I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 365 Going to Southeast Asia

Liu Miao arrived at the center of the stage, and the surrounding people stared at him in bewilderment.

The stage owner was about to come up and drive Liu Miao away, but despite the shopkeeper's frantic winking, he did not stop him.

"Snapped!"

As Liu Miao slammed his hand heavily on the table, the sound instantly silenced the noisy environment and drew the attention of the surrounding people to him.

"During the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Yuanding era, Lu Jia, the prime minister of the Nanyue Kingdom, launched a coup, murdered King Ai of Nanyue Zhao Xing, and installed Zhao Jiande as the new king of Nanyue! Emperor Xiaowu was furious upon hearing this! He sent troops to attack the Nanyue Kingdom, captured Zhao Jiande, and the Nanyue Kingdom was destroyed. Zhao Jiande was beheaded, and his head was hung at the North Gate of Chang'an!"

This part of history was little known, so the people were immediately interested and listened quietly to Liu Miao's narration.

"However, King Zhao Xing of Nanyue was not actually dead!"

Liu Miao's words excited the people!

Revenge-themed stories are timeless classics!

Under the cover of darkness, amidst the clash of swords and deafening battle cries, King Zhao Xing of Nanyue made his way through a secret passage to the banks of the Pearl River. There, in the reeds, lay an unassuming "Star Raft"—an extraordinary vessel with a hull made of fine iron, said to have been crafted by the shipbuilding masters of Minyue, gathered by King Zhao Tuo, the Martial King of Nanyue, capable of withstanding the highest waves. Queen Dowager Jiu, tears welling in her eyes, placed a brocade pouch into Zhao Xing's arms, her voice choked with sobs: "My son! Go south! To the south lies a vast ocean, beyond which lies the land of India, a land of fertile plains! Inside this pouch are your father's secret charts of the South Seas and the golden tally for trade… Live on!"

"In the blink of an eye! The ship had barely left the shore a hundred feet when the pursuing soldiers' rockets swarmed like locusts! The helmsman let out a long cry: 'Raise the sails! Set sail!' The starship shot forth like an arrow, cleaving through the waves! Warriors on board hacked at the masts with their swords and kicked at the torches. Zhao Xing stood at the stern, the strong wind whipping his young royal robes. Looking back at his homeland, its mountains and rivers ablaze with flames, he clenched his fists, his eyes no longer showing fear, only a deep-seated hatred and an indomitable flame: 'Lü Jia! When I, the Dragon King, return to the deep sea, I will surely take your head as a sacrifice to the heavens! Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river! Never underestimate a young man's potential!'"

"Zhao Xing braved countless storms and was accompanied by dragons on his journey, narrowly escaping death on his star raft, finally reaching the southern part of India—the Kingdom of Andhra!"

"This land is as wealthy as the Central Plains, its royal city resplendent with splendor, and exotic animals roam its streets." Zhao Xing produced a golden tally, revealing his identity. The local king immediately treated him with the utmost respect! The king generously declared, "Your Highness has suffered a great calamity, but Heaven's will has not abandoned you. Our land is willing to serve as your protector!"

"Zhao Xing was revered as the Supreme Duke of the Celestial Empire! The king summoned all the beauties of the country and let Zhao Xing choose his consorts! It is said that the beauties of India are not entirely the same as those of the Central Plains! They have deep-set eyes and plump figures, and Zhao Xing is also a passionate young man! After that, the two of them... (a thousand words omitted here)."

"The king not only presented Zhao Xing with beautiful women, but also built palaces for him and offered him inexhaustible gold! There were also jade, pearls, ivory, bodhi seeds, spices, and all sorts of wonders!"

Zhao Xing was overjoyed and asked the king why he was so wealthy. To his surprise, the king replied that India was a land blessed by heaven! Its gold was as plentiful as stones! The number of cattle and sheep was more than the number of people! So much so that gold was left unpicked when it fell on the ground, and milk was poured into the river and no one drank it! As long as rice ears were scattered on the ground, no matter what was done, everyone would be fed! Deer from the mountains would walk into the pot by themselves! Fish from the sea would fly onto the stove by themselves! It was truly wonderful!

Liu Miao was able to see with his own eyes that the Adam's apples of many people had begun to tremble.

A Han Chinese man once lived in a place with a high social status, a beautiful wife, and countless riches...

Many people are now involved in this, fantasizing about what they would do if they were Zhao Xing.
He sleeps with his fair-skinned and beautiful wife every day, and has endless money, meat, and milk...

"Snapped!"

At the crucial moment, Liu Miao slammed his fist on the table again!
"Ladies and gentlemen! This is truly: A star-shaped raft breaks through the waves to escape the abyss of a dragon, a bright pearl does not fall to the southern horizon. The hatred of the fallen swords has not yet cooled, and the Buddhist land reigns supreme for over a thousand years! History only records the death of King Ai, but who knows that the hidden dragon enters the sea and stirs up waves! Although the pillar of the southern sky has fallen, a new world has been created to illuminate the Han dynasty!"

