big song poppi

Chapter 593 0590 [The Celestial Empire]

Zhao Ke greeted them, "The foreign lands are not as rich as the Celestial Empire, so I hope you two gentlemen will not despise them."

"Dato Zhao is too polite. We have been drifting on the sea for more than a year and have long been craving for the food on land. Thank you Dato Zhao for your hospitality today. I would like to offer you a drink." The monkey smiled and raised the glass.

Zhao Ke was flattered and raised her glass immediately: "It's my turn to toast you two gentlemen."

Zhao Ke has always longed for the Central Plains.

His father once went to the capital of Song State to pay tribute, and when he came back he praised the emperor highly.

For this purpose, a Chinese scholar was specially invited to teach them Chinese studies.

The host and guests enjoyed the meal very much. The chicken, duck, fish and meat were hardly touched, but the green vegetables were eaten up by Zhu Da and the monkey.

After having a good meal and a good drink, the three of them held their teacups and sipped their tea carefully.

Zhao Ke saw that the time was right and said, "My dears, I have an unwelcome request."

Hearing this, the monkey said calmly, "Dato Zhao, please feel free to speak."

Zhao Ke said, "Champa has always been a vassal of the Celestial Empire and has been enfeoffed by the Celestial Empire. Now that the Great Qi has taken over the Song Dynasty, it is only right that we should pay tribute and pay homage to the Emperor. If it is convenient for you two gentlemen, could you take me with you?"

These words sound reasonable and logical, but if you think about it carefully, they are thought-provoking.

It was only natural that the surrounding vassal states would come to pay tribute and pay homage to the emperor when dynasties changed in the Central Plains. However, Zhao Ke was only the leader of the Bintonglong tribe. Not to mention whether he was qualified to go, even if he wanted to go, he would have to go with the envoys sent by the king of Champa.

But now, he mentioned that he wanted to go to the capital with them. His intention was self-evident.

Monkey and Zhu Da were both smart people and immediately understood Zhao Ke’s thoughts.

After a brief thought, the monkey replied, "It's just a piece of cake."

"In that case, thank you both, sirs."

Zhao Ke was overjoyed and stood up and bowed to express his gratitude.

After chatting for a while, as the sun was setting, the monkey stood up and said, "Thank you, Dato Zhao, for your hospitality. It's getting late, so I'll take my leave."

Zhao Ke stood up and said, "Goodbye, gentlemen."

Before leaving, the monkey reminded: "Dato Zhao, the fleet will stay at the port for three days and then set off in three days."

"I got it."

Zhao Ke nodded in response.

After leaving the mansion, the two walked towards the dock in the afterglow of the setting sun.

There is an inn in the county town, but the environment is not as good as the merchant ship modified by Shenzhou.

As they walked along the road, Zhu Da asked in confusion, "President Yang, Bin Tonglong had previously rebelled and established himself. Zhao Ke's move is quite ambitious. If we rashly agree, we might offend the king of Champa. Why don't you think about it more?"

The monkey smiled slightly and said softly: "This move is in the interests of our Great Qi."

"how do I say this?"

Zhu Da was stunned and confused.

The Champa Kingdom was a vassal state of the Central Plains and had been extremely respectful over the years, paying tribute and paying homage to the Central Plains without interruption. It also provided many preferential treatments to merchants from the Central Plains, such as charging only 20% of the commercial tax, while merchants from countries such as the Arabs were charged 30% of the commercial tax.

However, if Bintonglong's ambition angered the king of Champa, it would be counterproductive.

The monkey said solemnly: "All the land under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people in the world are his subjects!"

I have to say that this saying of our ancestors is truly remarkable.

Perhaps this was not the original intention, but it has left a legacy for future generations.

In this world, wherever the sun and the moon shine, wherever the mountains and rivers reach, all is the king's land, and all are the king's subjects.

Whether it is Jiaozhi or Xixia, or even Waguo and Goryeo, or even the entire Western Regions and overseas lands, they are all king's lands. They were not touched before, which was a gift from the king, so that you can have a place to live. When the king wants to take back this land, he only needs three words: Strike the disobedient.

In this way, it will be justified!
"Your Majesty wishes to take Jiaozhi?"

Zhu Da was slightly stunned.

"good."

The monkey nodded.

As Han Zhen's confidant, he knew more.

Recovering Jiaozhi is also an integral part of future strategy.

The entire Jiaozhi Three Kingdoms has a population of over a million. It is simply impossible and unrealistic to kill them all. Suppressing one group and winning over another is the most cost-effective option.

The Bintonglong tribe is a suitable target to be won over. They are ambitious, neither too strong nor too weak, and are easy to control.

Now that Zhao Ke came to him, Monkey naturally would not refuse and chose to go with the flow.

"I see."

Zhu Da suddenly realized something and tactfully stopped asking any more questions.

……

Three days later.

Early in the morning, Zhao Ke led a group of envoys to the dock with a large number of tribute treasures.

Champa had a long and narrow territory, so it was unable to vigorously develop agriculture.

But even so, as the birthplace of Champa rice, thanks to the suitable temperature, rice can be harvested three or even four times a year, barely ensuring that the people of Champa can fill their stomachs.

Although it was unable to develop agriculture, Champa was rich in minerals and produced a large amount of spices such as camphor and sandalwood. Most importantly, Champa had a long coastline and several natural high-quality ports, making it an important node for ocean trade.

Relying on this, Champa could collect a large amount of commercial taxes every year.

Annan and Zhenla, coveting this, launched several wars in an attempt to annex Champa.

