Prime Minister Alexei I thought that this capital of the world of Moslin, the legendary city in the sky, might be the most prosperous place in the Western world. Over the past hundreds of years, Moslin's conquests had been collected there and donated to the caliphate.
Wealth, that is an extremely amazing wealth.
At the same time, Baghdad is also the commercial and trade center of the food region and Moslin World. Treasures from all over the world are gathered there through land and water, and then flow to other places.
Attacking there would make tens of thousands of Crusaders the richest people in Christendom.
But do they have the guts to attack the lairs of Moslin and the Seljuks?
Alexei I sneered in his heart. He was not belittling those so-called most devout believers, but they really did not have the courage to take such a big risk and face hundreds of thousands of Moors, Turks and Persians.
.
Thinking of this, Alexei I suddenly realized the courage and extraordinaryness of the Song people. They went deep alone and fought thousands of miles without fear. They attacked cities and defeated the enemy along the way and were invincible.
Only through comparison can we realize the true bravery and extraordinaryness of the brave.
Alexei I sighed in his heart, and knew where those damn devout believers would set their sights - Constantinople, which was as wealthy as Baghdad.
For those greedy and ferocious Crusaders, Moors, Turks... they are all ferocious wolves. On the contrary, they are confident of defeating the Eastern Romans. Moreover, they are also the people of God, and they can easily get Constantine.
He gained the trust of the castle and obtained permission to enter the city. Just like Brutus, Cassius could easily approach Caesar...
Alexios I said calmly: "Our Roman Empire, now that you are supporting us from the east, can indeed turn our attention to the west. In the west, in addition to being wary of enemies from the sea, we also need to guard against the Danube River.
Barbarians from the north, Hungarians and Germans from Dalmatia..."
Yang Zongmin said: "We are willing to share intelligence with our allies with the greatest sincerity. After our Song Dynasty occupied Mobei, we successively sent out 29 expedition teams to explore westward. They ranged from hundreds to thousands of people.
Some went west as caravans and some as migrating tribes."
"They crossed the Yima'er River (Obi River) and the Ye'er Shihe River (Irtysh River), passed through extensive grasslands and wilderness, climbed over mountains, crossed rivers, and came into contact with countless tribes along the way. There were Huns
, descendants of the Xijiasi, Rouran, Xianbei, Uighur, Turkic and other ethnic groups. Finally, they passed through a black land grassland and came into contact with a group of tribes calling themselves the Rus people, with hundreds of thousands of people. They also entered a city called Rus.
Kiev’s towns…”
Alexei I's face was changing, and finally he became angry and asked with some disbelief: "Are you going to Kievan Rus?"
"Kiev Rus, Rus Kiev?" Yang Zongmin read these two words meaningfully, "Your Majesty the Byzantine Emperor, do these two words actually refer to the same place?"
"Yes." Yue Zhuoqun answered for Alexei I, without having to translate back and forth. "It refers to the Russian Alliance, on the vast grassland north of the Black Sea. In addition to the Russians, there are hundreds of thousands...
Descendants of the various tribes you just mentioned."
"Okay, please tell your Majesty the Emperor. The war in Anxi and Hezhong has come to an end. Another Western Expedition army will set off from Jinshan and head west along the route surveyed by the expedition. In the past two years, please pay attention and listen.
News from the north of the Black Sea."
After listening to Yue Zhuoqun's translation, Alexei I was a little puzzled, "I would like to ask, why does your Majesty the Emperor launch frequent Western expeditions and mobilize so many elite troops to fight for him? He also
What do you need?"
"Wealth? I believe the emperor of your country is already the richest man in the world. Power? Land? Or population?"
Facing Alexei I's inquiry, Yang Zongmin smiled and replied calmly: "Our Majesty is far-sighted and has insight into thousands of miles. We only need to follow the direction he pointed out."
Alexios I couldn't help but became breathless and speechless. Damn it! Why did his fellow emperor, the same emperor, do it so easily? His subordinates attacked wherever they pointed without hesitation.
But I am anxious about internal and external troubles all the time.
