Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1159 Epilogue : There is a Great Han Kingdom in the West

Luoyang Imperial Palace, side hall of Chuigong Hall.

The little emperor sat in the center, with Empress Dowager Ye next to him. Sitting back between the mother and son was the palace lady Tao Jinfeng.

Prime Minister Deng Gongwu, Vice Prime Minister Ge Congxin, Privy Councilor Han Chong, Minister of War Wu Jiying and other ministers sat on both sides respectively.

"I have come here nine times to pay my respects to your Majesty, to the Queen Mother, and to all the gentlemen!"

Zeng Jiuyou was extremely worried. He sailed around the world on the order of the previous emperor, but when he came back he found that the emperor was gone.

It would have been fine if it was a normal transfer of power, but instead there was a bloody coup.

Queen Mother Ye smiled and nodded, praising her: "Commander Zeng, you have worked really hard. I'm sure it must have been extremely dangerous at sea, right?"

"With the blessing of the late emperor's spirit in heaven, everything can be resolved safely," said Zeng Jiuyou.

Queen Mother Ye asked about your well-being for a few more words, and then began to talk about the main topic: "I have received all the records you have taken along the way. But there is too much information, so let's talk about it in person first. How many villages and towns and population are there in America?"

Zeng Jiuyou took out a map and spread it on the conference table.

"This is Lai'an Town. Sixty years ago, 300 immigrants were transported here, all of them were male prisoners on death row. Later, some Japanese women were transported here, and they themselves married local indigenous women."

"If their descendants' wives of different races are also counted, there are 1528 people over the age of seven."

"Further south is the new township, where 300 immigrants arrived 1375 years ago, all of them male death row prisoners. The situation is similar to the previous batch, and now there are people over the age of seven."

"Going further south, there are the towns of Mon'en and Wilde, with 1056 and 1091 people aged seven and over respectively."

"These four towns have very close contacts with the indigenous people. Some of the words they say are incomprehensible, probably because they learned them from the indigenous people. But there is no problem communicating in Chinese, and some people even teach their children to read."

“It is impossible to accurately count the population of the sixth and seventh settlements because there are gold and silver mines there.”

"The gold and silver mines were mainly mined by the army sent by the imperial court, who captured local natives. But there were also two to three thousand gold diggers all year round, who were transported there by adventurous merchants. Some of them panned for gold while waiting to take a boat back home. Some also married native women and farmed and reproduced there."

"If you add up the two settlements, and include the wives of soldiers and gold diggers, the total number of people over the age of seven is about 5000 to 7000."

Everyone present nodded slightly.

The garrisons at the American mines are rotated every three years.

The new imperial team had not been taken care of for the past three years. Only this year did they send a fleet to America to rotate the garrison and bring back the gold they had mined.

Zeng Jiuyou continued, "The rubber tree that Taizu and Taizong mentioned may have been found."

Everyone was shocked.

Although I don’t know what rubber is used for, it is the legacy of our ancestors.

"Did you bring it back?" Deng Gongwu asked.

Zeng Jiuyou said: "I found it when I sailed around the east of America. I didn't know when I could return home, and I was afraid that the saplings would die if I stayed on the ocean for too long. So I left more than 20 people to escort the rubber trees back west on foot. They went from the narrowest part of America to the gold mine where the Ming army was stationed. Maybe they would all die, or maybe they would get lost."

Empress Dowager Ye said: "All sea explorers, including you, who can return will be rewarded handsomely, and those who cannot return will be rewarded handsomely to their families."

"Thank you, Queen Mother!"

Zeng Jiuyou added: "On the southern end of the west coast of America, I also discovered the descendants of the second group of sea explorers sent by Emperor Taizong..."

Han Chong, the privy councilor, was surprised and asked, "Aren't they missing?"

Zeng Jiuyou said: "For some reason they kept heading south, and encountered a big storm near the coast when they were returning. Seventy percent of the entire fleet is missing. The ones I found are the descendants of the thirty percent of predecessors who managed to escape back to the sea. They got along well with the local natives, and even left a letter for their descendants to give to the visitors from the sea."

"Where is the letter?" asked Empress Dowager Ye.

Zeng Jiuyou said: "Those predecessors probably didn't have paper and pen, so the letter was carved on an uneven stone. Moreover, when the words were carved, most of them had died of old age or illness. Since it is impossible to make rubbings, I can only copy it down and have submitted it with the navigation records. The general content of the letter is that I have failed the expectations of Emperor Taizong and can no longer return to serve him. If anyone finds it later, please copy the content of the letter and burn it in front of Emperor Taizong's mausoleum to report to the emperor."

Everyone was startled when they heard this.

No one expected that the content of the letter would be this.

Deng Gongwu's eyes suddenly moistened, and he sighed with emotion: "The ministers of Taizu and Taizong were indeed all loyal and good, and they are absolutely not comparable to the traitors and villains of later generations."

Empress Dowager Ye asked: "Can their descendants still speak Chinese?"

Zeng Jiuyou replied: "They can speak a little, and many of them can even read. But after living together with the local aborigines for a long time, they speak the local dialect more fluently, and speak Chinese haltingly. They can no longer understand many Chinese words."

