Chapter 681: The Great Statesman

In the eyes of the Ming court at Nanjing, Zhu Cizhao's situation in Annam was extremely dangerous; one careless slip and he would fall into the vast ocean of the Annamese people's war. With the twenty or thirty thousand scattered troops Zhu Cizhao had on hand, it was fundamentally impossible for him to hold out in the Kingdom of Annam for long.

Nor did the Ming have any powerful armed forces in Guangdong and Guangxi. The "refugee soldiers" of Cao Youyi, Provincial Military Commander of Guangdong and concurrently General of Guangzhou, were at present still at the level of putting on a show and scaring the Guangdong folk, and only the twenty or thirty thousand northern troops under Jin Shenghuan, Provincial Military Commander of Guangxi, had any real fighting capacity.

Relying on Jin Shenghuan's twenty or thirty thousand men plus the twenty or thirty thousand under Zhu Cizhao, at the very most that made fifty or sixty thousand troops, and their equipment was not of a high standard either — they had only a small quantity of new-style firearms, and could not use them proficiently. If it came to a major fight with the Annamese, there really was no chance of victory.

What was worse, it was now early summer of the second year of Hongxing. In summer there was no north wind; seagoing ships sailing north from Annam to Nanjing had the wind at their backs all the way and could arrive very quickly. But sailing ships going south from Nanjing to Annam had to struggle along on the southeast wind, and their speed was very slow. And if one stayed too long at sea, one had to beware of typhoons — a moment's carelessness and ship and men would all be lost!

So for the time being the Ming court had no way to send a large army to Annam, and could only send edicts to Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi He Tengjiao, Governor of Guangdong Su Guansheng, Governor of Guangxi Qu Shisi, Provincial Military Commander of Guangdong Cao Youyi, and Provincial Military Commander of Guangxi Jin Shenghuan, ordering them to find a way to make contact with the southern Nguyen, so as to conclude the secret pact of "Champa in exchange for Thang Long."

At the same time, Zhu Cilang also swiftly issued an edict establishing the Ca Mau Land Reclamation Office (in charge of developing the Ca Mau Peninsula and the lower Jiulong River), appointing Chen Yongxi as Ca Mau Land Reclamation Commissioner, with Shi Daxuan (recommended by Zheng Zhilong), Chen Zisheng (younger brother of Chen Zizhuang, Chongzhen's lecturer, recommended by He Tengjiao), and Chen Maoxiu (a Hakka, grandson of the famous Wanli-era general Chen Lin, recommended by Su Guansheng) as deputy commissioners.

Moreover, he ordered Shi Daxuan to immediately lead troops (Dongning troops) by sea to occupy Saigon — if an agreement could be reached with the Nguyen lord, then Saigon could just be thrown in as a bonus; the Nguyen lord did not even want Champa anymore, so why would he care about Saigon?

If no agreement could be reached, then the Nguyen lord must not be allowed to use Saigon to interfere with the operations of the Ming Ca Mau Land Reclamation Office.

So they might as well strike first and seize Saigon, and talk about it afterward!

In short, His Majesty the Great Emperor Zhu in Nanjing had already prepared for the worst!

But greatly beyond the Ming court's expectations, on the ground in Annam, ever since Zhu Cizhao had taken up residence in Thang Long Prefecture, things seemed to have been perfectly peaceful.

Because after occupying Thang Long Prefecture, that muddle-headed, reckless prince Zhu Cizhao displayed extremely high political acumen — at any rate, in the official histories written later, Zhu Cizhao was presented to posterity as a great colonizer and a great statesman.

This great colonizer, who had led tens of thousands of troops in a surprise attack on the Trinh lord of Annam, was truly shameless to the extreme: he had clearly occupied the capital of the Kingdom of Annam, yet he kept right on playing innocent and playing the pure-hearted one.

First, he restrained his troops. After entering Thang Long, they committed no offense against the people and took not a single thing from the Annamese common folk — the property the Trinh lord had left behind in Thang Long was naturally taken by him to reward the three armies!

Second, he posted proclamations to reassure the people, declaring that he was merely passing through the Annam Military Commission and absolutely did not intend to seize the Le clan's commissionership; as soon as Commissioner Le returned, he would immediately hand back Thang Long.

Third, he formed an autonomous Thang Long Prefecture government, using local Annamese scholar-officials of Thang Long Prefecture to govern Thang Long, with the Prince of Yunnan's palace not interfering — this move was insidious to the extreme! Because the Trinh lord's base was the two prefectures of Thanh Hoa and Nghe An, the officials he appointed were mostly scholars from those two prefectures. The northern Annamese around Thang Long Prefecture were not trusted by the Trinh lord. Now that Zhu Cizhao was promoting northern Annamese to office, granting Thang Long autonomy, and declaring that he would welcome back the Le king, he won the hearts of the Thang Long scholars in one stroke.

Finally, after the Trinh lord refused to allow the Le king to return to Thang Long, Zhu Cizhao sent men to invite the Cao Bang Mo clan and the Tuyen Quang Vu clan, the two separatist powers of northern Annam, to send representatives to Thang Long to discuss the aftermath together — the truth was that Zhu Cizhao himself did not know how to handle the aftermath, but in the eyes of the Mo lord of Cao Bang and the Bao lord of Tuyen Quang (the Tuyen Quang Vu clan styled themselves "Bao lord"), the Great Ming Celestial Court very likely intended to support them. If this Prince of Yunnan of the Great Ming really was just passing through, and the Trinh lord was detaining the Le king and preventing his return to Thang Long, then would the Great Ming Celestial Court not appoint a new Annam Military Commissioner?

