Chapter 968 Pros and Cons of War
Annan ended the domestic Civil War in 1629 and gained valuable time for peaceful development. In the next five years, he gradually repaired the wounds caused by the civil war that lasted for several years, and his national strength even improved compared to before the war. . But the days of peace seem to have come to an end. The war Annan is facing this time is not the Champa Kingdom in the south, which has always been wrong, nor is it the remnants of rebels in the country who are causing rebellion, but the Lancang Kingdom to the west of its border due to territorial disputes. and trade differences.
The Lancang Kingdom, also known as the Nanzhang Kingdom, was later known as Laos. This area was under the rule of the Funan Kingdom from the 1st to the 7th century AD, and then belonged to the Chenla Kingdom from the mid-14th century. It was not until 1353 that King Faang established the Lancang Kingdom in Luang Prabang.
Lancang is a completely landlocked country bordering the Ming Dynasty to the north, Chenla to the south, Annam and Siam to the east and west, and a small state-owned section of Myanmar to the northwest. And the saddest thing is that the national power of the surrounding countries is basically above it, and only Chenla, which has been on a decline for two hundred years, is almost at the same level. In such an era, being behind will be beaten is not a propaganda slogan, but a real reality. Lancang, a relatively weak country, has experienced a lot of foreign wars in the past two hundred years. The surrounding countries have basically been beaten. Although the result was less victory and more defeat, the country was still able to survive in the end.
The current king of Lancang is King Pa Mengkou who has just succeeded to the throne less than two years ago. This old man naturally had plans to develop his ambitions after he came up. He saw that the trade between neighboring Annan and the Haihan people was flourishing. With the rise of water, China's power has been significantly improved in just a few years. It would be a lie to say that it is not jealous. Naturally, he also wanted to follow suit and open up a trade channel with Haihan so that domestic resources could be exchanged for Haihan's money and weapons. But if you want to achieve this goal, you must first overcome a huge problem, and that is the geographical environment where Lancang Country is located.
If Lancang wants to trade with Haihan, it must first open a sea channel. Looking around Lancang, the nearest coastline is Annan, its neighbor to the east. The shortest distance from Lancang is less than a hundred miles. As long as there is a land passage leading to the sea, Lancang's precious timber, minerals, medicinal materials, furs and other products can be exported to Haihan. Of course, this idea did not appear after seeing Haihan’s trading capabilities. In fact, Lancang has always wanted to get a channel to the sea a long time ago. For this reason, it often had conflicts with Annan, which has a long and narrow land and a long coastline. , the purpose is to hope to create a sea passage from west to east in Annan territory.
But after King Pameng Kou made this request to Shenglong Mansion, he was rejected without mercy. The reason is also very simple. There are some unresolved grievances between the two countries, and Zheng Zhi does not want this restless neighbor to use the road to do business in his own territory. Even if he is willing, domestic public opinion will not agree with this decision, which is tantamount to treason.
During the civil war in Annam, Lancang was not idle. It secretly paid and sent troops to assist the small southern court. The exchange was that after the south won the war, it would get an exclusive territory in Dong Hai County, three hundred miles north of Hue. Port - This is the closest coast to Lancang Country. Of course, this plan ultimately came to naught due to the defeat of the small southern court, but Zheng Zhi, who learned the inside story after the war, wrote down the account and waited for the right time to settle accounts with the Lancang Kingdom. Now that Lancang Country actually made the request, wouldn't it just give Zheng Zhi a chance to slap him in the face.
The Lancang Kingdom did not give up even after being rejected. King Pameng Kou knew that it would be difficult to change Zheng Zhi's mind, so he decided to find other ways, such as trying to use force to open a road to the coast directly in the middle of the Annan territory. Of course, the consequences of this will definitely be intolerable to Annan, because it is equivalent to dividing Annan's land into two again, artificially creating a situation of north-south division. In recent years, the two countries have had several frictions on the border in the central Annan region. However, one side has never been able to make up its mind to launch a full-scale war, and the other side is unwilling to escalate the situation and affect the domestic stability. Therefore, there has been no A large-scale armed conflict broke out.
