"According to the Seljuks, this place is still the richest area of the continent, and it is in a good location, right at the mouth of the river. Brother Lu also saw that it was very dry and dry, and stepping on a foot of dust means that there is very little rain here, so the river is very important to them, where there is a river, there are people. Like the Seljuks, Baghdad, the capital of the Seljuk state, is located at the confluence of two rivers, and the most prosperous city in the region is also at the mouth of the river. I inquired about this news last time in the Seljuk Kingdom, and you can't go wrong! ”

Yang Congyi explained in detail, and quickly dispelled Lu You's concerns, if he, as the deputy envoy of Huiyi, had no confidence in coming here to return to Yi, then what should others do?

"It's not that I don't believe Brother Yang, it's just that I can't believe it when I look here. I didn't understand what barren land was before, but when I came here, I finally understood. Lu You sighed.

Then he smiled: "I believe in Brother Yang, I know that Brother Yang will not do things that he is not sure of, since he has come here thousands of miles away, there must be a meaning to come here." ”

"Brother Lu is right to think so. This world is very big, not only the Great Song Dynasty, the Jin Kingdom and the Western Xia, in recent years, we have come all the way to the west, and we have seen many countries, but there are many more countries that we have not seen, compared to the Great Song Dynasty, many people, we are lucky, we have been to many countries that they cannot go to in their lives. The land under our feet, I guess, should be the first Orientals to set foot on it, and everything here is worth exploring, and one visit is not enough. Yang Congyi said with a smile.

"There are still many countries here? No matter how good the topography of the estuary is, it can't accommodate too many countries. Lu You asked.

"This continent is huge, there are large countries in the north, and as for how many countries there are in the south, the Seljuks do not know. But the big country in the north is near the sea, and there are many countries in the north of the sea, no less than dozens of large and small, but those places are the same as the Yanjing area, it is very cold, except for the coastal areas, the rest of the place is a bitter cold place. ”

Yang Congyi explained again.

"How could Brother Yang know so much?" Lu You felt a little surprised and felt incredible.

"Ask more, ask more, read more miscellaneous books. The last time I went to Seljuk, I was in Baghdad for so long, not just eating, drinking and having fun, I was preparing in advance for this return, after all, the same place, we can't go every year, and if we go there more times, our things will not be valuable. ”

Yang Congyi smiled and walked by.

When the two came to the camp, they immediately summoned spies to summarize the information they had discovered in the past two days.

According to the spies, there is a deserted ditch nearby, leading to the north, and how far it is has not yet been discovered.

After listening to the news of the spies, Yang Congyi made up his mind, this ditch may be the predecessor of the Suez Canal, the most prosperous area in ancient Egypt is in the delta plain at the mouth of the Nile, only a few dozen miles away from the Red Sea coast, the ancient pharaonic dynasty was so powerful that it was fully capable of opening up an artificial river from the Red Sea to Cairo, connecting Egypt and the Persian Gulf region.

It's just that thousands of years have passed, and the artificial river has been deserted, but the impact on the Hui fleet is not very great, as long as they follow the old site of the artificial river to reach their destination, the Egyptians will definitely rush to the seaside to trade in horse-drawn carriages.

"Brother Lu, you have also heard, along the canal to the north, there are people living fifty miles away, and since there is a canal connecting this sea, there must be a big city at the other end. The news given by the Seljuks still has some credibility. How did we go as planned? ”

Yang Congyi finally relaxed, before that, he had ordered to publicize some of the information he had found to the whole army to stabilize the morale of the army, because this place was too barren, except for the red soil and yellow sand, even wild grasses were rarely seen.

"Okay, Brother Yang, you can rest assured to open up trade routes, and I will be optimistic about the camp and fleet."

Lu You nodded, and the tense expression on his face relaxed a lot.

"Okay, then it's decided, the situation here is complicated, religious wars are frequent, if someone breaks into here, it's best not to fight with them, if there are special circumstances, then retreat to the sea for the time being."

Yang Congyi is not at ease with Lu You, but he does not have enough confidence in this place, because Mecca is on the coast of the Red Sea, and the border between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea is an area where religious conflicts are serious.

"Brother Yang, rest assured, the camp is not far from the coast, if something really happens, the retreat will be fast. It's Brother Yang, I don't know how much danger there will be if I go. ”

"Brother Lu doesn't have to worry about me, I've experienced a lot of dangers over the years, and now it's not the same."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Soon after, Yang Congyi summoned the elite army and the generals of the escort army, and assigned tasks, either to stay in the fleet, or to garrison the camp, or to spy on intelligence, or to escort the mission north.

He demanded that the generals take their own responsibilities and not leave their duties without permission, and the first priority was to protect the fleet, and no one should be allowed to destroy the ships. In case of emergency, if you can't distinguish between the interests and the disadvantages, you will mainly forbear, and if necessary, you can withdraw to the sea and wait for his news.

