Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 174 Coastal Defense Governor
Annan followed the system of the Ming and Qing dynasties, with civil officials commanding military generals. The Governor of the Coastal Phong Province, Li Yu, was originally the Governor of Shanxi Province. After he wiped out the local peasant armed forces of Annan, Xie Wenfeng, he was promoted to Governor of the Coastal Phong for his merits, in charge of the military defense of the two provinces of Haiphong and Guang'an.

Five days ago, Li Yu had just sent away a group of French missionaries when he saw one of his aides coming to pay him a visit.

"Sir, I have something important to report to you."

"If you have something to say, say it quickly. I don't have time to listen to your nonsense!" Li Yu said in a bad mood, as he had just been offended by the French.

"I have received news that Tang armed forces have been gathering in the Halong area in recent months. According to my subordinates' investigation, there are more than 10,000 Tang people gathered in Halong. The Tang people are gathering on a large scale. I am worried that they have other intentions." The aide said cautiously.

"Didn't the Tang people inform us half a month ago? They were hired by the American country of Brazil to recruit Tang people in Annan to work in South America. You know all this, so why are you making such a fuss?"

Naturally, Sun Bin had to take a share of Li Yu's money when he bribed local officials in Annan. Li Yu considered himself a scholar and tended to abide by what he promised, so he was very dissatisfied with his staff for bothering him about this matter.

"Your Excellency is very busy, and I dare not bother you with trivial matters. However, this group of Tang people is not as simple as the merchants on the surface. Since the merchant leader arrived in Halong last month, he has not only recruited the Tang rebels, but also transported food and weapons by large ships and trained the young and strong Tang people as soldiers. In just less than a month, the Tang leader Sun Bin has thousands of young and strong people under his command, and more than a thousand muskets.

My Lord, the Tang people recruiting soldiers to train is not what businessmen do! "

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Every word I said was true. If there is even a lie, I am willing to be punished by military law!"

The aide said with righteous words.

"Well, I sympathize with you, the Tang people, for your righteous act of resisting the Tartars, and I took you in at the risk of offending the Manchu Tartars. But you didn't know my good intentions, and instead followed the villains to plot rebellion. Your crime is truly unforgivable!"

Li Yu's face turned pale, obviously irritated by the news he heard. However, his performance was seen by his staff as something else. The Tang rebel forces fled to Annan not because the officials were kind enough to take them in, but because they defeated the Annan army that was surrounding them and forced the other side to acquiesce in the existence of the peasant army.

The staff did not tactlessly remind the Governor-General of the failure of the encirclement and suppression of Wu Yazhong last year, but followed his words and said: "The Tang leader Sun Bin recruited soldiers and set up camps without authorization, with evil intentions. You should immediately send troops to suppress them and eliminate the scourge for the country. After the Tang people are wiped out, the Prince Consort of Hue will certainly praise you for your good leadership and recommend you to the emperor to serve in the court."

Haiphong Province is an important gateway to northern Annam. After the signing of the first Saigon Treaty, Haiphong was opened as a trading port. Although Li Yu's position as the Governor-General of Haiphong seemed glorious on the surface, he had to face control from the French and naturalized Annamite Christians behind the scenes. Not only was it exhausting, but if he did not do well, he would also be reprimanded by the Hue court. Therefore, Li Yu had long since stopped wanting to stay in Haiphong and suffer, and he wrote many letters to his benefactor, the son-in-law Huang Jiyan, requesting to be transferred back to the central court to serve.

Huang Jiyan was in charge of the affairs of the northern provinces of Annan. He did not have many officials who were both civil and military officials under him, so he rejected Li Yu's request and appeased him to stay in Haiphong to serve the country and transfer him back when the situation in the northern provinces stabilized.

Because of Huang Jiyan's words, Li Yu had to continue to stay in Haiphong Province. Now a group of non-Tang forces were entrenched in Guang'an Province, which made him see the hope of returning to the court, but also brought worries.

The military strength in Annan was lax and the soldiers' combat capability was low. In the battle with the French army, five or six thousand soldiers were often no match for two hundred enemy troops.

The Annan army suffered repeated defeats. It was unable to defeat the French, the remnants of the peasant army that had fled into the country, and even the local rebel forces. In the end, it requested the Qing army to enter the country to fight and barely quell the domestic peasant uprising.

With such an army under his command, Li Yu was not confident that he could defeat the Tang armed forces entrenched in Ha Long. Seeing the hesitation on his master's face, the staff felt that their chance had come and hurriedly said, "Your Excellency can ask the court to send General Feng, the governor of Guangxi, to help encircle and suppress the Tang armed forces. In this way, the rebellious forces in the Ha Long area can be wiped out in one fell swoop."