However, this kind of friction on the national border has become more and more intense since last year, and the Annan people have discovered that their opponents have begun to frequently send personnel across the border into the coastal areas. This is clearly the intention of surveying the terrain before the war. So the Annan court announced the closure of all gateways with Lancang and stopped all personnel activities and trade. As a result, Lancang Kingdom could still realize trade with Haihan through Annan merchants, but this was all terminated.
The Pa Meng Kou King of Lancang Kingdom obviously does not expect to resolve this issue that has plagued the two countries for many years through negotiation and consultation. Since the end of last year, he has mobilized troops to assemble on the west side of the border near Tonghai County in Annan. The troubled Shenglong Mansion also planned to resolve the matter once and for all, and also began to mobilize troops to the local area.
In theory, the current Annan Army no longer needs to hire the Haihan Militia Army to directly intervene in the war. Their own strength is enough to deal with foreign enemies like Lancang. However, out of caution, the Annan Army still hopes to order a batch in advance. Arms to cope with the attrition and losses that will occur in the war. Since Lancang is a landlocked country, Annan's navy cannot be used, so this time the order content is almost all based on army equipment, especially ammunition, which is extremely consumed in wars, and this time it accounts for nearly half of it. amount.
"It seems that the Annan people are not satisfied with defeating their opponents. They really intend to have a good fight with the Lancang Kingdom." After reviewing the order submitted by Zheng Zha to Haihan Ordnance Industry, Tao Donglai made no secret of it. He expressed his opinion: "This time the quantity is much larger than the arms order they placed with us during the civil war!"
Wang Tom said: "The staff also analyzed the strength of both sides and believed that the Annan Army should be the obviously dominant side. After all, we are involved in everything from weapons and equipment to personnel training. There is no reason why we can't beat one and are still stuck in the cold weapon era. It is a small country. However, this war is likely not to end in a short time, because Lancang is almost entirely covered with continuous mountainous areas, and the transportation construction is relatively backward. Even if the Annan Army can invade Lancang, the army's baggage will Supply transportation will face great challenges.”
Annan’s existing armed forces are almost in line with the Haihan Militia. A large number of officers have received training from Haihan military consultants at the Tushan training base on the northern coast of Annan. Some senior officers even studied abroad at the Haihan Military Academy in Sanya. Experience, combat command methods and concepts have all copied the Haihan model. The weapons and equipment of its army are highly dependent on Haihan. The muskets and artillery currently installed are basically all produced by Haihan. They can be called Haihan's loyal fans.
However, this kind of army that relies on thermal weapons has an obvious disadvantage, that is, it is more limited by logistical supply. As long as the ammunition supply is cut off, the combat effectiveness will plummet. The greater the proportion of thermal weapons installed, the more obvious this trend will be. In this regard, even their masters, the Haihan people, did not have a very effective solution. When fighting on land, they could only rely on a large amount of labor and animal power to transport and deliver supplies. Their operational efficiency was no better than that of the feudal dynasty armies of the same era. How much higher.
Therefore, Haihan’s strategy for outward expansion has always been to choose offshore areas rather than expand too much inland. This is because the top military officials know very well that the performance of the Haihan Militia Army when far away from the coastline is easily limited by logistical supplies. , a decline in combat effectiveness will be inevitable. The Annan army, which was trained under Haihan, also has the same shortcomings. After entering the inland mountainous area, the two sides with relatively clear strengths and weaknesses are likely to enter a tug-of-war state. It is precisely because of this that the staff decided that the war will not be fought in the short term. The judgment ends within. As an ally of Annan, Haihan will of course choose to support Annan when the war breaks out, but if the war lasts longer, it may not be bad news for Haihan. Once the cannon is fired, gold is worth ten thousand taels, and at least the arms sales orders to Annan will generate a lot more revenue. Moreover, the examples of battles between the Annan Army and the Lancang Army in the inland mountainous areas will also become a reference for the Haihan Army to revise its tactics in the future. After all, the Haihan militia army did not have much combat experience in entering inland mountainous areas. It seems that only the militia army entered the Qiongzhong mountainous area to quell the rebellion after the Shilu Mine riot in 1631. This was a small test of the militia army's ability in this regard. combat capability.
