choke element

Chapter 1051 Baghdad (Part )
Fortunately, there were no obstacles on the way forward.

The mission, escorted by cavalry, traveled westward along the river, encountering security forces sent by the local governor many times along the way, so although they were harassed by bandits, it did not delay their journey.

On two other occasions, the guide assured them that a village ahead would provide accommodation, water and supplies for the delegation. However, when they arrived, they found that the entire village had been destroyed, the blood of the dead mixed with the gravel, and the bodies had been dried by the wind. As a result, the entire team had to hurry up and arrive at the next scheduled camp ahead of time.

However, this situation no longer occurred as the delegation gradually approached Baghdad. It was obvious that the fortresses and checkpoints along the road were becoming more and more dense, the troops' patrols and inquiries were becoming more and more strict, the troops' equipment was becoming more and more sophisticated, and the road was becoming safer and safer.

On the other hand, we must admit that the Arab soldiers who appeared later showed more and more relaxed spirit. Their posture on horseback was obviously different from that of real warriors. Some cavalrymen had no armor under their black robes, but were wrapped in gorgeous silk from the East. When they waved to the delegation, the sharp-eyed members of the delegation said that they could not see any calluses on their hands.

In the last few days of the trip, some people who looked like local officials kept chattering with the delegation. According to the interpreter, they wanted to do some business before the nobles in Baghdad, get some porcelain or silk in advance, and at the same time asked the delegation to bring one of their relatives or slaves to Baghdad so that they would have the opportunity to show off their own skills.

To be honest, if foreign envoys came to the Great Zhou, the laws of the Great Zhou would never allow local officials to communicate with the envoys without authorization. These Arabs were lax, and they were really lax to a frightening degree.

Only at certain specific times, when everyone knelt and kowtowed without thinking, it became more and more uniform.

The members of the delegation generally did not have such strong beliefs. The Great Zhou Dynasty allowed all kinds of religions to do what they wanted, except for the Quanzhen Sect, which had the duty of worshipping heroes and martyrs, so it received a little preferential treatment. So when everyone first saw this kind of worship that was repeated every day, they were quite curious and discussed it.

After that, seeing their pious expressions revealing a sense of awe, everyone dared not disturb them anymore. Later, everyone simply calculated the time and got off the road in advance every time, taking the opportunity to drink water, eat, and cool off, waiting for them to finish kowtowing before continuing on their way.

It was not yet time for prayer that day, and everyone was riding slowly with tarpaulins on their heads to protect themselves from the sun. Suddenly, they saw several Arab guides in front of them dismounted and knelt devoutly in the distance. With these guides taking the lead, the cavalry, herdsmen, servants and others following behind also stopped and dismounted. The whole team suddenly became shorter, like the wind blowing the grass.

The team stopped suddenly, and the dust raised by the horse and camel caravans in front slowly settled, as if a curtain was drawn.

The members of the delegation lifted their scarves and looked ahead, only to see a white wall stretching out in front of them, reflecting dazzling colors in the sun. Behind the wall were layers of buildings with tall curved or round roofs, and the tops of those metal or stone buildings were also emitting light.

Everyone looked at the magnificent city that suddenly appeared, and couldn't help but be fascinated by it. Shi Tianze was untying his headscarf and wiping his face with a wet cloth. He was shocked by the huge city and raised his hand halfway, but a gust of yellow sand blew over and stuck to his sweaty face.

At the front of the team, there were the sounds of footsteps. It was the Arab cavalry captain running towards them.

Along the way, sometimes he tried his best to slaughter the bandits who blocked the road to demonstrate the empire's strong military power; sometimes he wanted to explain that the empire's control over the local area was still solid, and the subjects were united, so the petty thieves who were everywhere were not worth mentioning; sometimes he had to tell the envoys that some subjects were actually heretics and must die... These three things were so contradictory that it was impossible for them to appear at the same time, but the cavalry captain had to make his words sound smooth no matter what. The entanglement really made him very tired and made the members of the delegation quite sympathetic.

But at this moment, the embarrassment on his face finally disappeared, and only pride remained. He straightened his chest and said loudly:

"Messengers from the East! Look, that is the city of God, the city of peace, the eternal city! It is Baghdad, the common capital of all believers in Allah from the East to West Africa, from emperors to beggars! We are in Baghdad!"

Following his call, the cavalry, shepherds and servants all raised their hands and sang loudly.

This strong sense of pride made the delegation members feel awe-inspiring.

Before setting off, the delegation had done their homework carefully. They had long heard of the reputation of Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Dynasty.

In the past few hundred years, the heart of the Han Dynasty has been constantly changing with the change of dynasties, from Chang'an to Kaifeng, from Kaifeng to Lin'an, and now it has become Zhongdu Daxingfu. But the heart of the Arab Empire has always been in Baghdad, and it has not changed in 500 years.

After the establishment of the Abbasid Dynasty, the capital was initially located in Anbar, on the upper reaches of the Euphrates River. Mansur, the second caliph of the empire, believed that Anbar was too remote and inconvenient to be the capital of a large country, so he surveyed everywhere and finally chose a place on the right bank of the Tigris River and named it Baghdad.

He said that this place is an excellent camp. The Tigris River here can connect us with distant China and bring us all kinds of seafood and grain from Mesopotamia, Armenia and the surrounding areas. The Euphrates River here can bring us the products of Syria, Regai and the surrounding areas.

So he spent four years and 4,883,000 dirhams to recruit numerous architects and technicians from Syria, Mesopotamia and other parts of the empire to build this magnificent capital. You should know that an architect's monthly income was only 30 dirhams. This shows the huge scale of the project.

The city was circular, divided into the outer city, inner city and imperial city, with three walls, each with four gates. Outside the city, there was the huge Eternal Palace and noble mansions, with a population of more than one million, merchants gathered there, and markets and shops were lined up, not inferior to any other large city in the Han Dynasty.

In the past few years, the market in Baghdad that specializes in selling Chinese silk, porcelain, tea and other commodities has more than 2,000 to 3,000 Han merchants. The profits brought by these 2,000 to 3,000 people are enough to drive the migration and expansion of tens of thousands of people in the Great Zhou Dynasty to the South China Sea and other places every year.

Based on this understanding, Yuan Haowen and others had already imagined the scale of Baghdad, but what they saw at this time still made everyone extremely excited.

During the 11,000-mile voyage, they had seen various regimes that were called countries but were actually tribes, and some cities that were called capitals but were actually not as good as a local village in Han territory. There were also various arrogant people, and although they had become less and less in the past two years, the delegation would always run into a few of them and become the butt of jokes.

Having seen and heard so much, even though they knew that there were mountains of gold and silver along this sea route, they could not help but look down on various countries when evaluating them, thinking that foreign countries could not be compared with China after all. Even the Arab Empire, which was said to be comparable to China, was probably exaggerated by maritime merchants.

Until now, when they saw Baghdad, everyone was sure that no matter how the Abbasid dynasty was governed, no matter how it would fall apart or end, the city itself was so brilliant that it could be compared with anything Haner had built.

There was a commotion in the team, and even Yuan Haowen, who was mature, capable, and well-informed, could not help but get a little excited. He clapped his hands, called on his entourage, and asked them to prepare the ceremonial guards for the delegation, and urged everyone to tidy up their clothes and faces to ensure that the delegation would be graceful when entering the city and live up to the majesty of the great Chinese nation.

(End of this chapter)