Chapter 736: Go Ahead and Sign the Unequal Treaty

The one King Mangdara sent as envoy to the Shun was his younger brother Mang Bai — the very man who, in history, engineered the Massacre of the Water Oath. But right now he was not the one in power in Burma, and there was no Ming emperor coming to seek refuge there either.

On the contrary, there was a Ming emperor who had already sent troops to Siam, right next door to Burma!

Before leaving the royal city of Ava, Mang Bai had already seen a copy of the Ming-Siam Suzerain-Vassal Treaty, and it had made his heart pound with dread!

It was not that the treaty was harsh — from the perspective of a suzerain toward a vassal, the Ming-Siam Suzerain-Vassal Treaty was quite mild.

What the Ming demanded of Siam was entirely the benefits a suzerain state was entitled to enjoy — not excessive in the least! If Siam did not grant them, then the Great Ming would be taking a loss by still bearing the obligation to protect Siam.

It was precisely because it was mild that Mangdara and Mang Bai, the two brothers, were afraid!

The powerful Annam and Siam had already accepted the Great Ming's Suzerain-Vassal Treaty, and the two weak states of Chenla and Lan Xang (called Laos by China, and Nam Chưởng by Annam) might also accept the treaty.

In that way, all of Burma's eastern neighbors would become constituent parts of the Great Ming's world empire!

And within Burma itself, the native chieftains of Lan Na (the Lan Na Thai Kingdom, the Babai Xifu Kingdom of Chinese histories), Mubang (the Shan States), and other places unwilling to submit to Burmese rule would seize the chance to throw in their lot with the Great Ming — was being a vassal to the Great Ming not happier than being a dog to Burma?

When that time came, even if the Great Ming did not attack, Burma would be badly weakened.

That was why Mang Bai had accepted the mission to go north and cling to a powerful thigh, and then set out at top speed with his embassy and gifts toward Chongqing, the capital of the great Shun Empire to the north.

And as Mang Bai entered Yunnan and then pressed on northward toward Chongqing, this Burmese prince who in history had been so savage toward the Yongli sovereign and his ministers felt even more fear.

For what he saw was a newly rising, newly founded Tang-style feudal state, everywhere brimming with a martial, war-loving spirit. The land-grant garrison soldiers coming south from the north were all plain, hardy, and daring in battle, and their equipment looked superb as well. Thus every Shun army unit that Mang Bai's embassy encountered along the way was full of killing intent and unafraid of hardship.

Nor was their equipment poor. The infantry had a very high rate of armor-wearing; nearly all the garrison soldiers (the regulars) had a suit of armor protecting their bodies. Their weapons were mainly long spears, saber-and-shield, bows and arrows, and firelocks. Soldiers bearing these four kinds of weapons formed mixed squads: in every hundred men there were about forty long-spearmen, twenty saber-and-shield men, thirty archers, and ten gunners.

Mang Bai also discovered that the firelocks these Shun gunners carried were all of Western style — the heavy matchlock muskets the Han called "turtledove-foot firelocks." The quality of these firelocks was actually not very good; they had been crudely forged by unskilled Sichuan blacksmiths and only looked impressive. To avoid bursting the barrel, the powder charge had to be reduced, so the turtledove-foot guns could only deliver the power of a fowling piece.

But Mang Bai could not tell that the quality of the firelocks was defective!

Furthermore, Mang Bai also noticed that some of the large columns on the march carried bronze cannon. The number was not great, but these cannon, which could be towed by warhorses on the march, were still an enormous threat to a Burmese army that relied on elephants for its shock charges.

And today, when Mang Bai arrived at Chongqing, the capital of the Shun Empire, he saw a capital full of killing intent and of the utmost severity.

This capital had not the slightest air of wealth, ease, or pleasure. Walking along the main streets, one could not even see a single shop! On both sides of the streets were high walls, and along the high walls stood ramrod-straight soldiers of the Shun Emperor's Imperial Guard — among them the proportion carrying firelocks was even higher, nearly one in three!

The rest all had long spears in hand and hand-sabers hanging at their waists; one look told you they could fight!

In addition, large formations of cavalry appeared — all armored lancers, drawn up in neat ranks at the entrance to the fortress where the Shun Emperor resided.

Together with the Shun's Left Assistant Niu Jinxing and the Grand Military Advisor Song Xiance, who had come out of Chongqing to welcome him, Mang Bai dismounted, then passed on foot over the wooden bridge outside Chaotian Gate, the south gate of the imperial city (Chaotian Gate had been relocated), and then walked between cavalry drawn up in two square formations, not daring to let out so much as a breath.

