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

Chapter 517 Spices and huge profits

Srivijaya obviously saw the benefits and waited until Lao Zhu came to power. Later, during Lao Zhu's reign, he paid tribute four times in the second, fourth, ninth and tenth years of Hongwu, and then received many rewards from the Ming Dynasty.

Later, Lao Zhu may have realized that if he gave less, he would stop coming soon.

Think about it, people travel thousands of miles to come and pay tribute. What is the purpose? Not just for your money.

Moreover, Srivijaya has not been to the Southern Song Dynasty since the Northern Song Dynasty. People also know that the Southern Song Dynasty is not good. It was beaten by the Jin and Mongolia and was still alive. It is estimated that there is no profit.

Now that Zhao Yurui is on stage, who can we beat if we don't beat them?
The local area is rich in spices, including pepper and nutmeg, which are all good things.

"Commander Meng, look, this is nutmeg." At this time, Yan Le saw nutmeg on the roadside and quickly ordered it for them.

This will be the nutmeg fruiting period, and you can clearly see the small fruits hanging on it.

"This nutmeg can not only be used as a spice, but also as medicine. One foot of cloth here in Tanjong Puteri can be exchanged for twenty kilograms, and it can be sold to Lin'an in the Song Dynasty. Commander Meng, do you know how much it is worth?"

"How much?" Meng Zhijing asked subconsciously.

The price of spices in Europe will become more expensive, because merchants have to pay higher prices for the goods in the hands of the Song people.

After the Song Army occupies Malacca, and then destroys Srivijaya in Sumatra and the Xinhasali Dynasty in Java, the entire spice route will be controlled by the Song Army. The Song Army will have the final say on the price of spices at that time. .

At this time in Europe, about one pound (about 0.45 kilograms) of nutmeg could be exchanged for three sheep, and two pounds could be exchanged for one cow. After the fifteenth century, Europeans found a new route to the Spice Islands, which greatly improved availability of spices, but in fifteenth-century England a pound of pepper could still be exchanged for a fat pig.

There were all kinds of crops outside the city, some of which Meng Zhijing had never seen before. He also saw a small shrub. Yan Le said that it was called hematoxylin, which was also a spice and equally valuable.

From this road, they went directly to the west gate of Tanjong Puteri City. All the people along the road had already fled, because the Malays had been a bit wary before and were obviously more experienced.

"Sold to Lin'an for six cents of silver (six hundred Wen) per catty, and sixty taels for one hundred catties. That's a sixty-fold increase."

"Commander Meng, you said that this kind of place should be robbed and taken back." Yan Le said seriously: "It is said that the Han people came here during the Three Kingdoms period. This area used to be the territory of the Han people. Now we are just taking it back. ”

"In Persia and Europe, one pound of nutmeg is exchanged for three sheep, which means that we can use one foot of cloth to exchange for sixty sheep."

"Ah." Meng Zhijing was surprised. He couldn't calculate how many times it had doubled in his mind.

Before, they went to the south of Tanjong Puteri City. There was a jungle blocking the south. Meng Zhijing used a telescope to look at it from a high place. In order to guard against traps in the jungle, they went around to the west.

"The price of pepper here is always one hundred catties (in the Ming Dynasty it was one tael of silver and one hundred catties)."

But Yan Le said that this is because there is a larger population and more crops are planted. But in comparison, many small islands are important sources of spices.

Now these islands are controlled by Srivijaya and the Javanese Xinhasali Dynasty. Once their navy is destroyed, the Song army can occupy them all.

The output of this thing is also high. From the Yongle to Zhengtong years of the Ming Dynasty, because Java, Siam, Chenla and other countries frequently brought tens of thousands of kilograms of it, the inventory in Nanjing reached more than three million kilograms.

The two of them were talking and soon came to the west of Tanjong Puteri City.

"A pound of nutmeg in Lin'an is worth at least ten sticks."

Meng Zhijing may not have enough experience in leading troops to fight. After all, he had been with his father before, but when he heard that it was so profitable, he must do it?

Meng Zhijing saw various crops along the way and felt that there were treasures everywhere.

Meng Zhijing listened to his serious nonsense and could only nod: "Commander Yan is right. We are also recovering our homeland."

Of course, the city gate was closed tightly at this time, and it was filled with local people. The city was on full alert. When they saw the Song army approaching, someone shouted something at them.

When the Emperor of the Zhu family realized that something was wrong, he would run out of money if this continued, so he began to give it to officials and guards officers as part of their salary.

After a while, the city gate opened, and a local man walked out cautiously. After he came out, the city gate was immediately closed.

Locals waved and shouted to them.

Yan Le turned to look at the guide he had brought.

The guide immediately said: "They may want to negotiate and ask you why you attacked them."

