Dominate the Country

【Annam】Ha Tien Town.

On the dock, a Chinese cargo ship was dumping goods onto the shore like ants moving. The heavy cranes were all used to hook up the cannons weighing several kilograms, and the rest of the materials in the cabin could only be transported to the shore bit by bit by a labor team composed of manpower using the oldest method.

Although the four-masted Chinese-style sailing ship is not as fast as a Western-style sailing ship, its comfort and safety are higher than that of a Western-style sailing ship. If it is goods that are not in a hurry, Chinese people more often choose this old-fashioned Oriental sailing ship.

In recent years, China's shipping industry has expanded rapidly, and its shipbuilding industry has grown bigger and bigger. Shipyards capable of manufacturing qualified five-masted ships have emerged one after another. Although Western-style sailing ships are developing rapidly in China, China is not satisfied with the development of its own traditional sailing ships. Three-masted sailing ships have become small ships, four-masted sailing ships are defined as medium-sized, and five-masted ships are truly big ships.

With the same cargo capacity, their cost is lower than that of Western-style sailing ships because the materials are easier to find. In terms of masts, it is far less sophisticated than a Western-style sailboat, and the operating cost is low. A five-masted ship only requires thirty or forty people to operate, which is much smaller than the number of crew members required on a Western-style sailboat. It has made great contributions to the rapid development and growth of China's maritime transport in recent years.

Around the pier, hundreds of Ha Tien soldiers armed with live ammunition were waiting in full formation. In fact, these were not Ha Tien soldiers at all. The original troops in Ha Tien Town have all become engineering corps and security team members. The latter are all serious Chinese! The officers are all domestic serving officers and veterans.

Just when the whole country of China is turning its attention to Nanyang, the situation in Annan in the past two months is not stable at all.

Without the support of the French, Guangnan Kingdom was like a boneless meat insect. It was pushed to the ground by the Xishan Army and beaten violently. As for Nguyen Phuc Chun, who received the olive branch from China, although he was very moved, he still didn't want to do it before reaching the end of the road.

But the Ruan Dynasty people did not give it in vain. It is obvious that the Xishan Army's combat effectiveness is far stronger than them, but they are unwilling to give up, so what should they do?

Someone came up with a clever trick for Nguyen Phuc Chun - cede territory and borrow troops!

I will cede you the territory that I have visited in Ha Tien Town, and then borrow troops to fight against the Tay Son Army. Will China agree?

This is tantamount to a disguised request for help!

Nan Ruan now knows that China has ambitions for its own land, but China must consider the impact and cannot do things in vain. Then they might as well improvise and cut the meat to feed the tigers.

After the news was sent to Nanjing by the Mo family, Chen Ming wrote a word of service for Ruan Chao. He could think of this method of drinking poison to quench thirst, and it was good. It really fits Chen Ming's impression of Confucianism.

Look at the Ruan family. Isn’t it soft? Do you have the style of the old Zhao family?

The men of the old Zhao family are so desperate that they can pack up their wives and daughters and give them away, and the Mo family is no less generous. When giving land to Nanjing, Ruan Phu Chun also sent one of his cousins ​​to the Mo family.

In fact, Ruan Phuc Chun hopes to send people to Nanjing, but it is a pity that Chen Ming is not interested in Vietnamese women. If this is Tianfang, imagine the beauty of those little Lolita from the Tianfang royal family that he saw on the Internet in his previous life. Chen Ming still has the heart of an uncle. There will be some commotion. There is no need to talk about Vietnam!

After Mo Tianci got the signal from Nanjing, he arranged a very politically significant marriage for his grandson who had just grown up.

Ha Tien Town is located in the Mekong River Delta, adjacent to Jiading Province (today's Ho Chi Minh City) and Phnom Penh (Cambodia) to the north, Ca Mau to the south, the Gulf of Thailand to the west, and the Mekong River Plain [nine tributaries of the Mekong River] to the east.

Nguyen Phuc Chun has now ceded Ca Mau, Jiu Long River, Kaolin, Xin'an and other places to Ha Tien Town. It can be said that the entire Mekong Delta, except for Jiading City, which is still in the hands of the Nguyen Dynasty, most of the areas have been ceded to Ha Tien Town. The town was ceded to China.

Ha Tien Town's response was to immediately prepare its troops. Five thousand troops had already been sent out to aid the Dak Lak Plateau. That is the gateway to the central part of Guangnan Kingdom. If this place is lost, the Xishan Army will form a condescending force and sweep across Jiading in the blink of an eye.

But the total strength of Ha Tien Town is only this small.

The Mo family's foothold in Ha Tien was never based on combat power, but on their Chinese identity and remote terrain. The original political center of the Nguyen Dynasty was in Hue City, which was one or two thousand miles away from the Mekong Delta and beyond reach. This is how the Mo family settled down.

A relatively weak army is an unspoken rule between the Mo family and the Ruan Dynasty. Even though Mo Jiaxin held his own and survived the disaster, he never thought about increasing his military strength. And Nanjing doesn't think anyone dares to provoke the Hexian in the three-thirds of an acre of Nanyang.

