The Seljuk Empire, of course, also had large cities.

Its former capital, Baghdad, has a population of more than 300,000.

Its new capital, Neishapur, also has a population of two or three hundred thousand.

But there are really not many such big cities, such as Hangzhou Outer Port Yangpu Town, due to the increasing prosperity of maritime trade, it can indeed be called a city in Seljuk.

They sailed north, through countless towns and cities, and Abu turned from shock to numbness.

When he arrived at Chenliu, Aibu finally couldn't help but ask: "How many such cities are there in Daming?" ”

Jian Xun also opened his mouth and came: "Thousands." ”

"With so many cities and populations, how should the monarch of your country rule? Won't the local nobility rebel? Abu asked.

Jian Xun said: "Our monarch is called the emperor, and he should rule the country by the people. The country was divided into many provinces, each of which was divided into many prefectures and counties, and the emperor sent officials to the provincial capitals and counties to govern the localities. ”

After this was translated by Pu Mabe, the taste completely changed.

"The countries of Peach Blossom Stone worship the god of the sky as the supreme god. The kings of the nations were called emperors, and each emperor was blessed by the god of the sky. The emperor sent officials to govern the land in the name of the god of the sky. ”

Abu savored it carefully and asked, "Are there so many officials available?" ”

Jian Xun replied: "Every three years, the emperor will elect hundreds of new officials through the imperial examination. ”

Pu Mabei translated: "There is a kind of examination called the imperial examination in each country of Taohuashi. The examination is when the emperor asks some questions and asks the scholars to answer them with pen and paper, and all scholars can participate. As long as you are selected for the exam, you can be appointed as an official. ”

Abu was shocked and then envied, believing that this was a scholar's paradise.

He is a scholar himself!

The Seljuks were a country founded by nomads, and although they fought wars, they were strong enough to govern the country.

They relied on conquered native nobles to govern the region, and the Sultan sent some officials. Including the officials of the capital, as well as the officials who were dispatched, most of them belonged to the Persians.

That is, the Persians and the nobles of various places, who helped the Seljuk rulers in governing.

After being confused for a long time, Abu asked: "Who is in charge of the local army?" ”

Jian Xun continued to brag: "The center has the Privy Council and the Ministry of War, which are responsible for recruiting, training, and mobilizing troops. The emperor appointed and dismissed generals to command these armies. I have two million soldiers in the Ming Dynasty! ”

Abu was taken aback by the two million troops and pointed to the soldiers on the ship: "Are they all such troops?" ”

Jian Xun said with a smile: "These are Cao Jun, who are specifically responsible for transporting food, and will also transport some other materials. They generally do not fight, but when they fight, there are soldiers, and each soldier wears iron armor. The ironclad soldiers of the Ming Dynasty also numbered millions. ”

Abu was skeptical, subconsciously feeling moisture, but the prosperous towns along the way made him inclined to believe it.

The next day, the ship docked at the warehouse yard on the outskirts of the eastern suburbs to unload its cargo.

The envoys from the Seljuk Empire were taken by Jian Xun to transfer to another official ship.

On both sides of the Bianhe River, there are dense warehouses, and there are heavy soldiers in iron armor to guard them.

While waiting for the ship to change, Abu looked at it for a while and asked, "Is there any food in there?" ”

Jian Xun nodded and said, "There is food, and there are other materials." ”

Abu swallowed secretly, how much food would have to be stockpiled. He said to Pu Mabe: "You ask again, how many countries are there in Taohuashi." ”

Jian Xun stood with his hands in his hands and said proudly: "The Tang Dynasty has fallen, and now it is scattered into more than ten countries. Except for the Jin Kingdom, the rest are all subject countries of the Ming Dynasty. The Jin Kingdom was also beaten by the Ming Dynasty and lost its city and land, and it will be destroyed by my Ming Dynasty within three years! ”

"XX Stan is also known as Peach Blossom Stone, is it also a subject country of the Ming Dynasty?" Abu asked again.

Jian Xun didn't understand it at all, and he didn't know that he was talking about the Black Khanate in the historical materials of the former Song Dynasty, but he blurted out: "Of course it's a subject country of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

Unaware that the Sultan had forced the Eastern Qarakhanid to submit, Abu decided to go back and report to the Sultan that the Western Qarakhanids were both subservient to the Sultan and to the Ming Emperor.

The official ship available for transfer finally arrived, and everyone boarded the ship and continued to move forward.

After the Kuraba area, there is a residential area on the outskirts of Beijing, and there are more and more buildings, and the population is becoming more and more dense.

For ten miles, both sides of the Bianhe River are full of residential areas, and there are streets along the river.

Three or four miles away from the city wall, the streets are no longer distributed along the Bianhe River, but radiate to the surrounding areas with the city wall as the center.

Everywhere there are boats, everywhere there are cars, everywhere there are people, everywhere there are goods!

Abu had lived in Baghdad for a long time, and he had also lived in Neshapur for nearly a decade, both of which were cities with a population of two or three hundred thousand.

But there was absolutely no opening in front of him that shocked him!

"Borrow the way, borrow the way!" A coachman shouted.

It was a large chariot pulled by more than 20 mules in front, and the cargo was about two or three tons.

This kind of vehicle first appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty and has been used until the Republic of China.

