Usurpation of Mongolia: My father-in-law is Genghis Khan

Chapter 295 Slaughtering Annam! Don't want to be Chinese? Then don't bother being human!

Annam, Thang Long Province, inside the royal palace.

"Father, what should we do? What should we do?!"

Emperor Tran Chau of Annam, holding several newspapers issued by the Zhao Shuo Khanate, looked at his cousin Tran Thu Du with a panicked expression.

To be fair, Chen Shoudu treated Chen Jiong very well.

Not only did he put Chen Jiong on the throne fifteen years ago, but he has also been loyal to him ever since.

When Zhao Yun, the King of Song, led an army of 200,000 to invade Annam, Chen Jiong panicked and considered surrendering.

As a result, Chen Shoudu said, "Your Majesty need not worry about anything before my head has reached the land," and led the Annam army to resist firmly, finally blocking the Song army at the banks of the Fu Liang River (Red River).

Of course, Chen Jiong also treated Chen Shoudu very well, never calling him "uncle" but "Shangfu," regarding Chen Shoudu as Annam's Jiang Ziya or Zhuge Liang.

However, this time, this "Annam Zhuge Liang" seems to have failed.

In order to alleviate the disaster in Jiangnan, Zhao Shuo sent an envoy to Annam, requesting Annam to contribute 800,000 shi of grain.

Chen Shoudu not only sternly refused, but also blockaded all major ports in Annam, demanding that not a single grain of rice be shipped out of Annam.

He hoped that this unprecedented disaster would cause Zhao Shuo a great deal of trouble.

As a result, according to those newspapers, the Jiangnan region of Zhao Shuo Khanate not only survived the disaster safely, but also took advantage of the disaster to carry out a comprehensive repair of the water conservancy system in Jiangnan, which was sure to bring a bumper harvest the following year.

This is how to do?
If Annam had gone too far back then, what would happen if Zhao Shuo were to launch an invasion in the future?
Chen Jiong completely panicked.

"Your Majesty, this matter is indeed my fault."

Chen Shoudu is extremely depressed right now.

He felt that Zhao Shuo was really a rip-off.

Well, Zhao Shuo has mobilized a huge army, procuring grain from all the major provinces across the country, demanding grain donations from ordinary people, and even opening the door for foreign tribes to exchange grain for Han Chinese status. Chen Shoudu thought that Zhao Shuo's Khanate was facing immense difficulties and would hardly be able to overcome this challenge.

As a result, the drought and locust plague that swept across three provinces was indeed a major disaster. However, major disasters are not all the same. This disaster was by no means a once-in-a-century event; it was more like something that would happen once every thirty or forty years.

The rescue by the Zhao Shuo Khanate was an eye-opener for him.

Oh, so the reason Zhao Shuo mobilized so much troops wasn't because he was afraid the disaster would be too severe, causing widespread refugees and shaking his rule, but because he was afraid the disaster victims would go hungry!
Throughout history, what disaster relief method has ever been used?

Let alone years of disaster, there are still many people who struggle to make ends meet even in peaceful years!
Why bother? Why bother?
Isn't this cheating?

If Chen Shoudu had known this would happen, he would have prepared 800,000 shi of grain and offered it to Zhao Shuo long ago.

Now, things are looking up. After the disaster, the grain reserves in Jiangnan are actually higher than in previous years. How could Zhao Shuo not come looking for trouble in Annam?

Chen Shoudu said helplessly, "But things have come to this point, and we can only think of a way to deal with Zhao Shuo. He asks Zhao Yun for 20,000 Annam slaves every year, and his hostility towards Annam is obvious. I'm afraid that even if we admit our mistakes and surrender now, we will not have a good ending."

Chen Jiong nodded slightly and said, "Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, Annam has been independent of China for nearly three hundred years. Even if we wanted to surrender, I'm afraid the people of Annam would not agree. But the question is, can we stop Zhao Shuo's army? They were able to cross the sea and conquer Japan!"

