The envoys of the general Buhua returned to Baghdad from Basra, but were blocked at the gate by the Great Khan's troops guarding the gate. The men guarding the door checked the warrant and opened the wooden box to see that it was paper. They immediately showed joyful expressions, reached out to take the paper, and shouted in Mongolian: "Brothers, there is a wrapper!" ”

When the envoy saw the wolf-like appearance of the Mongols, he was so frightened that he hurriedly stepped forward to stop them, and shouted: "This is a piece of paper for the Great Khan, you must not move it." ”

I thought that these words would scare the Great Khan's pro-army, but I didn't expect that a Great Khan's pro-army dragged the envoy aside and threw him aside, and at the same time shouted loudly: "It's just to take a few pieces of paper, the Great Khan will never be so stingy." ”

Where did the envoy dare to let these people move, and hurriedly went up to stop them, "These brothers, I was ordered to buy paper for the Great Khan, if there is too little paper, I will be killed." I'll get it for you, I'll get it for you. ”

Although the Great Khan's pro-army was arrogant, they did not really dare to rob the Great Khan's things. Seeing that the messenger was still on the way, he asked the messenger to divide a stack for each person. The envoy wiped the cold sweat on his head, and heard the retreating Great Khan's pro-army say happily: "Grandma's, I have used grass and leaves for more than a year, and I don't know how many holes have been cut and worn out, but there is paper and ......."

Escorting the paper into the city, the envoy found that within a few days of leaving, a large number of locals had appeared in the city who had been arrested to repair the palace. The Mongol overseers carried horsewhips and drove the laborers to work hard. Whoever dares to move a little slower will fall into the eyes of the prison guards, and will be immediately whipped on the head. The steady-moving locals of Pinsuri also showed their quick side when driven by the whip.

These laborers, who were mainly responsible for repairing the palace of the former caliph, happened to be in the same direction as the messengers, and drove the car through the crowded roads to the palace. The paper was sent to General Buhua, and the room was slowly filled with the special aroma of Da Song paper. Compared with the straw paper made along the coast of Tianzhu after the diffusion of technology, the paper of the Great Song Dynasty uses bamboo as a material, and after the process of bleaching and adding pulp binders, the paper is clean and smooth, and there is a faint fragrance of bamboo.

More than 20 years ago, when the Great Food Merchants controlled the South China Sea Route, the people in the Tianzhuyang region did not know that there was such a good paper in the world. It was not until the Zhao official family of the Great Song Dynasty eliminated the Great Food Merchants and seized the shipping rights of the South China Sea Trade Line that the paper of the Great Song Dynasty began to enter Tianzhu Ocean in large quantities. In addition to the fact that the quality of the paper is much higher than that of the local paper, the price of Dasong paper is also lower than that of the local straw paper. Soon, these Great Song Dynasty papers were like mercury pouring into the ground, destroying the local siege and decaying.

After listening to the price of paper, the general sighed heavily. This price is not more expensive, and it remains at the same level as before. It's just that as a subordinate, the paper dedicated to the Great Khan can't ask for money, and the price of 300 catties of paper is still a very cheap expense on the whole.

However, the messenger hurriedly took out the notebook and stationery again, "Don't spend the master, I don't know if the Great Khan has the habit of using stationery." ”

Brushes are a waste of paper. Da Song sold paper and provided stationery at the same time. Needless to say, pencils can be written fluently on local straw paper. The combination of steel dipping pen and ink can only be used on the paper and notebook of the Great Song Dynasty, and the rough local paper will make the ink expand rapidly, and the handwriting will become difficult to distinguish.

With these stationery and notebooks, the use of the same size of paper has increased by more than three or four times. The cultural class around Tianzhuyang welcomed these expensive stationery. Da Song stationery with Da Song paper, the overall price is much lower than that of a brush with local straw paper. In the emissary's view, if stationery could be promoted in the court of the Mongol Great Khan, it should be able to save money.

"Give it a try." General Buhua replied.

"Master, when I went to buy paper this time, I also saw a paper shop in the Great Song Dynasty buying books. I came back with the roster. The messenger took out his harvest again.

General Buhua just looked at it casually, and saw that it was full of True God Cult texts that he didn't understand, so he called the official family and asked him to collect the books on the booklet. General Buhua himself brought paper and stationery to the Great Khan and offered these.

"Oh! I didn't expect to see Chinese brand pencils here. ”

"Great Khan, this dipping water is still a hero card, the ink is ostrich, black and dark blue."

"This kraft notebook, hehe. That's good. ”

Seeing the familiarity of the Mongolian court officials with these stationery, General Buhua only felt that his eyes were about to fall out. Where does this still need to be taught by generals, the royal court of the Great Khan is very familiar with these things.

"Don't spend, you're doing well." Kublai Khan praised.

"Thank you, Great Khan, for the compliment." General Buhua still feels a pain in his flesh, and he feels a little better in his heart. At least their own credit is recognized.

