Descendants of the Dragons and Fairies - Volume I: One Inch Missed, One Mile Fixed
- Thread starter Kienle
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Chapter IV
What is the North up to?
As Đàng Trong slowly transformed itself under a new light, Đàng Ngoài seemed to be falling behind. This was a misconception, after all. The news of Đàng Trong crushing the forces of Siam and securing its hegemony over Khmer alarmed the Trịnh Lords, who were locked in a cold war-esque atmosphere with their Nguyễn counterparts, that the South was increasingly powerful. It’s the time for the North to up their game if they wish to continue competing with the South.
Historical Background
Đàng Ngoài was the Northern counterpart of the Nguyễn, with the head of state as the Lê Emperor and the head of government as the Trịnh Lords. While in Confucian nations, the establishment is that the emperor wields the power and those under take responsibility in implementing the emperor’s will, this was not the case for the North. In fact, the de facto power was in the hands of the Trịnh, and the Lê Emperor only acted as figurative royal. This was a wise move, for if one tried to usurp the Emperor to take the (rightful) throne, it meant total disaster - both politically and militarily. Essentially, the people could rise up to fight against the recent usurper and China would intervene, in the name of protecting the rightful Emperor. [1]
How powerful were the Trịnh Lords? The Lord was powerful enough to enforce his will on the Emperor, aside from managing major domestic/foreign affairs and leading the military. He made decisions on selecting the right Prince for the Lê’s throne, usually those that would agree with the Trịnh. In other words, the Emperor had almost no control over choosing his successor. This maintained political stability by reducing the chance of the Lê Emperor going against the wishes of the Trịnh, while broadening the Lord’s power base.
The Trịnh further distinguished themselves from the Nguyễn in terms of their ruling style. Trịnh Lords had a more back-down foreign policy, refraining from expansion and focusing their efforts on maintaining relations with Siam and the Qing, a contrast with the Nguyễn's more expansionist approach. As well, they were strongly Confucian and distant with the Westerners. By the time the Nguyễn began furthering their relations with Westerners and renewed their trades, the Trịnh barely had any more contact with their former allies - the Dutch and the Englishman, who stopped trading with the North by the late 17th century, at the time when the Trịnh-Nguyễn civil war finally died down.
Economically, the Trịnh and the North enjoyed a semi-open economy, which was still heavily agrarian-based. Trades flourished in the 17th century, with significant and frequent contacts were made with the Westerners. Craft products were also increasingly ubiquitous as part of their domestic market, which contributed to their great prosperity during most of the 17th Century. Unlike their Southern counterpart, which actively relied on both peasants and traders to populate their domain, the North saw little in encouraging trades further, as their lands were at maximum population capacity. But this was not the main reason for their failing economy later on. It was due to complicated and bloated taxation requirements - much more than that of the South - put on businesses which slowly stagnated trade flows, which further compounded by prolonged corruption and neglection.
Originally, the Trịnh Lords were wise and competent, and tended to select the most capable heir for the Lordship. By doing this, the Trịnh enjoyed great stability for more than a century, gaining great respects from the people. The Trịnh’s power base began to decline in the 18th century, when the Lords began to express disinterest in politics and drifted towards joy and pleasures more than anything else. Later historians usually referred to this as the rotting of the Trịnh, a strongly degenerate term.
The Reign of Trịnh Sâm
The Trịnh began to experience turbulence from the 1730s, when peasant rebellions became commonplace. For the next few decades, clearing the rebels was the main goal of the Trịnh, and by 1767, the Trịnh had successfully crushed most of them. When Trịnh Sâm reigned in 1767, he pushed for eliminating the last of the rebellion. By 1769, peace had returned to the North, but the lengthy turbulent eras had drained much resources from development. Furthermore, there were many famines, especially during the 1740s, [2] and another shall come soon.