"Why not?"

Chen Shoudu said confidently, "Although Zhao Shuo has a large army and many generals and is known as invincible, Annam has three major advantages."

"Firstly, Zhao Shuo's most formidable asset is his cavalry. However, Annam is riddled with dense jungles and numerous rivers, making it impossible for his cavalry to roam freely. If all else fails, we can abandon Thang Long and fight him in the dense forest. His infantry might not be a match for Annam's warriors in the jungle!"

"Secondly, there is the climate and the plague. Annam has a hot and humid climate, which is difficult for northerners to adapt to. If Zhao Shuo only mobilizes the Han army of ten thousand households in the south to fight against our army, what difference is there between him and the Song army? The malaria in Annam is even more terrifying, and it is far from something that Zhao Shuo can overcome by inoculating his army with smallpox."

"Thirdly, as His Majesty just mentioned, both the court and the people of Annam are determined to stand on their own in the south and not be subject to the rule of China. When Zhao Shuo's army attacks, the people of Annam will surely resist to the death. There is a saying among the Han people: 'Those who are united in purpose will prevail.' Today, the people of Annam are indeed united in purpose!"

Although Chen Shoudu spoke with great passion and his reasons seemed very compelling, Chen Jiong remained somewhat ambiguous.

He said, "That being said, we in Annam couldn't even repel the Song army, so I always feel... I always feel... that our chances of winning are slim!"

Chen Shoudu shook his head and said, "Who said we can't defeat the Song army?"

"What Shangfu means is..."

"Look, what is this?"

As he spoke, Chen Shoudu took out a small cloth bag from his sleeve. Opening the bag, a pile of dark, powdery substances appeared in front of Chen Jiong.

"This is?"

"gunpowder!"

Chen Shoudu directly revealed the answer, saying, "The Song people's gunpowder weapons posed a great threat to us. However, now, Annam has also produced gunpowder!"

Chen Jiong's eyes lit up, and he said, "Great! Father, where did this gunpowder come from?"

Chen Shoudu explained carefully: "Zhao Yun's army is said to number 200,000. In reality, this includes the soldiers' families. The actual combat troops number only about 50,000. In addition, among these 50,000 combat troops, there are 5,000 Persians."

"The method for making this gunpowder was provided to me by the Persian leader, Pu Kaizong. Not only that, they also intend to cooperate with us from within and without to defeat the Song army in one fell swoop!"

Chen Jiong asked in confusion, "Why? Why would these Persians help us? Now that Zhao Shuo is behind the Song Dynasty, serving the Song Dynasty is the most correct choice for them."

Chen Shoudu said, “There are two reasons. First, these Persians all believe in the True God religion. But Zhao Shuo wants to change the doctrines of the True God religion and promote the idea that Han Chinese and Mongols are the best. This is absolutely intolerable to the people of the True God religion.”

Chen Jiong was still puzzled and continued to ask, "Then why didn't they help us before, but instead turned against us now?"

Chen Shoudu said, "Because they weren't sure before whether we wanted to fight Zhao Shuo to the end. If they had rebelled and joined us, and we were afraid of Zhao Shuo and betrayed them, wouldn't that have been the end of us? Now, there's no possibility of compromise between us and Zhao Shuo, so they decided to turn against us."

Chen Jiong nodded and said, "That makes some sense. And secondly?"

"Secondly, the entire Mongolian steppe was mobilized for the third westward expedition. The True God Cult believes that they and the Roman Catholic Church worship the same God, calling Roman Catholics 'people who have obtained the Heavenly Scripture.' In their view, the Roman Catholic Church is indeed despicable, but it is a thousand times better than Zhao Shuo."

"This time, the Roman Catholic Church held off the Mongol Khan Guyuk, forcing Guyuk to mobilize the entire strength of the steppe, which gave them hope. They felt that our Annam, with its high mountains and dense forests, and plagued by miasma, might not be unable to stop Zhao Shuo's army."

