Chapter 60 three

The princess saw Shah Ruh right, he was indeed a peace-loving monarch.Although he was strict with the enemies of Western Persia, at the same time, he paid great attention to repairing the relationship with the Ming Dynasty. In the 823rd year of the Muslim calendar (about 1420, the 18th year of Yongle), Ayilai went to the Ming Dynasty as an envoy for the second time. Since the Timurid Dynasty, the first major item of imperial tribute to the Ming Dynasty was war horses, the second major item was gemstones, and the third major item was rare birds and animals such as lions, specially trained cheetahs, halahula (that is, tigers). , a kind of wild cat produced in Central Asia), parrots, ostriches, lynx cats, golden retriever dogs, and leather products of these animals such as lion skin, leopard skin, etc.Among them, the most popular among Chinese emperors is the majestic lion.

The tribute trade between the Ming Dynasty and the Timur Dynasty mainly included colored satin, silk, silk cloth, silver banknotes and porcelain. Timur’s son Shahru and grandson Ulugh Beg especially loved the blue and white porcelain of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, The father and son were also fascinated by the culture of the Ming Dynasty.Ulugh Beg, who divided the northern and southern empires with his father, once built a carved mosque in Samarkand. The ceiling and walls of the temple were covered with black stone and decorated with Ming Dynasty paintings composed of wooden blocks.In addition, he opened a garden at the foot of Kosik Hill, and in this garden there is a pavilion called the Porcelain Pavilion.The reason why it is called the Porcelain Pavilion is that the lower part of the low wall in front of the pavilion is paved with tiles purchased by Ulugh Beg people from the Ming Dynasty.

In the study room of Ulugh Beg, there is a light green porcelain vase, which is a masterpiece of Longquan kiln celadon in the Ming Dynasty.Ulugh Beg once gave it to the princess. After the princess passed away, Ulugh Beg put it in the study, so that seeing the vase every day was like seeing the princess. The princess, who has a lot of research on porcelain, told me that porcelain has characteristics that no other substance except jade has: one is to pour any liquid into porcelain, and the turbid part will sink to the bottom, and the top will be clarified; It will not be worn out; the third is that it does not leave scratches unless it is scratched with diamonds, so porcelain can also be used to test diamonds; the fourth is that eating and drinking with porcelain can increase appetite; You can see the exterior painted or porcelain dark flowers from the inside.The last point is that porcelain is fragile and difficult to transport.With these six characteristics, porcelain has become the new favorite of nobles and wealthy businessmen in Central Asia, West Asia, and Europe to show off their wealth.

That year, that is, the 816th year of the Muslim calendar (approximately the 11th year of Yongle), Wailang Chen Cheng, a member of the Seal Inspection Department of the Ministry of Officials of the Ming Dynasty, went to the Timur Empire for the first time.Regarding the feelings of the mission, he once wrote "Westward Poems" to commemorate, and one of the poems "To the Ulugh Beg Orchard, the Lord of Samarkand" is very popular: Sitting on the ground to receive court attendance, Dao Salan is suitable for high and low.Puzzled, he bowed his head and gave way, only knowing that he bowed his knees and worshiped three-san.Rice cooker Yunzi has both colors and colors, so you don't need a spoon to turn it with your hands.The envoys of the Han Dynasty are not only trying to taste their stomachs, but they are willing to teach and dye jade fibers.

In the poem, it is said that the Timur dynasty did not distinguish between high and low, and they called each other "Salan" when they met, and they would not bow their heads and bow to each other when they met.But what Han envoys were most unaccustomed to was eating hand-picked rice. In order to maintain their dignity, they had to go hungry. The Timur dynasty attached great importance to the envoys of the Ming Dynasty and the reception standards were no less than that of the Ming Dynasty. In the palace used by the Timur dynasty to receive foreign envoys, the seat on the right of the throne was once the special seat for Ming envoys. , Envoys from other countries are generally arranged at the bottom of the Ming envoys.In this regard, Chen Cheng wrote another poem, describing the grand reception given to him by Shah Ruh and Uncle Uluh and his sons and the mentality of a big country embodied in him:

Qiao Linxiumu hides the tower, and the tent hall and yurt are opened successively.The official rider is calm and unrestrained, and the holy grace is coming.Everyone in Xinghuang fights to see it, and Yi Yao commits suicide with Yike.Just after reading the imperial edict of the Great Ming Dynasty, a burst of laughter moved the spring thunder.The master stays with the guests and reopens the feast, and the courtesans stop singing and playing the orchestra.Wine enters and a group presents colorful coins, and people spread money around.Monarchs and ministers worshiped and danced because of Hu customs, and the road was opened since the Han Dynasty.Since then, Wanfang has been transformed into virtue, and the three sides have been conquered without labor.

