People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 495 Diplomatic Confrontation
"Our doctor is really great."

"This is a tough battle for our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Old Ma, please stay alert and don't lose face."

"Don't worry. The Seljuks are rude and impolite, but we, the envoys of the Song Dynasty, must not let them look down on us. We will have no regrets even if we die."

At this moment on the dock, people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were saying goodbye to their colleagues, and everyone who left had a resolute expression on their faces.

Wherever they passed along the way, they were treated with courtesy by the local people. Even the Chola and Chalukya kingdoms did not dare to look down on them and their kings came to greet them in person.

But when they arrived in the Seljuk Kingdom, they were not only despised and not received for nine days, but were also ordered around by a local governor and asked to go to the city lord's palace to meet him.

Do you really think that a mere governor is the Seljuk king?

Therefore, facing the Seljuks' rudeness, everyone was very angry. They had to argue with them based on reason, even if it angered the other party. At most, death would be enough.

By the time the Song Empire heard that the envoy had been killed, given the Song Empire's vengeful nature and the fact that their territory was already close to the Seljuks, they would certainly not let the Seljuks have an easy time, and a war was inevitable.

They believed that the Song Dynasty would win. Even if they died here today, they would become a bridgehead for the Song Dynasty in the Middle East, leave their names in history, and their descendants would also be able to enjoy the benefits. Why not do it?
So, one by one, they stepped off the ship with determination and with their heads held high. The Guangzhou's guns were aimed at the city, and thousands of soldiers were deployed in battle formation, with an extremely heroic momentum.

The Lord of Glen City naturally didn't know what muskets and cannons were. When they saw that the Song soldiers were not even covered with armor, they said something contemptuously to the people around them. The translator told Zhang Youwei that what he meant was that the Song people were really weak.

Zhang Youwei chuckled and did not let the translator refute the other party. Instead, he said proudly: "Let him lead the way."

"The messenger will lead you to the front of the road."

The translator had of course seen the power of firearms demonstrated in the Chola and Chalukya dynasties, and with the courage of the Song army, he shouted in a stern voice at his fellow Persians who were bullying others, "The envoy is very angry now, and I advise you not to be ungrateful."

"Humph."

Although the city lord was disdainful, he felt that the other side had more people. Even if they were not wearing armor and were holding only strange long sticks in their hands, they also had knives on their waists. If a conflict broke out, he would be the first to bear the brunt, so he did not dare to say anything.

He first snorted coldly, then muttered something under his breath, and then, fearing that the Song people would cause trouble for him, he immediately said, "Come with me."

As he said this, he led everyone towards the city.

Zhang Youwei followed him with big strides, followed by dozens of officials and about two hundred guards. They walked with great vigor, not like they were on a diplomatic mission but rather like they were on an attack.

Soon everyone walked into the city.

The streets in the city were already quite deserted and sparsely populated. The doors and windows of every household were tightly closed. Occasionally someone would open a crack in the window, revealing a pale, terrified face.

The Seljuk Empire conquered Isfahan in the second half of last year and Fars in the south at the end of the year, which was only a little over half a year ago.

A large number of merchants no longer docked here, but instead went to the port of Julfa in Oman in the south.

The port of Julfa is Ras Al Khaimah, one of the emirates of the United Arab Emirates in later generations.

There was human activity here at a very early time, and a port was built. According to later archaeological discoveries, a large number of porcelains from the Tang Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty were found in the port ruins.

It can be seen that throughout the Middle Ages, both the opposite Port of Renger and the Port of Julfa in Oman have always run through the entire Arab commercial empire after the Tang Dynasty.

Now that the Seljuks are attacking, the business of the port of Lengg has come to a standstill. A large number of Persian and Arab merchants have fled, and the pearl divers have lost their livelihoods, causing the port of Lengg to lose its source of income. Naturally, the development of the city has taken a sharp turn for the worse.

Zhang Youwei glanced around and memorized the situation.

Probably less than a quarter of an hour later, they arrived at the City Lord's Mansion. All businesses in the city were in recession, but the City Lord's Mansion was quite luxurious. There were a large number of troops surrounding the outside, and a military restricted area was set up.

