People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 497: The Middle East is in turmoil again
Isfahan, the capital of the Seljuk Empire.

In June 1052, the Seljuk Khan Tughril Beg was discussing matters with his brother Shagar Beg.

As a Turkic people, the Seljuk Empire adopted a dual khan system in its early days, just like the Kara Khanate.

This situation continued until Grille Berg's death, as he had no children, and his brother Chagar Berg had only one son, Alp Arslan.

This made Alp Arslan the only heir to the empire, which changed the system and gradually centralized power.

At this time, it was still the period of two khans. Tughril Beg was the Great Khan of the Seljuk Empire. His younger brother, Chagar Beg, was the Deputy Khan, ruling Khorasan with Maru as the capital.

It was during the entrepreneurial period that the two brothers worked together sincerely. Historically, this year they would march north to attack the Caucasus Plain, defeat the Eastern Roman Empire and the Georgian coalition forces, and continue to expand the territory of their empire.

However, because of the arrival of the Song people, they felt deeply threatened, so at this moment, the two brothers had to gather in Isfahan to discuss countermeasures.

Inside the capital's palace, which was once the palace of the Buyish family, the two brothers maintained the habits of the Turkic tribe, sitting cross-legged on a rope bed, like an earthen kang, with a small coffee table on it, and drinking together.

They even have fried peanuts as a side dish.

"Chagar, come and drink."

"Okay, brother."

"Baji, baji, the peanuts from the Song Dynasty are really good."

"This wine is good too."

"Ugh."

Tughril Beg took a sip of his liquor, put down his glass and sighed.

Chagar Berg grabbed a handful of peanuts and put them in his mouth to chew. There was roasted beef and mutton next to him, and he picked up a knife to cut.

Suddenly I saw my brother sighing, I couldn't help but stop what I was doing and asked in confusion, "What's wrong, brother?"

"I'm worried about the Song people."

"Song people?"

"Yes."

Tughril Beg nodded and said, "You know about the destruction of the Karakhanid Khanate, right?"

"Yeah. I know."

Chagar Beg said: "The border of the Song people has been connected with our ancestral land of Turkmen."

"Then you should also know how powerful the Song people are now."

"They are indeed powerful, as they were able to destroy the Karakhanid Khanate in a short period of time. But brother, I think your worries are unnecessary."

"how?"

"The Song people are powerful, but didn't we also buy a batch of artillery from the Liao Kingdom? As long as the artillery arrives, we will have the ability to resist."

"Well"

Tughril Beg pondered and said nothing.

Chagar continued, "Although the Song people's border is connected to ours, as far as I know, their dynastic heartland is thousands of miles away from their westernmost border. We have been marching and fighting for many years. I believe I don't need to say much about what we are fighting. With such a long distance, the Song people can only support them in a small-scale war at most. Destroying the Karakhanid Khanate is already the limit, and we can continue to migrate westward. If we encounter a large-scale war, whoever's dynastic heartland is closer will be the winner."

Both of them were born in the Ma family. Starting from their grandfather's generation, they gradually rose from a small Turkic tribe of Turkmen, and then gradually annexed and united other tribes.

By the time of their generation, they had fought for several decades before they finally established the Turkmen Turkic regime. Their army marched southward and conquered large areas including Khorasan and Persia, achieving a great feat.

They knew very well what they were fighting for.

In addition to military cohesion and excellent strategic and tactical command, the most important thing is logistical supply.

Historically, the Seljuk Empire had only 40,000 troops in a battle against the Eastern Roman Empire's 100,000-strong army, and they defeated the Eastern Roman Empire because of their good logistical support.

So although they did not know that the Battle of Talas between the Tang Dynasty and the Caliphate was caused by the fact that the Tang Dynasty's central government was too far away from the Western Regions, logistical supply was difficult and the central government could not send troops, so they could only form a coalition of various ethnic groups in the local area, and eventually encountered betrayal and suffered a great defeat.

But the principles are the same.

Even without drawing inspiration from the Battle of Talas, one could have thought of this on one's own.

Therefore, considering the distance between the Song Dynasty and their Seljuk Empire, Chagar believed that even if they became enemies with the Song Dynasty, the possibility of the Song Dynasty being able to cross such a long distance to attack them was still very limited.

