Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 906 0901 [Srivihara]

The first ocean-going fleet of the Ming Dynasty went to sea last winter. Its composition was as follows:

Chief envoy: Cheng Yu.

Deputy envoys: Yu Yunwen and Hu Quan.

Chief Medical Officer: Yan Xiuqing.

Navy Commander: Ying Xuan.

Army Commander: Zhu Xiaozhong.

5000料大型战舰1艘，2500、2000料中型战舰10艘，2000料以下小型战舰14艘。2500、3000料运输船25艘。

There were more than 60 officials, more than 5000 crew members, more than 6000 sailors, and more than 3000 infantry and cavalry soldiers on the ground.

There were also a number of civilian merchant ships that went out to sea with the official fleet, including many Indian and Arab merchant ships.

(Note: There are three ways to describe "materials" in the academic community: load, volume, and material usage. This book previously used load to explain, but it seems that this term is outdated, and the current mainstream is more inclined to volume.)
(Here, 100 tonnes = 1 cubic meter of cabin volume. The displacement of a 1000 tonne seagoing vessel is about 330 tons.)
As the fleet passed the Malay Peninsula, a Guangdong merchant said, "Cheng Tianshi, ahead is the outer port of Balinbang (Old Port). Merchants from the former Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty can only reach Balinbang and Jambi (Jambi) at most. Balinbang is the old capital of Srivijaya, and Jambi is the new capital of Srivijaya."

Palembang, the old capital of Srivijaya, was destroyed by the Chola Empire of India.

The new capital, Jambi, was also known as Malyu.

Malauk can also be translated as Malay, which is the origin of the name of the Malay people.

Cheng Yu asked: "If we continue sailing, will Srivijaya kill people and rob goods?"

"Yes!" Guangdong maritime merchants answered very affirmatively.

Cheng Yu then asked the Arab businessman behind him: "Then how did you get to China?"

The Arab merchant replied: "Whether it is a merchant ship coming from the west or going to the east, it must enter the port of Srivijaya and pay them a high port tax. The goods on the ship must be sold to Srivijaya merchants. Only when the local merchants can't eat it all, the remaining goods will be allowed to pass."

"So most of our Seljuk merchants would trade when they arrived in Srivijaya. They would sell the goods they brought to local merchants, and then buy goods from local merchants before returning home. Only a very few lucky ones could reach China via Srivijaya every year."

Cheng Yu understood that this was a monopoly of trade, exactly the same as Western Liao.

On the Silk Road, merchants from China could only ship goods to Western Liao. Similarly, merchants from Central Asia and West Asia could only ship goods to Western Liao. All trade between the East and the West was conducted in Western Liao.

The Maritime Silk Road was controlled by Srivijaya and trade could only be conducted in Srivijaya.

The lookout suddenly shouted down: "I see the coast!"

Ying Xuan ordered: "Warships form a battle formation, merchant ships and transport ships slow down."

In the field of view of the telescope, the coastline was getting closer and closer, and suddenly more than a dozen ships were coming from the direction of the port.

"There are fourteen unknown ships."

Following the lookout's shout, the flag bearer immediately sent out a flag signal.

The Ming Dynasty's small and medium-sized warships accelerated to meet the enemy, and more than a dozen ships on the opposite side were also approaching rapidly.

The enemy ship was sailing at a fast speed at the beginning, but perhaps when it realized it could not win, it suddenly slowed down and sent a ship to negotiate.

This was a coastal galley, which was brought to the Ming flagship after approaching.

One person took a small boat and was lifted onto the deck to meet Cheng Yu.

The man, wearing a modified headscarf, asked in fluent Cantonese: "Are you from Ming Dynasty?"

The Guangdong merchant quickly translated.

Cheng Yu asked, "Are you here to welcome the Ming fleet?"

"That's right," the fellow bowed, "My Chinese name is Pu Xin. I have been to Guangdong many times and was granted an official position by the Emperor of Song."

There are many names of Christians that begin with "Ab", such as "Abdullah".

Chinese officials mistook their given names for their surnames, thinking that they all had the surname Pu.

This is similar to a Hebei native named Zhang Wei and a Fujian native named Li Wei. When they go to the West, they are both considered to have the surname "Wei". In fact, they are not related at all, and their surnames and places of origin are different.

Cheng Yu asked, "I heard that merchant ships must trade in Srivijaya. Do we need to trade in your country as well?"

"No need, no need." Pu Xin replied quickly.

Although the Ming Dynasty had only 25 warships and the official transport ships had little combat power, there were more than 50 merchant ships from various countries that followed them out to sea, and the Srivijaya Navy did not dare to act rashly.

Cheng Yu said: "Go back and inform the officials of your country that the Ming Dynasty is about to send a letter."

"Yes!" Pu Xin bowed and left.

Cheng Yu was from Fuliang (Jingdezhen), an orphan raised by his aunt. He was awarded the title of Jinshi for being the first in the Imperial College. He served as an envoy to Goryeo and Jin during the Former Song Dynasty, and to Xixia and Japan during the Ming Dynasty.

Historically, Cheng Yu was demoted by Qin Hui for advocating war, and his descendants were imprisoned and were not allowed to take the imperial examinations or leave their hometown.

When Pu Xin left the deck, the deputy envoy Yu Yunwen said, "Don't trust the barbarians easily. Be careful of their deception."

An Indian merchant on board said: "Sriwijaya has 100 to 200 warships and can call on its own merchant ships at any time. If ships from other countries do not enter the port, they may not take action at the time, but will soon summon more ships to attack. When Srivijaya fought a naval battle with our country, the largest number of ships deployed was thousands."