Deng Gongwu said: "Queen Dowager, you can send another batch of immigrants to live with the descendants of those loyal and righteous people. You should also bring more supplies to reward those loyal and righteous people."

"It should be so." Empress Dowager Ye agreed very much.

Zeng Jiuyou added: "The letter also said that if anyone later found them, please transport their bodies back to their hometown for burial."

Empress Dowager Ye said: "Send someone to transport their remains back, and then search their hometown to see if there are any descendants."

Everyone sighed and lamented for a while before letting Zeng Jiuyou continue speaking.

Zeng Jiuyou pointed to a severely distorted map of the Atlantic Ocean and said, "There is a current here (Brazil). If you follow the current across the ocean, you can reach the south of the Western countries, which is the west coast of Africa mentioned by Taizu and Taizong."

Zeng Jiuyou was very lucky. If he continued sailing north, he would be able to reach Britain directly along the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Current.

As a result, he repeatedly searched for rubber trees along the coast, left a group of soldiers and rubber seedlings on the east coast of Central America, and continued to follow the ocean currents to the Gulf of Mexico.

In this case, just continue to follow the ocean current.

But after sailing for a while, he found that it was getting colder and colder, and the road ahead was unknown, so it was difficult to ensure that the food would last until Europe. So he turned against the current and ran south, returning to the coast of Brazil to replenish food.

Then we tried to go directly east, but accidentally encountered the equatorial countercurrent of the South Atlantic Ocean and finally landed in the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa.

Zeng Jiuyou said: "On the way from America to Africa, two of my ships were destroyed, and all the brothers on board were missing. The ships that were lucky enough not to sink were also badly damaged. I was planning to find a place to repair the ships, and I met the descendants of those who defected from the navy that year."

"what?"

"Really defected from the Navy?"

Everyone exclaimed in unison and quickly asked Zeng Jiuyou to continue.

Zeng Jiuyou said: "They established a country in the northwest corner of the African continent and usurped the name of the country as Han. The place where I landed was rich in gold. At that time, their army came by boat and was planning to take away the gold they had just mined."

Wu Jiying, the Minister of War, asked: "How big is the territory of that pseudo-Han country?"

"I don't know," Zeng Jiuyou shook his head, "They all converted to the Desert Religion, but they don't follow its teachings. I heard that the locals often rebel."

When Zhu Guoxiang and his son Zhu Ming started their rebellion, the Berbers in North Africa overthrew the original regime and established the Almohad Dynasty.

This dynasty controlled the coastal areas from Morocco to Libya, and even half of Spain was their territory.

A hundred years later, it decayed and fell into disrepair. A vigorous uprising broke out in the Iberian Peninsula, and the ancestors of the Spanish people held high the cross and began to kill and expel the followers of the Desert Cult.

In North Africa, the Marin tribe among the Berbers gradually grew stronger by repeatedly beating the Spaniards.

Eventually, the Marin tribe grew strong enough to want to be the boss, and regardless of the fact that the Spaniards were still rebelling, they led their army to attack their own caliph.

When the Ming navy that escaped from the South Seas arrived at the coast of Morocco, the Almohad Dynasty was in the midst of a three-way melee.

The dynasty army was defeated. When the Caliph heard that a powerful navy had arrived, he sent envoys to ask the Ming navy for help. He immediately provided a large amount of supplies and promised to give the land of the Marin tribe to the navy.

The Ming Dynasty's defecting navy had been plundering along the way and were worried about where to settle themselves, so they hit it off perfectly with the Caliph.

Where had the army of the Marin tribe ever seen muskets and cannons?

What's more, they were rebels to begin with and naturally lacked legitimacy.

The Ming Dynasty's defecting navy was invited by the Caliph. After three consecutive victories, the rebels who had joined the Marin tribe defected one after another.

Then, the Ming Dynasty’s defecting navy had a falling out with the Caliph!

The reason was simple: the place the Caliph granted them was too poor and located in a frontier area where multiple forces intertwined.

The two sides bargained but could not reach an agreement.

In anger, the Ming Dynasty's defected navy stopped chasing the remnants of the Marin tribe and turned to attack the Caliph's army.

After defeating the Caliph's front-line army, the Ming navy directly attacked Marrakech, the capital of the Almohad dynasty.

The dynasty had long been corrupt and could neither suppress the Spanish uprising nor defeat the rebels of the Marin tribe. Hearing that the Ming defector navy was heading for his capital, the Caliph fled overnight with his entourage and army.

What happened next was a bit awkward.

The Ming Dynasty's defected navy were outsiders after all. They occupied Morocco by force, and the desert believers rebelled from time to time.

The Caliph fled to the coastal areas of North Africa, and not only did he have few troops left, he also had to continue fighting the remnants of the Marin tribe. The rebellious Spaniards could only be suppressed by local nobles.

No one from any faction will have an easy time!

The Ming Dynasty, eager to gain a foothold, defected from the navy and took the lead in lowering its stance and seeking cooperation.

