Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 933 New Deal
"Prisoners?" Jumong smiled and said, "You mean you want to use gold to redeem the people and the ship, right?"

"That's right!" The Javanese envoy was already a little impatient: "I have already stated the conditions just now. Whether it will work or not, I still need the angel to tell me!"

"Yes!" Jumong nodded: "As far as I know, the rainy season is coming, right?"

"Yes, it should only take a month or so!" The Javanese envoy nodded, but he was wondering why Jumong suddenly changed the topic to the weather.

"When the rainy season arrives, it rains heavily here, and the roads become muddy. Naturally, the war cannot be fought. Your country will also withdraw its troops, right?"

The Javanese envoy sighed and nodded: "Although it is a bit disappointing, it is true!"

"What are your plans for the strongholds you already control in Shui Zhenla?"

Although it was not clear why Jumong asked this, everyone's response to similar situations was similar, and it was not a military secret, so it was nothing to say: "Most of them can only be abandoned. After all, the remaining troops are very limited. It is impossible to send people to guard every place, and it is too difficult to transport supplies. Most of the strongholds should be abandoned, leaving only a few of the strongest strongholds near the sea to hold on."

"That's pretty much what I thought!" Jumong nodded. "But in this case, many things are uncertain. After all, even if you send out more troops, you have to wait until the dry season next year at the earliest. With such a long time, anything could happen!"

"What can we do?" The Javanese envoy sighed helplessly, "You are from the Tang Dynasty, and this is how it is in Nanyang. It rains heavily for more than half a year, and we can only fight for a few months. If we can't conquer it in these few months, we have to wait until next year. Otherwise, Water Zhenla would have belonged to us Javanese long ago. How could it have been delayed until now!"

"Indeed!" Jumong nodded. "What if you conquer the city of Balatiba?"

"Bharatiba City?"

"Yes, that's the city we are in now!" Jumong laughed and said, "I mean, if you can capture this city before the rainy season comes, do you still need to abandon most of the strongholds you have occupied and withdraw your troops?"

"Of course not!" The Javanese envoy had guessed the meaning behind Jumong's words, and his body trembled violently: "Baratipat City is the largest and most important city in Water Chenla. If we take it, we will be one step away from taking over the entire Water Chenla. Not only do we not have to withdraw our troops, we can also go upstream against the Mekong River next year and directly attack the heartland of the Khmer people!"

"That sounds great. This is a glorious victory!" Jumong laughed. "How much are you willing to pay for this victory?"

At this time, the Javanese messenger had completely understood Jumong's intention. The hint from the Tang man was obvious: as long as he defected and became an insider, it would be easy to capture the city of Paratipat with his manpower and the Javanese captives. The question now was how much he would pay for this defection? He thought for a while and finally decided to kick the ball back to the other party: "For us Javanese, victory is a priceless treasure!"

Facing the blank checkbook with his signature that the Javanese messenger showed, Jumong smiled with satisfaction: "I admire your generosity very much, but in my opinion, everything in the world has a price, including victory. Since this victory came from the city of Balatiba, his highest price is just this city!"

"You mean the city of Bharatiya?" The Javanese messenger was stunned.

"Yes, it is this city!" Jumong smiled gently and nodded repeatedly.

"But, but if that's the case, then we won't get anything?" the Javanese messenger said anxiously.

"How could that be?" Jumong laughed and said, "First, you won the victory. Second, you didn't have to give up most of the strongholds you had already occupied. Third, you occupied most of the land of Suzhenla. Fourth, you also gained a powerful ally. Isn't that enough?"

"But, but the city of Balatiba is gone! This is the most important and richest city in Water Zhenla!" wailed the Javanese messenger.

"Have you forgotten, Your Excellency? The city of Balatiba was never yours, at least not yet, right? You can't regard not getting something that never belonged to you as a loss, right? A good treaty is one that benefits both parties, so that both parties will abide by it instead of looking for opportunities to break the treaty, right? It can't be that only one party benefits while the other party suffers or gets nothing, right?"

"Okay!" The Javanese messenger weighed the pros and cons and finally sighed, "I admit that what you said makes sense, but why don't you ask for money as a reward? Gold, gems, silver, spices, these are all fine!"

"Because I also want to find a piece of land for myself!" Jumong laughed, "And the city of Paratipat is just what I want. Besides, if I ask for money as a reward, should it be paid in advance or afterward? If it is paid in advance, I can just take the money and turn around and leave, or even join hands with the Khmer to set a deadly trap; if it is paid afterward, how can I trust you Javanese to pay and not turn your face and deny it? In this transaction, only land is the best, because no one can take the land away. And after I get the city of Paratipat, in order to keep this piece of land, I can only stand firmly on your side. Isn't this a good thing for you?"

"You are right! This is indeed a choice that benefits both parties!" The Javanese messenger nodded: "Then what should we do?"

"It's very simple. You can pretend that you didn't reach an agreement on the price and leave in frustration. Meanwhile, you continue to prepare for the withdrawal. Then, when the rainy season is about to begin, we will take action!"

"Why wait until then?" the Javanese messenger asked in confusion.

"It's very simple. With me and your captives as insiders, it's not difficult to capture the city of Paratipat. But after we capture this place, the Khmer people will definitely use all their strength to retake it, and the heavy rain will make all military operations go to waste! They can only wait until the next dry season, and we will have a whole rainy season to consolidate our defenses!"

"I understand!" The Javanese messenger looked at Jumong with admiration: "You are such a wise man!" "That's it!" Jumong smiled and said, "Leave one person for me, someone who can win the trust of the captives at a critical moment!"

"No problem!" The Javanese messenger stood up. "Although my power is limited and I cannot promise you anything, I believe the king will be happy to form an alliance with you. One more thing, when do you hope to receive the ransom?"

