brother led the army into the city and killed Shenglong City directly. It's like being invincible!"

"In the end, Annan's imperial army was completely wiped out in the first battle. The two sons of 'Hu Ji Mao' escaped and wanted to escape back to Qinghua's home base before making plans. But those troops who had surrendered to the Hu family also died in 'Hu Ji Mao' Later, they all turned against each other, and they were captured and sent back to Thang Long City. My uncle Ling Chi executed the two brothers, chopped up Hu Ji Feo's body, fed it to dogs, and brutally exposed it to the elders of the Chen Dynasty. Bad breath."

"Then my uncle threatened to lead his army back to the country, but he was detained by the dignitaries of Thang Long City. Because the Cham Kingdom took the opportunity to break through Hai Van Pass... My father-in-law didn't know, so he just regarded it as their country's gate." Zhu Zhen continued:

"Because the terrain there is too dangerous, Haiyun Pass is almost impossible to break. Therefore, the Champa Kingdom has attacked Thang Long several times before, just like the Sanya Fleet. They have entered by sea. But they can only plunder and retreat. Now Haiyun After the change of hands, the Champa Kingdom can permanently occupy the land of Annan. "

"The fall of Haiyun Pass caused a shock to Annan, even more serious than the death of the king and 'Hu Ji Feo'. The mansions in the south immediately surrendered without any resistance. If our army leaves, Annan will be affected now. If the pots are clean and the dishes are clean, then it’s not like the heifer rolled its eyes and it’s over.”

"That's right." Wang Bi nodded and said: "If they want to avoid subjugation, they can only hold on to our thighs."

"However, my uncle insisted on leaving. He said that he could not stay to help them fight without the will, unless there was a reason to stay." Zhu Zhen said with a proud smile:

"And many years ago, I had prepared for a rainy day and sent Yao Guangxiao and Zhang Maoxiu to preach. Yao Guangxiao was just an ordinary guy. His business ability was average, but the latter was the genuine Zhang Tianshi. I don't know how much he has received from the Princes of Annan over the years. Disciple, these people are all pro-Ming sects, so they immediately gathered around. "

"Their reasons are also very good. Annan is going to die anyway. Rather than being ruled by the Champa below, it is better to become a part of the Ming Dynasty! Although many Annan people disagree, but the situation is forced, no one dares to object. This By now they should have boarded the shipping company's ship and gone to Nanjing to present their land to my father. "

"My uncle and fourth brother can only stay in Annan. Otherwise, if my father agrees to take it over, Annan is already dead. How embarrassing would it be?" Zhu Zhen finally said.

"Haha, indeed." Wang Bi couldn't help but admire: "It was as effortless as a chef undressing a cow, and he took down this hard bone."

After a pause, he became worried again: "It's just that we don't have many troops in Annan. Can we deal with the Cham Army?"

"It's a little difficult to eliminate them, but it's easy to stop them." Zhu Zhen said confidently:

"The reason why the Champa country can bully Annan is not because of how strong their army is. In fact, the Champa army is very defeated. The real reason is that their navy is strong, so they can come and go freely, and they can beat Annan when they draw the cage." As he spoke, he raised his thick eyebrows and looked at Zixiong and said:

"When it comes to the navy, I am not targeting anyone. Everyone here is rubbish."

Zhu Zhen smiled slyly and said: "However, we have to let them run around for a few more years until we have completely digested Annan. If they don't know what they are doing by then, we will send them on their way. But before we digest Annan, they Still very useful.”

"Yes." Wang Bi nodded in agreement, thinking that usually the ministers raised the bandits to prevent the emperor from killing them. The prince raised the bandits in Annan, but what he was guarding against was the gang of people who wanted to cross the river and demolish the bridges... It was the reverse of "raising bandits to respect themselves". .

~~

After passing through the jungles of northern Myanmar, the terrain gradually became smoother, the roads became easier to walk, and there were more villages and cities.

This was the core area of ​​the original Ava Dynasty. In Ava, the former capital of the dynasty, Zhu Zhen met with local officials and chieftains from various prefectures and ministries in Yunnan.

After having a cordial and friendly conversation with them, Zhu Zhen led them to continue south to Bago.

It was already September when we arrived in Bago.

In Bago Port, there is the first large-scale shipyard established by Zhu Zhen outside the mainland.

Although it is still unable to compare with Longjiang Factory and Suzhou Factory in all aspects, it has mobilized more than 2,000 skilled craftsmen from the mainland in batches, and the shipbuilding talents trained by Guozi University have also been put in place, catching up with the mainland. It is only a matter of time before the big manufacturers reach the level.

Moreover, Bago Shipyard has an advantage that mainland factories cannot match, that is, it can use high-quality wood from the forests of northern Myanmar nearby. There is no need to transport the wood all the way back to start work like the Longjiang factory.

This greatly reduces costs and improves efficiency, so Zhu Zhen believes that in time this place will replace Longjiang Factory and become the most powerful shipyard in Ming Dynasty!

