sweeping the world

Chapter 851

The significance of Fu Wei's arrival in Constantinople with his fleet is profound.

First of all, the Han Dynasty has found a route that can lead directly from the sea to Constantinople, the current capital of Rome.

Secondly, the fleet can reach Constantinople directly, and can also attack all coastal cities in the Mediterranean arbitrarily.

From the moment the Han fleet appeared, there was no longer equality between Rome and Han. It was all because Rome was attacked and no fleet could go to retaliate.

The side that can only be beaten passively is naturally the side that is at a disadvantage.

In particular, the lands of the two countries are far enough apart, but both countries have long enough coastlines. One side has the ability to send a fleet to the other side, but the other side can't even get out of its own footbath.

The direct manifestation of the appearance of the Han fleet was that Constantius II expressed to Wang Meng that he would personally hold an unprecedented welcome ceremony.

Constantius II will also recall the governors of all the provinces and invite prominent nobles from all over Rome, all just to let everyone see the huge fleet that arrived in Constantinople after sailing tens of thousands of miles.

Although the Roman authorities were enthusiastic about Wang Meng's previous purchases, they imposed restrictions in many aspects, limiting the amount of slaves purchased, especially the purchase of grain.

When the huge fleet of the Han army arrived, the Roman authorities did not clearly propose to Wang Meng to lift the restrictions, but the number of people looking for Han envoys to negotiate business in a short period of time increased sharply.

"We have looked for these people before..." Cai Mian didn't feel too elated, but felt a sense of humiliation that a tiger would be treated as a sick cat if it didn't show its power: "Now the masters behind these people know that as long as the big man wants to, he can attack. Know your position."

"Your Majesty mentioned it a long time ago." Wang Meng fell into memory, and said after a while: "Whoever can control the sea power is equivalent to controlling the world."

They didn't feel much about this before, but now they have experienced the change in the attitude of the Romans.

The Han people are relaxed and happy, but the Roman high-level people are very gloomy.

Ordinary Romans didn't think too much about the fleet from a distant country coming from the sea. While they were surprised, they thought that those foreigners from far away always wanted to eat and drink, and they would definitely buy things in large quantities, so they could make money. .

For the high-level Romans, it is a great thing that their own fleet can go to the Han Kingdom. If they can't go, the Han Kingdom's fleet is here. It is really a terrible tragedy.

"I used to think that even if the Seris people could come from the sea, they would only take the Red Sea and land in Egypt..." Gallus's face was pale, and the rest of the people's faces were not much better: "That Egyptian The environment on the border is extremely harsh. Even if the Seris army lands in Egypt, as long as we don't relax, they will never reach Asia Minor. Now..."

Regardless of whether it is Egypt in the Asian part or Egypt in the African part, most of the land in the Red Sea area is desert. Even if it is not as harsh as desert for some distance inland, a considerable part of the area is also Gobi-level desolation. .

A lack of plants generally means a lack of water sources. The larger the number of troops in this type of environment, the more difficult it is to replenish water sources.

To put it bluntly, the defending side can set up a fortress where there is a water source. If there are fewer enemy troops coming to attack, there is no threat. If the number of enemy troops coming to attack is too large, the water source cannot be guaranteed. The advantage to the defending side is too great.

The contemporary Rome under the rule of Augustus Constantius II is completely different from the previous Roman dynasty. The center of gravity of the previous dynasty was Europa, and the main business was also the territory of Europa.

Before Constantine became the ruling family of Rome, there were repeated civil wars and coups in Rome. In fact, Europa was smashed and rebuilt many times.

The centuries-long civil strife in Rome gave the barbarians in eastern Europe the opportunity to rise. Waiting for Constantius II to sit on the throne of Augustus, not to mention the rise of the barbarians, some of them were strengthened during the civil war. The family also took control of the place.

So I said that it was not Constantius II who was fascinated by Southern Europe, but that the local forces in Western Europe, Central Europe, and Italy were deeply entrenched. Eastern Europe directly came to the rise of barbarians. If you want to live more comfortably, you can only choose Southern Europe.

