The salty and humid sea breeze from the Mediterranean slowly blows to the city of Damascus, bringing a slightly damp and cold feeling unique to the Mediterranean coast in autumn.
But this is unusual, because Damascus is blocked by the Golan Heights and two Lebanese mountains. On ordinary days, the impact of the Mediterranean on Damascus is generally not felt.
But today, everyone feels it.
Just as they were extremely shocked to see the Fatimid army with green flags marching into Damascus in a relatively peaceful manner.
You know, the Ismaili sect of the Fatimid dynasty is one of the most important branches of Shia.
After the Abbasid dynasty initially used Shias to come to power, they immediately turned their backs and persecuted Shias.
The descendants of the Hamdani dynasty that now controls Damascus are from the Abbasid dynasty, and they also implemented the policy of persecuting Shiites.
Even Said Hussein, the founder of the Fatimid dynasty, was forced to seek refuge in North Africa because of the persecution of the Abbasid dynasty, and even spent time in prison.
But now, the descendants of the Hamdani dynasty have given up the title of Sultan and welcomed the Fatimid caliphate into Damascus. This can only show that there are more powerful figures who make the Sultan of the Hamdani dynasty have no choice but to Lower your head.
Well, this powerful person is quite conspicuous.
Abu Mansoor Nizar Aziz al-Bila. The fifth caliph of the Fatimid dynasty sighed deeply when he saw Damascus, whose city walls were in tatters.
“If there is a paradise on earth, Damascus must be in it. If paradise is in space, Damascus will be as famous as it.
This is the paradise city that belongs to my religion! I, if we don't enter Damascus, these fools will destroy it at the hands of the infidels. "
This is the autumn of 985 AD, the twenty-sixth year of Qianyuan.
After three thrilling sieges of Damascus, Sultan Ali of the Hamdani dynasty could no longer hold on. He gave up the orthodox legal principles he had adhered to for twenty years since the Abbasid caliphate was kidnapped.
When Sultan Ali opened the eight gates of Damascus to welcome the Fatimid Caliph Aziz, it marked the end of the Abbasid dynasty.
The legal authority of the Tianfang Sect was transferred to the Fatimid dynasty, known as the Green-Clothed Dashi.
At this point, the war on Dashi's territory is about to enter its final stage.
Everyone understood that if the Fatimid dynasty fell again, no one could stop the Peach Blossoms and their servants, the Persian Kingdom.
. . . .
The Great Treasure of the Great Dynasty, the Great Persian Kingdom, Tianjuan City, and Shengen Temple.
It was approaching the morning class time, and the monks gathered in the main hall and loudly chanted the Sutra of Supreme Heaven's Protection against Disasters. The 1,500-pound copper bell of Sheng'en Temple was also clanging, clanging, and the sound spread throughout the whole country. city.
The full name of the City of Heaven’s Favor is Baghdad.
Twenty years ago, Sultan Alim of the Hamdani dynasty was defeated, and Baghdad was quickly captured by the Zhou army. After a large amount of gold, silver, treasures and classic books were taken away from the city, they were handed over to the Saman Persian Emir Ansu ( Mansoor).
Along with Baghdad, the entire Iraq and the land around the Gulf of Bashan (Persian Gulf) were transferred.
Fifteen years ago, the Zhou army defeated the Karmat Imam Kingdom and the Oman Imam Kingdom further south, placing them all under the jurisdiction of the Persian Dynasty.
Therefore, the land of the current Kingdom of Persia is the entire Iraq in later generations plus parts of Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. If it were in later generations, it would be really rich.
Ansu was grateful and changed Baghdad into the City of the Supreme Favor. After being granted the title of King of Persia, he made it his capital.
Of course he would be grateful, because the Kingdom of Persia can be said to be the richest country in the entire five provinces of the far west.
The Persians who followed Ansu to Iraq were only about 700,000, but they ruled nearly 9 million tribes and cannibals, and everyone benefited greatly.
Since then, all the dirty and tiring work in the past twenty years, such as proselytizing people, eradicating hidden underground sects, besieging Damascus three times, etc., were all sponsored by the Persian King Ansu.
