The western sea cruises of the Eununch San Bao
Chapter 72:
Again underway, the fleet reached Bengal, where Cheng Ho after some initial misunderstanding is received solemnly. The next goal is Mogadishu, which reins the small states Brawa and Giumbo. Wang Ching-hung advises Cheng Ho, for the sake of prudence to send spies to the three states Brava, Giumbo and Mogadishu. Liu T'ien-chueh, Wu Cheng and Chou Yuan-tai explore these areas, of which mainly Mogadishu is hostile. The kings of Brava and Zhubu (Glumbo or el Jubb) are ready to supply letters and tokens of submission but Mugadishu's ruler pleads sickness and stalls.. The king of Mogadishu seems to have said: The Ming empire and our country are thousands of miles apart. And today without reason it has send soldiers against us. Obviously they want to take us over. In Mogadishu, after a report Liu Tien-chueh it is clear that he the king is not honest. When Liu Tien-chuehs suggests, simply to attack; besieging Mogadishu with breastworks, catapults and 40,000 men, also bombards (hsiang-yang chi), Cheng Ho rejects this: Your proposal is reasonable, but since the soldiers have entered into the Western Sea, we have already subdued several states - in some instances, it was easy, in others the attack was difficult - but it also happened that they voluntarily and with sincere sentiment subjugated. We have so far not a single man pleased with force. And because we now come here, we could because (our principles vary) and can we subject the people to violence? Cheng Ho in the end invites the commander in chief of Mogadishu to a duel. The Chinese are fast put on shore. Mogadishu sends an archer to spy out the Chinese camp. The Chinese divines his purpose, but decides that the best course is to let him see as much as possible of China's superior armaments and military skills. Awed by a dazzling display of martial arts, the archer is send back to advise his king that a formal submission won't cost him much, and will avoid any trouble that might otherwise arise, causing him a dilemma which it would be too late to regret. And this forces Yun-mu-chen, the supreme commander of Mogadishu’s troops, to accept a duel.
Chapter 73:
In this confrontation with the opponents they sharpen their weapons, as it goes in war-art, but in vain, because Yun-mu-chen tries not, as hoped, to move the king to surrender his country, he rather went to report the magician Tara on what happened. This one comes as Tiger trainer camouflaged to the Chinese ships as spy. But Chang Shih-T'ien sees through the game and gives him a speech by which he disturbs Tara’s dressage demonstration.
Chapter 74:
Once dressed, this time as a mendicant, Tara, now wants to spy on Chin Pi-Feng, who, in turn feigns ignorance and gives him a silver medallion. This item has an unpleasant characteristic: He jumps the respective owners at the slightest offense to the neck and establishes itself like a pillory under his neck by magnifying its own weight. So comes Tara back in his own country and anything but ready to make concessions. But he is brought under the burden of the magic money piece several times, whenever he shows resistance against the Chinese. But through mediation of Yun-mu-chen send by Chin-Pi Feng, as always stirred by compassion, the coin is brought back.
Chapter 75:
Now free, the thankless Tara is not for a peaceful solution to the conflict, but he asks his own teacher, Fei-pa Shih-chan, for help. This one has two magical cymbals, which he hurls into the air as flying weapons, who in the first battle against Cheng Hos Force behead ten Chinese sailors. Only Chin Pi-feng can give live back to those affected. The following fights – in which both Chang Shih-T'ien as well as Tang Ying participate - end in a stalemate.
Chapter 76:
The always of justice thinking war god Kuan Yu, who together with his companion Chou Ts'ang. intervenes in the events, puts Fei-pa in jail, however, allows him freedom again, when he declares that he earlier has given him a favor. And so the battle begins anew. Fei-pa brings now a nine-headed-monster, which is destroyed by one of the great transformation of the Rokh called King Stark (Ta-li-wang).
