A shabby-looking Fujian wooden boat arrives at the wharf in Hekou City, where the weather is at its best. The clouds are blue and the sea breeze is cool. Although it is located in the tropics, the temperature is quite bearable for visitors from the north during the first month of each year.

Estuary Castle is located in later Thailand, near Bangkok, at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River, hence the name Estuary Castle.

The sovereignty of this place belonged to the Angkor Dynasty, and it was the Hailu City of the Great Song Dynasty who came forward to lease land from the Angkor Dynasty and built this commercial market mainly engaged in timber trading.

The reason why it is an honest lend-lease, rather than a robbery, is mainly because the current Angkor Dynasty is also in its heyday.

Angkor is now ruled by Suyavarman II, a Malayan royal family whose kingdom "stretches from the sea in the east, Bagan in the west, and Garosi (northern Malay Peninsula) in the south, and has 200,000 war elephants."

Such a strong country is naturally a "country without conquest" for the Great Song Dynasty, which focuses on the Central Plains. The Great Zhou Republic has always been in conflict with Angkor.

The reason for the conflict was that the Zhou province of Annam had been expanding towards Cham over the years, and had now established large strongholds in Lu Rong (Hue) and Da Nang in the north of Champ. Moreover, the army of Annam Province also marched south from Da Nang several times to seize the land of the city.

And the king of Champa Jaya Indravarman II was defeated repeatedly, and had no choice but to ask Angkor for help. King Suyavarman II of Angkor coveted the land of Champa and sent troops to aid Champa. Therefore, he went to war with the Zhou province of Annam.

Needless to say, the outcome of the war, how could the war elephants of Angkor beat the Annam provincial army equipped with "camel cannons" and light field artillery?

Therefore, most of the Champa city was encroached upon by the province of Annam after repeated battles.

However, although Angkor has been defeated repeatedly, after all, it is a big country with a very thick foundation, and it is impossible to collapse all at once.

Moreover, most of the Angkor territories are miasma-plagued lands, with a hot climate and many infectious diseases, which are not very suitable for the life of the Han people in the north.

Therefore, the Great Zhou Republic, which was dominated by northerners, was not very interested in the destruction of Angkor, but only forced Angkor to sign several treaties that lost money, knocking out two or three million yuan of the Angkor Dynasty.

And the defeat of the Angkor Dynasty on the battlefield of Champa also gave another great Chinese power that coveted the wealth and vastness of Angkor an opportunity for expansion.

This country is the country of the Eastern Song Dynasty that was born in the smoke of the Central Plains War.

This year, that is, the twelfth year of the Republic of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the second year of Jingkang of the Western Song Dynasty, and the first year of the United States for the Eastern Song Dynasty.

With the Eastern Song Dynasty's rule in the two Huai, Jiangnan Lianglu, Liangzhe, Fujian, Guangnan and other places that originally belonged to the Great Song Dynasty, it has been established. The Eastern Song Dynasty government finally had the strength to set its sights on the overseas assets of the Great Song Dynasty.

Because the Western Song Dynasty had no coastline, it naturally couldn't take into account the huge overseas interests that originally belonged to the Great Song Dynasty. And those who can inherit them are naturally the Eastern Song Dynasty, which built the capital Jiangning.

Among the huge overseas assets of the Great Song Dynasty, the first to attract the attention of Wu Meiniang, one of the two saints of the Eastern Song Dynasty, was not Jiaozhi and Xingzhou, but the inconspicuous Hekou City.

At least that's what Empress Wu meant when she summoned Zhao Tang, the new governor of Hekou Prefecture, the head of soldiers and horses, and the envoy of the camp.

Zhao Tang, who had been dizzy on a Fujian wooden boat for almost 20 days, staggered off the boat with the support of his entourage, and he still remembered what Wu Meiniang said.

“…… Zhao Tang, now the Central Plains has three points, the Zhou State is the strongest, Guan Long (referring to the Western Song Dynasty) is second, and the weakest is our Jiangnan. There are only two Huai, two rivers, Fujian, and two Guangzhou. The three points of the world in Soochow are one more Jing Chu than ours.

And the small court that has been in the south of the Yangtze River since ancient times has nothing to end up in the end! If we don't want to become the rebels and thieves in the history books, the only way is to break out!

Compared with Dongwu and Nanchen, we have a better way out of the south. Our sea power is strong, and we can build tens of thousands of gunboats!

But to make a gunboat, you need good wood. There is no good wood here in Jiangnan, so it can only be purchased from the Zhenla country in the South Seas. But buying other people's wood is always passive. I don't know when Zhenla Kingdom won't be sold to us!

That's why Your Majesty and I want to get our hands on the territory of the Chao Phraya River Basin, where good wood is produced, and hold it in the palm of our own hands, so that people can rest assured, right?

Besides, the Chao Phraya River basin is all flat land, and it is very vast, no less than the south of the Yangtze River! If the trees are cut down, isn't it a fertile soil for rice production? Its size, I'm afraid it's enough to compare to Jiangnan Road, right?

Zhao Tang, do you understand how important your trip is? The gains and losses of the Chao Phraya River basin are related to the rise or fall of the country. You are Your Majesty's teacher in Qingcheng Palace, and you are both civil and military, or after Mingchen, the burden of Hekou City can only be shouldered by you. So please don't be afraid that the estuary road is far away......"

The sincerity of Wu Meiniang's words also made Zhao Tang understand how heavy his responsibility was.

Jiangnan Wangye is safe, there is no way out from the west to the north, and the only way out is to go south!

