Chapter 1000 1091 Sulu Kingdom

Chapter 1000 1091 Sulu Kingdom

According to the barbarians' attack plan, they will land near Pengaslan Bay, bypass the city of Daimao from land to encircle Lin Feng and block Lin Feng's escape route to the island.

Although it coincided with his plan, Deng Zilong was not happy at all.

If Lin Feng's escape route was blocked and he was surrounded in Daimao City, with the bonus of surprise attack, Deng Zilong was not optimistic about how long he could last.

If he was wiped out by the barbarians, it would be useless for the Ming navy to arrive.

Deng Zilong had calculated that it would take at least a month for Admiral Yu to lead the fleet to arrive.

In the Governor's Mansion, Deng Zilong did not dare to turn against the barbarians and openly oppose their plan because of his lack of strength. He could only use more official words, saying that if he could wipe out the Lin Feng pirate group, whether he captured or killed Lin Feng, he would be praised by the Ming court.

And the answer to him was not the modesty and caution that the Chinese usually show, but a very arrogant and arrogant statement that they would soon solve the Lin Feng pirate group.

This made Deng Zilong so angry that he had nowhere to vent, and he could only sulk alone.

Sitting on the sofa, Deng Zilong took a long time to calm down completely.

He knew that he could no longer stop the barbarians from encircling Lin Feng. Next, he could only see how many vassal soldiers they could find to help the ships they sent out.

The current situation, to put it bluntly, is that the Ming Dynasty and the barbarians are showing off their muscles to each other.

He is obviously not at an advantage because of insufficient preparation.

It can be said that this time, apart from knowing the general plan of the barbarians, there is nothing to gain.

So, after thinking about it in his mind, he decided to return tomorrow afternoon.

While Deng Zilong was struggling, Captain Lin had already walked into the Sulu King's Palace.

This is a building with obvious Islamic style. Unlike Chinese buildings that are generally surrounded by flying eaves, the Sulu King's Palace is surrounded by arcades, while the central palace is a standard dome building, giving people a sense of grandeur and solemnity.

Along the way, Arabic-style patterns are in sight.

The Sulu Kingdom was an Islamic emirate. Its political system was a theocratic sultanate. Its ruling area was the Sulu Islands and Palawan Island around the Sulu Bay in the southwest of the Philippines, connecting Malaysia.

In terms of the land area of ​​the Sulu Kingdom, it was definitely not as large as the Luzon Kingdom, which had the huge Luzon Island.

The main territories of the Sulu Kingdom were all on the Sulu Islands, which later belonged to the Philippines. The Sulu Islands were located in the southwestern Philippines and consisted of hundreds of volcanic islands, coral islands, countless rocky beaches and reefs.

Among them, the important islands include Jolo Island, Tawi-Tawi Islands, Sanga Sanga Island, Sibutu Island, Siasi Island and Cagayan Sulu Island, forming a barrier between the Sulu Sea and the Celebes Sea.

From Basilan Island in the southwest of Mindanao Island to the southwest, extending 270 kilometers to the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia, all belonged to the territory of the Sulu Kingdom.

When it was at its most powerful, Palawan Island in the north of the Sulu Islands and the east coast of Sabah, Malaysia were also included in its rule, turning the entire Sulu Sea into its inland sea.

Simply put, the area where the Philippines and Malaysia connect belongs to Sulu.

The area is large, but because it is mostly islands, the population and other aspects are very weak, and the products are even less. Most people make a living by fishing, and the planting technology is backward.

Despite this, the relationship between Sulu and the Ming Dynasty is very deep, or to China.

The Nanyang princess who was reported to live in Shandong in later generations was actually a descendant of the East King of Sulu.

In the 15th year of Yongle, the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, the three kings on the Sulu Islands, the East King Badu Ge Bahala, the West King Mahala Ge Ma Ding, and the Dong King Badu Ge Ba La Bu led their families and more than 300 people to form a friendly delegation to visit China for a friendly visit, and were grandly received by Emperor Yongle.

The three kings stayed happily in Beijing for more than 20 days, and then took a boat to return to China along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The East King unfortunately fell ill on his way back to China via Shandong and died in Dezhou.

Upon hearing the news, Emperor Yongle was deeply mournful, so he sent the doctor of the Ministry of Rites Qi to Dezhou with a sacrificial text to bury the King of the East with the ceremony of a vassal king.

The eldest son of the King of the East, Duma Han, led his people back to the country to inherit the throne, while the Queen Ge Mu Ning, the second son Wen Hala, the third son Andulu and more than ten attendants stayed in Dezhou to guard the tomb.

In the autumn of the 16th year of Yongle, Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle personally wrote an article, "To last forever". After the death of the Queen of the King of the East and the two princes, they were buried in the southeast corner of the tomb.

