Chapter 679: If We Do This, Does It Count as Rebellion?

This time, Zhu Cizhao truly could not wash himself clean even by jumping into the South Sea!

In the official histories written afterward, he was a base, shameless, cunning, treacherous, and wildly ambitious great colonizer — a bellyful of schemes and tricks that brought bitter suffering to the people of Annam!

First, seizing on the moment of Lord Trinh's disastrous defeat at the Truong Duc rampart, he led a great army to the outskirts of Quy Hoa Prefecture; then, by a ruse, he tricked the Annamese Prefect of Quy Hoa, Trinh Hach, into coming out to greet him, and took the opportunity to detain him, leaving the Annamese forces in Quy Hoa Prefecture without a leader.

Most hateful of all, though he was plainly a great colonizer invading Annam, he still hypocritically sent an envoy — one of Trinh Hach's nephews — to Thang Long Prefecture with false news, saying that although he had arrived in flight and ruin, he was still willing to help the Annam Protectorate Command resist a powerful enemy!

He actually had the gall to claim he had come to help Lord Trinh — did he think Lord Trinh was a three-year-old child?

Lord Trinh, Trinh Trang, was a white-haired old man, already seventy-three years old this year! He was gaunt and dark, with very high cheekbones, a typical Annamese face, and looked rather ill-fated.

Twenty-two years ago he had started a war against the Nguyen clan of Quang Nam, hoping to unify all Annam under his rule. But the Buddha Lord of Quang Nam — this Lord Nguyen was apparently a Buddhist, and so styled himself the Buddha Lord; his father Nguyen Hoang must have been fond of immortality cultivation, and styled himself the Immortal Lord — Nguyen Phuc Nguyen was no easy opponent either. He placed great reliance on Portuguese engineers and mercenaries, built a Western-style army, established a navy, and in the north, using the Hoanh Son range and the Linh River as a base, constructed the Truong Duc rampart and the Truong Duc rampart, holding Trinh Trang back for a full eight years! Only after his death did Trinh Trang make some progress, and with the aid of Dutch foreign support, captured the Truong Duc rampart.

But Trinh Trang's military victories over the southern Nguyen stopped right there at the Truong Duc rampart.

In the Battle of the Truong Duc rampart, which had ended not long before, the hundred thousand troops personally led by Trinh Trang suffered an unprecedented catastrophic defeat; his elite forces were almost entirely lost. The Imperial Guard elite alone numbered in the thousands taken prisoner, while the dead and the deserters were beyond counting.

The remnant of the Imperial Guard — the Trinh army styled itself the Imperial Guard — that withdrew to Nghe An Prefecture, the Trinh clan's frontier territory, numbered fewer than twenty thousand. Their vitality was truly grievously wounded.

Had Lord Nguyen, Nguyen Phuc Lan, not suddenly died of illness, and had the Nguyen army's commander, Nguyen Phuc Tan, not had to return to take the throne, the Nguyen army would most likely have already taken Nghe An Prefecture by now.

But before Trinh Trang had time to draw an easy breath, his grandson Trinh Kieu brought him unexpected bad news from Thang Long Prefecture.

Zhu Cizhao, Prince of Yunnan of the Great Ming, commanding fifty thousand troops, had invaded Annam's Quy Hoa Prefecture from Lin'an Prefecture in Yunnan — and had even falsely claimed he had "come to seek refuge after a defeat," and falsely claimed he was willing to help the Trinh family resist the enemy.

"The Ming are cunning and faithless; they have come in betrayal of righteousness, and their intent is to destroy our Great Viet!" Trinh Kieu, in his twenties this year and somewhat frail-looking, was the eldest son of Trinh Trang's heir Trinh Tac — and of course also extremely wise. He saw through Zhu Cizhao's "scheme" at a glance, and then he made a suggestion to the old man Trinh: "Grandfather, we are now beset by enemies before and behind, and all Annam is in danger of destruction. Only by fighting with our backs to the river can we possibly turn the tide!"

"Is this your own idea, or your father's?" Trinh Trang's face was grim, his brows tightly knit; he narrowed his old eyes and fixed his gaze on this young man who very likely would inherit the position of Lord Trinh in the future.

"It is your grandson's own idea!"

"What does your father mean?" The old man Trinh's expression softened somewhat. At least the brainless one was not the next Lord Trinh — otherwise the trouble would be great indeed.

"Father advocates abandoning Thang Long and moving the Le Emperor to Thanh Hoa."

The Le Emperor he spoke of was not Le Duy Huu, who had just died, but Le Duy Huu's father, Le Duy Ky. This Le Duy Ky's temple name in history was Le Than Tong, and so he had miraculously ascended the throne twice — the first time after his father Le Kinh Tong was forced to hang himself (forced to death by Lord Trinh Trinh Tung), he ascended the throne and reigned as emperor for twenty-four years; six years ago he was coerced by Trinh Trang into abdicating and passing the throne to his son Le Chan Tong, Le Duy Huu. Last year, at the Battle of the Truong Duc rampart, Le Chan Tong died before the lines, and he was brought out again to be restored to the throne and continue as a puppet emperor — on the Ming side, he was the Annam Protectorate Command. In the original course of history, he would have been able to remain emperor for another fourteen years, not passing away until the year 1662 of the Western calendar.

