Huang Zhiting did put forward her own suggestion, but it was another letter, sealed with fire paint. Judging from the coat of arms, it could only be opened by Gao Pragmatic. It was because someone from the Ministry of Internal Affairs left the letter in Baiyu Tower. We won't know until he goes there in person.
The motorcade accelerated back to Baiyu Building. As soon as they arrived at the square garden outside the building, Gao Pingshi saw Liu Xin standing on the stone steps, seemingly waiting for him. He took a few steps forward, and sure enough, Liu Xin smiled slightly and said, "My boss."
These actions and words were obviously a face-saving project, only for Gao Jingshi's followers to see. Gao Jingshi understood in his heart that she must have come for Nanzhang's affairs, so he nodded and said: "Go in and talk."
After entering the White Jade Building, Gao Jingshi took Liu Xin and Gao Mo to his study. As expected, there was a letter on the table in the study, with a delicate pattern of a heron holding a fish stamped on the letter. .
The heron is one of the totems of Tong people and a symbol of rice harvest. In the "Mo Jing" among Tong people, the heron is an animal created by Buluotuo, the ancestor of Tong people, and is also worshiped by Tong people's ancestors. An auspicious bird, it is said to have the ability to reach the sky.
On children's bronze drums, there are often many patterns of herons flying around the sun. Another pattern is the pattern of a heron holding a fish stamped on the paint. [Note: If you are interested, you can google "Heron holding a fish". Fish Pattern Bronze Drum".]
This flying heron pattern was originally commonly used by virgin chieftains, but in Beijing - or today's southern Xinjiang, only Huang Zhiting can use it, which is equivalent to a status symbol. Generally, when Huang Zhiting writes to Gao Pragmatic, if she uses Xiang If the pattern of a heron surrounding the sun is mostly family affairs, if the pattern of a flying heron holding a fish is mostly related to official business in southern Xinjiang.
Gao Yingshi looked at the emblem of a flying heron holding a fish on the paint, and already understood most of Huang Zhiting's attitude in this letter: she believed that Huang Yinglei's matter this time was not a family matter but a business matter.
After pondering for a moment, Gao Pragmatic opened the letter with a paper knife, took out the letter paper and read it. The letter was not long, and was divided into two parts in terms of content.
The first half is an apology. In the letter, Huang Zhiting defined Huang Yinglei's behavior as disobedience and rebellion, and said that such a situation was due to her sister's incompetent teaching and inability to control her subordinates, so she asked for punishment.
The second half is disposal. She stated in the letter that she had ordered the Vientiane Guard Army to prepare for battle, but its main duty at the moment was to keep an eye on Vientiane City.
In addition, she ordered the Jinggang garrison to dispatch more than 8,000 troops from the two alliances, and the Phnom Penh garrison to send more than 8,000 troops from the two alliances. Together with the Dingnan garrison, which she personally led, she had more than 12,000 troops from the three alliances and more than 4,000 directly subordinate wolf soldiers who accompanied them in Dingnan City. , a total of more than 32,000 people, surrounded Vientiane on three sides - if the Vientiane garrison is included, it would be a total of more than 50,000 people, surrounding Vientiane City on four sides.
Furthermore, she asked Gao Yingshi to order the abolition of the title of "Mengzhan Town" and "Mengzhan Prince" in Nanzhang Kingdom.
The Nanzhang Kingdom is composed of various "men", large and small. The meaning of "meng" is roughly equivalent to a city-state. The administrative structure of the Nanzhang Kingdom is the same as that of most Southeast Asian Theravada Buddhist countries. The territory can be divided into three categories:
The first category is the "Gyeonggi" area directly ruled by the king. Although the word "Gyeonggi" in Chinese generally only means the capital and its vicinity, which is usually not very large, small countries like Nanzhang are different. This area is within its territory. Not only is the area quite large, but most of them are relatively developed core areas;
The second category is the "Zhifan" area where the king sends his close relatives to rule the royal family. The governors of the Zhifan area can be either floating officials or native officials, but they are all directly appointed and dismissed by the king. For example, Biajue's father Setati
After King La moved his capital to Nanghan (Vientiane), he appointed his younger brother Ubalut as King Mengshan (King of Luang Prabang). Setathira's grandfather Vesunara was also appointed as Marquis of Nanghan before becoming king.
(Marquis of Wanxiang);
The third category is the "foreign vassal" areas with hereditary chiefs in border areas. For example, the Huapan area (near Annan, and Annan historical records are called "Penman") is inherited from generation to generation by the local chieftains (named "Qin clan").
Mengzhang is an area in the southeast of Nanzhang Kingdom, located on the Bolofing Plateau. It is named after its main city called Champasak. This is also the fiefdom of Huang Yinglei after he moved the town from Annan to Nanzhang. Nanzhang was governed from Myanmar
After independence, due to the relocation of the town, Mengzhan Town was established with Champasak as its administrative seat - a "town" similar to the military towns of the Ming Dynasty.
