The sea breeze blew, and the surging water waves lined up, like sergeants in a long snake array, advancing forward in unison.
The waves hit the hard bow of the ship and broke instantly.
The sun shines on the waves, sparkling and colorful.
Zhang He stood in the helm building, looking at the endless sea, and said to Huang Senping, who was examining the map, "What do you see?"
Huang Senping shook his head bitterly: "I heard that the Champa Kingdom sent envoys to the court to complain, saying that they were beaten badly by the Chen Dynasty. I hope the court can uphold justice for the Champa Kingdom. But only when I got to the Champa Kingdom did I know that Peng'e I’ve even been to Thang Long City.”
Zhang He turned around and smiled at Huang Senping: "This is how the Champa Kingdom now has a Zipeng'e. If you look through the history of the Champa Kingdom, they have been either destroyed or reduced for hundreds of years. As a vassal. Even before the control of Peng'e, the Champa Kingdom was bullied into disgrace by the Dai Viet Kingdom, which we call Annan. A woman who was married as a concubine would take her back as soon as she said she would take her back. Oh, if this were the case in our court , that is also a battle to destroy the country."
Huang Senping grinned, Lao Zhu had many wives, and some of them were snatched from the hands of his enemies, but his enemies were basically dead.
Annan really doesn't have fun like this, so he can be buried as a sacrifice. This woman took the territory of two states for Annan. It's not enough for her to die. He had to bully others, but in the end, the hatred finally reached Shenglong City.
Deserve it.
Meng Wanli came over and reported to Zhang He and Huang Senping: "The king of Champa, Zhipeng'e, has come in person with two thousand soldiers. Are you on guard?"
Zhang He waved his hand confidently: "He knows that we are the navy of the Ming Dynasty. Even if we lend him a few courages, we don't dare to attack the Ming Dynasty. Let him do it. There happens to be something that needs to be said to him."
Zhi Peng'e's skin is somewhat dark, and he is not tall. He has a medium build, and his muscles contain powerful strength. Every move he makes shows determination and majesty.
In order to show respect for the Ming Dynasty, Zhi Peng'e did not ride on an elephant this time, but brought thirty maids with him, all holding swords and shields.
Looking at the Ming Dynasty ships moored at the port, Zhi Peng'e's eyes were steady and there was no calculation.
Wang Budai was proficient in fortune-telling and led Zhi Peng'e to the dock. He introduced Zhang He, Huang Senping and others who came over, and then introduced Zhi Peng'e.
When Zhi Peng'e saw the other side saluting, he cupped his hands and said, "Welcome the generals of the Ming Dynasty to come and occupy the city."
Zhang He smiled and said: "King, we are not here for state affairs, but for trade. The merchants here are merchants from the Ming Dynasty. They are eager to get rich trade goods from the Champa Kingdom, and we also brought them with us. I hope to sell a large amount of silk, ceramics, tea and other utensils in Champa.”
Zhi Peng'e looked at the sergeants behind Zhang He and the troops guarding the ship. They didn't look like a simple merchant fleet, so he said: "It's been a long time since I saw the merchants of the Ming Dynasty. We have indeed accumulated a lot of goods. Trade. However, silk, ceramics, and tea are not what we want."
After listening to Wang Budai's translation, Zhang He asked, "I wonder what the king wants?"
"Iron!"
Zhi Peng'e said bluntly.
Zhang He frowned.
Salt iron tea is a specialty of the imperial court. If you dare to use it to make money without the imperial court's permission, you will lose your head.
Zhang He said bluntly: "There are no iron tools!"
Zhi Peng'e was a little disappointed. Just when he was about to speak, Huang Senping suddenly said: "Although we don't have ironware, we do have silk, ceramics and tea. These are in short supply in the Champa Kingdom. The royal family takes them and sells them. It can't be gathered together." Wouldn’t it be nice to have a lot of wealth and use it to train soldiers?”
Zhi Peng'e sighed.
The people of the Ming Dynasty only wanted to take away spices, jewelry, gold and other goods from the Champa Kingdom, and did not think about the situation of the Champa Kingdom.
Being bullied by the Chen Dynasty for many years, the Champa Kingdom has been fighting for decades, fighting back and forth. Either you kill me or I kill you. There are still many people who want silk, ceramics and tea. What they need is stability. Life is the recuperation after complete victory.
If these things are sent to Champa State, the national power of Champa State will not increase. But due to Daming's face, he couldn't completely refuse.
Zhi Peng'e opened his mouth: "The Champa country has limited wealth, and I'm afraid it won't be able to fully accept these goods..."
"I have a way to get you iron tools, take out the products and wealth of the Champa Kingdom, and take over all the cargo of the fleet."
A voice came from behind Zhang He.
Zhi Peng'e frowned and looked at Wang Budai. Wang Budai translated, and Zhi Peng'e's eyes suddenly lit up.
Zhang He heard the voice was very unfamiliar. He turned around and saw that it was Gu Zhengchen's former master Li Chengyi. He couldn't help but said: "You have to think clearly, he is the king of Champa and no joking is allowed. If there is any deception, it will be very serious. It might spoil something big."...?
