I

  Chapter 712 709 [Lost land and surrender]

   Before the spoils seized in Malacca were sold out, the clansman Shi Cunzhang sent for help had already arrived by sea boat.

  Kuang Hong took out the nautical chart and asked, "Where are you from?"

The name of the visitor was Shi Cunwen. He pointed to the chart and said, "Here. This is the territory of Aceh Kingdom, and tens of miles to the east, it is the territory of Wandan Kingdom. This city, originally named Jiugang, was renamed by the Fanbang barbarians Palembang. In the early Ming Dynasty, the Han people established their country here. The ancestors of the Liang family were the kings, and the ancestors of my Shi family were the deputy kings."

"In the third year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, the ancestors of various families condemned envoys to Beijing to pay tribute. In the fifth year of Yongle, the ancestors of my Shi family were appointed by the Emperor Yongle as the consolation envoy of the old port of the Ming Dynasty. The land of the old port has since become the land of the Ming Dynasty, and it is naturally also the land of Datong today. The old port We can take the city by ourselves, but the Sultan of Aceh will definitely send troops to attack. Please, Lord Angel, send troops to help us defend the city!"

  Kuang Hong was very surprised when he heard this: "Da Ming actually has overseas territory? Do you have proof?"

  Shi Cunwen took out a piece of paper, on which was stamped the seal pattern of "Daming Old Port Propaganda and Consolation Envoy Seal".

  Kuang Hong carefully identified it, then handed it to Hong Xu and said, "Has General Hong heard of this?"

   Hong Xu shook his head and said, "I've never heard of it."

Shi Cunwen explained: "During the five years of Ming Dynasty's orthodox rule, the Ming fleet no longer went to sea, and the Manchu Boyi Kingdom became greedy and sent a large army to besiege the old port city. My Han family, Erlang, had few people and was weak. After a hard fight, we lost troops and lost generals. We can only negotiate a reconciliation. Majapahit was also afraid of too many casualties, so he agreed to peace talks. The Han people handed over the city and moved to the present Xingang.

"Later, Danmu Kingdom rose and destroyed Majapahit. Danmu was divided into Wandan Kingdom and Matalan Kingdom due to civil strife. Aceh took the opportunity to seize the old port city. I, Han Jiaerlang, have been dormant for more than a hundred years and worked hard to support it. Don’t dare to be too high-profile, so the forces of all parties don’t know much about the Old Port Consolation Envoy...”

   "Wait!" Kuang Hong interrupted suddenly, went back to his cabin, and took out a copy of "Yingya Shenglan".

   "Yingya Shenglan" was written in the second year of Jingtai, and it is almost impossible for the people to find it. The Datong court only discovered it when it moved to the collection of books in Beijing of the Ming Dynasty.

  The author of this book is Ma Huan, a native of Shaoxing, Hui nationality, proficient in Persian and Arabic, and a translator for Zheng He. In his book "Ying Ya Sheng Lan", he sorted out and recorded the situation of more than 20 countries that Zheng He passed through during his voyages to the Western Ocean, including sea routes, tides, geography, kings, politics, customs, humanities, language, climate, Currency, wild animals and more.

   Kuang Hong served as an envoy this time, and carefully read "Yingya Shenglan".

  He rummaged quickly for a while, and finally found the relevant content: (Old Port Xuanwei Division) It is connected to Java in the east, Manga in the west, mountains in the south, and the sea in the north. The land is densely populated and the fields are fertile. The climate is warm, with frequent rain in spring and summer. The soil is fertile and suitable for crops. Language cloud: one year to plant grain, three years to produce gold. It is said that the harvest is prosperous and the trade gold is abundant.

   "It's a good place to plant grain for one year and produce gold for three years." Kuang Hong said with emotion, "Unexpectedly, more than two hundred years later, you are still living in the old port. I thought there were no Han people there."

Shi Cunwen said: "There are Han Chinese, and there are many of them. They can speak Chinese, at least 100,000 to 200,000! The soil there is fertile, the grain harvest is very large, and all the land has been reclaimed as fertile land. It is all thanks to my Han people's three hundred years of reclamation. And the sea route is blocked. The throat was once the supply ground for the Sanbao eunuch."

   "The supply place for the Sanbao eunuch?" Kuang Hong's eyes lit up.

Shi Cunwen pointed to the nautical chart and said: "Sanbao eunuch's fleet, after crossing Jiaozhi, if the wind is smooth, it can reach the old port in five days. If you go west from the old port, you can go to the western countries through Malacca. If you go east from the old port, you can go Java Island, return to Fujian from Luzon!"

   Kuang Hong and Hong Xu looked at each other, and they both saw the surprise on each other's faces.

  With the old port (Palembang), what more Temasek (Singapore) is needed?

   After all, Singapore at this time does not shit. There are only a few indigenous people on the island, and not much food can be grown. Moreover, after occupying Malacca, Singapore's geographical advantages were also repeated.

  Palembang has fertile land, dense population, abundant food, and can also radiate Aceh, Banten and Batavia. What's even more commendable is that there are Han people everywhere here, so there is no need to spend any more energy on development. A natural overseas base, taking this place and combining it with Malacca will overwhelm the Dutch, and all the countries in Southeast Asia are under the control of the Datong Navy!

   Don’t want Singapore, but Palembang!

  Kuang Hong's mind turned, and he already had an idea.

