"I, Benidan, am not just the crown prince of the kingdom of Ryuqiu. But in the Great Song Dynasty, in Kaifeng Mansion, in the center of the world, my identity as a prince is a joke. ”

"No, Your Highness, you must not be discouraged."

The head of the guard, Xiba, was an attendant who grew up with His Royal Highness the Prince, and knew very well that the prince had lost his true purpose in life because of his low self-esteem.

He didn't know how to persuade the crown prince Berniedan, but he knew that he wanted to dispel the prince's absurd thoughts, at least not let the prince do the stupid thing of betraying the kingdom.

Although......

The kingdom of Liuqiu is very poor, and it is not even as rich as a county in the Central Plains of the Great Song Dynasty, just like the rich landlord in the countryside, arrogant when he has never seen the world, thinking that he can swallow the sky in one bite, and live like a big toad. After seeing the prosperity of the world, he completely closed himself and secretly hid in the corner, afraid of being seen, like an inconspicuous gecko.

Bernedan paced to the door, and suddenly the queen retreated sharply, avoiding the carriages that came and went in the streets, and the place where he lived did not even have a courtyard, and he was blind to the identity of the prince of the kingdom of Ryukyu.

He looked back at his playmate since he was a child sadly, and sighed: "Xiba, do you still know how we came here? ”

"Take a boat!"

Of course, it's by boat, the Fujian Road between the Liuqiu Kingdom and the Great Song Dynasty is separated by the strait, if you don't take a boat, can you still fly over?

The problem is, a boat ride is a boat ride.

It's not about making your own boat.

"There is a white turban merchant of the Great Food Country," he complained, "The ship of a white turban merchant from a great food country has been blown off course by a storm and has come to our kingdom of Ryukyu. We came with that damn white-turbaned profiteer. was almost sold as a Kunlun slave. If it weren't long enough to be dark enough to buy it, and we were driven out by profiteers, we would even live as slaves in the Great Song Dynasty for the rest of our lives. ”

"After that, we went to Jiangnan, and then worked all the way to Kaifeng, the capital of the Great Song Dynasty." Speaking of this, Bernie Dan took a deep breath and complained: "In Quanzhou, we thought we had seen the largest city in the world, but when we went to Hangzhou, we found that I was just a frog at the bottom of a well. When I came to Jiangning Mansion, I thought I had seen the richest city in the world, but when we came to Kaifeng Mansion, we were still frogs at the bottom of the well. ”

"I am the prince of the kingdom of Liuqiu, but when I came to the Great Song Dynasty, I couldn't even form a decent fleet."

Bernie Dan was really reminiscing about the past, but was interrupted by his subordinate's cold words: "Prince, we can't build a big ship, we can't cross the sea." ”

This made him even more resentful, yes! The kingdom of Ryuqiu was unable to build a large ship to cross the strait. There is no boat yard, not even a decent city, and the population is inferior to that of a county in the Great Song Dynasty. King...... is not as good as the owner of the village in the countryside of the Great Song Dynasty, what hope is there for such a day?

Besides, there was a sore spot in Berniedan's heart that was difficult to speak: "Siba, you know that if we want to return to the kingdom of Liuqiu, we need a big ship, but with us carrying goods at the docks, when can we afford to buy a big ship?" ”

The ship is the biggest pain in the heart of Bernedan, the prince of the Ryuqiu Kingdom.

Ever since he had been deceived by profiteers, he would never trust any other ship boss. He wanted a sea ship of his own. But now he has no money and no identity, if the identity of the prince of the Liuqiu Kingdom is confirmed by the Great Song Dynasty, he doesn't have to be so miserable.

Is there a saying that goes?

It's good when you come, you can't go back!

"This ...... Probably a few hundred years ago! ”

Xiba has a bad brain, but over the years since he came to the Great Song Dynasty, he has become a lot smarter, at least he knows how to count.

But Xiba also had a fluke mind, he felt that because the identity of the prince was not recognized, this made Da Song not pay attention to them. What if the officials of the Great Song Dynasty suddenly discovered that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was different? Then he comforted the prince and said: "Your Highness, it is because we lost the token that we have not been recognized by the Great Song Dynasty. As long as Da Song knows our identity, he will definitely give us a lot of money, and it is not a problem to buy a boat. ”

"The token is not lost."

