I

The envoys arrived at the Persian border and were warmly welcomed by the governors along the way.

But after arriving in the capital of Persia, the situation changed somewhat. The nobles and officials were still very enthusiastic, but they could not see the Persian emperor. The new emperor was a drunkard all the time.

Anyone who wanted to see the emperor had to go through the eunuch.

Xie Yuan had no choice but to visit the eunuchs first, but the reply he got was that if he wanted to see the emperor, he could, but he had to bribe the eunuchs first, and it was not enough if the money was too small.

Xie Yuan turned to look at Deputy Envoy Pang Anguo: "Are we coming to Persia? Why do I feel like I'm back in the Ming Dynasty?"

Pang Anguo said: "It is still the Ming Dynasty of Zhengde and Wanli dynasties."

"Let's go, there's no need to meet. Persia will definitely decline in less than ten years." Xie Yuan sneered.

Not only was it in decline, even the Torgut tribe had nothing to do and went to Persia to rob it. The huge Persian empire had no temper.

The great nobles of Persia were very satisfied with Emperor Jiu Mengzi. The first two emperors centralized power and caused great headaches for the nobles. Now that they had regained their former privileges, they wished that the new emperor would never show up.

The envoys went all the way to the Persian Gulf and waited for two full months before a Persian merchant ship finally headed to Southeast Asia.

The price still had to be negotiated, as ferry tickets were expensive, and the envoy had more than 2,000 horses and hundreds of camels.

All the hundreds of camels were sold, as were the horses used to carry the armor, and only the best horses were shipped back with the ship.

Just as they were preparing to board the ship, Persian merchants brought several "natives".

One of the "natives" asked: "But a messenger from the Celestial Empire?"

"Are you Chinese?" Xie Yuan asked doubtfully.

This person has a Han face, but the clothes he wears...well, they are also Han clothes, but they always feel a bit nondescript.

Hearing the familiar Chinese language, the man burst into tears. After crying for a long time, he finally said: "Angel, we are navy soldiers living on a deserted island. We have lived on the island for more than ten years!"

"More than ten years?" Xie Yuan immediately realized, "Are you the first batch of envoys to Europe?"

The man nodded hurriedly: "We encountered a storm, and more than a hundred people were stranded on the desert island. There are a few boatmen, but they can repair the ship, but it is extremely difficult to build the ship by yourself. It took more than ten years to build it, and finally we built it. A small sailboat. Governor... Brother Deng proclaimed himself governor, and he asked me to take people across the sea by boat. Fortunately, we soon saw land to the west. We followed the shore all the way north and encountered the Omani harbor castle. Oman They sent us to Persia and said we could return home on a Persian merchant ship.”

Xie Yuan was not in a hurry to go back and asked quickly: "How big is that island?"

"It's very big, probably as big as several Qiongzhou (Hainan Island)," the man said. "We have occupied the west coast of the island and are conquering the indigenous countries in the center of the island."

Xie Yuan was dumbfounded. There are several islands as big as Qiongzhou, and more than a hundred Chinese people are still expanding?

In fact, the area of ​​Madagascar is larger than the 17 Hainan Islands.

Xie Yuan immediately ran to the local governor, contacted Persian merchants through the governor, and obtained several ships from the merchants to go south.

All expenses were paid in advance by the governor, and the reward was to transport a batch of goods exclusive to the governor and put them in Chittagong port for Persian merchants to pick up. They must be rare and good goods, such as Yun brocade, imitation Ru porcelain, top-quality tea, etc., which ordinary merchants cannot buy if they have money.

Xie Yuan first went to visit the King of Oman. The King of Oman was very generous and sent two warships to escort them south.

By the way, there is an Omani prince who is still studying in Nanjing at this time.

Finally arriving in Madagascar, the original "Boina City" was changed to "Wangxiang City" by the Chinese.

Among the mixed-race children born to Chinese and indigenous women, the oldest ones are already fourteen or fifteen years old. There are also some teenagers aged between 16 and 20 who were the first indigenous children captured or rescued by the Chinese. They have been learning to speak Chinese and write Chinese characters since they were young. They think they are all Chinese regardless of their appearance... and they are not very good at it even if they look at their appearance. distinguish.

In the complex river network surrounding Wangxiang City, rice is grown everywhere, and many drinking water irrigation canals have been dug.

There are many "mansion houses" around the city, all of which belong to big Chinese landowners. The shape of the houses is also Chinese. At first glance, it looks like a rural village in southern China.

Governor Deng Youzhang led dozens of people out of the city to greet them. When they saw the envoys, they also burst into tears.

"Chief Deng, you are tired." Xie Yuan said with emotion.

Deng Youzhang said quickly: "I'm not tired, it would be nice to meet the Chinese people. We don't expect to be able to return to the country, so we just want to know how our family is doing. My old mother is almost seventy after all. I haven't known her for more than ten years." Life was going pretty well.”

Xie Yuan asked: "What is the specific situation here?"

Deng Youzhang immediately explained: "The first people who floated to the island were 88 navy personnel, 73 civilian, logistics, and sailor personnel, and 4 Persian slaves. Those 4 Persian slaves also learned to speak Chinese, and now they are with us They are brothers. 165 people floated to this island. Over the past ten years, 7 people have died of illness and war. Now there are only 158 old brothers left."