In this case, the strength of the five thousand men not only drained Ha Xian's active troops, but also the reserves. How many people are there in the entire Ha Tien, right?

Now Ha Tien is taking the time to prepare the second batch of troops!

The combat effectiveness of the Xishan Army cannot be underestimated. They have also been going all out to develop firearms in the past two years and have manufactured some of their own guns. Although the quality is far from comparable to that of China, it is true that the overall strength of the Xishan Army is constantly improving. And the most important thing is that in terms of fighting spirit of the soldiers, the soldiers of the Xishan Army are much more ferocious than the Guangnan Army.

Even with the support of 5,000 men, it is still unknown whether the Guangnan Army can withstand the Xishan Army on the Duole Plateau.

Fighting cannot only depend on weapons and equipment, but also on people. If people fight for their lives, everything is possible.

The only thing that Ha Tien Town can do now is to go all out to form a new army and continue to reinforce Guangnan.

In the absence of direct military support from China.

Chen Ming is not unwilling to use the large domestic forces, but he has to take into account the feelings of Taksin in Siam, right? He can only let the Mo family come forward to organize the team. Now Ha Tien Town has no shortage of officers and weapons, but only people.

The land in the Mekong Delta is fertile, and farmland can be harvested three times a year, so it is easy to fill the stomach. After the local Chinese have achieved closer trade relations with the country, they will become richer, and there will be no shortage of materials necessary for life. Just like the Chinese in Borneo, no one wants to be a soldier anymore. It has been more than a month since the first conscription order in the history of Ha Tien Town was posted, and there are only a thousand young and strong people who joined the army. Many of them are mixed-race!

The saying "If men don't serve in the army, good iron will not be used to make nails" has been implemented very thoroughly here.

And at least 5,000 more people must be recruited within the territory of Hexian Town, no more, no less.

Mo Tianci is now in a state of panic. Although the military pay given in the conscription order issued by Hexian Town is very tempting, for Hexian, which has a rich environment, this temptation is not enough to attract 5,000 new recruits.

Here, not only are the Chinese rich, but the indigenous people are also well-fed.

The land is vast and sparsely populated, and it is all plains. As long as you are a little diligent, how can you go hungry?

Many mixed-race and indigenous people who are willing to serve in the army are eager to change from yellow books to red books when Hexian becomes a Han land in the future.

The latter is a policy that has been discussed again and again in the Chinese cabinet. Take North Korea as an example. If North Korea annexed, what should those Korean slaves do? And so on.

The cabinet discussed this issue many times, and finally felt that it was asking for trouble.

Not to mention whether North Korea would annex, even if North Korea annexed, wouldn’t the yellow book and red book be a good solution?

Those without criminal records can be given red books; those with criminal records, such as those who have served in the puppet army or sold themselves into slavery, can be given yellow books.

Very rough, but also very simple.

Mo Tianci is now worried about this number every day. Seeing that time is passing day by day, he can only adopt a tough distribution method. The missing 4,000 soldiers are distributed in proportion according to the population density of the towns under his jurisdiction.

The yellow books in Borneo envy the opportunity to join the army, but they encounter the same cold reception as the Chinese in Borneo in Ha Tien.

…

Luyi. A small town in the southeast of Rishike, the capital of Ha Tien.

This is a gathering place with a high density of Chinese. There are 6,000 to 7,000 people in the town, and at least 5,000 are Chinese or mixed-race.

The people here make a living by farming and weaving, and the fields can be harvested three times a year. Under the rule of the Mo family, there is really no such thing as starvation. But this does not mean that life here is very rich.

Luyi is a traditional agricultural area. The land can grow food and jute, and the latter can be used for textiles, but the iron tools needed for life all rely on imports from the outside world.

Thus, a scissors gap was formed between Luyi and Dishi. Relying on salt, iron, and medicinal materials, Dishi easily reaped a lot of benefits.

But the population of agricultural areas is not small. Imagine China's Henan Province?

The small Luyi has a population of 6,000 to 7,000, and it needs to gather a full 100 young and strong.

This is simply a dark cloud covering the sky!

Hexian Town needs to pile up 10,000 troops, and the population of the entire Hexian Town is less than 400,000. This is because a large number of Chinese and indigenous people have migrated here in recent years. Otherwise, Mo Tianci would be overjoyed to have 200,000 or 300,000.

It is simply a waste of military power to draw 10,000 people out of a social group of less than 400,000 people to go out and fight.

But there is an order from above, what can Hexian Town do? Can they still not listen to the call from above?

The mayor of Luyi invited the village heads and elders of each village.

The weather was fine that day, and it was supposed to be a very ordinary day, but because of the village head's assembly, the whole Luyi was shaken.

The venue was in front of the ancestral hall, and soon the venue was surrounded by people watching the excitement. The mayor, surrounded by the crowd, led several of his young and strong nephews and sons, and ten strong men, carrying big wooden sticks, to suppress the situation.