"Let him come over," Meng Zhijing said.

After a while, someone from the opposite side arrived in front of them.

This man was wearing a suit of silk clothes. He didn't look like a refugee. He should be an important member of the local lord's family.

Sure enough, he said that he was the steward of the lord Udimen and wanted to ask why the Song people attacked them and arrested their people. In the past, they used spices to exchange goods with the Song people. Didn't everyone get along very well?

Meng Zhijing asked the guide to reply to him: "Surrender unconditionally and spare Udimen's life. Once we let us attack by force, Udimen will be dead."

The housekeeper didn't understand and insisted on asking Meng Zhijing, why did he beat us? We didn't mess with you.

Meng Zhijing thought for a while: "Tell him that one of our sergeants is missing. It is said that he was captured and killed by your people. We are going to search the city and open the city gate to let us in."

This is a trick that Song Jun has tried repeatedly, so why don't you give it a try?
But Wu Dimen is not a fool. He replied quickly and said that you can come in. You can only come in ten people for you to search.

Ten people will definitely not do it. Meng Zhijing and Yan Le know that there are quite a lot of people in Tanjong Puteri. The Siamese are fighting from north to south, and the Malays have all gone to the south. Now one is Muar. , one is Tanjong Puteri, the two places with the most people.

Meng Zhijing looked at the city gate and the people above it, and felt that it was no different from a fishing village. Most of the city walls were made of wood and were less than two meters high. If they were slightly padded, they could be climbed over without a ladder.

"Can we just hit him?" He turned around and asked Yan Le.

"Of course, let's fight directly." Yan Le said immediately.

The Song army didn't care at the moment, and with a wave of Yan Le's hand, the entire army pressed forward.

Wudimen on the opposite side saw that Song's army was coming to force them, and quickly ordered everyone to come forward immediately. He was a small local lord, and Song was a landlord. He had some servants to protect the courtyard, and no regular troops at all.

Srivijaya's regular troops are all on the island of Sumatra, across the Strait of Malacca from here.

Udimen must have heard at this time that the Song army had weapons to fight from a distance, so he asked people to take out all the shields they could hold. Many people did not have shields, so they used wooden boards such as door panels. Everyone squatted on the wall and looked at the Song army. .

The Song army advanced step by step and soon got within a hundred steps.

Meng Zhijing used a telescope to look at the opposite side. There were very few bows and arrows on the opposite side, and most of them were not standard and were made by himself.

The range was definitely not that far, and no one was shooting. "Stop." Yan Le and the others didn't wear any armor because of the hot weather. They all wore leather armor, and they quickly stopped a hundred steps away.

"Get ready." Song Jun raised his gun.

"beat"

There was a crackle, a burst of firecrackers in the air, and the three-stage firing of the Song Army's flintlock guns began.

There was a loud bang on the opposite side, sawdust scattered in all directions, and a thin layer of wood couldn't stop it at all. The row of people in front fell down like straw blown by the wind, and screams and cries were continuous.

Wu Dimen was almost shot, and he was so frightened that he quickly retreated.

After he retreated from the top of the city, he saw loud noises in front of him, sawdust scattered everywhere, and holes made in the wooden city walls.

The Song army fought three rounds, and there was no one standing at the top of the city in front.

The Malays either retreated from the city or were knocked to the ground.

The Malays had never seen such weapons and could not reach the top of the city. Naturally, they did not dare to shoot bows and arrows. Anyone who dared to show their head would be beaten. After a while, a group of Song troops entered within twenty steps.

The Song troops lowered their heads, took out grenades, lit them, and then threw them directly behind the city gate.

Boom, followed by loud noises, after five grenades were thrown, the wooden and stone door was already shattered.

The Malays in the city fled in all directions, and Udimen couldn't even shout to stop them.

The Song Army quickly rushed in. The inside looked like a fishing village. The outer city wall was probably built specifically by the Udi Gate. Inside were wooden houses. People trembled and returned to their homes. A few of his slaves thought To protect Udi Gate, the Song army went up and fired a row of guns, and immediately dispersed.

"Kneel down and don't kill."

"Kneel down and don't kill." The Song Army's shouts were everywhere in the city. Although it was not very standard, everyone still understood. In less than half an hour, the Song Army took control of the entire city. Except for some people who escaped, a large number of civilians They were all so frightened that they stayed at home and did not dare to come out. They were all arrested.

Meng Zhijing and Yan Le met and found that there were tens of thousands of people in the city, which was a bit too crowded. There were only more than 500 of them, so they were worried that it would be difficult to control them.

It was decided to kill all the nobles and the leading wealthy people, and resettle the others in their original places. Tanjong Puteri will be renamed Johor Bahru City, and the Song army will move here to live.

