People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 494: Dare to Enter the Dragon's Lair

The delegation did not stay in the Western Chalukya Kingdom for too long. Just like in other countries, they basically only stayed for two days.

The fleet arrived on the first day, replenished fresh water and food on the second day, and set off on the third day.

Since the Guangdong navy no longer provided escort after leaving the Strait of Malacca, the number of diplomatic envoys was greatly reduced.

But he already had more than a hundred officials, clerks and entourage at all levels in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Rites, and he also recruited more than three thousand sailors, plus two thousand guards, for a total of nearly six thousand people.

Including the more than 200 soldiers on the Guangzhou ironclad ship and the entourage and servants brought by the big merchants who served as part-time translators and guides, the total number was still around 6,000.

The number of ships alone reached more than 80, and they were all medium and large ocean-going ships, carrying all kinds of materials and personnel. The lineup was extremely large.

Dozens of large ships hoisted their sails and sailed north along the coast of the Indian peninsula to the Solanki Dynasty.

This was a dynasty located in the later Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Although its territory was not large, it was a dynasty that became wealthy by relying on trade and also held a large amount of gold.

The delegation also traded arms orders with local authorities, and then in late May or early June, officially began to enter the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.

At this time, chaos in the Middle East emerged.

The Abbasid Dynasty, a vast empire that once spanned Europe, Asia, and Africa and had fought against the Tang Dynasty, has now completely declined. Its vast territory has been divided into more than a dozen small countries.

The most powerful among them were undoubtedly the Buyid Dynasty and the Samanid Dynasty.

At its peak, the Buyid Dynasty controlled most of the Persian Gulf, including large tracts of territory such as later Iraq and Iran.

The Abbasid Dynasty was like the Zhou Dynasty during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Its territory was limited to the capital Baghdad and a few surrounding areas. Most of the rest of the dynasty's hinterland was occupied by the Buyid Dynasty, which shows how powerful the Buyid Dynasty was.

Another powerful dynasty, the Samanid Dynasty, controlled a large area of ​​Central Asia, which later became Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and a small part of northern India. Its territory was not inferior to that of the Buyid Dynasty.

However, the Samanid Dynasty established by the Persians had a very awkward geographical location. To the west was the Buyid Dynasty, to the north were the rising Turks, to the southeast were the Indian countries, and to the northeast was the Kara Khanate. It could be said that it was surrounded by enemies on all sides and was attacked from all sides.

In the late 10th century AD, the Turks rose to power. One group established the Kara Khanate in the Transoxiana region, while the other group established the Ghaznavid Empire in Ghazni, kilometers southwest of Kabul, the capital of later Afghanistan.

They jointly launched an attack on the Samanid Empire, and the offensive was so swift that they quickly defeated the Samanid Empire and occupied its territory.

At the end of the 10th century, in 999 AD, the Samanid Empire was destroyed by the Ghaznavid Empire and the Kara Khanate.

Among them, the Ghaznavid Empire obtained the southern territory of the Samanid Empire, namely Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Kara Khanate acquired the territories to the north of the Samanid Empire, including Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and other places.

However, the Turks did not enjoy their happiness for long. The Kara-Khanid Empire was destroyed by the Song Dynasty last year, and the Ghaznavid Empire was almost destroyed by the newly rising Seljuks.

Currently, only a few territories such as Kabul, Lahore, Punjab, and Makran remain, which are equivalent to the southeastern part of Afghanistan and the entire territory of Pakistan in later generations. It is far less powerful than before.

On the other hand, the Seljuks continued to advance with great momentum, and in recent years they have successively conquered most of the eastern territory of the Buyid Dynasty, even including large areas such as Azerbaijan, Armenia, Khorasan, and Khwarezm.

Therefore, the Buyid Dynasty now only has the territory of later Iraq, and in history, Baghdad will be conquered by the Seljuk Empire three years later, that is, in 1055 AD. Since then, the Buyid Dynasty has disappeared in the long river of history.

During this period, the Turks established the vast Seljuk Empire, which stretched from Jerusalem in the west to the Fergana Basin (Dayuan) in the east, from the Caucasus and Khwarezm in the north to the Gulf of Oman in the south.

