The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 821 The Heaven-Defying Persian Cat

In Tehran, Ankenen (Annenkov) donned an Arabized, or rather, Islamic-style robe and dressed as a follower.

His 'master' was a Han Chinese man sitting atop a palanquin carried by a tall camel, wearing a magnificent Seres silk robe and a large black hat.

Well, what the Persians considered a magnificent Seres silk robe was actually a blue round-necked robe, made of the very elegant material of the famous Hangzhou Yuntianqing.

The large hat was made according to the specifications of a fifth-rank official, with a plain gold inlaid top and blue tassels hanging down on both sides, which looked elegant and revealed nobility.

At this time, the rising Persian Qajar dynasty was suddenly beheaded by the Anxi army, and the head of its founder, Agha Muhammad, was dried and preserved as a war trophy in the ancestral temple of the Dayu dynasty.

This led to the sudden fragmentation of Persia, which had been largely unified.

Over the past eight years, not only has the Anxi army crossed the Karakum Desert of Turkmenistan several times to attack Persia, but also various warlords have risen up within Persia, with more than thirty large and small lords fighting each other.

Neither side had the ability to unify Persia, which rendered their fierce rivalry meaningless, except to exacerbate the suffering of ordinary Persians.

Upon seeing the typical Seres attire atop the palanquin, several passing Redheaded Army warriors showed expressions of anger, but they dared not approach, nor even touch the hilts of their swords.

Because after being repeatedly beaten over the years, the Red Army has learned its lesson.

Before this, when the Redheads saw the Seres who had killed their king appear on their territory, they would immediately attack them, but often they would suffer cruel retaliation the next day or even on the same day.

Thousands upon thousands of Seres warriors seemed to emerge from the ground, storming into their castles or villages, killing most of the men, abducting most of the women, and capturing all the children to train as slaves; only a small number managed to escape.

After doing this many times, the Persians finally understood.

Those Seres who appeared so casually were actually there to give the Seres a reason to send troops; if they harmed these Seres, retaliation would come immediately.

Although the Persians didn't understand why a pretext was necessary to completely destroy the enemy, they didn't comprehend how important a just cause was in terms of morality and daily life for a people who matured very early and whose etiquette framework was established too early.

But perhaps they learned their lesson, and it became almost a consensus among the Persians not to rashly attack isolated Seres.

Li Li glanced with disgust at the Red-Headed Army soldiers around him who were putting on a fierce act but didn't even dare to grip the hilt of their swords. He gently shook the bell in his hand, and the camel carrying the sedan chair immediately stopped. A Persian sedan chair carrier who had been running alongside the camel quickly sped up and ran over.

The sedan chair carrier carried a stool-like object on his back. When he bent over and put all four limbs on the ground, it formed a tool for people to dismount from the camel.

“Back then, our ancestor, the last Persian king Yazca, delivered a speech in this city before leaving his homeland.”

"More than 1,100 years have passed in the blink of an eye. It's unbelievable that I can return here today!" Li Li sighed.

When the last Persian prince, Nineshi, had no hope of restoring his kingdom, he returned to Chang'an and was appointed as the Left General of the Martial Guard by the Tang Dynasty. After that, his descendants began to multiply and thrive in China.

They took the first syllable of Ni Nieshi's name, changed their surname to Li, and settled down in Chang'an.

During the An Lushan Rebellion, these people followed Emperor Xuanzong of Tang to Sichuan, abandoned their Zoroastrian faith, and remained in Sichuan.

Li Xun, a famous poet of the Former Shu during the Five Dynasties period, was a descendant of the Persian prince Nineshi, and his sister Li Shunxian was a concubine of Wang Jian, the ruler of Shu.

Upon hearing Li Li's words, Li Shen, the second brother who had dismounted from the camel at the back, looked miserable.

“Brother, I really don’t want to be a Persian. Look at them, they’re not even human anymore. They’ve been slaves for over a thousand years.”

After listening to his brother's words, Li Li glanced around at the Persians, including the Persian servant who had just been on all fours serving as his saddle stool.

For over a thousand years, since the fall of their ancestral Sassanid Persia, the Persians have never risen again.

Whether it was powerful ethnic groups like the Arabs, Turks, and Mongols, or smaller, powerful ethnic groups like the Turkmen, Georgians, and Afghans, they could all run to Persia and become kings and tyrants, treating the real Persians as the lowest level of slaves.

"Yes, brother, we Han Chinese were doing just fine, and then we were turned into Persians just because of a legend from our ancestors that we ourselves didn't really believe. What a huge loss!"

Another cousin pointed to his nose and said, "Brother, look at us. Do we even have a trace of Persian features? Even if we say we are, these Persians won't believe us!"

Indeed, none of these brothers have an Aryan appearance; they all have the most distinctly Han Chinese features.

"I know everyone is unwilling, and I'm actually unwilling too, but..." Li Li sighed and said:

"You have all seen the current situation in Persia. Why have the real Persians become the lowest of slaves on their own territory? This is the consequence of the hundred-year fortune brought about by the Hu."

