The next day, in the second year of Jianlong, the king of Zhancheng sent an envoy to the court. Early in the morning, Zhao Dezhao received an urgent report from the secret agents of the Wude Division in Quanzhou, saying that there were already two ships loaded with gold, sandalwood, camphor, and copper in the Wansong and Wuyongzi Pioneer Regiments that had gone to Liuqiu, bypassing Quanzhou and heading north, and it was believed that they would reach Kaifeng soon.

And Zhao Dezhao suffered from the wind chill last night, and his throat was a little sore this morning, so he hurriedly drank the decoction and went to the main hall with good news.

Over there, Honglu Siqing and Shaoqing led the envoys of Zhancheng to the palace to pay homage to the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, and Zhao Dezhao, as one of the people who received the envoys this time, was also among the people who received them.

The envoy of Champa Amu Pineapple was dressed in the unique costume of Champa, and he had already prayed to the god Shiva in front of the face of the Son of Heaven, asking the god Shiva to bless the audience to go smoothly and properly, and then prepared his words in advance, and stood in broken Chinese, and said: "Your Majesty the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, the minister came to serve the will of His Majesty the King this time, and brought tributes such as rice, ivory, coral, pearls, and spices from Champa, and came to Kaifeng to form an alliance with the Great Song Dynasty. ”

After that, the envoy of Zhancheng handed over the letter of state of the king of Champa, and after Zhao Kuangyin read the letter of state, yesterday he vaguely had a certain understanding of the country of Zhancheng from Zhao Dezhao's mouth and reading books such as the National History Museum, and said: "Guests from afar, yesterday Honglu Temple post station is still in the habit of living, and you believe in Shiva God, I heard that your country has a hot climate, the temperature is extremely high, and you wear very little clothing, and you also produce rice, ivory, iron and aloe vera, it is said that you Champa exported iron tools and aloe vera profits. ”

"Your Majesty is knowledgeable and knowledgeable, and you know us very well to occupy the city, which really amazes the subordinates, yes, everything is as Your Majesty said." The envoy's words obviously slapped the emperor's fart.

"Haha—the king of your country is in good health."

"My king Jaya Indravarman I is in good health, but my Zhancheng country suffered from the war between the Ding Dynasty and Zhenla, and the national strength declined, and the king was very worried, so I sent my subordinates this time in the hope that the Great Song Kingdom could send troops to help me occupy the city and protect the territory and the people."

At this moment, Zhao Dezhao was also thinking about the national position of the city, which was located on the Indochina Peninsula, and the city of Champa held an important maritime passage from China to Tianzhu [India], the kingdom of Sri Buddha (located in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and the western part of Kalimantan) and the night eclipse, and became a transit point of the Maritime Silk Road, from which it gained many benefits.

And the country of Zhancheng sent envoys to our Great Song Dynasty to pay tribute, presumably because of the invasion of the Zhenla people, it is better to take this opportunity to also send envoys from the Great Song Dynasty to occupy the city. Historical records: Linyi country, Xianglin County, Rinan County, Benhan Dynasty, the boundary of ancient Yueshang.

In 877, Chenla was unified. Immediately, a long war broke out between the two countries of Champa and Chenla, both in their great power.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Wu Quan defeated the Southern Han army in 938 and broke away from China and established the Ding Dynasty. Zhao Dezhao also did not have a good mood for the people there, and the country went from friendly to hostile to hostile to hostile to Chinese in later generations.

Nowadays, there are three countries on the Indochina Peninsula: Chenla, Champa and Ding Dynasty. In the years that followed, wars broke out between the three countries.

Champa is also a place of war, after which several countries are fighting for Champa, Champa and Chhana and Annam's long-term war, consumed its strength, from the 10th century to the 12th century, there were constant military conflicts between Champa and Chenla, and then Champa and the Dinh, Lê and Nguyen dynasties had wars, which eventually led to the demise of Champa in the 17th century, which was annexed by Vietnam.

And just when Zhao Dezhao was thinking, the envoy of Zhancheng continued to bow his hand and said: "Your Majesty of the Song Kingdom, my king has made friends with the Great Song Dynasty this time, and I hope that the Great Song Kingdom will send troops, and the small country of Zhenla bullied my king, and violated our country's land sixteen years ago, and plundered the statue of the goddess ten years ago, this is a slander against the gods and a challenge to our country, please ask Your Majesty the Great Song Dynasty to send an army to help me attack Zhenla." Moreover, the Ding Dynasty in the north also invaded the territory of our country. In fact, whether it is the Zhenla people or the people of the Dinh Dynasty in the north [Dinh Dynasty of Vietnam], they all covet our country. ”

Zhao Dezhao, who is familiar with history, knew that eighteen years later (979), the king of Champong, at the instigation of Wu Riqing, a nobleman of the Annan Ding Dynasty, took advantage of the death of the emperor of the Ding Dynasty Ding Buling and led an army to attack Hualu, the capital of another country.

