Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Not to mention sending an envoy to the Ming Dynasty, Pope Eugene III was so miserable that he couldn't even have three meals a day.

As soon as this guy ascended to the throne of the Pope, he was kicked out of Rome by a low-level Jingluo priest.

The shabby priest at the bottom was particularly awesome. He angrily denounced the Pope as a bloodthirsty man and claimed that the Roman Cardinals were a group of robbers. He also advocated the abolition of the secular power of the pope and believed that clergy must return to the poor state of the apostolic era.

Incited by these words, the Roman citizens expelled the pope from Rome, rebuilt the Temple of Jupiter, and elected consuls and senate...

Pope Eugene III fled and is now sending envoys to various countries to borrow money to solve survival problems.

He heard that the county of Edessa had been destroyed, so his abacus began to click, and he told everyone he met that he would organize a second crusade. As long as this is done, he can regain his prestige and use the Crusade to return to his loyal Rome.

But looking across Europe, only King Louis VII of France responded to the call.

This Louis VII was also young and frivolous. He had set fire to churches and had broken with the Holy See for many years. Now that he suddenly became pious, he naturally had small plans, but the French nobles did not like him.

Nowadays, a pope who was kicked out of Rome and a king who burned churches are the only two who are clamoring for a second crusade.

European piety is evident here.

The Pope could not send an envoy to the Ming Dynasty, but the Byzantine Emperor could!

Well, people call it East Rome.

The Eastern Roman Emperor Manuel I took the throne less than two years ago, and his ascension process was a bit like that of Hu Hai.

His father died in the army far away from the capital. He quickly handled the funeral and gained the support of the army, and led the army back to Constantinople in a hurry.

As for his elder brother, he had an impatient personality and was not suitable for being an emperor, so he arrested him and placed him under house arrest.

This was a hero who revived Eastern Rome and was known as the "Great Emperor" and "God-Emperor" in history.

Although he has only been on the throne for more than a year, he has already repelled the backstabs of the Principality of Antioch, and fought many battles with the Seljuqs when he was a prince.

Last year, Manuel I took advantage of Fulk's death to ask for the sunglasses from his widow, the Queen of Jerusalem.

The Queen flatly refused, claiming that it was the Mirror of Heaven and that only the King of Jerusalem could possess it.

Artush, the Minister of Guan Ming, said: "Your Majesty, the empire is now surrounded by enemies on all sides. The Seljuks in the east and the Normans (Kingdom of Sicily) in the west are the threats that need to be eliminated most urgently. We should first talk to the Germans (HRE) ) reach a settlement, then use the Crusaders to hold off the Seljuks, and then concentrate on defeating those Norman barbarians!”

King Manuel I asked: "How to reconcile with the Germans?"

"Marry a German noblewoman," Artus said. "The sister-in-law of the German king (Emperor HRE) is not yet married. I heard that she is a lady with noble moral character and is fully qualified to become the leader of our great Roman Empire. Queen."

King Manuel I nodded: "This is a good suggestion. If we can use marriage to solve the conflicts in the north, I can free up my energy to do more things."

Artus continued: "The imperial navy is too weak, and Norman barbarians (Sicilians) often plunder our merchant ships and ports. Now we should build a strong navy and give the Venetians trade privileges so that the Venetians can help us Defeat the Normans together."

"I hate both the Normans and the Venetians," said Manuel.

Artus smiled and said: "First use the Venetians to defeat the Normans. When our navy becomes truly powerful, it will not be too late to turn against the Venetians. By then, the merchant ships of the Roman Empire will be able to sail across the Mediterranean and continuously obtain those precious things. of Oriental goods.”

Manuel thought about it carefully and said: "The Venetians are greedy and stupid. As long as you give them enough benefits, you can really take advantage of them easily. Speaking of oriental goods, the sunglasses in Jerusalem were really bought from the mahogany merchants. ”

Atush said: "Your Majesty, please do not be deceived. The so-called sunglass is just a peach mirror. I heard that the King of Egypt also has one in his hand."

"Jur Khan from Lower Maohua Stone defeated the arrogant Seljuk Sultan," Manuel said. "There are also those exquisite mahogany stone goods. I am very interested in the distant mahogany stone empire. Perhaps, I can send a mission to visit Emperor Peach Blossom Stone with gifts and letters."

Atush said: "As you wish, your great Majesty."

Envoys from the Eastern Roman Empire could easily enter the Red Sea.

One route is to take Jerusalem and cross the desert to Aqaba, which is where the Ming envoys traded with the Crusaders in the past few years.

But there are no ocean-going ships there, only some small offshore boats engaged in smuggling.

Moreover, this kind of smuggling seems quite a joke. A group of money-minded Arab small businessmen purchased Eastern goods in the Persian Gulf, shipped them quietly, and resold them to the Crusaders, the sworn enemies of the Arab world, at high prices.

Another route is to Cairo and take a boat from a Red Sea port to the east.

Although Eastern Rome and Egypt were mortal enemies of each other, they recognized and respected each other, and even allowed each other's citizens to build pagan temples in their own countries.