China has also experienced such calamities: the Mongol Yuan dynasty destroyed the Song dynasty, and the Ming dynasty collapsed. Fortunately, we survived and preserved our traditions and pride.

In order to prevent a third sinking of China, and to ensure that future generations will never suffer such a calamity again, we must rise up and strengthen our nation.

His Majesty wants to deal with the Russians and seize the land of Persia. Our Li family are descendants of the Persian king and also descendants of the Chinese people. Isn't this the time for us to contribute?

Moreover, Persia is such a good example! Third brother, didn't you want to write a book? Then record the tragic plight of the Persians here, so that future generations can learn from it.

This makes perfect sense, and the others who came with Li Li nodded in agreement. Li Li's fourth brother, Li Zai, seeing this, immediately stepped in to add insult to injury.

"You're all complaining now. Don't we have such a Persian king as our ancestor? This good thing is our turn. This is a major event of establishing a nation and a temple. Our descendants will be kings and nobles in the future. You should be secretly happy!"

As he spoke, Li Zai's face was gloomy. He had retired from the Beijing Garrison with the rank of major and knew very well how much of an advantage they had gained.

After this, the important areas of Persia will be handed over to them for control by the court. Perhaps in the future, their family can even produce a queen and welcome a king to Persia to take charge. Where else in the world can you find such a good thing?

This is something that could bring wealth and prosperity to the entire clan for at least a hundred years with a single act of kindness, and you guys are still hesitating? Are you even human?

Upon hearing this, the few pretentious guys immediately stopped being pretentious, but looked at Li Li with some unease.

"Brother, are we really descendants of the last Persian king? What if the Persians ask us for proof?"

“Of course we are!” Li Li gasped for breath and gritted his teeth as he said, “Before coming to Anxi, I personally led people to the ruins of the Chengdu Temple to excavate our ancestral graves. We found a lot of valuable things inside.”

"Hiss!" Several cousins ​​were so frightened that they broke out in a cold sweat. They never expected that Li Li, who looked so refined, would even dig up their ancestral graves for this opportunity.

Well, now it doesn't matter what they dug out or whether they were descendants of the Persian king.

The important thing is that Li Li, as the leader and essentially the clan head, dug up the ancestral graves for this matter. It is estimated that His Majesty also sent an expert in making antiques from the Embroidered Uniform Guard to make fake antiques.

So this is the best-case scenario, but it has to be one.

The group dared not speak again and quickly followed Li Li into a temple.

Upon entering the temple, the Li family immediately took off their Chinese robes in a small room and changed into long Persian robes with floral patterns, wearing small floral hats.

Ankenian, disguised as a servant, immediately stepped forward to guide them into the temple's backyard. It was almost time for prayer, and a large number of Persians had gathered at the entrance, watching the group with curiosity.

"Praise be to God!" Li Li greeted the group of Persians with his right hand on his chest. The two or three hundred Persian Muslims hesitated for a moment before returning the greeting. After Li Li left, they began to discuss animatedly.

It's been said that the Imam has displayed great power and subdued some Seris followers, but no one has ever seen him do so until now.

“Imam, we need someone to make contact with the Rus’ people in Enzeli Port,” Li Li said directly to the imam who was from the Dremu people.

The Dreymu are an ancient branch of the Persians who produced many important military leaders during the Sasanian dynasty.

They established the Bouvech dynasty in the early 11th century, ruling western Persia and achieving a brief period of Persian revival, a time when Persians ruled themselves and were not ruled by foreign powers.

However, the Bouvet dynasty was short-lived, maintaining its power for only fifty or sixty years. It failed to unify Persia and did not eliminate the influence of Islam, but instead deepened Islam's rule in Persia. Therefore, it did not contribute much to the revival of Persian culture.

"Do the Seres want to drive out the Rus', or do they want to replace the Rus'?" the Imam asked, opening his cloudy eyes and enunciating each word clearly.

Gilan Province, represented by the port of Enzeli, is located north of the Alborz Mountains, which run from north of Tehran across Persia, and south of the Caspian Sea, which is the northernmost part of Iran's Caspian coast.

This region, known as the southern Caspian Plain, is extremely narrow, with its widest point being only forty or fifty kilometers and its narrowest point only a dozen kilometers, but it is extremely important.

Because in generally arid Persia, this narrow strip of land was the most humid place. The towering Alborz Mountains blocked the moisture from the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, keeping it all within this small area on the southern shore.

As a result, Tehran, which is only 90 kilometers from the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, receives only a little over 200 millimeters of rainfall per year, while the lowlands on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea receive more than 1,500 millimeters per year.

This place is known as the "Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall" of Persia. With an area that is only one-one-hundred-and-sixtieth the size of Persia, it produces half of all of Persia's rice and one-fifth of its wheat and corn.

They could also grow tea, develop the silk industry, and produce nearly a quarter of Persia's fruits and vegetables.

Of course, the tea and silk industries are things of later times; they don't exist now.

