The Three Kingdoms Voyage

Chapter 322
The city of Axum in May was extremely lively, and the tiny country suddenly became the center of the world.At the beginning of the year, Quintus Severus, the special envoy of the Roman Emperor Alexander Severus, and Maximus, the general of the Guards, rushed to Axum and announced his kingdom to Axum King Valag. From now on, his kingdom It is no longer a province of Rome, but belongs to the great country of Yue, and ordered him to be ready, because the great Roman emperor and the equally great king of Yue will have a historic meeting in the city of Axum, and more importantly, Sasanian The special envoys of Wang and King Guishuang will also arrive here to discuss the situation in the world at one stroke. The city of Axum will become the place where the four great empires of the world met for the first time, and it will be permanently recorded in the annals of history.

Within a few months, the city of Axum became the focus of the whole world. The Romans ordered Valag to build four large military camps outside the city for the guards of the four kings who would come to join the alliance. Although Warrag is still the king of Axum, he can no longer live in the palace, because it will be the territory of the king of Yue, and he must make room for the arrival of the king of Yue.

On May [-], Prince Shapur, the envoy of the Sasanian King, and Ma Ming, the envoy of the Guishuang King, arrived in Axum. On the third day, the Roman Emperor Alexander Severus arrived in Axum under the protection of [-] guards. Wang Sunshao's boat arrived at Alamas, the bay outside Axum, and Quintus led them to meet him on the shore with Walag, Shapur and Ma Ming.

Seeing the huge ship by the sea, Quintus smiled. After several twists and turns, he finally invited Sun Shao to meet Alexander in Axum. Although the meeting took place late in May, but as soon as the news came out, The shock to the Sasanians was very great.Originally, after the meeting was delayed again and again, the Sasanians had doubts about the sincerity of the king of Yue and the alliance with Rome. Ardashir, who had been resting for more than a year, launched an attack on Rome again, and defeated Rome in Asia Minor. The people were defeated and attacked all the way to Nisibi, forcing Alexander and his son to fight again. The two sides fought a bloody battle in Nisibi. Ardasil, who had been on the battlefield for a long time, made Alexander unable to fight back. At this moment, The King of Yue spread the news of the meeting with Alexander in Axum to Nisibi. Ardasil saw that he could not succeed in attacking the city in a short period of time, so he simply accepted it and negotiated with Alexander on the battlefield, which made Alexander, who was about to collapse, breathe again. in one breath.Looking at the huge cargo ships now, Quintus couldn't help but feel happy when he thought that they were full of supplies from the Yue Kingdom to support Rome.

He glanced at Shapur, who was also smiling, but in Quintus's view, his smile was a little fake and forced.Shapur is the son of Ardashir. On the Nisibi battlefield, he was a brave general. But now, as Ardashir's special envoy, he wants to negotiate with Rome and Vietnam. I don't think so. Generally bad.

Shapur felt Quintus' gaze, and the corners of his mouth hidden in his beard inadvertently twitched, and he bowed to Quintus with a smile on his face.Quintus smiled slightly, nodded in return, and at the same time nodded to Ma Ming, who had been clasping his hands together.Ma Ming, the envoy of the King of Guishuang, is a master of Buddhism with profound attainments in Buddhism. His main task in coming to Axum this time is to unite Rome and Vietnam to jointly suppress the attack of the Sasanians.

"Two special envoys, let's meet the King of Yue together." Quintus said with a smile.

Shapur and others hurried up, walked side by side with Quintus, and stood respectfully on the pier.

Not long after, the huge boat of King Sun Shao of Yue stopped a hundred paces from the shore. Under the command of the watchtower, the sailors threw two huge iron scrolls into the water, hitting a column of water several people high. , Then, a medium-sized warship sailed to the side, and a general in red leather armor got off the ship. He held his knife, stood firmly on the bow, and drove straight to the shore.After landing on the shore, he walked towards Quintus in big strides with a smile, and cupped his hands and smiled from a distance, "Qin Jun, are you here all right?"

Quintus quickly replied in Chinese: "General Zhou, I haven't seen you for a few months, and you are even more powerful."

Zhou Yin laughed loudly, saying that he was polite, then looked at the other three people, first nodded in greeting, and then said: "Please also ask Qin Jun to introduce you."

Quintus smiled and said, "It's my honor. General Zhou, this is Prince Shapur. He is the special envoy of the Sasanian king and the most heroic prince of the Sasanian king."

Zhou Yin heard what Quintus meant, and looked at Shapur carefully. He saw that he had a long and thin face, two thick eyebrows, deep-set eye sockets, and his eyes looked particularly deep. The whole person was very calm. Not easy to be with.He cupped his hands and bowed to salute: "It turns out to be Prince Shapur, who has been admiring him for a long time."

Shapur put his hand on his chest and returned the salute, but smiled slightly, and said in blunt Chinese: "Shapur is just an ordinary prince in Sassan, and he dare not be praised by Lord Quintus, and General Zhou does not need to be polite."

