Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 479 The Journey to Southeast Asia (Part 2)

Mahmud Shah's idea of ​​paying tribute to China was not without reason. Brunei had been a vassal state of China since the Song Dynasty, so it had a certain historical inertia. Since China had a new emperor, there was nothing wrong with paying homage to his father again.

Another very important point is that he is still relatively young, and Brunei has not been defeated to the point of near death by Sulu. In other words, he still has the will to fight and believes that the change of dynasties in China is an opportunity for him, which is why he decided to take a gamble.

In the original history, Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty in 1368, but it wasn't until 1370, the third year of the Hongwu reign, that he sent envoys to neighboring countries to announce a new emperor and demand their homage. However, the History of Ming records it differently: "King Mahmud Shah was arrogant and disrespectful. He was reprimanded and then rose from his seat to receive the imperial edict. At that time, his country was weakened by the invasion of Sulu, and the king declined, citing poverty, requesting to pay tribute three years later."

It is said that Mahmud Shah was arrogant and rude, and only after being reprimanded by the Ming envoy did he descend from his throne, bow, and listen to the imperial edict. It is also said that Brunei was in decline at the time due to the invasion of Sulu. Mahmud Shah said that Brunei was too poor and requested to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty again in three years.

This shows that Brunei was truly on the verge of collapse under the attack of Sulu. And it was only 1353 at the time. Historically, Zhu Yuanzhang sent envoys in 1370. Seventeen years ago, Brunei was clearly not in such dire straits that Mahmud Shah lost his will to fight.

He is still quite young, around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, and he also has a long lifespan, having died in 1402 at the age of seventy or eighty. Since ***** intends to expel the Semu people of the Tianfang sect, it is naturally a good thing for him. This is an opportunity that he will certainly not let go of.

Mahmudsha then warmly entertained Li Bin and the others, and inquired about the emperor's preferences. He was truly poor and couldn't offer any decent gifts. If he knew the emperor's preferences, he could spend less money and still please the emperor, which would be ideal.

Upon hearing this, Li Bin and the others exchanged glances and discussed for a moment before saying to him, "The Emperor loves his people like his own children and hopes that they can all live better lives. If we could send some local specialty livestock, seeds of grains, vegetables, fruits, or even warhorses, or unique weapons and armor, it would surely please the Emperor."

Mahmudsha listened in disbelief, suspecting that these Chinese merchants were trying to scam him. The emperor liked seeds of grains and vegetables, as well as things like pigs, sheep, cattle, and horses? It sounded so unreliable.

Li Bin, of course, couldn't be labeled as unreliable, so he immediately told Mahmudsha a story about the Song Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, Champa rice was introduced from overseas and could be harvested twice a year in China, bringing great benefits to the people. When the new emperor of China learned about this, he also liked to collect crop seeds from foreign countries.

Mahmudshah then believed them and made a promise with Li Bin that they must visit Brunei again on their return journey and bring Brunei's envoy with them. Li Bin readily agreed and then set off for their next destination.

This time, they did not go anywhere else, but went straight to Temasek, which later became Singapore. At this time, Malacca had not yet been established, and Temasek was still under the jurisdiction of Srivijaya.

Historically, Malacca was not established until after Srivijaya was officially destroyed by Majapahit. A Srivijaya prince who had fled to Temasek established the Malacca Kingdom. Later, during the Yongle reign, he was appointed King of Malacca by Zhu Di. However, that was in the early 1400s.

Wang Dayuan and his companions thought this trip would go as smoothly as before, with the locals giving them a warm welcome. However, their good luck seemed to have run out. The Yuanwang had just arrived in the waters near Temasek and hadn't even entered the port when a ship from the Srivijaya government came to greet them. After they got close, the ship revealed its identity and said it was there to take them into the port to pay taxes.

Upon seeing this, Wang Dayuan immediately said to everyone, "Temasek has always been known for its pirates and bandits, and the Srivijaya government often commits atrocities against merchant ships from various countries. Our ship is new, good, and so big. It's hard to guarantee that they won't try to take advantage of our ship. Let's prepare for battle."

