The new Silk Road, this sentence aroused Hussein's great interest. As we all know, since the rise of the Ottoman Empire, after the Middle East, the Silk Road has been cut off, and it is precisely because the Silk Road was cut off by the Ottoman Empire that Western countries have risen the Age of Discovery.

As for the Ming Dynasty to develop the Persian underground oil that can be burned, Hussein thinks it's nothing, he thinks, what is the big use of those oils, in addition to being a fierce fire oil in the military, lighting is not easy to use, the oil smoke from underground mining is too thick, neither can be lit nor used for cooking, anyway, if the Ming wants to mine, let the Ming go to pick it.

But how profitable it is to reopen the Silk Road, Hussein naturally understands in his heart. A batch of porcelain and silk from the east was shipped to the west, and the price rose more than ten times or even dozens of times, and during the Han and Tang dynasties in the East, the Persians and Arabs made a lot of money through the Silk Road.

However, after the Ottoman Empire cut off the Silk Road, the life of the Arabs deteriorated, except for the two river valleys, the rest of the Middle East was desert, and the farmland was scarce, and it was difficult to support themselves, and there was no income. The Persians, that is, on the Persian plateau, relied on animal husbandry for their income. The Arabs relied mainly on jewelry from the Persian Gulf.

Since the Silk Road was cut off, the Persians have been getting harder and harder day by day, and weak Persia could be destroyed by the Ottoman Empire at any time.

Thinking of this, Hussein called a personal soldier: "You go and reply to the Ming Kingdom, and say that the king is willing to negotiate peace with them and turn the conflict into a jade silk." ”

The Persian envoy came to Li Laiheng's barracks and delivered Hussein's letter: "Our Royal Highness the prince is willing to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty, and I hope that the army will send an envoy to our military camp on a certain day. ”

The next day, Li Guangdi, who was appointed governor of the northwest, personally served as a negotiating envoy and went to the Persian barracks to negotiate peace with the Persians. In addition to bringing more than a dozen personal guards, Li Guangdi also brought more than a dozen wounded Persian soldiers who were originally captured. These wounded soldiers were not seriously injured, and after being treated by the Ming army's military doctors, they were no longer in serious trouble, so Li Guangdi sent these people back by the way.

"Report to His Royal Highness the Prince, the Governor of the Northwest of the Ming Dynasty is here, and he has also brought back more than a dozen of our captured officers and soldiers." The news of Lee Kwang-di's arrival has already been reported.

Prince Hussein personally greeted the barracks, only to see a Ming official wearing a bright red official robe and a black gauze hat coming over with a group of elite soldiers who were tall and tall, followed by seventeen captured Persian soldiers. The Persian soldiers who were released looked good-looking, and not only did they not appear to be mistreated, but they were treated well.

"Welcome, Lord Governor." Hussein enthusiastically stepped forward, imitated the Han people, and bowed to Li Guangdi with his fists.

Li Guangdi also gave his fist and returned the salute, although Hussein is a prince, but Persia has always paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty is the upper country of Persia, Persia and Korea, Annam and other vassal states have the same status, although it is not a real vassal state, but the Persian king sees the Ming Emperor is to be called a vassal, so Hussein, who is respected as a prince, can only be the same status at most compared with a first-class member like Li Guangdi, perhaps the status is not as good as Li Guangdi.

The two walked into the camp of the Chinese army, Hussein clapped his hands, and more than a dozen beautiful Persian women wearing gauzy clothes, slender figures, and a thin veil on their faces walked out and danced on the woolen carpet of the Chinese army's tent.

The cooks who accompanied the army brought a plate of large pieces of mutton cut from the roasted whole lamb, and the soldiers served wine.

Hussein asked: "Your Excellency the Governor, our Ming Dynasty and you Persia have been friendly for generations, but after the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the Silk Road in the Western Regions was blocked, and we could only detour to the ocean, which was far away and inconvenient. Also, didn't I hear that your Ming Dynasty was destroyed by the Tatars? The Tatars were even more reluctant to reopen the Silk Road, and when did you defeat the Tatars? ”

Li Guangdi replied: "Hu Lu has no luck for a hundred years, we were once occupied by the Tatars in the Central Plains, but now, my Ming Dynasty has defeated the Tatars, and now we are sending troops to the west, just to open up the Silk Road." ”

Hussein smiled and raised his glass: "If the Ming Dynasty opens the Silk Road now, it will be a good thing for our two countries, Your Excellency Governor, toast to the friendship between our two countries." ”

Li Guangdi also raised his wine glass: "Your Royal Highness! Cheers to our two countries and to the new Silk Road! ”

After a few glasses of wine, Hussein asked one thing: "Nowadays, the big ship of Tessie is taller than the castle, and it can transport countless goods in one trip. It may not be faster than a boat. It is very fast for people and horses to travel 100 miles a day, and ships can travel hundreds of miles a day. ”

Li Guangdi laughed, turned his head and asked one of his own soldiers to take a picture: "Please also ask His Royal Highness the Prince to take a look at this picture." ”

The soldiers spread out the picture on the table, Hussein curiously came up to look at the picture, only to see that there were two parallel lines drawing on the picture, and there was a horizontal log in the middle, which looked like a staircase was paved on the ground, and then looked below, on the staircase that was tiled on the ground, there was actually a long dragon spitting smoke and galloping on it.

"What is this? How do you lay a staircase on the ground? There's still a long queue climbing the stairs? Hussein asked in surprise.

Li Guangdi stroked his beard and said with a smile: "This is not to lay stairs on the ground, this is the railway, this long dragon, is our train, a carriage can transport tens of thousands of catties, or even hundreds of thousands of catties of goods, a train has more than ten carriages, or even dozens of carriages, a day can travel thousands of miles, and the speed is not slower than a ship." ”

"It's amazing!" Hussein exclaimed, "How can this long dragon run?" How many horses do you need to pull something that weighs so much? Can you run thousands of miles in a day? ”

"It's a steam engine, and it's pulled by a steam engine." Li Guangdi replied.

After the Persian translator translated the words steam engine to Hussein, Hussein was surprised and asked, "Steam?" Is it to boil the water and pull such a heavy car up and go? ”

"Yes, that's the power of technology. The steam engine is the boiler boiling water, the water becomes steam, and the power of steam is used to push the wheels to roll, and the front of the locomotive can pull more than a dozen carriages, or even dozens of carriages, to gallop on the railway. With trains, our new Silk Road can be faster and transport more goods than the old Silk Road. Li Guangdi replied.

Prince Hussein sighed: "Daming in the East is really a magical place, if you have the opportunity, I really want to go to your Daming to see these novelties." ”