Trịnh Sâm knew that he must do something to stabilize politics and improve the well-being of the people. With this, he maintained the reformist policies by his predecessor - Trịnh Doanh - which were mostly cutting down excessive ground rent, taxes reforms and fighting corruption, as well as recruiting competent mandarins for managing domestic affairs. This line of reforms was analogous to what the Nguyễn did during the years 1765-1770, but the outcomes were different. The still rigid and Confucian-grounded mindset of the North prevented meaningful economic changes that could stem from these reforms.
In OTL, around 1771 onwards, the Tây Sơn rebellion happened. But ITTL, the Tây Sơn declared loyalty to the Nguyễn Lords. Without the rebellion, the Trịnh Lord could not invade Đàng Trong and capture parts of the South, and instead the rising powers of the Nguyễn had greatly worried the North. Not wanting to fall behind the Nguyễn, Trịnh Sâm decided to expand the military that was still fresh from suppressing the rebellions. To find the budget for this project, Sâm recruited the help of Lê Quý Đôn, a mandarin well-known for his tabulating ability [3]. Unfortunately, Đôn was strict and would never let a dime slip during surveying lands for later ground rents collection. Although this sufficiently filled the coffers for the military build up, the peasants bore new grudges against the mandarin as the strict taxation rolled through. Clearly, the economy could not support military expansion without taking some tolls.
Disaster struck again in 1776. A new wave of drought was brought to the North, causing widespread crop failure and subsequent famines. The North-Central region, also known as Nghệ-Thanh provinces, suffered greatly from the catastrophe. Compounded by the tax burden, destabilization started to set in, with trusts for the Trịnh waned day by day. The prolonged famine dragged into 1777, forcing the Lord to open rice reserves for the dying people. Trịnh Sâm still had more troubles to come.
The Northern Political Chaos - by Records of the Imperial Lê
The Trịnh’s political chaos was a multifactor issue. Trịnh Sâm was notorious for chasing beautiful women and turning them into consorts, something that greatly distracted him from more pressing problems. His favorite consort - Đặng Thị Huệ - was a woman of perfect beauty and powerful personality, and henceforth procuring a persuasive sway on the Lord. Trịnh Sâm, for his love of Huệ, could hardly say no to her. Sâm became even more entrenched with Huệ when the consort gave birth to a healthy [4] son, named Trịnh Cán in 1777. Meanwhile, Sâm’s older son, the supposed to be in line Trịnh Công, was estranged further. The seed of schism, sowed by the favorite consort, now grew to permanently split the Trịnh forever. By the time Prince Công was eighteen, factions formed.
Consort Huệ, using her intelligence, began scheming with her loyal Duke to guarantee her son could become the next Trịnh Lord. Trịnh Công, not wanting to be taken away from his supposedly rightful throne, worked with his mother to build their faction. The game of thrones started, even if Lord Trịnh Sâm was still ruling. By 1780, when Trịnh Sâm’s health deteriorated considerably under the combination of stress and pressure from governing, the dispute for Lordship reached a new height. The two factions now wished to destroy one another when the chance was right. That opportunity came when Lord Trịnh Sâm passed away in 1783 [5], due to illness, leaving the throne wide open. While officially, his son Trịnh Cán would be the next Lord, this was unfortunately against the wishes of many.
In the next few months, political disputes erupted. Trịnh Công, with the backing of the Tri-Palace Royal [6] soldiers, some mandarins, and his status as the oldest son of Trịnh Sâm, decided to make a coup against the young Trịnh lord so that he could take the throne. It was a success, as Cán’s side were significantly disadvantaged, allowing Trịnh Công to defeat and kill many of Cán’s supporters. The year 1783 had seen the rise of two Lords, and now Công had finally taken the Lord’s position. Trịnh Cán was forced to abdicate and reduced to mere prince, while his mother Thị Huệ was reduced back to peasant. The coup was, however, a detrimental blow to the North’s stability.
The Royal soldiers, filled with haughty and pride, and being disproportionately privileged, began abusing their powers [7]. It was commonly said that these soldiers, if taken their privileges away, would immediately rebel and due to their sheer powers in their hands, pose a national security threat. So, upon taking the Lordship, Trịnh Công - now Trịnh Khải - had to reward these soldiers. Consequently, these soldiers, already lacking in moral and sense of duty, grew to be further degenerate. This vicious cycle continued, and the balance was pushed to the breaking point, beyond which chaos shall engulf the Northern political landscape.
