Chapter 494: Dare to Enter a Dangerous Place

The delegation did not stay in the Kingdom of Chalukya for too long. Like in other countries, they basically stayed for two days.

They arrived on the first day, replenished fresh water and food on the second day, and set off on the third day.

Since the Guangdong navy no longer escorted after leaving the Strait of Malacca, the number of the delegation was reduced a lot.

But there were more than 100 officials, clerks and attendants at all levels of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Rites, and then recruited more than 3,000 sailors, plus 2,000 guards, a total of nearly 6,000 people.

In addition, the Guangzhou ironclad ship had more than 200 soldiers and the attendants and servants brought by the big merchants who served as part-time translators and guides, and the total number was still about 6,000.

The number of ships alone reached more than 80, and they were all medium and large ocean-going ships, carrying all kinds of materials and personnel. The lineup was very large.

Dozens of large capsized ships raised their sails and sailed north along the coast of the Indian Peninsula to the Solanki Dynasty.

This is a dynasty located in the later Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan. Although the territory is not large, it is also a dynasty that relies on trade to become rich, and it also holds a lot of gold.

The envoys also traded arms orders with the locals, and then at the end of May, close to the beginning of June, they officially began to enter the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.

At this time, the chaos in the Middle East appeared.

The Abbasid Dynasty, a huge empire that once spanned the Eurasian continent and fought with the Tang Dynasty, has now completely declined, and its huge territory has been divided into more than ten small countries.

The most powerful among them are undoubtedly the Buyid Dynasty and the Samanid Dynasty.

At its peak, the Buyid Dynasty controlled most of the Persian Gulf, including large tracts of territory such as Iraq and Iran in later generations.

The Abbasid Dynasty was like the Zhou Emperor during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Its territory was only the capital Baghdad and a few surrounding areas. Most of the rest of the dynasty's hinterland was occupied by the Buyid Dynasty, which shows how powerful the Buyid Dynasty was.

Another powerful Samanid dynasty controlled a large area of ​​Central Asia, which later became Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and a small part of northern India. Its land area was not inferior to that of the Buyid Dynasty.

However, the geographical location of the Samanid Dynasty, established by the Persians, was very awkward. To the west was the Buyid Dynasty, to the north were the rising Turks, to the southeast were the Indian countries, and to the northeast was the Kara Khanate. It could be said that it was a place of war on all sides and was attacked from all sides.

In the late 10th century AD, the Turks rose. One group established the Kara Khanate in the Central Asian region, and the other group established the Ghaznavid Dynasty in Ghazni, 40 kilometers southwest of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan in later generations.

They jointly launched an attack on the Samanid Dynasty, and the offensive was very swift. They quickly defeated the Samanid Dynasty and occupied the territory of the Samanid Dynasty.

At the end of the 10th century AD, that is, in 999 AD, the Samanid Dynasty was attacked and destroyed by the Ghaznavid Dynasty and the Kara Khanate.

Among them, the Ghaznavid Dynasty obtained the southern territory of the Samanid Dynasty, that is, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Kara Khanate obtained the territories to the north of the Samanids, including Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and other places.

However, the Turks did not stay happy for long. The Kara Khanate was destroyed by the Song Dynasty last year, and the Ghaznavid Dynasty was almost destroyed by the newly rising Seljuks.

Currently, only a few territories such as Kabul, Lahore, Punjab, and Makran remain, which are equivalent to the southeastern part of Afghanistan and the entire territory of Pakistan in later generations, and are far less powerful than they were at the beginning.

On the other hand, the Seljuks continue to be unstoppable. In recent years, they have successively conquered most of the eastern territories of the Buyid Dynasty, even including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Khorasan, Khwarezm and other large areas.

So now the Buyid Dynasty only has the territory of later Iraq, and in history, it will be conquered by the Seljuk Empire in Baghdad three years later, that is, in 1055 AD. Since then, the Buyid Dynasty has disappeared in the long river of history.

During this period, the Turks established a huge Seljuk Empire, which extended to Jerusalem in the west, the Fergana Basin (Dayuan) in the east, the Caucasus and Khwarezm in the north, and the Gulf of Oman in the south.