Upon hearing this, Chen Youliang, Zhang Chao, and the others nodded and immediately became serious. Zhang Chao instructed the craftsmen and doctors on board to hide in the lower cabins, and then ordered the gunners to take their positions, ready to fight at any time. He also ordered the other soldiers without cannons to go to the lower cabins to retrieve some weapons, such as knives, spears, bows, and arrows, and to hide them in the lower cabins until they heard the cannons firing from above before bringing the weapons up.

Wang Dayuan was watching over the dozens of sailors on the upper deck. The sailors were all in their positions, ready to turn around and run away at any time.

After preparations were completed, the Yuanwang slowly sailed into the Temasek port, unloaded the goods and sold them. The Temasek government then levied taxes on the goods, including a port entry tax and a commission on the goods, which were quite expensive and aroused a lot of anger among the crowd.

Chen Youliang immediately said to Wang Dayuan, "The taxes levied by Srivijaya are too exorbitant, even higher than those of the previous small countries. They also rob passing ships. Doesn't anyone resist them?"

Wang Dayuan explained, “If you want to destroy someone, you must first make them go mad. I have been here twice. There were never such high taxes before. It must be that Srivijaya was really beaten to a pulp by Majapahit, so they began to plunder passing merchants even more.”

"As for why no one resisted, it's only because they guarded the Strait of Malacca. Goods from China that want to be transported to India and Persia, or even Europe, as Your Highness mentioned, can only go through this route. With Srivijaya here, of course they can act with impunity."

The group nodded in agreement. Generally speaking, wealthy and confident countries are naturally more generous, while when a country falls into decline, it sees everyone as an enemy. When a country loses confidence, it becomes more stingy and reckless in its actions. They understood this principle, but Chen Youliang still didn't understand.

"Why is this the only way? I see a strait on the map to the east, between Palembang and Java. Can't we cross from there too?"

Wang Dayuan explained again, "Firstly, not many people go that way. If the destination is India, going through the Java Strait (Sunda Strait) would be a long detour, and the cost of this detour might be more expensive than paying taxes directly to Srivijaya. Therefore, the merchants tolerated it."

"Secondly, General Chen, don't forget that Palembang is also Srivijaya's territory. They can control the strait to the east as well. You can't keep going around from the east of Java, can you? That would be even further."

"I see." Chen Youliang then frowned and nodded.

Li Bin said with concern, "But now Srivijaya's power is declining day by day, and it has such tight control over Temasek, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to take action against it."

"Then we'll have to think of another way. If we can't settle in Palembang, we'll have to find another place," Wang Dayuan said helplessly.

The group nodded, and the Yuanwang quickly completed the transaction in Temasek. Fortunately, Srivijaya hadn't gone so far as to steal a ship in its own port. To avoid any unforeseen complications, the group left Temasek immediately after the transaction and headed towards Palembang. This time, it was a close call.

Just as they were about to breathe a sigh of relief, the lookout on the top of the mainmast shouted a warning and sounded the ship's alarm bell. The bell rang, and everyone was startled. Then they heard a voice from the top of the mast, "Two ships are following us!"

Wang Dayuan immediately picked up the binoculars that Lu Jin had lent him and looked behind. Sure enough, he saw two ships following behind the Yuanwang. One was a Chinese ship with hard sails, and the other was a Persian ship with triangular sails. Moreover, the Chinese ship was the same one that had guided them into port to pay taxes earlier, which was the official ship of the Temasek government. The two ships were fully sailed and chasing the Yuanwang at full speed.

Chen Youliang also took the binoculars and looked inside, then slammed his fist on the ship's railing and cursed, "A tiny, insignificant country like yours dares to covet the Celestial Empire's giant warship?!"

Wang Dayuan remained calm and asked, "What should we do? Fight or run? Our boat is fast. If we are determined to escape, they won't be able to catch up."