"No, the last time we invited the Qing army to enter the country to suppress the bandits, it has already caused dissatisfaction among the French. If we ask the Qing army to enter the country to help again, the French will probably tear up the Saigon Treaty and launch a full-scale attack on the Chinese Dynasty."

Le Yu refused to invite the Qing army to enter the country. On the one hand, he was afraid of the attitude of the French, and on the other hand, he did not trust the Qing army. The Qing army inherited the Eight Banners system of the Qing Dynasty. Every time they fought, they would plunder the local area to boost the morale of the troops. Therefore, although the Qing army entered Vietnam last time and wiped out the rebel forces in Annan, the people in the places they passed through suffered greatly. Their property and livestock were robbed, and young women were brutally abused. When the Qing army withdrew to the country, the Annan people who had suffered from the plunder joined the fleeing rebel forces, and the security situation in the northern provinces did not improve. Inviting the Qing army to enter the country was a double-edged sword. Unless it was a last resort, Le Yu and the Hue court would not choose this path.

Excluding the option of allowing the Qing army to enter the country, there was only one way left for Li Yu, which was to rely on the strength of the Annan army to encircle and suppress the Tang forces.

Li Yu was in charge of the armies of Haiphong and Guang'an provinces, and could dispatch about 10,000 soldiers. In Li Yu's eyes, it was a draw to lose against 1,000 or 2,000 Tang armed forces. In order to achieve a higher chance of victory, more troops needed to be dispatched.

After much consideration, Li Yu decided to borrow troops from his colleague during the rebellion, the current Haiyang Governor-General Nguyen Ke Su. He had made up his mind and said, "I want to borrow 4,000 troops from Haiyang Governor-General Nguyen Ke Su. Yuan Jia should send someone to arrange it immediately."

The staff persuaded Li Yu to send troops to wipe out Sun Bin's troops, naturally not for the sake of the Annan court's plan. When they heard that Li Yu wanted to borrow troops from other officials, they did not bother to hide it and hurriedly said, "Your Excellency, you must not do this. I heard that the Tang leader Sun Bin is as rich as a country, and there is a large amount of gold and silver stored in his camp in Xialong. If you ask the governor of Haiyang for help, will the gold and silver still fall into your hands?"

"Does Halong really store a large amount of gold?" When Li Yu heard the word "gold", he instantly lost his composure. Antiques are in prosperous times and gold is in troubled times. The Hue court was suffering from internal and external troubles. It was a consensus among officials at all levels in Annan to make more money while in power. Otherwise, Sun Bin would not have been able to bribe officials of all sizes in Guang'an so easily.

The aide was a close associate of Li Yu and also received bribes from Sun Bin. However, compared with ordinary officials, he was more greedy and wanted to rely on Li Yu's power to swallow up the money of Sun Bin and others.

The staff did not want more people to know that Sun Bin and his men had a large amount of gold and silver, so they immediately encouraged them, "To be honest, sir, not long after the Tang merchant leader arrived in Halong, I discovered that something was wrong with them, so I specifically instructed several minor officials near Halong to secretly keep an eye on them. Three days ago, a box accidentally fell when the Tang fleet was unloading, revealing the gold hidden inside. The Tang people who were responsible for carrying the box hurriedly had someone put the gold away, but it was still seen by the people I arranged."

"If there is gold in one box, how can we determine if there is gold in other boxes as well?"

"I don't know how many other boxes contain gold, but think about it carefully, my lord. The Tang people spent money to supply food and materials to tens of thousands of people and bribe officials with tens of thousands of taels of silver without any regret. How could they have less money?"

"What you said makes sense." Li Yu thought of the five hundred taels of gold in the backyard of the Governor's Mansion. According to his understanding, it cost so much gold to bribe him alone. There were dozens of officials of all ranks in Guang'an Province, and the total amount was also not small. When he thought of the gold and silver shipped by the big ships, Li Yu's eyes immediately lit up.

"The opportunity is rare and will never come back. There are still 5,000 or 6,000 local patrol militias in Haiphong and Guang'an provinces. If we recruit them together, can a force of 17,000 people not defeat 1,000 or 2,000 Tang rebels?"

Li Yu's confidence increased after hearing his staff's words, and he became bolder when he thought of the golden gold in the Halong camp.

"It is my duty to suppress the bandits and protect the people. I have decided to personally lead the armies of the two provinces to wipe out the Xialong Tang armed forces and restore peace to the people of Guang'an."

With a huge amount of wealth right in front of him, Li Yu felt that it was worth taking some risks for it.

After making a decision, a messenger carrying Li Yu's handwritten letter rushed to the military bases of the two provinces to summon the army to assemble. On the other hand, Sun Bin, who was busy with many things, did not expect that in order to avoid trouble, he would pay extra money to bribe officials, but it attracted other people's prying eyes.

(End of this chapter)