What's more, as the Liao Dynasty was defeated by the Song Dynasty, the traditional economic center of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun was taken away, and various places rose up in rebellion and stopped paying tribute. The economy of the Liao Dynasty had already collapsed.

As a last resort, the Liao Dynasty sold a lot of artillery to other ethnic groups. Some of the artillery flowed into the Seljuk Empire along the Mongol steppe and became their secret weapons.

With the combination of these two factors, the Seljuk Empire had the advantage of time, place and people, and had new artillery as weapons, so they did not think they could be defeated by the Song army.

However, Tugril shook his head and said, "It's not the war with Song that I'm worried about."

Chagar wondered, "What is that?"

"I'm afraid they'll sell firearms to the Daylamites."

Tugril said with a sad face: "Recently, there was news from Baghdad that after the Song people arrived in Baghdad, they demonstrated artillery shooting for the Delam people."

"Don't we have artillery too?"

"But they have more than just artillery."

"More than just artillery?"

Chagall was puzzled.

"Yes."

Tughril said: "After the Karakhanid Khanate was destroyed by the Song people, many tribes fled to our side and were recruited as soldiers by us. The Karakhanid Khanate was also a powerful country before, but it was destroyed by the Song people in just a few days. Do you know what they said when I asked them how the Karakhanid Khanate was defeated?"

"What did you say?"

"They said that the Song people had completely stopped using swords and guns in battle, and the weapons in their hands were long black tubes. When they rushed over, they heard a loud noise, and then many people around them fell off their horses and died."

"Is there such a thing?"

Chagar was shocked.

"Yes."

Tugril said with a worried look on his face: "And the most terrifying thing is that they are only two arrows away from the Song people. At such a long distance, it is as easy for the Song people to kill them as it is to slaughter cattle and sheep. If the Delam people get the weapons of the Song people, we will be in great danger."

Chagar's face became solemn.

If the Song people only had artillery, they also had artillery, and it was difficult for the Song people to travel long distances, so they only needed to defend well and wait for the other side's logistics to catch up, and they would naturally win easily. However, the other side not only had artillery, but also strange black tubes. In a field war, artillery plus black tubes would definitely be invincible.

For this nomadic people, this was a complete dimensionality reduction attack.

Forget it.

After all, the long distance is still a fatal flaw. If they couldn't defeat the Song people, could they not defeat the Byzantine, Buyid, Fatimid and other countries?

At that time, the worst that could happen is that they can continue to fight westwards. The world is so big that there will always be a place for them to stay.

But what if the Song people sold weapons to the locals?
That would be the end of us.

So we have to say that Tuglile’s concerns are indeed a huge problem.

"Brother, if we ask the Song people to buy it, will they sell it?"

Chagar thought of a question and said, "Don't the Song people want us to send envoys to pay homage to them? That's not a big deal. They also said they want to trade with us more. If they can sell firearms to the Delam people, they may be able to sell weapons to us."

Tugril pondered and said, "This is indeed a good idea. Then we may have to send troops immediately and march westward to destroy the Delam people."

"what?"

Chagar was puzzled and asked, "Is it so urgent?"

"It's urgent."

Tugril drank another glass of wine and said, "Think about it. If we are not in a hurry to destroy the Delam people, what should we do if they purchase weapons from the Song army? What if they don't sell us weapons because we have a bad relationship with the Song people? If we delay any further, the consequences will be disastrous."

"indeed."

Chagall thought it made sense.

It was obviously too late for them to make friends with the Song envoys and express their willingness to send envoys to the Song Dynasty in the hope of purchasing weapons.

It’s not that the other party may not be able to accept it. Except for the daily life in the future, there are no eternal enemies between countries, only eternal interests.

The Song Dynasty cannot extend its hand to the Middle East for the time being. As long as there are interests involved between the two sides, there will be nothing to talk about.

But now the envoys of the Song Dynasty have already gone to the Baiyi Kingdom. According to the reports from the spies there, they have demonstrated the power of artillery to the Baiyi people, which means that it is very likely that the Song people will sell firearms to the Baiyi people.

It might be half a month before the Song envoys return, and by then no one would know whether the Baiyi people had been equipped with artillery.

On the other hand, their artillery is still being transported to the Mongolian steppes and has not arrived yet.