And more than 20 years later, the Seljuk Empire almost destroyed the Byzantine Empire and conquered the Anatolian Peninsula, leaving the Byzantine Empire with only part of the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula, which is the territory of Bulgaria and Greece in later generations.

Therefore, if the Song Dynasty did not intervene, the Middle East at this time would be the time when the Seljuk Empire rose, which was equivalent to the founding of a huge empire.

In such a situation.

In early June, the Song Dynasty's diplomatic corps sailed into the Gulf of Oman, passed through the Strait of Hormuz, and arrived at the port of Renger.

This place has been the most important port in the Middle East since the Arab Empire era, especially its pearl industry was the most prosperous and trade was constant.

The envoys actually already knew that most of the Middle East at this time was occupied by the Seljuk Empire, so after they arrived at the port of Lengg, they sent people to communicate with the authorities.

Unfortunately, the Seljuks have only risen in recent years and only captured Isfahan in the east of the Buyid Dynasty last year. Therefore, there are no big Seljuk merchants in Guangzhou, and naturally there is a lack of communication channels with the Seljuk Empire.

Therefore, they could only wait patiently and hope that the people of Port Lunger could convey their demands.

However, what was unexpected was that the envoys waited at the port for almost a week but did not receive any high-level dialogue from the Seljuk Empire, and even the local officials did not convey any news to them.

This made Tan Wenxue and others very dissatisfied.

Although there is still plenty of time, I can just make it in time for the return trip in September.

But this unusual situation has exceeded the original plan.

What's more, the Song Dynasty envoys represented the Song Dynasty, which was equivalent to having a dialogue with the Seljuk Empire in the capacity of the Song Dynasty.

Even if the other party didn't want to meet, someone should have said something in reply. Now they were ignored and left alone, which was obviously rude. Therefore, Tan Wenxue, who came from the Ministry of Rites, was a little unhappy.

These barbarians are so rude.

However, considering that the Seljuk Empire had just occupied Khorasan for less than a year, and the port of Lenger was the southernmost edge of the Seljuk Empire, more than a thousand miles away from the current capital of the Seljuk Empire, Isfahan, it was normal that the reported journey was a bit long, and everyone could only wait patiently.

"Let's wait another three days. Although the Lord of Lunger City said that the distance is more than a thousand miles, it will take ten days to go back and forth, even if we have to walk. If there is no news in ten days, it means that the other party does not take it seriously at all. We should just leave on our own."

Tan Wenxue stood on the deck, looking out at the city on the shore. Affected by the war, the port of Leng was very depressed before, but now, nearly a year later, it has regained some popularity and some figures can be seen outside the city from time to time.

These past few days, they had to send people to the City Lord's Mansion to inquire about the news every day. No one was sent to appease them, and their attitude was too cold.

What is even more annoying is that the other side has sent additional troops outside the city in recent days, secretly on guard, and may even be surrounding the diplomatic delegation. This series of actions made Tan Wenxue and Zhang Youwei feel offended.

"I may have guessed why."

Zhang Youwei said.

"what reason?"

"When I was in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I happened to read some materials about the Western Border Regions, which recorded some things about the Seljuks."

"Oh?"

Tan Wenxue asked in surprise: "What did you say?"

"Turkmen."

"Turkmen?"

"good."

Zhang Youwei said: "Seljuk is a Turkic tribe that originated from Turkmen. These three words mean the territory of the Turkic people in the Turkic language."

"But what does this have to do with the Song Dynasty?"

Tan Wenxue didn't understand.

Zhang Youwei smiled and said, "The Black Khanate is the name translated by our Song Dynasty. They call themselves the Karakhanid Khanate. To the west of this country is Turkmenistan!"

"I see."

Tan Wenxue suddenly understood.

The Song Dynasty destroyed the Kara Khanate, and the Seljuk Empire rose in Turkmenistan, which meant that the Song Dynasty was already bordering the Seljuk Empire.

Under such circumstances, the Seljuk Empire obviously had geopolitical problems with the Song Dynasty.

"Maybe we're overthinking it."

