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Chapter 788 The sorrow of a small country
"You must have thought about me a lot, so I'm testing you now. Do you have any small requests?"

Whether he could marry Princess Annan or not, Hong Tao didn't care at all. It didn't matter whether she was beautiful or ugly. After entering the palace, at most he would give the queen another partner to play cards and ball games with, but he wouldn't have any influence at all.

But Ruan Xiangjiang is not a fool. He has done many things that have humiliated the country under the coercion of the Ming Navy over the years, but his reputation in the area he ruled is still very good, which shows that he is capable. He is definitely not stupid enough to use a woman to change his fate. This is just a test.

"Your Majesty, you can see clearly that Zheng in the north is dead, and his son is mediocre and can't be used for great purposes. However, the Le Dynasty has been in operation for a long time, and if we attack it by force, I am afraid that the people will suffer. I would like to ask Your Majesty to lend a hand and fight a quick battle with a thunderous force. When Annan is unified, you can also contribute more to the court."

Ruan Xiangjiang had indeed pondered the temperament of the Ming emperor and had grasped the true nature of the situation. He did not hide it and made a request openly, showing no sign of reducing his ambition.

"Why do you think I will send troops to help attack the Northern Dynasty? Isn't it good for the North and South to confront each other? If one day you don't obey, I can still support the Northern Dynasty, and the benefits will not be less."

Since Ruan Xiangjiang had broken the window paper, Hong Tao was going to ask him if it was worth the price. There was no need to talk about feelings between countries, not to mention that she was just a daughter, even marrying her own mother would be useless.

"I know that the Left Governor-General's progress in Luzon is not very smooth, and the local natives will not be able to return in a short time. I also know that Your Majesty will never stop in Luzon, and may very likely get involved in Siam and even Burma in the future.

By then, Annan will be your majesty's fortress for advancing westward, and the more food and military resources the better. However, it is difficult to sustain it with only the land under my jurisdiction, and it is unknown whether the Zheng family of the Le Dynasty will turn to the west at that time.

Although I want to save Annan, I also understand that the general trend is irreversible and I cannot stop the chariot with my arms. I should go with the flow. As long as Your Majesty does not exhaust Annan, Nguyen is willing to lead the charge and fight for Your Majesty, even if it means death! "

Facing the Ming emperor who could decide the life and death of his family and Annan with a single word, Nguyen Xiangjiang had no way to avoid it and probably didn't want to hide anymore. If things continued like this, Annan would be hollowed out sooner or later. Rather than being slowly worn down by a soft knife, it would be better to take a gamble on luck.

If it succeeds, Annan's status and treatment can be improved; if it fails, there will be no loss. From the perspective of the interests of both parties, as long as they do not rebel, life will go on like this.

"Since you have thought so much, let me ask you a question. If Siam and Burma all surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, where would Annan go?"

As the leader of an ethnic group or a country, Hong Tao felt that Ruan Xiangjiang was very competent. Regardless of whether he surrendered to foreign enemies in order to preserve the power of his family, he was always considering the overall interests of Annan.

However, the opponent was too powerful. If he didn't want the people of Annan to suffer too much, he could only compromise and survive, and then slowly look for opportunities to get rid of it. This is the sadness of a small country with few people. Even if he put himself in his position, he would probably do the same thing in the first few decades, or even be more cowardly.

Now that he has taken the initiative to bring up Annan's future, I might as well make things clearer and point out a relatively better path. It all depends on how he understands it.

"... Please explain clearly, Your Majesty." Ruan Xiangjiang obviously did not have the ability to think this issue through clearly. There were too many changes, and it was basically impossible to find a constant. It would be meaningless to think about it.

"Like Luzon, merge Annan into Ming. With my ability, I will let the people of Annan live a much better life than now, and with your ability, there is a great possibility that you will find a suitable position in my court. This is the best result I can think of. It is not that Ming must swallow Annan, but it has to do so. This is called geopolitics. Annan's location determines its fate.

I can also tell you that not only Annan, but also Siam and Burma, as long as the place borders the Ming Dynasty or the place can be used by the Ming Dynasty, will be visited by the Ming Dynasty navy sooner or later.

Only a small number of them could become part of the Ming Dynasty, and most of them would just become the current Annan. They worked hard like horses and cattle, but in the end all the good things were taken away, leaving only a small amount of food to fill their stomachs, and they would never receive equal treatment. "

Hong Tao had thought about the position of Annan before he became emperor. There could only be one outcome: it would become a territory of the Ming Dynasty like Korea. Don't even think about it being a vassal state or a friendly country.

The minimum standard for the future Ming Dynasty is to span the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. The southern border must at least be pushed to the Malay Peninsula. If things go a little better, the waters of Southeast Asia will become inland seas.

"...Can you allow me to think about it?" He had already made the worst-case plan, but after listening to the advice of the Ming Emperor, Ruan Xiangjiang still looked ashen and heartbroken. He hesitated for a long time before he recovered.

"Just think about it carefully. I'm not in a hurry. Think about your daughter's matter as well. I allow you to change your mind once. If you must be my concubine, then write a memorial to the court. You are the King of Annan after all, so you still have to follow the necessary etiquette."

Of course, Hong Tao did not expect Ruan Xiangjiang to give an immediate reply. Even if he did, it would be useless. At least for the next few years, Southeast Asia would not be a priority, and it would be best to maintain the status quo.

As for whether they are afraid that he will inform the rulers of Siam and Burma, if they are willing to do so, then go ahead. Strength is more stable than any strategy. If you can win, you can win. If you can't win, you can't win.

Even if Annan, Siam, and Burma united and marched north tomorrow, they would still lose in the end. If that happened, Hong Tao would thank Ruan Xiangjiang's eighteen generations of ancestors for gathering the elite troops of these countries and annihilating them, so that he would not have to go deep into the mountains and jungles to look for them in the future.

On the tenth day of April in the fifteenth year of Jingyang, Emperor Jingyang of the Ming Dynasty returned safely to the Forbidden City after five and a half months of sailing through Korea, Japan, Annan and Luzon, and convened an imperial meeting that day.

"Your Majesty, I, Wang Zhizhen, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, would like to report to you. Earlier this year, an explosion occurred at the Yongding River Soda Factory, killing six people and injuring three. The details of the incident have been ascertained..." The commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard stood up first, presented a memorial with both hands, his face heavy.

"...Have the compensations to the families of the dead and injured been paid in full?" He asked Wang Chengen to take the memorial and opened it carefully... He looked at it for a moment, put it down, and turned to ask Yuan Keli.

It was true that there was an explosion at the Yongdinghe Soda Factory, but it was not in the main factory area or the calcining tower. Gao Bao, an engineer at the factory, said in a memorial that it was a room where a new formula was tested that exploded, and the dead and injured were all prisoners of war, so there was nothing to worry about.

(End of this chapter)