Whether it is Yi'an Jushi becoming a concubine, or the emperor's alchemy oolong, it has become a topic of small talk among Tokyo citizens.

As long as the emperor doesn't toss around, no matter what he does, the people will like to eat melons.

Last year, the army was suspended, and this year there will be no war, and this life is getting better and better.

The price of food that can be seen to the naked eye has fallen to the price of Tokyo today, and it has returned to before Song Huizong ascended the throne.

Listening to the old people in Beijing, there is a time when food is cheaper.

Even the men who do manual work in the store have reverted to eating meat at least two days a month. If the boss is too stingy, he will be poked in the backbone, and the employee will secretly slack off.

This is due to the continuous decline in meat prices, and it is related to the promotion of corn and sweet potatoes.

Corn and sweet potatoes are cheap grains, and people can't resist hunger when they eat them. However, it can be used to feed pigs, and then add sweet potato vines, soybean meal, distiller's grains and other substances, and the cost of raising pigs has been relatively reduced.

At this time, the price of meat in Tokyo was 60 wen per catty for mutton, 35 wen per catty for pork, and 30 wen per catty for beef (the specific price fluctuates depending on the meat part).

As for why beef is the cheapest, it is because there is an official price.

30 Wen a pound of beef, is already the price after the Ming Dynasty has been raised. To be placed in the former Northern Song Dynasty, each catty of beef could only be sold for a maximum of 20 Wen.

Once the beef exceeds the official price limit, it is a serious problem to be caught.

There is no other reason to prevent the people from deliberately killing cattle and selling meat!

35 Wen a pound of pork, as long as it is not mixed too badly, the people of Tokyo can make a good tooth sacrifice several times a month.

This situation also occurs in big cities such as Hangzhou and Guangzhou, and even the low-level people can eat meat every once in a while.

However, development across the country is extremely uneven, and a large number of peasants are still struggling to make ends meet.

The central ministers had lived in Tokyo for a long time, and they had no direct experience of the poor areas, only that Tokyo was becoming more and more prosperous and rich, and the time when the Northern Song Dynasty was at its peak was just around the corner.

One counts as one, and gradually becomes floating.

Because Zhu Guoxiang was very simple, the ministers also advocated frugality, and the outermost layer was worn in old clothes.

Li Bangyan is especially outrageous, and the patched clothes are all worn out.

But the underwear is more expensive than the other. Moreover, the boots are also very particular, and deerskin boots have recently become popular, and some merchants even buy deerskins in large quantities from Jinguo.

The children of the powerful got married, and they didn't dare to be extravagant in Tokyo, but they were extravagant in their hometown.

However, if an official with a little power marries a daughter, it is a basic operation to marry thousands of times.

Where did they get their money?

Of course, it is accumulated by the ancestors for several generations, how can there be corrupt officials in the new Ming Dynasty!

……

Abu Fadl al-Kiermanni, a scholar of the Hanafi school, saw this "picture of prosperity" when he arrived in Guangzhou on a merchant ship on the orders of the Seljuk Sultan.

A local official in Guangzhou, because he was an official in Sichuan, defected to the new dynasty early at the right time, and has now reached the level of a general judge.

The procession of his son's wife was sent back to Guangzhou by boat from the neighboring house.

Directly a fleet of ships landed outside the city of Guangzhou, and hundreds of people came down from the ship one after another. Even the Lifu who carried all kinds of goods changed into brand new silk clothes, which were purchased by the master's family for free.

Abu was shocked: "Are they the king's retinue?" Is this the royal city of peach blossom stone? ”

The merchant Pu Mabe explained: "Respect the great scholars, this is the Guangzhou city of Taohuashi, and there are many such big cities in Taohuashi. In front of this team, there are local rich people getting married, and those who wear silk clothes are just slaves of the rich family. ”

"Can a slave wear silk too?" Abu couldn't have imagined.

"There is gold everywhere, there is honey flowing in the river, and silk is just an ordinary thing. ”

Abu stopped talking, not knowing what to say.

