The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 218: Time, Place and Jiading

Thunderous cheers rang out at the east gate of Jiading, and the sun and moon flags, symbolizing the Ming Dynasty, once again fluttered over the city walls of this great city first built by the Zhenla people and improved by the Chinese.

This city is not only a testimony to the hard work of the Chinese in developing the Mekong Plain, but also the base for the Guangnan people to manage this area.

But now, it fell into Mo Zibu's hands.

While the Chinese, mainly Mingxiang people, were cheering loudly, the people of Guangnan were in great grief. They dragged their families with them and climbed down from the city gates or even from the city walls in fear.

But most of them were caught on the spot, and then they were beaten with knives, guns, sticks and clubs. No one was spared, regardless of gender, age or status.

Li Guangxian knew this was a great opportunity, so he still wore his muddy blue shirt and ran barefoot to Mo Zibu's horse.

"Sir, since ancient times, I have never heard of a benevolent person killing civilians before entering the city. Jiading is the old land of Zhenla, with a sparse population. Excessive killing will harm the settlement.

The difficulties faced by the Prince Consort's maternal family are the fault of Ruan Futan, Song Fuqia and others. Please do not involve too many people, so as not to damage the foundation of the Han people."

Twelve-year-old Li Guangding also knelt on the ground and shouted, "Whether he is guilty or not should be judged by the officials. How can we allow the people to carry out lynching? This will not only damage the reputation of the prince consort as a loyal, righteous and benevolent person, but also violate the military laws and prohibitions of the heavenly soldiers. It is absolutely unacceptable."

The Annan people at this time had a very flexible stance on their identity.

When the central dynasty in the north tried to take back Jiaozhi, they called themselves Yue people in order to enhance their regional identity, unite their fellow villagers and resist the court.

If the central dynasty did not want to touch them, they would call themselves southerners and call the Han people northerners and guests, dreaming of a Big and Small China, or even a North and South China.

However, when they encountered the Champa, Zhenla, Shangren and other races that they considered to be barbaric, they quickly classified themselves into the same category as the Han people in the north, claiming that they were all Han people.

For example, several decades later, Emperor Minh Mang of the Nguyen Dynasty often issued edicts saying:
"Zhenxi is an important frontier area. I treat all people equally, hoping to have them adopt Han customs early on and share in the royal influence. I want them to be influenced by what they see and hear, and gradually be influenced without realizing it. This is the key to using Chinese to transform the barbarians."

The ancient Champa nation was influenced by the Han culture and gradually adopted Han customs. If we add political and religious changes and use Chinese culture to transform the barbarians, it will take only a few decades for them to be indistinguishable from the Han people.

This is called Little China, this is called flexibility.

Therefore, the brothers Le Guangxian and Le Guangding, descendants of the Han people who have been assimilated into the Jing ethnic group, can naturally call Guangnan people Han people without any psychological burden.

This is also an important reason why the Chinese in Southeast Asia often refer to themselves as Tang people, to avoid being confused with the Vietnamese.

Mo Zibu thought about it and it made sense. Not to mention that it was the Guangnan high-ranking officials who oppressed the Mingxiang people, the poor farmers below could hardly be considered accomplices.

Even if they are guilty, they should be tried according to the law. If they deserve to be killed, they should be killed. If they deserve to be sentenced to slavery or hard labor, they should be punished.

It is indeed impossible to indulge in private vendettas, nor to allow the army to be stained with blood in such circumstances, so as not to undermine military discipline.

"Wu Shixiu, order all pacification officers to lead their troops into the city to suppress the rebellion. Those who escape outside the city should only be arrested and not killed indiscriminately."

As soon as the order was given, loud cheers were heard from the front. It turned out that a group of Jiading nobles, led by clan members Yan Ruan Futan and others, were escorted out.

Zongshi Yan saw Mo Zibu in a red robe from a distance. He ran forward with all his strength, fell to the ground on the yellow mud road, and pleaded loudly:

"My Lord, when the traitor Zhang Qinhui ordered five battalions of soldiers to capture you, I resisted with all my might. Today, I ask nothing more, only that you spare my life!"

Damn it! Mo Zibu was choked and stunned. The military judge who was escorting the royal family member Yan across from him was also stunned. Then he blushed with shame and forgot to cover the bastard's mouth.

He was really good at finding opportunities. To outsiders, it really sounded as if Mo Zibu wanted to kill him now, which really seemed a bit ungrateful.

However, Mo Zibu reacted immediately because he remembered what he came to Jiading for.

To promote the Mingxiang people and regain their ancestral property is indeed the most important thing.

But the second thing, which was to maintain his reputation as a loyal and righteous son-in-law, was also very important. It was to wait until Hue was conquered by the Tây Sơn army and all the Nguyen family members were killed before he went to Hue to sit on the throne.

