Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The Zeng family also traveled by boat.

When the gunfire sounded at the port, they immediately loaded the cargo onto the ship, even brought some food, and quickly sailed into the forest to the south.

In addition to family members, there are two clan brothers and more than thirty fellow villagers, who are considered the basic members of the Zeng family and are responsible for disciplining the indigenous slaves.

Another clan brother and cousin were managing a shop near the port and had been captured by the Ming army.

These people were all tricked into coming here to make money, and every one of them received settlement allowance. When they found out that they had helped forge counterfeit banknotes, the Zeng brothers coaxed and threatened them. While raising their wages, they threatened that they had committed a capital crime.

Of course, the main reason is that I have enough money and I am lucky to be overseas.

"Don't even think about going back. The counterfeit treasures are enough to kill you several times. It's useless to arrest our brothers to perform meritorious service. The officers and soldiers have already come to kill and won't let anyone here go!" Zeng Bofa was still threatening.

Zeng Boda also said: "Now we can only avoid the limelight first, and then find an opportunity to take a boat to Ceylon. The Han people are autonomous there, and they don't ask where they came from. We can change our appearance when we get to Ceylon."

The brothers' father had passed away long ago, their old mother was trembling with fear, and their wives, concubines, and children were also quite frightened.

Those relatives and fellow villagers remained silent. They were all diligent and loyal when they received high wages, but now they began to resent their employers for dragging them down.

The fleet has sailed into the forest, and everyone is alert, taking out their crossbows and pointing them at both sides of the river.

Because there are savage tribes deep in the forest, half hunting, half farming, still in the era of slash-and-burn farming.

Relatively speaking, Central Java and East Java had developed agriculture as early as the Tang Dynasty, and rice and other crops were exported to China and India.

This is not the case here in West Java, where agriculture is far behind.

West Java also has a tropical rainforest climate, with more rainfall in the wet season and less rainfall in the dry season, which is very unsuitable for ancient agricultural development.

No matter what kind of Java it is, it is still very impressive in modern times. Rice can be harvested nine times in two years!

"It's raining."

A fellow villager suddenly said.

This is the wet season and rainfall in West Java increases significantly. It doesn't rain every day, but it comes often.

Now it's raining without warning. At first it was just a drizzle, which seemed to remind humans to find a place to take shelter. In less than a quarter of an hour, the rain suddenly became heavier.

On each ship, people lit charcoal and gathered around the brazier to keep warm and toasted to prevent hypothermia due to excessive humidity. Some people were also responsible for tying the ship to a tree.

The rain came and went quickly, and it stopped in more than two hours.

But after a rain, most people's mood changed because the pursuers did not come and they stopped to think.

Brother Zeng Boduan said with full of resentment: "If the officers and soldiers come to Yecheng, my family in Fujian will definitely be gone."

Zeng Boda said angrily: "I asked you to bring your family here a long time ago, but you didn't want to. You said you would return home after working for a few more years."

Zeng Bofa felt bad when he heard this. He quickly smoothed things over and said, "The imperial court sent troops this time not necessarily because we forged treasure banknotes. It might just be to punish the King of Sunda for attacking neighboring countries for no reason. I will send people again after the storm has passed." Go back to Yecheng and ask."

A fellow countryman said: "With so many artillery pieces, Sunda will definitely be wiped out. The king of Sunda is arrested, why won't we be confessed and punished with meritorious service?"

Another fellow countryman said: "That is, the mountains and forests are full of indigenous people, and they may suddenly come out to rob us. Even if we go to the towns after passing through this area and are not familiar with the place, we can easily be robbed. We cannot defeat the indigenous people, because they are all here." Gotta die!”

Zeng Bofa comforted him: "I am a courtier of the king. I know the nobles in the towns ahead, and we drank together in Coconut City. As long as we go there, there will definitely be no danger."

Another fellow countryman said: "The country of Sunda is gone. What's the use of knowing those nobles? Who doesn't know that your Zeng family is rich? If you go there, you will be slaughtered like a pig!"

Zeng Bofa's heart tightened when he heard this, because this statement made sense.

For a moment, everyone was silent.

If you flee to the town ahead, you will most likely be killed and raped by local nobles. If he returns to Yecheng, he will definitely be caught and executed by the officers and soldiers.

It is even more impossible to stay in the wild. Not only are savages likely to be killed in the forest at any time, but it is also very easy to get sick in the wet season of the tropical rainforest.

They have no way out.

Suddenly, a fellow villager aimed his crossbow at the shore, turned around and pulled the trigger towards Zeng Bofa.

Due to the softening of the bow caused by excessive humidity, the arrow had little power, but it was still enough to penetrate the muscles at such a close range.

Zeng Bofa fell down clutching his chest, pointed at his fellow villagers and said: "Stupid...stupid..."

Before he finished speaking, Zeng Boda had already raised his crossbow to fight back, but the man before him had already jumped towards him. This arrow is shot close to the flesh, causing little damage.

The fellow villager jumped on Zeng Boda and shouted at the others: "What are you waiting for? Take his brother's head back to Coconut City to atone for your sins!"

Everyone finally came to their senses, but they didn't know where to help.

The fellow villager shouted again: "No matter what, we are dead, but there may be a way to survive back to Yecheng!"

This statement finally worked, and even the brothers of the Zeng brothers came over quickly to help their fellow villagers kill people.

For counterfeiting treasure banknotes, only brothers and uncles would be beheaded. Cousins ​​and cousins ​​would not be implicated, not to mention they were just clan brothers. They are all just accomplices. If they serve the crime well, they do have a chance of survival.