The two sides ignored this topic in a tacit understanding. Alexei I was thinking in his mind that once the Song people exert pressure in the northern part of the Black Sea, it will cause a chain reaction throughout Europe. The Rus, Pechenegs, Cumans, etc.
The barbarian tribes will wash away the Russian princes like a tide, then rush into the Kingdom of Poland and the Kingdom of Hungary, and then wash away the princes of the Holy Roman Empire and the Kingdom of France.
By that time, those guys were busy protecting themselves and had no energy to participate in the conspiracy of the Holy See. Without these guys involved in the west, they could collect the nomadic tribes who escaped from the Danube. Yes, John introduced how the Song people collected the nomads
I can definitely learn from the tribe’s methods.
With this new force and no worries, I can go eastward with all my strength and regain the lost territory while the Turks, cannibals and Persians are busy dealing with the danger from the east. As long as I can restore the territory to the state of 1025
, I am enough to go down in history.
Accompanied by John Comnenus, Alexius I met with Yang Zongmin four times, discussed many things, and reached many agreements.
Alexios I also summoned the Guards and invited Yang Zongmin to review - this was the highest etiquette for foreign guests in the Eastern Roman Empire.
More than ten days later, Yang Zongmin returned to the city of Nicaea with a letter written by Alexius I, as well as hundreds of carts of books and gifts.
During this period of time, the Western Expeditionary Army completed transactions with Byzantium and Venetian merchants, turning most of the spoils into gold and silver hard currency, leaving only a small number of works of art to be presented to officials and libraries.
The day after Yang Zongmin returned, Hu Luxiong ordered the entire army to set off. During these ten days, the entire army obtained enough food, accessories and raw materials through merchants, and repaired horse gear and armor.
At the same time, one of the spoils of war, 30,000 Anatolian war horses, large food horses, Armenian horses and Persian horses, as well as thousands of carriages, were also organized.
The team quickly surrounded the city of Ankara, then captured and burned it.
The Turks in Asia Minor once again suffered a heavy blow. Since then, they have almost lost the ability to fight on a large scale, which provided great help to the Byzantine Empire in regaining its lost territory.
The advance army crossed the Kizer River and ignored the Turkic and Dashi coalition forces that had deployed heavy troops along the lines of Diyarbakır and Mansikert. They turned around and headed north, capturing Trabzon, an important Black Sea port, and then continued eastward.
, captured the city of Ani, the capital of the Azerbaijan province of the Seljuk Khanate.
Just when Muhan Mood I and his generals thought that these evil stars were going to continue marching eastward, the Dangxiang Division of the advance army attacked Mansikert overnight.
Decades ago, the Seljuks defeated the Byzantine Empire's co-emperor Romanos IV here and began to dominate Western Asia.
The Dangxiang Division's attack on Mansikert panicked the Turkic and Dashi coalition forces. It was not until dawn that they discovered that the Song people only missed three rounds of arrows and then withdrew. Because of their panic, they were trampled
Horse trampling killed and injured two to three thousand people, hundreds of times more than those killed by missed arrows from the Song Dynasty.
Just as Muhan Mude I and his men were busy making preparations, guarding tightly and preventing the Song people from entering the Mesopotamia, the advance army captured Nakhichevan and went south to surround Tabriz.
It turned out to be a false shot. Muhan Mood I and his emirs couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. As long as they don't go to the south, go to the east, just go to the east.
Anyway, the death of Sanjar, the surrender and fall of Khorasan, Yinsfahan, Hamadan and other places made the Seljuk rule in Persia exist in name only. Atabeg in various provinces suffered heavy casualties, and various places were invaded by locals.
The powerful factions are divided into separate factions, claiming to be emirs, and each has its own affairs.
Muhan Mood I was also in dire straits now and did not have the energy or strength to regain Persia. He should first preserve the existing basic base.
After the advance army successfully "blackmailed" Tabriz, they passed through Hamadan, Yinsfahan, and Kerman before returning to Mulu City in Khorasan and rendezvoused with the Song army who was clearing the place. This chapter has been completed!
