Chapter 184 The King of Tamra Offers Surrender
The first step in intelligence warfare is to cultivate language talents.
If an intelligence officer cannot speak the local language, he is completely useless.
Due to their disdain for foreigners, the Central Plains dynasties rarely actively cultivated foreign language professionals. When a foreign language was needed, they would simply let foreigners learn Chinese and serve as translators. Sometimes, the Central Plains dynasties would even hire people from third countries to serve as translators.
This is great because our people don’t have to learn foreign languages, but it’s easy to get cheated.
For example, when the Qing Dynasty signed a treaty with Tsarist Russia, it was deceived by the missionaries who were responsible for translation without knowing it.
Zhu Biao was not so stupid as to give the control of intelligence and negotiations to others just because he didn't learn the other party's language.
When Zhu Biao became Yang Xian's boss, he had already made plans to expand and strengthen the intelligence organization and expand it abroad and become a diplomat.
The military governors led by Yang Xian were also envoys who frequently went on diplomatic missions to various warlords. In the future, they could also become envoys to foreign countries.
At Zhu Biao's request, Yang Xian trained some people who could speak Japanese, but he did not bring them this time.
These people must undergo rigorous training and pass the assessment of loyalty and ability before they can enter their battlefields. After receiving Zhu Biao's order, Yang Xian finally turned back, summoned his old subordinates, and resumed his position as the head of the inspection team.
Yang Xian was all smiles on his way back. Clearly, he preferred this mind-boggling and exciting life.
When Yang Xian left, Zhu Biao couldn't help but sigh.
He sat on the rocks on the coast in a daze.
Uncle Yang was considered a top-three-rank official in the imperial court. Regarding Uncle Yang's transfer, I just mentioned it, and he agreed. Although he added a few words to the memorial, Uncle Yang's expression clearly showed that he was certain he could help me with the work.
Zhu Biao thought to himself, I guess it really is Prince Zhu, my father...
Zhu Biao grabbed a handful of sand from the beach and threw it into the sea.
Even though Zhu Guorui was furious about Zhu Biao's speculation, Zhu Biao still had doubts.
Whether he was his biological son or not... the probability was 70-30. So, he decided to play ostrich.
The sand dispersed midway, and not only did it not fall into the sea, but it was blown by the wind and flew in the opposite direction, hitting Zhu Biao's head, face and mouth.
"Ah, bah, bah, bah... my eyes, eyes, eyes..."
The whole paragraph collapsed when Biaoer howled in a pretentious voice.
King Tamra of Jeju Island hid behind a tree, cautiously peeking at Zhu Biao, not daring to move forward.
The guards hidden in the trees stared at him silently for a long time, unsure of what the King of Tamra was up to. Should they strike first? Even though he was only the king of a small island, he was still a king after all. Wouldn't that be a bad idea?
As Zhu Biao howled, King Tamra finally made up his mind, straightened his wrinkled and faded silk clothes, and walked towards Zhu Biao.
The secret guard had already made gestures to his colleagues, so when King Tamra came out from behind the tree, his colleagues who were guarding Zhu Biao immediately told Zhu Biao that King Tamra had been secretly watching for a long time behind the tree.
Zhu Biao wiped his eyes with a handkerchief and asked tearfully, "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
The guard whispered, "I told you so, and the governor even nodded."
Zhu Biao: “…”
Obviously, the sound of the waves here was too loud. The dazed Zhu Biao did not hear what the guard whispered in his ear, but just nodded reflexively.
Zhu Biao wiped his tears and turned around with red eyes to greet the King of Tamra, whom he had only met once when he first arrived on the island.
Goryeo established Jejumok on Jeju Island and changed its name to Jeju. It then built a small city on the flattest place, stationed hundreds of soldiers and their families, and did not manage the island much on a normal basis.
They don’t know how to manage it either.
Jeju Island is a volcanic island. The entire island is a mountain. Except for the foot of the mountain, there are almost no large flat areas for farming.
After the people of Tamna were driven from the foot of the mountain to the mountain by the Jeju governor, they lived like primitive tribes in the mountains, relying on gathering, hunting, and at most slash-and-burn farming.
Tamra Island was originally under the Yuan Dynasty, then returned to Goryeo, and now a Ming garrison. The Jeju governor and several hundred soldiers had happily returned home. The king of Tamra wondered if he should pay his respects to the new leader.
The king of Tamra was always proud of the title of "Star Lord" bestowed upon him by the king of Silla. However, as the king of Tamra, he knew more than his fellow mountain people and understood that Silla was the same to the Central Plains as he was to Silla.
However, the evaluation of the Yuan Dynasty's brutality left by his ancestors made him afraid to take the initiative to find officials from the Ming Dynasty.
It was not until the elders in the tribe reminded him that if he did not take the initiative to pay a visit, the Ming people would be angry and the country of Tamra would be in even greater trouble that he reluctantly came.
