I'm really not doing business

Chapter 1066 Grandpa also likes cheap candy
Songjiang Ocean Trading Company was already fully capable of monopolizing certain goods, such as the cotton cloth business.

Songjiang Prefecture boasts the largest number of cotton textile workshops in the entire Ming Dynasty and even the world, including family-run workshops, small workshops with fewer than twenty employees, large workshops with more than a thousand employees, and several machine workshops.

These mechanical workshops and large workshops were completely controlled by Songjiang Ocean Trading Company. In other words, only those with a certain scale of production resources could meet the entry standards of Songjiang Ocean Trading Company and join the workshops.

The cost of machine workshops and large workshops must be lower, due to the cost reduction caused by economies of scale.

Furthermore, the local cotton in Songjiang Prefecture could not meet the needs of cotton spinning production, so cotton had to be purchased from the heartland of the Ming Dynasty or overseas. The situation that more than 50% of the cotton raw materials had to be purchased from outside made it even easier to monopolize the industry.

Because most of these merchants who purchased cotton cloth belonged to the Songjiang Ocean Merchant Guild, they could do it if they wanted to.

The reason why powerful and wealthy merchants in the Ming Dynasty had not squeezed out all the small workshops and family workshops was entirely because Sun Kehong and Wang Daokun, the first governor of Songjiang, had made an agreement: to make money but not to make it into a family that would die out, and to leave food for others.

The ocean trading company could take 70% of the overseas orders, but the remaining 30% had to be left behind to give people a way to survive.

In Sun Kehong's view, the meaning of "deadly wealth" is: engaging in monopolies will lead to the extinction of one's family line by the imperial court, and this is truly a case of "deadly wealth."

The raw materials for cotton should be sourced from overseas rather than local cotton, leaving local cotton for small and medium-sized workshops and family-run businesses.

As a trading company, it naturally needs to go overseas and expand into foreign markets.

In the twenty-second year of the Wanli Emperor's reign, the behemoth known as monopoly capital remained submerged rather than surfaced. The reason why the gentleman's agreement between Wang Daokun and Sun Kehong continued to be upheld after Wang Daokun's departure was that the tangible military boots of the imperial court were stepping on the intangible market.

The dangers of monopolies were clearly discussed before the Wanli Reforms. Zhang Juzheng's statement that "the world is trapped by annexation" is the final summary and conclusion.

"Have Songjiang Prefect Hu Junde convene a public council to gather these merchants and explain the policy clearly, including the advantages and disadvantages behind this pricing method."

"As for the opposition from the foreigners, there is no need to pay attention to it." Zhu Yijun issued a clear decree, explaining to the internal authorities that these foreigners overseas had no right to oppose him.

When it's time to be assertive and domineering, you must be assertive and domineering.

It's a complete seller's market now. These governor-general's offices need goods from the Ming Dynasty; otherwise, their silver would be completely drained by the Western powers, leaving them with nothing in return.

The prices of various goods are determined by the average price throughout the year. Although some goods will increase in price, others will decrease in price. This is an acceptable result for the Yi people.

"The Ming Dynasty did not send a fleet to bombard their ports and force them to accept Ming goods and prices. This is already very benevolent," Zhu Yijun emphasized again, adding that the Ming Dynasty had acted with extremely high moral standards.

The fact that the Ming Dynasty did not rely on its strong military to burn, kill, and plunder everywhere, or use the banner of free trade to blast open the gates of ports with its powerful ships and cannons, was already a moral disadvantage.

It is better to cultivate than to plunder; it is better to manage and develop properly than to loot everywhere. This has been China's experience and consensus for thousands of years, and Zhu Yijun has no intention of changing this consensus.

However, if the barbarians cannot understand reason and want to continue maintaining this unreasonable price difference, the Ming Dynasty is also proficient in martial arts.

If you stuff a 36-pound cannon into his mouth, he won't talk nonsense.

"Your Majesty, we obey." Yao Guangqi and Yan Shixuan bowed their heads and accepted the order. They had been waiting for His Majesty's command. Diplomatic matters were under His Majesty's direct management. Without His Majesty's clear order, excessive criticism of the foreigners would be impeached by the censors and officials, which would also be detrimental to opening up the sea.

Zhu Yijun chatted with Yao Guangqi and Yan Shixuan, and then had Zhang Hong see them off.

Zhu Yijun wrote an imperial edict, which was sent to the Ministry of Rites, to suspend the circulation of gold and paper money in the Pan-Pacific Merchant Alliance. On the one hand, the matter was not feasible, and on the other hand, things had to be done one by one.

