The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 84 Chapter 83 Chaozhou people and Yuexi people, the King of Siam and the King of Cambodia
At night, the lights in Wuding City were bright, and even the curfew in Hexian City was lifted. There were cheering and drunken crowds everywhere.

Because in addition to the more than 100 people who participated in the exercise, there were also a large number of sailors who went to sea with him and soldiers who had been on vacation earlier.

Most of these people live in Ha Tien, or their families rushed to Ha Tien after hearing the news.

They followed Mo Zibu to plunder at sea and earned a large dividend. When they left, Mo Zibu gave them another reward. Their pockets were bulging, so naturally they took their families to feast.

In Wuding City, all the close relatives of the Ou family were present, including people from the Chen and Pei families.

Everyone was eating and drinking. It was a rare happy day for Hexian. On the one hand, it was to celebrate the victorious return of Mo Zibu's fleet, and on the other hand, it was also the engagement ceremony of Li Xianwen and Ou Hui.

The more Ou Tianci looks at Li Xianwen, the more satisfied he is with him. He believes that Li Xianwen is capable and is not the kind of person who would rebel.

Although she is older, her daughter is also a leftover woman.

The banquet lasted until late at night. After the relatives who had attended the banquet were too drunk to leave, Ou Tianci did not let Li Xianwen leave, but called him into the inner hall.

In the inner hall, Ou Hui stood next to his mother Chen. Following Ou Tianci came in Chen Dasheng from the Chen family and Pei Jiannan from the Pei family.

These people are much closer to Ou Tianci than Ou's own relatives, and are considered to be Hexian's two biggest supporters outside.

Among them, the Chen family has 70,000 to 80,000 subjects.

The Pei family has served as officials from the Le Dynasty to Guangnan, and has Champa royal blood. They are considered a wealthy and powerful family in Gia Dinh, east of Saigon.

When Ou Tianci summoned Li Xianwen alone in front of the Pei and Chen families, his meaning was obvious.

After he sat down and drank a bowl of tea, he asked Li Xianwen directly: "Awen, tell me, what exactly does Abu think? What is he going to do?"

Li Xianwen didn't expect that Ou Tianci asked so directly. Suddenly he remembered what Mo Zibu said to him when he left.

'The reason why Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty committed the Xuanwu Gate Incident was actually because the Crown Prince Li Jiancheng was quite capable.

Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Li Yuan, was reluctant to give up the power in his hands, so he adopted a strategy of suppressing and restraining the gradually expanding Tian Ce Palace.

This was because Li Yuanji kept adding fuel to the fire.

In my family today, my father is in his prime and has great prestige, so he doesn’t need to be on guard against me, his son.

The eldest brother is talented but has obvious shortcomings, and is far inferior to Prince Yin.

My second and third brothers are both loyal and filial people and would never add fuel to the fire.

Most importantly, everyone knew that the Nguyen family was located in a war zone, and they definitely didn't have the capital to kill each other.

Immediately, Li Xianwen got excited and simply told Mo Zibu's judgment directly.

Chen and Lu Xun widened their eyes in shock, and Chen Dasheng was also a little dumbfounded. This was too bold of a statement.

Pei Jiannan laughed heartily upon hearing this. He pointed at Li Xianwen and said, "Abu is truly a hero!
It seems that he is analyzing the situation, but in his heart he actually regards himself as Emperor Taizong of Tang, who is the greatest emperor of all time!

Throughout the thousands of years of history of the Han people, there have been countless emperors, but the only one who can be compared to Emperor Taizong of Tang is our own Emperor Taizu Gao. Even Emperor Chengzu Xiaowen was far inferior to him.”

“What a great spirit!”

The term Han people, or Chinese, is actually quite different from the Han nationality as we understand it in later generations.

These two words, to a large extent, do not refer to a nation, but rather to an identity, roughly equivalent to the meaning of the term civilized race that Europeans began to coin.

Just like Annan at that time, they called themselves Han Chinese to the Champa, Khmer, Siamese, Malay and other races.

The real Han people are either called Tang people, or simply called northerners or customers.

Therefore, it is quite natural for Pei Jiannan, a guy who has been in the business for three or four hundred years, to call himself a Han Chinese.

Not only him, but most of the high-ranking officials in the North and the South said that they were Han Chinese, secretly calling Annam the Great South Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty the Northern Kingdom.

As for Pei Jiannan calling the Ming Dynasty "this dynasty", that is easier to understand.

The ancestor of their Pei family was an officer of the Ming Dynasty. This is a golden signboard. If the Pei family does not hold on to it, the inheritance of their family bloodline can only be found in the Champa royal family.

Although being a royal family sounds good, it is actually far inferior to being a descendant of a Ming Dynasty military officer.

