Then the king of Nazhampa got up and left his seat and went to the harem.

Huang Zhan had no choice but to bring these gifts back to the pavilion.

He said to Zhang Shixing with a sad face: "Senior brother, I boasted about Haikou in front of everyone, saying that I wanted to borrow troops from the Zhancheng State, and now I have eaten a closed door, what do you think?" ”

Zhang Shixing said: "Senior brother, don't worry, I don't think this king of Zhancheng doesn't understand the truth of cold lips and teeth, he is just waiting to see the situation." I thought that we should send Ruan Cheng to inquire about the news, find an opportunity, and then have an in-depth exchange with the king of Nazhampa, analyze the situation, and he will definitely borrow troops to fight me. ”

Huang Zhan nodded and said, "Senior brother, it makes sense. ”

So Huang Zhan handed over Ruan Cheng and called him in, gave him a few pairs of agarwood bracelets, and asked him to go to the palace to inquire about the news and see when he could enter the palace again to meet the king of Zhanba.

Not long after, Nguyen Thanh Xing rushed in and said that the king of Nazhampa would go to the port of Xinzhou to meet the Ming envoy in three days, and he bribed the chamberlain, saying that on the way back, they would arrange for them to meet the king.

Huang Zhan was overjoyed, patted Ruan Cheng's shoulder and said, "If this time is a great success, with your credit, I will definitely let King Rinan reward you heavily." ”

Ruan Cheng smiled a little embarrassedly, and his goatee curled up one after another.

After Zhang Shixing heard this, he frowned and said: "Ming envoy, who is the surname and name, why are you here?" ”

Ruan Cheng scratched his scalp and said, "The chamberlain didn't make it clear, he just said that Daming came to a mission, and the leader seemed to be called Zheng He, who came to Zhancheng to announce the decree." ”

Zhang Shixing nodded, asked Ruan Cheng to step back, and asked Huang Zhan, "Senior brother, have you ever heard of Zheng He in Jingshi?" ”

Huang Zhan shook his head and said: "I haven't heard of it, most of the pedestrians who come to foreign countries to preach the edict are in charge of the pedestrians of the pedestrian department, and the jinshi is in charge. But in the change of Renwu, the Yan thief killed the Wenchen, and the civil officials of the Beijing Division fled, this Zheng He is estimated to be the new Jinshi in recent years. ”

Zhang Shixing said: "Senior brother, I think we should go to Xinzhou Port to explore the situation and then visit Zhanba." ”

Huang Zhan said: "Okay." I also think it's strange, why is this Zhanba so cold to us, it turns out that the Ming envoy has arrived, he doesn't want people to know, he wants to drive us away as soon as possible, we don't leave, see what he can do to us? ”

Three days later, Huang Zhan and Zhang Shixing first went to the port of Xinzhou, and Ruan Cheng waited at the halfway station, and then gathered together to meet the king of Champa.

At noon, the two rode to the wharf of Xinzhou Port, only to see that the soldiers of the Champa State in purple clothes had blocked the port on all sides, and no idlers were allowed to approach, so Huang Zhan and Zhang Shixing had to stand outside the circle with a group of Cham people and look towards the wharf.

I saw hundreds of ships of all sizes docked on the wharf, with sails and flags fluttering. The big one is about dozens of zhang long, four or five stories high, nine masts and twelve sails, two layers of artillery are arranged on the side of the ship, all aimed at the port, it is intimidating to look at, and the rest are divided into grain ships, water boats, horse boats, and boats, which fill the port of Xinzhou. One of the largest treasure ships hung the banner of "Ming Xuanfu Overseas Countries Qincha Zheng".

Huang Zhan whispered to Zhang Shixing: "This Zheng He is so big, I'm afraid that the Ming army is not here with tens of thousands of people." ”

Zhang Shixing silently calculated and said: "It is estimated that there are twenty or thirty thousand people, if they have evil intentions and destroy this Zhancheng country, it will be easy as a breeze." What is the origin of this Zheng He, who can command so many people, and the Dusi of the second grade is nothing more than that. ”

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the drums on the wharf were noisy, and the king of Champa led hundreds of civil and military officials to the wharf, put incense on the table, and prepared to welcome the envoys.

At this time, a group of people walked down from the largest treasure ship and came to the shore, and the leader of the group, wearing a four-grade official uniform, with a white face and no beard, saw him walk to the incense case and proclaim in a loud voice: "I am Zheng He, the official and eunuch under the throne of the Emperor of the Ming Kingdom, and I have come to announce the decree on the order of Your Majesty, and ask the king of Zhancheng to accept the decree." ”

The king of Champa hurriedly led hundreds of civil and military officials and the surrounding soldiers and civilians of the Champa State to kneel down and receive the order.

