While Ye Zhaowei was thinking about how to solve the problem of the soil for the survival of the Fair Party ideologically, an imperial delegation arrived in Persia (Iran).

Since the beginning of this century, Iran has been in the struggle for power between Britain, Russia and France, Napoleon had promised the Iranians to help them fight the Russians, and sent instructors, provided Iranian army weapons and equipment, but after Napoleon's defeat, Russia soon obtained a large amount of land in the Caucasus from Iran, annexed Georgia, Azerbaijan and other countries, and made Iran lose its naval presence in the Caspian Sea.

Iran's defeat was a severe blow to Britain, which sought to subdue Iran and take military control of the Caspian Sea region. Britain is even more worried that once Russia gains power and controls Iran, Iran will no longer be a tool for Britain to resist Russian power, and at the same time, Russia will threaten India under the guise of Iran.

Immediately after that, Britain signed a treaty with Iran, under which Iran must not allow the armies of any European powers to attack India under the guise of Iran, and that Khorezm and other countries must not allow the armies of any European powers to attack India under the guise of their own routes, etc., and at the same time reaffirmed that when Iran was fighting any European country, Britain would provide financial and other support or send troops from India to support Iran.

Of course, when China's influence entered Central Asia, the "Khaezim and other countries" such as the Bukhara Khanate and the Khiva Khanate gradually drifted away from Iran, and the treaty lost its original meaning.

However, at that time, the support of the British made the Iranians feel revenge and brazenly declared war on Russia, but under the iron heel of the strong Russia, the new Iranian army was completely annihilated, and had to sign an armistice with Russia in 1828, through which Russia not only obtained the required territorial and military indemnities, but also obtained consular jurisdiction, etc., ending the situation of the Russo-Iranian war at the beginning of the century as a complete victor.

Since the Napoleonic era, Britain, Russia and France have been playing games in Iran for several years, but the Iranians, like the Qing Dynasty, do not have a clear understanding of the situation in Europe and the comparison of power between the great powers, which directly leads to Iran's inability to take the initiative to change and respond flexibly in both strategy and action. For example, when the Treaty of Gurestan was signed with Russia, the Tehran regime did not know that Tsarist Russia was already thin in Europe at that time; When Iran tried in vain to rely on Britain's strength to resist the Russian threat, it failed to realize that Britain had a common enemy, France, because of its traditional friendship and economic ties with Russia and their common enemy, Britain would certainly consider carefully when facing a joint effort with Iran to resist Russia, and there was even the possibility of sacrificing part of Iran's interests to maintain the strategic needs of the European continent.

Twenty years ago, after Britain launched a war against Iran, Britain, Austria-Hungary, France, and the United States successively signed trade treaties with it, obtained consular jurisdiction, and the right to minimum tariffs on goods of various countries.

China is the latest of the world's great powers to expand its influence into Iran.

In today's world, there is gradually a saying of the three great clubs, Britain, Germany and China, of course, there are also seven powers, that is, Britain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, China, France, Russia and the United States, although Russia and France have just been defeated a few years ago, and are still struggling to pay a huge amount of war reparations, but the hundred-legged insect is dead but not stiff, and the influence of the two countries in many fields far exceeds that of the emerging United States.

Moreover, with the defeat of France, the friendship between Britain and France grew, and the two countries signed the "Sincere Agreement", which, although not a treaty of military alliance, settled the dispute between the two countries in their overseas colonies, and brought the relationship between the two countries into the most intimate period in many years.

At the same time, both Britain and Germany provided financial support for Russia's industrialization, because the Sino-Russian war caused chaos on the European continent, Britain gradually moved out of the glorious isolation policy, began to face up to the stability of the European continent, and at the same time, inevitably had contradictions with Germany.

However, helping the Russians out of their predicament is what both countries want to see, and both hope that Russia will join their camp.

Austria-Hungary, on the other hand, which had the deepest contradictions with Russia, never had any good feelings about the revival of Russia.