"More than 830 of the children we gave birth to are alive. The military doctors on board the ship lacked medicinal herbs, so many of the children died. We also adopted many orphans and taught them to speak Chinese and write Chinese characters. There are more than 500 orphans in total. The oldest A group of them are already able to carry swords and fight."

"At the beginning, we could still use firecrackers and artillery, but now the gunpowder has been used up. We know the formula of gunpowder, but we don't know how to make nitrate. Now we can only use bows, arrows, knives and guns to fight the indigenous people."

"We have built six cities. They are called cities, but they are actually similar to small towns in the Celestial Empire. Old brothers take their children as city lords, adopted sons serve as officials, and indigenous tribes live and farm around the cities. In addition to the newly conquered indigenous people , the rest of the natives obeyed the rule. After all, we taught them how to farm and dig ditches, and they harvested more food than before."

"There are also indigenous people who have learned to speak Chinese, but those indigenous nobles are stubborn and regard Chinese as the language of the nobility and do not allow the common people of the tribe to learn it. Any indigenous common people who dare to speak Chinese will be beheaded if they are caught, and I have not even given my repeated orders. The law prohibits it.”

"..."

Deng Youzhang chatted for a long time, and Xie Yuan had already heard much of the content on the way.

Xie Yuan said in surprise: "You have more than a hundred people, and you have given birth to more than 800 children in more than ten years. Are these still the ones who died in infancy?"

Deng Youzhang smiled bitterly and said: "We are afraid of all the natives around us. Only those born to us and adopted by ourselves are our own. I married eight wives and gave birth to more than 20 children, and only eleven of them died in infancy. Three. Other old brothers, the one with the least number of wives has four."

"By the way," Deng Youzhang added, "many of the wives of my old brothers are the daughters of nobles from various tribes. For tribes that actively join, the nobles will send their daughters for marriage. If they don't accept them, they will feel uneasy. Tribes As the nobles send more and more daughters, the old brothers have more and more wives.”

Xie Yuan glanced at the young men behind Deng Youzhang, and there was no trace of mixed blood at all. They looked like they were Chinese.

This is because the indigenous people of Madagascar, like the indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands, belong to the Polynesian race and are very close to the genes of the Han people.

Deng Youzhang began to introduce the main officials, exactly as he did for overseas governors.

Under the Governor's Palace, there are also three prefectures, each with two counties, and each county has many villages and towns.

The administrative management is very extensive, and the area of ​​one government is roughly equivalent to the island of Taiwan. There are six counties in total, and they directly rule six cities and the rural natives outside the cities. Those further away from the city still belong to tribal autonomy and pay some tribute to the county magistrate every year.

Deng Youzhang invited the envoys into Wangxiang City and said as they walked: "The reason why we are eager to expand is that many old brothers can't wait any longer. They also want to be magistrates and city lords. Now there are only six city lords and only thirty senior officials." Multiple people.”

Xie Yuan didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "You are enforcing enfeoffment. In a hundred years, the city lords and magistrates who will be enfeoffed will all become princes."

"There is no way, everyone wants to be an official, even the damn illiterate people want to be the city lord." Deng Youzhang said helplessly.

Xie Yuan suddenly asked: "Do you want to return to China?"

Deng Youzhang was stunned for a moment, and he didn't know it himself.

The rush to build ships and get in touch with the motherland is the common wish of all the old brothers, and no one can violate the collective consensus.

But it's really hard to let them go.

More than 100 old brothers, including the four Persian slaves, are now big landowners. The slaves they freed all became sharecroppers, farming land and paying rent for their old brothers.

You will definitely be able to buy more supplies when you return home, the food you can eat will be more exquisite, and the clothes you can wear will be more comfortable. But after returning, will they still own so much land? If you take a bunch of wives and children back home, will they be able to support them?

After thinking about it for a long time, Deng Youzhang said: "I don't want to return to China, but I want to contact my family and know if my old mother is still alive. I also have a wife and children in my hometown. If they are willing to come, I will take them here. If they don't want to come, I will take them here." I also plan to send some money back...I have money, and I discovered a gold mine on the island!"

"Gold mine?" Xie Yuan's eyes widened.

Deng Youzhang nodded and said: "Now we can only pan for gold sand. Refining gold requires mercury, and mercury cannot be found on the island. I also discovered iron ore and can now make my own swords. Many indigenous people still use copper weapons and iron swords." You can conquer them."

Xie Yuan said: "After I return to the country, I will explain the details to Your Majesty. Your Majesty should officially appoint you as the governor, and then transport you mercury and supplies, and you will be responsible for exchanging them with gold. Of course, the amount of gold mined will be yours. Then His Majesty and the Cabinet have the final say."

"Everything depends on angels!" Deng Youzhang was willing to share gold with the court because he couldn't get mercury and could only dig for some placer gold.

Moreover, with the supplies sent by China, they had cotton clothes to wear and a constant supply of ammunition, which allowed them to conquer the island tribes more quickly.