The situation was hopeless because these overseas foreign governorates did not have sufficient goods, but they had sufficient precious metals. They did not need the Ming Dynasty's paper money, and the Ming Dynasty was somewhat powerless to help them.

Secondly, there is some conflict between promoting the circulation of paper money and implementing an annual average pricing system; only one thing can be done at a time.

The purpose of both policies was to exchange fewer goods for more silver, paper money, or simply paper money for real gold and silver.

We must take things one step at a time, and eat one bite at a time. Only by making the world indispensable to Ming Dynasty goods can we make the world indispensable to Ming Dynasty banknotes.

After Zhu Yijun finished writing, he checked it again and sent the next document to the Ministry of Rites, one copy for the Grand Minister of Rites and one copy for the Junior Minister of Rites, Gao Qiyu.

The Ministry of Rites' idea was good: military colonization, economic colonization, political colonization, and cultural colonization. Promoting the overseas circulation of paper money was a way to advance economic colonization. The idea was good, but it was a bit too hasty and disregarded the realities of the situation.

Zhu Yijun wrote out the imperial edict and handed it to Zhang Hong, shaking his head and saying, "When Duke Wending was still alive, he said that the Ming Dynasty only needed 500 million taels of silver to keep the silver circulating."

"When there is enough silver on the market, these extravagant households in our Great Ming Dynasty will be willing to dig silver out of the pigsty."

"Unfortunately, Duke Wending still miscalculated."

In his memorial on the anchoring of the currency system, submitted in the sixth year of the Wanli reign, Wang Guoguang envisioned the future. After calculation by the Ministry of Revenue, he believed that if only 500 million silver coins circulated in the Ming Dynasty, then those who were extravagant would not be reluctant to use silver.

The phrase "hiding silver in a pigsty" is a metaphor, meaning that wealthy households cherish their silver, hoard it, and are unwilling to use it, which leads to even less silver circulating in the Ming Dynasty and exacerbates the money shortage.

Wang Guoguang initially estimated that by around the fiftieth year of the Wanli reign, the Ming Dynasty would have such a large amount of silver. At that time, the Ming Dynasty's fiscal policy could be formulated more autonomously because the Ming Dynasty's silver could complete an internal circulation.

Wang Guoguang ultimately miscalculated, because development was faster than the inflow of silver. The more silver there was, the more scarce it became—this strange phenomenon happened.

"It's difficult." Zhu Yijun looked at the neatly organized memorials, stood up, and went to inspect the troops.

While the emperor was reviewing the troops, Li Yougong arrived in Guangzhou Prefecture aboard a fast sailing ship, accompanied by two hundred foreign soldiers and six hundred imperial guards, totaling eight hundred people.

He traveled directly from Songjiang Prefecture to Guangzhou Prefecture in just seven days.

The reason for the speed was that the fast sailing ship Li Yougong was riding on was the latest type of fast sailing ship in the Ming Dynasty, the Yangcheng, hull number 042. This ship used four Shengping No. 12 iron horses, with a total horsepower of more than 2,000. The entire waterway was 3,600 li, and it took seven days to arrive, with a daily travel of more than 500 li.

Li Yougong's arrival was very sudden. His Majesty's imperial edict had just arrived when the Yangcheng arrived in Guangzhou.

Upon receiving the news that they had arrived at night, Wan Wenqing, who was already asleep, rushed to the port to greet the imperial envoy. However, Li Yougong, exhausted from the journey, did not stop for a moment and went directly to the Guangzhou Armory.

There are five armories in Guangzhou Prefecture, all built during the Jiajing period, covering a total area of ​​3,000 mu.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the imperial armory was directly under the jurisdiction of the Beijing Garrison, while local armories were managed by the Military Command. This was also the reason why Emperor Yongle could bypass the imperial court when he personally led expeditions.

The army consisted entirely of the emperor's trusted confidants, and the emperor trusted the army more than the court.

During the Xuande to Zhengtong reigns, the Beijing garrison gradually declined, and the armory came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, while local armories were managed by officials from the Ministry of War's Armory Management Office.

Li Yougong disembarked and headed straight for the armory. When he arrived at the first armory, he knew there was a big problem with it, because the soldiers who were supposed to be guarding it were not at their posts, and the few who were on duty were extremely lazy.

The fact that the inspector was not present was something Li Yougong, who had served as the Imperial Censor in the Beijing Garrison for ten years, knew all too well: there was nothing inside, which was why he was so lax.

