The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 233: General Mo Da, a Morally Perfect Man
Almost at the same time as Holdyke's message arrived, Mo Zibu also received a message from Lin Tong from the local administration.

Compared to the Dutch people who were in great grief, Mo Zibu excitedly picked up his son and spun around.

The five-month-old boy thought his father was teasing him, and he giggled, with joy in his big eyes.

"Cousin, cousin, stop it!" The father and son were laughing, but it scared their mother, Chen Yizhen, and their little cousin.

This is not only her lifeblood, the future king of the Mingxiang people, but also Mo Zibu's only heir and descendant.

"Don't be afraid, cousin is not senile." Although he said this, Mo Zibu saw that his little cousin was so scared that her face turned pale, so he quickly returned the child to her.

Then Shishi and Ye Xiaomei also hurried over. The three women protected the baby and chatted with each other, preventing Mo Zibu from getting close.

Mo Zibu walked quickly towards the study. He needed to calm down and think about the subsequent operations.

I have to say that the timing of the fleet's return is very appropriate.

If it had been a little earlier, the Qing envoys would have been in Southeast Asia. Once Qianlong knew the existence of this fleet, who knows what tricks he would have played.

While feeling relieved, Mo Zibu quickly read through the recent war reports from the north.

He held his head and thought for a long time, but he really couldn't remember the specific development process of the Xishan Army in history.

The only thing Mo Zibu remembered was that the Tây Sơn army killed almost all the members of the Nguyen clan in Quang Nam.

As a result, Nguyen Phuc Anh only had two sisters left as his relatives. After establishing the Nguyen Dynasty, he took crazy revenge on the royal family of the Tây Sơn Dynasty.

The second is that Nguyen Hue later went to war with the Qing Dynasty and defeated Sun Shiyi, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi who had occupied Hanoi, in a surprise attack.

He had no recollection of how the rest of it happened.

Therefore, Mo Zibu felt a little uneasy. He was afraid that his arrival had affected the timeline somewhere. If because of this, the Xishan Army did not grow stronger and failed to defeat Guangnan, he would be in trouble.

As for why Mo Zibu cared so much about his reputation in Guangnan and even the entire Annan, it was because he did not simply want to occupy Annan, but to bring Annan back to China.

Although the difficulty of doing this at this time is certainly much lower than after Annan was ruled by the French, it is not that easy.

After all, it has been eight hundred years since Annan established itself during the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties.

Although the Ming Dynasty returned briefly, the rough handling of Emperor Chengzu and the indifference of Emperor Xuanzong instead caused a more serious rebellious mentality.

In order to pull Annan back at this time, the most important point is that Mo Zibu cannot have any moral problems, and it is best if he has no flaws at all. Only in this way can he occupy the righteous position and people will be willing to believe his words.

This is just like Wang Mang usurping the Han Dynasty. In the early stages, you have to act almost like a morally perfect person, and then you can reason with others, only then will they be willing to listen.

If you come here naked just to steal money and food, and then say you are doing it for the greater good, that doesn't make sense.
This is the situation Mo Zibu is facing now. If he comes to power by killing all the nominal leaders of the Guangnan Nguyen family, will anyone believe what he says in the future?
Who the hell would believe you, Dong Zhuo, when you say you want to restore the Han Dynasty? We are not blind.

Therefore, they can only rely on the Xishan Army to force them, or as a last resort, Master Luo can create a maritime accident. He himself must be clean so that he can call on others in a great and glorious way.

Thinking of this, Mo Zibu called over his nephew Mo Gongbai, the eldest son of his elder brother Mo Zihuang.

Although he was called a nephew, he was actually only two years younger than Mo Zibu. He was a well-behaved person with neither high nor low abilities, but he was willing to work hard. So Mo Zibu arranged for him to be the director of the First Arsenal in Pattani.

In fact, Mo Zibu's elder brother Ou Zihuang is also a hard-working person with some abilities. However, because his father is too resilient and his methods are too harsh, he has been suppressed and has become a little psychologically distorted.

"Three hundred long-barreled brown basses, ten thousand lead bullets, and ten thousand kilograms of black powder were ordered from the First Arsenal in Pattani.

Go find Pei Tong and ask him to find some reliable people in the underworld to sell this batch of arms to Ruan Wenyue."

I, General Mo Da, am ready to provide financial support to Nguyen Van Yue. I hope I don’t really affect the timeline and cause the Tây Sơn army to be unable to defeat the Guangnan Kingdom at this point in time. That would be ridiculous.