Zhu Biao knew that there were people from Tamra living in the mountains that occupied Jeju Island, but because he was short of manpower, he did not send anyone to look for them.
The King of Tamra had taken the initiative to pay his respects, which was quite considerate. However… Zhu Biao was shocked to see the King of Tamra, dressed in ill-fitting silk clothes, his hair tied up askew with a leafy branch as a hairpin, and wearing two different cloth shoes, but his body was covered with glittering gold, silver and gems.
Ancient books record that the Tamra Kingdom emerged during the Tang Dynasty. Hundreds of years later, how come the king of Tamra looks like a tribal savage?
The King of Tamra hesitated for a long time, but at the urging of the woman behind him, he knelt down and kowtowed: "I, I am the Star Lord of Tamra! I pay my respects to the Angel of the Great Ming!"
He could actually speak Chinese? Although he stuttered and admitted to making mistakes, he had tried very hard. Zhu Biao was almost moved.
He immediately helped the King of Tamra to his feet and said with a smile, "Don't be nervous, King. What do you want to see me for?"
The King of Tamra was a little confused. Although he knew a few words of Chinese, Zhu Biao spoke too fast for him to understand.
The woman behind him sighed, gave Zhu Biao a proper salute, and then said in Chinese with a Shandong accent, "Sir, I am from Wendeng, and I am his wife. He stutters, and his Chinese isn't good either. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you."
The woman took a large wooden box from a burly man beside her , opened it, knelt down, and held it in her hands, saying, "Please accept it, Your Excellency."
Zhu Biao looked at the large wooden box full of broken gold and his heart skipped a beat.
If this gold is real, this woman has really strong arms!
"Everyone, please stand up. You are the Queen of Tamra Kingdom. You don't need to call yourself a commoner in front of me." Zhu Biao said, "I am Zhu Biao, the Governor of Northern Zhili and the Prefect of Beijing Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty. You can just call me Governor."
Zhu Biao saw the woman's bewildered expression and realized she had likely been away from home for a long time and was unaware of the situation back home. He explained, "The Emperor drove out the Mongols and founded the Ming Dynasty, establishing the Hongwu era and the Yingtian era... Jiqing became Nanjing, and Dadu became Beijing."
The woman immediately said, "I know Yingtian! My whole family once fled to Yingtian! Yingtian is Nanjing. Does that mean Madam Xiuying's husband is the emperor?!"
Zhu Biao was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Let's sit down and talk first. Your husband is too nervous."
He sat back down on the rocks. The woman knelt on the beach. The King of Tamra hunched his legs together, hugging them and shivering, looking incredibly pitiful.
"Yes, Madam Xiuying is now Empress Ma." Zhu Biao said, "Do you know Madam Xiuying?"
The woman immediately said, "My name is Zhao Honghua. Madam Xiuying once divided land and... Hehe, my first husband was found by Madam Xiuying. When I was doing business with that short-lived guy at sea, we were shipwrecked. He saved me, and I became his wife. I have been here for five years."
When she heard that Lady Xiuying was the new queen, the woman immediately calmed down. In addition, Zhu Biao was small and kind, so the woman immediately opened up and told him her experiences.
When Zhu Biao said that his original name was Chen Biao, the son of the famous Chen Jiabiao from Yingtian, the woman kowtowed to Zhu Biao twice, thanking the Chen family for providing work for the refugees and supporting her family.
Zhu Biao said kindly, "Yingtian is now more prosperous, and Jeju Island...Jinra Island has been annexed by the Ming Dynasty. You can return home to visit your family. They should all be doing well. Your husband is the King of Jinra, so it's a good opportunity for you to accompany him back to Nanjing to receive the title."
The woman couldn't help crying when she met an old friend in a foreign land, who was also her benefactor.
The trembling King of Tamra finally stopped trembling, approached his wife and held her in his arms.
The guards all looked sideways.
As expected of a wild man from the mountains, he was actually being affectionate in front of the provincial governor.
The woman pushed her husband away embarrassedly, blushing and saying, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Your Excellency the Governor."
Zhu Biao smiled and shook his head: "You are a Ming Dynasty person. Seeing that you are doing well, this official is very happy. How can I laugh at you?"
The woman's eyes were red as she spoke, " I was nervous when I heard the Ming army was coming. But now that I know Marshal Zhu and Madam Xiuying are the emperor and empress of the Ming Dynasty, and that the high official who came here is your benefactor, I am completely relieved. My husband and I didn't come here to be crowned. There are only a few thousand people left in Tamra. Living in the mountains, they can't even feed themselves. This king... isn't really much of a king."
The woman explained the current situation in Tamra.
Because Tamra Kingdom was just a whole mountain, the people of Tamra mainly engaged in fishing and hunting, lived in thatched houses, and had not established any civilization.
Before the Yuan Dynasty, however, Tamra barely held a population of around 10,000, making it considered prosperous. Later, it was occupied by the Yuan Dynasty, plagued by the Goryeo uprising, and harassed by Japanese pirates, causing its population to decline significantly. Furthermore, Goryeo established the Jeju Governorate, forcing those who sought a better life to either leave or follow the governor down the mountain, leaving Tamra in name only.
