The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 342 King Rende Eliminates Three Evils

In the Wanshou Hall of the royal palace, Mo Zibu, together with the Prime Minister Pei Jiannan who came from Hue, as well as Deng Chenchang, Pei Shida and others from Bac Hoa, were busy carrying out the reform.

The Red River Plain, if we don't count Gaoping, Lang Son and the mountains and dense forests near Yunnan, is actually only 30,000 square kilometers in size.

How big is this place? It is 6,000 square kilometers smaller than Hainan Island and only about 17% of Guangdong Province.

In such a small place, there are eight towns, including Shanxi, Taiyuan, Jingbei, Haiyang, Anguang, Qinghuawai Town, and Shannan Shangxia, and there are countless prefectures, counties, and communities under them.

The reason for this is that, on the one hand, it is due to the need for governance. Setting up more administrative units makes it inconvenient for high-ranking families to cross states and counties. Once such high-ranking families appear, the court will directly attack them.

Secondly, if more administrative units are set up, there will be more official hats, which can help to accommodate more officials.

You know, even if they are students from wealthy families, after studying hard for more than ten years, they still need a place to "display their talents."

But Mo Zibu didn't need this. He needed a convenient and non-bloated administrative unit to register the people for him.

So after more than ten days of discussion, Mo Zibu directly changed the entire Beihe into Annan Dao, which was divided into three levels: prefecture, county, and township.

Among them, the five towns of Jingbei, Shanxi, Haiyang, Shannan Shangzhen and Qinghuawaizhen were all cancelled.

Jingbei, Shanxi and Haiyang are directly under the jurisdiction of Tokyo.

Shannan Shangzhen was abolished and Shannan Xiazhen was renamed Shannan Town.

Thanh Hoa Outer Town was abolished and Thanh Hoa Inner Town was changed to Thanh Hoa Town.

The remaining towns will be changed into prefectures, and the existing prefectures will be changed into states, which are just of a higher rank and have the same powers as counties. All communities and villages below the county level will be merged and changed into townships.

After finishing this, we can proceed to the next step. Zheng Jinshui came in to remind us at the right time.

"Your Majesty, the Keqionglin banquet is ready today. Please get ready to attend."

. . . .

At the Qionglin Banquet, among the eighty people who passed the exam, more than half will directly obtain the qualification of county magistrate, and the rest will be arranged to the grassroots level of the court. Mo Zibu does not want to suffer the same fate as in Hue, where grassroots officials are controlled by the high-ranking families.

After meeting with them one by one, it was finally the turn of Ruan Zhuang and others who were first-class Jinshi. Mo Zibu saw this guy at first sight.

To be honest, the reason they were able to get first place was not because of their literary talent, but because their thoughts followed King Mo.

Ruan Zhuang looked at King Mo sitting on the seat, and suddenly felt a mist appear in his eyes. He could not even see Mo Zibu's appearance clearly.

The others were not much better off. They all prostrated themselves on the ground, tears of gratitude, because they knew that they were about to become county magistrates.

Ruan Zhuang was the most excited. He said that he came from a poor family, but his family had long been in decline. In order to support his studies, his family almost spent all their money.

But he failed the exam three times. Now he is almost thirty years old. He doesn't know how to farm, and he can't teach in the private school in the village because there is already a teacher.

That's why he came to take the exam on an empty stomach this time, because his family was really broke. He came with the idea that if he failed this subject, he would just jump directly into Furano.

Unexpectedly, he passed the exam directly and became a top-ranking Jinshi. He would soon be promoted to a county magistrate. How could he not be excited?

"Are you Ruan Zhuang from Shanxi?"

Hearing King Mo's question, Ruan Zhuang quickly stood up, bent down, and replied with a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, I am Ruan Zhuang."

"Very good, you are very insightful. I would like to ask you, why is it that Beihe is so prosperous but the people are living in poverty?"

Ruan Zhuang answered without even thinking, because he had thought about this question at least dozens of times.

"The tyrant Zheng ruled Beihe with his hegemony, but his name was not legitimate and his words were not right, so he could not win the support of the people. He colluded with the nobles and exploited the people, making them feel like they were in dire straits.

He also allowed the Three Prefectures Army to commit crimes and failed to stop them. As a result, the court was filled with corruption and corruption was rampant, and the people were inevitably suffering.

"Well said!" Mo Zibu praised, looking at the humble scholars present, and said, "You are all great talents from Beihe, but it is precisely because of Lord Zheng's dark rule that you are unable to make a name for yourself.

