Last autumn, the Nanyang Expedition, which was reorganized from the original Southeast China Sea Expedition, continued to be led by Zhang Qin and Yu Hong. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

The white and chubby little Taoist Wang Haichong still served as the leader of the surveying and mapping team in the expedition, and for this reason, Wang Haichong complained constantly along the way.

In addition to exploring the shipping routes between the islands and drawing nautical charts, the topography and customs of the islands along the way, the population and military strength of the indigenous kingdoms were also the focus of their investigation.

The soldiers who were left behind on a small island south of Luzon last year because of malaria finally waited for the South Sea expedition to go south along the west coast of Luzon.

Of the 33 people left on the island, only 18 remained, surviving the devastation of malaria on their bodies, and Dr. Xiao, who was in charge of taking care of them, did not survive and died a few months ago.

Zhang Qin and Yu Hong put a pillar of incense on the graves of Dr. Xiao and others who died of illness with grief, and Wang Haichong, who was a Taoist priest, put an incense case on the table, and took up the old business that he used to do with the unscrupulous master - he did a ritual to comfort the soul of the deceased in heaven.

It's just that when Zhang Qin said that he would leave with the eighteen surviving people with the expedition team to complete the expedition mission. The eighteen people who were lucky enough to survive said that they didn't want to go on adventures with the expedition anymore, and waved their hands again and again to go to you by yourself, leave them a boat, and go back to Datang by yourself.

Zhang Qin's kind words and persuasion were useless, and Yu Hong couldn't bear to take a risk with his brother who was lucky to get rid of his illness. However, the expedition had only a limited number of ships, and there were no extra ships left for eighteen men, and none of them knew how to sail. In the end, it was agreed that the eighteen people should continue to stay here, wait for the expedition to return, and then take them back to Datang.

Just like last year, eighteen people stood on the beach again, looking at the departing expedition and sighing, worrying that the expedition should not forget them.

Over the course of the next month, the departing expedition explored seven large islands between Luzon and Mindanao, as well as neighboring islands. After exploring the coast of Mindanao from east to west, we set off from Zamboanga and followed the Sulu Islands to Semporna on the northeast coast of Borneo.

Because of the lesson learned last time, when they arrived in Borneo this time, Zhang Qin and the others were obviously much more cautious. In addition to strictly prohibiting soldiers from drinking raw water and eating raw food, when landing on the shore, they must also wear long clothes and long sleeves to not show their skin and flesh, and wear a fan yang hat with a gauze to cover their faces and necks to prevent mosquito bites.

Wang Haichong dragged his fat body and followed a team of soldiers led by Yu Hong to investigate the inland in the northeast corner of Borneo. Traveling more than 100 miles, I found that the more inland we went, the more rugged the terrain became, the rivers became more and more turbulent, and the endless mountain ranges extended inland from low to high, all telling Wang Haichong that Borneo is a large island with an unknown radius. It is very likely to be larger than Luzon and Mindanao, and if it is a smaller island, they will go dozens of miles into the island to the other end of the island.

Seeing that there was no hope of crossing Borneo, Wang Haichong immediately suggested to Yu Hong to give up and continue to go deeper. Yu Hong's task is to protect the safety of the expedition, and Wang Haichong, who is in charge of the expedition's terrain exploration, said so, he must have no opinion, and immediately led everyone out of this ghost place where birds don't and the heat is unbearable.

As a result of this terrible inland expedition, the expedition never went deep into the inner city of Borneo again, and only operated along the coastal plains.

The expedition team left the northeast corner and came to the relatively densely populated northwest coast of Borneo, where they often met maritime merchants who came to Borneo from the Tang Dynasty to do maritime trade, and they had a conversation and heard a lot of news about Borneo.

For example, there was a very wealthy kingdom of Bori, whose king's throne was made of pure gold, the pedals were made of silver, and the crown was full of diamonds and was 1 foot high.

Wang Haichong, Yu Hong and others who listened smacked their tongues, and the emperor's seat was just made of high-quality wood and covered with a silk blanket. I didn't think that the luxury of the king of this small Nanyang country would be compared to the emperor of our dynasty.

