Aboard the five-toothed flagship of the Duke of Lu.
Inside the warship's cabin, maps covered the walls. Sea routes, coastlines, islands, names written in ink that had already begun to smudge from damp air and long use.
Hou Junji stood with his hands behind his back, staring at the map while speaking to a dark-skinned man beside him.
"So this… what was his name again? Ba… Fa… Fa something?"
The man, clearly used to this by now, answered smoothly,
"Bhavavarman, Your Grace."
Hou Junji nodded, twisting his beard while frowning at the map.
"So this Bhava fellow was originally a prince of Funan. Then he married a princess of Chenla and became king there instead?"
"Exactly as Your Grace says."
Hou Junji grunted, still sorting out the mess of southern politics in his head.
"And last year the king of Funan died. So now this Bhava something, already ruling Chenla, wants to take Funan too and become ruler of both?"
"Not only that," the man added.
"Funan already has a crown prince. But Bhavavarman is relying on Chenla's military strength to seize the throne by force. They are still at war now."
Hou Junji's eyes lit up slightly.
"Strong army, you say. How strong?"
The man hesitated.
Hou Junji instantly understood.
Wrong question.
These southern lands were hardly places where people spoke court Chinese or kept proper numerical records. Asking for troop numbers was practically torture.
Fortunately, he had learned another method.
"Wu Ba," Hou Junji said, pointing toward the harbor outside, "does Chenla have more troops than my fleets here?"
Wu Ba relaxed immediately, thinking carefully before answering.
"Roughly… about four fleets of Your Grace's size."
Hou Junji calculated silently.
Each of his fleets carried ten ships and a little over nine hundred men.
Four fleets. Roughly four thousand troops.
Even adding their local elephant corps… four thousand infantry and a handful of war elephants.
Hou Junji, Duke of Lu, Grand General of the Right Guard of the Great Tang, could only sigh.
Pathetic.
In the Central Plains, such a force would not even deserve serious consideration unless they were elite fubing troops.
Yet here, that counted as military strength. Enough to bully neighbors, conquer weaker states, and swagger about like overlords.
For a moment, Hou Junji's thoughts drifted back.
Back to the day the light curtain exposed his crimes.
Back to leaving Chang'an in forced departure.
Back to recruiting several hundred former city enforcers and gathering nine hundred retainers before heading south.
It already felt like another lifetime.
They crossed the sea to Yi Prefecture, learned ship handling, wind reading, star navigation.
With the Emperor's warrant, they requisitioned ten warships, one large and nine smaller.
Just as he had promised Li Shimin, Hou Junji began the southern maritime campaign.
The maps from later generations were detailed, yes.
But maps alone could not answer real questions.
How many states existed here?
What were their customs?
What did they produce?
Which were worth trading with, and which needed conquering?
After setting out, they used Zhuya as a resupply point, then steadily explored southward.
If there was one thing the Emperor truly cared about, it was Champa rice.
The problem was… they could not find Champa.
They asked in Jiaozhou.
They asked in Zhuya.
No one had even heard of the place.
With no choice left, Hou Junji sailed beyond Tang territory and pushed toward Linyi.
He had studied the region's history carefully before coming.
Linyi had once been part of the Han's Rinan Commandery.
Originally Xianglin County.
After the Han collapsed, a man named Khu Lien rebelled and declared himself king.
During the chaos at the end of the Jin, this tiny state had even dared to raid northward.
Fortunately, Emperor Wu of Song crushed them and forced tribute.
Later the Sui conquered the land and turned it into Linyi Commandery.
After the Sui fell, it slipped away again.
Given that history, Hou Junji originally came with peaceful intentions.
Find the rice. Talk things out. Leave.
Unfortunately…
When he arrived lightly armed to show sincerity, the Linyi locals mistook that for weakness.
What followed on the beach was written in blood.
His retainers, all former fubing soldiers, formed battle lines flawlessly and smashed through enemy ranks head-on.
The Chang'an enforcers leapt between formations, masters of harassment and survival tactics.
Together they crushed the locals so thoroughly the survivors fled at the mere sight of Tang banners.
That battle taught Hou Junji something.
Compared to local dialects, Tang sabers spoke far more clearly.
The display of force also stirred unrest within Linyi itself.
Many among the local elites still admired Chinese institutions and spoke refined speech.
When they saw the Tang return, they began to whisper.
After all, the region had been under Han rule for nearly four hundred years.
Even after independence, it had spent another two centuries repeatedly subdued by Chinese dynasties.
To those who believed in Chinese legitimacy, the current Linyi nobility looked less like rulers and more like usurpers.
Some radicals defected outright.
Wu Ba was one of them.
After negotiations failed, Hou Junji simply switched methods.
Sabers spoke.
The flagship made declarations.
Guided by Wu Ba, he led repeated raids on coastal Linyi strongholds, looting several times before withdrawing at leisure.
One day, this land would return to Chinese rule anyway.
There would be plenty of Tang soldiers to teach these petty kings their place.
No need to waste time now.
The treasure was divided among the men.
The intelligence reports and collected rice samples were sent north with a supply convoy from Zhuya. Officials there would rush them to Chang'an.
What happened after that was no longer his concern.
Continuing south, Hou Junji planned to inspect the great gulf at the southern tip of the peninsula.
Instead, Wu Ba's explanations made it clear they had stumbled into a regional war between two southern kingdoms.
Hou Junji snapped back from his memories and muttered,
"This Bhava fellow is greedy. Becoming king through marriage was not enough, so now he wants to seize his brother's throne too. No regard for blood ties at all."
He clicked his tongue.
"No. I cannot just watch such injustice happen."
Wu Ba's eyes immediately shone.
He still carried a Han surname, but his mother had disappeared early and his father died young. His only memories of Chinese culture were the awkward classical phrases his father taught him as a child and stories that had already begun to fade.
In those stories, righteous men acted according to principle.
Heroes gave their lives for justice.
Compared to them, the Linyi nobles' behavior felt as low as dust beneath one's feet.
And now, looking at the Tang duke before him, Wu Ba felt as if one of those stories had stepped out of myth and into reality.
He did not hesitate any longer.
Stepping forward, he bowed deeply and spoke in a loud voice,
"Wu Ba of Linyi Commandery requests to serve as Your Grace's vanguard. I am willing to die for the Great Tang!"