Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The reason for the decline of Srivijaya was that in addition to being beaten by the Chola Dynasty and moving the capital, another factor was the outflow of copper coins from the Song Dynasty.

Countries in Southeast Asia tried every possible means to bypass Srivijaya and trade directly with Chinese maritime merchants. A large number of Song Dynasty copper coins were held in the hands of various countries. As they accumulated monetary capital over time, they gradually gained the strength to break away from Srivijaya.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, more Chinese copper coins poured into Nanyang.

Six second-generation officials landed at the outer port of Jambi and followed the Jambi River (Badanghari River) to Jambi City.

They were extremely surprised to find that most of the citizens here used Chinese copper coins for their daily transactions!

Only slightly expensive products will be paid in Srivijaya gold and silver coins.

For bulk trade, Ming treasure banknotes were even used.

"It's so rich here!" Fan Chengda exclaimed.

All the way from the outer port to the city, the banks of the river for more than a hundred miles are full of fertile rice fields that are in the process of heading.

Yang Yao said: "There are two crops a year here, and there is too much food to eat. If there is a disaster, you can replant rice at any time, and there is no need to choose a month. Under normal circumstances, the first season of rice is planted in February and March, and the rice is planted in July and August. Plant the second crop of rice in the month.”

Chinese history books speak highly of the farmland here: one year of planting grain, three years of gold production!

The rice fields are so fertile that they can grow gold.

Lu You admired him: "Admiral Yang is not only brave in battle, but he is also so proficient in foreign farming."

Yang Yao chuckled: "I have been eyeing this place for a long time, so naturally I have to find out everything. In the land of Srivijaya, there are two places with the largest population and the most developed agriculture. One is here, the new capital of Srivijaya. . One is Balingbang (Palembang), the old capital of Srivijaya. This time the usurper’s fiefdom is in Balingbang, and I plan to occupy it next.”

"Does Admiral Yang have enough soldiers?" Bai Shihou asked.

Yang Yao shook his head: "It's far from enough. So we must ask the court to mobilize two thousand soldiers from Fujian and Guangdong, and more than 20,000 immigrants. The old and new capitals of Srivijaya are all fertile farmland along the river, which can be distributed to Soldiers and immigrants, let them spread their wings here."

Li Zuqia asked: "What should we do with the original owners of the farmland? Kill them all?"

Yang Yao said: "Throw it away to Malacca. Some of it will be used for land reclamation, and some of it will be used to dig tin mines in Malacca."

"It might spark a rebellion." Lu You warned.

Yang Yao said: "Kill anyone who rebels! The army of Srivijaya is very weak. They don't even have a few iron armors. They are mainly equipped with leather armors. All the Han people who migrated here must be organized into Baojia as militia to guard against those who fled into the mountains and forests. Aboriginal."

The six second-generation officials were silent when they heard this.

It’s so brutal and bloody!

But it was hard for them to say anything. After all, they were opening up territory for the Ming Dynasty.

Many of the Srivijaya warships that surrendered during the naval pursuit were Jambi nobles. Yang Yao was able to take down Jambi without any blood, but he definitely couldn't rely on the more than a thousand sailors. Thanks to the nobles of Jambi who led the way.

Those nobles have gone home, and it doesn't matter who rules Jambi, as long as they can keep their property.

How do the nobles know? Yang Yao not only wants to occupy the city, but also sets his sights on their land!

Once the Ming Dynasty transferred troops and immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong, Yang Yao would attack the Jambi nobles. Moreover, the battle plan was very despicable. They would first lure the nobles into the city and then kill them all by surprise.

In history, Yang Yao not only defeated the officers and soldiers of the Southern Song Dynasty many times, but even Yue Fei suffered losses more than once.

Yang Yao's living conditions at that time were extremely poor, and he personally led his soldiers to touch river clams to survive the famine. While struggling to resist the officers and soldiers, they also carried out a series of political reforms and had time to build schools to teach children to read.

This man is not just a warrior, he is also very good at managing territory!

