Chapter 682: The Good Man of the Great Ming

In the second year of Hongxing of the Great Ming, the first year of Delong of the Le dynasty of Annam, the year 1649 by the Western calendar.

The sixth day of the sixth month by the Chongzhen calendar.

The sky was clear for ten thousand li, and the blazing sunlight once again shone down upon this long, narrow stretch of land in the south of the kingdom of Annam, close to the sea.

On the north bank of a great river called the Perfume River sat a square, Chinese-style walled city with a circumference of some seventeen or eighteen li.

A great banner bearing the character "Nguyen" fluttered in the wind, making plain that the master of this city was Nguyen Phuc Tan, who ruled the three prefectures of Thuan Hoa, Quang Nam, and Thai Ninh in southern Annam. This was Phu Xuan, the home stronghold of the southern Nguyen.

The three prefectures ruled by Nguyen Phuc Tan were called the "Kingdom of Quang Nam" by the Westerners and Ming people who came and went for trade. Yet none of the successive Nguyen lords, Nguyen Phuc Tan included, had ever styled themselves Lord of Quang Nam or King of Quang Nam. Although the Nguyen lord held every power a sovereign of a state could hold, and was in fact the monarch of the lands of Thuan Hoa, Quang Nam, and Thai Ninh,

still, within Annam, a land deeply influenced by Confucian culture, righteous title and proper name always had to be observed. The Trinh lord in the north held the power of life and death over the Le emperor, yet still styled himself a subject of the Le dynasty, and did not dare usurp the Le in favor of the Trinh.

And the Nguyen lord in the south, though he had built up an independent kingdom and had held power as a separatist lord for four generations, likewise did not openly establish a state or declare himself king. Moreover, he had to fight against the Trinh lord of the north under the banner of "loyalty to the Le."

In the same way, although the Later Le dynasty conducted itself as emperor and king within Annam, when facing the Great Ming it still had to place itself in the position of a subject. It even brooded over the titles of "Commander" and "King" — in the years since the "restoration" of the Later Le dynasty, Annam's envoys had more than once petitioned the Great Ming court to be enfeoffed as king.

But the Celestial Court of the north, even sunk in internal troubles and external perils, had never once loosened its grip on this matter.

The various powers within Annam, however, had long grown accustomed to this. Annam had to speak of righteous title and proper name, and the Celestial Court of the north was just as fond of that tune — a Commander's office meant internal dependency, while the Kingdom of Annam would be an external vassal!

For an internal dependency to become an external vassal would mean, on the books, a loss of territory, so the matter naturally could never succeed.

The Annamese sovereign and ministers, knowing this rule, had never held much hope. Their petition to have the Le emperor enfeoffed as king was also a game played on the concept of "title and name." In fact, behind closed doors they themselves were already calling themselves emperor.

But what Nguyen Phuc Tan had not expected was that the matter of the Le emperor being re-enfeoffed as king suddenly showed signs of progress. The newly enthroned Hongxing Emperor of the Great Ming, for whatever reason, had taken an interest in Annam, Champa, and Chenla, and the previous year had dispatched a heavyweight envoy by sea to pay a visit. Not only did he indicate that the restoration of the Kingdom of Annam's status could be considered, he was also willing to mediate the civil war between north and south within Annam, and could bring about a stable situation in which four lords jointly protected the Le king.

As for the return — in the past the Celestial Court of the north cared only for face and paid little heed to actual benefit, but this time they seemed to have changed their nature, and actually wanted to obtain the Ca Mau region of Chenla for cultivation and settlement. This matter had put the previous Nguyen lord, Nguyen Phuc Lan, in a difficult spot for quite some time! However, it happened that the Trinh lord was then invading with the whole strength of his state, so Nguyen Phuc Lan had relented.

He had intended, after beating back the Trinh lord, to find some way to wreck the Ming plan to cultivate and settle the Ca Mau Peninsula. But who could have known that the Ming envoy was an unreasonable barbarian, who actually took two great Western-style warships straight to Prey Nokor, and even fired his cannon within the Nine Dragons River. Dozens of 24-pound Hongyi cannon firing in volley!

After several volleys, Oudey, the vice-king of Chenla at Prey Nokor, agreed to everything.

The way the Ming state handled matters nowadays truly made one worry!

But at that time the Nguyen family had no mind to concern itself with Water Chenla; they were busy dealing with the Battle of Truong Duc Luy.

Though the Battle of Truong Duc Luy was bitterly fought, in the end it let the Nguyen army taste the sweetness of victory. The only regret was that the Nguyen lord Nguyen Phuc Lan died of illness before the campaign ended. With his death, the Nguyen clan had to carry out a transfer of power, and for the time being lacked the strength to press the victory in pursuit.

They had thought that old wretch Trinh Trang had escaped calamity once again, but they never expected that even more startling news would reach Phu Xun — fifty thousand Ming troops, seizing the moment when the Trinh lord had suffered a crushing defeat and his strength was badly damaged, had come killing down from Yunnan along the Thao River (the Hoa River), and by surprise attack had seized the prefecture of Thang Long!

