In the city of Nanjing in February, the cold winter has passed, and the spring breeze is on the south bank of the Green River.

Sunshine, breeze, birds, flowers.

This imperial capital, which was officially moved into by Emperor Lu only two years ago, is radiating a vigorous vitality all the time.

Painting the boat Lingbo, the sound of the pulp and the shadow of the lamp; Jiangnan beautiful land, Jinling Imperial Prefecture. Just by the description of these ancient verses, you can see a beautiful picture like a dream.

As the imperial capital of Lu Qi, the population here may not be as large as that of Tokyo City in its heyday, because the latter is the result of more than 100 years of accumulation during the Zhao and Song dynasties. However, the prosperity of this place is even better than that of Tokyo. The reason for this is simple, as the Lu Qi dynasty became more open, and Chinese ships sailed between Tianfang/North Africa and India and then to China. There are not only merchants and traders from all over the Central Plains, but also countless foreign merchants in Nanjing. Among them, there are not only many white-skinned Tianfang merchants and Indian merchants, but even the Black Shuli of North Africa has appeared in the market of Jinling City.

Of course, these black Shu Li did not consider themselves to be black Shu Li, they came from Eritrea and northern Ethiopia in later generations, and were a pawn planted by Emperor Lu in North Africa. Since the ancient Axum Empire, they have achieved a monotheistic religion, and the contradiction with the heavenly world is very acute.

At the height of the Axum Empire, it included a large area on both sides of the Red Sea. It was only in the sixth and seventh centuries of the Western calendar that it was attacked by the Persian Empire and the powerful Celestial Empire and gradually declined. It was then replaced by the Cushit-speaking Agaux people in the south, establishing the current Zagwe dynasty.

These Hei Shu Li don't think that they are Hei Shu Li, and even look down on the Black Shu Li around them.

In terms of racial characteristics, there are indeed some distinct differences between them and the Negro race. In general, Ethiopians have lighter skin and a slender physique, with a high nose and a broad forehead with a narrow hooked nose with a part of the Semitic physiognomy. So, Ethiopia's rulers are steadfast in their belief that they are a "white" race.

The current era is in the ascendant of the Ethiopians, and the new Zagwe dynasty is asserting its own authority, but that authority does not seem to have been finally established. From the Chinese maritime merchants who went to Africa and Heishu Li who came to China, Emperor Lu learned the news like this. There are also 'aliens' in their traditional turf who are subservient. And this is also the first time that Lu Qian knows about the ancient land of North Africa, in addition to the Egyptians, an important force, there are also Ethiopians. Forgive him for his ignorance in his past life.

The Ethiopians, located at the confluence of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, founded the Aksumite Empire before the A.D. era, which at its peak included a large area on both sides of the Red Sea, but after successive attacks by the Persian Empire and the Celestial Empire, they completely lost the territory on both sides of the Red Sea, including the important Yemen region - an incredible thing that the Ethiopians now consider their ancestors to be direct descendants of Queen Sheba of Yemen and King Solomon of ancient Israel. The Ethiopian nation is not so much a North African country as it is a country of the Celestial Peninsula. It was because of the Persians and the rising Celestial Empire that they had lost a large part of the Celestial Peninsula and had no choice but to continue southward and deeper into North Africa.

They directly lost the important port of Aduris in the battle with the Celestial World. The latter was on the southern shore of the Red Sea, later the State of Eritrea. During the height of the Aksum state in the fourth century, it was a transit point for maritime trade between the East and the West, and it flourished as a trading center for Egypt and India. As a result of this victory in the Celestial World, the Axum Empire was completely locked down in the interior of Northeast Africa, completely 'cut off'.

After the collapse of the Celestial Empire, the Fatimids, who rose up in Egypt, became a serious threat to the Ethiopians, who were also the suzerains and backers of the Bejas. The Beja people have long been nomadic in the eastern region of what is to be found in later Sudan. During the Aksumite Empire, they were the object of the Ethiopians' plundering of slaves and wealth (livestock), but now everything is reversed.

The weakening of Aksum's control over the Red Sea region is largely due to the interference of the Bejas. With the support of the Celestial World, they continued to attack Axum, shaking Axum's control over the Red Sea, and later established several small kingdoms on the southern shore of the Red Sea to rule the region.