Upon hearing this, Chen Youliang immediately looked at Zhang Chao, who was the captain of the Yuanwang and the ship's chief military officer. Seeing Chen Youliang looking at him, Zhang Chao immediately understood what he meant and spoke up.

"We only have 14 cannons on our ship right now, six on each side and two at the stern. We can only use one side to face the enemy at most. Six cannons are not enough to sink the enemy ship. We should be able to drive them away, but if we want to take them out, we will probably have to board them and fight them up close."

Upon hearing this, Chen Youliang hesitated. He was not a reckless man and knew that this trip to Southeast Asia was only to set up intelligence bureaus and test the new ship. He had not planned to fight, and the three hundred gunners on board were all new recruits.

They've had military training, but they've never actually been on the battlefield. They're still a bunch of greenhorns. What if we send these soldiers to board a ship and suffer too many casualties? These are all gunners carefully trained by Lu Jin, the seeds of the navy.

Just as Chen Youliang was hesitating, Fan Yun, the older of the two captains of the Shen family, said, "My lords, the other side must have their eyes on our goods and ships. Moreover, they should know that we are going to Palembang. If we just run away or just repel them, I'm afraid they will follow us all the way to Palembang and then gather more ships to besiege us. Don't forget that Palembang is also their territory, and they have their ships there too."

Chen Youliang gritted his teeth and said, "Then let's fight. Brother Zhang will command the artillery, I will personally command the boarding, and Mr. Wang will be in charge of steering. Let's fight them today."

"Their ships aren't as tall as ours, so even if they wanted to jump over to our side, it wouldn't be easy for them. On the contrary, we can have a commanding position, like defending a city. Aren't there grenades and arrows on the ships? Once we're alongside them, let's give them a good whack!"

Wang Dayuan quickly raised his hand and said, "Wait a minute, let's discuss this first. Should we still go to Palembang? If we capture the ships, what should we do with them? These are official ships of Srivijaya. We can't just take them directly to Palembang. If we are recognized, we'll be surrounded and attacked. Also, who will steer the captured ships, and where will we go?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chao thought for a moment before saying, "Isn't Your Highness planning to establish the Nanyang Fleet? Well, here comes someone delivering ships to us."

"Since we still have to go to Palembang, we must continue to hide our identities. We must do it secretly and without anyone knowing. We must be ruthless when we strike later, kill everyone on the ship, and destroy the evidence."

"As for the ships, we can have Zhao Yu sail one, and Captain Fan and Captain Du can also take charge of the ships. Let them each board one ship and sail directly to Majapahit in Java with Zhao Yu in the two captured ships. That's not Srivijaya's territory, so they can't do anything there. We'll take the Yuanwang and continue to Palembang on our own, and then go to Java to meet them. That way, we can do it without anyone noticing."

Chen Youliang immediately nodded in agreement, saying, "That's a good arrangement. Let's do it that way. However, when we're attacking one of them, the other one might run away if it sees things aren't going well. We need to chase after it and take it down as well. We can't let them run back and report back, or we'll be in trouble."

Wang Dayuan added, "Then we'll have to find a secluded place with few boats before we make our move, so that no one can see us."

“That’s right, let’s do it this way and prepare for battle!” Chen Youliang nodded immediately. He suddenly realized that Lu Jin had a lot of talented people under his command. None of the officers on the ship were stupid. They were all very smart when analyzing the situation and their plans were very meticulous. No wonder Lu Jin was able to achieve great things. He sighed in his heart and immediately led his men down to the cabin to move weapons and armor.

The Yuanwang quickly made preparations, and the two ships from Srivijaya were getting closer and closer. Mainly, Wang Dayuan did not raise the sails to full, deliberately keeping the two ships behind him in order to avoid losing them. By evening that day, the Yuanwang had sailed into the waters of the Riau Islands east of Singapore, and passed Bintan Island, entering the eastern part of the Riau Islands.