In a single night, the kingdom of Annam once again faced a crisis of survival!

Under these circumstances, that old fox Trinh Trang had even forged an edict in the name of the Le emperor ordering "an end to private warfare, unity to resist the Ming."

At the same time, Trinh Trang's grandson Trinh Kieu also visited Truong Duc Luy, putting forward the demand for a ceasefire, reconciliation, and united resistance against the Ming.

Just as the Nguyen sovereign and ministers were all somewhat unable to make up their minds, the southern Nguyen's spy planted in Thang Long sent back news that made everyone's jaws drop.

The Ming Prince of Yunnan who had occupied Thang Long seemed to be a good man. He did not wish to destroy Annam, nor did he intend to seize the Le clan's Annam Commandership, and he did not even want to remain long in Thang Long.

He had only been defeated by the roving bandits, and so had borrowed Annam's territory to flee through, with the result that old Trinh Trang had misunderstood, and so he had blundered into the prefectural city of Thang Long — the whole thing sounded absurd! Nguyen Phuc Tan simply did not believe it.

But what happened next — the Ming Prince of Yunnan granting fiefs to the Mac lord and the Bao lord — was something Nguyen Phuc Tan could not treat lightly.

Those two dry bones in their graves had each received a whole prefecture!

How could there be such a cheap bargain in the world? His own family and the Trinh lord had fought to the death for more than twenty years and had never seized so much as half a prefecture, yet those two had sent men on one trip to Thang Long and each got a prefecture.

Could this Ming Prince of Yunnan really be a good man?

Just as Nguyen Phuc Tan was mulling over whether he too should send an envoy to Thang Long to see whether he could swindle a prefecture back, the Ming good man delivered himself to his door, arriving at Hoi An harbor in Quang Nam Prefecture (called Faifo by Westerners).

And it was not one good man, but a full thirty ships' worth of good men. Five of the ships were Western-style galleon warships, very large (500-ton class), far larger than even the largest warship of the southern Nguyen navy!

The remaining twenty-five ships were large Chinese-style bird ships, of a size comparable to the five Western-style ships. It must be the war fleet of Duke of Quan, Zheng Zhilong, that had come.

"My lord, the Ming fleet is commanded by Zheng Zhilong's second son, Zheng Jiangong. Its mission is to escort the Great Ming's Ca Mau Settlement Commissioner Chen Yongxi and Vice Commissioner Shi Daxuan to Saigon. Chen Yongxi has also brought a personal letter from the Chief Grand Secretary of the Ming Grand Secretariat, and hopes to come in person to Phu Xuan to meet with Your Lordship."

The one reporting the visit of the "Ming good man" to the Nguyen lord was Nguyen Huu Tien, the Admiral of the Nguyen navy. Hoi An harbor was not only a trading port, but also the base of the Nguyen navy.

In the recent Battle of Truong Duc Luy, the fleet commanded by Nguyen Huu Tien had charged into the Linh River and cut off the Trinh army's line of retreat, rendering great service in the Nguyen army's victory.

And Nguyen Huu Tien's father-in-law was Dao Duy Tu, the founding military strategist of the Nguyen regime. With this connection, he too counted as a core figure of the Nguyen regime.

"What did the letter say?" Nguyen Phuc Tan did not read it himself, but asked directly.

"My lord, the Ming Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode has proposed a method of exchanging Thang Long for Champa, hoping to use Thang Long in exchange for our suzerain rights over Champa. Then the army of the Ming Prince of Yunnan would go by sea to Champa."

"Hmph, is this not leading disaster into my own backyard?" Nguyen Phuc Tan snorted coldly.

"My lord," Nguyen Huu Tien said, "but this is also our chance to bypass the three prefectures of Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, and Dien Chau and go straight into Thang Long! Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, and Dien Chau are the Trinh clan's nest; the Trinh clan is deeply entrenched there, and it would be very hard for us to take them quickly. If the war drags on, our population is too small, and we cannot afford the attrition!

If we can obtain Thang Long or Tan An Prefecture (a coastal prefecture in the north) from the Ming, then my lord can divide the northern court together with the Mac lord, the Bao lord, and the Trinh clan.

Perhaps the matter of four lords jointly protecting the Le king may also become possible!"

Nguyen Huu Tien's words had already stirred Nguyen Phuc Tan's heart. Although he held three prefectures and also possessed two vassal states, Champa and Nam Phan (also split off from Champa), his territory was not small, yet the population under his rule was too small, and that remained a fatal weakness.

Otherwise, with the fighting strength of the southern Nguyen army, they would not have been constantly suppressed by the northern Trinh.

Nguyen Phuc Tan was silent for a while, then let out a breath. "Let that Chen Yongxi come to Phu Xuan! I will speak with him personally!"

(End of Chapter)