In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 515: Attack Srivijaya

Singapore was only called Temasek in the Ming Dynasty, and during the Soochow period of the Three Kingdoms, some merchants from Soochow should have been here, and in their books, it was called Puluozhong.

Zhao Yurui called it Singapore, which was actually named hundreds of years in advance, but that was not his final name.

In the middle of March, Meng Ying and his nephew Meng Zhijing (Meng Gong's son) brought three ships to the east of Singapore.

Then two ships were sent ashore first, and then Meng Ying and her nephew Meng Zhijing circled around Singapore and landed in the afternoon.

The Song army had already built a stronghold here, with two small bastions and six forts, with a total of 300 troops stationed there. The Song fleets traveling to and from Persia could replenish fresh water and food here, and those from the imperial court were free of charge. Private merchants need to pay.

When the Song Army first came, Srivijaya sent troops to drive them away, but was defeated by the Song Army's artillery fire. There was no big rivalry between the two sides. The Song Army also did business with them, and the two sides have become relatively more prosperous in recent years. The more moderate.

Now that Zhao Qi plans to use troops here, of course he must first consolidate the defense and construction of Singapore so that large groups of troops can land here and obtain supplies.

After Meng Ying observed it, he found that the map drawn by the Song Army in the past few years was relatively accurate. It consisted of Singapore Island and 63 nearby small islands, of which Singapore Island accounted for 88.5% of the total area.

Singapore Island is about 50 kilometers from east to west and about 26 kilometers from south to south. By the 60s, Singapore's land area was 581.5 square kilometers. After years of land reclamation, it had increased by 25%.

The generals looked at it one by one, checked the seals on it, and then expressed their approval.

Meng Ying smiled and asked them to excuse themselves. Then she straightened her face, took out the official document from the imperial court, read it once and handed it to everyone.

However, the Song army does not have many people now. Meng Ying only plans to send 6,000 troops. Including the Song army stationed in the past few years, the number is less than 8,000.

In the past four years, they cultivated a total of 5,000 acres of farmland in Dangmian, which was close to the agricultural land area of ​​New Gabo in later generations.

Of course, there is no reclamation now, and the area is still smaller than in later generations. It is a hundred miles long and more than fifty miles wide. It is also very small in later generations. Cars can reach it in a short time.

Singapore’s agricultural land occupies only one percent of the country’s total agricultural land, which means the country’s agricultural sector is about 7,000 acres. Most of its food and vegetables are imported.

But in the Song Dynasty, this area was still quite large.

After Meng Ying landed on the island, she took her troops and the map drawn by the Song Army in the early days and ran around the island for five days and nights, and quickly made a decision similar to that of Emperor Zhao Yurui.

"The general will pay homage to the capital commander." Yan Le brought the chiefs and deputy chiefs of the three local capitals over to pay homage to Meng Ying.

So there are fewer fields for farming.

At the same time, he ordered the construction of a temporary military camp in the west, and assigned a general of 3,000 people to work in the fields.

The areas with rich fresh water resources in the middle were enclosed and listed as protected areas. Their main function was to store fresh water for Song military use.

This is because the country's population is too large. It is necessary to ensure urbanization and protect water resources. One-twentieth of the country is a water resource protection zone, and one-fifth is a forest resource protection zone. This means that one-fifth of the country's Don't move where there are more than one.

Not long after Meng Ying came up, she summoned the person in charge of the local garrison and the battalion commander Yan Le.

The three capitals of Singapore originally belonged to the 1st General and 1st Battalion of Posi Port, Borneo Province.

In later generations, more than 40,000 acres were enclosed. At this time, the Song army did not have so many people. Meng Ying first enclosed 5,000 acres, and surrounded several important freshwater lakes, and then built freshwater ponds near the forest in the west, and then stored water. .

The total area of ​​Singapore is about 700,000 acres, one-fifth of which is forest resources, mainly concentrated on the west coast and offshore islands.

There is no time difference between here and Yanjing in the Song Dynasty. The climate is relatively high, so only double-cropping Zhancheng rice can be grown instead of wheat.

The Song troops who arrived first in the past few years all brought their families with them. They take turns to guard here, every six years. They have been here for four years now, and they can go home in two years.

Because the Song army sent troops from Singapore, it would have started from the northwest.

The middle 45,000 acres belonged to the Water District Nature Reserve in later generations, and a total of 17 freshwater pools were built locally for people to use water.

Now according to the imperial decree, it is placed under the First General and Third Battalion of the Lion Army of Singapore and Malaysia.

"This place needs to be renamed Lion City. The imperial court is about to recruit civilians to build a city here." Meng Ying said: ""

"From now on, this place will be called Song Xinma Province and Shicheng Prefecture."