Li Yougong was not in a hurry. He waited until several officials, including Liu Jiwen, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Wan Wenqing, the prefect of Guangzhou, and Chen Mei, the deputy commander of Guangdong, arrived. Then, Li Yougong presented the imperial edict and demanded that the armory be opened.

Li Yougong's expression was extremely gloomy, his hands hidden inside his crimson eunuch robe, and his face looked even more eerie in the flickering torchlight.

After a long journey and much travel, Li Yougong's voice was a little hoarse. He said in a low voice, "I know that the local area is very complicated. There are some things that cannot be investigated. If something is found out, it will be a huge problem."

"His Majesty sent me here to play the villain. We must fight on the front lines and not make any mistakes at the rear. Now that you have read His Majesty's decree and the note from Luo Shangzhi, the commander of the Nanyang Fleet, then open the gates."

“Well, Li Da Dang, you’ve traveled a long way. Why don’t you rest for a bit and look at it again tomorrow? It’s already night, and we might not be able to investigate until dawn. Why not do it tomorrow?” Liu Jiwen wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked in a low voice.

Li Yougong stared silently at Liu Jiwen for a long time before raising an eyebrow and asking in an almost inaudible voice, "Tomorrow?"

He wasn't weighing the pros and cons; he was using silence to exert pressure. The longer the silence lasted, the more terrified the other party would become, and finally, when he asked a question, it seemed like a question, but it was actually a negative statement.

If he had been willing to wait until tomorrow, he wouldn't have come right after disembarking.

“Governor Liu is an official appointed by the imperial court, so he naturally knows the rules. Now that we’re standing here, will you say tomorrow or now?” Li Yougong asked calmly again.

"Now then." Liu Jiwen sighed. He was just a governor, while the eunuch in front of him was the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, who had grown up with His Majesty since childhood. He was the most powerful eunuch among the powerful eunuchs, the old master of the palace.

Feng Bao would never leave the palace to handle official business, but Li Yougong was basically always traveling around.

Li Yougong's arrival is tantamount to His Majesty's personal visit.

Li Yougong had already given the governor a lot of face by waiting for him in front of the armory for so long and even exchanging a few words with him. If he continued to obstruct him, he would be involved even if he wasn't involved in the matter.

"Open it." Li Yougong waved his hand, and the elite guards began to take over the defense of the first armory.

The situation was even worse than Li Yougong had imagined. The armory was completely empty, with nothing inside. Even a mouse that came in would have to leave crying.

"The weapons should be kept in the armory." Li Yougong didn't even bother to check them, and went straight to the next armory. Of the five armories, only two had a little bit of stock, and the rest were all empty.

This will not affect the battle on the front lines, because the Ming Dynasty mainly dispatched the Nanyang Fleet this time. Like the Beijing Garrison, the Nanyang Fleet is directly under the control of the imperial court. The weapons, equipment, food and other supplies of the Nanyang Fleet are completely under the control of the local authorities and have all been inspected. They are all fully stocked.

He investigated the local armory, and the result was a complete mess.

He knew perfectly well that if he continued to investigate tomorrow, he would be facing a devastating fire.

"We must find out one thing: where have all these long and short weapons, armor, and muskets gone?" Li Yougong said to Liu Jiwen. He had brought eight hundred men, which was more than enough. Regardless of whether the local authorities cooperated, he had to find out.

If all these weapons and equipment flowed into Annam, wouldn't that be tantamount to a war between the Guangdong local army and the Nanyang Fleet directly under the control of the imperial court?
This war is so frustrating.

Li Yougong was filled with worry. Three days later, he received a result that made him both laugh and cry. It was an indisputable fact that all the weapons and equipment were gone, but they had not been sent overseas or anywhere else.

To be precise, these weapons and equipment, totaling 420,000 taels of silver, existed only on paper and never in reality.

Of the 420,000 taels of silver, 370,000 taels were misappropriated by the Three Departments and the Guangzhou Prefecture. Almost the entire amount was diverted to the implementation of the Dinghai Education System, because the imperial court paid close attention to the Dinghai Education System and did so in order to achieve better results.

Faced with the dilemma of prioritizing practical matters over maintaining stability, Guangdong local officials chose to prioritize both.

Strengthening military preparedness can indeed ensure peace in a region; however, implementing the Dinghai school system can both satisfy the court's instructions and allow ordinary people to actually attend three levels of schools.

