Chapter 54 Kite Island, Hanfu City

Quintus held the good news and walked into the palace excitedly. Momia was holding Philip around the long table and said word by word, "Seris, Se... Li... Si."

Philip turned his big black and bright eyes, looked around the case, and then turned his head to look at Momia's silk robe, and poked it with his fat little finger. Momia couldn't help laughing and kissed his little face hard: "It's so smart."

"Of course, he is my future Ogudus, and he will be the great Roman emperor in the future. Of course, he is a smart child." Quintus said with a smile and handed the good news to Momia. He patted Philip with his hands. Philip immediately opened his arms, leaned over to him, and grinned. Momia let go of her hand, opened the good news and read it again. She said in surprise, "Three hundred miles away, hit the Sasans twice in a row in three days? This is really good news.

Quintus nodded happily and raised Philip high. Philip grinned happily, revealing two baby teeth and drooling. Momia turned over the second page, her eyebrows suddenly moved, and there was a trace of burning affection in her eyes. Then she looked at Quintus with a guilty heart, subconsciously turned around, leaned against the tall window sill, and muttered, as if she was reading a letter through the light.

This is a letter written by Sun Shao, and it is his own letter. The recipient is Quintus, but Momia knows that it is actually written to her. She read it carefully for fear of missing a word. After reading it again and again, she gently covered the letter on her chest, with a pale red face. She gently exhaled: "Gods bless, we have finally defeated the Sassanian people."

Quintus listened, smiled and came over with Philip in his arms. He said with some worry on his face, "Do you think I should go?"

"Of course I want to go." Momia said without thinking, "Not only do you want to go, but I also want to go with you." It is a very important battle for the Three Kingdoms to join hands to attack Taixifeng. If we can win, we can get at least ten years of respite, and your emperor's throne will no longer be said. But if the three countries can't trust each other and are found by the Sassanids, once he catch his breath, our Rome may be the first country to be attacked.

Quintus nodded with the same feeling: "Yes, Guishuang is close to Yue. Once the Sassanids attack them, it will be quick to ask Yue for help, and we are too far away from Yue. Even if the king of Yue is willing to help, it will take four or five months for his army to get here. With our strength alone, it is not easy to deal with the Sassanids.

"That's not necessarily the way." Momia shook her head and disagreed with Quintus: "Even if the main force of his army goes back, he will leave a garrison in Axum, plus the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and Persian Gulf's sailors, and he will leave at least 20,000 troops here. Once something happens, they can fight at any time. In addition to those Bedouin people, there are actually a lot of people he can mobilize. What's more, if he conquers Tysifeng this time, he will have to divide some territory. Momia smiled, and her laughter revealed wisdom: "Do you think he invited you to help you build prestige? I'm afraid he's more for convenience and your benefit. Don't be blindfolded by him. You should make some preparations in advance.

Quintus was stunned and nodded as if he understood something. Sun Shao's letter to him said that Goldian and his son defeated the Sassanids in the battle of Lake Timsach. In addition, in the battle in Byzantium, their father and son's achievements have been very great. Goldian was already famous and made such a great contribution. According to the Roman rules, he may become the emperor side by side with Quintus. . Therefore, Sun Shao suggested that the final siege of Tai Xifeng should be fought by Kuntus himself, so that he could gain enough fame and create favorable conditions for future power struggle.

Although Quintus is the direct heir of the Severus family, the Severus family started from the warlords and has not had a good relationship with the Senate. This time, it was almost all because of Momia supported behind her back and brought the Yue people as backups. The Senate must be dissatisfied with this. They are likely to support Gore. Dian and Quintus separated powers. At that time, Quintus' position was unstable. Although he is not too greedy for power, since he has reached this position, of course, he will not want anyone to divide power with him. Sun Shao's suggestion is right in his heart. He came to discuss with Momia, hoping to get her support, which shows that the Senate supports his personal recruitment. After all, it can reach a certain degree of mutual understanding with the Senate. It's all because of Momia's credit.

Momia not only supported him, but also walked with him, which made Quintus very excited. Although Momia is now his queen, the two have been separated, and he dares not care about Momia's business. There are not many times when they are close. If there is nothing to discuss with each other, he usually doesn't come to Momia's palace.

But Momia's words reminded him and made him excited. He has always regarded Sun Shao as a friend, and he is that kind of very good friend. The Roman Empire suffered such a big crisis, and Sun Shao helped him. How much is such a kindness? Now he reminds him again. How can he have such an idea? But he had to admit that Momia was more sober than him at this point, and Sun Shao's temper was indeed the kind of unprofitable.

