"Master, let me introduce you. This is Tang Ping, the Duke of Ping from the Tang Dynasty in the East."
In a royal courtyard where Sri Lanka died, Balabu introduced Tang Ping to the king of Sri Lanka.
As a multi-island country, Sri Lanka had villas for the royal family and nobles on many islands throughout Southeast Asia.
In Tang Ping's opinion, it is similar to those luxury hotels in the Maldives. An island is a hotel, but here, an island is a villa.
I originally thought that Balabu would have to travel a long way to take me to meet the king, but I didn’t expect that starting from Balabu’s island of Malaysia, it took only three days to sail to the royal villa, and the king of Srivijaya was there. here.
They call this island Ice Spring Island, and the name comes from the fact that there is a spring in the center of the island with very cool water. Lord Srivijaya often came here to escape the scorching heat.
"I've met the king!" Tang Ping followed the etiquette of the Buddhist kingdom of Sri Lanka and clasped his hands in salute.
The king was not very old, Tang Ping estimated that he might be in his early thirties.
"You don't need to be polite, Duke Ping. I heard from my uncle that you have wisdom and are a person with great supernatural powers. Is this possible?"
Tang Ping didn't know how this Balabu boasted about himself to the late Lord Srivijaya, but of course he would not directly say that he didn't have such a thing, so he just kept it secret and said with a smile: "Master Balabu is joking. , What kind of wisdom do I have? It’s just that I’m a little different from other people.”
There are not even two identical leaves in this world, how could there be the same person, so Tang Ping felt that what he said was completely true.
But to the ears of the king who died after Sri Lanka, it was naturally different. Balabu came back and praised Tang Ping all the time.
It is said that Tang Ping has controlled the power of thunder and lightning, and can use invisible lightning to break the flagpole, and can also use lightning to heat the pot without using flames.
It can also revive a dead person whose heart has stopped.
Anyway, Balabala just praised him, and after that he said that Tang Ping was humble and polite, and he was most generous to his friends. Along the way, he not only taught him how to make "Dongyang Kongtang", but most importantly, he also gave him the skills to make it. The secret of ice.
You must know that the most unbearable thing for these nobles in these countries in Southeast Asia is the scorching heat that is above 30 degrees almost every day.
In this era, there was no air conditioning, and the best they could do was to let servants fan themselves to cool down. Only Lord Srivijaya could find this extremely rare ice spring to escape the heat.
So now that Balabu has a way to make ice, just making ice in Nanyang and selling it to other big nobles around him every year can increase his income a lot.
Being short-tongued and soft-handed, Balabu naturally wanted to put in a good word for Tang Ping after receiving such great benefits from Tang Ping.
Moreover, he felt that, as Tang Ping said, the existence of the Wei Kingdom may not be a good thing for Sri Lanka's death in Nanyang. After Zhen Xiong established a foothold in the future, he would definitely conflict with Sri Buddha's death.
Rather than that, it is better to join forces with the Tang Dynasty to deal with the Wei Kingdom to eliminate future troubles!
He had also communicated this with the King of Sri Lanka in advance, so after chatting for a few words, the King of Sri Lanka said: "I already know the purpose of Duke Ping's coming, but our country is now in the same relationship with the Wei Dynasty. Alliance, if we suddenly switch sides and join forces with the Tang Dynasty to deal with the Wei Kingdom, and if word spreads in the future, wouldn’t we be accused of betrayal?”
This is right or wrong, it is an alliance, but if the Tang Dynasty can really destroy the Wei Dynasty in one fell swoop, is there anyone in Nanyang who dares to come out to seek justice for the Wei Dynasty?
Friendship between countries is secondary, the most important thing is interests. ..
And now that the king of Sri Lanka passed away said this, he actually wanted to negotiate a good deal with Tang Ping.
Tang Ping smiled slightly and said, "I heard that Zhen Xiong also signed a trade agreement with the king, and it was mentioned in it that he would trade a lot of glass mirrors, perfumes and other items with Sri Lanka. Is this true?"
"But this happened!" The king of Sri Lanka frowned and glanced at Balabu, blaming him for telling Tang Ping such a thing.
Balabulie
He smiled and said, "Master, I originally didn't plan to tell Duke Ping about this matter, but then I realized that Zhen Xiong couldn't do this at all!"
"Why?" The late Lord Srivijaya was a little puzzled.
"Why don't the king first take a look at the gift that Duke Ping has prepared for the king!"
Balabu winked at Tang Ping, Tang Ping nodded, then pressed the earphone and said: "Send over the gift for the king."
Soon several Tang Ping's men came in carrying some things.
The first few people seemed to have lifted something about two meters high and stood it on the ground, but it was covered with a piece of red silk, so it was impossible to see what was inside.
"Your Majesty, please!" Tang Ping raised his hand, and the Sri Lankan lord unveiled the red silk with curiosity.
"Hiss..." Even though he was mentally prepared and didn't think Tang Ping would be too surprised if he gave him anything, he still took a breath of air.
Because under the red silk is a two-meter-high glass Buddha statue.
"This this……"
This wasn't over yet. Behind him, Balabu pulled down another piece of red silk, and underneath was a glass mirror as tall as a person.