This fertile plain on the southern shore of the Caspian Sea is the homeland of the Dlaimu people, but it is now occupied by the Tsarist Rus' Empire, which is why the Imam asked this question.

When Li Li heard the imam say this, he didn't respond. Instead, he said, word by word, "Imam, I can tell you that the person standing in front of you is a direct descendant of the Persian king, a true Persian who is even more noble than you."

As he spoke, Li Li pulled out a gold seal the size of a loquat and waved it around. "This is the seal bestowed by the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty upon the last Persian King, Nineshi, who is also my ancestor. If the Imam does not believe it, he can take a look."

Imam's right hand trembled slightly, as if he wanted to take it, but he quickly regained his composure.

He knew that it didn't matter whether the seal was real or fake, or whether the person in front of him was a descendant of the last Persian king or not.

The only meaningful thing is that this person was sent by His Highness the Crown Prince of the Seris Empire, or by the mysterious and powerful Emperor of Seris—no, he should be called the Emperor of the East.

He represented the Seris Empire, with hundreds of thousands of powerful Seris Anxi warriors standing behind him.

"So, you've come here to help us restore the glory of the Persians, is that right?" the Imam asked in a low voice.

“Yes, without a doubt, it’s all true.” Li Li said with great confidence and certainty, “Imam, you can tell from the fact that I can speak fluent Persian.”

"If it weren't for the desire to restore the glory of the Persians, our family wouldn't have maintained the tradition of speaking Persian for over a thousand years in the Seres Empire."

Li Li was telling lies that he himself didn't believe; he had learned Persian after arriving in Anxi through hard work.

Their family is indeed said to be descended from the Persian king, but this is not something particularly glorious; it's basically just a legend, and nobody takes it seriously.

The Imam closed his eyes and finally asked slowly, "And what about God? What did God say?"

What God says is actually about how to resolve religious issues.

"The White Lotus sect, which is popular in Seris today, actually borrows a lot from Zoroastrian doctrines, such as the appearance of the white sun and the birth of Maitreya, which correspond to the ultimate resurrection of Zoroastrianism."

We want to restore the glory of Persia and revive Zoroastrianism, but more than a thousand years have passed, and the doctrines and scriptures of Zoroastrianism only exist in the Seres Empire. Therefore, we need to combine them. I think establishing a Zoroastrian sect would be a good idea.”

Li Li's words meant that he wanted to build a religion that appeared to be a revival of Persian culture, but was actually a rebranded religion that incorporated a large amount of Chinese culture, within the framework of the White Lotus Sect.

Upon hearing this, the imam's face finally twitched, and he stood up with some anger.

"The Arabs came here and forced us to convert to Islam, and the Seres came here and tried to make us believe in a false religion, Zoroastrianism."

Well, it seems the Seres are indeed much more civilized; at least they know how to put on a different face and even sent so-called royal descendants to shut everyone up.

If that's the case, why should we, the Delaimu people, risk getting involved? We might as well continue our faith in Islam!

After listening, Li Li stared at the Imam with a forced smile, "The reason you are angry is because you asked the wrong question."

You should ask yourself, what can I gain from the actions of the Seris Empire?
Then I would answer you that Emperor Seris would agree to add a Zoroastrian Venerable, whose status is equivalent to the six Great Buddhas, and whose succession only requires the Emperor's approval.

The Dremu people, on the other hand, were able to reclaim the southern Caspian plains, including Enzeli Port, with the help of the powerful army of the Seris Empire.

They could even rise to the highest levels of power in Persia, becoming the most powerful nobles in Isfahan and Salaz!

After Li Li finished speaking, he suddenly grabbed the imam's collar and lifted the usually venerable old monk up.

“Imam, do you remember this? You should ask it this way. This is the way you should ask it, in accordance with your status.”

I'm giving you one more chance. If you ask the wrong question, you and all the Delaimu people will lose this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Next time, no, right now!

"Immediately, the army of the Seris Empire will enter Jilan Province from the Turkmen desert, reach the port of Enzeli, and execute all the Dlaimu people!"

A 'boom' sound.

Whether it was because Li Li suddenly let go, or because the Imam's hands and feet went weak and he couldn't sit still, he rolled on the ground with a thud after Li Li let go.

"He only remembers the food he's eaten but not the beating he's received; he fears power but doesn't appreciate kindness; he's about to die and still wants to negotiate!" Li Li's fourth brother, Li Zai, sneered.

If this imam doesn't know what's good for him, they'll have to find someone else to negotiate with. It's so great to have a powerful army; someone will always come along who knows what's good for them.

In the awkward silence, the dozen or so Dremu nobles in the room all turned their gazes toward the Imam, who was slowly getting up from the ground. They were extremely nervous, and some even showed expressions of eager anticipation.

The imam struggled to his feet, slowly straightening his body, and an inexplicable atmosphere began to permeate the air.

Just as Li Li thought the Imam was about to get angry, after all, he had just shown him no respect, he saw the Imam slowly kneel down again, look up at Li Li, and say:

"So, should I be the one to become the Venerable One of the Fire Worship Sect?"

(End of this chapter)