My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 237 The Coming War

Upon hearing the news, Li Jilian stood up suddenly, and then a look of ecstasy appeared on her face!

"The Yunnan envoy has already started to suppress the rebellion? Great, great! Although those chieftains are a bunch of unsophisticated people who have never seen the world, the jungle there is dense, the terrain is complex, and there are many mountainous plateaus. The chieftains can guard the dangerous places and wait for the enemy to tire themselves out, which can cause considerable trouble to the Ming court!"

Li Jilan laughed proudly as he spoke, "Li Cang, my dear son, you did a good job, a good job. Your father is very pleased!"

The Yunnan Xuanwei envoy summoned the officers and soldiers of the garrisons to quell the rebellion. It must have been that the chieftains had already started the rebellion. Among them, Li Cang and Ruan Chengping must have been involved in the communication between the chieftains.

These two people should be credited for the great achievement!

Li Jilian stroked his beard proudly. Now was the godsend opportunity to attack Laos!
In the past few days, tens of thousands of troops have been mobilized to the Laotian border. Annan's territory is narrow from east to west, with an average of only a few hundred miles from east to west. The mobilization of troops can be completed within three to five days at the fastest.

Currently, there are more than 200,000 troops stationed on the border between Annan and Laos. These troops are more than enough to deal with the weak Laos.

The military force is mainly composed of infantry and archers. Since the border between Annan and Laos is mostly jungles and hills, there are not many cavalry, but there are elephant soldiers consisting of thousands of elephants.

In order to completely occupy Laos, Li Jilian has sent out all his elite troops. Now the time has come, it is time to launch a formal attack!
As an official of Li Jilian's lineage, Chen Wentai naturally knew about Li Jilian's plan to attack Laos, and this was an open secret in Annan.

"Prime Minister, now that we are about to attack Laos, can we attack King Changfu..."

Chen Wentai didn't continue speaking, but just stroked his neck with his thumb.

Li Jilian naturally knew what he meant, and waved her hand and said, "King Changfu is already in our hands. There is no need to rush. If we attack him now, it will give others an excuse, and..."

A cold light flashed in Li Jilian's eyes, "He is still very useful!"

"Chen Riwei is now no different from a useless person. What use is he to? I really don't understand. Please enlighten me, my Lord!"

Chen Wentai no longer concealed his feelings and directly called the King of Annan by his full name, with a look of contempt on his face.

"Minister Chen, you have to remember that no matter how useless Prince Changfu is, he is still the King of Annan appointed by the Ming Dynasty!"

Li Jiwen said in a deep voice: "As long as he is the King of Annan, then in name, he, Chen Riwei, is still the king of Annan. When we send troops to Laos, we are conquering Laos in the name of the king. Do you understand?"

"My Lord, I understand. I understand!" Chen Wentai nodded quickly.

Li Jilian has already said it very bluntly. If Chen Wentai still doesn't understand, then his decades in officialdom would have been in vain.

"Minister Chen!" Li Jilian suddenly spoke.

"I'm here. What can the Prime Minister do for you?" Chen Wentai quickly replied.

"During the court meeting tomorrow, you will unite the people from the six ministries and make a joint report to Chen Riwei, asking him to issue an order to send troops to Laos from now on!"

Li Jixian paused, then continued, "Time is pressing and the opportunity for war cannot be delayed. Therefore, no matter what, we must obtain Chen Riwei's will tomorrow, even if it means forcing the emperor to abdicate!"

"Yes, my Lord. I understand!" Chen Wentai bowed respectfully. ...

A day later, the King of Annan, Chen Riwei, issued an edict in the court, ordering the elite troops of the country to launch a massive attack on Laos from that day on!

General Nguyen Duo Fang, who had been stationed on the border of Annan for a long time, also received a secret letter from Le Qui Liun. In the letter, Le Qui Liun ordered him to capture Laos as quickly as possible and secretly send people to pick up Li Cang and Ruan Chengping from the Ming territory.

