Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1042 1037 [Emperor Zhu, the Saint Protector of the Church]

The entire Wangxiang Port was immersed in celebration.

Xia Yuqing even sent an envoy to "report the good news" to the King of Ceylon, saying that he had completely defeated the regicide and avenged the king's father's death.

The young King of Ceylon was not happy. In the past few years, the Han Chinese had been expanding southwards, and the Ceylon Royal City was only 70 miles away from the border. Now that the Han Chinese had killed the regicide, would they go south directly to attack the Royal City in the future?
While sending people to congratulate Xia Yuqing, the king selected some of his treasures and sent envoys on a merchant ship to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

The second generation of officials also returned to the port, wandering around and asking about anecdotes from various countries.

At this time, a Seljuk fleet sailed into the port, and some goods carried on the ship caused a sensation.

More than six hundred female slaves!

Hearing that the skin color of the slave girls was very white, far from that of the girls from Ceylon, the Han people in Wangxiang Port went to inspect the goods. Even the Han people who were far away in their own manors rushed here day and night after hearing the news.

The sons of officials also ran to watch the fun and found that they were all women of foreign races.

I went to ask with an interpreter, and the Seljuk merchant said: "These are Armenian women. Because they believe in paganism, they are willing to be running dogs for the Frankish barbarians (Crusaders). After the great hero Zengi conquered Edessa, he killed all the pagan men in the city and sold all the pagan women in the city as slaves. At that time, tens of thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands of women were enslaved. These are just a small number who were resold."

Lu You curiously asked: "Where did the Frankish barbarians (Crusaders) come from?"

The Seljuk merchant said: "They come across the Mediterranean, endlessly, like ants that cannot be counted."

As he spoke, the Seljuk merchant began to introduce the Crusaders.

Fan Chengda was surprised and asked, "Your Excellency, you mean that those Frankish barbarians invaded a foreign country thousands of miles away just to believe in religion?"

"Yes, those Franks are crazy," said the Seljuk merchant. "They are very barbaric, not a civilized people. Sometimes when food is cut off, they even eat people to survive, so many scholars call them cannibals."

The Seljuk merchants brought not only female slaves, but also a lot of important information.

Since Yelu Dashi defeated Sanjar, the Seljuk imperial system has been on the verge of collapse.

The vassal states of Ghosh, Ghor, Sindh, Makran, etc. completely broke away from the Seljuk Empire and became independent states, which meant that the Seljuk Empire lost its sovereignty over the entire Afghanistan and part of Pakistan.

Zengi, who defeated the Crusader states, was still nominally the governor of the Seljuk Empire, but he had completely cut off contact with Sanjar.

Zengi first captured Baalbek, the frontier fortress of Damascus, and gave the city to his general Ayyubid (Saladin's father). Last year, Zengi recaptured Edessa, and destroyed one of the four Crusader states, thus launching a full-scale counterattack against the Crusaders.

These Armenian female slaves were the pagans captured by Zengi when he destroyed the County of Edessa.

Moreover, they were all virgins and were resold at various levels, and were sold at quite high prices in Ceylon.

Xia Yuqing paid to buy all the hundreds of female slaves. He made a lot of money from the Hong Kong taxes, and even if he didn't have enough cash, he could use Ceylon gems to pay for it.

It just so happened that he had won a great victory, and he bought the female slave to reward the meritorious soldiers.

Xia Yuqing even selected six girls with good looks as gifts for the second-generation officials.

Bai Shihou and Li Zuqia accepted it without a second thought, and the other four accepted it after a little hesitation. They felt that it was better to accept it than to become concubines of those big-name soldiers.

That night, Lu You wrote in his notes: "To the west of Mecca, there is a sea between the continents. To the west of this sea is the barbarian country of Franks. Their king is also the leader of the religion and often drives his people to expedition to other Mecca countries. The Franks are ignorant but good at fighting. They fight bravely and fearlessly. When their food is cut off, they eat human flesh. The Mecca people call them cannibals. My friend Fan Zhineng (Fan Chengda) joked that Franks might be the Rakshasa country mentioned in Buddhist scriptures."

After finishing his notes, Lu You looked at his new maid.

The body was well developed, maybe 17 or 18, or maybe 15 or 16. He had fair skin, a high nose, deep eyes, brown pupils and black hair, and he was curled up and shivering.

"You... probably don't understand Chinese, right?" Lu You didn't know what to say.

The slave girl was still squatting and curled up, not to mention communicating, she didn't even dare to look up.

Lu You thought for a moment and said, "Go take a bath first. I don't have any women's clothes with me. I will buy you some tomorrow."

The slave girl still curled up with her head down.

Lu You had no choice but to call his followers and force the maid to take a bath.

Although the slave girl was scared, she did not struggle, as if she had already accepted her fate. After taking a bath and changing into men's clothes, the slave girl was brought back by the attendant and lay down on the bed obediently.

Lu You was stunned when he saw this, but then he felt relieved.

He was too lazy to explain anything since they couldn't communicate in the same language.

For a son of an official, this kind of thing was nothing. Lu You blew out the lamp and walked towards the bed.

Lu You was already engaged, and his fiancée was from the Tang family of Kuaiji (a noble family from the same hometown). His fiancée had the same surname as his mother but was from a different clan, so they were not cousins.

In addition, Lu You's aunt was Qian Chen's wife, and Qian Chen was an old friend of Zhu Ming.

During the Early Song Dynasty, Qian Chen took Zhu Ming to visit Wazi to listen to music, and they even almost got into a fight with someone because of jealousy.

In addition, Zhu Ming once rented a house from Lu You’s father, so Lu You was definitely one of the top second-generation officials in the Ming Dynasty!

