Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 615 You pay tribute to me, I pay tribute to you, the diplomatic relationship is sweet

In the days that followed, Guo Kang received various urgent etiquette trainings every day. After these were basically completed, he and Theodora began to receive various guests who came to congratulate.

The etiquette of the Purple Tent Khanate was relatively simple. In the early years of the founding of the country, urgent marches were often required. At that time, everyone was still very poor, and all the monarchs, ministers, and even ordinary soldiers were crowded in a broken tent to keep warm. Later, when the country was established, everyone had no concept of etiquette. Some officials and generals drank and boasted during banquets, and took off their clothes on the spot and started wrestling with their bare chests. Others used weapons to hit shields to add to the fun. Even when attending court, they gathered together, talking one after another, saying whatever came to mind, which seemed very chaotic.

Later, Prime Minister Guo Gai said that there must be a systematic etiquette system. In the past, the country was small, so the grass platform was just a grass platform; now there are so many people to manage, if there is no order, everyone will be in chaos. Moreover, the people trust authority, and the barbarians fear power, so whether it is managing the people or deterring the barbarians, you must make yourself majestic. In this way, you can give people the most intuitive feeling of order. If it is still so chaotic, it is obviously impossible to give people a sense of majesty.

Afterwards, Guo Gai and others managed to buy the Tang Dynasty's Tongdian and Huiyao records from the East through merchants, and selected the parts that were easy to imitate from them to establish their own ritual and music system. If they really couldn't learn, they would use local etiquette and customs to fill in the gaps. In this way, the current etiquette system was gradually established.

Now, although a lot of content has been added, it is definitely much simpler than the original version in the Central Plains. Thinking of this, Guo Kang felt a little relieved. As for etiquette and other things, it is enough to let everyone feel the atmosphere. The etiquette of the Purple Tent Khanate is a fusion of the East and the West, to put it nicely; to put it bluntly, it is originally a hodgepodge and does not need to be particularly precise. Therefore, he did not delve too deeply into it and went to work on the next stage.

The first to be received was the Javanese envoy. To celebrate, Sun Shiwan came in person and sent a set of luxurious silk dresses as a gift to bless the couple.

Of course, the diplomatic relations between the Purple Tent Khanate and the Javanese Yuan have not yet been officially defined by the governments of both sides. And it is possible that not only them, but also the Ming Dynasty, are in a similar state. Among them, trade may be the most critical reason.

In theory, all large-scale trade with the Ming Dynasty had to be registered with the imperial court in the form of a tribute permit. But in reality, the smuggling problem in the Ming Dynasty was not completely solved even during the Hongwu era when the laws were the most stringent. The relationships between the sea merchants, pirates, local merchants, and literati and bureaucrats in the coastal areas were complicated, and they might even be the same group of people. Coupled with the rampant remnants of the Yuan Dynasty overseas, management became even more difficult.

Until now, the volume of smuggling organized by the Javanese government alone may be far greater than the trade volume that the Ming Dynasty government can count. As a collective of merchants, the Javanese government itself often cannot control the merchants and let them do what they want. The scale of the entire smuggling trade is probably even more terrifying.

Many of these trade goods would flow into the West and be bought by large buyers. In addition to the traditional Persian and Arab middlemen, there were also merchants from Venice and Genoa who traveled thousands of miles from Europe. The Purple Tent was also one of the main sales outlets for these "stolen goods", and it had been trying to bypass the Persian profiteers and do business directly with the Javanese Yuan.

However, there is no formal mutual recognition relationship between the two countries, as there is between the Purple Tent and the Timurid state.

The Khanate of Dadu always felt that it had no legal relationship with the Yuan Dynasty, and did not recognize Kublai Khan's branch as its overlord. Therefore, it did not accept Java's grand plan to jointly respect the Yuan Dynasty and establish the "Yuan Federation."

On the other hand, Java also believed that it was the orthodox Yuan Empire of the Han nationality and had no direct relationship with the Qin Empire in Haixi. There was no need to follow the example of those in the Mediterranean world and say that they were also Romans. Therefore, they also rejected the invitation from the Purple Tent Khanate to join the "Roman Alliance".