The unbalanced economy was also stretched, with the Trịnh still wished to keep the large military in the face of the growing Nguyễn’s power, but economic growth was severely limited. On the other hand, power abuses from Royal soldiers continued, leading to them trying to back the Lê Princes and threatening Trịnh Khải’s power base. These compounded problems effectively nullified the Trịnh’s power to bring order back, even with the help of some excellent mandarins. From 1784, the fragile economy took hard hits and caused more famines, conflicts, chaos. By 1786, Đàng Ngoài’s days were numbered, and the Nguyễn Lords were preparing to end their enemies once and for all, uniting the Viet nation under the banner of Lê and the leadership of Nguyễn.
[1] - The Chinese dynasties required that the smaller neighboring countries should be obeying its hegemony and sphere of influence. This means, if one seeked to become a legitimate King of one such country, one should ask for “permission” from the Chinese emperors.
[2] - Famines were common in Northern Vietnam, especially in the North-Central provinces due to geographic conditions conducive to Fohn wind and extreme weather (typhoons).
[3] - Also called the great scientist/great scholar. Just a small detail that I like to annotate.
[4] - Due to butterflies, this Trịnh Cán is different from OTL one. Just slightly so.
[5] - Trịnh Sâm was recorded to have health problems when he turned 40, including hemorrhoids, a certain illness which made him afraid of going outside, and those arose out of unrestrained sexual life.
[6] - Rough translation of a special Royal regiment utilized by the Trịnh Lords, who were lavishly rewarded.
[7] - Happened in OTL, and was one of the main reasons why the Trịnh finally collapsed.
[8] - General comment: No, I am not actively screwing up the Trịnh. All the historical elements were there and still existed in this TL, as most of them happened before the POD (1764).
Good question. Unfortunately, I haven’t had a decisive answer for now, and I can’t give any spoilers!
I hope they do so. Also, will we see the Brookes? They are the guys (with British help) that dismantled the Brunei Empire. Would they even go for it? Or will the US or even Latin America colonise Borneo?
Do I gather you're dead, since you're using your posthumous name in your sig?
(I googled it)
Any American intervention as in colonialism into Southeast Asia in TTL will ruin my intentions, but US-Vietnam relation would sure be wildly different from OTL. Given the surprisingly long and complex history of US-Southeast Asia interaction, there are much butterflies to come
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asia–United_States_relations#History
No worries! I'm content to wait for such a good story. (And a decent source of information on OTL stuff I don't normally hear about)
Chapter V - Third Interlude
Chapter V
The South Rises
The South Rises
As the Trịnh Lords descended further into chaos and instability, the Nguyễn Lords used this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand its influence further North, under the guise of “Helping the Lê, Destroying the Trịnh”. Before ascending to a new expansion, what did the Nguyễn do to make sure they could complete their dominance?
