Chapter 36: Past Events in Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh, Guan Jin's residence.
Sitting at a square table were the most powerful Zhenla people in Zhenla. On the left sat Xie Su, the director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Deng Changbu, the director of criminal justice.
On the right sat Jin Jie, the director of trade, and Jin Pan, the director of foreign affairs.
Sitting in the middle, facing south, the old man in a purple robe was named Parasu. He was the great prime minister of Zhenla.
Sitting opposite the old man was Hong Bufu, the commander-in-chief of the Zhenla Imperial Guard.
Parasu spoke first.
"Since everyone can gather together today, I won't say much more. The Yue people are still determined to destroy Zhenla. They reduced the number of people in the name of suppressing rebellion, destroyed our cities, plundered our people, and the entire family of Shai Zheng's governor, Kiriha, was destroyed. If we continue to let the Yue people do whatever they want, Kiriha's fate today will be our fate tomorrow."
Deng Changbu, the director of criminal justice, slammed the table hard and sighed helplessly.
"Where is the law of the king, where is justice, isn't Nguyen Viet afraid of the Buddha's revelation and retribution in reincarnation?"
Most people in Zhenla and Vietnam believe in Buddhism.
Xie Su, the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, hated Deng Changbu's weakness and didn't believe Guan Jinpan, so he said.
"At this time, you still expect the Buddha to appear? Let's study how to save ourselves. Lord Guan Jinpan, are the Western Barbarians you mentioned reliable? I'm afraid they are the French, the running dogs of the Vietnamese, pretending to be here to trick us?"
The French once funded the Vietnamese, and after the Vietnamese became strong, they began to suppress the French everywhere, so the Zhenla people mistakenly believed that the French were the vassal states of the Vietnamese.
"No, their languages are different, and I heard from the Western Barbarians that the Austrians are the mortal enemies of the French." Guan Jinpan replied.
Xie Su naturally understood that the enemy of the enemy is the truth of the friend, and continued to ask.
"Are their firearms really that powerful? How do they compare to our bird guns?"
The commander-in-chief of the imperial army, Hong Bufu, said.
"Awesome! Compared with the new foreign guns, our bird guns are just fire sticks. The new foreign guns shoot quickly, accurately and powerfully. Wearing rattan armor under iron armor is useless. The best thing is that they are not afraid of moisture and not afraid of not being able to ignite."
The climate in Zhenla is hot and humid, and the fuse of the matchlock gun is easily damp, which seriously affects shooting.
The flintlock gun has been developed for hundreds of years in this era, and the granulated black gunpowder brought by Ambrose is not comparable to traditional black gunpowder powder.
Granular gunpowder is granular, so even when squeezed by the cleaning rod, they will not stick together, while black gunpowder powder is very likely to become a lump under the combined action of force and moisture.
The gaps left between the granular gunpowder make it easier for oxygen to help the combustion of gunpowder, making the burning rate more uniform and improving the efficiency of gunpowder combustion.
When shooting, a considerable part of the unignited gunpowder is sprayed out of the barrel of the powder gunpowder, so its power is greatly increased.
It's just that the officials of Zhenla didn't understand this.
Although Xie Su was unwilling, he believed in Hong Bufu, the commander of the imperial guards. If it weren't for this commander, the nobles in Phnom Penh would have been destroyed by Zhang Mingjiang long ago.
Zhang Mingjiang was a trusted general of Emperor Minh Mang of Vietnam. He was appointed as the governor of Zhenla by Emperor Minh Mang and implemented the policy of extermination and assimilation in Zhenla.
The old man in the middle spoke again.
"But one hundred taels of silver per weapon is too expensive. No matter how good the weapons of the barbarians are, we can't afford to buy them. If we only buy a few thousand, it may not be of great use. Nguyen Viet has an army of 100,000."
"Mr. Ambrosius has three conditions."
"Tell me."
"Give them a township of land for them to live in. I have arranged for someone to do this."