The communication between Emperor Timur and the Ming Dynasty reached its peak in the era of Shah Rug and Ulugh Beg. Later, with the fragmentation of the empire, this kind of communication existed in name only. King Timur was a man known for his severity.He strives to perfectly organize and embellish the parts of Central Asia that form the basis of his power.He drove groups of captured craftsmen, scientists and artistic talents from Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Syria, Persia and India to the river area.Especially the capital, Samarkand, gathered many excellent craftsmen, outstanding literati and scholars, and scientific and artistic talents. They used their hands and wisdom to build Samarkand into one of the most prosperous and beautiful cities in the world at that time.For example, Timur's Great Mosque and Timur's Mausoleum are classics in the field of architecture of this period.

At the same time, with his love for the place where he was born, he built many gardens and mosques in Jieshi City, including of course the Axalai Palace. During his short stay, he believed that the Axalai Palace was the most beautiful building in the world in terms of scale and mural art. The Timur king I know is not only proficient in Turkic and Persian, but also proficient in Chagatai (that is, Turkic written in Arabic letters, named after the Chagatai Khanate in the 13th and 4th centuries), but He is obviously not as interested in things like culture as his descendants. He is more interested in building a huge empire and then distributing the empire to his descendants.He firmly believes that even if he doesn't have to please historians or writers to write his biography, his name will definitely be engraved behind the great Genghis Khan.

Shah Rug and Ulugh Beg have never been able to occupy the same vast territory as their father and grandfather when they were alive. Their empire was missing a corner. Not long after King Timur died of illness, Hipers was separated from the Timur Empire.However, Shahru and Ulugh Beg were far superior to King Timur in the importance and protection of culture. The father and son worked together to build Harleh and Samarkand into two huge cultural centers in the north and the south. Halle is a gathering place for writers, poets, and scholars. Not only the study of theology, medicine, law, and ethics is encouraged and protected, but also literature and art have achieved unprecedented development here.Ulugh Beg went a step further than his father, Shah Rugh, who built a madrasah in Samarkand, and opposite the madrasah Hanak, the Mukata mosque and the palaces of Chihir Sultan and Kurunushhorna.All of these are examples of the architectural art of the time.In the garden of the Kurunushhorna Palace, there is a Chinihorna Hall, the walls of which are decorated with paintings by excellent painters and inlaid with tiles.

In the 832nd year of the Muslim calendar (about 1428), Ulugh Beg, with the assistance of a dozen astronomers, built a large observatory. In this observatory, the position of the galaxy was first identified.Nine years later, based on this ongoing work, Ulugh Beg compiled the world's most advanced astronomical table with the most scientific discoveries and scientific significance at that time.In this complicated astronomical table, not only the positions of thousands of invisible stars are marked, but also almost all Muslim oriental cities are marked. I am so proud of the Shahru father and son.In the second month after Shahru returned to Harleh, I received a letter from him, in which he invited me to be a guest in Harleh as a request.Although this was a month earlier than our previous agreement, I still accepted the invitation with pleasure.