After Li Huan, the founder of the Li dynasty in Annam, usurped the throne of the Ding clan, he sent envoys to occupy the city in 982, but was detained by the king of Zhancheng. So Li Huan led his army to attack the capital of Zhancheng, the king of Zhancheng was killed, and the Li Dynasty moved the capital of Zhancheng and called it the Song Dynasty.

For the Dinh dynasty of Annan, the Lê dynasty, or the Nguyen dynasty, Zhao Dezhao believes that this place will be razed in the future and re-thrown into the arms of China, damn Annam in the 10th century AD, five dynasties and ten kingdoms, rebellion, split from China, the Northern Song Dynasty government of China is unable to quell the rebellion, but Annam has always been a vassal state of China.

At this moment, Zhao Kuangyin is also thinking about the gains and losses, Zhancheng is said to be south of the Southern Han Dynasty, roughly south of Jiaozhi, and the Great Song Dynasty has not yet unified China, the country is divided, the army strength is limited, and it is too far away from the Zhancheng, if you want to go, you can only symbolically send an army of 100 people, if you don't go to the face of the Great Song Dynasty, it is also disgraceful, after all, today is the Zhancheng envoy to Kaifeng, befriending the Great Song Dynasty, and since then Zhancheng has also been regarded as the suzerainty of the Great Song Dynasty, and pays tribute every year.

For the country of brothers, the Great Song Dynasty naturally couldn't refuse, but when he thought of the current situation, Zhao Kuangyin also frowned, and he was thinking about how to answer the words of the envoy of Zhancheng.

At the same time, Zhao Dezhao also raised his head to look at Zhao Kuangyin, and seemed to understand his difficulties, for the transfer of the army, it is not very likely, and the number of people is not much, but for others, such as merchant ships, secret agents, etc., Zhao Dezhao also has a certain plan in his heart, so he replied: "Father, what the noble envoy said, my Great Song Dynasty should help friends solve problems, so the sons have the courage to borrow 1,000 troops from their father to occupy the city and assist in occupying the city." ”

Zhao Dezhao said this on the surface, but in fact, among the thousands of people, they were not necessarily pure troops, but they only said so in front of the envoys of the city.

"This ...... It is feasible to send troops, a thousand troops! It's just that now the strength of my Great Song Dynasty forbidden army is insufficient, and it is thousands of miles away to occupy the city, far away in a foreign country, and the ends of the earth are separated. And this matter is related to the development of our two countries, it is better to discuss it again tomorrow, I don't know if your envoy can stay in the capital for one more day, tomorrow I will definitely give your envoy a satisfactory answer, tonight I will be in the Jiying Hall to your envoy to wash the wind. ”

Amumu pineapple heard that the emperor of the Great Song Kingdom said so, it seems that His Majesty the Emperor is worried, but this does not mean that it is not feasible to send troops, but what will be the final result, Amumu is a little worried in his heart, King Jaya Indravarman I sent him an envoy this time, hoping to get the protection of the Great Song Kingdom, it is best to be able to borrow troops, and there is no way to borrow it.

"It's okay, thank you, Your Majesty, the ministers will retire."

After sunset, the envoys of the Champa state went to the Honglu Temple post station to rest, freshen up, and then attend the banquet in the evening.

Zhao Kuangyin will rest in the hall, and before leaving, he said to Zhao Dezhao: "Zhao'er, you obviously know the truth about my Great Song Kingdom, why do you still want to tell the envoys of Zhancheng to borrow 1,000 troops from the court today." And it's not that my father won't lend troops to Zhancheng, it's just that Zhancheng is too far away, and it's not worth sending troops to my Great Song Dynasty, even if my Great Song Dynasty finally helps Zhancheng win the lost land, I don't necessarily get much benefit. ”

Zhao Dezhao asked rhetorically: "Daddy means that no matter whether he can send troops or not, it will not be of much use to my Great Song Dynasty, right?" "Zhao Dezhao understands what Zhao Kuangyin said, but Zhao Kuangyin did not consider long-term interests, this ancient Chinese only knew that it was enough to unify China, and did they care about other lands, it can be said that they have a narrow vision."

"Hmm!"

"Daddy, in fact, for the time being, this thousand troops are Zhao'er's nonsense, at that time, what Zhao'er said was just to stabilize the hearts of the envoys who occupied the city, after all, people came all the way to my Great Song Dynasty to pay tribute, hoping to solve the state affairs of their country, but this is really a thousand ...... Troops? What's more, is a thousand troops really enough, I'm afraid it's only a meager force for Zhancheng, so ......" Zhao Dezhao deliberately paused here at a thousand, hoping to hint at Zhao Kuangyin.

