I want to be emperor

Chapter 594 Great Chu’s First Puppet State
The policy of the Great Chu Empire towards Annan is actually similar to that of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the two will not help each other, and try to keep Annan in a split and non-threatening situation.

Therefore, the Great Chu Empire previously refused to confer the canonization of the Li Dynasty under the control of the Zheng family, nor was it willing to confer the canonization of the Ruan family.

At the same time, the Great Chu Empire also had contact with the two local forces in the north of Annan, namely the Mo family and the Wu family. In order to prevent them from being stationed by the Zheng family, they even sold them a batch of armaments at a low price a few years ago.

This time, if the top management of the empire hadn't changed its policy and sought Cam Ranh Bay for free trade, such an agreement with Ruan would not have been reached.

But now that things have been done and the benefits have been obtained, it is necessary to reconsider the balance of the situation in the Annan area.

Therefore, when Mrs. Zheng came to ask for a lot of conditions, the Great Chu Empire did not refuse. Instead, they negotiated with them and signed a new agreement with Mrs. Zheng.

For example, the monarch of the Li Dynasty under the control of the Zheng family was officially conferred the title of King Annan, and he sold a batch of armaments to the Zheng family at a fair price.

The price paid by the Zheng family is to fully open the market, allow the merchants of the Great Chu Empire to go to the northern Annan area to do business freely, allow the Great Chu Empire to survey and develop high-quality coal in Guangning in the northern Annan, and allow the Great Chu Empire to operate in Guangning. Lease a port along the coast for trade and transportation of coal.

The Great Chu Empire has been drooling over the high-quality coal in the Guangning area in the north of Annan. Although it has been involved in it through conventional commercial means before, it excavated and imported the local high-quality coal and transported it to Guangzhou and Qiongzhou Island for ironmaking and civilian use. .

But there is always a lack of corresponding protection!

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Great Chu Empire simply proposed formal survey and development rights.

The Zheng family naturally has concerns about this. Although they don't use much of these high-quality coals, they still know the value of these coals. What's more, once the power is released and the Great Chu Empire is If the port is rented here, it means that the Great Chu Empire can directly send troops to protect it.

It is said to send troops to protect the coal mines, but if something really happens, these troops can kill Thang Long in minutes.

But on the one hand, the Ruan family put too much pressure on them. On the other hand, if the Great Chu Empire really wanted to beat them, they would not be able to stop them... The Lianzhou Mansion of the Great Chu Empire is located in Annanguang It's not far to the north of Ningfu.

In the end, the Great Chu Empire also gave a lot of benefits, such as providing jobs for coal mining, providing taxes for coal development, and so on.

Of course, the most important thing is that they don't even have the courage to resist such a behemoth as the Great Chu Empire!
In the end, they still agreed.

Anyway, they don't need this coal, and it would be nice if the Great Chu Empire could collect a tax after it was developed.

In the end, the Great Chu Empire officially signed a new cooperation agreement with the Zheng family.

With the finalization of the agreement, the Great Chu Empire can be regarded as formally legal and compliant, and it is guaranteed to be able to enter the Annan Guangning area to develop coal mines.

After these coal mines are excavated, they will be transported by ship to Qiongzhou Island and Guangzhou, mainly for ironmaking, and some of them will also be supplied to the nearby private coal-fired market in Guangdong.

In the past two years in the Great Chu Empire, with the successful research and development and promotion of honeycomb coal, the consumption of coal by residents in major cities has gradually increased, which has also led to a gradual increase in the demand for coal.

Coal mining in the Great Chu Empire has entered a period of high incidence, and many places such as Guangdong lack large-scale high-quality coal, so there is a relatively large demand for foreign coal.

Nowadays, Guangning coal can be obtained, and it can also be supplied to the private coal market in Guangdong and Guangxi.

In order to better develop Guangning's coal, the Ministry of Industry of the Great Chu Empire specially established the Guangning Mining Company to develop Guangning's coal.

Interestingly, after the Ruan family and the Zheng family reached an agreement with the Great Chu Empire, they both obtained a large number of cheap weapons and equipment from the Great Chu Empire, and they boasted that they all had the support of the Great Chu Empire. So the moves were big and big, and the two sides started fighting again...

The civil war between Annan, the North, and the South has been going on for many years. It has been fought intermittently for more than 100 years from the [-]th century to the [-]th century, and it is estimated that the fight will continue in the future.

Therefore, the high level of the Great Chu Empire did not respond to this. As long as one party is not completely killed, then the Great Chu Empire will sit firmly on the Diaoyutai and sell armaments to do business. There is no need to overly participate in the civil war of these indigenous peoples.

