Chapter 1,347 Impressions of Foreigners

The identities of overseas envoy companions are multiple. They can switch freely among merchants, bandits, diplomats, missionaries, messengers, scholars, and naval generals of the Song Dynasty.

This time, Pu Shan was entrusted by the three kingdoms of Tianfang Kingdom, Ma Lindi, and Lion Kingdom, and came to present letters of credence and request the Song Dynasty to allow them to trade in Penang.

The sky is Arabia, the hometown of Pushan.

The story of Pu Shan's transformation from a debt-ridden bankrupt to a sailing apprentice, to a chance meeting with the governor of the East, and the return of a beautiful woman, to the Eastern Emperor's appointment as the head of trade affairs at a Strait port, and the story of getting rich and returning home has become a story.

The legend.

The local governor gave him the highest level of reception and asked Pu Shan to express his willingness to make his own contribution to the navigation industry in the Arab world.

Pu Shan now has a broad vision and said that if we want to do it, we must be big. Since the governor has this intention, why not introduce me to the great Sultan? Then the next step of the governor's official career is to be the minister of finance of the empire?

Today's empire has been ruled by the Seljuk people. Their ruler calls himself "Sultan", making the real ruler Caliph a false name.

Today's Sudan has just occupied Asia Minor and seized the Byzantine Empire's main military base, but it still faces threats from the military forces of the four parties.

There were endless wars in various places, and war funding was a headache for the Sultan and every city governor.

Land trade was blocked by the Xia Kingdom and the Uighurs in the northwest of the Song Dynasty. In addition, the volume and cost of camel caravans could not be compared with the advantages of sea trade. Therefore, when the governor heard that Pu Shan had returned to his hometown, he immediately received him with the highest standards.

And recommended it to Sudan.

After accepting the Sultan's entrustment, Pu Shan returned to the sea and made two business deals on the way. She also had the credentials of the two countries in her hand.

The land of hemp forest in East Africa was later Kenya; and the lion country was Sri Lanka.

But now Ma Lindi is a scattered black tribe. Pu Shan got a message that if you continue to sail south along the coastline, there will be a big river after passing Ma Lindi.

Going up the river and passing a large lake, you can enter a rich empire where there are huge cities built of gray hard stone. The biggest products are various precious metals, diamonds and ivory.

That place is called Great Zimbabwe, which translates into the local language as Stonehenge.

The people there have been doing business with the Arabs for more than a hundred years. After returning to his hometown this time, Pu Shan was the former keeper of the secret files of the Caliphate Palace. Knowing that Pu Shan still had the task of finding various documents and materials for the Eastern Empire, he specially

Quietly sold him a batch of important original palace files.

After the huge territory of the Abbasid dynasty was occupied by the Seljuqs, the caliphate became a puppet, and the actual area he ruled was less than one-eighth of what it was during its most powerful period.

In troubled times, things like cultural classics become worthless.

Pu Shan only used three pieces of Oriental silk and a set of pastel porcelain in exchange for the three-car archive.

The reason why an additional set of pastel porcelain was added was because in this batch of files, Pushan discovered the autograph of the "vizier", that is, the prime minister, Zafar of the former dynasty caliph Harun al-Rashid.

Zafar was born in the Barmak family and held positions such as vizier, emperor's advisor, and prince's advisor for several generations. In the end, because he was too powerful and monopolized too much wealth in the empire, he was eradicated by the Caliph.

All property obtained during that inspection included 30.67 million gold dinars in movable property alone.

So this time, Pu Shan had another idea, which was to persuade Sitong to invest in an overseas adventure, a Daxizhou expedition with the goal of discovering the city of Zimbabwe.

…

Yunzhou Port in Jiaozhi County was once the most beautiful and luxurious city in Alice's mind. But when she arrived in Hangzhou, this beautiful water town was so prosperous that Alice, a dancer, thought she was in paradise.

Sailing northwest along the canal, Alice became more and more in awe of this great oriental country that has existed for thousands of years.

I heard that this canal, which is thousands of kilometers long, was dug by this country over thousands of years!

People on both sides of the canal have obvious differences in their accents, but the amazing thing is that their words are the same.