Chapter 77:
Now has Wang Ching- hung a vision that eventually leads to the final victory of Cheng Ho: The Chinese puts up an army of straw soldiers that they smear with animal blood. When Fei-pa, which holds the dummies for real, with his cymbals attacks, they fall, by the blood, so to speak, "neutralized", ineffective on the ground. His arms are taken - the cymbals are quickly collected by Cheng Ho’s men – and Fei -pa is brought in captivity. Even Tara is taken, and the King, whose situation is now hopeless, subjugates himself. And to Wang Ye in the Chinese camp is brought the message: All together, the barbarian kings of Mogadishu, Juba, and Brawa have arrived outside the tent to offer up letters and displays of submission and to tender ritual gifts presented in tribute.
The three kings required neither vanquishing in battle nor subjection to quaking with fear in order to come forth; they willingly paid homage ritualistically (to Wang Ye) by performing the kowtow and after a while they settled upon (communication through) some utterances and facial expressions.
Chin Pi-feng forgives them, however, he transforms the magical cymbals in a bronze pillar, which henceforth marks the waters of Mogadishu, and gives Tara the title King of the pillar. So ends the episode Mogadishu.
Chapter 78:
Next the fleet visits La'sa. In Lasa Wang Ching-hung, contrary to its usual cautious and diplomacy or trick-based approach, asks for a frontal attack to move the local government through intimidation to surrender.
At the arrival of the men of Zheng He, Lasa which is enclosed with a strong wall, closes itself. Opposite each gate, the Chinese prepare assault-towers with the help of ladders and three bombards are placed on those improvised towers. Then after several trials, start firing against the city walls. The effect of those 12 explosions was that the stones were blown in all directions. The earth trembles, the castle of the king shakes and the citizens panic till they lose courage and believe that the sky is falling. The king bewildered that his head is actually still on his shoulders hurries to let the sailors of Zheng He enter. Through a trick Wang Ming also succeeds to subjugate King Ali the ruler of Dhufar. Cheng Ho, Wang Ching-hung and the four eunuchs Ma, Hou, Wang Hung and the rest visit the local mosque, where they each write a poem
Chapter 86
Aden: (list of tribute to be loaded)
… cat eyes stones two pairs… ten red glasses (lamp) , 10 green-golden eye stones, malachite beats ten (all round, diameter bigger then an inch), pearls hundred (all big), hawk's-bill turtle, agate, che-quju hundred, colored glass hundred, amber 50, chains hundred (in the figures, birds, flowers, a very compact system), unicorn four (first two legs full height nine feet, latter two full height six feet, six ten feet, after it raises its head, human not can ride it, nearby the ears stand two bone horns), lions four (resemble tiger, black and yellow without spots, the big mouth is extravagant, sound roar like thunder,…) Fast camels 20, black donkey (travels a 1000 miles fights the tiger with his hoofs to death), hua-fu-lu five pairs, leopard three pairs, white deer ten (pure white like snow), silver pheasant ten, white dove ten, Camel-chickens 20 (such as fu-lu), sheep hundred (big tail) a hua-fu-lu pair (its skin does not become dusty, as a blanked its price is high), …red sandalwood hundred, the rose water hundred bottles, red bai-yange hundred buckets…, yang-cimi hundred barrels…
Chapter 99
Country nr 30 : Mu gu dou shu (Mogadishu)
Country nr 31 : Zhu bu guo (Juba)
Country nr 32 : Bo ci wa guo (Brava)
….Three Kingdoms together present one tribute. The yellow city gatekeeper reads out the list of tribute: a Jade Buddha, a jade pair of tablets, a yu-zhen a pair, two pair of cat eye stones, zu-mu-lu two pairs, a pair of ma-ha beasts, hua-fu-lu (zebra) pair, lions two pairs, a leopard pair, rhinoceros horn ten, ivory 50 pieces, long-xian-xiang ten boxes, 2000 coins, silver money 5000 coins, fragrant paddy rice ten buckets, coriander ten.
Fei pa chan shih the magician from Mogadishu who with his discs killed off the soldiers of China.
The author published this work in 1597, as it however is a novel based on the voyages of Zheng He, and the records of his voyages are lost, this novel is among the few books retaining information. The novel is believed to have some historic reliability. It is mostly praised for its violence. Meaning that all other accounts are official accounts and talk about very peaceful trips. This with ten thousands of soldiers is very unlikely. Many believe that the wars talked about in this novel are at least partly true.