Manuel sent a note to the King of Egypt, and the two parties happily reached a consensus that the Eastern Roman mission could use the passage to go to the Ming Dynasty.

…

The second generation of officials traveled around the Chola Kingdom, and the South Indian temples were quite spectacular.

The essence of Chola art lies in the bronze statues. Its bronze statue making techniques are the best in the world, even surpassing those of the Ming Dynasty at this time.

This was of course due to official encouragement. While the Cholas were building temples across the country, they also cast majestic and exquisite bronze statues of gods.

After visiting more than ten Brahmin temples, Fan Chengda couldn't help but sigh: "There is really no shortage of copper here. The bronze statues are bigger than the last."

Bai Shihou was playing with a Chola copper coin and couldn't help complaining: "Is this thing a king? Why does it look like an octopus?"

"It's indeed very similar." Lu You said with a smile.

This Zhuluo copper coin was commonly known as "Octopus Man Copper Coin" in later collectors' circles.

But it is indeed a king. On the front, the king is sitting with his legs bent, holding a lotus, and the Sanskrit word "Auspicious Luo Jia Luo Jia" is cast. On the back is a standing statue of the king, with a lamppost on the left and a mantra and lotus on the right.

What's even more ridiculous is that this copper coin contains gold and is golden in color.

Five people were talking nonsense there, and one person was watching intently.

Here is a newly built temple with murals being painted by South Indian painters.

Wang Lianqing held a small notebook in his hand and kept writing and drawing records. He even wrote down how the painter's assistant mixed the lime mud.

A layman looks at the excitement, an expert looks at the door.

Wang Lianqing has already understood the composition of Zhuluo murals after visiting it in the past few days. It is divided into columns up and down, juxtaposed to the left and right, and a complex composition is developed with a statue of a god or a building as the center.

The style is extremely bright and gorgeous, the details are complex and exquisite, and the colors are bright and visually impactful.

Wang Lianqing plans to learn some techniques and combine them with Chinese mural techniques to create paintings in palaces or temples in the future.

There were many murals in the imperial palace of the Northern Song Dynasty.

At this time, Chinese painting art was still mainly following the realistic route, and perspective techniques had been mastered by painters.

…

When Wang Lianqing returned to Wangxiang Port with his friends with many copy drawings, the treasure hunting trio had already purchased the goods and were ready to set sail.

An Arab fleet also arrived at the port.

The Arab merchants said to the Eastern Roman envoy: "Dear Prime Minister, my merchant ship is here. But you don't have to worry, this port has been occupied by the peach stone people, and there are many peach stone merchant ships going back and forth every year. You only need to go and see the governor. , you will receive a warm reception.”

The leader of the Eastern Roman mission was Aksukh, who served as the commander-in-chief of the military, the last prime minister, and in charge of the national seal.

He was once a Turkic slave, the old emperor's childhood friend, and the old emperor's most trusted lifelong friend.

The new emperor can ascend to the throne as the youngest son, and it is inseparable from Aksukh's support!

Before Aksukh set out, the new emperor Manuel said to him: "Uncle, you should know that the Roman Empire was able to be revived in the hands of my father precisely because my father appointed many foreigners as ministers. The Roman aristocracy has long been decadent. It's unbearable, the Roman system has lagged behind the times. I will continue my father's work and introduce more excellent foreign systems..."

"Taohuashi is a powerful country, and it must have something worth learning from me. Others who are sent to Taohuashi as envoys cannot understand those systems, but only you, uncle, can understand them. I want to reform the Roman Empire and let it regain its great glory. . I want to learn the good things from the West, and I also want to learn the good things from the East.”

"Uncle, you are the only one who has no interest in religion and treats all religions equally. If other ministers are sent as envoys to Peach Blossom Stone, they will definitely resist the truly excellent things of Peach Blossom Stone because of their different religions and customs."

The reason why Manuel was able to revive Eastern Rome was because he was not influenced by tradition.

His mother was Hungarian and his wife was German. After his father died, he left him a bunch of foreign ministers. There were even pagans among those ministers.

The most outrageous thing is that Aksukh, a Turkic slave, actually became the commander-in-chief of Eastern Rome, the last minister of the interior, and the minister of seals.

Now, the Eastern Roman emperor wanted to examine the Ming Dynasty system and draw on advanced experience to carry out a series of reforms.

Hiring an interpreter on an Arab merchant ship, Aksuhe soon met Xia Yuqing.

The translator said to Xia Yuqing: "To the west of Tianfang, there is only one emperor, and that is the Roman Emperor (Shenra was ignored). This gentleman is the prime minister and commander-in-chief of Rome. He was ordered to go to the Ming Dynasty as an envoy and asked the Governor to help arrange vessel."

The sound of "Governor" made Xia Yuqing happy, and he bowed his hands and said: "Welcome to the Ming Dynasty as our envoy to the Ming Dynasty. There are just a few ships ready to return."

Two days later, the Eastern Roman envoy boarded the treasure-hunting trio's ship and stayed in the cabin next to the six second-generation officials.