Sweep the World

"This is the first time we have set foot in the country of Sinae (Serris), right?"

"Yes, we wanted to be here a long time ago, and we have never had a chance."

Oulus Sykestus Cicero is Rome’s envoy this time, and the person with whom he is talking is called Marius Ugli.

Just as the distant regions called Daqin in the past dynasties, the "Daqin" referred to by the Central Plains Dynasty does not only refer to Rome. The various dynasties in Rome are called the Central Plains dynasty as Seres.

Seris is a transliteration, and the text is translated as "Silk Country". The Western world calls the Central Plains dynasty the "Silk Country". The reason is of course because of the relationship between silk.

It is a mistake for contemporary Romans to think that none of them has ever been to the Central Plains Dynasty. In fact, in the year 100 AD, a Roman merchant group arrived in Luoyang at that time and obtained the Han and Emperor (Liu) Zhao) interview. Such an event is recorded in the "Books of the Later Han and Emperors", and it was also the first Romans to come to the Central Plains dynasty by land.

The name Seres was named by the ancient Greeks. The Romans inherited certain Greek cultures. At the same time, the name Seres was inherited from the Central Plains Dynasty. It was not changed until the Khitan Liao Kingdom and the Northern Song Dynasty. China. And this China actually refers to porcelain.

China...that is, the "Porcelain Country" refers to the Khitan Liao Kingdom, not the Northern Song Dynasty. It must be understood that at that time, the Western countries were basically in contact with the Khitan Liao State. However, the Khitan Liao State cut off the communication between the Northern Song Dynasty and the outside world from the land, leading to the fact that most countries in the West and Central Asia did not know the existence of the Northern Song Dynasty.

From the geographical point of view, the saying that whoever occupies the Central Plains is "Zhengshuo", it is purely normal that the Khitan Liao Kingdom is mistaken for the descendants of the Zhuxia civilization by the West and Central Asian countries. At that time, the name of the Khitan Liao State in the West and Central Asian countries, that is, the name China, was also fixed.

So, whether it's Cyris or China, it is a foreign name for a certain product, which extends to the name of the country where the product is produced.

Coincidentally, the Central Plains dynasty also had its own way of naming foreign countries. In the earliest period, there was the name "Da Qin", and the sources of "Da Qin" were "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" and "Wei Lue".

Later, in the Song Dynasty, even though the people of the Song Dynasty were exposed to a wider world due to the prosperous maritime trade, it was due to the rise of Confucianism. Confucianism became famous for only treating the Central Plains as the "world", and it simply didn't. Take it seriously outside the "world". In Central Asia at that time, it was a social trend to wear uniform styles of robes because of the “religion and religion” of Central Asia. Song people only distinguished by the clothes they wear, so there were “big food in white”, “big food in green”, and “big food in green”. These inexplicable countries.

It has been six days since the Roman, Franconian, Burgundy and Alemanni delegations arrived in Han. They also landed at Jingkou. They continued to appreciate the exclamation of the previous delegations, the same. There is also going to the market to buy silk.

The silk on the Jiankang market was bought and sold as long as the first batch of envoys arrived. The shops that sold silk had not had time to replenish the goods, so naturally the envoys that came later did not buy it.

The second group of envoys arrived. They arrived at the Pingman Captain's Department after a very difficult penetration. When the sea broke through the Sassanian navy interception, there were a lot of silent and captured ships, and most of the materials they carried were lost. . Later, they came to Jiankang on a ship from the Han country. They learned that the first batch of envoys took out the few remaining goods to sell, but they encountered the embarrassment of the first batch of envoys. The Han people had nothing to do with their products. Not interested.

In fact, although Frank, Burgundy and Alemanni have established their own countries, they have not actually been recognized. They were truly recognized after the collapse of Western Rome, but that was the end of the fifth century.

Among them, the Franks developed the best in the back. They took advantage of the collapse of Western Rome to expand and defeated the Huns, Rouran (Avars) and Germanic tribes and other Frankish forces. Later, they defeated the remnants of Western Roman forces in Gaul, occupied the Gaul region, established the Merovingian dynasty, took Paris as the capital, and even repeatedly expanded and crowned the emperor to establish the Charlemagne Empire.

