"Sophia, do you want to go home?"

Bao Yin asked in Ancient Rus'. This question was posed by Chen Dexing, and Baoyin now seems to have become an interpreter of the conversation between Chen Dexing and Sophia, who speaks Mongolian, Turkic, Greek, Latin, and Ancient Rus, and has a slight linguistic talent, but has not yet learned Chinese, so she cannot communicate directly with Chen Dexing.

"Home?" Sophia was stunned for a moment, her pale blue eyes flashed a few times, and some tears were already blooming. "Where is home?"

"Sage, Sophia asks where is home?"

Hearing Baoyin call his mother's name, Zhao Fu, Huang Zhishen, Ren Yijiang, who accompanied Chen Dexing to meet Sophia in the hall, and Liang Chongru, who had just entered the court as the secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shook their heads slightly. Although the Ming Dynasty did not pay much attention to evasion, and a bunch of German characters in Anfeng Chen did not change the people, it is still a bit unacceptable to call his mother by her name.

Chen Dexing didn't care at all, just smiled slightly, and replied: "Isn't Sophia's home Kiev?" ”

"Kyiv!" Bao Yin said in Ancient Rus', "Sophia, the sage asked if you wanted to go back to Kyiv. ”

"Kyiv?" Sophia's eyes widened, "The saint is going to start a war against the Golden Horde?" ”

Kyiv is the city where Sofia was born and raised, and her father, Svyatoslavich, was one of a large number of dukes of the Rurik dynasty who owed allegiance to the Grand Duke of Kiev, Mstislav. Romanovich. Forty-three years ago, when the Mongols were killed in battle at the Battle of the Caleb during their first invasion of Rus', Sophia was still an ignorant girl. After that, she still lived in Kiev, where she was raised by her brother, who inherited her father's domain, until more than ten years later, when the city of Kiev fell and was slaughtered by the Mongols. And because she was young and beautiful, she saved her life and became a woman of a Mongolian prince (Guiyu).

Kiev, which had been slaughtered by the Mongols, also lost its position as the center of the Rus' states, which were divided into two, and the eastern part was managed by the Grand Duke of Feradimir after receiving the canonization of the Golden Horde; The western part was managed by the Golden Horde with generals appointed by the Golden Horde, and the current management of Western Rus is the former general of Batu. The descendant of Jochi Khan, Nahai Khan. The city of Kiev belonged to Eastern Rus', and now there was a new Grand Duke, also a member of the Rurik family, under the control of the Grand Duke of Feradimir.

And Chen Dexing wants to send Sophia back to Kiev, no matter which direction it takes, it must pass through the territory of the Golden Horde and the vassals.

Chen Dexing's mood seemed to be very good, and he said with a smile: "The Golden Horde is not yet my turn to fight, and Kublai Khan will send troops to attack." Now that Hulegu is dead, the Ilkhanate will be subjugated to Kublai Khan. And Haidu Khan and I have formed an alliance. Kublai Khan did not dare to touch him for the time being, then the Golden Horde would be unlucky. ”

The news of Hulegu's death had reached Jiangdu, and Chen Dexing's ministers believed that the new Ilkhan would submit to Kublai Khan. Then Kublai Khan's southern front will lose its containment, and he will definitely take advantage of the unstable position of the new Khan of Ili to attack the Golden Horde on the northern front. Although the Golden Horde has a vast territory and a huge army, it may have no chance of winning when it encounters Kublai Khan's army, which has begun to develop and equip hot weapons after the baptism of the Central Plains War.

And the Golden Horde was defeated by Kublai Khan. It was the opportunity for the Rus' states to regain their independence from the Golden Horde, and of course it was also an opportunity to show their way to the West. An opportunity to stretch its influence in Europe.

"Sophia, the sage means to ask you to bring the mission of the Ming Empire to Europe." Bao Yin once again relayed Chen Dexing's words in Ancient Rus.

At the same time that Middle-earth was basically pacified, the colonization of Mingzhou was progressing smoothly, and the southern strategy had been launched, Chen Dexing's European layout was about to begin. In another time and place, Europe was once the center of the world. It is also where capitalism and communism began.

Although Europe in the 13th century was still in the dark Middle Ages. In the original history, the middle of the 14th century was the time when the Renaissance began to sweep across Europe. But history has changed, and Tran's actions in the East will surely reach Europe in the near future. Even, Europeans would have known about the existence of the New World 200 years in advance. Given the performance of Europeans in another time and space. Today's Chen Dexing doesn't dare to take it lightly.

But the operation against Europe must not be carried out haphazardly. After all, Europe is too far away from the Ming Dynasty, and the civilization of the Europeans is not too backward, so they can't be bullied like the natives of Mingzhou. With a few hundred expeditions, there is no way to conquer that continent!

To conquer Europe, it is necessary to dispatch a huge expeditionary force of hundreds of thousands of people!

And with such a large army, it is difficult to go to Europe by land. The army of the Ming Dynasty was, after all, mainly infantry. Moreover, the Han people are not nomads, and they do not have the ability to drive countless cattle and sheep to follow the army to herd.