In Iran, the open and covert rivalry between Russia and Britain has long been a thing of the past, and the entry of the emerging Central Plains Empire into Iran has also ushered in a new era of division of interests among various countries in Iran.

According to the peace treaty after the Sino-Russian war, the Russians were not allowed to have military ships in the Caspian Sea, and China became the only country with a navy in the Caspian Sea.

This move is also due to the fact that Russia completely defeated Iran and obtained the right of passage in the Caspian Sea, in a sense, Russia can be regarded as a predecessor planted a tree, and China has naturally picked the fruit.

The Chinese mission symbolically boarded the ships of the Chinese Caspian Flotilla and traveled through the Caspian Sea to the Iranian Caspian coastal city of Hamandi, before heading to Tehran, more than 100 kilometers to the south.

According to the treaty of commerce signed between China and Iran the year before last, in accordance with the principle of equal interests, China obtained the privileges of Britain, Russia and other countries, and at the same time set up a consulate in Tehran, the consul general is Wu Tingfang, born in Xinjiapo in 1842, returned to Guangzhou with his father at the age of three to settle down, graduated from the Imperial Guangzhou University, worked as a lawyer for several years, and then entered the political career, the year before last he became the first consul general of the imperial consulate in Tehran.

The connection of the railway in Central Asia also made the empire's influence on Iran later, but faintly superior.

Iran's first railway was built by the Belgians last year from Tehran to the agricultural region of Rey in the northeast.

Belgium gained reading status in the thirties, after which it began to develop its coal and smelting industries into an industrialized country, and last year, Belgium invaded the Congo in Africa, and like the Chinese, Belgium was a new colonial power, and its national policy clearly showed that Belgium's permanent neutral status recognized by Britain, France, and Prussia at the time of reading was obviously somewhat unrealistic.

In Tehran, the Belgian consulate is located in the same block as the Chinese counterpart, just across the road from each other.

Tehran, with a population of more than 100,000, is a fully Islamic city, with domed mosques, boxy buildings, and rough but charming domes.

The Chinese Consulate is extremely eye-catching among many Islamic buildings, resembling a courtyard house, but the main hall is a three-storey cornice-style building, and the Yellow Dragon Flag of the Five Rings is waving in the wind.

The Empire's mission to Tehran is perhaps more appropriately described as a merchant group, with more than a dozen Chinese businessmen visiting Tehran in the hope of obtaining the right to exploit some minerals or build roads.

Among the business groups, the representative of the Eastern Railway Company is the most eye-catching, the largest railway giant in the East and even in the world, and its tentacles are the focus of attention wherever they extend.

The representative of the Eastern Railway Company who came to Iran this time was called Wei Dingyi, that is, Ye Zhao's boss when he was patrolling the house in Guangzhou, and later because he injured his leg because of the arrest, he had to engage in civilian work, and was arranged to enter the economics department of Beijing Normal University.

Wei Dingyi himself successfully applied for the Eastern Railway Company, and he was so clever that he was even appreciated by a senior executive, and he served as the deputy assistant manager of the Central Asia Investment Department, and was sent to Iran for inspection.

After Wei Dingyi entered the Eastern Railway, he and Ma Xiaocui met the concubine Niangniang together, they were all born in the Guangzhou patrol system back then, and they didn't look up to see each other, which can be regarded as old knowledge, of course, no matter how humble Zhu Sisi is, Wei Dingyi and Ma Xiaocui dare not have any overstepping, the only thing that makes Wei Dingyi happy is that he knows from the words of the concubine Niangniang that his new job is also working for the emperor, and the Eastern Railway may be one of the royal assets.

When he came to Iran, Wei Dingyi brought his wife Yang, who was more than ten years younger than Wei Dingyi and was just in her early thirties.

Later, the Yang family married a ruined family, and her ex-husband died in the big smoke house, Wei Dingyi had the courage to take care of his life, in fact, at that time, Wei Dingyi was already the director of a certain sub-bureau of Guangzhou Patrol, but Yang became the widow of the broken family, but Wei Dingyi still felt that he was not worthy of her.