At present the Trinh lord was reeling and had not yet recovered from the disastrous defeat at Truong Duc rampart, and for the time being had no strength to counterattack.

The Nguyen lord had just changed hands, and the southern Nguyen army had also suffered heavy casualties in the great battle at Truong Duc rampart; moreover, the southern Nguyen and the northern Trinh were still in a state of hostility, so of course they preferred to watch from a distance.

Both the Mo lord Mo Jingyu and the Bao lord Vu Cong Duc were hoping to gain some advantage from the Prince of Yunnan, Zhu Cizhao, so they too held their troops in place, and each sent envoys to Thang Long to pay their respects to Zhu Cizhao.

Inside the "Commissioner's Residence" (the Le emperor's palace) in Thang Long Prefecture city, which looked rather shabby no matter how one looked at it, the Prince of Yunnan of the Great Ming was at this moment, with a helpless expression, pouring out his grievances to two envoys of the Mo and Vu families, both somewhat advanced in years and clearly shrewd and capable.

"However down and out We may be, We are still a Commandery Prince of the Great Ming. How could We possibly travel a thousand li to seize the office of Annam Military Commissioner? Besides, the Annam Military Commissionership is an office appointed by the court. Although it is not a circulating official post but a hereditary native office held by the descendants of the Le clan, it is not something just anyone can seize by force of arms. This Le Duy Ky and Trinh Trang must have gone senile. Your two houses must not be like them and abandon your lands and flee!

You are all officials appointed by the Great Ming court, the fathers and mothers of the common people of this land of Annam. You cannot simply run away!"

"What Your Highness says is most excellent."

"Our master will certainly discharge his duties diligently and will not abandon his lands and leave."

The envoys of the Mo and Vu families voiced their agreement, but inwardly they were thinking: Did you not yourself abandon your Yunnan fief and run off to Thang Long Prefecture? And you lecture others!

Zhu Cizhao frowned deeply and sighed again: "At present the officials of Quy Hoa Prefecture and Thai Nguyen Prefecture have all abandoned their lands and fled, and there are no troops to garrison them. If the roving bandits come sweeping in from the direction of Yunnan, what is to be done? Do your two houses not hold Tuyen Quang and Cao Bang Prefectures by hereditary garrison? You must have some troops and household retainers, surely? Why not take charge of Quy Hoa and Thai Nguyen Prefectures for the time being?"

What? Just like that, each family gets a prefecture?

Annam had only a dozen or so prefectures in all. The core territories of the Trinh lord and the Nguyen lord were each three prefectures, while the core territories of the Mo lord and the Bao lord were each one prefecture. The remaining territories were all fence-sitters, following whoever controlled the Annam court.

And now, because the Trinh lord's power was rapidly weakening, and the Prince of Yunnan of the Great Ming had seized Thang Long Prefecture by surprise, the Annam court had temporarily lost its authority, and a power vacuum had appeared outside the eight prefectures firmly held by the Trinh lord, the Nguyen lord, the Mo lord, and the Bao lord (the Trinh lord held Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, and Dien Chau Prefectures; the Nguyen lord held Thuan Hoa, Quang Nam, and Thai Ninh Prefectures).

Having seized Thang Long Prefecture, Zhu Cizhao, who seemed able to speak on behalf of the Ming court, could thus shamelessly make use of powers that originally belonged to the Annam court.

Seeing that the envoys of the Mo lord and the Bao lord were somewhat stunned, Zhu Cizhao said with sincere words: "We can swear that We will absolutely not seize the office of Annam Military Commissioner, and We have no wish to remain long in Thang Long. As soon as Le Duy Ky is willing to return, We will immediately yield Thang Long and move to Tan An Prefecture. Once the Ming court sends seagoing ships, We will leave Annam and go to Nanjing to beg forgiveness from Our Imperial Brother!"

At the thought of his own offenses, tears were about to fall from Zhu Cizhao's eyes. And the envoys of the Bao lord and the Mo lord were stunned by this young prince's "performance art" — your achievement this time is so great, what do you need to beg forgiveness for?

Even occupying a single Tan An Prefecture would be a great achievement in expanding the realm!

"Your Highness," the Bao lord's envoy, a middle-aged man who was a kinsman of the Tuyen Quang Vu family, spoke up, "this humble subject will return to Tuyen Quang Prefecture at once and convey your decree to my master. My master will certainly dispatch troops to Quy Hoa Prefecture immediately."

How could the Tuyen Quang Vu clan possibly let such a fine opportunity slip by?

The envoy of the Mo lord of Cao Bang likewise assured Zhu Cizhao: "This humble subject will also return to Cao Bang at once, and will certainly have our family head dispatch troops to Thai Nguyen. With the great army of our Cao Bang Mo family garrisoning it, we will absolutely not allow the roving bandits to set one foot into Thai Nguyen Prefecture!"

(End of Chapter)