The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 256: It is God’s will that the Zheng family will be destroyed
Facts have proved that even after Zhang Fuluan's mess, the troubles of the Xishan Army, and the occupation of Beizheng, these high-ranking families in Beijing and Han that have existed for hundreds of years can still produce a lot of good things.

As promised, Chen Taili brought a large number of powerful figures from the high-ranking families in Beijing and Han to Mo Zibu three days later. These people also announced that they accepted Mo Zibu's Xing Tang Shogunate.

Although most of the real family heads are still detained in Hue, with them, many things can be done.

Mo Zibu was also very tactful and recruited all the young people he had met at the Chen family manor into official positions in the shogunate.

With the addition of these people, the vacant six ministries and other officials in Mo Zibu's shogunate were finally fully filled.

At the same time, these high-ranking families in Beijing and Han also contributed 100,000 dan of grain, 7,000 pieces of cloth, 10,000 jin of gunpowder, and 40,000 able-bodied laborers to Mo Zibu.

Mo Zibu selected 6,000 people from these 40,000 civilians to form a volunteer team, and Mo Zibu did not need to pay any military wages for them.

They can provide assistance during wartime, as well as conduct reconnaissance and lead the way before the war. If things get urgent, they can also be used as cannon fodder.

This is what is called the true escort of food to the battlefield, and it is also the most correct way for the noble families to use it. Once you are given power, you must fulfill your obligations.

At the same time, with the addition of these people, the war with Beizheng could no longer be suspended, and this battle had to be fought.

After experiencing the shortage of supplies, Mo Zibu learned his lesson and decided not to fight against the Xishan Army where they had free gunpowder and ammunition.

Mo Zibu divided the army into three parts, with a large number of high-ranking volunteers and Chinese volunteers being placed in the front.

Several thousand slaves were also selected from the imprisoned slaves. Mo Zibu promised that as long as they fought bravely and made meritorious service, they would be pardoned.

The main forces in the battle were the Yuan Cong Group and Yu Lin Group of the Imperial Guards, the Wu Ding Group of Jiading Town, the Zhongnan Yi Cong Group of Tangshan Town, and the Taixi Yi Cong Group.

These five regiments are much more elite and more proficient in the use of hot weapons, which can greatly avoid indiscriminate shooting on the battlefield. They will also understand if the amount of lead bullets and gunpowder used is explained to them in advance.

The rest of the regiments began to equip themselves with a large number of cold weapons again, basically as a reserve force to fire a shot and then engage in hand-to-hand combat.

After being taught a cruel lesson by reality, General Mo's army finally began to match the armaments of the traditional Southeast Asian region.

When the high-ranking officials of Jinghan in Hue sent these things to Mo Zibu, the anti-rebel manifesto that Chen Taili helped him draft also began to spread everywhere.

What Mo Zibu didn't expect was that Chen Taili was much more ruthless than Mo Zibu. Mo Zibu just didn't want to admit that Ruan Fuyang was legitimate to inherit the throne, so he started from the aspect of etiquette.

Chen Taili directly began to confuse the public. In his manifesto, he said that Nguyen Phuoc Thuan did not give up his position to Nguyen Phuoc Duong, but only let Nguyen Phuoc Duong serve as the governor of Hue.

The throne that Nguyen Phuc Duong claims now is actually a propaganda that Huang Wufu deliberately publicized in order to gain the credit for capturing the leader of Guangnan.

This was simply cutting off the source of the problem. It was much more powerful than Mo Zibu's excuse of being against etiquette. He didn't even bother with the process of rebuttal and directly made Ruan Fuyang a fake.

At the same time, it also hinted that Ruan Fuyang had succumbed to Huang Wufu and was suspected of aiding and abetting the tyrant, which completely destroyed the halo of Ruan Fuyang as a sympathetic prince in distress.

