There were two reasons why Byzantium took the initiative to participate in the war, the first was the agreement with Sanjar in advance, and the second was the shepherds who had returned to the arms of the Lord in the Kipchak steppe. In the monotheistic world at this time, the power of faith was at its peak, and John II had to react accordingly.

Otherwise, the news will reach Western Europe and cause hostility to Byzantium in the Catholic countries!

Even in recent decades, the power of Catholicism has been greatly reduced due to the emergence of opposing popes, and the continuous growth of the power and influence of the Holy Roman Empire has greatly affected the authority of Catholicism.

But this is not a reason for the Byzantines to ignore Catholicism.

The country has reluctantly waded into this muddy water, and the only thing that can be said to be fortunate is that Lu Qi's army has not yet launched an attack on Asia Minor, and of course they have not attacked Jerusalem and other Crusader states on the east coast of the Mediterranean.

Because the real war had not yet broken out, the Byzantine legions existed more as a receiving force in Asia Minor, and as an ally, Sanjar, whose strength had been severely damaged, could continue to maintain his dignity internally.

But the Chinese will certainly not let Sanjar, or Seljuk, go. No one will sit idly by and watch a dying enemy regain his strength by his side, and cutting the grass and eradicating the roots is the only option.

Therefore, after stabilizing the rule of the Persian plateau, the Chinese will definitely launch a war against Asia Minor.

This country, which had only existed in the past in 'legends', appeared before the eyes of the Byzantine Empire. The threat was coming, and John II, in order to protect himself, had to support the Seljuks.

It's just that the identity of the Seljuks has changed from allies to "separation belts".

Blancome entered the Persian plateau through the Alborz Mountains, and what he saw was both reasonable and unreasonable. It is reasonable that the resistance of the Seljuk natives to the Chinese is visible to the naked eye; What is unreasonable is that the Seljuks, who are obviously emotionally resistant to the Chinese, are very keen to trade with the Chinese.

In the case of Naturan, there was such a lively trading scene in front of me: the wide market outside the city, full of areas divided by roads, some selling food, some selling ironware, some selling livestock, and each different area hung a flag, on which simple lines outlined a simple picture, so that people can understand it at a glance.

There are also some fixed house shops, which are obviously more advanced than the stalls on one side, and are accompanied by square-shaped signs, the latter of which is quite magical in Blanco Meme's eyes, making people quite dazzled.

"Last year, silk, tea, and rhubarb were sold here, and this year there is a lot of cloth. The Chinese planted a lot of cotton in the Western Regions, you know, cotton picking requires a lot of human labor, but the rebellion of the Western Uighurs, as well as the Tianzhu and Ghaznavids, gave the Chinese an ample labor force.

With cotton, there is cotton cloth, and the textile skills of the Chinese are very developed, even the Tianzhu people cannot compare. It's only because of the cost that they didn't appear on a large scale.

The cost of sea freight is far more convenient and faster than land transportation. Merchants were also more willing to transport silk with higher value and profits.

But now the entire Kipchak steppe has been conquered by the Chinese, and the cotton cloth of the Chinese has appeared in the Black Sea, and there are Huazimo people as accomplices, and I don't know the situation in the south, but Khorasan and Turat fire, as well as the northern part of the plateau, order is already being restored. A large amount of Chinese cloth was transported here through the Hezhong region, and our linen and cotton cloth were becoming less and less marketable. ”

"I have to say that Chinese cloth is encroaching on our market. If it were purely for economic gain, we should have sent some middle-class cloth instead of these inferior cotton and linen cloths. Compared to the cotton cloth of the Chinese, they are really too bad. As he walked down the streets of the market, Blancome listened to the 'servant' Varist beside him.

This man was essentially his subordinate, but ostensibly a servant of Brancome's family. The relationship between the two is the relationship between the eldest young master who came to inspect and the expatriate steward.

Blancome did not speak, but walked through the entire market, observing with the naked eye the relationship between the Chinese and the Seljuk natives.

"Damn, are these stubborn heretics really bowing their heads? Aren't they very loyal? God knows what I saw. In the food section, I saw Chinese ham and salted pork. ”

Back at his lodgings, Blanco felt like he had discovered a whole new world.

There is a Chinese flavor everywhere here, different from Byzantium, different from Tianfang.

The roadside food stalls have some strange food, most of which comes from China in the East, and a small part from the local area. Some merchants or hawkers argue with customers on the side of the road, gesturing and guessing in languages that are difficult to understand each other.

The proud Seljuks bowed their heads! They were clearly adapting to the change, and Brancomé had heard the Seljuks speak the same language as the Chinese more than once along the way.

Blancome knew very well why all this happened, everything was about survival......

……

The war in the entire heavenly side is far from over, and the Byzantine Empire sent a war letter to the Lu Qi army. But the apparent reason was not the agreement between John II and Sanjar, but the persecution of many shepherds who were grazing for God.

This was absolutely intolerable to the Byzantines.

Baghdad will not be able to help China militarily in the short term, and all Muktafi can do is support them spiritually. Now that he has the support of Lu Qi, after the defeat of the Seljuks to Asia Minor, he is doing his best to 'reap' the fruits of his own efforts - to seize as much territory as possible in the eastern half of the Fertile Crescent, which is the region of Iraq in the future.

In this environment, although the main force of the Lu Qi army was trying to 'consolidate' the Persian plateau as much as possible, Song Qing did not immediately set off for Ethiopia. Oman is his next target.

Faisal bin Abdulaziz, who had not returned to his hometown in Oman for ten years, went to Sohar Port as an assistant to Song Qing and started formal exchanges between the two sides.

Faisal bin Abdulaziz's Chinese name and surname are Qi, and his single name is Hai. He was one of the first Celestial Naturalists to take the initiative to naturalize China. Now, decades later, he has long behaved like a Chinese.