Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1112 1107 [Opal turns into rose]

Empress Zhang Jinping and Crown Prince Zhu Yang were both very interested in Australia and kept asking about what the expedition team had seen there.

Suddenly, a eunuch came over and whispered in Zhu Ming's ear: "Your Majesty, the Anxi Protectorate sent an urgent telegram. The Seljuk Sultan Sanjar was captured by the rebels. The Western Liao Dynasty has no worries and is sending more troops to the Ili River Valley!"

Zhu Ming read the telegram himself. The content about the Seljuks was very brief, and it was estimated that the Anxi Protectorate had not received detailed information.

Sanjar was captured by the rebels in his country, which was not much different from the historical course. However, because the Ming Dynasty conquered the Xinjiang region, similar historical events occurred several years earlier.

However, the Central Asian countries have formed alliances into two factions and have been causing friction in the border areas.

Due to intense internal conflicts, Sanjar had to launch a war by force. He first went to deal with Khwarezm, and although he captured a castle, he suffered heavy casualties in the siege.

After surrendering and betraying him several times, Ajisi sent envoys to surrender again.

The surrender letter written by the King of Khwarezm was so sarcastic that it angered Sanjar again and again.

Sanjar replied that if the surrender was sincere, he should let Ajith come to the court in person.

Ajisi actually came.

In order to demonstrate his majesty, Sanjar carefully prepared a guard of honor and planned a grand surrender ceremony.

Ajis led the cavalry to the other side of the Amu Darya River. He did not even dismount from his horse. He just bowed towards Sanjar and then galloped away with a grin on his face.

How can this be surrender?
Mocking in person!
Just as Sanjar was preparing to crush Khwarezm, the Oghuz people in the country rebelled.

However, after the Battle of Katwan, the strength of the Qarluk people, who served as mercenaries for the Western Liao Dynasty, increased dramatically. The Qarluk people continued to invade the land of the Oghuz people, and more and more Oghuz refugees fled to the Seljuk Empire.

The founders of the Seljuk Empire were a group of Oghuz people. These Oghuz refugees who had lost their homes were like poor people who came to the city to seek refuge with their relatives, thinking that they would be treated well.

As a result, the Seljuk nobles did not regard them as their compatriots at all, and even regarded them as inferior barbarians. They imposed heavy taxes on them in peacetime and forced them to fight in wartime.

While Sanjar was leading his troops away, the unbearable Oghuz people launched a large-scale uprising.

Sanjar did not bother to deal with Khwarezm anymore and hurried back to his country to quell the rebellion. His army suffered heavy losses in Khwarezm, and had to fight back and forth without gaining any benefits, but was actually defeated by a group of beggar-like rebels.

Even Sanjar himself was captured by the rebels!
The simple and barbaric Oghuz rebel generals gathered from all directions, all wanting to see whether their compatriot Sanjar had three heads and six arms.

They mocked and chose Sanjar as the leader of the rebel army...

Well, it can be compared to Song Jiang, Fang La and others, who captured Song Huizong who was leading the army in person. Since no one was willing to submit to the others and no one could choose a leader, they supported Song Huizong as the leader of the rebel army and led everyone to change the dynasty.

Just a puppet.

Sanjar was tied up in the army every day and even locked in a cage at night, and was forced to follow the rebels to fight everywhere.

Today, the Seljuks are divided into two parts, east and west.

Among a large number of sultans, there are two sultans with the highest status.

Sanjar belonged to the eastern sultanate, whose title was "the greatest sultan". There was another sultan in Baghdad in the west, whose title was "the great sultan".

The rest of the Sudanese are, of course, ordinary Sudanese.

Now, the greatest Sultan was captured, and he had no offspring, and the rebels refused to release him. So the ministers in the country supported a new Sultan, and the identity of the new Sultan turned out to be the nephew of the exiled King of the Western Karakhanid Khanate, Sanjar.

The former king of the Western Karakhanid Khanate and the new Seljuk Empire Sultan was driven out by the Dangxiang people who were settled by Yelu Dashi, and those Dangxiang people were driven over by the Ming Dynasty from the Hexi Corridor.

