The Sun and the Lion

News of Bayezid's intention to maintain peace quickly spread in Tabriz. The troops assembled outside the city were disbanding. The tense atmosphere that had previously enveloped Tabriz due to preparations for war quickly dissipated.

"God protects the world from the wrath imposed on others by the Turkish Sultan." Antonio happily crossed himself on his chest.

Ibrahim has been recruiting talents for several years, and it is not uncommon to see Italians and Germans in Tabriz, but Antonio was not introduced for employment through a Venetian agency.

As a well-off traveler, he first came to the Levant for the Holy Land. However, after completing the trip to Jerusalem with other pilgrims, his curiosity about foreign lands took over and he mastered After learning Arabic, he set foot on this land again.

Antonio, who was lucky enough not to encounter a shipwreck, first went to Mecca to perform Hajj disguised as a Muslim, carefully observing the taboos and joining the crowded procession at the Forbidden City in Mecca.

After visiting the Holy Mosque in Mecca, he went to Egypt and Syria, and then followed the caravan to the area under the rule of the Safavids. He was very curious about the monarch who could achieve such great achievements, and went straight to Tabriz.

“As soon as I crossed the Euphrates into what the Armenians and Saracens called Kurdistan, what I saw was in stark contrast to what I had seen before.

"The highways connecting various cities seem to be well maintained. They are very spacious and flat. They can accommodate many carriages and horses, and are also very convenient for armies to march. There are safe strongholds at regular intervals along the highways for caravans and messengers to rest and resupply, and Guards are also stationed to protect road safety. The caravanserai here is more spacious and clean than in Syria and the Holy Land. In my opinion, this is very effective. I encountered no living bandits on the way, only the dead bodies impaled at the intersection. The caravan members who came into sight and talked to me all said that the road was very safe. The most exaggerated statement I have ever heard was that an unarmed and naked girl could carry gold from Herat to Tabriz without a hitch. Go back and forth without any damage'."

As a still vibrant regime, the bureaucrats tried their best to complete the tasks assigned by Ibrahim. After several years of hard work, hundreds of villages were built along the roads and protected by masonry walls under Ibrahim's rule. The building complex contains facilities such as stables, caravanserais, and warehouses, integrating the functions of a post station, a hotel, and a military depot.

Not to mention bandits, not even the powerful men from nearby villages dare to guarantee that they can successfully conquer these strongholds.

He also visited the rural areas along the way: "Drought has made local agriculture extremely dependent on water canals. According to locals, these water canals are responsible for special officials. How to distribute the water seems to have become a means for officials to control the villages."

In addition to the irrigation and drainage systems, processing is also important. Let’s not care about the large mills in the city for the time being. The ownership of the small mills scattered in the countryside is chaotic, but as long as taxes can be collected, Ibrahim is naturally too lazy to take care of it.

The ownership of the real estate was equally confusing, and he could not understand the situation at all. It was just that a team of soldiers and a few bureaucrats were measuring the acres of land, investigating the planting conditions, and registering the real estate with the willing or unwilling cooperation of the real estate owners.

"However, although these villages are not considered poor, I can still see large areas of land still waiting to be developed. These fertile lands can easily produce a large amount of wealth as long as they are worked by people. If these lands were in Italy or Germany, France has long been reclaimed."

In this way, he arrived in Tabriz without any danger. The first thing he felt was the extreme religious policies of the Safavids. When he was still in Aleppo asking about the way to Iran, some Sunnis who had escaped from the Safavid rule told him not to cross the border. The Euphrates River enters the rule of the devil, otherwise "your property and even your soul will be left there forever, suffering endless pain and suffering."

After hearing this advice, Antonio decided to show his cards right and enter Iran directly as a Christian. The news that Venice was working as an intermediary spread throughout Italy, Germany, and even throughout Western Europe, which led to many people's speculations about the Ottomans going further east - although it is unlikely to be Prester John, it is also possible that he was a secret Christian, otherwise Why recruit the most devout and orthodox Christians from Italy and Germany for no reason? Now a craftsman, the next step is a merchant, then a missionary.

Antonio was dubious about these remarks. He preferred to believe that it was out of pragmatism, just like the Greek, Jewish and Italian aides surrounding the Turkish Sultan.

Unlike Francesco, Antonio, as a traveler without any official status, had difficulty seeing the rulers gathered in the castle area, which made his attention mainly focus on the various local communities.

"Same as in my hometown, there are various guilds within the city walls, but here they are not the rulers within the city walls, but more like hounds tied up in chains. The hunters holding the ropes are various appointed officials. There are Secular and religious.”

Antonio continued to comment sharply in the draft of his travel notes: "The original purpose of organizing the guilds was to benefit the interests within the city walls, and the ones here were simply tools to facilitate the rule of officials."

Ibrahim's attempt to tighten control over industry and commerce to broaden financial sources made the citizens of a commercial republic uncomfortable: "What a misfortune that a businessman's success here depends mainly on the favor of the monarch rather than on talent!"

However, although Antonio was very critical of these things, he was still impressed by the wealth of the East when he saw the goods in Bazari: "When I was in the market, I felt that I was in the center of the world. If I were to run a caravan, , I will definitely choose here.”

The center of each community is the mosque. As a building complex, the mosque and its ancillary buildings basically fill the community's needs for public facilities. As the residence of the palace, the local mosque received additional funds for renovation, and all Antonio could see were beautifully restored buildings.

What surprised him even more was the clean streets. There were no beggars or other sneaky people on the street. This made him a little puzzled. After all, he was not an important person. Looking for someone? Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com The government will not spend this energy to clean them up temporarily.

Naturally, the government would not take temporary measures to improve the city's appearance just because of an ordinary traveler, because Ibrahim specifically ordered a long-term cleanup of idlers to improve the city's appearance, and the scope was not limited to Tabriz.

As for how to clean it? Of course, it relies on coercive means. The almshouses of various mosques will cooperate with the city's guard teams, and they will be forced to work. The most common ones are street cleaning and collecting sewage canal waste, which are tasks that ordinary citizens have little interest in. Positions are basically divided equally between idlers and outsiders who are discriminated against.

Only the destitute who are truly disabled, old, or too sick to do any work can sit in their rooms and eat relief meals every day.

In order to prevent rebellion, those who are forced to work will be forced to wear special uniforms. If anyone dares to escape or self-harm, he will be demoted to a slave owned by the royal family, and then sent to work in mines, farms or workshops. .

Of course, as a traveler, it is difficult for Antonio to know the dark side behind these charities. After learning a lot, he felt that Ibrahim, who ruled all of them, seemed a bit contradictory - the bandit who was impaled by the road, the Tabriz The tower of heads standing outside the city and some absurd, bloody but interesting rumors can show the cruelty and bloodthirsty of the King of Kings. However, he and the Queen invested heavily in renovating the city, helping the poor and treating Christians tolerantly. This made Antonio interest is more intense.

"I heard that the Sultan of Persia will appear at the Blue Mosque in the city on Juma every week. Maybe this is an opportunity to get to know him better." The Italian quickly planned his next trip. Tabriz is not The end was over, and he wanted to continue marching eastward to see how far away Ibrahim's rule could extend.