There are three evils in Beihe. The first is the Three Prefectures Army, which I have already defeated. The second is the nobles who sit idle in office and exploit the people of the village. The third is the black sheep who are willing to be Mang slaves rather than Han people.

"Who is willing to continue to eliminate these two evils for me?"

Upon hearing King Mo's imperial edict, Ruan Zhuang was the first to kneel down.

What about the same clan and noble family, what about the feelings of fellow villagers, can these get me an official position as a county magistrate, and can they ensure that I have food and clothing without worries?
Only when you have truly and unforgettably experienced poverty can you understand the value of the opportunity to become a superior person.

"Student Ruan Zhuang is willing to help the king eliminate these two evils!"

"Student Chen Huilin is also willing to help Your Majesty eliminate these two evils."

Mo Zibu was overjoyed. In this imperial examination for poor families, the only two people he felt interested in cultivating were these two.

Well, Mo Zibu naturally didn't know that ten years later in history, Ruan Zhuang failed the imperial examination and returned to his hometown to become a prestigious village elder.

After Nguyen Van Hue entered Bac Ha, the last Trần Lord, Trần Kắc, son of Trần Sen, fled to Ha Lei Township, but was captured by him and handed over to the Tây Sơn army.

Chen Huilin followed the last emperor of the Later Le Dynasty, Emperor Le Vie Ky, to China. After Le Vie Ky died of depression in the Qing Dynasty, Chen Huilin was ordered to return to Guilin. He risked his life to go to Beijing and assisted the Nguyen Dynasty in sending his body back to Hanoi. After that, he settled in Guilin and never returned to Annan.

"Since you wish to eliminate the evil, I will bestow upon you a precious sword. I have already prepared rooms for you in Wende Hall. From tomorrow on, you will all follow me and learn how to eliminate the evil."

Well, even if it's just this beggars' version of beating the rich and dividing the land, that still needs to be learned. If we let them go like this now, most people will definitely mess things up.

Therefore, we must organize a training class to let them know how to do things when they go down there, so that they don’t go astray.

After they have completed their studies, these poor scholars will be allowed to take up positions with the cooperation of the Security Department and the Guards, so that they can achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Forty-five days later, the training course was completed and Mo Zibu was finally able to start.

Because after they went down, the prefects of the four prefectures in Beihe, namely, Dongjing Chengtian Prefecture, Taiyuan Prefecture, Shannan Prefecture, and Anguang Prefecture, were all replaced by high-ranking officials who had defected to Mo Zibu.

The thirty-eight prefects and county magistrates under the prefecture, and even the hundreds of village elders at the smallest level, were replaced by scholars from humble backgrounds.

Mo Zibu also assigned each prefect or county magistrate from a humble family a captain of the Palace Security Department as the county magistrate, an officer of the rank of Central Guard or above as the county lieutenant, and a hundred soldiers as yamen runners. These people were the military experts who assisted them in suppressing the local situation.

When everything was ready, Mo Zibu suddenly spread the word that Li Guidun was unwilling to marry his granddaughter to him, and he also made many slanderous remarks, saying that he was guilty of contempt for the king and was immediately imprisoned and investigated.

Immediately after Mo Tzu Bu formally ordered the arrest of Le Quy Don, Wu Shishi came out to sue Le Quy Don, reporting that his General History of Dai Viet had described King Mok's great-uncle Mo Dang Yong as a traitor.

Mo Zi Bu was furious and ordered the immediate arrest of all those who assisted Le Quy Don in compiling the General History of Dai Viet. He also set up a copper box outside the palace, emulating Wu Zetian's box inspection system, to encourage reporting.

Overnight, Mo Zibu received hundreds of letters of accusation. All of them were from poor scholars who had been granted official positions by Mo Zibu and had instructed their close relatives to act as accusers to report other high-ranking families.

Mo Zibu took the letter of accusation and dug out the "letter of allegiance" that the noble family of Beihe had given to Zheng Sen in the past, refuting Mo Zibu's manifesto, and flew into a rage at the court meeting.

At that time, there were red-turbaned strongmen from the Security Department standing outside the door. They were professionals with red headbands on their foreheads, who were specifically responsible for interrogations and prisons.

Every time King Mo read out a name, a red-turbaned warrior would enter the hall and capture that person. The atmosphere was extremely tense. Ruan Tinggong, Zheng Sen's former son-in-law, a wealthy family in Shannan, the former Duke of Gongwu, and the governor of Shannan Shangzhen, could no longer bear it. When Mo Zibu read out his name, he cursed at Mo Zibu:
"Southern thief, if I had known you had bad intentions, I wouldn't have thought you could defeat the entire Beihe army by yourself. You will surely die a miserable death in the future!"

