The majestic treasure ships rode the wind and waves on the vast ocean, and the slight bumps were like stepping on the sand, and after reaching the Indian Ocean from Malacca, the speed of the fleet under the influence of the monsoon increased significantly.

Xu Hao sat on the carved lacquer chair and sorted out a pile of scattered texts, relatively speaking, as the highest official, he had to deal with very few things, whether it was commanding the fleet or preparing the documents and various rewards for canonization, or to the specific command of the operation, visiting the local customs, etc., almost all of them were responsible for others, this is the result of a clear division of labor, Xu Hao is only responsible for formulating the strategy, and the specific details are also handed over to the staff officers and secretaries.

Xu Hao has always liked to do things to make the best use of his talents, he doesn't like to take power and has no desire to control, unless it is necessary, he never interferes with Mu Hui and others, even if it is a bad aspect. Because he is long past the age of black and white worldview, where exploitation and oppression can be placed, and the same is true within the fleet.

Since going to sea, Xu Hao has not been to Siam, one of the great powers in South Asia, since the former Mongols established an unprecedentedly large empire, affecting almost every country in the world, destroying countless countries, and with the decline of the four khanates, countless new countries were born, and the Ming Dynasty was just one of them.

The same is true in Siam, where the Mongols turned the Eurasian continent upside down, and Burma, the original overlord of the Indochina Peninsula, collapsed into a pattern of three ethnic groups; In the north, the Dai people who migrated from Yunnan and other places to escape the war, mixed a branch of the Tai people who migrated from the Northern Song Dynasty, plus some local ethnic minorities, formed a new ethnic group, the Shan people, and established the Ava State.

In the south is the Mon-ruled state of Chenla Khmer, and in the center is the Burmese state of Taungoo, with dozens of independent small states.

It is said that the Thai people migrated to Thailand in later generations, and fortunately escaped the destruction of the Mongolian iron hoof, because of the demise of the Bagan Dynasty in Myanmar and the decline of the Chenla Angkor Dynasty, so they took advantage of the rise of the situation, probably more than ten years earlier than the Ming Dynasty to establish the first unified Ayutthaya Dynasty in Thai history.

Thailand is an interesting country, good at politics and diplomacy. Good at using external forces, whether it is the colonial era of great exploration or the First and Second World Wars, Thailand's 'skill' has always been protected from direct occupation by foreign forces.

Soon after the establishment of the Ayuthaya Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty sent envoys to all countries, and immediately sent a large delegation of envoys led by the prince himself, which made Zhu Yuanzhang very happy and gave the seal of the King of Siam.

In just five years, Siamese paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty as many as 15 times, and there were exchanges of personnel, weapons, and goods from the Ming Dynasty. Siam gradually became stronger, and since then it has expanded its territory year after year, and its sphere of influence has expanded to Malacca.

Xu Hao's warning this time that Siam was not for no reason, first, China's suzerainty status was recognized by all surrounding countries, and Siam was not qualified to be the suzerainty of Manchuria. The Second Siam took advantage of the Battle of Jingjing to attack the mission to Malacca, and it was Xu Hao who deliberately warned and snubbed this most loyal younger brother.

The king of Siam was really "clever", his soft figure bowed his head and apologized for his sins for the first time, and sent the prime minister to show his loyalty, Xu Hao was very satisfied with the other party's knowledge. Give the Golden Seal of the King of Siam prepared by the Ministry of Rites, after all, Siam is a very important trading subject country and an important supply base of the Ming Dynasty.

The first stop in the Indian Ocean is Ceylon, which is surrounded by continents on three sides and the Indochina Peninsula and the Malay Archipelago to the east. To the north is the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East of West Asia, and to the west is the black African continent, which is like a huge inland lake, which has been a natural passage for countries to travel between countries since ancient times.

Due to the special geographical formation. The Indian Ocean is circulated by a clockwise monsoon in summer, and vice versa in winter. It will be easy to arrive at the destination. So the Indian Ocean is by far the busiest in the world.

Fleets, merchants, envoys, scholars, and monks traveled from east to west, and from north to south, and were called the "Sea of Prosperity" by the locals.

Chinese merchants generally rarely went out of Malacca, because they could buy the goods they needed through Guò Siam, and the trade routes in the Indian Ocean were basically monopolized by Arab merchants, so they were easily besieged and hostile, and even if the final destination was India, there was no need to move on, except for the Hui merchant ships.

The journey is very pleasant, following the monsoon all the way to the west, the crew can enjoy the beautiful sea views in the comfort of India, Persia, Arabia and China, and many famous countries and cities have been famous for a long time

Ceylon is the later Sri Lanka, because the main ethnic group Sinhala means lions, China also calls it the lion country, the island and India are only separated by a shallow strait, by cultural influence and population migration are very convenient.

After Ashoka of India popularized Buddhism, Ceylon became the most staunch Buddhist country, and it was also the mother country of Buddhism in Burma, Siam and other countries. When the Tang Dynasty Xuanzang was practicing in India, he went to Ceylon to study Buddhism, and only within a hundred miles of the royal city, there were hundreds of Buddhist temples and 20,000 monks.

Ceylon was deeply influenced by the Buddhist civilization that praised peace, but at the same time, due to the traditional Hinduism of the Indians, religious conflicts also brought about invasion, and the Chola country established by the Tamils of India once conquered the island of Ceylon, and later the fleeing Sinhalese invited reinforcements from the Srivijaya State and successfully restored the country.

Today, the Tamils still occupy the north and the Sinhalese in the south, and the north and south have been at a stalemate for decades.

