Somewhere on Liuqiu Island, about two hundred miles northeast of the Pinghu Islands, was probably the northern part of the Jianan Plain where Changhua would later be located.
More than 3,000 Song troops and more than 5,000 pioneering people who landed early settled here, built ports and docks, and reclaimed nearby land.
The reason why we did not choose the place closest to Pinghu Island is because there are a large number of native tribes there, which is the core area of the so-called Liuqiu Kingdom.
There are also native people nearby. When the Song Army's pioneering group first docked, they encountered a group of natives fishing on the beach.
The natives rode a simple raft and plunged into the sea with a javelin tied with a long rope. When they pulled the rope back, there might be a big fish stuck in the javelin.
When they saw dozens of small mountain-like ships coming from the sea, they felt as if they were seeing gods. They quickly knelt down on the raft, fearing that they would not stop praying.
Zeng Ba asked the soldiers to take these natives aboard his ship, intending to have a cordial exchange with them, but he finally found that chickens and ducks can speak the same language, and there is a language barrier.
After communicating with each other for a long time, Zeng Ba pointed at the shore and kept asking, "How many of you are there on the shore? How many people!?"
Before, Uncle Xie Fang sent people to investigate, but they basically took a boat to explore along the coast. At most, they moved in a small area on the shore without going too deep, so they only knew a little outline information.
More than a dozen natives were trembling with fear and didn't know why. It took a long time before an older one tentatively answered, "Luka Wu'an..."
Then other natives also shouted together, "Luka Wu'an... Jili Gulu..."
"What are you doing?" Zeng Ba scratched his head.
Lin Yingjia, who was wearing a civilian robe next to him, thought, "Zongzong, maybe they are referring to the place name here. It sounds similar to the pronunciation of 'Liuqiu'."
Lin Yingjia is a native of Jinjiang County, Quanzhou. He is thirty-one years old, a new scholar, and quite enterprising.
It is definitely not possible to develop Liuqiu by force alone. Civil servants are still needed. When Zhao Mengqi selected candidates among the candidates, no one was willing.
The civil servants of the Song Dynasty were very arrogant. If the court assigned him a position that he was not satisfied with, he would refuse to obey the order.
Therefore, on the one hand, there are a large number of people waiting to be replaced, and on the other hand, there is a serious shortage of officials in many remote areas. Even if the imperial court establishes a "finger shooting" system and opens certain local official positions to their selection, there are still very few people taking them.
In the eyes of most civil servants, the wilderness of Liuqiu is worse than exile, so no one is willing to come, even if there is a reward of higher official status and reduced grinding.
As a result, several new scholars from Fujian took the initiative to apply, and Lin Yingjia was one of them, so Zhao Mengqi got him a Tongzhilang, an eighth-grade official, who had the right to know the affairs of Qiuzhou.
A new Jinshi's initial official position is much higher than that of the Number One Scholar. It is so outrageous, but no one envies it at all, and many people even laugh secretly.
Zeng Ba was stunned for a moment after hearing what Lin Yingjia said, "Place name? It's too hard to pronounce. I might as well call it Lu Hong Kong..."
Lin Yingjia couldn't help but laugh, "The ruler is the pioneer in opening up territory, and naming a place has its own meaning. However, this will be recorded in history. How about being more elegant and calling it Lukang? Elk and deer are blessed with harmony. I wish you good luck, and wish us good service to the country."
"Haha, good, good, good luck. Lin Zhizhou is the truly learned man. Let's call him Lugang."
Zeng Badale then pointed at the old man and asked, "What's your name?"
The old man still didn't understand, so he thought for a moment, "Babuza, Babuza..."
"Your name is Ba Bu Zha?" Zeng Ba pointed his finger at the old man's chest to confirm again.
The old man was confused, then he pointed at himself and then circled all the natives behind him, "Babuza."
Lin Yingjia spoke again, "He probably means that their tribe is called Babuza."
Zeng Ba didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and pointed at the old man again, "I'm asking about you, you! You! You!"
The old man shrank his neck, nodded his nose, and said hesitantly, "Jiligulu...? Wow new, wow new!"
"What the hell, you just dug out your heart, and I also dug out your lungs." Zeng Ba couldn't help but roll his eyes.
Lin Yingjia was also amused, "Zhi Zong, I think I'll call him lucky."
"It's Lin Zhizhou who is clever and got the name well!" Zeng Ba laughed and looked at the old man, "Then I will call you lucky. Do you understand? It's lucky, not some trick. This is the Song Dynasty The name given to you by Wenquxing."
As he spoke, Zeng Ba reached out and patted the old man's bare shoulder, and said with a smile, "From now on, this island will be the territory of the Song Dynasty. If you people who are aliens know how to obey, you will naturally become naturalized in the future." The people of the Song Dynasty are bathed in the emperor's grace and can live a life of real people. You are indeed lucky. As the first person to welcome the king's master, as long as you behave well in the future, I will ask your highness to give you an official status. Guangzong Yaozu!"
The old man, no, luckily he didn't understand. He just guessed from Zeng Ba's expression that it was probably not a bad thing, so he responded with a silly smile, pointed at the rafts floating under the boat, and gestured for a while, not knowing what he meant. I dedicated the catch above to Zeng Ba, still wanting to exchange goods.