Later, the two finally got married, over the years, Wei Dingyi went south and north, how extensive he was, and he was summoned by the emperor, but the Yang family gradually became a feudal woman in the backward era, just beautiful, but Wei Dingyi's love for him has not diminished slightly, this time he came to Iran, I was afraid that it would take three or two months to return, so he brought his wife, so as not to be bored at home.

No, early in the morning, the couple went out of the embassy to shop, but although Yang was relieved, he still was slightly out of breath after walking for a while.

"Your feet hurt, huh?" Wei Dingyi pointed to a barbecue restaurant in the shops lined up on the street and said, "Go sit inside for a while." Yang nodded meekly, she was really grateful to her husband, and she never thought that she would be blessed by God for the rest of her life and give her such a happy life.

Wei Dingyi was accompanied by three young clerks dressed as a clerk, two of whom were subordinates of Wei Dingyi's management department, and one had the status of a company guard, but overseas, everyone was armed with a gun, and these employees who ran away all the year round were organized into the so-called "armed merchant group".

Tehran's barbecue restaurants are all skewers or chicken skewers made with meat foam.

Today, there are several Westerners in this barbecue restaurant, who speak Dutch, and it is very close to the Belgian consulate, so it is estimated that they are all Belgians.

Zhang Baozhong, the Persian interpreter, knew a few words of Dutch, and whispered to Wei Dingyi, Wei Dingyi didn't care, and sat by the window with his wife, and several young men sat at a table next to him, and the interpreter asked for meat skewers and milk tea.

Looking at the sparse pedestrians and Islamic buildings on the street, Wei Ding opened the small notebook in his hand, and when he came to Iran to get some railway projects, he had to have an in-depth understanding of the local culture and customs.

Dealing with the Tehran regime is one cannot but touch religion, which is now considered heretical by Tehran, especially since the Babu uprising twenty years ago is still alive today.

Twenty years ago, the founder of the Islamic Báb, who called himself "Báb", which means "door of faith" in Arabic and Persian, launched an uprising to overthrow the Tehran regime established by the Qajar tribe in Iran, and the Báb declared that all privileges and private property of the ruling class should be abolished and that public property should be divided equally. He declared that men and women were equal and that women's rights should be protected. This was clearly a Bab manifesto on social reform, which won the warm welcome of the lower classes of the people in the urban and rural areas. Farmers and herdsmen, artisans, petty traders, and lower-class mullahs joined the Bábism, which eventually developed into a vigorous war to overthrow the regime in Tehran.

Although the Báb uprising was bloodily suppressed, the regime in Tehran was still reeling and declared the Bábism heretical, purging the country for a purge throughout the country.

Against this backdrop, it was even more difficult for the White Religion to spread into the heart of Persia.

In fact, the earliest followers of the Báb now founded the Baha'i sect, whose doctrine is the Most Holy Book, which claims to be a substitute for the Qur'an and the Báb's Apocalyptic, which holds that "all religions are essentially the same" and therefore all religions are followed by Allah, but by a different name. Thus, it denies that the founders of Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity, and the Báb and Bahá are the messengers of Allah and that all human beings are "children" of Allah, so that mankind should be in harmony with each other to achieve universal unity.

Flipping through the pamphlet, Wei Dingyi really had a headache, but when dealing with the magnates in Tehran, he must be a treasure for all Islamic sects, so as not to violate any taboos.

Moreover, Wei Dingyi knew that in Iran, the empire was facing a completely new political situation, in which the interests of the great powers were entangled, and it was not the same as the clear eastern countries.

For example, the Eastern Railway Company is going to obtain the right to build a railway from Tehran to the Caspian Sea port, which is contested by several companies such as Britain and the United States, while in Iran, China is definitely a latecomer, and its influence on Iran may not be as good as that of the Western powers.

Wei Ding glanced at his wife, the Yang family was going out for the first time, and it was in a foreign land, obviously a little unaccustomed, his eyebrows were lowered, and he didn't dare to look at those strangers.