Several people held the Zeng brothers down, and Zeng Boda roared angrily: "Idiots, you will die if you go back. Only by running away with me can you survive!"

Zeng Boduan had a ferocious look on his face, and he drew his sword and slashed Zeng Boda's neck fiercely.

Others also worked together to kill Zeng Bofa and control their mothers, wives and children.

The pursuers sent by Zhu Xiaozhong withdrew to Coconut City because of a heavy rain, mainly because the guide said that it was very dangerous here on rainy days.

Just when Zhu Xiaozhong sent people to chase again, the guys who were fighting in the internal conflict came back by themselves.

"Take them back to Guangzhou first." Zhu Xiaozhong didn't know how to deal with them, so he simply handed them over to the case officers of the Ministry of Justice.

A few days later, the heads of the Sunda royal family members were first sent to the neighboring country of Mataram.

The king of Mataram was surprised and happy. The guy who always came to invade him was finally killed by the Ming father. But the Ming army seemed to take the opportunity to occupy Coconut City. Will they come to attack him in the future?

The envoy pointed to a pile of heads and said, "Anyone who dares to forge Ming Dynasty treasure notes and shields counterfeit criminals will all end up like this! Did you hear clearly?"

King Mataram knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the Ming Dynasty envoy repeatedly: "The little king will remember this in his heart and will never condone counterfeit notes, nor will he make counterfeit notes himself!"

"Also warn the nobles in your country." The Ming Dynasty envoy said.

King Mataram hurriedly said, "I will immediately send people to all parts of the country to publicize the majesty of the Ming Emperor and tell them why the Sundanese king was executed!"

The Ming Dynasty envoy smiled and said, "Very good."

Three days later, the heads of the Sundanese royal family came to Kediri.

The King of Kediri at this time was called Jayabaya, and he was a famous hero in Indonesian history. Later generations also gave it various mysterious colors, such as predicting the white colonization of Java, predicting the French Revolution, predicting the rise of Hitler, predicting Japan's invasion of Southeast Asia during World War II, predicting the 9/11 incident in the United States, and even predicting the emergence of cars and airplanes, etc. ... It's nonsense.

Historically, under Jayabaya's rule, the territory of the Konigiri expanded more than ten times, and even went to occupy islands such as Sulawesi and Maluku.

Looking at the pile of nitrated heads, Jayabaya fell to the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, swearing that he would listen to the words of the Ming father.

He warmly entertained the Ming envoys, and only when he returned to the palace at night did he look worried.

The concubine asked: "Is your majesty unhappy?"

Jayabaya sighed: "You won't understand even if I tell you."

"Just now at the banquet, your majesty and the Ming envoys had a very pleasant chat." The concubine said.

Jayabaya said: "Who would believe that a country was destroyed because of counterfeiting treasure notes? It's nothing more than the prosperity of the port of Coconut City, and the Ming Dynasty is looking for an excuse to send troops. The next one to be destroyed is Mataram, and the next one will be our turn. In terms of abundant products, especially grain output, we are the richest country on Java Island."

The concubine panicked and said: "What should we do?"

Jayabaya sighed: "What else can we do? Jianyi Li is just a small country, how can it confront the Ming Dynasty? In the future, we must be more obedient to the Ming Dynasty and not give the Ming Emperor a reason to send troops. Mataram in the west must never be touched again, and the Ming Dynasty treasure notes must not be counterfeited."

Similar to history, Jayabaya can only expand eastward.

The difference is that in history he was stopped by Srivijaya, but now it has become the Ming Dynasty that is stopped in the west.

If the Ming Dynasty does not intervene, this guy can swallow up most of the islands south of the Philippines!

Moreover, he was also good at culture and education. He used Brahmanic poetry as a medium to encourage poets to create Javanese local literature, thereby blending the thoughts of various ethnic groups under his rule and further promoting the formation of national consciousness in East Java.

The next day, Jayabaya summoned court officials: "Go find the most beautiful woman in the country. I will send her to Luoyang to present to the Ming Emperor when I pay tribute. I will go to Luoyang in person!"

Jayabaya was not so afraid of the fall of Srivijaya, but rather a little gloating.

The fall of Sunda really scared Jayabaya.

Because among the countries that still exist in Southeast Asia, Kediri is the richest, with so much food that it can't be eaten up, and it even sells it to Chinese sea merchants every year.

Sunda is only rich because of maritime trade, while his Kediri actually has food, and rice can reach three to four harvests a year.

Tropical rainforest climate is not suitable for ancient agriculture?

But they have volcanic ash to bring fertility, and due to special geographical conditions, Java Island actually has two seasons: dry and wet. The phenomenon of dry and wet season separation becomes more and more obvious as you go east on Java Island, which is a bit like a tropical monsoon climate.

If modern agricultural technology is used, nine harvests in two years here is not a joke.

Chayabaya's idea is very clear. Since he can't beat the Ming Dynasty, he will be the most loyal lackey of the Ming Dynasty.

Going to Luoyang to offer beautiful women in person is just a means to show his attitude.

He will also promise the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty that in the future, the grain he sells will only be sold to Han merchants and shipped to the Ming Dynasty. As long as the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty gives an order, he will fight whoever he wants, and he will not ask for any reward from the Ming Dynasty.

If he makes the emperor happy, he will be stable in Java.

Then continue to expand eastward. Even if he annexes a small country that surrenders to the Ming Dynasty, I think the great emperor will only reprimand him a few words at most.