The tokens of the kingdom are more important than lives, how can they be lost?

Bernedan was embarrassed to tell Xiba that he was beaten by the officials of Honglu Temple, and waited for him to be a liar, so he told the nonsense that the token was lost.

But this question is not easy for Bernedan to answer, he can't tell the truth to his subordinates, even if this subordinate is a playmate he has played with since childhood. This was a great blow to the dignity of the mission of the Kingdom of Ryukyu. Although now the mission is only the two of them. For the sake of unity, it is necessary to conceal the cruelty of the truth with kindness.

Thinking of what happened at the beginning, Bernie Dan was also depressed.

He took the tokens of the kingdom and went to contact the Great Song Dynasty government. But......

The most honorable envoy lived in the big house of Honglu Temple, and he did not mix it.

Not only did he not mix the big house of Honglu Temple, but he still didn't mix it up with the small courtyard of the Sifang Pavilion.

The specifications of the Great Song Dynasty's foreign reception of envoys are that Honglu Temple is the highest royal mission to stay in the yamen, followed by the Sifang Pavilion affiliated to Honglu Temple.

Honglu Temple is a treatment only enjoyed by a big country, for example, the envoys of the Liao State come to the Great Song Dynasty, and they must stay in the Honglu Temple.

But the Sifang Pavilion is just the treatment that the envoys of small countries should have, for example, the envoys of Zhancheng came to the Great Song Dynasty, and they could only go to the Sifang Pavilion to stay.

But sadly, Bernedan didn't even mix it up with the Sifang Pavilion, because ...... The officials of the Great Song Dynasty did not believe that he was the crown prince of the Liuqiu Kingdom.

As long as the envoys of the Sifang Pavilion are mixed, the Great Song Dynasty will not only provide food and accommodation, but also pay money. With a full hundred yuan of pocket money per month, I can envy him to death. The Great Song Dynasty didn't care about this little money, but for the small country mission, it was definitely a lot of income. can allow him to live a prosperous life in the capital of the Great Song Dynasty.

And life in Kaifeng Mansion is too convenient.

There are rental horses, cars, and sedan chairs when you go out. There are merchants and pawns who transport goods to and from any place in the city, and as long as money is paid, the goods can be delivered on the same day.

Laundry, cooking, tailoring, cleaning...... What kind of services are available, and the premise is one condition, there is money.

In Kaifeng Mansion, everything is the best, with the best material supply in the world, as long as you have enough money, you can live a life like a god.

And none of this has anything to do with Berniedan.

His men worked as coolies to support him, and sometimes when he didn't have enough money, he had to go to the docks to find work.

Fortunately, their masters and servants are all powerful people, who work neatly and are very popular with the shopkeepers.

But he is the dignified prince of the Liuqiu Kingdom, not to come to the dock of Kaifeng Mansion in the Great Song Dynasty to work as a coolie!

Every time he thought of such a painful experience, he was going crazy with anger. However, Bernedan finally found an opportunity, and the Great Song Dynasty wanted to annex the Kingdom of Liuqiu.

If he had never been out of the island in the Kingdom of Ryukyu, he would most likely have taken up arms to defend the dignity of the kingdom and his responsibilities as a prince.

But after living in the capital of the Great Song Dynasty for two years, his mind changed. Especially on weekdays, he also saved money to study, although it was intermittent, but he also learned a lot of the general trend of the world through the teachers of the private school.

For example, the Great Song Dynasty has Qiongzhou.

This place was not developed by the Great Song Dynasty, and was only used as a marginal place for officials to be exiled on weekdays.

But even so, Qiongzhou is much better than Liuqiu.

Qiongzhou has a small but very important port with complete facilities. The people of Qiongzhou can also live a relatively stable life. There is no shortage of materials for Qiongzhou.

It's to stay away from the bustle......

But compared to the Ryuqiu Kingdom, which struggled with the primitive environment, it was simply heaven and earth.