The cities, villages, towns, and the smallest counties along the route all have three to four thousand households and ten to twenty thousand people.

Alice is a slave dancer who was sold to the Middle East by the Francois. In her hometown, this county has already become a royal capital.

The people here live a peaceful and quiet life, are clean and tidy in their clothes, modest in appearance and polite.

When we meet on the road, we must first cross our hands and bow, and then chat quietly.

The officials wore green or red robes and silk robes, including some scholars and businessmen in the city, who all wore silk fabrics and used fine porcelain.

Next to the canal is a wide avenue, on which two-wheeled or four-wheeled carriages with graceful shapes run. Every fifty miles, there is a wooden pillar or grass-roofed pavilion or a post station.

We passed many big cities along the way. The walls of the big cities were not made of stone, but were made of blue-black, artificially fired bricks. Above the city gates, there were also magnificent towers. The shape of the towers made me love to dance.

Alice saw the beauty of the unique rhythm.

Along the way, the cities and market towns became more and more lively. People were buying and selling goods that seemed to Alice to be extremely rich, and what was used as currency were several kinds of magical paper printed with beautiful patterns.

She knew that her husband was now a millionaire. They also bought their own properties and villas in Yunzhou City, but the people here seemed different from those overseas nouveau riche who liked to show off their wealth at all times. They were all very wealthy.

Reserved.

Several times, she had seen a few people who seemed to have status, and caught a glimpse of the valuable gemstone ring on her husband's hand, showing an almost imperceptible smile that was playful and slightly contemptuous.

The difference from today's Tianfang is that people here worship knowledge and culture more. A husband who can sit and drink coffee with Alifa and Sultan is not as respected here as a pen who can use a soft-bristle pen.

, on the paper as white as snow, a scholar swaying wildly.

There are several beautiful fonts for this kind of writing, and she knew that her godfather was the best among them, and her godfather said that His Majesty was also good at a kind of calligraphy called "Fei Bai", and benefactors, especially benefactors,

One of his nephews was the top calligrapher in the empire.

When the godfather talked about the calligraphy of his benefactor's nephew, the look in his eyes was... well, it was just like when he was watching... watching himself dance before he was pregnant...

Coming from the water town, you have to pass through countless bridges, many of which are made of stone. A single-arch stone bridge can span tens of meters of open water.

When carriages pulling thousands of kilograms of goods crossed the bridge, Alice once let out a cry of surprise, fearing that they would crush the bridge.

However, nothing happened. The coachman just took off his felt hat, nodded politely and curiously to her, and then drove on.

There are also temples and towers in many cities, very tall towers. In Alice's eyes, those beautiful towers are made of yellow emerald.

After hearing this, my husband laughed and said that it was an Eastern firing technique, and the tiles were just coated with porcelain glaze.

This is a rich, restrained, quiet and gentle country. It took them four months to travel thousands of miles from Penang to the capital of the largest empire.

When the ship passed Chenzhou, the residents in the city were different from usual. They suddenly cheered and waved a large piece of paper with small words printed on it in their hands. They shouted, cried and laughed, and then the whole city fell into chaos.

Amidst the heart-wrenching loud crackling noises and gunpowder smoke.

The husband was also frightened and sent his accompanying translator off the ship to inquire. Then the translator came back happily and told them that their benefactor, the gentle and distinguished scholar-governor of the South China Sea, once again secured a territory of thousands of miles for the empire and destroyed an entire country.

A country that has been fighting against the empire for hundreds of years!

Alice could not imagine what country could resist such a powerful and wealthy empire for a hundred years, but she knew that her benefactor, the young governor with a kind face and gentle voice, had a magical and powerful power in his heart.

She heard Pu Shan say that even the two old men in the Wisdom Palace had high regard for the Governor. Pu Shan also told her that the wealth they had now was just a joke in the eyes of the Governor.

However, the Governor-General seems to have always scorned the material wealth in the world, but he attaches great importance to those classics that carry human history, knowledge and wisdom.

Even if they are thousands of miles away, even if their words are completely different, even if the knowledge they record, the level and height are no longer comparable to the current knowledge of the Song Dynasty.

After traveling thousands of miles south, Alice observed along the way and seemed to have some understanding of the governor's obsession.
Chapter completed!