Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Jambi, the royal city.

The old king of Srivijaya, who was in his sixties, looked at the rebels outside the city with almost despair.

He was too humble and cowardly in the face of the Ming Dynasty, which caused the Ming Dynasty to gradually control the Strait of Malacca, and the domestic nobles lost a lot of profits.

This is the third rebellion.

In the first two suppressions of rebellion, he killed one son and exiled another.

This time, it was his nephew Charishupara who led the rebels to the royal city. Not only did the local lords join the rebels one after another, but even Prime Minister Srivijaya, who went to suppress the rebellion, was persuaded to surrender with his troops on the way.

The old king has already deserted his relatives.

"Uncle, commit suicide!" Chalisapala came to the city with a shield and shouted.

The old king angrily rebuked: "Idiot, do you think you are brave? The vassal countries we control have long been looking forward to the war between Srivijaya and the Ming Dynasty. Many vassal countries will not only take the opportunity to become independent, but also join the Ming Dynasty coalition. You will become one of the three Foqi’s last king!”

Charishipala was too lazy to argue. He retreated a distance, drew his sword and shouted: "Attack the city!"

The attack and defense of the royal city lasted for six days, and both sides suffered heavy losses. Finally, a royal guard officer turned against him, led the rebels into the city, and strangled the old king to death.

The merchant ships from various countries docked at the outer port of Jambi left the port one after another when the rebels besieged the capital, so as not to harm the fish in the pond.

The nearest major port to Jambi is the Malacca Port controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

Three explorers and six second-generation officials encountered war as soon as they arrived in Malacca.

While they were still looking for a berth, a small boat arrived. The official of the Ming Dynasty boarded the deck and said: "The Srivijaya fleet may come to kill, and your ship has been requisitioned!"

Wang Chongdu was surprised and said: "Srivijaya came to attack Daming Harbor?"

The official explained: "There is a clan rebellion in Srivijaya and usurping the throne. The old king is probably in bad luck."

Since there is a war, it is not safe on the ship.

The six officials' sons were all nobles, so Wang Chongdu forcibly sent them ashore and took them to see the Ming Governor of Malacca.

The governor's name is Zhu Song, and he has three sons.

The youngest son is still named Zhu Xi, but it is estimated that he will no longer be able to found Neo-Confucianism.

Zhu Song doesn't like fighting and killing, he prefers to engage in construction and education. He personally supervised the construction of the Malacca Castle and Harbor, and even built a school outside the castle.

The military here is under the charge of Navy Admiral Yang Yao.

"Alas, although King Srivijaya is a barbarian chief, he is also sensible," Zhu Song sighed. "This king often exchanges letters with me and gives me many gifts every time, but he unexpectedly encounters such unbearable things."

Yang Yao was too lazy to accompany the governor and went straight to the point: "We occupied Malacca, and there were many complaints from the nobles in Srivijaya. The rebels this time were led by those nobles. The land in Malacca is barren and cannot produce much food, so this battle must be fought A quick battle. But before the usurper has complete control of the navy, we send troops to fight as quickly as possible to kill the Srivijaya warships in various ports. "

Zhu Song nodded and said: "Malacca needs to purchase food from outside, and the war really shouldn't drag on for too long. I don't understand military affairs, so I will send troops according to Admiral Yang's strategy."

Yang Yao continued: "Please ask the governor to write letters to the various countries in Southeast Asia, especially the Najava Kingdom. This country has only been independent from Srivijaya for a few decades and has been suppressed by Srivijaya. They will definitely be willing to help us fight the war."

"It should be like this if it is combined vertically and horizontally." Zhu Song followed the good advice.

The two continued to discuss the details, and Yang Yao said goodbye and left to prepare for the war.

Zhu Song wrote more than ten diplomatic letters in one breath and sent people to deliver them to various countries in Southeast Asia. Ming Dynasty does not have to fight alone in Nanyang, it can lead a group of small countries to surround Srivijaya!

In the countries of Southeast Asia, the three Buddhas have been suffering for a long time.

After writing the diplomatic letter, Zhu Song no longer paid attention to the war, but thought about how to lure Han people to reclaim wasteland.

Although the land in Malacca is barren, rice can still be grown in some places, but the natural environment must be artificially improved.

Starting from scratch is very hard work!

In another time and space, the Portuguese colonized Malacca, and immigrants from all over the world were mainly engaged in business. Only Chinese immigrants were willing to open up wasteland for cultivation, and the Chinese quickly became farmers in Malacca.

Zhu Song didn't understand what a tropical monsoon climate was. He only knew that it had the same rain and heat here.

Those dense forests can be cut down and the wood can be sold for money. The forest was cut down and canals were dug to facilitate drainage and fertilizer preservation during rainy seasons.

Those swamps can also be drained of stagnant water, and rice can also be grown.

Zhu Song even personally visited the surrounding land for dozens of miles and had already spotted several areas of land that could be cultivated.

This approach is different from normal overseas governors.

