Chapter 36 Past events in Phnom Penh

Chapter 36 Past events in Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh, the official residence of the Jin family.

Sitting in front of a square table were some of the most powerful Chenla people in the Chenla Kingdom. On the left were Xie Su, the director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Deng Changbu, the director of punishments.

Sitting on the right are Jin Jie, the chief trade officer, and Jin Pan, the chief officer of the Foreign Affairs Office.

Sitting north and facing south, the old man wearing purple robe in the middle is named Parasu. He is the prime minister of Zhenla.

Opposite the old man was Hong Bufu, the commander-in-chief of the Zhenla Forbidden Army.

Parasu spoke first.

"Since everyone can gather together today, I won't say any more. My heart for Zhenla is not dead when the people of Yue are killed. In the name of suppressing the rebellion, I am actually reducing my population. I am destroying my city and plundering my people. The governor of Chaihen The entire Kiriha clan has been wiped out. If we continue to allow the Yue people to act recklessly, what happens to Kiriha today will be what happens to us tomorrow."

Deng Changbu, the chief punishment officer, slapped the table hard and sighed helplessly.

"Where is the king's law and where is the law of heaven? Isn't Ruan Yue afraid of the Buddha's appearance and the consequences of reincarnation?"

Most people in Chenla and Vietnam believe in Buddhism.

Xie Suji, the director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, hated waiting for Deng Changbu to show weakness, and did not believe official Jin Pan, so he said.

"At this time, do you still expect the Buddha to appear? Let's study how to save ourselves. Master Guan Jinpan, are the Xiyi you said reliable? Are you afraid that the French, the lackeys of the Vietnamese, are pretending to be special to deceive us?"

The French once funded the Vietnamese, but after the Vietnamese became strong, they began to suppress the French everywhere, so the Chenla people mistakenly believed that the French were a slave state of the Vietnamese.

"No, their languages ​​​​are different, and I heard from Western businessmen that the Austrians are the mortal enemies of the French." Guan Jinpan replied.

Xie Su naturally understood that the enemy of an enemy is a friend and continued to ask.

"Are their firearms really that powerful? How are they compared to our blunderbuss?"

Hong Bufu, the commander-in-chief of the Forbidden Army, said.

"Awesome! Compared with the new-style foreign guns, our blunderbuss is a fire stick. The new-style foreign guns shoot fast and accurately, and are so powerful that they are useless even under iron armor and rattan armor. The best thing is that they are not afraid of moisture. , don’t be afraid of not being able to light it.”

The climate in Chenla is hot and humid, and the lead of the matchlock gun is easily affected by moisture, which seriously affects shooting.

Flintlock guns have been developed for hundreds of years in this era, and the granulated black powder brought by Ambrosius is not comparable to traditional black powder powder.

Granular gunpowders are in granular form, so they will not stick together even when squeezed by the bar, while black powder powder is more likely to become a lump from the combination of force and moisture.

The gaps left between the particles of gunpowder allow oxygen to assist the combustion of the gunpowder, making the burning rate more uniform and improving the efficiency of gunpowder combustion.

When the powder gunpowder is fired, a considerable part of the unignited gunpowder is ejected out of the barrel, so its power is greatly increased.

It's just that the officials in Chenla didn't understand this.

Although Xie Su was unwilling to give in, he believed in Hongbufu, the commander-in-chief of the Forbidden Army. If it weren't for the commander-in-chief's presence, the wealthy families in Phnom Penh would have been wiped out by Zhang Ming.

Zhang Mingjiao was a close general of Emperor Minh Ming of Vietnam. He was named the governor of Chenla by Emperor Ming Ming, and implemented the policy of extermination and assimilation in Chenla.

The old man in the middle spoke again.

"But one hundred taels of silver is really too expensive. No matter how good the Yi weapons are, we can't afford to buy them. If we only buy a few thousand, they may not be useful. Ruan Yue has an army of one hundred thousand."

"Your Excellency Ambrosius has three conditions."

"tell me the story."

"I have arranged for people to allocate a piece of land for them to live in."