The city lord trotted to the gate and flattered the general guarding the gate in Turkish: "General, I have brought the Song envoy here for the governor."

The general glanced at Zhang Youwei and shouted, "Keep them outside and don't let them go in. Wait for the governor to summon you."

"Yes."

The city lord turned around and shouted a few words.

The translator said to Zhang Youwei, "They told us to wait for a summons from their governor."

"Mr. Langzhong!"

The captain who was protecting Zhang Youwei shouted angrily, "These people don't take us seriously at all. If we go in, we won't know what kind of humiliation we will encounter. Blow the horn! Although we are few in number, we are enough to massacre this city!"

"Not urgent!"

Zhang Youwei said in a deep voice: "The so-called war is justified. The Arab Empire is too far away from the Song Dynasty. The naval expedition will take several months, and there is a lack of supplies along the way. It will take years for the army to go to the Western Regions, not to mention that it will take years to fight here from the Western Regions. Fighting is the worst option. Once the war starts, if we cannot destroy the Seljuk State, they will inevitably cut off the entire trade between the Arab Empire and the Song Dynasty. There are too many implications here, and we cannot act rashly."

"Uh, yes."

The captain hesitated, but finally swallowed his anger.

He didn't know the situation inside, but Zhang Youwei, as a carefully selected elite of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, naturally knew the key points.

The military force of the Song Dynasty was indeed powerful, so powerful that even if all the countries in the world were combined, even if they had an army of nearly ten million, they might not be a match for the Song Dynasty.

After all, the Song Dynasty now has an army of 600,000, and they are all equipped with nitrocellulose smokeless gunpowder rifles, which have a greater rate of fire and power than the previous black powder firearms.

It is even said that the Institute has ordered the School of Physics to conduct research on firearms that can fire continuously. For example, using the thrust caused by firing as energy to complete the design of unlocking, ejecting, feeding, and relocking.

Tens of millions of soldiers armed with cold weapons fighting against 600,000 soldiers armed with hot weapons, equipped with a large number of rifles and cannons, the result is predictable, a dead end.

But still the problem.

The Song Dynasty was too far away from the Middle East, and the long journey meant that supplies and logistics along the way could not be guaranteed at all.

Perhaps we can learn from the Eight-Nation Alliance and send tens of thousands of spearmen to harass the enemy from a distance, or even rush into the capital of the Seljuk Empire. It would not be a big problem to capture the capital.

But what happens next?

Without food and fodder, they were unable to station troops there or pursue the Seljuks, and could only watch them escape on horseback.

In the end, the Song army had no choice but to go back.

Then the Seljuks returned and cut off trade between China and the West, and it was the Song Dynasty that suffered.

Therefore, going to war is indeed a bad idea, unless the Song Dynasty can establish good relations with other local countries and form a local coalition, and then send some people to help them destroy the Seljuk Empire and support local forces.

Otherwise, it is best not to start a war easily.

And this is what Zhang Youwei and his family have to do now. It would be best if the Seljuks could negotiate and continue to maintain trade. Then the Song Dynasty would no longer need to waste manpower and resources on thankless tasks.

The director said so.

The Song Dynasty now only loves money.

"The Governor wants to see you. Who among you is the messenger?"

After a while, the person who went in to report came out and told the general guarding the gate about the situation, and the general shouted and asked questions.

The city lord then spoke to the translator in Persian, and the translator spoke to Zhang Youwei.

It’s too strenuous to communicate with each other.

The Seljuks spoke Turkic, and the places they conquered were later Iran and Afghanistan, where Persian and Arabic were spoken.

This city lord was familiar with Persian and Arabic, and had learned Turkic, which is why he was supported to become the city lord.

Now I can only rely on the translator to communicate with the city lord and then communicate with the other party.

There is an extra layer in the middle, and I don’t know if anything unexpected will happen.

For example, when the city lord was translating Turkish, he could just talk nonsense, because even his Persian compatriots didn't know what he was talking about.