Pu Mabe witnessed Li Bao's recovery of Hangzhou, and his merchant ships were also requisitioned by Li Bao as a cover to attack Fuzhou.

Later, Pu Mabe also received a task from the Ming Emperor together with other foreign maritime merchants: as long as he brought rare and useful crop seeds, after obtaining the emperor's approval, he could deduct a part of the tariff.

Pu Mabe brought many crops, but only one was favored by Emperor Zhu.

That's it – carrots!

Not only was he partially tariff waived, but he was also qualified to purchase top-quality goods. Although this qualification is only once, it is a full 30 Shu brocade, but it also makes Pu Ma not make a lot of money.

The nobles of the Seljuk Empire, frantically snapped up Shu brocade, and were finally presented to the Sultan.

The Sultan received him and asked him many things about China, and asked Hanafi to send the scholar Abu to visit China.

A few decades ago, the Seljuk Empire had fallen apart.

Sanjar emerged victorious from a crowd of contenders and comfortably took the Sultan throne. Soon, rebellions abounded at home and among the vassal states, and the entire empire was plunged into a war of division.

Through a series of military and political means, Sanjar reunited the Seljuk Empire.

It even expanded externally, subjugated the Western Qarakhanid, erected the king of Ghaznavid, and even made the Eastern Qarakhanid subjugated this year.

The Eastern Qarakhanid Kingdom is the place where Yelu Dashi is about to attack!

Sanjar and Yelu Dashi, there will be a battle in the next few years.

Sanjar Sultan's understanding of China was very general, he could not distinguish between the Turks and the Khitans, and regarded the Western Regions as China.

I didn't know that in the Western Qarakhanid State that I conquered, there were a large number of Khitan soldiers. And these Khitan soldiers will soon let him capsize in the gutter, and let Yelu Dashibai pick up a big bargain.

Sanjar continued to expand eastward, conquering the Qarakhanid in order to reopen the Silk Road.

When he heard that China could be reached directly from the sea, and that the richest country in the land of peach blossoms was called the Ming Dynasty, Sanjar was eager to immediately send a fleet of ships to trade.

Unfortunately, he did not have a decent fleet and could only entrust the merchant to liaise.

At the same time, a scholar and more than a dozen guards were sent to make diplomatic contact with the Ming Emperor.

"You go and inquire, which nobleman of the Ming Dynasty is getting married, I think it should be visited out of courtesy." Scholar Abu advised.

Pu Ma didn't hurry up to inquire, he could barely speak the Cantonese dialect, and he asked for the news by a passer-by.

Pu Ma Bu ran back and said: "The father of the married man is a general judge of the Ming Dynasty, and you can understand that he is the deputy governor of a certain place. At the same time, the vice-governor's family also supplied maritime merchants in Guangdong, and had been involved in maritime trade for hundreds of years. ”

"Sure enough, it's the great nobles of Peach Blossom Stone." Abu thought he had figured it out.

They have already reported to the Guangzhou Bosi Division, and they can wander around Guangzhou for a few days, and then they will take a boat to Kaifeng to meet them.

From Guangzhou to Fuzhou, and then from Fuzhou to Hangzhou, the supply points along the way are all big cities.

When Abu and his retinue approached the shore to release the wind, they happened to encounter a group of dock coolies changing shifts.

The coolies were dressed in shabby short clothes, and some were simply topless, with only a sweat towel over their shoulders.

Abu thinks that the coolies must be at the bottom, and wants to see the basic situation of these people. So he quietly followed, but saw these coolies come to the roadside stalls, sit down and eat noodles with a lot of oil splashes, and some even add slices of meat to the noodle soup.

Pu Mabei came over and said: "This is just a harbor town, just like the outer harbors of Guangzhou and Fuzhou. The real city of Hangzhou has to go west along the river. ”

Abu looked at the town of Lupu, which was more prosperous than in the Northern Song Dynasty, and muttered to himself, "Is such a big city just an outer harbor town?" ”

They changed boats at Haimen and entered the Yangtze River, and then changed to northbound boats at Guazhou.

