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On March 8, the 12th year of the Qingli period, the Song Dynasty delegation arrived in Vijaya, the capital of Champa.

Upon learning of the arrival of the Song Dynasty delegation, King Rudravarman III of Champa extended hospitality and held a banquet in his kingdom to welcome the delegation.

When faced with the request of Tan Wenxue and others to go to the Song Dynasty to attend the annual meeting at the end of the year, Rudravarman III readily agreed and said that he would definitely go there in person.

The Song Dynasty held a grand celebration this time, and the requirement for the vassal kings of East Asian countries was that they must attend, and those who were too far away should also send envoys.

Basically, except for the Liao Emperor Yelu Chongyuan, all the kings of neighboring East Asian countries must come this time, including the Emperor of Japan.

The reason why King Rudravarman III agreed so readily was not only because the Song Dynasty was now powerful and the South China Sea Navy put enormous pressure on the Southeast Asian countries, but most importantly, he had taken a lot of advantages from the Song Dynasty.

During the Han Dynasty, the entire Vietnam region was part of the Han territory and was under the jurisdiction of the Jiaozhi Provincial Administration.

The administrative plan is divided into three counties. The Red River Delta area in the north is called Jiaozhi County, the narrow coastal area in the middle is called Jiuzhen County, and the southernmost area is called Rinan County.

This situation did not change until the late Eastern Han Dynasty.

In 137 AD, Qu Kui, the son of Gongcao of Xianglin County in Rinan Commandery, killed the magistrate of Xianglin County, declared independence from China, occupied most of the former Rinan Commandery, established Brahmanism as the state religion, and established the Champa Kingdom. Since then, the southern part of Vietnam has been Champa.

The northern part of Vietnam had always been under the control of the Central Plains dynasty. It was not until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period that Wu Quan defeated the army of Southern Han at Bach Dang River and made northern Vietnam independent.

Therefore, before 937 AD, Champa in Vietnam was directly bordering the Central Plains dynasty.

Although northern Vietnam gained independence very late, it was known for its strong military spirit. After 937 AD, the Ngô, Dinh, and Le dynasties were established in northern Vietnam. They engaged in numerous battles with Champa and defeated them several times.

The Le Dynasty, in particular, once invaded the capital of Champa, killed the Champa king, and almost destroyed the Champa country. It was forced to move the capital south to retain its name.

Then the Ly Dynasty of Vietnam replaced the Le Dynasty and continued to fight with Champa. From 1021 to 1026 AD, Champa was almost destroyed by the Ly Dynasty of Vietnam, suffered heavy losses in troops and lost large tracts of territory.

In the fourth year of the Qingli period, that is, in 1044 AD, King Thieu of the Ly Dynasty, Lý Phômá, led a large army to personally attack Champa and defeated the Champa army in the Battle of Vu Phú Jiang.

In this battle, Ly Phomma killed the Champa king, Luddharavarman II, and forced Champa to become a vassal state of the Viet Dynasty, and had to pay tribute to the Ly Dynasty every year.

As a result, the Li Dynasty was at its peak and became more and more rampant.

And since then, a feud has formed between the northern Vietnamese and the southern Cham people in Vietnam.

Originally, although the Ly Dynasty did not destroy Champa according to history, the northern part of Vietnam had always been suppressing the south, and even destroyed Champa a few hundred years later.

But what no one expected was that history has undergone great changes now.

It was not until the fourth year of the Qingli period that Li Foma started to show off his power in Champa and became the dominant power for a while. However, at the beginning of the fifth year of the Qingli period, he was defeated by the Song Dynasty and was bombarded into pieces by the Song army.

Although the Song Dynasty did not recapture the Red River Delta, its homeland in the Central Plains, it supported the royal family of the former Le Dynasty in the local area and stationed troops in Thang Long Prefecture and Jiangnan Province to combat the rebellious forces within the Vietnamese Dynasty.

As a result, the Vietnamese Dynasty fell into great civil strife, with uprisings rising up in various places. The supported Le Dynasty was exhausted from running around to deal with the rebellions, and occasionally needed help from the Song army. It was unable to move south to invade Champa.

King Rudravarman III of Champa, who inherited the throne from his father, was naturally overjoyed. Taking advantage of the civil strife in Vietnam, he immediately sent troops north and recovered a large area of ​​his homeland with almost no obstacles, including the old capital Indrapura.

Although the military strength is still very weak, we can thank the Song Dynasty for this.

During the reign of King Rudravarman III, trade with the Song Dynasty made the country prosperous. Taking advantage of the Song Dynasty's demise and the Ly Dynasty's recovery of its homeland, the economy and territory developed and expanded, making Champa prosperous for a time.

So at this time, King Rudravarman III's reputation in the country was on the rise, so naturally he had to continue to cling to the Song Dynasty and continue to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, faced with the request of the Song Dynasty envoy, King Rudravarman III would certainly not refuse.

The first stop of the delegation went very smoothly, which greatly boosted the confidence of Tan Wenxue and others. So two days later, they set out again and headed south towards the Kingdom of Brunei.

The Brunei Kingdom was located in the northern part of later Borneo Island. Its territory became part of Brunei and Indonesia's East Kalimantan Province. The capital had a population of 10,000. Records of it were found in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and it had frequent exchanges with the Central Plains during the Northern Song Dynasty.

The Song Dynasty delegation headed south with the monsoon, still at an average speed of 180 kilometers per day. After six days, they traveled 1,100 kilometers and arrived in Brunei safely and smoothly.

The group was soon warmly received by King Xilimano of Brunei.

After learning the purpose of the visit, Xilimano was a little hesitant.

A few years ago, he had sent people to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty, but that was tribute, and he had only sent ministers. Now he was going in person, and no one knew how many accidents might happen along the way.

However, under the persuasion of the powerful businessman and translator from Brunei who accompanied the delegation, Xilimano finally agreed to their request.

The Song Dynasty cannot be provoked now.

The South China Sea Fleet would appear in the ports of Brunei several times a year to station and replenish supplies, and one ship could destroy an entire country.

After inviting another country, the delegation was full of confidence and set off again on March 16, heading south to Java Island to invite Java, one of the last two countries in Southeast Asia.

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