Without the external military pressure from the Seljuks, civil strife broke out in the Göjining Dynasty, an ally of Western Liao.

The Ghurid dynasty, which had been invaded by the Ghosh and protected by the Seljuks, suddenly turned from a sheep into a lion. They invaded the Seljuk territory to the west and the Ghosh territory to the east, and their land area tripled in half a year.

By the way, the rebels who captured Sanjar also nominally surrendered to the Ghurid dynasty.

The Khwarezmian king Ajis also took advantage of the situation and continued to invade the Seljuk territory.

The situation in Central Asia became increasingly chaotic, but Western Liao was able to take a breather and free up its energy to focus on guarding against the invasion of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, some troops must also be left in the west.

Because that damned Ajisi went back on his word again, and tentatively reduced the promised tribute of 40,000 gold coins to 30,000 gold coins. If Western Liao did not send troops to pressure them, it would most likely be reduced to 20,000 next year, or even not a penny at all.

Zhu Ming stared at the telegram for a long time and ordered the officials of the Military Intelligence Department to be summoned.

Seeing this, Wang Chongdu stood up and took his leave, and was taken out of the palace by the eunuch.

Zhang Jinping played with the opal and said to Zhu Ming, "This gem has no name. Why don't you give it a name?"

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "If the Queen likes it, she can choose a name for herself."

This thing, like diamonds, was also driven up to an outrageous price in later generations.

It is sold by the gram based on quality grade, with the best quality ones being sold for three to four thousand RMB per gram, which really fooled a group of Chinese buyers who are stupid and have a lot of money.

To put it simply, it is a kind of hydrated amorphous silica.

Zhang Jinping was still thinking about naming the gems when Zhu Ming said, "I'll leave fifty for you. When you summon the imperial concubines in the capital, you can give a few away from time to time to show your generosity. Give some to the retired emperor, and one to each of the concubines in the harem. Australia will also offer gems in the future, so don't be stingy with your rewards."

"I understand." Zhang Jinping said with a smile.

Zhu Ming then said to the prince, "You also choose two."

Zhu Yang carefully selected the gems, picking one for his wife and one for his most beloved concubine.

Not long after, the doctor from the Military Intelligence Department came to see the emperor.

Zhu Ming ordered: "Send someone to contact the Khwarezmian King Ajisi and tell him that the Ming Dynasty will use military force against the Western Liao in the next two or three years. Let him refuse to pay the tribute to the Western Liao, and the Western Liao will not dare to do anything to him."

Ajisi is quite funny. Zhu Ming thinks this guy is very interesting. He actually made Yelu Dashi and Sanjar fool around. ...

Lu You's father, Lu Zai, had been transferred from the Minister of Rites to the Minister of Public Administration.

This is a promotion.

Because the Tongzhengyuan established by Zhu Guoxiang was on the same level as the Duchayuan and the Privy Council. It was not only responsible for connecting the cabinet with the six ministries, but also managed the emperor's secretaries and runners, and also took away part of the power to draft imperial edicts from the cabinet.

Due to its excessive power, after the establishment of the Six Inspection Offices in the Censorate, the power of the Six Departments of the Tongzheng Yuan to review and reject documents was revoked.

When Zhu Guoxiang's disciple Liang Yi retired due to illness, Zhu Ming also set a rule. That is, officials who have served as Tongzhengyuanshi, like the Minister of Personnel and Zuoduyushi, can never serve as prime minister again in this life.

When his wife Tang came out of the palace and went home, she excitedly said to Lu Zai, "Today the saint (the queen) has a reward."

Lu Zai was reading: "What reward?"

"Sir, please take a look." Tang took out an opal.

The dazzling colors dazzled Lu Zai, and he couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"

Tang replied: "Rose."

Lu Zai praised: "What a good name."

In ancient China, there was a name called rose and a flower called rose.

But since the Qin and Han Dynasties, the word "rose" has specifically referred to glass beads.

What about roses? They are called wandering flowers, nymphs, red roses, etc.

It was not until the Ming Dynasty that the name rose came into being.

The original meaning of the word "rose" refers to gorgeous jade, but now it has become the scientific name of opal.

