My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 207: Unifying opinions and conquering Annan

In fact, this was not the first time that Li Jili had provoked the Ming Dynasty.

Annan was formerly known as Jiaozhi. It has been a Chinese territory since the Han and Tang Dynasties. It became an independent country after the Five Dynasties. During the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Annan took the opportunity to break away from the Chinese territory and once sent troops to attack Yongping Village in Siming Road, surpassing the copper pillar that marked the boundary of the Yuan Dynasty by more than 200 miles and occupying five counties including Qiu Wen and Qingyuan.

A few years ago, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an edict to the King of Annan, Tran Nhat Hanh, ordering him to return the bronze pillar. However, the Chen Dynasty was already in power under the Prime Minister Le Qui Ly, who threatened the King, Tran Nhat Hanh, and refused to return the pillar.
This made Zhu Yuanzhang very angry, but at that time the focus of the empire was to annihilate the Yuan court and stabilize the north. If he sent troops south to attack Annan at this time, the Ming Dynasty would fall into an unfavorable situation of fighting on two fronts in the north and the south.

Moreover, Annan had already paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty, so Zhu Yuanzhang temporarily put the matter on hold.

But now, Li Jilin has set his sights on the Ming Dynasty. How can Zhu Yuanzhang tolerate this?
After the dinner, he did not take a rest, but read the memorial submitted by the Grand Secretary, which summarized the detailed records of the situation in Annan by the spies on the ship.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang became even more furious. Le Qui Ly had already taken control of Annan's military and political power and began to deploy troops on the border with Laos. It seemed that he was preparing to take action against Laos!
Li Jili, you are courting death!

Zhu Yuanzhang calmed down and ordered someone to find a map. After looking at it carefully, he was shocked to find that Li Jilin's ambition was far more than that!

After the Ming Dynasty recovered Yunnan, although the three divisions were established, the main responsibility of the garrisons was to intimidate the local chieftains and to shoulder the heavy responsibility of suppressing bandits and rebellions.

Many local chieftains in Yunnan are still influenced by the Yuan court and refuse to submit to the rule of the Ming Dynasty. Although the Ming Dynasty completely destroyed the Yuan court and pacified the desert last year, there is still a risk of the chieftains setting up their own territory.

Although Yunnan's garrisons have been equipped with needle-fired rifles since last year, giving them an equipment advantage, Yunnan is far away from the emperor, with dense jungles and overlapping mountains, which is not conducive to the effective deployment of troops, and the battle against the rebellious chieftains is also extremely difficult.

Because of this, the Ming Dynasty did not have any extra troops to station in Laos, and Zhu Yuanzhang was slow to establish the Laos Xuanwei Office.

It was precisely because Li Jizhen had a clear understanding of the situation and knew the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty that he dared to show his fangs to Laos!

Laos itself is weak and does not even have a sizable army. Once Le Qui Ly takes action, Laos will quickly fall and be controlled by him.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the map carefully and became more and more frightened. Li Jili's appetite was definitely not limited to Laos.

If Laos is annexed and then the weak Zhenla is invaded, then we can attack Champa in the east and fully encircle Siam in the west!
Once Siam is annexed, Johor and Temasek will be under the control of Annan, and Malacca will be completely controlled by Le Guilin!

By then, the maritime trade between the Ming Dynasty and Western countries will be completely controlled by Annan, and the maritime trade routes to Persia and the Arab world will be completely cut off!

So where will the Ming Dynasty's maritime power rise from? Just like a mirage, it is only a flash in the pan.

As an emperor of all ages, Zhu Yuanzhang's mission was to lead the Ming Dynasty to the top of the world. How could the road forward be blocked by the small country of Annan?

When this matter was mentioned at the court meeting the next day, almost all the ministers expressed great indignation.

In the eyes of civil and military officials, Laos has been regarded as the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Le Qui Ly's move is tantamount to offending the majesty of the Ming Dynasty!
Moreover, the huge profits that can be obtained from maritime trade have been clearly placed in front of everyone, and almost no one wants to see the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade route blocked.

However, on the issue of how to deal with Li Jili, the ministers were divided into two different factions.

One group believed that troops should be dispatched immediately to attack Le Qui Ly in the name of "attacking the disloyalty."

The other faction believed that Annan was not like the Yuan court, but a tributary state of the Ming Dynasty. Sending troops rashly would arouse suspicion from other vassal states and even put the Ming Dynasty in an unjust situation!
What Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect was that among the ministers advocating an immediate expedition, in addition to meritorious military generals, there were also many civil servants, among whom Yang Siyi was the loudest.

