Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The entire Wangxiang Port was immersed in celebration.

Xia Yuqing even sent an envoy to "report the good news" to the King of Ceylon, saying that he had completely defeated the regicide and had avenged the king's murder of his father.

The young King of Ceylon was not happy. In the past few years, the Chinese forces had continued to expand southward, and the Royal City of Ceylon was only 70 miles away from the border between the two sides. Now that the Han forces have destroyed the regicide, will they directly go south to attack the royal city in the future?

While the king sent people to congratulate Xia Yuqing, he selected a few of his treasures and sent envoys on merchant ships to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

The second generation officials also returned to the port, wandering around and asking about anecdotes from various countries.

At this moment, a Seljuk fleet sailed into the port, and some kind of goods carried on board caused a sensation.

More than six hundred female slaves!

I heard that the skin color of the female slaves was very fair, far inferior to that of the women from Ceylon Island. The Han people in Wangxiang Port went to inspect the goods one after another. Even the Han people who were far away in their own manors came day and night after hearing the news.

The second-generation officials also ran to watch the fun and found that they were all women of foreign races.

Taking the translator and running to inquire, the Seljuk merchant said: "These are Armenian women. Because they believe in paganism, they are willing to be lackeys for the Frankish barbarians (Crusaders). After the great hero Zangi conquered Edessa, he killed They wiped out all the pagan men in the city and sold all the pagan women in the city as slaves. At that time, they killed tens of thousands of people, and there were also tens of thousands of slave women. These were just a handful of people who were resold. "

Lu You asked curiously: "Where did the Frankish barbarians (Crusaders) come from?"

A Seljuk merchant said: "They come across the Mediterranean in a seemingly endless stream, like ants that are innumerable."

With that said, the Seljuk merchant began to introduce the Crusaders.

Fan Chengda was surprised and said: "Your Excellency, you mean that those Frankish barbarians traveled thousands of miles to invade foreign countries just to believe in religion?"

"Yes, those Franks are crazy," said the Seljuk merchant. "They are very barbaric and not a civilized people. Sometimes because of food shortage, they even rely on cannibalism to survive, so many scholars call them cannibals. ”

Seljuk merchants brought not only slave women but also much important information.

Since Yelu Dashi defeated Sanjar, the Seljuq imperial system was on the verge of collapse.

The vassal states of Kokinin, Gur, Sind, and Makran completely broke away from the Seljuqs and became independent. This meant that the Seljuks lost suzerainty over all of Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan.

Although Zanji, who was beating the Crusader countries, was still nominally the governor of the Seljuk Empire, he had completely cut off all contact with Sanjar.

Zanji first captured Baalbek, the forward fortress of Damascus, and rewarded the city to his general Ayyubid (Saladin's father). Last year Zangi regained Edessa, and he destroyed one of the four Crusader countries, and launched a comprehensive counterattack against the Crusaders.

These Armenian female slaves were the pagans captured by Zangi when he destroyed the county of Edessa.

Moreover, they were all virgins and were resold at different levels. When they were sold to Ceylon, the prices were quite high.

Xia Yuqing paid for all the hundreds of female slaves. He made a lot of money from Hong Kong taxes here. Even if he didn't have enough cash, he could use Ceylon gems to offset the price.

Just when he won a great victory, he bought a female slave so that he could reward the meritorious soldiers.

Xia Yuqing even selected six good-looking ones as gifts to the second-generation officials.

Bai Shihou and Li Zuqia accepted the offer without even thinking about it, while the other four accepted the offer with a slight decline. They felt that it was better to accept her on their own than to be a concubine for those big-headed soldiers.

That night, Lu You wrote in his notes: "To the west of the sky, there is a sea between continents. To the west of this sea is the Frankish barbarian country. Its king is also the leader of the church, and often drives the people to expeditions to other countries in the sky. The Franks are ignorant and good at war. They went forward one after another and were not afraid of death. When the military supplies were cut off, they continued to use human flesh. My friend Fan Zhineng (Fan Chengda) joked that Frank was a Rakshasa country as recorded in the Buddhist scriptures.

After writing the notes, Lu You looked at his new maid.

The figure is well developed, he may be seventeen or eighteen years old, or he may be fifteen or sixteen years old. He has fair skin, a high nose and deep eyes, brown pupils and black hair. He is curled up and shivering.

"You...can't understand Chinese, right?" Lu You didn't know what to say.

The female slave was still squatting and huddled, not to mention communicating, she didn't even dare to look up.

Lu You thought for a moment: "You go take a bath first. I don't have women's clothes with me. I will buy you one tomorrow."

The slave girl still curled up with her head buried in her head.

Lu You had no choice but to call his entourage and force the maid to take a bath.

Although the slave girl was scared, she didn't struggle and seemed to have accepted her fate. After taking a bath and changing into manly clothes, the female slave was brought back by her attendants and lay on the bed obediently.

Lu You was startled when he saw this, and then he was relieved.

He didn't bother to explain anything, after all, he couldn't understand the language.

For a descendant of an official, this kind of thing was nothing. Lu You turned on the lamp and walked to the bed.

Lu You is already engaged, and his fiancée is from the Tang family in Kuaiji (a wealthy family in the same hometown). His fiancée and his mother have the same surname and different ethnic origins, so they are not cousins.

In addition, Lu You's aunt is Qian Chen's wife, and Qian Chen is Ju Ming's old friend.

In the pre-Song Dynasty, Qian Chen took Ju Ming to Wazi to listen to music, and he even almost got into a fight because of jealousy.

In addition, Zhu Ming once rented Lu You's father's house, Lu You is definitely among the top second generation officials in the Ming Dynasty!

