Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1415: Shenglong
The two fleets set out almost at the same time, and both were a thousand miles away from their destination.

But the expeditionary force went downstream and reached Thang Long, the capital of Annan, in three days.

After entering the inland river, the Sanya Fleet had to go upstream. Although the southeast wind was blowing at this time, they could sail with the wind, but they still arrived one day later than the expeditionary force.

So after Hu Quan arrived at the meeting point, he scanned the river with a telescope, but did not see any sign of his own reinforcement fleet.

However, the "Dai Viet Navy" was attracted, and the river was dotted with Annanese single-masted paddle boats.

This made the Ming army very nervous. Their side was not just civilians, but cavalry and infantry, and there was no real navy, so they would definitely suffer a great loss in a fight.

"What the hell is going on?" Hu Quan put down the telescope and looked at the fat monk with triangular eyes angrily.

"Haha, Lord, please be patient." Yao Guangxiao said calmly, "The Sanya Fleet departed from Qiongzhou and had to go upstream. It is normal for them to arrive a few days late."

"That's normal, we should have come later!" Hu Quan said angrily, "Without the navy's cover, we can't even reach the shore, let alone land."

"If it doesn't work, why don't we continue downstream and take the initiative to meet up with the Sanya fleet?" Zhu Di suggested.

"No need." Hu Quan said with a smile: "Just drop anchor here and wait."

"Don't you see? They have more than 200 warships, all ready to attack at any time!" Zhu Di said angrily. This fat monk ignored him all the way, and even ignored him when he took the initiative to talk to him. He was simply looking down on others.

"Haha, Captain Zhu, don't worry, they won't take the initiative to attack us." Yao Guangxiao comforted him.

"What makes you say that?" Zhu Di asked.

"Just rely on this big flag." Yao Guangxiao pointed to the big yellow flag fluttering in the wind on the mast above his head. The word "Ming" on it was particularly eye-catching!

He then explained: "You may not know, but Annan, or the so-called Chen Dynasty, is at its weakest stage in history. It is no longer the Dai Viet that was able to repel the Yuan army."

"..." Zhu Di closed his mouth and listened to Yao Guangxiao continue:
"In recent years, Annan has been in a difficult political situation. It has been invaded by Champa outside and has been ruled by powerful people inside. People are rebelling everywhere. This incident happened in the court. The Chen royal family was slaughtered. Although Hu Jinyi has become the winner, he is only a relative by marriage and it is difficult to convince the public. There are more people who oppose him than those who support him. At this time, what he needs most is the endorsement of the Celestial Empire. How dare he provoke the Celestial Empire again?"

"That makes sense, but we have to be prepared for the worst." Zhu Di said with a slightly relieved expression.

"No one can escape this." Yao Guangxiao said, "The commander of the Thang Long Navy is his fourth son Hu Zhu, and he will definitely strictly follow his orders."

~~
Yao Guangxiao's judgment was absolutely correct. The Annan navy initially approached the Ming fleet aggressively, baring their fangs and claws, and making attacking gestures.

But a few hours later, they received an order from Thang Long City and retreated about two miles, keeping a safe distance from the Ming army.

Then, after a while, a sloop with a white flag came from the direction of Thang Long City and approached the Ming army fleet's warning line.

After a while, the Ming army used a sampan to send the Annan envoy to the boat of Dingbian Hou.

Seeing the short Annan official wearing the same robes as the Ming, any educated Ming general would think of the following four words: a monkey in a robe. "I am Du Ziman, the Chief Censor of Dai Viet, and I am here to see Your Excellency. May I know your name and what brings me here?" The Annan official spoke fluent Chinese.

But this is nothing strange. Although Annan of this era created its own Nôm characters, they were just phonetic notations of Chinese, so only Chinese characters were used officially, and there were many officials who could speak Chinese. Moreover, from the king to the ministers, everyone liked to recite poems and write couplets, and it was no wonder that they called themselves "Little China".