Normally, ships passing through the Strait of Malacca travel between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, mostly heading north and south. At this time, there are not many ships heading east to Java. Seeing that it was getting dark, Wang Dayuan had the lookout take another look. After confirming that there were no other ships in sight, he slowed down and drifted with the ocean current, waiting for the two ships behind to catch up.

As expected, the two Temasek official ships behind them had ulterior motives and immediately accelerated to catch up with the Yuanwang. When the two ships were only a few hundred meters apart, Wang Dayuan immediately ordered them to turn around and fire a round of broadside cannons when the ships were sideways, and then turn around again to head straight for the other ships to board.

With the plan finalized, the two Temasek official ships behind them saw the Yuanwang turn around and knew that Wang Dayuan and his men had discovered their intentions. However, they were not afraid but laughed, thinking that it was better that the Yuanwang dared to take the initiative to fight, which would save them from chasing it all the time.

Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, the Yuanwang ship had already turned sideways. Zhang Chao immediately ordered the port gun ports to be opened, and six dark cannon muzzles immediately emerged from the gun ports, aiming at the foremost Chinese-style hard-sailed Guang ship. The Guang ship behind did not understand what this meant. Just when the two sides were within one hundred meters of each other, Zhang Chao immediately shouted, "Fire!"

Boom boom boom boom————

Within 100 meters, the Yuanwang cannons hit their targets without fail. The enemy's unreinforced hull was no match for the cannon fire. All six cannonballs hit the enemy ship, with two hitting the hull directly and creating two gaps. Seven people on the rear deck were killed instantly, their bodies torn to pieces. More than a dozen others were impaled by flying splinters from the hull and lay on the deck screaming in agony.

The remaining four shells also hit the side cabin of the Guang ship, creating four large holes in the side wall of the cabin. However, the enemy ship's crew should have been on the deck, and there were not many people in the cabin, so it did not cause any explosion or panic. But this round of shelling was enough to shock the enemy.

In fact, those two Temasek official ships also had firearms, but they were still things like matchlock guns. The Southeast Asian region had been exposed to firearms for a very long time, but this was the first time they had ever seen firearms made so large, like cannons, mounted on ships!

Before the enemy could react, and before the gunners in the lower decks could reload, Wang Dayuan shouted, "Hard to port!"

The helmsman immediately spun the rudder to the left, and the Yuanwang ship turned around again, heading head-on towards the left front of the Guang ship.

"Prepare for the attack!"

Upon hearing this, everyone on board quickly grabbed onto the support, lowered their center of gravity, and assumed a horse stance. Just then, with a loud thud, the two ships collided directly. The bow of the Yuanwang, like a blade, slammed straight into the side of the Guang ship, causing it to stagger backward. A piece of the hull was also broken off, and it was almost capsized. The crew members were knocked senseless and hulled up in a heap on the starboard deck.

At this moment, the two sides were almost side by side, face to face. The Yuanwang was on high ground, looking down at the enemy ships below. How could Chen Youliang let such an opportunity pass? He immediately shouted, "Don't board yet! Fire arrows and throw grenades! Shoot them dead!" There were more than 20 archers and more than 30 grenadiers standing on the top deck of the Yuanwang, waiting for this order.

At Chen Youliang's command, bullets rained down on the enemy's deck. The booming explosions and thick smoke filled the deck of the Guang ship. The occasional thud of bowstrings vibrating could be heard as arrows were shot into the smoke within a few meters. A series of screams of agony immediately filled the Guang ship.

The enemy sailors, already knocked down and jostled together by the collision, were in even worse shape. They were bombarded with arrows and grenades from above, and before they could even see what the people on the Yuanwang looked like, they were quickly killed or wounded.

A sea breeze blew by, dispersing the smoke from the Guang ship. Chen Youliang and his men looked down and saw that the deck of the Guang ship had become a slaughterhouse, with dismembered corpses and wounded soldiers everywhere. Blood flowed in streams from the gaps in the ship's side, creating a scene of blood flowing like a river!

Upon seeing this, Chen Youliang immediately stood by the ship's side, raised his sword, and shouted, "Archers, provide cover! Assault team, follow me!" With that, he donned his armor, grabbed his steel sword, and was the first to leap forward.