His Chinese is not very standard, and the word "Zhou" is pronounced like "uncle". Zhou Yin wanted to laugh when he heard it, and wondered when did I have an extra nephew?The sister has been in the palace for several years, and there is no news at all until now. It is a bit abrupt to have such a big nephew out of thin air.He was amused in his heart, but his eyes lit up: "The prince can also speak my Chinese?"

"Yes, if you want to do business with the Han people, if you know Chinese, you can pay less for the translator." Shapur smiled again: "You Han people have a saying that you know the enemy, you know the enemy, and you can win a hundred battles."

Zhou Yin laughed loudly: "The prince is being modest. I think what Qin Jun said just now is good. The prince can use the art of war in business. I'm afraid that doing business is as good as using soldiers. In the future, I will ask for advice when I have the opportunity."

"Don't dare, I will accompany you at any time." Shapur refused to budge.

Quintus was delighted to see that the Sassanids and the Yue people had a rivalry as soon as they met, which was beneficial to Rome.He looked at it calmly for a moment, then pointed to Varag and introduced: "This is Varag, King of Axum, General Zhou, and you will be ministers in the same palace from now on."

Varag raised his eyebrows, and then bowed before Zhou Yin, but his Chinese was much more proficient than Shapur: "Varag welcomes the king to the small town, and Axum will always remember today's glory. "

Zhou Yin took a look at the dark Varager. Fortunately, there were many black people in Temucheng, so he didn't appear to be rude, but for some reason, he always felt that Varager's expression was a bit unnatural.But after thinking about it, he was originally a comfortable king, but now he was given to Yue by the Romans as a gift. It is normal to feel a little uncomfortable.

"This special envoy of King Guishuang, Venerable Ma Ming, is a man of integrity."

Zhou Yin put his hands together quickly, saluted Ma Ming, said a few polite words, and then said: "The king has arrived, and the [-] imperial guards will go ashore first. Please don't panic, all envoys."

Quintus and the others quickly nodded in agreement.Zhou Yin turned around and nodded to the captain behind him.The captain raised the colorful flag in his hand and waved it a few times, and the ten large boats guarding the king's boat approached in an orderly manner, divided into two rows, connected head to tail, and formed two bridges straight to the coast. Then, Two groups of silent soldiers went ashore along the two boat bridges. Once they landed, they lined up in two long lines on the bank. The outermost line stood facing outwards. Although there were ten thousand people, none of them spoke. The sound of neat footsteps, and even the sound of weapons clashing were rarely heard.

Shapur narrowed his eyes and praised: "It really is an elite."

Zhou Yin glanced at him and said with a modest smile: "Ashamed, it can't compare with Sassan's Immortal Army."

Shapur was taken aback.The main force of the Sassanids is cavalry, infantry and chariots only play an auxiliary role, the decisive force is heavy cavalry and light cavalry, and the most powerful of them is [-] heavy cavalry, mainly composed of noble children, all of which are heavy armored spears , every battle is the absolute main force, if there are casualties, it will be replenished immediately, and the number will be kept at [-] at all times, so it is also called the Immortal Army and the Immortal Army.Seeing that Zhou Yin claimed that the Imperial Guard Army of Nayue Kingdom was insufficient compared with the Longevity Army, Shapur felt a little complacent, but then became a little wary.Zhou Yin knew about the Longevity Army, but it was the first time he knew that the Yue King's guards were so powerful. From the perspective of knowing the enemy, Sassan had already lost.

"General Zhou is being modest, everyone has their own strengths." Shapur concealed.

Zhou Yin was about to speak, Yu An held his sword, trotted over, stood still in front of Zhou Yin, and gave a military salute: "General, General Ding, please take all the envoys to meet the king."

"Understood." Zhou Yin responded, and turned around to signal to Quintus and others.Quintus and the others did not dare to neglect, and followed Zhou Yin forward.Lang Zhongling Ding Feng stood with his hands behind his back, looked Quintus and the others up and down, turned and left expressionlessly.Quintus and the others followed and walked straight to the seashore. At this time, the ten building boats were already close together, and a passageway was paved with thick wooden boards on the two adjacent boats, and a bright red carpet was spread on it. , from the sea to the boat a hundred steps away, it seems that a bridge has been erected out of thin air.

While lamenting the extravagance of Yueren, Quintus carefully walked this passage. He was very worried, after all, he knew that the sea was below, not the real land.But as soon as he walked up, he found that this temporary road was slightly shaken by the sea wind, and he basically didn't feel any difference from the real road.

Under the leadership of Zhou Yin, the four envoys walked all the way to Sun Shao's king boat. Sun Shao wore a crown on his head, a red robe specially made for Xiangben, a jade belt around his waist, and a blue gold belt hook. The jade, shining brightly in the sun, has a soft light flowing all over it.Qin Sai held the Han Festival bestowed by the emperor, and Guan Xing held the ax bestowed by the emperor, standing on either side of Sun Shao's back. More than 100 handsome officials and court ladies, although with different faces, held their All kinds of utensils are lined up in order.

