[The first update of the week, asking for votes]

On the first day of May in the Western calendar, the warm wind is light, and there are only a few days left before April in the Han calendar, but the weather in Borneo is already as hot as a day.

As the sun sets, the shadows of the buildings in the harbor grow longer, and the already low houses appear even lower against the shadow of the sun, looking like the claws of the sea reaching out to the land, and the low clouds that gradually drift over with the background, and the hot wind that has been blowing from the strait since noon is gradually cooling.

Playing with a small hourglass in his hand, the transparent glass was repeatedly flipped in the boy's hand, and it seemed that there was no end to it.

It was a flattering gift from a merchant who returned from Semyon, and was given to him by his father as a birthday congratulation. Kumar is already fifteen years old, and at the same age, there are many people who have become the lords of the country, and I heard that the emperor of the kingdom has already ascended to the throne at a time when he is five years younger than himself. Kumar sometimes thinks that if his ancestors had not crossed the ocean to Nanyang, with their intelligence, they might also be able to get an official position through the imperial examination, enter the court, and become guests of the emperor's house.

And every now and then, the teenager will bring his infrequently used Chinese name in his heart - Guo Xiong.

Cota China, along with the Honghua Island, Jiaya Island in the northwest and the peninsula in the north, form a natural harbor, known locally as Dali Bay, where most of the people live in the Hakka, because the residents are quite fluent in Chinese, compared to Brunei, the number of Chinese merchants is more, only slightly less than the Broken Hand River where the gold panning Fu Lao. Crossing the small river north of Kota China Baru, where many families live by fishing and hunting, it stretches north to the lagoon boundary in Tualan, where you can reach Guta Maolu further north, where the people have enjoyed peace for a long time until the arrival of the Song people disrupted the rhythm of life.

Guo Xiong's father, Nahab, whose Chinese name is Guo Lan, was born as the owner of this place. Although he is a philistine and likes to act at both ends, his father and ancestors have been operating in this place for decades, whether it is in Bo Ni or Sulu in the northeast, they are very sleek and exquisite. Even the city was quite prosperous, and even the Spanish raids in North Borneo were also evaded, and now there are descendants of Chinese merchants in Hong Kong who fled to take refuge at that time. In today's Cota China, the Baru land is prosperous in commerce and the population is also prosperous, with about 3,000 Han and Tu people living in the towns and ports, plus the tribes and fishing villages that can be controlled in the north and east, there are also 10,000 or 20,000 people.

It is precisely because of this scale that those Sulu barbarians who came from Princesa a few days ago did not dare to make a mistake easily, and only stationed supplies, but now the situation has changed. At this time, one of the most luxurious buildings in Hong Kong was the Guo family's compound, and now only the young master was left, although his mother and uncle were always by his side to mention it, but the changes that were about to take place were not easy for the little boy to understand.

…………

The fleet floated in the sea with the current, and Nahab would not have dared to take the risk of taking the fleet out to sea at night if it were not for his familiarity with the surrounding waters. Sailing along the coast, when the sun has just set and the stars and moon have not yet risen, only the shore scenery two or three miles away on the left hand side can make people not too lonely.

Gradually left behind is the barren beach of Konari, where there is nothing but sand and crabs at the moment. Eighty miles to the southwest, the fertile wilderness between the Clark Range and the Jiali Peninsula is called Paifo, surrounded by the Badas River, less than half a day's journey from the Jiali River.

The legends of these Song people have been heard too much these days, just like those exquisite glassware and bone china that is so white without a trace of impurities, that people are eye-catching, but they can't figure it out.

In the past month or so, with the business trips coming and going, the owner of Kota China Baru has a more intuitive impression of the image of the Song people. All of them were dressed as pirates with hair and short clothes, but they were extremely polite to the people, especially the Han people, not only marketing exquisite utensils made of various secret methods, but also wantonly collecting children into their schools.

The Song people's methods of traveling merchants were quite similar to Hongyi, relying on strong ships and cannons to stand in a port, so they had to build a trading station in the port to hoard trade, and they had large ships, so they were naturally able to sell goods overseas.

However, the Song people were not at all interested in the pepper, cloves, and other things that were abundant in the South Seas, and the list of bags they printed and distributed to various merchants had already flowed everywhere, but in no way there was any mention of the purchase of spices, but grain, coal, and pig iron became the bulk of the goods. In addition, flame nitrate, horn, tung oil and other materials are also all accepted as ordered. It's just that in the whole South Seas, there are very few places where decent pig iron is produced, and most of the cities in Manraka will have them, but unfortunately the Francophone people may not be willing to sell them, and making arquebuses is much more valuable than pig iron. The iron pots smuggled from Liangguang and Fujian in the Ming Kingdom have always been in short supply, and how many small countries in the Nanyang have rushed to Fujian to pay tribute, not to get more silk, porcelain and ironware.

In addition, the Song people who were highly valued pearls and silk in the South Seas also did not want them. However, now that the Song people have occupied the capital of Boni and built many workshops there, it has only been a few days, and the market of various daily necessities, which originally had to rely on the north for marketing, has begun to be dumped by the Song Dynasty.

Complex umbrellas, paper fans not to mention, Brunei's clogs, cloth, paper has appeared on the market a lot, workmanship than Ming domestic products are a lot better, but the price is not high, these Si Ligang wood processing factory products, because of the advantages of machine tools, the design is all in line with the essence of ergonomics, even if only made of ordinary wood, can also make people love it, only in terms of average quality, it is by no means relying on the experience passed down from generation to generation of master craftsmen can compare, the advantages of industrial production are all in the second, not to mention anything else, Wooden toothbrushes have already opened up a market among the wealthy in Hong Kong.