Then, the fleet prepared for three days, and Yang Congyi personally led the delegation to set off north.

The size of the Great Song Dynasty mission reached 1,000 people, the front part was the fully armed Jingwu army to open the way, then the envoy vehicles, then the entourage and fifteen carts of gifts, and finally the majestic Jingwu army soldiers, all the way to the north, mighty.

Two days later, the cautious and slow procession arrived in a village with dozens of families, the largest number of locals the mission had seen since its journey north.

As soon as Yang Congyi gave the order, the mission immediately set up camp two miles away from the villages and towns to rest and recuperate, and no one was allowed to approach the villages and towns at will.

The next day, he sent the two paintings to the village, found the panicked villagers, gave them some food as a reward, and then pointed to the north and repeatedly made them send the two paintings to the north.

No one in the fleet understands the local language, and communication can only be achieved through drawings, which is the reason why Yang Congyi asked Meng Yunniang to accompany the mission to the north, with her, drawing a few pictures can make strangers understand their intentions, as for how the other party will reply, he is not worried, they are all ancient civilizations, and there will naturally be ways to communicate.

After waiting in place for five days, an army was suddenly stationed in the village and town opposite the mission, and the number was difficult to estimate.

The other party did not move, Yang Congyi did not let people rush forward, and the mission also secretly defended and did not move.

Two days later, two local villagers walked out of the village and brought a roll of things to the mission camp.

When you take it apart, there are also several pictures inside, although the drawings are very sketchy, but it is easy to understand the meaning of the other party.

The painting says that they had a powerful man who was going to meet with the distant mission, and the place was between the two formations, with three people each.

Meeting with high-ranking officials, this is exactly the purpose of the mission here, Yang Congyi immediately asked Meng Yunniang to return a painting of "the two sides meet between the two formations", and let the villagers who remained in the camp take it back.

An hour later, in the distance, I saw a few people coming out of the opposite village and town, heading straight for the mission.

The entourage of the Great Song Mission, in addition to Meng Yunniang, also included Pan Cheng and a strong martial arts general.

Seeing the other party dispatching, Yang Congyi immediately personally led the three of them out of the camp and went forward to greet them.

Soon after, the two teams were less than ten feet apart, and both sides could see clearly.

I saw that the four of them were all dressed in green, with green scarves wrapped around their heads, and the whole outfit was compared with the people in the Seljuk area, except for the different colors of the clothes, there was no other difference in style.

Yang Congyi instantly remembered the black-clothed and white-clothed cannibals he had seen in Quanzhou many years ago, could it be that this green-clothed cannibal was also a big cannibal?

I thought that Egypt was controlled by the Crusaders near the Mediterranean, but I knew that this was the case, and I should have found a few big cannibals as guides, if that would be much more convenient.

However, Yang Congyi has been to Seljuk twice, has been dealing with Arabs for more than half a year, and has more or less learned some Arabic, so simple communication is not a problem.

The distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer, and you can even see the smiles on their faces, but they have no intention of stopping.

In the end, Yang Congyi and the other party each stopped when they got together for five feet.

Yang Congyi showed a bright smile on his face, stepped forward, stretched out his right hand to the other party, and said with a smile: "I'm here to see two eyes!" ”

The elder on the opposite side stretched out his right hand almost at the same time, held Yang Congyi's right hand, and replied with a smile: "I'm here to see two eyes!" ”

The old man was very pleased with this greeting from afar, and then he kept talking a lot, full of anticipation and smiling.

However, Yang Congyi is not proficient in Arabic, so how can he reply one by one.

But fortunately, he was still able to say a few words, and the other party already knew that he was from the distant Eastern Continent, and if he could speak a few words in their language, he was already very happy, and he treated Yang Congyi more enthusiastically.

In addition to Yang Congyi's ability to speak a few words of Arabic, he was dressed in a green Song Dynasty official uniform, which also made his first impression on the other party very good, because what they admired the most was green, they wore green clothes on their bodies, green scarves on their heads, and the flag in the army was mainly green.

The mat brought by the other party was spread on the ground, and Yang Congyi was invited to step forward, and the two sat on the ground.

The elder was very talkative and chatted happily with Yang Congyi.

But Yang Congyi can not understand much, and his Chinese counterpart is even more impossible to understand, except for transactions and goods-related things, they can't talk about anything else at all, fortunately, these are enough, and everything else is irrelevant.

Particularly important contents, such as the Great Song Dynasty mission to Cairo, the capital of the country, to meet the king and establish a long-term relationship between the two countries, will be represented by pictures, and the painters of both sides will directly spread paper on the mat to paint, showing each other their meanings in the form of pictures.