People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 488 I Think He Looks Like a King
On March 8, the 12th year of the Qingli period, a delegation of envoys from the Song Dynasty arrived at Vijaya, the capital of Champa.

Upon learning of the arrival of the Song Dynasty delegation, the Champa King Rudravarman III extended warm hospitality and held a banquet in his kingdom to welcome the delegation.

When faced with the request of Tan Wenxue and others to go to the Song Dynasty to attend the annual meeting at the end of the year, Rudravarman III readily agreed and said that he would go there in person.

The Song Dynasty was holding a grand celebration this time, and the requirement for all East Asian countries was that the kings of vassal states must attend, and those that were too far away should also send envoys.

Basically, except for the Liao Emperor Yelu Chongyuan, all the kings of neighboring East Asian countries must come this time, including the Emperor of Japan.

The reason why King Rudravarman III agreed so readily was that, apart from the fact that the Song Dynasty was now powerful and the South China Sea Navy had put tremendous pressure on the Southeast Asian countries, the most important thing was that he had taken a lot of advantages from the Song Dynasty.

During the Han Dynasty, the entire Vietnam region was Han territory and was under the jurisdiction of the Jiaozhi Prefecture.

The administrative plan was divided into three counties. The Red River Delta area in the north was called Jiaozhi County, the narrow coastal area in the middle was called Jiuzhen County, and the southernmost area was called Rinan County.

This situation did not change until the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

In 137 AD, Qu Kui, the son of Gongcao of Xianglin County in Rinan Prefecture, killed the magistrate of Xianglin County, declared independence from China, occupied most of the original Rinan Prefecture, established Brahmanism as the state religion, and established the Champa Kingdom. Since then, the southern part of Vietnam has been Champa.

The northern part of Vietnam had always been under the control of the Central Plains dynasty. It was not until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period that Ngo Quan defeated the army of Southern Han at Bach Dang River and made northern Vietnam independent.

Therefore, before 937 AD, Champa in Vietnam was directly bordering the Central Plains dynasty.

Although northern Vietnam gained independence very late, it was very martial. After 937 AD, the Wu, Ding and Le dynasties were established in northern Vietnam, and they fought against Champa many times and defeated Champa many times.

The Le Dynasty, in particular, once invaded the capital of Champa, killed the king of Champa, and almost destroyed the country of Champa. It was forced to move the capital south in order to retain its name.

Then the Ly Dynasty of Vietnam replaced the Le Dynasty and continued to fight with Champa. From 1021 to 1026 AD, Champa was almost destroyed by the Ly Dynasty of Vietnam, suffering heavy casualties and losing large tracts of territory.

In the fourth year of the Qingli period, which was in 1044 AD, King Ly of the Ly Dynasty, Ly Foma, led a large army to personally attack Champa and defeated the Champa army in the Battle of Wupujiang.

In this battle, Ly Bophut killed the Champa king, Rudravarman II, and forced Champa to become a vassal state of the Vietnam Dynasty, requiring it to pay tribute to the Ly Dynasty every year.

As a result, the Li Dynasty was at its peak and became more and more rampant.

Since then, the Vietnamese in the north and the Cham people in the south have formed a feud between the north and south of Vietnam.

Originally, according to history, although the Ly Dynasty did not destroy Champa, the northern part of Vietnam had always been suppressing the south, and even destroyed Champa several hundred years later.

But what no one expected is that history has undergone great changes today.

It was only in the fourth year of the Qingli period that Li Foma started to show off his power in Champa and became the dominant power for a while. However, at the beginning of the fifth year of the Qingli period, he was defeated by the Song Dynasty and was bombarded into ashes by the Song army.

Although the Song Dynasty did not recapture the Red River Delta, its homeland in the Central Plains, it supported the royal family of the former Le Dynasty in the local area and stationed troops in Thang Long Prefecture and Jiangnan Province to combat rebellious forces within the Vietnamese Dynasty.

As a result, the Vietnam Dynasty fell into great internal strife, with uprisings breaking out in various places. The supported Le Dynasty was exhausted from running around and dealing with the situations everywhere, and occasionally even needed help from the Song army. It was unable to move southwards to invade Champa.

The Champa King Rudravarman III, who inherited the throne from his father, was naturally overjoyed. Taking advantage of the civil strife in Vietnam, he immediately sent troops north and recovered a large area of ​​his homeland with almost no obstacles, including the old capital of Indrapura.

Although the military strength is still very weak, we can still thank the Song Dynasty.

