The Sun and the Lion

Ibrahim sent envoys to Egypt not only to develop friendly relations with the owners of Saladin's castle, but the Levant under Mamluk rule also served as a gateway to Europe. In Cairo, Italian merchants had three communities, two belonging to Venice and one to Genoa. Venetian merchants were also active in the trading hub of Aleppo, and the Mamluk governors of Syria had received Venetian negotiators.

Because Venice has a large number of interests in the commercial network of the Eastern Mediterranean, and the ideological and interest conflicts between Christians and Muslims make Venice have a delicate relationship with the owners of Saladin Castle and Topkapi Palace. This led Venice to send consuls to cities under the rule of foreign monarchs to negotiate with local rulers to protect its merchants. These consuls also collected local political and economic intelligence and reported regularly to the republic.

This provided a way for Ibrahim to contact Europe.

The mission led by Assad set out on the road to Damascus and did not bring everyone with him. There were some Armenian royal businessmen serving as attachés in the mission. These Christians played no role in the negotiations at Saladin's Castle, but they were indispensable in dealing with European Christians.

Abilad, an Armenian, was not a person who was procrastinating. He was entrusted with the important task and inquired from the Mamluk officials about the location of the Italian community and the Venetian consul on the day the mission set off.

"All-knowing and all-powerful Lord, protect us..." He has a relatively devout faith and has always had the habit of praying before work. After making a cross on his chest, he picked up the quill inserted in the ink bottle and started writing a letter.

After a while, after the letter was written, Abilard summoned a messenger: "Go and give this letter to the Venetian consul. If there is a reply, bring it back."

"Yes." The messenger took the letter and went with the translator assigned to him to the area where Italian merchants gathered.

Following the instructions of the merchants, the messenger came to the door of a two-story, relatively spacious building in the community. The guard looked at the approaching messenger and stopped: "The land in front is the property of the commune. No one is allowed to step on it without permission." enter."

"We are not thugs with evil intentions. I have been ordered to deliver to your consul a letter from Abilad, the representative of the King of Kings of Iran," the letter explained.

The guard looked at them with some suspicion and said, "You guys wait here." Then he walked in and reported to the current consul.

After a while he came out with a servant, and the doorman said: "Give me the letter."

The messenger handed the letter to the doorman, and then the letter was handed over to the servant to be delivered to the house.

The Venetian consul opened the letter in his office on the second floor.

"Dear Venetian Consul, I am Abilad, the servant of Shah Khan Shah of Iran. I am in contact with you on the order of my lord. I wonder if you can spare some time to discuss with us?"

He was a little surprised. In the diplomatic history between Venice and various Muslim regimes, Tianfang envoys were never the active party. Most of them were envoys sent by Venice to Cairo, Aleppo, Costantiniya and Batu Salai.

Although this letter was short, it already revealed information that would interest him, such as the Shah of Iran. In his impression, none of the current regimes in the Tianfang world have this title.

"It seems that there have been new changes in the political situation in the Levant. This matter must be reported to the Republic as soon as possible." He picked up the pen and wanted to draft a report, but knowing nothing, he still planned to get some information first.

Then he changed his mind and wrote a reply to Abilard, expressing his agreement to his invitation and inviting him to come to the consulate for discussions.

At night, the Armenians came to the lobby on the first floor of the consulate, where the Venetian consul was already waiting.

"Hello, distinguished guest Abilard, I am Francesco, the consul of the Commune in Aleppo, please take a seat." The Venetian consul simply introduced himself.

Abilad nodded: "I am Shahanshah's servant, Armenia's Royal Merchant Abilad. Nice to meet you." After introducing himself, he sat down.

"Armenians? No wonder this name...sounds a bit strange." Francesco thought silently, and couldn't help but think of the Venetian impression of Armenian merchants in the Levant, which might also be a smear campaign - "They have nothing to do with it." No credibility whatsoever.”

However, as a professional diplomat, Francesco did not show these things that would offend the guests.

"So, Mr. Abilad, you said that you are the servant of Shah Khan Shah, which king of kings can you tell me?" Francesco asked - in his impression, using Persian The only Muslim monarchs who claim the title are the Ottoman and Aries dynasties. And he also arranged for his secretary to record the conversation between the two, so that he could sift out valuable information afterwards.

Abilad did not refuse. This was not confidential information in the first place. Even if he did not tell it, Francesco could still ask the Iranian businessman for information. Being secretive will only give others a clue.

So he briefly began with the story of Abraham's rise to arms. Francesco's scribe wrote furiously and recorded everything he heard on paper.

"I see. It makes me want to witness the heroic appearance of your monarch with my own eyes." Francesco complimented. The achievements of the Safavid Order are indeed worthy of admiration.

"You will have time to understand in the future, let's talk about business first." Abilard coughed, and then continued: "My Lord wants to develop friendly relations with your country and cooperate with each other in business and politics. "

"Business? But the commune signed a trade treaty with Malik of Saladin Castle. Find the bookstore www.zhaoshuyuan.com. All the goods shipped by our merchants from the Mamluks are uniformly supplied by their merchants..." Francesco Seeing that the other party wanted to bypass the Mamluk government, he reminded him.

Saladin Castle has strict control over these foreign businessmen who believe in Christianity. In Cairo, these Italian businessmen can only live in designated communities, and a curfew is imposed. At night, the entrances and exits of the Italian communities are locked.

The Maliks also realized their strong position over Italian merchants and forcibly monopolized the spice trade, which was the most important thing for Venetian merchants. The Commune signed a trade agreement with Saladin Castle, and Saladin Castle arbitrarily set prices for spices exported to Europe. For example, Alexander The price of pepper in port was one hundred dinars per unit, but Venetian merchants paid between one hundred and fifty to one hundred sixty dinars. Egyptian merchants knew that the trading hours in Venice were fixed, and it would be illegal to fail to transport goods back to Venice after the time limit. Therefore, the Egyptians usually supplied goods to the Venetians in the last few days before the merchant ship set sail, which meant They have no bargaining power.

As for the discrimination against them by Mamluk customs officials and Muslims, there were even cases where they were asked to inspect goods by the customs when they were about to be shipped. Then the customs officials roughly opened the bag and poured all the spices on the ground, allowing the surrounding crowd to rob them all.

The quality of the spices cannot be guaranteed - "We can't sort and select the spices, and they don't allow us to inspect the goods. We can only load them on the ship like this when they come from India."

Faced with Francesco's doubts, Abilad smiled and said: "We are not overbearing Malik and Egyptian businessmen. We will supply you with goods at normal market prices. As for other issues, my superior, Abilad Sade will make peace with Saladin's castle."