Zheng He voyaged seven times in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean, and visited more than 30 countries and regions. Unlike Western colonies who burned, killed, looted and promoted colonial rule every place, Zheng He brought peace and exchanges. This style of a great power has attracted the desire of the countries in the South China Sea to be happy, and Sulu is one of them.

The Sulu Kingdom is the emirate in the southern part of the Philippines. It believes in Islam and promotes the sultan system. The three kings and princes who hold the main rights of the country are the East, the West and the Dong King. During the Yongle period, the three kings led more than 300 relatives and attendants to visit the Ming Dynasty across the ocean and were warmly entertained by Emperor Yongle.

On the way back, when he was passing through Dezhou, Shandong, the King of Dong died of illness and was buried in Dezhou. His eldest son returned to China to inherit the throne, and the princess and two other sons remained in Dezhou and settled, becoming a descendant of the Ming Dynasty. Now Sultan is the descendant of the King of Dong, and the one who stayed in Dezhou is of the same clan and clan.

About seventy years ago, Spanish colonists entered the Sulu area, promoted Christianity locally, and hunted down the Sulu people who believed in Islam.

The Sulu army was defeated and lost Cebu Island. Brunei was a neighbor of Sulu and also believed in Islam. The two formed an alliance to resist the Spanish together.

Although Spain had advanced weapons, it had fewer people and was difficult to defeat them for a while. Later, Spain took a fancy to Luzon Island, which had a vast territory and no unified regime, and established ports and castles in Manila. They drove the indigenous people on Luzon Island and drove them into the mountains on the north side. They sent troops to attack Sulu and Brunei from time to time, plundering wealth and population.

Sulu and Brunei were in sorrow, but they had no choice but to endure it silently. It was at this time that Ma Shaoyu brought two sea boats and more than a hundred soldiers to Nanyang. According to Zhou Xian's instructions, he initially wanted to gain a foothold in the local area with the help of Portugal's power in Nanyang. However, with an in-depth understanding, he found that things were not that simple.

Portugal and Spain were the first Western countries to enter the South China Sea, and adopted the strictest colonial rule over the occupied land, which aroused fierce resistance from the indigenous people. Due to the gap in personnel quality and weapons, colonists often took the upper hand. However, this situation changed after the rise of the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is a latecomer and needs to challenge the forces of Portugal and Spain. Therefore, the policies they adopted are relatively gentle and easier to obtain the support of the indigenous people. They connected local forces to fight against the two countries that had already established a foothold in the South China Sea. More than a year ago, the Dutch and the Johor state of the Malay Peninsula launched an attack on Portugal, which occupied the Strait of Malacca. As a result, Portugal was defeated and lost the Strait of Malacca that had occupied more than a hundred years. After that, Portugal only had a base in Macau east of Ceylon.

Shortly after the end of the Battle of Malacca, the Netherlands, which occupied Taiwan, began to attack the Spaniards again. They sent troops to expel the Spaniards who occupied Keelung and stared at Manila.

The Netherlands now occupies the Strait of Malacca and forms an alliance with the Johors on the Malay Peninsula. In Taiwan, it gradually expands and becomes the only colonist in the local area. It defeats the Mada Blue Army in the Indonesian Archipelago, sets its headquarters in Batavia, and controls Java Island and the Spice Islands.

It can be said that the Netherlands is already the overlord of the South Ocean and its status is no longer something that Portugal can challenge. Although on the south side, Portugal still occupies East Timor, it is too far away and the reason why it was not taken away by the Netherlands is because it has no value. And Ma Shaoyu definitely would not go there.

At this time, Manila, the only colony in South China, became the only place to choose from forum for the Ming Dynasty. Ma Shao entered Manila as a merchant and found that there were only more than 300 Spanish soldiers in the city, and there were only more than 600 natives who defected to them.

After Ma Shaoyu's in-depth understanding, he realized that Spain was in a European war and a large number of troops had been transferred back to China.

Manila is the only stronghold of the Spanish in Asia and a silver transfer station in Spain. They transported the silver plundered from Mexico to Manila, used silver to buy various goods smuggled out by Ming smugglers, and then transported the goods back to Europe.

You should know that the Netherlands established the Batavia headquarters and established the established policy of dominating the Spice Islands to Japan. But their larger goal was to control the coast of Fujian. Unfortunately, the strength of the Ming Dynasty was beyond their imagination. They were unable to invade or change the Ming maritime ban policy, so they could only trade with the Ming smuggling maritime merchants.

But the Netherlands had just risen, and the country was small and poor. The Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants prefer to trade with the Spaniards to earn cheap silver. This made the Dutch feel like they were stuck in their throats and repeatedly used troops. In addition to intercepting the lucky ships from the Ming Dynasty, they also supported the locals to fight against Spain, and sometimes they even started directly.

The conflict between Spain and the Netherlands has long been clear. From the perspective of jointly fighting against the Dutch, Spain will be a good ally. But with their little force, it is really not worthy of the Ming Dynasty's cooperation with it. Moreover, he saw the importance of Manila's position, and he hoped that the Ming Dynasty would control it in the future, rather than the Western Yi. He did not disclose his identity, left Manila, and continued to move south, and finally arrived at Sabah, where Sulu was located.

Faced with the sudden visit of the Ming Dynasty, Sulu Sultan was extremely excited and received Ma Shaoyu with the most solemn etiquette. At the banquet, Sulu Sultan denounced the Spanish colonists' actions to Ma Shaoyu, asked the Ming Dynasty to make decisions, and proposed that he would incorporate Sulu into the Ming Dynasty.

Perhaps it is difficult for people to understand now, but in history, Sulu Sultan did propose to incorporate his country into China. However, this incident happened during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, but was rejected by Yongzheng and only treated it as a vassal state.

In fact, Zheng He's seven voyages to the West caused great shock among these small South Asian countries. In their eyes, the Ming Dynasty was powerful and could be relied on. When they were in danger, the first thing they thought of was the Ming Dynasty and were willing to do their best for it. Sulu was really bullied by Spain, so he took the initiative to propose to incorporate his own country into the Ming Dynasty.

Ma Shaoyu was shocked, but said that he could not make decisions, so he suggested that Sulu Sultan send envoys to the Ming Dynasty.

This matter was known to the Sultan of Brunei. As an ally of Sulu, he also decided to send envoys to the Ming Dynasty. You should know that the founding of the Brunei State was Huang Senping, an immigrant from Fujian. There were a large number of Han people in the country. His favorability towards the Ming Dynasty was not inferior to that of the Sultan of Sulu.
Chapter completed!