"To find out how Lü Jia died and his kingdom was destroyed, and whether Zhao Xing ever returned to the Central Plains, stay tuned—to be continued!"

Liu Miao left behind a story of someone destined to become a eunuch.

But without a doubt, the story of this eunuch could very well be the beginning of everything that follows.

Do you want a beautiful wife without a dowry? Do you want inexhaustible wealth?

"Go to Southeast Asia! Go to India! Go and see just how big this world really is!"

Liu Miao's fabricated stories undoubtedly make the stories of Emperor Gaozu and Xiang Yu look like rubbish!
The crowd stood there, reluctant to leave, all pondering a question.

"Is there really such a place to the south?"

Although the so-called King Zhao Xing of Nanyue is the main character, everyone's attention has clearly shifted away from Zhao Xing.

After all, everyone knows that the Nanyue Kingdom has long since perished! That place is now Jiaozhi Commandery of the Han Dynasty!

"South, south."

After Liu Miao sat down again, Zhou Tai hurriedly asked, "Your Majesty, was what you just said true?"

Let alone Zhou Tai.

Even brilliant minds like Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi stared wide-eyed at Liu Miao.

Clearly, they desperately hoped that the story was true!
Liu Miao curled his lip: "If you want to know if it's true or not, why don't you go find out for yourself? Why ask me?" If you don't see it for yourself, how can anyone tell if it's true or not?
"Let's go back! All that's left to do is wait!"

Liu Miao and the others returned to the palace, but the half-finished story caused a huge uproar in the city of Jinling!
This story has been passed down orally, and many versions have inexplicably emerged.

Many idle scholars and literati even wrote it down, accelerating its spread.

Revenge, beauty, wealth...

All of this is touching the hearts of the people of Jiangdong!
Especially as their interactions with Jiaozhou became closer, they actually managed to find a few clues about India!
“Some people have indeed seen some Buddhist monks south of Jiaozhi.”

"They said it themselves: the statues built in the temple were all made of gold! And there were indeed quite a few cows!"

This excites countless people in Jiangdong!
The India depicted in the story really existed!
Does that mean that beautiful women, land, food, and wealth really exist?

The climax of the story still comes from Jiaozhi (Vietnam).

There was a monk in Jiaozhi named Weizhinan.

This person was a living, breathing Indian!

When someone asked him about the customs and culture of India, he certainly couldn't say that India was in ruins for certain purposes, so he readily agreed.

With this genuine Indian admitting it, the story is now clearly more than just a story!

India (Tibet) really exists!
In the beginning, they were still mostly merchants.

Merchants' pursuit of profit also endows them with an exploratory spirit that ordinary people do not have!
In particular, with the widespread use of pointed-bottom seagoing vessels, the technical difficulties have been resolved, which has provided conditions for these merchants to travel to Southeast Asia.

At this point, the government no longer concealed the news about Champa rice.

Not only did they announce it to the public, telling the people that Champa rice could be planted in rotation with local late rice to create a situation of two harvests a year, but they also specifically mentioned in the official document that this Champa rice came from south of Jiaozhi.

With the government's concrete actions, the last psychological defenses of many people were finally shattered!

Gradually, people began to actively move south along the coast.

They searched for a dock to establish a supply depot.

They surveyed nautical texts for use in creating nautical charts.

They improved their ships to conquer the seas.

Although it's certain that we won't see a single piece of gold from India in the short term, let alone find a crop that can be used to make winter clothes to replace hemp and cotton, at least this is a start!
Liu Miao led Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi to the dock.

"So, you understand now?"

It doesn't require investing heavily or wasting resources.

All that's needed is a bizarre story, a relaxed environment, and a heart that yearns for wealth! That's all it takes to create this vibrant scene of everything thriving!

"So, all that talk about being content with what you have is utter nonsense!"

Liu Miao now also really wanted to pull out a Confucian scholar's hat from somewhere and piss all over it.

"The Grand Historian Sima Qian understood this long ago! The world is bustling with activity, all for profit! If everyone were content with what they have, what would be the difference between that and a lifeless world?"

Just as honesty is another name for uselessness.

Being content with what one has is no different from being complacent and lacking ambition!
Moreover, those who are "happy" are usually landlords and gentry. Liu Miao had never heard of any common people who had toiled all their lives farming, driven to desperation by exorbitant taxes and unable to even raise their children, being able to be "happy".

"Let the wind blow a little longer!"

Liu Miao stopped looking at the ships that were moving forward with hope.

"The war in the north will be resolved by me!"

(End of this chapter)