After Cao Bin captured Shaozhou, he used his 100,000-man army to attack Prince Xing's mansion by land and sea. The Southern Han Kingdom, with its vast territory, could not organize a decent war.
This was because Liu Jixing, the ruler of Southern Han, had no one to use in the capital, and all power was in the hands of palace maids and eunuchs. There were as many as 20,000 eunuchs in the country, and in order to become an official, one had to castrate oneself first.
The Xingwang Palace was in a state of panic. In addition to the worries of the king and his ministers, there was also a special group of people who were terrified and ready to flee on board at any time; they were the merchants of the Arab Empire.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Silk Road in the Western Regions was blocked, so the Arab merchants came to the southern coast by sea, which opened up the trade route for a time. But after Zhu Wen destroyed the Tang Dynasty, he led his troops to fight in Guangdong. He was desperate and short of military funds. At this time, he found a large number of Arab merchants and killed nearly 100,000 of them without any explanation and robbed all their goods and property.
As a result, maritime trade was blocked for a time, and it was not until 20 to 30 years later that trade was resumed, but the scale was not as large as that of the Tang Dynasty. The Arabs established trade relations with the Southern Han Kingdom due to common interests, and also sent a beautiful Arab woman named Meizhuzhe, who was deeply favored by Liu Jixing.
The bloodshed had passed for decades and had long been washed away by the waves, but the shadow still remained, and the Arab merchants were very worried that after the capture of Prince Xing's Palace, the Chinese soldiers would repeat their old tricks and commit such barbaric acts again.
However, they were unwilling to completely give up their property and business profits in Xingwang Mansion. In addition, they heard rumors that the Central Plains Dynasty at that time was not the desperate Zhu Wen clan, so they still held out a glimmer of hope.
The leader of the Arab merchants decided to send envoys north to meet with the commander-in-chief of the Zhou army in order to test the attitude of the Great Zhou Dynasty.
Since the Arabs in the south were just merchants and had not participated in the war of unification, Cao Bin treated them with courtesy. Cao Bin immediately reported the matter to the court and expressed some of his own views in the memorial.
Cao Bin generally held a positive attitude towards the exchanges with the Arab merchants. First, the court could increase tax revenue from trade, and the Arabs mostly bought luxury goods such as silk and porcelain, which would not have much impact on people's livelihood; second, making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones was the essence of diplomatic relations of ancient sages. Establishing a tribute trade system could expand the prestige of the dynasty. Countries thousands of miles away would come to pay tribute, which would double the reputation of the dynasty.
When Guo Shao received the memorial forwarded from Tokyo, he had already left Lingzhou and was temporarily staying in the Bingzhou Palace.
Wei Renpu and others all seconded Cao Bin's proposal this time, and the increase in taxes alone was enough for the ministers to support. At this time, the treasury expenditure was very huge. With the solid foundation of Shu and Southern Tang, although the treasury was not empty, the annual expenditure in the past two years was more than twice the normal fiscal revenue, all relying on subsidies from the internal treasury.
Cao Bin's local army camp will be effective in the short term. Guo Shao is already planning a strategy to increase the second batch of 100,000 troops. The requirements for the ministers to implement the strategy are very simple, just three words: bring money.
In this situation, even if the Privy Council did not manage finances, it would be anxious. Once the treasury deposits looted in the previous wars were emptied, it would be strange if the entire dynasty's revenue and expenditure did not collapse. Conventional means were to increase revenue and reduce expenditure. The profit from sea trade with the Arabs was an increase in revenue, and even a little bit of money was money.
However, Guo Shao said something that no one paid attention to: How did the Arabs get to Prince Xing's Palace
Wei Renpu pondered for a moment and said: It should be by boat.
Guo Shaodao: If you come from the sea, you have to take a boat. The key is that it is thousands of miles away, and it is not easy for a boat to sail to our place. I remember that the Southern Tang sent people to the north by sea to ask for help from the Liao Kingdom, and they capsized several times while sailing near the sea. The route of the Arabs is farther than the East China Sea, so there must be a reason why they can reach the Xingwang Palace.
The ministers nodded in agreement, but they did not seem to care much, because navigation technology was not particularly important to the court.
Guo Shao, however, paid special attention to this matter because of his different perspective and knowledge. Navigation technology may not be very important now, but it will have a profound impact in the years to come. In Guo Shao's memory, it was not until the Ming Dynasty that the Chinese fleet reached Africa, and it was soon interrupted.
Being able to sail from Arabia to Southeast Asia must have unique experience and skills in shipbuilding and sailing.
Guo Shao never underestimated ancient China, nor was he blindly arrogant. Compared with other civilizations in the world at the same time, which were all backward and poor, he felt that China was still relatively advanced and open-minded in all aspects, and could be considered civilized, prosperous and stable; but not everything was the most advanced, and many aspects still had their own strengths and weaknesses. Learning from each other's strengths would help progress; for example, the Ming Dynasty was generally strong and advanced, but it still had to learn from foreign countries in terms of firearms in order to keep up with the trend.
Zuo You was also in charge of the Ministry of Rites. He was in Lingnan and ordered Zuo You to be responsible for negotiating with the Arabs. Guo Shaodao.
The ministers thought it was a good idea. The Arabs were foreigners and when it came to diplomatic relations, Cao Bin could not be allowed to preside over it. Officials from the capital had to be used to represent the central government.