As one side gains, the other side loses. If they are not careful, they will fall into the gap of weapons and be pushed back by the Delem people. What if?
Therefore, the best outcome would be to take advantage of the fact that the Buyids have no weapons and equipment yet and directly send troops to capture Baghdad and destroy the Buyids.

"The Daylamites no longer have any fighting power, as evidenced by my easy conquest of Persia."

Tugrile said: "The only thing that worries me is that the Song people's ships are equipped with weapons. What if the Song people intervene?"

Chagar said: "We can talk to the Song people and restrain our army from conflicting with them. We can also agree to the Song people's conditions, send envoys and trade, as long as they interfere in our own internal affairs."

Tugril nodded and said, "I hope the Song people will not take the initiative to become our enemy. If it is allowed, I will send someone to communicate with them and I will negotiate with them in person."

"It would be best if you go."

Chagall praised: "This can also reflect our sincerity."

"What a pity! I originally wanted to contact the Caliph and get his order before attacking the Buyids. Our target is not the pagans in the north, but the Shia heretics in Fatimid. The only way out is to march westward."

Tughril shook his head and said, "But without the Caliph's order, rashly sending troops is likely to cause dissatisfaction among the various sects. Now we are rushing to attack, which is an unwise move."

"Yes."

Chagall also said: "But there is no other way. Why not..."

"Not as good as what?"

"Why don't we contact the Caliph first and ask for his opinion?"

"What if the Caliph disagrees?"

"The Buyid dynasty has controlled the Caliphate for so many years. I think the Caliphate is very likely to be dissatisfied. If we tell the Caliphate that we are willing to give him the highest respect, who knows."

"Well, that's it. Let's organize the army and ask the Caliph."

Tughril made the final decision.

People may not believe it, but the Seljuk Empire did not actually want to destroy the Eastern Roman Empire, which believed in Christianity as its state religion.

In history, the Seljuk Empire had conflicts with the Eastern Roman Empire several times. The most fierce one was the Battle of Manzikert, where 40,000 people fought against 100,000 people and the Eastern Roman Emperor Romanus IV was captured.

However, the Seljuks did not kill Romanos IV, nor did they continue north to attack the Eastern Roman Empire. Instead, they released him and continued westward towards the Fatimid Caliphate.

According to Alp Arslan, the Sultan of the Seljuk Empire at the time, the nephew of the current Khan Tughril and the son of Deputy Khan Chagar.

The Seljuks had only one goal, which was to unify the Islamic world and eliminate Shiite heresy.

The reason for this is that as foreign Turks, the Seljuks had to first submit to Islam and become staunch supporters of Islam if they wanted to rule the Arab world.

It also happened that there were many factions within Islam, with the two main factions being Sunni and Shia.

The Abbasid dynasty was originally a Shia dynasty, but later converted to Sunni Islam. The Sunni population was large, and believers were spread throughout Khorasan and Persia. If the Seljuks wanted to gain a foothold in the Middle East, they naturally had to play the Caliph card.

This is like Cao Cao using the emperor to control the princes.

Although the Caliph no longer had much real power, his religious status was still there, so the Seljuks had to take root in the Sunni sect and attack their Shiite rivals.

The current Shiite countries are the Buyid Dynasty and the Fatimid Dynasty, so the main attack direction of the Seljuks is to the west, and the Buyid Dynasty has become their primary target.

Historically, after they conquered Iran and Afghanistan, they did not continue to attack the Buyid Dynasty, but actively contacted the Abbasid Caliph Kaim.

Three years later, in 1055 AD, Qaim finally summoned them.

So the two brothers gathered a large army and marched westward, destroyed the Buyid Dynasty almost unhindered, and were appointed Seljuk Sultans by Kaim.

At present, the emergence of the Song Dynasty has seriously changed the course of history.

The Tuglile brothers believed that the envoys of the Song Dynasty had contacted the Delamu people and were likely to sell firearms such as guns and rifles to them.

Once the Buyid Dynasty had these weapons, they would no longer have any advantages and might even be destroyed by the other side.

Therefore, they had to strike first and destroy the Buyid Dynasty before the two sides traded firearms.

The situation in the Middle East is once again in turmoil.

(End of this chapter)