Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 834, about eating mooncakes, is a meme that's meant to provoke the Yuan Dynasty; fans of the Yuan Dynasty shouldn't use it.

By now, the trade with the East operated by the Purple Horde had stabilized. Although the absurd events of the past still had a significant impact, a tacit understanding had generally been established among the three parties.

During the reign of Basil III, the Purple Horde cooperated with Timur, essentially eliminating other Mongol forces in the Rus' region and completely controlling the steppe trade routes. The passage for European, including Rus', caravans to directly travel east, from the steppes into Persia or Central Asia, and ultimately into the Ming Dynasty, was thus in the hands of the Purple Horde. After the "two-fronted" affair was exposed, the Purple Horde stopped pretending and, in its diplomacy with the Ming Dynasty, Java, and other Eastern powers, openly declared itself the "leader of the western vassals," even demanding that other powers trading in the East obey its unified arrangements and coordination.

Neither the Yuan nor the Ming dynasties paid much attention to this. Firstly, they were geographically distant, and secondly, the Golden Horde's status was unique. While it was indeed a khanate descended from Jochi, thus having some connection, it was also nominally part of the Yuan dynasty, though it was hostile to the various khanates there from the outset. Furthermore, the relationship between the Golden Horde and the Yuan dynasty was essentially nominal…

The Purple Horde itself didn't really care about its status as a "vassal state of the Yuan Dynasty," and was often unaware of it.

When Guo Kang was a child, a new Mid-Autumn Festival custom emerged. People would stick a note under the mooncake or stuff it inside the filling when giving mooncakes as gifts. He didn't know if this custom was brought over by Zhu Wenkui and his friends, but it was quite popular at the time, and everyone from top to bottom was doing it.

Even in the palace, events are held. Baisai Khan gathers his relatives, as well as in-laws and nobles from all over the grasslands, to celebrate the reunion festival together. During the celebration, there is also a lottery game—people put special slips of paper with auspicious words written on them into cakes beforehand, and after they are distributed, a lucky Mongolian is drawn, followed by various games and celebratory activities.

Guo Kang was very puzzled by this and even reminded Tuohuan that this story seemed to be a method of transmitting secret signals of uprising invented by the people of the Central Plains to keep the Mongols in the dark when they rebelled and overthrew the Yuan Dynasty. Some even believe that it was invented by Zhu Yuanzhang. It felt strange that they were playing the same game.

However, Tuohuan disagreed, saying that rebelling against the Yuan Dynasty had nothing to do with the Mongols, and they shouldn't concern themselves with it. Besides, given the environment of the Yuan Dynasty, why would they need to secretly pass messages if they wanted to rebel? Even if they announced it openly in the streets, the Yuan court probably wouldn't know... Therefore, this story was probably fabricated later.

This was roughly their attitude towards the Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, no other diplomatic problems arose.

When Guo Kang took charge of Egypt, he completely controlled the eastward trade routes.

However, although Guo Kang almost single-handedly implemented a strict management system unprecedented in the history of the Mediterranean during the Black Death, he himself did not support overly harsh control. In his memorial to the court, he clearly stated that moderately opening up trade rights to others would encourage them to actively participate; if they were forced too hard and given no opportunities, Europeans would find other ways to survive. Therefore, this matter should not be monopolized. In fact, it would be best to involve a large group of people in cooperation.

Now, through his cooperation with Italian merchants, he has virtually monopolized Eastern trade in the Mediterranean world. All Eastern goods in Europe are at their mercy. This strategy is currently more successful than he anticipated. Relying on Guo Kang's personal credibility and the huge profit expectations, he has raised enough initial funds to repair water conservancy projects and rebuild roads. After discovering the success of this method, the Khanate, the Yuan and Ming dynasties, and even some major European merchants have begun to support him.

Currently, aside from Joanna constantly demanding payment from Guo Kang for her contributions and harassing him from time to time, hoping for a deeper collaboration, everything else is proceeding according to plan.

Barring major changes, things should continue to operate within the existing framework. Of course, there will be various power struggles—for example, the Purple Horde might still want to offer more tribute. But overall, for the Purple Horde and indeed the entire Mediterranean world, the current diplomatic landscape has become relatively stable.

However, the Yuan court's sudden move has sent a clear signal.

Anyone with eyes to see could see that they were determined to succeed in this operation, and their preparations were indeed very successful.