The Guangdong governor, Liu Jiwen, was clearly aware of where the silver went, which is why he intervened. The actual amount of silver that ended up in the pockets of officials in this armory case was less than 60,000 taels.

Of the 310,000 taels of silver, 150,000 were given to Guangzhou University, and 150,000 were given to the construction of school buildings for the three-tiered schools in Guangzhou.

Faced with this outcome, Li Yougong let go of his murderous intent.

"Aren't you afraid of the Japanese pirates rising again? This is misappropriation of the armory's funds." Li Yougong had personally visited Guangzhou University and found it to be well-built, comparable in scale to the Imperial University of Peking. He also saw the practical implementation of the three-tiered school system.

The Dinghai educational system in Guangzhou Prefecture was not only effectively implemented, but was even comparable to that in Songjiang Prefecture.

The best place to implement the Dinghai education system was Songjiang Prefecture, followed by Guangzhou Prefecture, and then the capital. The capital was the first to pilot the system. The situation in the capital was complex, and the Ministry of Revenue conducted strict audits, so these crooked practices could not be carried out.

Liu Jiwen said quite frankly, "The Nanyang Fleet is right here at the gate. Even the many Guangdong pirates from the past have disappeared. There are seven fast sailing ships docked at Dianbai Port alone."

Liu Jiwen had a different view on the issue of Japanese pirates. He believed that one of the reasons why the Japanese pirates were so rampant was the Jiajing Emperor's ban on maritime trade.

The Jiajing Emperor's ban on maritime trade was even more stringent than that during the Hongwu era, resulting in the surrender of maritime power to Japanese pirates. In the second year of the Jiajing Emperor's reign, when the ban was initially imposed, the Japanese pirates competed for tribute, leading to chaos.

At the time, the prevailing view in the court was that the Japanese pirate problem originated from maritime trade, and therefore the trade was abolished.

With the implementation of a strict maritime ban, the Ming Dynasty lost even its ships, and its maritime power naturally fell into enemy hands.

People from the north might not understand this logic. It's equivalent to saying that the northern barbarians banned horse breeding and killed all the horses. Without horses, the northern barbarians couldn't even defeat the soldiers in the military garrisons who were half farmers and half soldiers.

This was a flawed policy. The Ming Dynasty lacked ships and soldiers, and ultimately, the Japanese pirate raids broke out in the 29th year of the Jiajing reign.

Now that the Ming Dynasty has lifted its maritime ban and has the Nanyang Fleet right at its doorstep, the Guangzhou Prefecture and the Guangdong and Guangxi regions are truly not afraid of the Japanese pirates rising again.

Lin Daoqian, this great pirate, was indeed very powerful, but these pirates never dared to appear in the waters of the Ming Dynasty, much less under the cannons of the navy.

"Report this to His Majesty as a corruption case." In the end, Li Yougong did not classify the case as embezzlement, but as corruption. As long as a large amount of weapons and equipment did not flow into Annam, the matter was not too serious, and there was no need to dwell on it and tear the local officials of Guangzhou to shreds.

His most important purpose in coming to Guangzhou was to ensure that the front-line operations were not hampered by the rear and to achieve victory in the war. All his decisions and actions revolved around this goal.

Li Yougong simultaneously conducted inspections of merchants, and all merchants involved in the smuggling of contraband were arrested and brought to justice. Those involved in the smuggling of steel and fire feathers faced certain death.

The Songjiang Navy deployed 60,000 troops, which, together with the original 60,000 troops of the Nanyang Navy, made a total of 120,000 naval forces, stationed in Guangzhou Prefecture. No one could stop Li Yougong from doing whatever he wanted.

The situation was much more optimistic than the emperor had anticipated.

There weren't that many traitors. There were only twelve merchants involved in the smuggling of Iron and Fire Feather, and the scale of their operations wasn't too large. If it weren't for the war, they wouldn't even be guilty of a capital offense. Unfortunately, the war had already begun, and immediate execution was certain.

The imperial court's coastal defense patrol offices were not established for nothing.

The most common smuggled goods are "white goods," which are legal and compliant goods used to evade taxes. Among these, sugar cubes from Annam are the most prevalent.

Sugar is a very expensive commodity, and sugar cubes are an extract from sugarcane and a raw material for white sugar. There were so many sugar mills in Guangzhou that the supply of raw materials could not meet the demand.

The Guangzhou Coast Guard Inspection Office also turns a blind eye to the smuggling of white goods. After all, the coast guard inspectors are also human. When they go ashore, they also need to buy some candy, and the old man likes cheap candy.