If the goal of cleansing and rectifying the Annamites is exposed too obviously now, the difficulty of entering Hue will definitely increase greatly.

Thinking of this, King Mo immediately put on a righteous expression. He raised his voice and shouted, "Ruan Futan, do you think I came to Jiading to seek revenge?"

"joke!"

"I am here today because you, Ruan Futan, Song Fuqia and others have colluded with the traitor Zhang Fuluan to bully the emperor and oppress the people.

How many people have lost their families because of you, and how many people have been forced to sell their children because of your extortion every year.

The people of the Eight Camps of Jiading are living in dire straits, but you are all wearing fine clothes and eating delicious food, living a life of luxury, and are all fat and fat.

I see that what's in your stomach is nothing but the blood and sweat of the people that you have devoured.

As the saying goes, karma always comes back, and we can ignore our personal grudges, but the vengeance of the people of Jiading must be avenged!"

After saying this, King Mo waved his hand and said, "Enter the city. From tomorrow on, all the people who have been persecuted by Ruan Futan and others can come to me to file a complaint.

I, Mo Zibu, do not seek personal revenge; I come solely for justice. Your life or death, Ruan Futan, will be determined solely by the law!"

The royal family member Yan, also known as Ruan Futan, screamed and fainted.

He was not afraid of Mo Zibu's personal revenge. The worst that could happen was that he would kowtow and beg for mercy and hand over his property.

Nguyen Phuc Tam even thought that he could save his life by helping Mo Zi Bu pacify the people and concealing Mo Zi Bu's invasion of Gia Dinh from Hue.

But Mo Zibu now looked righteous and said that he would judge him with justice and law. It seemed fair, but it was actually fatal.

Because Ruan Futan's crimes are so numerous that they cannot be listed in any detail, it is no exaggeration. If he were to be judged according to the law, he would not be worthy of death even if he were to die a hundred times.

Moreover, even if he did not commit any crime, the mouth was on someone else's body and the power of judgment was controlled by Mo Zibu.

As long as Mo Zibu wanted, there were ten thousand ways to find a crime to put him to death, so he knew he was doomed.

After Ruan Futan and a group of other bastards were taken away, cheers broke out again. Countless Mingxiang people rushed over, and Kang Liangbao, with a braid on his head, also came to the front.

Everyone pulled the reins of Mo Zibu's warhorse. Those who couldn't pull the reins tried their best to put their hands on Mo Zibu's warhorse, cheering and surrounding him as they walked into the city.

Arriving in the inner city, Mo Zibu naturally occupied Nguyen Phuoc Tam's Jiading Garrison and issued orders one after another in an orderly manner. Notices were posted to reassure the people, the six gates of Jiading were sealed to prevent the people from escaping, martial law was imposed on the streets, and a nighttime curfew was imposed.

The weapons of the five battalions who knelt in surrender were confiscated and locked up in the barracks. Major Marco and Vu Van Dung were ordered to lead 400 vanguards each to Ben Tre to reinforce Tran Quang Dieu.

While doing all this, Mo Zibu also had to meet with the Mingxiang elders and Qing Dynasty Chinese leaders in the city in batches.

Especially these Mingxiang elders, most of them were related to Mo Zibu, and many of them had held him in their arms when they were children. Naturally, they burst into tears when they saw him, which wasted a lot of time.

It was not until later in the evening that the market calmed down a little. Mo Zibu was preparing to dispatch his main force to Ben Tre to completely eliminate Song Fuqia and others. Zheng Qing ran in with Li Guangxian and several Mingxiang scholars.

Mo Zibu quickly led the few people to the inner room. When he looked up, he saw that Li Guangxian was still barefoot and Zheng Qing was covered in mud and had no time to wash it off.

"Thank you for your hard work, sir. This is my negligence!" After saying this, Mo Zibu immediately took off his shoes and handed them to Li Guangxian with both hands.

"I see you're not much bigger than me, sir. Please put it on. The ground is cold, so you won't catch a cold."

Li Guangxian looked at Mo Zibu in astonishment, his nose suddenly felt sore and tears were about to burst out.

Since the death of his father Li Guangce, the two brothers had been living in the open air and had never been treated like this before.

"Xian, I am a humble person, my skin is thick and I will not get cold. Your Majesty is worth a lot of money, please take care of yourself."

The two men pushed several times, but Li Guangxian refused to give in. Zheng Qing laughed at the sight.

"I think the Prince Consort and Brother Guangxian hit it off right away. Why don't you each wear one? That would be a good story."

Mo Zibu also laughed out loud. He was afraid that the news would spread far and wide, so he immediately said to Li Guangxian, "That's great. Sir, don't refuse."

Then Mo Zibu said to Zheng Qing, "Brother Zheng, you and I are close relatives, and my clothes are thin, so I won't take them off to give to you.

