Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Zhu Ming took half a day to receive envoys from various countries.

In addition to Xixia, Annan, and Japan, there are also Dali, Champa, Zhenla, and Yellow-headed Uighurs.

The reason why they came to Luoyang in the past one or two months is that they all chose to set out after the beginning of spring and arrived one after another in early summer.

In the side hall of Chuigong Hall, envoys from various countries gathered together and waited.

Du Yingwu glanced at the envoys from Champa and Zhenla, with a disdainful smile on his face. Last winter, he led his troops south and played with the armies of the two countries like monkeys, and repelled their coalition forces with a little trick.

"Announce the envoys of Champa, Zhenla, and Annan to meet you!"

"Announce Champa, Zhenla..."

One by one, the envoys of the three countries stood up one after another and followed a eunuch to Chuigong Hall.

Then, they all kowtowed to the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

After standing up, the Champa envoy was the first to complain: "Your Majesty, last year our country was ordered to send troops to attack Annan together with Zhenla. During the decisive battle, the Zhenla army stood aside and even fled in the battle. They also looted our Wuzhou on the way out!"

The Zhenla envoy argued: "The coalition forces of the two countries conquered the city of Malingzhou, and the Champa soldiers entered by themselves, but did not let us enter the city. Even when we attacked the enemies outside the city, the Champa generals came to stop us."

"You guys are attacking the enemies outside the city? You Looting the villages in the suburbs!"

"Even if you are looting the villages, you are looting the Annan villages. If they are not enemies, what are they?"

"Malingzhou has always been my Champa territory, and the people there are also Champa people."

"You said that Malingzhou is Champa territory, how come it was in the hands of Annan ten years ago, and it is still in the hands of Annan now?"

"But when you were looting the villages, Malingzhou was in the hands of my Champa!"

"..."

The envoys of the two countries kept arguing, and Du Yingwu stood by and laughed.

The Champa envoy suddenly knelt down: "Your Majesty, the Supreme Emperor of the Great Ming Dynasty, when you conferred the title of King of Champa, you also granted our king the post of governor of Mazhou, Lizhou, and Zhengzhou. I heard that Annan is now going to become a vassal of the Great Ming Dynasty. Please order Annan to return these three states to our country."

Du Yingwu said angrily: "Why should we return them? It was the late king of Champa who agreed to cede them to our country!"

The Champa envoy said: "But Your Majesty, the Great Ming Emperor, granted our king the post of governor of three states. These three states are occupied by Annan. If Annan does not return the territory, where is the face of Your Majesty, the Great Ming Emperor?"

Du Yingwu did not speak again, but looked at Zhu Ming.

Zhu Ming thought carefully: "Return Wuzhou to Champa."

Du Yingwu quickly expressed his position: "It's all up to the Holy Son of Heaven. Our country is willing to return Wuzhou to Champa."

Annan and Champa have different ethnic groups, religions and customs.

Ma, Li and Zheng were occupied by Annan for 30 years, and they have not been completely digested yet. Although Wuzhou was conquered last year, it was difficult to digest, and it was also looted by Zhenla. Annan did not intend to occupy it for a long time.

Since the Ming emperor ordered the return of Wuzhou, Annan just took advantage of the situation.

Of course, returning the territory has to pay a price!

Du Yingwu said: "You can return Wuzhou, but Champa must redeem it with 100,000 shi of grain."

The Champa envoy sneered: "If you need 100,000 shi of grain, what is there to redeem? Take those as military rations, and fight another battle next year. We will take Wuzhou back by ourselves!"

"A country that has been defeated many times dares to say this? If we fight again next year, I will capture the leader of Champa with my own hands and take him to Luoyang to be dealt with by His Majesty the Emperor!" Du Yingwu sneered.

The Champa envoy said: "Who doesn't know that there are only a few people left in Thang Long? Who doesn't know that Annan will suffer from famine this year? If Wuzhou is not returned, we will send troops this winter without waiting until next year."

