Chastity Layman

In the first month of the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, heavy snow fell in the Central Plains.

But in the depths of the distant South China Sea, it is still like midsummer. A barangay sailboat sails into the mouth of the bay under the vigorous paddling of a group of oarsmen.

The black and thin sailors shouted "hey yo hey yo" and rowed the oars hard. This is a "powerful" warship. The battleship is more than seven feet long and can accommodate hundreds of sailors. It is powered by six wooden oars. , can travel a full 'forty' nautical miles a day, and the ship also has a deck above the ship's deck, allowing thirty Tiwama warriors to shoot arrows or throw javelins.

The owner of the ship, Su Ma'er, used to rely on this advanced warship bought from the Boni Kingdom in the south, and was invincible in the struggle with the surrounding Barangay or Dajiajia. He even used this ship to do both sea trade and pirate business. , so that he once became a well-known wealthy Datu.

His Barangay village has a population of nearly 2,000 households, with a population of more than 10,000. The Tiwama soldiers under his command have reached as many as 500 people, and he launched attacks on other coastal villages by boat. Forced many villages to pay tribute to him or become vassals, and mercilessly suppressed some who resolutely resisted, and took them back as Alipin Ya Jijili, a group of people who had no house or land and could only live in the master’s house slave.

Datu, who was once famous far and wide, used to own a dozen or so boats at most, but now he only brought a large Barangay warship here.

Su Ma'er stood on the deck, his figure was a little stooped, and his face was full of worry.

He was wearing a silk shirt, with one hand tightly holding the knife on his waist.

The boat entered the river, and the waves beat against the hull.

Standing behind him were also two Datus, both leaders of Barangay who came from across the sea. They looked even more sad than him, and their mouths were full of fire.

Barangay is not only a ship, but also the name of some indigenous organizations in Luzon Island and the surrounding islands. Many years ago, many Malays arrived in Borneo on a sailboat called Barangay, and many years later, At that time, these people who had already established the Boni Kingdom on the island of Borneo continued northward in the Barangay sailboat and entered the Philippine Islands.

A barangay boat was a migrating family at that time, with blood relatives, warriors and slaves on it. After they came to the primitive and backward Philippine Islands, they began to establish in some coastal estuary plains. residence.

A man in a barangay boat, after landing, builds a village, also called barangai.

There are also connections between some Barangai villages and communities, and they are generally relatives from the same clan who came from the country of Boni.

The leader of each Barangai village, generally the head of each family, is called Datu.

All the leaders of the Barangay village community are called Makinu, which means the noble class. At the same time, the relatives of Datu, the leader of Barangay, are also of the Makinu class.

Below them are their respective servants and warriors. These people are responsible for guarding Datu and his family members, and are responsible for fighting and taking captives. These people are called Tiwama.

Further down is Alipin.

Later, with the passage of time, Mahalika and ordinary Tiwama were separated into the Tiwama class. Mahalika is similar to a conferred knight, who can obtain a piece of land of his own, and often does not need to personally Planting is only responsible for guarding and fighting, while ordinary Tiva horses no longer serve as guards and fighting tasks.

Tiwama became ordinary free villagers, but they would still be trained to serve as Datu's reserve soldiers.

Alipin has also differentiated into two classes, one is Alipin Namamahe who has fields and houses. Although these people have their own fields and houses, they still need to do free labor to Datu to hunt prey You also have to turn in a leg, etc., so they are also called tribute payers.

As for Alipinya Jijidah, they are purely slaves. They have no house or land, and they live and work in the master's house. However, according to the rules, they can redeem themselves, and after the redemption, they will be free people.

The slaves are also allowed to move out to live after they get married, but they have to work for the master for four days every five days, and half of the children born must stay in the master's house and continue to be slaves.

Sumer is a wealthy and powerful Datu. His Barangay has nearly 2,000 households and tens of thousands of people. In general Darangai villages, there are generally 20 to 30 households to 100 households, and there are often only a thousand households in the very large Barangay, which is generally the largest Barangay in the local area.

The purpose of his trip this time is the largest Barangay Maye Barangay village on the big island. It has more than 1,200 households. They also have several warships and hundreds of soldiers. Although their The battleship is not as strong as his own, but it is also the famous and powerful Barangay here.

As the boat went upstream, one of the oars was a little weak and slowed down, and the other Datu Machaas swung his whip. The whip exploded on the sailor's dark and naked back, leaving a trail immediately. Shocking welts.

The oar groaned, but did not dare to stop, but gritted his teeth and continued paddling vigorously.

Masur just gave the rower Alipin Ya Jiji a cold look and said, "Don't beat him to death, this is my rower."

Machaas apologized to Masur, "These lowly slaves are too lazy, I'll give you two more robust ones later."

Masur is not interested in these topics now, "Do you think Gu Macilang will agree with our plan?"

Another Datuilo said, "Gu Macilang's son was killed by those Tang people just now, doesn't he want to take revenge?"

Hearing this, Ma Suer also felt that he was too worried. In fact, who doesn't hate Tang people now?

Before the arrival of the Tang people, they were the overlords of the archipelago in the sea. Although the Barangays did not belong to each other, they only formed some very loose alliances based on blood and region. The entire Barangay village was still primitive. Communal structure, and no national organization.

But after all, everyone came from Boni country, and even many of them were relatives, at least they were Malaiyu people of the same clan.

When they came here, there were only some very primitive and backward natives. It is said that these natives were actually immigrants who immigrated earlier than them. Those people came earlier, and then conquered and integrated the island. The more primitive natives brought bronze technology, rice cultivation and even terraced fields and simple pottery technology.

It’s just that the first batch of outsiders have been operating on this island for a long time, and they are still in the very primitive tribal era. They use the family as a unit to form a family house. There are several families living in each family house. The big family house There are twenty or thirty families in it, and they jointly elect an elder to take charge of the management.

