Chapter 2159: Shizong Chronicles 27: Gouwu of the South Seas

In the fifth year of Jianlong, at Chaohui City on the island of Borneo.

This city, located in the northern part of the island of Borneo, was the capital of the Gouwu Kingdom of the Great Han Empire, the largest and most prosperous city on the island at the time, and also the center for the spread of Han civilization on Borneo.

As early as the middle and late Kaibao period, the footsteps of the Han people had already spread across the coastal areas of the island of Borneo, establishing trading posts of varying sizes, with Kuncheng being among the earliest Han settlements.

However, at that time the Empire's operational focus was on the northern and southern Golden Continents and Java, with only simple attention paid to the island of Borneo. As a result, Han development on Borneo proceeded at a relatively slow pace. They were cautious toward the native state of Brunei on the island, and the frequent Han merchants often exchanged gifts to maintain relations. Against the greedy attacks of the natives, they only mounted basic defense and resistance, rarely escalating matters.

As Liu Yun, Liu Chun, and Guo Liangping led the combined land and naval forces southward, destroyed Srivijaya, and pacified Java, Emperor Shizu greatly enfeoffed the South Seas, and for the first time, Han army ships and troops invaded the island of Borneo on a large scale.

With the cooperation of the Han merchants on the island, they quickly occupied the coastal towns and strongholds of Borneo. It was a military excursion with almost no difficulty whatsoever. Only when taking the Brunei capital did they encounter slight resistance, but before the overwhelming force of the Han army, that resistance was as fragile as paper.

The ancient state of Brunei, which had stood for several hundred years, thus came to a bleak and helpless end. After the state's destruction, the entire island of Borneo became the backyard of the Great Han's officials, merchants, and soldiers—free to trade and roam as they pleased.

The acceleration of Han development of Borneo also began after the destruction of the state of Brunei. But on this vast and sparsely populated land, military conquest was easy, and civilizational assimilation was not difficult either. The greatest resistance, instead, came from the pioneering and construction work that started from absolute poverty.

By the fifth year of Jianlong, more than thirty years had passed, and Han exploration of Borneo still remained basically confined to the coastal regions, while the vast interior remained mostly virgin land, with the river reaches largely occupied by native tribes.

Even so, the former settlements and trading grounds, under the leadership of Han merchants and civilians, had grown into coastal cities and towns. Naturally, raids from remnants of Brunei and unsubmissive barbarian natives could not be avoided, but against such threats, no regular troops were needed—the armed forces of Han merchants and civilians sufficed. By comparison, mosquitoes, disease, and miasma—these harsh natural conditions—posed a far greater threat to Han immigrants.

Chaohui City was rebuilt and expanded on the foundation of the former Brunei capital. No matter how primitive and backward the island of Borneo appeared in Han eyes, the fact that it could sustain a state and serve as its capital meant its conditions and infrastructure in all respects were bound to be superior to those of other coastal towns.

From the perspective of enfeoffment, Emperor Shizu and Emperor Taizong had treated Wu King Liu Hui rather well, after all—this stretch of land, the most civilized and relatively most mature on the entire island, was given to his line.

The Wu King's line began its management of Borneo in the fourth year of Yongxi, when Wu King Liu Hui was sentenced to one year of house arrest for the "Ducal Mansion Corruption Case," and the authority of the mansion was handed to his heir Liu Wenyu, who was instructed to manage the fief and thereby avoid the political storm at court.

Liu Wenyu immediately began to allocate funds and grain, recruit personnel, and prepare for the overseas expedition. Led by Adjutant Zheng Zhi, the first "reclamation corps" was organized, numbering around two thousand people, comprising ducal mansion retainers, servants, tenant farmers, artisans, as well as sailors and militiamen recruited from society.

That winter, the reclamation corps set sail from Shanghai Port and arrived at Brunei City in the second month of the fifth year of Yongxi, beginning formal "reclamation." At that time, Brunei City had only a few hundred troops and tax officials stationed by Guo Liangping as official administrators, capable of maintaining only basic to crude order, while its actual operations were dictated by a number of great Han clans and wealthy merchants.

This model continued for roughly ten years in total and developed quite well, but the conflicts, bloodshed, and death accompanying it were also imaginable—and evil can often, within a certain period, water the flowers of prosperity.

But with the arrival of the Wu Ducal Mansion's reclamation corps, the local situation was immediately shattered, because the one who truly ruled and had the final say had arrived—both in name and in substance.

The arrival of this powerful dragon, the "Duke of Wu," meant that Brunei City would move toward a different order, inevitably leading to conflicts of interest and redistribution, and this process was destined not to be smooth.

To be fair, the arrival of the ducal reclamation corps did rather smack of stealing the ripe fruit, and for the several great families who had painstakingly built up Brunei City, this was hard to accept at once. Under their resistance, all manner of overt and covert obstructionist tactics emerged in endless succession.

Only, although the little ghosts were troublesome, the former territory of Brunei was personally enfeoffed to the Duke of Wu by the Emperor of the Great Han Empire, carrying official legitimacy—a point that no so-called families could contend against.

