Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1673 Career
In Guangchengze Qingshu Palace, Elbrus and Tam are carefully introducing the news of the Bukhara court meeting.

Prior to this, Shao Shude had just rewarded the Persian envoy who delivered the news.

He really worked hard, running from Bukhara, changing horses without changing people, half his life was gone, he deserved it all.

"This is a very joyful thing." Elbrus gestured with his eyes, Tamm said with a smile: "Bukhara will send professional mathematicians and architects to help His Majesty design a new palace .This palace is very majestic, far surpassing His Majesty's beloved Shangyang City and Ziwei City, and will definitely become the most eye-catching building here, standing for a thousand years."

A look of joy appeared on Shao Shude's face.

"Yes, I heard that there are ready-made stone materials in the south of Luoyang. Your Majesty only needs to conscript manpower to extract stones from the mountain, polish them, and then transport them to the place where you want to build the palace, and then start construction." Elbrus said.

Shao Shude smiled even wider, and asked, "How much manpower do I need to prepare?"

"If Your Majesty intends to complete the project within five years, I think it's best to have no less than 50 people." Elbrus said: "If you want to complete the project within three years, it's best to mobilize 100 million people. Dig mountains to get stones, grind them into shape, move and transport them." And the most important construction, and the labor force that provides logistical support for all these people. One million people is reasonable, and it allows His Majesty to see the majestic palace as quickly as possible."

"It's so good." Shao Shude said, "I wonder how many scholars have come to Luoyang? How are they doing?"

"There are 12 people in total, with [-] camel books, which are specially requested by His Majesty." Tam said: "Someone in Bukhara raised objections, but Dawei tried his best to reject all opinions. He thought that if His Majesty realized With the civilization and greatness of Persia, many things are much easier to handle.”

The book written by twelve people and thirty camels is actually not a big deal, at least lower than Shao Shude's expectation.But after thinking about it, it's actually pretty good, after all, the relationship between the two countries is so bad.

Another point is that the Persians probably didn't take these too seriously.

Things are so weird.Others don't say that the things you regard as treasures are discarded, at least they don't take them too seriously.What you think is ordinary, others think it is a rare treasure.

The Persians were able to take the initiative to send the designer team over, and they also brought a lot of books with the group, so they are acquainted.Otherwise, he would have to pretend to be sweating profusely.

"I wonder how these books compare with the Baghdad Wisdom Palace?" Shao Shude asked.

"It's not as good as it is," Tam replied truthfully.

How did the book of Wisdom Palace come about?It's actually very simple, grab it!
Even though the Arabs are from horse bandits, they are very strange, and they pay special attention to knowledge. Most of the books from various countries and nationalities that they robbed are properly preserved, and then translated into Arabic.

A group of heretics in the Palace of Wisdom are doing scientific research, and the Caliph is funding them, and the religious court is not allowed to harass them.

This kind of behavior made Shao Shude wonder if there were any traversers over there...

As a very ancient civilization, most of the Persian books and even works of art have been robbed by Arabs.But at last there was a bit of love, and Samanbosi also got a little feedback, and was allowed to copy some books from the Wisdom Palace and bring them back to Bukhara.Coupled with the exchanges between scholars, some knowledge and books have gradually spread, so these books are actually very valuable.

At least, the mathematics works written by Khwarizmi plus more than 800 sample problem sets are right in it.

"When will the books arrive in Luoyang?" Shao Shude asked.

He was asking about Wang Yanfan, because once they entered Daxia territory, the Persians would have no choice but to "protect" them all the way, whether it was people or books.

"Your Majesty, I haven't entered Shule yet. It may take half a year." Wang Yanfan replied.

"Half a year... I can afford to wait. When I arrive in Luoyang, I will personally go out of the city to meet you." Shao Shude said.

Wang Yanfan was shocked, the specification was too high.

In the past, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty came back after hearing that Master Xuanzang had learned Buddhist scriptures. He greeted Xuanzang at Ziwei City and sat next to him. The unique encounter was amazing.

Today, Persian scholars came with [-] camel books, and the sage personally greeted them. This is another trip to the West.

