Chapter 497 The Middle East Is in Turmoil Again

Isfahan, the capital of the Seljuk Empire.

In June 1052, the Great Khan of the Seljuk Empire, Tughril Beg, was discussing matters with his brother, Chagar Beg.

As a Turk, the Seljuk Empire adopted a dual khan system in the early days of its establishment, just like the Black Khanate.

This situation lasted until the death of Tughril Beg, who had no sons during his lifetime, and his brother Chagar Beg had only one son, Alp Arslan.

This made Alp Arslan the only heir to the empire, which changed the system and gradually centralized power.

At this time, it was still in the period of dual khans, Tughril Beg was the Great Khan of the Seljuk Empire. His younger brother Chagar Beg was the deputy khan, ruling Khorasan with Maru as the capital.

It was the entrepreneurial period, and the two brothers worked together sincerely. In history, they will attack the Caucasus Plain in the north this year, defeat the Eastern Roman Empire and the Georgian coalition forces, and continue to expand the territory of their empire.

But because of the arrival of the Song people, they felt deeply threatened, so at this moment, the two brothers had to gather in Isfahan to discuss countermeasures.

In the capital palace, which was once the palace of the Buyish family, the two brothers kept the habits of the Turkic tribe, sitting cross-legged on a rope bed, like a brick bed, with a small tea table on it, and drinking together.

Their side dishes were even fried peanuts.

"Chagar, come and drink."

"Okay, brother."

"Baji, Baji, the peanuts of the Song people are really good."

"This wine is good too."

"Alas."

Tugril Beg took a sip of the strong liquor, put down the glass and sighed.

Chagar Beg grabbed a handful of peanuts and put them in his mouth to chew. There was also roasted beef and mutton next to him, and he picked up a knife to cut.

Suddenly, he saw his brother sighing, and he couldn't help but stop what he was doing, wondering, "What's wrong, brother?"

"I'm worried about the Song people."

"Song people?"

"Yes."

Tugril Beg nodded and said, "You know about the destruction of the Karakhanid Khanate, right?"

"Yes, I know."

Chagar Beg said, "The border of the Song people is already connected to our ancestral land, Turkmen."

"Then you should also know how powerful the Song people are now."

"They are really powerful to destroy the Karakhanid Khanate in a very short time. But brother, I think your worry is unnecessary."

"What?"

"The Song people are powerful, but didn't we also buy a batch of artillery from the Liao Kingdom? As long as the artillery arrives, we have the ability to resist."

"Hmm"

Tugril Beg pondered and didn't speak.

Chagar continued: "On the other hand, although the Song people's border is connected to ours, as far as I know, their dynastic heartland is thousands of miles away from their westernmost border. We have been marching and fighting for many years. I believe I don't need to say much about what we are fighting. With such a long distance, the Song people can only support them in a small-scale war at most. The destruction of the Karakhanid Khanate is already the limit, and we can continue to migrate westward. If a large-scale war is encountered, whoever's dynastic heartland is closer will be the winner."

Both of them were born in the horse race. Starting from their grandfather's generation, they gradually rose from a small Turkic tribe of Turkmen, and then annexed and united other tribes step by step.

In their generation, they fought for decades before finally establishing the Turkic regime of Turkmen, and the army marched south to capture large areas such as Khorasan and Persia, achieving a great cause.

They knew too well what they were fighting for.

In addition to the cohesion of the army and excellent strategic and tactical command, the most important thing is logistics supply.

In history, the Seljuk Empire had only 40,000 people fighting against the Eastern Roman Empire's 100,000 troops, and defeated the Eastern Roman Empire because of their good logistics and supply support.

So although they didn't know that the Battle of Talas between the Tang Dynasty and the Arabs was because the Tang Dynasty's central government was too far away from the Western Regions, logistics were difficult and the central government could not send troops, so they could only form a coalition of various ethnic groups in the local area, and finally encountered betrayal and defeat.

But the principles are the same.

Even if they didn't draw inspiration from the Battle of Talas, they could think of this by themselves.

Therefore, considering the distance between the Song Dynasty and their Seljuk Empire, Chagar believed that even if they had a feud with the Song Dynasty, the possibility that the Song Dynasty could cross such a long distance to attack them was still very limited.