Returning to the palace, Yang Yao began to write a letter to Zhu Song.

He suggested that Zhu Song ask the court to move the governor's palace to Jambi. From now on, Jambi will be the center of rule, with Balimbang (Palembang) and Malacca as its protective wings. Sitting on two cities, three ports, and one fortress, it expanded its actual control territory through continuous immigration, and developed agricultural production while controlling maritime trade routes.

There are people, land, food, soldiers, cities, and ships... Yang Yao can make this place as solid as an iron barrel.

…

The second generation of officials focused on local customs and traditions.

The six people walked around the city with their entourage and found that the houses in Jambi City obviously had an overall plan.

The streets are straight or arc-shaped, gradually converging from outside to inside, gradually forming a square in the center of the city. The Royal City and the Royal Palace are located in the central square. There are many shops scattered around the square. The city is also divided into residential areas and different types of commercial areas.

The houses are mostly constructed of masonry, with a small amount of wood also used.

The overall architectural style is heavily influenced by India, but it also incorporates local Nanyang characteristics and even borrows some Fujian and Cantonese elements.

In terms of clothing, it also has some South Indian characteristics.

Wang Lianqing said: "It is really a foreign land. The houses and clothes are very different from China. There are many temples and pagodas inside and outside the city. It seems that this country advocates Buddhism."

Of course he didn't know that there were two types of temple towers here.

Seventy percent are Buddhist temples and the other 30% are Brahmin temples.

A group of Chinese people were strolling through the streets. The residents in the city were not surprised and even sold goods to them. Not to mention the Chinese, residents often interact with Arabs, and there is even an Islamic community in Jambi City.

Lu You also invited a native to be an interpreter to communicate with all walks of life in Jambi City.

That night, Lu You returned to the palace with a serious expression and said to Yang Yao: "Admiral Yang, I asked the locals and found that except for commercial taxes, all other taxes in Srivijaya are exempted. Before the Ming reinforcements arrive, taxes must not be increased, otherwise the nobles and people who have surrendered will inevitably rebel."

Yang Yao smiled and said: "Not only will I not increase taxes, I also promised to reduce commercial taxes for one year. Now there are only more than a thousand Ming sailors in Jambi City, and of course it is impossible to turn against the locals. First appease and coax them, and then strike with thunder when the troops are sufficient!"

"Admiral Yang has a plan in mind, and I am reckless." Lu You was convinced.

Srivijaya's political system is very peculiar. It is seriously influenced by Brahmanism, and most of the fertile land is occupied by nobles. Therefore, the king does not collect agricultural taxes in exchange for the political and military support of the nobles. The nobles must support the king and be ready to accept conscription at any time, and take private soldiers and militia to fight.

The six second-generation officials stayed in Jambi for a month, and nothing happened.

Yang Yao, with the power of victory in the naval battle, promised to reduce the commercial tax for one year, and the local nobles in Zhanbi were happy to accept it.

As for the local nobles outside Zhanbi, they were busy splitting the land to build a country and fighting for power. Instead of gathering troops to retake the capital, they rushed to ask the Ming Dynasty to confer titles.

After the New Year in Zhanbi, Lu You and others took a boat to continue their journey west.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty's telegraph antenna had been set up in Hangzhou. Zhu Song and Yang Yao's urgent memorials were directly telegraphed to Luoyang from Hangzhou and quickly approved by Emperor Zhu.

As a result, the Sichuan model was implemented in Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

Local civil and military officials recruited young and strong people from families with extra people under the pretext of training militia. They were even too lazy to train militia. After issuing weapons and leather armor, they took a boat directly with the soldiers to Zhanbi.

The rice fields in Zhanbi were in the harvest season.

After the arrival of 2,000 Fujian and Guangdong reinforcements, Yang Yao immediately convened a meeting of nobles inside and outside the city. This guy lied that the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty wanted to levy agricultural taxes, so he had to break his promise to reduce taxes. The specific amount of taxes to be levied needed to be discussed with local nobles.