"I will pay attention." Quintus squint his lips in embarrassment: "Then do you think it's appropriate for him to divide the profits?"

"That's a good idea." Momia sighed, "Isn't it because he has always been benefiting from others that he has no disadvantage? If Alexander... alas..."

Quintus frowned and didn't say anything. Philip giggled, holding Quintus's beard and shaking left and right. Quintus shouted exaggeratedly, making Philip happy, pretending not to hear what Momia had just said. Momia also knew that she had made a mistake and turned her back and said, "I will ask people to say hello to the Senate. You should take more people. You can give them what Goldian can give them. Of course, there should also be a distinction here. After all, it is impossible for some people to turn to us, so there is no need to please them and increase their strength in vain.

"Alas." Quintus answered and said a few more gossips before returning Philip to Momia and turning around and leaving. Momia hugged Philip, put her face on his pink face, and muttered, "Philip, this is all yours. No one can take it away, even he can't do it."

Philip looked at Momia, holding her face with two small hands and her eyes flashed. Momia suddenly had a strange feeling, as if Philip understood her words. Although she couldn't say it, she told her with her eyes that he knew what she meant. Momia was stunned and laughed again. How could a child who was not yet one year old understand this?

With Momia's help and benefits**, Quintus successfully divided the senators. Nearly two-thirds of the senators supported his personal conscription. More than a dozen of them were originally Momia's supporters and even became the generals. In order to prevent repeating the previous emperors from being held hostage or even murdered by the guards. In view, Momia signaled to those supporters to put forward suggestions to restore the original military system of the Romans, gradually control the proportion of barbarian mercenaries, emphasize the military service obligations of Roman citizens, especially Romans, recruit Roman citizens to join the army, and increase the proportion of Roman citizens in the army.

However, this idea is good, but it is difficult to implement. The reason why Rome's original civil military service system collapsed was that in the process of foreign conquest, the benefits were taken away by those nobles, and the ordinary citizens who made great sacrifices went bankrupt because they had no time to take care of their land for a long time. Finally, they had to implement military reforms and pay salaries to soldiers. But in the same way, the soldiers no longer have the honor of fighting for the country, but are loyal to the generals who paid them, creating the possibility of forming warlords. Siveru started by mutiny and ruled by the military force in his hand. His most famous last words were "be kind to your soldiers and don't care about the life or death of others." As a result, these 30 years of turmoil and the deaths of five emperors show that relying solely on military power is a double-edged sword, which will hurt himself more often.

Fortunately, he paved the way with his experience some time ago. Although things did not go smoothly, Quintus still recruited 40,000 troops. Under the escort of Cui Qian, who came to pick him up, he rushed to Damascus to meet Sun Shao. On the way, they suspended fresh water replenishment and supplies in Keati (Cyprus).

Kiti Island is the base of the paper workshop set up by Alexander and Sun Shao during the cooperation. According to the agreement between the two sides, the Kiti Island is jointly managed by the Vietnamese and the Romans, while the city of Paphos, where the paper workshop is concentrated, is the full responsibility of the Vietnamese.

Parfus is said to be the birthplace of Venus, the god of love, an important city on the island of Kitti, and the Romans' seat on the island of Kitti. Paphos is a coastal city on a hill. There are mountains in the northeast and the sea in the southwest. The rainwater flowing from the mountain forms a dense river network, which supplies the living and industrial water of the whole urban area. It is simply a unique condition for paper workshops that need a lot of water.

Since the Yue people built a large number of paper houses here, the Romans's office moved to the nearby Ahelia. The reason why they did not simply move to the city of Lidra on the central plains is that the tax of these paper houses is a major economic income. Romans are afraid that the Vietnamese people will evade taxes, so they have to Close care, how much paper is loaded on each ship that goes to sea must be counted.

And Paphos has indeed provided a large amount of taxes for Rome in the past two years. In addition to paper, there are also a large number of Chinese merchants gathered here, which are not only protected by the Yue [***] team, but also a large number of Han Dynasty living facilities, food and corresponding cultural entertainment. Living here is very similar to living in my hometown. For businessmen who are busy in the past year, this is a safe home. Many people buy real estate here to settle down. Some people with relatively weak economic strength raise funds to buy a courtyard as a clubhouse. They can live in it when they come and go. Over time, Paphos has become a city where Han people live. They think this name is not good. Listen, it is said that blessing should be what everyone wants. How can you be "afraid"? So it was slowly changed to Fox City. Later, some people said that the arrival of our Han people brought blessings here, so it should be called Hanfu, which was recognized by most people.

