Chapter 44 Taizong Chapter 44 The World in the Shadow of the Han Dynasty (Part 2)
Chapter 2097 Taizong Chapter 44 The World in the Shadow of the Han Dynasty (Part 2)
The war between the Han Empire and Zhenla, which took place in the winter and spring of the fifth to sixth year of Yongxi reign, undisputedly announced the great changes in the Indochina Peninsula.
This war ended with the disastrous defeat of the Chenla Kingdom, which lost troops and territory and humiliated itself in suing for peace. The once largest country on the peninsula sank and lost a large area of land in the north and south. It suffered heavy losses and the coastal countries were almost defeated.
A landlocked country. At the same time, a serious internal governance crisis also broke out, with the central authority losing its authority, local powerful factions rising, tribal rebellions, and separatism rising...
The ruling class of Chenla Kingdom has a certain degree of continuity, and its rule is not that fragile, just like the harassment and rebellion that occurred one after another in the North and South Jinzhou and Java Islands. If the court wants to completely conquer Chenla, it will not engage in mass killings and pass "
"Population policy" is extremely difficult to achieve results in a short period of time.
However, from the perspective of "causing chaos to the country", there is not much pressure on the Han Dynasty, especially after the country has been breached.
This peninsula war did not last long, but the scale of the troops mobilized was quite large. Not to mention the "self-defense counterattack" in the early stage. In the following months, we went abroad to fight, and were forced by the military situation to provide supplies and supplies. In the later stage,
An additional 30,000 pairs of civilians were dispatched, one after another, to quell the "Zhenla Rebellion". The imperial court recruited a total of 120,000 soldiers and civilians.
A war of this scale is not a small battle anywhere, let alone on the Indochina Peninsula. It is conceivable that the money and food consumed is huge. As for the casualties, there are also a lot of casualties. There are more than 7,000 people, more than half of whom are non-governmental organizations.
At the same time, more than 2,000 Han soldiers were buried among the plateaus and dense forests of the peninsula...
It is true that the losses of the Chenla Kingdom were more serious, several times or even ten times that of the Han army, and the Han army also captured the sixth large area of Zhenla territory centered on Wendan. However, this deal was not considered by the Han court.
No matter how you calculate it, it's a loss.
Therefore, in April of the summer of the sixth year of Yongxi reign, when the Chenla envoys arrived in Luoyang, Xijing after hard work, and brought a begging letter from King Jayavarmandhi V of Chenla, the Emperor Liu Liang finally agreed without much complicated and heated discussion.
Yang then agreed to his request.
As for the conditions, it is necessary to pay tribute and cede territory and pay indemnity. At the same time, Chenla is required to open the country to prepare Han merchants to go to the country to do business. Moreover, those who are exiled in the territory of Chenla from Annan and Yunnan resist.
The Zhenla Kingdom also needed help in eradicating the powerful forces. To be honest, the court's conditions were considered to be lenient.
What the Zhenla Kingdom doesn't know is that in fact, they only need to carry it one more time, and the situation will get better, because the top leaders of the Han Empire reached a consensus and decided to dismiss the soldiers and end the dispute with the Zhenla Kingdom.
There are many reasons, mainly two aspects. First, the war with Chenla is really a loss. It will not be of much benefit to the court if it continues. It will only waste national power. After Chenla is defeated and surrendered, there is no need to waste money, food and troops;
Secondly, after entering the Yongxi era, the most important policies of the imperial court were to practice martial arts, cultivate literature, and recuperate. If it was not necessary, they would not start a war lightly.
Of course, situations like the Jiannan rebellion and the invasion of Zhenla must be resolutely suppressed and counterattacked, but the princes of the court have a psychological bottom line to what extent.
To be fair, the emperor's eldest son Liu Wenhuan led his army to counterattack into the border of Zhenla. Although it boosted morale and promoted Chinese martial arts, it was not so recognized by the upper class of the Han Dynasty.
Even Emperor Liu Yang, although he later ordered relevant ministries and departments to make every effort to ensure the logistics of the army, he still gave it a "reckless" evaluation.
As for the reason for some inconvenient sayings, the less the better, such as the imperial court sending troops, money and efforts to benefit the feudal country. The imperial court feudal country is to reduce the costs and consumption caused by expansion and colonization. This
This is a consensus formed within the imperial court since the late Kaibao period.