To this day, the Persian king, who was entrusted by his father Hamid Emir to his aunt Zhaorong Sefiye and raised by Guo Ting'er as Sefiye's adopted sister, has become Zhang Zhou's best white glove in the far west. and thugs.
After morning classes, King Ansu of Persia took his queen’s arm, and the two walked out of the Holy Grace Temple intimately. Cao Guangshi, the general of the Guards who had been waiting outside, immediately stepped forward to report:
"Your Majesty, Ali of Damascus surrendered. He welcomed the Caliph Aziz who ruled Egypt into the Omayyad Temple. It seems that he is determined to fight against us to the end."
Ansu was furious, "Ali is so ignorant. I sent him several times to guarantee his family's wealth, but he ignored him. Instead, he handed Damascus into the hands of wolves. Let's see how he ends up in the future!"
However, unlike Ansu who was furious, the Persian Prime Minister Kou Zhun, who was appointed by the great emperor to enrich his resume and increase his knowledge, laughed.
Of course, Ansu knew that his Prime Minister was unusual. This was the young talent that the emperor valued most. After being gilded with him, he would at least start participating in political affairs when he returned to his country, and he would be able to become a minister in the future.
Therefore, he was not angry when he saw Kou Zhun laughing. Instead, he smiled and asked in Heluo dialect without any accent: "Why is Pingzhong laughing? Is it possible that this is a good thing?"
Kou Zhun looked at the excited Duke of Wei, Zhang Yuan, who was not far away. He smiled and said to Ansu: "It seems that the princess already understands. How about letting Her Royal Highness inform the prince-in-law."
Duke Wei Zhuang Yuan, whose original name was Zhang Qiyuan, was the 16th daughter of the Zhang clan, born to Yelu Abuli. When she was young, she loved red clothes and weapons. She was proficient in bow and horse and could also use spears and swords, just like a man.
When she grew up, she liked to comment on world affairs, made friends with young heroes and heroes from poor families who came to Beijing, and helped them to display their talents. Therefore, she had an outstanding reputation in the divine capital, and she was very similar to Princess Yuzhen, Xuanzong's sister in the past.
Enyuan Trading Company and Enyuan Bank Association, which he and his mother Yelu Abli founded, were the third largest commercial group in Zhangzhou that specialized in providing financing to Xiajun Yi people.
It can be said that Zhang Yuan relied on his mother Yelu Abri to show strong political ambition and flexible political skills at a young age.
In the 18th year of Qianyuan, in 977 AD, the Persian king Ansu proposed marriage to Zhang Zhang for the fifth time, hoping to marry a princess.
Zhang Yan originally didn't want his daughter to marry far away, but it was really hard to shirk it.
Because in order to marry a princess of the great dynasty, Ansu was twenty-seven years old and had not yet gotten married and had no children. He was just waiting for Zhang Gao's gift.
Every year on Zhang's birthday and the Lantern Festival, close relatives would be sent as envoys, who would come back from thousands of miles away to see him and present a large amount of treasures. They traveled more frequently than Zhang's sons.
This sincerity was so sincere that even the people of Shendu found it interesting.
In addition, in the far west, Zhang Zhou could not do without Ansu and his great treasure, the Great Persia Kingdom, so Zhang Yan announced at the family banquet of the Lantern Festival that he would choose from fourteen daughters of decent age. One of them married far away to Tianjuan City.
At that time, all the princesses were afraid, but only Zhang Qiyuan stood up, willing to marry far away, willing to share the worries of her father, and be a white glove and good thug in the far west for Da Zhou.
Zhang Qi was overjoyed and immediately made Zhang Qiyuan the Princess of Wei and gave her the name Yuan.
The kite is the eagle. It can be seen that although I, Zhang Shengren, am old, I am still very clear-headed and know what kind of character my daughter is.
Yelu Abli was born, so it would be abnormal to have no political ambitions. You must know that this little wildcat rebelled against his brother Yelu Ruan three times in the original history. His political ambitions are terrifying.
In the twentieth year of Qianyuan, AD 979, Duke Wei brought Yuan with him a large dowry.