Chen Jiong said, "Didn't they consider what would happen if we really couldn't stop Zhao Shuo's army?"

Chen Shoudu said, "They do not shy away from this matter. If Annam really cannot stop Zhao Shuo's army, they will continue to seek refuge with the Angkor Dynasty to the south and fight Zhao Shuo to the end. Or, they will set sail directly to Europe."

Chen Jiong frowned slightly and said, "It seems that these Persians are religious but not nationalistic, and they are not loyal to Annam at all!"

Chen Shoudu, however, was unconcerned, saying, "At this point, we can't afford to worry about such things. In short, these Persians are irreconcilable enemies of Zhao Shuo, making them our best allies. With their help from within and without, we will surely be able to decisively defeat the Song army. Then, we can fight Zhao Shuo's army to the bitter end!"

"Okay, let's bet!"

In fact, for the Annamese, believing Pu Kaizong's words was still very risky.

At present, on the banks of the Phu Luong River, 30,000 Song troops and Annamite troops are facing off, including 5,000 Persian troops.

If Annam wants to break through the Song army's main camp in one fell swoop, it will inevitably have to deploy its elite main force. If Pu Kaizong's surrender was feigned, and the Annamite army is defeated, it is feared that even Thang Long Prefecture will not be able to be saved.

However, the Song army had accumulated rich combat experience in Annam after long-term operations there. If the Annamese remained inactive now, and the Song army later joined forces with Zhao Shuo's army, passing on this experience to Zhao Shuo's army, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Chen Jiong and Chen Shoudu are now gambling on the fate of Annam!

Thus, seven days later, on the night of the same day, 50,000 elite troops from Annam secretly crossed the Phluong River in the area defended by the Persians and launched a surprise attack on the Song army camp in the dead of night.

The commander-in-chief of the Song army at the front was none other than the famous general Cao Youwen.

In fact, Cao Youwen had long felt that these Persians were unreliable.

Non-my family, its heart must be different.

He demanded that they not be deployed in key locations and be closely monitored.

However, Zhao Yun and many other ministers did not see it that way.

They felt that the Persians' willingness to follow the Southern Song court to Annam already demonstrated their loyalty.

If we don't make good use of them, how can we demonstrate the magnanimity of the Song state?
Cao Youwen was also helpless.

That night, chaos erupted, and gunpowder weapons reappeared in the Annamese army, causing a major rout for the Song army. Cao Youwen, left with no other option, led three thousand personal guards to cover the main army's retreat.

However, while the army could easily retreat, there were still the elderly, women, and children scattered throughout northern and southern Annam.

Finally, Cao Youwen led the remaining 1,300 personal guards to defend Dulong Pass for seventeen days, buying time for the Song army's elderly, weak, women, and children to retreat.

Cao Youwen was struck by several arrows, bleeding profusely, and fell into a coma. He and 237 of his men were captured by the combined forces of Annam and Persia.

Pu Kaizong's son, Pu Shougeng, was already capable of handling things independently.

He wanted to persuade Cao Youwen to surrender.

After all, he had very few soldiers under his command. If he could persuade Cao Youwen to surrender, it would be much easier to convince the other Song prisoners to surrender as well. The stronger the Persians were, the more bargaining power they would have in their cooperation with the Annamese.

Persuading them to join the True God Cult would be an immeasurable act of merit.

Unfortunately, Cao Youwen was unyielding, refusing to listen to either soft or hard tactics, and he utterly despised any so-called True God Cult.

Pu Shougeng was furious and ordered his men to tie Cao Youwen to a pillar and make the captured Song soldiers watch.

He cut off Cao Youwen's flesh piece by piece, each cut removing a slice of flesh about an ounce, and then asked Cao Youwen whether he would surrender.