At the same time, because Huang Yinglei is the husband of the eldest princess (Nanzhang was not called a consort at first, but now because of the relationship between Jinghua and Ming Dynasty, people sometimes call him this), according to custom, he should have the title of prince. So by
Nuo Jiaogu ordered to confer Huang Yinglei as the Prince of Mengzhan of Nanzhang Kingdom.
It should be added here that when Princess Biyaju revolted against the Burmese puppet regime of her uncle Ubalut, the city where the base camp was located was Attapeu, not far east of Champassak. Later, the town of Mengzhan was called Attapeu.
Pocheng and nearby areas are also included.
In other words, Huang Yinglei is very powerful in the Boluofen Plateau in the southeast of Nanzhang Kingdom, and because of his relationship with Princess Bijue, their popularity in the area is not low.
The armed force belonging to Huang Yinglei was his wolf soldiers, which numbered three thousand. According to Huang Zhiting, these three thousand wolf soldiers had two characteristics: first, they were elite. Because Huang Yinglei was the eldest son of the main branch of the Huang family, although he was naughty,
But he was still regarded as the heir to the main branch before, so the wolf soldiers under his command were all selected from the best, no worse than Huang Zhiting's direct wolf soldiers.
Second, this group of wolf soldiers had been commanded by Huang Zhiting for a long time. It was not until Jinghua conquered the entire southern Xinjiang and Huang Yinglei moved the town to occupy it that Huang Zhiting returned these elite wolf soldiers to Huang Yinglei's hands.
Although she didn't say it explicitly, Gao pragmatic guessed that she personally led the troops to Vientiane this time, probably with this in mind. The reason is very simple. These people and elites have been under her command for a long time, so she may be considering conquering them peacefully.
Peaceful subjugation generally requires two conditions: First, the person who conquers must be famous, such as Guo Ziyi who rode alone to fight back the falcon soldiers. Huang Zhiting has occupied this area. Of course, most of her power in southern Xinjiang relies on
She got her status as "Mrs. Gao", but her reputation is really not that. Her reputation was earned by herself.
From the Battle of Lang Son, to the expedition to Burma, to the pacification of Siam, and even the destruction of Cambodia, she was the one who arranged all the deployments in Nancheng. The Han people in southern Xinjiang often referred to her and Liu Xin as the peerless twins, but their achievements were
In comparison, Huang Zhiting is more prominent. Coupled with her status, everyone assumes that Huang Zhiting is first.
Since the wolf soldiers have been led by her for a long time, she naturally respects this reputation even more. Therefore, in this regard, it is normal for Huang Zhiting to have such thoughts.
The second condition is power. The most straightforward meaning of power is how many soldiers you bring. After all, a situation like Guo Ziyi's is relatively rare, and it is still difficult for ordinary people to do it.
Huang Zhiting mobilized more than 30,000 soldiers and horses this time. Including the Vientiane garrison, the total number was more than 50,000. Compared with Huang Yinglei and Bijue, this strength was naturally crushing.
Princess Bijue handed over power very thoroughly at that time. After marrying Huang Yinglei, she did not need to personally command the army. The former Nanzhang Royal Forest Army, which had only less than 500 people around her for a long time, acted as a security force. As mentioned above about Huang Yinglei's situation, in his early years
Because he had no weapons, his sister Huang Zhiting had always been in charge of the military power. It wasn't until he moved to capture the town that he got the three thousand wolf soldiers.
In other words, the couple's theoretical direct force totals 3,500 people. Among them, 3,000 wolf soldiers may abandon the secret and turn to the bright side after learning about Huang Zhiting's personal conquest.
But there is another situation here, that is, Nanzhang's imperial army once reached a maximum of 40,000 to 50,000 people. Later, because Gao Pragmatic believed that Nanzhang was poor and deep inland, there was no need to maintain so many soldiers, so he made a big move
, when the Vientiane Guard Army was reorganized based on the Nanzhang Royal Forest Army, almost 30,000 of the nearly 50,000 people were directly cut off, leaving only about 20,000 people.
Next, Gao pragmatically adjusted the establishment of the garrison armies in southern Xinjiang according to a similar establishment of the Imperial Guards of the Ming Dynasty, that is, from top to bottom, there are eight levels: army, town, association, standard, battalion, company, platoon, and shed.
Among them, the town is the basic organizational structure and is organized into various garrison corps.
This basic organization means the basic units for combat. Large-scale troop deployments are usually carried out from town to town, or at least one association and one association. For example, Huang Zhiting's expedition this time was based on the association.
When "organized into various garrison corps", the number of towns under the jurisdiction of each garrison army varies. For example, the largest garrison force in southern Xinjiang is now the Dingnan garrison, with a total of five towns and about six planned.
Ten thousand people, under the jurisdiction of ten alliances and several independent artillery battalions, horse camps, and engineer battalions; and the smallest garrison is the Vientiane Garrison, with a total of two towns and more than 20,000 people, and in addition to the four alliances
In addition, there are also few independent battalions under its jurisdiction.