"Where did the paper come from?" Kublai Khan asked.

"It's from Basra. Song ships would deliver goods to Basra. The general replied.

"Hmm." Kublai Khan listened carefully, and when the general finished speaking, Kublai Khan said: "It is better for Basra to become a monopoly port for Mongolia, and all ships and goods imports in the future will be managed by Mongolia." ”

General Buhua was a little stunned when he boarded, and he said tentatively: "I don't know what the Great Khan said about the pipe, what kind of management method it is. ”

"All the taxes of the city of Basra were collected by the Mongols. Those merchants also had to pay their taxes on time. The crown prince Zhenjin, who was beside the Mongol Great Khan, replied loudly.

"Hmm." Kublai Khan nodded slightly. In the past, in the Han land, the finances were managed by Ahma, but when he left the Han land, Ahma's whereabouts were unknown, and the situation changed, and the previous tax revenue was basically gone. When he heard that there was such a trading city as Basra, Kublai Khan's first thought was his cash cow 'Zhigu Village'. It's just that I didn't expect the crown prince Zhenjin to come out first and say what Kublai Khan was thinking.

The general's face became ugly. The people of the Ilkhanate did not know that Basra was a place where they could make money, so the various forces had spokesmen there, including the generals who did not spend money. Now Kublai Khan has so clearly expressed his covetousness for Basra, it's terrifying!

Although I really wanted to refute it, General Buhua couldn't say anything. Earlier in Tabriz, Kublai Khan asked General Buhua 'who is the thief', and General Buhua had to say some names. Kublai Khan ordered the Great Khan's army to accompany General Buhua to raid the house and destroy those 'rebels', so that everyone knew what General Buhua had done. Now he ordered General Buhua to come to 'pursue the traitors' as a direct subordinate of Kublai Khan, which made General Buhua no longer have the same influence as before.

At this time, the general did not dare not speak, if he did not say anything, in case the newcomer Khan Kublai Khan said that he was going to collect taxes, in fact, he played the Mongolian tradition and sent troops to sack Basra. He plucked up his courage and said: "Great Khan, Basra has its own tax collectors. ”

"I'm going to be in charge of managing the tax officials." Prince Zhenjin said to Kublai Khan.

Kublai Khan really felt unexpected, after experiencing this western expedition, the change of the crown prince's real gold was very obvious. In the past, the crown prince Zhenjin regarded himself as a Confucian leader, surrounded by Han Confucians. Although Hao Ren also studied Confucianism, he was considered to be sinicized. Zhenjin is the following Confucian national teacher of the Great Yuan Dynasty. During the Northern Expedition of the Great Song Dynasty, the Mongol court attributed the successive defeats to the Mongol adoption of the Confucian system. After the Western Expedition, Mongolian Confucianism was even more in decline. The Prince of True Gold turned to the former Ahma's financial faction. If he had become the official in charge of the tax collector this time, he would have obviously achieved this purpose.

Although he did not know the reason for the transformation of real gold, Kublai Khan still felt that this was inappropriate. He did not answer this, but said to General Buhua: "Tomorrow you will send someone to lead the people of the Golden Horde to Basra first." ”

"Yes." General Buhua replied.

The next day, the messenger of General Buhua set out on the road to Basra again. There was a river between Baghdad and Basra, but it was narrow, slow and curved, and the men set out in camel caravans. It took four days to reach the destination.

In addition to a large number of swamps and wetlands, there are also a large number of irrigation canals and fields of fertile land after harvesting. The two river basins have such an agricultural foundation, and many civilizations have also been born. But the terrain here is flat, and all factions are easy to reach, so you sing and I appear, so the dynasty changes, and the royal flag changes. The Arab Empire lasted for more than 500 years and had rich experience in dealing with various foreign forces, but was finally completely destroyed by the Mongols.

When the camel caravan arrived in Basra, they saw the lively city. General Buhua's envoy went to the port to see again, and at this time he couldn't even see a ship of the Great Song Dynasty. I asked the officials and learned that the Great Song ships had left in a hurry. The envoy first led the men sent by the Great Khan to contact the local leaders, and it was evident that both sides were quite wary.

The messenger knew that his task was only to lead the way, and when the gang had come into contact with him, he went to the shop he cared about. The shop has no façade, let alone a signboard, and it looks like an ordinary house. After the code, regular customers were allowed to enter. When I entered, I found that several people had arrived earlier than the messenger.

After waiting for a while, a few more customers came, and the owner appeared. There was no nonsense, the shopkeeper directly took out a couple of knives. In appearance, these knives belong to the Japanese sword. Pull the blade up, straighten a piece of silk, and put force on the blade, and the silk will change in two. Fold the two pieces and do it again, then easily cut it into four pieces. The shopkeeper took out another sheepskin, and slashed it at the wool with his knife, and saw a large amount of fine wool flying in the air.

After the display, the shopkeeper said proudly: "They are all high-grade swords of the Song Kingdom, let's start bidding." ”