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He immediately knelt down and kowtowed.
Zhao Yuan was too lazy to say there was no need to kneel.
He's tired of saying that.
They were simply asked to get up and sit down.
These merchants have one characteristic.
The eye sockets are rather sunken.
It's obvious at a glance that they have foreign blood.
However, the Uyghurs scattered and migrated at the end of the Tang Dynasty.
Those with weaker abilities cannot go very far.
So they settled in the impoverished areas of Shaanxi.
One by one, they all learned to speak the Han language.
According to the records in "Songmo Jiwen",
These Shaanxi-trained Uyghurs,
Women often had illicit affairs with Han Chinese men before they were married.
Some were even nearly thirty years old.
She has already had several children.
A Uyghur woman who is not yet married.
When it comes time to discuss marriage,
His parents even boasted to the matchmaker,
How many men has his daughter slept with?
Those Uyghurs with sunken eye sockets and no beards,
Most of them were born from illicit affairs with Han Chinese.
Among Li Yanxian's cavalry,
There are quite a few such Uyghur mixed-race children.
"Have you ever been to Gaochang to do business before?" Zhao Yuan asked.
A mixed-race businessman said, "We're all small-scale traders."
"Not to mention going to Gaochang, even the Western Xia wouldn't dare to venture deep into the region,"
"We only dare to trade with the Western Xia people in the border areas."
Chapter 357 The Situation in Central Asia
Zhao Yuan said, "The Emperor has already dispatched an envoy."
"Go and bestow titles upon the ruler of the Western Xia Kingdom."
"From now on, the Ming Dynasty and the Western Xia will be like father and son."
"You may freely travel from Hexi to Gaochang to trade,"
“Record the climate, geography, cities, customs, and religious sects along the way.”
"If the funds are insufficient, the imperial court can invest,"
"We will provide you with some goods that are scarce in the Western Regions."
Another mixed-race merchant said:
“I’ve heard Uyghurs and Sogdians say this before,”
"Western Xia frequently intercepted and killed merchants and travelers,"
"We really dare not venture too deep into the territory of Western Xia."
Zhao Yuan's expression turned icy:
"If the Western Xia dares to intercept and kill Ming merchants,"
"The imperial court will send a large army to press the border!"
For maritime trade to develop,
The land-based Silk Road should also be restored.
Even in the age of steamships,
The land-based Silk Road can still be very profitable.
The Silk Road in recent decades,
The situation is relatively complicated.
Intermittent and very unstable.
This resulted in a significant loss of commercial tax revenue for both the Liao and Western Xia dynasties.
Especially the Western Xia,
The Silk Road between the Song and Liao dynasties
They all had to pass through the territory of the Western Xia.
For the Western Xia court and government...
They hated the interception of merchants and travelers.
After all, it's best to have a steady, long-term relationship.
Western Xia bandits who ambushed and killed merchants.
Most of them were officers or tribal members in disguise.
The Silk Road passed through the Western Xia Dynasty.
It was the Gaochang Uyghurs,
Next came the two Karakhanid Khanates, East and West.
The two khanates split because of their different religious sects.
They fought each other so fiercely they were practically brainwashed.
They frequently intercepted and killed merchants sent by the opposing side.
This not only reduced the commercial taxes of the Gaochang Uyghurs, Western Xia, and Liao Dynasty,
It also severely impacted the Ghazni dynasty to the west.
Gejining was once a Central Asian empire.
Spanning Persia and India,
It was also the first country to use Sultan as a title for its monarch.
The Seljuks defeated the army of Gojnin.
Thus, the Seljuk Empire was established.
Today, the center of Göttingen's rule,
It has been compressed into Punjab, India.
The Silk Road west of the Karakhanid Khanate was controlled by the Seljuks.
Seljuk merchants usually traveled to the Song Dynasty by land.
It was because they were intercepted and killed by the Western Xia in their early years.
It gradually became primarily a maritime trade center.
In order to open up the Silk Road, the Liao Dynasty...
They even bestowed the title of princess upon noble ladies.
She was married off to Prince Gejining for a political marriage.
Central Asian countries such as Gorkha and Seljuk,
It seems to be far away from China,
In fact, business exchanges were once very active.
Now, the two Karakhanid Khanates, East and West, have largely ruined the situation.
The Karakhanid Khanate must be destroyed in the future.
One was to open up the Silk Road.
Secondly, to acquire the Ferghana horse.
The former territory of Dayuan
At this time, the territory was divided equally between the two Karakhanid Khanates.
Those mixed-race merchants made their stance clear when they saw the emperor.
In the end, he still didn't dare to refuse.
Their only option was to partner with the imperial court in business.
He was also responsible for exploring the Hexi Corridor and the Western Regions for the imperial court.
The conquest of the Western Regions may have to wait another one or two decades.
But we need to start preparing now.
After the mixed-race merchants left,
Shi Qian took out several books:
"Your Highness, this was Ma Kuo's previous mission to the grasslands,"
"When passing through Gaochang,"
"It was collected by people sent by the King of Gaochang."
"The King of Gaochang was quite attentive,"
"They even sent a literate Sogdian scholar along with the books."
Chapter 358 A Nation Built on Commerce
The Gaochang Uyghurs were a settled nomadic people.
Today, the country relies on agriculture and commerce for its livelihood.
The Sogdians, on the other hand, specifically helped them with trade.
(The word for merchant in Uyghur is pronounced very similarly to the word for Sogdian.)
As for the Sogdians...
An Lushan was one of them.
During the Tang Dynasty, they were called the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu.
Zhao Yuan picked up the thickest book and asked:
"What kind of book is this?"
Shi Qian replied, "According to that Sogdian scholar, the book is called the 'Comprehensive Dictionary of the Turkic Languages'."
"It was written only twenty or thirty years ago."
"The book contains many presumptuous and overstepping words,"
"This will be perfect for future use in waging war against the Karakhanid Khanate."
Zhao Yuan asked with a smile, "What kinds of presumptuous words were used?"