Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Italy's four major maritime republics, ranked in terms of national strength, are: Pisa, Amalfi, Genoa, and Venice.

When the Ming fleet arrived at the Red Sea, the boss and the second child were fighting.

Both sides each dispatched hundreds of ships, fighting in and out for two or three months in many areas of the Mediterranean.

In the end, the Amalfi Republic was defeated. The Republic of Pisa won a great victory and once again consolidated its Mediterranean hegemony.

The Republic of Pisa is particularly powerful now. In addition to its own local territory, it also occupies Sicily, Corsica, Tunisia, and Carthage. And actively participated in the Crusades, helping the Crusaders transport logistics, troops and population, and gaining control of some cities in the Crusader countries.

The actual territory controlled by the Republic of Pisa already spans three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa!

Fulk returned to the royal city of Jerusalem with mirrors, silks and porcelain, and immediately summoned the merchants of the four major republics.

"This is a sacred mirror!"

Fulk held the glass mirror high and said: "The King of Kings in Seris in the East, knowing that I rule Jerusalem, specially gave me this sacred mirror."

"Look at the top of the frame. It is a natural sun-shaped flower pearl. It is a masterpiece of God, condensed from the glory of God in the world. This mirror is so clear and translucent, it can reflect all the evil in the world."

"I named it the Sun Mirror. I, Fulk, King of Jerusalem, will be called the Sun King from now on!"

The merchants slowly approached, looked at the pearl carefully, and then looked at the mirror.

As expected, it was as clear as lake water, and could even clearly illuminate every pore on people's faces.

"Your majesty, the great Sun King, may the Lord bless you."

The businessmen began to flatter him.

A merchant from the Republic of Pisa asked: "How many gold coins can I buy for this sunglasses?"

Fulk said: "It is a gift from God, it is a priceless treasure. It is not for sale!"

The merchants from the four countries were so greedy that if Fulk was willing to raise a price, they would buy the iron regardless of the price.

If it were sold in Europe, the price would definitely be several castles, as well as the land and people around the castle.

Fulk took out silk, porcelain, lacquerware, candles... all samples. Fulk didn't bring much money, so he could only buy a little of each.

"Look at this silk. Not only is it more exquisite than the silk of the Egyptians, Persians, and Arabs, but it is also cheaper than them. Because those pagan silks were also trafficked from Seris."

"Look at this kind of porcelain again. Have you ever seen such a huge and perfect porcelain?"

"This kind of lacquerware is countless times more expensive than the lacquerware you can buy in the Mediterranean. It is the royal accessory of the King of Kings of Seris."

"Even candles are far superior to Mediterranean candles. When this kind of candle burns, it produces very little smoke and has a fragrance, unlike the pungent smell of Mediterranean candles. This kind of candle will become the focus of banquets of nobles from various countries... …”

"There are also tea leaves. Do you know what tea leaves are? It is a creation of Siris, the King of Kings. It is made from leaves picked from the sacred tree and baked. The Siris people say that tea can be brewed with boiling water or After soaking, add sugar and milk. Seris’s King of Kings, drink tea every day to delay aging!”

"This is paper from Seris, so white and flawless, it can stay for hundreds of years without turning yellow..."

Merchants from the four countries already know that the Chinese fleet has arrived, because the Egyptians are also reselling these goods, but the news has not yet been officially sold!

The merchants carefully inspected all the goods, looked at them, touched them again and again.

Finally someone asked: "Egypt is also going to sell goods and invite us to come over in the fall."

Fulk said: "The price of buying goods from me will always be 10% lower than that of the Egyptians! However, you need to lend me money to purchase goods. Whoever borrows the most money and has the lowest interest rate will give him the most goods. share. And the money I borrowed can be used to offset the payment.”

"When can we get the goods?" the merchants asked.

Fulk said: "When you lend me the money, you can see the goods in twenty days. If everything goes well, the goods can be delivered in fifteen days."

The merchants asked again: "How many oriental goods are there in Port Halim?"

"There are five big ships, and the cabins are all full of cargo," Fulk laughed. "They are real big ships, bigger than all your merchant ships."

The merchants asked: "Can we go directly to Port Helim to trade? As long as the transaction is successful, we will pay taxes to His Majesty."

Fulk shook his head: "No."

The merchants dispersed, and some of them had already returned home, notifying the dukes and earls of the Republic to organize more merchants and gold and silver to come and eat the goods.

They can’t be eaten alone!

They also need to agree with each other to unify the price when shipping to Europe and negotiate the monthly shipment volume.

There are so many luxury goods that they can stock up and sell for several years!

Others went to Egypt to inquire about the prices and quantities of goods there. Soon they learned that Egypt had bought more Chinese goods, and the nobles and wealthy people in Cairo were already rushing to buy them.

As for Fulk, he was summoning the nobles of the country.

