The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"This is the Ming Navy."

A group of people gathered at the dock near the Old Port, looking at the fleet approaching from a distance.

There were more than a dozen large and small Fu ships in front, and in the distance, a large group of warships were sailing towards here against the wind and waves. It was not an exaggeration to say that the sails blocked the sun.

"Back then, when Grandpa Zheng led the navy here, I'm afraid it was the same scene."

"Yes, the old people in my family have said that every time the imperial navy came to the Old Port, it was endless and filled the sea.

I didn't believe it before, but now I believe it."

"Alas, if the court didn't leave, we would have suffered so many years, and we would have to go to the King's City of Bazhang every year."

Several people in charge of the Old Port gathered together to wait for the imperial navy to dock. Seeing the might of the Ming Navy, they couldn't help but murmur in private.

Although they are rich and powerful, and have a huge influence in Palembang, Palembang is just a small place in Nanyang, and it really has no advantages compared to the surrounding areas.

Merchants make money by being harmonious, and there is no need to confront other forces. Therefore, the Palembang Merchant Alliance can only respect and yield to the nominal suzerain and pay tribute to them regularly.

In order to reduce trouble, they also have to send tribute to the dignitaries of the Kingdom of Bazhang, so that they can live in peace.

Jiugang is the place with the most Chinese in Southeast Asia, and more than a dozen clans have taken root here, so the control is always firmly controlled by the Chinese.

Although there are Chinese in other places, there are not many people after all, and they have no influence.

However, the Chinese who went to Southeast Asia are hardworking and willing to endure hardships, so their family wealth is also rich.

However, such a family, without much strength, will undoubtedly become the focus of others like a child strolling on the street with a gold ingot.

In that case, there have been constant wars and chaos in recent years, so more Chinese can only flee to Jiugang. Now there are already several thousand people living in the city.

At this time, the crowd in Jiugang City swarmed out and walked towards the pier.

These are all residents of the city. When they heard the news that the Ming Dynasty sent a navy to Southeast Asia, especially when they knew that a navy fleet appeared at the dock, they all rushed over to watch the excitement.

"Master Zheng, and Master Zhang and Master Zhou, you see that people are rushing here, and the ships are full. It's hard for the imperial navy to get off the ship."

At this time, Master Lin in the crowd in front looked at the crowd coming behind him and whispered to the three people in front.

"Each family should send two people to stop the people and let them watch from the hills on both sides of the dock. Don't squeeze into the dock."

Master Zheng looked back and said immediately.

The heads of the thirteen families here are all here, and they also brought many people from the family. There are two or three hundred people gathered here.

If all the thousands of people in the city come here, the dock will be full.

Several merchant ships on the dock have left the port and quickly sailed to the berths beside the dock to make room for the best positions.

Soon, a huge Fu ship approached the dock, and a Ming official standing on the bow could be vaguely seen, looking down at them.

When the ship docked, the sailors on the dock skillfully tied the ropes and put up the gangplank. Mr. Zheng and other thirteen family heads gathered under the gangplank.

Soon, an official wearing a scarlet official uniform with a tiger patch embroidered on his chest appeared on the ship.

He just stood there, quietly observing below for a while, and then strode onto the gangplank and onto the shore.

Behind him, a team of personal guards and other generals followed and got off the ship.

"Greetings, sir."

Although they didn't know who the general in front of them was, the thirteen family heads chose to kneel down and pay homage.

Such a powerful force entered Palembang, and they thought they had no way to resist.

They could only wait and see what the court's policy would be towards them, and then make other responses.

"I am Deng Zilong, the deputy commander of the Nanhai Navy. Today, I am ordered to go to Nanyang to restore the Jiugang Xuanwei Division. Who are you in Jiugang?"

The rank of the Nanhai Navy is equivalent to that of the Duzhihuishisi. Deng Zilong has now been promoted from the Weizhihuitongzhi to the Duzhihuiqianshi, and his rank has also reached the third rank.

"We are very happy that the king's army has arrived.

We are all the leaders in Jiugang City. Today, we know that the king's army has arrived, so we come to welcome him."

As he said, Mr. Zheng introduced the identities of their group to Deng Zilong.

Many people say that Jiugang was included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty during the Yongle period, which is actually right and wrong.

You should know that Jiugang was set up as a Xuanwei Division, and in the Ming Dynasty, there was actually a Xuanfu Division. The difference between the two is actually very big.

The main difference between the Xuanwei Division and the Xuanfu Division in the Ming Dynasty lies in their jurisdiction and functions.

The Xuanwei Division is mainly responsible for managing border areas, especially border areas where ethnic minorities live, while the Xuanfu Division is mainly responsible for inland or relatively stable areas.