He had no interest in opening up new territories or fighting wars. He only wanted to farm and build.

"Governor, there are several scholars outside, all of whom are from famous families..."

After hearing the origins of those second-generation officials, Zhu Song felt his scalp numb and prayed in his heart that nothing would happen in his jurisdiction.

Wang Chongdu led six people to pay homage, and Zhu Song went out to greet him personally.

After a brief exchange between the two sides, Zhu Song said: "There is going to be a war here, please stay in the city."

Lu You said: "Governor, don't worry, we are not powerless."

"I've been very good at bow and horse since I was a child!" Bai Shihou said in an awesome voice.

Wang Chongdu quickly and quietly gave Zhu Song a wink.

Zhu Song politely stopped him: "Conquests at sea are different from those on land. The young gentleman is proficient in bow and horse, but it is difficult to display all kinds of skills on a ship."

The six people still wanted to ask for a fight, but Zhu Song changed the subject and stopped discussing the matter with them.

…

Yang Yao led the fleet to take the initiative and first attacked the Langyaxiu Kingdom (Kedah and surrounding areas) next to Malacca.

It was a country established by South Indians, but the lower-class people were Malay natives. After the decline of the Chola Dynasty, Langyaxiu first broke away from Chola and became independent, and then became a vassal of Srivijaya.

Killing the Langyaxiu fleet solved Malacca's worries.

Although Yang Yao was the admiral of the Malacca Navy, he only had twelve large and small warships. Some armed merchant ships were temporarily recruited, and a total of more than 40 ships rushed to Langyaxiu.

There was no fight!

When the King of Langyaxiu heard that the old king of Srivijaya was killed and saw the Ming fleet coming towards him, he immediately declared independence from Srivijaya and requested to become a vassal of the Ming Dynasty.

Directly surrendered.

Yang Yao accepted the surrender of Langyaxiu and took the shabby fleet of Langyaxiu Kingdom to the outer port of Jambi in Srivijaya.

He underestimated the hatred of the nobles and army of Srivijaya for the Ming Dynasty!

The usurper Chalishipala was supported by most of the nobles and the army.

The Srivijaya navy quickly assembled and did not attack Malacca directly, but raided the neighboring Kingdom of Japa!

The Kingdom of Japa’s navy hastily responded to the battle and was defeated.

Having solved the worries, Srivijaya immediately marched to Malacca and ran into the Yang Yao fleet returning from Langyaxiu.

…

Bai Shihou stood on the Malacca Castle and observed the battle in the strait with a telescope.

The disparity in the number of warships on both sides made Bai Shihou worried: "I am afraid that Srivijaya's warships are hundreds, but the Ming warships are only a hundred (including the conscripted merchant ships and the Langyaxiu navy). It is really difficult to fight."

"The Celestial Empire's warships are bigger." Lu You said.

Fan Chengda said: "Ants bite elephants to death."

While the few people were talking, the battle had already begun.

On the Ming fleet side, only fifteen warships actively responded to the battle. They were the warships under Yang Yao and the three ships of the treasure-hunting trio.

The other merchant ships that were temporarily recruited, as well as the Langya repair navy that had just surrendered, all acted timidly. They began to slow down from a long distance, and then cruised around the periphery of the battlefield, clearly ready to escape at any time.

The ocean current at this time was flowing from southeast to northwest, but the average flow rate was only 2 nautical miles per hour. The Srivijaya Navy was in the downstream position.

The monsoon blew from northwest to southeast, and the Ming Navy was in the downstream position.

"Boom boom boom boom!"

The fifteen Ming warships lined up in a battle line had already started firing.

The Srivijaya Navy could only passively take the beating. They put away their sails, paddled frantically, and rushed along the ocean current. The fighting method was obvious, relying on their large number of ships, rushing close to fight a boarding battle.

Hundreds of Srivijaya warships came, and the Ming Dynasty's merchant ships and the Langya repair friendly army were frightened and retreated to a farther distance, without any intention of engaging in battle.

Yang Yao was too lazy to care about those guys. With the advantage of the wind, he commanded fifteen warships to draw an arc and sailed all towards the left wing of the enemy fleet. While moving positions with high maneuverability, he continued to fire at the enemy.

In this way, the Srivijaya navy soon became chaotic.

The right wing of the Srivijaya fleet was getting farther and farther away from the Ming Dynasty fleet. They felt that they could not catch up, so they simply stopped chasing Yang Yao and ran to chase the merchant ships and the Langya repair navy.

The usurper Chalishipala soon discovered this problem, but he had just killed the king and established himself, and could not effectively command the right wing fleet. He watched more than one-third of the ships leave the main battlefield.

He ordered the remaining ships to speed up and row to encircle.

But the Ming fleet was running too fast with the wind, and the overall formation of the Srivijaya fleet became increasingly chaotic during the encirclement process, and even several huge gaps appeared.

