Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 443 Flexible Strategy

Li Jinrong cried so hard, and no matter how the officials from the Honglu Temple tried to persuade him, he refused to leave and insisted on seeing the emperor.

The helpless officials had to stand by and accompany him, and arranged shifts.

After crying for a whole day, she still didn't get permission to see the emperor. She only got one sentence, telling her to believe that Governor Wang would solve the problem peacefully.

Li Jinrong fainted directly, and the officials from the Honglu Temple carried him back and arranged for a doctor.

After Jia Lian learned about this, he made the following comment: Annan calls itself a small China and has ambitions to dominate Southeast Asia. In its historical narrative, Zhao Tuo of Nanyue is its ancestor and Guangzhou is its capital.

This statement was relayed to Li Jinrong by an official from the Honglu Temple. Li Jinrong, who had just calmed down a little, shouted: "Annan is the only loyal one!" and fainted again.

Officials from the Honglu Temple speculated that Li Jinrong might have pretended to faint the first time, but this time he fainted for real because he was frightened.

The next day, the newspapers in the capital were relatively consistent in their statements, and made a well-reasoned explanation of the justice of Wang Ziteng's dispatch of troops. During the period, they cited a lot of historical materials, and directly traced back to Jiaozhi County in the Western Han Dynasty. It is unknown whether the content of the newspaper frightened Li Jinrong, but the people in the Korean Temple next door were frightened. Is it okay to read history books?

The Korean officials stationed in Beijing quickly submitted a letter expressing the legitimacy of the Joseon Dynasty's accession to the throne and that it was a vassal state recognized by King Taejo.

It's really not the fault of the North Korean officials that they were frightened. The so-called nobles in North Korea are all proficient in Chinese and have read a lot of history books. If you trace the history back to the Western Han Dynasty, how could they not be confused?

Learn about Lelang County. Compared with Annan, Korea has more negative information in history books. During the Han and Tang dynasties, half of Korea belonged to China.

Compared with the treatment in Annan, the treatment of Korean envoys was much better. The emperor specially sent a eunuch to appease the Korean envoys in person. The Korean king enthroned by Taizu was legal and valid and would not be counted as a historical account.

The expedition to Annan was entirely due to its ambition, restlessness and persecution of overseas Chinese.

Wang Ziteng could not see the farce in the capital. When his fleet was deployed on the sea, a small boat came from the port. A small official on it boarded the warship and trembled, but said fluently: "We are sorry for not welcoming the Celestial Empire's fleet. I don't know what fault our country has made to cause the superior country to mobilize its troops. If there is a fault, just reprimand it with a document. Why do you have to do this?"

Wang Ziteng threw the pre-prepared manifesto in his face and let him read it.

The official naturally understood Chinese. After taking it and reading it, he exclaimed, "This is a disaster!" and fainted immediately!
Wang Ziteng had water poured on him to wake him up and told him that this was an ultimatum. If he did not surrender in one hour, the fleet would open fire!
Upon hearing that the deadline was one hour, the negotiating official fainted again. It was impossible to find the person in charge in such a short time.

Wang Ziteng didn't care about his life or death. He had him thrown back into the boat and told to go back and report.

Standing on the deck, Wang Ziteng, holding a telescope, looked at the dock and market which had suddenly become chaotic. Crowds of people were running around and shouting, crying for their parents, as if they had lost their parents.

Wang Ziteng's ultimatum was not demanding, requiring the cession of the area south of Saigon (including Saigon) as compensation.

An hour passed quickly, and without waiting for a reply, Wang Ziteng ordered an attack, first a round of artillery bombardment, and then a landing.

Ten battleships opened fire, firing on one side, then turned around and fired again. This action was more for scare people, and the damage was actually not high.

As the eldest son, Wang Yi personally led the first group of troops ashore to boost morale.

After the 500 musketeers were sent ashore, they found that there was no resistance at all and the local garrison had already fled.

Wang Ziteng couldn't believe it when he heard the news. Aren't the Annan people said to be very tough? How come they didn't even put up a decent resistance?

Regardless, continue logging in.

After the first batch of troops took over the dock, landing became much easier.

It took a day to land, another day to take control of the city, and then wait for the King of Annan's reply.

During the process of taking over the city, many local hooligans took the opportunity to cause trouble and loot, but were wiped out by the soldiers of the Southern Expedition Army. The main local officials fled, and most of them left their families behind.

There were many overseas Chinese in the area, and they all welcomed the royal teacher.

It was the third day since Wang Ziteng got off the boat. Standing on the street of Annan, looking at the Chinese signs everywhere on the street, he felt as if he was still in China.