The New Face of Đàng Trong - 1776 - 1782
Lord Phúc Luân returned to Phú Xuân. He had agreed to reform the nation so that it could protect the Nguyễn from being potentially usurped by powerful Southern governors. This move would eventually materialize after several months. Later in 1776, when Nguyễn Huệ had achieved some successes in crafting a Western-inspired frigate, the vessel was presented to Phú Xuân’s leadership and officials. Built for long-voyage and capable of skipping intermediate supply points, it was state-of-the-art for Southeast Asia at the time, and would elevate the power of Nguyễn’s Navy by a wide margin. [1]
Construction of canals began ramping up significantly, in the face of increasing populations from settlements following the victory against the Siamese and the rise of new economic centers. While canals had mostly been local efforts in combating the periodic delta floods caused by natural fluctuations in river water levels, there were also interests in opening more, larger canal routes to improve regional trades and interconnection. Additionally, the proficiency of the South in navigating, utilizing and fighting on water was conducive to their desires to shape nature to serve man. Eventually, a decision was reached in 1776 to build a major canal along the Viet - Khmer border, as a way to provide a convenient connection between the Nguyễn and their satellite state. Historians have evaluated that such a move was justified - population density was sufficiently high thanks to a long period of stability and growing prosperity, and much land area had been claimed by peasants. [2]
Starting in 1777, ground was broken for the first major canal - Vĩnh Tế [3]. The proposed plan for this canal resulted in a waterway that stretches from Hà Tiên to fortress Châu Đốc [4], then a growing town overlooking the Viet - Khmer border. This canal would connect the inland rice growing province and production centers to the expanding port, which the French had increasingly stopped by for trading. Noticing the efforts of the Viet to build a canal and the need for better engineering, Bá Đa Lộc worked to secure some French experts on canal building. By 1778, there were two French engineers working in conjunction with the Viets and Khmers for canal construction, mostly as advisors for canal building techniques. They were promised with grand rewards and even lands for settlements, as a mean to keep some Western expertise. [5]
The process of building the canal could be described as a two-stage process. The first stage, from 1777 to 1780, was a stage of slow work. Many trees needed to be fallen down, and lands, which were muddy and some were hard, had to be dug. Works were divided between the Viet and Khmers such that neither side would - to put in modern terms, complain or go on strike. During the first stage, about 10,000 were recruited, with 5,500 Viets and 4,500 Khmers. The swampy environment would claim several thousands lives in the process, prompting more efficient tools to be bought from the French. The second stage, lasting from 1780 to 1782, was the stage with accelerated construction. Moderate quantities of metal tools imported from European traders afforded great ease in digging hard soils and chopping down trees. A large number of workforce were recruited, this time numbered up to 20,000. By 1782, Vĩnh Tế was finished, and goods - rice, wood products, and ceramics made in Gia Định - were shipped out in great quantities to Hà Tiên, at long last. The military now also had a new route to secure the Nguyễn’s realm. [6]
The success of Vĩnh Tế canal provided a precursor for future canals, with some purely built with Western technologies, a story to be told later. A step towards a truly market economy had been laid down. Meanwhile, new cash crops like coconuts were brought into cultivation and a small quantity was used for exports. [7]
The Later Years of Lord Phuc Luan
Phúc Luân had been on the throne for years now, and had cemented his position as one of the favorite Lords of the people. His drive towards prosperity, advised by his wise, visionary mandarins had fostered a flourishing era in military, development and economy. But he had steadily grown old. A monarch at age of more than forty must look for a potential heir, lest the nation would crumble under the game of throne and go with it, all the achievements. [8]
Prince Ánh at this point was a bit too young and inexperienced, even if he was regarded as the one who inherited Luân’s wisdom. His other princes and princesses were grounded more deeply in the Confucian tradition, something Luân was perfectly content with. The powerful advisors and generals from the South were more happy with educating Ánh to be the heir. Luckily for them, the fortunes of the next few years would heavily favor Ánh to become the rightful heir.
For now, Luân had another great game to play: the Trịnh. The French would back him with European weapons and finance when the time was right [9]. Other regions, like the Central Highlands, were slowly put under Nguyễn’s influence. Khmer was now tightly integrated with the South, as the mighty navy and military had pacified the kingdom and the Siamese kept out of the sphere of influence.
Nguyễn - French Relations
The French, aside from the Portuguese, were regarded as the only few Europeans trusted by the Viets. The British and Dutch had long withdrawn, yet the French had persisted, thanks to their broker - Bá Đa Lộc. General Nguyễn Huệ saw the potential in cooperating with the French to take advantage of their prowess, something which much of the Confucian ruling caste was fairly hesitant about. But without any strong resistance like in the North, which had shunned even the Trịnh former allies, local leaders could - cautiously of course - invite the French and Portuguese on board for business. Their influences remained limited to where the churches were placed, but dissemination of knowledge from them would penetrate far deeper, owing to the increase of tolerance to Catholics following their valiant efforts during the Viet - Siamese war, and approvals from Phú Xuân to transfer new crafts beyond the South.
