Days are everlasting

It has been six years since Zhao Muqin came to Daqin.

He didn't call him this name originally, "Zhao Muqin" was chosen by himself after he came to Daqin.

As far as his original status is concerned, he is the youngest son of a senior member of the Senate.

Relying on his father's identity, Zhao Muqin is also a nobleman. As a noble Roman citizen, he can walk sideways in many places in the Roman Empire.

The Roman nobles loved silk and yearned for the legendary silk country.

Zhao Muqin is an ambitious young aristocrat. He knows that after his father's death, his status will no longer be as prominent as before. It is better to take advantage of his father while he is still alive and go out to fight.

Zhao Muqin originally wanted to travel by land, but Rome's large demand for oriental silk made him think of going to the legendary silk country-Seres-to search for gold.

Although the passage between Siris and Rome was blocked by the hateful Persians, who even refused to allow Rome to contact the country of Silk, some lucky ones managed to overcome many difficulties and arrived in the country of Silk.

The Roman aristocrats were angry that the Persian dynasty bought silk from the country of origin at a low price and reprocessed it and sold it to Rome at a high price, but when they had the opportunity to make as much money as the Persians, no one was unwilling.

Before coming to China, Zhao Muqin - Cornelius, the son of the noble senator - confidently took several ships with his partners and set out on the road.

His luck was very good. He set off in the right season, had an experienced old sailor at the helm, and coupled with the effect of ocean currents, although he had gone through hardships, he finally reached the South Asian subcontinent, which is the hot India.

According to the old sailor, more than a hundred years ago, there was a country established by the Greeks - Bactria, but now, the ruler of this land has been replaced by Silk The princes and kings of the country.

According to local people, the orthodox name of Silk Kingdom is Daqin, and the predecessor of Daqin was Qin Kingdom. It took nearly 700 years from the founding of the first king of Qin to the unification of the whole country and becoming the Great Qin Empire. When Cornelius was about to set foot on this land, the throne of Daqin had been passed on to the tenth emperor Zhenghe, and more than two hundred years had passed between the first emperor and Zhenghe.

In other words, in Daqin, the ruler's family has been passed on continuously for nearly 1000 years.

This is something the Romans never dared to think about.

Not even the great Caesar, and Octavian, who turned Rome from a republic into an empire, could do it.

The people of Daqin have more control over the territory than the Romans imagined. From the residents here, Cornelius learned that most of them have more or less the blood of Daqin, their ancestors or simply themselves, All of them were enfeoffed princes who moved out from their fiefdoms in the mainland of Daqin.

On this continent, there are a total of 36 nobles from the Great Qin Dynasty, including twelve kings and 24 lords. Although in name, the status of kings is higher than that of lords, they all ruled their territory in this place by themselves. The size and prosperity of the territory depends on their accumulation in the local area.

It can be said that through this method, the people of Great Qin have a strong control over every piece of land they occupy. In this respect, the Roman Empire, which has an equally large territory, is far behind.

The people of Great Qin promoted their civilization to every place they could rule. Even in this place far away from the mainland of Great Qin, there are still countless gorgeous silks waiting for Cornelius and his companions to buy.

But Cornelius was not reconciled to stop at this place, he wanted to go further afield, to see the mainland of Daqin.

The place where they landed belongs to the land of a Marquis named Dingnan Hou. According to the citizens of Dingnan Kingdom, the journey to the mainland of Daqin is not far away. Arrived in the southern part of Daqin mainland.

Of course, they still have another option, which is to go by land.

From the land of Marquis Dingnan to the mainland of Daqin, there are more than [-] feudal princes and kings in the middle. A world of princes.

Some of Cornelius' companions chose to leave and return home with various "treasures from the legendary Silk Kingdom" bought from the land of Marquis Dingnan, while Cornelius and a few The companion, on the other hand, chose to take his own property and the goods he brought from Rome by land, and made a pilgrimage all the way to the mainland of Daqin.

If it weren't for relying on the talents who can speak Chinese in the team, it would have been impossible for Cornelius to communicate smoothly with the people of Daqin before.

Their languages ​​are simply different!

Therefore, while slowly traveling to the mainland of Great Qin, Cornelius was also working hard to learn the Chinese language of Great Qin, the language of this great country that has been passed down for thousands of years.

What surprised Cornelius was that the area within the Daqin language circle—this is his collective name for the Daqin mainland and other feudal fiefdoms and vassal states—books that recorded written content, except for those in the early ancient times Except for the unique tripod and the bamboo slip-style books that many people regard as family heirlooms, the rest are all made of something called "paper".

