Chapter 864 0859 [The Wise and Foolish Emperor of Dai Viet]

The publication of "History of the Song Dynasty" did not cause any waves for Shengdou Xiaomin.

However, the local wealthy people were very active and went to the yamen one after another to request copies for collection. As long as they can copy a copy, their descendants will be more informed and knowledgeable about history.

The imperial court only printed 500 sets, so it was difficult for the public to buy them directly!

And there are too many words, a total of 4.57 million words. Few booksellers are willing to print this thing. Even if movable type printing technology has been improved, typesetting and proofreading is still a big project - the printing cost is too high, and the sales volume is not as good as imperial examinations and popular books.

In every state government office, there are copycats every day.

You copy this volume and I copy that volume without disturbing each other.

If a volume is copied and bound, the newly released manuscript will soon be borrowed for copying.

Guangzhou.

Yang Zaixing took a group of officers to Hunan to observe Bai Qi's military training.

After almost mastering the improved Yuanyang Formation, he also seconded an officer from Bai Qi and went to Guangzhou to receive new soldiers from the southern provinces.

These new soldiers are recruited by the provincial command departments, and they also require the cooperation of local civilian officials.

At the end of autumn, people began to arrive one after another.

There are a total of 6,000 recruits, 2,381 of whom are orphans, all raised by official charities.

The remaining recruits are all children of miners and farmers, mainly from Fujian, Jiangxi, and Guangdong. These three provinces are more mountainous and have less land but more people. The food and salary provided by the field army are enough to induce them to leave their homes.

After a brief training in Guangzhou, and when doctors, clerks and other support staff arrived, Yang Zaixing led the new army to the border of Guangxi.

Winter and spring are relatively cool, leaving plenty of time for the new army to adapt to the water, soil and climate of Guangxi.

When Yang Zaixing set out, many sea ships also left the port in batches.

One of the fleets sailed to Annan and was enthusiastically received upon arrival. In addition to traditional silk products, there are also new products such as clocks, bamboo paper, velvet, insect wax, and glass mirrors.

The clock has been miniaturized to half a person's height and has gradually been mastered by craftsmen from all over the world. In the past two years, it has even begun to be sold overseas.

Bamboo paper is constantly improving, and different techniques have been developed in different provinces according to local conditions. The production cost of this thing is lower, and it is also loved by surrounding countries.

The secrets of cultivating white waxworms were mastered and promoted by agricultural officials, causing the price of candles to fall year by year.

The export of Zhangrong is prohibited, but it is inevitable that some people will smuggle it. Once shipped abroad, the price will skyrocket. As long as one or two are smuggled out, the profit will be huge.

The glass mirror court also issued many edicts to remind people that this thing was poisonous, but the rich still couldn't put it down.

An inland ship transported the newly purchased goods directly to the Annan Palace.

"Your Majesty, I bought Zhangrong!" Uncle Du Yingwu said as if he was offering a treasure.

"Bring it to me quickly!"

Annan Emperor Li Yanghuan said excitedly.

Li Yanghuan is the nephew of the previous king. He succeeded to the throne at the age of thirteen and has just turned eighteen this year.

With the support of the auxiliary civil servants, he canonized his father as the Supreme Emperor. After his biological father passed away, he revised the rituals for the former king and his biological father.

Puyi in the Song Dynasty and Daliyi in the Ming Dynasty actually belong to the same way of playing.

Through the Vietnamese version of the Grand Ceremony, Li Yanghuan successfully took control of the court and gathered power from military generals and nobles.

Several auxiliary ministers were also very helpful, allowing many landless farmers to get their land back, and also disbanded some troops to return to their hometowns to farm, which brought some relief to the militaristic Dai Viet court.

Of course, these measures also provoked rebellions, but fortunately they were all successfully quelled.

Last autumn, Champa and Chenla, who were fighting each other's wits, suddenly joined forces to take advantage of the civil strife in Annam and sent troops. Li Yanghuan sent Yang Ying'er to lead his army to resist, and Annan finally won the self-defense war.

The eighteen-year-old young emperor Li Yanghuan completed the suppression of domestic rebels and won the victory in foreign wars.

It also developed agriculture through disarmament and actively developed foreign trade, improving the country's financial situation.

It even improved the treatment of slaves, banned tattooing on slaves, etc.

With monopolized power, the country is at peace.

So, is it time for the emperor to enjoy it?

The answer is yes.

Li Yanghuan likes women, auspiciousness, and Buddhism.

In order to celebrate last year's victory in the foreign war, Li Yanghuan immediately granted amnesty to the whole country. Then they began to select concubines, conferred titles on those who offered auspicious gifts, sent people to find immortals to collect medicines and refine elixirs, and also carried out large-scale construction projects to build Buddhist temples.

"Your Majesty, please take a look." Du Yingwu bent down and pointed at the Zhangrong carried by the two eunuchs.

Li Yanghuan watched and caressed it for a while and praised: "This is truly a gift from heaven. My uncle is really reliable in his work."

Du Yingwu said: "The Ming Dynasty did not allow Zhangrong to go to sea. I spent a lot of money to allow the Ming Dynasty maritime merchants to take the risk."

"Reward!"

Li Yanghuan continued to caress the Zhangrong and said to the eunuch beside him: "Use these two pieces of Zhangrong to sew a dragon robe for me."

Du Yingwu pointed to the clock that was half a man tall and said: "Your Majesty, this is a pendulum clock. Legend has it that the immortal gave it to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty passed on the skills to the craftsmen."

Li Yanghuan asked: "How to confirm the time?"

Du Yingwu personally started the operation and introduced the hour hand and scale in detail.

