Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 750 Europeans Love It
"My dad sent me a troupe of female musicians? What does that mean?"

In the camp, Zhu Wenku asked, dumbfounded.

"To be precise, it's not meant to be given to you, but rather, after discussion within the court, His Majesty decided to entrust it to you to arrange how to handle it," Lebeg explained to him.

"what?"

"In the battle, we defeated the army of Duke Friedrich of Brandenburg, captured many prisoners, and seized some spoils. The destination of the prisoners has been settled," Lebeg explained. "His Excellency the Bishop has signed an agreement with the Teutonic Knights, and these men will arrive in Danzig next month to participate in the Knights' military operations. Most of the spoils have also been distributed. However, there are still some that we don't know what to do with."

“These female musicians are part of the spoils of war.” He pointed to a group of terrified Italian girls beside him: “Initially, the court was going to execute them, but Sir Hans and others pleaded for them, so they were spared for the time being and I brought them here.”

"Huh?" Zhu Wenku still didn't understand: "What did they do? Did they set fire to the gunpowder depot?"

"No, it was found in the Duke of Brandenburg's camp. There was no gunpowder. Oh no... why did I mention gunpowder?" Lebesgue almost got sidetracked by him: "It's because when discussing how to handle the aftermath, Lord Huang Zicheng told a story."

"He told us that Confucius, the greatest philosopher of Seres in classical times, once served as the chief minister of the ruler of Lu. The ruler of Qi, who lived nearby, was a powerful lord at the time and their biggest rival. Because Confucius governed the state so well, the ruler of Qi was very worried and summoned his courtiers to discuss countermeasures."

"A minister then suggested: 'I have heard that once a country is at peace, extravagance and debauchery will inevitably arise. Please send beautiful and talented female musicians to the ruler of Lu. If he is fortunate enough to accept them, he will surely neglect state affairs and thus distance himself from Confucius. Once Confucius is alienated, he will inevitably leave Lu out of disappointment and go to another country, and Your Majesty can then rest easy.' The Duke of Qi agreed wholeheartedly, and thus selected a female music and dance troupe and a batch of fine horses, and sent them to the Duke of Lu and his main vassals."

"Bianbo of Lu and his palace minister Jisun Shi indeed began to indulge in pleasure. Confucius advised them, saying that female musicians and fine horses were both corrupting influences, especially female musicians, who were even more threatening, and they must be careful to stay away from them. Bianbo and Jisun Shi, however, disregarded this advice and indulged in female musicians all day long, even neglecting to attend court for three consecutive days, and failing to distribute the bread and wine for the sacrifices in time. Confucius was very sorry, believing that Bianbo and his ministers had been bewitched by women and had lost their piety and enthusiasm. They had reached such a point that there was no hope of saving them, so he resigned from his post and left the place."

"Oh, I know that story too, it's about the State of Lu being subjected to female musicians from the State of Qi—although you seem to have mixed up some details." Zhu Wenku nodded: "But what happened after that? What does he mean?"

"Lord Huang believes that being obsessed with female entertainers is an ominous sign, and even a sage could not stop it. This shows how evil this thing is." Lebesgue told him, "Therefore, he suggested that we take the same approach Confucius used when he met with the barbarians brought by Qi Bianbo at the alliance meeting, that is, to execute these female entertainers, so as to eliminate the root of the trouble and also show the world the determination of our Great Ming."

"You can put this on too?" Zhu Wenku realized.

“Yes—though I don’t quite understand either,” Lebesgue shook his head and said, “but I don’t think it’s necessary. Besides, Sir Hans said that if these people are good, then we’ll keep them; if these people are evil, then we’ll do what the Earl of Chibian in the story did and hand them over to the enemy, right? Why do we have to resort to swords and guns…”

"That's true."

"Yes, we think so too. So everyone advised His Majesty that there was no need to go to such lengths. But we have to march every day, and everyone else has been taken care of, except for them. We don't know how to lead them, so we decided to take this opportunity of my visit to give them to you."

"Oh... wait? Master Daoyan has already arranged for the others?" Zhu Wenkui didn't react for a moment: "So fast?"

