Chapter 47: Aba was happily baptized, and Julia was depressed to get married.
As for Yan Han, Aba still doesn't know much about him for the time being and doesn't regard Yan Han as an important enemy or potential ally. The two countries are separated by the majestic Caucasus Mountains, which is inconvenient to communicate with each other. Moreover, there are several countries in the Caucasus, which are not large but very difficult to conquer. These countries are:
Kingdom of Georgia. One of the three ancient countries of the Caucasus, believing in the Orthodox Church.
Kingdom of Armenia. One of the three ancient states of the Caucasus is the earliest Christian country in the world. It has been inherited, but it did not follow the Byzantine Orthodox Church, but converted to Catholicism.
Kingdom of Azerbaijan. One of the three ancient countries of the Caucasus believes in Islam.
The small Caucasus region, crowded with these three countries, has different beliefs and has been attacking each other. In Zhao's world, these three countries fought until modern times until they were annexed by Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, they regained their independence and became three contradictory neighbors.
In addition to these three enemies, there are also two small emirates. These two small emirates are called Chechnya and Ingush. Although it is small, it is very famous. Chechnya, in particular, has been known for its unrulyness since ancient times.
The Caucasus is east Slavic to the north and Persia to the south. Decades ago, the Golden Horde army conquered the East Slavic region, and the Illi army also conquered the Persian region. The Caucasus countries were surrounded by Mongolian forces, like an isolated island in the sea, but they could still maintain their independence. This is because the Caucasian peoples are very tough - difficult to fight; the products of various countries are very poor - they are of little value; and the terrain in this area is very complicated - not only difficult to fight, but also difficult to maintain the rule even if it is taken down.
Between the Black Sea and the world's largest lake, the world's largest lake, the Caucasus Mountains, are towering, not only the highest mountain in Europe, Mount Elbrus, but also covering all the top ten peaks in Europe. The terrain is inevitably very rugged and complex when it rises from sea level to more than 5,000 meters in a short distance. When the Mongolian army invaded, it felt very tricky, so they did not eliminate the Caucasus countries, as long as they paid tribute.
Ababa Khan and Mikhail VIII reached a consensus and concluded an alliance, so they happily accepted the baptism of Byzantine priests and converted to the Orthodox Church. Mikhail sent a guard to escort Julia to Taburid, the capital of the Illi Khanate, to marry Ababa.
Aba is very fond of the delicate young princess, but she is old and can't work... Julia is very depressed, but there is nothing she can do! With rich culture, she misses Byzantium very much and looks down on the Mongolian women around her. It didn't take long for me to have a lot of conflicts with Aba's wives and daughters. Julia has a sense of superiority over Mongolian women. Mongolian women don't buy her money, so her life becomes more and more empty and boring, immersed in the sad autumn of jealous beauty.
In the Elli Khan family, only one girl is good to Julia. This girl is called Du Lan, and she is the daughter of Abba's younger brother Teqdi. Julia also looked at Du Lan differently, because Du Lan was the most beautiful Mongolian woman she had seen, and she was smart, gentle, and very tolerant of the arrogance and rudeness when Julia first came. Slowly, Julia and Du Lan became friends. If there is anyone else in the Khanate who can listen to her, the only thing they can do is Du Lan.
However, Dulan was married to King Dimitel of Georgia for political reasons. Because Georgia is an Orthodox country, after Ababa converted to the Orthodox Church, he has to engthen Georgia to strengthen control over the Caucasus.
Politics! Julia hates politics! Because of politics, she was forced to leave Byzantine and marry the old man; because of politics, her only Mongolian friend Lan was forced to marry the arrogant Georgian king she did not love. So Julia is even more lonely and lives like a year.
Out of his love for Julia, Abba sent his younger brother Tucker to accompany her to hunt and play. Aba has a lot of diseases and can't run well. Because Julia is Dulan's father, Julia is quite intimate and can still speak a little.
According to Mongolian customs, if the elder brother's wife and concubine does not have children, they will become the younger brother's concubine after his death. This is beneficial for improving women's fertility and population reproduction. Although Julia doesn't like such "barb customs", she must follow the customs when she enters the countryside. She is thinking: "It seems that Abba will not live long, so she is likely to become the wife of Tekodi... In this case, how can they not help him?"
Although Julia is a woman, she is also influenced by her father Mikhaile and knows some political means. So she helped Tekodi establish a party member and seek to succeed to the throne for Tekodi.