The best paper feels as smooth as the silk that was fanatically sought after by the Romans, and it is so white. Compared with the records of the Roman Empire, I don’t know how advanced it is.

He also heard that there are still luxurious aristocrats who record things in luxurious silk as they did before paper appeared. How surprising and enviable this is!

There were different schools of thought in Daqin, and Cornelius was taught by a Confucian gentleman. The reason why he taught him, a foreigner, was because of the educational philosophy of Confucius, the ancestor of Confucianism, "There is no distinction between teaching and learning."

Unlike the situation in Rome, where there were not many people qualified to learn advanced knowledge, in the Great Qin Dynasty, several generations before the first emperor, Qin began to popularize education slowly, and in the era of the first emperor and the second emperor, it went to all places. Vigorously promote.

On the first day of study, the master asked Cornelius to take a Chinese name.

After the first emperor changed the royal family to a simple Ying surname, gradually, the Huaxia people also merged their surnames into one, using surnames as their surnames.

Cornelius named himself Zhao Muqin because he admired Daqin, and the royal family of Daqin had the surname Zhao before the surnames were merged.

The husband is obviously very satisfied with the name Zhao Muqin chose for himself, and he has put a lot of effort into teaching him.

Zhao Muqin's husband also traveled from the mainland of Daqin, and he happened to be going back. Zhao Muqin and his companions were lucky enough to meet this gentleman.

People of the Mohist school traveled all over the world, while disciples of the Zongheng family mostly traveled to the unstable frontier towns. In contrast, although many Confucianists traveled all over the world, there were not many of them in such a wide range.

Zhao Muqin's husband is named Wang He, and his name is Ziping, and he is a side branch of the famous Wang family. Compared with Zhao Muqin and his companions, when it comes to how to return to Daqin mainland, what is the best place to pass in the middle, and whatever the route is. Clear.

Zhao Muqin followed him all the way to Daqin. Among other things, he learned a lot of new things in his daily life.

The people of Qin sat down and walked. When they were outside, they always sat on their knees to show their manners. It was completely different from the way the Romans sat. Although chairs and stools appeared in the period of the fifth emperor, most people still paid attention to the ancient way of sitting and lying. .

Looking at it, Zhao Muqin felt that the etiquette of the Qin people was different from theirs.

I heard that Chinese etiquette has been passed down since the Zhou Dynasty, and it has been more than a thousand years. No wonder it is different from that of Rome.

It's not Zhao Muqin's inferiority complex, but the Romans, no matter in terms of the systematicness of culture or the integrity of etiquette, they can't be compared with Daqin, an ancient civilized empire.

Zhao Muqin is a Roman, he can't see military utensils casually, but along the way, he can often see masterpieces from the Mohist school.

The convenient and fast wooden ox and flowing horse that are often used in rivers, lakes and seas; the waterwheel and curved plow that are convenient for irrigation; the textile machine that improves the efficiency of weaving, and many other utensils are quite novel to Zhao Muqin.

Because the Great Qin has a vast territory, unlike the Roman Empire, the Great Qin is still expanding outwards, and at the same time vigorously develops ship manufacturing.

If it weren't for the fact that Daqin is still dominated by land, I am afraid that it would not be someone else who dominates the sea today.

In fact, Zhao Muqin is quite worried about the expansion speed of Daqin. Daqin has an endless stream of aristocratic children. As long as they have military merits, they can own their own fiefdoms. From the third emperor's re-expansion until now, Daqin has merged into it. How many lands have been merged , but their nobles' fanaticism and desire for war is simply shocking.

Of course, Zhao Muqin admitted that even he couldn't help but be tempted when he saw Daqin's decrees and rewards for the nobles' acquisition of local fiefdoms.

This is a terrible nation and a terrible country. Sooner or later, the Roman Empire will fight against this eastern country that only produces silk in its impression. At that time, Rome will truly realize the terrible power of this huge empire.

Zhao Muqin took a deep breath.

If he was the eldest son qualified to inherit the title, he might be more worried about his motherland, but after his father died, he could only be regarded as a son of a poor nobleman. For Rome, he was just one of thousands of citizens. one of.

As for Daqin, although he believes that "if you are not of our race, your heart must be different", in order to win over capable people and strangers from other countries, he also gave extremely considerable conditions.

As long as you make a special contribution to Daqin, or have a great reputation, and get official recognition, you can join Daqin's nationality and officially become a Qin person. The ladies of Daqin can also marry this person as a wife, and give birth to children in the future , and after a few more generations, they will be authentic Huaxia people.