“Yes, before the war, when we marched north, His Excellency the Bishop contacted Hanseatic merchants and the Teutonic Knights through his connections with the Romans.” Lebesgue told him, “He told us that the Poles had suffered heavy losses in the war with Rome last year, so it was unlikely that they would directly charge into the enemy’s lines this time. But they couldn’t just stay put either.”

"The bishop said that Poland is a strange country. They are not weak, but there are many forces within the country, and the kingdom is very loose. Even during the era when the Three Families and the Seven Mu were in power, such a situation was rarely recorded in the history books. This can be of reference to everyone."

"Therefore, the Poles must find a firm ideology and a common enemy in order to unite everyone temporarily."

"In the past, when there was a strong king, the atmosphere in Poland was very open and there was not so much xenophobia. But later, the monarchy declined and there was a lack of a capable and stable ruler, so the atmosphere in the country changed. In recent decades, the Polish people have become more and more fanatical and extreme, and I think this is the reason."

"However, even if we find an enemy, we must ensure that we can win. Because the outcome of war has nothing to do with emotions; being fanatical does not guarantee victory. On the contrary, if we keep losing, even a fanatic will feel that something is wrong. Therefore, we should try to find an easy target to bully, which is in everyone's common interest."

"In the East, the Purple Horde is implementing reforms, and a large number of Rus' people have joined their ranks. Even some Rus' princes are increasingly aligning themselves with the Purple Horde. If we allow them to consolidate their power, it will create a powerful threat in this strategic direction. The Polish and Lithuanian nobles in the decision-making bodies certainly cannot accept this. The best approach is to take advantage of their unstable position here and launch an attack to disrupt the Purple Horde's plans." "In the West, Sigismund and others are spreading rumors that the Purple Horde harbors ulterior motives, seeking to unify the entire European continent and eliminate the Catholic Church, and that we are merely their pawns and tools for instigating invasion. Many believe this, and regardless of its truth, if the Poles seize upon this pretext to participate in the crusades against us, it will serve as a demonstration to others that they have consistently upheld their mission of 'defending the faith and opposing the Purple Horde.'"

“I can understand why the Poles like this slogan, but this argument is so strange…” Zhu Wenku shook his head helplessly: “Why is unifying Europe considered treacherous? Is having the ambition to unify a bad thing? Even if such people are on the opposing side, it can only be said that they are serving their own masters. You can’t say that it’s wrong for them to want to unify.”

“I can’t really say. Logically speaking, Rome was a unified country, wasn’t it? Everyone likes to compare themselves to Rome, and they all boast to each other that they are the true successors of Rome. Why do they dislike unification? I don’t really know.” Lebesgue was taken aback by his question. After thinking for a moment, he could only reply, “Perhaps, that’s just the way things are in Europe…”

“Now that you mention it, I’m reminded of a story from my hometown.” Zhu Wenku scratched his head and said, “It is said that during the Spring and Autumn Period—that is, the early Classical Period—there was a nobleman in the State of Chu, south of Seres, named Lord Ye. This man was very fond of dragons. He had dragons carved on his belt hooks, wine vessels, and his residence was also decorated with dragon carvings.”

"His love for dragons was so great that when the real dragon in the sky learned of it, it descended from the heavens to Lord Ye's house. Its dragon head rested on the windowsill to look out, and its tail stretched into the hall. When Lord Ye saw that it was a real dragon, he turned and ran away, terrified as if he had lost his soul, his expression filled with fear and uncertainty. From this, it can be seen that Lord Ye did not really like dragons; he only liked things that resembled dragons but were not dragons."

"Do Europeans really like Rome? I don't think so. I've been in Dadu for quite a while now, and I know that the Qin Kingdom is like Rome. I've also traveled to several European countries with Mr. Huang and Guo Kang to broaden my horizons. Later, I even made several special trips to visit my father. I wouldn't say I fully understand their situation, but I've seen all sorts of things."

"For many years, the public facilities such as square sculptures and fountains that citizens like have been imitating the Roman style; the mansions and works of art that nobles and merchants like have all followed the Roman style; the poems, songs and dramas recited by writers have all praised and reminisced about the glory and greatness of Rome; and kings and nobles, when tracing their own genealogies and praising their own divine power, have always mentioned Rome."

