Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 587: Annan Incident (Part )

This fleet is indeed a normal merchant ship, but many of the crew members were arranged by Chen Yonghua himself. Although the emperor has not yet officially launched an attack on the barbarians in Batavia, in order to prepare for a rainy day, the intelligence on Batavia must be more accurate.

The Dutch had 17 galleons on display, and as for the army, Chen Yonghua, after years of trading, roughly estimated that the number of the barbarians' musketeers was definitely no more than 5,000.

But this is just a rough guess. What is more important is the bastion of Batavia, the hydrology near the port, the patrols of the barbarians nearby, etc., all of which require accurate intelligence support.

Now that there has been no conflict between the two sides, it is easier to collect intelligence. However, once the war begins, the enemy will definitely block the ports, and it will be even more difficult to collect intelligence.

………………

During this period, Meng Jun and Zheng Chenggong had very close correspondence. No one knows what they talked about specifically, but later scholars only got a glimpse of it from the documents of Qingluanwei.

All we know is that not long after that, Zheng Chenggong's father, Zheng Zhilong, was summoned to Beijing by the court. Meng Jun attached great importance to him and conferred him a high and noble title. He also asked him to teach some maritime knowledge to the princes in the palace school on weekdays.

Not to mention how those civil officials kowtowed and beat their chests when they heard such bad news, Meng Jun's decision was still forcefully implemented. And in Luzon, Zheng's army and warships had already begun to assemble secretly.

Time passed quickly, and three months had passed in the blink of an eye. The Qian Dynasty's envoys to Brunei also returned to the capital. Along with Wan Yunguo and Zhang Shun, there were also envoys from Brunei.

The people in the capital were quite happy to hear the news. Another vassal state had pledged loyalty and paid tribute to the Celestial Empire. It was no longer a matter of time before a prosperous era came, but that they were already living in one.

This time, Meng Jun did not reject the Ministry of Rites' list of rewards for Brunei. The officials of the Ministry of Rites were quite happy to see this. It seemed that the emperor's stingy words were purely nonsense from the villains outside.

At first, the emperor simply disliked the Western barbarians. Now, the traditional vassal states of the Central Plains have come, and he is still as magnanimous as in the old days.

After entertaining the Brunei delegation, Meng Jun privately summoned the officials of the delegation and said that he had heard that there were rebellions in Brunei and that the Celestial Empire was willing to send troops to help Brunei quell the civil unrest.

Hearing this, the Brunei envoy was extremely happy and even knelt on the ground with tears of gratitude. Meng Jun laughed and then said that just for the convenience of logistical supplies, he hoped that Brunei would temporarily hand over the coastal ports to the control of the Qian Dynasty.

Brunei officials said that they could not make decisions on their own regarding such an important matter. However, the envoy finally patted his chest and said that it was not a big problem. It was a blessing for Brunei that the Celestial Empire was willing to send troops.

At the subsequent court meeting, many officials looked at each other in surprise when they heard that the emperor was going to send troops to help Brunei quell the rebellion. The emperor's idea was really unexpected. They thought the emperor wanted to save face and create a grand occasion for all nations to come to pay tribute, but they didn't expect that he would intervene in the civil strife of a vassal state.

However, Meng Jun finally stated that this time the main force would be the navy, with the Prince of Nan'an as the commander-in-chief, and the court would only send 10,000 infantry.

The atmosphere in the court was a little weird. When people heard that the Prince of Nan'an would send out his main force, they didn't know whether to agree or oppose. Many people felt that something was wrong. How could a small vassal state be so valued by the emperor?

In May of the sixth year of Zhaowu, the Qian Dynasty officially dispatched troops. Nominally, the purpose was to suppress the rebellion in the vassal state of Brunei, but in fact, senior generals all knew that the real opponent was the barbarians in Batavia.

The most important thing to deal with these Western barbarians is naval warfare. As long as the naval battle is won, even if the bastion cannot be captured by force, Batavia can still be surrounded.

Meng Jun dispatched 32 newly built warships, more than 2,700 naval forces, and 10,000 infantry, and gathered them in Fuzhou first. All kinds of supplies were gathered in Fujian from Jiangnan and Huguang. Even a fool could tell from these actions that the emperor would definitely not go to help Brunei quell the rebellion.

The forces assembled by Zheng Chenggong were even greater, including three large three-masted gunboats, four captured and refurbished galleons, more than 70 other warships, more than 30,000 naval troops, and 20,000 infantry.

If we were to say who the people around him feared the most, it would probably be Li Chengdong. Upon hearing that the Qian Dynasty was gathering a large army, Li Chengdong sent several waves of messengers to express his willingness to follow the example of Korea and submit to the Qian Dynasty.

After defeating the Nguyen army, Li Chengdong pacified the rebellion in northern Annam. After the stabilization, Li Chengdong was ambitious and prepared to wipe out the Cao Bang Mo clan who occupied the northwest of Annam in one fell swoop.

However, the Mo clan of Gaoping occupied a strategic location, and the Zheng clan of Annan had failed to destroy them even after sending large armies several times. Moreover, Li Chengdong killed too many people in Annan, and many Annan scholars and civilians defected to the Mo clan. Therefore, the strength of the Mo clan increased instead of decreased in the chaos in Annan.

Later, Li Chengdong sent out more than 40,000 troops to attack the Mo family who were defending the mountain. After attacking for half a month, they suffered heavy casualties and could not make any progress. Li Chengdong, who was humiliated and angry, whipped Wu Wenxian and Yan Keyi, who were not doing well in the attack.

The two sides were deadlocked for another two months, and Li Chengdong had no choice but to withdraw his troops. At this time, the situation in Annan had returned to the original state, except that the Zheng family had become the Li family.

After Li Chengdong retreated and returned to Thang Long Prefecture, he felt somewhat disheartened. Since he could not unify Annan, he thought it would be nice to be a rich and powerful ruler. So, Li Chengdong took sixteen concubines in ten days in Thang Long Prefecture, and he had a great time every night.

It was not until the Qian Dynasty gathered its army that Li Chengdong came to his senses and realized that he still had an enemy, Meng Jun. Li Chengdong still had a glimmer of hope in his heart that he could coexist peacefully with the Qian Dynasty, following the example of North Korea.

However, Li Chengdong had committed too many murders in Jiangnan, and Meng Jun had rejected him several times in a row. It was only now that Meng Jun was not free to take action. Once the time was right, he would definitely send troops to kill Li Chengdong.

When Li Chengdong heard that the Qian Dynasty refused his surrender, he knew that Meng Jun would never let him go. He felt uneasy all day and even woke up in the middle of the night.

In late August of the sixth year of Zhaowu, the heat in Annan had not yet completely subsided, and the sultry atmosphere enveloped every inch of land. On the official road to Thang Long Prefecture, horse hooves raised dust. General Wu Wenxian and Yan Keyi, under Li Chengdong, rode side by side, followed by a team of elite personal soldiers, and hurried back to Thang Long Prefecture to report on their work.

The two were silent all the way, with different expressions. Wu Wenxian's eyes flickered, and he glanced at Yan Keyi from time to time, as if he was thinking about something; Yan Keyi's face was gloomy, and he pursed his lips tightly, as if he had a lot on his mind.

When they stopped to rest halfway, Wu Wenxian suddenly blocked his subordinates, moved closer, and whispered to Yan Keyi: "Old Yan, has anyone in the north been looking for you recently?"

Yan Keyi was stunned, his eyes widened, and said, "Don't talk nonsense, I am loyal to the Marshal!"