If Southern Europe had been hundreds of years earlier, it would have been a completely barren land in the eyes of the Romans, not to mention that half of Asia Minor, which was controlled most effectively by Constantius II, belonged to Asia at all.It is just that the most tightly controlled territory of Constantius II does not belong to the territory of "Old Rome", so one can imagine how those nobles viewed Constantius II.

The situation of the Constantine family is that they have the title of the ruling family of Rome, and they actually ordered to go out of Constantinople and go north. The Europa part is only willing to listen to it if it is beneficial, but it is not beneficial... Who cares about you It's Augustus!

"That..." Gallus had a question for a long time: "What is the reason why Siris attacked Xindu?"

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. They learned that when Han and Gupta entered a state of war, the war there had already been fought for nearly a year. It is not that they have not explored why the war started, but there has been no official answer.

What Han declared to the outside world was that the Gupta Dynasty had invaded its own territory.

The so-called invasion was when the Han people arrived in Nanyang and found that there were black and thin Asian black people in this place.

Later, when the Han Navy entered Asanyang, it was miraculously discovered that there were many foreign ships moving here. The first encounter between Han warships and Gupta merchant ships was to enter the role of robbery and being robbed.

The Han army didn't know if they didn't rob it, but when they robbed it, they discovered that Ah San was really rich. They robbed decisively again and again. Ah San was definitely going to fight back, and it gradually turned into a battle at sea.

"Both sides have their own opinions. One side thinks the other side is an unreasonable robber, and the other side declares that the other side has harmed its own interests." Julian has done in-depth research and understands that those claims are not credible at all. The truth is only based on the ability to fight: "The Serisians have landed on the Xindu Continent, and it is obvious that the truth lies with the Serisians."

They are all the rulers of the country, and no one knows what kind of virtue they are. When a country launches a war, it never needs justice, only whether it can bring benefits.The winner enjoys the privilege of writing history, and the loser will be buried in the grave. The so-called justice is to be the ultimate winner.

Rome has been paying close attention to the war trends on Asan's side. The latest news they have received is that the Kingdom of Dera (known as Jitanado in Chinese) next to the Gupta Dynasty has completely fallen, and the Han people are using the Kingdom of Dera as a springboard to attack the Gupta Dynasty. south and west.

After the Han people took control of the Kingdom of Draa, they not only attacked the Gupta Dynasty, but also did not spare the neighboring countries. In a short period of time, they wiped out a dozen small states such as Yejia, Thorpe, Kaga...etc. It took a lot of effort to capture half of the territory of the regional Xiaoba Nara, forcing Nara to become a slave state of Han.

"The Han Chinese conquered territory equivalent to our two Macedonian provinces in the Xindu continent, and at the same time wiped out about [-] Gupta's troops." Julian said seriously: "Gupta's army has resisted Vagata for a long time. The joint attack of Jia and several neighboring countries cannot be done without sufficient combat power."

Rome has a long-standing trade relationship with the Gupta Dynasty, and knows much more about the Gupta Dynasty than about the Han Dynasty.The Gupta Dynasty in their impression is not weak, especially quite rich.

"It's such a country. They have repeatedly failed in the contest with the Seris army." Julian came prepared. He took out a few pieces of parchment. Land battle record: "If what Cicero says is true, the Seres never really considered Gupta as equals."

That was Julian's understanding.

Needless to say, the early maritime confrontation between the two sides did not matter. It did not matter how the Han navy fought in front. It pulled out nearly [-] ships of various types at once and directly attacked the doorstep of the Gupta dynasty. Didn't it easily show the balance of power?
In the confrontation on land, Cicero recorded that the regular army of the Han Kingdom played a supervisory role most of the time, and it was mainly the servant army of the Han Kingdom who went to fight the Gupta army.

"The place called the Uriel Islands, according to Cicero's description, is an island group in the semi-lithic age. The countries on it are trying their best to merge into the country of Seris, but they have not been allowed by the emperor of Seris." Julian said to I don’t feel much about this. Rome has been glorious for so long. In history, quite a few countries and nations wanted to integrate, and only a few succeeded: “It’s unbelievable that they are willing to die for Emperor Seris. The battlefield is pretty crazy."