After dinner, Xu Hao was walking on the boat and saw that the officials of the Ministry of Rites were preparing a huge stone tablet, and more than a dozen pieces were given away along the way, so he didn't care, stopped for a while and left.

The text on it is carved in Chinese, Persian and Tamil, the three most common languages in the Indian Ocean, of which Tamil is written by Indian merchants through guò, which roughly means to be carried by heaven, Emperor Hongxi or something, praying for peace between the two countries and the safety of travelers.

Unexpectedly, after arriving at the southern port of Galle, the officials enthusiastically went ashore to erect the stone monument, which attracted many merchants and ordinary people to watch, which aroused the dissatisfaction of King Alekhner.

Xu Hao and the officials were obviously guilty of diplomatic negligence, which was also the reason why the road was too smooth and did not seriously examine the local form.

The two countries were at odds with the Sinhalese being the most devout Buddhists, while the Aleksan was not much of a Buddhist, and was a polytheist like the Indians, so he was questioned by the people.

At present, under the pressure of internal and external troubles, his nerves have become very sensitive, and he thinks that the Ming supports the Tamils. It was to refuse Ming officials to go to the royal city.

This is exactly the same as what happened to Zheng He in history, after all, the etiquette is the same, Xu Hao can't change the Ministry of Etiquette, it can only be said that the international environment he encountered when he went out of the West is basically the same as in history.

But in the end, the time is different, and he has no money to expand the army, and he has been crazy about money recently, Zheng He was attacked by him when he returned to the sea, and now he can't wait to do it directly.

The next day, Ceylon officials came to say that the king had agreed again, and Xu Hao did not suspect it, but out of his usual caution, he left Mu Hui to guard the fleet. He ordered 4,000 people to set off with Yao Guangxiao.

This time, he led the Liaodong Army, from top to bottom, he experienced the Battle of Jingjing, and later graduated from the Dalian Military Academy, which can be called the elite of a hundred battles, leaving behind the 10,000 naval guards who established meritorious and glorious achievements.

In the early morning, 500 cavalrymen wearing red military uniforms and bearskin military hats galloped in the jungle, Xu Hao rode a horse and walked in front, left and right were 500 guards on horseback, and in the middle were Yao Guangxiao and other officials and 2,000 spirited Liaodong infantry. Behind was a convoy of 800 heavy soldiers, loaded with dozens of artillery pieces and camp tents.

Behind the palace were herdsmen and 200 knights, carrying spare hay and cattle and sheep. Walking through the jungle to the open Pingchuan, the sky is clear today. The breeze blows slowly from the sea, the sun shines on the spears on the muskets, and the fields are full of flowers.

The soldiers were in a happy mood and hugged the Huang Luo umbrella, which represented the Son of Heaven. Hold high their respective military and regimental flags. Xu Hao was also very excited and allowed his subordinates to spread freely on the plain.

Drummers and trumpeters marched at the front of the line, snare drums beating to the beat. The song echoed in the heavens and the earth.

"The wind is from the dragon, the cloud is from the tiger, and the dust and earth are fame.

Looking at Shenzhou, the people are bitter, and thousands of miles of fertile land are barren.

Look at the world, as much as you want, and make up for the defects of heaven.

Good boy, don't be a parent, just for the common people, not for the lord.

Holding a steel knife of ninety-nine, he killed Hu Er before stopping.

I am a dignified man, what is a Tartar as a horse and a cow. ”

Xu Hao heard the brothers singing an exciting military song, and couldn't help but be enthusiastic, and couldn't help but sing along: "The strong man drinks all the wine in the bowl, and he doesn't look back on the journey of a thousand miles; The golden drums roared in unison, and the yellow dragon swore endlessly! ”

This is a military song of the Red Turban Army, the rebels around the country are singing this song one after another, not hesitating to abandon their lives to fight with the Tartars to the end, the Mongols from the Central Plains back to the grassland, from south to north, from west to east, the song resounded throughout the land of China.

I don't know how many times I sang it repeatedly, Xu Hao had already dropped the reins, looking at the sky with fascination, at this moment in addition to being full of pride, he also missed his relatives more and more.

The military song sung by the Han people in Liaodong has a unique taste, blending the melancholy and vastness of the Northeast, the knights beat their chests vigorously, and the uniform footsteps of the soldiers converge into a powerful beat, rough and sad, bold and hot-blooded, just like the heavy black soil outside the pass.

Everyone was elated, and the heads writhed to the rhythm of the music, and soon even the strange grassland seemed to be infected by the melody of the music, and she followed the footsteps of the people, the foot of the horse, the fluttering of the flags, and the ups and downs in the tremors.

A flock of frightened birds flew up from the woods and flapped their wings in front of the procession, like an aerial flying force.

After walking for a long time, Xu Hao's mount under his crotch was the descendant of the sweaty horse given by King Yan back then, faintly neighing, he held a gilded scepter in his hand, passed through the grassland of birds and flowers, and found that the road guided by Ceylon officials was getting more and more deserted, with stone walls between canyons on both sides, and there was no shadow of the royal city as far as the eye could see?

Xu Hao quietly glanced at the guards, and soon the knight at the front returned, and surrounded the Ceylon officials with unkind eyes.

A few dull rumbling sounds were faintly heard, and the knights behind the palace rushed to shout: "Governor Qiyu, the mountain road has been blocked by ambush soldiers cutting down big trees. ”

Xu Hao's face sank like water, and he immediately ordered: "Those who don't tell the truth will be killed." ”

As the two bloody heads rolled down, an official immediately told the truth, and the king ordered 10,000 Ceylonese troops to set up an ambush in the dangerous area ahead, and at the same time sent 40,000 troops to the port from the main road to raid and seize the Ming fleet. (To be continued......)