Yuan Haowen smiled all the way and looked at the large farms and pastures around him.
Although this Hanlin scholar from the Zhou Dynasty was already in his early forties, he looked young and capable. In fact, he was indeed a man with rich experience and reliable work.
Fifteen years ago, when Emperor Zhou was still serving as the marshal of the capital of the Jin Kingdom, he became the official name of the marshal's office. Later, because the leader Zhao Bingwen became an official, Yuan Haowen also left the central capital, and for a time he worked as a county magistrate and other posts.
.It wasn’t until the fourth prince of Mongolia invaded the Central Plains with his troops, Yuan Haowen, who was on his way to transfer, gathered the people and made great achievements, so he was promoted again.
In the following nearly ten years, he successively served in the Xuanhui, Hanlin and other academies. From editing to writing, he participated in debates among Confucian scholars in the north and the south. He also went to the grasslands to promote Han etiquette. The year before last, he went to Japan as an envoy and successfully won the
He obtained the mining rights of two large silver mines and was promoted to the fifth rank of Hanlin bachelor's degree due to his meritorious service.
It was precisely because of the merits of his trip to Japan that the emperor immediately issued an order for him to take on the task of leading an envoy to Arabia and promoting the military and civilians of the Han people who passed through the sea route.
Although the Zhou Dynasty's understanding of foreign lands was far greater than any other dynasty in ancient times, the journey of tens of thousands of miles was still quite daunting. Thanks to the large scale of Yuan Haowen's mission and the number of capable colleagues in the mission, this was
Able to arrive on time in less than a year without any delay.
Even so, the entire fleet included eight large-scale ships with a cost of 5,000 yuan when they set off. At this time, two of them were damaged beyond repair. Fortunately, they were replaced with Arabian sea ships using triangular sails in time, so the impact was not big.
Yuan Haowen was currently in a huge swamp called Hamar Lake. This swamp is located where two large rivers from the northwest converge into the sea. After hundreds of years of reclamation and utilization, it has become a natural reservoir.
To irrigate the fertile land where the river flows into the sea. In this half-day trip alone, Yuan Haowen saw no less than twenty manors, where date palms, rice and cotton were planted in large quantities.
An Arab cavalry captain who followed Yuan Haowen was very proud of this. He raised his hand from time to time and explained to Yuan Haowen that this dike was the work of the 21st Caliph, and that irrigation ditch was the work of the 21st Caliph.
The previous Grand Vizier employed 20,000 slaves.
This cavalry captain was sent to the mission by an emir stationed here.
In recent years, the Arabs have been increasingly exposed to the Eastern Empire thousands of miles away. Especially in Serendiper, which is east of the so-called Lion Kingdom by the Han people, the competition between Han maritime merchants and Arab maritime merchants from the east has become increasingly fierce.
It was fierce. Because the Han people were so numerous and had specialties in construction and farming, port bases were dotted all over the ocean. The Arab maritime merchants suffered a lot in both commercial competition and armed confrontation.
However, competition is competition, and the revenue from maritime trade has been increasing. For the Abbasid dynasty, which was densely populated by warlords and various separatist regimes, the taxes and donations from this area already accounted for most of the dynasty's actual income.
Therefore, in addition to competition, the two companies also have close cooperation, such as jointly suppressing foreign merchants from Sriwijaya, Ploan and other countries, and coordinating maritime laws, shipboard supply, and shipwreck handling.
In recent years, several Arab giants have obtained official positions in the Han dynasty through their achievements in cooperation. In contrast, there are also many Han merchants who are based in Baghdad to do business because of their status above the internal politics of the Abbasid dynasty.
, often achieve good returns.
Because of the close cooperation between the two companies, the two names "China" and "Arab" also replaced "Peach Blossom Stone" and "Dashi" and gradually became the common names.
Yuan Haowen and his party came here as distinguished envoys sent by the Emperor of China to discuss more cooperation between the two great powers. This matter was notified to the Caliph in Baghdad half a year ago and received a warm invitation from the Caliph.
According to the original agreement, the Caliph will send his court ministers to grandly welcome the Chinese envoys at the Port of Khrumou, and then guide the envoys upstream along the Frila River to the capital Baghdad.