When Lu You woke up the next day, he said to the Armenian maid, "I don't know your name. We met in Ceylon, the ancient Buddhist country of lions. From now on, I will call you Jia Luo. This is the Buddhist mantra. If you recite it, you can avoid disasters and pray for blessings. You don't have to wander around anymore."

The maid was still a little scared and didn't know what Lu You was talking about.

Lu You pointed at the maid and said, "You... Jialuo." He said it several times before the maid finally understood and pointed at himself and said, "Jialuo?"

"Yes, your name is Jialuo." Lu You said with a smile.

Jialuo followed Lu You out, and the second-generation officials tacitly agreed to take their new maid to buy clothes together.

There are many shops selling all kinds of fabrics here, but it is hard to find a ready-made clothing store.

The main reason is that the population structure is too complex, with people of all ethnic groups wearing different clothes. It is difficult to cater to customers of all ethnic groups when opening a clothing store, so everyone simply buys the fabrics and asks the tailors or women to make them themselves.

In the end, Xia Yuqing came to his senses and sent someone to deliver a few new sets of Han women's clothing.

Jialuo was very happy to have new clothes to wear, and her master was very kind and had never beaten or scolded her.

All the men in her family were killed by Zanji soldiers, and the women in her family were sold to various places.

During the past six months, she was first sold to Baghdad because of her good looks and virginity. Then she was resold twice and then took a ship to Ceylon.

They didn't suffer any hardship throughout the process because they were the best among the female slaves.

If it's bumped or dented, you can't sell it for a good price.

Jialuo followed his master and his friends and soon took a boat to the country on the other side of the strait.

The six maids became good friends with each other, and each had a new name. They often talked about their masters in private.

When they arrived in Chola, they were warmly received by their hosts and even had officials escort them to the royal city.

The master and his friends went to see the king, while the six maids and other attendants stayed in a luxurious hotel.

Li Zuqia's maid Ningxue said, "Do you know who our master is? What country he is from? How could he be received by the king?"

"He must be a noble from a big country." said Qingfen, Fan Chengda's maid.

"Maybe he's a prince from a foreign country." Another maid, Sasha, laughed. This crappy name was given by Master Bai.

In fact, double-letter names are the mainstream for maids and geishas today.

Bingbing, the maid at Qiqi Temple, said, "Daming."

"What Ming Dynasty?" Sasha asked.

Bingbing explained: "My master pointed in the direction of the rising sun and repeated Daming many times. I guess the master is from a great empire called Daming. Even the governor of Mantai Port (Wangxiang Port) (Xia Yuqing) is very respectful to the master."

Qingfen asked, "Do all the people in the Ming Dynasty look like the master?"

Jialuo, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly said, "They are peach blossom stone men."

"Peach Blossom Stone?" None of the maids understood.

Jia Luo said: "Peach Blossom Stone is where the sun rises. There is a strange tree that can produce beautiful silk."

The Byzantines called China Taugast and the Arabs called China Tamgadi, both of which have similar pronunciations to Taohuashi.

Shasha asked: "How do you know this?"

Garo lowered his head and whispered, "My father was the tax collector of the Count of Edessa. He often mentioned Peach Blossom Stone. I heard that Peach Blossom Stone was divided into three parts: Upper, Middle and Lower. The Seljuk Sultan suffered a great defeat. I don't know if you have heard about it. The king who defeated the Sultan was called Jurhan. He was driven out of the Middle Peach Blossom Stone and unified the Lower Peach Blossom Stone by force. Zengi, who killed our father and brothers and sold us and our mother and sisters, was the governor appointed by the Seljuk Sultan."

Bingbing's mind began to work frantically: "The noble who escaped from the Middle Peach Blossom Stone became the king of the Lower Peach Blossom Stone and defeated the Seljuk Sultan. And the governor appointed by the Seljuk Sultan defeated the Count of Edessa. So how powerful must the Upper Peach Blossom Stone be?"

Jia Luo said: "My father once said that the king of Upper Peach Blossom Stone has annexed Middle Peach Blossom Stone. He also sent envoys and merchant ships to trade a lot of exquisite goods. The King of Jerusalem obtained a sun mirror and claimed to be the Sun King of Heaven. The sun mirror came from Peach Blossom Stone. Our master should be from Upper Peach Blossom Stone. It is the most powerful empire in the world. Its defeated defeated defeated defeated defeated defeated defeated destroyed the Count of Edessa who ruled us."

"So powerful indeed!"

The maids were shocked and had infinite longing for the country they would live in in the future.

The destruction of the country and the ruin of the family are already a thing of the past. We have to move forward in life. Can a few weak women still think about revenge?

In fact, this method of converting national strength is very popular in West Asia and Europe.

One of the four Crusader states was destroyed last year, and the news caused great panic when it reached Europe.

Zengi, who destroyed the County of Edessa, was just a governor of the Seljuk state.

European kings and popes did not know that Zengi had already been independent. They heard about the defeat of the Seljuk Sultan and that some of Yelu Dashi's soldiers were religious, so they firmly believed that Yelu Dashi was a saint who defended the religion and translated Jurghan as King John.

Because of the King of Jerusalem's Sun Mirror, its fame has spread back to Europe, and the distant Peach Blossom Stone has become famous again.

Now some European scholars speculate that the King of Shanghezhong Peach Blossom Stone, His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, is most likely also a saint who protects religion!
Yelu Dashi was called King John, I wonder what king they would call Zhu Ming.

The Pope even planned to send an envoy to order the Ming Emperor to send troops to protect the church.

Unfortunately, the Pope's envoy could only reach Jerusalem. If he continued eastward, he would surely die. The Egyptians, Seljuks and Arabs would all kill these damn Frankish barbarians.

(End of this chapter)