Swish swish swish————

The archers of the Yuanwang quickly launched another round of suppressive fire on the enemy ship's deck. As long as they saw a person, whether dead or alive, they would shoot another arrow. After the rain of arrows, Chen Youliang and a group of armored men jumped onto the deck of the Guang ship.

Upon seeing this, the remaining sailors on the Guang ship immediately cursed their bad luck. They were right; the Yuanwang was indeed no ordinary ship. It was equipped with so many armored soldiers and heavy firearms, which was something that ordinary merchant ships could not have.

Before they could think any further, Chen Youliang’s frenzied massacre began. All the remaining wounded on the deck of the Guang ship were slaughtered. Then he ordered the assault team to throw two grenades into the cabin of the Guang ship. After hearing screams coming from below the cabin, he grabbed a steel knife and jumped into the cabin, clearing it layer by layer, killing everyone on the Guang ship!

Zhang Chao was still standing on the Yuanwang ship, shouting, "General Chen, hurry up! We have to chase after that Persian ship, or they'll get away!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Youliang climbed out of the ship. Wang Dayuan then said to Zhao Yu and Fan Yun, "You two go and take over the ship first. We'll come back to meet you after we've captured that one!"

"Alright." Zhao Yu and Fan Yun nodded and immediately jumped onto the captured Guang ship without saying another word. Chen Youliang, covered in blood, climbed up the rope ladder, holding a steel knife and panting, "That was great! I've been serving Prince Chu for months, and it's been a long time since I've had such a satisfying battle!"

"You guys will have more to fight later, so take a break first. We'll go chase the other ship now."

"Ok!"

Having dealt with the Guang ship, the Yuanwang immediately raised its sails and charged toward another Persian ship, which was now only concerned with fleeing toward Temasek.

Good heavens! They were only attracted by the Yuanwang's imposing size and beauty, unlike any other ship, and the fact that the Chinese merchants on board were laden with riches. That's when their greed took hold. But who knew that this ship's fighting power was so outrageous? It destroyed one of their main ships in a single encounter. The remaining Persian ship was even smaller, and it didn't have as many people as the Guang ship. If they didn't run, were they supposed to stay and wait to die?
To their astonishment, these men were even armored and boarded the enemy. Where did they get so much armor? Even the main force of Srivijaya might not have such good armor. How were they supposed to fight them?
What made them even more desperate was that the Yuanwang, which had been running at a leisurely pace when they were being chased, was now running incredibly fast as it turned the tables on them. Its blade-shaped bow cleaved through the waves as it rapidly approached their Persian ship. Seeing that escape was impossible, the Yuanwang raised its gun ports on the sides again, and the Persian ship quickly raised a white flag and simply stopped and surrendered.
When the two sides approached, Chen Youliang boarded the ship and captured all the people on board. After careful interrogation, he learned that they were pirates hired by the Temasek government and were in partnership with the Temasek ship to "do business" and plan to rob the Yuanwang and split the loot.

The captain and steward were both Semu people who believed in Islam. The sailors on board included Javanese, Sumatran, Temasek, and even a Japanese pirate named Kenjiro, and a Chinese sailor from Guangdong named Pan Er. Pan Er was originally a crew member of a Chinese merchant ship, but after being robbed by this group of Semu pirates, he was forced to convert to Islam and become their slave warrior.

After Chen Youliang learned the situation, he immediately summoned Pan Er and the Japanese man Kenjiro, and ordered them to kill other Semu people as a pledge of allegiance. He also forced them to convert to Christianity. Then he took all the Nanyang sailors who had pledged their allegiance and took the captured Persian ships back to meet up with Zhao Yu's ship.

The three ships came together and anchored off a deserted island in the Riau Islands to rest. They threw the bodies into the sea and had the captured pirate crew clean the bloodstains off the ships. The Yuanwang even had its paint touched up and the scratches from the collision repainted. Then, they put all the captured sailors on the Yuanwang for custody and assigned twenty or thirty sailors to the two captured ships before setting sail again for Palembang.

