NovelsAlex Chapter 1119 Kangju City
Chapter 1119 Kangju City
Chapter 1119 Kangju City
"Wait a minute before leaving the port." Seeing that the person coming was Li Jinglong, Zhu Su ordered his men to stop the boat and lower the gangway again.
The treasure ship was very spacious and one could ride a horse directly on the gangway. Li Jinglong rode his war horse directly onto the ship. After getting on the ship, he handed the war horse to the boatman.
While his followers were still boarding the ship, Li Jinglong had already strode onto the deck and greeted Zhu Su, who was waiting on the deck. He then panted and said, "Uncle Wu was in such a hurry to go south that he didn't even stay in Taicang for a few more days. If I miss the meeting with Uncle Wu, my father will beat me to death."
"If I linger here, Feng Xin will not wait for me." Zhu Su said with a smile. "Jiujiang, you are not in Nanyang, how come you are here?"
Zhu Su knew that Li Jinglong had returned to Beijing to pay his respects to Zhu Biao when he ascended the throne. However, he had always thought that Li Jinglong should have gone to Annan by now. After all, the Nanyang Fleet of the imperial court was in Nanyang at that time, and Annan had already submitted to the imperial court. The imperial court had a springboard in Southeast Asia, and now was the time when the Nanyang Fleet could do a lot.
The Ming Dynasty's naval force in Southeast Asia had previously been headed by Tang He and deputy to him, but now that Tang He has been granted an imperial title in Japan, he can no longer control the imperial fleet. Zhu Su had always believed that Zhu Biao would send Li Jinglong to Southeast Asia to take charge of the fleet.
I really didn't expect Li Jinglong to be here.
"My father has granted me territory, and it is not appropriate for me to be in charge of the imperial fleet," said Li Jinglong.
As a founding general, Li Wenzhong was naturally granted foreign territory, which was a piece of land south of Annan. There are still many fertile lands in Southeast Asia, and this is to use the Li family as a spear to open up new territory for Chinese civilization in the Southeast Ocean. As the son of Li Wenzhong, if Li Jinglong took charge of the Nanyang Fleet, it would inevitably be suspected of using the public tools of the Ming Dynasty for the private use of the Li family. Therefore, in order to avoid suspicion, Li Jinglong was unwilling to take charge of the fleet.
Zhu Su nodded to show his understanding. Li Wenzhong was a very upright person and did not want to be criticized. Li Jinglong might have done this at Li Wenzhong's instruction. "In that case, why did you stop us?"
"Hehe, my father asked me to follow my fifth uncle to do some business in the west." Li Jinglong said with a smile. "It takes a lot of money to build a country. My father has been leading troops outside for many years, but he has neglected to take care of the family's wealth."
"It just so happens that I can take advantage of your favorable boat trip to Xiyi to do some small business, so as to supplement the household expenses of Duke Cao's mansion."
Zhu Su couldn't help but laugh. It was amazing that Li Wenzhong neglected to take care of his family. As a relative of Zhu, how could Cao Guogong's Mansion lack wealth? Just the money and property that Zhu gave on weekdays was enough to keep Cao Guogong's Mansion rich for a hundred years.
All the wealth of Duke Cao's mansion was squandered by your cleverness.
"I am going to the west to fight, not to do business. Is it appropriate for you to follow me?" Zhu Su said with a smile.
"It's appropriate, how can it not be appropriate?" Li Jinglong blinked his eyes and laughed. "A business with no capital investment is still a business."
"You, you." Zhu Su scolded with a smile.
Li Wenzhong is loyal and patriotic. Although he has been appointed as a talent in a remote frontier, people like Xu Da and Tang He have sent people to the west to fight, so he will not fall behind them.
And when the Western Expedition is victorious, it will certainly be of great benefit. The Li family has just been granted a territory in Southeast Asia and also needs some start-up capital.
Of course, the Li family did not only send out Li Jinglong. After Li Jinglong boarded the ship, more than ten ships joined the fleet for the Western Expedition. These were all the fleets of the Li family.
Although Zhu Biao separated the Li family from the Nanyang Fleet, he would also give some compensation. These ships were the maritime force that Zhu Biao left for the Li family.
Li Wenzhong asked Li Jinglong to incorporate all these ships into the Western Expedition Fleet, which was a huge investment.
Let’s not talk about Zhu Su’s fleet embarking on its grand voyage to the West, and first shift our focus to Central Asia.
After defeating the Ottoman Empire, the mighty Western Crusaders captured the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid "The Lightning" on the battlefield.
The once powerful Ottoman Empire disintegrated. Bayezid's four sons began to seize power. The Ottoman Empire was divided into four parts and was no longer able to control the forces they had conquered in the past.
The areas controlled by the Ottoman Empire became lawless places, and the power of the Crusaders expanded unprecedentedly. They wantonly killed "infidels" and plundered the wealth that originally belonged to the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, as Zhu Su expected, they extended their hands to the three sultanates further east.
After all, these Turks, who had enjoyed peace for a long time, were much richer than the Turks, who used all their wealth for expansion.
When the Ming Dynasty conquered them, it did not wantonly plunder the wealth of these Turks.
In the name of jihad, they invaded the Sultanate of Khalil and massacred three cities of the Sultanate of Khalil.
The Crusaders are advancing with great force, and now the capital of the Sultanate of Khalil is in danger.
Ming Dynasty colony, Kangju City.
This Central Asian city, originally named "Samarkand", now has a bit of Chinese style. In addition to the dome-shaped mosques that can be seen everywhere in the city, there are also many Han-style buildings with black tiles and white walls.
In the central square of the city, there is a statue of Confucius with kind eyes. On the streets, besides Arabs with curled beards, Turks wearing round hats, and Semu people with red hair and blue eyes, there are also many Han people with black hair and black pupils and buns. Most of these people are merchants, knights-errant, and new scholars who come to Central Asia to study.
The original palace was mostly destroyed in the war when the Ming army conquered Samarkand. Now the most prominent building in the city has been replaced by a tall Han temple from the former palace of Timur the Great.
The main hall of the temple enshrines Emperor Haotian, the left hall enshrines Emperors Yan and Huang and Emperor Hongwu, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the right hall enshrines the supreme gods of various religions, including Allah, Tathagata, and even the Western God.
This is the temple of the "Tianyi Sect". Every day, it is bustling with incense and people come to worship in an endless stream.
The "leader" here is also the lord of Kangju City, who is none other than the evil monk Yao Guangxiao dressed in black.
"Sir, the envoy of Sultan Khalil has come to see you again. He is outside the palace right now and has threatened that if he doesn't see you, he will not leave today."
"From the look on his face, I'm afraid that the Khalil Kingdom is already in a critical situation. If we don't send troops to help, Sultan Khalil will definitely be in great danger this time."
An Arab dressed as a Han Chinese policeman came into the hall and said to Yao Guangxiao. His Chinese accent was a bit awkward, but he spoke fluently, but there was a hint of gloating in his words.
(End of this chapter)