In March of the fourth year of Hongxi, the imperial court sent Huang Zhong, the governor of Guangxi, to lead 5,000 soldiers to escort Sun Chen Tianping, the former king of the Chen Dynasty, back to Annam.

When passing through the Zhiling Pass in Annam, it was suddenly ambushed by 100,000 troops in Annam, the Ming army hurriedly met the enemy, Huang Zhong had to lead 4,000 people to retreat to Yunnan after a bloody battle, hundreds of Ming troops died on the spot, Xue Yan of Dali Temple was killed, Chen Tianping and 800 people were captured.

Later, the news came that Chen Tianping was "executed by Ling Chi" after interrogation, and the captured Ming army was basically released. Xu Hao was furious, gathered the whole army and swore to return blood for blood, the death of 300 Ming soldiers, must be sacrificed to the lives of 30,000 Annan people, violating this oath to destroy heaven and earth, thus opening the prelude to bloody revenge on Annan.

The news was transmitted back to Beijing, and in the face of the vassals openly trampling on the dignity of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaochi, the Hongxi Emperor, was also furious, and under the successive articles of various newspapers, the government and the opposition were filled with righteous indignation, and asked the emperor to issue an order to do the right thing for heaven.

On 1 June, Zhu Gaochi issued a "Discussion on Annan," ordering Zhu Neng, the Duke of Chengguo, to be appointed as the general of Zhengyi, Zhang Fu to be the right deputy general of Zhengyi, and the commander of the 18th Route General, leading an army of 250,000 troops from Guangxi.

He ordered Mu Sheng, the Marquis of Xiping, who was guarding Yunnan, to serve as the deputy general of Zhengyi Zuo, and led 50,000 elite soldiers from Yunnan to Annan. He ordered the commander of the Fujian Navy Division, Mu Hui, to lead the naval divisions of Fujian and Guangdong provinces to assist in the restoration of the city and blockade the sea area, and ordered Xu Hao, the governor of the left capital, to serve as the supervisor of the army, and commanded the Zhancheng and the naval division to be responsible for intercepting the deserters from Annan.

For a while, the war clouds were thick, and after Annan learned the news, he kept digging deep trenches day and night to strengthen the city wall.

Cam Ranh Bay, Xu Hao looked at the newspaper in his hand and was very pleased. The eunuch did not serve as a supervisor in this expedition, which was a good start.

The soldiers mobilized were all elites from Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangxi, and other places who were good at fighting in hot and humid climates, and tens of thousands of "guards" were recruited from the feudal palaces of various localities to "guard" them, taking the opportunity to achieve the goal of cutting down the feudal domains, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

In addition to worrying that the northerners would not adapt to the weather in the south, the defense of the Beijing division and the defense of the north were always the top priorities. Relatively speaking, the conquest of little Annan is not a big deal.

The reason for the mobilization of a whole 300,000 troops. Hundreds of thousands of servants, completely intending to quickly defeat the opponent with the power of thunder, and the lion fighting the rabbit also used all his strength.

However, the popularity of muskets in the imperial army was not high, and most of them still used firearms such as firearms. The local climate tends to be rainy and sunny in half the year. The hot, humid environment is not very suitable for the use of firearms. Xu Hao hoped that the soldiers could sum up their lessons and find ways to use gunpowder in such an environment.

The 20,000 sailors were each equipped with new muskets, and Xu Hao set the time for the battle in winter. After October, the weather is dry and it rarely rains.

In terms of operational planning, the north and south of Annan are very suitable for large-scale corps engagements, Xu Hao is very confident in his brother-in-law, and Zhang Fu became famous on the battlefield of Annan in history and was canonized as a British duke. The jungle in the south was dense and the environment was harsh, Xu Hao was unwilling to waste the lives of the soldiers in vain, and mainly fought with the Champens.

Standing in front of Xu Hao at this moment is the young Cham King Cham Pa Lai, Sanskrit Indra Varman, not tall or less than Xu Hao's chin, Kong Wu Li can see at a glance that he is a person with extraordinary energy.

Champa Rai was ambitious and desperate to restore the glory of his ancestors and defeat his old enemies such as Chenla. Xu Hao was ready to take advantage of the situation and balance the kingdoms with the people of Guò Zhancheng.

