Chapter 496 Arrival in Baghdad

Zhang Youwei returned to the ship and told Tan Wenxue and Wang Shining what had happened.

The two learned that there was nothing much to say about the attitude of the Seljuk Empire. The intention of the Song Dynasty was already very clear.

If you are willing to make friends with the Song Dynasty, send an envoy and the two sides will exchange culture and economy.

If you don't want to, forget it, the Song Dynasty will not force it.

Since the Seljuk Empire has obviously shown hostility, they will naturally not insist.

Anyway, they have also made an invitation, and the court's mission has been completed.

The fleet set off immediately. They have been delayed in the port of Lenger for too long, and the supplies on the ship are being consumed every day.

The food and clothing expenses of 6,000 people are not a small number. Although they brought enough supplies when they came, they still had to replenish them every time they arrived at a place, because the sea passage was full of dangers.

If they accidentally encountered windy and rainy weather, if the supply ship had problems, or if the cabin was flooded and the supplies were wet and moldy, the situation would be very bad.

So they must also leave the port of Lenger immediately, go to the end of the Persian Gulf, and then go up the Arab River to Baghdad!

The journey was relatively smooth. Five days later, the group crossed more than 700 kilometers, crossed the Persian Gulf, and arrived at the port of Fao, the estuary of the Shatt al-Arab River.

Fao was the largest oil port in Iraq in later generations, and Iraq's oil exports were very dependent on this port.

But in ancient times, since the trade activities in the Middle East were mainly concentrated in Baghdad, Fao was just a small port for merchant ships to stop at sea.

Therefore, the local area was not prosperous.

However, there were still officials from the Buyid Dynasty here, and many ships were moored at the dock.

When they told the local officials about their purpose, although the local officials were not interested in the dynasty's mission to the East, they also fulfilled their duties and took them to Baghdad, the capital of the dynasty.

After all, the Buyid Dynasty was now afraid of the invasion of the Seljuk Empire, and the people were panicking. Naturally, they would not be interested in exchanges with the East like the relatively stable dynasties such as Chola and Later Chalukya.

Besides, no one could say whether the country would be destroyed next year, so how could they have the heart to go abroad?

If the guide and translator on board was not a big businessman of the Buyid Dynasty, who had many connections with the upper class and tried his best to persuade the local officials, I am afraid that the local officials would not want them to go to Baghdad.

Baghdad was the last stop of the delegation.

Although their mission was to spread the news as far as Europe, it was more reliable to spread the news from the Middle East than to go to Europe by sea around the Cape of Good Hope.

The fleet sailed up the Shatt al-Arab River.

The Shatt al-Arab River is the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. The river is wide and has a huge flow of water, making it the birthplace of ancient Babylonian civilization.

Almost all commercial activities in the Middle East are inseparable from it. In addition to connecting the Persian Gulf, it also connects the Anatolian Peninsula and the Armenian Plateau, radiating most of the Middle East.

Therefore, in addition to the groups of ships traveling on the river, there are also large villages on both sides of the river, living on the vast plains, irrigating farmland, and nourishing ancient civilizations.

Tan Wenxue, Zhang Youwei and others stood by the boat and looked out every day. The recorders on board wrote down everything along the way, which would become the data for Eastern civilization to study Western civilization.

A few days later, in late June, after nearly four months, at an average speed of about 100 kilometers per day, and a journey of 13,000 kilometers, they finally arrived at the final destination of the Song Dynasty envoys-Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Dynasty.

Yes.

This is still the Abbasid Dynasty in name.

In the middle of the 11th century AD, the pattern of the Middle East was mainly divided by several major forces.

The Fatimid Dynasty was on both sides of the Red Sea and the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The main body was Egypt in later generations, and there were parts of the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia, as well as parts of the coast of Libya and Tunisia.

Then part of Iraq was controlled by the Buyid Dynasty in later generations. Saudi Arabia in the south did not establish a kingdom. It was in a deserted desert area. Some Bedouin nomadic tribes survived in it, and some of them established the two countries of Oman and Yemen.

Later, the Iranian part originally belonged to the Buyid Dynasty, but was occupied by the newly rising Seljuk Empire. At this time, most of the territories of Iran, Afghanistan and several northern Stans belonged to the Seljuk Empire.

The Pakistani part was the Ghaznavid Dynasty, once the overlord of the Middle East, which was driven to northern India by the rising Seljuk Empire.

The east of the Mediterranean, that is, Turkey in later generations, was the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire, followed by several small countries such as Georgia, Azerbaijan, Mosul, and Alton.