Due to these messy relationships, coupled with the long distance and lack of direct flights, the two sides have never been able to establish formal diplomatic exchanges at the official level. Of course, neither side cares about this. Because whether it is the Javanese dollar, which is a commercial country, or the very pragmatic Purple Tent, both pay more attention to the actual trade benefits. In terms of economy, they are indeed very closely integrated.

Even Java was in favor of the Purple Tent's dispatch of troops. Originally, Sun Shiwan, as an important figure with power there, came here specifically to further upgrade the relationship between the two sides. Now, with the opportunity to eliminate the middlemen and establish a direct trade route to Europe, he naturally wanted it.

Previously, Sun Shiwan learned that Guo Kang and others planned to dredge the "Pharaoh Canal" and rebuild the water transport connection between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. They even hoped to raise funds to plan a canal that would go directly from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea without passing through the Nile River Basin. Guo Kang seemed to really want to do this, and even commissioned an Italian businessman to lobby around, hoping to persuade businessmen to invest. Sun Shiwan was also very interested in this, and even directly stated that he could also add money to help in this regard.

Sun Shiwan boasted to Guo Kang, Tuo Huan and others that what they lacked the most now was money. Although he was just a merchant engaged in maritime trade, he dared to say that even as powerful as Zhu Hongwu and Hehan, they did not have as much money as the Yuanshen. Therefore, as long as the plan was reliable, there was no need to worry about the lack of money. Whatever the Italian girl could not make up, he could make up directly.

Guo Kang and the others were naturally happy, but Joanna was a little dissatisfied. She even complained to Guo Kang that the fat man in Java was deliberately making things difficult for her for some reason.

Guo Kang asked around and found out that every time Joanna said she wanted to do Guo Kang a favor or cooperate with him, this guy would suddenly appear and offer several times the price - the key point was that this guy was indeed richer than her family, which made Joanna helpless and furious.

After several times, Joanna could only send someone to deliver a letter to Sun Shiwan, saying that her sponsorship of Guo Kang was not purely for profit purposes, and hoped that Java would hold back a little and give her a chance. If it worked, she would definitely be able to return more benefits in the future.

But Sun Shiwan also replied seriously that what businessmen pursue is not just short-term profits; everyone hopes to have investment projects that are rare and valuable, so as to gain political benefits. The economic exchanges between the Yuan Dynasty and the Roman Khanate are very lively, but the political exchanges are much colder, which is not a long-term solution. Therefore, like Joanna, he also has pursuits beyond profit. This is related to national interests, and at least before the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two sides, it is impossible to make concessions. There is no need to play the emotional card, just follow the competition rules of the mall and rely on your own abilities.

After that, perhaps Joanna's defense had indeed been broken, and no further follow-up events were seen. The diplomatic relations between the parties continued to progress as usual.

Apart from the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's diplomacy was actually a bit awkward.

Before the Purple Tent Khanate, there was no way to go directly to the Indian Ocean route by skipping Egypt; and because of the Yuan-Ming War, even with an outlet to the Red Sea, it was very unstable to go directly to the Ming Dynasty by sea trade. Therefore, the trade between the two sides has always been conducted by land.

During the Shah Rukh era, the expansion and wars of the Timurid Khanate gradually stopped, and the relationship with the surrounding countries gradually stabilized. The "Grassland Silk Road" that started from the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, passed through the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, the Central Asian region, and then entered the Volga River Basin from the grasslands, ushered in a revival.

Because of the high profits brought by trade, all countries along the route were generally very enthusiastic about it. However, because there were too many Khans along the route, the prices were indeed raised. In addition, in this era, the efficiency of sea transportation was much higher than that of land caravans, so this trade route was more of a political significance, as well as a way to keep a basic trump card and prevent the sea merchants who completely monopolized the trade from raising prices arbitrarily.

Therefore, the northwest trade route is also necessary. Every year, the Khanate would send out official caravans, no matter how much goods they carried, they had to make the trip anyway.

At first, the Purple Tent Khanate claimed to be the Great Qin Kingdom in ancient books, saying that now the Central Plains and the West had driven out the barbarians and restored the kingly way, which was a fortunate thing. Therefore, they hoped to restore the ancient diplomatic relations and restart trade. During the Hongwu period, they officially sent an envoy to the West.

