Chapter 684 0679 [Princess Yinchuan Sounds Better]

There were quite a few envoys from the vassal states who came to pay tribute this time. In addition to Xixia, Dali, and Goryeo, there were also Champa and Zhenla in Southeast Asia.

Looking at the two Song dynasties, which country had the best relationship with China?

It must be Champa.

Since Jiaozhi established itself as the Kingdom of Annan, the Song Dynasty and Champa no longer had territorial disputes, and they had a common enemy, Annan. As a result, the exchanges between the two countries became more frequent, and they even sent troops to fight Annan together.

Champa envoys came to the Northern Song Dynasty to pay tribute, sometimes once a year, sometimes once every two or three years, more actively than any other country.

They all rushed to arrive in Beijing before the first month of the year, because there was a spring festival in ancient China.

Every time Champa envoys caught up with the festival, the Song Dynasty emperor would confer an official title on the Champa king.

In the winter of the year before last, Champa merchants brought back the news of the fall of the Song Dynasty. Champa King Yang Bumadi cried and wailed to pay tribute to Song Huizong from a distance, and then sent envoys to Guangzhou to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. The envoys crossed Meiling and entered Jiangxi from the Yangtze River all the way to Kaifeng.

"I am the Champa envoy, and I am here on the orders of the king to congratulate the emperor of the Celestial Empire on the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Long live the Ming Emperor!"

The envoy in front of him, named Fo Ma, although he came from the southern region of Vietnam in later generations, was dressed a bit like an Indian.

Champa was deeply influenced by Indian culture. The country adopted the Brahman system, and the four major castes were clearly divided. Moreover, the political system was quite loose, and the local nobles had a strong sense of autonomy. They supported the king because they were often attacked by neighboring countries.

Zhu Guoxiang nodded and smiled: "Stand up, and take a seat!"

The envoy Fo Ma could speak Chinese, but it was the dialect of Guangdong, and a Guangdong official had to translate.

After the envoy carefully sat down, Zhu Guoxiang asked: "What is the situation around Champa? Has Annan invaded Champa again?"

Foma said with a smile on his face: "Your Majesty, the great emperor, the cruel King of Annan died of illness last year. This must be because of your Majesty's influence. Your Majesty proclaimed himself emperor and founded a country in the Central Plains, which scared the King of Annan thousands of miles away to death!"

"Hahaha!" Zhu Guoxiang laughed when he heard it.

Champa was bullied badly by Annan, and the death of the King of Annan was a news of universal celebration in Champa.

More than 90 years ago, Annan invaded Champa. Champa fought against the whole country, and more than half of the army was killed, and was forced to surrender to Annan.

More than 70 years ago, Annan used the excuse of not paying tribute for 16 years to send troops to attack Champa again. Champa was defeated again, with more than 30,000 killed and more than 5,000 captured alive.

More than 50 years ago, Annan invaded again, captured the King of Champa, and set fire to the capital of Champa, forcing it to give up three states of land.

In recent decades, the king of Annan who just died of illness has been in power.

Champa won once and took back the three states, but was defeated again and lost the three states again.

Seeing Zhu Guoxiang was very happy, Fo Ma immediately tried to test him: "I have lived in Kaifeng for a month. I heard that the Ming soldiers have won many battles in the north. Now that the king of Annan has died of illness, his country must be in chaos. Why don't the Ming and Champa send troops together to conquer the brutal and inhumane Annan."

Zhu Ming, who had been sitting next to him, suddenly said: "The Ming Dynasty will definitely conquer Annan, but it has to wait until the Jin Dynasty is destroyed. Go back and tell the king of Champa to train his troops diligently and conquer Annan within ten years!"

"Long live the Ming Dynasty!" Fo Ma was overjoyed.

Every Champa envoy who came to pay tribute would take the opportunity to complain, telling how brutal Annan was, and then instigating China to fight Annan.

This time it was successful, how could they not be ecstatic?

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The Ming Dynasty replaced the Song Dynasty and became the master of China, so it should treat friendly vassal states well."

The ceremonial officer stood up and said: "The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty has issued an order to restore all the titles and official positions of the Champa King Yang Bumadi in the former Song Dynasty. That is, the Huaiyuan Army Jiedushi, the Observation Regent, the Jinzi Guanglu Dafu, the Inspector Sikong, the Envoy of Linzhou in charge of all the armies, the Governor of Linzhou, the Governor of Baizhou, the Governor of Lianzhou and the Imperial Censor, the Upper Pillar State, the King of Champa, with a fief of 1,000 households and a real fief of 500 households."