During the reign of King Rudravarman III, trade with the Song Dynasty made the country prosperous. Taking advantage of the Song Dynasty's demise and the Ly Dynasty's recovery of the homeland, the economy and territory developed and expanded, making Champa prosperous for a time.

So at this time, King Rudravarman III's reputation in the country was on the rise, so naturally he had to continue to cling to the Song Dynasty and continue to pay tribute to it.

Therefore, faced with the request of the Song Dynasty envoy, King Rudravarman III would certainly not refuse.

The first stop of the diplomatic corps went very smoothly, which greatly boosted the confidence of Tan Wenxue and others. So they set out again two days later and headed south towards the Kingdom of Brunei.

The Brunei Kingdom was located in the northern part of the later Borneo Island. Its territory was part of Brunei and Indonesia's East Kalimantan Province. The capital had a population of 10,000. It was recorded in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and had frequent exchanges with the Central Plains during the Northern Song Dynasty.

The Song Dynasty delegation headed south with the monsoon, still at an average speed of 180 kilometers per day. Six days later, they traveled 1100 kilometers and arrived in Brunei safely and smoothly.

The group was soon warmly received by King Xilimano of Brunei.

After learning the purpose of the visit, Xilimano was a little hesitant.

A few years ago, he had sent people to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, but he only sent ministers to go. Now he is going in person, and no one knows how many accidents will happen in the process.

However, under the persuasion of the powerful merchant and translator from Brunei who accompanied the delegation, Xilimanuo finally agreed to their request.

You can’t afford to offend the Song Dynasty now.

The South China Sea Fleet would appear in the ports of Brunei several times a year to station and replenish supplies, and one ship could destroy an entire country.

After inviting another country, the delegation was full of confidence and set off again on March 16, heading south to Java Island to invite Java, one of the last two countries in Southeast Asia.

After visiting Java, they will officially cross the Strait of Malacca, and in the process of crossing the strait, they will go to Sumatra to invite the last country, Srivijaya.

Java is very far away, with a journey of nearly 2000 kilometers. It took the delegation ten full days and they encountered wind and rain on the road before arriving in late March.

During the Chunhua period, Java sent envoys to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty. It took them 60 days to reach Dinghai County, Mingzhou, which is later known as Zhenhai County, Ningbo.

Because it was too far away from the Song Dynasty, the journey of that diplomatic mission was nearly 6,000 kilometers. Therefore, since the Chunhua period, Java has never paid tribute to the Song Dynasty again.

However, the exchanges between the two sides are still quite frequent.

Because Java and Srivijaya were sworn enemies and attacked each other, both sides wanted to win the support of the Song Dynasty. Therefore, although no envoys were sent, there were merchants trading between the two kingdoms. Java merchants often sued Srivijaya for bullying them.

Srivijaya was also afraid of being blamed by the Song Dynasty, so during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, they built a Buddhist temple in Palembang to celebrate Zhao Heng's birthday. Emperor Zhenzong of Song specially gave him a bell and inscribed on it: "Wanshou Chengtian".

These two countries can be said to love and hate each other.

Upon hearing that the Song Dynasty envoys had arrived, King Ellangka of Java also extended a warm welcome.

This person is a woman, the daughter-in-law of the former king Murocha.

Because Murocha and his son were killed in the war with Srivijaya, and his grandson was young, the royal family had no heir for a while, so Airlangka inherited the throne.

During this period, the war between Java and Srivijaya had ended with Java's defeat. Srivijaya's influence spread throughout the entire island of Sumatra and occupied the western part of Java, becoming unprecedentedly powerful.

Knowing the purpose of the Song Dynasty envoy's visit, Ellangka first replied politely that she was willing to go to the Song Dynasty, but was afraid that if she left, Srivijaya would take the opportunity to attack, so she wanted to refuse.

However, Tan Wenxue told Ellangka that if they became a vassal state of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty would protect them, and if Srivijaya dared to invade, they would be destroyed.

After hearing this, Ellangka knew that he had no reason to refuse, so he readily agreed.

After three consecutive stops, Champa, Borneo and Java all completed their tasks successfully.

In fact, during this period, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia were not just the three countries of Brunei, Java and Srivijaya.

But the rest of the countries were recorded as countries, but in fact they were tribes that obeyed these three regimes, just like the Liao Kingdom, whose main body was Khitans, but under it there were many tribes such as Jurchen, Bohai, and Mengwu.

So basically, inviting these three countries is enough.