That Zheng He unfolded the holy decree and read it aloud: "The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty sent an edict to the kings and leaders of the Quartet: 'I am under the mandate of heaven, and the monarch is the world. One God's Heart, Schar Grace. Wherever it is covered, where the sun and the moon shine, and where the frost and dew are wet, its people, young and old, want to make it carry out their livelihood and not lose their place. Today, Zheng He will be sent to hold an edict to declare my intentions, and you should follow the way of heaven, abide by my words, follow reason, do not disobey, do not bully widows, do not bully the weak, and share the blessings of peace. If there is a loss of sincerity, it will be rewarded. Therefore, I hereby make it known. July 10 of the third year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty. ’”

After he finished reading, the general next to him said it again in Champa dialect.

Zhang Shixing watched carefully for a long time before he recognized that the Zheng He in front of him turned out to be Ma Sanbao, the internal official of the Yanwang Mansion.

He whispered to Huang Zhan: "Who do I think he is, it turned out to be Ma Sanbao, the old man of the Yan Palace, this person studied under the monk Daoyan, his kung fu is good, and he has saved the life of the Yan thief many times, so he can take on this important responsibility." ”

Huang Zhan thought about it, felt that something was wrong, shook his head and said: "Yan Thief has repeatedly sent people to Annan to announce the canonization, all of them are sent officials of the Ministry of Rites or pedestrians to the pedestrians, and he has never sent eunuchs, what does he mean by sending Zheng He this time?" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Shixing and the two of them exclaimed almost at the same time: "For the master." ”

When the people of the city next to him saw him like this, they expressed their dissatisfaction with their words.

Huang Zhan whispered to Zhang Shixing: "We must be cautious and not reveal our identities. ”

Zhang Shixing nodded in agreement.

After listening to the decree of the general affairs, the king of Champa kowtowed to thanksgiving, and then got up, and then the king of Champa ordered people to offer gifts, which turned out to be two white elephants, together with the four large baskets of gifts it carried, which were filled with ebony, garan incense, Guanyin bamboo, true incense, rhinoceros, ivory and other things, which were dazzling and valuable.

Zheng He also ordered people to give back gifts to the Ming Dynasty, all of which were porcelain, tea, and silk, which were piled up.

Zheng He held Zhanba's hand and said some comforting words, informing Zhanba that the Ming Dynasty had changed emperors at this moment, Emperor Hongwu had collapsed, and now Emperor Yongle was in power, hoping that the king of Zhancheng would send an envoy to congratulate him.

The king of Champa said that he would definitely send an envoy there, and he asked about the war in Annam.

Zheng He said that it was because of the civil strife in Annan, the Ming army sent troops to quell the chaos, and because the Chen family was no heir, Annan was returned to the Ming Dynasty. He reassured the king of Champa that the Ming Dynasty and Champa would always be vassals.

The king of Champa asked Zheng He how many days he would stay here, and Zheng He said that he would stay here for more than ten days, replenish some fresh water and grain, and then set off for the Nanyang countries to proclaim the decree.

The two gossiped for a while, and the king of Champa said goodbye to Zheng He, rode back to Xinzhou on an elephant, and Zheng He also returned to the treasure ship.

When Huang Zhan and Zhang Shixing saw that the king of Zhancheng had returned to Beijing, they immediately mounted their horses and rushed to the halfway post to join Ruan Cheng.

After waiting for more than half an hour, it was getting late, and the king of Champa finally came to the post station, where he rested for a while, and then rushed back to the capital.

At such a moment, the chamberlain arranged for Huang Zhan and others to go in to meet the king of Champang.

When the king of Champa saw Huang Zhan and the others, he asked, "I heard that you are going back to Annam, so you are here to resign?" (Nguyen Cheng's translation is omitted here.) ）

Huang Zhan was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then understood that it must be that Ruan Cheng had seen the king of Champang, so he lied and said that he wanted to resign, he glared at Ruan Cheng, thought for a while, and said: "Yes, our king of Rinan disdains to be in the company of the king of Champang, so we are here to resign." ”

When the king of Champa heard this, he was also stunned, and said eagerly: "Where does this start?" ”

Huang Zhan said: "I heard that the Ming Dynasty sent tens of thousands of troops to Xinzhou Port, so the king of Champa was afraid and did not dare to unite with us. ”

When the king of Champa heard this, he laughed and said, "Don't use the method of agitation to provoke me, I will not be fooled." ”

Huang Zhan pretended to be angry and said: "Then I will take my leave, and see if you will lose the country in the next few days." "Then he turned around and left.