"Well, that's right. Our land in Zhenla is vast and rich in resources. Not to mention the land of a village, I can even afford the land of a county." The old man nodded. He didn't think there was any point in setting aside land in Zhenla for foreigners to live. As long as Just pay the tax.

"They also hope to build churches to worship their ancestors."

"It's natural for people to miss their hometown and worship their ancestors. It seems that these Western Yi people are not uncultured people."

"Their leader wants to see Her Royal Highness the Princess."

"Damn it! How dare the barbarians be so rude! This is the greatest absurdity in the world. How can Princess Fengyan be seen by these foreign barbarians?" The old man was so angry that his hair and beard were all red.

But the others here were not too angry.

"Now His Majesty Anzan is still in the hands of the Vietnamese. If we can welcome His Majesty back, not only to meet the princesses, but also to let the princesses get married." Jin Jie, the trade manager who had been silent, said.

Prime Minister Palasu wanted to reprimand this lawless bastard, but everyone around him fell silent, seeming to acquiesce to Guan Jinjie's statement.

Parasu thought about it, the country was going to perish, so what use were these etiquettes?

"How many taels can we get cheaper if we agree to these three conditions?"

"Thirty taels." Guan Jinpan replied.

The old man thought for a moment and then said.

"Tell them that we can allocate a county to them. But the foreign guns will cost fifty liang a piece and sell them to us."

"I will try my best to live up to the prime minister and live up to Zhenla." Guan Jin Pan Dayi replied calmly.

Night, Phnom Penh, Dongqiao Restaurant.

"Then now I ask everyone who has money and ability to contribute to fight the national crisis." Parasu raised his glass and drank it all in one gulp. "I am Prime Minister Zhenla. Let's start with me. I will contribute 200,000 taels."

Two hundred thousand taels is definitely a very big number in Chenla. You must know that due to the exploitation of the Vietnamese, the Chenla treasury can only receive 30,000 to 50,000 taels of silver every year, and it cannot even afford the salaries of soldiers and officials. (At this time, the Qing Dynasty had 40 million taels)

Palasu really showed all his secrets, but because the number was so scary, no one responded for a long time. Everyone's arms were numb and they looked at each other, waiting for the next person to express their opinion.

Guan Jinpan couldn't stand it anymore and drank all the wine in one gulp.

"I am willing to give you 10,000 taels of silver and 10,000 hu of rice."

Although Guan Jinpan is a second-rank official in Zhenla, and Guan Jin's family is a wealthy family in Zhenla, this number is really quite a lot for his family.

Then Guan Jinjie also drank the wine in one gulp.

"I am the same as my elder brother, with ten thousand taels of silver and ten thousand hu of rice."

After Guan Jinjie finished speaking, he hugged Guan Jinpan and cried, because this was almost all the assets that their family could use, and any more would have to be sold off.

Later, Xie Su, the director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, also offered 5,000 taels, and Hong Bufu, the commander-in-chief of the Forbidden Army, offered 1,000 taels.

After that, it became outrageous. These businessmen, officials, landowners, and gentlemen gave you 200 and me 300. The most outrageous thing was that Deng Changbu, the chief executioner, only paid 50 taels.

This made Palasu very angry, because Deng Changbu accepted more than 200 taels of bribes at a time, he said tremblingly.

"You are a bunch of worms! The country is in such a state of decline that you can't go into battle to kill the enemy, so why don't you want to contribute some of your family wealth? Deng Changbu! Why do you, the chief executioner, only contribute fifty taels!"

Deng Changbu also had a reason and said with great disdain.

"My annual salary should be one hundred and fifty taels, but now they give me twenty taels every year. I have been an official for seventeen years, and Zhenla still owes me two thousand two hundred taels."

Palasu was so angry that he almost fainted. He deeply understood the helplessness of Master Chongzhen back then.

Thanks to book friends Yinhuo Daofan, Mr. Jianyuan, Master Taraxia, and Xiao Yanr for their rewards, and book friends Yin Huo Daofan, Yan Wang Cser, Yu Qi, OAA, who like to read American comics, and Xiao Yanr for their monthly passes, and all the book friends friends’ support.

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