As an excuse for this incident, the Saigon Li clan was liquidated. After the soldiers rushed into the house like wolves and tigers, they found that the main members of the Li clan had run away.

It was later discovered that the official who came to the ship to negotiate that day was a member of the Li clan. Therefore, the men of the Li clan, as well as some of the main female relatives, followed and ran away.

With Wang Ziteng's help, the victim Lin got back his family property and received compensation for part of the Li family's property. At the same time, he was appointed by Wang Ziteng as the magistrate of Saigon to help maintain local order.

With the cooperation of people familiar with the local situation, some local families that had grudges against the Li family soon sent people to work in the yamen.

In line with the principle of eradicating all evil, Wang Ziteng also ordered his troops to go to the countryside to attack the Li family's manor and confiscate their land and other property.

All families that had good relations and close contacts with the Li family were implicated, and many people were arrested.

Anyway, we should seek redress for grievances and seek revenge for grievances.

For a time, there was a lot of noise in Saigon and gunshots were often heard.

For the local big families, the arrival of the Great Zhou soldiers was not a good thing, and could even be a disaster.

But for ordinary people, they were afraid at first and stayed indoors, but later they went out to the streets for a living. They were surprised to find that the officers and soldiers of the Great Zhou had good military discipline and even paid for things they bought.

The first to react were the small traders, who began to sell local products to the officers and soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The next to react were the seafood merchants, and within a few days, the seafood business became prosperous.

It's not that the military discipline of the officers and soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty is so good, but Wang Ziteng runs this place as his own backyard. The officers and soldiers are generously paid and rewarded, and the military discipline is strict, and he has repeatedly issued orders. For ten days, the Annan government has not made any moves, but the market has returned to its normal state, and it is better than before. After all, ordinary people used to face various exploitations, but now they are all gone.

It's not that there aren't any. It's just that at the beginning, a group of gray forces on the ground were cleared out, and the rest were hiding and watching. The smart ones had already started to contact the officers and soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty, trying every means to seize this rare opportunity and rise with the trend. This phenomenon is inevitable everywhere. In peaceful times, it is difficult for ordinary people to climb up. Only when there is chaos, opportunities will appear. But how to say it, when there is really chaos, ordinary people are the first to suffer. It can only be said that Wang Ziteng did not mess around in Saigon for his own interests, which is why the situation is stable.

If he really follows his style in the Western Regions, it is normal for him to not put down his sword for three days. Of course, the situations in the two places are also different. In the Western Regions, Wang Ziteng went to quell the rebellion, while here, he is going to build an empire.

Ten days later, Wang Ziteng did not receive the envoy from the King of Annan, but instead received a counterattack from local armed forces.

As a local clan, the Li clan was related by marriage to the local Nguyen clan and other clans, and their interests were shared.

Wang Ziteng sent troops to the countryside to conquer the Li family estate. He started around Saigon. The distance was close and there were guides, so the progress was smooth. Even if there was resistance, it was sporadic. When the distance was farther, the situation was different. A team of 500 people was surrounded by tens of thousands of local armed forces.

The captain in charge of the command led his troops to break out, and although it was successful, it also cost the loss of ten men killed and fifty injured.

Although it was expected, Wang Ziteng, who had been landing smoothly, was still quite shocked. Wang Ziteng immediately called a meeting of his subordinates to discuss how to fight back.

The local tyrants present at the meeting described the local situation in detail. This so-called resistance army should be the product of the cooperation between the Le family, the Nguyen family and other major families. It was finally decided to use heavy troops to attack Xinfu, an important stronghold of the Nguyen family nearby, to kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

Wang Ziteng appointed Wang Yi as the commander-in-chief and led 5,000 infantry and artillerymen to attack Xinfu with the cooperation of the makeshift local armed forces.

To Wang Ziteng's surprise, the local armed forces were more active in attacking Xinfu, and they gathered in groups of more than 10,000 people.

Although it looked chaotic, Wang Ziteng still spent three days organizing these people into teams and appointing officials.

Then he let these people take the lead, and Wang Yi led his troops to guard the line.

When Wang Yi went to war, he brought twelve six-jin bronze field cannons. It was not that he did not want to bring more, but that was all. Other things, such as the French rapid-fire cannons, he brought fifty. This shows how much Wang Ziteng loved his eldest son.

The local Nguyen armed forces in Tan Phu naturally refused to surrender, and built a large number of defensive fortifications, ready for battle.

However, in Wang Yi's opinion, these fortifications were not of much use. What really played a role was the local city wall, which was not high, only about three meters.

Wang Yi concentrated his artillery fire and bombarded the city wall fiercely. After an hour, the wall collapsed, which shows the quality of the project.