In early April, the Song Dynasty delegation set off again. This trip took a month and covered nearly 4,000 kilometers. They were finally about to leave Southeast Asia and head for the Indian Ocean from the Strait of Malacca.

This itinerary was roughly within the mission's expectations.

Because the journey to Southeast Asian countries is about 4,000 kilometers and takes one month. After leaving the Strait of Malacca, it is about 4,000 kilometers to the Indian Peninsula and takes about one month.

Then we entered the Persian Gulf from the Indian Peninsula, which was also a distance of 4,000 kilometers and took another month, so three months to go and three months to return, which was a very smooth process.

However, the court took into account the possibility of accidents along the way, such as encountering storms, so they gave them an extra four months, allowing them to return before the end of the year.

Tan Wenxue and his companions were very happy to see that the journey was going smoothly. The delegation stayed in Java for two more days, replenished some fresh water and food, and then sailed towards the Strait of Malacca.

The capital of Srivijaya was in Palembang, not on the coast, so a few days later, the delegation arrived at the mouth of the lower reaches of the Musi River.

After discussions between Tan Wenxue and Wang Shining, it was decided to leave the fleet at the estuary, and the main members of the delegation would take the Guangzhou and sail south along the river to Palembang.

The Musi River is very wide, has a large flow and is very deep, and can accommodate 10,000-ton ocean-going ships. In later generations, it became an important trade river in Palembang, Indonesia, and the Song Dynasty's diplomatic fleet could pass through it.

However, due to the large water flow, ordinary ships lacking mechanical power were slow to go upstream, and they were afraid of wasting time, so they used the Guangzhou, which relied on steam power to go faster.

After making this decision, the group immediately took action.

The Guangzhou then went ahead at full speed, using full power, rumbling towards Palembang.

Palembang is only 80 kilometers away from the seaport. With the horsepower of the Guangzhou, it can be easily reached in just half a day.

They set out in the morning and arrived in Palembang at noon.

On April 7, the weather in Southeast Asia was hot, or rather very sultry in early summer. There had been a heavy rain two days before, and the water flow of the Musi River had increased dramatically, with floods spreading.

Amidst these rolling waves, the Guangzhou could see from afar a vast river bank created by the impact of the river.

At the foot of the mountain on the far side of the river is a vast plain.

The plain is lush and green with dense forests, and there are many villages along the way. Due to the plentiful water and limited land, most of the houses are built on the water. The houses are made of bamboo with pillars, and some are even built on bamboo rafts.

There are mostly fields on the shore, with paddy fields crisscrossing each other. The local residents have slightly dark skin and stand in their houses on the water, looking at the huge creature on the river in surprise.

"Doctor, commander."

Pu Jin, a great merchant from Srivijaya, pointed to a city on the river bank in the distance and introduced it to them: "That is the old port of our Srivijaya capital."

"Yes, it is magnificent."

The two of them observed through a telescope and were still very moved.

They never expected that there was such a prosperous country at the end of the South China Sea.

I saw a majestic city on the distant horizon.

The city wall is tall and majestic, dozens of miles long, and it seems as if there is no end in sight.

The outskirts of the city are just like the villages you see along the way. The residents all live on the water, and the houses are densely packed on the water.

It was different outside the city. There was finally land, and people’s clothes were much better.

Houses on land have already appeared, just like those in the suburbs of Bianliang.

The city is very prosperous, with all kinds of two-story buildings everywhere. Standing high on the bow and looking through a telescope, you can see the criss-crossing and neatly arranged streets in the city, and there are also many Buddhist temples and pagodas.

Overall, this place is a bit like a provincial capital in the Song Dynasty, with shop signs lining the streets and many pedestrians coming and going, strolling through the city.

There were also many ships parked at the dock outside. It was obvious that Srivijaya's trade was still very frequent, whether with neighboring countries or heading north to the Song Dynasty.

"Although Jiugang is not as good as Guangzhou, it is also the largest city in Srivijaya, with a population of over 100,000, making it the largest country in the South China Sea!"

Pu Jin said with great pride.

"Well, no wonder the King of Java said that you bullied them. You are indeed stronger than Java."

"I see there are quite a few pagodas and temples in the city."

"I heard that there was some unpleasantness with you Srivijaya because of my Great Song stationing troops in Puluo a few years ago?"

Zhang Youwei stood with his hands behind his back and said, "I hope that your Srivijaya King can put aside the past grudges and have friendly exchanges with our Song Dynasty. Don't make mistakes."

"Yes Yes Yes."

Pu Jin nodded repeatedly.