Shah Ruk knows, I like to travel - when the princess is alive, of course. I closed my eyes and rested my mind to pass the hard work and loneliness of the journey.Along the way, I always think of my first travel experience, even though I was a child at that time.It was a pleasure to finally see Harleigh's city gate, and what was even more gratifying was that Shah Ruh sent guards to meet me at the gate early, which is a great courtesy for anyone.Afterwards, Shah Ruth held a warm family dinner for me in the palace.Not only that, but the next day, he put aside all his affairs and personally accompanied me to visit the most famous Idiadin Fort in Halle. The imposing manner of Idi Yadin Fort is extremely magnificent. It is said that this famous castle was destroyed by King Timur many years ago, and Shahru decided to restore it when he was in Harleh.Not only did he personally participate in the design of the castle, but he also often visited the construction site. At that time, more than 7,000 craftsmen and peasants participated in the restoration work. At noon, Shahru told me mysteriously that he would take me to a good place, so he took my hand and climbed up the tower of the castle.Unexpectedly, there is a group of wild pigeons with graceful posture, beautiful coat color, and no fear of us. Compared with us, they are more like the masters of the castle.Shahru and I brought a lot of naan and water. We enjoyed the scenery as far as we could see, and had a wonderful lunch with the cool breeze.Wild pigeons cooed around us and landed on our shoulders from time to time. In order to express our apology for disturbing them rashly, we generously distributed food and water to these lovely owners. Returning from Idiadin Fort, it was already afternoon, Shah Ru ordered the guards to follow him from a distance, then slipped into the street with me, and had a unique barbecue meal like ordinary people. A happy day just passed by like this.From the third day onwards, as the emperor of the empire, Shah Ruh seldom had time to spend all his time with me as he did in the previous two days. His affairs were so complicated that I could only see him at night and let him listen to my nagging for a few minutes. Sentence travel feeling. My movements in Halle are unlimited.Although Shaharu couldn't accompany me, he arranged the best guide for me.During the last few days of my stay in Halle I spent all my time in the magnificent library in the city.The library was built by Shah Ruh, who loves culture. The library has collected many books and artworks from all over the world, including the crystal chess I made for King Timur.After the death of Shahru and his son and the decline of the empire, it is said that this set of Mongolian chess fell into the hands of Shaybani Khan of the Yuejibie Empire. I miss Harleigh and Shah Ruh, but I have to go back to Sethia Cave in the end.I have been away from Princess Oeira for too long, and I miss her more than anything else in the world. Shah Ruh personally saw me off.His parting gift was a thick collection of poems. I only read a page, and tears flowed down my cheeks.It turned out that this was the book of poems, which contained all the love poems that Shahru wrote to Princess Oela from his boyhood to now. We agreed that I would visit him again for up to three years. When Khale was about to return to Samarkand, I heard a shocking news. Sodu sent someone to inform me that Aylai had unfortunately contracted a strange disease and was dying after returning from his mission. I returned to Samarkand as fast as possible.I was dizzy along the way, and I only thought about one thing. How could Ayilai, who has always been in good health, get sick when he gets sick, or even can't afford it? Orlinburg is much quieter.After the princess passed away, only a dozen or so sanitary servants, two cooks, the Saudaus, their son Ailai, and me were allowed to live here.Orinburg is the home of Shahru, Ulugh Beg, Aylai and me. However, at this moment, I don’t feel like going back home when I return to Orinburg. The princess took everything away, and only left in my heart Lingering sadness. Sodu and his wife were both much older, apparently exhausted by Aylai's sudden illness.I didn't care about reminiscing with them, so I went directly to Ayilai's room with Suodu. Ayilai still lives in the room he lived in when he was a child. The furnishings in the room are not more, not less.Ailai, like me, is a person who refuses to change. Suodu retreated quietly, and I walked to Ayilai's bedside.I saw the weak Ayilai lying on the bed, looking at me with open eyes.His eyes may not be as bright as they used to be, but there is still a warm glow in them.I suddenly felt a tightness in my throat. The princess, Shahru, Aya, Shanai, and Aylai were originally my closest people in this world, except that Shahru went to Samarkand, thousands of miles away Ha Lie, who is miles away, why did the other people abandon me one after another as if they had made an appointment? Ayi Lai smiled at me, and I tried to smile at him too, and sat down beside him. The first thing Ayilai said was, Cecia, I won't be forty years old. My tears flowed out at once.Maybe, I really harmed Ayilai, I refused to marry, and Ayilai reluctantly respected my choice.When his parents expressed their wish for him to marry other women many times, he smiled and said to his parents: When I am forty, if Cecia refuses to marry me by the time I am forty, I will die. With this heart, marry a woman who is not as weird as her, and have children. However, Changshengtian did not give him such an