"I'm."

Zhang Youwei stood up after hearing what the translator said.

"You come with me. Your people must stay outside. You come with me alone."

said the general.

“They are also messengers.”

Zhang Youwei struggled to communicate with the other party.

Every word had to be translated and spoken by the city lord.

"No, you can only go alone. The city lord only allows you to bring one interpreter."

The general insisted.

"Doctor."

The captain said, "You can't go."

"It doesn't matter."

Zhang Youwei waved his hand and said, "You wait outside. If something goes wrong and the other side attacks you, you can resist, but don't come to rescue me. You just need to leave the city and follow the orders of Doctor Tan and General Wang."

"Ok."

The captain had no choice but to agree.

Then Zhang Youwei took a deep breath and stepped into the City Lord's Mansion.

The mansion is magnificent and has a Middle Eastern style.

Fully armed guards stood outside the hall, each of them staring at Zhang Youwei with fierce looks.

Zhang Youwei felt confident and walked in calmly.

If it were a few decades ago, even if one was not afraid of death, one would probably still be nervous.

Because for some people, death is never scary. What is scary is that their death has no value at all.

Just like the Liao and Song dynasties of the past.

If he had been steadfast and unyielding for the sake of the country's honor during his mission to the Liao Kingdom, he would have been killed by the Liao people.

The result was that the Song State issued a statement to condemn the incident, and the Liao State responded with a bland statement like "manslaughter by mistake", which had no consequences at all.

But now is different from the past. The Song Dynasty is as strong as the Han Dynasty. Anyone who offends the powerful Han Dynasty will be punished no matter how far away they are.

Therefore, even though the Seljuk Empire was far away in the west, Zhang Youwei was very clear that even if he died, the Song Dynasty would definitely send a large army to avenge him.

Even if we cannot occupy this place, it should not be a problem to unite with the local Khorasan people or the Buyid people to eliminate the Seljuks.

Therefore, Zhang Youwei was calm and fearless.

He walked into the hall with his head held high and his chest puffed out. He saw Talib Ruber sitting on a gorgeous wooden chair, looking him up and down.

Zhang Youwei glanced around the room with the corner of his eyes, and finally his gaze fixed on the chair where Talib Ruber was sitting.

The chair is not a traditional Chinese furniture, but was brought over from the northern nomadic people. It was originally called a Huchuang, and in the early days it did not have a backrest and was not made of wood. It was a small cloth stool similar to a Ma Zha.

After thousands of years of evolution, chairs have gradually become a part of Chinese civilization and have evolved into a variety of styles, such as cross-legged chairs, lounge chairs, armchairs, round chairs, and so on.

The Seljuks were a Turkic people. During the Tang Dynasty, the Turks were driven from the Mongolian grasslands to Central Asia by the Tang Dynasty. Naturally, the chairs took root here and incorporated many characteristics of the Arab Empire and the Persian Dynasty. The shapes are also exquisite.

However, the reason why Zhang Youwei is interested in the chair is not because of how beautiful it is.

Instead.

In the whole house, only Talib Rubur had a chair to sit on, and there were no chairs for guests on the sides.

This means that the other party has no intention of asking Zhang Youwei to sit down. Not to mention diplomatic etiquette, even if there were guests at home, it would be extremely rude to behave like this.

So Zhang Youwei didn't even salute. After walking in, he stared at Talib Ruber with a very serious and sharp gaze, and didn't say a word.

The two sides were in a stalemate for about ten breaths.

Talib Ruber frowned slightly. He naturally wanted to give the other party a warning.

But it was obvious that the Song envoy did not buy it. He neither spoke nor bowed. He just stared at each other, as if to see who could not hold it anymore.

The first one to lose his temper was Talib Luber. He did not get angry, but pretended to be ignorant and said, "I heard that people in Song Dynasty are very polite. Why don't you show courtesy to me?"