The Xuanweisi of the Ming Dynasty was a special administrative agency for ethnic minority areas. It was subordinate to the local administrative agency at the next level of the Buzhengsi and had a certain degree of autonomy, but the administration, military and justice were under the strict supervision of the three departments of the region, namely the Xuanzhengshisi, the Duzhishisi, the Tixinganchashisi and later the governors and generals.

The succession of the Xuanweishi must be appointed by the court, obey the court's call at any time, pay tribute to the court regularly, and the local soldiers must obey the court's allocation.

The Xuanfusi was mainly responsible for the inland or relatively stable areas. Its settings and functions were relatively stable, unlike the Xuanweisi, which had strong characteristics of frontier and ethnic minority management.

Therefore, the establishment and functions of the Xuanfusi are closer to conventional local administration.

Simply put, the Xuanfusi and Xuanfusi set up in the inland are just institutions to strengthen the court's control and management of ethnic minority areas. The Xuanfusi is actually not much different from the local government, except that there are ethnic minority settlements under its jurisdiction.

The Xuanfusi is an area controlled by ethnic minorities and has a certain degree of autonomy.

But because of this autonomy, after the Ming Dynasty continued to infiltrate these areas, when the court's influence gradually overwhelmed the strength of local chieftains, some local chieftains would suppress it, and then cause rebellion.

In Huguang, Sichuan, Guizhou and other places, the rebellion activities of ethnic minorities were mostly triggered by this.

However, in the southwest, there are three Xuans and six Weis outside the area controlled by the Yunnan Provincial Administration, which are only nominally affiliated with the Yunnan Provincial Administration, but in fact completely independent forces.

In addition to paying tribute, they have almost no other constraints.

The Jiugang Xuanweisi, which people in later generations talked about with great relish, was actually like the three Xuanweis and six Weis. Although it belonged to the Ming Dynasty, it was completely independent. Apart from paying tribute, the Ming Dynasty had almost no restrictions on this place.

Even the Xuanwei envoys of the Jiugang Xuanweisi were actually elected by local forces themselves and reported to the court for appointment.

In fact, it is very similar to the "republic" of later generations. It is a "republican" political system that uses public discussion as the execution decision-making, and the Ming Dynasty is the suzerain state.

However, due to its short time, the three Xuanwei envoys were all from the Shi Jinqing family, so some people regarded this "Xuanwei envoy" as the "small kingdom" of the Shi Jinqing family.

But no matter what, the Shi family in Jiugang at that time did have unparalleled influence here.

Moreover, influenced by many aspects, many Chinese in Jiugang chose to believe in Islam and become devout Muslims.

Mr. Zheng said that they were the talkers of Jiugang City. In fact, it was also in accordance with the earliest Ming Dynasty's tradition of management here that the talkers recommended new Xuanwei envoys.

The public envoys who were elected by the public were naturally acceptable to all forces in Jiugang City. At least, they were recognized by most of the forces and could help the court do something.

"Well, nice to meet you."

Deng Zilong actually knew about the history of Jiugang at sea and knew how the envoys came about.

However, the current court, or Wei Guangde, who had spent so much effort, certainly would not just want nominal ruling power, but to rule here in reality.

Jiugang, although it will still be the Xuanwei Division of the Ming Dynasty, the envoys will be appointed by the court and their power will be equivalent to that of the prefect.

In other words, the court will take back the management power here, instead of delegating power to these so-called talkers and family patriarchs.

And he will be stationed here for a long time as the commander of the South China Sea Navy to prevent Jiugang from being intervened by other forces again.

It can be said that now is actually the perfect time for the Ming Dynasty to take back Jiugang.

The original suzerain, the Kingdom of Bazhang, was too busy with internal strife to take care of itself. If the Ming Dynasty wanted to take back this place, they could not resist at all, because their main force had to be used to deal with the nobles of Matalan.

If the Ming Dynasty did not take action to control the Old Port at this time, if the Spanish or Portuguese took the initiative, it would be quite troublesome for the Ming Dynasty to go to war with them.

Although in history, the Old Port was not occupied by Europeans for a long time afterwards, it was not occupied until Europe completed the Industrial Revolution, its strength increased rapidly, and Southeast Asian countries gradually became colonies.

But in fact, during this period, the Portuguese did not have any thoughts on the Old Port.

It's just that they still have to deal with the forces on the nearby islands, so they have not taken action against the Old Port, but they have been eyeing it covetously.

Of course, Deng Zilong would not tell these so-called family patriarchs about the court's considerations at this time, so he still greeted them enthusiastically.