Chapter 72:
Again underway, the fleet reached Bengal, where Cheng Ho after some initial misunderstanding is received solemnly. The next goal is Mogadishu, which reins the small states Brawa and Giumbo. Wang Ching-hung advises Cheng Ho, for the sake of prudence to send spies to the three states Brava, Giumbo and Mogadishu. Liu T'ien-chueh, Wu Cheng and Chou Yuan-tai explore these areas, of which mainly Mogadishu is hostile. The kings of Brava and Zhubu (Glumbo or el Jubb) are ready to supply letters and tokens of submission but Mugadishu's ruler pleads sickness and stalls.. The king of Mogadishu seems to have said: The Ming empire and our country are thousands of miles apart. And today without reason it has send soldiers against us. Obviously they want to take us over. In Mogadishu, after a report Liu Tien-chueh it is clear that he the king is not honest. When Liu Tien-chuehs suggests, simply to attack; besieging Mogadishu with breastworks, catapults and 40,000 men, also bombards (hsiang-yang chi), Cheng Ho rejects this: Your proposal is reasonable, but since the soldiers have entered into the Western Sea, we have already subdued several states - in some instances, it was easy, in others the attack was difficult - but it also happened that they voluntarily and with sincere sentiment subjugated. We have so far not a single man pleased with force. And because we now come here, we could because (our principles vary) and can we subject the people to violence? Cheng Ho in the end invites the commander in chief of Mogadishu to a duel. The Chinese are fast put on shore. Mogadishu sends an archer to spy out the Chinese camp. The Chinese divines his purpose, but decides that the best course is to let him see as much as possible of China's superior armaments and military skills. Awed by a dazzling display of martial arts, the archer is send back to advise his king that a formal submission won't cost him much, and will avoid any trouble that might otherwise arise, causing him a dilemma which it would be too late to regret. And this forces Yun-mu-chen, the supreme commander of Mogadishu’s troops, to accept a duel.
Chapter 73:
In this confrontation with the opponents they sharpen their weapons, as it goes in war-art, but in vain, because Yun-mu-chen tries not, as hoped, to move the king to surrender his country, he rather went to report the magician Tara on what happened. This one comes as Tiger trainer camouflaged to the Chinese ships as spy. But Chang Shih-T'ien sees through the game and gives him a speech by which he disturbs Tara’s dressage demonstration.
Chapter 74:
Once dressed, this time as a mendicant, Tara, now wants to spy on Chin Pi-Feng, who, in turn feigns ignorance and gives him a silver medallion. This item has an unpleasant characteristic: He jumps the respective owners at the slightest offense to the neck and establishes itself like a pillory under his neck by magnifying its own weight. So comes Tara back in his own country and anything but ready to make concessions. But he is brought under the burden of the magic money piece several times, whenever he shows resistance against the Chinese. But through mediation of Yun-mu-chen send by Chin-Pi Feng, as always stirred by compassion, the coin is brought back.
Chapter 75:
Now free, the thankless Tara is not for a peaceful solution to the conflict, but he asks his own teacher, Fei-pa Shih-chan, for help. This one has two magical cymbals, which he hurls into the air as flying weapons, who in the first battle against Cheng Hos Force behead ten Chinese sailors. Only Chin Pi-feng can give live back to those affected. The following fights – in which both Chang Shih-T'ien as well as Tang Ying participate - end in a stalemate.
Chapter 76:
The always of justice thinking war god Kuan Yu, who together with his companion Chou Ts'ang. intervenes in the events, puts Fei-pa in jail, however, allows him freedom again, when he declares that he earlier has given him a favor. And so the battle begins anew. Fei-pa brings now a nine-headed-monster, which is destroyed by one of the great transformation of the Rokh called King Stark (Ta-li-wang).
