Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 619 The Wisdom of the Song Dynasty

After the wedding, Zhu Wenkui and others immediately went to help entertain the guests and prepare for the banquet.

Of course, most people who come here have enough food and drink; those who are qualified to eat at the banquet are unlikely to come just for the meal. For this kind of event, the main function of the banquet is to provide a platform for negotiation and give everyone another opportunity to meet. These greetings before and after are more important than the banquet itself.

However, Theodora couldn't come for the time being. She was wearing such clothes that it was difficult for her to even walk. Zhu Wenkui felt that it would be difficult for her to even sit down, let alone eat at the table, in such clothes. So he could only spend time to change his clothes slowly. At present, only Guo Kang was greeting everyone, so he took this opportunity to interact with the guests again.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, everyone came forward to congratulate Guo Kang.

According to the arrangement, the first people to arrive were some religious people.

The representatives of the Bishop of Rome had long been waiting for this opportunity. During the split of the Catholic Church, the Vatican that remained in Rome realized early on that it was difficult to convince people through debates. Instead of spending energy and time to prove orthodoxy, it would be more reliable to directly send troops to destroy the other side - of course, their counterparts in Avignon also thought so.

Now, the Purple Tent Khanate has made it clear that it wants to intervene in the Italian situation, and the Holy See is in urgent need of more external support to deal with the increasingly fierce competition from Avignon. Of course, it will not miss any opportunity to deal with the Khanate's high-level officials and try to persuade them to support itself.

Because they were from the same sect, they also got a front-row seat. To show their respect, the Vatican sent a cardinal directly. When the ceremony was just held, the representatives had been standing by and chanting for the great lama Wang. Now they rushed over, grabbed Guo Kang's hand, and started chanting.

Guo Kang seemed a little overwhelmed by the overly enthusiastic guest, but as the saying goes, one should not hit a smiling person, and the guest had some reputation in Europe, so he could only deal with him for the time being, smiling along and saying polite words.

“It’s not easy. Getting married requires you to deal with so many things.” Zhu Wenkui sighed.

"It's been hard work." Next to him, Tuo Huan whispered to him, "You haven't had much contact with them before, so you don't know how annoying these people are. Let me tell you, these people in the Catholic Church are not only talkative, but also very shameless."

"Every time Rome faces a crisis, the Vatican in Rome is unable to help at all. Instead, it hinders others every day. On the surface, they claim to be the orthodox Roman religion, but in fact, they will surrender to any barbarian who comes. They are so polite today only because we are now strong and they want to curry favor with someone."

"Back then, not long after the founding of the country, Patriarch Zhang told everyone that we must build our own church and never expect to rely on those ready-made church organizations, whether Catholic or Orthodox. Even if we want to appease them, we must make ourselves the core, with a strong trunk and weak branches. We must not put the cart before the horse," he said to Zhu Wenkui.

"It's okay, it's okay, don't worry about me not understanding." Zhu Wenkui nodded repeatedly: "Although I don't know much about church history, people who make surrender statements are not only found in Rome. How can I not understand?"

The two men talked for a while, while the Roman envoy was still talking to Guo Kang. Guo Kang himself was still very polite and listened to him continue talking, but the other guests were obviously a little fed up. A middle-aged man with a big turban walked over and said in unfamiliar Greek, "That's enough, that's enough, don't delay the groom's time." He pushed the cardinal aside and pulled Guo Kang to chat.

"This is the Kadi of Alexandria, an envoy sent by the Caliph." Tuohuan told him: "Look, you talk too much nonsense, I can't wait any longer..."

"All right……"

With Kadi taking the lead, others also rushed forward to meet Guo Kang, and some even brought gifts and souvenirs to give to him on the spot. Tuohuan, Zhu Wenkui and others had no choice but to step back and stay away from the overly enthusiastic crowd.

"Why are there so many people here all at once?" Zhu Wenkui muttered, "Are there so many sects in the capital city?"

"There are none in the city itself, but Rome is getting bigger and bigger, so there are more and more of them." Tuohuan told him: "This group, most of them are from Syria."

"The mountains from southern Asia Minor to Syria are very rugged and difficult to march into. Therefore, there are many strange sects hiding in the mountains. They started sending representatives to Dadu a long time ago and settled here permanently."

"I rarely see them on weekdays," said Zhu Wenkui.

"They usually come out when something happens, and they are indistinguishable from the pedestrians and merchants who usually come and go in Dadu." Tuohuan said: "The main job of these representatives is actually to learn from Shen Baoxu. When their families are beaten, they come to the Qin court to cry and ask for reinforcements. However, in recent years, it has been relatively peaceful. The Turkmen in the Caucasus have been fighting Shah Rukh and the Ottoman Empire, and have not invaded much. Therefore, we rarely see them coming to cry again."

