Bringing the Railway to Daming

"The sea journey is difficult, the sea journey is difficult, full of storms, where are you now? There will come a time when we can ride on the wind and waves and sail across the vast ocean!"

On the deck of the 5,000-ton ship "Yingqiu", Zhu Yu, wearing a bright red cloak, held up a wine glass and recited aloud.

The staff around looked at each other with helpless expressions.

Ever since Zhu Gui left the Hailongdusi, he had been letting himself go - whenever the fleet encountered a slightly stronger storm, even if the entire process did not bring any crisis to the vassal fleet, he would come out on the deck to drink and recite poetry in public.

When his civil and military officials saw him for the first time, they thought Zhu Gui was frightened by the wind and waves at sea and had a brain disease.

Later I found out that it wasn't the case - Zhu Yu was probably just nervous and wanted to find a way to vent.

After that, it will probably become a habit.

Although Zhu Gui had an amazing alcohol tolerance and never got drunk even after drinking heavily, his dissolute appearance was really unbecoming of a prince.

No one under his command, civil or military, could persuade him, so he could only helplessly do nothing.

At the same time, some people were no longer so confident about establishing a vassal state. Who made Zhu Yuanzhang seem to become more and more unreliable after he went to sea?
Zhu Gui did not notice the uneasiness of his civil and military officials. He finished a pot of wine before he calmed down.

He was just about to take a nap in his cabin when a general came hurriedly to report, "Your Majesty, we are about to pass through Sinhalese. General Lou said the fleet needs to find a port to anchor and replenish fresh water and other supplies."

Zhu Yu waved his hand and said, "I understand. Let General Lou take care of the arrangements."

"Yes."

The general took the order and left.

Zhu Yu returned to his luxurious cabin, but he was no longer sleepy. He said to the eunuch serving in the room, "Zhao Bing, find the map of South India that my father gave me."

Zhao Bing responded, quickly found a map from the desk, and gave it to Zhu Yu who was sitting on the recliner.

The map was opened, and Zhu Yu read it while thinking about the situation in South India that he had learned from the Guangming Guards before leaving.

According to the Bright Guard's understanding over the years, there are now four major forces in South India, which can also be called the Four Kingdoms.

The first is the Sinhalese Kingdom on the island of Sri Lanka in later generations, but Zhu Yuanzhang preferred its ancient name and called it the "Lion Kingdom".

The country worships Buddhism, and most of its people are the Aryans mentioned in the video released by Liu Kuan, but there are also a considerable number of original Indian indigenous people.

Sinhalese history can be traced back to the Han Dynasty, which is quite long. The fact that it has been able to continue for such a long time is not only related to the country's location, but also shows that the country is quite powerful.

This is indeed the case. Today, in addition to the island of Sri Lanka in later generations, the Sinhalese territory also extends to the southeast coast of the Indian peninsula, and its strength can be said to be the strongest among the four kingdoms in South India.

In contrast to Sinhalese is the Tamil Kingdom in the southeastern mountainous region of the Indian peninsula. This country was called the Jura Kingdom a hundred years ago. It is an ancient country with the same long history as the Lion Kingdom, but it was replaced by a kingdom called "Pandya" a hundred years ago.

According to the Guangmingwei's understanding, both the Jura Kingdom and the Pandya Kingdom are actually dominated by Tamils, who believe in Hinduism, so the Ming Dynasty called it the "Tamil Kingdom."

Although the Tamils ​​have been forced by the Sinhalese to huddle in the mountainous areas, they may be able to stop the invasion of the Sinhalese, and their strength is not weak.

Zhu Gui knew very well that although he would not have any intersection with the Tamil Kingdom in the short term, once he established a vassal state and began to expand his territory, he would inevitably have to deal with the country.

Judging from the maps of later generations, the central and eastern parts of the southern Indian subcontinent are almost all plateaus and mountains, with only a narrow lowland and plain in the west that is thousands of miles long and only about a hundred miles wide.

There are now two kingdoms in this narrow strip of land, one is the Bahmani Sultanate in the north and the other is the Vijayanagar Kingdom in the south.