"Everyone is unwilling to send their children to the army. I know, and the superiors know it too. But there is no way, we must send people to serve as soldiers."

"Now the superiors have set a hundred places for us, Paper Town. But so far, only seven have signed up, and the old man's children and grandchildren have signed up for four. Everyone has nothing to say about me."

"The old man's children and grandchildren of the right age are all on this book. But now it is still short of 93 people. There are only five days left in the time stipulated by the superiors. So the old man has no choice but to come up with this bad plan."

The mayor took a bamboo tube from his youngest son, and there was a bunch of sticks in it. "Everyone, come and draw lots." The mayor shook the bamboo tube.

"The elders of each village are watching here, and the village heads of each village come up to draw lots. The numbers are written on the bamboo sticks in this bamboo tube, and they add up to ninety-three."

"Whoever draws that stick gets that number. The numbers can be as low as three or as high as ten."

"Don't think it's unfair, the draw is all about luck."

The atmosphere in the venue suddenly became solemn, and everyone, including the people watching the excitement, stopped talking. A pair of eyes stared at the bamboo tube in the mayor's hand.

"After the village heads go back, they will draw lots according to their own draws."

"All the young and strong men in the village, come and draw one by one, and the one who draws the lot is you. No matter whether you are rich or poor, whether you have a wife or not, you will all go to serve in the army."

The mayor's face was full of fatigue, and he was really going to collapse because of this matter.

"Okay. This matter has been clarified. Please ask the elders of each village to come up and take a look at the bamboo sticks, and then we will all draw lots quickly."

The mayor directly put the bamboo tube on the table in the middle and bowed respectfully to the ancestral hall.

Since the ancestors fled south to here more than a hundred years ago, since they settled in Luyi, war seemed to be far away from them. But now, the people of Luyi are going to take the initiative to enter the war.

The mayor did not dare to say that it was the court's fault. After all, the improvement of the quality of life of the people of Luyi in recent years is obvious to all. The rice kept going out, and the salt, iron, medicinal materials, porcelain, and silk that were exchanged for it were so much that the people of Luyi could not even imagine it. In addition, they had established a school in Luyi, and teachers would be assigned there next year.

In addition, the local natives were completely afraid to fight with the Chinese. In the past, although the Mo family was Chinese and the rulers of Hexian Town were Chinese, they had to actively give their surnames a name - 隚in order to better integrate into the indigenous society.

And now?

The population ratio of Chinese and indigenous people has not changed much. In recent years, the Chinese have been migrating, and the indigenous people have also been migrating. Annan has become a mess. Hexian Town is a paradise.

But the society of Hexian Town has become the Annan natives actively integrating into the Chinese. This active and passive change represents too much significance.

But now it is this court that has led Hexian into the war, and the mayor's heart is really mixed with emotions.

Inside and outside the ancestral hall, everyone's eyes were on the bamboo tube and the bamboo stick inside.

A small bamboo stick can determine the joys and sorrows of a village. And the joys and sorrows of a village all depend on their luck.

"Now the elders have all seen that the old man did not cheat. So, let's start drawing lots now. Line up, come one by one, and let me, the old man, take care of it!"

The mayor stopped talking nonsense and waved his hand: "Next, draw lots. Line up according to the height. Those who dare to move recklessly and disturb others will be spanked!"

The mayor's eyes were fixed on a group of village heads who were trembling all over. There was no sympathy or pity in them, only calmness.

This was a hurdle that they, Luyi, could not overcome, so they could only obey.

The faces of more than a dozen village heads changed rapidly, as if they were thinking about the tragedy after they drew the high-numbered lot.

But each of them knew very well in their hearts that the mayor had made his words clear and would definitely not play tricks. Everyone knew they had to draw lots, but they really wanted to be the last one.

"Wu Zhuang, Wu Asheng, seven——"

A loud shout rang out, and when Dong Ansheng saw the number 'seven', which was by no means a small number, his eyes darkened and he collapsed. His legs were already as soft as noodles.

"Wu Asheng, I fuck your mother, you loser..."

The people of Wu Zhuang outside the venue were already cursing.

The mayor had just said that there were thirteen villages under Luyi Town, plus Luyi itself counted as two, that is fifteen villages. Ninety-three people, fifteen villages, an average of 6.2 per village.

...

A middle-aged man dressed as a merchant outside the venue saw all of this, and he also held a small notebook in his hand.

This merchant, who looked to be more than thirty or forty years old, had a barely perceptible disdain on the corner of his mouth, and a deep confusion in his eyes.

"...This scene in Ha Tien is not simply because the wealthy life has wiped out the blood and patriotism in the hearts of the people. I personally think that this is more due to the traditional impression that the Chinese here see soldiers as a business to make a living, rather than a duty to defend the country..."

The eyes of the Education Department are not simply staring at domestic newspapers and books. As a responsible government department, their vision must see the most remote and smallest corners of society.

"This trip is not in vain. Ha Tien's problems are bigger than Borneo..."