Wan'an Palace is roughly the shape of the Jinguo Da'an Hall in the middle capital, which is composed of the main hall of receiving the envoys, the side building and the front hall, and the outside of the front hall is the gorgeous white marble steps and carved dragon railings. The Mongols claim to be the descendants of the blue wolf and the white deer, and have no concept of dragons and phoenixes at all, which are probably created spontaneously by Han craftsmen. Song Yichang saw that the dragon and phoenix patterns and cloud patterns on the railings and imperial steps were dull and rough, and lifeless. sighed in my heart, and I was also bullying the Mongols for not understanding these tricks of the Central Plains, so they would carve so blatantly. If it is placed in Lin'an, I am afraid that these craftsmen will inevitably be whipped.

Along the way, the little guy kept showing his waist cards to the cowardly guards guarding him, and led Song Yichang through several checkpoints and entered the front hall of Wan'an. It was the place where the envoys, generals, and darul monks rested and reorganized before the official court meeting with the Great Khan. In the middle of the main hall, there is a three-foot-high white marble platform, on which is a male master cast in gold, with all the hair open, sharp claws, and a very vivid appearance of raising his head and roaring. This is obviously not the appearance of a Han lion, and what Song Yichang didn't know was that this golden lion was a gift from the lords of Khorezm's territory to raise funds to give to the Great Khan. The Turkic people are the heaviest lion, with the lion as a symbol of courage and fearlessness, the Turkic so-called "Arslan", both the meaning of the lion, also the meaning of heroic, the Turkic people named men, many like to use it.

The hall in front of the gate was full of envoys from various countries waiting to be received. Some of them wear the color of the Central Plains, some of them wear the color of the Western Regions, some have high noses and deep eyes, some have yellow beards and curly hair, some have snow-white complexions, and some have darker skin than the Central Plains people. As far away as the Scythian lords on the western shore of the Black Sea, as far south as the Delhi Sultan, who had just pacified the Deccan plateau in India, and even the caliph in the city of Baoda sent envoys to inquire about the health of the Great Khan.

The messenger of the city of Nabaoda claimed to be the minister of the Celestial Empire, and ruled the land of thousands of miles in the name of the Holy Religion. In fact, most of this orthodox emperor is just a puppet emperor who has no temperance ability over the sultans everywhere, but after all, the sultans everywhere are more or less respectful to the caliph. Moreover, in addition to the tribute, Islam also has a pilgrimage ritual, that is, during the life of the believer, the believer must go to the holy place of the Prophet Muhammad's enlightenment, Mecca, and carry a large amount of money to show that he can wash away the sins of the world and ascend to heaven after death. Even if the pilgrimage tribute collected by the monarchs and nobles of the Islamic countries every year is enough to make the caliph in the city rich and rich.

The messenger twisted his curly goatee in his hand, listened to the interpreter's introduction to the origin of the golden lion, pouted, and said, "Is such a little bit of gold worthy as a gift to the monarch of a great country?" It seems that the Great Khan of Mongolia is not very meritorious. When the chieftains of the Papals came to Mecca on pilgrimage, they brought with them forty camels' gold and 48,000 Roman coins. Similar to this statue the size of a golden lion, I reported that there are not 10,000 statues in the city, but 8,000 statues. The thousand gates of the city of Pauda were made of gold, and they were inlaid with all sorts of precious stones. The shields of the soldiers guarding the gates were made of pure gold. This kind of palace is really not a luxury in comparison"

His rhetoric is mostly a big eater. Therefore, the courtiers of other countries, including Hao Jing and Song Yichang, did not know what he was talking about. Only one of Kublai Khan's interpreters, a Khorezm scholar who was proficient in the language of the Great Eclipse, was speaking in detail to Kublai Khan and a young nobleman standing beside him.

Kublai Khan smiled and said to the Mongolian boy, "What do you think? The corners of the young man's mouth twitched, and he instructed the Khorezm scholar, "You go and test it, and see how many people there are in the Great Food Country." ”

The scholar whispered in reply, strode to the messenger, and said in a great saying, "There is a proverb in my country that if you want to saddle a horse with gold, you must have the steel sword of the Damas Valley in your hand." The city of Baoda is so prosperous and rich, how kind of powerful army can it defend it? ”

The envoy squinted at the two young Mongolian nobles standing not far away, and deliberately raised his voice and said: "I, the caliph, am the leader of all Orthodox Christians in the world, and my strength is so strong, how can the Mongols understand it?" In the city of Baoda alone, there were 100,000 cavalrymen armed with gold-encrusted spears, and the infantry could not be counted at all. In addition, the Sultan of Upper and Lower Egypt had 400,000 elite soldiers, and the Seljuk Sultan of Anatolia had 300,000 iron horsemen. The lords of the Orthodox Church everywhere can conquer millions of warriors who are accustomed to war, do you think that anyone really dares to covet the riches of the city? ”

Kublai Khan and the boy glanced at each other and smiled in unison. The young man whispered, "Let's play the Great Khan, send envoys back to the monarch of Baoda, and also send a caravan to Baoda City to find out the truth." ”

The Mongols had already mastered the use of spy reconnaissance, but before preparing to attack a place, they first sent envoys to spy on the paths and troops, and then sent caravans to check where they were rich, where they were barren, and where they were dangerous, and finally sent long-term spies to lurk and carry out bribery of generals and various sabotage activities.

