The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 832 Ten Sons Enter Liao
The biting wind howled, and the frost from the Xianbei wilderness pierced through the steam-powered sailing warship Gan Yanshou, making it impossible to even light a fire inside the cabin.

The tenth prince, Prince Liao, Mo Zhou, wrapped in a bearskin coat, shivered and huddled together with a group of naval soldiers for warmth.

It was so cold that His Highness the Prince of Liao disregarded his dignity and took out his treasured wine, poured it into a wine jug, and drank it with the soldiers, taking turns to warm up.

After an unknown amount of time, just when Mo Zhouzhao could no longer bear it, a machine roared to life.

The steam engine was started, and half an hour later, the Gan Yanshou began to travel west.

Upon hearing the sound of the steam engine, Mo Zhouzhan knew that he was almost at his destination: Baku Fortress, the capital of the Baku Khanate, an important city on the eastern coast of Azerbaijan and the western shore of the Caspian Sea.

At the port of Baku Fortress, there were Gui Han, commander of the Southern Route Army; Li Li, envoy of the Postal Service; Lin Zexu, deputy envoy; Hussein Quri, Khan of Baku; and Muhammad Ali, the Great Imam of the Persian Dlaimu.

The Khans of Azerbaijan, including Kuba Khan, Ganja Khan, and Karabakh Khan, along with numerous Armenian princes, came to the dock to greet them.

Liao King Mo Zhou first practiced a set of broadsword techniques in the cabin to dispel the chill and make himself look energetic before putting on a red brocade robe with dragon patterns and a flowing coat, and striding out.

Upon seeing the white flag with a gold sun and moon symbolizing the king appear, Li Li, Lin Zexu, and others immediately knelt down.

Gui Han stood there, coldly surveying the surroundings. Only after seeing the Caucasian Khan, the nobles, and Ali the Imam from Persia kneel down did he feel at ease enough to kneel down himself.

Looking at the large group of people kneeling in the dark, Mo Zhouzhao was filled with emotion. Even the experience of running thousands of kilometers on top-tier oxen and horses in two months suddenly felt worthwhile.

Although the Caucasus region and the southern Caspian plain were far from the Central Plains, they were not considered barren. In fact, the wilderness at this time was completely different from the wilderness during the Han and Tang dynasties.

If this place had more than five million people during the Han and Tang dynasties, it would not have been a barbaric place, but a great power beyond the borders.

"This is my world!" Mo Zhouzhan exclaimed, for this would be the country he ruled from now on.

He paid the price of being thousands of miles away from his homeland; if he could gain a country like this to rule, it would be worth it.

After a brief greeting, the group arrived in Baku.

This is a very fortified city located at the southern tip of the Apsheron Peninsula. The fortress was built on a protruding mountain peak at the southern tip of the peninsula.

The fortress walls spiral upwards, wrapping around the fortress layer by layer, and its geographical conditions are very similar to those of the Gibraltar fortress in England.

"What a magnificent city!" Mo Zhouzhao was very satisfied. This was not just the capital of the small Baku Khanate; it was a fortress on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, a gift from heaven!
“If this city can be supported by both land and water, even 100,000 men wouldn’t be able to take it,” Mo Zhouzhan said with a smile, but he also saw through Baku’s weakness.

That is, it is too isolated on the coast. Without the support of a strong national power, it is just an isolated city.

"Your Highness is right. This city is surrounded by abundant oil and salt, has the best port on the entire western Caspian coast, and boasts incredibly rich fishery resources. Furthermore, it receives plenty of fresh water from rivers, allowing for the flourishing of agriculture in the surrounding area. It is naturally the center of the western Caspian coast."

Gui Han, the commander of the Southern Route Army, echoed Mo Zhouzhan, saying, "Indeed, as Your Highness said, without the support of a strong national power, it is just an isolated city, a dead city. I think Baku Khan should understand this deeply."

As they spoke, the group arrived at Shirvanshah Palace, the highest point of Baku Fortress.

Baku Khan voluntarily relinquished the palace and had his two daughters fetch hot water for Mozhouzhan, personally serving His Highness the Liao King as he went to the back to wash up.

After Mo Zhouzhan finished bathing and changing and came out again, Bakuhan Hussein Quli knelt on the ground and said to Mo Zhouzhan:
“Your Highness is right. Baku is such a place. The country is weak and the people are poor. Even if there is a powerful fortress, there is no power to protect it. Once besieged, they can only wait to die.”

Hussein Quli was the last Khan of the Baku Khanate. In 1796, when Catherine II launched the Caspian Expedition, Baku was captured, and he fled to the city of Bukhara in Transoxiana to take refuge. He was determined to learn Chinese and wait for the restoration of his kingdom.