Because the Ming Dynasty military officers were Chinese superiors, and the Champa royal family were nothing more than foreign barbarian chiefs.

After hearing what Pei Jiannan said, Ou Tianci showed a look of being at a loss whether to laugh or cry on his face, but he was still very happy in his heart.

At least Mo Zibu can say this, which proves that Mo Zibu's ideas and understanding are still very clear.

Seeing that Ou Tianci was not angry because Li Xianwen relayed Mo Zibu's words, Chen thought carefully for a moment, and then said to Ou Tianci:
"Looking at Abu's behavior, he doesn't plan to return to Hexian for the time being. Firstly, he doesn't want to conflict with his brother, and secondly, he doesn't want to embarrass the master.

But Bu'er has so many brave men under his command that need to be arranged. Why don't you send a letter to Phnom Penh and ask your elder brother to think of a way to carve out a port as a foothold for Bu'er? "

The elder brother Zun mentioned by Chen is the current King Phra Udie II of the Kingdom of Cambodia, known as Ni Tran Thanh in Vietnamese history books.

At this time, the relationship between the Ha Tien Ngu clan and the Kingdom of Cambodia was very special.

In the early days, Nguyen Jiu relied on the support of the King of Cambodia to grow stronger, but later because the King of Cambodia was unable to protect Ha Tien, Ha Tien was attacked by Siam several times. In order to protect itself, Nguyen Jiu turned to the Nguyen family of Quang Nam.

Cambodia naturally could not tolerate Ngo Jiu's betrayal and sent troops to attack Ha Tien many times.

However, with the support of the Chen family of Jiading and the Pei family of Bien Hoa, Ou Tianci repelled the Cambodian attack.

Cambodia was repelled by Ha Tien and failed to regain its territory. Instead, it lost a lot of manpower and material resources, and its domestic politics began to become unstable.

For more than a decade, the royal family has been fighting against each other, and their strength has been declining day by day.

In 1756, Phnom Penh was captured by the Nguyen clan of Quang Nam, and King Ni Liyuan had no choice but to flee to Ha Tien for refuge.

At this time, Ngo Tien Ci keenly realized that if Guangnan destroyed Cambodia, the next province to have its semi-independent status revoked would be Ha Tien.

Ngo Thien Thu persuaded all the people of Ha Tien to oppose the move and insisted on preserving Ngoc Nhuyen. His mediation helped King Nguyen Phuc Kho of Quang Nam, who felt it would be difficult to conquer Cambodia, withdraw his troops from Phnom Penh after Ngoc Nhuyen paid three years' tribute and ceded two cities, thus restoring the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Since then, the relationship between the Kingdom of Cambodia and Ha Tien has become close.

Two years later, civil strife broke out again in the Cambodian royal family, and Prince Ni fled to Ha Tien to avoid the chaos.

When this man arrived in Hexian, he was in a very difficult situation. He only had a few warriors and servants from his mother's tribe as guards. Apart from that, he had nothing and didn't even know where to eat breakfast the next day.

But he was very discerning. After seeing that Ha Tien's strength had far surpassed Cambodia, he insisted on recognizing Ngo Tien Ci as his adoptive father, despite the fact that he was already 29 years old and his son was old enough to help with housework.

They also agreed that as long as Ou Tianci could help him return to the country and ascend the throne, he would give five Cambodian cities, including the later Sihanoukville, to Ou Tianci.

Well, actually, it makes sense for Ni Lu to recognize Lu Tianci as his adoptive father.

Because Ngo Tien-chi's father, Ngo Jiu, had married a Cambodian royal daughter in his early years, who was Ngo Tien-chi's great-aunt.

In other words, although Ou Tianci has no blood relationship with him, in terms of kinship, Ou Tianci is Ni Lu's cousin.

With such benefits and the fact that the relationship was indeed extraordinary, Ou Tianci was of course very willing.

So he recruited and hired more than 10,000 troops to march north from Ha Tien, escort Ni Xuanwei back to Phnom Penh, defeat the rebels, and inherit the Cambodian throne.

The Cambodian king called Nit-i-tzu in Vietnamese history books is the historical Phra Udie II.

Afterwards, King Phra Ude II kept his promise and gave the five provinces of Xiangao, Can Bo, Chai Mo, Linh Quynh and Chin Sen to Ngo Thien Chai.

The territory is equivalent to the eastern part of Cambodia in later generations, including all the coastal areas including Sihanoukville.

After Ha Tien acquired these five provinces, its area more than doubled, and it also gained the right to rule over more than 100,000 Cambodian people.

At this point, the Ou family finally gained a certain strategic depth and a large population, and was able to begin building various city fortresses as a barrier for Hexian, becoming truly powerful.