This time when he came back, he had made up his mind to persuade the king not to provoke the Song Dynasty again.

Soon the Guangzhou rumbled into the port.

Its appearance caused the Srivijaya people nearby to flee in panic, pointing at the Guangzhou and screaming in the local language, as if they had seen a ghost.

The rumbling sound and the white smoke above really made them feel terrified.

After a while, the pier, which was originally bustling, was deserted. Many people hid far away and only poked their heads out to watch.

The diplomatic envoys were not surprised by this situation.

The same was true when they went to other countries. Perhaps the dignitaries of those countries had heard of ironclad ships, but the common people of their own country would never see one.

So of course it fills them with fear.

When the boat stopped, everyone did not go ashore. Instead, Pu Jin and his entourage got off the boat first.

This is customary.

Of course, it was impossible for the diplomatic envoys to get off the ship directly and run all the way to the palace, so someone needed to report it.

As for whether the other king will come to greet him personally or send someone to greet him, that is another matter. At least in the past, when it came to Champa and other countries, the other king would come to greet him personally.

"Please wait for a moment, doctor and commander. I will go and ask the king to come and greet you."

Pu Jin said something to them, then got off the boat and left.

So they stayed on the boat.

Soon Pu Jin entered the city with more than a dozen followers.

Although Pu Jin was a wealthy businessman in Guangzhou, he was always submissive in front of Wang Han and others.

But in Srivijaya, they are the top dignitaries and have great influence.

Many of the shops on Guanglin Street belonged to him, so after Pu Jin got off the boat, he swaggered into the city.

After a while, local dignitaries came to greet him and took him to the palace.

At this moment, in the Srivijaya Palace, King Silichi was enjoying singing and dancing.

He was dressed in gorgeous silk, with gold bracelets on his hands, gold rings inlaid with gems, and even the hat on his head had gold ornaments.

Srivijaya controlled the Strait of Malacca and the entire East-West trade was under its control, so the country was naturally very prosperous.

Historical records show that "there was a lot of gold trade, the people were very rich, the land was very fertile, and the Buddha statues and utensils were all made of gold."

However, now that the Strait of Malacca had been taken away by the Song Dynasty, although his wealthy life would not suddenly fall into ruin, the loss of such a big piece of fat still made Xili Chi very unhappy.

But there was nothing I could do since I couldn't beat them. I had to let it go and take care of myself first.

"Your Majesty, Pu Jin is back."

A powerful person came in and said.

"Oh?" Xilichi said, "Let him in."

"Yes."

The dignitaries then went out.

Pu Jin came in, bowed to Xili Chi and said, "Your Majesty."

"You're back? What did you bring this time?"

Xilichi laughed.

Pu Jin was the richest businessman in Srivijaya, but he lived in Guangzhou of the Song Dynasty all year round and came back only rarely each year.

However, every time he came back, he would bring a large number of Song Dynasty products from Guangzhou.

The luxurious silk clothes he was wearing were presented by Pu Jin, and he also spent a lot of gold to have Pu Jin bring back some golden and jade Buddhas from the State of Song.

So every time Pu Jin came back, he would bring him a lot of things.

"Your Majesty, I am not here to do business this time, but to bring an envoy from the Song Dynasty with me."

Pu Jin said: "They are now at the port outside the city, hoping to invite Your Majesty to the Song Dynasty to participate in the Song people's New Year celebrations."

"what?"

Xilichi's face suddenly turned cold, and he said, "Pu Jin, do you know what you are talking about? Don't you know that Song Ren has robbed our Pu Luozhong?"

"Of course I know that, but this is an opportunity to make friends with the Song people."

Pu Jin said quickly: "Your Majesty, the Song people are now strong and their ships are all over the ocean. If we can't make friends with them, I'm afraid we will be in great danger."

"How many of them came?"

Xilichi asked.

"Your Majesty, what is this?"

Pu Jin was puzzled.

Xilichi said angrily, "The sea is very rough, who knows if we die at sea?"

His last attack on Puluozhong was defeated by the Song Dynasty Navy.

But the Srivijaya people were very good at naval battles. It was the Song Dynasty navy that established a base in Puro and defeated them in a land battle.

This made Xili Chi feel that if they were in the water, they would definitely be able to destroy the Song army.

So I have always been bothered by this matter.

However, Pu Jin was shocked and said, "Your Majesty, don't do this. The Song people are more powerful than we imagined. They only need a hundred people to kill our ten thousand people, not to mention that they are far more than a hundred."

"Are their messengers many?"

