Chapter 91 Meat Grinder Competition (Part 1) (This Chapter Contains Zhenla Content)

"Zhenla? I heard that the Ministry of War and Zhenla have trade relations. Could it be that the people of Zhenla are unwilling to pay?" Friedrich asked with some doubts.

Zhenla is too far away from Austria, and the transactions between the Ministry of War and Zhenla are also kept secret. If Friedrich had not discovered that the Ministry of War had called in the navy's barges, he would not have known about it.

"No, I think they have sent all their money, but the church's fleet was warned by the Vietnamese government. There is a private territory belonging to Ambrosius in Kompong Som Bay, which was legally obtained from the Zhenla government.

Now that the Vietnamese have controlled Zhenla, they do not intend to recognize the legitimacy of this territory, and are even prepared to expel the believers on it. Since last year, two battles have broken out."

At the end of 1835, the Vietnamese gave up the plan to make Anchan's eldest daughter the king of Zhenla because the eldest princess rejected the "good intentions" of the Vietnamese Emperor Minh Mang and did not marry the son of the Emperor Minh Mang.

The Vietnamese turned to support the more cowardly An Mei as the queen of Chenla. The following year, the Vietnamese prepared to send the Chenla royal family to Zhenxi City. At the same time, they appointed three Khmer spies, Cha Long, Ren Yu, and Luo Jian, to control the Chenla court, preparing to completely eliminate the forces loyal to the Chenla royal family.

Guan Jinpan, Parasu, and the commander of the imperial army, Hong Bufu, led the army to launch an uprising to survive, but unfortunately they were betrayed by the spies. The Vietnamese general Zhang Mingjiang sent troops to suppress the uprising, and the rebels fled all the way south to Kompong Som.

When the uprising broke out in the city, Ambrosius was still intoxicated with the games with several princesses.

Although Princess An Mei had nominally become the queen of Chenla, she still lived a leisurely life of confinement in the Phnom Penh Palace with her sisters.

The Vietnamese were busy measuring land in Chenla and eliminating resistance forces. Even those Khmer spies and nominal An Mei’s ministers were too lazy to pretend.

However, the desperate struggle of Guan Jinpan, Parasu and others pushed Ambrosius to the center of the storm.

Phnom Penh Palace, Cold Palace Royal Garden.

Ambrosius was still unaware of the approaching danger and was playing hide-and-seek with the princesses. Suddenly, a little eunuch broke into the garden.

"It's bad, it's bad, Mr. Ambrosius, you should hide quickly. General Zhang Mingjiang sent people to take the princesses away. Don't let them see you. If they see you, you will die!"

The little eunuch was a confidant of the eunuch surnamed Li, who was also Guan Jinpan's half-brother. His words were absolutely credible.

The four princesses seemed very panicked because the ministers loyal to Zhenla had been instilling in them the idea that the Vietnamese would kill them to eliminate future troubles.

However, the dignity of being a royal family made them refuse to escape, but instead opened the secret passage of the palace to let Ambrosius escape.

Seeing that several girls were ready to die, Ambrosius was a little angry and pulled out his pistol to fight for his dignity.

The young eunuch said hurriedly.

"Mr. Ambrosius, they won't do anything to the princesses, but they will definitely kill you, because Lord Guan Jinpan and his men have rebelled, and it's only a matter of time before General Zhang Mingjiang's army destroys them! Run away!"

Ambrosius wanted the princesses to escape with him, but they refused because they were not allowed to escape from the battlefield because of their education since childhood.

After weighing the pros and cons, Ambrosius resolutely jumped into the secret passage, but there were already Vietnamese soldiers waiting at the exit of the secret passage.

It seems that these Vietnamese soldiers don't know the location of the exit of the secret passage. Who betrayed the princesses? It must not be the young eunuch, because they were together just now, which means that the other party has known the existence of this secret passage for a long time.

Ambrosius breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he was not betrayed by the people around him.

Although the Vietnamese soldiers had not yet found the exit of the secret passage, it was only a matter of time.

Ambrosius felt that he could not be inferior to the women. He chose to escape just now because he still had hope of survival. It was not worth dying for this, but now there was no way out. It was time to show his courage.

Ambrosius looked at his two old-fashioned revolvers and patiently loaded the primers.

This old-fashioned revolver required pressing the hammer after each shot to achieve the reload, and then pulling the trigger to achieve continuous shooting.

Ambrosius seized the opportunity, rushed out of the cave, and shot six times in a row. After killing three Vietnamese soldiers, he threw away the first revolver in his hand and took out the second revolver.

The Vietnamese soldiers who were killed instantly had a brief chaos, but they were not scared. Instead, they rushed towards Ambrosius excitedly, as if they saw a bag of gold.

Ambrosius killed two more Vietnamese soldiers with his pistol, then drew his swift sword and continued to fight. After stabbing two Vietnamese soldiers, he was hit hard on the head and lost consciousness.