Although the Bintonglong tribe was only a tribe, it controlled a province and a port. It was not as poor as one might imagine, but rather very rich. This time, Zhao Ke brought five carts of treasures, including local spices, ivory, gemstones, agates, etc. from Zhenla and Tianzhu.

Boarding the merchant ship transformed from Shenzhou, Zhao Ke exclaimed in amazement: "As expected of the Celestial Empire, this huge ship is so ingenious and majestic, it is the undisputed overlord of the sea."

"Dato Zhao, please come in."

Monkey smiled slightly and ordered someone to take Zhao Ke and the envoys to the vacated cabin to settle down.

When everything was ready, he shouted, "Set sail and go home!"

The next moment, three huge sails were slowly raised and the iron anchor was also collected.

Soon, the fleet, replenished with fresh water and food, slowly sailed out of the port.

In addition to the merchant ships that had been following the ocean-going fleet all the way, some other merchant ships took the opportunity to join them.

Are you kidding? You have a free bodyguard but you are taking risks yourself?

Isn't that pure idiocy?

The two escorting Shenzhou warships can reveal their terrifying strength just by looking at their appearance. Which blind pirate would dare to rob them?
The days on the boat were boring. Besides reading, Zhao Ke would often play chess with Zhu Da to pass the time.

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Zhu Da did not object and took the opportunity to ask about the information about Zhenla.

Compared with Annan and Champa, the Central Plains has always lacked knowledge of Zhenla, only knowing that it was an indigenous people of the southwest.

In the cabin, Zhu Da and Zhao Ke sat facing each other.

Zhao Ke picked up a chess piece and said in a deep voice, "Zhenla and Champa are of the same origin. They both worship Shiva and Brahmanism as their state religion. However, the kings of Zhenla have always been violent and coveted our Champa's seaports. They have launched more than a hundred wars over the past few hundred years, making our Champa people suffer unspeakably."

Zhu Da chuckled and asked, "How many soldiers are there in the Zhenla army?"

Zhao Ke replied: "There are more than 30,000 soldiers and 50,000 war elephants."

Hearing this, Zhu Da raised his eyebrows: "It seems that the King of Zhenla is a warmongerer."

Thirty thousand soldiers are nothing in the Central Plains.

But you have to know that the population of Central Plains is over 100 million, while the population of Zhenla is only over 300,000, but it has a permanent army of 30,000. This ratio is already extremely exaggerated. The population of Western Xia is 3 million, and at its peak, the standing army was only over 400,000.

The key point is that the Western Xia was a nomadic people. The Dangxiang people grazed in their spare time and mounted horses to kill the enemy in times of war. Therefore, there was such a ratio, which is not surprising.

In times of crisis, nomadic peoples often have a military-to-civilian ratio of five to one, or even three to one.

But Zhenla was different. It mainly relied on agriculture and the people made a living by farming.

Farming requires a lot of time and energy, so this ratio of military to civilian is obviously extremely abnormal.

Raising tens of thousands of war elephants also requires a lot of manpower and material resources.

This may not be intuitive enough. If Qi implements a 10:1 ratio of military to civilian, then the number of troops under its command will exceed 10 million...

Zhao Ke echoed, "It is precisely because of this that the people of Zhenla have many complaints and many tribes are dissatisfied."

"Oh?"

Zhu Da's eyes lit up and he asked, "Which tribes are there?"

Zhao Ke answered truthfully: "The Henu tribe, the Zaqiluo tribe, etc., these tribes have a lot of trade with our Champa. Once the war starts, the trade will be cut off. Therefore, these tribes have always been dissatisfied with the King of Zhenla."

"Ah."

Zhu Da nodded and secretly memorized these tribes.

Half a month later, the fleet crossed Yazhou and entered the waters of Fujian.

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

Suddenly, flags were raised on the observation towers of the two escorting Shenzhou warships.

More than a hundred merchant ships immediately lowered their sails and slowed down, while the escorting warships sped up and went forward to meet the enemy.

Soon, more than twenty ships appeared at the end of the sea.

There were flags of various colors flying on the ship, and you could tell at a glance that it was pirates.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Da showed a strange look on his face: "Are there really thieves who come to die?"

During their long journey across the ocean, they never encountered any pirates.

After all, the pirates are not fools. Seeing the two escorting Shenzhou warships, robbing them would be tantamount to seeking death.

As a result, a group of people who are not afraid of death came today.

Seeing that the other side only had about twenty small boats, the merchant ships in the rear felt relieved and started to watch the excitement.

As time went by, a crew member reminded: "Mr. Yang, these pirates don't seem to be coming for us."

In fact, the monkey had already seen the clues without his reminder.

Because after seeing them, the pirate ships became extremely panicked and fled in all directions.

Soon, the monkey understood what was happening.

Behind these pirate ships, there was a huge monster chasing them.

It’s the Qingzhou ship!
Zhu Da chuckled and said, "So it's my Great Qi Navy that's suppressing the bandits."

Zhao Ke, who was standing by, swallowed his saliva and asked, "May I ask, Mr. Zhu, how many warships of this type does the Shang Kingdom have?"

He originally thought that the two escorting Shenzhou warships were the entire assets of Qi State, but now another one appeared, which made him extremely shocked.

Zhu Da said nonsense: "No less than twenty ships!"

hiss!
Zhao Ke took a deep breath, his eyes full of awe.

Shiva, if twenty Shenzhou warships are deployed together, they can completely destroy any country on the sea.

The Celestial Empire is truly terrifying!
(End of this chapter)