Zhao Muqin didn't care much about the noble daughters in Rome. Of course, it might be because they looked down on him, the "young son" of a veteran, so he attached great importance to this road.

Daqin's noble daughter had a beautiful appearance, and like the orthodox Romans, she was a Chinese with black hair and black eyes, which undoubtedly made Zhao Muqin accept it without any psychological pressure.

There were many capitals in the Great Qin Dynasty. Until the time of Emperor II, the capital was still Xianyang. Later, the central place in the world was chosen to establish a new capital named Zhongdu and Chang'an.

When Zhao Muqin and others followed Mr. to Chang'an, mighty soldiers passed in front of them one by one, and the emperor in black dragon robe sat on the luxurious carriage.

It was only later that Zhao Muqin realized that this was just a guard of honor and guards necessary for the emperor to go on tour, and this number could already be used as a small army in Rome.

In this country with a large population, the order of magnitude that is often used is different from what Zhao Muqin is used to.

Daqin strictly unified all aspects of language, clothing, and culture. Along the way, there are people with shaved hair and right lapel, speaking Chinese. This kind of scene, even in the capital of Rome, Zhao Muqin may not often see it. .

The captives captured by Daqin in the war were all proud of being able to turn meritorious deeds into good citizens and intermarry with Daqin ladies.

All Daqin women are ladies in the eyes of foreigners.

Of course, Daqin men can take in a few foreign concubines to multiply their blood. It is difficult for a foreign man to marry a Daqin lady, unless he is particularly capable, or he joins the army first and has made contributions to Daqin, but Daqin men want to marry her. It was easy for Gentile women to be concubines, and they and their families were proud of it.

Knowledgeable Daqin people all know that foreign women and foreign men cannot breed each other, so the number of foreign people will become less and less, and gradually, the problem will be solved without bloodshed, and the Huaxia people will grow up again. point.

It is rumored that this was left by Emperor Zhaoming and Emperor Shihuang, so there should be some solid evidence. To be honest, it is really not bad to solve the problem so bloodlessly.

Zhao Muqin took the path of literary affairs, combined with what he had seen and heard in Rome, he really came up with a few good ideas for the court, and got an appointment in Honglu Temple.

But he is not incapable of using force, the promotion of civil servants is too slow, and there is a rule in the Great Qin Dynasty that courtiers must have military exploits before they can be prime ministers. The speed of Jue is absolutely inferior to generals.

Zhao Muqin thought, he will be 30 years old next year, if there is no Lady Daqin who is willing to marry him, he will join the army to earn military merits, after all, after having military merits, even if the title is small and the position is not high, it is still capital!

Thinking of this, Zhao Muqin put down the brush in his hand, um, he was a little hungry, and it happened to be lunch time.

He now lives in the official residence rented to them by the "foreign ministers" or "messenger" who served in the Great Qin court, and he still eats the meals provided by the official residence, unlike he used to be in Rome, where he was outside In the rented house, you can eat whatever you want.

But he is absolutely unwilling to let the current Zhao Muqin go back to his previous life, even if he and his elder brother are replaced.

Let's not talk about other aspects of Daqin that are far superior to Rome, just talk about the food, Daqin's food is extremely delicious.

It is said that Emperor Zhaoming of the Great Qin Dynasty left many decrees, and so did Emperor Shihuang. Many of the admonitions they left behind are still useful to the tenth emperor.

In terms of food, Daqin has various cooking methods, and the dishes are also diversified because of the convenience of transportation.

There are many kinds of seasonings, which are much more than the types of seasonings in Rome.

Moreover, Daqin's sugar is snow-white, beautiful and crystal clear like a work of art, even if it is not used for cooking fried rice, if you secretly taste a grain on weekdays, the taste is incredible.

Of course, Zhao Muqin didn't mean that Daqin's staple food and pastries were not tasty, they were so delicious that he felt like he was going to bite his tongue off.

Zhao Muqin wants to become famous as soon as possible, join Daqin's household registration, marry Daqin's lady, and become a legitimate Qin person.

If you have the opportunity to see your father and brother or the people of Rome again, you must show them off.

Xiang Yu, the Marquis of Yong in the era of the Second Emperor, said it well, "wealth and honor do not return to their hometowns, they travel at night like clothes and brocades"!

The author has something to say: This is probably the most fresh and refined one of the three stories, the author himself will give this article a score of 99 points, one point less for fear of being proud 23333

The era of this episode was probably in the 23333s or [-]s BC, at the junction of BC and AD, and the Guishuang Empire in India had not risen yet, but it belonged to a branch of the Yuezhi tribe in India. Then it was destroyed [-]

Volume [-]: Do not mourn for the Han