Water Margin people

Chapter 1495 Srivijaya

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid this matter will have to be slowed down!"

Xiao Jiasui hurriedly advised that when the emperor was angry, millions of corpses would be buried, and of course in Qi State these corpses were those of the enemies.

"What is the problem?"

Sun Lei looked at Xiao Jiasui and asked, there must be a reason why Xiao Jiasui stopped him.

"This matter concerns Master Lu and his men's conquest of the Indian countries!"

Xiao Jiasui said.

Since losing control of the Western Regions, the Central Plains has embarked on the maritime trade route. At the beginning, it was very smooth. Various spices, pearls, gems and woods from the South China Sea were very popular in the Central Plains.

But as trade exchanges became more frequent, benefits began to be redistributed.

Srivijaya controlled the only route from the South China Sea to the West, and they built several ports in the strait to provide supplies for the ships passing through.

The ships of this era did not have such a complete logistics system, and the food and water they could carry were limited, so they would generally resupply when they encountered a port.

Moreover, there are often monsoons in the South China Sea in summer. Ships dare not face such forces of heaven and earth and will choose to dock at the port to avoid them.

This made Srivijaya earn huge profits, and seeing the profits, the Srivijaya people had evil intentions. They charged a fee for passing through the strait, and prices in the port began to rise continuously. They also forced passing ships to enter the port, and those who refused would be attacked by Srivijaya's fleet.

"Are these natives so arrogant?"

Sun Lei was a little surprised. He didn't expect that a small Turkish country would dare to do this.

"Your Majesty, the fleets of the Arabs and Romans came from afar. They can only pay money when faced with extortion. Their countries are unlikely to send troops. As for the merchants in the Central Plains, the Zhao and Song dynasties did not intervene in the past, so the merchants could only blame themselves for their bad luck. The profits from the goods are amazing, which can make up for the losses."

Xiao Jiasui said that the wool always comes from the sheep, and all the expenses of merchants will eventually be added to the goods.

"As for why we can't deal with Srivijaya now, it's because Chola and Srivijaya went to war more than a decade ago. Both sides wanted to become the overlord of the sea. In the end, Chola occupied part of Srivijaya's territory, and Srivijaya became a vassal of Chola!"

"At present, the Chola King either directly serves as the King of Srivijaya or arranges a member of the royal family of Vajaya to serve as the vassal king of Srivijaya. The original royal family of Srivijaya, the Pu family, is already dead in name only, but those people are not reconciled and are still plotting."

Xiao Jiasui said.

"I see. Does that mean that the Chura Kingdom is still very strong?"

Sun Lei asked, he understood why they could not declare war on Srivijaya, because Lu Zhishen and others went to India and landed in Chola, and had not yet declared war with India. Now that he attacked Srivijaya, you said it was equivalent to declaring war on Chola, and then Lu Zhishen and others would be in danger.

"Yes, they are also on the sea trade route. In the eighth year of Zhongxiangfu, the Chola King Rajendra I sent envoys to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, offering one pearl shirt and hat, 21,100 taels of pearls, 60 ivory tusks, and 60 kilograms of frankincense. However, the Zhao Song Dynasty was very stupid and believed the slander of Srivijaya, thinking that Chola was a vassal state of Srivijaya."

Xiao Jiasui said.

“Can this be reversed?”

Sun Lei laughed. This kind of misunderstanding was very consistent with the character of Da Song. They were a group of arrogant and self-contained guys who didn't understand the outside world at all.

"The information we have obtained so far is that the Chola Kingdom has a powerful fleet, including a huge ship that can carry 400 soldiers. It is with this kind of ship that they can cross the sea to attack Srivijaya."

Xiao Jiasui said.

"A huge ship with 400 people? That must be a ship with a cargo capacity of at least 5,000 tons! These barbarians are quite capable!"

Sun Lei smiled and said that if it weren't for his appearance, the largest ship in Central Plains would only be of this level. But now it is different, ships with ten thousand tons of cargo capacity are already very common.

"Compared to our fleet, the Zhu Luo Kingdom is definitely not worth mentioning, but it is an expedition of thousands of miles after all, not to mention Master Lu and the others are still there." Xiao Jiasui said, the war can definitely be won, but now is not the time.

"Then wait! It only takes a snap of the fingers to kill them!"

Sun Lei said that the strongest fighting force of Qi State is now its navy, which is invincible in the world. The reason is that the navy relies on strong ships and powerful guns, and Qi State's warships are now leading the world.

"Hasn't Military Advisor Xu already taken over Dali? Let Dali send troops to Pagan and take over Pagan. This way, our navy can also stand between Srivijaya and Chola."

Sun Lei thought for a while and said that the expedition did need support. Dali bordered the Kingdom of Pagan, and the Dali people were good at mountain jungle warfare, which came in handy now.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Xiao Jiasui said that it was not appropriate to attack Srivijaya, but there would be no problem in attacking Pagan, and Pagan's location was very fatal, which could clamp down on Chola and Srivijaya.

After seeing off the fleet, Sun Lei began to deal with government affairs again. He wanted to finish all the things that needed to be done before leaving.

Seljuk.

"This fortress really makes the most of the land! It won't be easy if we want to attack it!"

Han Shizhong looked at the fortress in front of him. This was one of the fortresses in the Seljuk country, Nishapur. The entire fortress was built between steep mountains. It was obviously a place that was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

"This place is too far away. It's not easy to fight here!"

Ma Lin looked at Nishapur and sighed. After leaving Husiwoerduo, they headed west, but they no longer had a map, so they could only ask for directions as they walked. In the end, they chose to move with other caravans. They visited many cities during this period.

"If you want to break into a city like this, you either have to use human lives to storm it, or you have to use artillery to clear the way!"

Han Shizhong spoke up. He saw dense firing holes and catapults on the fortress. This fortress was built for defense. Anyone who dared to approach would be shot with thousands of arrows and turned into a sieve.

"Shall we go into the city?"

Ma Lin was a little hesitant. They had walked too far and were not familiar with the language here. When they met people, they could only use sign language like dumb people. In this way, they could not find out any information at all.

"Go into the city, of course we have to go into the city!"

Han Shizhong said firmly that he had finally come here and how could he not go in and take a look.

"Look at the city gate. The soldiers are still questioning us. How should we answer? Are we hesitating and using sign language again?"

Ma Lin looked at Han Shizhong and asked.

"Look at me!"

Han Shizhong walked to the road outside the city with a smile, found a group of merchants who were going into the city, and started stammering and signing with them. Finally, he joined the caravan after paying the price of five camels.

"If we continue like this, we will have nothing!"

Ma Lin was speechless. It was still the same old routine. But when would it end?

"If you don't have it, just go and rob it! Haven't we seen the sand bandits before? Just charge with your face covered and a machete in hand and you're done!"

Han Shizhong said with a smile.

The caravan soon arrived at the city gate, and the soldiers' interrogation was successfully dealt with. Han Shizhong and Ma Lin entered Nishapur.