This time, however, the Yuanwang ship went to Palembang on its own, while Zhao Yu, Du Rui, Fan Yun, and Liu Gang took the two captured ships and went directly to Semarang in Java to wait for them.

A few days later, the three ships met in Semarang, Java. The Yuanwang had already been to Palembang and Jakarta, where it set up trading posts and intelligence stations as usual. Palembang does have a considerable number of Han Chinese, probably more than a thousand, but Palembang is now the capital of Srivijaya, and Li Bin and his men cannot forcibly take it over.

Even if they could launch a surprise attack and seize the city, they certainly couldn't hold it with just over a thousand Han Chinese. Even if they could withstand the local attacks, they might not be able to stop the Majapahit Kingdom of Java. So Li Bin abandoned his original plan.

Next, they searched for remnants of the Yuan Dynasty's army during its conquest of Java in Jakarta and Semarang. However, local Chinese residents told them that those soldiers had long since perished. While some Javanese Chinese are descendants of those soldiers, none of the original soldiers survived. After all, that was sixty years ago. If those soldiers had married and settled there, they would likely have great-grandchildren by now.
However, they did find a descendant of the Yuan soldiers who had conquered Java in Semarang. His name was Gao Qiang, 42 years old, and he had a certain prestige in the Chinese community in Semarang.

According to Gao Qiang, his father was a soldier of Gao Xing, the deputy general of the Yuan army who conquered Java. He also had the surname Gao. At that time, his father was injured and his troops were scattered. He was left behind because he did not board the ship back to China. Later, his father recovered from his injuries in Java and led the remaining soldiers to band together and seize a piece of land from the locals. He became a Javanese landlord and got married. That's how he was born.

His family still keeps his father's Yuan army armor and waist tag, and these descendants of the Yuan army continue to stick together. However, the youngest veteran who actually participated in that battle is over seventy years old and died a couple of years ago. Now there are truly none left.

Gao Qiang also said that there are probably two or three thousand people like him, descendants of the Yuan army, as well as Chinese who came to Java for various reasons, in places like Jakarta, Semarang, and Surabaya. If women are included, there are even more, maybe five or six thousand. His wife was a Han Chinese woman who was sold to Southeast Asia by the Semu people. He bought her and she was from Henan.

Five or six thousand Chinese people—that's a lot of people, but the situation here is far from optimistic. The Majapahit Kingdom in Java is currently at its peak, and such a small number of people have no chance of conquering and holding onto any territory here. The same goes for Palembang and Temasek in Srivijaya. Those are the lifeblood of Srivijaya's tax collection. As long as Srivijaya survives, they will never watch these two treasure troves of Palembang and Temasek be snatched away right under their noses.

Li Bin was immediately at a loss. "What should we do? His Highness ordered me to seize territory and extract oil. Now we haven't succeeded in extracting the oil, and we haven't been able to take over the territory either. We can't just slink back with a few envoys to report back, can we?"

Wang Dayuan, Chen Youliang, and the others remained silent, unable to come up with any good solutions.

Just then, with a creak, the door to the captain's cabin on the stern of the Yuanwang was pushed open from the outside, and the sound of pattering rain came through. A figure suddenly appeared in front of the door, and when everyone looked closely, they realized that it was Pan Er, the Chinese sailor they had rescued from the Persian pirate ship.

Pan Er, who was originally standing under the eaves outside to take shelter from the rain, heard them talking and immediately stood up and said, "You want to seize territory in Southeast Asia? Perhaps I have a way."

Li Bin frowned immediately upon seeing him and asked, "What solutions do you have?"

Pan Er immediately added, “I know a place that is neither the territory of Majapahit nor the territory of Srivijaya, but it is big enough that it has no city walls and no soldiers. If you have a thousand or two thousand armored soldiers, it would be easy to take it down.”

"Moreover, the local people there still grow rice. If we kill them, we can directly seize a large area of ​​cultivated land, saving us the trouble of cultivating wasteland ourselves."