In "Water Margin", the Birth Gang was outwitted, and the heroes robbed the Taiping car.

Tokyo also uses this kind of chariot to transport pigs into the city every morning, and one cart can pull dozens of pigs.

With the exception of Guangzhou, Abu did not enter the city along the way, and only stayed at the harbor or river terminal.

Jian Xun deliberately took him around from the south, and as soon as he entered the city, he saw the Qingfeng Lou Hotel from a distance, and then the bell tower with a four-sided clock.

Abu was dazzled by the large buildings and gradually turned his attention away from the passers-by.

There are many people who wear silk here, and even if you don't wear silk, the colors are very diverse.

Silk is the favorite of the Seljuks, and historically, their sultan was defeated by Jerod Stone, and in order to show the wisdom and strength of the Sultan's enemies, he described Jerod Stone as "handsome and wears only silk"!

After a short rest, Abu couldn't wait to take out a pen and paper and string together the scattered records along the way and write:

"Taohuashi was once unified and divided into more than ten countries...... Now there is a country called Daming, which is the richest in the land of peach blossoms. The king of the Ming Dynasty is called the emperor, and he is the king of the kings of the peach blossom stone......"

"When I was passing through India, there was a powerful country called Chola. After another thirty-day voyage, we reached a large country called Angkor. There were also a number of smaller countries along the way, which eventually landed in Guangzhou in the Ming Dynasty and came into contact with officials of the Ming Kingdom. ”

"Guangzhou is a city no less than Neshapur and Baghdad, and I happened to have a wedding. It is unbelievable that the slaves who carried the dowry for the bride were all dressed in silk clothes......"

"The Ming official who took me to meet the emperor was called Jian, he was a very talkative scholar, and he even knew Rome, the sworn enemy of the empire. According to the information he provided, Caesar in Rome a few decades ago once sent people to the Ming Dynasty to ask for reinforcements......"

"The Ming do not believe in our religion, nor in Zoroastrianism, but in the god of the sky, which is their supreme deity. Including the Ming Dynasty, every king of the land of Peach Blossom Stone claimed to be the son of the god of the sky. Then they will be able to gain the obedience of their subjects, and there will not even be a rebellion, because a rebellion will provoke the wrath of the gods of the sky......"

"There are many port cities in Daming, each of which is home to hundreds of thousands of people. But the royal city of the Ming Dynasty was not by the sea, and they dug a long canal that could go straight to the royal capital from the sea. It is said that the Ming Dynasty was as vast as the Seljuks, but the canals could lead to every city. So their shipbuilding industry was well developed, and the emperor could send troops to any village in the empire by ship......"

"If anyone wants to go to war with the Ming Dynasty, I don't recommend a water war, because it is doomed to fail."

"There are many scholars here, officials of the Ming Kingdom, all of whom are selected from among the scholars. They had a kind of exam in which the emperor would personally ask questions and scholars would write out the answers on paper. Every three years, a group of the best scholars are selected as officials through examinations. ”

"The chosen scholars are of great knowledge and of the highest moral character. They were loyal to the emperor and at the same time treated the people well. So the people here are rich and very happy, and virtuous officials do not levy heavy taxes......"

"In every town in the country, the emperor built a school to train more scholars. Every child here can go to school, so there will never be a shortage of scholars in Damingguo. And the wealth of the Ming Empire allowed the emperor to have enough money to build schools in every town......"

Jian told me that not only was the emperor willing to build a school, but also wealthy nobles, merchants, and scholars would selflessly contribute money to run a school. The emperor built schools in the towns and the rich in the villages, and schools were everywhere here, and even the street vendors were literate. ”

"So there are a lot of books here, and before I even entered the city, I saw shops selling books, paper and pens outside the city."

"I heard that the prince of the Ming Dynasty is the most knowledgeable scholar in the country. His talent was admired by all the people, his poetry was widely praised, and countless great, intelligent and noble scholars surrounded him. The emperor also liked this eldest son and let him command the army of the whole country, not worrying that the eldest son would usurp the throne. ”

"This wise prince once commanded an army of 300,000 to defeat the same number of barbarians in the north. Those barbarians were brave and good at fighting, and even destroyed the Taohuashi Liao Kingdom, which was as powerful as the Ming Dynasty, and established a country called the Jin Kingdom. The barbarian army of the Jin Kingdom also invaded and occupied the land of the Ming Dynasty, but they could not defeat the great prince after all. ”

"It was a great battle of 600,000, and the prince led his most valiant and loyal army, and personally charged on horseback in armor. He routed the enemy from the front and won a decisive victory. The barbarians of the Kingdom of Jin were forced to sue for peace, cede land, offer goods, and beg the prince to stop hunting and killing......"

"Because the Ming had countless scholars, they admired elegance, even for the poorest. They eat with two long, slender wooden sticks, and whatever food they eat, they only use wooden sticks called chopsticks to put them in their mouths, and they never touch them with their hands on the way. Their chopsticks were beautifully made, and they were made of gold, silver, and ivory......"

"There's also a big car here that is used to transport goods. It needs fifty mules to pull, and no amount of cargo can be pulled away at a time......"

"The royal city of the Ming Dynasty was surrounded by canals, and every river was densely packed with merchant ships. Even the shipwrights wore silk, and the dock coolies ate meat every day......"

(End of chapter)