After the translator told Zhang Youwei what he had said, Zhang Youwei sneered and put his hands behind his back: "I heard that the people in the northern grasslands have an old saying, which is that when friends come, we have wine, and when enemies come, we have swords and guns. The Song Dynasty is naturally a country of etiquette, but etiquette is mutual. The Song Dynasty should treat civilized and civilized people with courtesy, but if the other party is barbaric and rude, the Song Dynasty will naturally not be warm and face and be cold butt."

"I just don't know whether the Governor regards us, the Song Dynasty, as a friend or an enemy?"

Zhang Youwei said with a somewhat gloomy expression.

"Forehead"

Talib Ruber was speechless for a moment.

His attitude towards the diplomatic envoys was because he heard his cousin was worried that the Song Dynasty would expand its border to their border.

But this does not mean that he can influence the diplomatic direction of the entire Seljuk Empire.

If my cousin was just worried but did not dare to make an enemy of the Song Dynasty, but instead was secretly on guard and had to maintain good relations with the Song Dynasty on the surface, then he would be ruining everything.

Therefore, before figuring out his cousin's attitude and the diplomatic direction of the Seljuk Empire, Talib Ruber would not have fallen out with the envoys of the Song Dynasty.

"We Seljuks are hospitable and are naturally willing to make friends with anyone."

Talib Luber saw that the other party's attitude was not easy to deal with, so he had to go down the stairs and said, "Come here, bring a chair for our guest."

"It seems that the Governor is sensible."

Zhang Youwei chuckled, still without greeting the other party, and sat down.

Talib Luber then said, "I wonder what the messenger has come to my Seljuk for?"

"Our Great Song has been established for ninety-three years. We will hold a celebration ceremony at the beginning of next year. We invite all countries in the world to come to our Great Song to join us in the celebration."

Zhang Youwei stopped exchanging pleasantries and went straight to the point, saying, "We are here to negotiate with many countries, and we also invite them to trade with our Song Dynasty to prosper."

"Oh?"

Talib Rubur looked surprised.

Zhang Youwei recalled what he had seen when he entered the city, and continued, "Excuse me for being blunt, although the Seljuks conquered the Ghaznavid Empire and occupied Khorasan, the once prosperous port of Leng has become increasingly desolate and sparsely populated. This is because there is no longer any trade here. Business is all about taking what each needs and complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses. If your Seljuk Kingdom hopes to govern the country well and make it strong, you should trade more with our Song Dynasty instead of staying in isolation and ignoring worldly affairs."

This is also another goal of Zhang Youwei, which is to deepen trade relations with Middle Eastern countries.

Industrial countries sell cheap goods to agricultural countries and seize large amounts of raw materials and other mineral resources. This behavior is called dumping and is exploitative in nature.

However, the Song Dynasty did not actually complete industrialization. Its current industrial products are mainly steel, and all other types of light industrial products are still in the development stage. They cannot even meet the domestic market, let alone the foreign market.

Therefore, the main products exported by the Song Dynasty are still agricultural products such as tea, porcelain, silk and handicraft manufacturing, which is far from the level of dumping by industrial countries on agricultural countries in later generations.

The Song Dynasty sold these products and then purchased various medicinal materials, spices, ivory, minerals and other items needed by the Song Dynasty. This was a form of commercial complementarity and everyone benefited.

At present, the Song Dynasty needs to increase such trade in order to further enhance its industrial capabilities, so it needs to conduct more commercial activities with the Middle East.

Now that the Middle East is affected by the war with the Seljuk Empire, trade volume has dropped significantly, which is obviously something the Song Dynasty does not want to see.

Therefore, if the Seljuk Empire is willing to restore commercial prosperity, and even war will not affect commercial development, then the Song Dynasty will not care about them. Even if the Middle Eastern countries fight each other, it will not be the Song Dynasty's business.

To put it simply, you can fight as you please, but just don't interfere with my ability to make a little money.

However, Talib Luber did not agree immediately. He showed an unhappy expression on his face and said, "This is our Seljuk business, so the Song envoy does not need to worry about it."

"Why? Isn't it good for everyone to benefit each other? I remember that the Turks also know how to do business."

Zhang Youwei was puzzled.