Afterwards, in Chen Taili's manifesto, he focused on criticizing Zhang Fuluan. While scolding Zhang Fuluan harshly, he also secretly mentioned Ruan Fuchun, implying that the main character of this combination was a combination of a foolish ruler and treacherous ministers.

The Lord is like Emperor Cheng of Han, and his ministers are simply the reincarnation of Qin Hui, which gives off a faint sense that the Ruan family's luck has run out.

As for Mo Zibu, his character is naturally designed to be more rounded based on the loyal and righteous prince consort character that Mo Zibu personally created.

The highlight of the story is that before Mo Zi Bu went north, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Xiu, the eldest daughter of Nguyen Phuc, who was supposed to be the king, fell deeply in love with this loyal and righteous prince consort. The two fell in love at first sight like a bolt from the blue.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Xiu even swore publicly that as long as Mo Zibu could wipe out the Tây Sơn bandits, drive away the invading army of Northern Zheng, and save the people from danger, she would have no objection to being his concubine.

In this way, the problem that Ruan Yuxiu could not become Mo Zibu's concubine was solved smoothly.

This was a great feat of sacrifice made to encourage loyal officials and righteous men when the country was in trouble. It didn't matter whether she was a concubine or not. This was a feat that would go down in history.

One of them is a heroic man, the other is polite and caring towards the people. They are a match made in heaven. How can you, a fairy, oppose them?

Moreover, in this way, the eldest daughter of the Nguyen family became someone's concubine, which inadvertently greatly raised Mo Zibu's value and at the same time reduced the sacredness of the Nguyen family.

Damn, this manifesto, which was almost like a press release, made Mo Zibu break out in a cold sweat. For the first time, he felt the power of the pen very intuitively.

As expected, those who hold the right to speak can create a god with just one word, or make a person infamous for eternity with just one word!
. . . .

In Hue, Huang Wufu was actually not idle either, but his status was far inferior to Mo Zibu's, and he was completely unable to control the high-ranking families and bureaucratic system of Hue at his will.

At the same time, Huang Wufu did not have the courage like Erzhu Rong to bring the ministers of the Ruan family to hold a diving competition, so he could only detain these people and slowly wear them down.

After he slowly worked things out, he successfully persuaded Nguyen Phuc Duong to issue a letter in the name of the Nguyen Lord, accusing Mo Tz Bu of treason for not withdrawing after defeating the Tây Sơn army and instead further occupying Hoi An.

When he ordered Mo Zibu to lead his troops back to Jiading immediately, the time window given to him by God had already passed.

Before this thing was sent out, the anti-rebel manifesto written by Chen Taili for Mo Zibu had already spread everywhere.

Huang Wufu is already sixty years old. He considers himself a great contributor to the country. Now that he has taken over Hue, he is feeling very proud.

As a result, Chen Taili scolded Huang Wufu harshly in his manifesto, seized on his weakness as a eunuch, and began to attack him crazily.

From Zhao Gao to the Ten Attendants, from Li Fuguo to Wei Zhongxian, all the powerful and treacherous eunuchs in history were cited, and finally the conclusion was drawn that none of them were as bad as Huang Wufu.

Huang Wufu was so angry that he was shaking all over while holding the manifesto. As a eunuch, he was very concerned about people talking about his health, so how could he bear such a direct slap in the face.

Not to mention that it was Huang Wufu himself who ordered Chen Taili to live in a separate courtyard and then ran away. So just thinking about it made him so angry that he even had difficulty breathing.

"Mao Zhuizi's words are so vicious, he deserves to go to the eighteenth level of hell. I swear to kill him, I swear to kill him!"

The close associates around him were afraid that Huang Wufu would be too angry, so they came to comfort him. When Huang Wufu calmed down a little, his adopted son Huang Tingbao came over and suggested:

"Father, it seems Ruan Wenhui was right. This Mo Wu is vicious and cruel, and is good at deceiving people.

It would be difficult for us to fight them alone, so we should quickly ask Prince Jingdu to lead the army south."

