bookbashuk Page 2656
Page 2656
"Raise your guns!"
"Raise the crossbow!"
The flintlock muskets and crossbows fired in succession, while arrows from the opposite side also came flying in.
On the Ming army's side, two people died on the spot from arrow wounds, and more than twenty others were injured.
The enemy suffered greater casualties, with more dead and fewer wounded.
The firearms were incomprehensible to the Seljuk herders, who instinctively retreated and discussed what to do next.
After a while, these guys came back with renewed vigor, intending to charge straight into the enemy lines in one fell swoop.
Two hundred elite Ming cavalrymen were already fully armored. Zhu Xiaozhong personally led the charge, roaring, "Leave no one alive!"
Regular cavalrymen clad in medium armor would never take unarmored light cavalry seriously.
The Seljuk herders retreated while shooting arrows, but the Ming cavalry's warhorses were all wearing light armor and were not afraid of flying kites at all.
The Ming cavalry charged at full speed, and the enemy, while shooting and retreating, quickly closed the distance.
In a single encounter, the herdsmen's cavalry were routed, and no one dared to fire an arrow again; they all frantically spurred their horses and fled.
After nearly half a day of pursuit, Zhu Xiaozhong killed more than two hundred enemies and captured more than one hundred warhorses.
The remaining enemies eventually fled. They were lightly armed, fast on horseback, and more familiar with the terrain.
Back at the merchant's place, Zhu Xiaozhong grabbed him and asked, "Where are these bastards stationed?"
The merchant said, "It must be a joint effort by several tribes; one tribe wouldn't have this many cavalry."
"The nearest nomadic tribe is near Shiraz. They usually graze their livestock in the mountains and occasionally come out to rob caravans and farmers."
"Lead the way!" Zhu Xiaozhong ordered.
Zhu Xiaozhong was really angry. He had just learned of the situation and another wounded soldier had died.
That means three people died!
Led by the merchants, Zhu Xiaozhong dispatched cavalry to search, and finally discovered the tribal settlement in a mountain gully.
The able-bodied men were all gone; they had long since been killed and scattered.
Only the elderly, women, and children remained in the tribe. Enraged, Zhu Xiaozhong disregarded the situation and charged forward, hacking wildly at them.
Immediately afterwards, they burned all the tents and took back the livestock and valuables.
Moreover, they cut off the heads of the old, weak, women, and children, and tied them together with the heads of the herdsmen and cavalrymen, all of them, to their warhorses and continued their advance.
Cheng Yu sighed, "Alas!"
He really wanted to say that women and children didn't need to be killed, but in the end he didn't say anything.
Yu Yunwen said, "If even foreign missions dare to rob, what kind of chaos will the Seljuk country be in? This Sultan is incompetent in governing the country."
Hu Quan laughed and said, "The Seljuk envoys are still in Kaifeng proclaiming their king's enlightenment."
"What about allowing the coexistence of different religions, hiring scholars from various ethnic groups at high salaries, and the revival of Persian literature, etc."
“Under its rule, bandits roamed freely and agriculture was not thriving; such a country was doomed to perish sooner or later.”
Seljuk Sultan Sanjar is currently in Baghdad, personally overseeing and educating the Caliph.
Why did Your Majesty rebel?
This statement sounds humorous and comical, but it's actually quite troublesome for those in actual power.
Punish them severely; it will have a negative political impact.
Chapter 3639 The Kingdom of Scholars
If we don't punish them severely, the political impact will be even worse.
Ultimately, the only option was to carefully replace everyone around the Caliph.
A few were killed, a group were exiled, and a large number were transferred to other places.
Upon learning that the Ming Dynasty delegation had landed, Sanjar left behind his trusted confidant as governor of Baghdad and leisurely returned to Isfahan with his entourage and army.
When they set up camp halfway through the journey, he saw that while everyone else was resting, the scholar Anwari was writing and drawing on the ground.
Sanjar asked, "How many of the books you brought back from the Ming Dynasty have you studied?"
Anwari said, "I have finished reading 'Basic Mathematics' and am now studying 'Intermediate Mathematics'."
"The Great Ming Dynasty truly lives up to its reputation as the land of Taohuashi; its mathematical achievements are extremely high."
“Is it taller than Ibn Sina?” Sanjar asked.
Anwari said, "Ibn Sina's level of mathematics is roughly equivalent to 'Basic Mathematics' and a small part of 'Intermediate Mathematics'."
Both "Basic Mathematics" and "Intermediate Mathematics" were mathematics textbooks used in the Ming Dynasty.
This thing can be bought in bookstores, although Ming officials deliberately guided the Seljuk envoys to focus on literature and art.
However, the Seljuk envoy still secretly bought a few science books and took them with him.
Sanjar exclaimed in shock, "Has the scholarship of the Ming Dynasty actually surpassed that of Ibn Sina?"
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Anwari said, “Although Ibn Sina is a guiding light for my thoughts, I must admit that he is no match for the scholars of the Ming Dynasty.”
Sanjar said, "Then we should continue our exchanges with the Ming Dynasty."
The person they were referring to, Ibn Sina, was a great Persian scholar from a hundred years ago, and is revered in later generations as the "Father of Medicine".
He began studying logic and natural sciences at the age of ten, and cured the emperor (of the Persian Bouvet dynasty) of his illness at the age of seventeen.
The Persian emperor wanted to reward him handsomely, but Ibn Sina had only one request: free access to the emperor's library.
He believes that there are two possibilities for the formation of mountains: one is that the land is uplifted by earthquakes, and the other is that the ground is eroded by wind and rain.
He believes that the land and sea have changed hands many times throughout the Earth's long history.