The piles and piles made Guo Gangzhu wonder what the Song people were thinking, but an inexplicable sense of crisis was gradually approaching.

The southern capital of the country is occupied by the Song people for more than a month, although the time is not long, but it is very different from the past, from the past shipowners to hear, the Song people's actions are not intended to go, recently I heard that it is playing the banner of the Economic Strategy Division, only two bays across the Kuala Pengyou is at the northern end of the Jiali Peninsula, is the lair of the Zhang bandits, not long ago was also occupied by the Song people, even with the Zhang clan people were all in a pot.

To say that Zhang Chai Lao, is also a Han living in Nanyang, and he still has some dealings with himself, a few years ago in Java, Srivijaya is also very extravagant a few times, the reputation is big, although this time it is not happy to follow the barbarians to find the Song people, but I heard that it took less than one night, the family business of the three generations of the Zhang family was all folded to Labuan, and was killed back to his hometown. The Zhang family has a population, muskets, and a clipper, and there is too much information that can be brought to Guo Lansheng for the overnight demise of this force that is quite feared around them.

The matter of Zhangjiagang can be said to be his own death, but the Song people who occupy Kuala Pengyu are not enough, I heard that the road seems to be being built over there recently, not for Kota Chi Na Baru further north or for what? Now in the northern part of Kota Baru, the Bajau tribe there has long worshipped the short-haired people as gods, and brought the various tribes around the Chinese Balu Mountain, I am afraid that it is only a matter of time before they take refuge in the Song people.

Now the Kota Chi Na Baru who is caught in the middle is particularly embarrassed, and it really doesn't make sense to hand over this foundation to others in his own heart, Guo Gangzhu is in his prime, and the town in Hong Kong is also taken care of quite smoothly, even if the Song people are really as rumored as long as they don't resist, they can talk well, but I'm afraid that after this annexation, they can't help themselves.

The Bo Ni Kingdom can be regarded as a destroyed country at the moment, although the lord of the country is still there, in fact, it is the same as if it is gone. There are strong enemies from overseas and the Huang clan inside, and the lord of Guo Gangzhu is not very nostalgic for the subordinate relationship that is barely maintained in the name of tribute. This is the case for the entire Boni country, or the entire Nanyang countries, except for a piece around the national capital, the rest of the so-called territories can not be said to have much control, but they are only loose subordinates, at most there is a vice king who is related to the lord of the country, and it depends on whether it is a heart. A prosperous city-state has always been a fat sheep in the eyes of all countries, and for that little tribute and vision, the benefits promised will never be less, even if there is a war for this, it will not hesitate, and human life will never feel a pity in the face of wealth.

Today's territory can belong to Boni, and when the news of the Song people occupying the royal capital spreads in a few days, several good ports in the west of Borneo can be independent or thrown into the big countries of Java and the Three Buddhas, and even Ayutthaya and Annam in the north. If the survival of the Bo Ni Kingdom really touched Guo Lansheng, it was just the sadness of the rabbit and the fox.

The Sulu gang that came suddenly did not disrupt Guo Lansheng's train of thought, but only advanced the date of what he was supposed to do, but he also figured out that he would come sooner or later, otherwise he would not have abandoned his wife and quietly followed behind these barbarians.

Early the morning before, when the Sulu 'maritime merchants' were properly supplied in the port and ready to go south, the dominance of the matter was no longer in the hands of Guo Hong Kong, who was used to the role of a peacemaker, and it would naturally be a little uncomfortable to suddenly let him choose a side, but if he seriously put it with a large gang of hundreds of people, even if he was sure to drive the other party into the sea, the broken pots and jars would be reimbursed by himself. Besides, it's time to do something.

The moon finally rose, Xu Ava followed the harbor lord to the bow, and the twenty best ships of the Guo family in the harbor maintained a loose array and sailed southwest in the bright moonlight, and the sails were all folded, so that the speed was not too fast, so as not to hit the reef, and no matter how good the sailor was, he could not guarantee that he could see clearly at night. Looking down from the sky, the fleet is so small, as if the mood of everyone on board is at this moment.

"To be honest, do you think Wuzhuman's gang can take down Zhangjiagang?" Guo Lansheng didn't look back, at this moment, he could sense who was following behind.

"I don't know if I can fight or not, but if I saw a war at this moment, it would have started a long time ago."

"Do you also think that I shouldn't say that the combat power of the Song people is so unbearable?"

"It's not embarrassing, but the Song people in the mouth of the Hong Kong lord are really rich and rival the country."

Xu Awa knew in his heart that the determination to drive the Sulu pirates south to fight in the Grass Valley was not the Song people who were unbearable to fight as the port lord preached, but those real commodities, which were real money and silver wealth, and I heard that there were iron ships there that could come and go freely on the sea without being driven by the wind, what this meant for a big gang of half-merchants and half-bandits who relied on the sea to eat, the Sulu people naturally did not understand. Of course, this is also due to the fact that the last battle was completely annihilated, and the current group of pirates is still full of unrealistic illusions about the concept of the Song people, and the matter of knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent seems to have never existed in their art of war.

"Isn't it?"

"That's just as well."

has captured the capital of Boni, more than a month has passed, the Song people have only seen more and more places, rich is good to say, the word 'enemy country' is really not wrong.

However, the conversation that didn't matter to him obviously couldn't dispel the worries of his subordinates, and Xu Ava still decided to ask about the worries in his heart since he went to sea.

"Hong Kong master, do you really think that we can be the yellow finches behind the praying mantis?"

Guo Lansheng was stunned for a moment, and only replied with a laugh.