The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

The waters of the Bay of Bengal are murky, as the Ganges River, carrying silt and sand, rushes in from the north, turning the entire bay a yellowish-brown color.

"This is the territory of the Indian king? It's similar to the mouth of the Yellow River, but it's much wider!" Yin Huasheng crawled out of the cabin, stood next to Xu Chuang, and squinted at the coastline in front of him.

Xu Chuang didn't respond, because there were more than a dozen small boats moored at the entrance of the river, with a row of soldiers standing on them.

When Xu Chuang's fleet approached the entrance to the river, the small boats scattered in fright, clearing the waterway completely. Only the soldiers did not scatter; instead, they held their boats sideways, as if determined to defend it to the death.

Their military uniforms were of the standard Han Chinese style, but the color was green, a very deep and dark green. They wore matching turbans on their heads, black leather belts around their waists, and flintlock pistols on their shoulders. It was the standard uniform for the export of the Han Chinese military equipment.

The leading officer stood at the very front. Judging from the brass buckles on his shoulder, he was a centurion. Xu Chuang looked the centurion up and down before taking out a series of tokens from his pocket.

The bronze object features a sculpture of Shiva, the Hindu god with western arms, three eyes, a serpent around his neck, and lotus feet, dancing gracefully. The reverse side depicts a five-clawed dragon with its body coiled and head raised, every scale meticulously detailed, exactly like the dragon on the ceiling of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in Beijing.

This token was commissioned by Liu Weiqing, the current emperor's nephew and a prince of India, who had nine bronze plaques made.

The holder of the license is considered a divine messenger of the Indian king. Seeing the license is like seeing the king himself. He can travel freely in Bengal, requisition horses and ships, and command no more than a thousand soldiers in any military camp.

The piece in Xu Chuang's possession was sent all the way to Beijing by Liu Weiqing, where it was handed over to Liu Mu, and then given to Xu Chuang.

The centurion's pupils contracted sharply the moment he saw the token, then he knelt down on both knees with a thud as his knees hit the ground. The surrounding soldiers followed suit and knelt down as well.

The centurion braced himself with both hands on the ground, his forehead slamming heavily against the earth, once, twice, three times. Each time, the blow landed squarely.

After he finished bowing three times, he raised his hands, palms up, and respectfully accepted the token handed to him by Xu Chuang.

After confirming that the five-clawed dragon pattern on the back was correct, he raised the token above his head and shouted.

"Hassan, Centurion of the Indian Lion Legion stationed in the Bay of Bengal! Greetings, Your Excellency!"

His Mandarin had a heavy accent, with the final syllables of each word falling downwards, but his pronunciation was very clear, indicating that he had undergone rigorous training.

Xu Chuang reached out and took the token back, putting it back in his pocket. A look of surprise appeared on his face, and then he muttered to himself, "This Indian prince is having quite a bit of fun here."

Remembering that the man was a prince, Xu Chuang quickly shut up. Only when he realized no one was listening did he look at the centurion, raise his chin, and say, "Lead the way. The fleet is heading to the capital of Dhaka."

Hassan immediately stood up, turned around and waved his hand vigorously towards the river. In a short while, ten flat-bottomed boats, each about twelve meters long, sailed out.

A flagpole was planted at the stern of the boat. The flag was green with a black lion's head embroidered in the center, its mouth wide open and its mane thick.

Each ship has ten soldiers standing on it, all in green uniforms, carrying flintlock rifles on their shoulders. They stand on the ship as if it were flat ground, clearly well-trained.

Centurion Hassan stood at the bow of the boat and shouted a few commands in the local Bengali language. Ten flat-bottomed boats rowed simultaneously, forming two columns, and entered the mouth of the Ganges River, the largest tributary.

It takes three days to travel from the port to Dakar by water, and Xu Chuang learned a lot along the way.

The scenery along the riverbanks is completely different from that in Southeast Asia. In Southeast Asia, the riverbanks are lined with coconut groves and palm trees, while here the riverbanks are lined with rice paddies and mud houses.

Hindu temples are everywhere, their tower-shaped surfaces densely carved with images of gods and mythical beasts, and painted in vibrant red, white, and gold.

However, the most eye-catching thing is the statue of Liu Weiqing.

A naked ascetic monk sat on the stone steps in front of the temple, his long hair flowing freely, with three white horizontal lines painted on his forehead. He held a trident in his hand, facing the statue of Liu Weiqing, and muttered incantations.

Yin Huasheng stared at Liu Weiqing's statue for a long time before suddenly asking, "With the Prince here, is he a king or a god?"

Xu Chuang was also visiting for the first time and didn't understand India, so he shook his head and didn't answer.

Three days later at noon, the river had narrowed, with the widest part no more than a hundred meters wide. The fleet of boats formed a long snake, appearing very crowded.

After crossing the river bend, they arrived at the port of the royal city of Dhaka. It was much larger than Xu Chuang had expected. Six piers extended from the bank into the river, with more than a dozen boats of different sizes moored beside each pier.

Xu Chuang even saw the Persian dhows, with crescent flags flying on their masts, looking at his fleet of hundreds of ships with fear on their faces.

There were also several European merchant ships. When Xu Chuang saw more than a dozen British and Dutch merchant ships, he just squinted at them and did not choose to take immediate action.

At this time, the dock was bustling with people, including Han Chinese, Indians, Arabs, Malays, and Persians. It was not a suitable time to take action, as it could easily damage the reputation of the Han people.

While Xu Chuang was distracted, Yin Huasheng widened his eyes and pointed towards the dock.

"Old Xu, look! What a huge golden statue!"

"Is the King of India that rich?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Chuang looked up and nearly choked when he saw what was happening.

What was once Dhaka's market and governor's castle has now expanded into a huge city. The city walls are made of blue bricks, standard Han-style city walls, ten meters high, with neat crenellations, and the white mortar joints between the bricks are clearly visible.

In front of the fifty-meter-wide moat, above the vermilion lintel, is a stone plaque with the two large characters "Daka" engraved on it in clerical script.

But what is most shocking is that on the side facing Xu Chuang, there is a huge statue with a Han-style goose-feather sword at his waist and wearing a round-necked robe of a prince with a dragon design. At this moment, a large number of people are kneeling and praying under the statue.

Although neither of them had ever met Liu Weiqing, they could tell with their bare hands that it was Liu Weiqing, because for anyone else to wear this outfit would be an act of usurpation.

"If this were solid, it would probably cost five or six hundred thousand taels of gold; even if it were gilded, it would still cost five or six thousand taels!"

Xu Chuang stood on the pier, taking in all of this, his expression one of shock, no less than that of Yin Huasheng.

Hassan, however, had seen a lot and had already gone ashore, where he was exchanging documents with the guards on the dock.

After finishing, he immediately stood at attention in front of Xu Chuang, and punched his left chest with his right fist.

"My lord, we have arrived in Dhaka! The Lion Legion garrison has received word that the King of India is awaiting you at the palace!"

Xu Chuang hadn't quite recovered yet, and nodded stiffly.