As the name suggests, the former believes in Islam; while the latter, like Sinhalese, is a kingdom that believes in Buddhism.

Zhu Yu was eyeing the territory of the Vijayanagar Kingdom - the terrain and climate there were most suitable for farming.

He felt that if Zhu Di could destroy the Bengal Sultanate, seize its wealth, occupy its territory, and establish the Yan State, then he could do the same. Even his Qi State would develop better and become more powerful than Yan State in the future. As he thought about it, sleepiness came over him, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Not knowing how much time had passed, Zhu Yu heard someone calling out urgently.

"My king, my king, wake up!"

Zhu Yu opened his eyes and looked at Zhao Bing, who was standing beside him with a worried look on his face. He asked unhappily, "What happened? Why are you so flustered?"

Zhao Bing said, "As soon as our ship entered the harbor, it was surrounded by Sinhalese ships!"

"What?" Zhu Yu sat up suddenly, his face full of disbelief, "Don't they know we're from the Ming Dynasty? How dare they surround our ship?!"

"I don't know either."

Zhu Gui rarely asked Zhao Bing any more questions and was about to go out. After thinking for a while, he came to his senses and put on his pistol and sword.

After leaving the cabin, Zhu Gui came to the second deck with several guards. He took out a telescope and scanned the surroundings. Sure enough, he saw many warships ranging from dozens of tons to hundreds of tons densely distributed around the fleet, as many as thousands of ships!
At the same time, Li Heng, the captain of the navy who was on the Yingqiu, stepped forward and saluted Zhu Gui.

"See you, Your Majesty."

Zhu Yu waved his hands, frowned, and asked, "What's going on?"

Li Heng said a little embarrassedly, "I don't know either. They say Commander Lou has sent people to the shore to communicate with the Sinhalese people."

Zhu Yu then looked at the several staff members who came forward to greet him, and without waiting for them to greet him, he asked, "What do you think?"

An aide said, "Your Majesty, our Ming merchant ships have now sailed as far as the Jin vassal state and the Western Sea Guard, and many are coming to India."

"Logically speaking, the Sinhalese nation should be aware of the power of the Ming Dynasty and recognize its flag, so they shouldn't resort to violence. There must be some misunderstanding."

"Nonsense!" Zhu Yu couldn't help but get angry. "Don't you know there's a misunderstanding?! I want to know what the misunderstanding is!"

The staff member was silent for a moment.

At this time, another staff member advised: "Don't worry, Your Majesty. Commander Lou has already sent people to inquire. I believe there will be news soon."

Zhu Gui picked up the telescope again and looked at the Sinhalese warships. He saw that they were filled with Sinhalese soldiers, carrying bows, arrows, swords, spears and other weapons. The catapults on the ships were also ready to be fired. He became even more angry.

He angrily said, "How dare the damn Lion Nation surround my ship? If they don't give me a reasonable explanation today, I will make them pay!"

After hearing this, several staff members became even more worried, fearing that Zhu Gui would lose control and order a war with the Sinhalese Kingdom.

Fortunately, the Sinhalese warships have only surrounded the Qi fleet and have not started a war, so the situation has not yet gotten out of control.

About an hour later, when Zhu Gui was getting impatient and was about to send for the naval commander Lou Yuanjing to come and ask, Lou Yuanjing sent someone to deliver the news.

The one who came was a centurion. He first bowed to Zhu Gui and said, "Your Majesty, this is indeed a misunderstanding."

Zhu Yu: "How did you misunderstand?"

The captain said, "Your Majesty, it turns out that the Sinhalese Kingdom is preparing to attack Vijayanagara and has gathered many warships at this harbor. Having heard that His Royal Highness the Prince of Yan had defeated the Kingdom of Bengal, they assumed we were reinforcements sent by Vijayanagara. In a moment of panic, they surrounded us."

"Now that he knows it was a misunderstanding, the Sinhalese general is terrified. Not only has he apologized profusely to our envoy, he's also hosting a banquet at his residence to make amends to the king."

"Commander Lou has sent his men here to ask Your Majesty whether you wish to come ashore for the banquet." (End of this chapter)