More than 20 years later, the Seljuk Empire almost destroyed the Byzantine Empire and conquered the Anatolian Peninsula, leaving the Byzantine Empire with only part of the southern tip of the Balkan Peninsula, which was later Bulgaria and Greece.

Therefore, if the Song Dynasty did not intervene, the Middle East at this time would be the time when the Seljuk Empire rose, which was equivalent to the founding of a huge empire.

It was under such a situation.

In early June, the fleet of the Song Dynasty envoys sailed into the Gulf of Oman, passed through the Strait of Hormuz, and arrived at the port of Renger.

Since the Arab Empire, this place has been the most important port in the Middle East, especially the pearl industry is the most prosperous, and trade is continuous.

The envoys actually knew that most of the Middle East during this period was occupied by the Seljuk Empire, so after they arrived at the port of Renger, they sent people to communicate with the authorities.

Unfortunately, the Seljuks have only risen in recent years and only captured Isfahan in the east of the Buyid Dynasty last year. Therefore, there are no big Seljuk merchants in Guangzhou, and naturally there is no communication channel with the Seljuk Empire.

Therefore, they can only wait patiently and hope that the people in Lenger Port can convey their demands.

However, what is unexpected is that the envoys waited at the port for almost a week and did not wait for the high-level dialogue of the Seljuk Empire, and even the local officials did not convey any news to them.

This made Tan Wenxu and the others very dissatisfied.

Although the time is quite generous, I can just make it in time for my return trip in September.

But this unusual situation has exceeded the original plan.

What's more, the Song Dynasty's envoy represents the Song Dynasty, which is equivalent to talking to the Seljuk Empire as the Song Dynasty.

Even if the other party doesn't want to see them, they should come and reply to them. Now they are not paying attention to them at all. It is obviously a rude behavior to leave them here. Therefore, Tan Wenxue, who was born in the Ministry of Rites, is a little unhappy.

These barbarians are so rude.

However, considering that the Seljuk Empire has only occupied Khorasan for less than a year, and Lenger Port is the southernmost edge area of ​​the Seljuk Empire, it is more than a thousand miles away from the current capital of the Seljuk Empire, Isfahan. Due to the distance, it is normal for the notification route to be far away, so everyone can only wait patiently.

"Let's wait another three days. Although the city lord of Lenger City said that it is more than a thousand miles away, in ten days, even if we walk there, we can barely make it back and forth. If there is no news in ten days, it means that The other party doesn’t pay attention at all, so we just leave on our own.”

Tan Wenxue stood on the ship's deck, overlooking the city on the shore. Affected by the war, Lenger Port was very depressed before, but now that it has been nearly a year, it has regained some popularity, and some people can be seen outside the city from time to time.

In the past few days, they had to send people to the city lord's mansion to inquire about news, and they did not send anyone to comfort them. Their attitude was too cold.

What's even more annoying is that the other side has sent more troops outside the city these days, vaguely on guard, and may even be surrounding the envoy. A series of actions made Tan Wenxu and Zhang Youwei feel offended.

"I may have a guess as to why."

Zhang Youwei said.

"what reason?"

"When I was in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I happened to read some materials on the western border areas, which recorded some things about the Seljuk people."

"oh?"

Tan Wenxue said in surprise: "What did you say?"

"Turkmen."

"Turkmen?"

"good."

Zhang Youwei said: "The Seljuks are a Turkic tribe that originated from Turkmen. These three words in the Turkic language are the territory of the Turks."

"But what does this have to do with Da Song?"

Tan Wenxue didn't know why.

Zhang Youwei smiled and said: "This Kingdom of Black Khan is the name that our Song Dynasty translated. They themselves call it Kara Khanate. To the west of this country is Turkmen!"

"I see."

Tan Wenxue suddenly realized.

The Song Dynasty destroyed the Black Khan Kingdom, and the Seljuk Empire emerged in Turkmenistan, which meant that the Song Dynasty was already bordering the Seljuk Empire.

