The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 222 A Tiger Father Must Have a Tiger Son
The 1771th day of the th lunar month, the th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign in the Qing Dynasty, was February , .

Mo Zibu opened all six gates and brought everyone to welcome Ou Tianci into the city. This was the first time the father and son met since they met in Luokun three years ago.

The atmosphere was a little awkward, but Mo Zibu quickly broke the awkwardness with a smile. He walked over and personally supported Ou Tianci's arm.

"Father still has black hair and looks healthy."

Ou Tianci patted Mo Zibu's hand, looked at the tall Jiading City, and then winked at Mo Zibu.

Mo Zibu hurried to the back and helped his uncle Chen Dasheng over.

Chen Dasheng was already in tears. He pointed at Jiading and said to Mo Zibu with deep sorrow:

"Fifty years ago, your uncle took us out of Jiading through this door. At that time, your mother and I were just children.

I don’t remember the other details very clearly, I just remember that your uncle almost died from crying.

A few years later, he wrote to Hue again to demand the hereditary position of garrison commander of Gia Dinh, and was then framed and imprisoned, where he died.

When Chen Dasheng cried, the Mingxiang people around him who had suffered a lot of grievances also started crying. Even people like Pei Hengren and Wu Shizun shed a few tears.

"God has mercy on me. I never thought that I, Chen Dasheng, would be able to come back one day.

Brother, father, please open your eyes and take a look. This is all thanks to Zibu!"

Mo Zibu was a little moved, but more of a sigh, because there are very few heroes in history who can live up to the saying that a tiger father will have a dog son.

Chen Shangchuan was a hero, but his sons couldn't even catch up to him, such as Mo Zibu's uncle Chen Dading.

The son of Chen Shangchuan, who is considered to be a qualified successor, is actually very mediocre in ability.

After he was forcibly converted to Han Chinese by the Nguyen family in Jiading, his clansmen advised him to fight to the death, but he refused.

This is actually fine. At most, he is just a little timid. As long as he is there, the Chen family can still hold on. As a result, he is timid but not completely timid. He does not dare to start a rebellion but instead writes a petition.

As a result, the Guangnan court in Hue realized that the Chen family was very dissatisfied, so they set up a trap.

The Hue court sent Chen Da Dinh to quell the Zhenla rebellion, but on the way he ordered people to incite the Guangnan soldiers to mutiny, and then imprisoned him on the grounds of poor command of troops.

Once he entered prison, he was immediately tortured. After he was released, he died of illness just a dozen days later.

Mo Zibu thought of this, and Ou Tianci actually thought of this too.

He thought that his talent was far inferior to that of his father, Lu Jiu, but this was already a case of like father like son. Compared with Chen Dading, his ability was much higher.

But what happened after him? In fact, before Mo Zibu showed his strong abilities, Ou Tianci was also deeply worried that none of his sons would be able to succeed.

Thinking of this, he finally made up his mind, and then came over to support the crying Chen Dasheng, and persuaded him:
"A son-in-law is still a son, and a grandson is still a grandson. What the Chen family lost has now been recovered. We should be happy."

Hearing what Ou Tianci said, Chen Dasheng stopped crying and looked at Ou Tianci. Although he didn't say anything, his expression was full of deep meaning.

How could Ou Tianci not know what Chen Dasheng meant? His words just now, "This is all thanks to Zi Bu," were as obvious as could be.

So he whispered, "Don't worry, I know when my brother-in-law has been confused!"

Chen Dasheng then showed a look of joy and entered Jiading City with Ou Tianci and Mo Zibu.

Once you enter Jiading City, you have to put on a full show.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Ou Tianci stated publicly that although Ha Tien was one of the eight battalions of Jiading, it was actually a vassal state. As the leader of a vassal state, he could not serve as the Prime Minister of Jiading.

Mo Zibu also said: "Now that the important matter has been decided, the purpose of my sending troops has been achieved. Now is the time to withdraw the troops. Otherwise, it would not be what a minister should do."

This scared the people on both sides of the street. People like Wu Shizun and Pei Hengren naturally knew what Mo Zibu was doing, but the people didn't know!