Cao You said, "The court has misled you Semu people, leading to this calamity. However, the failure of my Great Song Dynasty does not mean the failure of China! You have betrayed China, and King Zhao Shuo will surely avenge us! In that case, what regrets do I have? Even if I am torn to pieces, I will not bring shame upon my ancestors!"

After that, he remained silent and allowed Pu Shougeng to carry out the torture.

The pain made me faint and then wake up again, and then faint again.

This happened three times, but Cao Youwen refused to beg for mercy or surrender.

Seeing Cao Youwen suffer such a calamity, his captured personal guards went mad. Even bound hand and foot, they resisted fiercely. Ultimately, they were all slaughtered by Pu Shougeng's men.

Cao Youwen also died tragically at Dulong Pass.

Subsequently, the combined forces of the Annamese and the Persians continued their advance.

The Annamese people, originally under the rule of the Song Dynasty, also rose up in response.

The small Song court suffered repeated defeats and eventually retreated to three counties on the border of Guangxi and Annam.

The Han Chinese army commanders stationed in Guangxi under Zhao Shuo Khanate, fearing that the Annamese army would enter Guangxi, quickly dispatched five commanders of a thousand to provide support, which helped Zhao Yun stabilize the situation.

However, of the 200,000 Chinese who initially entered Annam, only about 110,000 remain.

At the same time, the righteousness of Cao Youwen, and even the tragic plight of the Chinese people who were being treated by the Annamese and Persians, also spread.

Pu Shougeng was so cruel to Cao Youwen, and the Annamese were no less cruel to the Chinese people they captured.

For a moment, the world was shocked!
Some even recalled the war between the Annamese and the Song Dynasty 150 years ago.

It was the eighth year of the Xining era of the Northern Song Dynasty. Annam, led by General Li Changjie, captured Qinzhou, Lianzhou, Yongzhou and other places of the Song Dynasty.

In the Battle of Yongzhou, Prefect Su Jian fought valiantly. After the city fell, Su Jian, along with his second son Ziming and Zizheng, grandsons Guangyuan and Zhiwen, and thirty-seven members of his family, all perished in the battle!
Meanwhile, the Annamite army carried out massacres, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of people in the three prefectures of Qin, Lian, and Yong, and capturing many Chinese people as slaves.

Not only that, they also took the clothes and documents from the monks and Taoists they had killed, and had Annamite spies put on these people's clothes and take these documents to infiltrate various military strongholds of the Song Dynasty to investigate the situation, specifically targeting Guilin and Guangzhou.

Subsequently, the Song state dispatched generals Guo Kui and Zhao Xie to lead troops and launched an attack in conjunction with neighboring Champa and Zhenla.

Guo Kui led his army to recapture Guangyuan Prefecture and then decisively defeated the Annamese army at the Fuliang River, killing the Annamese general and Crown Prince Hong Zhen. Li Renzong of Annam was deeply disturbed by this and requested a ceasefire from the Song Dynasty, offering to return the people he had captured.

At that time, the Song army had suffered more than half its casualties due to malaria, so they agreed to Annam's demands.

However, the blood feud of those hundreds of thousands of Song people has clearly not been avenged.

Annam may have lost, but it was a true victory!

Although the State of Song won, it was in reality defeated!

Now that the Song Dynasty has suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Annam, how will the Zhao Shuo Khanate respond?

……

……

In the Yuzao Palace of Zhongdu City.

"Good! I haven't even caused any trouble for Annam yet, and the Annamese have already jumped out on their own initiative. Oh, and those rebellious Persians should have died long ago. Her!"

"exist!"

"I'm entrusting Annam to you! Not only you, but also your sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth brothers. They've grown up and it's time for them to see some blood."

Zhao Shuo said, "All of you, slaughter Annam! Since they don't want to be Chinese, they don't need to be human!"

"Yes!" Zhao He answered loudly.

When the emperor is angry, blood can flow like a river.

Annamese, the Chinese army of revenge has arrived!
(End of this chapter)