Don't think that there is something wrong with the fact that there are three kings in Sulu. In fact, as mentioned at the beginning, Sulu is an emirate that believes in Islam. Its national system is more perfect than that of indigenous countries such as Luzon.

The chief was originally the leader of the tribe. The emirate in later generations generally refers to the country in the Arab world composed of chiefs and tribal leaders as heads of state.

These emirates are still ruled by their chiefs and implement a federal system. The chiefs who come together establish an electoral college to elect the president and prime minister of the federation.

The United Arab Emirates is composed of seven emirates, including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, etc.

The emirates who do not want to form an emirate generally choose to establish an independent country, such as Kuwait, Qatar, and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Perhaps because Zheng He's fleet left a deep impression on the Sulu Kingdom, the Sulu Kingdom has always maintained the tradition of respecting the Ming Dynasty, or China.

In the early and middle Qing Dynasty, as Western colonists intensified their invasion and expansion in Southeast Asia, some countries, unable to protect themselves, asked the Qing Dynasty for help, and some even hoped to directly join China. Sulu was a typical example.

At this time, the Kingdom of Sulu had been oppressed by Western countries for a long time, and they wanted to include it in the scope of colonies.

The Sulu people also rose up in resistance under the leadership of the king, and always maintained the independence of the country, but they could only live a hard life.

In this situation, the Kingdom of Sulu thought of China and asked for help from China again.

During the Qianlong period, the King of Sulu sent people to China again and expressed his willingness to give all his territory to China.

Unfortunately, although Qianlong was very happy that his country was so strong that a foreign country took the initiative to offer it to China, he believed that the territory of the Kingdom of Sulu was too small, and if he wanted to accept it, he would have to send troops to fight Spain, so he refused to accept the Kingdom of Sulu.

At its peak, the Kingdom of Sulu included the Sulu Islands and Palawan Island, as well as the eastern part of Kalimantan Island.

The eastern part of Kalimantan was acquired in 1658 when the Sulu Sultan helped the Brunei Sultanate to quell a civil war. In return, Brunei ceded the northern and eastern parts of Sabah on Kalimantan to the Sulu Sultan.

In 1878, the British trading company and the King of Sulu signed an agreement to lease Sulu's land in Sabah.

In 1888, Sabah became a British protectorate and was renamed North Borneo.

Since the 16th century, the Sulu Sultan has led his people to struggle with the Spaniards for more than 300 years. They encountered the biggest victim again. The Americans won the Spanish-American War and snatched away the Spanish interests in the Philippines.

In 1899, the United States used its strong muscles to force the Sulu Kingdom to sign the "Bates" Agreement and obtained the suzerainty of the Sulu Kingdom.

Four years later, in 1903, after the Philippine-American War, the United States took advantage of the opportunity to establish the "Moroc Province" in Sulu and began to implement military rule over Sulu. The power of the Sulu Sultan was greatly limited.

In 1915, the U.S. Governor-General of the Moro Province in the Philippines signed an agreement with Sulu Sultan Kirang II, and the Sultan was forced to give up his secular rule in Sulu and only retain his position as a religious leader.

Since then, Sulu has actually been incorporated into the Philippines, and the Sulu Kingdom has perished.

However, the Sulu Kingdom at this time is no longer the era of three chieftains coexisting in the early Ming Dynasty. The current Sulu Kingdom has only one chieftain, the King of Sulu.

Soon, under the guidance of the waiter, Lin Baihu met the current Sulu King Bakker.

Abzak Bakker was an Arab born in Johor, Malaysia. He became the King of Sulu because he married the daughter of the King of the East.

He also knew the legend about the Ming Dynasty in his family. Although he did not continue to send people to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute in recent years, he could occasionally see merchants from the Ming Dynasty and hear news about the Ming Dynasty.

Previously, the waiter reported that a general of the Ming Dynasty led a fleet to Hele, the capital of the Sulu Kingdom. Naturally, he was very happy because he could have direct contact with the legendary Ming Dynasty.

Baker didn't know that the Ming official he was about to meet was not sent to Sulu by the court, but came here by accident.

Because he was going to meet a vassal monarch, whose status was equivalent to that of a prince of the Ming Dynasty, Captain Lin changed into his official uniform.

At this time, the Ming man who appeared in front of Baker was wearing a green robe, with a beast embroidered on his chest and a black horn belt around his waist.

This beast was a leopard, but Baker certainly didn't know it, but he also felt that it was extremely fierce, and couldn't help but sigh at the military power of the Ming Dynasty generals.

Captain Lin didn't know any diplomatic rhetoric. After bowing to Baker according to the rules of meeting a superior, he just exchanged a few simple pleasantries.