"Your father is the mature and prudent one after all!" Trinh Trang sighed. "The Ming have fifty thousand troops, and the Mac clan of Cao Bang is aiding the tiger. Our army now has only twenty thousand — how are we to resist? Moreover, the Nguyen rebels may march north at any time. How could our Trinh family possibly defeat so many enemies at once?"

"But the situation will not improve after abandoning Thang Long either!" Trinh Kieu was still not quite resigned.

"How will it not improve?" Trinh Trang said coldly. "Nguyen Phuc Tan is also an Annamese. Will he sit and watch the Ming destroy our house and our country? Once Thang Long falls into Ming hands, he will have no choice but to join forces with our family. A Trinh-Nguyen alliance, though it cannot immediately expel the Ming, can still make the war drag on and on. Right now the Ming state is likewise suffering the calamity of dynastic collapse — half of the north has fallen, and in Sichuan a Shun dynasty has risen. So the Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang cannot possibly fight a protracted war against us in Annam."

So this was his plan — to form an Annamese united front against the Ming!

"Grandfather, Father says the same — but your grandson still worries that the Ming will prop up the Mac traitors to take Thang Long." Trinh Kieu said, "If that truly happens, I fear the Le dynasty will be very hard to revive."

The Mac traitors were the Lord Mac who had taken refuge in Cao Bang. It was his family's doing that Annam had been changed from a kingdom into a Protectorate Command, and so in the eyes of most Annamese, the Lord Mac was a traitor to the nation!

Trinh Trang waved his hand: "My mind is made up. Abandon Thang Long, move the Le Emperor, and contend with the Ming to the very end!"

Zhu Cizhao had never had any thought of attacking and occupying Thang Long Prefecture — and moreover, he did not know that Thang Long Prefecture was the capital of the kingdom of Annam. He did not know there was a kingdom of Annam at all!

Annam had been incorporated into the empire back in the time of the Jiajing Emperor. On Ming maps there was no kingdom of Annam, only an Annam Protectorate Command. The Annam Protectorate had originally been of the Mac surname, and now was of the Le surname, stationed at Thang Long Prefecture. Zhu Cizhao was Prince of Yunnan and the full younger brother of the present Son of Heaven of the Great Ming. He had brought his men to seek refuge with the Annam Protectorate Command — surely the Protector, Le somebody-or-other, ought to give him a proper reception?

How could they just run — abandon the city and flee? What was the meaning of this?

Why would a Ming official flee at the sight of a Ming Commandery Prince?

What was to be done now?

Zhu Cizhao, who had led his great army to the outskirts of Thang Long Prefecture, did not know for the moment what to do either.

He was the Prince of Yunnan, and now, having lost his fief, he had come to seek refuge with the Annam Protectorate — only to have frightened the Annam Protector into flight. If this matter were told abroad, surely no one would believe it!

"What should we do?"

Inside the main army tent, hearing the Prince of Yunnan's question, Zhang Yong, Qiu Lei, and Qiu Mengmei were all at a loss for the moment.

After no one knew how long, Zhang Yong was heard to speak: "How about... we enter the city!"

"Enter the city?" Zhu Cizhao was somewhat uneasy. "Is that appropriate? Can it be explained clearly?"

Indeed — how could it be explained?

Was he supposed to tell Zhu Cilang: I did not send troops to attack the Annam Protectorate; he fled on his own... I saw that Thang Long was quite nice, so I moved in!

Who would believe such a thing? Not even a fool would believe it — and Zhu Cilang was no fool.

"It can be explained clearly," Qiu Mengmei said. "At worst, we submit a memorial of self-accusation explaining the misunderstanding and ask the court to send someone to investigate."

It was just like her to think of such a thing — not asking pardon for the great crime of abandoning Yunnan, yet submitting a memorial of self-accusation for the great merit of occupying Annam.

"Would my Imperial Brother misunderstand and think I am rebelling?" Zhu Cizhao was still uneasy!

He was no longer the ignorant youth of a few years ago; he knew now that rebellion meant losing one's head.

Zhang Yong and Qiu Lei glanced at each other, both thinking: strictly speaking, this really did seem to be rebellion!

A Ming prince, leading thirty thousand troops, had occupied the seat of a Ming Protectorate Command's office — and without an imperial edict, and moreover this Protectorate Command did not seem to have done anything treasonous.

If this was not rebellion, then what was rebellion?

"We must explain it thoroughly." Qiu Mengmei said, "His Majesty is not an unreasonable man. What we say is all the truth; he will certainly send someone to investigate, and once the investigation is clear, he will believe us."

She paused. "If that truly will not do, then write to the Retired Emperor and ask him to speak a word. I believe His Majesty will, for the Retired Emperor's sake, spare Your Highness."

"Alas," Zhu Cizhao sighed: "It seems there is no choice but that. We are truly ill-fated!"

(End of Chapter)