With the smooth operation of the Great Chu Empire in the Annan area, especially after acquiring Cam Ranh Bay as a military base, Luo Zhixue praised the Ministry of Rites and Education, thinking that their work is excellent and effective, and let them continue to work hard for the free trade of the empire struggle.

After being praised, they immediately set their sights on other parts of Nanyang as if they had been beaten.

According to contemporary sailing, most of the ships sailed close to the coastline. When many ships of the Great Chu Empire sailed south, they sailed close to the coastline of the Southeast Asian peninsula.

At the same time, it will also trade with the indigenous countries along the way.

Under such circumstances, the next step of the Ministry of Rites and Education was to surrender to the Phnom Penh Dynasty of the Kingdom of Cambodia south of Annan.

The Phnom Penh Dynasty of Cambodia has a very long inheritance of the Wang family. Hundreds of years ago, the capital was moved from Angkor to Phnom Penh, so the current Cambodian dynasty is also called the Phnom Penh Dynasty.

Today's Phnom Penh Dynasty, like most of history, exists as a buffer country between Thailand and Vietnam, and its strength is not strong.

At the same time, in recent decades, the foreign policy of the Phnom Penh Dynasty has been relatively open, allowing businessmen from various countries to go to trade. Therefore, during the Ming Dynasty, a large number of Chinese businessmen went to Phnom Penh to set up business houses and conduct trade.

However, the attitude towards Europeans is not very good. At the end of the [-]th century, the Luzon authorities of Spain once intervened in the civil strife in Cambodia. Later, they took the opportunity to set up trading posts and garrison troops in the lower reaches of the Mekong River, hoping to monopolize the trade in the Mekong River Basin. .

As a result, it was strongly opposed by local nobles and other foreign businessmen, including Chinese businessmen. In the end, amidst the opposition, the Spaniards suffered a complete defeat and almost wiped out their entire army.

Decades later, that is, around the eighth year of Chengshun, the Dutch also wanted to step in and monopolize the trade in the Mekong River Basin, but they were also opposed by the Cambodians and other foreign businessmen, including the merchants of the Great Chu Empire.

With the support of opponents from all sides, the Cambodian side organized an army to expel the Dutch.

During this process, the merchants of the Great Chu Empire, um, to be precise, the Nanyang Trading Company contributed a lot of power and provided a batch of matchlock guns to the Cambodian side. Otherwise, the Dutch would not have fought so simply. retreat.

After this incident in the past few years, the merchants of the Great Chu Empire still have a fairly good local influence in Cambodia, and the business scale has gradually expanded, almost controlling the main trade in the local Mekong River Basin.

However, with the civil strife in Cambodia and the death of the king previously supported by the Nanyang Trading Company, the trade interests of the Great Chu Empire in this area were damaged.

In the past, the Great Chu Empire was too lazy to take care of these small overseas matters, which were basically handled by various trading companies on their own. As the party involved, the Nanyang Trading Company had a big business, and they were all focused on going to India, so they didn't have much thought to do it. revenge.

So it dragged on for a few years, but!

There is an old saying that it is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years!

When the top leaders of the Great Chu Empire began to insist on and expand the free trade policy, the people in the Department of Civil Affairs of the Ministry of Ethics and Education also remembered what happened back then, so they greeted Nanyang Trading Company...

In October 12 of Chengshun, a fleet carrying the flag of the Nanyang Trading Company arrived in the Mekong River Basin, and then more than 500 marines flying the flag of the Nanyang Trading Company, who had just been 'nominally retired' from the navy, landed and died. Killed to Phnom Penh...

The Kingdom of Cambodia has always had relatively decentralized power. The real power is controlled by dignitaries everywhere, and the power of the royal family has always been weak. Its royal guards are weak, and they are not the opponents of these more than 500 marines at all...

After a skirmish, the Cambodian royal guard was almost wiped out... The King fled Phnom Penh in a hurry.

The Nanyang Trading Company did not go after it either, but instead randomly found a member of the royal family to support the enthronement as the new king of Cambodia, and then signed a new treaty with Cambodia.

The treaty stipulated that Cambodia would completely open its market to the Great Chu Empire, and ceded part of the lower reaches of the Mekong River Basin to be used by the Nanyang Trading Company for trading, and compensated the Nanyang Trading Company for the loss of 25 taels of silver.

The new king of Cambodia surrendered to the empire, and Luo Zhixue canonized him as the king of Cambodia.

At the same time, according to the treaty, accept the "guidance" of the Great Chu Empire in military and internal affairs, and the Great Chu Empire will send people to take over the customs and finances, so as to collect funds to compensate the losses of the Great Chu Empire.