This is also the important reason why Ou Tianci is still as stable as a rock after Mo Zibu killed the son of Zhang Fuluan, the powerful official in Guangnan.

Hexian is no longer the small port trapped in the corner of the sea and unable to fight back against Guangnan Kingdom ten years ago.

Moreover, Ngo Thien Ci not only obtained land and population from Phra Udie II, but also obtained a very important legal right, that is, the title of Khmer King.

After Phra Udei II ascended the throne, Ngoc Thien Thu, as the king's adoptive father and with royal ties, naturally became the Khmer king.

Phra Udie II called himself the King of Phnom Penh.

Strictly speaking, the kings of the Phnom Penh Dynasty of Cambodia had already lost the legal system of the Khmer Empire at this time.

This is also the main reason why it was impossible for Ou Tianci and Zheng Xin to cooperate in history.

Because in Cambodia's history, it was a vassal state wavering between the two major powers of Siam and Annan.

Ngo Thien Thu actually controlled Ha Tien and was called the Khmer King, which in fact created a loose confederation model between Cambodia and Ha Tien.

This is something that Siam and Annan cannot tolerate.

So in history, after Taksin replaced the Ayutthaya Dynasty and became the King of Siam, he immediately prepared to attack the Ha Tien Ngo clan.

Among these, the so-called conflict between the Chaozhou people and the western Guangdong people can only be regarded as a small part. There are indeed conflicts between the two sides, but they are not to the point of life and death.

The main reason was that the King of Siam could not tolerate the appearance of a powerful Khmer king next to his bed.

So, in history, in 1769, just over a year after Zheng Xin established his country and when its foundation was not yet completely solid, he sent a large army to attack Cambodia.

The Siamese army captured Phnom Penh, drove out Phra Udei II, and made a Cambodian prince born to a Siamese noblewoman the king, named Angnon II.

Upon hearing the news, Ngo Tien-chi immediately brought together the Chen and Pei families, organized an army of 50,000, and attacked Chanthaburi, an important town on the border between Cambodia and Siam, by land and sea, in an attempt to attack Wei to save Zhao and force Taksin to withdraw his troops from Cambodia.

While Zheng Xin recalled the army, he also ordered the Siamese army in Chanthaburi to hold on.

In the confrontation between the two sides, Chen Lian, the third generation of the Nazhen clan whose ancestral home was Jieyang, Chaozhou, defended Chanthaburi with a force of two to three thousand men under the fierce attack of 50,000 troops led by Chen Dali, the third generation of the Jiading Chen family.

Chen Dali's siege of Chanthaburi failed after a long time and was delayed until the rainy season. A plague broke out in the army and nearly half of the soldiers were infected, forcing them to retreat in a panic.

Then they were pursued by Zheng Xin, who had arrived earlier but had been lying in ambush. All 50,000 soldiers were killed or wounded, and Chen Dali died of illness due to grief and anger.

Ngo Thien Ci was horrified and frantically asked for help from the Nguyen family of Guangnan. However, the Nguyen family had long been unwilling to have Ngo Thien Ci become the Khmer king. Not only did they not send troops to rescue, they also secretly hinted to Taksin to continue the attack.

When Ha Tien fell in 1771, Ngo Tien Tzu lost all his capital.

In 1775, the Siamese army completely occupied Cambodia. In despair, King Phra Udie II announced his abdication to King Angnon II and died in confinement two years later.

At this moment, these historical events have not yet happened. Ha Tien is not only still strong, but also has a profound impact on Cambodia.

Every year on the Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, Spring Festival, and the birthdays of Nguyen Thien Ci and Chen, King Pa Udie II would send people to offer gifts and congratulations. His filial piety was no different from that of a real son.

That's why Chen said lightly that he would ask Ou Tianci to write a letter to Pa Udie II, asking him to find a place for Mo Zibu.

Because in Chen's view, this is just an elder brother helping his younger brother, it is a common and normal thing.

But Mo Zi Bu was not aware of the relationship between Pa Udie II and Ou Tianci in advance.

This body used to be stupid and rebellious. He didn't even know what it meant for Ou Tianci to adopt Pa Udie II as his adopted son. This led to Mo Zibu being confused at this moment.

Therefore, among Mo Zibu's options, he never considered settling down in Cambodia.

So, when Li Xianwen heard his mother-in-law Chen say this, he hurried out to stop her.

Seeing that Li Xianwen seemed to be hesitant to speak, Ou Tianci guessed that what Mo Zibu asked Li Xianwen to say must be taboo, so he waved his hand and asked his confidant to drive out all the guards and maids serving inside and outside the room.

"Awen, feel free to speak your mind. We are all here as friends."

(End of this chapter)