Including two thousand sets of iron armor, three thousand five hundred sets of leather armor, four thousand Hexi dragon horses and Pegasus horses, two thousand crossbows, six thousand bows of various colors, and ten thousand swords, spears, swords and halberds.
Zhang Yuan gave Princess Wei a thousand honorary guards. Zhang Yuan relied on his former reputation to recruit 6,000 honorable officials and concubines, Helong athletes, grassland knights, and Middle-earth knights and heroes, as well as tens of thousands of mules, horses, and camels. She married into the Kingdom of Persia.
The marriage of Princess Wei to the west is of great significance to the entire Jixi and Dashi regions.
The Persian King Ansu has truly entered the Zhang royal family since then, and the Persian Kingdom can be regarded as one of the kingdoms of Xia to a certain extent.
At the same time, with the support of Zhang Yan and Yelu Abri, the dowry brought by Duke Wei Zhang Yuan can be said to be extremely rich, even richer than that of some princes.
Her arrival greatly enhanced the strength of the Persian Kingdom, so there was the second and third siege of Damascus.
Otherwise, after being repelled in the First Battle of Damascus, the Persian Kingdom would actually have no ability to continue its offensive.
This is why Ansu, with the dignity of a king, prefers others to call him Prince Consort.
After Zhang Yuan waved the maids and guards around him to go away, he smiled and pulled Ansu to sit in a pavilion. Although the two were twelve years apart, they had a great relationship.
Because they had the same aspirations and ambitions, and could resonate with the same frequency in their souls, Ansu even dismissed all the concubines immediately after Zhang Yuan arrived, and handed over the entire harem to Zhang Yuan.
"Your Majesty, do you know why we besieged Damascus three times but were never able to defeat it?"
Zhang Yuan asked softly, but before Ansu could answer, he immediately gave the answer himself.
"That is, we cannot mobilize all the power of the five far western provinces, and the slave's brothers do not support us in taking over Damascus.
Because then the Persian country would be too big, and it would even have the strength to lead the countries of the far western Xia.
But now, the descendants of Fatima have entered Damascus, and a powerful enemy has appeared. If we do not defeat him, the security of the five far western provinces will be threatened. Even if the brothers can ignore it, the father will not allow it. "
"Yes! If Aziz takes Damascus, then he will become the third caliphate family that hopes to unify the empire after the Umayyad Caliphate and the Abbasid Caliphate. This is a threat, but it is also us. Opportunity."
Ansu was also very excited. You must know that before this, after the crown prince Zhang Xianjing personally led the army to capture Baghdad, the coalition camps in the five far western provinces were disbanded.
In the past twenty years, Ansu's Persian kingdom was actually fighting a duel with the Hamdani dynasty of Damascus.
The only one who could provide them with some assistance was Zhang Xianzhi, the eleventh son of the emperor, whose mother was Zhao Rongniang, whose capital was Tongzhi City (Serazi), which ruled the southwest of the original Persia.
However, because Zhang Xianzhi's maternal grandfather's family was focused on medicine, he did not receive much support in terms of force when he came to the vassal state. After the vassalage, the Persians in the country frequently caused rebellions, and the security war lasted for more than ten years, which gave Ansu and Persia The Kingdom has provided limited help.
Therefore, what Duke Wei said about Yuan made sense. The reason why the Persian Kingdom surrounded Damascus from three sides but could not defeat it was because it did not receive the full help of the Xia Kingdoms in the five far western provinces.
And now, the Caliph Aziz of the Fatimid Dynasty has entered Damascus regardless of life or death, instantly breaking the balance of power between the two sides.
The Great Zhou Dynasty and the Xia Kingdoms in the far west will definitely not allow a unified food kingdom to appear beside them, and a war will inevitably begin.
"However, even so, it is not easy to get Medicine Master Light King Buddha and my brothers to send troops. There is no such thing as sending someone for nothing in this world."
The Persian King Ansu was still very sober. He knew that even if the Xia Kingdom was forced to support him, the Persian Kingdom would not be allowed to have Tianjuan City and Damascus at the same time.
In that way, the Kingdom of Persia will become the third dynasty to dominate food.