Wang Haichong and the others wanted to visit the king of Bori and see his throne made of pure gold, silver pedals, and his crown full of diamonds.

After arriving in the country of Bori, except for a capital with a population of maybe around 10,000, which surprised the expedition team, the people, streets, and houses of the Bori country living here were really not decent compared to the Tang Dynasty.

He thought that the king would be rich, and that the people of his kingdom would live in abundance. The reality is that the people of the country of Boli are poorly clothed, hungry, and the whole person is yellow and hungry, and they know the Buddha all day long and pray to get rid of the dream of the sea of suffering in life.

When the king heard that the envoys of the Tang Dynasty had arrived, he sent ministers and palace guards to welcome Zhang Qin, Yu Hong, Wang Haichong and others into the palace with grand ceremonies.

Pretending to be an envoy of the imperial court was Wang Haichong's bad idea, Zhang Qin and Yu Hong didn't want to agree, for fear that they would be punished by the court after returning to China, and they were finally persuaded by Wang Haichong's clever tongue.

Buddhism flourished in the country of Bori and the influence of Buddhism was evident everywhere, from the city to the palace, Wang Haichong did not remember how many Buddha statues he saw, and the Buddha statues in the palace were even more brilliant and shining in the sun.

Wang Haichong didn't pay attention to the guards, and Pang Nuo leaned up and touched it with his hand, pressed his nails twice, and was shocked: "Sanqing Dao Ancestor is above, this fucking golden!" ”

When I saw the golden palace where King Bori met with ministers and foreign envoys, not to mention that Wang Haichong, a little Taoist priest who had never seen much money, was blinded by the shining golden palace. It was Zhang Qin, who was once famous among the Southeast Maritime Merchants and held an unknown amount of money, and was stunned by the town.

The corners of Yu Hong's mouth twitched, and he held back for a long time and said: "No taste, turtle!" ”

Entering the Golden Palace, Wang Haichong and Yu Hong got their wish and saw the legendary King Bori with a pure gold throne with silver pedals, on which sat the short-skinned and dark-skinned King Bori sat on the top of his head, and he was indeed wearing a one-foot-high, inlaid with sparkling white diamonds, and the front was inlaid with a red diamond weighing about four coins, which blinded Wang Haichong's fiery eyes again.

Yu Hong, who has never handled more than 1,000 yuan of money in his life, smashed his lips twice, and his eyes stared at the blind crown worn on King Bori for a long time and couldn't extricate himself.

Zhang Qin used to be a rich man, he could be regarded as having seen the world, and after some shock, he quickly adjusted his mentality to salute the king of Bori, and Wang Haichong and Yu Hong, who realized it later, followed to salute the king of Bori crampedly.

Wang Haichong and several people were shocked by their magnificent palace, King Boli looked at them one by one, not to mention how happy he was, his face was filled with a thick smile and said: "The Tang envoy came from afar, the road is difficult, this king is to show the friendship of the landlord, for you to prepare the country's wine and food, and I hope that the Tang envoy will not see outside." ”

"I am grateful for the king's hospitality." Zhang Qin replied with a little weakness.

After Zhang Qin and the others sat down in turn, they saw all kinds of fruits and delicacies in front of them, and Wang Haichong and Yu Hong, who didn't pay much attention to etiquette, had already boosted their appetite and started eating unceremoniously. What jackfruit, longan, mango, grilled fish, meat, as long as it is delicious, it leads to the mouth stuff. Zhang Qin, who was embarrassed on the side, almost covered his face and pretended not to know them.

Wang Haichong not only ate by himself, but couldn't help but be anxious when he saw Zhang Qin's slow eating, and opened his mouth to persuade: "I said Manager Zhang, why don't you eat quickly?" It's been a few months since we went to sea, and we haven't had a good meal. Today, there is the hospitality of King Bori, and if you don't eat well, you won't have anything to eat. ”

Zhang Qin's face was flushed, and he repeatedly bowed his hand to King Boli and said: "Your subordinates never know etiquette, and I hope the king will forgive me." ”

King Boli laughed: "Tang envoys are all true temperaments, how can this king mind?" ”