Pei Tong is Old Man Pei. After his son and daughter became General Mo Da's personal guards, the older Old Man Pei became a martial arts instructor in the army.

He has been wandering around the old land of Champa for twenty years and has many tricks up his sleeve. Letting him go will undoubtedly help cover up the whole story.

Mo Gongbo hesitated for a moment. Instead of being dissatisfied with his fifth uncle Mo Zibu, he was very grateful to him.

Because he was born to a concubine, his mother Xu was just a concubine and had no right of inheritance at all.

His mother had already died before his father Nguyen Zihuang and his wife Nguyen had a falling out, and Nguyen treated him like a slave.

Therefore, it was only after Mo Zibu gave up Ou Zihuang's delusion of succeeding to the throne and behaved himself that he, the eldest grandson of a concubine, really began to look like a descendant of the Mo family.

Therefore, his hesitation was not because he didn't want to do it, but how to do it perfectly without involving Mo Zibu.

"Fifth Uncle, don't bring this matter to the Xingtang Mansion. I will resolve it privately. The money from selling the weapons should go into my personal pocket.

Then my nephew will use the money to buy a Foshan Guangqiang opera actress from Guangzhou and quietly place her in Pattani."

Guangqiang is the later Cantonese opera, which originated in Foshan 150 years ago and is now almost finalized.

Foshan is the birthplace of Guangqiang opera. A qualified actress is not cheap, not to mention sending her to Southeast Asia, where the price is sky-high.

Mo Zibu was stunned for a moment, then a gentle smile appeared on his face. Indeed, in this way, even if the truth was revealed, only Mo Gongbai could be traced back.

Moreover, the timeline and reasons are very clear: he was obsessed with Guangqiang opera and was corrupt in order to afford a female singer from Foshan.

"Go ahead and do a good job!" Mo Zibu didn't make any promises because there was no need.

His son is still so young and can't even speak. If he has a nephew available, there is absolutely no reason not to use him.

As soon as Mo Gongbai went out, Mo Zibu called Huo Ran in again.

This guy was good at fighting, but he didn't follow the rules very well and often complained about military law, so Mo Zibu simply let him withdraw and assigned him to the intelligence operations team under the Neidianbu.

"Go to Pingshun Prefecture and secretly bring Shuncheng's Prince Ruan Wenzhe and his entire family to Jiading."

In fact, Champa was never completely destroyed by the Nguyen family. Since the Champa king Ji Pozi expressed complete surrender in 1694, the Nguyen family gave the territory of Pingthuan Camp to the Champa people.

The two teams were divided into two groups: Pingthuan Camp to manage the Quang Nam people and Shuncheng Town to manage the Cham people. Ji Pozi was appointed as the Town King to continue to lead the remaining Cham people. Of course, the Nguyen family did not let it go. They had many plans. After Ji Pozi arrived in Pingthuan Camp, he could no longer control the old Champa lands in Pingkang and Phu Yen Camps.

This is equivalent to breaking the stepmother-in-law's legs and giving her a high pension every month.

And in the next hundred years, the Nguyen family vigorously supported the Han nobles and Kinh people to enter Pingthuan Camp. Around the generation of Jipozi's great-grandson, the Champa king began to use the surname Nguyen and the word "Wen" as the padding character. He was basically assimilated into the Kinh ethnic group, which can also be called Hanized.

At the same time, the Nguyen family continued to instigate other people with Champa ancestry to rise up and constantly challenge the authority of the stepmother's descendants.

This makes the attribute of the Champa King increasingly weaker, while the attribute of the Nguyen family enthroning the vassal lord as king increasingly stronger.

But after all, it is a big country that has fought with the Annan people for hundreds of years. In Shuncheng Town, which the King of Zhen can govern, this title of king still has a certain appeal.

The town king of this generation is named Nguyen Van Triet (Victory?), who can still control about 10,000 to 20,000 people, and can barely mobilize the remaining tens of thousands of people in Shuncheng Town.

However, unlike Guangnan, which has a population of only two million, Mo Zibu's population source can be said to be endless, so he does not need to retain Shuncheng Town.

Mo Zibu planned to throw all these Champa people into the Malay Peninsula.

Huo Ran is indeed not good at being a soldier, as he lacks a sense of honor and discipline, but when it comes to doing dirty work, he is much better than the average soldier.

On the evening of the second day after Mo Zibu issued the order, Huo Ran transported Prince Ruan Wenzhe and his family to Jiading without causing any commotion.