Not to mention that as the Liao Dynasty was defeated by the Song Dynasty, the traditional economic center of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun was taken away, and various places rose up in rebellion and stopped paying tribute. The economy of the Liao Dynasty had collapsed.

As a last resort, the Liao Dynasty sold a lot of artillery to other ethnic groups, and some artillery flowed into the Seljuk Empire along the Menggu Grassland and became their secret weapons.

With the combination of these two factors, the Seljuk Empire had the advantage of time, place and people, and they also had new artillery as weapons. They did not think they could be defeated by the Song army.

However, Tughril shook his head and said, "I am not worried about fighting with the Song Dynasty."

Chagar wondered, "What is that?"

"I am worried that they will sell firearms to the Daylam people."

Tughril said with a sad face, "Recently, there was news from Baghdad that after the Song people arrived in Baghdad, they demonstrated artillery shooting for the Daylam people."

"Don't we have artillery too?"

"But they have more than artillery."

"More than artillery?"

Chagar was puzzled.

"Yes."

Tugril said: "After the Karakhanid Khanate was destroyed by the Song people, many tribes fled to our side and were recruited as soldiers by us. The Karakhanid Khanate was also a powerful country before, but it was destroyed by the Song people in just a few days. Do you know what they said when I asked them how the Karakhanid Khanate was defeated?"

"What did they say?"

"They said that the Song people no longer used swords and guns to fight. The weapon in their hands was a long black tube. When they rushed over, they heard a loud noise, and then many people around them fell off their horses and died."

"Is there such a thing?"

Chagar was shocked.

"Yes."

Tugril said with a sad face: "And the most terrifying thing is that they are two arrows away from the Song people. At such a long distance, it is as easy for the Song people to kill them as slaughtering cattle and sheep. If the Delam people get the weapons of the Song people, we will be in great danger."

Chagar's face became solemn.

If the Song people only had artillery, they also had artillery, and the Song people could not travel long distances, so they only needed to defend well and wait for the other side's logistics to catch up, and they would naturally win easily.

However, the other side not only had artillery, but also strange clarinet. In the field war, artillery plus clarinet must be invincible.

For their nomadic people, it is completely a dimensionality reduction attack.

That's it.

After all, the long distance is still a flaw. If they can't beat the Song people, can they beat Byzantium, Buyid, Fatimid and other countries?

At that time, the worst case scenario is to continue to fight westward. The world is so big that there is always a place for them.

But what if the Song people sell weapons to the locals?

That would be the end.

So it has to be said that Tugril's worry is indeed a huge problem.

"Brother, if we go to the Song people to buy, will they sell?"

Chagar thought of a question and said, "Don't the Song people want us to send envoys to pay homage? This is no big deal, and they said they want to trade more with us. If they can sell firearms to the Delam people, they may not be unable to sell weapons to us."

Tugrile pondered and said, "This is indeed a good idea. Then we may have to send troops immediately and go west to destroy the Delam people."

"Ah?"

Chagar was puzzled and said, "Is it so urgent?"

"Very urgent."

Tugrile drank another glass of wine and said, "Think about it, if we are not in a hurry to destroy the Delam people, what should we do if they purchase weapons from the Song army? What if they don't sell us weapons because we have a bad relationship with the Song people? If we delay it any further, the consequences will be disastrous."

"Indeed."

Chagar thought it made sense.

It is obviously too late for them to go to the Song envoys to make friends and express their willingness to send envoys to the Song Dynasty in the hope of buying weapons.

It's not that the other party may not accept it. Except for the daily life in the future, there are no eternal enemies between countries, only eternal interests.

The Song Dynasty cannot reach the Middle East for the time being. As long as the two sides have interests, there is no way to talk.

But now the envoys of the Song Dynasty have gone to the Baiyi Kingdom. According to the reports from the spies there, the power of artillery has been demonstrated to the Baiyi people, which means that it is very likely that the Song people will sell firearms to the Baiyi people.

When the envoys of the Song Dynasty come back, it may be half a month later. At that time, no one knows whether the Baiyi people have been equipped with artillery.