"Fuck you!" I, King Mo, cursed loudly and kicked Ruan Tinggong to the ground.

Ruan Tinggong was still cursing when Chen Guangzu stepped forward, grabbed Ruan Tinggong, raised his knife and cut the carotid artery in his neck with one stroke. Blood splattered all over the Wanshou Hall and even splashed a lot on Mo Zibu.

Finally, someone was reckless. Mo Zibu retreated to his throne and took the opportunity to escalate his actions. "Chen Guangzu, you will lead the team and raid the Nguyen clan of Liangjiang. No one will escape!"

Then Mo Zibu continued to hold the accusation letter and issued orders one by one. At the same time, Ruan Dingong's blood was still flowing in the Wanshou Hall.

Everyone was terrified, and only then did they realize how ruthless Mo Zibu was. He actually wanted to uproot all the high-ranking families in Beihe.

Pei Shida and others were sweating profusely, as if they had been reborn, and it seemed that they were not so sad about handing over the tens of thousands of acres of land.

. . . .

In the imperial prison, Li Guidun finally felt something was wrong, because even in prison, he was the center of attention.

But now, although he still lives in a single cell, no one dares to get close to him. Not only that, the food has also started to get worse, and it's the same as that of other prisoners.

Just when Li Guidun was completely confused, Zheng Jinshui appeared again. Without any further ado, he wrote down on a piece of paper what Mo Zibu had done in the past few days.

After reading it, Li Guidun felt a stuffy and uncomfortable sensation in his chest, and soon, a mouthful of blood spurted out.

"Why has it come to this? Why has it come to this?" The great scholar from Beihe groaned miserably.

Zheng Jinshui smiled faintly, "Mr. Guitang, in fact, the last time you came here was the last chance the king gave you. It's a pity that you didn't cherish it."

"You little thief, you are the one who is doing the bad things. How can the first talk be an ultimatum?" Li Guidun looked at Zheng Jinshui viciously, and he could no longer maintain the cultivation of a great scholar.

Zheng Jinshui laughed heartily, "Mr. Guitang, it's already this time, can't you be a little more honest?

Do you dare to say that you don’t know what my king is going to do, and you don’t know what you are thinking?
You thought my king would compromise with you, because governing the Beihe River still depends on you. Humph, Mr. Guitang, you think too much and underestimate such a talented and heroic ruler.

You've read the sage books for so many years, yet you've forgotten your roots. You even have the nerve to say you didn't give me a chance. Don't you find that ridiculous, Mr. Guitang?"

Li Guidun was about to argue, but suddenly stopped talking. He laughed miserably three times, and his whole body trembled. He regained his composure after drinking a cup of tea.

"I understand. King Mo never intended to give me a chance to live from the beginning. He wanted to use me, the one who perfected the theory of the Southern Kingdom's Mountain and Southern Emperor Residence, as a chicken to scare the monkeys. I really underestimated him."

"Can you leave some bloodline for the Yanhe Li family?" asked Li Guidun.

Zheng Jinshui smiled, "I came here for this very purpose. If the Yanhe Li Clan wants to leave a group behind, it will all depend on Mr. Guitang's decision."

Li Guidun nodded and said, "Please report to the king that a group of people from the Yanhe Li clan will come out to refute me."

"Mr. Guitang is indeed a smart man." Zheng Jinshui likes the feeling of talking to a smart person because it saves a lot of words.

“The king also asked me to tell Mr. Guitang that if he were not a Ming Dynasty man, he would not have acted like this.

Some of the other members of the Yanhe Li clan will die, but not all of them, as long as they are willing to settle and cultivate the land in Jiaxi Road."

On July 27, the bloody shockwaves caused by the case of Le Quy Don's Dai Viet History directly affected the entire Bac Ha.

More than 40 noble families in Bac Ha were severely affected, and many of them rebelled directly. They gathered together with local militias to hold their ground and also sought help from Li Weiduo of Cao Ping and Nguyen Van Hue of Lang Son.

The remaining noble families were also affected, but some of them turned around quickly and immediately became vassals of Wu Shishi, criticizing Li Guidun for being treacherous and treasonous.

Wu Shishi then convened a large literary gathering in Tokyo City, and together with many prominent and learned scholars, they worked together in the Tokyo Imperial College to revise his "Complete History of Dai Viet".