The government is considered to be a relatively high level in the Song Dynasty, neither a state nor a county, which proves that the imperial court attaches great importance to this place. The generals looked at it and expressed their happiness. They didn't care who they followed, but if they built a city here, the life of garrisoning troops would be better in the future. , and they will rotate in two years. It is estimated that they will have to participate in the construction of the city in these two years, and life will be difficult.

Seemingly knowing what the generals meant, Meng Ying continued: "According to the imperial court regulations, overseas stations are rotated every six years. (Recently, there are also five-year rotations)"

"But those who are willing to stay until they retire will be welcomed by the court and will be rewarded."

"Commander, what's the reward?" Someone from the capital immediately asked with a smile.

The imperial court has always given various rewards to overseas troops, especially those stationed in land reclamation, and their wages are higher than those in other places in the Song Dynasty.

Meng Ying said that the troops in Borneo Province (Indian Brunei), Hanzhou (Philippines) and other places are all expired and cannot be retained.

The main reason is that there are a large number of local indigenous people in these two places, and there is a population that can be used. There are also people from the Song Dynasty along the coast of Fuguang who have immigrated there. There is no shortage of human resources, and there is no need for the army to stay.

But there are few people here in Lion City. The Song army has only captured a few hundred natives in the four years since its arrival. There are also hundreds of prisoners captured during the war with Srivijaya. They are currently helping the Song army work in the fields. In total, Less than a thousand people.

Therefore, in order to prosper this place, the Song army encouraged the garrison to stay when it expired.

First of all, the original rewards are all available, including the policy of reducing points for the imperial examinations for the descendants of officers and soldiers, and they can also be given priority to choose to return to the Song Dynasty as officials. These were originally available for overseas land reclamation armies, and there were also tax exemptions for farming.

There are two main newly added policy rewards. One is that after six years, you can retire directly, and your family is exempt from military service for fifty years.

Song soldiers in other places have to be rotated after six years. They can be transferred to another place and serve as soldiers for a few more years. Generally, they can apply for retirement when they are in their early thirties.

Usually, soldiers in the Song Dynasty have to serve for three terms, starting from the age of eighteen, with each term of five to six years, and they retire when they are twenty-nine, twenty-eight or thirty.

In the Lion City, as long as you are willing to stay, you can retire directly after six years and receive a generous retirement bonus. The court will also help build houses in the local area.

There is no division of land here, because there are too few grain fields. The grain fields are cultivated by captives and slaves, or by the garrison. The grain grown is eaten by everyone. Priority is given to the garrison and the people who stay in the area. Insufficient grain will be obtained from other places. Transported from place.

Of course, there are currently few soldiers in Song Dynasty, food is far enough, and there are still reserves. In future generations, there will be five to six million people here, but now there are only a few thousand.

The second important reward is that the children will be free of charge whether they go to school or participate in the imperial examination. In the selection of local officials, priority is given to veterans who can read and write, and they can be continued for the next two generations. .

This is a very important change. For example, Zheng Youcai in the Far East, his son Zheng Wei relied on his pioneering work in the Far East and joined the army. Now he is the deputy battalion commander. But in the future, if Zheng Wei’s son wants to join the army, the assessment will be It is relatively strict, and many preferential treatment will also be weakened.

In the Lion City, various preferential treatment can be extended to two generations, including grandchildren.

Hearing what Meng Ying said, the generals present had thoughtful expressions.

"The garrison rotates every six years. You still have two days to think about it. Don't be in a hurry. Let's go."

Meng Ying led a few people around the east side of the island, mainly looking for an expanded port.

The Lion City will build two large ports, one that can reach Malay in the northwest, and one that can reach Palembang in the southwest.

These two directions are also the main thoroughfares in and out of Malacca.

Once these two passages are blocked, you will have to go around the entire Sumatra Island from the Indian Ocean to reach Java. It will take many miles to walk. No one will do this now or in future generations.

Everyone would rather go to Malacca to pay than take the long way around.

In April, Meng Ying successively decided on the garrison camp and the location of the port. At the same time, a large number of ships came to Lion City from the direction of Borneo Province, transporting batches of Bo Ni people in advance, all of which were used as civilians.

At the same time, the Song army quickly began to cultivate fields on it. In the first year, the grain fields were to be cultivated to 10,000 acres. Based on the double-cropping rice production in Champa, at least one stone was calculated, which could support 10,000 people for one year.

This can at least ensure that the Song Army is self-sufficient, but the Song Army also builds large warehouses here to store grain. Every year, it purchases grain from Srivijaya, Xinhasali, Boluo, Champa and other places and stores it.

A large supply warehouse was also built to facilitate the passing Song troops and people to supply supplies.

Because according to Zhao Yurui's plan, the imperial court will intermittently encourage and promote people to immigrate to Baozhou (South America).

In May, Meng Zhijing led a battalion of more than 500 people, including Yan Le and others, all with flintlock rifles and leather armor, and landed near Tanjong Puteri (Johor Bahru).