The Liuqiu Kingdom has always been very bitter, and Sun Quan, the emperor of Wu during the Three Kingdoms, sent his generals to Yizhou at that time. I thought that after leaving the people of the Han Dynasty, Yizhou would be developed.

But in fact, the situation is that when the unified Jin Dynasty appeared, Yizhou was forgotten.

After that, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sui Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty......

At most, you can see records about Yizhou in the classics of these dynasties, and that's it. These dynasties did not even have the idea of annexing the kingdom of Ryukyu.

I'm afraid there is only one reason, the imperial court doesn't even want to develop Qiongzhou, what's the use of asking for Yizhou?

Wait!

Wait!

Finally waited for the news that the Great Song Dynasty was going to annex the Liuqiu Kingdom, could it not make Berniedan excited?

It is not possible to be passive, it is not in the interests of Bernedan, but also the royal family of the Ryuqiu Kingdom. He decided to surrender, and after the Great Song court did not react, he took refuge in the Great Song Dynasty and dedicated the Liuqiu Kingdom to the Great Song Dynasty. According to the Great Song Dynasty's practice of surrendering small countries, his father is likely to be awarded a very high title.

His title of crown prince may not be guaranteed, but compared to the title of the Great Song Dynasty, what does this count?

As long as he has a knighthood, he will be able to stay in the Sifang Pavilion and even the Honglu Temple.

If you're lucky, you can even be a pony......

Alas, this is a bit not human, the little princess of the Great Song Emperor is only four years old, and she is not human!

But I can't stand the life of soaring, and I am full of expectations for the future!

"My lord, a guy who claims to be the prince of the Ryuqiu Kingdom is here again today, do you want to see him?"

Cai Jing said angrily: "The mission of the Liuqiu Kingdom, why don't you go to Honglu Temple and come to my Military Command Bureau to do something?" Ridiculous, take them to Honglu Temple. Renhe, our military command bureau is now powerful, but we can't stretch our hands too far. ”

"My lord, that man said that he couldn't trust Honglu Temple, so he believed in the Military Command."

In the Yamen of the Baokangmen Military Command Bureau, Cai Jing held the stove, wore a fox fur fur, and his dry body could not accumulate a trace of heat, so he cowered and walked into the yamen. He is a southerner, and he has not adapted to the cold climate of the north for most of his life.

As soon as he came to Yamen, Zhang Zhu blocked him.

The envoy, the envoy who also went to the dock to carry the bag, Zhang Zhu had never seen it, and he didn't dare to be sure of the other party's true identity.

If it were a different person, Cai Jing would have scolded him a long time ago, but Zhang Zhu is different, this is the third son of Prime Minister Zhang Dan. Even if Li Kui saw Zhang Zhu, he had to call Uncle Zhang.

Zhang Sanye has been living a very comfortable life recently, who would have thought that the officials of the Military Command Bureau have a higher income than the prime minister?

It was precisely because the Military Unification Bureau was too dazzling that Zhang Zhi became more cautious. It stands to reason that as the son of the prime minister, no one in the officialdom dares to bully him. But Zhang Zhu is different, he has a father who often wants to remove him from his official position, if he is messing around, his father will see it, and he may be unlucky.

Cai Jing saw that Zhang Zhu was not sure to eat, so he simply helped to take a look: "Let him come, Renhe, you come together." ”

Zhang Zhu, Cai Jing, and Berniedan, the prince of the Liuqiu Kingdom, who entered the second hall of the Yamen of the Military Command Bureau with trepidation.

Judging by the appearance...... It seems to be a bit of a Ryu-begging person, and it's darker. But it is whiter than the people of Champa and Zhenla in Nanyang.

"Tea!"

"Don't dare, don't dare!"

Where did Benidan enjoy such treatment, if he was recognized as an envoy by the officials of the Great Song Dynasty, he would not have been mixed up like this. But if you are not an envoy, but insist that you are an envoy, then you are a liar.

The reason why the officials of Honglu Temple did not bring Benidan to justice was mainly because they were not sure of Benidan's true identity.