But the merchants sent by the Purple Tent Khanate were the grassland merchants that the Khanate had been employing. As the royal merchants who had been serving the Khanate since the founding of the country, they had indeed been taking this trade route, trading with various forces on the grassland, and purchasing materials such as leather and war horses. The Mongolian merchants who could make it there were all smart people and were very familiar with the route. Even during the previous wars, they had ways to persuade the Khans to allow the caravans to pass. After all, if they didn't have this ability, they wouldn't be able to do business. Therefore, even though the situation was much more chaotic than it is now, they dared to really make a trip.

However, after arriving at the place, the Ming people did not believe their identities. They just felt that the Great Qin State had a Mongolian flavor, which did not seem to match the records in ancient books. Moreover, at that time, the Northern Yuan Dynasty frequently mobilized troops, and the northwest region was sparsely populated, so the defense pressure was very high, and the government was very sensitive to this. Therefore, as soon as they met, the local officials determined that they were probably impersonating from another tribe. They were either here to cheat tribute or to spy on intelligence. They did not believe their self-proclaimed identities and detained several leading envoys to investigate their origins.

Later, the delegation asked the Chagatai people to help testify, and the Ming officials released them. But even so, they were not willing to let them enter the city to trade, let alone let them go to the capital.

There may be no other way - although the Mongols of the Chagatai Khanate had close relations with the Ming Dynasty and fought against the Yuan Dynasty together every day, they did accept bribes and bring small tribes to pay tribute. After all, the profits were too high, and even if the government banned it, the envoys themselves often could not withstand the test. With such a criminal record, the Ming Dynasty naturally had more reasons.

As a result, the delegation spent half a year trying to get through Jiayuguan and had to return home. They spent a lot of money on the trip, but they didn't sell any of the goods they brought, and they couldn't purchase the Ming Dynasty's supplies as planned.

Seeing that they were about to suffer a huge loss, the delegation had to make a temporary decision to head south, sell all the goods in their hands in Bukhara, and then purchase some Central Asian specialties there. After bringing them back, they claimed that they were Seris products and fooled Europeans into spending money.

Some well-informed people thought that the decorations on these products had a style of Islamic art. The delegation said that these were made by the Seres for export and specially customized for Persian customers. They were big middlemen and had been buying in large quantities, so Seres' exports were more or less in this direction. The Europeans thought it made sense, and when they heard that they had actually been there, they rushed to buy them. In this way, they avoided the fate of losing money.

At the diplomatic level, the impact of this incident was not small. Because the delegation had lost contact for a while, there was a lot of discussion in the Khan's court. Even Baisai Khan himself was very anxious, saying that the envoys of our Liu family seemed to have problems every day. All along, everyone has almost gotten used to it. However, those who offended the envoys in the past were basically eliminated by the troops. But the Ming Dynasty was far away and powerful, and it was impossible to fight them anyway, and it was unknown how to earn back this face. It was not until the delegation came back with things that all the voices settled down.

Afterwards, the Purple Tent Khanate also tried various other methods, and even specially hired a number of Greeks to participate and go there as outposts, trying to let the people of the Ming Dynasty see that they were really the ancient Qin Kingdom, and even the people were the same.

However, the Ming government seemed to have a stereotype and still did not believe it. Many officials still believed that these people were probably actors hired to deceive tribute, or that they were Mongolians who came to deceive iron pots and went back to make weapons.

Some careful people thought more and thought that these Greeks should indeed be descendants of the ancient Qin people. But if you look closely, you will find that there are still some Mongols in the delegation. Moreover, these Mongols are responsible for leading the way, guiding, and even arranging food and accommodation. The Greeks just eat and drink along the way, and are responsible for talking and performing. Looking at where they came from, I am afraid that the Qin Kingdom has been invaded and ruled by the Mongols just like the Central Plains in the past. The delegation is still controlled by the Mongols, and the Greeks are just puppets they brought.

Therefore, the government still refused to recognize them as the Great Qin State and refused to allow them to pay tribute. The candidates that the Khanate had chosen at the time were indeed problematic. Although they had brought along some Greek scholars and were well prepared, the leaders at the time were all old nobles who were temporarily selected from Dadu and did not know anything except eating and bragging... The other scholars had no diplomatic experience and were dumbfounded when they encountered such a situation.

