Chapter 704: Buddha's Passing Strait
In the South Ocean, the Buddha's Way Strait, the so-called Buddha's Way actually refers to Sumatra Island. During this period, Sumatra Island was ruled by the powerful Kingdom of Saliva, and was simply called Buddha's Way, so the island was named after this. The so-called Buddha's Way Strait actually refers to the Malacca Strait in later generations, which is also the main transportation route to Central Asia and even Western Europe by the Song Dynasty.
Dong Qing led a huge fleet slowly into the strait. This strait is managed by two kingdoms, among which the Kingdom of Buddha controls the south coast of the strait, and the other kingdom, the Kingdom of Juluo, controls the north coast. Both sides once fought for the control of this golden waterway, and they had a victory or defeat, and no one could do anything to each other for the time being.
At this time, Dong Qing held a telescope and looked at the waterway ahead. The entire fleet was on guard because the waterway was shared by two kingdoms, which also led to great chaos here. Not only were pirates rampant, but the naval forces of the two countries often robbed the passing fleets.
Among them, the kingdom of Zhuluo was originally on the Indian Peninsula, but later expanded outward and controlled the north side of the Buddha's Strait. Zhuluo's naval warships were quite excellent. Although they were not as good as the shipbuilding technology of the Song Dynasty, it was quite good in Nanyang, where natives were everywhere.
However, it is precisely because of the excellent ships of Julu that their country is rich in pirates. Nearly half of the pirates traveling in the South Ocean are related to Julu. Therefore, when mentioning Julu, all the merchants who came and went gritted their teeth at him.
In contrast, the country born and raised in the South Ocean is inferior to shipbuilding, but the Buddha is also very powerful because it controls nearly half of the islands in the South Ocean. Of course, Buddha is nominally a unified kingdom, but the other parts are fifteen kingdoms, but these fifteen kingdoms are the main ones in these fifteen kingdoms, and the real control area of Buddha is actually mainly on the Buddha Island.
Whether it is Zhu Luo or Buddha's death, they are all the objects that Dong Qing needs to be wary of. Among them, Zhu Luo, the public pirate, will not mention it for now. What the merchants in the Song Dynasty hated the most was the kingdom of Buddha's death, because Buddha's death was very respectful to the Song Dynasty and even paid tribute many times, but in private, they were not ruthless to the merchants in the Song Dynasty. Not only did they collect heavy taxes on merchants docked at their ports, but they even sent navy soldiers to pretend to be pirates and loot the merchants in the Song Dynasty, which also made the merchants in the Song Dynasty hated Buddha's death.
If it were in the past, Dong Qing would definitely gather several fleets and join them, and then cross the strait at the fastest speed. After all, there are many people and powerful people. Even Zhu Luo and Fo Shi's navy did not dare to take action without permission when they saw such a large fleet. However, today Dong Qing was carrying a secret mission, so his fleet walked very slowly, as if he was waiting for a fish to take the bait.
"Brother Zhou, are you sure you can complete the task I assigned to you?" Dong Qing looked at the waterway in front for a while, then put down the telescope and took a long breath. Then he turned to a guy next to him who was pouring wine into his mouth with a wine gourd next to him.
"Shopkeeper Dong, you are responsible for sailing, we are responsible for killing people. I will not question your ability to sailing, and you should not question our ability to kill people!" The other party looked at Dong Qing coldly, then poured a big mouthful of wine into his mouth and said.
This brother Zhou looks very young, at most he is only in his twenties. He is not very tall, but he is very strong, especially with a scar on his face from his forehead to his chin, which makes him look even more fierce.
Of course, Dong Qing was not a timid thing. Even since the family changed a lot, he had long since he had a big change. However, after being looked at by Brother Zhou, he felt cold all over his body, as if he was not facing a drunkard who was addicted to alcohol, but a beast.
"That's good. As long as you complete this mission, the Marquis will definitely not be stingy with the reward!" Dong Qing gritted his teeth and endured the discomfort in his heart, and spoke again.
Dong Qing actually didn't know much about this terrifying brother Zhou. He just knew that the other party was once a powerful general in the army and had made a lot of military achievements in the army at a young age. However, at the same time, this person's personality was very bad. He was not only addicted to alcohol, but also cruel and easy to kill. He liked to cut off the enemy's limbs and let the other party's blood flow to death.
However, this brother Zhou once kicked the iron plate. It is said that he caught an important figure of the enemy on the battlefield. The superior originally asked to capture him alive. After all, the other party was more valuable to live. However, after his murderous nature came up, he still cut off his limbs and tortured him to death. This also caused the upper class in the army to be furious, so the other party was kicked out of the army.
As a maritime businessman, Dong Qing had dealt with vicious pirates a lot before, so when he saw Brother Zhou, he knew at the first glance that the other party was definitely a bloodthirsty person. He didn't really have sex with such a vicious person, but Brother Zhou was assigned by his superiors, and this mission also required the cooperation of the two of them to complete.
Brother Zhou didn't seem to have any reaction to Dong Qing's words. It seemed that he didn't care much about the rewards from his superiors. In fact, he was originally a desperate person and was too restricted in the army, which also made him not very satisfied with his life in the army. Now someone from the superiors gave him a chance to prevent him from being bound by any restrictions. This is what he values the most.
"The boss, there is a three-point junction in front of it!" At this moment, an old boatman with dark skin and red skin reminded Dong Qing.
The so-called three-point junction refers to the exit position on the east side of the Buddha Trail Channel being blocked by a small archipelago, forming two waterways. The two waterways converge in the strait, thus forming a three-point junction. The sea conditions there are complex and are also the place where pirates like to hide. Therefore, every time they walk here, the sea merchants are worried, afraid of encountering pirates.
When Dong Qing heard this, he immediately raised his telescope and looked at it again. They entered the strait from the entrance to the east, and walked the waterway in the north, and in front was the intersection of the two waterways, north and south. Before their fleet arrived, he deliberately made people make noises, which made many people think that his ship was carrying priceless porcelain, which would definitely attract many people's hearts.
As the fleet slowly moved forward, the three-fork junction became closer and closer. The sea surface here was wide open, and both sides were very close to the two sides of the strait. On the east side was a small archipelago, mainly composed of two large islands and several small islands. There were even several pirate forces entrenched on the island. However, his fleet this time was quite large, and ordinary pirates really didn't have the courage to make their decisions.
Of course, ordinary pirates dare not, but extraordinary pirates may not be certain. For example, Dong Qing and his fleet had just entered the three fork junction and suddenly a fleet of unknown origin was sailing towards them on the western sea surface.
Chapter completed!