Wang Shining said: "Just wait patiently."

"Ah."

Everyone nodded.

The wait lasted until the ninth day.

Just as the delegation was preparing to leave the next day.

A large army appeared in the city of Lunger.

The leader was called Talib Ruber.

He is the cousin of Tughril Beg of the current Seljuk Empire.

The Seljuk Empire was essentially a nomadic tribal nation, so it still adopted the feudal system in administration.

Not only did the Karakhanid Khanate have the Great Khan and the Deputy Khan, but the governors of each province were often "Atabegs".

The so-called "Atabeg" means superior official in Turkic. These people are basically Seljuk nobles, and the royal family uses them to exercise power in various places.

Tughril Beg also knew that the Turks were not good at administrative management. Therefore, when he conquered such a large territory, he did not directly destroy the local administrative system, but retained it.

For example, they did not deal with the Persian officials of the former Buyid Dynasty. They continued to do what they had done before, only the top leaders were replaced.

The administrative planning of Renger City is under the Fars Province, and Talib Ruber is the governor of Fars. He went to Isfahan some time ago and returned to Shiraz, the capital of Fars, from Isfahan yesterday. After receiving the news, he brought his army here today.

Just as Zhang Youwei guessed, when Talib Ruber was in Isfahan, he heard Khan Tughril Beg's concerns about the Song Dynasty.

The once powerful Black Khanate was easily destroyed by the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty had expanded its territory to their borders. The two sides were already bordering each other, and no one knew whether war would suddenly break out one day.

Although Tugrul Beg's current target is the West, he wants to take over the entire Middle East and establish a huge Mediterranean empire.

However, just like hundreds of years ago, the Arab Empire faced the Tang Empire.

It is always unsettling to have a strong enemy around.

So when he heard that the Song Dynasty envoys had arrived at the port of Lunger, Talib Ruber sent someone to inform his cousin of the news, and at the same time personally led his army there to test the intentions of the Song Dynasty.

"Are they at the dock now?"

Talib Rubur is not very old, less than 30 years old, with a face of an oriental grassland people, a braid on his head, a long sword on his waist, and a very calm temperament.

The mayor of the city of Lenge next to him was a former Persian official and replied, "Yes."

“Have you had any contact with them?”

"Because there is no order from the Governor, we dare not have any dealings with them."

"Ah."

Talib Luber nodded and said, "Go and have a look."

The team marched into the city in a mighty procession.

Then Talib Ruber came to the south city wall and stood on a high place overlooking the port.

When he discovered that the Song army had more than eighty medium and large sea ships, one of which was covered with iron armor, his face still looked very unhappy.

Talib Ruber had never heard of an ironclad ship being able to sail on the sea.

Don’t they know that sea water is very corrosive to iron and that iron ships cannot move at all on the sea?
However, since an ironclad ship has traveled across the ocean and appeared here, it shows that these are not a problem at all for the Song Dynasty.

No wonder even though our ancestors were driven away from the desert grasslands by the Tang people, the people of these Eastern dynasties are still as powerful as ever.

Talib Luber waved his hand and said, "I will go to the City Lord's Mansion to wait for them and ask them to send someone over."

"Yes!"

The city lord agreed.

Then Talib Ruber returned to the city lord's mansion.

At this moment, on the dock and on the boat, important officials such as Tan Wenxue, Zhang Youwei, and Wang Shining had already discovered the unusual situation in the city.

Every day, people would use telescopes on the mast observation platform to observe the movements in the city.

They noticed it when the army entered the city, and the lookout immediately reported the situation to everyone.

"Is this the Seljuk king coming?"

"I do not know."

"So many troops, what does this mean?"

"The person who came here is not a good person."

"We are the ones coming."

"If the enemy comes, we will stop him with soldiers; if the water comes, we will block it with earth."

Several people were talking.

Not long after, more than ten people came out from outside the city.

The mayor of the city of Renger was at the front, along with the local Persian translator.

Khorasan is later Iran, which is mainly a gathering place for Persians, and the Buyid Dynasty and the Samanid Dynasty were both Persian dynasties.

So naturally there were merchants from the Buyid Dynasty on board as translators.