Today, Kaifeng and Luoyang four-sided clocks already have minute hands. However, due to their exquisite design, more than 80% of clocks sold in the private sector only have hour hands.

The one in front of me only has the hour hand.

Li Yanghuan sat there blankly, staring at it for more than half an hour, then nodded and praised: "The hour hand is indeed moving, this thing is so ingenious."

Just as the uncle and nephew were playing, the eunuch came to report: "Your Majesty, the Grand Tutor wants to see you."

Li Yanghuan frowned: "Why is he here again? Let him wait!"

Li Yanghuan still respected this chief regent. But he began to be impatient in the past two years, always feeling that the other party was taking advantage of his seniority and was dissuaded from doing anything.

Just say that he raised auspicious animals and searched for elixirs. Isn't this a very normal thing?

Zhang Taishi actually used the example of Zhao Ji, the tyrant king of Song, saying that those who did these things belonged to the kings who lost their country.

It was obvious that he was cursing himself!

Li Yanghuan summoned several favorites, asked the palace maids to perform singing and dancing, and took his uncle to feast and have fun.

Until the evening, the eunuch came to report again: "Your Majesty, the Grand Tutor has been waiting for a long time."

Li Yanghuan was surprised: "He hasn't left yet?"

"Always waiting." The eunuch replied.

Li Yanghuan was at his wit's end and said, "Let him come over."

The chief regent was Li Boyu, who changed his name to Zhang Boyu five years ago to draw a clear line with the Li Dynasty.

Zhang Boyu knelt down tremblingly: "Your Majesty, I am here to see you!"

Although Li Yanghuan had already embarked on the path of a tyrant, he was very smart and resourceful. He smiled and said, "Grand Master, there is no need to be so polite. Let him sit down quickly!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Zhang Boyu was helped to sit down by the eunuch.

Li Yanghuan asked, "I wonder what the Grand Master has to say?"

Zhang Boyu said, "Ming has long replaced Song as the orthodox of the Central Plains. Recently, news came that the Jin Kingdom in the north has been destroyed and the Ming has taken over all the old Liao territory. Your Majesty, it's time for Dai Viet to pay tribute to the Ming."

Li Yanghuan said, "Dai Viet dominates the south of the sky. Now that the country is at peace, should we still be afraid of the Ming?"

"Champa and Zhenla have both become vassals of the Ming," said Zhang Boyu. "Last year, the two countries joined forces to attack. Although the Dai Viet soldiers were powerful, it took some effort to defeat the two countries. If the Ming also takes action one day, and attacks from three sides with Champa and Zhenla, how can we resist then?"

Li Yanghuan was certainly not stupid. He immediately felt that things were a bit tricky, and nodded subconsciously, "What the Grand Master said makes sense."

Zhang Boyu continued, "After paying tribute to the Ming, we will take the opportunity to wipe out the northern barbarian chieftains!"

In the northern mountainous areas of Vietnam, there were many semi-independent tribes at this time.

The Vietnamese Li Dynasty married princesses to tribal chiefs through marriage. While appeasing and incorporating the tribes, they also let those tribes be the vanguards of invading the Song Dynasty, and constantly harassed the Chinese border every now and then.

But now, the Vietnamese monarchs and ministers want to get rid of those tribes!

This is because Vietnam's system and ideas are changing dramatically.

In recent decades, Vietnam has been expanding wildly, invading neighboring countries from time to time. Whether it is invading Champa, Zhenla, or sending 100,000 troops to fight the Northern Song Dynasty, it is driven by its domestic political ecology.

The founder of the Vietnamese Li Dynasty was a merchant's son. He became the commander of the palace of the Le Dynasty by bribery and married a princess.

Taking advantage of the civil strife in the Le Dynasty, the prince was young and the yellow robe was added!

The Vietnamese Li Dynasty was not in the right position, and rebellions broke out one after another. While reforming and consolidating power, it was necessary to win over civil and military officials and divert internal contradictions through foreign wars.

The compulsory military service system was implemented throughout the country, and the army reached the scale of three men supporting one soldier!

It also carried out a feudal manor system, and frantically granted titles and land to civil and military officials.

In order to pay the heavy military expenses, the Vietnamese court and the civil and military officials chose to actively invade foreign countries in order to obtain more serfs. Moreover, they often conquered the land but did not want it, only robbed the wealth and population back to the country.

Vietnam sent 100,000 troops to attack the Song Dynasty. Although they plundered countless at the beginning, they were soon retaliated by the Northern Song Dynasty.

The influence of Vietnam's military merit group was greatly reduced.

The civil officials took the opportunity to take office and began to adopt the imperial examination system. In recent years, they even relied on disarmament to improve finances.

Civilian politics has become more mature, and foreign aggression and expansion are difficult to continue. Next, it is time to solve the separatist forces in the country. Those chieftains in northern Vietnam who have married princesses for generations not only often harassed China to the north, but also often plundered Vietnamese people to the south. They are the primary targets of the civil government!

Zhang Boyu said: "Only by submitting to the Ming Dynasty can we get rid of the danger of being attacked from three sides. Moreover, eradicating the barbarian tribes in the mountains in the north is also a gesture of goodwill to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. As long as we stabilize the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty court will not help us when we attack Champa in the future."

"That makes sense!"

Li Yanghuan was convinced: "Immediately select envoys and tributes, and go to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute and request for enthronement."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Zhang Boyu finally breathed a sigh of relief, for he was afraid that the young monarch would act on impulse.

Although Vietnam, controlled by civil servants, is no longer so aggressive, it is absolutely impossible to stop.

Because the feudal manor system has not changed, the feudal lords are eager for war. They dare not provoke the northern powers again, and can only attack Champa and Zhenla in the future, and continue to send troops to plunder wealth and population.