And Zhao Kuangyin also felt that something was wrong, Zhao Dezhao bit "one thousand" very hard, it seemed that there was a play! So Zhao Kuangyin asked: "There is something in this Zhao'er's words, but Daddy really doesn't understand?" ”

"Daddy, it's better to say it clearly, this time Zhao'er let the thousand mentioned, which is only the vanguard of my Great Song Dynasty, that is to say, the secret whistle, it is reported that the Ding Dynasty, the Zhancheng people and the Zhenla people are fighting for land, and their place is indeed narrow, and the population is sparse, but this Zhancheng rice is said to feed a lot, and this time the child also hopes to get rice from the hands of the Zhancheng people and plant it in my Great Song Dynasty. And these three kingdoms happen to be the same as the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu in history, no one is more powerful than the other, evenly matched, one long and the other is lost, and the day is lost and the moon is profitable. And Zhao'er plans to send the vanguard to find out the strength of the Three Kingdoms, and then make profits from it. Although at present, these three kingdoms have no stake in my Great Song Dynasty, in the long run, if our Great Song Dynasty unifies the world, and when the time comes, it borders on the Ding Dynasty, then my Great Song Dynasty will definitely have an interest in the Ding Dynasty, and the Ding Dynasty is not a good stubble, so Zhao'er is putting a long line and catching big fish. Ahem—"

After speaking, Zhao Dezhao coughed violently, because his throat was dry and sore due to the wind and cold, so he paused without speaking. And Zhao Kuangyin felt that this statement was very reasonable after listening to Zhao Dezhao's remarks, and nodded with satisfaction, appreciating what his son said.

"Hmm! Zhao'er's words are not unreasonable, your voice is okay! Come on, come up with honey water for King Liang's throat. Zhao Kuangyin asked with concern, and then the waiter brought a glass of honey water to moisten his throat.

"Thank you daddy for your concern!" Zhao Dezhao picked up the teacup, and his voice was much better, he continued, "On land, since the death of the Tang Dynasty, the Silk Road has been cut off, and now the merchants of the Fan Kingdom must pass through the Champa State and transport goods from the sea to our Great Song Dynasty. Moreover, the place where Zhancheng is located is the place where the sea trade route passes, so Fanguo and my Great Song Dynasty must pass through this road if they want to go to Tianzhu and Dashi. The source of maritime trade must ensure the smooth flow of trade routes, if our Great Song Dynasty masters this road, it can increase the financial revenue of our Great Song Dynasty a lot, and this road is controlled in the hands of our Great Song Kingdom, it can inadvertently threaten other countries, so that it is not possible to control several countries. Moreover, in November last year, the Great Song Dynasty approved the establishment of a special city shipping department in Quanzhou, also because the maritime trade was prosperous and the benefits were quite rich, and it planned to share a piece of the pie and also replenish the treasury fiscal and tax revenues. Daddy Zhao'er almost forgot to tell you a good news: my Great Song Dynasty's pioneering group in Liuqiu has returned to the route with two ships at this moment, set off for the return, and will be able to arrive in Kaifeng soon. This is the report that the child received today from the secret agent of the Wude Division of Quanzhou, which said: Two ships loaded with gold, sandalwood, camphor, and copper have bypassed Quanzhou and headed north, and it is believed that they will reach Kaifeng soon. ”

Saying that, Zhao Dezhao handed over the letter from the secret agent of Quanzhou Wudesi to Zhao Kuangyin, Zhao Kuangyin spread out the letter and looked at it seriously, it was all good news, he laughed and said: "Zhao'er is good, it is a good thing to be able to profit from it, and in Zhao'er's words, this is the relationship between the interests of countries." What's more, the objects provided in the letter played by Wu Desi today can also solve many problems in the Great Song Dynasty, and now the lack of these things in the Great Song Dynasty is tantamount to good news, and today is really exciting. ”

"Daddy, just a few children's opinions, why don't you convene the minister after the banquet tonight to discuss again, so that you can handle this matter and weigh the pros and cons for my Great Song!"

"Well, let the chamberlain go down to the branch office to inform the governors, and after the banquet is dispersed tonight, they will discuss the matter in the side hall, and then I will also tell the ministers the good news of the begging by the way."

After speaking, Zhao Kuangyin went to the side hall to rest, preparing for the banquet of the envoys tonight, and Zhao Dezhao returned to his bedroom.

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ps. Annam is the ancient name of Vietnam. The word Annam, which first appeared in China as a regional-political name, was written in the early Tang Dynasty. The original Vietnam included only the area of present-day northern Vietnam, and did not include the present-day southern Vietnam, which was originally the Champa state. Ancient Vietnam was Chinese territory from the Qin Dynasty of China in the 3rd century BC. In the 10th century, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Vietnam rebelled and split from China, and the Northern Song Dynasty government was unable to quell the rebellion, but Vietnam has always been a vassal state of China.