They are willing to convert to desert religion and respect the Caliph as their master from now on. The Han Kingdom they established will also become a vassal state of the Caliph.

The Caliph must also make some reciprocation, that is, recognize the Ming Dynasty's defected navy's rule over the Moroccan region and order the clergy in the Moroccan region not to incite rebellion again.

After a few years, the Marin tribe was completely pacified. The Caliph felt that he was strong again and secretly instigated a religious rebellion in the Han Dynasty.

Those believers have long wanted to rebel.

Because the Han people who fled here imposed heavy taxes on them. Moreover, they were all fake believers who ostensibly converted to the Desert Religion, and their doctrines were completely destroyed.

The Han army could no longer tolerate the rebellion and launched a bloody suppression of the rebels and clergy, then marched towards the Caliph's territory.

After the Caliph was defeated, he quickly asked for peace again, paid a large amount of money and food as compensation, and bestowed the title of Sultan on the Han King.

"Where did the gunpowder from the defecting navy come from?" Wu Jiying asked.

Zeng Jiuyou said: "They have craftsmen on board who can not only make gunpowder, but also repair firearms. They adopt local orphans and teach them various skills. Now they can produce their own gunpowder and can also make guns and cannons. However, they don't have machines, so their methods of making guns and cannons are very backward."

Queen Mother Ye asked, "They have all abandoned the Confucian sages and converted to the Desert Religion?"

Zeng Jiuyou laughed and said, "The Caliph is equivalent to the leader of the desert religion. Once they were beaten by them and moved the capital, and another time they were beaten by them and asked for peace. How could they really convert? Moreover, the desert believers there are different. The previous dynasty was overthrown by the current dynasty because it allowed polytheism. There are a large number of polytheists among the people, and they are just used by them."

"How is it used?" Tao Jinfeng asked.

Zeng Jiuyou said: "They forcefully promote polytheism, bringing out all the gods that the locals used to believe in, and even bringing in Christianity from across the strait. Now believers there can believe in both desert religion and Christianity, and they even say that the gods of the two religions are the same person."

Tao Jinfeng smiled and said, "This is indeed interesting."

Zeng Jiuyou said: "There are a lot of different gods there now, including the Cross God, the Desert God, and many old gods of the locals. There are also people who worship the Lord of Heaven and the Tathagata Buddha, and even..."

"Even what?" Deng Gongwu asked.

Zeng Jiuyou bowed his head and said, "They really deserve to die. They even worshipped Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong as gods, and even built statues of them in their pseudo-state."

When everyone heard this, they were all at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

Zeng Jiuyou said: "All the clergy who disobeyed were beheaded. They also married local nobles, adopted a large number of orphans and trained the army. Every now and then, there would be a rebellion by the desert believers, and each time they were severely suppressed. In the past few years, it seems that the rebellion has become much less."

Northwest Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, where the religious situation is extremely chaotic.

First, the polytheism of various tribes has never disappeared. Then there is the Christian faith of the Spanish and Portuguese, which has also always existed and can coexist with the desert believers.

Even the most devout desert believers selectively follow their teachings, and drinking alcohol is as common as drinking water.

In order to prevent the Caliph from continuing to cause trouble, a group of naval bastards who defected from Southeast Asia simply completely disrupted those beliefs and even worshipped Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming as gods.

"How do you know so clearly?" Deng Gongwu asked.

Zeng Jiuyou said: "What we encountered at that time were the mixed-race sons who defected from the navy. They captured us and the damaged ships. Those navy who escaped were not dead yet. Vice Admiral Yang Wenhu became the pseudo-king, and the officers all became nobles, and the soldiers also became officers one by one."

"Yang Wenhu helped me repair the ship and gave me a lot of supplies. He asked me to go back to the country and ask for forgiveness from the Ming Emperor. The Pseudo-Han Kingdom is willing to be an overseas vassal of the Ming Dynasty."

At this time, the Han Empire not only owned Morocco, but also one-third of Spain.

Those Spaniards had been ruled by desert believers and had launched uprisings from time to time, which the Caliph was simply unable to suppress.

The bastards from the Han Empire crossed the strait to attack the desert religious nobles under the pretext of helping the Caliph quell the rebellion.

The armies of the Desert Cult nobles were attacked from all sides and were quickly defeated.

The King of the Han Dynasty took the opportunity to enfeoff the nobles, because if he did not, the Han people who had defected with him would rebel.

At the same time, he declared religious freedom, which won the enthusiastic support of the Crusaders, who even honored the Han King Yang Wenhu as "Priest King Saint John."

Today, all the noble lords in southern one-third of Spain are Han Chinese.

Some people found that there were more Christians in their territory, so they simply converted to Christianity. But they were also false believers, who did not abide by monogamy at all and had many wives and concubines.

As for the Pope?

I only know Taizu, Taizong and Dingtai Emperor. Who is the Pope?
Except for Yang Wenhu's navy, which was still relatively combat-ready, the army of the Han Dynasty had long been localized. Due to low productivity, most of the armed forces of the Han noble lords were not equipped with firearms, and they were just a bunch of weaklings fighting each other.

(End of this chapter)