Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1035 [Crazy Yang Yao]

The reason for the decline of Srivijaya, in addition to being forced to move its capital by the Chola Dynasty, was the outflow of copper coins from the Song Dynasty.

The Southeast Asian countries tried every means to bypass Srivijaya and trade directly with Chinese merchants. A large number of Song Dynasty copper coins were held by the countries, and as their monetary capital was gradually enriched, they gradually gained the strength to break away from Srivijaya.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, more Chinese copper coins poured into Southeast Asia.

Six second-generation officials landed at the outer port of Jambi and followed the Jambi River (Batang Hari River) to Jambi City.

They were extremely surprised to find that most of the daily transactions conducted by the citizens here actually used Chinese copper coins!
Only slightly more expensive goods would be paid for with Srivijaya gold and silver coins.

For large-scale trade, even Ming Dynasty treasure notes were used.

"It's so rich here!" Fan Chengda exclaimed.

From the outer port all the way to the city, both sides of the river over a hundred miles along the way are full of fertile rice fields that are in the process of earring.

Yang Yao said: "We have two crops a year here, so there is more food than we can eat. If there is a disaster, we can always plant rice. There is no need to choose a month. Normally, we plant the first crop of rice in February or March, and the second crop in July or August."

Chinese history books have spoken highly of the farmland here: growing grain in one year and producing gold in three years!

The rice fields are so fertile that they seem to grow gold.

Lu You admired and said: "Admiral Yang is not only brave in battle, but also so proficient in foreign agricultural affairs."

Yang Yao chuckled, "I've been eyeing this place for a long time, so I naturally want to find out everything. In Srivijaya, there are two places with the largest population and the most developed agriculture. One is here, the new capital of Srivijaya. The other is Balinbang (Palembang), the old capital of Srivijaya. The usurper's fiefdom is in Balinbang, and I plan to occupy that place as well."

"Does Admiral Yang have enough soldiers?" asked Bai Shihou.

Yang Yao shook his head: "It's far from enough. So we must ask the court to transfer 2,000 soldiers from Fujian and Guangdong, and more than 20,000 immigrants. The old and new capitals of Srivijaya are all fertile farmland along the river, which can be distributed to the soldiers and immigrants, allowing them to spread out here."

Li Zuqia asked, "What should we do with the original owners of the farmland? Kill them all?"

Yang Yao said: "Throw it to Malacca. Part of it will be used for land reclamation and part of it will be used for tin mining in Malacca."

"It might provoke rebellion," Lu You warned.

Yang Yao said: "If you rebel, you will be killed! The army of Srivijaya is very weak, and they don't even have many sets of iron armor. They are mainly equipped with leather armor. All the Han people who migrated here must be organized into baojia militia to guard against the natives who escaped into the mountains and forests."

The six second-generation officials fell silent upon hearing this.

So brutal and bloody!

But they couldn't say anything, after all, they were expanding the territory for the Ming Dynasty.

Many of the Srivijaya warships that surrendered during the naval pursuit were from the nobles of Jambi. Yang Yao was able to capture Jambi without a single drop of blood, and it would have been impossible to do so with just the thousand-plus sailors. It was thanks to the nobles of Jambi who served as guides.

Those nobles have gone home, and it doesn’t matter who rules Jambi, as long as they can keep their property.

How could the nobles know that Yang Yao not only wanted to occupy the city, but also set his sights on their land!
Once the Ming Dynasty transferred troops and immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong, Yang Yao would attack the nobles of Zhanbi. And the battle plan was very despicable, first luring the nobles into the city, and then killing them all by surprise.

In history, Yang Yao not only defeated the Southern Song Dynasty officers and soldiers many times, but even Yue Fei suffered losses from him more than once.

Yang Yao lived in extremely poor conditions at the time, and he personally led his soldiers to catch river clams to survive the famine. While struggling to resist the officers and soldiers, he also carried out a series of political reforms and even had time to build schools to teach children.

This guy is not just a general, he is also very good at managing territory!

After returning to the palace, Yang Yao began to write a letter to Zhu Song.