Meng Zhijing originally planned to build a military camp in Lion City, but now that he saw a ready-made place here, he decided to occupy it for the use of the Song army.

After successfully quelling the resistance, the next step was conquest. The Mongols were simple and rude, and relied on killing to conquer, but the Song army knew how to use their brains to kill a large number of people. If the Song army could not do it, they should try not to do it. If they could find someone to do it, they would try to find someone to do it.

For example, there are prisons everywhere and opposition groups everywhere.

There were also disobedient slaves under Udi Mun. Song Jun captured dozens of imprisoned Malays in his prison. After some screening, Yan Le quickly found twelve local Malays from Tanjong City. Someone comes.

One of them committed a more serious crime. He broke into a house, robbed, killed, and insulted women. This guy was originally a slave of a small landlord. He must have been too oppressed. He drank some wine to strengthen his courage. He killed first and then insulted, and killed the entire landlord's family. .

Udi Mun had just captured him and was preparing to put him to death in public after a public trial. Unexpectedly, the Song army suddenly came and captured Tanjong City.

The six people were brought to Meng Zhijing. Meng Zhijing looked at the twelve people and slowly said: "I just arrived in Tanjong. Now I want to rename this place to Xin Sanfu and build a new mountain city. We need a few local people." , help us manage these people.”

As he spoke, the guide translated.

After hearing this, more than half of the twelve people raised their heads sharply, their eyes brightening, and then someone immediately said: "We are willing to submit to the Song people and help you manage this place." This person was smarter and was the first to react.

Then someone said, I am willing to be loyal to you for life, and you will be my new master. Please use your riding crop to guide me in the direction.

This man knew better and immediately expressed his willingness to be a slave of the Song Dynasty.

Being someone's slave is not a matter of doing it. Originally, they were slaves of Udimen here.

The Song people defeated Udimen, so of course he quickly defected to the Song people.

After someone took the lead, the others, even if they were not smart, could react quickly. Then the twelve people knelt down one after another, all lying at the feet of Meng Zhijing, lying on the ground on all fours, touching his boots with their hands, and saying something.

The guide said that they were loyal to Meng Zhijing and wanted to become his slaves.

Meng Zhijing remained calm and said, "It's okay to be loyal to the Song Dynasty, but there are requirements."

First, they need to change their surnames to Han names in the future (because the local people have so many different names, which are harder to remember than the Mongolians and Jin people.) Meng Zhijing asked them all to change their surnames to Han names and surnames. Originally, he wanted to change them all to Meng, but he thought it couldn't be done like this. Go ahead, let them all change their surname to Yan.

Yan Le looked at Meng Zhijing speechlessly, why isn't his surname Meng?
But if you think about it carefully, the Meng family is now at its peak. Meng Ying, Meng Gong, Meng Jing and other brothers are all giants of the party. The first two are commanding the army. The other Meng brothers are all serving as officials in the court. Of course, they can no longer be named Meng.

Secondly, if one considers himself a Song person from now on, all his children will have Han surnames, and they will have to learn Chinese characters, speak Chinese, and use Han script.

This time ten of the twelve agreed, while the other two hesitated.

Meng Zhijing waved his hand without saying a word.

The armored soldier on the side pushed the two men to the ground, took out a short knife and slit their throats in front of the others.

The two corpses fell to the ground with a crash, and the remaining ten people were trembling, and they quickly expressed their willingness to be Song people for life, learn Chinese characters, speak Chinese, and use Chinese script.

Meng Zhijing first killed people, then showed his kindness, and then said, each of you will be assigned a big house, which was used by the nobles in the city. Each person can choose five households of common people to be your slaves, but you cannot abuse them. You can only let them serve you.

From now on, you are the new nobles in the city, and you are also our officials of the Song Dynasty.

The eyes of the ten people were bright again, a little unbelievable.

They were originally low-class slaves in Tanjong City, but now they suddenly became nobles and officials?
Then Meng Zhijing said: "You must complete the count of how many households there are in the city within half a month."

“Every ten households will be entitled to one insurance, every hundred households will be allocated one insurance, and every thousand households will be allocated one village.”

"The chief security officer will be appointed by you. The chief security officer and the village chief will be appointed by you in turn. They will be evaluated once every three months. If you do well, you will become the village chief. If you do not do well, you will become the chief security officer. If you do well, you will become the chief security officer. Especially bad ones - kill -"

Hiss, the expressions of the ten people changed greatly after hearing this.

"The village chief will give each household twenty acres of land, and the court will give you a monthly salary of copper coins. The court will give each of your households five slaves, and you can only own five households, no more. Each slave household will also subsidize a copper coin, which is given to you. Feed them."

After Meng Zhijing finished speaking, it was translated by the guide. Only after speaking it twice did they understand it completely.

(End of this chapter)