Chapter 77:
Now has Wang Ching- hung a vision that eventually leads to the final victory of Cheng Ho: The Chinese puts up an army of straw soldiers that they smear with animal blood. When Fei-pa, which holds the dummies for real, with his cymbals attacks, they fall, by the blood, so to speak, "neutralized", ineffective on the ground. His arms are taken - the cymbals are quickly collected by Cheng Ho’s men – and Fei -pa is brought in captivity. Even Tara is taken, and the King, whose situation is now hopeless, subjugates himself. And to Wang Ye in the Chinese camp is brought the message: All together, the barbarian kings of Mogadishu, Juba, and Brawa have arrived outside the tent to offer up letters and displays of submission and to tender ritual gifts presented in tribute.
The three kings required neither vanquishing in battle nor subjection to quaking with fear in order to come forth; they willingly paid homage ritualistically (to Wang Ye) by performing the kowtow and after a while they settled upon (communication through) some utterances and facial expressions.
Chin Pi-feng forgives them, however, he transforms the magical cymbals in a bronze pillar, which henceforth marks the waters of Mogadishu, and gives Tara the title King of the pillar. So ends the episode Mogadishu.
Chapter 78:
Next the fleet visits La'sa. In Lasa Wang Ching-hung, contrary to its usual cautious and diplomacy or trick-based approach, asks for a frontal attack to move the local government through intimidation to surrender.
At the arrival of the men of Zheng He, Lasa which is enclosed with a strong wall, closes itself. Opposite each gate, the Chinese prepare assault-towers with the help of ladders and three bombards are placed on those improvised towers. Then after several trials, start firing against the city walls. The effect of those 12 explosions was that the stones were blown in all directions. The earth trembles, the castle of the king shakes and the citizens panic till they lose courage and believe that the sky is falling. The king bewildered that his head is actually still on his shoulders hurries to let the sailors of Zheng He enter. Through a trick Wang Ming also succeeds to subjugate King Ali the ruler of Dhufar. Cheng Ho, Wang Ching-hung and the four eunuchs Ma, Hou, Wang Hung and the rest visit the local mosque, where they each write a poem
Chapter 86
Aden: (list of tribute to be loaded)
… cat eyes stones two pairs… ten red glasses (lamp) , 10 green-golden eye stones, malachite beats ten (all round, diameter bigger then an inch), pearls hundred (all big), hawk's-bill turtle, agate, che-quju hundred, colored glass hundred, amber 50, chains hundred (in the figures, birds, flowers, a very compact system), unicorn four (first two legs full height nine feet, latter two full height six feet, six ten feet, after it raises its head, human not can ride it, nearby the ears stand two bone horns), lions four (resemble tiger, black and yellow without spots, the big mouth is extravagant, sound roar like thunder,…) Fast camels 20, black donkey (travels a 1000 miles fights the tiger with his hoofs to death), hua-fu-lu five pairs, leopard three pairs, white deer ten (pure white like snow), silver pheasant ten, white dove ten, Camel-chickens 20 (such as fu-lu), sheep hundred (big tail) a hua-fu-lu pair (its skin does not become dusty, as a blanked its price is high), …red sandalwood hundred, the rose water hundred bottles, red bai-yange hundred buckets…, yang-cimi hundred barrels…
Chapter 99
Country nr 30 : Mu gu dou shu (Mogadishu)
Country nr 31 : Zhu bu guo (Juba)
Country nr 32 : Bo ci wa guo (Brava)
….Three Kingdoms together present one tribute. The yellow city gatekeeper reads out the list of tribute: a Jade Buddha, a jade pair of tablets, a yu-zhen a pair, two pair of cat eye stones, zu-mu-lu two pairs, a pair of ma-ha beasts, hua-fu-lu (zebra) pair, lions two pairs, a leopard pair, rhinoceros horn ten, ivory 50 pieces, long-xian-xiang ten boxes, 2000 coins, silver money 5000 coins, fragrant paddy rice ten buckets, coriander ten.
Fei pa chan shih the magician from Mogadishu who with his discs killed off the soldiers of China.
The author published this work in 1597, as it however is a novel based on the voyages of Zheng He, and the records of his voyages are lost, this novel is among the few books retaining information. The novel is believed to have some historic reliability. It is mostly praised for its violence. Meaning that all other accounts are official accounts and talk about very peaceful trips. This with ten thousands of soldiers is very unlikely. Many believe that the wars talked about in this novel are at least partly true.