Yang Siyi was really anxious. He had finally become the God of Wealth and the national treasury was finally full. He could stand taller than before. But now foreign bandits were threatening the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade routes. As the Minister of Revenue, Yang Siyi was the first one who refused to agree!

Fortunately, Li Min was still supervising the shipyard in Songjiang, otherwise, if these two Ming industrial parties were to join forces, who knows how they would make a scene and scold Annan in the court. After some discussion in the court, Zhu Yuanzhang finally made the decision to conquer Annan, but before that, he issued an imperial edict to Annan, ordering Le Qui Ly to withdraw his troops from the Laotian border immediately and return power to the Annan King Chen Riwei, otherwise he would be sanctioned by the Ming Dynasty!

The reason why Zhu Yuanzhang made such a decision was based on two considerations. The first one was naturally to have a legitimate reason for his attack. After all, Annan was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. Rashly using military force would discourage other vassal states. After all, the vassal states were important nodes of the Ming Dynasty's trade and they could not be easily alienated.

At the same time, the Ming Dynasty will set up the Laos Xuanwei Office in Laos. If Le Qui Ly still insists on his own way, then he will invade the Ming territory. The Ming Dynasty will have a legitimate reason to send troops, and no one will be able to find fault with it.

As for the second level, before sending troops to Annan, Zhu Yuanzhang also wanted to hear Li Han's opinion, and the problem of paper-wrapped bullets for needle-fired guns was also imminent and needed to be resolved immediately.

In addition to formulating the plan to conquer Annan, this court meeting also decided to set up three offices in Xiaoliuqiu to completely incorporate it into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

As for stationing troops in Ryukyu, there is no rush and we need to wait for the right time.

The resolutions in the court soon became political decrees, and once issued, the huge state machinery of the Ming Dynasty began to operate rapidly.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not pause at all and immediately began to write a letter to Li Han.

"Old Li, how nice to see you.

The wine you sent is the real wine. After drinking Wuliangye and Moutai, if we drink other wines, they taste like wax and are really unpalatable.

I thought, if I no longer have your wine to drink in the future, I would lose one of the great pleasures in life, and life would become so boring.

However, I have ordered people to start producing the alcohol formula you sent me. After Lou Ying tried the alcohol, he found the effect to be outstanding and it can effectively kill bacteria. The first batch of alcohol has been loaded into the army, and I believe it will be fully rolled out in Ming Dynasty soon.

I believe that by then, many lives of soldiers and civilians can be saved.

For this, we would like to say to you solemnly, thank you!
Sweet potato cake, a by-product of the alcohol production process, was very popular among the people of the Ming Dynasty. Even the envoys from Japan bought a large amount of sweet potato cake and brought it back to their country. It also became one of the commodities dumped by the Ming Dynasty to Japan.

And that Coke, it tastes really good, adults and children alike like it very much, but it’s too little. Mr. Li, do you have any extra? If so, can you give us some more?
The Ming Dynasty's first maritime trade fleet has returned triumphantly, and the profits it has brought are unprecedentedly huge. Now I completely understand why you, Lao Li, said that trade is actually more profitable than robbing.

However, this also exposes several problems. One of them is that the paper-loaded ammunition of the needle-fire gun will affect the firing when it gets damp. We would like to ask, is there any way to solve this problem?

The second is that on this first voyage, the fleet actually got lost at sea. Fortunately, the fleet was able to return safely, otherwise the losses caused would be immeasurable!

I think the most important thing about sailing is to find the right direction. Do you have any good ideas for this, Mr. Li?

Third, Annan, a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, is now in turmoil. The King of Annan has been sidelined by Le Qui Ly, who has deployed troops on the border of Laos with ulterior motives. We have thought that once Le Qui Ly invades Laos, he will continue to launch attacks on Cambodia, Siam and other countries. If he succeeds, it will greatly affect the maritime trade of the Ming Dynasty.

But we have decided to march south. Before that, we would like to ask for your opinion, Lao Li.

By the way, during this sea trade, Xu Huizu brought back a lot of gems from Siam. I gave one to Ma, and she was very happy. I guess women prefer these shiny things.

We have asked someone to select some high-quality gemstones, make them into a jewelry necklace, and send it to you. I think you can also give it to the woman you like.

Is that woman's name Li Momo? It seems that you, Old Li, refused the engagement with Huaiqing because of this fairy, right?
Looking forward to your reply. ”

(End of this chapter)