He suggested that Zhu Song petition the court to move the Governor's Office to Jambi. In the future, Jambi would be the ruling center, with Palembang and Malacca as wings. With two cities, three ports and one fort, the actual control of the territory would be expanded through continuous immigration, and agricultural production would be developed while controlling the sea trade routes.

There are people, land, food, soldiers, cities, ships... Yang Yao can build this place as solid as an iron barrel.

……

The second generation of officials focus on local customs and traditions.

The six people strolled around the city with their entourage and found that the houses in Jambi City were obviously planned as an integrated whole.

The streets are straight or curved, gradually closing in from the outside to the inside, and gradually forming a square in the center of the city. The royal city and the royal palace are located in the central square, and there are many shops distributed outside the square. The city is also divided into residential areas and different types of commercial areas.

Most houses are made of brick and stone, with a small amount of wood also used.

The overall architectural style is heavily influenced by India, but it also incorporates local Nanyang characteristics and even borrows some Fujian and Guangdong elements.

In terms of clothing, there are also some South Indian characteristics.

Wang Lianqing said: "It is indeed a foreign land. The houses and clothes are very different from those in China. There are many temples and pagodas inside and outside the city. It seems that this country worships Buddhism."

Of course he didn't know that there were two types of temple towers here.

Seventy percent are Buddhist temples, and the remaining thirty percent are Brahman temples.

A group of Chinese people were strolling around the streets, and the residents in the city were not surprised. Instead, they sold goods to them. Not to mention the Chinese, the residents even often interacted with Arabs. There was even an Islamic community in Jambi.

Lu You also invited an indigenous person to act as an interpreter to communicate with people from all walks of life in Zambi City.

That night, Lu You returned to the palace with a serious expression and said to Yang Yao: "Admiral Yang, I have asked the locals and found out that Srivijaya exempted all taxes except for commercial taxes. Before the Ming reinforcements arrive, we must not increase taxes, otherwise the nobles and people who have surrendered will surely rebel."

Yang Yao smiled and said, "Not only will I not increase taxes, I will also promise to reduce commercial taxes for one year. There are only a thousand Ming sailors in Zhanbei City now, so it is impossible for them to turn against the locals. Let's appease and coax them first, and then strike hard when we have enough troops!"

"Admiral Yang is confident, I am the one who is reckless." Lu You was convinced. The political system of Srivijaya was very peculiar. It was seriously influenced by the Brahmans, and most of the fertile land was occupied by the nobles. Therefore, the king did not collect agricultural taxes in exchange for the political and military support of the nobles. The nobles had to support the king and be ready to accept conscription at any time, and go to war with their private soldiers and militia.

The six second-generation officials stayed in Jambi for a month, and nothing happened.

Yang Yao, with the power of victory in the naval battle, promised to reduce commercial taxes for one year, and the local nobles in Zhanbi were happy to accept it.

As for the local nobles outside Zhanbi, they were busy dividing the land, building their own countries and fighting for power. Instead of gathering troops to retake the capital, they vied with each other to request the Ming Dynasty to confer titles on them.

After celebrating the New Year in Zhanbi, Lu You and his companions took a boat and continued their journey westward.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty's telegraph antenna had been set up in Hangzhou. Zhu Song and Yang Yao's urgent memorial was directly telegraphed from Hangzhou to Luoyang, and was quickly approved by Emperor Zhu.

As a result, the Sichuan model was implemented in Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

Local civil and military officials recruited young men from families with extra men under the pretext of training militia. They didn't even bother to train the militia, and after giving them weapons and leather armor, they went directly to Jambi on a boat with the soldiers.

It is harvest season in the rice fields of Jambi.

After the arrival of 2,000 reinforcements from Fujian and Guangdong, Yang Yao immediately convened a meeting of nobles inside and outside the city. This guy lied that the Ming Emperor wanted to levy agricultural taxes, and he had to break his promise to reduce taxes, and the specific amount of taxes needed to be discussed with local nobles.

When the Zhanbi nobles heard that the issue of taxation was going to be discussed, they all ran impatiently to see Yang Yao.

