Seeing that Zhu Biao had never heard of the Ancient Tea-Horse Road, Han Du patiently explained to him: "Since ancient times, the most famous thing out of the Central Plains is the Silk Road. The yellow sand in the desert, the long camel bells, have been sung for thousands of years. But In fact, there is also a trade road in the Bashu and Yunnan areas, the Ancient Tea Horse Road."
Zhu Biao nodded slightly and looked sideways at Han Du.
Han Du smiled casually and said: "It is only a thousand miles from Yunnan to Shendu via the Ancient Tea Horse Road."
"So close?" Zhu Biao was surprised. "If it's so close, then why are we going through so much trouble and traveling thousands of miles? Wouldn't it be better to come directly from Yunnan?"
Han Du sneered twice, "How can it be so easy? The Ancient Tea Horse Road is short, but it is not without its shortcomings. First of all, this road is very narrow. In many places, only one person or one horse can pass. Such a road We can't walk fast at all. Although a thousand miles is a short journey, it can't be completed in less than three to five months. And when we set sail from the capital, although we sailed tens of thousands of miles, the time it took was only three to five months. ?”
That's true... Zhu Biao nodded. Since it takes about the same amount of time, there is really no need to take the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
"Also, the Ancient Tea Horse Road can only be carried by people carrying horses and camels. How much cargo can be carried? And a large ship can easily transport hundreds of thousands of kilograms of goods. This is infinitely more convenient than people carrying horses and camels. Twice."
While the two were talking, they walked into the city of Guli. It is said to be a city, but in fact it is completely different from the city in Han Du's eyes. There is not even a city wall, just like a settlement. But there are quite a few people here, probably not much worse than Hulumos.
The arrival of Han Du and others immediately attracted the attention of the locals. Just as Han Du and Zhu Biao were walking on the street, a man who was obviously an official here, with some entourage behind him, strode in front of Han Du and others.
Shi Si stepped forward to negotiate and let these people know that Han Du and others came from the Ming Empire in the far east.
When the other party heard that they were coming from the Eastern Empire, their expression immediately became respectful. Not only did they warmly invite Han Du and others to stay temporarily in Tongwen Hall, which was similar to the Ming Dynasty, but he also wanted to report the arrival of Han Du and others to King Guli.
Although Guli is a small kingdom on this peninsula, they are still no strangers to the Eastern Empire. Since the Silk Road was cut off, the Ancient Tea Horse Road has flourished uncharacteristically, with a lot of porcelain, tea, and silk flowing into the peninsula from the Ming Dynasty every year. Through mutual exchanges, King Guli naturally knew the reputation of the Ming Empire.
When he heard that someone from the Ming Empire was coming, King Guli immediately dropped everything and ran to see Han Du and others without touching the ground. Not only did he order the officials to take care of all the food and daily life of Han Du and others, he also sat down and had a cordial conversation with Han Du.
Anyway, Han Du was quite confused when he looked at King Guli who was crying with snot and tears in front of him. According to King Guli, Guli was not strong and was bullied among the kingdoms on the peninsula. And he knew the prestige of the Ming Empire, and also knew that after recognizing the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain state, the Ming Dynasty would take care of the vassal states, so he wanted to request Han Du, hoping to send envoys to Beijing to pay tribute and request the Ming Empire to be canonized.
Being able to rely on his own reputation to have other countries take the initiative to request canonization is an extremely face-raising event for Lao Zhu, and Han Du has no reason to refuse.
Speaking of which, almost all the vassal states surrounding the Ming Dynasty did not actively recognize the Ming Dynasty and voluntarily became vassal states. But after Lao Zhu founded the country, he directly issued an order to the surrounding countries and asked them to come and pay tribute. Small countries bordering the Ming Dynasty, such as Goryeo and Siam, did not dare to disobey Lao Zhu's will, so they had to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.
But a powerful country like Timur's Empire is not as powerful as the Ming Dynasty. If they are happy, they will come to pay tribute, and they will secretly give trouble to the Ming Dynasty. If they are unhappy, they will even be exempted from paying tribute, and the Ming Dynasty cannot do anything to them.
What's even more outrageous is that the Japanese country not only refuses to pay tribute, but that's it. He even killed the envoy sent by Ming Dynasty. Lao Zhu was so angry that his lungs were about to explode. If it weren't for the remnants of the former Yuan Dynasty that had not been wiped out, he would have ordered the conquest of the Japanese country. Who would still be able to swallow this breath? In recent years, with the collapse of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty has gradually been able to devote its energy to dealing with the Japanese state. Coupled with the rise of the navy, Lao Zhu regarded the Japanese country as the next target of conquest. As for some civil servants who wanted Lao Zhu to issue a decree to list the Japanese country as a country not to be conquered, Lao Zhu pretended not to see such a memorial and did not even mention the Japanese country.
In the eyes of some civil servants, if the emperor did not make a clear statement, he would acquiesce to their opinions. But only those who are familiar with Lao Zhu will know that the more silent he is at this time, the more unwilling he is to give up. When the time is right, Lao Zhu's anger is enough to burn the entire Japanese country to ashes.
