Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Empress Zhang Jinping and Crown Prince Zhu Yang were both very interested in Australia and kept asking about what the expedition team saw there.

Suddenly, a eunuch came over and whispered in Zhu Ming's ear: "Your Majesty, the Anxi Protectorate sent an urgent telegram. The Seljuk Sultan Sanjar was captured by the rebels. The Western Liao Dynasty has no worries and is sending more troops to the Ili River Valley!"

Zhu Ming read the telegram himself. The content about the Seljuks was very brief, and it is estimated that the Anxi Protectorate did not receive detailed information.

Sanjar was captured by the rebels in his country, which was not much different from the historical trend, but because the Ming Dynasty conquered the Xinjiang region, similar historical events occurred several years earlier.

However, the Central Asian countries formed alliances with each other and formed two factions, which had been causing friction in the border area.

Due to fierce internal conflicts, Sanjar had to forcibly launch a war. He first went to deal with Khwarezm. Although he captured a castle, he suffered heavy casualties in the siege.

Ajisi, who surrendered and betrayed him several times, sent envoys to surrender again.

The King of Khwarezm wrote a letter of surrender in a weird tone, which angered Sanjar again and again.

Sanjar replied that if he really surrendered, he should let Ajis come to the court in person.

Ajis actually came.

In order to show his majesty, Sanjar carefully prepared a guard of honor and planned a grand surrender ceremony.

Ajis led the cavalry to the other side of the Amu Darya River, and did not even get off the horse. He just rode towards Sanjar and then galloped away with a grin.

How could this be a surrender?

It was a mockery in person!

Just when Sanjar was about to crush Khwarezm, the Oghuz people in the country rebelled.

It was after the Battle of Katwan that the strength of the Karluks, who were mercenaries for the Western Liao Dynasty, skyrocketed. The Karluks continued to occupy the land of the Oghuz people, and more and more Oghuz refugees fled to the Seljuks.

The founders of the Seljuk Empire were a group of Oghuz people. These Oghuz refugees who had lost their homes were like poor people who came to the city to seek refuge with their relatives, thinking that they could get good treatment.

As a result, the Seljuk nobles did not regard them as compatriots at all, and even regarded them as inferior barbarians. They imposed heavy taxes on them in peacetime and forced them to fight in wartime.

While Sanjar was leading his troops outside, the unbearable Oghuz people launched a large-scale uprising.

Sanjar did not care about cleaning up Khwarezm anymore, and hurried back to his country to quell the rebellion. His army suffered heavy losses in Khwarezm, and had to fight back and forth without any benefits, but was defeated by a group of beggar-like rebels.

Even Sanjar himself was captured by the rebels!

The simple and barbaric Oghuz rebel generals gathered from all directions, all wanting to see if Sanjar, their compatriot, had three heads and six arms.

They teased and mocked him, and actually chose Sanjar as the leader of the rebel army...

Well, it can be compared to Song Jiang, Fang La and others, who captured Song Huizong who was leading the army in person. Since no one was submissive to anyone else and no one could choose a leader, they supported Song Huizong as the leader of the rebel army and led everyone to change the dynasty.

Just a puppet.

Sanjar was tied up in the army every day, and even locked in a cage at night, and forced to follow the rebel army to fight everywhere.

Today's Seljuk is divided into two parts, east and west.

Among a large number of sultans, there are two sultans with the highest status.

Sanjar belongs to the sultan in the east, and his title is "the greatest sultan". There is another sultan in Baghdad in the west, whose title is "the great sultan".

The rest of the sultans are naturally ordinary sultans.

Now, the greatest sultan has been captured, and he has no offspring, and the rebels are unwilling to let him go. So the ministers at home supported a new sultan, and the identity of the new sultan turned out to be the nephew of the exiled king of the Western Karakhanid Khanate, Sanjar.

The former king of the Western Karakhanid Khanate and the new Seljuk Empire Sultan was driven away by the Tanguts placed by Yelu Dashi, and those Tanguts were driven over by the Ming Dynasty from the Hexi Corridor.

Without the external military pressure of the Seljuks, the Western Liao Dynasty's ally, the Gökinen Dynasty, broke out in civil strife.