To some extent, the Great Chu Empire only sent a fleet with more than 500 marines, and in the name of the Nanyang Trading Company, Cambodia was wiped out, and a puppet country was created by the way...

However, this puppet state is only in name, because Cambodia is divided internally, and most of the areas are actually controlled by nobles from all over the country. More than 500 marines were overthrown...

This king could not order the aristocratic kingdoms all over the country, and after becoming the puppet king of the Great Chu Empire, he could not order either.

But this is not important, what the Great Chu Empire wants is only a treaty.

After ceding the mouth of the Mekong River, the Great Chu Empire can actually completely block and control the trade in the Mekong River Basin.

This is what the Great Chu Empire wants!

And through this incident, it can also be seen that regardless of whether the Great Chu Empire has embarked on the path of external expansion of Western countries such as Spain and the Netherlands.

If it is said that the Great Chu Empire has maintained a certain degree of popularity in the treatment of Annan, then in the matter of Cambodia, the Great Chu Empire's attitude is extremely ugly.

Directly send troops to kill the opponent, and then accept it as a puppet country, and completely block and control the foreign trade of the local country.

This is what the Spaniards and the Dutch wanted to do before, but couldn't do it.

However, what the Great Chu Empire did in Annan and Cambodia was spread to the Ayutthaya Kingdom one after another, which attracted the vigilance of the Ayutthaya Kingdom!
According to gossip, the Kingdom of Ayutthaya has already made contact with the Dutch. At the same time, they are also building forts in several major coastal ports and expanding the training of new troops using matchlock guns and artillery.

This clearly wants to guard against the Great Chu Empire!

It's just that this kind of defense is useless in the eyes of the Great Chu Empire... In the past, the Great Chu Empire maintained restraint in the Nanyang region, purely because the top leaders of the empire did not set their sights on the Nanyang region.

Now that Luo Zhixue has called out to support the expansion of free trade, the empire's external expansion goal is naturally placed in the direction of Southeast Asia.

After Annan and Cambodia are settled, the affairs of the Ayutthaya Kingdom will also be put on the agenda!

Of course, this kind of thing is not a large-scale war, and it is not up to the level of discussion at the former imperial council meeting. The navy and Nanyang trading company that were operating in Cambodia before, and the eighteen trading companies that just rushed over discussed it a little bit. After a while, the fleet was assembled to leave Cambodia, and then entered the Gulf of Thailand in December of the 12th year of Chengshun.

Officially made a request to the Ayutthaya Kingdom to fully open the market and the concession trade port.

In this regard, Ayutthaya Kingdom is very uncomfortable!

reject?

It's easy to say, even if their Great City Kingdom and the Great Chu Empire do not directly border each other, they can still come from the sea.

Besides, Cambodia in the east has become a puppet state of the Great Chu Empire. The Great Chu Empire has set up leased land in the lower reaches of the Mekong River, and even established Jiulongjiang Mansion there, which means that there are nine estuaries at the mouth of the lower Mekong River.

The Great Chu Empire now has about a thousand troops stationed in Jiulongjiang Prefecture.

These 1000 troops can directly enter the territory of the Ayutthaya Kingdom by land without even needing to be transported by sea.

And when it comes to action, it is estimated that there will be more than the Chu army of more than 1000 people, and there will inevitably be servants from the Kingdom of Cambodia.

If these threats are still relatively small, then the Great Chu Empire still has thousands of troops stationed in Jinling Bay not far away.

In the second half of this year, the Great Chu Empire continued to increase its troops to Cam Ranh Bay, and now the Cam Ranh Bay fleet has reached the scale of more than 30 warships and auxiliary warships.

At the same time, there are more than 1000 marines and a mixed army regiment stationed there.

When necessary, these troops can be devoted to the war against the Ayutthaya Kingdom at any time.

Not to mention, behind these Chu troops, there is a country that is huge enough to make them despair: the Great Chu Empire!
Therefore, no one dares to say no easily!
But in the same way, the Ayutthaya Kingdom did not dare to agree easily!

Whether it is to fully open the market or cede coastal ports, it will cause extremely serious consequences.

The former will destroy the handicraft industry and entrepot trade within the Ayutthaya Kingdom, while the latter... is popular with the Shameless Chu Empire. Once their troops are allowed in, let alone expect them to leave in the future, maybe the Ayutthaya Kingdom will follow Cambodia. Followed by a puppet state.

Therefore, Ayutthaya Kingdom is in a dilemma.

In desperation, they remembered the Dutch they had contacted some time ago and tried to find foreign aid!
(End of this chapter)