Chapter 596: The Treaty of Fuyuan (Part Two)

Unlike the colonial treaties of later ages, the "Treaty of Fuyuan" that the transmigrator tossed out never took the colonial path from the very start.

When later colonizers forced native regimes to sign treaties, most of the time their focus was on commerce.

Take the famous Opium War series, for example. The most important terms — indemnities, the Five Ports Trade, conventional tariffs, abolishing the Cohong system, permitting free trade — were all aimed at breaking open the shackles on British merchants' trade with China.

As for the relationship between colonizers and native regimes — honestly, when the Manchu Qing government collapsed, no one wept more bitterly than the British. Where else could they ever find a regime so cooperative in letting colonizers suck the blood of its own people?

So, most of the time, the relatively small number of colonizers aimed to make money, not to overthrow. Their core demand was to transform colonies into raw material suppliers and dumping grounds for industrial goods.

But the transmigrator was different.

From the very beginning, the transmigrator came aiming for outright annexation.

This central idea, embodied in the treaty, first manifested in the disappearance of the word "Concession."

In the "Treaty of Fuyuan," the concession clauses indispensable in later ages did not appear. Because there was a sovereignty trap here: having a concession was tantamount to acknowledging that this land had an owner — otherwise, why would you need to rent it?

So, whether it was playing dumb or deceiving themselves, from this treaty onward, there were only names like "Embassy District" and "Free Trade Zone" — terms that diluted the host-guest relationship.

A very simple case of taking precautions before the rain.

As for the other trade-related clauses in the treaty, although at first glance they seemed similar to those of later ages, in execution they would be poles apart.

In this plane, with Annam about to have its gates smashed open by iron cannons, what the crossing faction would carry out was the long-term policy of "Cage Replacement Bird Swap." Under such circumstances, a script of "vigorously developing the local economy" certainly would not appear.

Even if development were to happen, it would have to wait until far in the future. Most of those trade-related clauses in the treaty were actually smokescreens. The real purpose was to dissolve the personal bondage of Annam's lower classes, making it easier for them to migrate freely in the future.

That very evening.

The Forbidden City, the Imperial Palace, Shenglong Prefecture.

It must be said, Shenglong Prefecture not only had a Forbidden City, but all its constructions — the inner and outer cities, the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Way, the Three Great Halls — were in fact identical to those of the Central Plains dynasties, except smaller in scale.

Tonight, inside the great hall of the Imperial Palace, Guangnan Red Candles thick as a child's arm were stuck all over the walls as if they cost nothing, the hall brightly lit with every detail visible. The ruler, ministers, civil and military officials of Annam's Later Le Dynasty were gathered here to discuss grand strategy together.

At that moment, a tall, lean, powerful middle-aged samurai, wearing thin armor and with his hair bound in a topknot by a red brocade band, stood in the hall speaking with fervor: "Your Majesty, Prince, in the current situation, we have no choice but to stake everything on a desperate fight. Otherwise, the national fate of our Great Yue Kingdom cannot be preserved!"

"I beseech the Prince to give the order: immediately send envoys to make peace with the Nguyen Lords. Then pull back the great army from the Zheng River line in the south, and combine it with the various camps near Shenglong Prefecture. Unite our forces and fight the Ming Army to the death!"

The man who spoke these words brimming with killing intent was the Central Prefecture Grand General, Zheng Yu.

Annam's Central Prefecture Grand General, placed in our Qing Dynasty, would be the Nine Gates Infantry Commander — equivalent to the garrison commander of Shenglong Prefecture, a military officer of extremely high political standing.

Such a critical position, the reigning Prince Zheng Zhuang naturally had to entrust to a trusted confidant. This Zheng Yu was in fact one of Zheng Zhuang's younger clan cousins.

In ordinary times, when a trusted general like Zheng Yu laid out military strategy in the hall, the assembled ministers would certainly deliberate and weigh it before deciding how to respond. After all, what came out of this fellow's mouth might well be the Prince's own intent.