Bai Kesi, who is in charge of arms production, said: "However, we do not have such a large inventory of foreign trade arms, so we can only sign an agreement with them for batch delivery. I don't know if the Annan people can accept it."
"I don't think the Annan people have the idea of being picky. For them, it would be a good idea if we didn't cut off part of the order. After all, the arms orders they submitted before have never been completed in sufficient quantities." Tao Dong Lai responded with a teasing smile.
Although Haihan and Annan are allies, for the sake of security and long-term control, the export of arms and equipment has always been very tight. Many things cannot be bought by Annan people for how much money they pay. The contents of the military purchase order Annan placed with Haihan could be laughed at if he could buy 60% of it out of 100%. As for delivery time, this is not a trading condition that Annan people care about.
"But they bought a lot of arms this time. If they didn't end up fighting against the Lancang Kingdom and this batch of arms flowed into their arsenal, they probably wouldn't receive any more orders from them in the next two to three years." Bai Kesi There are still some doubts about whether this batch of arms will eventually be used in the war.
Haihan does not want the arms sold to become the buyer's inventory. Only through constant consumption can the arms business continue for a long time, and war is undoubtedly the best way to stimulate arms consumption. If Annan really fights the Lancang Kingdom In the event of a total war, there seems to be no problem in selling two years of arms supply to Annan at one time.
"The staff believes that the possibility of war is very high. In addition to the old grudges between the two countries, Annan is also very willing to expand outwards. However, Champa and Chenla in the south are not so easy to deal with, and the Ming Dynasty in the north is Not to mention, with us across the sea in the east, only the Lancang Kingdom in the west can move." Wang Tom explained: "In fact, I think they may have been waiting for Lancang in the past few years. The country takes action first so as to have enough reasons to launch a foreign war.”
For these two neighboring countries, each other is the only opponent suitable for war at this stage. Under such a delicate situation, war seems to be inevitable. But Haihan, the only one who has the ability to stop this war, can't find any reason to do it. On the contrary, in addition to selling weapons to the countries participating in the war, there are other reasons for Haihan to stand aside and even secretly add fuel to the flames.
"Once the war breaks out, the price in the immigration market will fall." Schneider, who had been listening silently, finally spoke: "Labor can create value for us in the long term, which is more cost-effective than the one-time arms trade. Until now, we have also Still reaping the demographic dividend brought about by the Annan Civil War.”
Hundreds of thousands of war refugees were displaced during the Annan Civil War, and Haihan seized this opportunity to accommodate a large number of Annan refugees. Among the population currently ruled by Haihan, the number of naturalized people of Annan origin still accounts for a considerable proportion. These naturalized citizens have worked for Haihan for several years in factories, mines, the army, shipping, plantations and other industries, and the value of the wealth they have created far exceeds the original cost of introducing them. Haihan has tasted the benefits of this, and he still has a special interest in areas where war breaks out. Even if it is as far away as the Shandong Peninsula, he will find ways to transport local refugees back to his own territory for resettlement.
If war breaks out again on the Indochina Peninsula, it is unthinkable that there will definitely be a large number of refugees in the warring areas, and neither Lancang nor Annan will probably have the energy and thought to resettle these refugees. At this time It's perfect for Haihan to act as a good person who saves people in distress. Haihan has accumulated rich experience in handling and resettling refugees. At that time, he only needs to send a team to bring enough food supplies to the war zone, and organize the refugees to cross the sea to Hainan Island by boat.
As Schneider said, the long-term benefits Haihan will gain from this population migration will definitely far exceed the one-time arms trade. Although this sounds inhumane, in such troubled times, it is already thankful that the refugees have hope of survival. Moreover, after they arrive under the rule of Haihan, their living standards may be much better than before, and they will not have to leave their hometowns. It's a bad thing.
The chapter name is wrong and should be Chapter 968
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