Bringing the Railway to Daming

The Eastern Roman Empire considered itself the orthodox Roman Empire, and its urban sanitation was second to none in today's Europe.

Even so, in their capital, Constantinople, one could only see feces and sewage flowing everywhere. It was difficult to ensure the cleanliness of the streets, and garbage was everywhere.

However, in this city renamed Jinyang, not only was there no foul-smelling feces or flowing sewage like in other European cities, even garbage was extremely rare, as if someone was cleaning it up every once in a while.

Not only that, although the houses, shops and other buildings in the city are not very regular (left over from the Mamluk period), there are no vendors setting up stalls (there are special markets), and even the shops rarely display their goods.

Yannis, the deputy envoy of the delegation, whispered, "I was in Cairo seven years ago. Back then, it was still under Mamluk rule. While the city wasn't as dirty and messy as the barbarians of Western and Northern Europe, it was definitely not as clean as it is now."

The envoy, Isaac, asked, "Could it be that the State of Jin has made a special effort to improve the city's sanitation because of our arrival?"

"Perhaps," Giannis said uncertainly. "If that's the case, it means the King of Jin attaches great importance to this exchange. Then our mission won't be that difficult."

"God bless you."

Soon, the Eastern Roman delegation was brought to the royal palace and met Zhu Gang, Zhu Jihui and several Jin ministers in a hall.

Zhu Gang did not embarrass the envoys with etiquette. After they exchanged greetings, he asked directly, "I wonder what brings you here?"

Zhu Gang spoke the official language of the Ming Dynasty, and the translators from the Jin State were responsible for translating it into Greek (the Eastern Roman Empire used Greek at that time). Zhu Gang was ambitious, so he sent people to learn the main languages ​​of neighboring countries at the beginning of establishing his vassal state, such as Latin (the European "international language" at that time), Arabic, and Greek.

The members of the delegation were a little surprised to see that the Jin translator could speak Greek - they had specially found an interpreter who could speak some Mongolian for this mission to Jin (they mistakenly thought that the people of Jin now spoke Mongolian).

Besides being surprised, they were naturally happy, thinking that this incident once again proved the importance that Jin State attached to the Eastern Roman Empire.

Isaac said, "Your Majesty, the King of Jin, we come here bearing the sincerity and friendship of the Roman Emperor Manuel II, hoping to establish an offensive and defensive alliance with Jin against the Ottomans."

After listening to the translator's translation, Zhu Gang was slightly stunned - he knew that Europeans spoke directly, but he didn't expect them to be so direct, which was equivalent to getting straight to the point.

He then asked directly: "Our country currently does not share a border with the Ottoman Empire, nor is it an enemy of the Ottoman Empire. Why should we establish a so-called offensive and defensive alliance with you?"

Isaac said: "Your Majesty, if you know anything about the Ottoman Empire, you would not think so."

"More than a hundred years ago, the Ottomans were just an ordinary nomadic tribe driven westward by the Mongols. They were taken in by the Rum Sultanate established by the Seljuks and only then were they given a habitat on the banks of the Sakarya River east of Byzantium."

"But a few decades later, the Ottomans took advantage of the split of the Rum Sultanate to gain independence. For more than a hundred years thereafter, the Ottomans continued to expand rapidly in the Balkan Peninsula."

"By now, the Ottomans had not only occupied most of the former Rum Sultanate, but also occupied large tracts of Roman territory."

"It is clear that the Ottomans' territorial ambitions are like those of a ravenous wild dog, never satisfied. Sooner or later, they will set their sights on the eastern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean."

"If we wait until that time, it might be impossible for Jin to resist the Ottomans, because it would be difficult to find a reliable ally like Rome."

A reliable ally?
Eastern Rome?

If he hadn't become more cunning in recent years, Zhu Gang would have almost been unable to hold back his laughter.

He said, "Your Excellency's eloquence is excellent, but as far as I know, the Eastern Roman Empire now has only Constantinople and some islands in the Aegean Sea left. It can be said that it is surrounded by the Ottomans."

"In addition, three years ago, the Ottomans defeated the combined forces of Serbia, Bulgaria, and Hungary in the Battle of Kosovo."

"Two years ago, Serbia, Bulgaria, and other countries even bowed their heads to the Ottomans and surrendered. Under Ottoman leadership, they formed a multinational coalition to help them wipe out the three southern states of Sarhan, Aydin, and Menteser. Even your Eastern Roman army was among them."

"In this situation, you said that the Eastern Roman Empire wanted to form an alliance with the Jin State and wanted us to send troops to attack the Ottoman Empire? Do you think I'm a fool?"

Isaac, Giannis and others were surprised after listening to the translator's translation. They did not expect that this king who was said to have come across the sea from the far East had such a clear understanding of the international situation in the northern Mediterranean.

Then, several people's faces fell.

The main reason why the Eastern Roman Emperor sent them here was to see if he could trick the Jin State into joining the game, deal with the Ottoman Empire, and relieve the pressure on the Eastern Roman Empire.

As Zhu Gang just said, the Ottomans have now almost surrounded Constantinople - in fact, it is thanks to the tall and strong city walls and extremely dangerous geographical location of Constantinople that it has been able to survive under the siege of the Ottomans until now.

Once the Ottomans completely surrounded Constantinople and cut off the Eastern Roman Empire from the outside world, the only fate that awaited the Eastern Roman Empire was its destruction.

Therefore, although the Eastern Roman Empire has been able to stop the Ottoman Empire from attacking it by acting as a younger brother in the past two years, it does not mean that the crisis of national extinction has been resolved. Instead, it has made the crisis of national extinction closer and closer.