The rest, such as the Thang Long, Golden Port, Bago, Phnom Penh and other garrison, usually have around three to four towns.
More than 30,000 people were cut off from the Imperial Guards of Nanzhang. These people were the meritorious troops when Princess Bijue raised her army. Of course, they could not be dismissed directly with a single order. So a compromise was made at that time. The original puppet king Wu of Nanzhang
Balu's "royal property" near Vientiane, including fields, mountains, forests, etc., was distributed to the more than 30,000 people according to merit and status.
To a certain extent, these more than 30,000 soldiers are actually like "military troops" near Vientiane, all staying near Vientiane. Now that Princess Bijue has declared regency and returned to Vientiane, Gao Pragmatic estimates that she will definitely not
Forget these people, it is very likely that they will be directly reorganized into an army and used.
In this way, the strength in the hands of Huang Yinglei, Biajue and his wife immediately surged to more than 30,000 people, which can be regarded as a not weak force. Huang Zhiting wants to subdue the wolf soldiers. In addition to considering the eldest lady's history, the wolf soldiers
In addition to their reputation, they will definitely also consider their own strength. It is not impossible for these more than 30,000 soldiers to give them the illusion that they can fight.
Of course, although these more than 30,000 people were part of the army earlier, their disadvantages are also obvious. First of all, the so-called Nanzhang Royal Forest Army before the reorganization was not very effective - in the original history, this army was under the command of Princess Bijue.
Next, they indeed invaded Vientiane City from the southeast and overthrew Ubalut's rule. But the problem is that the Burmese army suppressed them as soon as they arrived, which shows that their strength is just that.
Another disadvantage is weaponry and training. Weapons and equipment needless to say. Although the reorganized Vientiane Guard Army still receives the lowest attention in southern Xinjiang, after all, as a guard force, the infantry equipment of each unit is still effectively provided.
Ascension, muskets and cold weapons are all fully equipped. The only thing they lack is the establishment of a town, mainly the independent artillery battalion, independent horse battalion and other town-directed troops. The proportion of troops directly under the town is lower than that of other towns.
The lack of artillery and horse battalions means that not only are their ability to defend the city weaker than other garrison troops, but the diversity of field tactics will also be compromised.
Under this situation, coupled with the fact that the overall military strength is not dominant, and it will take time to recruit more than 30,000 people for organization, Gao Pragmatic estimated that Huang Yinglei and Biajue could only choose to defend the city.
If they were to defend the city, they would probably be playing into Huang Zhiting's hands - except for the four thousand wolf soldiers who were directly under her control and stayed with her in Dingna City, the troops she mobilized this time were all regular garrison troops, and their artillery advantage was obvious.
Although Vientiane City is the capital of Nanzhang, Gao Pragmatic has not considered it as a major development area, nor does he think that any war will occur there. Therefore, there is no "bastion" in the city defense system, and Vientiane City's city defense
There is no great threat to this expedition.
Gao Pragmatic thought about it and felt that the difficulty of Huang Zhiting's expedition was at least much lower than that of the previous expedition to Myanmar. There should be no danger, and he was secretly relieved.
Perhaps seeing him come back from his thoughts, Liu Xin asked, "How? Is she interceding for Huang Yinglei, or is she planning to conquer him?"
Gao pragmatically said: "She has already led her troops to conquer."
"Sure enough." Liu Xin raised her eyebrows slightly: "I knew she would do this."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Oh?" Gao Pragmatic said helplessly: "What else do you have?"
"I don't have any high opinions. I was just thinking..." Liu Xin pursed her lips: "The saying that a married daughter throws away water is really popular in the Ming Dynasty."
Gao Pragmatic was silent for a moment and did not answer.
Liu Xin sighed and asked: "Don't you think Huang Zhi...Huang Dutong is pitiful? They tried their best to design it carefully, but in the end they still had to make a choice between their husband and their family."
Gao pragmatic sighed, and just when he didn't know how to answer, Gao Mo came to his rescue and said: "Miss Liu, the responsibility for this matter lies entirely with Huang Yinglei. The master and his wife have been extremely kind to him, and it's his fault that he doesn't know what's good and what's good."
, his ambition is untamable, so he makes things difficult for his wife."
Liu Xin spread her hands for a moment and said: "Of course I understand the truth, so I just said that Huang Dutong is pitiful... It's pitiful to have such a useless brother in the family, don't you think so?"
Gao Mo smiled and nodded slightly. As far as he was concerned, as long as Gao Pingshi was not implicated, he could say anything.
Unexpectedly, Gao Pragmatic sighed, as if he didn't want to talk about it anymore. He changed the subject and said, "This thing happened at the wrong time."
Liu Xin and Gao Mo both looked at him in surprise, but heard Gao Pingshi continue: "Something unexpected happened in Xishan Courtyard just now... In short, the Beiyang side is going to use force against the Philippines... against Luzon."
When Liu Xin and Gao Mo heard this, they were both startled.
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