I'll have a few rolls of top-quality Suzhou brocade delivered to your house later to make two sets of clothes for my brother and sister-in-law."

This man is a talented person, but also a ruthless person. He is willing to even put his delicate wife on the edge of a knife.

At the same time, Mo Zibu always felt that Zheng Qing had a very high, even fanatical, recognition of his identity as a Mingxiang person and the Ming Dynasty, but he didn't know why.

Zheng Qing smiled faintly, thanked Mo Zibu, and immediately said seriously:

"My dear Prince Consort, now that we have entered Jiading, our reputation has been torn. It's not a big deal with Benchi, but Song Fuqia has become a lost dog and will soon collapse.

The most important thing now is to quickly send troops to capture Phan Thiet City in Pingshun Camp.

This place is the only way from Hue and Qui Nhon to Gia Dinh. Only by taking Phan Thiet can we block the north and south and compete with the Hue court."

Vietnam's mountainous terrain is high in the west and low in the east. To the west is the long Truong Son Mountains and the Dak Lak Plateau formed by it.

The reason why Vietnam's territory in later generations was this long strip was because slightly to the west was the tall Truong Son Mountains, which were not only difficult to cross but also had little economic value. Therefore, territorial expansion could only follow the coastline.

Phan Thiet, located in the foothills of the Truong Son Mountains, is at the junction of the Truong Son Mountains and the Mekong Plain. It has always been a key fortress for people moving south from the north.

However, Mo Zibu blinked twice and said, "Brother Zheng, who said I want to fight against the Hue court?"

Zheng Qing hadn't expected Mo Zibu to be so careless. He stamped his feet anxiously, "Duke Rende, you don't think that just because you spoke for the people at the East Gate, you can convince Prince Ding, Zhang Fuluan, and the entire court to ignore your entry into Hue, right?"

Seeing how anxious he was, Mo Zibu didn't keep him in suspense any longer. "Brother Zheng, Mr. Li, everyone, I have received solid news that a civil uprising has occurred in Xishan Village, Guiren Prefecture.

Tens of thousands of rioters have gathered and have already taken over Qui Nhon City. Governor Nguyen Ke Xuan's entire family has been killed, and the rebel army is now heading towards Hue!"

"What?" Zheng Qing and Li Guangxian exclaimed in unison, with surprise glittering in their eyes.

"That's great! This way, even if the rebel army only occupies Guiren, the imperial court will have no time to look south." Zheng Qing said happily.

"It's more than just that they don't have time to look south." Li Guangxian said, "If my guess is correct, the leader of the Guiren Xishan Stronghold who started this rebellion is surnamed Hu. The three brothers are all fierce and fierce. Their teacher is the son of Zhang Wenxing, the former left assistant.

These people are not ordinary rebels. If they start to cause trouble, coupled with the corruption of the government over the past ten years and the excessive taxation by the government, the people below will suffer and Hue will be in danger."

"Brother Guangxian came from the north, and his grandmother is Zhang Zuofu's cousin." Zheng Qing was afraid that Mo Zibu didn't know the reason, so he quickly came out to explain, and then said:

"If that's the case, then our first priority now is to defeat Song Fuqia and kill as many soldiers from the five battalions as possible.

Furthermore, if we want to quickly pacify the people, we need a great sage to take action. As long as he is willing to serve the prince consort, the six camps controlled by the people of Jiading can be conquered with a single order."

"Oh? Which great sage is it?" Mo Zibu asked quickly.

Li Guangxian showed an embarrassment on his face, "This man is the world-famous hermit from Jiading, Wu Shizun.

It's a pity that this man is indifferent to fame and fortune and has never served the government. The prince consort wants to invite him out of retirement. It's difficult, extremely difficult!

Li Guangxian repeatedly said it was difficult and extremely difficult, which shows that he found it extremely difficult.

The so-called hermit refers to a person who embodies high moral standards, has talent and virtue, but lives in seclusion and refuses to become an official. It is indeed difficult to recruit such a person.

But Mo Zibu laughed out loud. Coming from the future, he could do nothing but moral kidnapping.

"Wu Shiying, spread the word that I am afraid and intend to plunder Jiading and escape.

Even virtuous men like Zheng Qing and Li Guangxian could not persuade him, so perhaps only a great sage like Wu Shizun can give it a try."

"Find a few dozen more people to pretend to be poor civilians and go to Wu Shizun's mansion to plead with him, to make things worse."

"Chen Guangzu, take fifty men with you and capture all the scholars who are on good terms with Wu Shizun. Tell them that I intend to kill them first, and have their children and grandchildren go to Wu Shizun's gate and beg for mercy."

Zheng and Li were stunned. This fifth young master of the Mo family seemed to be a little different from what they had expected.

　In the previous chapter, the names of Li Guangce and his son were reversed, but they have been corrected in this chapter.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)