They only knew that if the Mo father and son, especially Mo Zibu, left like this, the royal family members such as Yan would not know how to take revenge, so thousands of people cried and howled and begged.

Mo Zibu was firm in his attitude and repeatedly declined, indicating that he had to leave.

Then, several messengers with red feathers came running from outside and told everyone that a civil unrest had occurred in Qui Nhon, and the north and the south had been cut off. The Tây Sơn rebel army of the Nguyen family, known as the Wang Sun Army, was moving south from Qui Nhon, with tens of thousands of people.

Now not only the common people, but also many officials and scholars were frightened. They rushed over and hugged Mo Zibu's thighs, refusing to let him go.

This clan member wants money, but the rioters can be fatal!

Then, with the unanimous support of everyone, Ou Tianci expressed that for the safety of the millions of people in the eight camps of Jiading, he reluctantly accepted the position of Prime Minister of Jiading.

Mo Zibu also agreed to serve as the general who protected the country and the people and stationed eight battalions in Jiading to fight against the rebellion in the Tay Son area of Qui Nhon.

. . . .

In the garrison, after the lively and realistic farce ended, it was finally the turn for the father and son to sit down and talk.

Ou Tianci looked at Mo Zibu with a helpless smile, and nodded at him.

"What are you thinking? You actually want me to be the garrison commander of Jiading, to help you cultivate the land and keep the people safe? Is there any father who would do this for his son?"

Mo Zibu chuckled, "Brothers fight together to fight a tiger, and fathers and sons fight together in battle. Since my eldest and second brothers can't do it, then only father can do it.

Given my father's ability to govern benevolently and manage the counties, this shouldn't be a piece of cake."

Ou Tianci was speechless. His son was saying that he was not good at leading troops in war and could only handle domestic affairs!
If someone else said this, Ou Tianci might still be a little unconvinced, but his son looked like a horseman like Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Chengzu of Ming, so he really couldn't refute it.

"What about Hexian? Will our Mo family be based in Jiading from now on?"

Mo Zibu nodded and said, "Hexian is too remote and not conducive to future development. It is inevitable that the center of gravity will shift to Jiading.

It would be better to temporarily let my cousin take control of Hexian. Father will have to work harder, running around between the two places." The cousin Mo Zibu was referring to was naturally Pei Jiannan, a candidate that Lu Tianci could accept.

"Okay, I'll support you for a few more years."

It’s strange to say, but Mo Zibu acted like he wanted to have the final say on everything at that time, and Ou Tianci was very resistant to handing over power.

But now when Mo Zibu wanted Ou Tianci to help him with something, he didn't want to care about it anymore and wanted to enjoy his old age.

. . . .

Hue, the Guangnan court at this time was just like a makeshift team.

After more than a hundred years of confrontation between the North and the South, after the major renovation of the city wall in the Lingxi area and the basic loss of Hoi An, the cash cow, the finances of the Guangnan court in Hue reached a very serious situation.

Not only was the royal city in disrepair, but the closest relatives of the royal family were living the worst off, receiving only three or four hundred taels of silver in salary a year, which was rare in the world.

The emergence of the treacherous minister Zhang Fuluan was actually one of the important manifestations of the deteriorating financial situation.

In the Guangnan court, the financial situation first deteriorated, resulting in the inability to support a strong army. After the army became weak, taxes could not be collected, which further worsened the financial situation.

By the end of King Nguyen Phuc Kho's reign, the Hue court's ability to collect taxes had shrunk significantly, resulting in Han Chinese nobles, Chinese bullies, and local tyrants of all sizes controlling the local area, and their ability to resist taxes became stronger than ever.

The imperial court was unable to resolve the issue, so the various forces that did not want to completely dismantle the country forced out a figure like Zhang Fuluan.

Zhang Fuluan certainly did not have the ability to reorganize the finances and military equipment, but he had superb political skills and was proficient in various political tactics.

At that time, the local factions did not yet have the ability to completely confront the central government, so they were still afraid of being targeted by Zhang Fuluan and being punished as typical examples.

After constant testing, the two sides reached a delicate balance.