"Is everyone here?" Yang Yao took a quick look.

The son of the former prime minister of Srivijaya replied, "Everyone is here. Even the brothers or sons of the nobles who died in the naval battle are here."

Yang Yao raised his wine cup and said with a smile, "Very good."

"Snapped!"

The wine cup was thrown to the ground, and a group of soldiers suddenly rushed out and surrounded and killed the nobles.

The hall where the King of Srivijaya held meetings was soon littered with corpses, and even the screams did not last long.

Yang Yao had already figured out all the houses and shops of the nobles in the city, and immediately sent out a thousand soldiers to search and confiscate their homes. All the male members of the nobles' families were killed, and the women and children were detained together.

The rest of the soldiers took a boat out of the city and headed straight for the nobles' manors outside the city.

Five hundred soldiers and more than 10,000 immigrants with weapons and armor were left at the outer port of Jambi. They went north along the river from the port and plundered the nobles' manors under the guidance of a guide.

Although those immigrants were deceived into coming here, their eyes were all shining at this moment.

They came from the mountainous areas of Fujian and Guangdong provinces, where there were many people and little land, and the soil was barren. The fertile rice fields in Jambi were in the harvest season, and the golden fields were everywhere. As long as they killed the local nobles, the land could be divided among them!
The Fujian and Guangdong immigrants, who had no time to undergo militia training, excitedly rushed forward wearing leather armor and holding weapons.

Some even ran and shouted: "Don't trample the rice, it's ready to harvest!"

"Kill!"

"I can get 50 mu of land, all of which are top-quality paddy fields that can produce two crops a year. I'm going to get rich!"

"..."

The local farmers fled back home and watched quietly as the Ming army and civilians attacked the nobles' manors.

There are two types of land ownership here.

One is the private land of the nobles, and the other is the public land of the king.

There is no need to explain private fields, but public fields are very interesting.

The ownership of the public land belongs to the king, the right to use it belongs to the villagers, and the right to manage it belongs to the rent-collecting officials. That is, the farmers collectively cultivate the public land in the village community and pay the rent to the tax collector, who then pays the rent to the king.

Ordinary farmers are not qualified to own land!
Since the land was not theirs, facing a group of ferocious Han people, the farmers in Jambi were too lazy to resist. They waited for the nobles to be killed and continued to help the Chinese farm. It was nothing more than changing the landlord.

From soldiers to immigrants, everyone made a fortune.

New overseas territories were opened up, and there were many places where they could get their hands on the property. Even if the imperial censors were sent to inspect in the future, they would not investigate this collective corruption.

Yang Yao himself didn't want the house, he just wanted the gold, silver and treasures.

The naval officers and soldiers under his command, as well as the soldiers from Fujian and Guangdong who came to reinforce him, all had spoils to take away.

Military officers who were willing to stay or settle permanently could first choose the nobles' mansions, women and land. Then the middle and lower-ranking officers and soldiers would choose, and finally the more than 10,000 immigrants would have their turn.

There were also countless treasures and grains, some of which were confiscated and the rest were distributed.

Even the soldiers and officials who stayed behind in Malacca were given a share by Yang Yao.

Of course, the most precious treasures in the palace must be sent to Luoyang to be presented to the emperor.

This is a one-time deal, and it can only be done in the early stages of development. Even if the court knows about it, it will turn a blind eye. When the overseas territories are on the right track in the future, Yang Yao and his soldiers will have to abide by the rules.

The whole process is quite confusing.

In particular, the army in the city was so eager to get rid of the evil that they even rushed into Buddhist and Brahman temples. Under the pretext of shutting down unnecessary temples, they rushed in and looted everything, even the only Islamic temple in the city.

Yang Yao called his military clerk and said, "After distributing the land, let the immigrants write letters to their families, encouraging them to bring in more people from their hometown. As long as the immigrants come here, each male will have 50 mu of land, and each female will have 30 mu of land. They are all top-quality paddy fields that can be harvested twice a year. The more immigrants, the better. After the land in Zhanbei is distributed, I will take them to Balinbang (Palembang) to grab more land!"

(End of this chapter)