If Abba dies, Julia is doomed to become Teddy's wife and concuy - because Abba can't even do **, Julia can't give birth to a child for him, and according to the rules, she has to marry his second brother Tecki. It is not certain who will fall into the hands of the Khanate. Because Ababa has a biological son, Algon, and he is about to become an adult. In addition, Aba has a third brother who is also qualified to succeed.
Which one can become the next king of Khan? Julia had the intention to help the dict, and the dict unconsciously had an advantage. Julia spoke sweetly to Abba, adding subordinates to Tecdi and expanding the size of the Tecdi's personal guard.
The Guards are called "Wei Xue" in Mongolian, which was founded by Genghis Khan. According to the current system of the Illi Khanate, King Khan has four battalions of guards, and the prince and the prince each have a battalion of guards. Yu Lusi, the general in charge of the personal guards of the Fourth Battalion of Abahail, is the youngest son of Zhebel, one of the famous Genghis Khan's four mastiffs. Ulusi inherited the status and courage of Zhebei, and he was the highest among the generals of the Illi Khanate.
Julia pulled in Ruth, and she was flattered. Originally, he was neutral, loyal to the Khan king, and did not favor any of the prince or prince; but after being won by Julia, Oulus became a supporter of the Tekodi. In this way, if Aba's death, Tekidi's succession to the throne is already stable.
Aergong, the son of Abahai, is young but very smart. Seeing that Tekodi's power was irresistible, he did not resist, but obeyed. He took the initiative to say to Ababa in front of the generals: he was young and ignorant, and in case his father could not do it, his uncle Tekodi should be in charge of the Khanate.
Only Tieer should stubbornly fight against Tekodi. He claimed that he was a young son and had more inheritance rights according to the ancestral rules of the Mongols. However, the ancestral rule of "young son inheritance" has been broken to a large extent. Just like the Yuan Dynasty, the suzerain of the Illi Khanate, among the four legitimate sons of Tuo Lei, the eldest son Meng Ge first served as the Great Khan. After Meng Ge's death, his second son Kublai Khan succeeded to the throne, and his third son Xu Lieu built a country by himself. His youngest son Ali Buge competed with Kublai for the throne and lost.
In this way, the situation between Asia and Europe changed. The Byzantine emperor Mikhail VIII and Ababa, the king of Illi Khan, turned their enemies into relatives and concluded alliances, which greatly alleviated the plight of the two countries. However, both Mikhail and Abba have reached the end of their years, and their heirs issue will greatly affect the power pattern in West Asia and Southeast Europe.
Yan Han spent this year basically in peace. Zhao Jin sent several batches of messengers to Byzantium and sent messengers to Illi as a Byzantine friend. The messenger was Zhanghan, who set out from Zanzhou in Yanhan, located at the mouth of the Volga River, deliberately entered the territory of the Principality of Rostov by land, passed through the Turkic tribal nomadic area, passed through the Tiemen Pass, and arrived in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is a vassal state of Illi and sent people to escort Zhang Han and his entourage to Tabrahim, the capital of Illi.
Zhang Han paid attention to the terrain and drew a map along the way. After arriving at Da Lis, he presented the national letter and gifts. The national letter is nothing more than a greeting, indicating that the two countries are relatives and friends of Byzantium, and we might as well have a friendly exchange. Among the gifts, there is another big mirror for Princess Julia, the concubine of King Khan and the daughter of the Byzantine emperor. It turned out that Zhao Jin planned to marry Su Feiya. Of course, he also wanted to flattering Su Feiya's sister Julia, so he gave this kind of treasure that only Yan Han had in the world. The mercury mirrors sold by Yanhan to various countries are basically small round mirrors that can only look at one face. A few large mirrors as high-end luxury goods are only half-length. This mirror is the so-called "imperial special product", which is as tall as one person and can see the whole body. Zhao Jin didn't know that the mirror given to Byzantium last time was also in Julia's dowry, and thought she would be very surprised when she received it.
However, Julia received the mirror. Although she was not greatly surprised, she was sad and happy. She already has two such mirrors, which is enough to make ladies all over the world envious. But the mirror is not important, talent is important, and she has only deeply realized it now.
Abahai still doesn't know much about Yan Han, but just looking at these two mirrors, you know that it is not an ordinary small country! Besides, since they are all Byzantine relatives and friends, you might as well have a friendly exchange. So Abahai sent an envoy to Yanhan to return gifts and greet Zhao Jin.
