In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 506 Europe’s No. General
On the tenth day of February, Kublai Khan of Rai City was preparing to leave the city.

Meng Ge was out on an expedition, and Kublai Khan was stationed in Lai City. He heard about the Song army's sentry riding to the north of the Yibo Sea. Mongolia also sent people to question the Song people, what do you want to do, and the Song people responded that they would go and see Look, and said, don’t your Mongolian sentries often come to our Song Dynasty?
This matter was left undisturbed. After all, Mongolia was still marching westward, Mongolia and Guiyu were outside, and the Song army did not mobilize a large number of troops.

The sentries from both sides did go to both sides.

But Mongolia was already alert and began to send additional sentries.

Kublai Khan also discovered that something was wrong in the past two years. More and more ships of the Song Army were arriving in Persia. He felt that the Song Army was moving troops here, but he could not find any evidence.

There is no whereabouts of Song Dynasty outside.

The Mongolian army was stationed locally and it was certainly impossible to stay in the military camp all day long, but the Song army could.

The Song Army now only needs to practice shooting and formation, even if they are in the camp every day.

Kublai Khan's detailed work said that the patrol range of the Song army near Heping City was getting larger and larger, and gunfire continued every day, but it was impossible to determine how many troops the Song army had.

Kublai Khan estimated that the Song army in Peace City had at least 5,000 to 8,000 people, or even more.

There are also small areas such as Champa and there are not many sales.

Who is to the east?
To the east is the territory of the Song Army, Borneo Province, Hanzhou, and Dajuan.

"The people of Song Dynasty are quite disgusting." The businessman scolded: "The cotton of the Sultanate of Delhi is mainly sold to a few areas."

Therefore, starting from September, cotton from various nearby dynasties began to be produced, and there was a large amount of production until February.

Kublai Khan was shocked that the price had risen so much in just one day.

February is now the peak season for cotton.

Businessmen said that the ships coming out of the Delhi Sultanate were now taxed very high by the Song army, especially cotton, which made the Delhi Sultanate unwilling to sell cotton to Persia.

He took officials and some subordinates to the market, and saw that the place where cotton was bought and sold was crowded with people. Many people were still talking and quarreling. It seemed that the cotton agreed upon a few days ago was gone.

Kublai Khan quickly found a local businessman and asked him why the price of cotton was so high? Did you know that the Mongolian army wanted to buy it, so you deliberately increased the price?
The businessman complained bitterly that the Song Army had increased the cotton tax in the Persian Gulf, and the cotton imported and exported had to pay higher taxes, so some businessmen were unwilling to come in, and some had to increase taxes. The price of cotton was just the same every day?
“Especially the Delhi Sultanate, their cotton came from the east and they had to pay more taxes.”

The February cotton from the Delhi Sultanate reaches the Persian Gulf at least around March, and it is estimated that it will take March or April to reach Rai City.

Now that the Song Army has occupied the Persian Gulf and imposed high cotton taxes, it will be difficult to sell the cotton of the Delhi Sultanate to the west.

Coupled with the high cotton output in the Song Dynasty, the price of cotton was originally declining every year, but unexpectedly it suddenly increased significantly in the past few days.

Further east is the mainland of the Song Dynasty.

These few months are the peak season for cotton. Before Zhao Yurui promoted it, the Delhi Sultanate was the largest cotton producer in the world.

Because the cotton in southern Persia and the northern part of the Delhi Sultanate (India) is harvested from November to January, and the cotton in the southern part of the Delhi Sultanate is harvested from December to February.

After Kublai Khan left home today, he went directly to a large market in Rai City. He heard that the price of cotton was forty pounds per silver coin the day before yesterday, but it rose to thirty-five pounds per silver coin yesterday.

Originally, a large amount of cotton from the Delhi Sultanate could be sold to Persia, Central Asia, West Asia and even Eastern Europe after passing through the Persian Gulf.

He reported the news to the superiors, but now that they were marching westward, they could not take care of the Song army, so they could only send additional sentries and cavalry to be careful.

"To the west is the Persian Gulf, and to the east is the territory of the Song people."

That can only go east.

Cotton harvest in northern Persia begins in September and October and generally lasts until mid-November.

Of course, you can also go further and sell to Korea and Japan. The distance is too far for the Delhi Sultanate, and the profit is not high. Moreover, the Song people also sell there, and they have a road advantage, so they can't compete.

Now that the Song army has done this, the Delhi Sultanate has also suffered heavy losses.

They can either choose to sell westward, but pay high taxes.

Either choose to go east, reduce profits and increase risks.

The merchants of the Delhi Sultanate thought about it and decided, come on, it is safer and more cost-effective to sell to the west. The Song people raised taxes, so let's raise the price.

As a result, the price of cotton in Persia has increased sharply, one price per day.