Seeing how obedient and sensible he was, Crown Prince Da Laosen dispatched 3,000 Anxi troops in 1801 to escort him back to Baku, drive out the Russian garrison, and restore the Baku Khanate.

Of course, historically Hussein Quli fled to Persia for refuge and restored his kingdom in 1799 under the protection of the Qajar dynasty.

However, as the Persian Kingdom, or rather the entire Persian civilization, was declining, they could not protect the Baku Khanate for long. In 1806, the Russian army once again captured Baku, the Baku Khanate was destroyed, and King Hussein al-Khuri Khan was killed in battle.

Now, Baku Khan Hussein Quri's words are a message to Mo Zhouzhan.

For Baku Khan, this future King of the Caucasus was someone he had never met before. The Seris Empire was indeed very powerful, but who knew if this Seris prince was capable? What if he sent a fool to mess things up? That would be trouble for everyone.

Mo Zhouzhao naturally understood the implication. Regardless of whether he was smart or not, he had received an elite education and studied hard since childhood.

He started school at the age of five and entered the royal military academy at the age of eight, where he was trained like a soldier. He would get up at six in the morning and finish school at five in the evening. He would then live at the school with other princes, members of the imperial family, and sons of nobles. He could only have two days off every ten days to go back and reunite with his mother.

Unlike princes of past dynasties who had maids and eunuchs to serve them, Mo Zhouzhao had to do everything himself during his education, and even had to take time out to help his younger brothers who were not adapting well.

This was roughly the normal life of children in key schools in later generations of China, or even more rigorous, because they also had to learn military skills, horsemanship, archery (including bows and arrows and muskets), and basic martial arts.

While they certainly learned far less knowledge because science and technology had not yet reached the level of later generations, the military academy life made up for the hardship of not learning as much.

This model, which might be considered decent in later generations, was, at this time, an absolutely, extremely rigorous training model.

With such intensive training, even if Mo Zhouzhao is of average appearance, he can still be trained to be quite presentable.

Moreover, among his brothers, Mo Zhouzhao is definitely one of the most politically talented and capable.

The one originally intended for marriage alliance with the Holy Roman Empire was Mo Zhouquan, the fifteenth son of Consort Dong.

Because Mo Zhouquan was about the same age as Princess Marie, the daughter of Franz II, his father, Mo Zibu, chose him, who was nine years older than Princess Marie of the Holy Roman Empire, for a marriage alliance because of his outstanding abilities.

Upon hearing what Bakuhan Hussein Quri said, Mo Zhouzhan nodded, stood up, and looked at the densely packed Caucasian nobles and lords, saying:

"The suffering of the Caucasian people will end at this moment, and you will immediately be illuminated by the light of Eastern civilization."

With the help of the most civilized country in the world, and under the benevolent grace of the Great Emperor of the East, my father, the Caucasus region will usher in true order.

It's no longer possible for just anyone to come and arbitrarily change the current order.

Bakuhan Hussein Quli's eyes lit up immediately, because he understood the central idea behind Mo Zhouzhan's words: order.

What he, Baku Khan, and all the feudal lords and nobles of the Caucasus region needed most was a clear order, an order that would allow them to remain secure and continue to be people of high status.

Immediately, cheers erupted in Shirvanshah's palace, and a large group of nobles knelt down again, praising Mo Zhouzhi incessantly.

Mo Zhouzhan accepted the flattery of this group of people, but he knew that securing his position as the King of the Caucasus was only the first step.

"Since you all need a clear order, and our Chinese Empire also needs this place, then I must make some rules clear."

According to Chinese custom, after I came here to become king, none of you are allowed to call yourselves kings or khans anymore.

The true master of this place can only be me, and all of us must be loyal to His Majesty the Great Emperor of the Chinese Empire.

According to Mozibu's plan, a new vassal state, the Liao Dynasty, will be established in the Caucasus region and along the southern shore of the Caspian Sea in Persia.

After Mo Zhouzhao took office as the King of Liao, all the former kings and marquises of the Caucasus were demoted by one rank. Moreover, the Dayu court would only give two Chinese princely titles to non-Chinese nobles, and the rest would only be able to serve as vassal states.

However, this didn't matter to the Caucasian nobles, because they didn't have the same strong desire as the Japanese and Korean peoples to get rid of their non-Chinese identity.

"Greetings, envoy. Please convey my greetings to His Holiness David V, Patriarch of the Holy See." The second person Mo Zhouzhan publicly received was the special envoy of David V, Patriarch of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Armenia's religious beliefs are currently in a very chaotic state.

Later generations were unique and independent, not recognizing the Trinity or duality of Christ, and believing that Christ should be a unified religious order.