Although the Bago factory is not the most powerful shipyard, it can already build large treasure ships with 4,000 materials.

Zhu Zhen happily boarded the first treasure ship built by the Bago Factory and saw that the craftsmen had made the ship beautiful and luxurious. No expense was spared in the use of beautiful teak decks and hulls. Teak is neither afraid of fire nor shells. It was originally used to make aircraft carrier decks. In this era, it is synonymous with invincibility.

This "Bago" is the famous work of Bago Shipyard, and it is also the prince's ship dedicated to Zhu Zhen.

From now on, all large treasure ships of this class will be called Prince class.

Zhu Zhen invited those chieftains who had never been to the sea in their lives to join the maiden voyage of this prince-class treasure ship.

The giant ship slowly moved southward along the Malay Peninsula. On the ship, Zhu Zhen could see Mu Ying and his cavalry following him along the way. The Duke of Burma, whose power is unfathomable, has pacified the entire Malay Peninsula.

As the fleet moved south, the chieftains saw that the mainland on both sides was getting closer and closer, and finally a narrow strait was formed. This is the choke point between the South China Sea and the West - the Strait of Malacca.

At the end of the strait, on the side of the Malay Peninsula is a large island called Temasek, which, like the Adam's apple of the throat, guards the entrance to the Strait of Malacca.

Temasek is the base of the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang Fleet and the destination of Zhu Zhen's journey.

When Zhu Zhen's huge ship docked, he was greeted not only by Yu Tongyuan, Liao Dingguo and other old brothers of the Shibo Fleet, but also by the kings and chiefs of 36 Nanyang countries and city-states, including Java, Malacca, Bintonglong, Zhenla, Siam, Sumatra, Ambergris Island, Cuilan Island, Aru, Ceylon, Sulu, etc.

The reason why they came in such a large group was, of course, because the Nanyang Fleet sent a post to inform them that the prince was coming to inspect and invited them to come and greet them together.

But to be honest, there were too many people coming, and Zhu Zhen couldn't remember who came. But he remembered clearly who didn't come.

Most of the few who didn't come were small shrimps that were not worth mentioning. There was only one behemoth, which was the Majapahit Kingdom on the opposite Java Island.

Before the Nanyang Fleet came, this country was considered a hegemon in Nanyang. It did not accept the Yuan Dynasty's offer and even humiliated the Yuan envoy.

After the Nanyang Fleet arrived, they were still dissatisfied. They sent troops to attack several times, but were repelled by the Nanyang Fleet. However, the Nanyang Fleet was new and had not yet established a firm foothold. For the time being, it was just defending and not fighting back.

With such a bad relationship between the two sides, the king would certainly not come to pay homage to Lao Liu.

Zhu Zhen publicly ordered Yu Tongyuan: "Let's review the troops first, and then destroy them."

It was as simple as buying a piece of tofu at the entrance of the village.

~~

Zhu Zhen had held military parades many times, but this was the first time he had a military parade at sea. In order to show his muscles to the Nanyang countries and the chieftains on the Indochina Peninsula, Zhu Zhen specially ordered the Sanya Fleet to participate in this military parade.

Therefore, the sea surface between Temasek and Batam Island, which is more than 30 miles wide, is densely packed with 25 three-layer gunboats of 4,000 tons, 50 double-layer gunboats of 2,000 tons, and more than 200 warships of various types below 2,000 tons. It seems that the strait is full. It is not an exaggeration to say that the masts are like forests and the sails cover the sky.

What is even more terrifying is that so many warships are lined up neatly on the bumpy sea, and they can also perform a split performance. I really don’t know how they did it.

Except for the group of chieftains who came from Outer Yunnan with Zhu Zhen to watch the fun, most of the other kings and chiefs came from coastal regimes and had their own navy, so they knew the terribleness of the Ming army fleet!

I saw that the Ming army’s warships moved quickly with the sound of the cannon, and in less than a meal, they switched from the review mode to a huge combat cluster!

Then all the warships opened fire together, literally thousands of cannons roared in unison, and amid the earth-shaking cannon sounds, thousands of shells hit the target ship cluster like hail!

As long as your eyes are not too short-sighted, you can see that the target ships are all kinds of Nanyang warships, which are all pirate ships captured by the Ming army when suppressing bandits at sea. They are even smuggling ships sent by these kings and chiefs.

These small countries cannot afford a professional navy, so they all adopt this semi-official and semi-bandit cooperation model to safeguard their own interests on the sea.

But now they see that after that round of bombardment, all the target ships were torn into pieces by the whistling shells, leaving only some broken masts, broken sails and broken wood floating on the sea.

All the spectators were shocked and their hearts were broken.

Zhu Zhen told them that if they surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and returned to China forever, they could be Chinese!

Otherwise, they would be punished even if they were far away, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

With Zhu Zhen's powerful warning, the fleet set sail and headed for Java!

A month later, they brought back the head of the king of Majapahit. Zhu Zhen passed it on to other countries.

From then on, all of Nanyang was Ming territory!

[End of the book]