...
Seeing King Guli's kindness, Han Du disclosed his identity to him after receiving Zhu Biao's instructions. And as the Marquis of Zhenhai, he directly signed a letter of credence with him and canonized him as King of Guli on behalf of the emperor. And a stone tablet three feet wide and one foot high was erected in Guli to record and inscribe this incident on the stone tablet.
The reason why Zhu Biao did not stand up directly was because his identity was too special. Even if Guli State was very weak, it was almost impossible to pose a threat to Han Du and others. Just in case, Zhu Biao’s identity cannot be revealed.
Finally, Handu also visited the local Buddhist temple and donated gold, silver, silk, sesame oil, etc. to the Buddhist temple.
When Han Du said goodbye and left, King Guli also sent a team of envoys carrying a large number of treasures to follow the fleet to pay tribute to the capital.
The fleet headed east along the coast and soon returned to Ceylon again. The Government House of Ceylon was very peaceful. After the King of Ceylon was defeated, although there was a brief period of chaos, it quickly calmed down under the suppression of the Ming Navy. Now that normal order has been restored in Ceylon, the Governor-General is preparing to start organizing people to start mining gemstones.
Since nothing happened in Ceylon, Handu and his fleet continued sailing back to Beijing without stopping. But this time Han Du did not choose to cross the sea directly, but slowly went north along the coastline.
The last storm almost scared Han Du out of his soul, and Han Du still hasn't recovered yet. If Zhu Biao had revealed the incident, how should he explain it to Lao Zhu?
Therefore, Han Du ignored Zhu Biao's objection and insisted on returning slowly along the coastline. And he said euphemistically, "Your Highness, we are here to open a waterway. If we don't explore the waterway along the coast and set up a governor's palace to provide convenience at sea, how can we open a waterway?"
As the fleet sailed along, whenever it encountered a suitable place to establish a seaport, Handu set up a governor's palace and left people to guard it. Just like this, the fleet came to a huge bay.
After communicating with the locals, I learned that this is Bangge La Sa Di. After Han Du's investigation, it was found that although there were people living here, they were only scattered tribes, not even a decent country. Han Du did not hesitate to set up a governor's palace here and ordered them to build a seaport.
Just when Han Du was about to set sail again, Fu Yong hurriedly ran to find Han Du.
"Why are you in such a hurry? Did you lose your gold?" Han Du said with a smile.
Originally it was just a joke from Han Du, but after hearing this, Fu Yong looked bitter and sighed: "If Lord Marquis leaves like this, it will really be the same as losing gold."
"Is there any treasure here?" Han Du reacted instantly.
Fu Yong nodded and said directly: "The people have been wandering around outside for the past two days. Guess what the people found?"
"What was discovered? Could it be that a gold mine was discovered?" Han Du looked at Fu Yong with some disbelief.
If there really is a gold mine here, why wait until Fu Yonglai discovers it? Human beings have a special talent for gold. If there were a gold mine here, the locals would definitely discover it before Fu Yong did. I'm afraid it has been mined and refined a long time ago, so why wait for Fu Yong to discover it?
Fu Yong smiled and said: "Although it is not a gold mine, it is no different from a gold mine. It may even be more valuable than a gold mine."
Fu Yong approached Han Du, fearing that his words would be overheard, and whispered in his ear: "The grassroots discovered the red sandalwood not far away."
Rosewood... Han Du's heart tightened upon hearing this, and he quickly asked: "Is it made of rosewood, or is it?"
If it's rosewood, there's not much of a surprise. Although red sandalwood is expensive, it does not mean that it is completely impossible to find. When Han Du was on Nanyang Island, he found a lot of them. A little bit of rosewood, although precious enough, is certainly not worth as much as a gold mine. If it's just for a little wood, it's not worth Fu Yong running to Han Du with such a big fanfare and making a mysterious report.
"It's not a piece of wood, but a forest of red sandalwood." Sure enough, as Fu Yong finished speaking, a cold wind was violently sucked into his lungs by Han Du.
"A red sandalwood forest? How big is it?" Han Du asked hurriedly, subconsciously reaching out to Fu Yong with his palms and pinching his chest.
Fu Yong opened his mouth, but found it difficult to breathe. How could he still speak?
Han Du reacted immediately, quickly let go, and asked again: "Where is the red sandalwood forest you mentioned?"
"Master Marquis, please come with the grassroots." Fu Yong took a few breaths, recovered a little, and spoke directly to Han Du.
Han Du nodded without hesitation and immediately asked Wang Heng to take others with him.
Before leaving the station, he met Zhu Biao who had just walked out of the door.
When Zhu Biao saw that Han Du was about to move out, he asked in surprise: "What happened? Where are you going?"
Han Du thought for a moment and simply motioned to Zhu Biao to come with him and explained to him as he walked.
The place where Fu Yong discovered the red sandalwood was not far from here, and the group quickly arrived at their destination.
7017k