To put it simply and not entirely accurately, the Trinity believes that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one, and that the three are all manifestations of Christ in the world. This is somewhat similar to the Buddhist concept of the Three Buddhas of the Three Worlds, and it is the mainstream of Christianity today.

The dualistic view holds that Christ possesses both humanity and divinity, but these are not unified; each has its own expression and manifestation. This was the mainstream view in Christianity in the past.

The Armenian Apostolic Church, on the other hand, believes that Christ possessed both divinity and humanity, and that the unity of divinity and humanity has been a non-mainstream view from the early days to the present.

But at this point, the Armenian Apostles' faith, which they had upheld for over a thousand years, was faltering. They were too weak; after the vast western Armenia was occupied by the Ottomans, they were on the verge of extinction. So, the Armenians, unwilling to surrender, began to gravitate towards the Orthodox Christianity of the Tsarist Rus' Empire.

They hoped to use the power of the Tsarist Rus' Empire to at least preserve the current territory of the Armenians, so that they would not have to live under the constant threat of the Ottoman Turks' swords.

"Your Highness, the Patriarch in Etchmiadzin wishes you good health and longevity, and hopes that the light of Eastern civilization you bring will save us, the lost people of the West."

Echmiadzin is the name of a city where the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church is located, so the church is also called the Echmiadzin Vatican to distinguish it from the Roman Catholic Church.

The envoy was so humble and easy to talk to because the Papacy of Echmiadzin had long been in contact with the Great Yu.

The key figure who connected the two sides was named Shahmir Shahmiryan.

This is a legendary Armenian businessman, writer, and philosopher who was born in the Armenian community of Isfahan, Iran, but whose family business was mainly in Madras and other places in British India, and who had some Sogdian ancestry.

Historically, Shahmir Shahmilian regarded the Tsarist Rus' Empire as the savior of the Armenians and spent a lot of money to cultivate relationships with the upper echelons of the Tsarist Rus' Empire, including Empress Catherine II, Potemkin, Zubov, and Suvorov.

But in this timeline, Shahmir Shahamilian met an even better match: the Great Yu.

It turns out that during the American Revolutionary War, when the whole world was ganging up on England, Da Yu also sent troops to British India and directly captured Shahmir in Calcutta.

This seemed like a bad thing, but after being captured, Shahmir, being fluent in several languages ​​and three native Indian languages, became a translator in the Da Yu army, plundering the natives for Da Yu.

Later, someone discovered that this guy had extremely high emotional intelligence and was also proficient in arithmetic and management. At that time, the Frenchman Sufran, a vice admiral of the Dayu Navy, asked him to try to assist in the management of logistics. Surprisingly, he handled it very well and improved the efficiency of operations.

As the war was drawing to a close, Sufran, recognizing Shahmir's outstanding performance, recommended him to the army's commander-in-chief, Duke Chen Lian of Yue, and Shahmir was subsequently taken in by Chen Lian as an advisor.

During these five years, Shahmir traveled from Southeast Asia to the Chinese mainland, and even visited Nagasaki Prefecture in Penglai Province, the Eastern Seas Envoyage Office.

He witnessed a magnificent empire, unprecedented in history, and encountered Chinese officials who were both highly capable and relatively incorruptible—qualities he had never imagined.

Over the course of those five years, Shahmir's ideas transformed from the French Enlightenment style to the Chinese model of universal harmony.

It was at this time that he brought up his Sogdian ancestry and made acquaintances with a large number of officials in China with surnames such as Cao, Bai, Mi, and Kang, who may have Sogdian ancestry.

Five years later, Shahmir gave up the excellent opportunity that Chen Lian recommended him to participate in the imperial examination. At his request, Chen Lian released him and he returned to India with an advantage that other Indian merchants could not match.

From then on, he not only became the pinnacle of Indian business, but also, due to his connection with China, became a guest of honor of the British Indian government, and his business expanded rapidly.

When he died in 1797, he left his sons an estate of over 30 million silver dollars, including more than 60 shops in Singapura (Singapore), making him one of the wealthiest people in the Great Yu region.

Over the past decade or so, Shahmir has repeatedly promoted his plan to officials at all levels in Dayu, a plan to designate Armenia as a protectorate, occupy the Caucasus, and control the east and west.

At first, he was completely ignored, and many people thought he was just crazy and indulging in wild fantasies.

It wasn't until Emperor Mozibu discovered the value of the Caucasus region that Shahmir's plan truly became a possibility for implementation.

At this time, although Shahmir had been dead for six years, his five sons carried on his legacy.

The fourth son has already assimilated into the Han Chinese culture, married a Han woman, changed his surname to Mi, and was named Mi Guozhong. He has also become an official of the Dayu Dynasty.

“Your Majesty, the Armenians have a long-standing legend that their ancestors came from China. Now that we have Your Majesty as our king, we can say that we have restored our ancestral identity.”

