I

   Chapter 935 931 [Water and Fire Mage]

   Also in the winter of this year, two skinny old men were brought to live in Nanjing.

  They come from Nanpan Kingdom, also called Jialai Kingdom.

   But in fact there is no king, only two archmages: the king of water and the king of fire.

  Water King lives in the east of Po Nan Mountain, and Fire King lives in the west of Po Nan Mountain. It is said that if the king does not see the king, a catastrophe will happen when the two kings meet.

  Not only the tribes of Nanpan Kingdom believed them, but even when floods and droughts occurred in Laos and Cambodia, two mages would be invited to ride elephants to pray for blessings.

  Now that the Ruan family is gone, the Nanpan Kingdom has also surrendered to the imperial court, and it has been set up as the Nanpan Military and Civilian Mansion under Guangnan Province. The chiefs of each tribe were appointed as the mayors of the towns, and each town sent a Han teacher to set up thatched sheds as schools to impart knowledge.

  These Han teachers are all merchants who have been doing business with the Ruan family for a long time. A literate clan member from each family can go to Nanpan Mansion to work as a village teacher, and they can be exonerated from their past crimes.

   There is no need to impart any high-end knowledge. The aborigines there are still tying ropes to keep track of events. It is enough to teach children to speak Chinese and write Chinese characters. These Chinese-speaking children can be appointed as town chiefs when they grow up-the local chiefs are elected, and have not yet developed to a hereditary level.

  Even the kings of water and fire are not hereditary. They are not allowed to pass the throne to their sons, and they can only select successors from grandchildren and nephews for training.

  The two kings of water and fire, who have never met each other, not only meet each other now, but also become friends along the way, exchanging spells with each other.

  One is Ruolanhei, in her sixties; the other is Ruopoli, in her fifties.

   "Ruo" is not a surname, but an honorific title.

  They also live in Zhongshan Temple with their entourage. Compared with the envoys from other countries, their clothes are very shabby.

  However, the envoys of various countries did not despise them, and were also very interested, because they heard that they could spell. The envoys came to visit one after another, wanting to know their customs, and also wanted to see their ability to control wind and rain.

  Finally, on the day before entering the palace to face the saint, the two kings sat together to discuss the future.

Ruolanhei said: "I have communicated with Chinese officials for two months and learned a lot about them. China is very powerful. If China is like a mountain, we are like rocks under the mountain. The power of the Chinese court will be in our land. It has been revealed that our children and grandchildren will also become Chinese."

"That's right, you're right," Ruo Poli took out his pipe, lit the tobacco and said, "So we have to learn from China, and we will go back and tell the people that the most powerful **** is Heaven, and the emperor is the son of Heaven." Come to the world. It is the Dragon King who calls the wind and rain, and we are communicating with the Dragon King when we pray for the rain to recede the water."

  Ruo Lanhei said: "We should also determine other gods, it is best to consecrate the water kings and fire kings of the past."

  The **** system of Nanpan Kingdom is very vague. Their main belief is ghosts, and the so-called magic also belongs to primitive witchcraft.

   But they are open to new things, like tobacco.

  Tobacco has been introduced to Nanpan Kingdom for less than a hundred years, but the tobacco pipe has become the magic weapon of the two kings of water and fire, and it is the most important magic weapon. Before each practice, you have to light a cigarette and take a few puffs, saying that you can communicate with ghosts and gods.

  Historically, Vietnam completely annexed the Nanpan Kingdom and spread enlightenment like China. The two kings of water and fire did not conflict, and decisively adjusted their beliefs, and dragon gods and the like also appeared.

Ruo Poli said: "We made an agreement here. After returning home, let our followers spread the news. Let's say that we met the son of heaven in Nanjing. The Chinese emperor is the real king of gods. The ghosts and gods we established should be the same. Every five years from now on, we will meet at Po Nan Mountain."

   "Water King and Fire King can't meet, how should I explain to the tribe?" Ruo Lanhei asked.

  Ruo Poli said: "Before we couldn't meet each other because we believed in different ghosts and gods. Now that we meet the Son of Heaven, we will all believe in the Son of Heaven from now on. The ghosts and gods have become the same, so we can meet."

   "That's right." Ruo Lanhei nodded.

  Ruo Poli said again: "I think the Han people are very good at farming. They have iron hoes and iron plows, and they have dug ditches to divert water from the fields. We can also learn from it and stop burning mountains to farm."

   "But who can we learn from? We don't understand these things." Ruo Lanhei said.

Ruo Poli said: "We have donated treasures this time. According to the general officer, the emperor will give gifts in return. We don't want other gifts, but we need hoes, iron plows and seeds. Please ask the emperor to send someone to teach our people. Farm the land, and teach us to dig ditches to carry water."

  Ruo Lanhei said excitedly: "In that case, we can grow more food, and the tribe will no longer be hungry."

   There are not many special products in Nanpan Kingdom, such as yellow wax, deer antler, ivory and so on. They would use these things to exchange iron pots, hoes, salt, etc. with the Ruan family, but the prices were always lowered by Yue merchants, so iron pots and iron hoes were considered luxury goods.

  Now it belongs to China, and it will definitely benefit.

  There are a lot of giant trees in the mountains there, especially the century-old teak, which is an excellent material for making warships, and its strength far exceeds that of oak warships.

  Although Nanpan Kingdom is extremely poor, but only those century-old teak trees are worthy of China's occupation and rule!

  The next day, the two kings of water and fire faced each other.

   When the two met the emperor, they were cautious and followed the etiquette trained by Honglu Temple.