Then there is a box of perfumes with various scents.
Srivijaya Srivijaya had dominated Southeast Asia for many years. It was rich in various precious woods, spices and other specialties. In addition, the climate was suitable for many tropical crops and the vast sea provided food, so Srivijaya was also quite wealthy.
Their transactions with Dawei mainly involved the purchase of various luxury goods.
But the largest glass mirror that Wei sold to them was only the size of a washbasin, so they could only be bought at extremely high prices in Sri Lanka.
And what was in front of him now, not to mention the glass Buddha statue, he felt that this mirror could be regarded as a national treasure.
"Master, in fact, the glass mirrors and these perfumes that Zhen Xiong bought for us were all bought from Tang Dynasty when he was in East Vietnam, and then resold to us."
"Now that Duke Ping is here, we can just do these business directly with Datang in the future. Duke Ping has already said the price, and it will definitely be cheaper than the original one."
This was when Balabu came and boarded Tang Ping's boat. Then he saw the tall full-length mirror on Tang Ping's boat and was shocked. At that time, he accidentally told the story about the deal between them and Dawei. , and then Tang Ping keenly seized this opportunity.
Tang Ping sent an order back, asking the warships stationed in Ryukyu to disperse, block the Treasure Island Strait and the east channel, and temporarily prohibit East Vietnamese merchants from doing business with Zhen Xiong.
Those merchants did not dare to offend Tang Ping. After all, many things were imported from Datang, and Tang Ping was willing to buy the goods on their ship at a high price. They could unload the goods directly in Ryukyu and rush back to East Vietnam, waiting for a while If you go to Nanyang to sell it again, you won't lose anything.
As a result, the trade between Zhen Xiong and East Vietnam was basically temporarily cut off, and he naturally had no way to deliver goods to Srivijaya.
"Besides, there are many good things from the Tang Dynasty, many of which Zhen Xiong cannot buy. Duke Ping is also willing to cooperate with us."
However, at this time, the deceased king of Sri Lanka did not listen to the words of Balabu at all. Instead, he looked at the Buddha statue with his hands folded and said, "The Buddha's heart is clear, the Buddha's heart is clear! Today I finally understand!"
Tang Ping didn't know what he understood. It was just that when he came here, he knew that Srivijaya was a Buddhist country in Nanyang. He thought that if he had to deal with him, he would naturally give gifts according to his preference, so he did it. Such a Buddha statue.
At this time, the Lord of Sri Sri Buddha passed away took Tang Ping's hand and said: "Gong Ping Guo really has wisdom. Since it was my Buddha who guided Duke Ping to come to my room, Lord Ping Guo, naturally he has his reasons. Our room Livers is willing to form an alliance with the Tang Dynasty!"
Tang Ping didn't expect that this time it would be so smooth. He just gave a gift and the deal was settled?
When he came, he was prepared to spend a lot of time convincing the other party, but he didn't expect it to be so simple when things came to a close.
He asked someone to send his seal, and then took out a letter of credence that Li Shimin had given him when he came out. It stated that Tang Ping could fully represent the entire country outside.
Tang, the decision he made was the decision of Datang.
The king of Srivijaya here also asked someone to write a piece of covenant, and then the two of them stamped their own seals, and the covenant was completed.
Then the late Lord Srivijaya said to the Balabu:
"Uncle, I would like to trouble you to go and urge the great Wei State. Our country has even paid the advance payment. When do they plan to deliver the first batch of goods?"
Now that we know that the trade routes between the Wei Kingdom and East Vietnam are cut off, the trade contract signed by the Wei Dynasty and Sri Lanka at that time will naturally not be completed.
The alliance between the two countries was originally based on this trade. Now if the Wei Kingdom broke the agreement first, then it would have stood on a high moral ground and switched sides after Sri Lanka's death.
It can only be said that the person who became the king of Srivijaya was not that simple. In one sentence, Srivijaya was removed from being a treacherous person who broke the contract, and became a person who was not abide by the contract by the Wei Dynasty. .
"Hahaha, don't worry, Lord, I will send someone over soon."
"Tell me a little tougher. We, Sri Lanka, are willing to do business sincerely, but we are not that easy to fool."
The king of Srivijaya could not forget that when the Wei navy first came, Srivijaya suffered a heavy loss. At that time, he was indeed unable to match the other party in terms of naval strength, so he could only swallow his anger.
But now that Tang Ping is here, the situation has changed.
As long as he could defeat the Wei navy, then in Srivijaya's view, Wei's power on land was just a coward, a turtle in a jar, and there was no need to worry at all.
To take a step back, even if Tang Ping boasted and failed to defeat the Wei navy, Srivijaya would still act according to the opportunity.
If the Wei navy was severely damaged, then they would take advantage of his illness to kill him.
If Tang Ping was too dishonest and the Wei navy was not injured, they would not suffer a loss even if Sri Lanka died. Then they would just complete the deal with Wei and continue to maintain the alliance.
Then the leader of the kingdom after Sri Lanka's death invited Tang Ping to dine with him and asked him to stay for a few days. As soon as the reply from the Wei Dynasty arrived, Tang Ping could take action.
Now everything is ready, all we need is the east wind!