The South China Sea fleet, the vanguard ships are only more than a hundred large and small Fu ships and other ships, and there are nearly 200 large and small ships led by Yu Dayou in the main fleet. Deng Zilong is just the vanguard, and the main fleet will arrive in the next two days.

So, after Deng Zilong talked with these clan leaders, he asked about the situation of the original Xuanweisi Mansion in the city.

"The mansion is still there, and we usually send people to take care of it, but the court has not announced the edict here for more than a hundred years, and the Xuanwei envoy has not been appointed here, so the popularity seems a little worse."

Mr. Zheng said immediately.

The Xuanweisi Mansion is actually the Shi family's house, which is the best house in the city.

However, the Shi family has been away for many years. In the fifth year of Zhengtong, the Xuanwei envoy Shi Erjie was defeated, and the area under her jurisdiction was taken over by Majapahit.

Shi Erjie later moved to the Chinese New Village in the port of Java. She built it into a commercial center and trade port, so Shi Erjie was appointed as the captain of the foreign ship by Majapahit to manage the maritime trade here.

Although the Shi family left, their influence was still there. Although the power of the old Hong Kong has changed many times in these years, no one dared to make plans there, even the Shi family has not been heard from in these years.

They still sent people to clean the Shi family's house from time to time.

Perhaps, these family patriarchs still have some concerns in their hearts, that is, when the court will go to the West again.

Therefore, some things are not dared to be done too much.

You know, not long after they were defeated and surrendered to Majapahit, there was news that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was going to send people to the West again.

The news they knew was that in the eighth year of Zhengtong, Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty ordered Guo Yan to supervise the construction of a ship for the voyage to the West, and wanted to send Ma Yun, who was commanded by Fan Du, to the West again. After the ship was built, it was shelved due to civil unrest along the coast.

A few months after Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty was restored to the throne, the voyage to the West plan was restarted. Due to opposition from officials, the voyage to the West was stopped, and it has not been mentioned again since then.

The history of the Ming Dynasty took a big turn here. If Emperor Yingzong had really realized the plan to go to the West, perhaps the Ming Dynasty would have entered the Age of Exploration ahead of time.

However, this news was passed to Jiugang through the mouths of sea merchants, which naturally made the local Chinese worried.

After all, they chose to submit to Majapahit after their defeat, and how the Ming Dynasty court would view them was only a few years away.

So the Chinese families who stayed in Jiugang had a tacit understanding, that is, to try their best to preserve the original system of the Xuanweisi of Jiugang, so as to avoid some things that would be difficult to explain when the Ming Dynasty returned here in the future.

These are all mature and prudent practices, measures taken to continue the family foundation, but they are indeed very effective.

At least, Deng Zilong was quite satisfied after seeing the current situation of the old port after the spies found out.

"The land outside the city will be requisitioned as a temporary military camp for the army.

I will also send people to clean the Xuanweisi Mansion. The admiral will be here in the next two days."

Deng Zilong said.

"Don't worry, sir. We have already sent people to clean the mansion yesterday. You can move in directly.

We have also prepared wine, water, cattle and sheep for the army. The soldiers have been drifting on the sea for these days. It's also hard."

Mr. Zheng hurriedly took over.

They have prepared a lot in the past few days, and naturally they have to show their merits at this time.

Although the Ming Dynasty is civil and military, this is not the Ming Dynasty, but an enclave isolated overseas. Everything is not decided by these adults.

Although looking at the official uniform and the patch, they also know that the Deng in front of them should be a third-rank military officer of the Ming Dynasty court.

Third rank, the envoy of Jiugang was only of this rank.

"General, please follow us into the city to rest. It has been a hundred years since the government troops arrived in Jiugang."

After a round of greetings, Mr. Zheng's eyes turned red, and he looked like he was about to cry.

At this time, the other clan leaders around him also looked like they were about to cry, as if their families had suffered a lot of grievances in defending Jiugang over the years.

"Well, wait a moment."

Deng Zilong replied, and then ordered the deputy general beside him to mark the open space between the pier and Jiugang City as a military camp, especially now that the hills on both sides should be included.

At this time, Deng Zilong already had a plan for the Jiugang military camp in his mind, including a small hill not far away, where a fort would be built to guard Jiugang.

The clan leaders welcomed Deng Zilong into the city, and the people stood along the way, looking at the Ming government troops coming from thousands of miles away and pointing and talking.

After sending Deng Zilong to the prepared carriage, several clan leaders returned to their respective carriages and exchanged some thoughts on the way.

From the fact that the Ming army was going to camp here, they had guessed that the Ming army would not intend to leave this time.

After all, Luzon and the imperial court both chose to station troops there.