However, when Emperor Shizu was there, he could openly accept the suggestions of his ministers and express his attitude, while Emperor Yongxi had to consider some influence and "brotherhood" when it came to the kings. Therefore,
Some things can be done, but less said.
In the entire war, there were of course winners, and the one who benefited the most was undoubtedly Liu Shu's Linyi Kingdom. As it faced strong pressure from the imperial army in the north, even though Chenla was on guard against the south,
My strength is limited, so I am naturally reluctant to deal with it.
And Lin Yi can be said to be full of elites, with a large number of nobles who went south, strong support from maritime merchants, and the leaders are Liu Wenyan and Liu Gong, the two most capable generals in Lin Yi.
The results of the battle were huge. Not only did Liu and Liu achieve the set goal of "capture Hezhou", they also exceeded the task and advanced northward until they reached the confluence of the Tonle Sap Water and the Mekong River, and built Bashan Fort as a defense.
Bashan Fort is not far from the Tonle Sap Plain, the core ruling area of the Chenla Kingdom. Compared with the tens of thousands of troops from the Han Dynasty in the north, the "backstab" from the Linyi Kingdom is obviously a more deadly threat.
Even though Liu Wenyan did not advance rapidly due to many factors such as military strength, transportation, logistics, etc., while Liu Wenhuan continued to exert pressure in the north and captured the city, he led his army north to the Tonle Sap Lake area. Although he did not deliberately pursue the capture of the city, he still killed and wounded.
A large number of Chenla subjects, plundering countless people, greatly destroyed the social and production order of the Chenla Kingdom, and greatly slowed down the speed of the Chenla Kingdom's counterattack against Linyi.
After Liu Wenyan's troubles, the Chenla Kingdom naturally suffered another traumatic loss, and the Linyi Kingdom occupied almost all of the Mekong Delta, including part of the urban land that had been developed by the Chenla Kingdom.
This also saved a certain amount of people and financial resources for the subsequent development of Lin Yiguo.
After all, no matter how good the water and soil are, it is not an easy task to expand and cultivate land. Just one water conservancy condition can kill an individual. Starting from occupying the Mekong River Delta, Lin Yi State's true foundation for founding a country on the peninsula began to be gradually laid.
, this fertile land is also worthy of the Han people to take root.
Like the Linyi Kingdom, it is the Linhai Kingdom to the west. While Chenla was under attack from the north and the south, Linhai King Liu Wenhai also sent an army from the direct area to cross the mountain barrier and head towards the southwestern Gulf of Chenla (Gulf of Thailand).
) attack, even if it only achieved a nominal rule, it also expanded hundreds of miles of territory through this operation.
If Liu Wenhai hadn't focused his main energy on conquering the Bagan area in the north, Liu Wenhai would definitely have taken a big share of the meat of Zhenla.
In the past five or six years, the Indochina Peninsula has actually been far from peaceful. Not only the Linyi Kingdom has been devouring the Champa heritage and building a feudal military and political system. In the south, Qi King Liu Yun is also tightening his control over the North Jinzhou area. In his
With his solicitation and the support of the imperial court, dozens of noble families and children of meritorious officials went to Nanyang to make a fortune. Liu Yun's "New Qi State" was indeed the first choice for everyone in Nanyang.
The most uneasy one was obviously Liu Wenhai, who was aggressively attacking Bagan and the direct access area. With the support of the imperial court and the Nanyang Sea, Liu Wenhai led his army and in just one year, he conquered the Mon people in the southeastern region of "Myanmar".
The direct access to political power in the country was eliminated.
Then, while recruiting Han forces from the country and Southeast Asia, they also tamed the local indigenous people. At the same time, they advanced northward and quickly started to fight against the Bagan Kingdom.
In the past few years, the western part of the peninsula has basically revolved around the war between the Linhai Kingdom of the Han Empire and the indigenous Bagan Kingdom.
By the sixth year of Yongxi reign, Linhai King Liu Wenhai was competing with the Bagan Kingdom for the "Lower Burma" area on the basis of taking all the direct access to his homeland. However, unlike the Linyi Kingdom, Liu Shu could also take into account the development of commerce, agriculture and fishery.
, there are also some actual operating results.
As for Linhai State, it was completely a military system. Liu Wenhai completely established a militaristic state with Han military meritorious landowners as the main body. From the first year to the sixth year of Yongxi, there was almost no time without fighting.