Cai Jing opened his mouth and asked: "You said that you are an envoy of the Liuqiu Kingdom, but you have a certificate." ”

"Yes, yes." Bernedan hurriedly took out the document he had brought out from the Ryuqiu Kingdom and handed it to Cai Jing.

After Cai Jing carefully identified it, he checked the seal, and said with a smile: "It's not easy to make money in this business, right?" ”

At first, Bernie Dan promised that life would not be easy. But then, after reacting, the other party didn't seem to mean that. He asked suspiciously, "My lord, I don't know what it means?" ”

"Your seal is different from the one in the Book of Sui, Liuqiu Biography, this official used to be a scholar of Hanlin, and he has seen the records in the collection of the Secretary Pavilion, and there is a problem with your seal."

"Secondly, you said that you were brought to the Great Song Dynasty, why didn't you go to Quanzhou City to register?"

Bernie Dan panicked, he didn't expect this to happen. He didn't remember that his ancestors had been given a title by the emperor of the Sui Dynasty. I had to tell my experience as it was.

"The merchants of the big food country put profit first, and they are shameless, and they do it."

Cai Jing is a passerby from Fujian, and has been exposed to many stories about overseas since he was a child. The merchant of the Great Food Country is the turban profiteer in Berniedan's mouth. Chase wealth, but don't ask about the means. This is also in line with the laws of maritime trade in this era. The sea is a place where there is no law, if you really say anything about etiquette, righteousness and shame, it is good to go to sea, and you will not be able to come back after ten or twenty years, and you will definitely die at sea.

Cai Jing asked Bernedan a few questions about the customs, and these Berniedans were very familiar, and they came as soon as they opened their mouths.

Suddenly, Cai Jing asked Berniedan: "I heard that many merchant ships enter Liuqiu every year to escape the wind and waves, how do you usually receive them?" ”

"This ......"

Berniedan blushed instantly.

Although the territory of the Ryuqiu Kingdom is not small, the problem is that there is no output.

In this era, the maritime trade was all about selling precious goods, and the profits of cheap goods were too low to appear at all. And the kingdom of Liuqiu could not exchange money or precious goods in exchange. But even if they are closed, they know that the cargo on the sea ship is good. As a result, ill-intentioned situations often occur.

His kingdom is a den of thieves, others can say this, how can he be a prince who can say it?

Don't say no, Bernedan had no choice but to bite the bullet and say: "My lord, the people of the villain's homeland are simple, and I want to invite the other party to join Liuqiu." ”

I see.

If you don't give it, you will rob it, and you will rob people if you rob the goods.

It's very begging.

It's similar to the situation in the Ryuqiu Kingdom that Cai Jing heard about.

So he bowed his head and said, "You go down first and wait." ”

Bernidan left the residence in frustration and waited in the Bureau.

And after Cai Jing and the others left, they said to Zhang: "Most of this person is really from Liuqiu, but it's not that the prince and the old man don't know." ”

"How is it possible, why Honglu Temple?"

"Renhe, you don't know how many envoys Honglu Temple receives every year. Most of them are impersonated, and Ryuqiu is no exception, I heard that when the Yuanfeng period was the most, there were three envoys from Ryuqiu who met in the Sifang Pavilion, and they were afraid of being deceived. ”

"Do you want to recommend it to the bureau?"

"The old man can't eat it either, so take it slowly. However, even if he is not an envoy, he is also a person who is familiar with the inside of Ryuqiu, and it is still good to hire him to lead the way. ”

……

In the yard, Bernie Dan waited from morning to noon, just when he was hungry, he suddenly heard the hearty laughter of the little girl, turned his head to look, and found that it was a big black man holding a girl to tease, the little girl could not speak, but could laugh, most of them were daughters.

Big Brother Black smiled when he saw Berniedan, but it looked terrifying, and Bernie Dan just wanted to leave, but was stopped: "Who are you?" ”

Bernedan restrained the timidity in his heart, puffed up his chest and said, "I am the prince of the Ryuqiu Kingdom, Berniedan. Come to the Great Song Dynasty to offer Liuqiu country. ”