"Then tear it down!" Duke Wei, Zhang Yuan, gritted his teeth and said:
"Tear down Tianjuan City and Xiliang City (Basra), leave Tianjuan City to your eldest brother, and send Xiliang City out to Brother An's eldest son. You and I will go to Syria and Canaan to be kings. I personally wrote to my father to ask for permission."
"Hiss!" Cao Guangshi, the general of the Guards Army, couldn't help but take a breath of cold air, once again refreshing the upper limit of his knowledge of Wei Guo Duke Zhuang Yuan.
This is such a cruel person! In order to get Damascus, he was willing to split up the current Kingdom of Persia.
In Cao Guangshi's cold hiss, Ansu also had a look of pain on his face. Iraq is a great place! It is the largest grain-producing area near Baoshan Bay.
Even though Tianjuan City was still left to the eldest son, the Zhangzhou clan's mansion was very strict about this area.
Once this kind of split enfeoffment is established, the feudal prince will be assisted by the state minister, left and right chief ministers, etc. selected by the clan government when he is twelve years old to establish the government. After he is eighteen years old, he will take charge of the government.
In other words, as long as they are enfeoffed, the couple will only be able to control Tianjuan City for about seven or eight years.
Even if the sky is high and the emperor is far away, it will take less than fifteen years to influence the clan government to send officials to a certain extent.
Then Tianjuan City will become an independent kingdom, and Xiliang (Basra) will be directly divided!
“Everything you lose can bring you a gain. How can we take advantage of all the advantages in the world?
Syria and Canaan are no worse than the Celestial City, and this is a God-given opportunity. If we do not capture it today, we will never be able to capture it in future generations. Please make a decision as soon as possible. "
The Syria mentioned by Zhang Yuan is Greater Syria in terms of geographical concept, including later Syria, the Kurdish region of Turkey and most of Lebanon.
Canaan is the Greater Palestine region, including Palestine, Jordan, and parts of the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia.
This is a good place, and it has always been very prosperous.
Hearing what Zhang Yuan said, King Ansu of Persia pondered for a moment, and then nodded through gritted teeth, "Forefathers planted trees for future generations to enjoy the shade. It's right for me to give my son more of the family property. Let's do it!"
Kou Zhun had been drinking tea slowly. After both the King of Persia and Princess Wei were satisfied, he spoke:
"Since we are going to do it, Your Highness the King and Princess might as well add more firepower and share some of the pearl industry in Baoshan Bay, so that all the kings from the five far western provinces can take a stake, especially to His Highness the Crown Prince. A dry share.”
Baoshan Bay was still the Persian Gulf. Different from the impression of later generations that this place was all desert and wealthy people relied on selling oil. At this time, Baoshan Bay had an extremely profitable industry, the pearl fishing industry.
It can be said that at this time, 70% of the world's pearls came from the South Baoshan Province of the Kingdom of Persia, which later became Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman.
It is said that the giant purple pearl placed on the crown of Tongtian, Ziqi Donglai, obtained by Emperor Wen of Wei Dynasty, Cao Pi, was produced here in Baoshan Bay.
By the Northern Song Dynasty, there were as many as 2,000 dhows exporting pearls from Baoshan Bay a year.
The pearls here are of the highest quality among natural pearls, and are of better quality than China's Eastern pearls in history.
And in this era when the Silk Road is completely opened, it is even more important.
Because on the Silk Road, China's products were so powerful. Silk, porcelain, tea, rhubarb, refined steel, and refined sugar were all things that made money, and the demand was still huge.
From other places, only top-quality wood, various spices, olive oil, fine blankets, ivory, various gemstones, lapis lazuli and other small quantities of luxuries can be imported to the Middle-earth. Therefore, they are always in a state of being sucked by the Middle-earth.
Pearls from Baoshan Bay are one of the few products that are lightweight, valuable, in high demand, and capable of achieving a trade deficit.
In fact, Kou Zhun had already seen that the reason why the Xia Kingdom was unwilling to help the Persian Kingdom fight Damascus was that the Persian Kingdom's rise was only a very small part.
Are you kidding? The elite of the Persian Kingdom are only the seven or eight thousand Chinese warriors and several thousand Persian warriors brought by Princess Wei. So what if Damascus is annexed? Can the world be transformed by ten thousand elite warriors?