When Lu You woke up the next day, he said to the Armenian maid, "I don't know your name. We met in Ceylon, which is the ancient Lion Buddha Country. From now on, I will call you Jialuo. This is the Buddhist mantra. Reciting it can ward off disasters and pray for blessings. You won't have to wander around anymore."

The maid was still a little scared and didn't know what Lu You was talking about.

Lu You pointed at the maid, "You... Jialuo."

After saying it several times in a row, the maid finally understood and pointed at herself and said, "Jialuo?"

"Yes, your name is Jialuo." Lu You smiled.

Jialuo followed Lu You out, and several second-generation officials tacitly understood and took the newly-acquired maid to buy clothes together.

There are many cloths of various colors sold here, but it is difficult to find a ready-made clothing store.

The main reason is that the population structure is too complicated, with all ethnic groups and different costumes. It is difficult to cater to customers of all ethnic groups when opening a ready-made clothing store, so everyone simply buys cloth and lets the tailors or women make it themselves.

In the end, Xia Yuqing was able to do things and sent someone to deliver several sets of brand new Han women's clothing.

Jialuo was very happy to have new clothes to wear, and her master was very kind and had never beaten or scolded her.

All the men in her family were killed by Zangi's soldiers, and the women in her family were sold to various places.

In the past six months, she was first sold to Baghdad because of her good looks and virginity. Then she was resold twice, and then she took a boat all the way to Ceylon.

She didn't suffer any hardship throughout the whole journey, because they were the best among the female slaves.

If they were bumped and bruised, they couldn't be sold at a good price.

Jialuo followed her master and his friends and soon took a boat to the country across the strait.

The six maids became good friends with each other, and each of them had a new name, and often talked about their masters in private.

When they arrived in Chola, the master was warmly received, and even an official sent them to the royal city.

The master and his friends went to meet the king, and the six maids and other followers stayed in a luxurious pavilion.

Ningxue, Li Zuqia's maid, said, "Do you know who the master is? What country is he from? He was received by the king."

"He must be a noble from a big country." Qingfen, Fan Chengda's maid, said.

"Maybe he is a prince from a foreign country." Another maid, Shasha, laughed. This crappy name was chosen by Bai Shihou.

In fact, repeated names are the mainstream of maids and geishas nowadays.

Bingbing, Qiqi'an's maid, said, "Daming."

"What Daming?" Shasha asked.

Bingbing explained, "My master pointed to the direction where the sun rises and repeated Daming many times. I guess the master comes from a great empire called Daming. Even the governor of Mantai Port (Wangxiang Port) (Xia Yuqing) is very respectful to the master."

Qingfen said, "Do the people of Daming look like the master?"

Jia Luo, who had not spoken, suddenly said, "They are peach blossom stone people."

"Peach blossom stone?" The maids didn't understand.

Jialuo said: "In the place where the sun rises, there is a strange tree that can produce beautiful silk."

The Byzantines called China Taugast, and the Arabs called China Tamgadi, both of which are similar to the pronunciation of Taohuashi.

Shasha asked: "How do you know this?"

Jialuo lowered her head and whispered: "My father is the tax officer of the Count of Edessa, and he often mentioned Taohuashi. I heard that Taohuashi is divided into three places, upper, middle and lower. The Seljuk Sultan suffered a great defeat. I don’t know if you have heard about it. The king who defeated the Sultan was called Jurhan. He was driven out of the middle Taohuashi and unified the lower Taohuashi by force. Zengi, who killed our father and brothers and sold us and our mother and sisters, was the governor appointed by the Seljuk Sultan."

Bingbing's brain began to work frantically: "The nobles who escaped from the middle Taohuashi became the king of the lower Taohuashi and defeated the Seljuk Sultan. And the governor appointed by the Seljuk Sultan Governor, defeated the Count of Edessa. How powerful is Upper Peach Blossom Stone then? "

Galo said: "My father once said that the king of Upper Peach Blossom Stone has annexed Middle Peach Blossom Stone. And sent envoys and merchant ships to trade a lot of exquisite goods. The King of Jerusalem obtained a sun mirror and claimed to be the Sun King of Heaven. That sun mirror came from Peach Blossom Stone. Our master should be from Upper Peach Blossom Stone. It is the most powerful empire in the world. Its defeated defeated defeated defeated defeated defeated defeated defeated destroyed the Count of Edessa who ruled us. "

"It's really powerful!"

The maids were shocked and had infinite longing for the country they would live in in the future.

The destruction of the country and the family is a thing of the past. We have to look forward to our lives. Can a few weak women still think about revenge?

In fact, this way of converting national strength is very popular in West Asia and Europe.

One of the four Crusader countries was destroyed last year, and the news spread back to Europe caused great panic.

And Zengi, who destroyed the County of Edessa, was just a governor of the Seljuk.

European kings and popes did not know that Zangi had already been independent. They heard about the defeat of the Seljuk Sultan and that some people in Yelu Dashi's army were religious, so they firmly believed that Yelu Dashi was a saint who protected religion, and translated Jurhan as King John.

Because the reputation of the King of Jerusalem's Sun Mirror had spread back to Europe, the distant Taohuashi also became famous again.

Now some European scholars speculate that the King of Upper and Middle Taohuashi, His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, is very likely to be a saint who protected religion!

Yelu Dashi is called King John, and I wonder what king they will call Zhu Ming.

The Pope even planned to send an envoy to order the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty to send troops to protect religion.

Unfortunately, the Pope's envoys could only reach Jerusalem. If they continued eastward, they would surely die. Egypt, the Seljuks and the Arabs would all kill the damned Frankish barbarians.