Daming: Dad, you are really not good at governing the country

Chapter 316: The negligence of the translator of the Honglu Temple caused Siam to almost lose its national name
After organizing his words a little, the Ayutthaya envoy finally decided to tell Zhu Yuanzhang the truth.

"Our king sent envoys with imperial edicts and gifts to Japan only for the purpose of establishing friendly relations.

At the same time, Japan also gave Ayutthaya an imperial edict and weapons as a symbol of the close relationship between the two countries.

There is another very important thing. Japan once asked Ayutthaya to buy artillery and wood incense, but our king did not agree. "

Zhu Biao looked at the Ayutthaya envoy with a bit of shock, "You Ayutthaya still have artillery, how did it get passed down?"

The Ayutthaya envoy explained: "The Ilkhanate established by the Mongols borders the Delhi Sultanate by land.

This country has gone through three periods: the Slave Dynasty, the Khalji Dynasty, and the Tughlaq Dynasty.

Your country's gunpowder technology was introduced during the early Slave Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.

Gunpowder first appeared in the Delhi Sultanate during Genghis Khan's first westward expedition.

Because Khwarezm killed Mongol envoys and caravan members.

From the eleventh to the sixteenth year of Jiading, Genghis Khan led his army on the first Western Expedition.

He used advanced military technology and equipment from the Han and Western Liao dynasties, and adopted powerful siege weapons such as crossbows, rockets, and flying fire guns.

He launched wars to destroy Khwarezm, conquer the Cumans and the Rus, and conquer Kangli.

After the fall of Khwarezm, the Mongolian army took advantage of the victory to reach the Indus River, and the soldiers and civilians of the Delhi Sultanate experienced the power of gunpowder for the first time.

During this period, the Delhi Sultanate had close contacts with the Mongols.

At that time, the main commodities they imported from the Delhi Sultanate were jewelry, cotton cloth, spices, medicinal herbs and furs.

In contrast, the Mongols exported mainly metals and metal products, porcelain, textiles, lacquerware, tea, as well as general merchandise and saltpeter.

Zhu Yuanzhang said with an unhappy look: "You have said so much, but all you are talking about is the Delhi Sultanate. What does it have to do with Ayutthaya?"

The Ayutthaya envoy took out a nautical map from his sleeve and said, "Siam is the only way for the Mongols to conduct maritime trade with the Delhi Sultanate and Arabia.

There is a saying in the Ming Dynasty that goes, "The one who is closest to the water gets the moon first."

In addition, maritime traffic between the Mongols and Zhenla was very active, with envoys, merchants and tourists traveling back and forth constantly.

Many records were left at that time, among which "Records of Cambodia's Customs and Practices" is the most important book.

It contains records of watching fireworks in Angkor Palace, the capital of Cambodia.

This custom of setting off fireworks and firecrackers during the New Year is the same as that of the Ming Dynasty.

According to records, Zhenla also imported saltpeter and sulfur from the Mongols to make gunpowder.

Zhu Biao seemed to have thought of something, and he ordered people to hang up the "World Map".

"Your Excellency, please point out the location of Ayutthaya on the map."

The Ayutthaya envoy walked to the World Atlas, pointed to the Indochina Peninsula and said, "This is Siam. Geographically, the surrounding countries and regions can be divided into nine.

To the north of Siam are Sukhothai and Lanna, and to the east are Lan Xang, Chenla and Champa.

Siam borders Burma and Bengal to the west, and Pattani and Malacca to the south.”

With the annotations made by the Ayutthaya envoys on the World Atlas, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao finally figured out where the problem lay.

It turned out that the official in charge of translation in the Honglu Temple was not familiar with the geographical location of the countries in Indochina, which led to problems in understanding.

He mistakenly took Ayutthaya, the capital of Siam, as the country's name, so that Zhu Yuanzhang was unable to find the location of this vassal state on the map for a while.

Misunderstandings like these, as well as changes in the name of Arabic.

The Chinese first called Arabia "Tiaozhi", which was first seen in "Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of Dayuan" written by Sima Qian.

Of course, Sima Qian was able to record the branches thanks to Zhang Qian, the pioneer of the Silk Road. In 138 BC, when Wei Zifu gave birth to a daughter for Emperor Wu of Han, and in 115 BC, when Wei Qing married Princess Pingyang, Zhang Qian was ordered to make two diplomatic missions to the Western Regions.

After returning home, he reported to Emperor Wu of Han on the situation of the countries in the Western Regions, including Tiaozhi.

It was from this time that the Central Plains dynasty learned of the existence of Arabia.

In the Han Dynasty historical books after Sima Qian, the records of tiaozhi were almost the same.

The only difference is that these historical books often write "tiaozhi" as "tiaozhi".

In fact, Tiaozhi is the transliteration of the Persian word Taji or Tazik, which was originally the name of a Persian tribe.

It means "farmer" and "land", or can be translated as "shepherd".

After the fall of the Han Dynasty, from the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty, the Southern and Northern Dynasties to the Sui Dynasty, the name "Tiaozhi" was used to refer to Arabia.

It was not until the Tang Dynasty that Arabia was renamed "Da Shi".

According to historical records, "Da Shi and Tiao Zhi are both transliterations of Tajik, and the Persians called Arabs after this name.

Later, during the reign of Emperor He of Han, Liu Zhao, Gan Ying, a great explorer who opened up the Eurasian transportation route, was sent to the West.

I heard the name of Tiaozhi from the boatmen on the western border of Parthia.

As for the name of the Tang Dynasty, it was probably also coined by the Persians. "

In other words, Dashi and Tiaozhi have the same origin, but the transliterations are different.

Since Dashi and Tiaozhi have the same origin, why didn't the Tang Dynasty continue to use the name "Tiaozhi" of the Han Dynasty but change it to Dashi?
According to historians' speculation, people later on probably forgot the origin of the branches.

The reason is to re-translate the Persian name for Arabia.

In the early Song Dynasty, Arabia was still called Dashi, but later it was changed to Huihui, and this name was continued in the Yuan Dynasty.

However, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Arabia was renamed "Tianfang".

It is generally believed that Tianfang refers to Maga, the old name of the holy city of Mecca.

The actual "Kaaba" refers to the Kaaba Mosque in Islam.

Arabs also call it "the House of God", or the Kaaba.

This was originally another name for a mosque, but the official in charge of translation at the Honglu Temple mistook it for the name of an Arab country.

After the misunderstanding was resolved, the official in charge of translation at the Honglu Temple and the Siamese envoy all showed expressions of relief.

The former was fortunate to be a scarce talent, and did not have to move because of these work negligence.

The Siamese envoy, who was from the latter group, was grateful that he did not have to bear the consequences of changing the country's name.

After all, as the regimes of the Central Plains dynasties changed, they helped vassal states change their names, which has historical roots!

However, the Siamese envoy certainly could not agree to such a thing on his own.

Otherwise, when he returns to the country in the future, he will inevitably suffer the king's wrath.

After receiving Zhu Yuanzhang's signal, Zhu Biao, who was sitting nearby, began to announce the new policy on tribute trade to the Siamese envoys.

“Starting this year, the Ming Dynasty will adopt the Kanhe system for all vassal states included in the tributary system.

The so-called "Kanhe" is a certificate issued by the Ming Dynasty to the vassal states in advance, with a seal on it.

When the tribute ship arrived at the port, Ming officials would check the inspection certificate with the seal on the original book to see if they were consistent.

The purpose of doing this is to prove the identity of the tribute ship and prevent someone from pretending to be an envoy of a vassal state."

(End of this chapter)