In fact, Goryeo was already preparing to abolish the King of Tamra. The King of Tamra was already prepared and happily told the woman that he would no longer be tied to this useless throne and could go down the mountain with the woman to live a good life.
As a result, Goryeo was in chaos again.
The woman smiled bitterly and said, "Sir, could you please depose my husband, this so-called king, and let him and I be common people of the Ming Dynasty? We really can't live like this any longer."
The woman pointed at the gold and said, "Although we have some gold and silver, they cannot be eaten. Sir, we offer these to the Ming Dynasty and ask the Ming Dynasty to save the people of Tamra."
After hearing this, Zhu Biao was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
How miserable is the King of Tamra? He came here with a box of broken gold just to ask to be deposed?
However, Zhu Biao also knew that if the woman did not know Madam Xiuying, if Madam Xiuying was not the Queen of the Ming Dynasty, and if it were not for him, a philanthropist from the Chen family, who came, the woman would not open her heart to him, directly expose all her cards, and frankly state her request.
Being able to make a living at sea and even become the queen of Tamra after a shipwreck, this woman is definitely not a simple person. And judging by the expressions of the King of Tamra and the other people in Tamra, this woman is the one in charge.
Zhu Biao was deeply saddened to find that he had actually gained the benefits of the people's support that he had won over in Yingtian in faraway Tamra.
"You know, the Chen family doesn't accept money from the people." Zhu Biao pushed the wooden box back and said, "The Ming army will be stationed here in the future. Just like in Yingtian, we will allocate land to you and cultivate it with you. However, your land is mostly mountainous and there is little farmland. I don't think farming alone will be enough to make a living. You can ask the knowledgeable people of Tamra to come down the mountain and discuss the future livelihood of the people of Tamra with me."
The woman quickly said, "Of course I know the Chen family are good people...good officials! But if you don't accept my money, the people of Tamra will feel uneasy."
Zhu Biao was once again at a loss for words: "Okay, okay, then let's just do business this time, okay? The money for the Ming soldiers to settle you will come from here. If there's any leftover, I'll sell you some grain, or use it to offset the taxes?"
The woman hurriedly said, "Sir, please accept some! Or...or you can accept some for the Marshal...for the Emperor and Empress?"
Zhu Biao laughed: "Okay."
He took out half of the better quality gold from the box and said, "I will present this to the Emperor and Empress for you. You can spend the rest as I tell you. How about that?"
The woman breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay, I'll listen to the governor! Then we'll go back first and bring people to see the governor tomorrow!"
Zhu Biao nodded and said, "I will talk to the barracks guards. You can come anytime."
He thought for a moment, then took out a jade pendant and handed it to the woman: "Show this to me when the time comes."
The woman quickly put the jade pendant away.
Zhu Biao continued, "The main purpose of the Ming Dynasty setting up camp on Jeonra Island is to guard against Japanese pirates. You have dealt with them many times before, so invite more people who are familiar with them tomorrow."
The woman's face immediately showed a fierce look: "Yes, sir! We have endless things to say to the Japanese pirates!"
Zhu Biao comforted him, "Don't worry, the Ming Dynasty will help its people get back what you have suffered."
The King of Tamra listened blankly to his queen and Zhu Biao talking in a language he could hardly understand. When the queen told him in the local dialect that the Ming Dynasty was going to fight against the Japanese pirates, he immediately burst into tears and knelt down to kowtow to Zhu Biao. Zhu Biao couldn't even pull him up.
The woman wiped her tears in anger and said, "The Japanese pirates are not human, they are a bunch of beasts! There are only a few thousand of us left, and they killed us! They killed us even if we gave them things! My husband's parents and sister all died tragically at the hands of the pirates."
Zhu Biao's face darkened. Damn these beasts, they are beasts no matter what era they are from.
King Tamra finally stopped crying and was helped off the beach by the woman.
Only then did Zhu Biao notice that King Tamra walked with a limp and half of the sole of one of his feet was missing.
"Sir, is what they said true?" The guard asked in surprise after the two men left. "We just arrived here and we met people from the Ming Dynasty... A person from the Ming Dynasty became the King of Tamra, and then came to us for refuge. Don't they want to be king themselves?"
Isn’t it good to be a king? Even if you surrender to the Ming Dynasty, you can still be a king!
Zhu Biao said, "The King of Tamra and his family were tragically killed by Japanese pirates. He is lame, stutters, and even married a foreigner. Do you think he can live a peaceful life as a king?"
The guard was stunned.
"Of course, their hardship is one of the reasons," Zhu Biao said calmly, "otherwise the people of Tamra wouldn't let them come down the mountain. Well, we'll be busy when we get back. Are you not unfamiliar with the land distribution and farming?"
The guards immediately laughed and said, "How is that possible? We are so familiar with each other!"