The rising trend of Bagan was interrupted, and it had to try its best to resist the invasion from the ferocious Han army and people.
Also in April of the sixth year of Yongxi's reign, Liu Wenhai gathered 30,000 troops (pro-army + Han armed + servant army) to launch another summer offensive against Bagan.
This time, the Bagan State failed to withstand the attack from both land and sea from the Linhai State. Therefore, the Bagan State, which had resisted for more than four years, retreated northward. Liu Wenhai finally occupied "Lower Burma", and the Bagan State was really beaten into a "lower Burma".
landlocked country".
At this point, Liu Wenhai stopped his expansion and turned his attention to internal politics. Direct support from the imperial court had stopped long ago. Liu Wenhai mainly relied on himself and his father's legacy to complete the initial expansion.
After reaching the target, I had to stop and take a rest.
In August of the sixth year of Yongxi's reign, the eldest son of the emperor, Duke Liu Wenhuan of Ruyang, who had stayed in Wendan City for more than half a year, finally received a summons from the court and withdrew to Annan with the last batch of expeditionary troops to return to the court to show victory.
Of course, before returning to the dynasty, Liu Wenhuan also did some aftermath work. The Zhenla land that had been captured was still impossible to return. Liu Wenhuan and the Zhao family insisted on including it within the scope of the Han Dynasty. This is understandable
, otherwise the credit for opening up new territories will be lost, and Liu Wenhuan will be trapped in the whirlpool of criticism for "using military force and wasting money and people." The Murong family will definitely stick to this matter.
However, the cost of directly incorporating it into the administrative management of the empire was too high. Therefore, after obtaining full power from the imperial court, Liu Wenhuan made some arrangements for the developed North Chenla land.
First of all, in name, the four states of Wen, Wan, Meng, and Zhen were established, and a group of officials were mobilized from Annan, Yunnan, and Guangxi. In name, Liu Wenhuan granted more than 30 chieftains to the four states.
Among these chieftains were dignitaries and generals who surrendered from Chenla, as well as local indigenous tribal leaders.
Naturally, these forces had heard about the chieftain system of the Han Dynasty. Annan Road next door also had many chieftains. Therefore, these new interests were collectively accepted quickly.
Therefore, although Liu Wenhuan could not guarantee that the newly acquired four states of Wen, Wan, Mongolia, and Zhenla could be completely stabilized and become a consolidated territory of the Han Dynasty, he could at least guarantee that they would not easily return to Zhenla, and as time went by, they would always
We will be on the right path of "Chineseization". After all, the influence of the Han people in Indochina and even the entire southeast is continuing to deepen and strengthen.
As for Liu Wenhuan's aftermath, regardless of whether there was someone behind the scenes, Emperor Liu Yang finally gave him a "good" evaluation. As Liu Wenhuan withdrew his troops and returned home, the Indochina peninsula, which had been in turmoil for nearly a year, finally returned to stability.
Even though this stability is not so reliable, at the same time, a new situation on the peninsula and even Southeast Asia has been formed.
From a macro perspective, the "Peninsula War" of several months had an important impact on the history of the entire Southeast Asia, even if the outcome did not lead to "annihilation of the country".
But what is different from the "national annihilation" wars that took place in the Nanyang region in previous years is that this time it was not just the central powers of the Han Empire that ended up, but also the Han feudal states such as Linyi and Linhai, and even post-war Southeast Asia.
The new pattern was brought about by the efforts of these feudal states.
At this time, it seems that the situation that Emperor Shizu once expected has truly emerged. The pioneering spirit of the Han Dynasty should not just come from the emperor's personal preferences and support, and the feudal countries should not passively wait for the court's nurturing. They need to be more active
, more iron-blooded, need to have a source of expansion from the heart to spread the civilization of the Han Dynasty
Of course, whether this situation is good or bad for the Central Empire remains to be tested by time.
But at least in the sixth year of Yongxi's reign, the situation in the entire East Asia region is that the Chinese forces with the Han Empire as the core have further deepened their influence and control over the mountains, rivers, oceans and islands under the banner of the Han Dynasty.
The dominance of the Han Empire over the entire East Asia region has been further consolidated, and a new system of vassal states full of aggression and uncertainty is taking shape. This is also a positive attempt by the Celestial Empire to truly step out of the comfort zone of the traditional "Kyushu".