Xili Chi was puzzled.

"More than ten thousand."

Pu Jinhan is about to come down.

"What, more than 10,000 people, all of them are here?"

Xilichi was shocked.

More than 10,000 people, which is one tenth of the entire population of Palembang.

So many people came running over, and he didn’t even know?

Fortunately, Pu Jin said, "No, there is only one ship coming, and the rest are on the sea, but if they come, they will arrive tomorrow."

"."

Xilichi fell silent.

The number of soldiers he can muster now is only over 10,000. If he recruits from the whole country and asks the tribes and vassal states to send people, the number can only be tens of thousands at most.

Facing an enemy force of 10,000, he might not be able to defeat them.

So after a moment of silence, he waved his hand and said, "Yeloye."

"His Majesty."

The chief of the guards, Yeloye, came in.

"You lead the army out and drive the Song people away. I don't want to see them for a moment."

Xilichi gave the order.

"What if they resist?"

Yeloye asked.

Xilichi said coldly: "Then kill him. The Musi River is rising recently, so just say it's flooded."

"Your Majesty, you must not do this."

Pu Jin was sweating profusely and said, "Even if you don't want to go, you can still send an envoy on the pretext of illness. We must not make enemies with the Song people!"

"You are worried about your business in Song State."

Xilichi sneered, "The Song people are thousands of miles away from us. Why should I be afraid of them? They only sent a thousand men to seize Puluozhong. Sooner or later, I will take it back."

The importance of the Strait of Malacca was already evident during the Northern Song Dynasty. Srivijaya later fought with the Chola Empire of the Indian Peninsula just to compete for this route.

You have to know that the Chola Empire is 4,000 kilometers away from Srivijaya. You can imagine how much it would cost to cross the entire Bay of Bengal to fight a war.

But if we can seize the Strait of Malacca, control it and collect tolls from the Arabs, it will be worth it no matter how much it costs.

However, the Chola Empire was too far away. Although they defeated Srivijaya in the early stage and even captured Srivijaya's capital Palembang, logistical supply was too difficult, so they eventually withdrew, allowing Srivijaya to still control the Strait of Malacca.

Now that the Strait of Malacca has been taken away by the Song Dynasty, Xilichi has undoubtedly lost a huge piece of fat meat. It is equivalent to the Song Dynasty being cut off from the Silk Road by the Western Xia, or even worse.

Because although Western Xia isolated the Silk Road, it only isolated the Hexi Corridor. Merchants from the Western Regions could still take the Hehuang Corridor, and the volume of trade on the road was far less than that of sea transportation, and the trade volume was completely on a different level.

Therefore, the loss of the Strait of Malacca resulted in Srivijaya losing millions of strings of revenue every year, which was an astronomical figure for a country like Srivijaya.

Faced with the invitation from the envoy of the Song Dynasty at this time, Xili Chi naturally would not agree.

He was still thinking about finding an opportunity to snatch Pu Luozhong back and regain control of the Strait of Malacca. How could he possibly go to the Song Dynasty in person?
What if this is a conspiracy of the Song people?
As for the issue of the strength of the State of Song.

Xili Chi was not unaware of the power of the State of Song.

But the Strait of Malacca is the lifeline of their country.

Secondly, he thought that the Song Dynasty was too far away from them and it was impossible for the Song Dynasty to send a large army on an expedition.

He was accumulating strength to annihilate the Song army in Puluozhong.

Even if the other party knew about this situation and sent troops over, and we were unable to resist, we could retreat to defend and then take back Puluozhong after the main force of the other party left.

Therefore, Xili Chi was not worried about the Song army at all.

"Humph, Pu Jin, you actually brought outsiders to your own country. Have you forgotten that you are from Srivijaya, not Song?"

Finally, Xilichi snorted coldly and said, "If you hadn't paid me a lot of good things over the years, I would have killed you, hung your head on the city wall, and told the people that you are a traitor!"

"His Majesty."

The Pu Jin people were dumbfounded, but they knew that Xili Chi was angry, so they said in despair: "I was wrong, I will go and tell the Song people to leave."

"Go."

Xilichi lay back on the throne, with anger still lingering on his face.

When Pu Jin left the palace, he felt dizzy.

He never expected that the king would be determined to make enemies with the State of Song, but he could not persuade the king, so he had to leave the palace and return to the boat to report the matter to Tan Wenxue and others.

At this moment, Tan Wenxue and his companions were still waiting on the boat. After about half an hour, they saw teams of soldiers coming out of the city.