When they landed, they brought six ships with them, but they could fill only three ships with more than five hundred people.

In addition, I brought more than fifty dogs.

The purpose this time was to capture people, the local indigenous Malays, work for them, and at the same time establish occupation here.

The indigenous people here are the Malays who came later, accounting for about 60% in later generations, and the Chinese who immigrated later accounted for 20% of the local population. It can be seen that in later generations, this is still the foothold of a large number of Chinese. One in every five people is of Chinese descent.

The locals here are all indigenous and belong to the Srivijaya dynasty, which is a dynasty that believes in Mahayana Buddhism. Their main source of income depends on the navy's control of waterways, trading with passing merchant ships, and spices, and they can be self-sufficient in agriculture. , and sometimes they can sell some to the Song Army's Lion City, mainly in exchange for the Song Army's goodies, such as sugar and silk.

Overall, it was a bit like slavery and feudalism. There were lords, large and small, everywhere, and the people under the lords were basically their slaves and servants.

When Srivijaya was strong, they were attached to the Srivijaya dynasty. However, in recent years, they were attacked by the Sukhothai dynasty (the Siamese) from the north. The local power of Srivijaya was greatly reduced. After the Song Dynasty came, the power of Srivijaya was greatly reduced. The Qi Dynasty moved its capital from Palembang to the west, and the control of the Srivijaya people here was further weakened. However, the people and navy of Srivijaya still controlled the Strait of Malacca, and even the Song army had to pay for the exchanges.

In the early stage, the Song Army did not have time to deal with them, and specialized in transporting goods to Persia, because Zhao and Rui did not want to start a fight here. If they could not destroy their navy, they would always harass them, and the Song Army's transportation lines would be more troublesome.

Now that the Song Army has finished transporting everything it needs to transport, and the Lord's troop transport ships have also sent a large number of troops and horses to Persia, they can finally take care of Srivijaya.

The first step to deal with Sriwijaya is to control Malacca and build a fort at the port. As soon as Sriwijaya's ship comes over, bomb them directly.

At the same time, the navy forced Srivijaya to fight decisively at sea, defeated them in a decisive battle, and then used infantry to destroy Srivijaya.

Meng Ying had several complications happening at the same time.

When Meng Zhijing brought five hundred people ashore, Mao Cheng's navy was already looking for a place on the sea to ambush the Sri Lankan navy.

Tanjong Puteri used to be the center of the ancient Johor Kingdom, but was later destroyed by Sriwijaya. After the 16th century, the King of Malacca established the Johor Kingdom in the old Johor.

Everyone chose to build their capital here not only because of the good resources and location, but also because of the large population.

The main terrain of Johor is plains, and it is extremely rich in water resources and forest resources. From Tanjong Puteri to the north is the forest city of later generations. The nearby forest area is equivalent to five or six Singaporeans. Among them, the famous mangroves, Johor alone has more than 7 million acres.

Forest resources and water resources were the most important in ancient times. The cold weather in the Far East makes survival difficult, but the conditions are actually quite good. The weather here is warm, and forest resources and water resources are abundant, so it has always been a gathering place for local indigenous people.

The Siamese established the Sukhothai dynasty in 1238 a few years ago and were oppressed to the south. The indigenous people further north in Johor either surrendered to the Siamese, were killed, or fled south. This made Johor and Malacca There are more Malays in the area.

When Song troops appeared outside Tanjung Puteri, the locals were stunned.

Meng Zhijing was also stunned.

He is standing on a high place, and your telescope is looking at the city of Tanjong Puteri thousands of steps away.

Song Jun had sentry riders come over before and told him about the situation here, and even drew a simple map, but it was quite surprising to see it with his own eyes.

Tanjong Puteri City should be called Johor City. It is said to be a city, but it is more like a European civil structure, because after all, it was the capital of the ancient Johor Kingdom. There is a city wall on the outside, but most of it is made of wood and earth. As for the structure, there is no soil left in many places, only wood.

The city wall is less than two meters high, and you can see the city from the high ground in the distance.

The city was later destroyed by the Javanese and turned into a small fishing village.

At present, the city is full of people's residences inside and outside the city. The local buildings are standard island buildings, that is, wooden huts with the bottom elevated on the ground and stairs for entry and exit.

Meng Zhichang had been in the Song Dynasty for many years and had only recently come overseas. He had obviously never seen such a shabby and simple place. It looked similar to a fishing village.

It is said that this is a relatively good town in Sriwijaya.

Yan Le, who was accompanying them, immediately whispered: "In recent years, the Siamese have launched a large-scale attack on their north. Many Malays have fled south, so there is a larger population here."

While the two were talking, some Malays on the other side saw Song Jun and they all stood up.

(End of this chapter)