"As a result, Rome suddenly reappeared in the world, and the Eternal City seemed to have descended from the heavens to the earth. The envoys of the Senate kept visiting various kingdoms and territories, and the legions marched into various key places. When the Europeans saw that it was really Rome, they were terrified and lived in constant fear, even discussing joining forces to fight against Rome and hoping to crush it as soon as possible."

"So, do Europeans really like Rome? I don't think so. What they like are things that resemble Rome but are not Rome, to satisfy their cheap emotional needs and make themselves seem like decent people who can find their ancestors and lineage and have a history to remember."

“Uh, what you said, like your father’s, has… offensive power.” Lebesgue clicked his tongue. “If you need to provoke the imperial nobles, you might as well include this part.”

“However, this statement does make sense. And many times, we ourselves didn’t even think of it.” He thought for a moment and said, “You see, the ‘empire’ I just mentioned is actually a term that everyone agrees on. Although for a long time, the Byzantine Empire of the Greeks in Constantinople and the Holy Roman Empire of the Germans in the Alemanni region existed at the same time, in people’s eyes, there was still only one empire.”

"Therefore, although some scholars will specifically mark terms like 'the Roman Empire of Germany' to distinguish it, people rarely analyze it seriously in everyday life—generally speaking, 'empire' is a specific term. Especially after the decline of the Greeks, people hardly consider other options. This is still the case now."

“I’ve seen early documents. Back when the Purple Horde was still based in Bulgaria, the few diplomatic documents they used referred to them as the ‘Purple Horde,’ not the Romans. But decades after they made Constantinople their capital, more and more people started calling them Romans. Moreover, the entry of Easterners into Constantinople had a side effect: they did indeed replace the Greeks in their rule. Calling the Eastern Empire the ‘Greek Empire’ or the ‘Greek Byzantine Empire’ would be completely inappropriate.”

"However, as time went on, I discovered that the concept of the 'German nation,' just like that of the Greeks, was being reinforced; while the Eastern Empire formed a new 'Roman' group, separate from the Greeks and composed of many other ethnic groups. These Romans were not the same as the Romans of classical times, but rather more like other ethnic groups today, or rather, a contemporary ethnic group. Yet they did have connections with classical Rome and considered themselves Romans. It didn't seem wrong for them to call themselves Romans."

“That’s true.” Zhu Wenku nodded. “I feel that as time went on, other surrounding peoples, and even their enemies, began to refer to them collectively as Rome—otherwise, there was no other precise name, because they were no longer typical Mongols, Bulgarians, or Greeks. In our documents, we call them the Great Qin Kingdom, not the Fulin Kingdom or the Rum Kingdom. The reason is similar; there really isn’t a more accurate word.”

“This is probably an example of how things develop in a certain way because everyone thinks so.” Lebesgue scratched his head. “In diplomacy, we’re even seeing this strange phenomenon now: the ‘Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation’ is called an ‘Empire,’ while the ‘Revived Eastern Empire dominated by Easterners’ is called ‘Rome.’ And if you look into these issues more closely, they’re actually quite complicated…”

“Moreover, some of my Western European colleagues told me that the current ‘Rome’ is actually more frightening than ancient Rome.” He told Zhu Wenkui: “When we were drinking before, those ambassadors complained to me that the current ‘Rome’—or rather, the Eastern Empire formerly known as the Purple Horde—is not like the Rome that everyone knows.”

"Although people often say that the level of education in Western Europe is not very good, these people are all local elites who received a good education from childhood. During their higher education, they also studied at universities in Italy and Constantinople. They can be said to be the top intellectuals in Western Europe today."

"But in their view, the present-day Rome is more like some kind of existence that is more powerful than ancient Rome. They are forcibly putting their mysterious and incomprehensible power into the skin of ancient Rome, and then impersonating ancient Rome to act, and even forcing everyone to acknowledge their Roman identity."

"This sense of incongruity, upon closer observation, is actually everywhere, even more frightening than ancient Rome itself." He shook his head: "Sometimes I feel that it might not be that they were simply... what's that story again, Lord Ye's love of dragons? Maybe there's some essential element that really frightened them."

(End of this chapter)