Can they defeat the coalition of the Xia Kingdoms in the Far West, which can continuously recruit soldiers from the bitter cold grasslands, the mountains of Afghanistan (Afghanistan), and the Middle East? Stop dreaming!
Even without recruiting, the Xia coalition forces in the five extreme western provinces have at least 200,000 infantry and cavalry, among which there are at least 150,000 actual Han elites. Will the Persian Kingdom take the lead?
What the kings of the Xia were really coveted was the pearl industry in Baoshan Bay, a large industry with a surplus of seven to eight million guan a year, but it was all taken over by the King of Persia and Princess Wei. How hated they were!
I still want the king of Zhuxia to help you fight against Damascus, huh! They didn't just come up to beat you with red eyes, they didn't come up to grab you directly, they were already using their ancient strength to control themselves.
Princess Wei said nothing. She was a very visionary woman. She gave up Iraq because she could get more.
Land is available everywhere. As long as you have the support of your father and brothers, you can go to Egypt.
But there are not many money trees, not to mention that this money tree is her hope to make money in case of setbacks in the future.
But since Kou Zhun dared to mention it, he must have a way to persuade Princess Wei. He coughed lightly and said concisely:
"The newspaper sent from Lixia said that His Highness the Crown Prince is happy to have a son again. This fifteenth son is the son of Qian Jieyu, the daughter of King Lu. He is so precious!"
Most of Kou Zhun's words are nonsense, only the number fifteen is the core.
The current crown prince, Prince Liang, His Highness Zhang Xianjing, is really fertile. He already has fifteen sons before he is forty years old. The saint's sons need to be arranged, and the prince's sons also need to be arranged.
Each of these arrangements represents a large investment of money.
To put it simply, His Royal Highness is very short of money when he lacks the dozens of chambers of commerce and banks like a saint.
Princess Wei stood up and walked a few steps, then looked at Kou Zhun and said, "Ms. Kou, I want the Fruit City in Tianzhu. Can this wish be realized?"
Fruit City was Goa in later India. It was called Goparashtra by the Tianzhu people and simply called Fruit City by the Han people.
At this time, the Maritime Silk Road had begun to rise. Especially in the 15th year of Qianyuan (974), Qian Hongchu, the sixth son of King Lu, and Qian Weipiao, led a single ship to complete the 36-day crossing from Sendai to Dongshengshenzhou. , and then return on the 27th. It took a total of sixty-three days, and after the feat of losing less than 10% of the crew, Zhang Zhou's navigation technology began to develop rapidly.
Princess Wei, Chuang Yuan, has long seen this, so she has always wanted to occupy Guocheng, a city in southwestern Tianzhu with fertile land, easy-to-conquer people, and a key foothold after Baoshan Bay went out to sea, and tried to build Guocheng into a maritime silk The center of the road.
However, the Persian Kingdom itself did not have a strong navy, and it had to compete with the cannibals on land, so it did not have enough power to conquer and build the fruit city.
Kou Zhun only thought about it for five seconds and immediately nodded in agreement, "Your Highness, don't worry. I will definitely handle this matter for Your Highness after I return to China."
Kou Laoxi'er is very shrewd. The emperor is seventy-three years old this year. Apart from holding military power, he basically doesn't do much. The prince handles all political affairs in the court.
After he completed the gold plating in the following year, he would return to the imperial court and serve as a councilor for political affairs. However, if he wanted to further serve as Shangshu Ling, the head of the outer dynasty, or Zhongshu Qionglin, the head of the inner dynasty, he would need the support of the prince.
Obtaining a pearl trading stake in Baoshan Bay for the prince who is short of money is the best way to establish a relationship with the prince.
At the same time, it would be difficult for the king of Persia and the princess of Wei to capture Guocheng, but it was not difficult for the court who had begun to aggressively enclose land in Tianzhu.
Seeing Kou Zhun agree, the Duke of Wei, Zhang Yuan, also waved his fist excitedly. Although she lost the money tree of Baoshan Bay, it added an escape route for her and her descendants.
If the rule of the big food area is not stable, at least no one can threaten Tianzhu's industry.
