After finally seeing the endless plain with his own eyes, Hou Junji discovered that the excitement he had imagined simply did not exist.
Instead, he felt… rather underwhelmed.
He issued a few casual orders, then waved a hand for Wu Ba to move his favorite chair to the very edge of the deck, where the view was widest.
Once it was set down, Hou Junji settled into it like a man arriving at a teahouse rather than a battlefield. He loosened the brocade pouch at his chest, pulled out the telescope inside, glanced once toward the shore, then leaned back fully. His legs went up onto the railing, and before long he was already dozing, swaying gently with the ship.
To Hou Junji, this expedition felt less like a military operation and more like an inspection tour with scenery.
Wu Ba naturally did not dare speak.
A personal guard nearby craned his neck to check the shoreline. Seeing no signs of fighting, he stepped closer and spoke in a careful, familiar tone.
"Master, those natives seem fairly sensible. Why not go down and stretch a bit? The sea's been shaking us for days."
"No fighting?" Hou Junji asked, eyes still closed.
"None. Probably Hou Jiu Brother and the others landed in full armor with blades out and crossbows ready. That sort of entrance tends to discourage enthusiasm."
Hou Junji clicked his tongue.
"These idiots. Back at the Ming River, each one wanted to charge shirtless just to show off in front of His Majesty. Now facing a bunch of clay chickens and mud dogs, suddenly they remember discipline."
The guard grinned.
"Well, the brothers only wanted to earn you some glory before His Majesty. Out here, though, if we die, we just rot in foreign soil. Hardly glorious."
"That's reasonable." Hou Junji thought for a moment, then raised his voice.
"Since there's no battle… Wu Ba."
Wu Ba snapped upright so fast he nearly startled himself, then hurried forward and attempted the clasp-hand salute he had only recently learned. His hands might or might not have been reversed again.
"Duke… Your Excellency."
Hou Junji did not even look at him.
"You know this region best. Handle the negotiations as you see fit. This Duke is tired. Do not disturb me."
Wu Ba froze. Negotiations between nations were being handed to him like an errand for buying vegetables. He instinctively wanted to ask more, but the guard beside him had already grabbed his arm.
"Come on, I'll go with you. Let the master sleep."
Behind them, faint snoring had already begun.
Wu Ba could only follow him down toward the small boats. While walking, he lowered his voice and asked,
"This concerns relations between two kingdoms. The Duke truly does not mind?"
The guard looked at him as if the question itself were strange.
"The Turkic Khagan once led a hundred thousand elite cavalry and still ended up dragged in chains before His Majesty. These three little countries here, do they look stronger than the Turks?"
They did not. Not remotely.
Even so, Wu Ba hesitated.
"Still… should not the Duke personally oversee matters?"
"Don't joke."
The guard's tone carried open disdain.
"In foreign lands, only a king is qualified to meet a Duke of Tang. Everyone else is background decoration."
Wu Ba fell silent.
After thinking it through, he could not even argue. It sounded arrogant, but it also sounded… extremely Tang.
By the time the sun leaned west, Hou Junji finally woke.
While washing with water brought by a guard, he looked over at Wu Ba and the same guard who had returned.
Both had blood on them.
The guard looked invigorated, as if he had just finished morning exercise. Wu Ba looked like a man whose worldview had been gently shaken.
Still, he stepped forward to report.
"We asked around. The victors are from Chenla. The ones killed or captured are from Funan."
"Chenla's grown strong. Funan has already been pushed close to its capital."
"Our generals stopped the Chenla men from killing the prisoners. After that… I made a decision myself. I released some Funan captives and sent them back to inform their king that a Tang envoy has arrived."
"Chenla refused at first. Then our generals changed expressions and killed a few of them. After that, the rest agreed."
"I also kept some men from both sides here… so their rulers can come retrieve them."
Hou Junji could imagine the scene perfectly. Once his officers heard bargaining from the locals, they probably switched from negotiation mode to demonstration mode with impressive efficiency. Wu Ba had clearly been startled.
Still, the result was good.
"Well done," Hou Junji said.
Wu Ba visibly brightened, which made Hou Junji nod slightly before asking the question that truly mattered.
"Do we know where the capitals of Funan and Chenla are?"
Wu Ba immediately produced a rough map. Hou Junji felt even more satisfied with him.
The detailed map His Majesty had given him, supposedly from more than a thousand years in the future, could not be shown to anyone. But a crude local map was enough to confirm his memory.
Before arriving, the terrain of this vast plain had already been memorized by Hou Junji. After studying the drawing for a short time, he had already guessed the likely locations of both capitals.
Wu Ba continued explaining.
"There's a large river through both kingdoms. Locals call it—"
"Lancang Water," Hou Junji cut in. "That river is called Lancang."
Wu Ba blinked.
The guard beside him nearly jumped.
"The Lancang from Ba-Shu?"
Hou Junji went quiet for a moment. Even he had not believed it at first when he saw it on that future map.
Ancient records called it by many names. Lao River. Cangjin. Others besides. But Lancang was the one most commonly used.
It rose in Qinghai, flowed through Ba-Shu and Yunnan, then rushed south into lands beyond the maps.
Who would have thought it reached the sea here.
Explaining the future map was impossible, so Hou Junji only spoke vaguely.
"This river runs ten thousand li. It deserves the name Lancang River."
Wu Ba nodded slowly, still unsure how the Duke seemed to know rivers better than locals did.
"Chenla's capital is upstream along it," Wu Ba continued. "Funan's capital is at the great lake in the middle reaches."
"But since last year, Funan has been losing repeatedly. The Chenla king moved south with his army, so his court is now also in the middle reaches."
That made sense. From the look of their soldiers, these kingdoms did not really possess fixed capitals. Wherever the king camped, that place became the capital. If the king moved, the capital politely moved with him.
Hou Junji nodded. Decision made.
"Tell the men to sleep early. At dawn we sail north along the Lancang, from sea into river, and find the rulers of Chenla and Funan."
"These two are blood brothers. I cannot bear to watch them fight."
Normally, a commander should be cautious. At least one ship should remain offshore as support.
But that applied to equal opponents.
Hou Junji had already observed the soldiers of both states. His conclusion was simple. Qin troops from eight centuries ago could probably defeat them using half their equipment and most of their boredom. Tang soldiers surpassed them in arms, discipline, morale, and tactics.
Under those circumstances, caution felt excessive.
Besides, that envoy Wang Xuance had once wiped out a kingdom nearly by himself.
Was a Grand Duke of Tang supposed to perform worse than an envoy?
The guard beside him looked delighted. Wu Ba, however, looked worried.
"Your Excellency… this journey should be handled carefully. If it is not necessary…"
Hou Junji nodded very seriously.
"Of course. I am merely going to explain to them what brotherly harmony means."
Then he smiled.
"We people of Xia are best at persuading others with reason."
The guard grinned.
Wu Ba suddenly felt that the coming explanation might involve quite a lot of weapons.