Because of historical experience, Xu Hao did not want to set up counties to rule after defeating Annam, which was simply unrealistic, from Thailand to Vietnam, dozens of kingdoms, large and small, with countless races and tens of millions of people, fought each other for thousands of years, it can be said that every day is fighting, every day is dying. Historically, despite the Ming Dynasty's well-established assimilation policy, it still ended in failure, and ethnic vendetta was very prevalent in Southeast Asia, and Xu Hao was reluctant to emigrate to the Han Chinese, only to be massacred on a large scale a few years later.

Historically, no matter which country the Europeans colonized, they had to obtain the consent of the Chinese suzerain, even if they were forced to agree, that is to say, the Ming Dynasty already had unique conditions, and there was no need to use a soldier to obtain the recognition of all the surrounding countries, that is, there was no need to rely on artillery force to open the trade door, but the subject country urgently needed to obtain various commodities of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, a qiē should be based on the premise of obtaining various benefits, rather than the possession of land, of course, the ownerless islands must be occupied, and some places can be colonized if conditions permit, avoiding traditional local powers, and it is best if there are Han people who can rise up strongly to rule a place.

Xu Hao was reluctant to garrison a large army outside for a long time, and in order to cope with the continuous uprisings and uprisings, which dragged down the country, even if he established an empire with an unprecedented territory, it would often collapse in a short period of time, especially if the central unified dynasty like the Ming Dynasty, governing the whole of China seemed to be the limit.

At this time, Lai of Champa said excitedly, and the interpreter said: "If you can support the king to occupy Annam, you will swear to submit to the Ming Dynasty for generations, and pay an annual tribute of four white elephants, ten jewels, and one million stones of rice. ”

Xu Hao smiled lightly and said: "Don't be delusional, how to deal with Annan should be decided by the saint, Zhancheng and Annan are feuding with each other, and the imperial court will definitely not violate the will of the people of Annan and hand over Annan to you to rule in Zhancheng." Besides, you have been on the defensive for thousands of years, even if you hand over the whole of Annam to you, can you hold it? ”

Zhanpa's Lai sighed after hearing this, the Ming Dynasty officials in front of him can be said to be to the point, for a long time Champa has suffered from resisting attacks from Annam and Zhenla and other countries, if it were not for the narrow geographical advantage and the sea mouth that can flee overseas, the city of Zhancheng has been destroyed countless times, in fact, it has been destroyed countless times, fortunately, under the influence of Hinduism, which is incompatible with Buddhism and Confucianism, it can always be brought back to life.

Xu Hao looked up at the somewhat depressed Champa Rai, a king of Indian descent who had little to do with later generations of Vietnamese, the ancient Champa people belonged to the Indian branch, and the history disappeared soon after being annexed by North Vietnam, and the remaining Cham nobles intermarried with Vietnamese nobles. The aristocratic gate of South Vietnam was produced, and until modern times, there were differences and contradictions between the north and the south of Vietnam.

The current Champa people are mainly divided into two major tribes, Champa Lai belongs to the traditional nobility of the coconut tribe in the north, and the king of the previous dynasty belongs to the Bingtonglong aristocracy of the Binglang tribe in the south, the two families are very different in customs and habits, so there are often conflicts, in order to solve the civil war, the two clans achieve balance by marriage, and the two families have alternately obtained power for thousands of years.

The reason why the Champa state is weak. This has a lot to do with the political system that has been adopted. The country is divided into five regions, each ruled by hereditary chiefs for generations, and slavery is still in its lower stages.

Xu Hao had to give the other party some sweetness, and said with a smile: "People can't be ambitious." Now what Your Excellency has to do is to put the army in order. Wait until the war starts in the north. It is only right to recover the national capital immediately and take the opportunity to occupy more land. ”

Lai of Champa immediately perked up and shouted, "How many soldiers and horses can you help me?" ”

Xu Hao said: "I heard that in the early years, the Song Dynasty taught the art of riding and archery. It is not the reason why Champa has risen to become a powerful party, yes or no? ”

Zhanpa's Lai said with a respectful expression: "Yes, the ancestors had paid tribute to the emperor of the Song Dynasty, obtained the precious art of riding and archery and the study of battle formations, at that time, because of the attack on Nan'an, they encountered heavy casualties in the kamikaze, and had to retreat, and then the Annamite people attacked, and the ancestors of the first Varman of Paramita were killed in battle, and the brutal Annamite people razed the country Indra Bura, the country where our people had survived for a thousand years, and slaughtered countless Cham people, it was Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty who took pity on our clan and ordered the release of the captives of Nan'an.