When the vassal army saw the city wall collapse, they launched an attack in a disorderly manner without waiting for orders. Although Wang Yi was dissatisfied with this behavior of attacking without orders, he did not get angry at the time and could only order to stop the shelling.

These more than 10,000 vassal troops engaged in a fierce battle with the local armed forces. They rushed in through the gap several times but were blocked again.

Wang Yi watched calmly. The air was filled with a disgusting smell of blood. Wang Yi endured the discomfort and waited until the vassal army was defeated. He first found out which unit was the first to attack without orders. After arresting the officers and beating them with ten military sticks, he emphasized the seriousness of military orders and immediately launched a second attack.

Still preparing for artillery fire, he bombarded the previous gap fiercely, and after another piece of it collapsed, he ordered all units to obey his orders and attack in an orderly manner. At the same time, he ordered the rapid-fire artillery to move forward to provide cover.

In terms of equipment, the vassal army's equipment was very simple. They had less than a hundred matchlock rifles in total, but they did have swords, spears, and bows and arrows. After all, they had seized a lot of equipment after taking over the city.

The second attack was similar to the last one. The defenders stubbornly blocked the gap, but were about to fail again. The rapid-fire guns arrived and bombarded the gap with fast and intensive firepower at close range. In a short time, the defenders fell down in groups under the shotgun shells. The severely damaged defenders immediately collapsed, and the vassal army rushed in.

The city is broken!
Compared with the officers and soldiers of the Great Zhou, the vassal army had almost no military discipline. After they broke into the city, a catastrophe for the newly rich local people began.

It was not that Wang Yi could not restrict these local vassal armies, but he did not do so. Instead, he allowed them to burn, kill and loot.

Wang Yi already knew that these local vassal troops had deep hatred for the big families such as the Li and Nguyen families. After following Wang Ziteng, they had little room for maneuver. In this case, let them go and serve wholeheartedly from now on. You know, the entire southern expedition army, both by land and sea, has only more than 30,000 people in total. If you want to truly control the place, you certainly need the cooperation of the local vassal.

Moreover, Wang Ziteng had explained that there was no need for the local big families who were disobedient to stay.

How many people can a small city like Xinfu have? Less than 30,000!

After three days, the city's population was less than 5,000, and the remaining people were all young women.

Wang Yi also received ten girls, all of whom were around twelve or thirteen years old, and they were all the prettiest among the group.

I don't know if there were any male survivors in the city of the Li and Nguyen families who led their troops to resist. Maybe there were, but basically all those who could be killed were killed. This group of vassal soldiers were so cruel that they even spared no children.

It took three days to move all the corpses out of the city. The air was filled with a foul odor that took several days to completely dissipate.

After Wang Ziteng found out, he just calmly said he knew and continued to write a report to the court. In any case, he was still the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The next day, the envoy of the King of Annan finally arrived and gave an explanation that made Wang Ziteng laugh and cry.

The visitor was a scholar in his early fifties dressed in Confucian robes, with a slightly dark complexion and a thin appearance. When he met Wang Ziteng, he said, "Governor Wang, as an important official of the Celestial Empire, has helped Annan to get rid of the Li family in Saigon. Now all the people have been killed and the Lin family has also been compensated. When will the troops be withdrawn?"
Wang Ziteng almost laughed out loud and asked him, "Didn't you see my ultimatum?"

The messenger said that he had not seen it at all. It was not important at all whether he saw it or not.

Wang Ziteng did not give the other party a chance to cover up his mistake, so he wrote a letter and threw it to him: "You didn't read it, right? Now you have read it, take it back and show it to your king. This time I will wait for no more than ten days. If there is no timely reply, our army will march north, destroy Annan, and establish a new king."

If Wang Ziteng had the idea of ​​destroying the country at the beginning, he no longer thinks so now. The various big families in Saigon alone can gather tens of thousands of troops. It can be seen that it is not realistic to completely eliminate these local armed forces by force in the short term. The question is whether the cost and return are proportional.

At this stage, Wang Ziteng has definitely not made much money, if not any loss.

Therefore, Wang Ziteng made the following adjustments to the new conditions. On the basis of the original cession of the south of Saigon, two more conditions were added. The King of Annan sent troops to wipe out the local rebels in Saigon; and compensated the two great weeks with two million taels of silver. As long as the other party agreed to these two conditions, Wang Ziteng would have enough time to slowly digest the current results of the war. He wanted to take root here, so going north to destroy the Kingdom of Annan would be too costly, regardless of success or failure. Even if he got his money back, would he give up the place he had fought so hard for?
Flexible adjustment strategies are very necessary!

(End of this chapter)