The Charlemagne Empire was divided into three parts in 843 AD, namely the three Frankish kingdoms of the West, the Middle, and the East. It was not until 870 AD that it was adjusted by the Treaty of Merssen and became the embryonic form of the later three countries of the Kingdom of France, the Kingdom of Italy and the First German Empire.

Therefore, the later kingdoms of France, the Kingdom of Italy, and the First Empire of Germany are actually branches of the Germanic nation. In the modern part of France, the Franks merged with the Gauls, and the French were truly separated from the Germans and Italians.

Although Rome has formed a division, it still belongs to Rome in terms of name. The Romans do not recognize the existence of Frank, Burgundy and Alemanni as a country, and still treat it as a tribal form. Therefore, the Romans brought them to the Han country. They did not have their own envoys, but were included in the Roman envoys.

In fact, the Hongru Pavilions that receive diplomatic missions from various countries do not know that many. They record according to their respective registrations. If future generations read the history books, they will not see the relevant records of Frank, Burgundy, and Alemanni. All are included in the records of the Roman missions.

Compared with other countries, the Romans in Han are actually more pleasing to the eye. Both sides have black hair and dark eyes, that is, there is a clear distinction between the outlines of the facial features, but the other countries not only have different colors of hair and eyes from Han, but also have skin. Obvious difference.

"Seris is an amazing country." Marius Ugli said of the huge Jiankang City, and the population of more than one million people living in the same city: "This is a historical heritage that will not lose to Our country, they stood up again after the invasion of the barbarians. Their emperor swept the barbarians in the north, trying to conquer more countries and occupy more land."

In fact, the Roman envoys had already left Jiankang, and when they took the national highway to the north, they were as shocked by the road as the first batch of envoys. It was more novel to see the labor scene of the Han people along the way.

"Seris' invasion of Gupta caused us a lot of trouble." When Oulus Sykestus Cicero said this, he did not express his hatred of Han, but rather felt annoyed: "Serris In the first war with Gupta, Serris won, and Gupta will not let go."

The sea trade between Rome and the Gupta dynasty was very prosperous. The exporting country of the trade was the Gupta dynasty. While providing luxury goods, they mainly supplied metals such as steel, iron and copper, and sold a large number of finished weapons.

In contemporary times, Rome is the gold importing country of the Gupta dynasty. The gold exported by the Romans conquered everywhere is concentrated in the Gupta dynasty. That is because Rome itself did not attract the goods of the Gupta dynasty, which is tantamount to an unbalanced trade. , But the two sides did not feel that there was anything wrong.

The Han state extended its tentacles to Asanyang, and the naval attack against the Gupta Dynasty greatly disrupted maritime trade. It was until the first battle of the Han Dynasty. In fact, there were still Gupta's maritime merchant ships able to penetrate to Rome. Trade, waited for the end of the first Han-Ji war before it was completely terminated.

The halt of the sea trade between the Gupta dynasty and Rome has only happened in recent months. The impact on Rome has been, but it has not been fully revealed. It is because the previous trading materials have not been completely consumed, but there is no lack of understanding people who are worried. .

The eastern part of Rome is not the nest of the Romans. Some Europa regions such as Italy, Gaul and Spain are considered the nests of the Romans. However, although the current Rome is politically recognized as a whole, the contemporary Augustus orders can be used. The effect was only in Eastern Rome (modern Turkey), making the Roman army fighting with the Sassanid army really need supplies from the Gupta dynasty.

To talk about the purpose of the envoy led by Oulus Syxtus Cicero to Han, the primary goal is to mediate the war between Han and Gupta, but they are not so arrogant that they can order Han. Or the Gupta dynasty, it just has to be tried.

While the envoys came to Han, Rome actually had another envoy to the Gupta dynasty, also seeking mediation.