The Gur Dynasty, which had been invaded by Gökinen and protected by the Seljuks, suddenly turned from a sheep into a lion. They invaded the Seljuk territory to the west and the Gökinen territory to the east, and the land area tripled in half a year.

By the way, the rebels who captured Sanjar also nominally surrendered to the Gur Dynasty.

The Khwarezmian king Ajis also beat the dog when it was down and continued to invade the Seljuk territory.

The situation in Central Asia became more and more chaotic, but the Western Liao Dynasty was able to take a breath and free up its energy to concentrate on guarding against the invasion of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, some troops must be left in the west.

Because that damned Ajisi went back on his word again and again, and the promised tribute of 40,000 gold coins was tentatively reduced to 30,000 gold coins. If the Western Liao does not send troops to threaten, it is very likely to be reduced to 20,000 next year, or even not a penny.

Zhu Ming stared at the telegram for a long time and ordered the officials of the Military Intelligence Department to be summoned.

Seeing this, Wang Chongdu stood up and left, and was taken out of the palace by the eunuch.

Zhang Jinping played with the opal and said to Zhu Ming: "This kind of gem has no name, the emperor may as well give it a name."

Zhu Ming smiled and said: "If the queen likes it, she can give it a name herself."

This thing is like diamonds, and the price has been hyped up in later generations.

According to the quality grade, the best ones can be sold for 3,000 to 4,000 yuan per gram, which really fooled a group of Chinese buyers who are stupid and rich.

To put it bluntly, it is a kind of hydrated amorphous silicon dioxide.

Zhang Jinping was still thinking about naming the gems, and Ju Ming added: "I will leave fifty gems for you. I usually summon the royal wives in the capital, and give a few out from time to time to show the empress's dignity. The Supreme Emperor will give some as gifts, and the concubines in the harem will also give them to each of them." One. Australia will continue to offer gems in the future, so don’t be stingy with rewards.”

"Got it." Zhang Jinping smiled.

Ju Ming said to the prince again: "You also choose two."

Zhu Yang carefully selected the gems and gave one to the main concubine and one to his favorite concubine.

Not long after, the doctor from the Military Intelligence Department came to see him.

Ju Ming ordered: "Send someone to contact King Ajisi of Khwarezm and tell him that the Ming Dynasty will use troops in Xiliao in the next two or three years. Let him refuse the tribute money dedicated to Xiliao, and Xiliao will not dare to do anything to him. Sample."

Ajisi is quite funny. Ju Ming thinks this guy is very interesting, and he actually makes Yelu Dashi and Sanjar play around.    …

Lu You's father, Lu Zai, had been transferred from the position of the Minister of Rites to the Envoy of the Tongzhengyuan.

This is a promotion.

Because the Tongzhengyuan established by Zhu Guoxiang was at the same level as the Metropolitan Procuratorate and the Privy Council. Not only was he responsible for connecting the cabinet and the six ministries, but he also managed the emperor's secretaries (secretaries) and Xingren (errand workers). He also took away part of the power to draft edicts from the cabinet.

Due to its excessive power, after the Metropolitan Procuratorate established the Six Procuratorate Divisions, the Tongzheng Yuan's right to deny six subjects was revoked.

When Zhu Guoxiang's direct disciple Liang Yi recovers from his illness, Ju Ming will set another rule. That is to say, officials who have served as envoys to the Tongzheng Yuan, like the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and the Yushi of Zuodu, cannot serve as prime minister again in this life.

His wife Tang came out of the palace and excitedly said to Lu Zai when she returned home: "Today the saint (the queen) has a reward."

Lu Zai was reading: "What reward?"

"My lord, please take a look." Tang took out an opal.

The dazzling colors made Lu Zai dizzy, and he couldn't help but ask: "What is this?"

Tang replied: "Rose."

Lu Zai praised: "What a good name."

In ancient China, there was the name rose, and there was also the flower rose.

But the word rose, since the Qin and Han Dynasties, specifically refers to glass beads.

And what about roses? It is called wandering flower, lilac grass, red rose and so on.

It was not until the Ming Dynasty that the name rose came into being.

The original meaning of the word rose refers to the gorgeous jade, but now it has become the Ming scientific name of opal.

