"Our next stop is to Muddy (present-day Brunei)." Zheng He said to Tie Ta, "The relationship between this country and the Ming Dynasty is extraordinary, and their royal family still has Chinese blood!" ”

"Oh? Are you sure? Then you can talk to me well. "The tower was interested when he heard it.

"During the Hongwu period, the imperial court sent a general soldier surnamed Huang to envoy mud. After Huang Zongbing arrived there, he not only helped the locals develop production, but also led the troops to drive away the invaders many times. King Huanni admired Chinese culture very much, and admired Huang Zongbing's talent, so he married his daughter to him. As the saying goes, good things come in pairs, and the king's younger brother also married the sister of Huang Zongbing, and the brother and sister are a concubine and a princess, which is a good story in Nanyang. With this special relationship, the trade between our two countries is prosperous, and the personnel exchanges are also very frequent, and the mud is the country with the largest number of overseas Chinese among the Nanyang countries. "Lord Wang is also very familiar with this history.

"And then?" I have never forgotten the good habit that I developed when I was a child, and I must remember to ask more questions when listening to stories, so that others will not find it boring.

"Later, the Huang general soldier was canonized by the king of mud as 'Mana Jagana', that is, the meaning of the king side by side, he once led a delegation of more than 100 people to China to pay tribute, but unfortunately died of illness during the visit, and was later buried in Nanjing with the rites of the king." Zheng He sighed with emotion, "This is the highest honor that overseas Chinese have won so far. ”

"I can't imagine that there is such an anecdote, you don't say I really don't know!" The tower smiled and had a lot of good feelings about mud.

When the destination arrived on this day, the king of mud had already been waiting in the port, and when he saw the mighty king of the iron tower, he couldn't help but be full of praise: "Huaxia is rich in land and resources, and the people are outstanding, and it really deserves its name." ”

Zheng He had friendly and frank talks with the king, and the two sides signed a series of cooperation agreements, and the friendly relations between the two countries reached a new climax.

After the dinner, the brothers sat together to drink tea and chat as usual, Zheng He said: "King Tieta, Lord Wang, now there are many overseas Chinese living in mud, as a tour so that I should go to condole, bring them the greetings of the motherland, and help them solve some practical difficulties, I really don't want to have another incident like Luzon to exclude China and humiliate China." ”

"It should." Lord Wang said with a smile.

The tower added, "Bring them more gifts."

Zheng He has long made it clear that the overseas Chinese have established a Tang village here, which is only more than 100 miles away from the port, and they have come to the mud for as little as two or three years, and have been more than 20 years, with the unique diligence and wisdom of the Chinese nation to create a solid family business, although they are in a foreign country, but all customs and habits are still in accordance with the Chinese tradition.

At dawn the next day, the two treasure ships rode the wind and waves to the Tang Village, Zheng He's trip brought a lot of hometown specialties, including bean paste, plum vegetables, fermented bean curd, ham, etc., of course, the motherland's wine and wine, so well prepared, should have had this plan very early.

After a half-day voyage, the treasure ship came to a small island, and there was actually a deep-water pier on the east side of the island where the treasure ship could dock.

There are a lot of people wearing Hanfu on the island, and when I inquire, I know that this is the Tang Village, and the compatriots already know the identity of the other party intuitively when they meet, and they are both descendants of Yan and Huang, and the blood of the dragon clan flows in their bodies, and this intimacy cannot be blocked no matter how far away they are.

The overseas Chinese were very excited to see their relatives from the motherland, and Zheng He distributed clothes, oil, rice, and specialties to each family one by one, and everyone was as happy as the New Year.

"Did everyone come to get it?" Zheng He asked the village head, Uncle Chen.

"There is still one family that did not come." Uncle Chen hesitated for a moment, but still answered truthfully.

"Is there something he can't leave? It's okay, I'll send someone to his house. Zheng He was very thoughtful.

"No, because he doesn't live here, he still lives in the old Tang Village in the mountains." Uncle Chen told Zheng He what happened. It turned out that when the overseas Chinese first came to mud, they lived in the mountainous area fifty miles away from here, at that time they were not rich, living in the mountainous area can hunt to satisfy hunger, and there is enough wood for heating, although the transportation is not convenient, but can save a lot of expenses, after saving some money, they moved here one after another to establish a new Tang Village, and also built this wharf to go to sea to do business.

"It was Uncle Liu who didn't come to receive the supplies, he and I were muddy in the same year, we are fellow villagers, and we have a good relationship. Uncle Liu's son was killed in a storm when he went to sea the year before last, and the old couple was very sad, so they stayed in the mountains and refused to move over. I told them many times that they would not listen, and told me that they were used to living in the mountains, and that when they saw the sea here, they would think of their dead son, which would only add to their sadness. I knew he didn't want to trouble us, so after a few persuasions, I had to let him go. When it comes to this stubborn fellow, Uncle Chen is also very helpless.

It was too unreasonable to let the two old men live alone on the mountain, and Zheng He's face gradually sank.

"Lord Zheng, please rest assured, we care about him very much, and we will send him something every month, and life will not be a problem." Uncle Chen knew what Zheng He was worried about.