Illi's messenger came to Yanhan in July. After Zhao Jin received him, he sent an envoy to Illi to exchange gold, silver and weapons for slaves, especially slaves of the Eastern ethnic groups in the Khanate.
Decades ago, with the Western Expedition, many Eastern slaves were also brought to the West. Now they are two or three generations, mixed with many local Persian and Arab ancestry.
However, slaves are the "wealth that will produce wealth" of the Khanate, which Ababa refused. Yan Han can't force it, so he has to give up.
Zhao Jin was very happy to get the map drawn by Zhang Han along the road. He gathered the generals to study and felt that the iron gate was of great significance. If the Turkic tribes north of Tiemenguan can be subdue and control Tiemenguan, Tiemenguan can become a strong barrier in the south of Yanhan.
"Rostorov is a big piece of fat meat, you must bite it! When the time is ripe, bite it first!" Zhao Jin said to the generals, "It's not easy to bite from the north, and you have to cross the Volga River. The Volga River is a barrier for our defense, but it is also a barrier for each other's defense, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Well, if we occupy the area of the Iron Gate, we can send troops from there, **Rostorov's hinterland!"
"Lord, how's the logistics?" Li Qingxi asked a very critical question.
"Well, that's a good question." Zhao Jin pointed to the map and said, "Logistics can do this - transporting by boat by water is much faster and economical than transporting cattle and sheep by land. We attract merchants in advance to transport grain from ports along the coast of the Catic Sea to Zanzhou, China. Then, Zanzhou has enough grain, which is the general base for water transportation in the future. In case it is not enough, the mainland states can also transport grain and fodder to Lianzhou and ship from Lianzhou to Zanzhou. What do you think of this?
The generals have been used to the "Lord's words" and understood, and now they all say, "The Lord's opinion is very good!"
Bima Wenfang said briefly: "The master's unique skill of biting fat meat is unprecedented, and it is really a great innovation!"
Shangshan Shifang encouraged him to say, "The Lord is so clever that Grand Duke Rostov will be captured soon!"
The famous Shi Fang Yuandu said, "The lord is as bright as the sun, can firefly compete for glory?"
Zhennan Governor, Zanzhou Zhenfu Envoy, Right General Uda, Lianzhou Zhenfu Envoy, Long Xiang General Li Gui, all reported their duties in the capital at this time and participated in this strategic discussion. They looked at each other and shook their heads, thinking that it was ridiculous that the Fang brothers were also mixed in a serious strategic meeting.
(To be continued 48: Yan Han received the Turks, and Byzantium swallowed Latin)
Note:
Chechnya: In this era of the 13th century, Chechens were called Nakhjos, and Chechnya was one of their villages and towns. For convenience, some countries and places are uniformly called by modern names in this book, so that readers will not be difficult to remember. [ Huh? Isn't this author claimed to be the most perverted and difficult reader? It turns out that my conscience is not so bad!]
Ingush: The Ingush are close relatives of the Chechen people. In this era, it has just been separated from the Chechens.
Mount Elbrus: 5642 meters above sea level. Some books say that Mont Blanc, the main peak of the Alps at 4811 meters above sea level, is the highest peak in Europe, which is wrong. The reason why Mount Elbrus is not the highest peak in Europe is that it is a Eurasian mountain and does not belong to Europe. But according to this statement, China's highest peak cannot be said to be Mount Everest. Moreover, in addition to Mount Elbrus, the Caucasus Mountains also have many peaks higher than Mont Blanc, some of which are located entirely in Europe. Anyway, Mont Blanc is not the highest peak in Europe.
Taurid: a famous Persian city with a long history, called "Taoli Temple" in the history books of the Yuan Dynasty. In the Middle Ages, it was the political, economic and cultural center of Persia for a long time. Modern is Iran's second largest city, second only to the capital Tehran.
Zhebie: Mongolian means "divine archer", originally Genghis Khan's enemy, who once shot Genghis Khan's mount. Later, he was defeated and surrendered to Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan was very angry and wanted to kill him to avenge his BMW. Zhe said, "You release me and appoint me. I can bring you a hundred BMWs like this." Genghis Khan praised Zhe's courage and entrusted him with a heavy responsibility without killing. Zhebie made countless achievements in his life. In his old age, he still followed Xu Lie's expedition to the west. His youngest son, Ulus, stayed in the Elli Khanate and later served as the leader of the four timid Xue.