After all, Daming is not a grassland country. The most feasible path to the west of Europe is still the sea route, take the Nanfan-Tianzhu-Dashi, and push it step by step. It takes ten or twenty years to reach the Mediterranean.

But Kublai Khan, who is now entrenched in Central Asia, Ilkhan, who occupies Persia and Great Food, and Golden Horde, who controls the steppes of Rus', are very likely to develop westward after obtaining the H medicine and firearms technology of the Ming Dynasty, and conquer Europe before the Ming Empire!

In particular, after the Ming Dynasty completed the unification of southern China and established a stable political power, it soon had to use troops against the Hetao grassland, the Hexi Corridor and the Wusi-Tibet Plateau.

At that time, the Mongols, who felt in danger, might be like the Huns in history, and invade the heart of Europe westward.

Moreover, the military prowess and political skills of the three Mongol Khans (Kublai Khan, Il-Khan, and Golden Horde) now give Europe an advantage over the handicraft techniques they acquired from the Central Plains.

According to the latest news from Central Asia, Kublai Khan has begun to establish a tighter feudal system in Central Asia. He made the Mongols a scholar, let the Han people enter the city as the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, and also planned to open Confucianism and Buddhism, so that the barbarians in Central Asia could be educated and take the examination to become officials. They also recruited boys everywhere to form a scout army - it is said that they believed in Lamaism, read the Four Books and the Five Classics, recognized Kublai Khan as their godfather, and received strict training from an early age. It seems to be a Kublai Khan's version of the Mamluk Guard.

Obviously, Kublai Khan has also made progress in recent years, and he is also learning the lessons of failure and successful experience. Give him ten or eight years, and maybe he will be able to get out of the shadow of the failure of the Central Plains and go to the West to create a new situation.

And this new situation is quite possibly a Europe united by the Mongols!

Moreover, in the process of Kublai Khan's unification of Europe, the conservative forces in Europe will be swept away, and the culture, ideas, institutions and technologies of the East will be implanted on a large scale. Maybe it will give birth to a Renaissance movement!

When Mongol rule finally ended, a unified Europe might emerge. Like Russia in later generations, if it were not for the Golden Horde, the Rus' states would have been divided forever, and eventually become a dozen independent small states, just like Western and Central Europe.

A united Europe is clearly not what Chen Dexing wants.

He therefore had to establish formal diplomatic relations with Rome and Constantinople before the Mongols invaded Europe, and to secure concessions in Europe in order to trade with Europe. Military assistance could also be provided to the Europeans to help them resist the Mongol invasion when necessary.

"But how am I going to get to Europe?" Sophia shook her head, "The road to Europa, whether by land or water, is either under the control of the Mongols or in the hands of the Celestial Cultists. I think...... The Mamluk Kingdom will not allow the emissaries of the Heavenly Dao Sect to pass through their land and establish contact with Christendom, right? ”

That's natural! Although the Mamluks were enemies of the Mongols, it did not mean that they would definitely be friendly with the Ming Dynasty. The fierce conflict between the Heavenly Dao Sect and the Heavenly Fang Sect has closed the door to reconciliation between the two sides.

"Bao Yin, tell Sophia that she will enter Europe from the West, not from the East!"

Chen Dexing had already thought of a way, the Ming mission to Europe would make a detour to the New World, cross the Atlantic, and appear on the west coast of Europe.

After the news of the discovery of gold and silver mountains in Mingzhou reached China, this rich and vast new continent has been displayed in front of the world. Even distant Europe will know about the existence of the New World sooner or later.

Secrecy is impossible, and what the Ming can do now is to speed up the control of the east coast of the New World.

A voyage around the South Ming Continent is already being prepared, and five heavily armed "New World" class ships will be dispatched to arrive at Yinshan Port in Ming Chau first, and then sail south along the west coast of the Ming Chau Continent, bypassing the entire continent, and then turning back to the north, all the way to Zama Port. After completing this expedition, these five "New World" class ships will become the main ships of the Daming Western Fleet.

At the same time, Zhou Xiaoqi's Mayan Coastal Governor's Office would also organize forces to move north and south along the coastline to explore the east coast of Mingzhou. A colonial base will also be established at the entrance to the Great River on the east coast of Ming Chau. These colonial strongholds were to be fortified with troops stationed at the mouth of the river to prevent European invaders from penetrating into the interior of Mingzhou by water.

Of course, the most effective tools to prevent Europeans from establishing colonies in Mingzhou were the Indian Eight Banners and the Azket Green Battalion. The armament and training they now possess is probably stronger than that of most European armies of this era.

If an expedition like Columbus encounters the Eight Banners of India, there is probably only one way to die!

In a year or two, it will not be Chen Dexing who will worry about the Europeans invading Mingzhou, but the Europeans who will have to worry about the Indian Eight Banners and the Aztec Green Battalion invading their hometown...... (To be continued......)