He pioneered the scientific classification of rocks and minerals.
He discovered parasites in the human body while using anesthetics during surgery.
His medical papers cover multiple areas, including gastric ulcers, diabetes, and fetal blood flow in the womb.
There are also medical monographs on decoctions, herbs, anatomy, and nutrition.
He also wrote on philosophy, literature, chemistry, biology, music, physics, logic, astronomy, and other subjects.
He has a total of 276 books and papers, which are currently stored in the Isfahan Library, waiting for the Ming Dynasty envoys to exchange them for treasures!
The man before us, Anvari, was a renowned philosopher, writer, and mathematician.
Anwari often wrote poems to flatter his superiors, but he also wrote many poems of moral exhortation and satire, advising kings and officials to govern with benevolence and love for the people.
……
As soon as Sanjar returned to Isfahan, an official came running up to him and whispered, "Your Majesty, the Ming delegation was attacked by several nomadic tribes in the northwest of Shiraz."
"Our accompanying officials were killed, three soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were killed, and another twenty or thirty were wounded."
"The Ming army massacred the nomadic tribes in the mountains near Shiraz, and women and children were beheaded."
"Shiraz, Shiraz... very good!" Sanjar was furious.
It was once the largest city in Persia, but after being razed to the ground by the Seljuks, it has now been redeveloped into the fourth largest city in the Seljuks.
The nomadic tribes of Shiraz dared to disrespect the Sultan!
It's one thing to plunder ordinary merchants, but these were a delegation from the Ming Dynasty. Doesn't the Sultan have any shame?
Sanjar summoned his nephew: "Take your troops to Shiraz immediately and investigate which tribes were involved in the attack."
“All the men were slaughtered, and the women and children were enslaved.”
This sultan was wise and tolerant, yet also incredibly cruel.
After dealing with this mess, Sanjar personally went to inspect the "tribute".
At the very least, he believed it to be a tribute from the Ming Dynasty.
Five bolts of the finest Shu brocade, five bolts of the finest velvet, twelve pieces of the finest porcelain, and twelve pieces of the finest lacquerware.
There are ten carvings, two of which are miniature carvings and require a magnifying glass to appreciate.
A crystal magnifying glass.
A half-foot square gilded framed mercury glass mirror.
A composite cotton armor with embedded steel plates.
Twenty catties of premium black tea.
One hundred wax beetle candles.
Sanjar immediately noticed the cotton armor, which resembled a cloth garment decorated with many rivets.
He picked it up and weighed it in his hand; it was several dozen kilograms heavy. He immediately knew there was something special inside.
Upon closer inspection, there were indeed many nail plates.
"Put on your armor," Sanjar said to the guard beside him.
The guards quickly donned their armor and stood in place, waiting for the Sultan to conduct the experiment.
Sanjar drew his sword and slashed several times, only to find that he couldn't even cut through the cotton layer, let alone the layer of armor plates underneath.
Chapter 3640 The Seljuk Empire
His eyes lit up immediately: "What a treasure! Have the craftsmen mend the damaged outer layer!"
Then he picked up the glass mirror, which was more transparent and flawless than the one brought back by the Seljuk envoy.
Sanjar admired himself in the mirror repeatedly, and soon became so impressed with his own handsomeness that he immediately decreed, "No one is allowed to touch this mirror except for me and the Queen!"
He then examined the other treasures, and he liked each and every one of them.
Sanjar, unaware of the purpose of the black tea, mistakenly believed it to be some kind of oriental elixir.
As for the white candles, although he didn't know what their special features were, he still instructed someone to keep them safe.
That evening, he ate and drank using the finest porcelain plates, cups, and bowls.
According to the doctrine, drinking alcohol is forbidden, but the religious atmosphere in Seljuk is very tolerant and open.
Nobles generally drank alcohol and would invite scholars from various religions as advisors; it was quite normal for a sultan to have a monk by his side.
After dinner, the queen looked at herself in the mirror again and again, and even slept under her pillow that night.
The following day, Sanjar warmly received the Ming envoy.
He prepared a sumptuous feast of food and wine, and invited many nobles and scholars to accompany him.
The main seat was covered with an exquisite Persian carpet, and a small table-like object was placed on the carpet to serve as a table.
The Sultan and Queen sat at one end of the tea table, while the Ming Dynasty's chief and deputy envoys sat at the other end.
The rest of the people sat on either side below, also on carpets.
Among the crowd, dancers were performing.
Sanjar said, "I have received your emperor's gift."
"I have decided to send another envoy to the Ming Dynasty to return the favor with a batch of precious gifts. Just tell me what you want."
Cheng Yu said, "I have heard that Seljuk has written many great works, which His Majesty has long admired and hopes to read."
"Your Majesty, I have also heard that the Seljuk warhorses are extremely fine. Please provide twenty stallions and twenty mares."
“That’s no problem,” Sanjar said. “You let the scholars into the Sultan’s Library, and if they see a book they like, they can take it with them if there’s a copy, and have someone copy it if there isn’t one.”
"Send your generals to my horse farm again. Apart from my favorite few, you can take any of the rest that you like."
Cheng Yu added, “Our country does not understand Persian and Turkic languages. We request Your Majesty the Sultan to send a scholar to the Ming Dynasty to translate the books brought back.”
"When this scholar arrives in the Ming Dynasty, His Majesty the Emperor will bestow upon him an official position."
“Haha, that’s easy to do,” Sanjar agreed with a smile.
Anwari, the most learned scholar of the Seljuks, volunteered, saying, "Your Majesty the Sultan, I am willing to go to the Great Ming Kingdom."