He promised to give each noble a small share and sell it at a lower price, so that all nobles could make a profit. The premise is that the nobles must lend him money to purchase goods.

For a time, Jerusalem became extremely harmonious, and no one was clamoring to overthrow the king's rule.

Some nobles took their money and troops and quietly crossed the desert to trade with the Chinese fleet.

As a result, Fulk's army has been guarding the oasis closest to the port, and no one is allowed to continue to go to the port of Hailim.

This made the nobles who wanted to trade privately very unhappy, but they did not dare to start a rebellion. Because their behavior would attract more resentment and jealousy from the nobles.

...

Cairo.

The monarch of the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt was actually a caliph.

But except for the Fatimids themselves, most Muslims in other places did not recognize his legitimacy.

Therefore, Fulk jokingly called him the "King of Egypt".

The doctrine has been ruined here. The Egyptian caliph a hundred years ago even called himself the incarnation of God.

However, the Fatimid dynasty did not experience large-scale wars, and the science, culture, and art here were much more prosperous than those in Persia.

Chen Wo, the Ming envoy who led the team to Cairo, was standing in the Royal Library at this moment, surrounded by densely packed books - more than 200,000 volumes!

Philosophy, mathematics, medicine, logic, astronomy, and navigation were extremely developed here, and even systematic optical works appeared.

For example, Ibn Haitham was proficient in mathematics, philosophy, and natural sciences. His "Book of Optics" had a profound impact on European optics and inspired Kepler and Newton.

"What is the name of this book?" Chen Wo asked.

The Egyptian scholar next to him answered through the merchant's translation: "Porphyry's Introduction to Logic."

In fact, the merchant didn't know how to translate it, and directly transliterated "logic" as "Ruo Ji".

Chen Wo asked again: "What about this one?"

"Aristotle's Ethics."

"Who are Porphyry and Aristotle?"

"Great philosophers of ancient Rome and Greece."

"Which country is Rome? Which country is Greece?"

"..."

Although the Fatimid Dynasty was an Egyptian Islamic regime, it had a deep academic and cultural exchange with Byzantium.

The two countries exchanged what they had and studied each other's academics.

Even for most of the time, they allowed each other's churches and temples to exist in their territories.

Only the caliph who claimed to be the incarnation of God a hundred years ago ordered the destruction of Christian churches and immediately attracted the revenge of Byzantium.

After the caliph was assassinated, the two countries quickly reached a religious reconciliation. Each side promised to help the other, restore churches and temples in their own countries, and allow each other's believers to live and migrate freely.

"Dear envoy, the caliph invites you." A court official came over.

The Egyptian caliph was called Hafez, and he succeeded to the throne at the same time as King Fulk of Jerusalem.

However, Hafez was succeeded by his cousin, and Fulk was succeeded by his son-in-law.

Hafez overthrew his infant cousin and made his cousin disappear completely. Then, he frantically slaughtered his cousin's supporters, even killing the leader of the sect, earning himself the name of "butcher", and the mainstream sects in the country split again.

The nobles and officials of this country have become hereditary.

The caliph has been in a "protected" state for a long time, and the real power is the military leader, and the power of the Mamluks is growing rapidly.

"Greetings, Your Majesty!" Chen Wo bowed.

Shangjia automatically translated as Caliph.

Hafiz smiled and said, "I am very satisfied with the gifts presented by your country. I can agree to your request. You can copy the books in the Caliph's library and take them away. I originally wanted to exempt you from the port tax, but the tax is collected by officials, and I can't interfere with domestic taxes. In return, I will give you a lot of gold and silver treasures."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Chen Wo smiled.

After another exchange, Chen Wo took his leave and left.

Hafiz took out a glass mirror and looked at it again and again.

This mirror is also inlaid with pearls, but it has a moon-shaped appearance, which just fits the aesthetic.

Behind Hafiz, a Mamluk officer was peeking at the mirror with his eyes shining.

Coincidentally, Hafiz also noticed the look of his guard through the reflection of the mirror.

He pretended to know nothing, but in his heart he was thinking about how to kill the guard without causing a rebellion among the Mamluks.

Chen Wo strolled around Cairo under the protection of soldiers.

Passing by a shop, it was crowded with customers, selling Chinese goods just shipped from the port.

The most popular item was candles.

After all, other goods have appeared before.

But this special white wax insect candle was the first time it appeared in Egypt. It is said that there is no smoke and it can emit fragrance, and the rich want to buy one or two to show off.

The guys were busy, and the shopkeeper stood aside and boasted to the customers: "My old friend, this time he came back with the Ming fleet. He said that everyone in the Ming Dynasty can wear silk, and even beggars can afford white candles. Cow's milk and goat's milk are always incomplete, and the leftovers are poured into the river every day. So the fish in the river are raised on milk, and the taste is unusually delicious and sweet..."