Bringing the Railway to Daming

The 24th year of Hongwu, mid-November.

The capital of Majapahit Kingdom, Tro Ulan (approximately in the central part of East Java Province, Indonesia today).

Upon learning of the arrival of the Ming angel, King Vikaramavahana, who had reigned for just over two years, and Queen Veerahummi led civil and military officials to the city gate to welcome him - the standard of this reception was extremely high.

After all, it was only the Ming angel who came, not the emperor or prince of the Ming Dynasty.

Majapahit once paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty and was considered one of its vassal states. In terms of status, its king was almost the same as a prince of the Ming Dynasty.

So, Queen Veerahumi waited for a while under the guard of honor at the city gate and couldn't help complaining.

"He's just a minister of the Ming Emperor, possibly a minor one. Why should we make such a grand ceremony and rush to the city gate to greet him? It's simply beneath our noble status!"

Veerahumi was the daughter of the previous king, Hayambulu.

Hayambulu was the fourth king of Majapahit and reigned for 40 years. It was during this period that Majapahit expanded from a small corner of East Java to the largest country in the South Seas today.

Therefore, although Hayamuluk had been dead for two years, he still retained great prestige in Majapahit.

Although Vikramā was the nephew of Hayamūlū, his status could not be compared with that of his daughter.

Therefore, even though he is the king, the Majapahit Kingdom now actually has a system similar to "two saints coexisting".

This is also a tradition - the mother of the third king, Hayamuluk, was also a woman.

If Hayamulu had not seen that his other sons were too incompetent and his daughter Virabhumi was also not fit to be king, he might not have passed the throne to his nephew and son-in-law.

Seeing that Veerahumi was impatient, he said, "I am sorry that the queen has been wronged, but the Ming Dynasty is now like the sun rising to the center of the sky, its light shining on the world."

"Their warships are taller than buildings, and they have powerful firearms. They have an army of millions and thousands of cities."

"I heard that Srivijaya sent an envoy to Ming some time ago. If nothing unexpected happens, the Ming envoys are most likely speaking on behalf of Srivijaya this time. They might even try to find fault with us."

"At a time like this, we can't afford to offend the angels of the Ming Dynasty in the slightest."

Virahumi frowned, and was barely persuaded, so he continued to wait patiently.

Fortunately, the weather is not so hot now, otherwise she really can't wait any longer.

Just when she was about to get impatient, the Ming Dynasty delegation finally arrived.

The dozens of people in the front were riding tall horses, followed by two long rows of soldiers holding "fire guns".

The flags are flying high and the atmosphere is majestic.

When they arrived at the city gate, the angel led everyone down from their horses, then stepped out from the crowd, as if he hadn't seen the procession, and loudly asked in Chinese, "Where is the King of Majapahit?"

As the king of a Han vassal state, Vikramādīr could not fail to understand Chinese. He immediately took Veerabūmi's hand and strode before the angel, bowing and saying, "My young king Vikramāhāvada and my queen Veerabūmi respectfully welcome the angel of the Great Ming! May His Majesty, the Great Emperor of the Great Ming, be blessed with good health!"

The civil and military officials of Majapahit who followed him also saluted in the same way and repeated it in non-standard Chinese.

The angel frowned, because this etiquette was not correct, let alone standard.

Considering that the other party was not prepared, he did not find fault with such a small matter.

He directly took out a scroll of imperial edict, opened it and read it out: "The Emperor, by the Mandate of Heaven, proclaims: Now, the Nanyang vassal states of Srivijaya and Majapahit of our Great Ming..."

Vikalama not only understood Chinese, but also, under the encouragement of Hayamuluk during his lifetime and his own conscious efforts, his Chinese proficiency was not low.

In addition, this imperial edict was not difficult to understand, so after the Ming angel finished reading it, he also understood the meaning of it.

Because of this, his face became extremely ugly.

After reading the imperial edict, the angel rolled it up and handed it to the accompanying general, saying, "Sir, why don't you accept the edict?" The accompanying general brought the imperial edict to Vikarama.