opportunity.Even if I don't regret my stubbornness, I can't help but blame myself for my decision when I think of his parents being lonely after he left. Ayilai wiped away my tears, and he asked me: "If I survive, will you agree to marry me when I am forty?" I looked at him, I can lie, but what Ayilai likes is my frankness, so I can only shake my head painfully. "So, can you tell me why? Is it because you never loved me?" Ai Lai still asked with a smile, he was not angry with me. He is never mad at me!I am a wayward woman, and Ailai knew how to indulge my waywardness since she was a child. Yeah, why can't you marry Ayi Lai, why? Is it because I don't want to change, or is there something between me and Ailai?Or neither, just because I'm afraid of marriage? I firmly believe that I have always been deeply in love with Ayi Lai, and the only thing I can give him is marriage. I shook Ayilai's hand back: "I love you, very much. You are the only man I want to marry in this life." I said to Ayilai seriously. A contented smile flashed across Ailei's face again. "Do you know when I fell in love with you?" I shake my head. "The first time I saw you, I saw the gold star between your eyebrows. I thought it was a painting, but I didn't expect it to be born. Also, you are uglier than all the girls I have ever seen. " I laughed with tears in my eyes. Was it really then?If yes, then when did I notice a subtle change in the sibling relationship between me and Ayi Lai?Was it when he returned from his first mission to China? I remember that Ayilai was only a child when he first went to China as an interpreter with the mission.That year was the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu in China (about 1395), and Ayilai was only twelve years old.At that time, the languages ​​used in the exchanges between the Ming Dynasty and the Timur dynasty included Persian, Chinese, Mongolian and Turkic. Ayilai was proficient in the above languages ​​at a young age and was regarded as a genius by the Timur king. In addition, he had a keen mind. He is eloquent and eloquent, so it is not surprising that King Timur would choose him as one of the interpreters and deputy envoys of the mission. At that time, I had skin-to-skin relationship with Shah Ruh for the first time in my life.That seemingly close but distant experience transformed me from an unworldly girl into a well-mannered and attractive teenage girl, but I never saw Shah Ruh as the man in my life.As I said, Shahru and I love each other, but the love between us is not the love between men and women, but the sum of all kinds of love besides the love between men and women.My eyes focused on Shaharu, worried about his troubles, and helpless because of his helplessness, but that was definitely not love in the usual sense.If you have to narrow the definition of love, I know that Shahru never loved me. And I have never loved Shahru. That's the way it is. In the days that followed, Ayilai accompanied the mission to the Ming Dynasty.The day he came back seemed to be the happiest day in my life. All of us, the princess, me, the Sodu couple, and Shahru who had not yet returned to Harleh and his wife who was just pregnant, we all gathered around Ai Lai's side, listening to him tell the story of the envoy. Everything is as clear as yesterday. Ailei took my hand and put it on his face. His palms were hot, and so was his face.After Princess Oeira died of illness, Aya and Shanai also passed away successively.Although Ulugh Beg is the child I grew up watching and the husband of my younger sister, he is, after all, the veritable crown prince of the Timur Empire and the monarch who assisted Shah Rug in governing the country. He is my relative.Therefore, apart from Shahru and Aylai, I have no other relatives in this world.Now, Ayilai is going to leave me again. I don't understand why Changshengtian left me alone, and even gave me a long life in the future, but took away my love one by one. people? Is it because Changshengtian wants me to live to witness something?That's why I was given a gold star, a great imagination and a pair of dexterous hands? Maybe so, because later on, I really witnessed the rise and fall of an empire. My conversation with Ayi Lai has always been uneventful, and I like to hear him talk to me in his characteristic calm tone.When I was young, whenever he and I had some quarrels that children often have, I would get angry and not say a word to him. He had a special way to make me happy.That is, he would always choose to run into my room when I was about to take a nap, sit down beside me, and tell me interesting stories leisurely.I didn't want to talk to him at first, but his voice calmed my mind. Therefore, I often fell asleep before his story was finished.And when I woke up, I was right with him. What makes me feel like a knife is that from now on, there will be no one in this world who can talk to me like Ai Lai. Now, it's my turn to tell Ai Lai what I saw and heard in Halle in an unhurried tone.I am naturally good at describing subtle things, and Ai Lai still listens to them even when she is ill.My tone reassured him, and finally, he fell asleep under my gaze. Aylai passed away peacefully a few days later.I know very well that in the last few days of his life, Ayilai was satisfied and happy in his heart, not only because I stayed by his side every step of the way, but also because he could feel all my love and dissatisfaction for him. Abandon. I sent away the man I loved the most in my life, and I promised him like I promised Princess Oeira, to see more of the world for him with my eyes.