Guo Shao made a decision quickly and wrote two letters, one to Cao Bin and one to Zuo You, in which he expressed his attitude and asked them to be responsible for handling affairs in the south.
At this time, Cao Bin's troops in Lingnan tightly controlled the land and water routes of the Zhenshui River and advanced cautiously and steadily. However, the army of the Southern Han Dynasty was incompetent in fighting and defending, and did not make any conventional tactical efforts such as harassing and cutting off the food supply route, so the Zhou army made very smooth progress.
Soon after, Liu Jixing sent people to the Zhou army camp to negotiate peace.
The envoy threatened the Zhou army: If the Zhou army continued to attack, he would burn down the palace of the Southern Han Dynasty and leave the Zhou army with nothing.
The conditions proposed were to cede all the territories occupied by the Zhou army north of Shaozhou and give up the title of emperor; the Zhou army stopped the attack.
Cao Bin thought this condition was ridiculous. The army of Southern Han performed so poorly that it was very likely that they would destroy the country. Why should they tolerate the existence of Southern Han
After discussing with Zuo You, he rejected the peace terms of the envoys of the Southern Han Kingdom and put forward new conditions: if the ruler of the Southern Han Kingdom leads all civil and military officials to surrender voluntarily, the court will be kind and grant you official titles and wealth; if you burn down the imperial palace and the national treasury, your crime will be aggravated and you will be sentenced to death.
Zuo You discussed trade matters with the Arab envoys.
The Arabs who came earlier were treated with courtesy, and then more important people were sent, as well as several hired Han translators and staff to accompany them.
Zuo You met him in the tent. The translator waited for the Arab to finish his greetings and then said, "Minister Zuo, his name is xxoo."
Zuo You frowned, not understanding what was said. The name said by the translator sounded unclear as if his nose was blocked. The translator thought for a moment and said: The name is roughly pronounced as Shuai Man. He is the second-in-command of the Arab fleet, and his words still count among the Arabs.
Zuo You nodded, then clasped his fists in return of the Arab's greeting.
Shuai Man looked at Zuo You and spoke a lot. Zuo You turned to look at the Chinese translator, who said: Mr. Shuai Man roughly means that they came to China to do business, they are very kind and have no hostility. They hope to get the protection of His Majesty the Emperor.
Zuo You said: The court of the Great Zhou Dynasty values etiquette and morality, which is completely different from the chaotic times when bandits were in power. You can rest assured. His Majesty hopes that the envoys from the Arab world will come to the capital of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Tokyo, to pay homage to him and exchange courtesies.
Shuai Man said through the translator: How can we ensure our own safety
Zuo You pondered and said: Your Majesty will issue an edict to make this clear. The court is willing to trade with the Arabs. The words of the Emperor of the Great Zhou are golden. The imperial edict must be counted. It is related to the prestige of the court.
He thought for a moment and said: However, the agreement between you and the Kingdom of Southern Han regarding the commission on maritime trade does not count, and we have to renegotiate it.
Shuai Man felt more relieved after hearing this. Perhaps in their opinion, what can really guarantee safety is profit. Since Zhou Chaoting wants to share the benefits, they have to have a good relationship with him.
Zuo You observed it and then mentioned Guo Shao's request in the letter, saying: "However, you merchants must agree to two conditions of our dynasty. First, you must abide by the laws of the court, and offenders will be punished according to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and you must not obstruct the work of the government."
Second, the imperial court respects your gods and will not interfere with your belief in gods and worship of Bodhisattvas, but you are not allowed to mislead the people in the territory of the Great Zhou, otherwise you will be severely punished and your safety will no longer be protected.
Zuo You also suggested that Shuai Man send people to Dongjing to pay tribute. As long as they gave the emperor some rare gifts, they would definitely get generous rewards.
Tribute from foreign countries is also a form of trade. It is a losing business for the imperial court, but a guaranteed profit for the tribute payers. Therefore, tribute is generally only allowed once a year. Not only is the imperial court trying to show off its generosity and wealth, but the key is not to make money for others, so that others have no motivation to pay tribute. Moreover, if the world is not peaceful, the safety of the tribute route cannot be guaranteed. This kind of etiquette is not mainly for economic benefits, but to expand prestige and influence, and look forward to a prosperous situation where all nations come to pay tribute.
After Shuai Man returned, he discussed and decided to accept the request to pay tribute to the capital of the Great Zhou in order to further examine the attitude of the Zhou court.
The Arabs prepared some rare goods from their hometown for trade. When Shuaiman checked the goods, he found a wooden model of a sailboat. He became furious and called the leader of his business partners to severely punish the people who prepared the goods as a warning to others.
Shuaiman’s reason was that the sailing ship model sent by the person who made the mistake might leak the shipbuilding design of the Arabs to Middle-earth.
All the partners agreed with his reasoning, so the person who made the mistake was unlucky and had to have his hand chopped off. He argued that the Zhou people never valued this thing, and the model would definitely be placed in the room by the nobles as a curious decoration; the reason was that the nobles of the Middle-earth people despised merchants and craftsmen and would not associate with them.
But Shuai Man did not forgive him and insisted on punishing him.
A group of people discussed and made a rule that they could not tell outsiders about shipbuilding technology, navigation experience, mathematics, arithmetic, etc., otherwise they would be executed next time.
They removed some models from the gift list and replaced them with gold ornaments, rare colorful gemstones, spices and other items.