"so……"

"But these people are not bad. They are quite loyal to our Khanate. Every time those Muslim jihadists and Turkmen tribesmen attack from the east, they will actively resist and delay the enemy as much as possible. They also inform us and lead the way. They are much more steadfast than the Bishop of Rome."

"Aren't they also Muslims?" Zhu Wenkui asked curiously.

"Yes. So if other big sects come to attack, they will probably be finished." Tuohuan said: "Therefore, our rule is better."

Zhu Wenkui thought about it and found that it was true.

"It's a pity that most of the chieftains around Daming have evil intentions. The occasional loyal ones are outnumbered." He shook his head and sighed, "It would be great if they were all as easy to manage as the small tribes here."

"That's because the situation is different." Tuo Huan shook his head: "We have too many wars here and are surrounded by powerful enemies. Those enemies are much more fierce than us, so small forces would rather risk losing their independence and rely on us."

"The Ming Dynasty itself is too big. Facing other surrounding forces, the gap is overwhelming. In this case, it is the other forces that need to band together to prevent you from swallowing them up."

"If one day, an enemy with the same strength as the Ming Dynasty or even stronger appears, the chieftains will probably put aside their past grudges and unite to help the Ming Dynasty and fight against the foreign enemy. However, in the Central Plains, this kind of situation is basically impossible to happen."

"That's the truth..." Zhu Wenkui scratched his head: "But in reality, it's hard to say."

"I heard that at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the various princes who nominally obeyed the Yuan Dynasty court had been fighting endlessly. Later, Grandpa Taizu basically unified the south and had begun the Northern Expedition. The Yuan Dynasty realized that the situation was not good and wanted to gather its forces. After all, at this time, if they could not form a joint force, they would definitely lose."

"However, different people have different ideas on how to form a joint force. The Yuan court found that the various princes had conflicts with each other, but the most powerful warlord, Wang Baobao, also had the highest hatred - he had fought with everyone else and was the biggest threat, so no one liked him. Therefore, the Yuan court believed that as long as they attacked Wang Baobao first and relieved everyone's hatred, they could unite everyone and fight against the Ming army together."

"Ah?" Tuo Huan didn't react for a moment: "The powerful minister and warlord are also the warlords on my side. Why do they attack their own people first..."

"It is said that this was actually the idea of ​​the Song Dynasty. At that time, Prime Minister Zhao Pu wrote to Emperor Taizong of Song, saying, 'If China is at peace, the barbarians will submit of their own accord. Therefore, those who wish to repel foreign aggression must first stabilize the interior.'" Zhu Wenkui explained: "However, the Song Dynasty later failed to stabilize the interior and could not defeat the barbarians. Perhaps because of this, everyone felt that this idea was not reliable and would most likely lose on both ends in the end. This strategy is not very famous." "So this is the wisdom of the Song Dynasty." Tuohuan seemed to understand.

"In short, in theory, what you said is the best case scenario. But in reality, according to the Central Plains experience, if a dynasty faces a serious crisis, it often means that the meat eaters have become stupid and corrupt and are no longer capable of shouldering the responsibility." Zhu Wenkui shook his head and said, "It's hard to say what outrageous ideas these people can come up with when making decisions. Your country doesn't need to belittle itself and think that it's all the credit of the times. Being able to make good use of the locals and have a good relationship with them is already a very good way."

"Okay..." Tuohuan nodded.

The two of them walked and talked until they came to the outskirts of the crowd, just in time to see Meltem, also in a formal suit, walking towards them with a little boy.

Seeing acquaintances, they approached to greet each other. Meltem also stopped, returned the greeting, and introduced himself to them.

"My relatives are here to attend the wedding too." She reached out and pulled the little boy over: "This is my cousin Murad. Come, say hello to everyone."

Murad seemed a bit introverted and didn't like to talk much. After being urged by Meltem, he finally greeted Tuohuan politely. Tuohuan and Zhu Wenkui had a good impression of him and also greeted him a few times.

"Didn't your cousins ​​send people? I saw Suleiman just came here by himself. Why do they still let you take care of the child?" Tuohuan asked after the greetings.

"Originally, his uncle brought him here. He was here just now. But I don't know where he disappeared to. I guess he went to the secret room." Meltem shook his head helplessly: "Let me look for him first."

"We can also help look after it here." Zhu Wenkui said, "You can take care of your own things first."

"I don't have anything to do." Meltem shrugged and replied, "I'm just here to join in the fun at today's wedding. I don't have anything to do for now."