Kublai Khan said, "The messenger is bluffing, don't take it seriously. If he reports that there are 100,000 iron horsemen in the city, can he still compete with our Mongol warriors? The central capital of the Jin State is claimed to be garrisoned by 500,000 elite soldiers, but was it also broken by Genghis Khan? The number of people fighting is only one side, and how to use the number of people is the key. This envoy only used the number of people to scare us, but did not report who was the famous general in the city, which shows that the other party does not care about the quality of the commander. This is where they fall short. ”

He added, "But we must also be careful to find out whether the local sultans will really send troops to help the king of Baoda City when he is in trouble." In case reinforcements do come, we will allocate a part of them to send reinforcements, and we must pay attention to the surrounding geographical situation and how strong the city is. If there is no progress under the fortified city, it will inevitably give the children of the Great Khan another reason. ”

The young man just shook his head slightly: "Anda, you think too much, fighting a war depends on the decision of the opportunity, and too much planning before the war can't keep up with the changes on the battlefield." ”

Kublai Khan knew that he was arrogant, and thought that he was no less than the first-class Mongolian generals Jebe and Subutai, and he didn't argue with him at the moment. He saw Hao Jing and Song Yichang arriving from a distance, and hurriedly greeted the two.

Hao Jing and Song Yichang walked through the bustling crowd to the front of Kublai Khan and the young nobleman.

Kublai Khan patted the young man on the shoulder and said, "This is my brother Hulegu. ”

Hulegu Fang had just come of age, and it was the time when his sharpness was flashing, and he was anxious to make a contribution. He didn't pay much attention to the two Han people under the second brother, and said to Kublai Khan to himself: "When the Great Khan is free in a while, we will propose to the Great Khan that we will use the 50,000 horses of our brothers who stayed on the steppe to make an expedition to the city and rob him of all the gold and silver women." ”

Since Song Yichang returned to the north, he has redoubled his efforts to learn Mongolian day and night, and now he has achieved a little success. At this time, listening to Hülegü's words, he shook his head and said in a stiff Mongolian dialect: "Your Royal Highness's words are too reckless, the art of war in the Central Plains says, know yourself and know your opponent, you will not be defeated in a hundred battles, and you will only lose half of the victory or defeat if you don't know the other." At present, we still don't know much about the internal and external situation in the city. The odds of victory are only five points, if you rush out of the school, in case of a slight setback, wouldn't it just happen to meet the wishes of others? ”

Hülegü turned his head, shook the sparse beard on his face and shouted, "You Sinan barbarian, how dare you interfere in the affairs of my Genghis Khan family?" I, the descendant of Genghis Khan, am an eagle flying high in the sky and a wolf galloping in the desert, how can I be frightened by the small city of Baoda? ”

"The goshawk flying high in the sky, soaring in the blue sky, looking at the situation on the ground, thinking in his heart when to suddenly pounce on the prey." Song Yichang responded calmly: "The blue wolves in the desert echo each other, cooperate with each other, use cunning tactics to round up the prey, and use careful hunting to capture the target. I would like Your Highness to be a clever falcon and a wolf, not a stupid camel that can only rush with one tendon. ”

Hülegü usually speaks little, and his temperament is simple and straightforward, but when he heard Song Yichang's words this time, he couldn't refute it for a while.

Kublai Khan saw that he also suffered Song Yichang's loss in words, and Ha Lu Ha Da Lu smiled and said: "Is there any truth to what this Sinan Si people said? When Genghis Khan raised his army on the Onon River, there were only 30,000 soldiers, which was less than the number of Nazamuhe and Wang Han. How did he dominate the steppe and become the Great Khan? It's not because he can really fight a hundred, a thousand, but he's good at reconnaissance and planning, and a good hunter can't subdue a tiger with his bare hands. But by observing and setting traps, a hundred tigers can be caught. ”

He said to Hulegu: "The Great Khan has said that there are many lands, wealth, and women in the world, so why are you in a hurry? Now Möngkeanda was concentrating on his troops in the west, preparing to follow Batu against the rebellious Kipchaks. You first bring troops over to help him, and I will start to send people to investigate the truth of the great food country, and when you return from the victory of the Kipchak steppe, we and the three brothers Meng Ge will lead 100,000 horses to crusade against Nabaoda City, what's wrong? ”

Of the two brothers, Möngke was imposing and unapproachable, and Kublai Khan acted decisively, which made the younger Hülegü and the younger brother Ali Buge very fearful of both brothers. When Kublai Khan said this, he no longer objected.

Kublai Khan said to Song Yichang and Hao Jing: "After a while, the Great Khan will begin to receive envoys from all over the country to check the tribute. This is when he is in the best mood, and I will introduce you to him when I have time. ”