Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 917 0912 [The Fleet Returns]

The person responsible for trading horses with Qian Chen was a Bedouin tribal elder named Ahmed.

When asked about the price of the horse, Ahmed pointed to the Arabian horse behind him and said: "This is the best war horse of the Bedouin. The red spots on its shoulders are the blood that splashed when the prophet was wounded. We have three tribes selling horses this time, but among all the war horses of the three tribes, only this one is the real Holy Blood Horse."

Qian Chen just smiled and didn't refute anything.

Ahmed sighed and said, "If it weren't so difficult to survive, we would never sell the Holy Blood Horse. Its coat must be gray, and the red spots must be on its shoulders, otherwise it cannot be called a Holy Blood Horse."

As he spoke, Ahmed began to tell the story of the Prophet being wounded in battle.

The Arab merchant translator said to Qian Yu: "He is not lying. The Holy Blood Horse is indeed very rare and the Bedouins rarely sell it."

The Ming horse breeder who sailed with the ship whispered, "Although this horse is not bad, it does not stand out among the more than 100 horses. If the price is too high, it is better to buy a few more horses. After all, what they think is sacred is of no use to us."

Qian Yu said: "A gentleman does not take away the beauty of others. You can keep your Holy Blood Horse."

Ahmed actually didn't want to sell it either. He pointed to a white horse and said, "This kind of white horse is also very rare and extremely precious among all war horses. Although many war horses look white, they are gray when you look closely. The one we brought is truly white. It has white hair, pink skin, and dark eyes."

It's caused by a gene mutation. It doesn't cause any special abilities, but it doesn't cause any diseases either.

This kind of white horse is not very useful in desert areas, as its pink skin is easily burned by the sun. The reason why it is sold at a high price is purely because it is rare.

The horse breeder of the Ming Dynasty said: "This white horse is extremely majestic and can be kept as a breeder."

Qian Yan nodded and said, "Yes, I'll buy it. Let's talk about the price slowly."

The horse breeder checked each horse slowly one by one, and even opened the horse's mouth to check its speech, and kept recording it in a small notebook.

Finally, the horse breeder asked, "What are the habits of your horses?"

"They are so smart that they can easily learn bad habits," Ahmed said.

"Learn bad things?" The horse keeper didn't understand.

Ahmed explained: "If the training method is wrong, they will develop bad habits and even learn to be lazy and cheat. We Bedouins keep horses in our own tents and live and eat with them to cultivate feelings. They like to be close to people. If they don't spend enough time with people every day, they will feel lonely."

Ming Dynasty horse breeder: "..."

The horse breeder began to organize his words: "I want to ask, it's very hot here, will the war horses be unable to tolerate the cold? The war horses of my Ming Dynasty are all extremely cold-resistant."

Ahmed shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Well, for a Bedouin who has lived in a tropical desert all his life, asking him questions about the cold is indeed a bit beyond the scope.

The horse breeder asked again: "Can the horses tolerate roughage? If the concentrated feed runs out during the march, how long can the horses maintain their fighting capacity?"

Ahmed said: "We don't have much food, and horses sometimes eat better than their owners. If there is really no food, we can only let them graze, and they can march for a few days without any problem. If a war horse has a deep affection for its owner, it can starve with its owner until it dies in battle."

It seems like everything has been said, and yet it seems like nothing has been said.

Horse breeders can only tend to tolerate roughage, after all, it is impossible to always have fine feed in the desert.

As to whether the horse can withstand moisture, the horse breeder did not ask.

Because all kinds of war horses are prone to illness in humid conditions.

Since simple communication was not enough to make the matter clear, the horse breeder simply asked in detail how the Bedouins usually raised war horses.

Ahmed carefully described all the details and finally revealed the top horse training method: "There is a legendary method of training war horses. It is said that the prophet only feeds the war horses a small amount of feed every day. After starving them for seven consecutive days, the war horses are released in groups, and they are allowed to grab food from the trough, and the horses are trained to have discipline."

If you let a war horse starve for seven days, won’t it lose weight or get sick?

The horse breeder was very sure that this kind of horse could tolerate rough feeding. He asked curiously, "Have you tried this method?"

Ahmed shook his head: "I can't bear to try. The warhorse is our most precious treasure."

After some bargaining between the two sides, all the Arabian horses brought by the Bedouins were bought by the Ming envoys.

Including the so-called Holy Blood Horse, there are a total of 117 horses.

The Bedouins seemed a little reluctant and even held a farewell ceremony with the war horses.

The war horses behaved very humanly, neighing and getting restless constantly, and some even struggled to follow their original owners.

This situation is extremely normal because the Bedouins raise horses and people and horses have always lived and eaten together.

They don't have a special stable, so they keep the horses in tents.

If you raise a dog like this for a few years, it will become extremely close to its owner!

"Guests from afar, I hope you can treat these war horses well," said Ahmed.

The horse breeder said, "I will definitely do that."

The Bedouins loaded their camels with goods and gradually disappeared into the depths of the desert.

The horse breeder called his subordinates and discussed the matter with the commander Zou Tong.

