The city of Damascus on the Mediterranean coast, this war-torn city has suffered many vicissitudes, whenever the war comes, this commercial city located on the main road between Egypt and Asia will be greatly affected, the most recent is more than 100 years ago, the Turkic from Central Asia Timur seriously damaged the city, he moved the city's craftsmen to Central Asia, the result is that this famous commercial city once decayed to the extreme, and even Damascus's most famous knife skills have been greatly affected.

In the following hundred years, Damascus ushered in the rule of the Mamluk dynasty, although this dynasty is very **, but Damascus has miraculously restored its own prosperity, especially the Damascus knife produced here, which is exported to the Far East of the Ming Dynasty, and has become the favorite of monarchs and generals everywhere.

Today, however, Damascus is in the midst of war again, because the Ottoman Empire, which destroyed the Byzantine Empire decades earlier, launched its third crusade, this time targeting the Mamluk dynasty, which occupied Egypt and part of Asia, and Damascus was one of the most important cities of the Mamluk dynasty in Asia, but was captured by the Ottoman Empire, which also marked the loss of the Mamluk dynasty's territory in Asia, and the scope of its rule was only Egypt.

Selim I rode on a tall Arab war horse, smiling into the historic city of Damascus, the city is one of the most famous commercial cities on the Mediterranean coast, it witnessed the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire replaced by the emerging Arab Empire, but also experienced the heyday of the Umayyad Dynasty, was also seriously destroyed by the Abbasid Dynasty, and witnessed the Arab national hero Saladin defeated the European crusade, and today the city has a new owner, That is, the great Ottoman Sultan Selim I.

Selim I, the ninth sultan of the Ottoman Empire, was called the "ruthless" by the people of the empire because of his harsh governance of the country, and he was just fifty years old this year. Although he had passed the peak of a man, Selim I on horseback did not look old at all, the Arab robes on his body did not hide his strong figure, and his waist was straight when he sat on the horse, except for the gray head on his temples and the deep wrinkles on his forehead, indicating that this strong monarch was no longer young.

Selim I was now very proud. Originally, he was a little hesitant about his third expedition to the west, although the Mamluk dynasty fought with the Portuguese for a full decade, in order to compete for the 6th traffic from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean, it can be said that this war made the Mamluk dynasty greatly weakened, and the Portuguese also once had the upper hand, but in the past two years, the Ming Dynasty in the east suddenly began to expand at sea. As a result, the Portuguese were weakened and the Mamluks once again gained the upper hand and their control over Asia was much stronger, so Selim I was not confident in this crusade.

However, when Selim I hesitated, the Mamluks did not know where they learned that he was going to conquer the Mamluks, so they took the initiative to attack the Ottoman Empire. This finally helped Selim I to make up his mind and start a territorial war with the Mamluk dynasty against the Damascus region of Western Asia, but the elite Mamluk cavalry had long since lost their bravery, and was defeated by Selim I, and the coast of the Mediterranean West represented by Damascus finally fell under his rule.

Thinking of the Mamluk cavalry he had defeated before, Selim's mouth couldn't help but have a smile on his lips, he didn't expect that the Mamluk cavalry that had shocked Eurasia back then had decayed into such a state, and he was just a charge. He defeated the opponent's equal forces, and after the defeat of the opponent, he immediately abandoned the territory on this side of Asia, which made him occupy the city of Damascus under his feet without much effort.

Speaking of the Mamluk dynasty, the other side, like the Ottoman Empire of Selim, was an Islamic kingdom that split off from the huge Arab empire of that year. When the Arab Empire was divided, it encountered the Mongols who swept across Europe and Asia, and as a result, not only was Baghdad slaughtered by the Mongols, but the contemporary Hari was also wrapped in a blanket by the Mongols and trampled to death with a horse.

But the modern-day Harry is dead. But Hari, the highest title of Islam, was inherited by the Mamluk dynasty, and passed down from generation to generation, although the title of Hari has long been no longer powerful, but it still has unparalleled appeal in religion, so Selim I's crusade, in addition to wanting to include Egypt into his rule and restore the huge territory of the Arab Empire, the most important thing is to snatch the title of Hari.