The court could still collect most of the tax revenue, but the price was that it had to give up its control over local factions more thoroughly.

When Zhang Fuluan could not even control himself and wanted to make a fortune, the administration of officials completely collapsed and local factions took the opportunity to seize a large amount of grassroots power.

Except for a few small territories, tax collection by the Hue court relied entirely on the game between the court and local factions.

This is also one of the reasons why Mo Zibu despised the Guangnan court. In his words, under the control of Zhang Fuluan, the Guangnan court in Hue, which had existed for more than a hundred years, became a tax-collecting and spoils-sharing gang.

"Uncle Wang, I was framed. The throne was never mine to begin with, so why would I be dissatisfied? This is clearly an excuse used by the traitors Nguyen Van Yue and others!"

The one kneeling on the ground and crying was the prince Nguyen Phuc Duong, who was held up as a signboard by the three Nguyen brothers.

He is quite smart. At least a ten-year-old kid can say such things, so he is definitely not stupid.

Prince Dinh Nguyen Phuc Chun sitting on the throne is actually only a few years older than his kneeling nephew. As for brains, this guy can be said to have none at all.

When he saw his nephew crying so miserably, he immediately went forward to support and comfort him.

But just as he raised his butt, he saw Zhang Fuluan, the right assistant standing next to him, glancing at him vaguely, so he immediately stopped moving.

After seeing Prince Ding Ruan Fuchun's buttocks fall, Zhang Fuluan snorted and walked forward.

This famous traitor from Guangnan was a handsome man. If you just looked at his face, you would never imagine that he was such a vicious villain who levied heavy taxes and persecuted the people.

"Prince, please stop crying. Everyone in this country knows that this is just an excuse for the traitors, but since that's the case."

Before Zhang Fuluan could finish his words, a eunuch suddenly ran in from outside the palace gate and handed him a roll of urgent news.

When Zhang Fuluan saw it, his face suddenly turned pale.

Originally, he thought that the disturbance in Xishan Village was just a minor riot. Even if Qui Nhon was captured, it was just because Nguyen Ke Xuan fell into a trap, not because the rebels were very powerful.

Therefore, he never expected that the Xishan uprising would come so quickly.

Zhang Fuluan handed the urgent report to his confidant Cai Sheng and others. Cai Sheng also showed a look of panic. It turned out that the Xishan rebels had already reached the territory of Guangyi Prefecture.

This place is only about 240 to 250 miles away from Hue. If Quang Ngai can't hold on, we can reach Hue in three to five days.

This is fatal. The imperial court does not have much money to maintain the army. If the army were to invade the capital due to rebellion, there would be big problems.

Moreover, there are a large number of Zhang Fuluan's private estates along the way from Quang Ngai to Hue. If they are destroyed by the rebels along the way, the losses will be huge!

So Zhang Fuluan glanced at Cai Sheng.

Zhang Fuluan's closest confidant immediately began to sweat on his forehead.

He's good at bullying people, but he has no experience in organizing an army!

But despite this, Cai Sheng, who knew Zhang Fuluan's thoughts, nodded vigorously and said, "I will go to Guangyi to supervise the battle."

Unexpectedly, Zhang Fuluan slowly shook his head and said, "Don't go to Quang Ngai, go to Hoi An and talk to those northerners in Hoi An to see what conditions they have."

Then Zhang Fuluan turned to look at Prince Ding Ruan Fuchun who was sitting on the throne and said, "My Lord, since the rebels want to support the prince, why not really make him the prince?

Because the Lord's elder brother died young, he inherited the throne of the eldest son's family. It would be a good thing if he could return it to the eldest son's family in the future."

Prince Ding Ruan Fuchun seemed to understand and didn't know what this beautiful story was, but when he saw that it was Zhang Fuluan who suggested it, he quickly nodded in agreement.

Zhang Fuluan then smiled a little and pretended to help Ruan Fuyang, who was about to be imprisoned.

However, he completely underestimated the terrifying power of the three Ruan brothers, Zhang Wenxian, and Mo Zibu's assists.

It was just an excuse for losing Wang Sunyang, and it couldn't stop the Xishan Army.

(End of this chapter)