The Mongolian merchants who led the Greek delegation to the other side had been working hard to smooth things over, but the harder they tried, the more the Ming Dynasty felt that there was something wrong with the delegation. In the end, the Ming Dynasty officer who was responsible for supervising them even violated the rules and secretly went to the leading Greeks to privately persuade them to expel the Mongols and rebuild the Qin Empire.

The Greeks in the delegation were very scared and quickly said that they had never thought of doing so and asked them not to harm themselves. The Ming people were a little disappointed and then became even colder. The Greeks were also restless and soon said that it was meaningless to continue wasting time and hurried back.

As a result, the tribute was delayed for more than ten years, and there was no progress. After discovering the business opportunities of fake Seris products, the Purple Tent Khanate was content with the Central Asian trade route and was not very enthusiastic about continuing to explore. In the late Hongwu period, Queen Mother Helena fell, and the new court changed many of its previous policies. General Cao and others thought of this matter again, and believed that if they could send capable ministers to establish contact with the Ming Dynasty, it would help to improve legitimacy and consolidate authority, which would be very helpful for the current situation. So the Khanate took action again and decided to further improve the specifications and sent the Minister of Rites Zhang Ding to lead the team in person.

The people of the Ming Dynasty seemed a little dumbfounded by this and began to wonder what country they were from and why they were so strange. However, the Zhang family's hometown was in Hexi and Longyou, and they were fellow villagers with many people. Some relatives can still be found in their hometown.

The Ming court may have seen that there were both Mongols and Han Dynasty nobles here, and the Yuan flavor was very authentic. Perhaps because of this, they at least regarded them as a branch of the Yuan regime, and no longer regarded them as an inexplicable Mongolian tribe. After that, the diplomatic action was finally successful. Even the first time they met the old King of Wu was at that time.

In recent years, the Purple Tent Khanate has found a more useful name.

Nowadays, no one would complain about having too many Seris goods. Even with smuggling channels, official trade was still very important, and it always made people feel that it was not enough. The Ming Dynasty government always limited the number of tributes, but everyone would find ways to pay more than the quota.

In theory, a country like Ryukyu could only pay tribute once every two years, but in reality, during the Hongwu period alone, after the Ming Dynasty stabilized, they came 54 times. Although the government always complained that they came too frequently, they couldn't drive them away, and there was nothing they could do. And this attitude of shirking as much as possible was almost universal.

However, the Purple Tent Khanate was too far away, so it was at a disadvantage. Unlike the Ryukyu people, they could just dock their ships. For this reason, after the King of Wu defected, the Khanate seized the opportunity and began to constantly test the attitude of the Ming Dynasty.

After basically understanding the situation, they simply began to use the name of Zhu Wenkui's family to bypass the tribute and maintain trade with the Ming Dynasty. Sometimes their caravans simply put up the banner of the King of Wu. When asked, they said they were here to help relatives and give gifts, and they were all their own people...

Monk Daoyan told Guo Kang that in their eyes, the Qin State had always acted strangely. In order to save trouble, the Purple Tent messengers often claimed to be subordinates of the King of Wu and were ordered to deliver goods. Some officials were also very surprised, thinking that the King of Wu had been silent when he was in the country, but how could he become so powerful after he went out, and could accept a big country as a vassal and employ officials from there to work.

On the other hand, although the King of Wu was very concerned about his reputation and rarely communicated with his family, Princess Ma and Zhu Wenkui had written letters to explain the current situation. According to Zhu Wenkui, although he did not have any real industry or territory, he was leading his retainers to serve as guest officials of the Qin State to make a living in exchange for annuities and fiefs, so his livelihood was not a problem.

Therefore, from the Ming Dynasty's perspective, it was no longer a question of whether the tribute was in compliance with the regulations, but rather that the relationship between Wu and the Qin Kingdom was seriously inconsistent with the etiquette system, to the point of confusion - from the known information, the two were just being vassals of each other, having a lot of fun. This kind of mutual tribute relationship was indeed a bit novel to the old Confucian scholars in the Ministry of Rites...

Therefore, to be honest, Monk Daoyan was not quite sure about how to proceed with the etiquette this time. At present, he was discussing with Zhu Wenkui that the imperial court and Wu Fan should just celebrate separately. In such a distant foreign land, diplomacy often requires compromise. The specific details may have to be vague.

(End of this chapter)