Selecting arable land, arranging seeds, arranging labor, and even organizing transactions are actually the same as the Datus in the Barangay Village.

The big houses of those natives are actually a village village, and in essence, the organizational form of the Barangay settlement is similar to theirs.

Anyway, they are all loose tribes and village organizations, and there is no administrative unit that is said to be higher than Dajiawu and Barangai Village.

Although their society has also developed various classes such as lords, dependents, laborers and even slaves, and there will be transactions with each other, but basically they are still very loose and backward.

However, the latecomers of Barangay have mastered some more advanced technologies such as navigation and production than the early immigrants and natives of our house. For example, those in our house are still using bronzes, pottery, and stone tools. farming and fishing techniques.

However, the latecomers of Barangay have already mastered strong sailing, farming, and iron and pottery making techniques, and are even better at trade. Foreign exchanges are relatively frequent, and they are not as closed as the big house.

After the two sides came into contact, soon there was a turf war. Although the scale of the war was small, that is, a village fight, Barangay still completely suppressed everyone's house.

So later everyone had to move out after the defeat, or take the initiative to retreat, and the Barangays began to occupy the most fertile coastal estuary plains.

But who would have thought that the third group of outsiders came now, these Tang people from the Northwest Continent came ashore on bigger ships, with more advanced armor and weapons, and even rode tall horses.

None of the Barangays were their opponents. Many Barangays who originally lived in the sea of ​​the Central Plains of Luzon Island were defeated after several contacts.

There is a huge difference in strength, but Barangay, who still prefers to fight on his own, is okay in beating the houses of the natives, but against the Tang people, he is overwhelmed.

Masur was not reconciled. His Barangay was located on the north side of the Kalongpon River Estuary (Batangas Port in the northeast of Batangas Bay) less than 200 miles south of the San Francisco Bay that the Qin family now occupies. There are excellent The harbor has a fertile estuary plain, which is rich in rice, coconut, and rich in fishery resources.

Although the Qin family has not come to Batangas yet, the distance is less than 200 miles. Ma Suer used to rely on the sea to eat the sea, and traded goods from the Tang people from Boni. Porcelain, tea, ironware, etc. were shipped back here. Selling it to other Barangai villages or some big houses can make a lot of money.

But now the Tang people have established a huge San Francisco city to the north of him. Although the Tang people sent people to visit and talk about it, they just want everyone to listen to them and obey their management.

Wouldn't it be necessary to admit that the original Qin family will be everyone's Datu in the future?

Want to be their Raja?

Now they don't have a Raja, and Raja is the title of a king. In Boni where they came out, the king is a Raja. This title, which originated in the Vedic era, was the folk name of the military chief of the Aryan tribe. Together with the Saba of the Council of Elders and the Samiti of the Council of Tribal Members, it constituted the three requirements of the Aryan authority.

Later, with frequent wars, Raja's power continued to increase, and his wealth increased more than before. The position gradually became inherited from father to son, and finally became the hereditary title of king.

But on this archipelago, no one has ever thought of becoming a raja, because all the Datu, that is, the leaders of a Dalange village, even if they form a Dalange alliance based on blood relatives, but where the alliance is located There are often many other Dalange villages that are not blood relatives in the same area.

The archipelago is sparsely populated, and communication is inconvenient. In addition, everyone is outsider and the number is small, so a stronger regional political group has never been able to form.

So no one wants to be a raja at all.

Perhaps in a few hundred years, with the increase in population and other changes, there may be wars and mergers, and finally large and small kingdoms will be formed, and there will be many Rajas, but at least not now.

And these Datus, who is willing to admit the Qin family as their Rajas?

Ma Su'er had already known the conditions set by the Qin family. He would completely become a subject of the Qin family, accept their management, pay taxes to them, and obey their laws.

These are all unacceptable to them.

If they pay taxes to the Qin family, wouldn't they all become Alipin Namamahei?

In their Barangay, even Tivama does not need to pay tribute, let alone Mahalika of the warrior class, and Ma Jinnu of the noble class.

Why does the Qin family collect their taxes?

These people came to this archipelago in a Barangay sailboat, established settlements, reclaimed land, planted and fished, everything was won by their own efforts, they came earlier than the Qin family, why should the Qin family Tax them?

All Majinu are free and noble nobles, even Mahalika are free gentlemen and brave warriors.

Masur was not willing to respect the Qin family as Rajas, nor to pay taxes to them, nor to accept their management, and of course he was not willing to move away from the rich settlement.

That is the territory that their family has managed and worked hard for generations. It was taken by their family from another powerful family with bloodshed and sacrifice. Why should it be given to the Qin family now?

But Ma Suer's Barangay Village is big, but he also knows that he can't fight the Qin family alone, so after paying attention to the Qin family in San Francisco for a long time, he decided to unite with more Barangays, no longer limited to Because of the blood clan and relatives, he planned to call all the Barangays together to defeat and drive away the Qin family.

Gu Macilang's Maye Barangai and Masur's are separated by a strait, and their strength is not weak, and I heard that Gu Macilang's son actually drove several boats to try to rob the Qin family's boat not long ago, but the result Not only was he unsuccessful, but even his own boat was taken away, and Gu Macilang's son was unfortunately killed.

When Ma Suer heard the news, he immediately rushed over with a boat full of wine.

Many governors of Barangay were afraid of the powerful Tang people, and chose to relocate one after another, just like those cowardly Dajiawu natives, Masur refused to accept it.

He believed that Gu Macilang had just lost his son and lost several boats, so he must be very sad and angry.

Those ships were a huge wealth and an important military strength to Maye Barangay. With such a huge loss and the loss of his heir, how could he not hate the Qin family?