If they smuggle black goods, such as steel, fire feathers, and opium, then the old man on the coast guard patrol will have to deploy a hydrofoil.

No matter how fast your boat is, can it be faster than a hydrofoil?

For over twenty years, a tacit understanding has formed: merchants and poor laborers involved in smuggling white goods will spontaneously report to Grandpa the desperate criminals smuggling black goods, since these criminals are all considered merits by Grandpa.

These smugglers of counterfeit goods resolutely say no to illegal activities! We cannot allow the entire industry to be severely punished simply because one of our colleagues is unethical!

If there are too many illicit goods on the sea, the authorities will launch a large-scale crackdown, even stopping the smuggling of genuine goods. This could take anywhere from ten days to three to five months. If there is no income for three months, it is really unbearable.

According to Liu Jiwen, the two hundred inspectors and three thousand archers of the coastal defense patrol were simply not enough to prevent smuggling, so they had to use this screening method to identify those desperate criminals.

Li Yougong did not interfere excessively with the tacit understanding between local authorities. He would not be foolish enough to interfere in areas he was not familiar with. Since such a tacit understanding had been formed and was functioning well, arbitrary interference would only damage the relationship between the government and the people and would serve no purpose other than to harm the relationship between the government and the people.

As long as the sea is open, smuggling, especially of counterfeit goods, is inevitable.

If we really want to completely eliminate most smuggling, the best way is to issue a relocation order, which would prohibit people from approaching the coast within 50 miles and establish regular patrols. In that case, let alone smuggling, even going out to sea to fish would be as difficult as climbing to the sky.

After Liu Jiwen and Li Yougong finished discussing the arsenal corruption case, they began to talk about the economy of Guangzhou Prefecture. With a serious expression, he said, "Gold notes need to be issued to Guangzhou Prefecture to replace sugar coupons. These sugar coupons are easy to counterfeit and inconvenient to use. Private notes and counterfeit notes are emerging one after another."

In Guangzhou, Li Yougong also observed a very peculiar phenomenon: the people of Guangzhou were all using a kind of sugar coupon.

The Ming Dynasty's silver shortage presented a predicament where major cities were dammed up with silver while the hinterland and smaller towns suffered from severe shortages. Dredging the silver supply was extremely difficult, but the imperial court had made every effort to dredge it through various means.

The size of Guangzhou Prefecture has tripled, expanding from a city wall of forty li to a wall of seventy li. Commerce is extremely developed, and the sails of ships on the sea of ​​Dianbai Port cover the sky.

Mizhou received silver from Japan, while Songjiang Prefecture, Ningbo Prefecture, and Fuzhou Prefecture received large amounts of silver from Japan, Mexico, and Peru.

Guangzhou Prefecture was the only one of the five Maritime Trade Offices that did not experience a silver damming.

Because both Southeast Asia and the West, which Guangzhou Prefecture faced, were extremely lacking in silver, the implementation of gold and paper money proceeded very smoothly in Guangzhou Prefecture due to the scarcity of silver and the extremely developed trade.

When Wang Chonggu was still alive, Wang Jiaping went to the capital and sought help from Wang Chonggu to establish a Huitongguan post station in Guangzhou Prefecture.

Although the silver shortage has been somewhat alleviated, the silver supply in Guangzhou Prefecture is still insufficient. While gold notes are widely used in Guangzhou Prefecture, various miscellaneous notes are also emerging in the private sector.

Ultimately, sugar, as a form of hard currency, unified all these miscellaneous coupons. The largest-scale use of these coupons in the entire Guangzhou Prefecture was the gold ingot, followed by sugar coupons issued by the Guangzhou government with white sugar, brown sugar, and sugar cubes as the anchor.

Sugar coupons, like salt certificates in the Ming Dynasty, could be used as currency and could be used to buy any goods you wanted in Guangzhou.

“Targeted issuance.” Li Yougong considered for a moment and said in a low voice, “Governor Liu, the Ministry of Rites is facing great resistance in promoting the Gold Notes in the Pan-Pacific Merchant Alliance, but it seems that the Gold Notes have great potential in Southeast Asia and the West.”

"Huh?" Liu Jiwen suddenly sat up straight, his eyes gleaming. After considering it carefully, the joy on his face grew stronger.

He has been focusing his energy on military affairs lately. When the Japanese pirates were rampant, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi was the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, a position that oversaw military affairs. Although he became the Governor after Ling Yunyi left, he still had to assume military responsibilities.