Lord Leng came to the boat and said to them, "Our governor invites you to go to the Lord's Mansion."

Governor?

What do you mean?
Tan Wenxue was unhappy again.

The Song Dynasty envoys represented the Emperor of Song Dynasty.

According to the principle of diplomatic reciprocity, even if the other king did not come to greet them personally, it was the king who should send someone to invite them over.

As a result, a governor came.

It is estimated that the so-called governor is probably at the same level as the Song Dynasty Road Transport Commissioner.

This is like when a delegation of envoys from the Liao Kingdom came to celebrate the birthday of the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, but the Emperor did not send the Honglu Temple to welcome them to Bianliang, but instead asked the Hebei Road Transport Commissioner to go to the border to have a conversation with them.

If it were twenty years ago when the Song Dynasty was not yet strong, the Liao people would have been furious and would have marched their troops south directly.

The other party is really rude.

"Humph."

Tan Wenxue snorted coldly, "What's wrong with the Seljuk Kingdom? Our Great Song envoys have been treated properly in other places, but here they are treated like this. Have they really turned into savages and don't know etiquette?"

These words frightened the merchant from the Buyid Dynasty, and he did not dare to translate them.

Zhang Youwei said: "It's probably the same as what I said. We destroyed the Black Khanate and are now at the border of the Seljuk State. With a fierce tiger at their side, they will naturally be restless and will definitely not be happy with us."

"If that's the case, this is probably a dangerous place. Are you still going there?"

Wang Shining asked.

"go with!"

Tan Wenxue gritted his teeth and said, "Why not go? Even if it's a dangerous place, even if we die, what does it matter? As messengers, we have already put life and death aside!"

"Ah."

Zhang Youwei nodded and said, "Yes, we have a duty. Even though the other party is rude, we have to go. Otherwise, in terms of diplomacy, they can say that we took the responsibility first and ignored their invitation. So we have to go, even if it is a dangerous place."

"I'll go."

Tan Wenxue said, "There must be a mastermind on board. Two of the three of us are the highest civilian officials, and one is the chief military commander. General Wang must stay, so only one of us can go. In case something goes wrong, there will be someone to continue the mission."

"I'd better go."

Zhang Youwei smiled bitterly and said, "You have a stubborn personality. It would not be good if we go and there is a direct conflict. If I go, I can still deal with them. Besides, I am a doctor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is my responsibility to handle diplomatic affairs."

"This"

Tan Wenxue was choked for a moment.

He was a Langzhong of the Ministry of Rites. Although he was at the same level as Zhang Youwei, he was vaguely the superior one along the way.

The reason is that although the Ministry of Rites has no power, it has always been the nominal head of all ministries. Just like during the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers in the Han Dynasty, the Taichang Temple, as a ritual department, had no real power or military power, but the Taichang was the head of the Nine Ministers.

Therefore, on weekdays, he is the main one among the three.

However, it seems more like the other two people respect his authority because of his position in the Ministry of Rites. However, if we really talk about responsibilities, it is indeed Zhang Youwei who has more say in diplomatic occasions.

"Ok."

Tan Wenxue was a reasonable man, and there was nothing more to say, so he could only say: "Then you must come back safely. We will meet you on the shore. If anything goes wrong, you can order the servants to blow the horn, and we can charge into the city."

"it is good!"

Zhang Youwei nodded, took a deep breath, then waved his hand and called the other officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over.

The two ministries brought more than a hundred officials, both big and small, with them. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had more than sixty people. In addition to him, there were two assistant ministers, four case chiefs, and dozens of clerks, clerks, bailiffs, and other clerks.

He arranged a deputy minister, a case chief and more than ten clerks to accompany him, while Wang Shining arranged more than 200 guards to accompany him to ensure Zhang Youwei's safety.

Then everyone got off the boat.

Zhang Youwei led everyone into the city. Except for the sailors and attendants, the rest of the fleet, including the Guangzhou, entered combat status. More than 2,000 guards got off the ship one after another and lined up on one side of the dock, as if they were ready to charge into the city immediately if something went wrong!
(End of this chapter)