And the Adjutant Zheng Zhi, whom Liu Wenyu had chosen as reclamation corps leader, was no ordinary man—at least not a kind one. He was a man who had been tempered from the grassroots within the Empire's institutional system, and had even specially gone to observe and study at the convict labor camps administered by the Wude Office.

Zheng Zhi saw through the tension and discontent of Brunei City's several great families like a blazing fire, but he never made a move, focusing his energy instead on stabilizing the reclamation corps, maintaining contact with the South Seas authorities, and raising high the banner and signboard of the Wu Ducal Mansion, proclaiming that the true master of this city and this land had arrived.

In the sixth year of Yongxi, when the second batch of reclamation reinforcements from the ducal mansion arrived, Zheng Zhi, who had by then basically familiarized himself with the local situation, made his move. An operation to reclaim authority and consolidate governance—or rather, an operation to establish his might—came swift as fire.

Just as the vast South Seas region presented its wild character, the Great Han officials and civilians who had migrated south had also absorbed much of that wildness, losing even much of their reverence. Among the several great families, some actually dared to resist—openly brandishing blades, no less.

A bloody fight was unavoidable. Even among the Han people who had gone south to "spread" civilization, some needed blood to wash their minds clear. Originally, Brunei City had "eight great families"; after the sixth year of Yongxi, only three remained, and two of those were connected to imperial nobles. In the sixth year of Yongxi, imperial nobles willing to sink roots in the South Seas were still not many, yet Brunei City had two.

After completing the basic reorganization and recovery of authority, the ducal reclamation corps led by Zheng Zhi formally began managing Brunei Port City and its surrounding areas. Even in the Brunei state era, this region had been primarily agricultural, supplemented by fishing and salt—things the Han excelled at, meshing almost seamlessly, and the Han brought with them more advanced and refined techniques.

At the same time, commerce and small handicraft industries were gradually developed. The very emergence of the so-called great families itself indicated the local economic accumulation. What Zheng Zhi did was to continue expanding it, laying the foundation for the ducal mansion to establish a state.

The growth and blooming of a flower of civilization requires sufficient nourishment, and the nourishment feeding the proud flower of the "Gouwu Kingdom" in the South Seas came mainly from three sources: first, the abundant natural resources of the land; second, the local natives and former subjects of the old state; and third, the Han people continuously transported through the South Seas shipping routes—especially the third, which was the foundation of Han civilization's foothold on this land.

From the fifth year of Yongxi onward, every year the Wu Ducal Mansion recruited population from the Empire's heartland and transported them from the Empire's coastal ports to the fief. Each shipment was not particularly large—at most over two thousand, at least several hundred to a thousand—once or twice a year, but the key was persistence.

This pace did not slacken until the twelfth year of Yongxi, caused mainly by two factors. The first was cost. Even in the Yongxi era, when shipbuilding technology, navigation technology, and shipping routes were relatively mature, transporting a single person through formal channels to the island of Borneo, thousands of li away, using the most extreme cost-cutting methods, still averaged over four strings of cash per person.

And that didn't even include the preliminary recruitment and assembly of personnel, the preparation and supply of materials, the settlement and resettlement after arrival, nor the risks along the way. Shipwrecks at sea were common occurrences. In the Wu Ducal Mansion's population transport alone, no fewer than four thousand immigrants perished in the vast South Sea. The losses of ships and personnel, plus corresponding compensation, were enough to make the Wu Ducal Mansion ache to the bone.

And various technical talents and administrative personnel commanded even higher pay and requirements. Add administrative costs and losses during the reclamation and pioneering process... the accumulated expenditures formed an astronomical figure. There was no help for it—the Wu Ducal Mansion had to do things "properly and uprightly," following formal immigration procedures, and the price was this steep.

Yet even with the Wu Ducal Mansion's family fortune, how long could it sustain such blood-transfusion expenditures? In fact, persisting for eight or nine years without wavering despite enormous losses was already a testament to the firm resolve of father and son Liu Hui and Liu Wenyu.

This was perhaps the one thing Wu King Liu Hui had persisted in most throughout his life, even though the one who labored and toiled over it was Liu Wenyu.

The other factor stemmed from internal entanglements within the Wu Ducal Mansion—specifically, the conflicts among Liu Hui's sons. Liu Hui had five sons who reached adulthood. Besides the eldest, Wenyu, there were four younger brothers: Wenbo, Wencong, Wenyong, and Wenbo.

From the late Kaibao period onward, Liu Hui had been continuously suppressed politically. When the father was frustrated, the sons found it difficult to achieve anything in official careers. Therefore, although the sons of the Wu Ducal Mansion each had their own pursuits, their primary reliance was still on sponging off the ducal mansion.

On the question of the title, Liu Wenyu held the advantage of being the eldest legitimate son, which was hard to overturn. But the question of property left much room for discussion, and everyone watched it closely—especially Liu Wenbo and Liu Wenyong, who were also legitimate sons, and were particularly green with envy.