Before the close combat, more than ten Srivijaya warships had been sunk by artillery fire, and more than twenty other warships were seriously flooded and unable to move.

"Change the formation. V-shaped formation, follow me to charge!"

Yang Yao took advantage of the enemy's encirclement and used the main ship as the spearhead to rush straight to the enemy's main ship from the gap.

The Srivijaya Navy was overjoyed and came up to board.

The side guns and the bow guns continued to fire. When the two sides approached, the Ming Navy actually played with the ancient weapon - the slapping pole!

A thick wooden pole nearly ten meters long with an iron-clad hammer head at the end.

Using the kinetic energy obtained by the fall of the heavy object, the slapping pole slammed towards the approaching enemy ship. When a large ship hits a small ship, the power of the slapping pole is particularly great, just like slapping a fly!

Some small ships of the Srivijaya Navy even lost their combat effectiveness after being hit by a paddle.

This kind of strange water warfare weapon has only appeared in inland China. The design idea comes from the orange lever used for agricultural water extraction.

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the navy of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was hit by the paddles of the rebels and had no chance to resist. Then, the navy of the Southern Dynasty used paddles to attack the Northern Dynasty, and finally both sides used paddles to hit each other.

The navy of the Southern Dynasty Chen even organized tower ships to approach the city wall and directly cracked the city wall with large paddles...

The Srivijaya fleet had never seen an alternative weapon like a paddle, and the Srivijaya ships were not as strong as the city wall. Suddenly encountered in close combat, and was hit by the paddle and was stunned.

At the same time, the Ming Navy was still using firearms.

The musketeers aimed at the enemy's small leaders and fired "Rain of Pear Blossom Needles" from time to time-this broken name was given by Zhu Ming, which is actually a honeycomb rocket.

From the perspective of the six second-generation officials, the outcome of the battle was already very clear.

The ships on the right wing of Srivijaya went to chase the Ming Dynasty's "vassal army" and had already left the main battlefield far away. The remaining Srivijaya fleet was in chaos during the encirclement and was divided into seven or eight groups.

And the fifteen Ming Dynasty warships rushed straight towards the main ship of Srivijaya in the gaps between several enemy ships.

Moreover, under the combined attack of artillery, rockets, muskets, slings, and catapults, the Ming Dynasty warships were invincible.

As the sharp Ming Dynasty flagship, the bow even had a sharp ram.

"Stop them and seize the ship!"

Seeing the Ming Dynasty fleet getting closer and closer, Chalishipala finally panicked and ordered all nearby ships to rush over to intercept.

It was too late.

Many of these Srivijaya ships belonged to the private property of the nobles. Seeing that the battle situation was unfavorable, they suddenly had the idea of ​​preserving their strength and were unwilling to lose their capital for a new king who had just usurped the throne.

More than half of the nearby enemy ships actually retreated instead of advancing, allowing the Ming fleet to rush towards the king.

"Retreat, retreat!"

Chalishipala also chose to retreat, leading more than 20 direct ships to temporarily avoid.

The king's behavior was regarded as escaping, causing the morale of the Srivijaya fleet to plummet. They still had more than 400 warships left, but they all spread their sails and fled to the southeast with the wind.

Everyone saw it.

Although the number of Ming warships was small, the hulls were strong and tall, and there were many weapons, which were not something that the Srivijaya small boats could compete with. Even if they rushed up to besiege, it would be difficult to get an advantage.

Without the Mongolian Navy to send a wave of technology, the Nanyang Navy at this time was actually very backward!

"We won, catch up!"

The merchant ships that were temporarily recruited, as well as the Langyaxiu vassal fleet, had been beaten and had been running away.

At this moment, they found that the Srivijaya fleet was retreating all the way, and they suddenly had the courage to spread their sails and began to fight with the Ming Navy.

"Magnificent!"

The six second-generation officials were so excited that Wang Lianqing even imagined a picture of the Battle of Malacca.

Yang Yao led his army to chase for dozens of miles, and Srivijaya ships surrendered one after another.

Those were private fleets of nobles, unwilling to follow the new king to the end.

After chasing for a whole day, Yang Yao gave up the remaining enemies and went back to blockade the outer port of Jambi, intending to seize the capital of Srivijaya.

When the news came out, Srivijaya vassal states such as Brunei and Kediri declared independence and beat the fallen dogs. They spontaneously encircled and suppressed the remaining fleet of Srivijaya that had escaped, and even the Kingdom of Japo, which suffered serious losses, rolled up their sleeves and started to fight.

Yang Yao landed with more than a thousand sailors and arrived in Jambi from the outer port along the river.

The defenders surrendered without a fight.

The main reason was that the new king's foundation was too shallow and the army was unwilling to fight to the death.

Srivijaya was destroyed, but the Ming Dynasty only captured its capital Jambi.

The remaining Srivijaya territory was divided into more than a dozen states of various sizes. Those local nobles took the opportunity to establish themselves and sent envoys to Malacca to request the Ming Dynasty to confer titles on them.