But today was different.

As soon as Zheng Yu's voice fell, a shrill, aged voice immediately rose from the side: "Easy for you to say. If we recall the great army, how do we fight the Ming Army's giant ships? Have you swum across the great river outside the prefecture docks?"

The speaker was a gaunt old man wearing a civil official's robe. At the same time, several other civil officials beside the old man, similarly dressed in official robes, were also nodding, collectively expressing their dissatisfaction with Zheng Yu's absurd remarks.

Seeing this, Zheng Yu hurriedly explained: "We could perhaps lure the enemy into attacking, or perhaps strengthen our defenses and clear the countryside. In any case, the grand strategy of war and defense cannot be treated lightly!"

"Is this pretending to be blind? Ridiculous!"

This time, the old man from before simply flung his sleeve and stepped out from the ranks: "The Ming ships come and go as they please. Every time they finish firing their guns, they go out to sea to repair, and return again a few days later. You and I both know full well that those people are blatantly relying on their sturdy ships and powerful cannons to repeatedly harass our Great Yue capital, and this tactic has been quite effective."

The old man loudly demanded: "Zheng Yu, you tell me — how utterly stupid would the Ming people have to be to fall for your scheme and drive their crewmen ashore to attack the city?"

"Furthermore, even if the Ming people did come ashore for a land battle — humph — what do you have to say about those two thousand elite troops who were slaughtered by the Ming people in a single night at Hengpu County (Hongji) the other day?"

"Right now, Shenglong Prefecture is already half in ruins. There is no need for you, Zheng Yu, to strengthen defenses and clear the countryside. Before long, the scholars and commoners will likely be enduring hunger and cold, scattering in all directions, and then rising up as bandits."

After refuting Zheng Yu point by point, the old man no longer paid him any attention, but instead turned to face the throne platform: "Your Majesty, Prince, in the present situation, the Ming people's sudden attack has already shaken the foundation of our Great Yue. At this rate, within half a year, we shall be the ruler and ministers of a fallen state!"

At this point, the old man clasped his hands, bowed deeply in a grand salute, then removed the thin-gauze, stiff-winged official's cap from his head and held it in his hands. With a look of earnest entreaty, he said: "This old minister dares to speak boldly. The only plan now is to feign compliance with the Ming people and temporarily go along with them. When in the future we have probed their true strength and weaknesses, planned carefully, and then acted, we will surely be able to drive out the Ming people, and the court and country can then revive!"

After listening to the old official's speech, a middle-aged man wearing a four-clawed python robe, seated high on the second tier of the throne steps, finally showed some emotion.

This man was none other than the Later Le Dynasty's current regent and power-holding minister, the Qingdu King: Zheng Zhuang.

And the young man seated on the highest tier of the throne platform, wearing an imperial robe, expressionless, like a wooden statue, was the eighteenth emperor of the Later Le Dynasty: Le Than Tong, Li Weiqi.

Thirteen years ago, the then-powerful minister of the Later Le Dynasty, Zheng Song, forced the then-emperor Le Kinh Tong to hang himself, and then installed his son, Li Weiqi — at that time still a small child — as emperor.

Thirteen years later, Zheng Song was dead. Yet Zheng Song's son, Zheng Zhuang, still sat beside Emperor Li Weiqi in the capacity of a powerful minister.

The current Later Le Dynasty was in an Annamese version of the late Han era: a powerful minister holding the son to command the feudal lords, frequently launching punitive wars against the separatist forces in the south.

Unfortunately, in this plane, Prince Zheng's process of unifying the country had been interrupted by the intruding transmigrator. Today, Zheng Zhuang, who should have been sitting high in the hall listening to ministers' reports on attacking the Southern Ruan Clan, had instead been forced to listen to a bellyful of fierce debate between the war and peace factions.

