When he discovered that the Song army had more than eighty medium and large sea ships, one of which was covered with iron armor, his face still looked very ugly.
Talib Luber had never heard of an ironclad ship sailing on the sea.
Don’t they know that sea water is very corrosive to iron and that iron ships cannot move at all on the sea?
However, since an ironclad ship has traveled across the ocean and appeared here, it shows that these are not a problem at all for the Song Dynasty.
No wonder even though our ancestors were driven away from the desert grasslands by the Tang people, the people of these Eastern dynasties are still as powerful as ever.
Talib Luber waved his hand and said, "I'll go to the City Lord's Mansion and wait for them. Ask them to send someone over."
"yes!"
The city lord agreed.
Then Talib Ruber returned to the city lord's mansion.
At this moment, on the dock and on the boat, major officials such as Tan Wenxue, Zhang Youwei, and Wang Shining had already discovered the unusual situation in the city.
Every day, people would use telescopes on the mast observation platform to observe the developments in the city.
They noticed it when the army entered the city, and the lookout immediately reported the situation to everyone.
"Is this the Seljuk king coming?"
"I don't know."
"So many troops, what does this mean?"
"Here comes with bad intentions."
"We are the ones who are coming."
"When the enemy comes, we must stop them with our generals; when the water comes, we must block it with earth."
Several people were talking.
Not long after, more than ten people came out from outside the city.
The mayor of the city of Lenge was at the front, along with a local Persian translator.
Khorasan is later Iran, which is mainly a gathering place for Persians, and the Buyid Dynasty and the Samanid Dynasty were both Persian dynasties.
So naturally there were merchants from the Buyid Dynasty on board as translators.
Lord Leng came to the boat and said to them, "Our governor invites you to the city lord's mansion."
Governor?
What's the meaning?
Tan Wenxue was unhappy again.
The Song Dynasty envoys represented the Emperor of Song Dynasty.
According to the principle of diplomatic reciprocity, even if the other king did not come to greet them in person, the king should send someone to invite them over.
As a result, a governor came.
It is estimated that the so-called governor is probably at the same level as the Song Dynasty Road Transport Commissioner.
This is like when a delegation of envoys from the Liao Kingdom came to celebrate the birthday of the Emperor of the Song Dynasty. The Emperor did not send the Honglu Temple to welcome them to Bianliang, but instead asked the Hebei Road Transport Commissioner to go to the border to have a conversation with them.
If it were twenty years ago when the Song Dynasty was not yet strong, the Liao people would have been furious and would have marched their troops south directly.
The other party is really rude.
"snort."
Tan Wenxue snorted coldly, "What's wrong with this Seljuk Empire? My Great Song envoys have been treated properly in other places, but here they are treated like this. Have they really become barbarians and don't know etiquette?"
These words frightened the merchant from the Buyid Dynasty, and he did not dare to translate them.
Zhang Youwei said, "It's probably just as I said. We destroyed the Black Khanate and are now at the border of the Seljuk State. With a fierce tiger at their side, they will naturally be restless and will definitely not be happy with us."
"If that's the case, this is probably a dangerous place. Are you still going there?"
Wang Shining asked.
"go!"
Tan Wenxue gritted his teeth and said, "Why not go? Even if it's a dangerous place, even if we die, what does it matter? As messengers, we have long since cast aside life and death!"
"Um."
Zhang Youwei nodded and said, "That's right. We have a duty to perform. Even though they are rude, we have no choice but to go. Otherwise, diplomatically, they could easily say that we took the lead and ignored their invitation. So we must go, even if it means going through a dangerous situation."
"I'll go."
Tan Wenxue said, "We can't be without a mastermind on board. Of the three of us, two are the highest-ranking civilian officers, and one is the chief military commander. General Wang must stay, so just one of us can go. If anything goes wrong, there'll be someone to continue the mission."
"I'll go."
Zhang Youwei smiled bitterly and said, "You have a stubborn personality. It wouldn't be good if we went and got into direct conflict. If I go, I can still negotiate with them. Besides, I'm a doctor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It's my responsibility to handle diplomatic affairs."
"this"
Tan Wenxue was choked for a moment.
He was a doctor in the Ministry of Rites. Although he was at the same level as Zhang Youwei, he was subtly the superior along the way.
The reason is that although the Ministry of Rites has no power, it has always been the nominal head of all ministries, just like during the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers of the Han Dynasty, the Taichang Temple, as a ritual department, had no real power or military power, but the Taichang Temple was the head of the Nine Ministers.
So on weekdays, he is the one who takes charge among the three of them.
However, the fact that he is the main person in charge is more like the other two respecting his authority because of his position in the Ministry of Rites. However, if we really talk about responsibilities, it is indeed Zhang Youwei who has more say in diplomatic occasions.
"All right."
Tan Wenxue was a reasonable man, so he had nothing more to say. He could only say, "Then you must return safely. We will meet you on the shore. If anything goes wrong, you can order your servants to blow the horn, and we will charge into the city."
"good!"
Zhang Youwei nodded, took a deep breath, then waved his hand and called the other officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over.
The two ministries brought more than one hundred officials, both big and small, with them this time. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had more than sixty people. In addition to him, the doctor, there were two assistant doctors, four case chiefs, and dozens of clerks, clerks, bailiffs, and other officials.
He arranged for a deputy minister, a chief judge and more than ten officials to accompany him, while Wang Shining arranged for more than 200 guards to accompany him to ensure Zhang Youwei's safety.
Then everyone got off the boat.
Zhang Youwei led everyone into the city. Except for the sailors and attendants, the rest of the fleet, including the Guangzhou, entered combat status. More than 2,000 guards disembarked one after another and lined up on one side of the dock, as if they were ready to charge into the city immediately if something went wrong!
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