Chapter 732: What Is Suzerainty?

Seeing that the naked men filling the court all had bulging bellies, King Prasat Thong had no choice but to set aside, for the time being, any thought of starting a war.

It had been more than forty years since they had fought a war, and King Prasat Thong himself no longer had the skill for it! All that remained in his heart now was regret — how had he been so possessed as to issue the order expelling the Chinese? Did he not know what sort of men the Chao Phraya, Phraya, Phra, Luang, and Khun under him were?

Getting them to drive out the Chinese who paid taxes and rent on their own lands was harder than anyone knew. The expulsion edict had been issued nearly four months ago, yet the streets of Ayutthaya still seemed to be full of Chinese.

"Narai!" King Prasat Thong said to his crown prince, Prince Narai.

A fat naked man kneeling beside the throne hurriedly rose, walked over to King Prasat Thong — the only clothed man in the hall — then knelt and prostrated himself. "Royal Father, you called for me?"

"Go outside the city to welcome the Ming envoy," King Prasat Thong said. "Give the Ming envoy sufficient courtesy. Do not treat them like envoys from Burma, Chenla, or Annam. The Great Ming is, after all, the Celestial Court, the superior state!"

Such was the power of tradition! The Ayutthaya dynasty had paid tribute to the Great Ming as a superior state for more than two hundred years, and everyone from top to bottom was accustomed to it. Although this superior state did not seem to be worth very much, no one could refuse to acknowledge it!

"Oh, and prepare a generous gift as well," King Prasat Thong said. "And tell the Ming envoy that our Siamese mission will soon depart for Nanjing to pay tribute."

King Prasat Thong wanted to smooth things over.

The Siamese had a fairly clear understanding of the Great Ming's temperament, because among the Great Ming's tributary states, Siam was one of the more diligent in paying tribute. From the founding of the Ming dynasty to the present (the Ayutthaya dynasty had been founded even earlier than the Ming), the Ayutthaya dynasty had sent tribute more than a hundred times. Although they had profited considerably from the Great Ming's principle of "giving much and receiving little," their attitude had always been very respectful.

It was only after Zhu Cilang took power and became a bit stingy, no longer giving return gifts to tributary states, that King Prasat Thong had stopped sending tribute missions for a long while.

But now that Ming gunboats were blockading the door, it seemed they would have to go pay tribute after all — even if there were no return gifts, they still had to go. But they would not send anything too good. Weren't the Ming short of grain? How about giving them a few tens of thousands of piculs of Siamese rice!

"Royal Father," Prince Narai asked, "if the Ming envoy asks about our expulsion of the Chinese, how should your son answer?"

That shouldn't be a problem, should it? King Prasat Thong thought. We're paying tribute, and we don't even want return gifts.

He thought for a moment, then said: "We asked the Ming people near Ayutthaya to leave not because we wished to make an enemy of the Great Ming Celestial Court, but because many of these Ming people were lawless elements who endangered the public order of Ayutthaya."

The excuse was well chosen. If Siam were a fully sovereign and independent state, this excuse would even be legally sound. The only question was whether the Ming people's property had suffered losses in the process of being "asked to leave."

But the problem was that Siam itself acknowledged the Ming as its suzerain state, so Siam did not possess full sovereignty!

On this point there was no dispute!

Prince Narai had no idea how serious this matter was! Having received his father's order, he put on clothes and left the city — at court one went naked, but going out one had to wear clothes. Otherwise, why would Siam buy so much Chinese silk?

The attire of the Ayutthaya nobility was quite beautiful. The fashion was ostentatious gold, called "gold-brocade garments," all made from gold-colored silk with beautiful patterns imported from China.

Dressed in ostentatious gold from head to toe, a large gold plaque hanging from his neck, seated atop an elephant draped in ostentatious gold, Prince Narai looked at a glance to be fabulously wealthy, and then, with a great entourage before and behind, he went out of the city.

By the way, Prince Narai's attendants also brought gifts for Ji Kun and Li Shaoyou — all glittering golden treasures as well!

Ji Kun and Li Shaoyou did not enter the city, but waited in a nobleman's villa south of Ayutthaya, near the Chao Phraya River, for the high officials of Siam to come out and welcome them.

Van Diemen, who had come along with Ji Kun and Li Shaoyou, heard a Siamese nobleman receiving the Ming mission report that "Crown Prince Narai will personally come out to welcome you," and could not help but sigh.