The Belgians burst into laughter, and it turned out to be a bald man who took out a bottle of rum and poured wine into several people's glasses, and soon the smell of wine overflowed, "attracting" the owner of the barbecue restaurant who was busy in the back kitchen.

The owner of the barbecue shop, a bearded man with a typical West Asian face, wearing a felt hat and an Islamic-style cloth robe, hesitated when he saw the Belgians in their hands, but he walked over and gestured to ask the Belgians not to drink in the shop.

The Belgian bald hook-nosed man said a few words arrogantly in Persian, presumably telling the rotisserie owner to go back to the kitchen.

Before the barbecue shop owner could say more, the bald eagle-nosed man stood up suddenly, almost half a head taller than the barbecue shop owner, five big and three thick, and he pushed the barbecue shop owner into a somersault.

Wei Dingyi frowned slightly, but he didn't want to squeak, but Yang's face turned slightly pale with fright, and he whispered: "Xianggong, the ghost is violent, let's go." ”

Wei Dingyi was a little helpless, so he translated to Persia: "Tell them, don't make trouble here, we want to eat barbecue quietly." ”

The Persian interpreter then stood up and muttered something to the Belgians.

Several Belgians looked at each other, and the bald hook-nosed man looked Wei Dingyi and the others up and down, and said two more words of Persian to the interpreter.

The interpreter turned back to Wei Ding: "Sir, he asked if we were Chinese." ”

Wei Dingyi bowed his head slightly and said, "Tell him, yes." ”

The interpreter then responded to the foreigners with a short byte, saying "yes".

The bald hook-nosed man looked like he was about to say something, but one of his companions took him by the shoulders and whispered in his ear, and then he sat down slowly, and the other two friends put away their wines.

When the owner of the barbecue shop served the barbecue, several Belgians ate it very quickly, perhaps also found it boring, and in less than a quarter of an hour, they ate their meals and left.

Yang looked at Wei Dingyi in surprise, but she didn't ask anything, and she wondered in her heart, in a foreign land, the ghosts were still fierce and vicious just now, how could they become gentle gentlemen in a blink of an eye?

When the owner of the barbecue restaurant brought the barbecue, he thanked him repeatedly, and even said in blunt Chinese: "Chinese, good!" ”

Wei Dingyi laughed, pointed to the vacant seat in front of him and motioned to the owner of the barbecue restaurant to sit, the boss pushed for a while, and when he saw that Wei Dingyi was quite sincere, he also sat down.

The 40-year-old man moved his family to Tehran more than ten years ago, and has been in the barbecue business for just three years.

Wei Dingyi smiled and asked, "How's the business?" ”

Mirza cocked his thumb and said, "The Chinese take good care of my business, and the Chinese have money." "The face was full of envy, and even some admiration.

The philosophy of the Central Plains follows the theory of benevolence and righteousness, although the national strength is now strong, but it is not as straightforward as Westerners in foreign lands, giving people a sense of aggressiveness.

As the most powerful country in the East and one of the three great powers in the world, in Tehran, the people of the empire are extremely low-key, and they cannot complain that they will win the general favor of the citizens of Tehran.

Looking at Mirza's sincere praise, Wei Ding sighed wholeheartedly, he really didn't know what kind of mentality those chaotic parties in China who opposed the emperor.

Mirza said with emotion: "My friends and I usually talk casually, hoping that the Chinese can become our friends and help us drive out the evil British and Russians." ”

Wei Dingyi said: "This is not something I can say. ”

Mirza said: "I know that this is just our delusion and hope, and you Chinese cannot help us without reason." ”

Wei Dingyi took a sip of milk tea and said slowly: "I hope there will be this day in the future." ”

Mirza stood up, bowed slightly, stroked his chest and said: "Eternal Allah, bless your fellow citizens. He added, "Please enjoy the food to your heart's content." With that, he bent down and went back to the back kitchen.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you all for your monthly pass.

(To be continued)