Although the ducal reclamation was Liu Hui's decision, it did not permit the eldest branch to transfer property so wantonly. That was two to three hundred thousand strings of cash! The brothers watched with extraordinary heartache and nursed resentment.

Thus, the reclamation on Borneo faced overt and covert obstruction at the ducal mansion level. Liu Wenbo and Liu Wenyong also frequently ran to the old man to lodge complaints and air grievances. One thing the two brothers said was not wrong—if this continued unchecked, the ducal mansion's subordinate property would all be emptied out by Liu Wenyu...

Based on these two factors, the blood transfusion from the Empire's heartland to Borneo via the Wu Ducal Mansion slowed, even falling into stagnation. However, after nearly a decade of unwavering support and the painstaking management of Zheng Zhi and others, the pioneering of Borneo was showing increasing results—not just in Brunei City, but spreading outward to nearly the entire northern part of the island, formally incorporating the most traditional ruling territory of the former Brunei state under its governance.

During the Brunei state era, its capital at its peak had a population of just over ten thousand. That number, in the twelfth year of Yongxi, had already surpassed twenty thousand in Brunei City, with Han people accounting for more than half.

And being able to sustain a city of twenty thousand was itself the most direct demonstration of pioneering achievement, for it meant sufficient production of goods. Of course, reaching such a level entailed hardships and sacrifices beyond measure.

For the ducal mansion, the greatest loss was the death by illness of Zheng Zhi. This foremost executor of the early pioneering period, the most important controller of the situation, and the greatest contributor, contracted disease amid long-term toil and hardship and died suddenly. What he left behind was a South Seas Wu Ducal State that had taken initial shape.

Of course, beyond mourning Zheng Zhi's death, the Wu Ducal Mansion also granted him sufficient honor, posthumously enfeoffing him as Baron Mayi, with his son Zheng Tai inheriting the title.

At the same time, within Brunei City, a temple and a stele were erected for Zheng Zhi, recording his achievements so that later generations would remember him forever. Because he had originally presided over the pioneering of Borneo in the capacity of Adjutant, the temple was named the "Adjutant Temple." On the island of Borneo, the office of Adjutant was held by more than one person, but the Adjutant Temple commemorated Zheng Zhi alone.

Zheng Zhi died in the tenth year of Yongxi. After his death, Brunei City lost its chief administrator. For his successor, the ducal mansion crafted a new "management layer"—a situation like Zheng Zhi's single-handed dominance was not to be allowed again; the ducal mansion was equally wary.

Thus, the new authority was divided into three parts. A pioneering merit-holder named Liu Chu was promoted from among the local Borneo population to take charge of military affairs—this man came from the ranks of the ducal mansion's household generals—and Liu Wenyu also sent his confidant Wang Tai to oversee civil administration.

Even more importantly, Liu Wenyu sent his youngest brother Liu Wenbo to the South Seas to preside over the overall situation. Among Liu Hui's sons, the concubine-born Liu Wenbo had the best relationship with Liu Wenyu—truly inseparable. This matter was of especially great significance for the South Seas Wu State, for it meant that Liu Hui's line had formally taken its first step toward the South Seas—a crucial step, and a historic one.

In the thirteenth year of Yongxi, nearly ten years after initiating the reclamation of Borneo, Liu Wenyu personally set sail, arriving on the island of Borneo in the capacity of heir to the Duke of Wu and as master of the house.

On this journey, besides inspecting the achievements of a decade of pioneering, Liu Wenyu also proclaimed the formal establishment of the South Seas Wu Ducal State, which of course had first received the approval of the Emperor and the court. Although Liu Hui, as the monarch of the ducal state, was absent from the founding ceremony, that did not diminish its significance. The history of northern Borneo had thus turned a new page.

At the founding of the state, besides enfeoffing meritorious officials, Liu Wenyu also renamed Brunei City to Chaohui City, taking the character "hui" from the name of Duke Liu Hui of Wu, and expressing good hopes for the new Wu Ducal State.

It must be said that the process of the new Wu Ducal State's pioneering and establishment in the South Seas was textbook-level, presenting a fairly complete picture of how a Great Han fief came into being from nothing—by no means a matter of a single golden edict from the central court.

By the time Taizong passed away and Kangzong ascended the throne, Liu Hui was promoted to Wu King, and the fief was correspondingly elevated to a kingdom, recorded in the court's state documents as "Gouwu." Of course, among the common people and in the South Seas region, it was also commonly called New Wu.

Some also called it Northern Wu, because the kingdom's main territory lay in the northern part of the island of Borneo, while also holding portions of land and towns along the northeastern and northwestern coasts. As for the other regions of Borneo, they were respectively occupied by the Yong State established by Liu Chun and the Yue State established by Liu Han.

By the time Liu Wenji succeeded to the throne, Liu Wenyu—who had ruled the Wu State as crown prince since the Kangzong era—finally outlasted his old father Liu Hui, who had spent twenty years playing the zither in the Taihe Tower, and successfully assumed the throne as king. By then, he was already forty years old...