The Eastern Roman Empire originally placed its hopes on the Holy See (Catholicism) and the Holy Roman Empire (which is actually an alliance of multiple countries).

However, the Vatican could only provide a pitiful amount of money and food, and also demanded that the Eastern Roman people convert to Catholicism. As for the Holy Roman League, it was unclear when it would send troops, nor whether it could defeat the Ottomans.

In this situation, the Eastern Roman Empire learned some unclear news about the Jin State and naturally sent an envoy as a life-saving straw.

Unfortunately, they had no bargaining chips to offer for an alliance, and could only hope to use the information gap to trick Jin into joining the game. Now that the true situation had been revealed by Zhu Gang, the delegation was at a loss.

Seeing that Isaac and Yannis had nothing to say, Zhu Gang waved his hand and said, "Come here, take the Eastern Roman delegation down to rest."

Although he had used the intelligence he had learned in the past few years to attack the Eastern Roman delegation, Zhu Gang still planned to leave them out for a while.

After the envoys were led out, Zhu Gang asked several ministers in the hall, "What do you think about the issues raised by the Eastern Roman envoys?"

Yang Jun, commander of the Huguo Guard (formerly a garrison composed of Han Chinese immigrants), smiled and said, "Your Majesty, this Eastern Roman envoy described the rapid rise of the Ottoman Empire, hoping to use this to demonstrate the Ottoman threat to us."

"Little do they know that, in our opinion, it took the Ottoman Empire over a hundred years and several generations of monarchs to conquer the territory it has today. Their rise wasn't too fast, but too slow."

Military Advisor Wang Xu also laughed at this time and said, "Commander Yang is right - not to mention the example of our Ming Dynasty, where Your Majesty took more than ten years to eliminate Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng, Fang Guozhen and other heroes, and drove the Mongols out of the Central Plains."

"If you say the Ottomans were just a nomadic tribe, their foundation is too weak. But Genghis Khan, who also started out as a nomadic tribe, built the vast Mongol Empire in just one generation."

"Compared to him, this Osman is really not worth mentioning."

Navy Commander Lin Feng said, "If the Ottoman Empire's growth over the past hundred years was considered rapid in the eyes of Eastern Roman Empire and other European countries, then the development of our Jin State in the past few years can be called astonishingly rapid."

"In a few years, perhaps the Eastern Roman Empire will be destroyed by the Ottomans, but by then we in the Jin Kingdom will not be afraid of the Ottomans."

Counselor Fang Gui also smiled and said, "Your Majesty, as far as I know, the Timurid Empire is currently expanding westwards, hindered by the imperial army's expansion in Central Asia. In a few years, a dispute with the Ottoman Empire over territorial issues will inevitably arise."

"So, even if the Ottomans ever turn their attention to the eastern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean, they will have to wait until they have won a decisive battle with the Timurid Empire."

Zhu Gang stroked his chin and said, "According to what you gentlemen said, we don't need to pay attention to this Eastern Roman delegation?"

Fang Gui said, "After all, the Eastern Roman Empire was once the overlord of many small nations in southeastern Europe. I believe we can take this opportunity to establish trade relations with them. You can tell the Eastern Roman envoys that after several years of trade, and once our Jin State has a better understanding of the various nations, we can then consider forming an offensive and defensive alliance."

Zhu Gang actually thought so too.

The Eastern Roman delegation has arrived, and there is no point in sending them back for nothing. We must let them make some contribution to the establishment of a new Maritime Silk Road for the Ming Dynasty.

"In that case, the negotiation of trade with the Eastern Roman delegation will be handed over to Minister Fang."

"I accept the decree."

······
What Zhu Gang did not expect was that before the Eastern Roman delegation left, the delegation from the Kingdom of Hafsid arrived.

What he didn't expect was that the other party actually came to seek peace.

Inside the palace hall.

The chief envoy of the Hafs delegation said, "Your Majesty, the King of Jin, if you are willing to withdraw your troops from Tripoli, our country will send us our most beautiful princess to be your consort. From now on, Hafs and Jin will forever be friendly states."

"Your trade will flow freely throughout our country, and your ships will be able to safely pass through the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic."

After listening, Zhu Gang exchanged glances with Wang Xu, Fang Gui and others, and found that there were smiles in each other's eyes.

There is no other reason, it is just that the delaying tactic used by Hafs is too obvious - he just captured one of your important cities, and the next moment you come to him and say you want to form an alliance and even give him a princess. If this is not a delaying tactic, what is it?
This simple strategy was clearly understood by our Chinese ancestors one or two thousand years ago. How could the rulers and ministers of Jin fall for it?
Not only will they not fall into the trap, they will also take advantage of the trap.

Zhu Gang smiled and said, "I have indeed heard that your country is famous for its beautiful women. Since you are willing to make friends with me, please show your sincerity first."

"I never thought the King of Jin was such a pervert."

Hafs was delighted and asked hurriedly, "Your Majesty, how can we show our sincerity?"

"It's simple. If your country does three things well, we can become friendly countries forever."

"First, Tripoli originally belonged to the Nubians. Now the Nubians are part of our Jin State. We are merely taking back the city that originally belonged to us. How can we talk about returning it?"

"Secondly, since your king is entrusting his daughter to my care, he should give me a larger dowry. At the very least, he must give me one hundred thousand ounces of gold, fifty thousand dan of grain, thirty thousand bolts of cloth, and three thousand camels before I can accept his daughter."

"Thirdly, since our two countries are to become brothers, there must be a superior and a subordinate. I, being incompetent, will be honored to serve as your king's elder brother. I hope that from now on, your king will follow my lead."

Hafs was stunned as he listened to the words translated by the translator.

I thought: How can the King of Jin be a pervert? He is clearly a greedy devil! (End of this chapter)