Although Sun Shiwan and his assistants had previously appeared somewhat fearful of the Ming Dynasty and weak within the Purple Horde, even being repeatedly mocked by Zhu Wenkui, making them seem like comedic characters, Guo Kang and the others understood perfectly well that their "comical" behavior was only apparent when facing the Ming Dynasty. Against other surrounding powers, the Yuan people consistently played the role of bullies. And towards the Indians, their attitude was, "If we can't beat the Ming, can't we beat you?"

The Yuan army had made long-term preparations for this operation. Not only did they plan militarily, but they also launched political and economic offensives in advance, gaining substantial intelligence and internal support. Bengal's defense system had always been geared towards the upper Ganges. To counter other, more powerful states, they consistently adhered to a step-by-step defensive strategy, relying on local elephant cavalry and infantry to garrison fortresses along the river. This made it difficult even for a powerful Delhi state to break through all their defenses in one fell swoop. Furthermore, during the rainy season, normal military operations became impossible at the Ganges estuary, forcing even the strongest enemies to retreat. Through this method, along with flexible diplomacy, the states of Bengal had weathered numerous crises and been conquered far fewer times than those in Delhi.

However, they lacked sufficient defenses at sea.

To be fair, the various states along India's coast were not entirely unskilled in navigation. Especially in South India, the indigenous peoples, whose culture differed significantly from that of the northern conquerors, were quite familiar with the sea. The navies of the various princely states of West India had repeatedly clashed with pirates, merchants, or small naval forces from the Mediterranean or the Persian Gulf, demonstrating their familiarity with the "West." The Chola dynasty of South India, also known as the "Chola" by the Chinese, even launched numerous overseas expeditions, its sphere of influence stretching from the Malay Archipelago in the east to the Maldives in the west, significantly impacting East-West trade and having previously established direct contact with the Song Dynasty.

Unlike the various ethnic groups in the north, the Tamils ​​of South India were actually a "seafaring people." Before South India was unified, the Chola Kingdom and the Kurashekara Kingdom engaged in numerous naval battles. In the 11th century, the Chola Kingdom gradually eliminated other powers and controlled islands such as Sri Lanka and the Maldives, continuing its eastward expansion in an attempt to increase its trade control.

At that time, the most powerful force on the Southeast Asian islands was the Srivijaya Kingdom, a long-established maritime hegemon. Their core territory was Palembang, a crucial port city at the eastern entrance of the Strait of Malacca. Thanks to the strait's transportation routes and the region's abundant agricultural output, Palembang became a vital commercial hub, providing it with a strong backing. Furthermore, Palembang was very astute in its diplomacy, showing great respect to the Song Dynasty, thus gaining its favor and a high political standing. In the sixth year of the Xianping era, Emperor Zhenzong of Song presented the Kingdom of Srivijaya with a plaque inscribed "Cheng Tian Wan Shou" (meaning "Long Live the Emperor") and a royal bell.

In the first year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era, Emperor Zhenzong of Song, in an attempt to cover up the embarrassment of the "Treaty of Chanyuan," claimed that a heavenly book had descended upon the imperial palace, issued an edict granting amnesty to the entire nation, changed the era name, and performed the Fengshan ceremony at Mount Tai. This time, he also specially granted permission for the envoy from Srivijaya to accompany him at the pilgrimage altar.

Although this Fengshan ceremony is historically infamous—not for a good reason—the fact that he was taken along shows that the country was highly regarded. Furthermore, while the people of the Central Plains often mocked the Song Dynasty, considering it weak, in the eyes of surrounding smaller states, the Song Dynasty remained a behemoth, the absolute center of wealth. Whoever could curry favor with the Song Dynasty was guaranteed to prosper.

With this advantage, Srivijaya built a powerful navy and monopolized trade in Southeast Asia. Through exchanges with the Song Dynasty, it also imitated the Celestial Empire and established a complex tributary system. All goods, regardless of their origin, had to pass through their hands before being transported north.

Within the Srivijaya system, sandalwood from East Java and Lesser Sunda had to first reach Sumatra before being resold to merchants in Guangzhou at several times the profit; frankincense from Arabia had to be transported to Palembang, where customs would classify it into thirteen grades before exporting it in large quantities to the Song Dynasty. Foreign ships passing through were also required to stop at their ports; failure to comply would result in attacks and destruction by the Srivijaya navy.