"This is what it should be." Shao Shude said: "What I respect is the truth. After entering the territory of Daxia, the government will send state soldiers to escort them along the way, and entertain them properly without any mistakes."

"Observe the order." Wang Yanfan replied.

Shao Shude looked at Elbrus and Tam, and said with a smile: "Your country has already shown its sincerity in helping me build the palace. I am very happy. The rest are trivial matters now, and they will be resolved soon. By then The harmony between the two countries will always be a good alliance, isn't it a good story?"

"Your Majesty's mind is so broad, and his insights are so outstanding, and everyone will praise him when he returns to Bukhara." Elbrus said, "I just don't know—when can I set off?"

"Just wait for more than a month." Shao Shude laughed, he didn't want to let them go so soon, he had to see Persian scholars and books appear in Shule.

Elbrus was a little frustrated.

At the beginning of February, Xia Guo once again dispatched troops to the west, as if it was for a rotation.

More than 3 Gulam, he can hardly imagine how much damage it can cause.In short, the sooner the war ceases, the better. Bukhara's internal problems are very serious and must be resolved.

******
That night, Shao Shude read the letters brought back by the Khazars in Qingshu Palace.

This letter was written last May, nearly ten months ago.

They spent a whole winter contacting and communicating with the Oguz people starting from September of the previous year. After everything was negotiated, they paid the toll, and then spent two months entering the territory of the Khazar Khanate. hospitality.

This letter was written almost at that time, and then the messengers of the Khazars made a detour to bring it to Daxia—in terms of efficiency, it is actually not low.

"Before I knew it, it's been two years." Shao Shude said with emotion.

Li Shouxin's mission is still relatively good. The group of people who set off from the sea is supposed to be faster, but so far there is no news, and they don't know what happened.

After putting aside these boring thoughts, Shao Shude continued to read the letter.

Li Shouxin mainly talked about the general situation of the forces in the west of the Camel King, and the possibility of re-opening the complete Silk Road.

Regarding the situation of the Khazarians, what Li Shouxin heard was slightly different from what Tam said, but it was basically the same.

He also included a very rough hand-drawn map in his letter, which he supposedly bought from a certain Khazarian merchant.

Shao Shude looked at it, and compared it with the maps of later generations, and found that the territory of the Khazar Khanate is probably between the lower reaches of the Don River, the lower Volga River, and the Caucasus Mountains. .

The loss of territory is mainly attributed to the Oghuz and Rus.

The Pechenegs were originally a branch of the Western Turks. They were beaten by the Geluolu people and fled westward to the Aral Sea. The Khazars occupied a large area of ​​their territory, and at the same time drove the Magyars, the vassals of the Khazar Khanate, westward-the Magyars originally lived on the northern shore of the Sea of ​​Azov.

Not satisfied with this, the Pechenegs continued to attack the Magyars westward, driving them to the lower reaches of the Dnieper and Danube.

It is incomprehensible that a Turkic tribe who was beaten up by the Ge Luolu people actually showed great power to the west.

Are Ge Luolu people strong?It's better than water!
I heard that the Magyars were a little worried that the Pecheneg Turks would come to mess with them again, and wanted to continue westward.And some of their pioneers have already done this. Wherever they go, they have won consecutive battles and are unstoppable, which is even more outrageous.

The Magyars are the ancestors of the Hungarians of later generations. They migrated westward from the Sea of ​​Azov, were chased and beaten by the Turks, and finally gained a foothold in Hungary.

The Pecheneg Turks who chased them were unable to get along in Central Asia and were expelled by the Geluolu tribe, who were conquered by the remnants of the Uighurs who moved westward...

Shao Shude saw four words in it: unbearable.

The further west you go, the more wasteful you become!

On the current southern Russian prairie—basically the part of Ukraine—the Pecheneg Turks and the Magyars are roughly divided equally, and the forces of the Khazars have been gradually expelled, leaving only parts of Crimea up.

The Russians are drooling in the north, coveting the fertile black land of Ukraine, but they dare not go south now, for fear of being beaten violently—the Khazars and Pecheneg Turks often rob the Russians as slaves and sell them to Persia, Dashi .

"A group of shrimp soldiers and crab generals are fighting each other..." Shao Shude patted the table, a little wanting to laugh.