Ruan Wenzhe was terrified and had no idea how Mo Zibu would deal with him. He didn't even see Mo Zibu's face clearly before he knelt on the ground and cried loudly to apologize.

Mo Zibu quickly walked over and pulled him up, shouting in Annan:

"Azhe, what are you doing? Uncle invited you to be his guest. Why are you crying? Don't scare the child."

Ah Zhe? Uncle?
Ruan Wenzhe's brain froze for a few seconds, and then he was helped up by Mo Zi in a daze. It was not until he sat down on the chair that he reacted.

If you really have to count, this General Mo Da does have some relationship with him.

Because Mo Zibu's grandmother's family, the Bianhe Pei family, has some Champa royal blood, but this was very long ago, almost three hundred years ago, and can be completely ignored.

It is even unknown whether Mo Zibu is his uncle.

But the situation is stronger than the person. If this 23-year-old general wants to be his 43-year-old uncle, the Prince of Zhen, then let him be.

Mozibu pointed on the map, which was probably in Terengganu, later called Terengganu. This land is now under the jurisdiction of the Sultan of Terengganu, but Mozibu has decided to take it over.

Just as Secretary Holdyk said, Mozibu now has a small population and its strategic focus is on Guangnan. It does not have the energy to overthrow the Bugis and control the Johor Sultanate.

Therefore, at most they could only take over a small area in Terengganu and Pahang, where there were a large number of Chinese and where conflicts with the Rajahs of the Bugis clan were more intense.

"Shuncheng Town is still too small. It would be better for the King to move to Terengganu. I have prepared large sea vessels and can also provide 20,000 dan of grain as aid.

You can take 30,000 people with you. After you go to Terengganu, you can build a new town called Sungai Selatan on the spot. But don't use the title of King of the Town. I don't have any royal title.

Just call you Duke of Shuncheng, and you can become an elder in the Zhaogong Court. I will double the annual pension given to you by the Shunhua court.

As long as you serve this general well and are willing to completely assimilate to Chinese culture, you will be stationed here forever."

"Huo Bai will always help you!"

After saying that, without leaving any room for bargaining, Mo Zibu called Azhe affectionately one second and sent him out the next.

"Wu Shixiu, order the Ha Tien Third Regiment and the Beidanian Regiment to go out and give preferential treatment to all those who believe in Theravada Buddhism.

Anyone else who disobeys orders will be arrested immediately.

Just capture 20,000 people and send them all to Thonburi. They are better at training slaves.

Then we will exchange them for 5,000 docile serfs and settle them in Pattani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, and Songkhla provinces.”

At this time, the upper class of the Champa people had already switched from Brahmanism to the mainstream belief of Theravada Buddhism.

However, a considerable number of the lower-class people became rebellious during the hundreds of years of resistance and chose to believe in Islam.

Throughout history, these people have always been a major problem for public security in the Nguyen Dynasty and are very fond of causing trouble.

It was finally completely resolved by the Viet Cong during the land reform, and its approach was similar to that of the anti-urbanization owl next door.

However, Mo Zibu did not plan to stay that long. He planned to throw those who resisted fiercely to Siam and let them taste the power of the Sakdina system.

The moderate ones are strictly controlled, while the leaders and Buddhists are directly packed up and sent to Terengganu.

Wu Shixiu had another suggestion. He said to Mo Zibu, "There are about 80,000 Cham people in Shuncheng Town, and about 60,000 of them believe in the Muslim religion.

It would be better to capture them all, send half to Siam, and use the other half as laborers and forced laborers for the upcoming war, so that the Han Chinese Tang'er in the Southern Eighth Battalion can continue to recuperate.

Women can also be used to reward meritorious officials and distributed to the common people in Southeast Asia who have no family background.

Mo Zibu touched his chin and thought, "You 'natives' are really cruel. It seems that this is also the standard way to deal with foreigners."

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Mo Zibu agreed.

After dealing with these, Mo Zibu began to frequently mobilize the army, continuously sending out the three regiments in Hexian that were already full, the four regiments in Andai area, and the Yicongtuan.

Some went to Xining Prefecture, upstream of the Saigon River, to eliminate the barbarians, while others went to Shuncheng Town to arrest the Champa people.

The conscription work was also proceeding rapidly, and the recruitment would begin as soon as the French officers and technical troops of the Eastern Legion arrived.

Anyway, at the moment, Mo Zibu has no way to attack the Tây Sơn army, nor is it possible for him to rescue the Hue court.

After completing these tasks, taking Terengganu and integrating the troops, the Northern Expedition will truly begin.

(End of this chapter)