Chapter 946: Blood Feud

Latest website: "Do not forget, the 16th." Markwen looked toward the North Territory and reminded Ruan Chushan.

"Governor Markwen, I will not forget." Ruan Chushan smiled slightly.

Markwen nodded, then he said: "Next, I still need to go to Funan, Nanzhang, and Piaoman; they will pin down the Great Song's army in Yunzhou for you."

Ruan Chushan was delighted and offered a thousand thanks.

Markwen smiled; his words were merely empty pleasantries.

When he went to Nanzhang, Funan, and Piaoman, he would say the same thing to their emperors.

Over the next three days, he visited Funanguo and Nanzhangguo in succession.

Finally, he arrived at the Piaoman Kingdom, Naypyidaw.

He met with the King of Jiaozhi, Yongya, and simultaneously inspected the Piaoman army.

In the Frankish Southeast China, what Markwen relied on most were Piaoman and Jiaozhi.

Before the Franks arrived, both of these nations had the ambition to dominate the Southeast Peninsula, and they had taken action.

Funan and Nanzhang, caught between them, were either occupied by Piaoman or occupied by Jiaozhi.

But in the end, because of their greed, when they expanded northward, they would eventually have their legs broken by the Central Plains dynasty.

This was also the reason they deeply hated the Central Plains dynasty in the north.

Therefore, in the direction of Jiaozhou, successive Jiaozhi dynasties could not avoid warring with Great Song.

In the direction of Yunzhou, Piaoman also frequently clashed with Great Song.

Ruan Chushan said that Jiaozhi had once occupied Jiaozhou.

And Piaoman also once had glorious battle records, having once occupied Yunzhou and fought all the way to the capital of Yizhou.

"Yongya, I remember you saying that your grandfather's father died in battle in Yunzhou," Markwen asked, appearing indifferent.

At the same time, he cast his gaze toward the Piaoman army.

Unlike the Jiaozhi army, who wore conical hats, the Piaoman army wore no hats on their heads, but instead tied a red headband across their foreheads.

Their upper bodies wore black short shirts,

and below were skirt-like garments.

These Piaoman troops, like the Jiaozhi troops, only had a portion equipped with the rifled muskets and field artillery they provided.

The remaining majority were only equipped with ordinary flintlocks.

There was also a portion holding traditional Piaoman scimitars.

The most distinctive feature in this army was an elephant cavalry unit.

It was composed of five hundred elephants, with something like a palanquin on the elephants that could carry three people.

Previously, the elephant soldiers controlling the elephants held bows and arrows, but now they held front-loading rifled muskets.

This sight made Markwen increasingly satisfied.

In Southeast China, Piaoman was currently stronger than Jiaozhi.

In terms of army numbers, Piaoman had organized an army of 300,000 this time.

And the Piaoman soldiers were more savage than the Jiaozhi soldiers.

Yet he had a faint feeling that in the future, only Jiaozhi would be the sole hegemon of Southeast China.

This seemed to be because Jiaozhi was more influenced by the Central Plains dynasty.

Admitting this fact made him feel a sense of displeasure.

This displeasure came from dissatisfaction with Great Song, or rather, dissatisfaction with Yan Wang.

If it were a Great Song ruled by the aristocratic clans, they would still be welcome.

In that way, they could carve up Great Song just as they had carved up the Southern Region.

But Yan Wang had ruined all of this.

Now, all their purposes were to defeat this Yan Wang and then continue to carve up Great Song.

"That is correct. Before he died, he demanded that every Piaoman emperor swear an oath of revenge. Precisely because of this, for two hundred years, the conflict between Piaoman and Great Song has never ceased, until your arrival," Yongya said.

Markwen smiled, "That was because we did not want to provoke Great Song at that time and affect their rule over Southeast China. But now, that restriction is gone; you can use any method to avenge your ancestors."

Yongya nodded, "That is a matter of course. No one would miss this hunt for Great Song."

He understood the Westerners' purpose, but he was willing to participate in it.

"Very good," Markwen revealed a satisfied smile.

In this way, his Southeast China was prepared.

Britain's Tianzhu should also be prepared.

But due to the changing situation in the Southern Region, Wesley changed the original plan.

Tianzhu would no longer send soldiers to Tibet.

Instead, it would keep a portion of the Tianzhu army in Tianzhu as a reserve force, and send a portion to Malacca to defend the surrounding Malay and Yaga together with the Coalition there.

It was precisely because of this that the war plan was set for the 16th of next month.

Of course, there was another purpose for the delay of the plan.

That was that the British wanted to pull together an army composed of prisoners in a short period of time.

After inspecting Piaoman, Markwen finally took a steamship to Calcutta to report the situation.

For the remaining time, he only needed to wait for the war to break out.

……

East Sea of the Java Kingdom.

When the winds and rains were about to rise around Great Song, a fleet was sailing majestically across the sea.

This fleet was none other than Zhao Xu and his party.

After deciding to occupy the continent of Australia, Zhao Xu and Zhou Yi immediately began to take action.

Eight thousand soldiers were left behind in Luzon to garrison the area.

The Warships escorted transport ships back and forth to Luzon time and again, ferrying over twenty thousand soldiers to the island of Timor, which was closest to the continent of Australia.

When the number of marines on the island of East Timor reached six thousand, Zhao Xu also arrived with the fleet.

He would wait here for several days before finally setting foot on the continent of Australia.

If everything went smoothly, once the marines had secured control of the continent of Australia.

He might take a few squirrels and koalas back to give to Yang Susu to play with.

At the same time, he would also let the officials and generals of Great Song see, and see for themselves.

He would tell them that from now on, Great Song would possess an entire continent.