However, Vikarama could not raise his hand, because he knew that if he accepted the imperial edict, it would be equivalent to agreeing to its contents.

Queen Veera Bhumi was addicted to pleasure and preferred Brahman culture, so her Chinese was very poor and she did not understand the content of the imperial edict at all.

Seeing that her husband seemed petrified, she touched him and urged, "Why don't you accept the imperial edict?"

Vikarama's hands were shaking as he slowly lifted them up as if he was carrying a huge stone weighing thousands of pounds.

At this moment, a middle-aged official who was standing very close to the front of the group suddenly stood up and shouted, "Your Majesty, this decree cannot be accepted!"

Hearing this, Vikarama stopped raising his arm.

Although the Ming angel was only a civil servant in a green robe, his eyes were as sharp as swords. He asked, "Why, are you going to disobey my order?"

The middle-aged official behind him shouted in Chinese, "It's fine that the Ming Dynasty allowed Srivijaya to annex the country, but why do we have to return all the land outside of East Java to Srivijaya?"

"Most of the land we own today was taken back bit by bit since the previous Javanese dynasty expelled the Srivijaya forces. In other words, the land we own today originally belonged to Majapahit!"

The Ming angel's gaze grew colder as he demanded, "Who are you? How dare you challenge the imperial decree?"

Vikarama finally spoke, saying, "Angel, he is Puduwangka, the son of our former Prime Minister Gajah Mada."

The Ming angel suddenly understood.

According to the intelligence of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, during the reign of Tribhuvana, the third king of Majapahit, and even in the early period of Hayambuluk's reign, most of the power of the country was actually in the hands of the prime minister Gajah Mada.

There are even rumors that the second king was murdered by Gajah Mada and that Queen Tribwana was also appointed by Gajah Mada.

The fact that Majapahit was able to continuously defeat Srivijaya and expand its territory was also closely related to Gajah Mada's governance of the country.

It can be said that Gajah Mada is like Yi Yin and Huo Guang of Majapahit.

Also, because the Majapahit Kingdom had a lord-vassal system similar to the Zhou Dynasty's but more centralized, although Gajah Mada was the top minister who "deposed and enthroned the king", his family was not liquidated after his death, but continued to have considerable influence in the Majapahit Kingdom.

In this way, one can imagine the influence of Puduwangka, the son of Gajah Mada, on state affairs.

The Ming angel then looked at Vikramā and asked, "Are you really not prepared to accept the order?"

Vikarama had indeed made a decision. He gritted his teeth and said, "Please ask the angel to tell His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty that Majapahit can withdraw from Sunda Island and return to Java."

"But asking us to hand over other territories besides East Java is absolutely impossible!"

The Ming angel said, "Your Majapahi was originally just a village in East Java. Later, you relied on the Mongols to defeat your enemies, and then betrayed the Mongols to establish your own country. You are a traitor to China."

"Your Majesty, mindful of your previous obedience in paying tribute, has granted you the land of East Java."

"If you still stubbornly refuse to repent, don't blame me for sending my great Ming soldiers to destroy your capital and destroy your nation!"

At this time, Queen Virakumi, who had been listening for a while, finally understood what was going on. She said excitedly and angrily, "Come on! We were able to drive the Yuan army into the sea back then! We can drive you into the sea too!"

Vera Humihan spoke poorly and behaved like a shrew. The Ming angel did not want to argue with her. He felt that his mission had been accomplished, so he snorted coldly and got back on his horse.

He sat on his horse, glanced at the Majapahit subjects gathered at the gate of Troulan City, and shouted: "I have read the imperial edict! Since your country does not obey the order, when the heavenly soldiers descend, do not think that the Great Ming did not warn you!"

After saying this, he turned around and left with the delegation.

Seeing the Ming angel so arrogant, Veerahumi was furious and grabbed Vikarama's arm and said, "Your Majesty, are you going to let the Ming people go like this?" (End of this chapter)