This was them placing the Great Ming Empire in the lofty position of suzerain — although it was a fact, Siam could also have refused to acknowledge it. If you refused to acknowledge it, then Holland, Spain, Portugal, England, and the other great powers would have grounds to intervene.

Yet they simply lacked that awareness. Diplomatic negotiations had not even begun, and they had already given away half their country's sovereignty!

What the hell was left to negotiate after that!

"Prince, this official asks you: does your Siam acknowledge the Great Ming Celestial Court as your superior state and suzerain?"

In a pavilion decorated in resplendent gold, Ji Kun had already accepted the gifts and was now asking Prince Narai with a beaming smile.

Van Diemen's heart leaped into his throat!

Serving as interpreter on the spot was a Chinese man whose family had immigrated to Siam generations ago and who had already attained noble status; he spoke fluent Mandarin with a Guangdong accent.

He translated Ji Kun's words into soft, lilting Siamese.

The Siamese prince nodded and said with a smile: "Of course we acknowledge it. We also intend to send a mission to Nanjing to pay tribute, and we will send the Celestial Court one hundred thousand piculs of our finest fragrant rice!"

It was all over!

Hearing the prince's reply as translated by that Siamese Chinese, Van Diemen knew that Siam had jumped into the pit of its own accord.

From this moment on, the Siam question was an internal affair of the Great Ming!

"Only fragrant rice?" Ji Kun looked thoroughly dissatisfied.

The Great Ming Celestial Court was no beggar — did they think a bit of rice would send them packing?

The prince hastily raised the offer. "There is also ivory, agarwood, rhinoceros horn, teak... and we can also give gold!"

Siam was rich!

Selling rice, selling timber, selling ivory, selling spices — how much did they take in? And what they took in was silk and porcelain, which they resold to Westerners for even more money.

Moreover, the Siamese king ran a peasant-soldier system: the farmers who served as soldiers received no pay, and they even had to bring their own rations.

So if they could spend a little money to send the Great Ming packing, the matter would be perfectly settled.

"No!" Ji Kun's tone had grown stern. "Do you think the Cham and the Khmer are unwilling to pay tribute?"

They were willing?

Prince Narai thought to himself: The Cham are vassals of Annam — how could they go pay tribute to the Great Ming? As for Chenla, ever since the Great King (Naresuan) crushed them, they have been in utter chaos. Where would they find the leisure to pay tribute?

Ji Kun continued: "Champa and Chenla were subjugated by the Celestial Court precisely because they refused to acknowledge the Celestial Court's suzerainty!

Prince, do you know what suzerainty means?"

Prince Narai shook his head: he did not know!

Ji Kun explained: "What is called suzerainty means the Great Ming is the father and Siam the son; the Great Ming is the head and Siam the branch; the Great Ming is the sovereign and Siam the subject. You Siamese must strictly observe the duties of a subject, must send tribute to the Celestial Court, and in matters of war and diplomacy must follow the Celestial Court and not act on your own authority!

And Our Celestial Court, the superior state, shall in turn protect Siam's peace and security, shall not permit other states to invade Siam, nor allow traitorous ministers and rebels to seize your royal throne.

By the way, have you heard about the matter of the Le king of Annam? The Le king is now master of Thang Long, and no one dares usurp or hold him hostage anymore. That is the benefit of being a tributary state of the Celestial Court!"

Narai listened in a daze, still not understanding what suzerainty meant.

Ji Kun continued: "Our Celestial Court, the superior state, has already prepared a 'Suzerain-Vassal Treaty.' Take it back and show it to your father. If there are no objections, sign it quickly, then bring the treaty to Nanjing to pay tribute. From then on, the kingdom of Siam shall be under the protection of the Great Ming!"

This was a "form treaty," every clause of which had been personally drafted by Zhu Cilang. Annam had been the first to sign it.

Because Ji Kun had once submitted a memorial on "feudalism," Zhu Cilang had taken notice of him and had him participate in drafting the clauses of the "form treaty." His memory was excellent, and on the way to Ayutthaya he had drawn up a version for Siam from memory.

Its general contents, apart from stipulating that Siam must follow the Great Ming in foreign and military affairs, that the Great Ming must guarantee Siam's security, and that the Siamese king must be invested by the Great Ming, also included such items as "stationing troops on islands within the leased territory" (without troops, how could Siam be protected?), "permitting Great Ming nationals to lease land from Siamese nobles" (count yourselves lucky! Subjects of the superior state are even willing to be your tenant farmers), "the Great Ming assisting in training the Siamese army," "agreed tariff rates," and "protecting Great Ming Confucian academies."

(End of Chapter)