He also said: "The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty has shown his grace and conferred the title of the Champa King Yang Bumadi as the Governor of Lizhou!"

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor..."

When Fo Ma heard the conferred official position, he knelt down excitedly and kowtowed crazily.

Lizhou was one of the three states taken away by Annan a few years ago.

The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty conferred the title of the Champa King as the Governor of Lizhou, which was a clear attitude to support Champa to take back the lost land. It is no longer like the previous Song Dynasty, which was mostly a peacemaker.

The envoy Fo Ma left happily. He had made such a diplomatic contribution, and he would definitely be rewarded by the king when he returned.

"Announce the envoy of Zhenla to see the emperor!"

Zhenla is Cambodia.

Moreover, this was the heyday of the Angkor Dynasty.

"The humble minister Jiumo Sengke, on the order of the King of Zhenla, congratulates the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty on his ruling China!"

The chief envoy of Zhenla was Jiumo Sengke, and the deputy envoy was Mojun Mingji, which sounded like a martial arts fantasy.

The territory of this country is more than ten times that of Annan and Champa.

But the expansion speed is too fast, and there are a lot of mountainous areas. The comprehensive national strength is not as good as Annan for the time being, and it even fights back and forth with Champa.

Annan imitated China, calling itself the Little China of the South, and regarded Champa and Zhenla as foreign barbarians, trying to take the two countries as its tributary states.

While Zhenla pretended to be friendly with Annan, it also wanted to nibble away at Champa's territory.

However, Annan was known as the Little China, and Champa was canonized by China, so Zhenla always felt that it was inferior. So during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, Zhenla also took the initiative to come to pay tribute, trying to gain stronger legality in the war.

Brother Jiumo met Song Huizong ten years ago. After he was given the throne, he began to look at Zhu Guoxiang and Ju Ming very rudely.

Emperor Zhu sat too far away and Brother Jiumo could not see clearly, so he focused all his attention on Prince Zhu.

Ju Ming smiled back, and Brother Jiumo quickly lowered his head.

The envoy from Champa filed a complaint against Annan, and the envoy from Zhenla filed a complaint against Champa.

Jumoko said: "His Majesty the Ming Emperor, Champa always sends troops to plunder our country. This time when I was on a mission, the fleet was almost robbed by Champa. Please make the decision for our country!"

This is not a lie, Champa does belong to Teddy.

Although Champa was repeatedly invaded by Annan, it also liked to provoke other countries. In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Champa even robbed Arab merchant ships, and then took the Arab merchants' goods and swaggered to engage in tribute trade with the Southern Song Dynasty.

Chenla and Champa were enemies, and over the next few decades the two armies attacked each other's capitals.

And it's still a turn-based system. You capture my capital first, then I capture your capital, and you capture my capital... Then Annan said, don't fight anymore, they are all my vassals!

Zhu Guoxiang said: "If this matter is true, I will rebuke the king of Champa and order him not to harass neighboring countries."

Jiumo Sengge said happily: "The people of our country admire the Chinese style. Last time I came to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, I brought back a batch of Buddhist scriptures. The whole country was rejoicing. Please give me another batch of Buddhist scriptures so that I can take them back." Understand Buddhism.”

Zhu Guoxiang said to the ceremony officer: "List the Buddhist scriptures owned by the Ming Dynasty and let the Zhenla envoy carefully select them."

"Yes!" the courtesy officer promised.

Zhu Guoxiang added: "China not only has Buddhist scriptures, but also Confucian scriptures. Go back and ask King Zhenla. If he truly surrenders to the Ming Dynasty, he can send his children to study Confucianism in the Ming Dynasty."

Jiumasenge said: "I must go back and tell the king."

The ceremonial officer began to read out the edict, conferring the title of King Chenla and giving him a few more official positions, but they were far less numerous than those of the King of Champa.

There was no other way. The Champa Kingdom paid tribute frequently, coming every now and then, and every time they caught up with the suburban festival, they would be granted official status.

The edict in front of me only announced the content.

For the actual canonization, envoys will be sent out to sea to go to the capitals of the two countries to complete it.

