Eagle Byzantium

The current situation is that the brothers Ridwan in Aleppo and Dukak in Damascus fully support Mohammad Tapo as the new owner of the Isfahan palace. Behind this, there may be the mysterious power of the Alfa from Baghdad as Austrian aid.

However, the governor of Mosul, Kobuha, expressed his support for Bacyanuk as the new Seljuk Sultan because of the previous disastrous defeat in Antioch and the great hatred between the Tutusi brothers.

The two sides are now at a stalemate and fighting fiercely with each other. Seljuk is bounded by the Amu Darya River (Oxus River, Wuhu River) to the east, and there are also foreign enemies such as Karakhan and Ghazni Sultan.

Therefore, many knowledgeable people within the Seljuk Empire also understood that they could no longer tear the country apart, and they strongly called on the two major factions fighting for power to shake hands and make peace.

When I heard that Gawain was commanding an elite and powerful army, he had previously defeated Trebizond and Georgia, and had brought two small Kurdish countries that were originally vassals of Seljuk into his army. After arriving at the city of Taulis, ——The Seljuq forces were silent because they were not sure whether Gawain would take advantage of their internal strife to march all the way to Isfahan.

But unexpectedly, Gawain instructed his sleeping companion Wen Ruomingna to write a beautiful letter with her left hand, transcribing several copies in Greek and Persian (the official language of the Seljuk court at that time was Persian). They were sent to Isfahan, Baghdad, Aleppo, Mosul, Damascus and Boru Jeld, in which Gawain declared very righteously:

"Decades ago, through the efforts of two generations of Alp and Malik Shah, the Seljuks finally condensed from a loose gangster tribe into a somewhat decent country. Now if there are more fights, it will be so self-inflicted." The vast area from Sri Lanka to the Amu Darya River, from Georgia to Baghdad, is about to face fields. The scene of desolate land and cut off trade routes is very unfavorable to everyone, so I would rather suffer some losses and be the arbiter - each faction can send envoys to Taulis City to discuss terms to calm the situation. And we will delineate the boundaries between our country of Tarsus and the Seljuq country as soon as possible and resume trade between the two sides.”

At the same time, Gawain's proposal also received the first praise of King Baldwin of Jerusalem. This king has been actively preparing for war, aiming at Egypt's Fatima, and of course hopes to reach a favorable peace treaty with the Seljuk countries.

On the other hand, Bohemond also completed the mobilization of 15,000 soldiers and began to go around the lake behind the city of Antioch to build a siege camp, preparing for a general attack on the beleaguered nephew Tancred after the next spring: Whether it was Apulia or the Two Sicilies, Bohemond's uncle Roger and many Norman nobles persuaded Bohemond and Tancred to cease fire and reach a mutually tolerant and benevolent peace treaty, but all were rejected by Bohemond. Ruthless rejection. Therefore, Bohemond was temporarily unable to take care of Isfahan's affairs and did not exert his due influence.

The person who reacted fastest to the "Taulis Conference", apart from Haddadi and Shirfan, was Ridwan of Aleppo. Gawain secretly promised to reduce the amount of repayment, so Ridwan raised his hands to express Agreed, and immediately sent envoys to Taulis' palace with his brother Dukak.

Soon, envoys from Kobuha, Bacyanuk and Tapo also brought gifts and credentials.

In the early autumn, in the city of Taulis, surrounded by beautiful hills, the mirror-like Lake Shagoli is dotted with pearl-like gardens, palaces and mosques, but now the owner here seems to be the Christian tyrant of Tarsus Gawain, he would lead his beloved horse around the lake every early morning, and then go into the hall to preside over the meeting of all parties.

At the same time, gifts from all parties were handed over one by one. The gift from Mosul Governor Kobuha was a leopard with spots as powerful as money. Malik Shah’s eldest son Bacyanuk sent two ferocious large hounds. , and Tapo sent ten ceremonial swords cast in the shape of fireworks, fifty forging slaves, and countless brocades and tapestries.

The gift that interests Gawain the most is Tapo's. He has long been eager for the Saracens' forging skills. Now, in order to please him, Tapo packed up the weapons and people and sent them, which played into his hands. So Gawain quickly received the fifty forging slaves, declared them free as free men, and gave them generous salaries to send to the workshops of Seleucia and Tarsus to innovate the technology of forging weapons for him.

As for the rest of the gifts, especially the beasts, Gawain returned them all saying, "I'm afraid my Sabina will be frightened." Then the King of Tarsus was followed by Zhao Zhao, dressed as a Confucian scholar of the Song Dynasty, and Prince Sven, dressed as a Frankish warrior. , and many Armenian businessmen, he asked this group of people to gather in In a large courtyard in the palace with corridors, fountains and charming flowers, he discussed the opening of trade with envoys from various countries - Gawain seemed so impatient in this regard, which is in line with the world's perception of him - The Varyag, who holds a sword in one hand and a scale in the other, is also a shrewd and practical eight-clawed spider.

Zhao Zhao and Si Wen initially planned three trade routes:

One starts from Trabzon, passes through Taulis, and then to Isfahan and even further east on the Amu Darya River;

The second line also starts from Trabzon, then goes south through Amida, Mardin, then Mosul, and follows the Tigris River straight to Baghdad;

The third one starts from Tarsus, passes through Adana on the Gulf of Issus, bypasses Marash and reaches Aleppo, forming a cross-travel traffic shape with the second trade route.

These three trade routes, combined with Gao Wen's sea trade route of Smyrna-Athalia-Cyprus-Levant, according to Zhao Zhao's estimation, "earned no less than 700,000 byzantine dollars per year".

What is the source of this money?

It is trade.

Gao Wen and Anna now issued trade charters to Italian commercial city-states such as Reggae, Pisa, and Amalfi, allowing them to rent or even build commercial ports in various port cities, but they have to pay considerable fees, of which there are mainly four types, namely "ship port tolls", "import and export commodity (goods) taxes", "commodity surcharges" (the tax rates for light luxury goods and bulk goods are different, which is more flexible) and "port donations" (this has been implemented first in the ports of Cyprus and Samos, that is, the resident commercial port areas need to donate a fee to the city every year to repair the port, lighthouse, dock, and pay for the cost of escort ships). Correspondingly, the Italian city-states also had the monopoly on the specialties of the entire Tarsus Kingdom, such as the golden marble of Afyon, the alum of Smyrna, the saffron of Seleucia and Tarsus, the lake salt of Cappadocia, the lime of Marash, the wood of Philadelphia, the sheep fat, pork, and butter of Prusa and Philomelon, the silk of Calle Adiou, and the wool fabrics of Melitene and Sebastian, etc., which were sent to the western part of Europe by the ships of these city-states for sale.

Check out the correct version in 16-9 Book Bar!

But this charter is fundamentally different from the trade charter that Alexius gave to Venice.