My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 677 Ulugh Beg’s Travels

At the Khyber Pass, Zhu Zhanhe and Ulugh Beg were riding on horseback and walking side by side in front of the team.

"Your Highness, you see, without this mountain pass, it would be almost impossible to enter Tianzhu from the land in Central Asia. Unfortunately, it is like God played a joke on Tianzhu and left this gap. So in history, the Greeks and Persians They are all invading Tianzhu from here, so Tianzhu’s safety cannot be guaranteed in any way.”

As Zhu Zhanhe walked, he introduced the importance of the Khyber Pass to Ulugh Beg.

As Ulugh Beg walked, he observed the terrain of the Khyber Pass. He saw that the pass was quite wide, and the narrowest point was only a few hundred steps. In some dangerous places, the Han Dynasty had built some fortresses to guard this pass. The mountain pass is fully armed. If you want to send troops to attack this mountain pass, you will probably have to pay a very heavy price.

"Times have changed. In the past, Tianzhu could only be invaded from land, but starting from the Han Dynasty, the coast around Tianzhu is no longer safe."

Ulugh Bo suddenly smiled and said, with a hint of ridicule in his words.

He had a very speculative chat with Zhu Zhanhe before, so he agreed to the other party's invitation and planned to visit the territory of Dahan. This was not only to satisfy Ulugh Beg's own curiosity, but also he wanted to take this opportunity to see with his own eyes Take a look at the reality of the big man.

"Your Highness is right. In the past, navigation technology was poor, so the ocean became a natural barrier for a country. But now with the advancement of navigation technology, maritime trade is becoming more and more prosperous. Both the Ming Dynasty and our Han Dynasty have very powerful Navy, so we can attack a country from the sea."

Zhu Zhanhe said proudly at the end.

He is not worried that after Ulugh Beg understands the importance of the ocean, he will promote the development of maritime trade in the Timurid Empire. With the current situation of the Timurid Empire, the domestic situation alone has already overwhelmed them. How can they have the energy to pay attention? The sea?

When Ulugh Bo heard Zhu Zhanhe's last words, he couldn't help but show a worried expression. Although most of their Timurid Empire was deep inland, there were also parts of it near the sea, mainly in the southwest, not far from Tianzhu. Even if they are far away, if the Han Dynasty sends the navy to go on an expedition, it is likely that they will be attacked from both sides.

Continuing forward along the mountain pass, we finally arrived at Tieguan City. When Ulugh Bo saw this majestic city gate, he couldn't help but admired it. When he was sent to the Ming Dynasty as an envoy, he had seen similar city gates. It seemed that there were only Talents from the Central Plains are good at building such large-scale military fortresses.

In fact, not all Tieguan City was built by Zhu Gaoxu. The Delhi Sultanate also built a military fortress here before. However, due to the national power, the scale of the construction was limited. It was not until Zhu Gaoxu later expanded the city into the current Tieguan City on the original basis. city.

Zhu Zhanhe rested for a day in Tieguan City, and then set off south again. On the way, he acted as a guide and introduced Uluru Bo to the customs and customs of Tianzhu.

Ulugh Bo also observed very carefully along the way. He found that in the villages and towns he first encountered after leaving Tieguan City, Han people were rarely seen, and even if they were, they were usually just traders.

But the further south you go, the more and more Han people there are. Especially when you are not far from Xijing, you can already see villages and towns where Han people live together.

Compared with the villages and towns of the native people in Tianzhu, the villages and towns of the Han people are not only larger, but also have more exquisite buildings. In particular, defensive facilities such as stockade walls are usually built outside the villages and towns. Obviously, the relationship between the Han people and the local native people is not very harmonious.

However, Ulugh Beg also discovered that the status of the Han people was obviously higher than that of the natives, and the Han people's fields were more tidy, and even the rice grew better than the natives. It was obvious that the Han people were not only hardworking, but also better at farming.

When entering the jurisdiction of Xijing, Ulugh Beg even felt that he had returned to the Ming Dynasty. Everywhere he saw were Han villages. There were very few native people on the road. Some villages could even be called It is a town, and it is estimated that it will not be long before it develops into small towns one after another.Finally, Zhu Zhanhe and his party finally arrived at Xijing City. Compared with the original Delhi City, after Zhu Gaoxu occupied this place, he re-planned the city and Yang Shiqi personally presided over the construction of the city wall. Although it was not as good as Nanjing and Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, But in Ming Dynasty, it can be regarded as one of the top big cities.

"Your Highness, you Han people are really good at building cities. When I arrived in Beijing in the Ming Dynasty, I still remember the shocking feeling. Compared with your city, our Samarkand is really much worse!"

Ulugh Beg stood at the gate of Xijing, looking at this majestic capital city and sighed.

"Every city has its own characteristics. Although I have never been to Samarkand, I heard that Your Highness built a famous observatory there. In comparison, our Si Tianjian seems a bit shabby. If If possible, I also hope to build one here in Xijing, modeled after His Highness’s observatory.”

Zhu Zhanhe said with a smile.

"It's simple. If the prince really wants to build an observatory, I can communicate with your Si Tianjian officials and explain to them the key points of building the observatory."

Ulugh Bo said very boldly that in other aspects, he and Zhu Zhanhe may have other thoughts, but when it comes to academic exchanges, both of them are very candid.

While he was talking, he suddenly saw a group of children pouring out of the city gate. Everyone was carrying schoolbags and running happily while shouting: "School is over~School is over~"

Watching this group of cheerful children running past, Ulugh Beg couldn't help but curiously asked: "Prince, what do these children shouting 'school is out' mean?"

"These are students from primary schools in the city. They have to go to school to study every day. They can only leave school after studying in the afternoon, which is called school."

Zhu Zhanhe looked at the group of children going away and couldn't help but smile and replied. Looking at them, he seemed to have seen the scene when he was in school in his previous life.

"I see that these children's clothes are not gorgeous. Can they also learn knowledge?"

Ulugh Beg was shocked when he heard this, because in the Timurid Empire, only children of nobles were eligible to receive education. Even when he was sent to the Ming Dynasty as an ambassador, most of the children attending private schools were well-dressed, and he could tell at a glance that they were from rich families. child.

In contrast, many of the children who ran past just now were poorly dressed, and some even had dark and red cheeks. At first glance, they looked like farm children.

"The primary school is a public school run by me. Children of all ages can enroll. Everyone only needs to pay a small amount of tuition, so even children from poor families can afford to go to school."

Zhu Zhanhe patiently explained.

(End of this chapter)