In this case, the Seljuk Empire obviously had geopolitical problems with the Song Dynasty.

"Maybe we're overthinking it."

Wang Shining said: "It's better to wait patiently."

"Um."

Everyone nodded.

This wait is on the ninth day.

Just when the envoy was preparing to leave the next day.

A large army appeared in Lenger City.

The leader was named Talib Rube.

He was the cousin of Tughril Beg in what is now the Seljuk Empire.

The Seljuk Empire was essentially a nomadic tribe, so it still adopted a feudal system in administration.

Not only was the Great Khan and Deputy Khan established like the Black Khan Kingdom, but the governors of each province were often served by "Atabeg".

The so-called "Atabeg" means Shangguan in Turkic. These people are basically Seljuk nobles, and the royal family uses them to control power in various places.

And Tugrile Beg also knew that the Turks were not good at administrative management, so when they conquered such a large area, they did not directly destroy the local administrative system, but retained it.

For example, they did not deal with the Persian officials of the Buyi Dynasty. They continued to do what they had done before. It was just a change of senior officials.

The administrative planning of Lenger City is located under the Fars Province, and Talib Rube is the governor of Fars.

He went to Isfahan some time ago and returned to Shiraz City, the seat of Fars, from Isfahan yesterday. After getting the news, he came with his army in force today.

Just as Zhang Youwei guessed, when Talib Rube was in Isfahan, he heard the concerns of the Great Khan Tugril Beg about the Song Dynasty.

The once-prominent Black Khan Kingdom was easily wiped out by the Song Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty had expanded its territory to their borders. The two sides were already bordering each other. No one knew whether a war would suddenly break out one day.

Although Tugrile Beg's current goal is the West, he wants to take over the entire Middle East and establish a huge Mediterranean empire.

However, just like hundreds of years ago, the Arab Empire faced the Tang Empire.

Having a strong enemy around you is always unsettling.

So when he heard that the Song Dynasty envoy had arrived at Lenger Port, Talib Rube sent someone to tell his uncle the news, and at the same time brought the army over personally, wanting to test the Song Dynasty's intentions.

"Are they at the dock now?"

Talib Ruber is not very old, less than thirty years old. He has a face of an eastern steppe nation, with braids on his head and a long knife on his waist. He has a very calm temperament.

The city lord of Lunge next to him was a former Persian official and replied: "Yes."

"Have you been in contact with them?"

"Because there is no order from the governor, we dare not interact with them."

"Um."

Talib Rube nodded and said, "Go and have a look."

The procession marched into the city.

Then Talib Ruber came to the south wall and stood on a high place overlooking the port.

When he found that the Song army had more than 80 medium and large sea ships, one of which was covered with iron armor, his face was still very bad.

Talib Ruber had never heard that iron-clad ships could run on the sea.

Don't they know that sea water corrodes iron very much, and iron ships can't be rowed at sea at all?

However, since an iron-clad ship has crossed the ocean and appeared here, it has already shown that these are not a problem for the Song Dynasty at all.

No wonder the ancestors were driven away from the desert grassland by the Tang people, and these people of the Eastern Dynasty are still as powerful as ever.

Talib Ruber waved his hand and said: "I will go to the city lord's mansion to wait for them and ask them to send someone over."

"Yes!"

The city lord agreed.

Then Talib Ruber returned to the city lord's mansion.

At this moment, on the dock, major officials such as Tan Wenxue, Zhang Youwei, and Wang Shining had already discovered the abnormality in the city.

Every day, someone used a telescope to observe the movements in the city from the mast observation platform.

They noticed when the army entered the city, and the lookout immediately reported the situation to everyone.

"Is this the Seljuk king coming?"

"I don't know."

"So many troops, what does this mean?"

"The one who comes is not kind."

"We are the ones who come."

"When the enemy comes, the general will stop him; when the water comes, the earth will cover it."

Several people said.

Not long after, more than ten people came out of the city.

The mayor of the city of Lenge was in the front, and there was a local Persian translator.

Khorasan is Iran in later generations. It is mainly a gathering place for Persians, and the Buyid Dynasty and the Samanid Dynasty are both Persian dynasties.