Ying Xuan laughed and said, "When thousands of ships are dispatched at a time, that means they include small boats of several hundred tons, right?"

"Yes." said the Indian businessman.

In fact, the Chola Dynasty in India also wanted to monopolize the trade between the East and the West.

But the Indian Ocean can be bypassed and supplies can be obtained in Sri Lanka, so the Chola Dynasty in India has insufficient control over the route. They are very jealous of Srivijaya, which firmly controls the Strait of Malacca!
"Prepare to dock for supplies, and leave three days for merchant ships from various countries to do business," Cheng Yu ordered, "The army will go ashore to protect the merchants, and the sailors will stay on the ship to guard!"

"Yes!"

Zhu Xiaozhong ordered the herald to raise the flag, and the cavalry and infantry on the transport ship began to assemble on the deck.

Chief Medical Officer Yan Xiuqing said: "I need merchants to accompany me and soldiers to protect me, to hire local doctors and buy some local medicinal herbs."

"Okay." Cheng Yu agreed.

Yan Xiuqing was from Zhejiang and came from a medical family. He was very knowledgeable about epidemic diseases such as dysentery.

In history, he named his son Yan Fangyu because the Jin soldiers were rampant in the south. Song Xiaozong once suffered from dysentery and almost died. The imperial doctors were helpless, but Yan Fangyu, who came from the folk, cured the disease.

Zhu Guoxiang founded a medical school in Lingnan and issued an edict to recruit famous doctors from all over the country.

Yan Xiuqing became the vice president of Lingnan Medical College four years ago. He has become more and more proficient in various infectious diseases in the south and now even carries a microscope with him when he goes out to sea.

……

Dozens of merchant ships are being resupplied at the outer port of Balinbang (Palembang).

There were also Arab merchants who took the initiative to sell goods. They sold some Chinese goods to Srivijaya merchants in exchange for spices.

Several Srivijaya officers, wearing long robes, were spying at the dock.

"It's not easy to fight. They are all wearing good armor."

"These are the troops of the Ming Dynasty. We cannot attack them without authorization. We must wait for the order from the Dragon Spirit (King)."

"What a pity, there are so many goods."

"..."

The state religion of Srivijaya is Mahayana Buddhism, but Brahmanism and Islam are also allowed to exist.

Religiously, this place is relatively open and tolerant.

But trade monopoly is disgusting.

At first they even turned into pirates, but later they felt that being a pirate was not sustainable, and now they make profits through trade and taxation.

However, if any merchant ship dared not to enter the port, it would soon be attacked by them.

Seeing that the Ming army was difficult to deal with, Srivijaya's navy and army all retreated and gathered towards the outer port of Zhanbei further west.

More ships were also gathering there.

As long as the King of Srivijaya ordered a war, hundreds of Srivijaya warships would besiege the Ming fleet in the Strait of Malacca.

……

The King of Srivijaya was respectfully called "Dragon Spirit" by the people and "King of Kings" by Arab merchants.

All citizens only pay commercial taxes, and no other taxes are levied.

But whether they were merchants or farmers, they all had to accept the king's call, and once a war broke out, they had to grab their weapons and fight desperately.

This king is called Sanusi, and he is almost sixty years old.

He summoned the court officials and said, "The Ming warships, along with dozens of merchant ships from various countries, have come to the outer port of Balinbang to trade for supplies. But they only traded for some spices, and the rest of the goods were not sold. Do you think we should fight?"

Prime Minister Barney said: "The Ming ships cannot always protect merchant ships. We can let them pass this time, and then order merchants from various countries to trade next time."

"We can't let go of dozens of ships' worth of goods!" said the financial officer Dharmawangxia.

Barney strongly objected: "We have always been friendly with China, first with the Song Dynasty and now with the Ming Dynasty. There is no need to offend the Ming Dynasty for a few dozen ships of goods."

Dharma Wangxia said: "So what if we have offended the Ming Dynasty? If you pass through this strait, you must abide by our rules. If we let them go this time, our prestige will be greatly lost, and there will be more and more ships that do not abide by the rules in the future!"

"If the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty gets angry and orders the port to be closed, our losses will be even greater," said Barney.

Dharma Wangxia sneered: "The emperor is angry and they are closing the port? I don't believe they want to make money. We are not afraid of the Ming navy coming to attack us. We can send out hundreds or thousands of ships. The Ming army has come thousands of miles, and we are just waiting to ambush and annihilate them."

"Be careful of Java!" Bani warned.

Srivijaya had been on a downward trend. More than a hundred years ago, their capital was attacked and their king was killed by South Indians. They were forced to move the capital to the present-day Jammu and Kashgar.

Then Java Kingdom on Java Island rose, and Srivijaya was forced to recognize its independence, and then the two countries entered into an alliance to maintain superficial friendship.

If the Ming Dynasty joined forces with Java, Java would definitely be happy to stab Srivijaya in the back.

King Sanusi thought about it and finally made a decision: "Let the Ming fleet pass and collect taxes as usual. There is no need to force them to buy or sell goods. When they return, prepare a gift for them to take back to the Ming emperor."

Barney complimented, "Your Majesty is truly a wise king."

Dharmawangxia, however, looked unhappy. As a financial officer of a country, he supported many businessmen.

Srivijaya forced the purchase and sale of goods from various countries, and all the profits were shared with Dharmawangxia.

He suffered a huge loss this time when he was released!

Dharmawangxia bowed and left the palace. He felt that the king was old and incompetent, and that the Second Prince was the most enterprising and wise king.

The Ming fleet is just passing by, but it will provoke a coup in Srivijaya!
(End of this chapter)