Amidst the long sound of the whistle, the battleship Tang Wang, which seems extremely huge and powerful to those who have never seen the big scene, has anchored at the "Black Pier" in Muscat.
The "Black Master" Hei Zhongxian, who even Sultan Sultan wanted to give him three or four points, had already stood up from his chair with the help of a "little black eunuch" beside him, and Sultan Sultan and another The Ming Dynasty's envoy to Oman, a mixed-race Zhuge (yellow and white) named Zhuge Weien, was surrounded by a group of Oman nobles and elderly black eunuchs, and stood beside the gangway being lowered from the Tang Wang.
Zhuge Weidao, who was walking down from the Tang Dynasty Palace, saw this scene and completely understood why there were all black eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty palace... First, they could buy them! The Sultanate of Oman, as well as Ethiopia, historically made their fortunes by trafficking black slaves to the Arabs and Ottomans.
Of course, the Sultanate of Oman has other ways to make money. For example, they can obtain gold, ivory, spices, etc. from the African continent from Zambagel Island near the east coast of Africa.
But the slave trade is still one of the important sources of wealth for the Sultanate of Oman! The Arabs and Turks were more ruthless towards male black slaves and liked to castrate them first before using them, which was exactly in line with the needs of the Ming Dynasty court...
The second reason why the Ming Dynasty court used black eunuchs was probably to use some old black eunuchs who had returned to their hometowns to infiltrate the Sultanate of Oman. These old black eunuchs have lived in the Ming Dynasty court all their lives, and have also received corresponding education and training. Of course, their minds have been "cleansed". And the eunuch who can stand out among a large group of black eunuchs has some skills. When they returned to Oman with a large amount of wealth and the support of the Ming Dynasty, it was naturally easy to establish their own family and power.
Although the eunuchs have no sons, it is not difficult for them to spend money to buy several sons. When "eunuch families" were established one after another, Ming Dynasty's hidden sons in the Sultanate of Oman fell one by one.
On the Oman side, they may also know that there is something wrong with these old black eunuchs who returned home in fine clothes, but for the rewards from the Ming Dynasty and the wealth the black eunuchs brought back, they can only endure it.
After decades of operation, in Muscat, the power of the black eunuchs has been able to compete with the Sultan.
With the help of these black eunuchs, it would be much easier for Ming Dynasty to enter the Persian Gulf!
So this black eunuch of the Ming Dynasty court... was probably the work of the Zhuge family who were best at taking the long term and catching big fish.
It has to be said that although these strategists who are good at pinching and calculating do not dare to do big things, they are really smart at making small moves, and their patience is really good...
Zhuge Weidao had already disembarked from the boat, smiling and standing in front of the old black eunuch, the Sultan with a piece of cloth on his head, and Zhuge Weien who was wearing Ming Dynasty civil official uniform, and then saluted the three of them with a military salute.
The envoy named Zhuge Weien was considered to be Zhuge Weidao's elder brother and was in the 66th year of his reign. However, since he was born as a commoner and failed to pass the first military examination, his status in the Zhuge family was comparable to that of Zhuge Weidao. Not even close. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been sent to a small place like Muscat to serve as a minister at such a young age. Now seeing Zhuge saluting him for Dao, he quickly returned the salute and said: "The eighteenth military division has been through a bumpy journey. It's been really hard!"
Zhuge Weidao chuckled gently: "It's not hard, it's not hard, you're just working for the country, what's the point of hard work?"
The old black eunuch Hei Zhongxian on the side also clasped his fists and saluted: "Brother Daozi, it has been seven or eight years since we said goodbye to the capital. I didn't expect to see each other again in Muscat... Daozi, we can be considered We are old acquaintances, please tell me everything. What is the purpose of bringing such a large fleet here this time? Is it of any use to you, brother?"
Listening to the words of this old black eunuch, Zhuge Weidao knew that he was really familiar with him back then... But then again, he seemed to be very good at building relationships back then, and he had a lot of friends of all kinds!
Thinking of this, he smiled and said to Hei Zhongxian: "Brother Zhongxian..."
Hei Zhongxian, I don’t know who named him? Zhuge paused for a moment, then continued: "Unsatisfied with my elder brother, my younger brother was ordered to lead the fleet to the Persian Gulf in order to combat the desert pirates on the pirate beach here... These pirates are entrenched in the bay and often rob passing ships. , destroying maritime trade in the Persian Gulf has become a recognized hazard to the gulf. Therefore, the imperial court ordered the navy to send troops to suppress bandits in order to maintain peace and tranquility in the Persian Gulf and its surrounding waters!"
As soon as his words came out, Hei Zhongxian and Sultan Sultan were both dumbfounded.
Did those Persian Gulf pirates rob some young Ming emperor who traveled to Baghdad in disguise? How else could we have recruited such a large fleet? Well, 8 battleships, 5 armored cruisers, 8 protected cruisers, 8 old-fashioned sail ironclads... With this strength, some people believe that they came to help the Czar destroy the Ottoman Turkish Empire!
Mr. Hei Zhongxian Hei's reaction was relatively quick. He quickly turned around and said in Arabic to the somewhat confused Sultan: "Sultan, what did those seaside chiefs do?"
"I, I don't know!" Sultan Sultan was stunned, and suddenly seemed to remember something. He turned his head and shouted to a group of nobles behind him who were wearing cloths on their heads: "Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fuchayinla, Hayinma, Sharjah, Omgunwin...you all come out!"
Then I saw seven chiefs of seven small tribes wearing rough, old robes and dirty cloth on their heads. They were all dark and thin and squeezed out from the crowd and ran to Sultan Sultan. In front of them, everyone knelt down on one knee, and then looked up at the sultan with an angry face.
The Sultan of Oman may not be a great figure in Zhuge Weidao's view. His sultanate is not very large from the map, occupying some coastal areas in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula and some coastal areas in eastern Africa. But in the eyes of the chiefs of the seven desert pirate tribes on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf north of Ras Hayimah, they are the monarchs of great powers!
Moreover, this Sultan is also very brave. Except for the British (including India), Ottoman, Ali Pasha, and Persia, none of the other surrounding countries and tribes are his opponents!
Sultan looked at several people and asked, "You guys, please tell me, what mistake did you make? Why did you offend tomorrow's dynasty?"
What mistake was made?
Several desert chiefs who looked at it bitterly said to themselves: "What mistake can we make? That is to grab something at sea. There is no other way. We are too poor. If we don't grab anything, we won't have anything to eat! And in the past two years Baghdad is getting more and more depressed, and fewer and fewer Indians are going to the holy city for pilgrimage. There is almost not enough to grab..."
Zhuge Weidao was a little strange when he saw this scene, but he couldn't understand Arabic and didn't know what they were talking about.
So he asked Hei Zhongxian: "Brother, what's going on?"
Hei Zhongxian smiled and replied: "Brother Daozi, the person who cursed is the Sultan of Oman... The seven people kneeling are a pirate chief in Hayinmajiao. The Sultan is blaming them for their misbehavior and angering the Ming Dynasty!
Dao disciple, has your mission been completed by catching seven of them? "
What? Is my mission complete? Isn't this too easy?
Zhuge Weidao saw that these seven descendants were all rich and noble, but he did not seem to have much financial luck. He just smiled bitterly and said: "Seven chiefs, don't be nervous. If you know your mistake, tomorrow the dynasty will still be the same." I can open up a little bit and give you guys a way out."
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