"I am Hu Quan, the commander-in-chief of Yunnan Province of the Ming Dynasty and Marquis of Dingbian. I heard that two generations of kings of Annan were assassinated one after another, which made my king deeply uneasy. He was afraid that the rebel soldiers would harass the border people of the Ming Dynasty, so he sent me to investigate." Hu Quan then repeated the words taught to him by Yao Guangxiao.

"Is that so?" Du Ziman showed a look of realization. In fact, he knew what was going on after seeing the fat monk with triangular eyes: "But Master Daoyan reported your prince?"

"What do you mean by your prince?!" Yao Guangxiao scolded, "So Annan is no longer a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty?"

"No, no, no, how could that be? Annan is always loyal to the Celestial Empire. I made a slip of the tongue." Du Ziman quickly corrected himself and said, "It was our prince."

"You are not worthy!" Yao Guangxiao spat, "You have to call me the Prince of the Celestial Empire!"

"Yes, yes, Your Majesty." Du Ziman was helpless.

"Do you have any objection to what Master Daoyan said about the Annan coup?" Hu Quan asked with a frown.

"My Lord, there is indeed something behind this." Du Ziman explained, "At that time, the Champa army invaded the north with great force, and Hu Pingzhang led the army south to resist the enemy. At this time, everyone was united to resist the foreign humiliation. However, the former king Chen Riwei was so crazy that he didn't care about the overall situation, human ethics, or gratitude, and cruelly killed the retired king Chen Yizong who passed the throne to him!"

"When the tragedy happened, the whole country was shocked, the three armies wept bitterly, and the soldiers on the front line had no intention of continuing the battle. They all beat their chests and stamped their feet, demanding to return to the army to avenge the king!" Du Ziman said with grief and indignation, "Pingzhang had no choice but to follow the will of the people and lead the soldiers back to the capital to restore order!"

He then said with a look of relief: "Fortunately, the Prime Minister is wise and powerful, and highly respected. He quickly put down the rebellion and restored the government to normal. Therefore, I dare to guarantee that there will be no rebellious soldiers harassing the people of the Celestial Empire!"

"You speak better than you sing!" Yao Guangxiao sneered, "Let me ask you, is Chen Riwei the King of Annan?"

"Yes." Du Ziman said seriously.

"When he killed his uncle, he was still the king, right? If the king wants his subjects to die, the subjects have to die. What's the problem with his uncle dying?" Yao Guangxiao asked in a deep voice, "It is murder when a son kills his father or a subject kills his king. He is neither a son nor a subject, so how can he be considered murdered?"

"Yes." Hu Quan nodded in agreement. He sincerely felt that the fat monk was right.

Zhu Di also nodded, thinking that the bald donkey was quite something.

"This," Du Ziman wiped his sweat and said, "His Highness Yizong is the Supreme King and his uncle. It can be compared to a son killing his father or a minister killing his king..."

"Good fellow, just now there was 'was', and now there is 'like a father'." Yao Guangxiao sneered: "So the vassal states are so shameless and shameless, and they still call themselves Little China?"

"You, don't slander me." Du Ziman was hurt by the scolding, so he just tore his face and said: "Do you think others don't know? It was you who instigated Chen Riwei to kill the Supreme King!"

"Don't slander me." Yao Guangxiao said sternly, "No monarch is willing to be a puppet, and no one needs to instigate him." He glanced at Du Ziman coldly and said:
"On the contrary, when a powerful official murders the emperor, there must be a villain instigating it! The coffin lid of your Du family ancestor is about to burst, right?"

"You..." Du Ziman was so angry that he almost fell into the Red River. The Du family claimed to be the descendants of Du Yuan, the governor of Jiaozhou in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. They have always prided themselves on their loyalty, filial piety, chastity and righteousness. How could they tolerate such an accusation?
(End of this chapter)