   "A seat." Zhao Han smiled.

   "Thank you, Your Majesty." The two old men bent down and smiled.

   Zhao Han chatted with them for a while, and even called the Hawaiian over: "This is your distant relative, you can try to communicate."

  Four native Hawaiians came to Nanjing, and there were scholars from the Imperial Academy and Honglu Temple who wanted to learn to speak Hawaiian dialect. The two kings of water and fire in Nanpan Kingdom also had scholars to understand their language.

   Then it was discovered that the languages ​​of the two places that were far from each other had a lot of similarities.

  Especially in everyday expressions, such as 伱好, goodbye, etc., the pronunciation is very similar.

   Two Vietnamese Jialai people and two Hawaiians communicated in front of Zhao Han. After not saying a few words, each of them was happy, but they couldn't communicate anymore.

  The more primitive the vocabulary is, the more similar it is, and the more refined the vocabulary is, the more different it is.

Zhao Han said with a smile: "Whether you are from Jialai or Tanzhou, you are all Chinese Miao descendants and have the same ancestors as Han people. Han people are like elder brothers, and you are younger brothers. Now we are one family again. Although the two I am older, but in terms of ethnicity, I am the older brother and you are the younger brothers."

  The two old men were very smart, and hurriedly bowed: "Your Majesty, Brother Emperor!"

"Very good," Zhao Han instructed, "after you return to Nanpan, you must also tell the other Jialai people to explain this truth clearly. From now on, the Han people are the elder brothers, and the Jialai people are the younger brothers. Younger brothers should respect older brothers, and older brothers should also respect their elder brothers." You should take good care of your younger brother. If there are Han people who bully you, go to the Nanpan prefect to file a complaint, and the prefect will make the decision for you. If the Nanpan prefect doesn’t care, then go to Guangnan province to file a complaint.”

   "Thank you, Brother Emperor, for making the decision!" The two old men became more and more happy.

  Zhao Han asked someone to bring two pairs of special smoking pipes, made of gold and sandalwood: "This is your future magic weapon, you can use it when praying for rain and blessings."

  The two old men thanked each other again, and couldn't put it down for the imperial gift pipe.

  The reason why Zhao Han attaches so much importance to them and is willing to meet them personally is because they are the leaders of witchcraft in Southeast Asia. Although Buddhism is prevalent in Cambodia and Laos, the whole people also believe in witchcraft. These two old men surrendered to China, which means that China can gain a certain right to speak through them.

  From now on, the kings of water and fire must also be canonized by the court, otherwise they are all fake kings.

Ruo Poli knelt down and said, "Your Majesty the Emperor, I heard that you want to give us property. We don't want gold, silver or treasure. Please give us hoes, oxen, iron plows and seeds, and then send someone to teach us how to farm like the Han people." .”

Zhao Han was quite surprised by this request, and then he was very happy: "Very well, you are all people who care about the common people. I will give each of you three thousand iron hoes, two hundred oxen, and two hundred plows. The agricultural officials have taught you how to farm!"

   "Thank you, Your Majesty, brother of the emperor!" The two old men were sincerely convinced, and kowtowed to the emperor from the bottom of their hearts.

  Both sides get what they need, what Zhao Han wants is to develop Nanpan Mansion as soon as possible, and the old men also get what they expect. If they go back with hoes, oxen and iron plows, they can be distributed to the tribes according to their wishes, and the chiefs and tribesmen of the tribes will be more convinced of them.

  The two old men left happily, and they were still laughing when they left the palace gate.

   Sitting in the carriage, Ruo Lanhei took out the imperial pipe, and also found a bag of premium cut tobacco and a pair of fire knives.

  Back to Zhongshan Temple, they couldn't wait to light a fire, filled it with shredded tobacco, and began to puff.

  Ruo Lanhei was intoxicated and said: "The shredded tobacco given by the emperor's brother is comfortable to smoke, and it will definitely be more effective in the future."

  Ruo Poli said: "I should ask for more shredded tobacco just now, and I won't be able to get it when I get home."

   "The general officer said that the Han government needs teak," Ruo Lanhei said, "In the future, cut down more trees and sell them to the Han government, so that the government can exchange this shredded tobacco."

  Ruo Poli said: "This is a good idea!"

  These two old smokers sold all the century-old teak in the territory for the best shredded tobacco.

  They have enmity with Yue people and have been oppressed for a long time. As for the Han people, I don't have much impression, because I don't have much contact with them. This time I met the Han emperor, and I was treated politely along the way, so I feel very good about the Han people, and I am willing to have friendly exchanges with the Han people in the future.

   Zhao Han received two mages, and it was getting late, so he went back to the harem to rest.

   "Your Majesty is coming!" Li Xiangjun greeted him with a smile.

  Zhao Han quickly supported him: "Be careful not to move the tire gas."

  When Li Xiangjun was thirty years old, he was also registered as a concubine, and at the same time gave up his position as a female official, and now he is pregnant with Liujia.

  No one said anything about this matter, but the ministers were very worried.

  There are many such examples, and it is very likely that the harem will interfere in politics. But they did not dare to oppose the emperor, so they buried their worries in their hearts, and after the new emperor ascended the throne, they urged the new emperor to gradually restore the **** system.

  In the past, civil servants hated eunuchs, but now they are eager for eunuchs to come back. At least eunuchs are more reliable than harems in politics!

  It’s like the husband thinks the original spouse is disgusting. After divorce and remarriage, he wants to remarry for the benefit of the original spouse.

  (end of this chapter)