Because of their noble status, Kuntus and Momia and others were invited by Lu Yao to visit the city. They were shocked by the beautiful Han Dynasty buildings on both sides of the street and attracted by the bustling crowds on the street. Hanfu City is divided into two cities inside and outside, and the inner city is almost full of Han people. The residents of the outer city are also mainly Han people, but many servants are not Han people, but from all surrounding places. There are Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, some barbarians, and some foreign businessmen from all over the world. You can see several different skin colors at a glance, but most of their languages are the same, basically They all speak Chinese, and even the signboard of the store next to it is mainly Chinese characters.

Quentus speaks Chinese well. He smiled and said to several leading generals next to him, "Guys, if you want to buy cheaper Han goods in the future, you can't speak Chinese."

"Can it be cheaper if you can speak Chinese?" A congressman named Chris Pirus curled his lips disapprovingly.

"Of course." Quintus nodded and pointed to the store next to him and said, "If you don't believe it, go in and have a look. Even if your Chinese is very awkward, you can get a smiling face of the shopkeeper. Needless to say, it is inevitable to get a 10% discount. Otherwise, where do you think there are so many teachers who teach Chinese in Rome?

Chris Pirus was stunned. He siped and didn't say anything. There are indeed many young scholars from the Han Dynasty in the Roman city. Some of them work for businessmen, and some of them make a living by teaching Chinese. It seems that the business is good. That's the reason. The people next to him listened and looked at each other in different faces. The accompanying scholar Barbinus stroked his beard and said worriedly, "Your Majesty, I'm a little worried. In a few decades, the language of our Romans will be changed again."

The Romans are mainly Latin, but many of the official scripts and classical documents are Greek. Although the Greeks have declined, they adhere to their own culture and refuse to change to Latin. Many scholars who are convinced of Greek culture use Greek to write. Slowly, now Latin has been Hellenized. Now, because of the arrival of the Han people, Chinese is very good, and many Chinese words have been transliterated. After entering the common language of the Romans, there are so many Romans learning Chinese, and the influence of Chinese on Latin has increased, so the scholar Barbinus has such a concern.

Many people nodded in echo, which was quite a little worried. Quintus himself didn't think so, but when he saw so many people, he was worried and didn't say much. Lu Mu listened, smiled and said in proficient Greek, "I'm not talented, but I think you're too worried."

Barbinus frowned and looked at Lu Yu. He is a famous poet, orator, and a nobleman. He is famous in Rome. He is almost 60 years old this year. There are not many people who can refute him face to face. The inconspicuous Han people dare to say that he thinks too much. Isn't this a tiger catching lice on his head?

"What do you think?" Barbinus was refreshed and suddenly became full of war.

Lu Yao smiled and said quietly, "I don't dare to do it. I just have some immature opinions and want to ask for your advice. I have heard that Lord is one of the most famous scholars in Rome. I think you will be able to solve the confusion in my heart.

"I dare not." Barbinus raised his chin proudly: "Let's just discuss with each other."

"The adults want to keep the Roman language, but to keep the Roman language pure, right?"

"Of course." Barbinus was a little reserved and looked at Lu Mo with slanted eyes, with some contempt in his heart. Do you still want to ask this question?

"Then what I want to ask my lord is, can you understand the original classics of the Romans?" Lu Yao smiled faintly: "For example, the original text of the twelve bronze watches?"

Barbinus blushed. He was very clear about the twelve bronze table method. He could read the original text, but it was somewhat stagnant. The twelve copper table method was a document more than 600 years ago. There were many differences between the words and grammar used at that time and now. Even if his knowledge was profound, there was a lot of research on these words, but it should be said to be complete. It's impossible to understand it. After thinking about it, he smiled and said, "This is the reason why I want to keep the Roman language pure. If we are still using the words at that time and nothing has changed, wouldn't it be as convenient as reading the current law?"

"No." Lu Qian smiled strangely: "That's not the original Roman language. I think it will be pushed forward for at least one or two hundred years. What people said at that time may be the original Roman language. Because there are still some changes in the past 200 years. Although the changes may not be very big, do you think so?

Barbinus nodded, "This is natural."

