Female Caesar Anna with the Golden Crown of the Seven Ridges. The ascension to the throne did not cause much shock throughout the plateau and the sea: Alexios was saddened by the loss of his daughter, but he soon had to return to the imperial capital to deal with the 260,000 new pilgrims who appeared half a year later; Merrick was triumphant after capturing Konya and Ankara, and was recruiting troops, forming an offensive and defensive alliance with the "Greater Armenian Empire" in Maraş, and even with the acquiescence of the emperor, with Theodoro of Trabzon. General Gabrias opened the trade routes: Pisa and ****** ships had begun to sail along the routes of Smyrna on the eastern shore of the Holy Sea, to the Sea of Marimara, and then to Yukchen, and in the land of Trabzon they were connected with caravans and caravans of horses from the Sivas plateau, and alum, frankincense, honey, fabrics, ash, and other goods began their wonderful and long journey, from the plateau of ochre and verdant to the black sea, to the sea of turquoise arches, and then to the Apennines in the midst of sea mist. It then crossed the mountain passes of the Alps and was marketed to various parts of the West. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

On the other hand, the new "kingdom of Tarsus" was a large quantity of light luxury, represented by saffron, as a precious spice and medicine, which sailed down the Cypriot Sea in the cabins of Venice and Amalfi, and was also very popular in Antioch, Aleppo, and Egypt - the whole land and sea of the East, with the exception of Jerusalem and Tripoli, which were still at war, were unusually prosperous and peaceful, and the Crescents were able to argue with the merchants of the kingdom of Christ about the price of their goods without any qualification.

A red-handed fast merchant ship diverted from the port of Salamis, Cyprus, and entered the port of Alexandria, where several Amalfi merchants, Tarsus, and small guards escorted the mules and horses, and then trekked to the landing, over the desert and the majestic pyramids, to Cairo's old city, now the most prosperous trading district, Fustat, which was full of squares, trading tents, and countless neighborhoods of Jews holding scriptures under the spires of mosques. Saracens in turbans, Venetians in floppy hats, the streets filled the streets with the smell of pack animal droppings, and some deer from the Caliphate's palace roamed about.

As the famous Crescentist poet said, "Cairo is an anthill for all mankind." ”

The city has now surpassed Constantinople with a population of half a million.

Carrying letters from Caesarana and Gawain, the caravan from Tarsus, struggled through the crowd of people carrying all sorts of jars, and walked down the narrow streets like a beehive, and finally found a mysterious merchant that Gawain hoped to invite in an exotic building.

Earlier, under the mediation of this mysterious merchant, Egypt's Grand Vizier Everdel finally made up his mind and concluded an alliance with the pilgrims against the Turks.

But now the mysterious merchant is a little sad - Godfrey, Baldwin and others indiscriminately began to march to the Holy City, which made Everdeller very unhappy, and the mysterious merchant was also afraid of the revenge of the Grand Vizier, and made up his mind to leave Cairo and go to Galvin's Tarsus to negotiate, repay the trust of the previous Grand Vizier, and give him an explanation.

In the living room on the building, when the caravan representatives were invited to go up, they saw the elegant living room, with elegant paintings hanging on the powder wall, and the whole room was a couch, a mat, a window, a small stove, and only a few pieces of furniture. A crimson flame was spitting from the stove, and two young maidens, dressed in crimson silk clothes, were sandwiched between the stoves, fanning the fire with a clump of fans, as if they were boiling some kind of drink in the pot.

Another long-bearded old servant with his hair in a bun stood in the corner of the house, placing a mass of fine white Seleucian paper into a verdant "wooden trough", which he quickly pounded with a wooden pestle.

The whole house was filled with a faint fragrance, and against the window was the mysterious merchant, who was also the owner of the place, dressed in a white linen robe, with a black gauze hat on his head, and a small pair of scissors in his hand, who was pruning a flower in a daze, so that several Amalfi merchants did not know why they were abusing the branches of the flowers.

"It's a pity, there is no snow in the land of Malobal in all seasons, only the boundless sea. This Yaxing, which cooks tea and appreciates the snow, will definitely not be able to enjoy it. The man sighed, laid down the scissors, and spoke in a very pleasant tone, but the merchant of Amalfi did not understand the contents, and then the long-bearded old servant stood beside his master, and translated it through. It was only then that Amalfi and the merchants of Tarsus realized that the mysterious man was complaining that all of Egypt was sand and no snow, distracting him from sipping the leaf-soaked drink.

The merchants didn't understand the difference between sand and snow, but they didn't ask.

Then the two maidens heard the faint boiling sound of the jars on the stove, and said, "Master, you have to do it." The man slowly took out a circle of turquoise porcelain cups and lined them up, "The insects are chirping, the pine wind and the cypress are raining, it's just the right time." ”

The two maidens took the pot from the fire, laid it on the small table beside the couch, waited until the boiling noise had completely subsided, and then rinsed and preheated the green porcelain cups with another kettle - while the mysterious man took a porcelain dagger in his hand, scooped out something from the pot that had been boiled like ointment, and then poured some boiling water into it, and then used the porcelain dagger to pat it in the cup, and then poured boiling water into it, and then used the porcelain dagger to spin quickly and lightly in it, as if weaving a colorful cloud...... After going back and forth seven times, the man smiled and delivered the finished green porcelain cup to the leading merchant.

The merchant looked down and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, in the turquoise porcelain cup, there was an amber soup with "everything is moderate and perfect, the color, the turbidity, and the lightness" (the merchant can only use these words to describe it), surrounded by a milky white mist, and the white foam in the soup outlined a thin line, which actually wound into the shape of a bird about to fly, which was vivid.

"How is it better to divide tea than sencha, and sencha is not as good as dividing tea." The master looked at the shocked expressions of the crowd, and for a moment he was triumphant, and he uttered this phrase, like a ballad of Sufi mysticism.

Then, the master watched the merchant who took the lead but picked up the cup, tilted his neck and drank the drink and "bird" he had carefully blended in one gulp, the expression on his face was really "indescribable", and then sighed slightly, but still continued to chant very politely, "Everything in life is indispensable, and the north and south are fond of knowing who is virtuous - give ginger salt to all guests." ”

As a result, when ginger, coarse salt, and peppercorns were added to the soup, the Amalfi and Tarsus merchants drank it with relish. (To be continued.) )