Kingdom of Heidong

The **Kingdom of Heidong** was a historical polity that ruled the entirety of Quelpart Island from after 800 BC to 200 BC. According to the legends in the *Chronicles of the Kings*, Quelpart was once divided into the Ten Clans of Heidong, which were then united by a *datu* by the name of \_\_.

## History

### The Ten Clans

*Main article: Ten Clans of Heidong*
According to the *Chronicles of the Kings*, Quelpart Island was divided between ten clans who lived around Saokaojia.

### Meilunglungo Saufu's Voyage

In the 16th year of King Kang of Zhou's reign - circa 1004 BC - Chief Peiha of the Hajia Clan wished to expand his clan's fishing grounds. He was aware of the existence of the Kingdom of Kabratang, and wished to survey lands further north. He staged a tournament to find the best navigator and fisherman in his realm, which was eventually won by a man named Meilunglungo Saufu; as such, he was commissioned to sail north and return with suitable fishing locations. He organized a fleet of three *rakwangs* and set sail, but was soon led off course by the Yellow Sea Current, and ended up traversing a "grand sea" over a period of a week. The fleet nearly nearly exhausted their supplies, with the *Chronicles* stating of rumors of a planned mutiny, when they sighted land and encountered some villagers. Communication was hard, but, according to the *Chronicles*, "the fleet somehow convinced the villagers to give them food and water and direct them to their leader".

Meilunglungo Saufu and his reinvigorated crew went through the Shandong Peninsula. Along the way they either traded with friendly villagers or wrestled with fearful ones, and eventually they reached Linzi, the capital of the State of Qi. There, he was welcomed by attendants to the Duke: apparently, rumors of "friendly eastern barbarians" spread faster than the travelers, and the Duke of Qi was intrigued. The language barrier was "very much an issue" but it was overcome after a scribe taught Meilunglungo Saufu how to read and write basic Old Chinese, and he was able to tell the Duke his whole story. The Duke was very interested in allying a nation with such a powerful command of the sea, and ordered his guards to escort the crew back to the Yellow Sea and send some minor officials, including the aforementioned scribe, back to Quelpart. This time, the fleet was composed of five *rakwangs*, two built from Chinese bamboo, and the voyage took five days, going directly from Shandong to Quelpart by way of the powerful Yellow Sea Current.

Meilunglungo Saufu, the crewmates, and the Qi officials arrived after two months. Chief Peiha was faithful that Meilunglungo Saufu would return, and when he did, a grand feast was held in his honor. The Qi dignitaries were also welcomed, and were allowed to take up permanent residence in the village.

### The Hajia and the Qi

With the knowledge of the Yellow Sea Current, a feasible route from Quelpart to Qi was plotted, and small-scale trading began through fleets composed of three to six *rakwangs*. Larger fleets were planned, but raids by the enemy clans prevented major organization. The tipping point was when one Qi scholar was killed by a member of an unknown rival clan. This prompted Chief Peiha to consider asking the Qi for aid, and he accomplished this by ordering a Qi scribe to teach him Old Chinese and going on an *rakwang* voyage himself. Upon reaching Linzi, he personally went to the Duke of Qi and implored him to give the Hajia Clan their military knowledge in order to secure trade from the rival clans. The Duke of Qi was hesitant, but ultimately he agreed, and ordered the construction of numerous *qiang* spears and dagger-axes. He sent an envoy to the King of Zhou requesting his permission, and "after much deliberation" he acquiesced. The return voyage had an extraordinarly large number of *rakwangs*; according to the *Chronicles*, there were "tens", at least two of which were dedicated to the equipment. In addition, five generals of Qi went along to train the Hajia warriors.

### Conquest

The Hajia warriors were "trained in a matter of months" and were very proficient with the otherwise-alien weapons. A routine raid by a rival clan was "crushed decisively", with rival twenty warriors killed "swiftly and without issue". The other clans learned of this and "grew fearful of an Hajia conquest" which would be realized soon after. Upon the subjugation of all rival clans, Chief Peiha declared himself the rightful ruler of the hwole island, calling himself King of Heidong.

### Expanded Trade

Trade between Heidong and the Zhou dynasty was lucrative and many goods such as ceramics, textiles, and jewelry were traded. Notable types of goods traded included 璧 *bì* disks, 琮 *cóng* vessels, 鼎 *dǐng* cauldrons, and 璜 *huáng* pendants from Zhou; and the aforementioned pottery from Heidong. Standard Zhou spade money and Qi knife money were adopted by the kingdom as currency.

Business was so lucrative that it was considered to be in the best interest of the Zhou to try convert the "yi" (barbarian) Heidong peoples into "hua" (civilized Chinese peoples) and sent over scribes, priests, bureaucrats, and other officials to Sinicize the Heidongs as well as generally aid in administration. In particular, scribes compiling records, edicts, and other important documents noted the lack of native words for practically all concepts of administration and religion and used large amounts of Old Chinese vocabulary and even its writing system, starting the age of the Classical Quelpartian language. Old Chinese never fully displaced Quelpartian, however. During this period, said scribes recorded and compiled historical events such as the aforementioned arrival of the Donghai people and the voyage of Meilunglungo Saufu into the most influential source of not only Quelpartian history but also Chinese and early Korean history, the *Chronicles of the Kings*.

### Kings

* King Peiha (bakes "strong" → bakes → peiha) (~1010 BC - 970 BC)
* King Hiado (paiya "kind" → pe:ya → hiado) (970 BC - 920 BC)
* King Mi (穆 /\*m(r)iwk/ "harmonius" → myiwk → mi:k → mi; named after King Mu of Zhou) (920 BC - 890 BC)