  After he returns to Beijing, he will ask the emperor to restore the "Old Port Xuanweisi", and the old port will be handed over to the Han gentry there for management. And Xingang is the real seaport, where the Datong Navy builds a base to obtain local specialties and food. Malacca is short of food, and food can also be transported from here.

  …

  The capital of Aceh, Kota Racha.

  The news of the loss of Palembang City made Sultan Muhammad a little confused. The Chinese army is just across the strait in Malacca. How could he send troops to fight back Palembang?

  The land of the country of Aceh is on the east and west sides of Sumatra Island, with a country of Sumatra in the middle. If you want to send troops to recover Palembang, you must either pass through Sumatra by land, or transport troops by sea. The country of Sumatra is already a vassal state of China, and the Strait of Malacca is also controlled by China, and both water and land routes are blocked.

  If the Chinese army refuses to give way, the army of the Aceh country can only bypass the entire southern coast of Sumatra and cross the strait controlled by the deadly enemy Banten country.

   Muhammad thought about it, and called the minister Uma to discuss the matter.

  Uma sighed: "I'm afraid I can't take it back. We must first negotiate with the Chinese about this matter. You can immediately send envoys to Malacca to find out the attitude of the Chinese."

  Aceh at this time is not what it was more than ten years ago.

  The former Sultan of Aceh, named Iskandar Mudar, was hailed as "Alexander of the Sea" by European colonists. Aceh was in his hands, and the territory expanded several times. He also sent troops across the strait to the Malay Peninsula, conquered Pahang, Kedah, Perak and other countries, and seized the pepper and tin mines in the Malay Peninsula.

  This peak of cargo soldiers is so prosperous that it actually led to the alliance between Portugal and Johor. You know, Portugal and Johor are deadly enemies who have fought each other for hundreds of years, and Portugal has just burned the capital of Johor!

  After Portugal and Johor formed an alliance, they still felt uneasy, and then recruited the army of Patani. The three countries joined forces to defeat Aceh and curb Aceh's expansion.

  The Sultan Muhammad in front of him is the Prince of Pahang who was captured by Iskandar Muda when he conquered Pahang.

  Although Iskandar Muda was the hero, he had no son after his death. The captured Prince of Pahang succeeded to the throne as his nephew. Since then, Aceh has gradually declined, and even gradually lost control over Pahang and other countries.

  Aceh, which is going downhill, is no longer as brave as it used to be, and the Sudan is also relatively cowardly. How can it dare to start a war with China?

A few days later, the envoy came back and said to the Sultan: "The attitude of the Chinese is very tough, saying that Palembang is Chinese territory. The Chinese there have ruled Palembang three hundred years ago, and even the walls of Palembang are They are all built by Chinese. If our country is willing to give up Palembang, as a thank you, China is willing to give 1000 taels of silver as a gift. If...we are not willing to give up Palembang, the Chinese are willing to fight. At that time, China will occupy Aceh The entire eastern territory, until the border with Sumatra."

  Muhammad was surprised and angry when he heard it, and presented 1,000 taels of silver. This was not compensation, but more like an insult and ridicule.

  Palembang is so rich, the Han people have cultivated it for three hundred years, and the banks of the Musi River are all fertile fields. The population density there is several times that of other places in Sumatra! Moreover, there is also a good natural port, and the port tax can make a lot of money every day. Isn't it nonsense to compensate one thousand taels of silver?

  Muhammad called Uma and asked, "Teacher, can you persuade the Netherlands to send troops to help?"

  Uma sighed: "Malacca has been captured, and the Netherlands is in difficulty, so how can they help us?"

   Although disappointed with the weakness of the current sultan, Uma does not miss the former sultan.

  Because the former Sultan was too strong, he acted alone and arbitrarily, and did not take him as a prophet seriously. If the current weak sultan succeeds to the throne, Uma can be a powerful minister comfortably and lose a big port, which is nothing more than less fiscal revenue every year.

Uma said: "The decline of the Netherlands here is already an irreversible fact. Other surrounding countries respect China as their suzerain, and they are likely to unite against us in the future. The most important thing now is not to recover Palembang, but to become China's country."

  Muhammad said in surprise: "China has seized our territory, and still respect China as the suzerain? This is too... too unreasonable."

  Uma said: "Otherwise? Even if China does not send troops and other neighboring countries join forces, can we win? Only by obeying China first, other countries will not dare to join forces to attack us."

   "But it's detrimental to prestige." Muhammad said.

  Uma asked: "Is prestige important, or is avoiding defeat important?"

  Muhammad thought about it, but couldn't think of a better way, so he could only nod helplessly: "Okay then, just listen to the teacher."

  For Uma, even if the prestige is greatly lost, it is also the loss of the prestige of the sultan. He is a prophet, he is a powerful minister, as long as he can stabilize his own interests, it will be a big deal to change to a sultan.

  The country of Aceh expanded too much before, its territory doubled several times, and there were many internal conflicts. The former Sudan was able to suppress and transfer conflicts by relying on foreign wars, but now it has become chaotic. Once there is a big defeat, the entire country may be torn apart.

  Everything takes stability as the top priority, everything is to avoid division, and giving up the wealthy Palembang is also acceptable.

  As long as you become a vassal state of China, the external pressure will disappear, and Uma's status as a powerful minister will be stabilized. Even, as long as it can be exchanged for China's care, internal and external stability, and the sending of all the eastern territories of Aceh, Uma thinks it can be considered.

  (end of this chapter)