Matters having reached this point, seeing that the usually cautious court ministers were now speaking all kinds of national-destruction rhetoric without any restraint, Zheng Zhuang knew that with great calamity suddenly upon them and the state on the verge of ruin, a decision on the Ming people's treaty had to be made.

In the next moment, the square-faced, broad-bearded, potbellied Prince Zheng first waved his hand to signal General Zheng Yu to withdraw, and then gently soothed the old man: "Li Sima, seasoned in statecraft, has spoken from the heart. No crime, but merit."

Immediately after, Zheng Zhuang turned his head to look at the key figure who had gone as an envoy to the enemy ships today: Zheng Chuntang.

"Zheng Chuntang, you tell me — do these Ming people truly harbor the intent to destroy our state?"

Zheng Chuntang, who had been standing silently to the side doing his utmost to reduce his presence, broke out in cold sweat at this moment. He knew this was a critical juncture. His forthcoming answer would influence how the entire Northern Zheng Clan faced the Ming people in the future. The immense pressure made Zheng Chuntang sweat like dripping paste.

"Reporting to the Prince." No matter his inner state, as the chief envoy who had boarded the Ming ship, Zheng Chuntang had to step forward and speak clearly: "In this humble official's view, the Ming people this time are excellently armed, and moreover arrogant and overbearing. They have come prepared."

"The current situation is perilous. Our Great Yue Kingdom faces a powerful enemy without and the disloyal within. In this humble official's opinion, it would not hurt to feign compliance for a while and await future days."

Zheng Zhuang was now thoroughly clear on the opinions of the officials below.

Apart from a small number of unyielding hardliners, everyone else, including the vast majority of civil officials, belonged to the "surrender faction" that approved of signing a treaty with the Ming people.

The most important reason here, aside from the sturdy ships and powerful cannons, was something the civil officials had already made clear: the Southern Ruan Clan.

Annam's territory was long and narrow, which easily created a north-south confrontation. Historically, the Annamese had spent a great deal of time engaged in their own north-south conflicts. Even in later ages, in the 1960s, the north and south had fought a massive war before reunifying.

Therefore, all along, for the Northern Zheng Clan, who "held the son" and possessed legal legitimacy, their greatest enemy was the Southern Ruan Clan, which had carved up half the realm. This point could not be changed even when the Ming people's giant ships and cannons were blasting at their gates.

Thus, in the debate just now, the civil officials had, explicitly or implicitly, all hinted to the ruler: they could not fight the Ming people to the death, or the Ruan Clan would reap the fisherman's profit.

In fact, Zheng Zhuang did not need the civil officials' reminder. As the minister governing the state, he could naturally see this point. And he foresaw an even worse scenario: the Ming people colluding with the Ruan Clan to directly overthrow the Later Le Dynasty and install a new dynasty.

Zheng Zhuang was absolutely certain the Ming people were capable of this. Because all along, even further north of Shenglong Prefecture, in Cao Bang City near the Great Ming border, a faction of "Former Mac Dynasty Remnants" still survived as a separatist force that the Zheng Clan had never been able to exterminate. The root cause was that these Mac Dynasty remnants had received an official title from the Ming Dynasty back then and still maintained the signboard of "legitimacy," with the Ming people backing them from behind.

This sort of thing had happened many times — whenever a state living within the tributary system of the Central Plains dynasty experienced a struggle for succession or a dynastic change, the victor would invariably send envoys at the first moment to request investiture from the Chinese Emperor.

In summary, after gathering a great deal of opinion and weighing all the pros and cons, Zheng Zhuang finally made up his mind to "negotiate peace" with the Ming people.

"My mind is made up. Even if it is poisoned wine, we can only drink it down for now."

"Zheng Chuntang!"

"Your servant is here."

"Tomorrow morning, send someone to the Ming ship to negotiate with the Ming People."

"As you command!"

Having Be Resolved To, Zheng Zhuang quickly decided on the peace-talk envoy.

With the general direction set, the next step was naturally to find a way to bargain with the Ming People: "Attendant, invite the Dutch Merchants into the hall."