Next, it was finally Xixia's turn.

"My young minister, Li Renli, pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and pays homage to the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty!"

Li Renli not only came by himself, but also repeatedly requested in advance to bring his adopted daughter to Li Qianshun.

After discussion, the Zhu family and his son agreed to Xixia's marriage request and accepted the fake princess of Xixia.

After being seated, Li Renli began to introduce his daughter: "This is the daughter of His Majesty our country. The king gave her the title Princess Furong."

Ju Ming suddenly said: "This title is not good."

Li Renli was startled: "I dare to ask His Highness the Crown Prince, but what taboo did you commit?"

Ju Ming said: "I once heard someone say that the most beautiful woman in Xixia is Princess Li Qinglu of Yinchuan. Why not send Princess Yinchuan to us for marriage?"

Zhu Guoxiang: "..."

Li Renli was confused when he heard this: "Your Highness, there is no Princess Yinchuan in our country. It must be spread by meddlesome people."

But Zhu Ming said: "Since it is a lie, then let it be true. Go back and tell the leader of the Xixia Kingdom to change his daughter's name to Li Qinglu and change her title to Princess Yinchuan."

Li Renli felt insulted. How could he force a princess from another country to change her name during formal diplomatic relations?

But his arms couldn't hold his thighs, so Li Renli could only obey: "What His Highness said is absolutely true. I will definitely return to the country to report to the king."

The last time the two countries signed a contract, although they were a country of father and son, there was never a formal envoy.

This time, the canonization ceremony had to be performed. Zhu Guoxiang named Li Qianshun the King of Xixia, as well as a series of false titles such as Doctor Jin Ziguanglu, Shangzhuguo, and Xiliang Governor.

When the Xixia envoy left the main hall, Zhu Guoxiang couldn't help but yell at his son, regardless of the presence of eunuchs, etiquette officers, and historians: "Are you crazy?"

Qi Julang's writing brush trembled when he heard it, and he didn't know how to record it.

But Zhu Ming smiled and said: "Father, didn't you tell the story of Princess Li Qinglu of Yinchuan to your son?"

Zhu Guoxiang angrily ordered Mr. Qi: "You don't need to remember these sentences."

"yes!"

The living man breathed a sigh of relief and blamed himself for being too ignorant. He had never heard of what mental illness is.

I have to ask the prince for advice when I find time.

"The envoy of Xuan Dali Kingdom is here to see you!"

Li Boxiang and Huang Jian went inside to pay their respects, and were both given seats.

After chatting for a while, Zhu Guoxiang asked: "You two, one surnamed Li and the other Huang, are your ancestors Han?"

The two of them are familiar with Confucian classics and admire the culture of the Central Plains. They cling to their ancestors without hesitation.

Li Boxiang said: "Reporting to your majesty, my ancestors are descendants of the Tang royal family."

Huang Jian was even more awesome: "The ancestor of Xiao Chen is Lord Chun Shen."

Zhu Guoxiang was greatly shocked and nodded in approval: "They all have a long history. It can be seen that Dali is also a Zhuxia."

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

The two were immediately overjoyed. They liked this and it contained profound political elements.

In fact, they all belong to the Bai ethnic group and only had Han surnames in the Tang Dynasty.

In addition to the Li and Huang families in Dali, there are also Duan, Gao, Yang, Zhao, Dong, Wang, Zhou, He, Su, Zhang, Gong, Yin, etc.

They were the first to become Chinese and regarded the surrounding ethnic groups as barbarians.

Annan is similar. It calls itself China and is surrounded by barbarians.

Fan Chuo's "Yunnan Chronicles" records detailed information about the southwest region of the Tang Dynasty, but unfortunately it was only circulated in Yunnan at that time.

As for the Dali Kingdom, the Ming Dynasty's monarchs and ministers were completely in the dark.

Zhu Guoxiang said to the two: "The Central Plains and Dali are both in the Xia Dynasty. It is really inappropriate not to have exchanges for a long time. Not only should the two countries' governments trade with each other, but also allow merchants from the two countries to freely enter and exit each other's borders."

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Li Boxiang praised.

In addition to requesting the title, his important mission during his mission to the Ming Dynasty was to restore commercial exchanges.

Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming's idea was to let the merchants find out the truth about Dali and draw the marching route and enemy cities!