Upon hearing this, Wang Dayuan, Chen Youliang, Li Bin, and the others immediately became interested. Li Bin then asked, "What place are you talking about?"

Pan Er bargained, saying, "I can tell you, but you have to answer one question for me first, and you have to agree to a few conditions."

Wang Dayuan frowned, but then became interested. "Why don't you tell me first?"

Pan Er swallowed hard and immediately asked, "Are you from the imperial court? Who is this prince you're talking about?"

Wang Dayuan and the others exchanged glances and smiled at each other. Li Bin then said, "We are indeed officials of the imperial court, but not of the Yuan dynasty. Are you aware that there are uprisings in China right now?"

Pan Er immediately looked puzzled and asked, "Is it the Yao people of Guangdong and Guangxi who started the uprising?"

It seemed he really didn't know, so Li Bin immediately told him about the anti-Yuan uprising that was taking place in the country and the news that the Yuan Dynasty was about to perish.

Pan Er was somewhat shocked. He had only been in Southeast Asia for a few years, but he hadn't expected that his hometown would be undergoing a complete change of dynasties. After calming himself down, Pan Er finally spoke.

“Then I want to be an official. After I conquer that territory, you have to give me a piece of land, a thousand mu, no, five hundred mu will do. I also want three women to have children for me, and a few local people to work as my tenants.”

Li Bin licked his lips, thinking this guy was incredibly audacious, and immediately laughed, "What you're talking about, I can give you, but are you sure you can take that place?"

Pan Er immediately said, "That depends on you. I only know of that place. Your firearms are so powerful, and you also have armor and weapons. It shouldn't be difficult to call on those Han people from Semarang, right?"

Seeing his serious expression, Li Bin thought for a moment and nodded, saying, "Okay, I agree to all of that. Now you can tell me, right?"

Pan Er immediately said, "There is a large island northeast of Sishui City. I went there once with that group of pirates. There is a place there called Wurong Pandang, which is the territory of a small country called Gowa."

"It is called a small country, but it is actually just a group of local indigenous tribes. The king is just a tribal chief. They live in stilt houses and there is no city. There are less than 10,000 people around. They can grow rice and raise water buffalo, but they can't even build a cart."

“If you can get a thousand or two thousand men, you can definitely take down that small country, and all their rice paddies will be ours.”

Upon hearing this, Wang Dayuan and the others exchanged bewildered glances, opened a map to find the place he mentioned, and then Wang Dayuan asked in confusion, "Could he be talking about Makassar on Sulawesi Island? There's a small princely state called Gowa there?"

Chen Youliang and Li Bin quickly looked at the map.

“The big island northeast of Surabaya could very well be Makassar. Is it called Gowa now? The location is really good. It’s very close to Java and Palembang, and it’s also on the east side of Borneo. If we occupy this place, we can find a way to exploit the oil fields on the east coast of Borneo! This is really a great place!” Li Bin said with his eyes shining.

Chen Youliang looked at Pan Er again, "You really went to that place? What does it look like?"

Pan Er immediately said, “There is a large river flowing westward. Wu Rong Pan Dang is located at the river mouth. There are many stilted houses and villages on both banks. There are no cities, and the surrounding area is all rice paddies.”

Wang Dayuan nodded, "It matches Makassar on the map."

Chen Youliang then asked, "What are you going there for?"

Pan Er continued, “Those pirates didn’t rob every day. They also did business. Once, we robbed a ship full of goods and went to that island to exchange cloth, iron pots, and porcelain with the local natives for a lot of grain.”

The group exchanged glances again before Wang Dayuan said, "It seems it is indeed Makassar. Should we attack this small princely state called Gowa?"

Li Bin immediately said, "Why don't we send a ship to check first, under the guise of selling goods? If it's easy to get the goods, we can go back to Semarang and call people to go and do it. Anyone who is willing to fight can get land and women after we succeed. There should be people willing to go."

(End of this chapter)