"Well, that's right. Our Zhenla is vast and rich in resources. Not to mention a township, even a county can be given." The old man nodded. He didn't think there was anything wrong with allocating land in Zhenla for foreigners to live in, as long as they paid taxes.
"They also hope to build a church to worship their ancestors."
"Homesickness and worshipping ancestors are human nature. It seems that these Western barbarians are not uneducated."
"Their leader wants to see the princess."
"Asshole! How dare the barbarians be so rude! It's really ridiculous. How can these foreign barbarians see the princess's beauty?" The old man was so angry that his hair and beard stood up.
However, the others present were not very angry.
"Now His Majesty Anzan is still in the hands of the Vietnamese. If we can welcome His Majesty back, let alone meet the princess, it is not a bad idea to let the princesses go to marry." Guan Jinjie, the general manager of trade who had been silent, said.
Prime Minister Parasu wanted to scold this undisciplined bastard, but everyone around him was silent, as if they acquiesced to Guan Jinjie's statement.
Parasu thought about it, the country was about to perish, so what was the point of caring about these etiquette and laws.
"If we agree to their three conditions, how much taels can we save."
"Thirty taels." Guan Jinpan replied.
The old man thought for a moment, then said.
"Tell them that we can give them a county. But the foreign guns need fifty taels each, so sell them to us."
"I will do my best to live up to the Prime Minister and Zhenla." Guan Jinpan answered righteously.
Night, Phnom Penh, Dongqiao Restaurant.
"Then please donate money and effort to help the country." Parasu raised his glass, drank it all and said, "I am the Prime Minister of Zhenla, let's start with me, I will pay two hundred thousand taels."
Two hundred thousand taels is definitely a very large number in Zhenla. You must know that under the exploitation of the Vietnamese, the Zhenla treasury can only receive three or five thousand taels of silver every year, and it can't even pay the salaries of soldiers and officials. (At this time, the Qing Dynasty had 40 million taels)
Palasu really revealed all his secrets, but because the number was too scary, no one responded for a long time. Everyone's arms were numb, and they looked at each other, waiting for the next person to express their opinions.
Guan Jinpan couldn't stand it anymore and drank the wine in one gulp.
"I am willing to pay 10,000 taels of silver and 10,000 hu of rice."
Although Guan Jinpan was a second-rank official in Zhenla, and the Guanjin family was a Zhenla noble family, this number was really a lot for his family.
Then Guan Jinjie also drank the wine in one gulp.
"I'm the same as my eldest brother, 10,000 taels of silver and 10,000 hu of rice."
After Guan Jinjie finished speaking, he and Guan Jinpan hugged each other and cried bitterly, because this was almost all the assets their family could use, and any more would have to sell their property.
After that, Xie Su, the general manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was also willing to pay 5,000 taels, and Hong Bufu, the commander of the imperial army, 1,000 taels.
Then it was outrageous. These merchants, officials, landlords, and gentlemen gave 200 taels, and I gave 300 taels. The most outrageous thing was that Deng Changbu, the chief criminal officer, only gave 50 taels.
This made Parasu very angry, because Deng Changbu had accepted more than 200 taels of bribes at a time, he said tremblingly.
"You bunch of parasites! The country is in such a state of decline, you can't fight the enemy, and you are not willing to pay for your little wealth? Deng Changbu! How can you, the chief criminal officer, only give 50 taels!"
Deng Changbu also had a reason, and said with disdain.
"My annual salary should be 150 taels, but now I only get 20 taels every year. I have been an official for 17 years, and Zhenla still owes me 2,200 taels."
Parasu was so angry that he almost fainted. He deeply felt the helplessness of Emperor Chongzhen back then.
Thanks to book friends Fireworks Daofan, Mr. Almost, Talash Mage, and Xiaoyanr for their rewards, and book friends Fireworks Daofan, Yanwang Cser, Yuqi, OAA likes to read American comics, Xiaoyanr for their monthly tickets, as well as the support of all book friends.
The pace of the book may be slow at present, does it need to be accelerated?