"Ransom?" Jumong was slightly stunned.

"Yes, I know you may be generous enough to forgive this money, but even if it is to avoid the suspicion of the Khmer people, the transaction of redeeming people and ships should proceed as usual, such as paying half of the ransom first! This is the reward you deserve, and it will also help our plan to be implemented smoothly!"

"Very good!" Jumong nodded in satisfaction: "Then let's do as you said. Pay half of the ransom in three days!"

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As soon as the Javanese messenger left, Bayon arrived and asked directly, "How did the talks go?"

"Four hundred kilograms of gold, half of it will be paid first, and the rest will be paid when the ship is delivered to the people!" Jumong said, "The other party's messenger said that he would go back and report and discuss before giving me an answer!"

"Of course!" Bayon took a breath. "For such a large sum of money, he definitely doesn't have the right to agree to it directly. Even the King of Java would have to think about it for a long time!"

"After considering it for a long time?" Jumong asked, "Do you mean that the King of Java will finally agree?"

"Well, there may be some discrepancies in the details, such as paying with silver, spices or other things, but they should agree!" Bayon said, "Those six ships are all good ships built with teak, and the construction cost alone is a lot of money. The families that can own such teak ships must be big families, and the sailors and soldiers on the ships are also worth a lot of money. The King of Java is actually just paying for these families, and when the people and ships return, their families will make up for it! Maybe the King of Java can even make a fortune from it!"

"It sounds like the big Javanese families are very wealthy?" asked Jumong.

"Of course!" Bayon glanced at Jumong. "Most of Java's land is on islands. Many big families control one or more islands. These big families not only control the land, but also have ships to participate in trade. They are not only rich, but also have their own fleets and armies. These big families are more like kings than families. Compared with our king, the control of the Javanese king over them is actually very weak. It's just that almost all the big families support the Javanese king in expanding to the mainland!"

"So, the King of Java is just their leader, and his power is not much greater than that of his subjects?" Jumong asked.

"That's about it!" Bayon sighed. "The Javanese's weapons and ships are much better than ours. If not, Water Zhenla would have been taken away by them long ago!"

"You are telling the truth!" Jumong laughed, "You actually admit that the Javanese's weapons and ships are better than yours!"

"It's impossible to hide this kind of thing!" Bayon shook his head nonchalantly. "There are countless merchants who have been to Java in the ports of Jiaozhou in the Tang Dynasty. For example, you can find out if you ask the Gugar next to you! Besides, there is nothing we can do about it. The Javanese are native to an island. As long as they have a strong fleet, they can resist external invasions. Merchant ships from all over the world can bring all kinds of new weapons. We Khmers are on the mainland. There are endless barbarians to fight in the north. We don't have much extra financial resources to invest in the fleet."

"That's right!" Jumong laughed and said, "Why don't you give us a piece of land? You see, we have a strong fleet and can help you resist the Javanese at sea. In this way, you get safety and we get land. Both sides benefit!"

"Land?" Bayon was stunned when Jumong suddenly mentioned this. He smiled bitterly and said, "This matter is really too important. It is not something I can decide!"

"Really?" Jumong looked at Bayon's face and suddenly laughed, "I was just joking, but you took it seriously. I am obviously a minister of the Tang Dynasty. How could I ask for land from your country?"

"A joke?" Bayon also laughed dryly: "Your Excellency is really a joker. I was confused. I thought you were really going to mention this to the king!"

"It's hard to tell what's true and what's false in this world!" Zhu Meng said, "As a minister of the Tang Dynasty, it's unlikely that I would ask for land from your country, but I have several younger brothers who don't hold official positions!"

Bayon was so upset by Jumong's mixed words that he even forgot his original plan to find out what he had discussed with the Javanese envoy. He said a few more words and then got up to say goodbye. After leaving the door, he sighed and said, "It's really hard to guess what these Tang people are thinking. Now there are Javanese outside the city of Balatiba and Tang people inside. It's really hard to sleep peacefully. Alas, I don't know when the rainy season will arrive. The sooner it arrives, the sooner I can rest assured!"

Although they were upset, they still had to live day by day. Three days later, the Javanese sent half of the agreed ransom. In return, Jumong released more than 70 captives, including the wounded and the sick. The Khmer people didn't care much about this matter. There was no point in keeping these wounded and sick people. Letting them go would reduce the possibility of an epidemic. As Tang people were their current allies, it was not a bad thing for them to get rich. Their main focus was on the movements of the Javanese. Although the probability of these enemies launching large-scale military operations was increasing as the rainy season approached, who knew if they would do something big before leaving?

Fortunately, the Javanese's actions were no different from those before the rainy season in previous years. They abandoned several outlying strongholds and concentrated their forces around the city of Paratipat, probably in preparation for retreat. While strengthening their vigilance, the defenders of Paratipat also secretly prayed to the gods to bring the rainy season a few days earlier.

As time gradually approaches the end of April, the increasingly strong monsoons cross the equator. Under the influence of the earth's rotational force, these monsoons turn southwest and come to the Indochina Peninsula. This southwest monsoon brings abundant moisture. When experienced locals see the monsoon coming, they know that the dry season is about to end. They move their few belongings to ships or houses on high ground to prepare for the baptism of heavy rain.

The Khmer people in the city of Paratipat all felt relieved. Although the Javanese outside the city had not left yet, the large number of ships anchored by the sea indicated that they would be gone in a few days. They must have had a lot of spoils this year, so they were delayed for a few days. All the Khmer people could do was to wait patiently and pray to the gods, cursing that the invaders would be sent to the bottom of the sea by the wind and waves on their way back.

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