When the nobles of Jambi heard that they were going to discuss the tax issue, they ran to see Yang Yao impatiently.

"Are they all here?" Yang Yao glanced at them.

The son of the former prime minister of Srivijaya replied: "They are all here. Even the nobles who died in the naval battle, their brothers or sons are here."

Yang Yao raised the wine cup and smiled: "Very good."

"Pah!"

The wine cup was thrown to the ground, and a group of soldiers suddenly rushed out and surrounded and killed the nobles.

The hall where the King of Srivijaya used to hold meetings was soon full of corpses, and even the screams did not last long.

Yang Yao had already figured out the houses and shops of the nobles in the city, and immediately assigned a thousand soldiers to search their homes. All the men in the nobles' families were killed, and the women and children were detained together.

The rest of the soldiers took a boat out of the city and headed straight for the nobles' manors outside the city.

Five hundred soldiers and more than 10,000 immigrants with weapons and armor were left at the outer port of Jambi. They went north along the river from the port and robbed the nobles' manors under the guidance of the guide.

Although the immigrants were deceived, their eyes were shining at this moment.

They came from the mountainous areas of Fujian and Guangdong provinces, where there were many people and little land, and the land was barren. The fertile rice fields in Jambi were in the harvest season, and they were golden. As long as they killed the local nobles, these fields could be divided among them!

The Fujian and Guangdong immigrants who had no time to undergo militia training rushed to fight excitedly wearing leather armor and holding weapons.

Some people even shouted while running: "Don't trample the rice, it can be harvested!"

"Kill!"

"Fifty acres of land can be divided, all of which are high-quality paddy fields that can be harvested twice a year. I'm going to get rich!"

"..."

The local farmers fled back home and watched the Ming army and civilians rush to the nobles' manors.

There are two types of land property rights here.

One is the private land of the nobles, and the other is the public land of the king.

There is no need to explain private land, but public land is very interesting.

The property rights of public land belong to the king, the right to use belongs to the villagers, and the right to manage belongs to the rent-collecting officials. That is, in the village community, farmers collectively cultivate public land and pay the rent to the tax collector, who then pays the rent to the king.

Ordinary farmers are not qualified to own land!

Since the land is not their own, facing a group of ferocious Han people, the farmers in Zhanbi are naturally too lazy to resist. They wait for the nobles to be killed and continue to help the Chinese to farm, which is nothing more than changing the landlord.

From soldiers to immigrants, everyone has made a fortune.

New overseas territories have been opened up, and there are too many places to reach out. Even if the imperial censor is sent to inspect in the future, this collective corruption will not be investigated.

Yang Yao himself does not want a house, but only takes gold and silver treasures.

The naval officers and soldiers under his command, as well as the Fujian and Guangdong soldiers who came to reinforce, have spoils to take from top to bottom.

Military officers who are willing to stay or reside permanently can give priority to the nobles' mansions, women and land. Then the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers will be selected, and finally the more than 10,000 immigrants will be selected.

There are also countless wealth and food, some of which will be confiscated and the rest will be distributed.

Even the soldiers and officials who stayed in Malacca, Yang Yao gave them a share.

Of course, the most precious treasures in the palace must be sent to Luoyang to be presented to the emperor.

This is a one-time deal, which can only be done in the early stage of development. Even if the court knows about it, it will turn a blind eye. When the overseas territories are on the right track in the future, Yang Yao and his soldiers will have to abide by the rules.

The whole process is quite chaotic.

Especially, the army in the city was so greedy that they even rushed into Buddhist and Brahman temples. Under the guise of abolishing redundant temples, they rushed in and looted everything, and even robbed the only Islamic temple in the city.

Yang Yao called his military clerk: "After the land is distributed, let the immigrants write letters to their families to encourage them to bring in more fellow countrymen. As long as the Chinese immigrants come here, each male will have 50 mu of land, and each female will have 30 mu of land, all of which are high-quality paddy fields that can be harvested twice a year. The more immigrants, the better. After the land in Zhanbei is distributed, I will take them to Balinbang (Palembang) to rob!"