Li Chengyi glanced at Zhang He calmly, walked towards Zhi Peng'e, and said to Wang Budai: "Tell him that I am willing to stay here until he can get the iron tool he wants. If you can't, kill me."
Wang Budai was shocked and did not dare to translate.
Zhang He and Huang Senping looked at each other, not knowing anything about Li Chengyi, who was silent along the way, and they didn't know what he wanted to do.
Huang Senping reminded solemnly: "You should know very well that Gu County Man spent so much effort on this matter that he almost blocked his official career. If this happens, the Ming Dynasty will probably open up the sea, and Quanzhou Prefecture and other coastal areas will prosper. If this happens, If you lose because of you, then you are an unforgivable sinner for countless people along the coast!"
Li Chengyi nodded: "I am also from Quanzhou Prefecture, and I hope that Quanzhou Prefecture will prosper. You have to believe me, unless you are willing to take the remaining goods to the sea further south."
Huang Senping looked at Zhang He. Zhang He thought for a while and nodded: "It's not that I believe you, but I believe Gu County Nan. Wang Butai, tell the King of Champa what he said."
Wang Budai nodded and informed the matter.
Zhi Peng'e looked at Li Chengyi eagerly and asked, "What can I do?"
Li Chengyi pointed to the ship: "Buy all the silk, ceramics, tea and other goods, and then use these goods to barter from Zhenwa, Annan, Majapayi and other countries to obtain ironware! Although Champa and Zhenwa There were wars in Annan from time to time, but I don’t believe that the corrupt Chen Dynasty and the declining Zhenwa could not use silk as smooth as a woman’s skin and exquisite ceramics to open the door to the export of ironware.”
Zhi Peng'e took a deep breath.
The meaning of the person in front of me is very clear, to buy and bribe the enemy with gifts, and then get the iron tool from the enemy. Although this is very risky, it is not impossible.
The reason lies in two words:
greedy.
Why today's Annan Chen Dynasty was defeated by him and couldn't even defend Thang Long City. In the final analysis, in addition to the strong soldiers of the Champa State, another reason is the corruption, greed, enjoyment and incompetence within the Annan Chen Dynasty.
Greed is not one person, but a group of people, the greed of many people reveling together.
There is really no need to worry about selling the goods of the Ming Dynasty. There are people rushing to get these treasures everywhere. If there is no gold and silver to exchange for ironware, there must be someone who is desperate and willing to make this deal.
Because the other party holding these things can be exchanged for other wealth.
Zhi Peng'e was a polite corporal and knew the importance of talents. Seeing that Li Chengyi was so courageous and confident, and he was so cold and calm, after asking about his identity, he solemnly saluted: "Since Li's staff said so, then the Champa country is willing to use the power of the poor country to Buy all the goods brought by Ming Dynasty."
Poor country, just to put it modestly.
In fact, the Champa state was really extremely rich. However, these oils were not produced by the Champa country itself, but were moved from the Annan Palace, and now they have all entered the Ming Dynasty's cabin...
Various pearls, agates, gold, precious agarwood, sappan wood, including countless spices.
Wang Futu watched the piles of goods being delivered, and was even more excited when he saw the spices piled up like a hill. Chen Dahe picked up the nutmeg and drooled at the sight.
Although Champa and Annan are not the main producing areas of spices compared to Majapahit, Java and other places, trade in Champa is not frequent, so what is available is stored, and some are brought over during robberies, and spices are added. The shelf life is very long, no problem for two or three years, so we have accumulated a lot of goods.
Zhang He and Huang Senping looked at the busy businessmen and sighed secretly.
This is not a simple trade, nor is it an ordinary businessman-businessman activity, but a tradership between businessmen and the royal family of Champa.
But it doesn't matter, as long as you take away enough goods.
Li Chengyi left a letter for Gu Zhengchen, handed it to Zhang He, and then left with the tent maker.
Zhang He didn't know how far Li Chengyi would help Peng E. He always felt that he was frustrated and wanted to kill some people to vent his anger. So, he set his sights on Chen Chao...
No matter, Zhi Peng'e is a promising king with many powerful people around him. It doesn't matter if he has a cold Li Chengyi. Anyway, he doesn't like the Vietnamese Chen Dynasty. The emperor sent an envoy, but he was stopped on the road. Several years were not allowed to pass. The envoy saw that he could not complete his mission, and the court refused to allow him to withdraw. In order to complete the mission, he could only wait.
At this time, many people in the envoy team died of illness directly due to acclimatization, and only one or two people were recruited back by the imperial court. This debt should be placed on Annan. As a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, he did not allow the Ming Dynasty envoys to pass the message. As a result, he died of illness at your doorstep. If you are not responsible, who will be responsible?
Zhang He wished that Peng'e could not go to Shenglong City again to deal with those disobedient people.
Just when the dock was busy, a black monkey-like guy holding a black cloth on his head and a steel knife in his hand stood high in the tree, staring at the dock in the distance, and said to the people under the tree: " It’s confirmed, twelve ships, loaded with a lot of treasures.”
Ruan San chuckled, spit out the grass in his mouth, and shouted: "We can't afford to offend Zhipeng'e, but it's okay to rob some ships. Tell the brothers, take down these big ships, and we can control this sea area, no matter who. No one is our opponent!"
