The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 11 Mingxiang People

Hoi An City was in sight from afar, but Ngoc Thuy Bu had a somewhat awkward expression.

Because Mo Dengyong, the founding emperor of the Annan Mo Dynasty who made "great contributions" to the prosperity of Hoi An City, was originally from Leizhou. For dozens of generations, he was a family member of the Mo Zibu family.

Simply put, Ou Zibu's eleventh-generation ancestor and Mo Dengyong were cousins with the same grandfather. After Mo Dengyong's descendants retreated to Gaoping, they also had contacts with the Mo family of Leizhou.

This is also the reason why the Ou Zibu family originally had the surname Mo, but changed it to Ou after fleeing to Annan.

For the Chinese, Mo Dengyong's experience is legendary, and he is very aware of the times and the overall situation.

But from the perspective of the Annamites, the ten most heinous crimes are enough to describe him as the standard, number one traitor to Vietnam.

How big was the impact? In the 1960s and 1970s, in order to seize power, Le Duan of Annam implied that the pro-China figures such as Chang Zheng, Zhu Wenjin, and Huang Wenhuan were Mo Dengyong, thereby successfully arousing the general resentment of the Annamites and excluding them from the circle of power.

Hong Ahan looked at the strange expression on Ou Zibu's face and thought that he was a little worried, so he immediately patted his chest and assured him:

"Don't worry, Master Chen. We Chaozhou people are well-known in Hoi An. Even if the Annan people had ten times the courage, they wouldn't dare to come and harass us."

Unfortunately, just as Hong Ahan finished his words, a Guangnan official wearing a green round-necked official robe with a white cloud goose embroidered on the center patch, which symbolized a fifth-rank civil servant, rushed over with a dozen soldiers holding spears and stopped the Hong family's convoy entering the city.

Well, but he was not necessarily a fifth-rank official, because at that time, the Nguyen regime wore all kinds of clothes except for the dragon robe. The rules of being a beast in human clothing would not be finalized until Nguyen Phuc Anh established the Nguyen Dynasty several decades later.

Before the green-robed official got close, Hong Ahan's face turned red and his anger began to rise at a level visible to the naked eye.

This wealthy Chaozhou tycoon was very concerned about his reputation. He mistakenly believed that the Ho Tien Clan was well connected, so he had been showing off his strength along the way. However, he was humiliated as soon as he made his boast.

"Blind Cai, I bet you're blind! How dare you stop my convoy?"

The furious Hong Ahan actually did not speak Teochew, but rather a very unstandard and halting Mandarin.

Similarly, this Guangnan official, whose surname was Cai and whose official color was also very Cai (Cai), immediately responded in the same official language: "Oh, it's Master Hong who is here."

"Stop, stop, stop, stop checking." This was said to the Guangnan soldiers behind him.

"Master Hong, you might not know this yet, but the fifth master of the Hexian Mo family killed Zhang Neizuo's son. Oh, that was so tragic! It's said that he was burned alive!

Whore cough cough, Lady Ruan is even worse off, with pieces of flesh flying everywhere."

When Hong Ahan saw that the small official surnamed Cai called him "Master", his expression immediately improved. He smiled and said to Ou Zibu:

"Old Cai's ancestral home is Sanshui. He has been in Annan for five or six generations. He is now in charge of the north gate of Hoi An. He can speak Tang dialect, but not much else."

Well, after regaining his face, Blind Cai successfully upgraded to Old Cai.

Sanshui is the Sanshui District of Guangzhou in later generations, which is a place where people with the surname Cai in Guangdong are relatively concentrated.

Tanghua refers to Mandarin. After Cantonese became strong, it also specifically referred to Cantonese, but now it refers to Mandarin.

Moreover, this Mandarin was not the Beijing Mandarin, an important source of Mandarin in later generations, but the Nanjing Mandarin of the Ming Dynasty.

Although the Qing government at that time stipulated that Manchu was the official language, it was difficult to pronounce and had few words, and even the Manchus themselves did not use it much. Therefore, more than a hundred years after entering the Pass, the official language was still the Nanjing Mandarin based on the Jianghuai dialect in the Ming Dynasty.