"It just so happens that Muhammad wrote to me before, saying that his son's personality is not very good. He is not like a Ghazi warrior, but more like a scholar. He feels uncomfortable staying in the village every day. So he took this opportunity to let him come here to see the world and hoped that I could help him. So I followed them all the time."

"We do have quite a few scholars here, but we can't train a Ghazi." Tuo Huan said with a smile, "I'm afraid I'll become more pedantic if I come to this city."

"It's okay. Those chiefs and warlords who call themselves Ghazi brag about themselves every day, but the number of Crusaders they have killed combined is not even a fraction of what you have killed." Meltem complained, "I don't know who the real Ghazi is."

"Don't belittle yourself. They killed many more Muslims than we did." Tuohuan said politely, "We are all the same. Don't praise us so much."

"what?"

Zhu Wenkui always felt that what they said was a little strange, maybe they got it wrong. But he didn't react for a moment, and now was not the time to dwell on it, so he took the initiative to say, "Miss Jeanna is waiting outside with my sister. Should I ask them to come over? The children should play with the children, and there will be someone to take care of them."

"Yes." Tuohuan nodded and said, "My cousin Constantine is here too. He should be there now. That kid is very smart too. Let's get to know him."

"Yes, let's see what everyone likes." Zhu Wenkui suggested: "If you like chatting, let's chat for a while and wait for the party to start; if you like playing with toys, my apprentice Urban is here. He is the same age as the children, and he likes to make some small toys every day. It's not bad to let him teach everyone to play with them."

"That's fine." Meltem thought for a moment and agreed. "My cousin Yusuf Bey is missing too. After looking for Musa and Suleiman, I'll probably have to look for him again - although I also have a rough idea of ​​where he's most likely to be. After that, I'd like to see my brother... So let's settle this kid down first, so he can't keep following me around."

Zhu Wenkui nodded and took them to find someone.

After arranging these children, they went to the secret room.

This is a separate meeting room in the cathedral. Actually, there is nothing special about it. However, when arranging banquets and receiving envoys, some people have some extra hobbies that are not easy to express publicly. In order to facilitate negotiations, the host usually entertains guests here and chats about things. Over time, it becomes a habit.

Sure enough, as soon as they got close, the door creaked open. Musa, Suleiman, and Yusuf walked out one after another with red faces. Yusuf's steps were a little unsteady, and he needed the help of others to walk out smoothly.

"Well...it looks like the meeting was really enjoyable." Zhu Wenkui commented: "It couldn't hold on so soon."

"It seems that I can't take care of the children in this state." Tuo Huan scratched his head: "Then..."

Before he finished speaking, several more people walked in quickly and slammed the door. Tuohuan thought about it, and finally stopped talking, turning around and continuing to chat with Zhu Wenkui and the others.

Zhu Wenkui learned that the reason why so many relatives of Meltem came this time was also because of the Guo family's connections.

Guo Kang's adoptive father had spent some time in the Ottoman court and had contacts with many people. Although the two sides often fought, this personal relationship always existed.

Later, Timur's uncle attacked the Ottoman Empire and captured Sultan Bayezid, which led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Bayezid's sons fled and gradually gathered the remnants to set up a stronghold, which has continued to this day.

Among them, Bayezid's eldest son, Meltem's great cousin Muhammad, seized the mountain lakes near Bursa. With water and supplies, his strength recovered. He robbed houses every day, robbing the rich and the poor, and became the strongest among the many mountain strongholds.

Several other members of the Ottoman family also took the opportunity to establish their own forces. On the one hand, each village is independent of each other, and sometimes they fight each other. But on the other hand, competition is fierce in Xiaoya, so when facing other tribes, they often need to unite. With the Great Qin Kingdom, they sometimes conflict and sometimes cooperate, trying to maintain Xiaoya's current status.

The situation was similar for Meltem's cousin. After Timur left, they gathered up the remnants and soon occupied the mountains as Beys and re-established their stronghold.

There was never a shortage of refugees, nomadic tribes and mercenaries in the area from the Caucasus to Asia Minor. When Timur was alive, there was still order with this biggest warlord. After his death, Shah Rukh was willing to retreat to eastern Iran. The warlords here lost the suppression of their boss, and everything was in full swing.

Of course, they really wanted to have a good relationship with Rome. Taking this opportunity, they would try to get close to them, even if it meant buying grapes from them in the future. Therefore, except for Muhammad, who had a lot of things to do in the village and couldn't get away, almost all the other relatives came. I just don't know if they can really talk about things in this drunken state...

(End of this chapter)