The suggestion to equip the Praetorian Guards with Type 22 rifles first was rejected by Zhao Jiaren, and Zhao Guanjia suggested that the army of the Liangguang Military Region should be equipped with Type 22 rifles first, and the primary goal of the Liangguang Military Region was to recover Guizhou and Yunnan.

In the edict, Zhao Jiaren clearly wrote, "I have recruited envoys for Jiaozhi and Yungui ten years ago. Now that Jiaozhi has returned to the Great Song Dynasty, Yungui is still owned by Hu Lu. Thinking often hurts my heart, and today Mongolia has been expelled from Hebei. When the Yungui is recovered. Better tools make good work. Therefore, the shilling and the Guangxi Military Region were equipped with new guns......"

The logic of this reason was clear, and no one in the military department was willing to refute it, and the policy of recovering Yungui was immediately determined. Logically speaking, Yungui is still Mongolia's territory at this time, but no one in Mongolia cares at all. At this time, Kublai Khan had already led the Khan's army into Baghdad, which was not far from the city of Tabriz.

At this time, the climate has entered the beginning of December in the Western calendar, and even in the early stage of the Xiaoice climate, the minimum temperature in Baghdad is four or five degrees. It is a very comfortable temperature for Mongolians. Kublai Khan, sitting on a tall Arab horse, looked at the city that surrendered to him and did not speak for a long time. Marshal Boyan suggested that Baghdad be the end point of the expedition, and the Mongol Khan finally arrived at this end, only to find that he was looking at a completely exotic city.

After a long silence, Kublai Khan finally ordered, "Enter the city!" ”

The cavalry rumbled forward, and the troops made a beeline for the palace of the Habas caliphate of the former Arab empire. The building, once very grandiose, has fallen into decay after the destruction of more than 20 years ago, and it is still so-so and still in its original form. Seeing the onion head palace, Kublai Khan suddenly smiled and said, "But I didn't expect to live in such a house." ”

"Great Khan, I'll wait for time to change it to what we like." Marshal Boyan replied beside him.

"Hmm." Kublai Khan agreed.

Boyan continued, "The top priority at the moment is to order Guo Shoujing and others to rebuild the dam as soon as possible. ”

Recalling the situation he saw, Kublai Khan continued to nod his head in agreement.

Baghdad is on the banks of the Tigris River, which requires a stable water supply through dams in addition to bridges. The previous civilization of the two river basins made great achievements in this area, but then it was destroyed and messy. It has always been a tradition of the Mongols to destroy the water conservancy facilities of those ancient countries, and the destruction of these water conservancy facilities can effectively conquer the city, expel the local residents, and facilitate the Mongol offensive.

But to establish stability in the region, these water facilities need to be restored. Guo Shoujing and other water conservancy experts in Dayuan have performed very well in Hebei and Shandong, and have accumulated a lot of experience. At this time, Boyan asked these people to continue to serve the Mongol Great Khan Kublai Khan in distant Baghdad.

The palace of the former caliph was devoid of any locals, and the Great Khan's pro-army occupied the place. In the blink of an eye, Baghdad became the new capital of Mongolia. Kublai Khan began to choose his dormitories, and the court staff began to choose the offices of various court departments.

Looking at the empty desktop, Kublai Khan couldn't help but sigh: "The paper here is probably very expensive. ”

"Great Khan, when you get to the port, you can buy paper from the Song Kingdom." For the time being, he became a direct subordinate of the Great Khan, and he immediately replied.

"Can you buy Da Song's paper at the port?" Kublai Khan was amazed.

General Buhua hurriedly brought up the map. This map is not a map with latitude and longitude lines like the Great Song Dynasty, but a traditional map. There are only four directions, east, west, north and south, and there is no scale. Pointing to the southeast, General Buhua said, "The ships of the Song Kingdom are anchoring here and selling their goods here. Paper has always been the main commodity sold by the Great Song Dynasty. ”

Kublai Khan looked at the map with a sneering expression on his face, "But I didn't expect Nanban to arrive here earlier than me." ”

General Buhua was full of negative emotions when he heard this, and he didn't dare to speak again. No one in the court dared to touch the mold at this time, Kublai Khan was not good, and he was beaten by the Song State to withdraw from Hebei. In case he wants to take someone to attack, no one can stop him. Kublai Khan was silent for a while, and suddenly said to Buhua: "Since you have said so, then hurry up and buy it!" ”

The general immediately went out to arrange for his subordinates. The gang hurried to Basra, the trading city. The Tigris River flows downstream and joins the Euphrates River in Ghurnai, where it joins the Shatt al-Arab and is nearly 200 kilometers long and about 800 meters wide at the mouth. The middle and lower reaches of the two rivers were the source of irrigation for the fertile Mesopotamian plains. Sea vessels enter the Shatt al-Arab by sea and reach the port of Basra on the Shatt al-Arab.

The same was true of the ships of the Great Song, and when the envoys of the general Buhua arrived in Basra, they saw the banner of the Great Song among the many ships. It was a red flag flying high on a mast. Compared with the surrounding Arab ships, the sea ships of the Great Song Dynasty are always the largest in volume and the highest in mast.

This time when they got closer, General Buhua's subordinates found that the three Great Song ships were very different this time, with two huge paddle wheels on both sides of the hull. The messenger didn't know what was going on, so he went to the market to look for it. Sure enough, I saw a large amount of paper in the shop of Da Song.

As soon as you see the color and finish of the paper, you know that this is Chinese paper. Papermaking spread from China to Central Asia, into the Euphrates Valley, and later to Europe. There are some differences in each place, for example, in the Arab region, the material used is grass, and the paper produced is dark. In addition, there is no Chinese medicine used to bind the pulp, and the paper is quite rough.

The envoy stepped forward to negotiate the price, and listened to the local man hired by the Great Song Dynasty say, "Master, the price of paper is the same as before. However, Master Song Guo is now buying books. If you can bring out the books, we can exchange them for paper. ”

"What books are they?" The messenger was pleasantly surprised. The Mongols had little interest in books, and it would be a good deal to be able to trade useless books for paper.

After listening to this, the guy hurriedly took out a booklet, and when he opened it, it was full of various titles. There used to be a university in Baghdad, as well as a large library. There are a lot of books. It is said that after conquering Baghdad, Hulegu threw a large number of books into the Tigris River in Baghdad, turning the entire river black. This is just a legend, in fact, there are still many folk books.

The messenger read the booklet and asked: "Can you give me a copy?" ”

"Probably not." The local guy replied with a smile.

"I'll buy three hundred pounds of paper first." The messenger shouted.