Talib Ruber said expressionlessly: "This has nothing to do with the Song people."

joke.

They, the Turks, naturally knew the importance of commerce.

But the problem was that the Seljuk Turks were very small in number, had to rule a vast territory, and had to prepare to continue invading the Buyid Dynasty.

If the development of commerce is left to the Arabs and Persians, who can guarantee that it will not provide aid to the Buyid Dynasty's enemies?
Therefore, the current business environment in the Seljuk country is temporarily undergoing internal circulation, and maintaining basic business operations is the demand of the Seljuk Empire.

As for expanding business outward in the future, it would require destroying the Buyid Dynasty, Azerbaijan, the Eastern Roman Empire and other countries, and making the entire Middle East a part of the Seljuk Empire's territory.

"Since the Governor is unwilling to accept my kindness, that's fine. My mission is to invite you to Song Dynasty to participate in next year's grand ceremony. I have conveyed my request to the Governor, and my mission is accomplished."

Zhang Youwei naturally had no idea of ​​the Seljuks' plans. Seeing that the other party had no intention of trading, he gave up his attempt to persuade them and spoke in a similarly expressionless manner.

Talib Luber said: "I will report this matter to the Khan. You can stay here and wait for the Khan's instructions."

"No, we still have to go to Baiyi Country."

Zhang Youwei said: "All Western countries must be informed of this trip. In addition to the Buyid Kingdom, the rest of the Western countries such as the Tang Kingdom (Eastern Roman Empire), Ashugal (Azerbaijan), and the Green Caliphate (Fatimid Dynasty) must be informed. When we come back, we will pass by the port of Leng. At that time, the governor can inform us of the instructions of your Khan."

"Hahahahahaha."

Talib Luber laughed and said, "The messenger does not need to go far."

"Why?"

"Because they will eventually become our Seljuk place."

"hehe."

Zhang Youwei smiled and said, "It's a good thing that the Governor has great ambitions, but I have a mission to accomplish, so I have to go. We have been delayed for too long, and now we are ready to leave for Baghdad. So goodbye."

As he said this, he stood up and bowed slightly to Talib Rubur, but he did not bow. He just clasped his fists as a greeting.

Talib Luber's eyes darkened, and he said in a slightly sinister tone: "We will soon attack Baghdad. The battlefield is brutal, so the envoy should be careful."

"Then there is no need for the Governor to worry. I hope that your Khan can send an envoy to our Song Dynasty and start trade with our Song Dynasty as soon as possible."

Zhang Youwei smiled, said this, and turned and left.

After the translator told the city lord who worked as a part-time translator, he hurriedly followed Zhang Youwei.

Watching them leave, the Persian city lord, eager to show his loyalty, immediately said, "Governor, are you just going to let them go?"

"What about that?"

"It's better to kill them."

"Humph."

Talib Luber snorted coldly: "If I can kill you, I will definitely do it, but this matter is of great importance and we cannot be reckless. We need to wait for the order from the Khan."

"Yes Yes Yes."

The city lord nodded repeatedly.

Talib Luber said: "Wait a little longer. The Song people have already expanded their border to the river and are adjacent to us. The Khan will make the decision."

After saying this, his eyes became even colder.

There seems to be no conflict between the Song Dynasty and the Seljuk Empire, but the biggest conflict is the bordering territories.

What's more, the Kara Khanate destroyed by the Song Dynasty was also a branch of the Turks. As they were of the same ethnic group, the Seljuk Turks were naturally very afraid of the Song Dynasty that had exterminated their own people.

Therefore, the attitude of the Seljuk Khan Tughril Beg towards the Song Dynasty is naturally not good. Although the war has not started, he is already on guard.

As to whether it was pretending to be friendly or declaring war on Song, that was another matter.

At least for now, all Talib Rubur had to do was maintain superficial relations and wait for Tughril Beg to give instructions.

"Anyway, these Song people will come back, and that will be the time to decide the life or death of these arrogant Song people."

Talib Ruber looked at Zhang Youwei's departing back and said lightly.

(End of this chapter)