When the king of Champa heard this, he hurriedly ordered someone to stop him and said, "Honorable envoy, you have something to say." Let's talk about it, what are these Ming troops coming to our occupation of the city country for? ”

Huang Zhan said: "There is an old saying: 'You can't have the heart to harm others, and you can't have the heart to prevent people.'" Tens of thousands of Ming troops were stationed in Xinzhou Harbor, and they could reach the city of Xinzhou in one day, but the king of Zhancheng did not take any precautions, worse than a three-year-old child. ”

The king of Champa blushed and said, "What your envoy said is very right, this king is preparing to mobilize troops and horses to defend the Beijing division. ”

Huang Zhan said: "The Ming army annexed Annam, in Hue and Champa as the boundary, at present they are busy with the conquest of my Rinan king, there is no time to look south, once they pacify our Rinan king, from the land to the south, it is only ten days away, you can reach Xinzhou." If the Ming army stationed in Xinzhou Port at this moment went up the river from the waterway and attacked Xinzhou with the Ming army going south, how many days did the king think Xinzhou City could hold on? ”

The king of Zhancheng was silent when he heard this, thought for a long time, and said: "That eunuch Zheng He said that I Zhancheng and Daming Yong are vassals and will not come to attack us. ”

Huang Zhan said with a smile: "At the beginning, the Ming Dynasty also said that if the Li clan was destroyed, the Chen clan would be established as the king, and in the end, it was not to turn Annan into a county. But the king of my family is obviously the grandson of Chen Yizong, but he was chased and killed by the Ming army everywhere, and he was forced to flee to Haiyun Ridge, occupy the mountain as the king, and fight to the death. What faith does the Ming army have to speak of. This Yongle Emperor is especially not credible, he was originally a vassal king, but he rebelled and seized the throne of his nephew Emperor Jianwen, will this kind of pig and dog not as good as someone talk to you about integrity? ”

He asked, "How many men do you need?" ”

Huang Zhan couldn't help but be overjoyed in his heart after hearing this, but he was very calm on the surface, and said: "The more the merrier, how many soldiers can the king borrow?" ”

King Zhancheng said: "You are right, I want to transfer troops to defend the Beijing Division, so I can't lend you a lot, at most 5,000 soldiers and horses." ”

Huang Zhan said: "Five thousand is too little, it won't help." At least ten thousand. ”

King Zhancheng shook his head and said, "Up to five thousand, depending on the situation, if Zheng He withdraws, you can borrow another five thousand." ”

Huang Zhan said helplessly: "That's the only way, although there are 5,000 soldiers, 10,000 swords, guns, bows and arrows." ”

King Champa pointed at him with his finger and said with a smile: "The envoy is too powerful, I don't know where the monk is?" ”

Huang Zhan thought for a while and said: "The poor monk is an empty seal monk from Xingsheng Temple, and I heard that the Zhancheng country advocates Buddhism, so my family King Rinan sent me to envoy to your country. ”

King Champa nodded and said, "Okay, it's a word." Lone immediately dispatched troops and horses, but our soldiers and horses could not wear our clothes and armor, and could only be regarded as under the command of your king of Ninam, and when you recovered Thang Long, you would immediately cede the two states of Hue to us. ”

Huang Zhan said: "That's nature. ”

So the king of Cham transferred 5,000 soldiers and horses and 10,000 sets of weapons and equipment to return to Haiyunling with Huang Zhan, stationed under the southern slope, and Huang Zhan and Zhang Shixing and others returned to the cottage to resume their lives.

When King Rinan heard that Huang Zhan and others had returned, he was overjoyed and hurriedly summoned everyone to discuss the follow-up.

Huang Zhan gave a general account of the trip. Hearing that only 5,000 soldiers and horses had been borrowed, King Ninan couldn't help frowning and looked very dissatisfied.

Huang Zhan defended: "King Rinan, I also tried my best on this trip. The Ming Kingdom sent the eunuch Zheng He, that is, Ma Sanbao of the original Yan Wangfu, to lead tens of thousands of horses to the port of Xinzhou in the city of Zhancheng, eyeing the country of Zhancheng, and the king of Zhanba used most of his troops to defend the Beijing division, and there were no extra soldiers and horses to lend us. He promised to lend us another 5,000 men and horses after Zheng He left. ”

After hearing this, King Rinan waved his hand and said, "Master Empty Seal, that's all a trick to deceive children, and it can't be taken seriously." This king of Champa did not want to offend the Ming Dynasty, but he was also afraid that the Ming Dynasty would attack him."

Zhu Yunwen heard that the Ming State sent the eunuch Zheng He to lead tens of thousands of troops to Zhancheng, and his face couldn't help but change.