Regardless of whether it was as a gift or in exchange, Zeng Ba would not care about a few broken fish. He immediately took out a dozen candy cubes from the leather bag on his waist, threw one into his mouth in front of Lucky, and then gave the others to The native said, "Eat, this is sugar, sugar! It's delicious..."
"Gan'an? Candy?" Wan Xing looked at the crystal clear candy in his palm with an expression that was both curious and pious, as if he was holding a divine object.
Then at Zeng Ba's urging, Wang Xing put the candy into his mouth with a pilgrim mentality. Within a moment, his eyes lit up with excitement, "Sugar! Chirping...sugar!"
The other natives who tasted the extreme sweetness all screamed with excitement, and then, led by Wan Xing, they knelt down to Zeng Ba.
Zeng Ba did not accept this courtesy which was too important for Song people. He stepped aside, then grabbed Wan Xing's arm and pulled him up, "We can't bear it. Don't waste your life in vain. If If you have the opportunity to meet His Highness, it’s not too late for you to kneel down, and it’s just a piece of candy. We have so many good things in the Song Dynasty, so what does this mean? In the future, this island will be used to grow sugar cane. You guys eat sweets until you vomit..."
After all these natives stood up with humility on their faces, Zeng Ba couldn't help but smile and said, "Zhizhou, I think these natives are not difficult to deal with. Maybe our business trip will be much smoother."
Lin Yingjia shook his head, "The government should not be overly optimistic. Your Highness and Prime Minister Xie have both explained that there are many tribes of natives on this island, and their temperaments are very different. Most of them are Austronesian speaking groups, and they are also separated in order on this island. The customs are self-contained, but most of them follow the barbaric spirit, such as hunting heads and disregarding human relations. His Highness said that we are an advanced and civilized country and should be responsible for educating the world. Those with good nature can be taught, and those with evil nature can be taught. Those who do so must also be punished with thunderous means."
Zeng Ba felt that although Lin Yingjia was a bit literate, he was not pedantic and never put on the airs of a civil servant. They were quite happy to get along with each other.
Therefore, he looked like he had been taught something, "Ha, Lin Zhizhou was right to remind you, as the saying goes, be polite before fighting."
Lin Yingjia said again, "Controller, let's go ashore first, and then call in those Southern Tibetans to try to communicate with these natives."
"Yes, yes." Zeng Bayi slapped his forehead and turned to look at the fleet behind him, "I almost forgot that we also brought an 'interpreter' with us. They look somewhat similar. I don't know if they can really do it." Tong, forget it for now and prepare to log in."
Immediately, he issued a series of orders, which were spread throughout the fleet through flags, golden drums.
Soon after, three ships approached the shore, and then used small boats to transport a commanding soldier to the shore to establish beach defense.
In addition, many small boats were also launched in the fleet, and the sailors began to use ropes to detect the depth of the nearby water to find a suitable channel.
Perhaps due to luck, the hydrological conditions on this coast are quite good. The water depth less than five feet offshore is enough for ships to berth. As long as it is further constructed, it will be enough to become a good port.
However, for now, we can only use small boats to connect to form a trestle to land people. After enough people have boarded, we will cut down trees to find materials and build a few more trestles.
There are nearly 9,000 people, plus countless supplies. Under such circumstances, it will take at least two or three days to complete the unloading.
Zeng Ba, Lin Yingjia and others went ashore first and briefly observed the environment.
The island has lush vegetation, and even in the plains there are large tracts of woods. Many of the trees are very tall and strong. Zeng Ba couldn't help but frown, "The land is quite flat, but it will take a lot of effort to cultivate it into farmland."
"Commander, please don't despise these trees. They are all treasures. Look at the camphor trees that are more than ten feet tall. There are not many around Quanzhou. They are perfect for shipbuilding, construction, and making furniture. They can also be refined. Camphor oil, the shorter one should be paper mulberry, which can be used to make good medicine. The leaves can also be fed to livestock and are excellent for making paper. There are also soapberries that can be used to make soap. Well, there are also nanmu trees there, according to His Highness. There are also red junipers in the mountains that can grow up to twenty feet high, which are excellent ship materials... His Highness has already foresighted that the Minzhong who came this time are mostly good at logging. We will cultivate and accumulate the wood at the same time. In the second batch, a large number of craftsmen will come to build workshops and turn these trees into wealth... This island is worthy of being called a treasure island by His Highness!"
Lin Yingjia was talking eloquently, and his expression was full of excitement for a big fight.
Zeng Ba laughed and said, "Haha, I originally thought that Xiang Xiang sent us more than 3,000 soldiers and horses to chop down people, but I didn't expect that we were supposed to chop down trees instead."
The two chatted for a while, and the three interpreters were also sent ashore.
These three interpreters are actually businessmen from Java, Balni and Champa respectively. Their languages are different, but they have a lot in common.
So I asked three interpreters to communicate with a dozen natives. After a while of making and guessing, they were finally able to communicate.
On this day, the Song army only built trestles and camps on the seaside and did not go deep inland.
Originally, the natives wanted to return to the tribe, but fortunately seeing the Song people's power and providing them with extremely delicious food, they stayed behind to be questioned. However, in the evening, a few people from their tribe came looking for them. , was also detained by the patrolling Song Army.
After one night, Zeng Ba and Lin Yingjia finally had a preliminary understanding of the situation within a few dozen miles.
Some people died, but not completely...