"In fact, from a geographical point of view, Serris should choose our ally as well." Oulus Sykestus Cicero has already inquired about the news that the Persian Sassan wanted to form an ally with the Han nation. It was because the Persians did not keep it secret. , Han did not take it seriously, and it was easy to find relevant news: "We are at the westernmost end, Cyris is at the easternmost end, and the Persians are in the middle. Once we reach an alliance with Seres, we can start from Carve up Persia in two directions."

Speaking of it, the Romans really like to find allies. Every step of expansion is to find a country or tribe in the region as an ally, to jointly divide the strongest country or tribe in the region, and wait for the country (tribe) in the region. When they were finished, they turned their faces and didn't recognize people, so they expanded to the Mediterranean Sea and became their inland seas. However, various countries and nations have repeatedly been fooled by the Romans.

Before Oulus Sykestus Cicero and others set off, they were directly authorized by Constantius of contemporary Augustus, and had the right to form alliances with any country or nation, thus striving to become an alliance with Han. Allies are also one of their goals.

In contrast, Chianus Alta Aldahir and other Persians felt that the Han people would “renew the forefront” because of the friendship of their ancestors, while the Romans such as Oulus Sykestus Cicero had to be very sensible. It is an attempt to form an alliance. It is of course a great joy to be able to form an alliance, and at least non-governmental trade must be achieved if an alliance cannot be formed.

Of course, what the Romans hoped most was to mediate the war between the Han and the Gupta dynasty. They knew very well that they could not offer any bargaining chips, and there was no way to talk about threats. Trade, such as buying extremely longing silk, seek to purchase large quantities of metal or weapons from Han.

The envoys of all parties met in Shouchun. During the meeting, the Romans and the Persians had all kinds of troubles after they met. The two sides finally did not lose their heads, knowing that they were the land of Han, and they were not pleasing to each other at the same time. There was no **** conflict between reason.

They went all the way north under the personal leadership of Yuan Qiao. They saw the large-scale projects being carried out in the Han country, and at the same time they saw the gazes of the barbarians who should have been after the war.

The construction of the national road from Jiankang to New Chang'an is based on a segmented model. No matter which envoy is surprised when it understands this business, all envoys that produce words use words to record, and regard this discovery as Kui Bao.

After three months of journey, they are considered to enter the pass, and when passing through Tongguan, they will inevitably express countless feelings about the precipitous Xiongguan.

"The territory of Seris is too vast!" Oulus Sykestus Cicero saw too many things along the way. What is more certain is that there is no facade project in Han country. There should be some prosperity. The ruins that have been devastated by the war also exist, thinking that what I have seen is a real Han country: "I am most surprised by the organizing ability of the Serris people. They can manage millions of people to do the same work!"

Any outsider was surprised by the organization ability of Han, especially since there were a large number of slaves besides the management of free people. Someone asked Yuan Qiao, and the answer was that the road sections of the project were different from each other. No riot broke out, they still believed Yuan Qiao's words somewhat, after all, they hadn't seen it after walking along the way.

"The territory of Seres is close to 12 million square miles (not kilometers), which is almost the same as our land territory." Marius Ugli’s source is Yuan Qiao, and he doesn’t think Yuan Qiao has to tell lies. : "This is the territory that the emperor Serris has struck down in eight years."

Rome is expanding around the Mediterranean. Except for the Europa, the rest of the territory is on the coast of the Mediterranean. The land territory looks small, but the actual control range spans the three continents of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The Mediterranean has been labeled the "inland sea".

On the Han side, the plateau is not considered to be Han territory. The western side stops at Shanshan, the north side stops at the later Inner Mongolia, the northeast front is to the dense forest (Da 1 Qing), although the southwest peninsula has been captured, it is not yet considered. On the mainland, the current total land area is about 5.9 million square kilometers, which is actually smaller than the Roman land area.

"The Serris are looking for more expansion. They spent three years in the south (Indochina Peninsula) and wiped out two countries and countless tribes, and recently launched an invasion of Gupta." Oulus Sykestu Cicero said this with a bitter face: "We are constantly backing away."