. . . .
Anfan Kingdom, Kangju City (Bukhara).
Western medicine master Liuli Guangwang Buddha and Anguo King Zhang Xianyu are just fifty years old this year.
Unlike his father, Zhang Xian, who started to have gray hair at the age of fifty, fifty-year-old Zhang Xianyu has a head full of black hair and his skin still has a youthful luster.
One meal can eat two kilograms of flatbread and one kilogram of meat. When the mood strikes, one person can eat a whole roasted lamb. He can also drink two or three kilograms of strong wine with over 30 degrees of alcohol without getting drunk.
Good health is simply too much.
As his birthday was approaching, everyone in Anfan was busy arranging birthday arrangements for Zhang Xianyu. It was said that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the King of Yan and the King of Chu had all sent envoys to congratulate Zhang Xianyu on the way.
However, Zhang Xianyu has not been very happy recently because his family is not peaceful.
When he went to the five far western provinces to work hard, his wife Pei and his concubine Li stayed in the middle of the country.
Correspondingly, the eldest son Zhang Nengying and the second son Zhang Nengjie both stayed in China. It was not until the tenth year of Qianyuan (971) that they reunited with him in Hezhong.
In the eight years from the second year of Qianyuan to the tenth year of Qianyuan, he married two more beautiful women in the river, and had three and four sons.
This was very lively. The first wife and eldest son from China believed that they were the natural heirs.
Liangyuan and his third and fourth sons, who had lived with Zhang Xianyu for eight years in Hezhong, simply couldn't accept it because they were used to Zhang Xianyu being the only one around them.
From the moment the first wife's eldest son came, they started fighting among themselves, and by five years ago they almost started fighting openly.
The Anfan Kingdom was actually not small, roughly equivalent to part of the entire Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in later generations, and also included general Khorasan, which is northeastern Persia, and the Caspian Sea coastal territories of later Iran.
If it were to be split, at least five or six grand duchies could be split.
But on the one hand, Zhang Xianyu knew that his father, Emperor Zhang, would not agree to his split, because the Anfan Kingdom was the anchor of the five far western provinces.
On the other hand, both the eldest son and the third son felt that they should get everything and no one else should get a share.
Zhang Xianyu was indeed partial to Kang Liangyuan and his third son Zhang Nengheng in He Zhongna, but he knew clearly that making his eldest son the heir apparent was the right choice.
In particular, the eldest son Zhang Nengying is the grandson of King Pei Yuan, the posthumous title of King Pei Wencheng of Hedong County, posthumously named Wencheng.
Although Pei Yuan has passed away for more than ten years, the second and third generations of the Pei family are all outstanding. There are many children of the Pei family in government offices such as the court, local government, and Tiangongyuan.
The current head of the Pei family, Pei Jinai, is the deputy envoy to the Privy Council. He has also served as defense ambassador to Helong, Pingzhang of Hexi Province, Pingzhang of Anxi Province, and governor of Ningyuan. He is a well-known general in the imperial court.
If we really want to change things, let alone my father won't agree, the Pei family will not be able to get through this.
However, if the fight continues like this, Zhang Xianyu knows that as soon as he closes his eyes, the third son, the fourth son, etc. will probably die of illness one after another.
Once there is a rift in the imperial family, once there is a fight for the highest power, it will be so cruel.
He must find a place for his third son and fourth son to settle down before his own landslide. This is Zhang Xianyu's current worry.
Just when Zhang Xianyu was in trouble, Cao Ding'an, the son of General Cao Guangshi, the secret envoy of Duke Wei, Zhang Yuan, rushed to Kangju City.
Zhang Xianyu was so happy that he didn't look at other conditions at all. He only heard Cao Ding'an say that Princess Wei was willing to donate the Xiliang area (Basra), and he immediately agreed. It was like sleeping on a pillow!
Zhang Yaoshi Buddha immediately jumped up from the bed and shouted happily:
"Send messengers to the Xia kingdoms and grand duchies of Zheng, Song, Jin, Qi, Han, Zhao, Liao, etc., and ask them to gather in Kangju City during a certain birthday banquet to hold a republican conference!"