Once inside Chaotian Gate, Mang Bai found that the interior was still full of killing intent, with no decoration to speak of and buildings all utterly plain, yet complete with every kind of defensive installation!

Inside the imperial city one saw no palace maids or eunuchs either — only squad after squad of soldiers in full armor and helmets, carrying long spears and firelocks.

Mang Bai half suspected that the Shun Emperor slept at night clutching his armor.

With great difficulty he entered a "Hall of Gathered Righteousness" — Li Guo's Hall of Diligent Governance, though it had none of the grandeur of an imperial palace hall. It was small and plainly furnished; only the chairs were especially numerous, ten in all. One for Li Guo, one for Li Laiheng, and one each for the eight kings of joint rule.

Of the eight kings' chairs, two stood empty: Li Dingguo and Yuan Zongdi were both away from Chongqing. So at present eight men sat in the chairs, and all of them wore identical blue robes!

Mang Bai was a bit dumbfounded. With so many people seated and all dressed alike, whom was he supposed to kowtow to? Surely he wouldn't have to kowtow to every one of them?

"Who is the Emperor?" he asked, turning back. "To whom should I kowtow?"

An interpreter was in attendance and translated his words into Chinese.

Li Guo, seated on the imperial throne, burst out laughing and said: "Here we have the Emperor ruling with folded hands, the eight kings governing jointly, and also a Crown Prince who oversees the army — though two of the kings are absent. By the rules you'd have to kowtow to each one in turn! But We'll waive that for you. Grant him a seat!"

Fortunately, after hearing the interpreter's translation, Mang Bai breathed a huge sigh of relief. With eight men to bow to now, three kowtows each would have made twenty-four — enough to knock a man senseless!

Seeing Mang Bai take his seat, Li Guo asked: "Well, Second Military Advisor, is the treaty ready?"

"Your Imperial Majesty, it is ready." Gu Junen was holding the text of the unequal treaty in his hands.

Li Guo waved a hand. "Then read it out."

"This subject receives the decree."

Having received the imperial decree, Gu Junen began to read out the unequal treaty.

The treaty's contents were, of course, "formatted" — was that not the Celestial Court's usual practice?

The demands put forward by the Shun were the same few items. First, the Shun was the suzerain and Burma the outer vassal; the enthronement of a new Burmese king required the formality of investiture by the Shun.

Second, the Shun would protect Burma.

Third, Burma must obey the Shun's direction in military and foreign affairs.

Fourth, the Shun would lease a seaport on Burma's coast to station troops.

Fifth, the Shun would enclose a tract of land near the troop-stationing seaport to farm and support the troops.

Sixth, the Shun would establish relay stations along the route from Yunnan to the leased seaport to protect commerce.

Seventh, Burma must not levy taxes on Shun officials and merchants, nor obstruct the transport of their goods.

Eighth, Burma must protect the academies opened on Burmese soil by Shun Confucian scholars.

Ninth, if Shun subjects committed crimes in Burma, they were to be handed over to the Governor-General's office in the Shun leased territory for trial.

There were nine articles in all, not copied verbatim from the Great Ming's standard clauses, but roughly the same. They simply spelled out the rights and obligations between suzerain and vassal state.

And it was an unequal treaty!

Nonsense — how could suzerain and vassal be equal?

In legal terms, part of a vassal state's sovereignty belonged to the suzerain, so of course there could be no equality!

"You — how can you be the same as the Great Ming?" Mang Bai's face turned ashen after hearing the interpreter's translation.

"This is the Celestial Court's usual practice!" Sun Kewang said in a deep voice. "Prince, tell Us — which article is unjustified?"

Mang Bai said: "Stationing troops is unnecessary, is it not?"

Sun Kewang snorted. "You look sharp enough for a prince, so why is your brain so muddled? What did you come here for? Isn't it to beg Our Great Shun for protection? How can We protect you without stationing troops?"

That did seem to be the case! Without troops, how could there be protection? Empty words were worth a fart!

"Then the land enclosure—"

"Troops have to eat! We're not even asking you to supply them — is enclosing a plot of land to farm ourselves too much to ask?"

Not too much at all! Who would come if they weren't fed?

"This matter of commerce—"

"We're just borrowing a road!" Sun Kewang said. "And you still want to collect taxes from a superior state?"

"We wouldn't dare, we wouldn't dare." Mang Bai truly could not say which clause was unjustified.

Sun Kewang laughed. "Since all of it is proper, then sign it at once! Once signed, our Shun will immediately dispatch 5,000 troops to protect your Kingdom of Burma."

(End of Chapter)