"It should be the King of Srivijaya coming to greet him."

"Well, get ready."

Tan Wenxue and Zhang Youwei thought it was the king coming to greet them, so they planned to get off the boat.

However, before they could get off the deck, they saw Pu Jin hurriedly running out of the city.

This time he ran for his life, not caring about his image as a powerful person. Even his hat fell to the ground, and an anxious look appeared on his face.

Wang Shining had been observing with a telescope. When he saw someone running wildly in the city, he looked over and saw that it was Pu Jin. Seeing that his face was not right, he said, "Wait a minute, doctors."

"what happened?"

Tan Wenxue and Zhang Youwei were already preparing to disembark with several deputy envoys and dozens of diplomatic envoys. When they heard Wang Shining's words, they looked at him in confusion.

Wang Shining said, "Something is not right. Let's wait and see."

When the two heard him say this, they looked at each other, then stopped and stood at the side of the boat and continued waiting.

Soon, thousands of Srivijaya troops ran to the shore and surrounded the dock aggressively, with some people shouting in an incomprehensible language below.

Since Pu Jin had taken his people away, everyone didn't understand what he said, but seeing the other party's aura they understood that he didn't come with good intentions, and they looked at each other in confusion for a while.

However, the stalemate did not last long, and Pu Jin rushed over.

He had connections in the army, so he quickly stood out from the crowd and came to the boat, panting, "Doctor, Commander, something bad has happened."

"what happened?"

"The king has gone mad and wants to be an enemy of the Song Dynasty. He wants to drive you away and says that if you don't leave, he will kill you."

"Ok?"

Zhang Youwei frowned and said, "It seems that your king is very unwise."

Pu Jin smiled bitterly and said, "I have advised you, but what can I do?"

"What should we do now?"

Tan Wenxue looked at Zhang Youwei and Wang Shining and asked, "Should we go?"

"Humph, our Great Song sincerely invited them, but they not only didn't know what was good for them, but also dared to send troops, bullying our Great Song that we can't fight, right?"

Wang Shining said angrily: "With one order from me, his country will be destroyed in an instant!"

"Hold on, if you destroy their country, the court still has a mission to fulfill. Where can we find a king to report back to?"

Zhang Youwei smiled bitterly.

Tan Wenxue frowned, thought for a moment, and suddenly said, "Do you remember what happened to Fu Yiyang?"

Fu Yi Yang, whose real name was Fu Jiezi, was named Marquis of Yi Yang for killing the King of Loulan!
"You mean, appoint a new king?"

Zhang Youwei said.

"good."

"But is there a legitimate reason for your teaching?"

"First, you attacked our Song Dynasty navy without reason, and then you were disrespectful to our Song Dynasty envoys!"

There was a cold light in Tan Wenxue's eyes.

He was from the Ministry of Rites, so he naturally knew how to find a crime to accuse the other party.

Purojung is the later Singapore. In fact, Srivijaya did not occupy it at that time because it was just a deserted place. Building a port on the other side across the strait would obviously be very costly and not conducive to management.

So Srivijaya controlled Batam Island opposite Singapore and established port tolls there.

But after the Song people came, they built a port in Puro on the opposite bank, so the Arab merchants ran there and no longer paid tolls to them, causing Srivijaya to lose a lot of income.

So Xilichi took the initiative to launch an attack in order to destroy Purozhong and force the Arab merchants to go to Batam Island again.

Therefore, the initiator of the war between the two sides was Sirichi. The Song Dynasty did not attack Srivijaya. It was just that Sirichi sent people to attack and was defeated, so the Song Dynasty did not pursue the matter further.

Now the Song Dynasty took the initiative to show goodwill, inviting the other side to participate in the celebration and offering rewards, hoping to ease the relationship between the two countries. However, the other side not only refused, but also expelled and even killed the envoys, and continued to attack Pu Luozhong to take back the Strait of Malacca.

Then this is undoubtedly an excuse to send troops.

"Just this new king?"

Zhang Youwei did not doubt whether the Guangzhou had the strength to destroy Srivijaya, but he was worried about what would happen after that.

Tan Wenxue pondered for a moment, then raised his head and looked at Pu Jin with a strange light in his eyes.

"Do you think he looks like King Srivijaya?"

"Me? The King?"

Pu Jin opened his mouth wide, pointed at himself and asked in disbelief: "Is this true?"

Tan Wenxue, Zhang Youwei and Wang Shining looked at each other and then laughed.

"I think he does look like a king."

(End of this chapter)