However, except for the Eastern Roman Empire in the north, these forces were basically split from the Abbasid Empire. In name, they were the caliph Qam of the current Abbasid Dynasty, but in fact Qam only had the status of a religious leader and no real power.

Now Baghdad is controlled by the Buyid Dynasty, so Baghdad currently has two meanings, one is the capital of the Buyid Dynasty, and the other is the cultural city of Islam.

There were many religious factions here, and various doctrines were spread here. The major factions taught each other, and there were more than 30 religious schools alone. At that time, it was listed as one of the three major cultural holy places of Islam along with Cairo and Cordoba.

The envoys of the Song Dynasty stood on the bow and looked out while listening to the translator's introduction.

I saw that Baghdad was indeed a majestic city with a very large area. The city was densely packed with rammed earth houses of various sizes, with pointed roofs or domes.

The architectural style of the houses was quite Middle Eastern. Merchant ships could be seen everywhere along the Tigris River wharf. There were many vendors on the shore, and a large number of handicraft manufacturers sold their own carpets, spices, scarves, and pottery.

The arrival of the fleet attracted many people to stop and watch. The wharf was crowded for a while. Many people stood by the river and stretched their necks to look curiously.

Since the Seljuk Empire annexed the territory of the Buyid Dynasty located east of the Persian Gulf last year, the business of the Buyid Dynasty has been declining, and such a large-scale merchant ship has not appeared for a long time.

Many people speculated which big businessman had such a big hand.

But soon someone recognized that these were not Arab ships. Those with insight immediately discovered that these were all Song Dynasty ships. They were amazed that it was possible that Song Dynasty ocean-going merchants had come to Baghdad.

Although Arabs would buy ships from Song Dynasty, Song Dynasty ships were very expensive and only ocean-going merchant fleets could use them.

The merchant fleets that could go to sea were one of the richest merchants in the Arab Empire, and those who could afford Song Dynasty ships were even rarer. Even if they bought Song Dynasty ships, there were only a dozen at most.

All these ships were Song Dynasty ships, and one of them was an ironclad ship. Obviously, it was not something that any big merchant in the Arab Empire could do.

Therefore, some smart people immediately realized that it was likely that the Song Dynasty fleet had come.

Now the dock was even more lively.

"Why haven't I seen these ships before?"

"Those are the ships of the great Eastern powers. I once saw the great merchant Saladin bring these ships back from the distant East, but that was more than ten years ago."

"Saladin? I know him. He was once the richest man in the kingdom. I heard that he left Baghdad ten years ago and went to the East, but he disappeared. Many people speculated that he encountered a storm and died at sea. Could he be back this time?"

"It can't be him. Even Saladin only had three Song Dynasty ships before. You see, there are at least fifty or sixty ships here now. I'm afraid that Saladin's total wealth can't have so many. Maybe they are from the Eastern countries."

"People from the Eastern countries?"

"Yes, according to the sailors who came back with the sea merchants, there is a great country in the distant East, which was once called Tang and is now called Song. These are probably Song people."

An old man sitting cross-legged on the street and preaching looked at the mighty ships in the distance and talked about ancient events with some followers around him.

The Arab Empire once had physical exchanges with the Tang Empire.

But after the Battle of Talas, whether it was the Silk Road on land or the Silk Road on the sea, the merchants of the Arab Empire in the Middle East never cut off contact with the Tang Empire.

Even the trade between the two sides was still very frequent. Even during the war period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Southern Han Kingdom that occupied the Guangzhou area also had a large number of Arab merchants, and many Arab merchants settled there.

So strictly speaking, the East and the West were not unfamiliar at that time. Just as the Tang Dynasty knew that there was a powerful Arab Empire in the West, the Arab Empire in the West also knew about the existence of the distant Eastern power.

It was just that with the decline of the Arab Empire, a large number of Arab merchants fled eastward and settled in Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other places in the Song Dynasty. The war in the Middle East continued, trade was once cut off, and the exchanges between the two sides also decreased.

Until the Song Dynasty developed maritime trade a lot in recent years, trade between the East and the West rose again. In just ten years, the exchanges between the two sides became closer, and the locals also knew about the Eastern Song Empire.

This situation came to an abrupt end last year. Half of the territory of the Buyid Dynasty was annexed by the Seljuks, and commercial prosperity suddenly declined by half. Since the beginning of this year, a large number of Arab merchants fled to the East for refuge. Baghdad has not had any merchant ships come for more than a month.

It can be seen how much impact the Seljuk Empire has had on the trade between the East and the West.