When Ambrosius woke up again, a general in a scarlet official robe was sitting in front of him, playing with his pistol in his hand.

"Who are you?"

Ambrosius moved his hands and found that his hands behind his back were tied tightly and he couldn't break free by himself.

He felt a little headache, probably from the blow on his head before. His knees seemed to be injured. He took a deep breath and his ribs hurt a little, but overall it was not a big problem.

When he heard the other party ask this, Ambrosius felt that there was still hope. Guan Jinpan and the others had not yet revealed their identities. He didn't want to be captured as a hostage and become a bargaining chip for the other party. It would be better to die gloriously in battle.

Ambrosius answered carefully, wanting to see the other party's reaction.

"I am an Austrian businessman."

"What are you doing in the palace?" The general in the crimson robe continued to ask. Only generals of second rank or above and civil servants of third rank or above in Vietnam can wear crimson robes. There is no doubt that the other party is Zhang Mingdao, the governor of Zhenla.

Ambrosius lowered his head and pretended to be submissive.

"I am the tutor of Her Royal Highness the Princess."

Zhang Mingjiao suddenly said sharply, "You lied!"

"I have not!" replied Ambrosius.

Suddenly the general in crimson robe held down Ambrosius' head and put the muzzle of the gun against his temple.

Ambrosius closed his eyes and waited for death.

"biu~biu~" The general in crimson official robe laughed wildly.

"You are a bit brave. You are worthy of being a warrior who killed eight people. But I want to ask you, why did you kill them?"

"If someone forced you with a knife, would you wait to die?" Ambrosius asked.

The general in crimson robes kicked Ambrosius in the stomach, and Ambrosius fell to the ground in pain.

"Don't be disrespectful, if you look at me like that again, I will gouge your eyes out. To tell you the truth, I, Zhang Mingjiao, have heard your story and admire you very much. I heard that you still have twenty A very loyal servant?"

Ambrosius pretended to be surprised, but in fact he was relieved.

It turned out that Franz had already made arrangements and asked Ambrosius to separate his guards to avoid being blamed.

Ambrosius had a total of fifty people in Phnom Penh, but for safety reasons, he did not let everyone live together. Normal communication relied on letters and secret whistles.

Ambrosius usually stayed with a group of twenty people, and another group of thirty people pretending to be French merchants doing business in Phnom Penh.

However, what Ambrosius doesn't know is that there is a group of weird Catholic Zhenla and Vietnamese who are also secretly protecting Ambrosius.

This group of people was specially arranged by Archbishop Rauscher. This was what Franz meant, because Franz felt that no matter how Westerners disguised themselves, they would attract the attention of the Vietnamese. As long as the other party paid a little attention, it would not be difficult to see through the disguise. .

Similarly, even if you find a team of Zhenla people to face a local snake, it will be easy to see through, but when there is an obvious flaw, the less obvious flaw will be much easier to hide.

As for why not to tell Ambrosius, of course it was to keep it secret. Only secrets that even the parties involved do not know are the most difficult to discover.

"Please let them go, they have nothing to do with this matter." Ambrosius had his hands tied and only had to stand up with his head.

"I said I admire you very much, but if you killed my people, how should I explain it to my brothers?" Zhang Ming said.

"The person you want to kill is me. My country will redeem my body. If you kill everyone, you will not get the money." Ambrosius replied.

"Money? You Austrians and Frenchmen are all a bunch of mediocre people who only know money. I, Emperor Minh Ming of Vietnam, have gathered an army of 150,000, and will one day break through the Zhennan Pass and unify the Central Plains. By then you Western barbarians will not even be qualified to be our slaves.

But I'm very gracious now. I can play a game with you and your people. If you can win, I will not only let you go, but also recognize your merchant status. From now on, you will be my merchants in Dai Viet.

However, if you fail, you will die, and your corpses will be turned into nourishment on this land. "

Outside Phnom Penh, an abandoned ancient temple.

Ambrosius was taken to an abandoned ancient temple. At a glance, he saw that the Astartes monks from the church and several officers sent by the Austrian Army to protect him were there, and even the weapons were there.

On top of a pagoda, you can have a panoramic view of the entire ancient temple, Zhang Mingdao's lieutenant shouted.

"Welcome to the Temple of No Return, where you will face a thousand vicious prisoners. The winner will be pardoned, while the loser will stay here forever."

Ambrosius and his party did not answer, but were just checking their equipment silently. Captain Billaphon suggested that he kill the murderous devil with one shot.

But Ambrosius shook his head. On the way just now, he saw purgatory on earth. The whole city was burning. Soldiers slaughtered house to house, and even pulled women into carriages and tortured them. He felt that he had to do something. For this He must live.

"Can we leave alive if we win?" Ambrosius shouted in Vietnamese.

"Of course, I swear to Buddha!" ​​Zhang Ming said with a smile.