There were Cao troops on the ship, and there were also sporadic encounters along the coast.

These soldiers were all dressed in leather armor, most of them were equipped with spears and waist knives, and a few were equipped with a pair of bows and arrows, and the spears were only about two meters.

Abu said: "The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are fairly well-equipped, but they will definitely suffer defeat when they encounter the Sultan's army. They don't even have ironclad, and the Sultan has a lot of ironclad troops. ”

Pu Mabei said: "Daming also has ironclad soldiers. ”

Escorting them into Beijing along the way was an official of the city department named Jian Xun.

Jian Xun observed the movements of the Seljuk envoys all the way, until now he entered the canal, and finally planned to get information, maybe he could take the opportunity to make meritorious contributions.

"The country of Sedu (Seljuk) that your envoy spoke of could have been called the state of Byzantium (Byzantium) a few decades ago?" Jian Xun inquired.

He was the first Jinshi of the Ming Dynasty, and due to his low ranking, he was assigned to the Hanlin Academy History Museum for internship, and then he was thrown to the city of Guangzhou.

When assisting in the compilation of the "History of the Song Dynasty", Jian Xun came into contact with some historical materials of the previous dynasties.

Knowing that he was about to go to the city to take up his post, Jian Xun specially copied a lot of diplomatic materials through the trainee teacher.

Pu Ma was confused: "I'm sorry, I haven't heard of the forest country. ”

Jian Xun ran back to the cabin, took out the information he had excerpted, flipped to the content of the Fulin Kingdom and said: "A few decades ago, the monarch of the Fulin Kingdom was called the Destroyer Yiling Gaisa. The messenger he sent was called Judge Smond of Nice. Gaisa was dressed in red and yellow, and his head was wrapped in gold thread and silk cloth. Every year in March, you have to sit on the red bed and go to the Buddhist temple to worship. The aristocratic ministers all wore green, crimson, pink, and brown clothes with their heads wrapped around their horses. The country of Fulin takes gold and silver as money, this money has no holes, and the money is printed with Maitreya Buddha. ”

Pu Ma is even more confused, where has he ever seen the coins of Maitreya Buddha?

Jian Xun continued to prompt: "The kings of the Fulin Kingdom are all called Gaisa. ”

Re-Sa.

Caesar!

Pu Ma Be's instant understanding that the country of Fu Lin is fucking Byzantium.

At that time, the elderly Nikephoros III, faced with internal and external troubles, found an ancient map. In the far east of that map, a powerful empire is marked, the Taugas (Tang).

He summoned two nobles and admonished: "The Turks have put me on the throne, and they will send troops to depose me at any time." I heard from the steppe that the Tang Kingdom in the east was the nemesis of the Turks. You bring the most valuable gift from Constantinople and ask the Tang State to send troops from the east to attack the Turks. As Caesar of Greece and Rome, I allowed the king of Tang to be the lord of the East. ”

The two nobles crossed the Iranian Plateau, crossed the Green Mountains to the Western Regions, and arrived in Kaifeng through the Huangshui Valley, where they met Song Shenzong in a thrilling and dangerous way.

Immediately, the two sides started a cross-server chat.

The envoy claimed that Byzantium was a diplomatic state of the Tang Dynasty and asked Song Shenzong to send troops against the Turks (Seljuks).

Song Shenzong asked if these Turks were in collusion with Western Xia.

Pu Ma didn't pretend to understand anything, and replied, "We haven't heard of the Fulin Kingdom. ”

Jian Xun asked again: "How far is the color country where you are located from the Great Food Country?" ”

This question is even more difficult to answer.

For the convenience of doing business, all Western maritime merchants, including Seljuk merchants, claimed to be great food merchants.

This time, because of the envoy sent by the Sultan, Pu Ma did not dare to talk nonsense and reported his true name.

(Thanks to the leader of the alliance of the bird in the eggshell, O(∩_∩)O~~~)

(End of chapter)