Li Shouxin mentioned in the letter that because of the long-term war with Persia, and perhaps the construction of the three cities in Mobei, the reputation of the supreme emperor has sporadically appeared on the prairie through the Oghuz people.

He did not mention the credit for his envoy.But Shao Shude believed that their trip to the west would definitely strengthen his reputation greatly.

This is beneficial.

Fame can actually be realized, mainly in business.

Just like the tea he is very concerned about, do foreigners drink it?rare.Big cannibals did not purchase at all before. They purchased a small amount decades ago, and now there are a little more, but overall, they are still very few.

Tubo and the northern grasslands near the Central Plains have the habit of drinking tea, but it is not popular enough.As for the countries further west, there are even fewer, infinitely approaching nothing.

If you want people to buy your tea, you must first increase your country's influence, or soft power.

The influence of soft power is great, you fart is delicious, and others are still scrambling to hear it, the world is so outrageous.

Later generations of Chinese tea were sold to Europe on a large scale because the Portuguese princess married the British king. The princess herself liked to drink tea, and even the British royal family also learned to drink tea.Later, with the strong influence of the victors of the three Anglo-Dutch wars, the British slowly promoted tea, which led to a surge in tea exports in the Qing Dynasty year after year.

And when the Boston Tea Party occurred in North America, which was a British colony, Americans switched to drinking coffee for their national pride. Because of the unparalleled influence of the United States, the sales of coffee gradually increased by leaps and bounds for more than 100 years, and the Caribbean Islands and even Brazil has experienced a prosperous coffee economic cycle.

There is no love without a reason, everything is influence.

"If the Silk Road is to go smoothly, the southern route needs to rely on Persia and Dashi, but now they prefer to take the sea route." Shao Shude tapped his index finger on the table, thinking silently: "The northern route needs to deal with the Oghuz and Khazars. After getting through these two places, basically there will be no problem.”

He subconsciously ignored the Kipchaks.

Li Shouxin mentioned this ethnic group in his letter.They are also a Turkic species, originated in the middle reaches of the Irtysh River, and are a branch of the local Kimak Turks.Of course, some people say that they originally lived in the Ob River Valley, but that doesn't matter anymore.

After the Kipchak moved westward, they were distributed in the northern part of the Khazar Khanate and the Oguz tribal alliance. They spread widely and lived as nomads.

Historically, after the Oguz moved westward in the 11th century, they defeated the Pechenegs on the southern Russian grasslands, and were then defeated by the Kipchaks who moved westward.So far, the Kipchak people have become the sole masters of the southern Russian grasslands.

In the 12th century, some Mongolian-speaking tribes closely related to Khitan moved from northeast to west to the Volga and Ural River basins. Because of their strong strength, they gained a dominant position, but then accepted the life of the Turkic-speaking Kipchaks. way, to be assimilated.

After the Mongolian expedition to the west, the Kipchak people were completely crushed.

This "highway" of the Eurasian grassland is called "the road of endless conquest" for no reason.

One tribe after another moved westward, and the latecomers could always defeat the earlycomers and grab the fruits of victory.

But the Kipchak people are not worthy of attention now. They do not have a unified political power and have a good attitude towards business travelers. There is no need to tease them.

Shao Shude thought for a while, and suddenly became interested, spread out a pen and paper, and wrote a few letters.

He planned to bring back the Khazarian envoys when they returned home, and one of them was for Li Shouxin—if they could still be found.

According to the Khazar messenger Jacob, in the fall of last year (919), Joseph Khan personally escorted them south to Baghdad with a very enthusiastic attitude, but he does not know what is going on now.

Shao Shude couldn't help standing up, his eyes turned around on the map.

How vast the world is.

He is like a later generation of revolutionaries who won the civil war and began to manipulate the international situation.The disadvantage is that the communication efficiency and transportation capacity are extremely low, and it takes several years to send a mission.

After all, good things are impatient.

In fact, this is a career passed down from father to son and passed down from generation to generation, and it is useless to rush.

"Let's re-clarify the Silk Road first, and the rest is not in a hurry." He poked his finger on the map, and the location of the Aral Sea suddenly collapsed...

(End of this chapter)