After receiving the order, Nguyen Duo Fang immediately ordered the entire army to launch a full-scale attack on Laos. Two hundred thousand elite Annan troops immediately moved out in full force, and under the leadership of General Fan Keyong, they marched towards Laos in a mighty force.

According to the Annan military system, the commander-in-chief fighting in the front is the general, and there are usually two deputy generals, namely the General of Chariots and Cavalry and the General of Light Cavalry. However, the one in charge of the attack now is only the General of Chariots and Cavalry Fan Keyong.

The position of General of Cavalry was naturally reserved for Li Cang!
Since Laos borders Annam almost from south to north, there are many places for Annam to attack. Under the instructions of Le Qui Wan, Nguyen Duofang chose to invade from the Xiangkhuang area in the central hinterland of Laos.

On the one hand, the terrain in the Xiengkhuang area is relatively flat, with few mountains and many paddy fields, which is conducive to the army's rapid breakthrough. On the other hand, after occupying Xiengkhuang, Laos can be cut in half, causing it to lose contact between the north and the south.

More importantly, just southwest of Xieng Khouang is the richest area in Laos - Vientiane!
Once Vientiane is controlled, it is almost equivalent to taking the whole of Laos into one's pocket, and it can also pose a further threat to Zhenla in the south!

Faced with the aggressive offensive of the Annan army, Laos also organized its military and civilians to resist, but its strength was too weak. In front of Nguyen Da's army, the resistance was quickly defeated. The Annan army swept through the Xieng Khouang area as if it was in an empty land.

Although it was already the rainy season and it rained continuously, sometimes even heavily, it still could not stop the Annan army.

Just as Nguyen Duo Fang was leading his army to kill people, the news of Annan's invasion of Laos also reached Yingtian Prefecture.

Although it had long been known that Le Qui-laan was eyeing Laos, after the Ming Dynasty sent envoys to issue an edict to Annan, many ministers believed that Le Qui-laan did not have the courage to go against the Ming Dynasty. However, to their surprise, Le Qui-laan actually sent troops against Laos!
There was an uproar in the court. Even the most docile civil servants were shocked by Li Jilian's rebellious behavior, and they were immediately filled with rage!

The powerful official of tiny Annan actually dared to lay his hands on the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Is Li Jilian trying to cause a rebellion?
Although Annan launched the attack on Laos in the name of King Changfu, any discerning person could see that King Changfu was just a puppet and the one who actually called the shots was the Prime Minister of Annan, Le Qui Wan.

Soon, the court reached a consensus and unanimously decided to send troops to Laos to resist the invasion of the Annan army.

The southern expeditionary army heading to Yunnan had already set out for many days and would arrive in Yunnan soon, and then enter Laos to fight.

During this period, Zhu Yuanzhang began to mobilize the public opinion machine to build momentum. Newspapers were full of propaganda that the powerful Annan minister Le Qui-may, despite the strong opposition from the Ming Dynasty, sidelined the Annan King Chen Riwei and brazenly launched an invasion of Laos, a territory under the Ming Dynasty!
Under Fang Xiaoru's careful selection, several articles were published one after another. Some articles described that Laos had maintained good relations with the Central Plains dynasty since ancient times and was deeply influenced by the Central Plains culture. Under the perception of the Central Plains dynasty, Laos voluntarily submitted to the Central Plains.

These articles laid a legitimate psychological foundation among the people for the Ming army to enter Laos, that is, the Ming army sent troops to protect Laos!

However, more articles described Li Jilian's evil deeds in detail, leading to the people's anger towards Annan and laying the groundwork for the subsequent attack on Annan.

Soon, the voices across the country calling for a unanimous condemnation of the powerful officials of Annan became increasingly louder.

At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also sent envoys with the Ming Dynasty's imperial edict to various vassal states to let them know that the Ming Dynasty's dispatch of troops to Laos was both legal and reasonable. At the same time, he also asked the vassal states to begin a full-scale blockade of Annan.

Just as the public opinion offensive was in full swing, Zhu Di, Xu Huizu and Li Jinglong, along with the army heading south, finally arrived in Yunnan after a long journey.

(End of this chapter)