And the key to going south is the ship, and the key to shipbuilding is wood.

Therefore, the best teak in the Chao Phraya River basin is the key to the rise and fall of the country.

And the Chao Phraya River basin itself is also a large plain! It is far from Angkor, the capital of the Chenla Kingdom. The indigenous tyrants of the Chao Phraya River are said to have never obeyed Angkor.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Eastern Song Dynasty!

If we can open up an overseas road in the Chao Phraya River Valley, what happens in the future, it can also be regarded as a retreat......

……

"Ji Qing, although you are Ji Wenzhong's eldest son, but now that the country is troubled, it is the time to employ people, so I have to let you win your affection."

In the Imperial City of Jiangning Mansion, in the Zichen Palace, Ji Wenzhong, that is, Ji Yi's son Ji Jun, is meeting the second saint.

Ji Yi has two nicknames, one is Miao Chou, which was given to him by Zhao Huan. The other is Wen Zhong, which was given to him by Zhao Kai.

Jiangning is Zhao Kai's territory, so Ji Yi is Ji Wenzhonggong, a great loyalty!

Ji Dazhongliang's son Ji Jun went out a while ago, welcomed his deceased father's body back from Kaifeng Mansion, and buried it in the Ji Jiayuan cemetery in Shanghai.

It was a beautiful funeral! The whole city of Shanghai wept for this "father of Shanghai".

And Zhao Kai and Wu Meiniang generously gave the highest level of "Wenzhong" nickname, and also posthumously presented Shang Shuling and King Shen (King Shen is the King of Shanghai).

Ji Jun, as Ji Yi's eldest son, and Zhao Kai's founding hero, of course, he had to add an official to the knighthood, and the rank official was directly promoted to the Chengxuan envoy, and the title was added to the founding county, and he was also given a "real seal" of 1,500 households - in fact, it was not real, it was just a little more money.

However, the official did not give it for the time being, because Ji Jun wanted to go home to be a filial son for a few days, which is called Ding Wei.

The current Great Zhou Republic has no worries, the Great Zhou Republic pays attention to the sovereignty of the people, is the people to rule the world, and it is not important to serve the people as a filial son!

Therefore, if you are an official, you can't die for three years, and your mother will rest for another three years...... Bereavement leave is given for up to three months!

And the East and West Song Dynasty both play the sign of "filial piety", since they are filial sons, of course they have to worry about it.

However, Ji Jun didn't have the opportunity to rest from house to house for three years, and he lost love after staying for a few months.

Because the southward policy of the Eastern Song Dynasty required Ji Daxiaozi to contribute.

Wu Meiniang said in a deep voice: "Ji Qing, Zhao Yan, the king of Jiaozhi, has never expressed his allegiance to His Majesty, and his heart is unpredictable!" ”

Zhao Yan is the eighth son of Zhao Ji, the king of Jiaozhi, and he has been in the country a few years ago. He now lives in Thang Long Province in Cochin Province.

In the dispute between the two Song Dynasty, Zhao Yan, the king of Jiaozhi, adopted a policy of riding the wall, and did not express his allegiance to either Chang'an or Jiangning. There is a vague meaning of independence......

Chang'an has no problem with him, and he can't reach him anyway.

But Jiangnan has a navy, how can it allow Jiaozhi to be independent?

Historically, a very important reason why Jiaozhi was able to break away from China was that the Song Dynasty did not have a strong naval fleet at that time.

But the current Eastern Song Dynasty is a maritime power!

"But Your Majesty is kind!" Wu Meiniang glanced at Zhao Kai, who was side by side with her, and said, "I can't bear to crusade against my brother." That's why I want to force him to submit!

Now the navy is ready to go south with more than 100 gunboats. It's just that a cochinizer is missing. So I want Ji Qing to take a trip to Shenglong Mansion. Can Ji Qing be sure? ”

"You're sure."

Ji Jun has now inherited most of his father Ji Yi's political legacy, and he also has influence in Jiaozhi - many nobles and generals in Jiaozhi are Ji Yi's old friends.

Wu Meiniang nodded, "Serving as the prime minister is just the beginning...... Then there is the heavy task of conquering Zhenla, can you bear it? ”

What the? Ji Jun was stunned for a moment, and then said after a while: "Your Majesty, Niangniang, Zhenla is a big country, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers, a vast territory, complex terrain, and a hot climate, which is not suitable for the Central Plains army to recruit ......"

The elephant soldiers of Zhenla are not a problem, but the weather and dysentery are a problem.

"That's why we have to send troops from Cochin! Use the Jiaozhi soldiers and the military attache of my Great Song Dynasty to crusade against the Zhenla Kingdom! Wu Meiniang said, "I just got the news that the Northern Zhou is massively increasing the number of troops on Hirado Island, Japan, and it seems that there is an attempt to use troops against Japan." For our country, this is an opportunity to use troops to the south!

And Zhenla is a big country in the south, so it is naturally the first choice for using soldiers. Even if it cannot be destroyed, the Chao Phraya River valley should be completely occupied as far north of Sing Chau. In the future, a country will be set up there to be guarded by the prince! ”

Wu Meiniang is not Wu Meiniang, she is a 100% good wife and mother. I never had the idea of usurping the throne and becoming an empress, I just wanted to have a litter of little kings with Zhao Kai...... After all, the Eastern Song Dynasty is on the safe side! In the long run, the future is slim.

What to do if it is slim? Then you have to have more children and go to the South and Western Oceans!

If you can give birth to one emperor and ten kings, even if Jiangnan can't be saved in the future, your descendants will have a place to escape!