Military assistance remained the simplest and most effective way to forge a strong diplomatic bond between the European and Asian. New types of weapons, including grenades and battle rifles, were manufactured in workshops at Phú Xuân, where the Lord could direct and manage at his will, and he was advised by French technicians. Such equipment was rather new to the East, and proved to be absolutely devastating in battle later on, as the French had promised. By 1782, European-standard weapons were produced in the thousands. [10] Such large quantities of advanced crafts would be a huge tax burden on an agrarian nation, but lucrative trades in salts, sugars and textiles between the French and Viets had procured significant tax revenues to pay off any debts incurred by military expenditures. This, overtime, slowly eased any hard feelings towards the Europeans within the leadership caste, with the Lord granted lower tax rates on European goods in the same year.
The Catholic churches in the South’s new settlements continued to be one of the main gateways for European influence. This had a consequence: Catholics must learn Chinese scripts and texts before being allowed to absorb European teaching, in many cases the pressure was greater for them than non-Catholics. Yet, such policies also increased demands to translate European military texts into Viets and Chinese, and unintentionally created more routes for dissemination of technologies, as well as a gradual rise in an educated class of merchants.
Prince Ánh continued his Confucian education until the age of 16, and eventually was granted some freedom in exploring French education. Such a move was potentially controversial, and all mandarins and princes must be swayed into agreement. It was argued that the presence of European crafts was not the deciding factor, but the fear of usurps from Southern Governors if any conservative move be taken: they knew that the South could grow stronger than even the Lord if Phú Xuân refused to make steps towards reforming. With this, Ánh became the first Viet royal to be educated in two curricula. From the French, he immersed himself with some technical knowledge, mostly in the military, vessel and fortress building. Such texts were restricted in access, and had to be translated at Phú Xuân to maintain power. Other princes also studied French texts to expand their knowledge base, but only Ánh showed to be the most eager.
Per the French side, their trades with the Viets were showing some promises. While small compared to their East Indie holding [11], they were lucrative enough to maintain operations, with estimated annual trade volume at about several hundred thousands livre by 1780. The French slowly realized the potential of the Nguyễn as a possible ally against the sea-faring British. This, too, caught the attention of King Louis XVI.
[1] - In OTL, when Nguyễn Ánh needed more capable weapons to fight Quang Trung (Huệ), the French helped him build frigate-like warships that were significantly more advanced than typical Asian battle vessels. Likely this was out of need in OTL. ITTL, with all the brightest minds of the Viets came together under the banner of Nguyễn, they would promote such developments.
[2] - Canal building requires a certain population density to be attained. Without constant warring between multiple factions in South Vietnam ITTL, such population density would be achieved, necessitates the need to build a canal.
[3] - Likely remains Vĩnh Tế, a common name for canals in the South.
[4] - Châu Đốc was not built until the 1810s in OTL. Again, due to population density and military demand to keep an eye on the Khmer, a fortress would be built much earlier.
[5] - Same thing happened in OTL.
[6] - Continues along the fact that the canal was built in OTL to facilitate transports and logistics
[7] - Coconuts are extremely common in the Mekong delta, and a potentially profitable exports
[8] - Around this age Asian monarchs looked out for heirs as most of them did not live far past their sixties.
[9] - In OTL, when Nguyễn Ánh tried taking back Đại Việt, the French backed him with equipment and financial support in return for land cession. ITTL, they only backed the Nguyễn with some finances and weaponry, so much more minimal than OTL.
[10] - European-standard weapons were equipped for Ánh’s army during late 1790s, in great numbers, in OTL.
[11] - French Pondicherry went bankrupt by 1769 in OTL. ITTL, it would be the same, but increasing trade volumes would likely buoyant the colony back.
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Interesting question! I haven’t put much thought about this but I will say by the 1840s the butterflies will build up so much that Taiping rebellion’s play out would be significantly different from OTL
Hey thanks! The readership being enthusiastic about this TL really makes me happy