Kublai Khan heard this and knew that the Song army was deliberately targeting them.

The businessman also said: "Song Jun himself is also purchasing cotton and intends to raise the price of cotton."

Some people around Kublai Khan heard this and cursed the Song people for being insidious, but the curses continued. If the Mongolian army wanted to make cotton armor, they had to buy it.

Moreover, Kublai Khan heard the news that although they had obtained a pair of cotton armor, they did not know the manufacturing process, and a large number of outstanding craftsmen had been lost after the fall of Harahelin and Qianzhou.

So far, the Mongolian army has not even made a cotton armor. I don’t know how the Song army did it.

Kublai Khan was smarter than other Mongolians. He immediately ordered a reward in Lai City and asked craftsmen from all over the country to offer cotton armor to anyone who could make cotton into Song Army-style cotton armor with sufficient protection. Great reward.

It was a good thing that the news did not spread. After it spread, many dynasties knew that the Mongols wanted to make cotton armor, and the price of cotton skyrocketed again.

Two days later, according to Song people's transactions in the Persian Gulf, a pound of cotton had reached fifty coins.

Originally, this price was before Song people promoted cotton, so it was quite normal.

The price of cotton in the Persian Gulf was driven down by the Song Dynasty, and now it is raised by the Song Dynasty.

By mid-February, the price of cotton in the Persian Gulf reached 80 cents per pound, a new high.

At the end of February, the cotton harvest season was about to end, and the output was also greatly reduced. The price of cotton reached 100 cents per catty, and one silver coin could only buy ten catties. In less than a month, it tripled.

This thing is the same as speculating on coins. When businessmen from various countries see the price of cotton rising, they are rushing to buy it. This makes the Mongolians either spend a lot of money or be robbed by others.

It was too late for Yelu to mint money, it was too late at all, so he could only exchange it for cattle, horses and sheep.

While the Song people were speculating on cotton, the special envoy from the Abbasid Dynasty came to Heping City again and met with Liu Zheng.

Abbasid's Caliph Mustansir sent his son Mustasuimu as an envoy to the Song Dynasty. A few years ago, Luo Lei went on a mission to the Abbasid Dynasty and reached a trade agreement with Batu through the passage, which also laid the foundation for good relations between the two countries.

Now, the Mongolian army is marching westward and is attacking the Ayyubid and Lupini dynasties. Both dynasties are asking Abbas for help. At that time, Luo Lei once said that Mongolia was ambitious and wanted to win over Abbas, but Abbas refused. Now He took the initiative to send people here, obviously realizing that Mongolia was not easy to mess with.

Mustasuimu was the last caliph in history. He was finally killed by Hulagu. He has not yet ascended the throne, and he does not look young anymore. He is in his thirties.

Liu Zheng entertained Mustai Suimu, and both of them had an interpreter beside them.

Next to Liu Zheng was Luo Lei, who had been to Baghdad.

"The Mongolian army invaded Ayub and Lupini in a large scale. My father also saw the Mongolian ambitions and was willing to ally with the Song people to fight against the Mongols." Mustaisuimu was very direct from the moment he came up and wanted to ally with the Song army. , to fight against Mongolia.

Liu Zheng did not respond in a hurry. He took Mustai Suimu to the map on the left and asked, "Where are the Mongolian troops fighting now?"

Mustai Suimu looked at the map in front of him and saw their Abbasid dynasty. His expression was briefly absent, but he quickly came back to his senses and asked the translator to tell Liu Zheng.

The Mongolian army was divided into two groups last autumn. One group was led by Meng Ge to fight Ayub, and the other group was led by Guyuk to fight Lubini.

Abbas is adjacent to the two countries, and the Mongolian army invaded their country, which made their people complain. Mustasuimu's father did not dare to fight the Mongolian army and could only swallow his anger.

"Meng Ge's battle went very smoothly, because the main force of the Ayyubid Dynasty was in Cairo, and part of the area in the middle was occupied by the Holy Roman Empire. Meng Ge's army did not encounter any important opponents--"

After listening to this, Liu Zheng felt that the place was very chaotic, even more chaotic than the Central Plains during the Jin, Mongolia and Song Dynasties.

No wonder His Majesty the Emperor asked me to come here to learn more about its history.

The direction of Mongol's attack was towards Jerusalem. Batu wanted to attract more enemies because of the difference. His request was to try not to offend the Holy Roman Empire first.

The Mongolian army planned to fight near the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. They originally thought they would encounter fierce resistance from the Ayyubid Dynasty, but in the end they fought smoothly and did not encounter any strong enemies at all.

Jerusalem has always been an important place that many nearby forces compete for. The founder of the Ayyubid Dynasty, Sadaddin, and the Crusaders fought for this place many times.