When Baker asked Captain Lin about the origin of his trip, Captain Lin also directly told him the purpose of his trip.

Hearing that he came to Sulu because of chasing pirates, Baker was still somewhat disappointed.

The current Sulu Kingdom is still strong. Although its neighbor Luzon has been occupied by the Spanish, they seem to have always coveted it. However, given the current strength of the Spanish, it is still a bit difficult to swallow Sulu.

As long as he does not have any accidents, that is, he is captured or killed by the Spanish in a battle like the monarch of the Inca Empire and the King of Luzon, Galaman, he can lead his people to resist the attack of the Spanish.

After all, he already knew about the big things on Luzon Island, so he has always been vigilant against the Spaniards.

"You want to borrow troops from my Sulu Kingdom to encircle and suppress the pirates in your country?"

Hearing Lin Baihu's words, Baker hesitated. After all, if he asked him to send troops to help the Ming Dynasty fight, he would suffer losses regardless of winning or losing.

"Yes, Lin Feng is a pirate wanted by the court. If the king can send troops to help us destroy them, and report to the court after the victory, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty will definitely reward the king."

When he arrived here, Captain Lin still brought the soldier who acted as an interpreter on the ship, but there was no shortage of interpreters who understood the Ming language in Sulu.

As mentioned before, because Sulu connects the Philippines and Malaysia, Ming merchant ships often get lost and come here.

So, after the palace knew that Ming officials had arrived, they found interpreters to translate for them.

Now the communication between the two is much smoother than when they were on the ship.

Sulu and the Ming Dynasty court have not had contact for hundreds of years, so how could they know the rules of the Ming Dynasty?

Baker didn't even check Lin Baihu's identity, just because they were driving the Ming Dynasty's Fu ship, they could be sure that they were Ming Dynasty people.

The sailors on the ship were also wearing uniform military uniforms, so there was no doubt that they might be fake Ming Dynasty officials.

You know, the sailors on those Ming Dynasty merchant ships were dressed in a variety of clothes, and it was absolutely impossible for them to have uniform military uniforms.

Such a result made Deng Zilong and others most worried, and the inspection of the customs was ignored.

At this time, what Baker was thinking in his mind was that this matter seemed to be able to re-establish contact with the Ming Dynasty court.

Not to mention the past, even now, Sulu Kingdom has few ships that can cross the ocean to Ming Dynasty.

In recent years, it is not that the king of Sulu Kingdom does not want to pay tribute to Ming Dynasty and see the majesty of the Celestial Empire, but there is really no suitable means of transportation.

In those years, it was the Ming Dynasty's sea ships that came, and they could borrow ships to go to Ming Dynasty.

Tribute is nothing more than saying nice things in front of the Ming Emperor to show that you are willing to accept the Ming Emperor's will. Your rights will not be affected in any way.

On the contrary, if you bring some local specialties of Sulu, you can get a lot of rewards from the Ming Emperor, including many fine products made by Ming.

The most valuable things in the palace of the Sulu Kingdom are still the rewards received when the three kings of Sulu paid tribute.

Thinking of those treasures, Baker felt itchy.

They are all good things.

"Since it is the request of the Ming Emperor, my Sulu Kingdom must obey the order.

Lord Lin, please take a rest for two days. I will reorganize the troops and raise warships, and set off with you to eliminate the pirates."

Since Baker planned to restore contact with Ming, he did not waste time and said immediately.

"Thank you, my lord. I will report this to His Majesty the Emperor of Ming after returning home."

When Captain Lin heard that the King of Sulu was willing to lend troops, he was naturally happy and said immediately.

"Hmm"

After hearing his words, Baker did not respond, but a trace of worry appeared on his face, and he seemed to be hesitant to speak.

"What does the king want?"

When he said he wanted to borrow troops, the other party did not mention anything, but now he acted like this, and Lin Baihu instinctively felt that there was something wrong.

"Speaking of which, my ancestors went to the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute to the emperor, but it has been so long, and our country has not sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty for hundreds of years because we don't have suitable ships."

Baker immediately responded.

Yes, Sulu has no ships to go to the Ming Dynasty, but doesn't it have warships of the Ming Dynasty navy now?

They can get here from the Ming Dynasty, so they can naturally send envoys over.

Hearing that it was a tribute, Lin Baihu didn't take it seriously.

Born by the sea, he naturally knew the existence of the Maritime Customs.

The tribute of Sulu usually goes through the Guangzhou Maritime Customs, which manages the countries in Southeast Asia.

Although the Sulu Kingdom did not go, it does not mean that other countries will not go. The Guangzhou Maritime Customs is doing good business.