Constantius II raised his hand to stop Julian from continuing his narration, and said blankly: "Speed ​​up the competition process if you can, and then you have new responsibilities."

Julian was stunned for a moment. He was the organizer. He held such a grand event mainly because he wanted to get gifts from the Han people and sell them at a good price.

"You can't let the fleet of Seris stay for too long." How could Constantius II agree to let the Han fleet berth at the throat of the strait, since the Han fleet lined up in the strait, facing the channel To minimize the impact, maintain the status quo: "Also be prepared to go to Siris with them at any time."

Rome has no ocean-going ships. The last time Cicero was sent to Han, the ships were purchased and hired by some countries in the mainland, including the Gupta Dynasty. In the end, it was not only the Pingman Captain’s Department, but the Han people arranged the ships behind. Sent back to Han.

The next step for Constantius II was to enter a state of thinking, and he would glance at Helena and Helena from time to time.

Helena had participated in high-level meetings before, so her appearance on such an occasion was not out of the ordinary.

Helena was invited to attend a high-level meeting for the first time. She kept her face tense and stopped talking. She couldn't control her hands and kept playing with the fabric of her clothes. The areas where she had been twisted for a long time were wrinkled.

"We all received gifts from Wang Meng." Constantius II tapped his fingers on the table rhythmically: "When we go back, we must return more valuable gifts."

Those who received the gift did not return the gift before, and some of them did not have the gift in return for the time being. In addition, some people thought that there was nothing wrong with receiving gifts in their own territory and not returning the gift.Now with the arrival of the Han fleet, everything has changed, at least it is impossible to feel at ease.

However, Helena instantly showed a crying expression. She is a marginal character and has always been poor.She received an extremely precious gift, and if she really wanted to give a gift in return, it seemed that she would have sold herself and couldn't afford to buy a gift of equal value.

"Your share, I will arrange it." Constantius II looked at Helena with a kind expression, smiled and said: "In addition, I will arrange an etiquette teacher, you need to become a teacher in the shortest possible time. An orthodox Roman lady."

Helena also had various teachers before, but those teachers were not well-known at all.She was studying hard, but the teacher later disappeared by herself, and she didn't arrange for the teacher to come over.

"Let me teach you." Helena said aloud: "I will teach the etiquette of Rome, and it happens that we can also learn the etiquette of Siris together."

Constantius II thought for a while and nodded in agreement.

Not only Helena and Helena need to learn the etiquette of the Han Kingdom, but also the noble ladies who will go to the Han Kingdom.Of course, the people who taught them etiquette were not people from the Romans or Europa. They were teachers arranged by Wang Meng, and the teachers were female officials from the palace.

Roman women had to learn etiquette, and Roman men who were about to go to Han also had to learn etiquette, but the teacher changed.

For many Romans, they not only had to learn etiquette, but also tried their best to learn Chinese. In order to communicate better, it was only one aspect. Knowing Chinese (characters) would inevitably lead to understanding more when they arrived in China, and even If you want to spy on secrets, you can understand Chinese characters.

To use an old saying, time flies, the sun and the moon fly...

The competition ended with cheers, and the final winning team in the team battle was the Han Chinese from the far east, but anyone with sharp eyes could see that the Han Chinese were really capable of fighting, but there must be something behind the victory of the Han Chinese team, such as those Roman masters told gladiators they had to lose.

As he wished, Julian sold the auctioned items for a sky-high price, and gave back gifts that Wang Meng thought were appropriate.

Recently, Wang Meng has been soft on receiving gifts, from those he knows and those he doesn’t know, from those who come in person and those who send someone. Many people give gifts just to leave a piece of parchment with their name on the gift list, that is, to make a fool of themselves. cooked.

"Did Qin have too many envoys?" Fu Wei looked at the list listed in Rome, and it looked really dense: "The Lord, including servants, exceeds 2 people. Why don't they swim? Swim to the big man!"

Dou'a who was next to him suddenly said: "Over 4000 people are noble daughters of Daqin people."

Fu Wei licked his lips subconsciously...

(End of this chapter)