Last time, the three Wu family members only modified their evaluation of the Mac Dynasty and Mac Dengyong, but this time they directly started to modify the Later Le Dynasty.

They directly labeled the Later Le Dynasty as a pseudo-dynasty, scolded Le Loi as a barbarian who knew nothing about China and did not understand the great justice of unification, and exaggerated Le Loi's counterattack after Xuanzong abandoned Annan.

It was claimed that Le Loi killed millions of people in these ten years, and many true Han heroes were killed by this barbarian Le Loi. He even wanted to turn all the Han people in Tiannan into Muong people. His vicious heart was almost comparable to that of the Qing Dynasty.

At this point, the local independence trend that was just one step away from completing the Little China theory was dealt a heavy blow and fell into a trough. The atmosphere that Mo Zibu hoped for finally began to slowly build up.

On the first day of August, Li Weiyu, who was in Gaoping, ordered an army of 20,000 to march south, hoping to support Gao Men who was raising an army in Beihe.

As a result, they were defeated successively by Reinstein and Chen Lian in Tuoyang Prefecture and Beihe County northeast of Tokyo. The 20,000 troops that the Later Le Dynasty had recruited with great difficulty were almost wiped out, and the important minister and general Ding Xirang was killed in the battle.

Reinstein took the opportunity to recapture Xinghua Town in the northwest and renamed it Xinghua Prefecture. Chen Lian recaptured Mingshun Town on the left side of Taiyuan Prefecture and renamed it Xuanhua Prefecture.

At this point, Li Weiyu's territory was basically limited to Gaoping. He had completely lost the threat to Tokyo and could not even enter the Red River Plain.

In the east, Nguyen Van Hue of Lang Son was much smarter. He only sent more than a thousand people to respond. After being attacked by Chen Guangyao's men and losing more than a hundred people, he retreated and relied on the natural barrier of Lang Son to hold on.

At the same time, Nguyen Van Hue made a lot of publicity, asking the high-ranking officials who had rebelled in the Bac Ha area to go to Lang Son to connect with the Qing Dynasty for the future, which actually attracted some people to go.

On August 21, the unrest was basically quelled, the noble families in Beihe suffered heavy losses, and those who refused to give up their land were basically uprooted.

The reason they failed in less than a month was not only because Mo Zibu had already started planning, but also because his strategy of sowing discord was successful.

Everyone among the poor families under the rich families knew that the fields that Mo Zibu had taken from the rich families were to be given to them, so except for a small number, most of the poor families stood on Mo Zibu's side.

Only with the support of these middle-class people could the Xing Tang Army be more targeted and win every battle.

On the first day of September, Mo Zibu sentenced Li Guidun to immediate execution and exterminated his three clans on the grounds that he had forgotten his ancestors, committed treason, slandered his clan members, and plotted rebellion.

Eleven of his students, including Pei Huibi and Chen Gongshuo, had their homes confiscated and their clans exterminated.

The fourteen families who were captured and taken to Tokyo were exterminated for their high status. The rest who committed less serious crimes were beheaded and their families exiled.

So on that day, more than 1,900 people were killed at one time in the south of Tokyo, so that there were not enough executioners and they had to select people from the army to carry out the executions.

After killing people, Mo Zibu issued another order to exile all the 47 noble families who had caused the rebellion, no matter how serious the crime was, and sent them to Dancheng, Tucheng and other places in Jiaxi Road and Andai Road to settle and cultivate the land, totaling 30,000 people.

This frightened the remaining noble families so much that they didn't even dare to ask for their 3,000 mu of private plots, and they cried and begged outside the palace day and night.

Mo Zibu then came out to appease them, promising to give them the 3,000 acres of land and allow them to take part in the imperial examination three years later together with the poor families.

As long as they do not sing a different tune, are willing to become Han Chinese again, and the entire ethnic group learns Chinese-Vietnamese dialects, these people will naturally be grateful, and the situation will begin to stabilize.

In this turmoil, the Palace Security Department estimated that at least 30,000 people were killed in less than a month, not counting the 20,000 soldiers sent by Li Weiyu to die. Together with those executed and exiled, even 50,000 people could not stop it.

But these costs are worth it. Mo Zibu finally sorted out the customs of Beihe. At the same time, the movement to further define the composition is about to begin.

Because what is being reversed now is the atmosphere among the upper class. Even if they are from poor families, most of them are literate and knowledgeable.

In addition to them, there are more illiterate farmers in Beihe, and their thinking also needs to be reformed.

(End of this chapter)