Soon, the fleet slowly entered the port and anchored in the southern harbor in the stunned eyes of the people of Baghdad.

In other words, the Arab Empire's business has declined in recent years, and many big merchants have fled. The docks in Baghdad have been built large and spacious. Now that so many places are vacant, it doesn't seem crowded.

The only thing that surprised the people was that when they looked from a distance, the Song Dynasty ships did not seem exaggerated. Only when they got close did they find that they were really majestic and magnificent.

"Get out of the way."

"The Emir is coming."

"Get out of the way!"

The situation here quickly alarmed Abu Mansur Frad Sotun, the Emir of the Buyid Dynasty.

A large group of Daylamite guards protected him as he arrived at the dock.

The Buyid Dynasty was actually established by the Buyid family of Daylamite, but the Buyid family declined rapidly after its peak, with many internal conflicts and family infighting leading to its disintegration.

In addition, Daylamite people had conflicts with local ethnic groups and Turks, which led to their rule being on the verge of collapse, and the dynasty was now on the verge of extinction.

In fact, this was also the case. Three years later, the Seljuks killed their way to Baghdad unimpeded and destroyed the Buyid Dynasty.

This shows that the Buyid Dynasty now has almost no resistance.

Now when he heard that a large fleet of ships had arrived at the Baghdad dock, Abu Mansour Vlad Sodon was naturally worried. He didn't know whether the arrival was good or evil, so he immediately mobilized the remaining troops for defense.

When he arrived, the envoy's fleet happened to be parked at the dock. The translator and guide accompanying him was Saladin, a big businessman who left Baghdad ten years ago and settled in Guangzhou.

After Saladin disembarked, there were bursts of exclamations. Many people in Baghdad remembered him. They thought it was really Saladin's fleet.

However, Saladin soon told Abu Mansour Frad Sodon about the situation. When he learned that it was the envoy from the Song Dynasty who came for a friendly visit, he breathed a sigh of relief and extended an invitation to the other party.

Then the people in Baghdad saw a group of Orientals who dressed completely differently from Middle Easterners getting off the boat.

In the hot summer, people in the Middle East often wear robes for religious and practical reasons. This robe is not only part of Islamic culture, but can also withstand the blazing sun and dry wind and sand.

In contrast, Easterners obviously did not expect it to be so hot in the Middle East. Although they all wore short clothes and short sleeves, their skin had become tanned after being exposed to the wind and sun on the sea.

Officials like Tan Wenxue and Zhang Youwei were originally a little wealthy in the Song Dynasty, but now they are dark and thin. They have to wear silk official uniforms for formal occasions. They are not adaptable to local robes, and they are already full of hair. sweat.

"This is the envoy of the Song Dynasty, representing His Majesty the Emperor of the Song Dynasty. This is Zhang Youwei, a doctor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tan Wenxue, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, and Wang Shining, commander of the Guangzhou Navy."

"This is our Emir of the Buyid Dynasty, Abu Mansur Vlad Sodon."

Saladin communicated with Tan Wenxue and others in Chinese.

It would have been impossible to call Emil by his first name, but Emil didn't understand Chinese.

Not to mention telling the truth.

In later generations, many Easterners saw the advancement of Western civilization and became spiritual Westerners, looking down on the East everywhere.

However, in ancient times, during the Tang and Song Dynasties, many foreigners were proud to be Orientals.

Starting from the Tang Dynasty, a large number of Arabs settled in Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other places. Some of them made outstanding contributions and were given Chinese surnames by the rulers.

Therefore, Saladin lived in Guangzhou for nine years, saw the greatness of Eastern civilization, and had long regarded himself as an Oriental.

This time he took the initiative to lead the way, hoping that the Song Dynasty court would give him a surname so that he could settle down in the East.

In addition, the rulers of the Baid dynasty were Delamites and Saladin was an Arab. Therefore, they naturally did not have that much respect for the emir who was not of his own nationality.

"Meet Emil."

The envoys of the Song Dynasty saluted Abu Mansur one after another.

Abu Mansour also quickly responded with his own national etiquette and said: "Distant Eastern guests, I welcome you on behalf of the Buyid Dynasty."

"Thank you Emil."

Everyone saluted again.

"Hurry, come to my palace."

Abu Mansour warmly entertained us.

He is now considered to be in urgent need of medical attention.

The Seljuk threat loomed.

Seeing the envoys from the Song Dynasty coming, I remembered that the Song Dynasty was said to be close to the border with the Seljuk people.

It would be the best thing if we could form an alliance with the Song Dynasty and jointly fight against the Seljuks.

So Abu Mansour was very enthusiastic.