But now that the new Zagwe dynasty has replaced the old Aksumite Empire, and the Fatimid dynasty in Egypt is in decline, with frequent palace coups and military rule, and the military and political power of the dynasty falling into the hands of ministers and Mamluk Janissary officers. The governors of various places were divided, the taxes were sharply reduced, and the treasury was empty, and anyone with a discerning eye could see that the dynasty was finished. And most importantly, the emergence of a large number of Chinese maritime merchants. Among them are indispensable agents of the Espionage Division, and after these people systematically understand the internal classification and other forces of the Celestial World, the Ethiopians, a monotheistic people, stand out and come into their eyes.

Emperor Lu is very patient, he knows that the border of Africa is too far away from him, to plant a seed, quietly wait for him to take root and sprout, it is necessary to be patient, but also must have tolerance. Because it's too far away, you can't put a rein around the neck of the Ethiopians and make them obedient like cattle and horses.

They are not the dwarfs of the east, they are close, they can ravage as much as they want, and they can be trained as they want.

The current Emperor Lu, that is, the tourists in the zoo who fed the 'grass and mud horses' with grass and green leaves in the zoo in later generations, must have a smile on his face, and there must be no unfriendliness in the slightest, and the group of masters will not give face to eat or not.

In this case, how could Emperor Lu be tough?

Fortunately, the Ethiopians understood what China meant to them, and behaved very well, in order to better obtain Chinese assistance, it was more convenient to trade with Chinese maritime merchants, and at the same time, it was also a sign of attitude - its crown prince Mara Takla Khaimarnot personally led troops to destroy the two small Beja kingdoms on the Red Coast and open the passage to the Red Coast. For this reason, he once almost met with the Fatimid Dynasty.

But the Fatimid rulers were not fools, so how could they not know the relationship between the Zagvi dynasty and China? Or in the face of the emerging Zagwe dynasty, the Fatimid bigwigs did not dare to provoke war easily. That's it anyway.

At the same time, it also reopened the era of sorrow for the Bejas.

The Zagvi dynasty traded ivory, rhino horn and large amounts of gold for swords, guns, halberds, and crossbows that were far superior to their own production, and their attacks on the Bejas became more and more sharp, and the white slave trade was recently added to the trade between the two countries. The Bejas, of course, are not white, but Fatima is white.

Black slaves could not be bought at a high price in China, and the problem of skin color made the difference between the two sides irreparable. As for cheap labor, there are more natives in Nanyang, and Tianzhu is also a source of manpower. In today's world, if there is one region whose population is comparable to that of China, it is Tianzhu.

The largest capital of the Zagwe dynasty was gold, and they really had a lot of gold in their hands, and later explorations showed that the gold in that place was probably not inferior to that of South Africa. As early as four or five thousand years ago, in the era of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, Ethiopian gold was the main source of gold in ancient Egypt, and it may have been the source of the gift from the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon 3,000 years ago.

There is no shortage of gold in Ethiopia, but over the past few hundred years, gold has become worthless in their hands.

Gold is not a currency, it is only when it is in circulation, it is a currency, a very valuable currency. And when gold can't freely buy the goods you want and need, is it still real 'gold' with only decorative value?

As China's trade with the Zagvi dynasty grew, the gold in their hands was the real gold. It's just that with the passage of time, the beauty of a piece of silk that can easily be exchanged for a large piece of gold is now becoming less and less.

At the same time, Ethiopians are increasingly going abroad. At this time, it was the era of the Crusades, the First Crusade brought a lot of trauma to the Celestial World, and the Europeans established a series of small monotheistic states such as the Kingdom of Jerusalem in Asia Minor, which posed a great threat to the Celestial World.

At the same time, the distant Eastern Empire launched a western expedition, and the army subdued the Uighurs of Gaochang and the Eastern Qarakhanids, sweeping all the way through the Western Qarakhanid and the Khorzimi, and the reinforcements of the Seljuk Empire were also defeated.

The Qi army did not take advantage of the situation to attack Seljuk, but the entire Celestial World felt the threat from China.

Therefore, at this moment, the entire Celestial World is extremely hostile to the Zagwe Dynasty, but they dare not easily break out a war with it, and refusing to trade with it has become an unwritten agreement.

Otherwise, they will be attacked on two sides, and they will really be attacked on three sides.

The foreign trade of the Zagvi dynasty could only come from China. And silk, cloth, porcelain, ironware, wine, etc., are all loved by them.