After King Chenla announced the eldest prince of Chenla as his heir, the court meeting ended immediately.
Suddenly Gao Xiang Ping didn't pay any attention to him.
After the meeting, Gao Xiang Ping's face was ashen.
He also wanted to forcefully speak at the palace meeting, but in the end he suppressed it.
After all, he is not rebelling. He also needs to follow the rules of the palace. If he resists forcefully at this time, who knows what the dying King will do.
Of course, the most important thing was that he was wary of not knowing what kind of support Prince Chenla had obtained from the Ming Dynasty in the coastal ports.
His Majesty the King must have a trump card if he suddenly dares to be so strong.
"Wait for the news later. Our people will be able to bring back the information about Ming Dynasty to the port tonight at the latest."
"At this time, remember not to act rashly. You were right not to embarrass His Majesty at the palace meeting."
The speaker was Guluozhi, a position equivalent to the Minister of Household Affairs in the Ming Dynasty.
The two were in charge of Zhenla's money bag and military power respectively, so they were able to confront King Huerna and help the third prince ascend to power.
"I always have a bad feeling that the Ming Dynasty will support the eldest prince. I heard from the envoy that Sultana has married the grandson of the Ming Dynasty."
"Sultana is so beautiful, she must have been favored by the great grandson of the Ming Dynasty."
"We shouldn't have let Sultana go to the Ming Dynasty in the first place. Who knew she would meet the great grandson of the Ming Dynasty."
"Now we are tied up."
There was strong regret in Gao Xiangping's tone.
Originally, as a princess of the Chenla Kingdom, especially when she was so beautiful, it was impossible for her to have the opportunity to go to the Ming Dynasty.
It was because he knew that Prince Chenla was planning to sell Sultana to the general of Lancang in exchange for support, so he made a plan and encouraged Sultana to go to the Ming Dynasty.
In their plan, as the most important bargaining chip for Prince Chenla, Sultana left Chenla.
The Ming Dynasty was not just a few years away, but the king's condition was so serious that he would definitely have no chance of coming back.
Who would have thought that the rich grandson of the Ming Dynasty would also fall in love with this Sultana and actually become his concubine.
In fact, it doesn't matter just like this. According to normal circumstances, Ming Dynasty would not have time to support Prince Zhenla.
But it happened that the Ming Dynasty had created an ocean-going fleet again, and now it came to Chenla, just when the king of Chenla was most seriously ill.
In the luxurious mansion, the two people frowned.
I always feel that Prince Chenla is very likely to take over directly this time.
"If he becomes king, he will definitely deal with both of us."
After a long while, Gao Xiang Ping said quietly.
The battle for the throne is often bloody.
Once the competition fails, the consequences will be obvious.
In fact, in history, the eldest prince of Chenla, Senlepa Piya, eventually became the king, and it was not because of Sultana.
It was to take advantage of the day when King Huner died.
Prince Chenla was forced to have no choice but to secretly plan to lead more than a thousand palace guards to kill the two of them unprepared and then declare their crime.
This kind of undermining of the cauldron left many followers without a leader, and then they successfully ascended to the throne.
However, because of this mutiny, Chenla's military power was dispersed, thus planting the seeds of destruction.
Angkor was eventually captured by Siam.
"Prince Zhenla is still in the port and it is impossible to come back so soon."
"If His Majesty the King dies in these two days and the third prince takes the throne first, then even the eldest prince Chenla will not be able to come back in time."
After a long time, Gao Xiang Ping spoke.
Guluozhi was slightly silent.
He knew that Gao Xiang Ping wanted to cause a mutiny and seize Angkor.
Theoretically, it is very possible.
"We met the general of the Ayutthaya Dynasty last year. I can write him a letter and ask them to attack the city. The worst I can do is to give them two more cities."
"Only in chaotic situations do we have a chance."
"The Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet only has 50,000 to 60,000 people. Even if it is a powerful force, not all of them will come to support the eldest prince."
"This is our only chance."
Guluozhi's eyes flickered. As the person who controlled all financial power, he would naturally be instigated by the Ayutthaya Dynasty.
I am quite loyal to Zhenla and Guluozhi.
But at this juncture, it is not impossible to betray Zhenla's interests.
Chenla's border troops were in the hands of the king, and only by involving their energy could they carry out a better coup.
"Okay, let's do it like this." Gao Xiangping nodded and said.