Zheng He's mood improved at this time, and he said: "Uncle Chen, you immediately arrange for someone to lead the way, we will go to see him now, the motherland will not forget any overseas Chinese." ”

Hearing these touching words, Uncle Chen was moved to tears, and turned his head and shouted: "Xiaohua, come here." ”

A young man of eighteen or nineteen years old ran over from the crowd, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, good facial features, and a very strong look. "This is my son Chen Zhonghua, just call him Xiaohua!" Chen Bo introduced.

"China! Well, good name. Zheng He patted Xiaohua on the shoulder, "I'm going to work hard for you this time." ”

"It's not hard, I'm used to it anyway." Xiao Hua kindly reminded, "Lord Zheng, the mountain road is rugged and you can only walk, you have to be mentally prepared." ”

Zheng He laughed, "We are all soldiers, what is the point of a few dozen miles of mountain roads?" ”

Ding Erniu selected 30 strong sailors, prepared oil, rice, dry food, clothing and other supplies, and the group set off towards Uncle Liu's house with their shoulders on their shoulders.

"Erniu, bring a medicine box." Tie Ta told the old man that he was old, so he would help them check their health by the way.

"It's been ready for a long time." Ding Erniu said with a smile, this young man is really good, with his iron tower, you don't have to worry about anything.

Xiao Hua led a mule to lead the way, and although it carried two large baskets of things, its steps were still steady. "In the past, when I went to visit Uncle Liu, I used mules to carry supplies. The mountain road is difficult to walk, the mule is the most suitable for this kind of mountain road, the endurance is good, and the strength is great, it is my father specially brought back from Huaxia, with it I am a lot easier every time. Along the way, Xiaohua's mouth never stopped, and he didn't expect that although he was young, he was also a talkative person.

The team walked cautiously on the mountain path, which was either a cliff or an abyss, and it was really difficult to walk. Fortunately, Xiaohua was familiar with the road conditions, and took everyone around in the mountains, and the road was finally thrilling and dangerous, and after walking for more than an hour, a narrow valley appeared in front of him.

"Crossing this valley and crossing two more mountains is Uncle Liu's house." Xiaohua said excitedly, "Every time I walk here, I go to a cave to rest. Master Zheng, what do you mean? ”

Zheng He was also a little tired, seeing that the sailors were all sweating profusely, of course he would not refuse this good proposal, "Okay! Let's all go and rest for a while. ”

Everyone followed Xiaohua to a gentle slope, surrounded by some weathered boulders, which looked very desolate. There is a cave with a height and width in the rocks, the cave is very spacious, and more than 30 people enter and sit there, it is indeed a good place to rest.

Xiao Hua unloaded all the things on the mule, fed it a handful of fodder, poured a bamboo tube of water, and then sent it to rest outside the cave, which was the hardest part of the way.

After resting for tea, everyone's physical strength has recovered a lot, Zheng He got up and said, "Okay, let's continue to hurry!" Otherwise, you won't be able to go back before dark. ”

The sailors lined up to walk outside the cave, and then there was a loud "boom" sound overhead, and even the ground trembled, followed by the debris splashing everywhere, smashing the cave wall "bang" straight sound, and a piece of gravel flew over and hit Ding Erniu's arm, which made him grin in pain.

"Stop!" The tower took the first step out of the cave to observe, only to see a large stone fall not far from the entrance of the cave, which had been broken into more than a dozen pieces, the largest of which was larger than a bucket.

It's so dangerous! If you go out for a while, the consequences are really unimaginable, and everyone is secretly happy in their hearts.

Suddenly, the mules below let out a terrible scream, and then the cry stopped abruptly. Xiaohua loved the mule and ran down first, and was immediately stunned by the scene in front of him, out of nowhere, many rats came out of nowhere, all of them were big guys about a foot long, crawling densely on the mule.

The others also ran over, and they all felt creepy when they saw this scene, and the mules of two or three hundred catties were eaten by the rats in a blink of an eye, and there were no bones left, as if they had disappeared out of thin air.

"They're dangerous, they might attack us, let's go back to the cave and get ready for battle!" The tower decisively ordered, these rats have red eyes, salivating at the corners of their mouths, as if they have been stimulated by something that causes them to go crazy, as the saying goes, if you are not afraid of 10,000, you are afraid of what happens, be careful in everything.

The sailors were all experienced in a hundred battles, and immediately entered the combat state after hearing the order, and the iron tower moved dozens of large stones from outside the cave to block the entrance of the cave, made a cover more than one meter high, and asked the sailors to tear the clothes given to Liu Bo into strips and plug all the gaps.

"Don't let them into the cave." The tower looked solemn.

As expected, the rat became more excited after eating the mule, and a giant rat the size of three other rats came out, and the tower heard it clearly, and it was giving orders to the mouse: "Brothers, there is a lot of good food in the cave, and there are humans. They used to bully us a lot, and now it's a good opportunity for us to get revenge, do you understand? ”

"We see, King!" The rats shouted excitedly and rushed towards the mouth of the cave like a tidal wave, and they had been waiting for a long time for this day to finally declare war on humanity in the open!