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Yong-le: Year 3, Month 7, Day 11

5 Aug 1405

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The Messenger Nie Cong and others were sent to take Imperial orders of instruction to Hu Di of Annam. The orders read: "Ruan Jing-zhen and the others have arrived here. Your memorial has been received and all the contents noted. In my treatment of all things begotten by Heaven and Earth, I proceed from perfect sincerity. The Sage, in ordering things for Heaven, also takes perfect sincerity as the basis of all action. Thus, those below all respond with sincerity. I follows these principles in my rule of the 10,000 states. I treat people with kindness and make no distinction between the near and the far. However, concerned that you are used to rebellion and deceit and that you may not be entirely sincere, I am now sending another person to issue instructions to you. If you are truly able to respond to me with sincerity, completely break with past wrongs, welcome back Tian-ping and serve him as your ruler, then I will establish you as a Superior Duke and enfeoff you with a Great Prefecture (大郡), to be handed down from father to son, generation after generation without end. These words of mine will reach Heaven and we will await your memorial, so that the illustrious orders can be promulgated." Thereupon, Jing-zhen and the others were sent off together with Cong.

Tai-zong: juan 44.3a

Zhong-yang Yan-jiu yuan Ming Shi-lu, volume 10, page 693

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Preferred form of citation for this entry:

Geoff Wade, translator, Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: an open access resource, Singapore: Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore, http://epress.nus.edu.sg/msl/reign/yong-le/year-3-month-7-day-11, accessed January 22, 2019