Tang said enthusiastically: "This kind of gem does not exist in China. It was brought back from a place called Australia. I heard the sage said that it takes a few days to sail from Java Island with a favorable wind to reach Australia. There are no countries there, only indigenous people. Savages, but the land is full of ores.”

"Ore everywhere?" Lu Zai was shocked.

Tang said: "As soon as they got off the boat, they encountered iron mines, which were rich open-pit mines. Then they encountered copper mines and gold mines, and they were planning to recruit gold diggers to mine gold. They also brought back several kinds of parrots, one of which was a special kind of bird. The bouncing ones can also talk.”

Lu Zai smiled and said: "There are also talking parrots in China."

"That's different," Mrs. Tang said. "It has feathers in several colors, just like the ones in the painting. When people don't tease it, it will come to tease people."

Lu Zai asked: "The animals that were transported back to Beijing a few days ago came from Australia, right?"

Tang replied: "They are from Australia. When they are well raised, ordinary people can buy tickets to see it."

Today is a holiday. When the couple were talking at home, their son Lu You was in the auction hall of Luoyang Exchange.

"In how many days will you leave Beijing?" Lu You asked.

Li Zuqia nodded and said: "We have to rush back before the trade wind comes. This time we have to transport hundreds of people to Australia. These few hundred people are just the first batch. The second batch will be transported next winter. It is estimated that the number of people may be two to three thousand. Your Majesty promised not to send officials there for five years!"

Lu You said: "If it can be cultivated, your profits will be huge."

Li Zuqia chuckled: "I plan to get some tribesmen from Chuzhou. In the last Huainan case, the Li family was implicated a lot. Not only were they imprisoned and exiled, but several families were also fined and punished to the point of bankruptcy. I will take the tribesmen there. In Australia, open a shop near the gold mine and get some land for farming. In a few decades, although it is remote, the population will increase, and the Li family will become a famous family in Australia. "

It is impossible for the treasure-hunting trio to steal gold from gold diggers. The only direct way for them to make profit is to collect taxes.

Excessive taxes will dampen the enthusiasm for gold mining, so you won't actually make much money.

The real money lies elsewhere.

For example, most of the people who go out to sea to pan for gold are poor people. Most of them can't even afford a boat ticket. They can only take the boat on credit from the treasure hunting trio, and then use the gold they find to pay off their debts and interest.

They can also engage in human trafficking, transporting women from Japan and Nanyang and selling them to Australian gold diggers as wives.

You can also build ports and towns, encourage members of the expedition team to open shops, and then transport goods from Nanyang to wholesale to the shops. Taxes can be levied on ports and shops, and other fleets that hear the news also have to pay taxes to them.

There are also ways to seize land first, or buy it from the indigenous people, or directly drive the indigenous people away.

The leading members of the expedition were all large landowners and shopkeepers. Even if the imperial court sends officials in the future, it is impossible to confiscate the land and shops, and the explorers can make continuous profits.

"The starting price is 200 guan, and each bidding price must not be less than 10 guan. This is a rose gem given by the Queen herself. It is only given to nobles and cannot be bought by ordinary people. There are only three auctions in Luoyang. If you miss this time, you will be disappointed. There will be no next time. Interested bidders can come and take a closer look..."

Whether they would participate in the bidding or not, the merchants in the auction hall ran over to observe the gemstones closely.

A moment later, the auction began.

The first gemstone was sold at only 520 guan, and the second gemstone was sold at 780 guan. The third gemstone… was not only the last one, but also the one with the best quality, and the bidding price soared to 1460 guan.

1460 guan could buy more than 200,000 kilograms of rice in Luoyang, but it was used to buy a natural silica stone.

An imperial censor who wanted to make merit and get promoted secretly took note of the last big buyer and planned to check if he was involved with any official.

It didn’t have to be exposed immediately, but it might be used someday.

Lu You exclaimed: "Is this gemstone very rare in Australia?"

Li Zuqia chuckled.

When more fleets rushed to Australia after hearing the news, the price of rose stone (opal) will drop year by year. Although it is impossible to sell it at a bargain price, such sky-high auctions will definitely not happen again.