Du Yingwu really didn't dare to continue fighting this year, but he still said stubbornly: "Just bring troops to fight, let's see who will lose the city and the land."

The two continued to talk nonsense for more than ten minutes, and Zhu Ming finally spoke: "How about this, Wuzhou will be returned to Champa, and no money or grain will be paid for redemption. The post of the governor of the three states of the Champa king will be cancelled. From now on, both the Ming Dynasty and Champa will recognize that the three states belong to Annan."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

The envoys of the two countries stopped making trouble, and each got what they needed.

One took back the lost land of Wuzhou.

The other obtained the final ownership of the three states of Ma, Li, and Zheng.

Zhu Ming looked at the Zhenla envoy again: "Zhenla watched its friendly army being defeated, and even fled in battle, and plundered friendly countries on the way out. Order Zhenla to compensate Champa with 30,000 stones of grain, otherwise its position as the king will be removed!"

The Zhenla envoy was very unhappy and said: "It was Champa that prevented our army from entering the city first! And why only punish our country, but not the Golden Tooth Kingdom? The Golden Tooth Kingdom withdrew its troops without authorization and took away our Zhenla territory from Annan."

That piece of land is in the northern part of Laos in later generations. The specific situation is very complicated: nominally it belongs to Zhenla territory, but in fact the tribes are subject to Annan, but those tribes have the same origin as the Golden Tooth Kingdom.

Annan ceded that piece of land to the Golden Tooth Kingdom in exchange for the Golden Tooth Kingdom's withdrawal last year, and the real owner Zhenla was left out.

Zhu Ming said: "Jinchi Kingdom disregarded the order of the suzerain, withdrew its troops without authorization, and invaded the territory of friendly countries without authorization. In the name of the emperor of Ming Dynasty, I will strip all its titles and official positions, and order all the vassal states of Ming Dynasty to attack it together! Including Dali, Annan, Champa, Zhenla, all must attack Jinchi. Even if we are not adjacent to each other and cannot send troops, we should declare war and attack!"

The Zhenla envoy said: "Your Majesty, if our country sends troops to attack Jinchi Kingdom, I am afraid that Annan and Champa will take advantage of the opportunity to attack Zhenla."

Zhu Ming said: "Zhenla attacks Jinchi, and no country can take the opportunity to attack Zhenla. Whoever dares to use troops against Zhenla is equivalent to declaring war on Ming Dynasty!"

"Your Majesty is wise."

The Zhenla envoy was overjoyed, and they could finally feel at ease to deal with Jinchi Kingdom.

The affairs of these three countries were settled, and they all thought that Zhu Ming handled it fairly.

After they withdrew, the Dali envoy went to the palace again.

After bowing, the Dali envoy quickly got to the point: "Your Majesty, our country has a prince who has come of age but has not married yet. I request the Ming Dynasty to grant a noble lady from the upper country as the prince's consort."

"Yes." Zhu Ming actually agreed directly.

There are many noble ladies from the Jin Kingdom washing clothes in the Luoyang Palace. Choose one of the right age to be named a princess and marry Duan Yu's son.

If the Seljuk Sultan asks for marriage next time, he can also choose a noble lady from the Jin Kingdom and confer her the title of princess to marry.

There are five daughters of Wanyan Zongwang, Wanyan Zonghan, and Wanyan Zonggan who are still virgins and are currently washing clothes in the laundry bureau!

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for the marriage!"

The Dali envoy was very happy. They didn't care who the noble lady was, as long as she had a formal Ming Dynasty title.

The internal struggle in Dali became more and more serious.

Prime Minister Gao Liangcheng could no longer suppress it, because it was purely an internal struggle of the Gao family.

Gao Liangcheng's ability to serve as the prime minister of Dali actually had nothing to do with his personal ability. Because he was too young at the time and had no chance to show his talent.