The main focus of a coup is to be secretive, quick, and take advantage of people's unpreparedness.
More than 100,000 troops captured the palace of Chenla.
Inadvertently or not, King Chenla was completely imprisoned, and the whole of Angkor was in the hands of Gao Xianping.
But even so, the third prince has no way to inherit the throne.
Because the king is not dead yet.
Even if there was a coup, Gao Xiangping would not dare to kill the emperor, he could only wait for Huerna's death.
"Is His Royal Highness the King not dead yet?"
Gao Xiang Ping asked the doctor in a gloomy tone.
The doctor just shook his head: "Although His Majesty's condition is very serious, he has been persisting."
"How long will it take?" Gao Xiangping asked.
The doctor spread his hands: "Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe in half a month, no one can say for sure."
Prime Minister Gao Ping was so angry that his teeth itched, but he did not dare to issue an order for the doctor to kill the king.
Chenla has been inherited for six hundred years, and there have been many battles for the throne in history.
There are successes and failures.
But there is a bottom line that all Chenla must abide by, that is, you cannot murder the king.
If anyone murders the king, all the nobles can oppose him.
Even Samit only wrote a letter to tell the king about the situation along the coast of Huerna, hinting at his suicide, but did not dare to tell the truth.
Being able to be passed down for six hundred years, some rules have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the nobles.
Prime Minister Gao did not dare to take this risk.
Fortunately, on the fourth day after the coup, the Siamese army approached, so that the Chenla army on the border did not bother to turn back to Angkor.
This was Guluozhi's method. He secretly gave him an unknown amount of money, and even promised to cede two cities after the event was completed.
One of them is also an important city of Chenla.
As for the third prince, he is almost like a puppet.
A coup was carried out in his name, but he had no say at all.
The news soon spread to the ports on the coast of Chenla.
The eldest prince of Zhenla was directly shocked. He did not expect that these people would dare to stage a coup.
Regarding this, Samit had not thought of it.
"Now we can only rely on the Ming Dynasty's ocean fleet."
Samit said in a deep voice.
They have no way out.
After some estimation, Prince Chenla now only has more than 2,000 troops.
Even including the soldiers at the port, there are only 20,000 people in total.
In Angkor, there were 100,000 soldiers guarding the city.
At first glance, it seemed that Prince Chenla had no chance.
Even if Li Jinglong's troops and horses are included, the number will only be 40,000.
Moreover, it is impossible for Ming Dynasty to send all the people here.
Angkor is the royal capital of Chenla that has been inherited for six hundred years. It has a strong and towering city wall. Let alone tens of thousands of people, even hundreds of thousands of people cannot be captured in a short time.
"There are very powerful artillery on the Ming Dynasty's big ships. If the Duke of the Ming Dynasty is willing to let these artillery help, even the city wall of Angkor cannot stop it."
"Now it's up to us to see if Ming is willing to help us."
Samit's voice echoed in the ears of Prince Chenla.
Another meaning behind this statement is that under such circumstances, it is necessary to pay a higher price to invite Daming.
"No matter how much they pay, even if Chenla becomes a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, they cannot succeed."
Prince Zhenla spoke slowly.
This matter is actually something that Prince Zhenla has been thinking about in the past few days.
Because in his mind, he was about to become the king of Chenla.
But he couldn't see any hope for Chenla's future development direction.
The Ayutthaya dynasty of Siam is now becoming more and more powerful, and is retreating step by step on the border.
The eldest prince of Chenla knew how much he was worth. Let alone lead Chenla to counterattack Siam, it was still unknown whether he could completely control the military power.
Without the influence of external forces, Chenla may have no choice but to give up Angkor.
The location of Angkor was too close to Siam, especially the loss of several key territories.
That was originally the territory controlled by the natal family of Prince Chenla.
The Siamese army that broke through the border only needed less than three days to reach the gates of Angkor City.
Why did Prince Chenla have such an idea?
It was because in the last chat with the Duke of Ming Dynasty, the Duke of Ming Dynasty proposed to intervene and mediate Siam's aggression against Chenla.
Only when Prince Zhenla turned around did he realize how powerful the Ming Dynasty was now.
Chenla is close to Champa, and the Ming Navy is currently stationed in the waters of Champa.
This means that the entire Nanyang sea area has been controlled by the Ming Dynasty.
When you see the Ming Dynasty's treasure ships, you can understand that in today's world, no country's fleet can compete with the Ming Dynasty.