As soon as Li Yougong started talking, Liu Jiwen connected all the dots in a flash. He smiled and said, "If one door closes, another opens. After careful consideration, I will write a memorial to the court. I also thank Li Da Dang for reminding me."

Liu Jiwen didn't have much affection for Li Yougong, this headstrong eunuch. He, a local official, hadn't given the imperial envoy a hard time, but Li Yougong, the imperial envoy, had gone to the armory as soon as he arrived in Guangzhou to give Liu Jiwen a hard time.

But now, with just one sentence from Li Yougong, all the misunderstandings were cleared up. Standing tall and seeing far, Li Yougong had a clearer understanding of the movements in the court.

In this way, the problem of needing to issue more gold and paper money to Guangzhou Prefecture was solved, as well as the problem of the imperial court wanting to strengthen economic colonization was resolved, thus achieving both political stability and domestic peace.

If the Pan-Pacific Trade Alliance doesn't work, the Western Trade Alliance can.

Western merchant alliances needed a general equivalent to measure the price of various goods, and gold and paper money were undoubtedly the most suitable choice.

Sugar coupons are a type of local negotiable instrument. Outside of Guangzhou, they are not recognized. As a result, various private and counterfeit coupons keep Guangzhou busy. Investigating and cracking down on illegal private and counterfeit coupons requires a huge amount of manpower and resources, which is often not worth the effort. Moreover, without the endorsement of the imperial court, it is difficult to operate effectively.

There is no such thing as a perfect solution in the world, and there is no such thing as a dilemma that can be resolved on its own. If you ask what the cost is, it is obvious that the West, which lacks currency, will have to accept paper money from the Ming Dynasty to buy their goods.

If the Ming Dynasty were no longer powerful, the gold and paper money in their hands would be nothing but worthless paper. If the Ming Dynasty had always been powerful, the gold and paper money would have been real gold and silver.

The Wanli Reforms always employed various methods to shift the costs outward, reducing the pain of reform and lessening resistance to it.

This time, it's no exception.

If the gold notes do not have a huge reservoir, sooner or later they will follow the example of Felipe's gold bonds, going bankrupt three times, losing all credibility, causing the country to lose great trust, and arousing public suspicion. This is the lesson that the Ministry of Rites learned from Felipe's gold bonds.

"I still have to thank Li Da Dang for his advice." Liu Jiwen expressed his sincere gratitude again and took out a stack of gold notes.

Eunuchs are creatures who, if you don't give them enough money, will dare to slander you in front of the emperor. It's best not to offend them too much.

Li Yougong looked at the stack of gold and banknotes and pushed it out, then said with a smile, "No need, we are all working for His Majesty. Governor Liu, there's no need for this. I am doing business in Guangzhou and I still need your help."

After some back and forth, Li Yougong ultimately refused Liu Jiwen's bribe, which appeared to be at least a thousand taels of silver.

When Li Yougong saw Liu Jiwen off, he couldn't help but think of Hou Yuzhao. It wasn't that Hou Yuzhao was incapable of understanding human relationships; he simply didn't have that concept at all.

On the second day of the seventh lunar month, Li Yougong received a piece of good news.

Lou Hu and Luo Shangzhi captured Guang'an City on the north bank of the Red River. Haiyang City is located on the south bank of the Red River. They should have been positioned to support each other, making this strategic position very difficult to attack.

Originally, when Guang'an City was attacked, the garrison of Haiyang City should have come out of the city to fight back. With such a pincer attack, the invaders would have no choice but to retreat.

However, when Guang'an City was attacked, the defenders of Haiyang City remained unmoved!
Luo Shangzhi had been on guard for a long time, ready to retreat at any moment, but he still managed to capture Guang'an City, while the garrison of Haiyang City remained completely unmoved.

Guang'an City was captured, and the garrison of Haiyang City fled without even putting up a fight.

Luo Shangzhi captured the maritime gateways of Thang Long City, Hai Duong and Quang An, which meant that Thang Long City had opened its doors to the Ming Dynasty.

Even Luo Shangzhi was quite surprised by this result. This was just a probing attack, not a general offensive, but the enemy's will to resist was excessively weak.

This time, 3,600 people were captured in Guang'an City, but only 120 were Ming people, and the rest were Annamite. The proportion of prisoners was completely different from that of the previous group of prisoners from Gusu Island.

Historical experience has shown that Annam is indeed easy to conquer, but equally difficult to govern.

The situation in Annam is far too complicated.

(End of this chapter)