Entry

The Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War, together with the ministers of the Court, proposed an expedition to punish Annam. They advised:

"Mo Deng-yong has committed 10 major crimes and he must be punished. He drove off Li Hui and occupied the country's capital. This is the first crime. He forcibly married the empress. This is the second crime. He killed Li Kuang by poisoning and falsely established his own son as ruler. This is the third crime. He forced Li Ning to scurry off to the distance. This is the fourth crime. He arrogated to himself the title of Father of the Emperor. This is the fifth crime. He changed the reign title to Ming-de and then to Da-zheng. This is the sixth crime. He established troops at the passes, thus obstructing envoys with Imperial proclamations. This is the seventh crime. He has been cruel and immoral and brought calamities to all living things. This is the eighth crime. He has obstructed the tribute route (Alt: envoys). This is the ninth crime. He has falsely appointed officials. This is the tenth crime. It is requested that the Imperial judgement be widely made known and advised in China and abroad, that generals be selected and troops trained and that at a fixed time the punishment be carried out. Zheng Wei-liao should accompany the military command headquarters as consultant and adviser to the regional commander."

The Emperor said:

"Annam has long not come to Court and under the laws it should be punished. Now this country has memorialized that the rebellious minister Mo Deng-yong has usurped power and engaged in disorder, obstructed the tribute route, presumptuously taken on titles and falsely appointed officials. His crimes and evil have been obviously displayed and permission is granted to immediately order the generals to send the army on a punitive expedition. The supreme commander and other officials should select persons of noted ability and employ them. The appropriate arrangements in terms of troop and grain deployment should be jointly deliberated on by the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War and advised."

Subsequently, it was commanded that Hu Lian, originally vice minister of the right in the Nan-jing Ministry of Justice, be promoted to vice minister of the right (Alt: left) in the Ministry of Revenue, that Gao Gong-shao, originally grand coordinator of Jiang-xi and deputy censor-in-chief of the right be promoted to vice minister of the right in the Ministry of Revenue, that they both concurrently serve as assistant censor-in-chiefs of the Censorate, and that they exercise overall supervision over grain rations. Lian was made responsible for Yun-nan/Gui-zhou, while Gong-shao was made responsible for Guang-dong/Guang-xi. The Assistant Commissioner-in-chief Jiang Huan was appointed as regional vice commander of the left, Niu Huan was appointed as regional vice commander of the right, Yang Ding and Tian Mao were appointed as assistant regional commanders of the left, Sun Ji-wu and Gao Yi were appointed as assistant regional commanders of the right and Fan Tai, Xiao Ding, Tang Qing and Chen Wei were appointed as mobile corps commanders. All were to lead troops in the punitive expedition. The senior generals were to await Imperial orders of appointment.