"Then it will be pushed back hundreds of years until the establishment of Rome. At that time, the language should be relatively pure. But I believe that if you push forward, there will be the original, perhaps, the original Roman language has only a few words, just like those children who learn to speak. He turned his head to Barbinus and smiled, "But what's the use of such pure Roman?"

Barbinus was speechless.

Quintus laughed secretly, and the other parliamentarians were also a little embarrassed. They were silent one by one. Although they felt that Lu Mo was a little unreasonable, they could not refute it. After all, no one could say what the purest Roman language was like. But as Lu Yu said, what's the point if you can only be as pure as a child?

"Hehehe... A little foolish opinion, if there is something wrong, please don't worry about it." Lu Yao smiled cheerfully and raised his hand and said, "In front of him is the best winery in the city. What he sells is the best 'nine dew' in Yueguo." Lu Mao deliberately inserted a pure Chinese word in the middle, and then smiled and said, "Ha ha, this word is not in Roman, and I don't know how to explain it to you. Just ask your majesty and gentlemen to have a try, and then see how to translate this word."

Quintus laughed and took the lead in walking forward. The winery had already been under martial law, the shop was cleaned up, and the extra cases were cleared out. The seats were arranged according to the Han people's seating habits. Of course, Kuntus sat at the top, and the others lined up in turn, and then Lu Mo invited the Han representatives to the table in advance. Everyone saluted each other and naturally knelt down on the table. The Romans looked at it and were at a loss, but when they saw that Quintus had sat down, they had to kneel down with a bitter face. However, their knees were obviously not used to this way of sitting. After a short time, they couldn't sit down. They simply sat down in a crooked way, compared with the sitting Chinese people opposite. Their appearance was not much different from that of barbarians.

Fortunately, the Chinese wine and dishes are really good. They eat a lot, and they are still full of fun one by one, and finally make up for some of the pain. After the banquet, Lu Yao generously gave them a gift, each with a piece of silk, a catty of tea, a set of porcelain, and a roll of paper. Barbinus was treated with a special treatment, and another volume was added, which made the old man nod with joy.

The paper made in Hanfu City is different from that of the paper in the Han Dynasty. The Han people write with a brush. In order to pay attention to the effect, the paper must be looser to highlight the pen and ink effect. The Romans used a hard pen to write on the loose paper, which was an ink ball, and they could not write at all, so they later developed a relatively dense and flat paper. Known as cooked paper, it is more suitable for Roman writing. Most of this kind of paper is provided for Roman officials, which is difficult for ordinary people to see. Now Lu Mo gives each person a roll as soon as he takes action, so that these nobles can also smack their tongues.

"Your excellency, this paper is just like language, and it is constantly changing." Lu Mo went to Barbinus and smiled at Barbinus, who couldn't put down his love and smiled, "This is to make the Romans write a special paper. If you don't change it, I'm afraid that adults will only draw a few ink dots to indicate it. If others read it, they will think it's the original Latin. "

"Hehehe..." The mouth of eating people is soft, and the hands of people are short. Barbinus eats and takes it again today, and he is in a good mood: "Lord Lu, your Yueguo wine is too good. I ate a lot today, my body is a little fluttering, and my tongue is not good. I won't argue with you now. When I go back to drink this sobering tea, I will use it again. If you write an article on this paper, you must talk to the adults at that time. How about it?

Everyone laughed. This time, they were able to follow Quintus to make contributions because Quintus promised their interests. This has not yet reached Taixifeng, and even the scope of the Mediterranean Sea has not come out. They have received such a generous gift. It seems that this trip will be full of money. They were in a good mood and joked with Lu Yu through Jiu Xing. Lu Yao spoke a proficiency in Latin, and occasionally said a few proverbs, which surprised these Roman nobles, and many people gradually put away their contempt for him. Lu Mo is only the county magistrate of Hanfu City. According to the size of the official position, he is still under the governor of Ketish Island. Of course, these nobles of the Senate will not pay attention to such a small official. The reason why he is polite to him is that he represents the king of Yue. Now that they have seen Lu Gao's eloquence and knowledge, they have begun to really pay attention to this little Han Fu Ling.

Quentus is very satisfied. He is his support for the alliance with the Han people. Now that the Han people are so generous, it proves that his decision is right. Including Alexander's decision to hand over part of the sovereignty of Keati Island to the Han people has become a far-sighted and wise move, which plays a very important role in the future support of these parliamentarians.

The hustle and bustle of the world is all for profit, and the world is bustling, and all of them are all there. Quintus suddenly remembered a sentence in the Han classics.

(to be continued)