Through this combination of military force and tributary privileges, Srivijaya amassed enormous wealth. According to Arab historians, when a Jewish merchant ship was sailing to China, Srivijaya demanded 20,000 dinars. The Jews had no recourse but to pay…

After expanding its power, the Chola Kingdom also began to attempt to join the Song Dynasty's tributary system. In the eighth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era, the newly enthroned Chola King Rajendra I sent envoys to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty. Although the Chola Kingdom was at its peak at this time, it adopted a very humble attitude, even referring to itself as "as insignificant as a vinegar chicken, as lowly as a straw dog." The delegation presented a pearl-embroidered robe and hat, 21,100 taels of pearls, 60 ivory trees, and 60 catties of frankincense in one go, far exceeding the tributes of other Southeast Asian countries.

However, Srivijaya, which was more familiar to the Song Dynasty, interfered, causing the Song Dynasty to regard Chola as a small vassal state of Srivijaya. During this tribute mission, the Song Dynasty issued a document stating that "the tribute service belongs to Srivijaya," and that it could only be ranked alongside Kucha and others. Srivijaya, on the other hand, was a large country, on the same level as Jiaozhi and the Abbasid Caliphate, and received courtly treatment.

Despite the Chola's great emphasis on this and the establishment of an official maritime trade route to China, this diplomatic failure not only placed them politically at a lower level than the Srivijaya Dynasty, but also significantly reduced their access to the Song Dynasty market and trading rights compared to their Southeast Asian counterparts. Although they had offered numerous lavish gifts, the trade share they gained remained very limited, and they would likely still have to pay heavy taxes on their future tribute journeys.

This outcome greatly displeased the Tamil merchant group. Under their pressure, Rajendra decided to launch a massive expedition, almost unprecedented in history, to directly penetrate Srivijaya and secure the trade route from India to China.

To prepare for this operation, Chola first conquered the Andaman Islands and destroyed Srivijaya's outposts on the Malay Peninsula, and also forged an alliance with the Khmer Empire beforehand. To achieve surprise, Rajendra even built a secret naval port to construct and stockpile the warships needed for the campaign. The operation was so successful that even the merchants who were constantly on the move were unaware of it.

When the time was right, the Chola fleet sailed south of Sumatra, decisively defeating the Srivijaya army and capturing the Srivijaya capital. The other twelve port cities of the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and the Nicobar Islands were also attacked by fleets from South India. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Chola army seized vast amounts of treasure, even dismantling the jewel-adorned gates of Palembang.

The sheer scale of this expedition was so great that no official envoys from Southeast Asia arrived in the Central Plains for three years, which puzzled the Song Dynasty. Emperor Renzong even issued a special edict stating, "Guangzhou is a place where foreign ships rarely arrive; now this prefecture and the transport office should attract and retain them." Meanwhile, merchants from Chola had already established trading posts and colonies in various ports from the Kra Isthmus to the Kedah region to control local trade.

To facilitate tribute payments, they continued to use the name of Srivijaya, thus replacing Srivijaya's tribute obligations, and constantly interacted with the Song Dynasty officials. In addition to the kingdom itself, the royal families stationed in various places also began to manage their affairs. For example, the Chola princes stationed in Kedah donated a large sum of money to the Song Dynasty to repair and maintain the Tianqing Temple, a Taoist holy site in Guangzhou.

Srivijaya was devastated by this blow. Not only did it lose its hegemony, but it even had its name stolen.

The remaining Srivijaya forces migrated north to the area around Jambi in "Maluoyu". From then on, "Maluoyu" began to be the self-designation of the inhabitants of this area and the Southeast Asian islands, which is also the origin of the word "Malay".

Therefore, the sea route from Southeast Asia to India was not only active with great civilizations like those of the Central Plains and Arabia, but also had its own rich and fascinating stories about the local people. However, the history of this region is relatively obscure, and almost no one seems to have much interest in it.

After the 12th century, the Chola Kingdom also declined. Subsequently, the naval power of the indigenous Indian states gradually declined and never recovered.

As for the various sultanates, these Turkic regimes that invaded from the north knew very little about maritime affairs. Bengal, which had also been controlled by the Chola and had always been a maritime hub, surprisingly had very few decent navies. As a result, after the Yuan army learned of this, they were able to advance unimpeded and successfully land without much effort.

This situation seemed quite familiar to Guo Kang. He wondered if all regions controlled by barbarians faced similar problems when confronted with maritime threats.

(End of this chapter)