So there are naturally merchants from the Buyid Dynasty on the ship as translators.

The mayor of Lenge came to the side of the ship and said to them: "Our governor invites you to the mayor's mansion."

Governor?

What does that mean?

Tan Wenxue was unhappy again.

The Great Song Dynasty envoys represented the Great Song Emperor.

According to the principle of diplomatic reciprocity, even if the king of the other party did not come to greet them personally, the king should send someone to invite them over.

As a result, a governor came.

It is estimated that the so-called governor is roughly at the same level as the Great Song Road Transport Envoy.

It is like the Liao Kingdom envoys came to celebrate the birthday of the Great Song Emperor. The Great Song Emperor did not send the Honglu Temple to welcome the other party to Bianliang, but asked the Hebei Road Transport Envoy to go to the border to talk with the other party.

If it were twenty years ago when the Great Song was not strong, the Liao people would definitely be furious and march south directly.

The other party is really rude.

"Humph."

Tan Wenxue snorted coldly: "What's wrong with this Seljuk Kingdom? My Great Song envoys have been treated as they should be in other places, but they are like this here. Have they really become savages and don't know etiquette?"

This made the businessman of the Buyid Dynasty tremble with fear, and he didn't dare to translate it.

Zhang Youwei said: "It's probably the same as what I said. We destroyed the Black Khanate and are on the border of the Seljuk Kingdom. With a tiger by their side, they will naturally be restless and will definitely not be happy with us."

"If that's the case, this is probably a dangerous place. Are you still going?"

Wang Shining asked.

"Go!"

Tan Wenxue gritted his teeth and said, "Why not? Even if it's a dangerous place, even if we die, what does it matter? As envoys, we have already put life and death aside!"

"Yeah."

Zhang Youwei nodded and said, "Yes, we have a duty. Although the other party is rude, we have to go. Otherwise, in diplomacy, they can say that we are responsible first and ignore their invitation. So we must go, even if it's a dangerous place."

"I'll go."

Tan Wenxue said, "There must be a mastermind on the ship. Two of the three of us are the highest civil servants, and one is the military commander. General Wang must stay. Only one of us can go. In case of trouble, someone can continue to complete the mission."

"I'll go."

Zhang Youwei smiled bitterly and said, "You have a hard character. It would be bad if you go and directly conflict. If I go, I can still deal with them. What's more, I am a doctor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I should go to deal with diplomatic affairs."

"This"

Tan Wenxue choked for a moment.

He is a doctor in the Ministry of Rites. Although he is at the same level as Zhang Youwei, he is the boss along the way.

The reason is that although the Ministry of Rites has no power, it has always been the nominal head of all the ministries, just like the three dukes and nine ministers in the Han Dynasty, the Taichang Temple, as a ritual department, has no real power or military power, but the Taichang is the head of the nine ministers.

So on weekdays, he is indeed the boss among the three.

However, this bossing is more like the other two respecting his power because of his Ministry of Rites. However, if we really talk about responsibilities, it is indeed Zhang Youwei who has more say in diplomatic occasions.

"Okay."

Tan Wenxue is a reasonable person, and there is nothing to say. He can only say: "Then you must come back safely. We will meet you on the shore. If something goes wrong, you can ask the attendants to blow the horn and we can rush into the city."

"Okay!"

Zhang Youwei nodded, took a deep breath, and then waved his hand to call the other officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over.

The two ministries brought more than a hundred officials, both big and small, with them. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had more than sixty people. In addition to him, there were two assistant ministers, four case chiefs, and dozens of clerks, clerks, bailiffs, and other clerks.

He arranged a deputy minister, a case chief and more than ten clerks to accompany him, while Wang Shining arranged more than 200 guards to accompany him to ensure Zhang Youwei's safety.

Then the group disembarked.

Zhang Youwei led everyone into the city. The rest of the fleet, except for the sailors and attendants, the Guangzhou entered combat status, and more than 2,000 guards disembarked one after another and lined up on one side of the dock, as if they would rush into the city immediately if something went wrong!