Huang Wufu's deputy, Ding Xirang, also advised: "The Mo family has been operating in Jiading for several years. They are from Mingxiang and are said to have married the daughter of Taksin of Thonburi, Siam. I am afraid that this time they have attracted the Siamese troops to the north. We must be cautious."

Another general, Ruan Youzheng, rolled his eyes and said, "Mo Wu Mo Xuande and Zhang Fuluan have a grudge against each other for killing their sons. My Lord, why don't you release Zhang Fuluan and let him and his followers contribute money and manpower to organize the local militia?"

The reason why everyone advised Huang Wufu to seek help was because Beizheng itself was not at peace.

As early as thirty years ago during the Bac Ha peasant uprising, members of the Later Le Dynasty's royal family, including Le Vimi, attempted to burn down Tokyo and murder the King of Zheng. After failing, they fled to the border between northwest Annan and Laos.

The Li Wei Mi army should have been finally wiped out in 1769, but with the funding and encouragement of Mo Zi Bu, the Tây Sơn army defeated the Southern Nguyen more quickly.

As a result, Huang Wufu went south three years earlier than in history, so the forces to suppress Li Weimi were dispersed. It was not until the end of last year in 1771 that he was finally suppressed.

Zheng Sen personally arranged the extermination plan, and with the help of Li Weimi's son-in-law Lai Youxi, Zheng's army attacked and destroyed Li Weimi's last fortress.

This member of the Later Le Dynasty royal family, who had fought against Zheng for nearly forty years, chose to burn himself and his entire family to death. The entire Later Le Dynasty finally lost all ability to resist.

Of the 35,000 troops that Huang Wufu led south to Hue, 15,000 were recalled because of this battle.

Huang Wufu thought about it and realized the same thing, so he suppressed his anger and ordered someone to write a report to Zheng Sen, the ruler of Zheng, requesting him to send an additional 20,000 troops to defeat Mo Zibu.

However, before Huang Wufu's report reached Tokyo City (Hanoi), explosive news came from Tokyo City first.

Three months ago, Zheng Sen, the ruler of Zheng, ignored everyone's opposition and forcibly killed the deposed crown prince of the Later Le Dynasty, Le Weiyi.

Huang Wufu was stunned and felt a burst of pain in his head. Even Zheng Zhu's old supporter Ding Xirang turned pale with fear.

It was not uncommon for Zheng Lords to depose the kings of the Later Le Dynasty. Deposing a crown prince was nothing special. Even killing him was not a big deal.

But there must be a logic here, that is, whether you depose the king or the prince, or kill them, there must be a legitimate reason.

The core of this legitimate reason is not to list a few superficial justifications like the one when Huo Guang deposed the King of Changyi.

But you must have a clear logic and need before you can use it.

Just like Dong Zhuo deposed the Han Emperor Liu Bian. He did this in order to establish his authority and control the court, so he had to use ruthless tactics.

Although many people disagree with this kind of abolition and establishment, they can understand the core of what you do and know that you are not doing things randomly, but are someone who knows the rules and unspoken rules of the industry.

However, Zheng Sen's killing of Li Weiyi had absolutely no justification for this. This was because Li Weiyi was not even a crown prince. He was a crown prince who had been deposed and imprisoned for three years.

As the head of the shogunate, Zheng Sen had no political reason or need to continue targeting such a person, let alone killing Li Weiyi and all his close relatives.

This is such a bad rule!
Moreover, this incident completely exposed Zheng Sen's character flaws as a lord.

Why was Zheng Sen so cruel to Li Weiyi? The reason was that Zheng Sen’s father, Ming King Zheng Ying, was a Zheng Lord who respected the King of the Li Dynasty very much. He was a typical example of the Zheng Lord jumping to the left as mentioned earlier.

With Zheng Ying's respect, the prestige of the King of the Le Dynasty was restored, at least on the surface.