On the other hand, their artillery is still being transported to the Mongolian grasslands and has not come yet.

One side is growing while the other side is declining. If they fall into a weapons gap, what if they are pushed back by the Delam people?

So while the Baiyi people do not have weapons and equipment now, it is the best result to directly send troops to capture Baghdad and eliminate the Baiyi people.

"The Delamites have no fighting power anymore, as evidenced by my easy conquest of Persia."

Tugril said: "The only thing that worries me is that the Song people's ships are equipped with weapons. What if the Song people intervene?"

Chagar said: "We can talk to the Song people and restrain our army from conflicting with them. We can also agree to the Song people's conditions, send envoys and trade, as long as they intervene in our own internal affairs."

Tugril nodded and said: "I hope the Song people will not take the initiative to become our enemies. If allowed, I will send someone to communicate with them at that time, and I will negotiate with them in person."

"It would be best if my brother goes."

Chagar praised: "This can also reflect our sincerity."

"What a pity, I originally wanted to contact the Caliph and get the Caliph's order before attacking Buyids, our target is not the pagans in the north, but the Shia heretics in Fatimid. The only way out is to march westward. "

Tughril shook his head and said, "But without the order of the Caliph, rashly sending troops is likely to cause dissatisfaction among various sects. Now we have to rush to attack, which is an unwise move."

"Yes."

Chagar also said, "But there is no other way. Why not..."

"Why not what?"

"Why don't we contact the Caliph first and ask for his opinion?"

"What if the Caliph disagrees?"

"The Buyid Dynasty has controlled the Caliph for so many years. I think the Caliph may be dissatisfied. If we tell the Caliph that we are willing to give him high respect, who knows..."

"Well, that's it. Let's reorganize the army and ask the Caliph at the same time."

Tughril made the final decision.

People may not believe it, but the Seljuk Empire did not actually want to destroy the Eastern Roman Empire, which believed in Christianity as its state religion.

In history, the Seljuk Empire had several conflicts with the Eastern Roman Empire. The most severe one was the Battle of Manzikert, where 40,000 people fought against 100,000 people, and captured the Eastern Roman Emperor Romanus IV.

However, the Seljuks did not kill Romanus IV, nor did they continue to attack the Eastern Roman Empire from the north. Instead, they released him and continued to move westward towards the Fatimid Dynasty.

According to the Sultan of the Seljuk Empire at that time, Alp Arslan, the son of the Deputy Khan Chagar and the nephew of the current Khan Tughril.

The Seljuks had only one goal, which was to unify the Islamic world and eliminate the Shiite heresy.

The reason for this is that as foreign Turks, the Seljuks had to first submit to Islam and become staunch supporters of Islam if they wanted to rule the Arab world.

It also happened that there were many factions within Islam, with the two main factions being Sunni and Shia.

The Abbasid dynasty was originally a Shiite sect, but later converted to Sunni. The Sunni population is large, and believers are spread throughout Khorasan and Persia. If the Seljuks want to gain a foothold in the Middle East, they naturally have to play the caliph card.

This is like Cao Cao holding the emperor hostage to command the princes.

Although the caliph has no real power, the religious status is there, so the Seljuks must take root in the Sunni sect and attack their opponent Shiites.

The current Shiite countries are the Buyid Dynasty and the Fatimid Dynasty, so the main attack direction of the Seljuks is to go west, and the Buyid Dynasty has become their primary target.

Historically, after they conquered Iran and Afghanistan, they did not continue to attack the Buyid Dynasty, but actively contacted the Abbasid Caliph Kaim.

Three years later, in 1055 AD, Kaim finally summoned them.

So the two brothers summoned a large army to march westward, almost unhindered to destroy the Buyid Dynasty, and were appointed as Seljuk Sultan by Kaim.

At present, due to the emergence of the Song Dynasty, the course of history has been seriously changed.

The Tugril brothers believed that the envoys of the Song Dynasty had contacted the Delam people and were likely to sell them firearms such as rifles and muskets.

Once the Buyid Dynasty had these weapons, they would have no advantage and might even be destroyed by the other side.

So they had to take the initiative and destroy the Buyid Dynasty before the two sides traded firearms.

The situation in the Middle East was once again in turmoil.