My life skills in Daming Liver

On the warship in the southeast, Shen Yiguan asked his deputy Chi Hongmo:

"Have you finished analyzing the Champa information collected these days?"

After training with Shen Guan for such a long time, Chi Hongmo can be considered a qualified diplomat. He immediately said:

"Chief, my subordinates have sorted out the history of Champa."

Seeing Shen Yiguan's expression, Chi Hongmo knew that he was going to test himself, so he continued according to his summary.

"Champa is located in the southeastern part of the Annan Peninsula, reaching Hengshan Pass in Annam in the north and Liangpan area in Binh Thuan Province in the south. The royal capital is Indrapura. The ancient books of the Central Plains call it Xianglin Yi, or Linyi for short, and it is the hometown of the people of Cham. It was originally Xianglin County, which was established in Rinan County in the Han Dynasty of China. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Okui, the son of a meritorious official in Xianglin County, killed the county magistrate, proclaimed himself king, and founded the Champa Kingdom."

Shen Yiguan nodded frequently, which all showed that Chi Hongmo had done a lot of work and sorted out the source of the occupation.

Chi Hongmo was encouraged by his superiors and continued: "Today's Champa is a vassal state of Annam. About ninety years ago, the Later Li Dynasty Li Shengzong personally conquered Champa, captured the capital, captured Chaquan, the king of Cham alive, and established Guangnan Road. , but the royal lineage that did not completely destroy Champa still allowed the king of Champa to live in Champa.”

"However, after Hou Li Bei Mo split, the lord of Champa, Po A, rebelled again. Now Champa is nominally surrendered to Hou Li, but in fact it has a complete separatist regime."

Shen Yiguan nodded repeatedly, and then asked: "What use does Champa have to us in the southeast?"

Chi Hongmo still couldn't accept his boss's naked utilitarianism, but he also knew that Shen Guangyuan appeared to be a Confucian disciple, but in essence he was an extremely cold strategist.

He is simply a natural diplomat. He can always keenly find the flaws in a country and provoke conflicts that are beneficial to the southeast.

For example, when he met Ruan Huang for the first time, Shen Yiguan had already decided on his plan to support Ruan Huang and found an ally for Ruan Huang in Annan - the sugarcane plantation owner.

Next, Shen Guanyin just threw out the bait, and Ruan Huang could only swallow the bait in the face of temptation, and now he took the lead in resisting Hou Li.

In Chi Hongmo's view, Annan Houli was finished.

With Southeast's support, Ruan Huang will definitely succeed.

But even if Ruan Huang wanted Annan to continue to maintain his independence, the sugarcane plantation owners who supported him in the war would definitely not agree to his independence.

In order to join the southeastern native trading system, these sugarcane plantation owners would definitely not allow Annan to become independent.

The overall situation in Annan was decided, so Shen Guanyi immediately went south to Champa. This was the last piece of the puzzle in the entire Annan Peninsula and the southernmost point where the influence of the Central Plains had ever reached.

Chi Hongmo was not used to discussing interests so nakedly, but he still answered Shen Yiguan's question.

"Champa has fertile land. Champa rice, which was widely promoted in the Song Dynasty, is a high-yield rice variety produced in Champa."

"Grain and spices, these are the main commodities sold by Champa merchants to the southeast."

"In addition, ivory and rhino horn are also popular commodities in the southeast."

Shen nodded with satisfaction. He was indeed a good assistant. Southeast didn't know much about Champa. He could analyze it like this because he had put in a lot of effort.

Shen Guanyi said: "The things you mentioned are all produced in Champa, but the most important thing about Champa to our southeast is its port."

"port?"

Shen Guanyi nodded and said: "Before departure, the Governor once told me that Da Nang is the most important port in Champa and the best port at the southern end of the entire Annan Peninsula. It is also the hub for controlling Southeast Asian trade."

"We need Da Nang so that the influence of the southeast can expand to the entire Southeast Asia, and then we will have a safe trade zone."

Chi Hongmo still looked a little confused, but Shen Yiguan didn't show any disappointment.

After all, what he said was still too complicated for Chi Hongmo.

Chi Hongmo already understood Shen's usual style of doing things.

Shen always makes decisions before acting. He will find an entry point in the target country where the conflicts are most intense, and then use this entry point to invade and stir up trouble within the enemy.

As Shen has repeatedly emphasized, no country is monolithic. Every country has its own internal contradictions. He needs to find the most intense and main contradiction and then exploit this contradiction.

To break the contradiction is to overthrow the political balance that has been finally established within the enemy country. Whether it is to break this balance or to build a new balance, external force is needed.

As long as the Southeast can become this external force, it can successfully penetrate into these countries and achieve the effect of defeating others without fighting.

Chi Hongmo said: "The current lord Po A of Champa has a very high prestige in Champa. Champa is a small country but its people are rich. They are also quite united in resisting Annan's rule. So where should we start this time?"

Chi Hongmo also collected a lot of information about the occupation of Annan.