After Saladin's death, Jerusalem was occupied by Frederick II. Meng Ge began to follow Batu's request and did not attack Jerusalem. He did not want them to send troops in November and attack the Jordan River in January. This made Meng Ge A little bloated, he suddenly wanted to fight Damascus.

Who will this Damascus belong to? It is still from the Ayyubid dynasty, but it is not the same dynasty as Cairo.

Not long after Saladin's death, the Ayyubid dynasty was divided into two.

One is Saladin's brother Adilai who occupies the Aji side, and the other is Saladin's descendants who occupies the Damascus side.

The people Mongol is fighting now are the descendants of Saladin. No wonder Adilai's son and current ruler Saleh Najmuddin, who is far away in Cairo, is happy to sit on the mountain and watch the fight between the tigers and the tigers, and does not help.

The two sides were equivalent to clan kin, and the Mongols didn't know it, so they attacked Saladin's descendants first.

The heirs of Saladin's brother sat back and watched.

In another place, the Mongols did not attack Damascus, and Saleh Najmuddin also recovered Damascus and Jerusalem this year.

"Two Ayyubid dynasties?" Liu Zheng was stunned when he heard this. He only knew that there were two.

Both Ayyubids claimed that they were the orthodox, and they did not change their names. One occupied the area near Syria, and the other occupied the Aji area. Both said that they were the orthodox of Saladin.

One is a descendant of Saladin's brother's son, and the other is a descendant of Saladin's son.

If this is to be replaced by a Central Plains dynasty, one of them must have another country name.

"Meng Ge is attacking Damascus. Damascus may not be able to defend it. He has sent people to us for help many times -" Mustai Suimu said that Meng Ge was fighting smoothly and is currently besieging Damascus.

Damascus not only asked for help from Mustasim, but also from the army of Frederick II of Jerusalem, but the troops of the Holy Roman Empire ignored him, and Frederick II was also in a state of distress.

Frederick II was originally very popular. As the number one general in Europe at this time, he had just defeated the Pope's fleet in Genoa three years ago and once again taught the Pope a lesson.

In the past few years, Frederick II was at the height of his power. In the eighth and ninth years of Yuanzhen, he defeated the papal army many times. In the tenth year of Yuanzhen, he also defeated the papal fleet. He could be called the best general in Europe at this time.

In the eleventh year of Yuanzhen (1243), the new Pope Innocent IV came to the throne, and his relationship with Philip II was even worse than that of the previous pope. Philip II even threatened to send troops to raze Rome and depose the Pope. Innocent IV was preparing to move the capital at this time. (That is, he moved the Holy See from Rome to Genoa). At the same time, he joined forces with King Louis IX of France to launch the Seventh Crusade.

King Louis IX of France went to conquer Aegis and landed at Aegis. Pope Innocent IV united the German princes and Italian cities to oppose Philip II.

The Holy Roman Empire was facing separation and collapse. Louis IX supported his brother Charles of the Anglican dynasty to occupy southern Italy and Sicily and became Charles I.

On the other hand, Henry, Duke of Thuringia, became the new King of Italy with the support of the Pope and princes, specifically against Philip II.

Philip II was surrounded by enemies and was even considering withdrawing his troops from Jerusalem.

Mustai Suimu started talking about this, who was the king, and what kind of life that was. Liu Zheng was so dizzy after listening to it that he couldn't remember it at all. Fortunately, Luo Lei was there with a pen to record it.

Europe will be very chaotic now. There can be one king in each city, and there will be several kings and hegemons in the little Italian pear.

Anyone can do it for one life or two. With hundreds of soldiers and horses, they are local princes.

Although Zhao Yurui also arranged agents and strongholds in Europe, the information sent back was not as accurate as these people. Many agents could not figure out how many princes and forces there were in Europe.

Mustai Suimu made it very clear, and Liu Zheng quickly understood it under his guidance.

The biggest hostile forces in Europe are Philip II and the Pope. These two families have been at war every year in the past few years, and everyone wants to destroy each other.

Below Damascus, where the Mongolian army was attacking, was Jerusalem, which was the territory of Philip II.

If the Mongolian army captured Damascus, they might have a conflict with Philip II.

Now the European pope is also joining other princes to fuck Philip II.

Liu Zheng couldn't help but flash a picture in his mind, as if he were back in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when you hit me and I hit you in seven or eight countries, it was a mess.

Mustai Suimu's meaning is very obvious. Europe is relatively chaotic and will definitely not be able to control the Mongols. But if you Song people don't care about the Mongols, and the Mongols take advantage of the situation to attack, the territory will become larger and larger and the threat will become more and more serious. The bigger.

Of course they didn't know that Batu had ordered Meng Ge not to mess with Philip II. It wasn't that Batu was afraid of Philip II, but that they were currently mainly fighting for the throne, and this western expedition was also to determine the throne. .

(End of this chapter)