Not to mention the Ming Dynasty's huge influence on Southeast Asian countries.
Just in terms of trade, it affected the interests of almost all nobles.
Prince Zhenla didn't have any psychological burden on being the younger brother of the Ming Dynasty. Instead, it depended on whether the Ming Dynasty was willing to accept this younger brother.
Immediately, Prince Zhenla took Samit to visit the Duke of Ming Dynasty again.
"It seems that there is a big problem in the eldest prince's country."
"I have received news about Angkor. At this time, I have sent people to convey my Ming Dynasty's intention to Siam, asking them to withdraw their troops and return to the city, and not to interfere with the affairs of Angkor Thom."
Li Jinglong was the first to speak.
For Li Jinglong, this is just a matter of passing an order, which is relatively simple.
As for whether Siam will be obedient, Li Jinglong doesn't care.
However, there is a high probability that the Ayutthaya Dynasty will not go against the wishes of the Ming Dynasty.
Prince Chenla was quite surprised when he heard this.
He didn't expect that the Duke of Ming Dynasty would really help him sincerely.
If the worries on the border are relieved, then he can let the border troops turn back to Angkor, which will give him a great chance of victory.
"If the eldest prince doesn't mind, I can mobilize a hundred artillery pieces from the ship and bombard the gates of Angkor City for a day and a night."
Li Jinglong said with a smile again.
Artillery is the siege weapon of the Ming Dynasty.
The city here in Nanyang is said to have high walls, but in fact it is the size of Daming County and cannot withstand the bombardment of artillery.
For things like siege, don't be too simple.
Samit and Prince Zhenla did not expect that happiness would come so suddenly, so they immediately gave a big gift to express their gratitude to Li Jinglong.
Li Jinglong just smiled and said nothing.
Already familiar with the habits of the Duke of Ming Dynasty, the eldest prince of Zhenla, Shenlie Popiya, immediately said that as long as he could become the king of Zhenla, Zhenla would become the most loyal vassal state of Ming Dynasty in the future.
The laws of the Ming Dynasty will be implemented in Chenla.
He himself would go to the capital of the Ming Dynasty in person to accept the canonization of the emperor.
Li Jinglong was also shocked.
He didn't expect that the eldest prince of Zhenla would be so direct.
Although for now, in terms of tribute trade, all countries close to the Ming Dynasty are nominally vassal to the Ming Dynasty, but in fact the Ming Dynasty has no power over them.
Even in the letters written by Timur to the Ming Dynasty, he still regarded himself as a minister.
But Chenla's behavior is tantamount to becoming a de facto vassal state.
It was completely different for vassal states. For the king of Zhenla to succeed to the throne, he needed to be canonized by the Ming Dynasty.
This gave the Ming Dynasty the power to garrison troops in Zhenla.
The most important thing is that such a thing is a huge contribution to Li Jinglong.
A big country like Zhenla, which has been inherited for six hundred years, became a vassal of the Ming Dynasty. Such a huge achievement is completely equivalent to the canonization of the prince.
It is tantamount to opening up territory and expanding territory for the Ming Dynasty.
Cao Guogong's title is hereditary, but now Li Jinglong himself has achieved achievements comparable to those of Duke Cao.
"Don't worry, the eldest prince. The affairs of Zhenla are my Ming Dynasty's affairs. I will definitely do my best to help the eldest prince put down the rebellion in the country."
Li Jinglong said without hesitation.
This gave Prince Chenla finally the confidence to take back Angkor.
While consolidating forces along the coast.
Li Jinglong's letters also reached Siam.
After only a brief hesitation, Siam chose to withdraw its troops regardless of the promise of Chenla Minister Guluozhi.
Everyone in Siam is looking forward to the arrival of the Ming Dynasty's ocean fleet, which represents huge wealth.
Moreover, Siam had no intention of offending the Ming Dynasty. Instead, it hoped to go to the Ming Dynasty for tribute trade and obtain more porcelain and silk.
There is absolutely no need to be so anxious about the occupation of Chenla.
The king of the Ayutthaya Dynasty did not think that Chenla would pose any danger to Siam.
Siam's power is constantly rising. It is the most stupid behavior to offend one's own God of Wealth for a few cities.
Besides, this is not in the interests of the Siamese nobles.
Now, it was the turn of the rebel forces in Angkor Thom to panic.