Thinking of becoming the Harry of the entire Muslim world in the future, Selim couldn't help but feel a burst of excitement, and looked at the Damascus land under his feet with a kind of greed, today he can conquer Damascus, tomorrow he can conquer the whole of Egypt, and in the future he can even recreate the glory of the Arab Empire in the past, and build a huge empire again, making the Mediterranean Sea an inland sea of the Muslim world again.

Because of the incompetence of the Mamluk Dynasty, Selim took Damascus very easily, so this ancient commercial city did not suffer much damage, except for some damage on the city wall, most of the facilities in the city are still intact, and even the people of Damascus in the city did not flee, but calmly welcomed Selim's arrival, after all, for the people here, they have long been accustomed to the change of rulers, and Selim belongs to the same Muslims as them, as long as they do not resist, It will not provoke a massacre on the other side, the difference is just a change of ruler, which does not have much impact on Damascus.

Selim rode around the city of Damascus, which would be one of his bases for ruling West Asia in the future, and it was also the rear of the attack on Egypt, and it was also located on the main transportation route between Asia and Europe, and the commerce was very prosperous, and it was also the only way to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.

After inspecting Damascus, Selim came to the city to prepare a residence for him, which was originally the mayor's official residence where the mayor sent by the Mamluks lived, but the mayor of Mamluk had been trampled into meat by the Ottoman cavalry in the previous siege battle, so his mansion naturally became Selim's temporary residence, but it is said that the mayor's wife killed all her children after hearing that her husband had been killed, and then she also died in the hall of the mayor's palace, So when Selim arrived, he could still faintly smell a trace of blood wafting in the mayor's mansion.

According to the tradition of the Ottoman Empire, Selim has been living in the army before becoming a sultan, and he is physically strong, his martial arts are amazing, and he soon got the title of warrior on the battlefield, even if he has now become a sultan, but he still restricts himself with a kind of military requirements, such as he does not care too much about his residence and diet, in his opinion, as long as the place where he lives can be sheltered from the wind and rain, and the food can be eaten, as for other requirements, there is no need at all, So he never cared where he lived.

On the one hand, after all, the Mamluks ruled Damascus for nearly 300 years, and although the Mamluk army retreated to Egypt, Selim was still worried that Damascus would have problems, so he ordered the army to be stationed there temporarily.

In addition, Selim's army from Asia Minor to Damascus, the army is already a little tired, and needs to rest well, and he wants to take Egypt in one go, but it is not so easy, he must prepare accordingly in advance, which also requires a period of preparation.

And it is worth mentioning that during this time, the Portuguese were defeated by the Ming on the Indian Ocean, although some of their strength was weakened, but it also made them pay more attention to the 6 communication lines from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, according to the news obtained by Selim, the Portuguese seem to be accumulating strength and preparing to defeat the Mamluks in one fell swoop, but now the situation has changed, and the Red Sea to the Mediterranean This section of the communication line is just the junction between Selim and the Mamluks of Egypt, so Selim also has to pay attention to the actions of the Portuguese, lest he be taken advantage of by the Portuguese when he was at war with the Mamluks.

However, what Selim I did not expect was that not long after he had conquered Damascus, and the news of the Portuguese inquiry had not yet returned, he suddenly received a very surprising news, because a delegation from the distant Ming Dynasty had actually entered the Red Sea, and then boarded in the southwest direction of Damascus6, and came all the way in the direction of Damascus, where he was.

For the distant country of the Ming Dynasty, Selim is not unfamiliar, especially in recent years, the goods of the Ming Dynasty are full of Ottoman shopping malls, from precious silk, porcelain to cheap cotton cloth, sugar and other goods, there are merchants of the Ming Dynasty from the distant country to sell, and Selim also knows that the Arab Empire also had a war with the Central Plains Dynasty before the Ming Dynasty, as a result, they were lucky to win, thus gaining control of Central Asia, but later with the Central Plains Dynasty accompanied by the Mongols from the Far East, They ruined the entire Arab world, but I don't know why the Ming Dynasty suddenly sent an embassy this time?