As these newly purchased Arabian horses were quite restless, one person was assigned to each horse to take care of them and try to calm them down.

Two days after the Bedouins left, Damascus came to trade again. Like Aleppo, Damascus nominally belonged to the Seljuks, but it had been independent for decades and was the front line against Western invasion.

They brought many local specialties, but there were only two things that caught the Ming envoy's attention: Damascus rose essential oil and Damascus steel.

Damascus steel is made from Wootz steel from India, which is wrapped in wrought iron and repeatedly forged.

Qian Chen did not know the details and called this steel "Dashi iron".

……

This continued until autumn, when most of the goods were sold out.

Qian Chen received the ransom, returned the fortress to Fulk, led the fleet to the Red Sea port, and waited for Chen Wo to come from Egypt to join him.

Chen Wo brought back a large number of Egyptian academic works and various specialties from around the Mediterranean.

They reunited and did not leave immediately.

Gradually, Arab merchants brought East African local specialties and sold them to the Ming fleet in the Gulf of Aden - mainly ivory, furs, gems, ebony, grain, fruits and vegetables, etc.

After loading was completed, they went to the Gulf of Oman to wait. Cheng Yu, Yu Yunwen and others came from Seljuk to meet them.

If you choose to return at this time, you will actually be sailing against the wind and the current in the North Indian Ocean.

But as long as you pass the faith, you will be able to change to wind and water, and there is no need to stay here and wait for half a year.

You can't leave immediately either, you have to wait until the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, otherwise you might encounter a big storm.

这是阿拉伯商贾提供的信息，北印度洋在农历3—5月、8—10月风暴最多。而农历6—7月最适合前往东方，顺风顺水还不会遇到风暴。

Some Arab merchants chose to travel with the Ming fleet.

The Seljuk Sultan Sanjar also sent a ship carrying envoys, scholars and gifts to the Ming Dynasty.

Along the way, various states presented letters of credence, formally established equal diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty, and sold some of their own local specialties.

When they arrived at the Kingdom of Solanchi, they not only presented their credentials but also sent an envoy delegation of thirty people to accompany them.

The later Chalukya Dynasty sent an envoy of 35 people.

The Chola Dynasty directly dispatched three ships carrying a large amount of cargo and envoys.

……

Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

The new king who came to power through a coup also presented his credentials at the port.

Although the new king was reckless, he was hurt by the Ming Dynasty last time and tried to ease diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty.

"Well, is it what I expected? The king's uncle really rebelled." Zhu Xiaozhong said with a smile.

Cheng Yu said: "Take the prince with you and help Xilanchi restore his country!"

Yu Yunwen brought the nautical chart and said, "The prince has no prestige, so even if we help him restore his country, he may not be able to keep it. We need to station troops in the Victory King City. We don't need too many, 500 will be enough."

"Is it cost-effective to station troops so far away?" Hu Quan asked.

Yu Yunwen said: "The food and wages are provided by the King of Ceylon, and the money is drawn from the port taxes."

Cheng Yu asked: "The soldiers are isolated overseas, I am afraid it will be difficult to maintain the morale of the army."

Zhu Xiaozhong smiled and said, "Leave the soldiers on Shamen Island. They are all exiles from the former Song Dynasty, and all of them have eaten human flesh. Their wives and children were taken to Japan before, and some of them even married in Japan. Bring their wives and children here next time, and allow them to marry again in Ceylon."

Yu Yunwen said: "If we control Ceylon, we can control the waters around India. It would be best if we ask the court to dispatch a few warships to stay here permanently after returning home."

"Srivihara is still a big nuisance," Ying Xuan said.

Yu Yunwen said: "Order them not to intercept Ming merchant ships and not to force the sale of Ming goods. If they don't obey, we will have an excuse to start a war. Then we can drag the surrounding vassal states into the fight. Those are both vassal states of the Ming and independent from Srivijaya. They have been suppressed by Srivijaya and will definitely be willing to send troops."

Ying Xuan said: "If we can station troops in Srivijaya and Ceylon, the route from the southernmost tip of India to Guangzhou will be unobstructed."

Cheng Yu said: "The cost of the garrison cannot be funded by the imperial court, otherwise it will be difficult to sustain. We must occupy the port and collect taxes, and use the commercial taxes to support the garrison. Not only will it not waste money, but there will also be a surplus to hand over to the national treasury."

Yu Yunwen pointed to the Bengal region and said: "It would be best if we could occupy a port here as well."

There are two ports there, one is the outer port of Kolkata and the other is located at the mouth of the Barisal River.

As for Chittagong, it was a wild place at that time and had always been a gathering place for pirates.

Hu Quan said: "The rainy season there is hot and humid, and I'm afraid many of the troops stationed there will be sick."

Yu Yunwen said: "Take it slow. First, occupy a port in Ceylon and Srivijaya. Then select some soldiers who are used to the humidity and heat and go to Sena (one of the states of Bengal) to occupy the port. With the three ports in hand, the sea route will be unobstructed."

These three ports form an irregular triangle and can be reached directly from one to another.

(End of this chapter)