Water Margin people

Chapter 1568: Congratulations from the Leper King

Yelu Dashi looked at Sun Lei. At this moment he realized the difference between himself and Sun Lei. He did not understand the way of the emperor at all.

The army went all the way to Husiwoerduo.

Li Zu had already led his troops to greet them at the city gate.

"Greetings to Your Majesty!"

Li Zhu and others saluted to Sun Lei.

"No need to be polite. How is the front line going?"

Sun Lei looked at Li Zhu and asked.

"We fought another battle three days ago. Thirty thousand Seljuks invaded our border. Our army killed seven thousand of them and repelled the enemy!"

Li Assistant spoke.

"Another battle?"

Sun Lei narrowed his eyes and thought about it. Judging from the current situation, the Seljuks are still determined to commit evil.

"Come into town!"

Sun Lei waved his hand and gave an order, and the army slowly entered the city. Husiwoerduo was originally a small city. After Yelu Dashi established the capital, it was renovated and it was considered a big city here, but for the people of Qi, it was just a small county town.

"Your Majesty, the armies of the Mongolian, Wanggu, and Naiman tribes arrived two days ago. I have arranged for them to stay in the military camp outside the city."

Li Zhu said in a low voice.

“It’s quite fast!”

Sun Lei smiled and nodded, saying that these three tribes were really proactive.

"Go back to your respective tribes!"

Sun Lei looked at Hebule, Anbahai, Jiwusi and Yinan and said.

"According to the order!"

The four of them saluted Sun Lei and followed the soldiers to the military camp.

Sun Lei went all the way to the palace in the city.

"How's the situation around here?"

After Sun Lei sat down, the generals stood on his left and right. Sun Lei looked at Li Zhu and asked.

"Some of the surrounding tribes have surrendered, but this area is too large, and these foreign tribes are grazing their livestock in scattered areas, and many are still in the mountains, so it is difficult to count the specific situation!"

Li Zhu said that they had limited troops and could only control a few major cities. They had no way of controlling the vast mountains, deserts and grasslands.

"You heard it, it's time for you to get to work!"

Sun Lei looked at Mahmud and Ajisi and said, this is the Western Karakhanid Khanate and Khwarezm, and these two people should be responsible.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The two of them saluted quickly.

"Remember, I won't give you too much time. Don't make me send a large army to rush you!"

Sun Lei emphasized again.

"Yes Yes Yes!"

The two agreed repeatedly.

This made Babilge extremely envious. Of the four former khans, three had already returned to their tribes, but he was the only one who could not go back.

After asking for some more details, Sun Lei finally asked about Hu Siwoerduo's situation.

"Your Majesty, Husiwoerduo has a total population of 370,000, including more than 7,000 soldiers and 30,000 horses..."

Assistant Li reported to Sun Lei.

"Yelü Dashi did leave behind quite a few troops!"

Sun Lei said with narrowed eyes.

"There's still a lot of money in the treasury!"

Li Zhu spoke again.

"These are irrelevant. I am curious whether you have found Yelu Dashi's iron smelting technology?"

  Sun Lei looked at Li Zhu and asked

"We found it. It's in a valley outside the city. We also captured a group of craftsmen. Yelu Dashi's equipment was made by them. I've shown the iron smelting technology to the military craftsmen. It's indeed unique. Later, the craftsmen went there to study for a few days. In the end, they found that the iron smelting technology is nothing. The biggest advantage is the high quality of the raw materials. It's difficult for the Central Plains to imitate such snowflake iron."

Li Zhu took out a broken scimitar with dense snowflake patterns on it.

Sun Lei took the machete and tried it. It wasn't too heavy. He then tried it with the handrail next to it and cut it off with one stroke. "It's a good knife indeed. The steel is very good."

Sun Lei looked at the dagger and smiled.

"Where are the mines?"

Sun Lei looked at Li Zhu and asked.

"It's in the Kingdom of Kanisak and India. Once the war here is over, I will send people over to take over the mines."

Li Assistant spoke.

"No need to go to so much trouble. Just send some people over now. Master Lu has already dealt with the Kingdom of Kanise and Tianzhu. He is now preaching. He will send troops to conquer and unify wherever they are."

Sun Lei said.

"So fast!"

Li Zhu was stunned. He saw Lu Zhishen and others this time and thought that everything was going well, but he didn't expect that the missionary work was completed. He had traveled all over the world and knew very well that it would be extremely difficult for a new religion to be preached in a completely unfamiliar place.

"Just a bunch of ignorant natives!"

Sun Lei smiled.

"Report, Your Majesty, there is a military report from the front line. The Seljuks have assembled another 50,000 troops and intend to invade Hezhong Prefecture!"

A soldier came to report.

“So often?”

Sun Lei touched his chin and started thinking.

"How much intelligence have you gathered? The Seljuk Turks should have been on the decline, right?"

Sun Lei looked at Li Zhu and asked.

"Yes, since the Seljuk were defeated by the Western Liao, their prestige has greatly decreased in this generation. Their vassal states have established themselves one after another, and there are some signs of internal strife in the Seljuk. But some time ago, for some reason, those vassal states became obedient again. Sanjar took the opportunity to lead his troops to continuously explore the Transoxiana region."

Li Assistant spoke.

"There really is something wrong. I wonder who is so capable as to be able to collude behind the scenes!"

Sun Lei murmured.

"By the way, Your Majesty, after my army arrived here, we received a parchment scroll of congratulations!"

Li Zhu remembered something again, took out a parchment scroll and said.

"Oh, this is strange. People here should be very hostile to us. Why are there still people congratulating us?"

Sun Lei took the parchment scroll and looked at it, then quickly closed it because he couldn't understand it at all. The font on it was somewhat familiar to him, it looked like English but not quite, the font was a beautiful cursive script, and it seemed to be written with a quill pen.

"You know, there's no way I can understand this!"

Sun Lei looked at Li Zhu and said.

"I asked people in the city to translate it in batches. This is the translation!"

Li Zhu took out another piece of paper and said.

Sun Lei took a look at it and found that the tone was very polite and the words were ornate and appropriate. It was a very normal diplomatic congratulatory letter.

"Baldwin IV, King of Jerusalem?"

Sun Lei's face became solemn. He could ignore the previous ones, but he could not underestimate the signature at the end. Wasn't this the famous Leprosy King?

"Your Majesty, I have inquired about this. The King of Jerusalem is very famous. Although he is young, he is resourceful and has won many battles with fewer troops. However, it is said that this man was born with a serious disease. A prophet said that he will not live long!"

Li Assistant spoke.

"Besides this thing, what else?"

Sun Lei asked.

"No, this parchment was delivered by a cavalryman, and that person is still in the city!"

Li Assistant spoke.

"Bring it here, I want to see it!"

Sun Lei put away the parchment scroll and spoke.

"Your Majesty wishes to see him?"

Li Zhu was a little surprised. He didn't expect Sun Lei to care so much about the Leper King.

"Don't underestimate this man. If we use him well, he can be a great help to us."

Sun Lei shook his head and said, the Leper King was a great man of his generation. He and Saladin could be said to be the two most outstanding people in this land, but they were enemies.