The mother-in-law of Champa is only twenty years old now. She was a descendant of the Champa royal family who was exiled in a remote area. Even his identity as a descendant of the royal family is in doubt.

However, Po A was able to take advantage of the civil strife in Annan and take advantage of Champa's long-standing resistance to Annan. He took advantage of the situation and successfully drove the Annan army out of Champa. He even used the elephant charge to achieve a huge military victory. .

Now is the time when Champa is most united.

The Southeast is not afraid of war, but Champa is too far from the Southeast mainland. Even if Annan is captured, it will take an expedition to influence Champa.

While the Ming Dynasty's problem has not yet been resolved, the Southeast Governor's Office and the Cabinet will not approve such an expedition.

That's why Chi Hongmo was very confused as to where Shen Yiguan would start to disrupt the situation in the city and give the Southeast an opportunity to fish in troubled waters.

Shen Guanyin said: "Faith."

"Belief?"

Shen Guanyi said: "Champa has been affected by the body poison, that is, the influence of Tianzhu culture, and the people generally believe in Brahmanism (Hinduism)."

"But when we were in the Song Dynasty, Islam began to spread on a large scale and was even introduced to the Central Plains. At that time, many people in Champa converted to Islam. These people were more interested in doing business overseas and often traveled to the Central Plains. , this group of people is recorded in our Central Plains classics and is called 'Bai Zhanni'."

"In addition to these two religions, Tianzhu is also the birthplace of Buddhism, so there are also some Buddhists in Champa."

"About 60% of people in Champa now believe in Brahmanism, 30% believe in Islam, and 10% believe in Buddhism and other Pontic religions."

Chi Hongmo had a headache. For scholars in the Central Plains, although there were many believers in Buddhism and Taoism, most scholars' attitude towards religion was to appreciate the philosophical thinking in the faith rather than the ritual itself.

In other words, when scholars in the Central Plains talk about Zen, it is more often a cultural preference and a petty bourgeoisie sentiment than a true belief in the Buddhist kingdom after death.

Therefore, it is difficult for Central Plains people to understand that kind of religious fanaticism.

Obviously, Champa is a place with a strong religious atmosphere.

Shen Guanyi said: "Brahmanism divides people into four classes, actually five classes, namely Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Shudras and untouchable Dalits."

Chi Hongmo could not understand this religion at all.

Thousands of years ago in the Central Plains, it was said that "Princes, generals and ministers should rather have their own kind", and players who classified nobles and inferiors based on their birthplace had been swept into the garbage heap of history for hundreds of years in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Shen Guanyi said: "Islam was able to be introduced into Champa because some low-caste Brahmans believed in it."

"To put it bluntly, the religious contradictions in Champa are superficial, but the deeper level is the contradiction between the upper and lower classes in Champa."

"Generally speaking, the upper class in Champa believes in Brahmanism, and the lower class believes in Islam. Islam has imams teaching scriptures and temple organizations at the bottom of Champa, and it is becoming more and more powerful."

"But the upper echelons of Champa control the army and official system, and their use of force far exceeds that of the lower-level Muslims."

Shen Guanyi said: "What we have to do is to change this balance of power."

Chi Hongmo looked at his boss, and sure enough, Shen Guanyi went to Zhancheng to cause trouble again.

But he also got a little excited.

Annan and Champa appear to be small countries in the Central Plains, but in fact they are also important and influential countries in Nanyang.

Annan was the overlord of Indochina, and a small Champa could interfere in Southeast Asian trade, and even interfered with the Malacca Kingdom by force.

The so-called small countries are just compared with the Central Plains.

And Shen Yiguan and Chi Hongmo ran a country, built up a faction in Annan, and now they are going to overthrow Champa.

How exciting it is to be the person in charge of such a big event!

While Shen Yi Guan and Chi Hongmo were causing trouble in the Annan Peninsula, the Donghae Trading Company on Jeju Island received supplies, and the strong "trading company mercenaries" were ready and waiting for Yi Sun-shin to return to Jeju Island.

On July 10, Yi Sun-shin, who returned from a tour of the main island of North Korea, immediately took the oath of surrender on Jeju Island.

Yi Sun-shin, in the name of the president of the North Korean "Progress Association", which is an organization that includes a large number of academies and young scholars in North Korea, hired mercenaries from the Donghae Trading Company to issue a message to the North Korean leader and the small court. The message.

The content is probably that the North Korean monarch and the upper class are corrupt and degenerate, and the Progressive Association will follow the example of Southeast Asia in implementing constitutional government.

The printing presses secretly transported to major cities in North Korea printed the proclamation and posted it in the cities and villages at the same time.

Immediately afterwards, Yi Sun-shin led the mercenaries of the Donghae Trading Company, setting off from Jeju Island and diving into the vast sea.

After receiving the message, the Korean monarchs and ministers immediately deployed their troops to Busan to prevent Yi Sun-shin from landing in Busan.

But five days later, Yi Sun-shin's fleet appeared in a port that neither the Korean monarch nor his ministers expected.