As for the Beijing Mandarin that later generations were familiar with, although it had already taken shape at this time, it was mostly popular among the northern people and Manchus, and it would take several decades to replace the status of Nanjing Mandarin.

This official surnamed Cai could speak Nanjing Mandarin but not Cantonese because at that time in Annan, whether it was Northern Zheng or Southern Nguyen, the upper class spoke Nanjing Mandarin in formal occasions and imperial examinations, and had to use Chinese characters for writing.

"What do you mean by being in charge of the North Gate? It's just a favor from the villagers, especially."

It seems that the official surnamed Cai was able to obtain the official position of guarding the north gate because his identity as a Vietnamese but actually Chinese gave him convenience.

Therefore, he naturally had to give face to the various Chinese bosses, otherwise it would not be his turn to be the chief of the city gate officials, which was a lucrative position.

But as he was trying to get closer to him, he suddenly looked up and saw Ou Zibu and Chen Guangyao behind him. Ou Zibu was smiling at him meaningfully.

Old Cai felt that all the hairs on his body stood up, and he wished he could faint right now.

Ou Zibu was 1.77 meters tall, which was very tall at that time.

Not to mention now, even in later generations, the average height of Vietnamese is only about 1.67 meters. At that time, most of the Yue people that Ou Zibu had seen were basically just over 1.6 meters tall.

Apart from this conspicuous feature, everyone knew that if Ngo Thuy Bu wanted to escape, he had only one way to go: to Hoi An, where there were many Chinese people, and then take a big boat back to Ha Tien.

At this moment, Lao Cai thought of all the joints in his mind, and his whole body was cold and he was about to cry.

"Master Hong, a strange group of regular soldiers have arrived in Hue, but Master Luo won't let them into the city, so these Vietnamese people can't do anything about it. But to avoid any trouble, I would like to ask Master Wu to take the official sedan chair and go to see Master Luo."

When Ou Zibu heard what Lao Cai said, he immediately stepped out of the crowd and bowed to him.

Old Cai allowed Ou Zibu to ride into the city in his official sedan chair, effectively a token of his loyalty. Apparently, given the choice between the Yue people and his own, Old Cai chose his own, even though he had already been an official in Guangnan. "My recklessness has brought disaster upon me. How can I continue to burden my elders? Please, Master Cai, inform my eldest grandfather and tell him I've gone to see Master Wei in Chaozhou."

After saying this, Ou Zibu looked at Lao Cai seriously and said, "I will keep today's events in mind."

Old Cai quickly bowed in return, "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it. I'll let Master Luo know right away!"

. . . .

Hoi An is divided into two urban areas, north and south, by the Thu Bon River. Most Chinese live in the north of the city, which has a larger area and better security and governance.

Among the hundreds of thousands of Chinese in the city, Mingxiang people account for about 70%. If the population in the surrounding countryside is added, the number is estimated to be around 100,000.

But their origins are very complicated. There are old immigrants who arrived in Hoi An before the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, and there are also those who refused to shave their heads and change their clothes in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

Some of them even moved south during the Song Dynasty and gradually became localized. After the Chinese population increased in the past one or two hundred years, they began to return to the Chinese community.

But generally speaking, the Minh Xiang people in Hoi An are relatively united, with the three main surnames Liu, Luo and Ye, supplemented by surnames such as Chen, Zheng, Pan and Wu.

Although the Ming Dynasty has been destroyed for more than a hundred years, the Mingxiang people are still trying to maintain the clothing of their homeland. They wear Ming-style Hanfu, have Han-style buns, and have built two temple-style palaces, Haiping and Jinxia, and a magnificent Guandi Temple in Hoi An.

Among these three temples, Haiping Palace is dedicated to the Heavenly Concubine Lin, also known as Mazu.

Jinxia Palace worships Baosheng Dadi, also known as Master Wu, the Divine Doctor Dadaogong.

As for the Guandi Temple, it is naturally a place to worship Guan Gong.

The Mingxiang people used these three temples to unite the people, maintain traditions, and establish their own power organization, which ostensibly managed the sacrifices in these three temples, but was actually an organization similar to the Hong Kong community in later generations.