On the contrary, it was because he had no deep foundation and had not achieved any achievements that he was pushed out by the Gao clan to be the face of the party.

He was just a prime minister who compromised.

Gao Liangcheng could suppress the king, but he could not suppress the Gao clan. This guy has taken the initiative to announce his semi-retirement, letting the Gao clan fight among themselves.

Duan Yu has eight sons, and the Gao clan has placed bets and each chooses one to support.

So the internal affairs of Dali became interesting. The king was unable to control it, and the prime minister was too lazy to control it. A group of Gao clan people, wooed the big families in the country, and supported the eight princes to fight for power.

Eight insects fight for the throne!

The winner in history was Master Yideng's father.

The Dali envoy said again: "There is a Princess Zhaoqing in our country, who is only fourteen years old. I ask your majesty to take her in."

"Yes." Zhu Ming was too lazy to refuse. It didn't matter if there was one more concubine.

It was Dali who took the initiative to request a marriage, and the political signal it sent was worth studying.

It is estimated that Duan Yu felt that the fight for the throne among the eight insects was too chaotic and was likely to affect him. So he chose a son and asked him to marry a noblewoman of the Ming Dynasty to determine the position of the crown prince and suppress the disputes over the succession among the various factions in the country.

Duan Yu then married his daughter to Zhu Ming to further gain the support of the Ming Dynasty and consolidate his power.

This puppet king is now an ally of the powerful prime minister. With the king and prime minister joining forces and the support of the Ming Dynasty, they can quickly quell the chaos.

Zhu Ming did not want to marry Duan Yu's daughter, but wanted to marry Duan Yu's sister.

It would be best if this sister was called Wang Yuyan, but Mu Wanqing would also be fine.

But no matter who he married, Zhu Ming's generation would not be lower than Duan Yu, because he could adopt the "promotion" system of the Song Dynasty.

For example, if the prince consort married a princess, the prince consort would be promoted directly to the same generation as his parents.

In this way, when the princess married, she would not have to perform the younger generation ceremony to her parents-in-law.

Now that Duan Yu's daughter has married, she must also be "promoted", and the promotion will be two generations in a row according to the father-son relationship.

After the Dali princess is promoted, Zhu Ming will be Duan Yu's son-in-law and also Duan Yu's father!

Zhu Ming said: "When you return to the country, tell the king of Dali that the Jinchi barbarians betrayed the Ming Dynasty, and all Ming vassals should fight against them together. I have ordered Zhenla, Annan and other countries to send troops, and Dali should also send troops to attack Jinchi."

"The Holy Son of Heaven has an order, and Dali must obey it."

The Dali envoy was very happy, because the Jinchi Kingdom was their enemy and had been constantly encroaching on Dali's territory over the years.

The next one was the Xixia envoy Cao Tuan.

The negotiations mainly involved disputes between the border residents of the two countries. Cao Tuan once again assured that the border residents of Xixia would not cross the border again and that the relevant tribes had been punished.

Zhu Ming expressed his approval and praised Li Qianshun for his respect.

Finally, the Japanese envoy entered the palace.

After a polite conversation, Hanoi Ching-kuo said, "Your Majesty, the Holy Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, our country would like to hire several prospecting craftsmen to search for gold, silver and copper mines in various counties and kingdoms."

"Oh?"

Zhu Ming was delighted: "Approved."

After Japan was forced to open its country, a large amount of Chinese goods poured in, and many of them were luxury goods.

Japan used to barter at first, and then gradually used Ming coins. Now it is in deficit every year and does not have enough money.

They can't even find copper mines, let alone gold and silver mines.

Japan's super-large copper mines were not discovered until the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the location is not very remote. It is purely a matter of prospecting technology!

Zhu Ming is very happy to help Japan explore the mines, and will not send troops to occupy them.

The more gold, silver and copper mines Japan mines, the more financial resources it will have to buy Chinese goods, which can stimulate the development of China's industry, commerce and maritime trade.