Zheng Sen was the crown prince at that time and had a good relationship with Li Weiyi, the crown prince of the Li Dynasty. Once, Zheng Ying invited Li Weiyi to dinner, and Zheng Sen was also there, sitting opposite Li Weiyi.

After a few bites of the meal, Zheng Ying's concubine Ruan felt that Li Weiyi was the crown prince and had a higher status than Zheng Sen, and she could not eat face to face with Li Weiyi, so she advised Zheng Ying to drive Zheng Sen out.

This incident made Zheng Sen deeply resentful of Prince Li Weiyi, who was now his brother-in-law.

After he ascended the throne, the first thing he did was to falsely accuse Li Weiyi of having sex with his stepmother, and used this as an excuse to forcibly depose Li Weiyi.

hiss!
You read that right. Zheng Sen's excuse for getting rid of Li Weiyi was that Li Weiyi had cheated on his father Zheng Ying and often played poker with one of his prospective stepmothers.

Good man, instead of mentioning whether you are petty or not, whether it is necessary or not, your excuse is a bit too Minotaur.

At least crippling Li Weiyi was a way to vent his anger, but Zheng Sen only endured for three years and actually executed Li Weiyi who had no ability to fight back. This was too much.

This not only exposed Zheng Sen's weakness of being vicious and petty, but also violated the most basic political rules.

This makes outsiders believe that Li Weiyi must have really cheated on your father, which is why you hate him so much.

For a king, once this kind of thing happens, it will immediately shatter your inviolable halo and is a very damaging thing to your image.

Huang Wufu had served three generations of Zheng rulers, so he knew this was a serious matter. He laughed bitterly and said, "Prepare to stockpile food and fodder. The king's army will soon march south."

Based on Huang Wufu's understanding of Zheng Sen, this gentleman must have come to his senses now and felt that the whole thing had failed.

To cover up his failure, there is only one way to go, which is to go south and completely defeat the Xing Tang Army of Mo Wu Mo Zi Bu, which is considered the remnant of the Nguyen family by the people of Bac Ha.

Only such a great victory can provide Zheng Sen with a perfect fig leaf.

Hearing Huang Wufu say this, Ruan Youzheng reminded him with some embarrassment: "Master, we have only been in Hue for two and a half years, but we have already collected grain three times. If we need to collect grain again."

Huang Wufu knew very well that the common people in Hue had been basically plundered, and if they wanted to collect grain again, they could only rob the rich and push them to Mo Zibu's side.

However, if we don’t collect food, where will the army come from when it marches south?

Beihe is also suffering from natural disasters and is almost starving to death. Zheng Sen cannot bring much food with him when he leads his army south.

Thinking of this, Huang Wufu hardened his heart and said coldly, "What's the purpose of that knife in your hand? Within 30 days, you must collect 100,000 dan of grain and fodder."

. . . .

"Hahahaha, Zheng Sen, Zheng Sen, you really disgrace this name!"

In Hoi An, Mo Zibu also learned of this explosive news, and I, General Mo, almost died of laughter.

Chen Taili was extremely angry. He was wearing a green Taoist robe and his hair and beard were standing on end with anger.

"The Lord of Zheng is so cruel. Not only does he fail to observe the etiquette of a minister, he even dares to kill his master. How can he have the slightest respect for his master? This is heaven's will to destroy the Zheng family."

Others such as Huang Zhongxin, Nguyen Shanquan, and the high-ranking officials from Beijing and Han Dynasty in Hue also cursed Zheng Sen.

I, General Mo Da, was really excited when I heard them cursing so enthusiastically that I suddenly thought of a sinister idea.

He stamped his foot in mock anger, and then something seemed to flash across his mind.

"Zheng Sen is so resentful of the deposed prince. Could it be that he coveted his father's concubine, but the deposed prince got her first? So he harbors resentment and cannot let go of his hatred unless he kills him?"

what?
Even Chen Taili, an expert in story-telling, was stunned for a few seconds, and then he couldn't help but admire General Mo's brain and the ability to think.