The leader of this community is elected in turn by the patriarchs of the Liu, Luo and Ye families through public election. He is called "Agong" and outsiders use their surnames to distinguish him. This year, the patriarch of the Luo family is called "Luo Agong".

But among the Mingxiang people, they all call him Grandpa.

In order to maintain tradition and enhance cohesion, the Mingxiang people built the ancestral halls of each family and surname together, which are called combined halls, to show that everyone has lost their homeland and country, and will be indistinguishable from each other in this foreign country.

The Hexian Ou family never joined the Ming Xiang Society, but they were still considered Ming remnants, so Ou Zibu called them "Grandpa".

. . . .

Inside the city, at the Guandi Temple, Grandpa Luo is 57 years old this year. His ancestral home is Dongguan. When he was young, he was good at using Western muskets and was known to be able to kill enemies from a hundred feet away. Therefore, he was nicknamed Luo Da Chong and Luo Xingmu.

Although he is now old, his prestige remains unchanged and he is a banner among the Minh Huong people in Hoi An.

In the main hall of Guandi Temple, Guan Gong is wearing a green brocade robe, stroking his beard with one hand, looking majestic. Two generals, one black and one white, stand on his side, namely Guan Ping and Zhou Cang.

Grandpa Luo looked at the statue of Guandi and pondered for a long time without saying a word.

Seeing Grandpa in trouble, the elder of the Liu clan stepped forward and said, "Although the Hexian Ou family and I are both people who have lost our country and our families, we are not close to each other.

Now that the son of the Nguyen clan has committed such a heinous crime, accepting him would probably cause great offense to Hue!"

"What are you talking about, Third Uncle? The reason why we Mingxiang people have been able to take root and thrive here is because of the two words loyalty and righteousness.

Not to mention the sons of the Ou family who have also lost their country and their homes, even if they are Qing people from the mainland, we should protect them. How can we lose the integrity of our ancestors and the foundation of our existence just because we are concerned about the Annan people!

"Yes! Zhang Fuluan has monopolized power, bullied the royal family, and oppressed the people. He has imposed countless exorbitant taxes. He is a traitor. Killing his son is a way to rid the people of this evil."

Well, the elders of the Ye family came out and complained that Zhang Fuluan had imposed heavy levies on the people over the years, and the Ye family's business had suffered greatly.

"I think Mr. Wu Mo did a good job. Zhang Fuluan insulted him like that, showing that he didn't take us Mingxiang people seriously. If I were there, I would have helped cut him down a few times!"

Another elder of the clan came out and cursed, saying that Zhang Fuluan had the power of Cao Cao but lacked Cao Cao's ability to govern a country. He had made the already corrupt Ruan family's Guangnan Kingdom a country where the people lived in misery. The Mingxiang people, being in Guangnan Kingdom, would naturally be affected.

Hearing that everyone here supported the asylum, Grandpa Luo finally came out and made the final decision, "We dare not speak rashly in front of the Holy Emperor Guan Yu. When we Mingxiang people established our community, we pledged our loyalty and righteousness, not seeking anything else.

The fifth son of the Ou family came to us when he was in trouble because he knew that I would protect the reputation of the An Mingxiang people. If he were to suffer any harm, the spit of the whole world would drown us.

Orders were sent out to all families to gather their men, distribute gunpowder and lead bullets, and to be on high alert.

Inform the Japanese, Fulangsha (France), Ipoleon (Spain), and Aneriya (England) in the south of the city and ask them to prepare for the military expedition.

Brother Liu, you go out of the city now and tell Gaiqi, the main camp leader from Hue, to report to Zhang Neizu that the fifth master of the Nguyen family did not come to Hoi An, and ask them to leave.

Chen Da, send a fast boat to Hexian and ask Lord Ou what the rules are."

(Recently, Chongqing has been experiencing heavy rain for several days. Tiger is scheduled to be on duty at the warehouse until Saturday, so he may not have time to write today.

Thanks to the book friend Laoshiren Xiaofu for the 100-point reward.)
(End of this chapter)