However, after the mission arrived at the port of Khrumozi, they saw that the local people were in panic and there were scenes of war and chaos everywhere. The mission sent capable personnel to go ashore to inquire and heard that a war broke out nearby, so much so that the local magistrates ran away, let alone anything.
Waiting ministers and welcome ceremony.
The envoy had already arrived, but even if the situation was unclear, there was no need to turn back. So they took out some of the porcelain and tea they had brought with them, recruited a number of local sailors and guides, and the fleet continued westward, arriving directly at the mouth of the Frila River.
.
The so-called Forali River is the final convergence of two large rivers that flow through Baghdad, the capital of the Arab Empire. It is also known as Shatt al-Arab River. There is a large city at the mouth of the river, called Ura, and a large port, called Moral.
Fortunately, this area is not as noisy as the port of Khrumuzi. There is an emir stationed there with troops and has jurisdiction over this city and port. The emir suddenly saw the arrival of a large fleet and immediately sounded the gongs and trumpets to gather.
Thousands of cavalry came to investigate, and found out that they were envoys from great powers, so they dismissed their subordinates.
The so-called emir refers to the official responsible for port security and fleet command. He has close relations with merchants and has long heard about the upcoming arrival of the Chinese mission. Since it was a mission coming, the emir put down
After hearing this, he sent a captain with a hundred camels and corresponding shepherds to serve the envoy along the way.
In order to thank the Emir, the mission inevitably presented some gifts of oriental specialties.
The emir occupies an important place at the mouth of the river. He has a lot of money and many fine products. But the things given by the mission are beautiful after all. Every piece he picks up has an official appraisal document, which is different from the things brought here by private people.
Yuan Haowen, who was responsible for handing over the exchanges, also hinted that when he arrives in Baghdad, he will definitely praise you for your loyalty in front of the Caliph.
The emir was overjoyed and sent an additional two hundred elite cavalry to escort the mission along the way.
How many troops can an emir have under his command? Sending two hundred elites is almost one-third more than his headquarters. Yuan Haowen felt that this was a bit too grand, but he immediately knew that these two hundred cavalry were very useful.
of.
Just as the cavalry captain was gesticulating and telling Yuan Haowen, a shower of arrows suddenly shot out from the date palm plantation across the ditch. The arrows were not dense and weak. Only a few Arab shepherds in robes at the front of the mission were unlucky.
He was shot and fell off his horse screaming in pain.
"Enemy attack! Be alert!"
The Zhou soldiers in the team immediately rushed to the ditch. The swordsmen set up a shield wall, and the crossbowmen took out their bows and arrows and pointed in the direction of the arrow rain on the other side. The other members of the mission urged the shepherds and porters to
The vehicles and camels formed a circle and prepared for defense.
At this time, the subordinates of the Arab cavalry captain drew out their scimitars, shouted and approached the ditch, as if they were about to swim across and fight.
From the plantation, many men wearing robes and holding machetes jumped out, yelling in response.
An interpreter squatted next to Yuan Haowen and quietly translated for him what the two sides were shouting at each other.
"You bastards, get out of the Madan territory! You are not allowed to plunder the Madan people's wealth!"
"No one cares about your smelly buffalo, and no one wants to eat your disgusting and rotten fish! We are ordered to escort the Chinese Emperor's envoy to Baghdad to meet the Caliph! Get out of the way and don't cause trouble!"
After saying a few sentences, the interpreter couldn't help but shake his head: "The Madan people are the indigenous people around Lake Hamar. They are good at raising buffalo, riding reed canoes to and from the water, hunting wild birds and fish, and usually living in houses made of reeds.
Shack... In the past, they were all humble people, doing odd jobs for the maritime merchants in the port. They did not dare to resist even if they were whipped. Now they are so bold that they dare to stand up to the emir's cavalry and seize the shack.
Manor?"
According to Zhou's understanding of Arabia, the thousands of miles of fertile land between Ura City and the capital Baghdad can be equated to China's Wangji. And an ethnic group that was originally considered a pariah occupied manors in Wangji, blocking the roads, and the imperial officers and soldiers
But they can only yell and threaten... It can be seen that the Abbasid Dynasty is indeed in a precarious state as the merchants said.