Shahmir Shahmirlian's fourth son, Mi Guozhong, was standing beside Mo Zhouzhan. He was very excited and full of ambition.

"The Papacy and most of the Armenian nobles are very honored and grateful to be your subjects."

However, some people still fail to see the situation clearly, do not know who the savior of the Armenians is, and still expect the Tsarist Rus' Empire to return and save them.

For example, the Arsakh, the free Merikdo lords of Udik, and the Dolgorukov and Lazarev families, refused to accept you and engaged in opposition activities on the grounds that you were not Christian.

The claim by Mi Guozhong that the ancestors of Armenians came from China is actually a long-standing rumor of unknown origin.

Later generations even developed the absurd claim that the ancestors of the so-called Armenian heroic family, the Mamikonian family, were Ma Chao of the Shu Han dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period.

However, it is highly likely that the Mamikonian family was a family from ancient Persia. After they arrived in Armenia and established themselves, they were no longer willing to obey the orders of the Persian king and developed a desire for independence.

In order to sever the Persian king's legal claim to their territory and to convince the Armenian natives of their determination to fight against the Persians.

This family began to claim that their ancestors were not from Persia, but from a more distant, more civilized, and more powerful country—what they perceived as the Eastern Roman Empire—China.

At that time, besides Persia, the only other country to the east of Armenia that was truly formidable was China.

Anyway, Armenians don't know that Chinese people don't look like Aryans, so they might as well use them as their ancestors.

However, things are unpredictable. A lie told by a noble Armenian family more than a thousand years ago has now struck a perfect blow to the Armenians themselves.

"Hmph, like an ant trying to shake a tree, overestimating its own strength!" Mo Zhouqian snorted coldly, but secretly wanted to laugh.

It's good that there's resistance; otherwise, where would they resettle the 40,000 households and 200,000 Chinese he brought from his homeland?

"Furthermore, I have just received news from Tbilisi that Her Majesty Queen Dorothy Daleyan of the United Kingdom of Kaltri-Kakhti has expelled the false king David XII, who was installed by the Rus', and that General Ivan Petrovich Lazarev of Russia has been killed by my valiant soldiers!"

Upon hearing this, the Caucasian nobles in the room knelt down again in a flurry.

They now understood very well that if the news was true, the Tsarist Rus Empire would find it increasingly difficult to contend with the Seres Empire.

"Your Excellency, I hope you can send a delegation to China to exchange ideas with Chinese religious figures on how to revive Zoroastrianism and the Persian religion. It all depends on you."

Actually, Li Li, Lin Zexu, and others made a mistake: Zoroastrianism did not completely disappear; there were still hundreds of thousands of followers. Although many Persians were unaware of Zoroastrian doctrines, they still clearly knew that it was their own religion.

Therefore, the current strategy of the Great Yu is to completely absorb the Zoroastrianism and transform it into the Zoroastrian sect under the banner of Buddhism, just like the Tantric sect and the White Lotus sect.

Of course, Zoroastrianism survived for over a thousand years despite strong suppression by Islam, which shows its resilience. To annex them, or even China, would require paying a great price.

"Thank you for the invitation, Your Majesty. I will soon send monks to the Central Plains of Seris. I am confident that we will be able to meet the expectations of His Majesty the Great Emperor and Your Majesty."

The Grand Imam Muhammad Ali quickly responded that the Dlaimu people were now completely under his control, and if they did not convert, they would have no choice but to jump into the Caspian Sea.

This was actually a temporary strategy of the Great Yu regarding religion in the Caucasus region.

The traditional Azerbaijani region, along with the southern Caspian plain, will be converted from Islam to Zoroastrianism.

In traditional Georgian areas, the Orthodox Church remains in place, while Armenians continue to adhere to their Christian Apostolic Church.

King Mo Zhouzhan will become a Catholic after marrying Princess Mary.

The reason for this arrangement is to provide a buffer period and, during this period, to identify all potential rebels.

Looking to the future, Mo Zhouzhan and Mo Gongze face the same dilemma: they need another kind of Christianity, one that incorporates a great deal of Chinese thought, a new Orthodox Christianity with Constantinople as its papacy.

The time is not yet ripe, and there is no capable person to establish everything for this new Orthodox Church, so we still need to wait.

So while waiting, a Catholic Christian identity that can directly bring aid from the Holy Roman Empire and is independent of any other factors becomes very useful.

At least these parties will all show extreme loyalty in order to win Mo Zhouzhan's allegiance to their side.

Finally, Mo Zhouzhan looked at the Khans of Azerbaijan and said coldly, "First of all, I congratulate you on successfully obtaining the protection of the Empire."

As for the others who couldn't come, let's wish them good luck!

(End of this chapter)