Tang said excitedly, "This kind of gemstone does not exist in China. It was brought back from a place called Australia. I heard from a saint that if you sail from Java Island, you can reach Australia in a few days with a favorable wind. There are no states there, only native savages, but the land is full of minerals."

"Minerals everywhere?" Lu Zai was surprised.

Tang said: "As soon as they got off the boat, they encountered an iron mine, a rich open-air mine. Then they encountered a copper mine and a gold mine, and were planning to recruit gold diggers to mine for gold. They also brought back several types of parrots, one of which was particularly friendly, jumping around and talking."

Lu Zai smiled and said, “There are also talking parrots in China.”

"That one is different," Tang said. "It has feathers in many colors, just like a painting. When people are not teasing it, it will come to play with people."

Lu Zai asked, "The animals that were shipped back to Beijing a few days ago were from Australia, right?"

Tang replied: "It is from Australia. When it recovers, ordinary people can buy tickets to watch it."

Today is a holiday. While the couple was talking at home, their son Lu You was in the auction hall of the Luoyang Exchange.

"Are you going to leave Beijing in a few days?" Lu You asked.

Li Zuqia nodded and said, "We have to hurry back before the trade winds arrive. We need to transport several hundred people to Australia this time. These few hundred people are just the first batch. We will transport the second batch next winter. It is estimated that there may be two to three thousand people. Your Majesty promised not to send officials within five years. There, we can farm!"

Lu You said: "If you can cultivate it, your profit will be great."

Li Zuqia chuckled, "I plan to get some clansmen from Chuzhou over there. In the last Huainan case, many members of the Li family were implicated. Not only were they imprisoned and exiled, but several families were fined and bankrupted. I will take my clansmen to Australia, open a shop near the gold mine, and get some land for farming. In a few decades, although the place is remote, the population will increase, and the Li family will become a prominent family in Australia."

It is impossible for the treasure hunting trio to steal gold from the gold diggers. Their only direct way to make a profit is to collect taxes.

Excessive taxation will dampen enthusiasm for gold mining, so people won’t actually earn much.

The real money is elsewhere.

For example, most of those who go out to sea to pan for gold are poor people, most of whom cannot even afford a boat ticket. They can only buy the boat ride on credit from the treasure hunting trio, and then use the gold they have mined to repay their debts and pay interest.

They could also engage in human trafficking, transporting women from Japan and Southeast Asia and selling them to Australian gold diggers as wives.

You can also build ports and towns, encourage members of the expedition team to open shops, and then ship goods from Southeast Asia to the shops for wholesale. Ports and shops can be taxed, and other fleets that hear of the news must also pay taxes to them.

Another way is to seize the land first, either by purchasing it from the indigenous people or by directly driving the indigenous people away.

The main members of the expedition were all big landowners and shop owners. Even if the court sent officials in the future, it would be impossible to confiscate the land and shops, and the explorers could continue to make profits.

"The starting price is 200 strings of cash, and each bid must not be less than 10 strings of cash. This is a rose gemstone named by the queen herself. It is only given to nobles, and ordinary people cannot buy it. Only three will be auctioned in Luoyang. If you miss this time, there will be no next time. Interested bidders can come and take a closer look..."

Regardless of whether they would participate in the bidding or not, the merchants in the auction hall rushed over to observe the gems up close.

A moment later, the auction began.

The first one was sold at only 520 guan, the second one was sold at 780 guan, and the third one… not only was it the last one, but it was also the best one, and the bidding soared all the way to 1460 guan.

1460 guan could buy more than kilograms of rice in Luoyang, but instead, they were used to buy a natural silica stone.

There was an imperial censor who wanted to gain merit and be promoted. He secretly took note of the last big buyer and planned to check whether he was related to any official.

It doesn't have to be disclosed immediately, but it may be useful someday.

Lu You was surprised and asked, "Is this kind of gem very rare in Australia?"

Li Zuqia chuckled.

As more ships rush to Australia, the price of rose opal will drop year by year. Although it is impossible to sell it at a bargain price, such sky-high auction prices will definitely not happen again.

(End of this chapter)