You know what, this will not only further undermine Zheng Sen's reputation, but it is also logically reasonable and will also damage the image of the royal family of the Later Le Dynasty.

"Although this is groundless, it does make sense." Chen Taili is over sixty years old, and he still feels a little embarrassed to be involved in such a gossip.

"The general is truly a god. This is what the people of Beihe say." Chen Taili was still hesitating when a shameless guy rushed out and shouted.

Mo Zibu took a closer look and found that it was the former Hanlin Wu Tingshu. This old man was originally a follower of Zhang Fuluan and had participated in the murder of the Nguyen clan.

When Huang Wufu went south, he was arranged by Cai Sheng to supervise the army in Hoi An, and thus escaped disaster.

Mo Zibu brought him with him because although this man was shameless, he had good abilities.

With just a few calculations, he could immediately calculate the money, food, supplies, etc. clearly and arrange the supply of the army accurately and without error.

This guy may be of a low birth, but he is indeed a capable official.

Moreover, he is quite shameless, so shameless that Mo Zibu just needs him. He needs him to be the gong and drum to beat the high-ranking officials in Hue.

If anyone pretends to obey my orders but actually disobeys them, Mo Zibu can use such treacherous officials to punish them.

"Is this really the rumor in Beihe?" Mo Zibu was a little unsure whether this guy was serious or just flattering, so he asked.

Wu Tingshu knelt on the ground and nodded his head repeatedly, "It is indeed true. I have been to Beihe, and everyone in Beihe says so."

That's fake, Mo Zibu understood. If Beihe really said so, it would have spread to the south long ago.

However, he did not intend to let Wu Tingshu spread the rumor because he was a pragmatic official and he was not professional in spreading rumors.

"Brother, we in Guangnan don't even know about this. We must spread the news and let everyone know the shameless face of Lord Zheng."

As soon as Chen Taili heard Mo Zibu calling him brother, his heart started beating wildly. He was afraid that Mo Zibu would add more to the recipe, so he quickly agreed.

Around Chen Taili, the upright gentlemen of the noble families in Hue looked at Wu Tingshu angrily, as if they wanted to rush out and tear him apart and eat him.

Wu Tingshu was extremely shameless. He had experienced this kind of childish situation when he joined Zhang Fuluan and helped the tyrant to do evil.

But he didn't want to be stared at by so many people, so he quickly followed Mo Zibu's footsteps.

This kind of person is born in a humble family and is too utilitarian. He is destined to have no persistence and not care about face. If used well, he will be a capable official and a sharp minion.

. . . .

In Beihe, Zheng Sen was just as Huang Wufu had expected. He felt regretful and could no longer stay in Tokyo.

Because senior officials in Tokyo City had already reprimanded him to his face, people in the streets and alleys began posting comments criticizing Zheng Sen, and many people secretly went to Li Weiyi's funeral.

Of course, few of these people were truly loyal ministers of the Later Le Dynasty. The Le family had been puppets for two or three hundred years, and their blessings had long been cut off, so how could they have any loyal ministers?

It’s just that what Zheng Sen did was too tasteless and despicable, and completely violated political rules.

We are all decent high-end players. You are doing some petty and sneaky things, which is a disgrace to all of us.

It's a bit like "You drive a Mazda, so you are not qualified to attend this meeting."

After being scolded so badly, Zheng Sen really had no choice but to save his face by making achievements.

This is what happened in history. After Zheng Sen killed Li Weiyi, he happened to encounter the rebellion of the Xishan Army in Guangnan. Zheng Sen immediately sent Huang Wufu south and got the halo of eliminating the old enemy Nguyen family, so he avoided further criticism.

At this time, Hue had been taken, and Zheng Sen had only one choice left, to completely eliminate the last force of the Nguyen family in Guangnan, that strange and loyal son-in-law Mo Zibu who was somewhat famous in Bac Ha.

(End of this chapter)