Later, because of the martial arts of the kingdom, our people were able to defeat the Annamite people and restore the country, and expelled the Jinla bandits. In order to take revenge, the ancestor led a fleet along the Mekong River to the Tonle Sap Lake and conquered the capital of Chenla. ”

Xu Hao smiled and nodded, the history of Zhancheng is a history of killing, as far as he knows, the capital of Zhenla is part of the ancient monuments of Angkor, not only plundered the treasures of the population in the city, but also killed the king of Zhenla. Within a few decades, the Zhenla people conquered the Champa country again in order to take revenge, and then the civil war unified in the counteroffensive, which is still endless today.

The Yuan Dynasty conquered the city of Zhancheng serving the Song Dynasty as the suzerain, the king at that time sent an envoy to sue for peace, and the Yuan Dynasty agreed to evacuate the army, but the people of the Yuan Dynasty killed the envoy of the Yuan Dynasty to Siam, so the Yuan Dynasty sent troops to occupy the city again, and was rejected by means of Annam, the Yuan-Vietnam War broke out, and finally Nan'an repelled the Yuan Dynasty army.

After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Champa sent envoys to pay tribute every year, which was to obtain trade benefits, not to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Hao got up and said: "I will send officers to teach you the art of riding and archery and the study of battle formations, and you must also become a hero like your ancestors, and you can't rely on the Ming army to recover the lost territory, otherwise what will the subjects think of you?" ”

Fooling away the brave and unscrupulous young king, Xu Hao looked into the distance, and the countries that must be fought in this battle were completely surrendered.

Sending 200 lieutenants to train 10,000 Cham troops, Xu Hao's staff department, under the guidance of local guides, explored detailed information such as roads, mountains and rivers, drew a map of the march, and actively prepared for public opinion warfare, sending hundreds of Cham people to infiltrate the north and incite the people to rebel.

The fleet is also surveying the entire sea area of Annam, surveying reefs and looking for suitable landing sites, drawing charts, erecting stone tablets and writing them into the history books, Xu Hao wants to have indisputable sovereignty over the entire South China Sea.

The naval fleet continued to encounter the Annan naval division, sinking dozens of opposing ships, and the Annan naval division did not dare to go to sea in the harbor.

Unexpectedly, bad news came in August, Zhu Neng died of illness in Longzhou, Guangxi, Zhang Fu was ordered to take the initiative to act as the general of Zhengyi, and encouraged the generals to "die on the way to the expedition of King Kaiping in the past, and the king of Qiyang broke the Yuan army on his behalf, although I am not talented, I am willing to follow the ancestors." ”

Xu Hao urgently wrote to the imperial court, strongly recommending his brother-in-law to be qualified as a marshal, and vouching for his life. Soon, the heroes of the Jingyan Dynasty jointly signed a guarantee, so Zhu Gaochi made up his mind and sent officials to the front line to officially visit the generals and grant Zhang Fu the right to arbitrarily.

In October, Zhang Fu led the army through the Polei Pass, arrived in the territory of Annan, and counted Hu Li's 20 crimes, even breaking the two passes of Kouliu and Jiming, and the Yunnan soldiers led by Mu Sheng swept all the way and joined the division.

At the same time, the Champa army, under the leadership of Champa Dilai, began to attack the Annan army near the national capital Xinzhou, and at this time, the main force of Annam was transferred to the north, and the south was empty, unable to stop the crazy attack of the Champa people, and retreated again and again to defend the city.

Xu Hao allowed Champa and Annam to fight for life and death, focusing all his attention on his own army, and more than 300 warships poured out to inflict destructive blows on coastal ports and ships.

At the same time, military orders were issued to Chenla, Laos, Burma and other ethnic groups, demanding that the border be blocked to prevent the Annam royal family from fleeing, and that those who dared to take it in were the mortal enemies of the Ming Dynasty.

The imperial army began to prepare to attack Duobang, an important town in the north of Annam, and the intelligence sent by Xu Hao showed that Duobang had the saying of "going down to Liangshan and descending the king" since ancient times, because the terrain of Liangshan was dangerous, and its south was a flat river.

The Hu father and son also knew the importance of many states, put heavy troops on the front line of many states, relying on the four natural dangers of Xuanjiang, Taojiang, Fuliangjiang and Tuojiang, digging trenches to build defensive fortresses, and placing bows and crossbows and firearms, in a vain attempt to fight to the death with the Ming Dynasty army and reproduce the glory of defeating the Mongolian iron cavalry. (To be continued......)