When Captain Guo Beyu arrived in Palembang, the capital of Srivijaya, he was cordially received by the King of Srivijaya and the two sides not only had dinner together, but even had a secret conversation with only a few people. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Giving courtesy to others will ask for something...... Captain Guo Buyu fell into deep thought after listening to the king's request, which was beyond his purview.

Right now, the Srivijaya Kingdom is in the midst of a resurgence...... At its strongest, the kingdom had a total of fifteen vassals, of course, they were all tribal-like organizations, and the number of each subject was basically no more than 20,000.

On Captain Kwok's chart, Srivijaya was originally located at the southern end of the Straits of Malacca, which is strategically located and has become the spice trading center of the entire archipelago.

They have been engaged in spice trade at the same time as the Great Song and Huihui merchants in the east and west, and their economic power is already relatively strong, but since the unexpected rise of Liuqiu Island, their current economic power has risen to a new level.

They were also the center of Mahayana Buddhism throughout the archipelago, and the Buddhist masters of the Tianzhu region, Shaki Aquirti, all taught Buddhism in Palembang.

As early as 671 A.D., the Tang Dynasty monk Yijing took the sea road to the Tianzhu area to study Buddhism, where he studied Sanskrit and Buddhist theory, and after returning from the Tianzhu area, he continued to stay in Palembang City in the Three Buddhas Kingdom to engage in translation and writing for many years.

In terms of economic strength and religious strength, they are indeed powerful countries, but if you look at them in terms of military strength now...... But they really can't be regarded as powerful countries, and they can't compare to the level of hundreds of years ago.

At that time, they had just become one with another Buddhist state, the Yue Emperor Dynasty, through marriage, and at that time all ships passing through the strait had to pay them taxes, and their influence at that time reached as far as the island of Shilan and the eastern coast of the Tianzhu region.

But just a few decades ago, they were attacked by the Zhuyuan Kingdom in the southern part of the Tianzhu region.

The Srivijaya led a major invasion of the Srivijaya mainland and the vassal states on the other islands, which greatly weakened their military power.

As a result, the Sriwijaya state was later powerless to intervene in the newly rising state of Java in the east.

After decades of fighting, both countries were exhausted and had to come to an agreement that the western part of the archipelago would be under the influence of the Sriwijaya Kingdom and the eastern part would be under the influence of the Kingdom of Java.

They had the interest in the entire archipelago, but now they had to give half of it to the State of Java.

There's no way around it, their military power can't do it...... Therefore, the current king of Sriwijaya has set his sights on the Liuqiu merchants, hoping to get their help and rise again.

In addition to the spices produced by the Sriwijaya state, a considerable part of the national revenue was derived from taxes on imports and exports and sea raids, so its ports were filled with large quantities of local products and local products from the Great Song Dynasty, Tianzhu and Hui countries.

As mentioned earlier, until now, the social nature of the country has been a feudal system with strong remnants of slavery.

The king of Sriwijaya called himself the "Dragon Spirit" and had supreme power.

When their king died, the people were forced to cut their hair and mourn.

The king's servants were to be burned and buried...... The people of the Srivijaya vassal state do not pay rent in peacetime, but are led by the chieftain in wartime, and they prepare their own weapons and grain and then wait for the allocation.

But they have a strong enemy in the north and a strong opponent in Java in the east...... In a word, the international environment is not very good, and the living space is squeezed.

Palembang City has a resounding name, but in fact it is nowhere near as large as an ordinary seaport on Liuqiu Island or the Great Song Dynasty.

As early as the Tang Dynasty, they began to send envoys north to pay tribute...... In the First Song Dynasty, they sent ministers to pay tribute almost every few years from the time of Song Zhenzong, and they also received official positions given by the Great Song Dynasty many times.

Therefore, they fully understand the actual situation of the Great Song Dynasty.

After the rise of the power of Liuqiu Island, they also immediately sent caravans to land and trade with the sea ships of Liuqiu Island.

Therefore, the situation of Convection Island is also relatively well understood.

Originally, the Liuqiu Navy requested that another pier be built next to Palembang City to facilitate the docking of Liuqiu merchant ships...... King Sriwijaya agreed without even thinking about it.

At that time, he was bent on begging the navy to dock at Palembang in order to bring the two sides closer.

The strength of the Liuqiu Navy once made him dumbfounded!

The success of the Liuqiu navy in exterminating pirates in their archipelago really frightened the king of Sriwijayaja...... With two or three hundred members, a pirate fleet of five or six warships, and a pirate nest of five or six hundred people, he would have to send almost half of the country's navy to wipe out the "giant thieves" of this level!

However, those people are not even as good as a papaya in front of them!

They exterminated the pirates with a strange weapon, and they couldn't even escape, so they were all arrested and sentenced to hard labor......

The King of Sriwijaya immediately warned his navy not to rob merchant ships between the islands or in the straits!

In this era, in addition to Liuqiu, there is little difference between a country's navy and robbers, most of the time, they are their own merchant ships are navy, but for other countries' merchant ships, they may be pirates------- their navy in case they encounter merchant ships from other regions on the sea, as long as the other party's strength is not good, they may rush up and grab it directly.

The king of Srivijaya noticed that the Flowklors had a strong navy, but they never robbed merchant ships, no matter what flag they wore or what local merchants they belonged to...... As long as it's a merchant ship, they won't bother!

I heard that they only deal with Tatar bandits------

The conflict between the Srivijaya and the Srivijaya was actually caused by the fact that both sides sent their navies to loot each other's merchant ships...... In this era, where is there any axiom to speak of, the sea is the battlefield of jungle culture.

However, after the arrival of the Liuqiu Navy...... The situation has changed dramatically, the navy of Sriwijaya has taken the initiative to stop, and the original giant thieves or other idle forces on the sea have been wiped out by them one by one.

Safe navigation conditions can lead to the development of commerce and trade...... The number of merchants who come here to do business is increasing day by day, not counting the Hui merchants, there are more than 2,000 merchants in the Great Song Dynasty and Liuqiu alone!

After the king of Sriwijaya ordered his navy to halt the raids, the losses in his treasury were not large, and the rising commercial taxes almost fully compensated for the "losses" of the halted raids.

At the same time, he knew that the land strength of Liuqiu Island was also very strong------ and they were almost single-handedly dealing with the Tatars in the Shandong region of the Great Song Dynasty, and these were all truthfully reported to him by the envoys he had sent.

Therefore, he hoped to get help from the Flowing Navy, even if he could provide more weapons.

Just helping him equip a convoy doesn't seem to be enough.

The king of Srivijaya said through a translator:

"I can allow those merchant ships flying the flag of 'Liuqiu' to use the port for free, and I can also allow Liuqiu merchants to settle in our country at will------ as long as you help us fight, I can also provide you with more land and labor!"

Captain Guo Beyu had to think about it seriously, this was a good opportunity, but the responsibility was too great. (To be continued.) )