Sun Shao sat on the rosewood-backed circle-shaped high ottoman, motionless as a mountain, looking majestically at Quintus and the others approaching.Quintus caught up a few steps, turned over and bowed down: "Quintus Severus, the envoy of the Roman Emperor, pays homage to His Royal Highness King Yue."

"Qin Jun, how have you been?" Sun Shao showed a smile: "Your Majesty the Emperor is not in a hurry, is he?"

Quintus laughed quickly and said, "Although our emperor arrived yesterday, he is already impatient to see His Highness."

"Hahaha..." Sun Shao laughed loudly: "I'm ashamed, ashamed, I'm a day late. When I see your Majesty, we just hang around for a few more days."

Quintus nodded with a smile, then stepped aside, and Shapur and others stepped forward to salute one by one.Perhaps seeing the majesty of King Yue, Shapur no longer had the arrogance he had on the shore, he stepped forward to salute respectfully, and then stepped aside.Ma Ming stepped forward to kneel and salute, but Sun Shao raised his hand, and Zhou Yin immediately stepped forward to support Ma Ming, preventing him from kneeling down.

"It is said that the Venerable and the Venerable Nagarjuna had a one-sided relationship?"

Ma Ming nodded: "As your Majesty expected, I traveled to Ceylon when I was young, and once discussed the essence of Buddha with Venerable Nagarjuna."

"The Venerable Nagarjuna is my good friend from outside the country. Since you know him, you can be regarded as my friend. You should act according to the rules of your Buddhist school, and don't follow the etiquette of us ordinary people." Sun Shao said generously Said.

Although Ceylon is now dominated by the Sinhalese, who mainly believe in Brahmanism, Buddhism also had a considerable foundation in Ceylon before. After Nimar regained control of Ceylon with the help of Sun Shao, he once wanted to drive Buddhism out. In Ceylon, all Buddhist temples were converted into Brahman's sacrificial halls. Venerable Nagarjuna, who had been preaching in Ceylon for many years, rushed to Temu City to seek help from Sun Shao. The difference corrected many of Sun Shao's specious ideas.Although Sun Shao did not agree with him to preach in Funan, he helped him greet Nimar and told Nimar not to kill them all. At the same time, he also funded Nagarjuna to promote Buddhism in Tianzhu.In this way, Longshu became Sun Shao's friend.

In fact, Ma Ming knew about this relationship. The reason why Guishuang Wang Botiao sent him a monk as a special envoy was because of this relationship, but he didn't expect Sun Shao to be so polite to Nagarjuna, so Ma Ming would treat him as well. Looking at it differently will save him from looking for opportunities to get close to Sun Shao again.

Walag finally stepped forward to salute. He is now a courtier of Sun Shao, and the etiquette he performed was more solemn. He not only knelt on the ground and kowtowed, but also walked forward on his knees, hugged Sun Shao's feet and kissed twice, and then fell down. On the ground, in a trembling voice, said:

"The king of Aksum, Valag, pays homage to my king."

I don't know if it's because of nervousness or some other reason, but his originally fluent Chinese is a bit vague now.Although Sun Shao listened very carefully, he still couldn't hear clearly. However, he could guess what he said. He stretched out his hand specially to help Varage up. Facing Varage's anxious eyes, he gently said Smiled: "How can Shaohede dare to be the king of Axum? Although this is the generosity of His Majesty the Roman Emperor, I am still ashamed of it. Valag, I want your children and grandchildren to be the king of Axum. king."

Warrag was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't understand, Qin Sai, who was standing behind Sun Shao, took a step forward and spoke in Chinese and Axum respectively.Varage suddenly became excited, and kowtowed repeatedly on the ground, making the heavy ship boards thud.Sun Shao smiled and motioned Zhou Yin to help him up.Varag's forehead was red, but fortunately, his skin was dark, so he couldn't tell much.Shapur, who was standing next to him, grinned: "Congratulations, Your Majesty."

Warrag replied twice, too happy to speak.

At this time, Ding Feng sent someone to report that everything was ready and the king could drive at any time.Sun Shao nodded in agreement. Four Han people, four Funan people, four Aryan people, and four Aksum people, a total of sixteen tall and strong men came over carrying a beautifully decorated walking chariot. Kneeling down in front of him, Sun Shao got up and got on the chariot. Sixteen people lifted the chariot to their shoulders at the same time, and walked forward along the red-carpeted boatway.Quintus and the others held their voices and held their breath, and followed behind with their hands arched, step by step.

The chariot landed on the shore, and then, under the escort of Ding Feng and others, they walked towards the city of Axum. At sunset, they arrived at the city of Axum, and Alexander, who had already received the news, had brought people to greet him outside the city.

Seeing Alexander, Sun Shao's chariot stopped. He got off the chariot and stood there with his hands behind his back, looking at Alexander in the distance.The Severus family is not pure Romans. They come from North Africa. They look a little like Valag and have dark skin, but Alexander's grandmother and mother are real Romans. Alexander synthesized their blood and looks like She is also pretty, and her skin is not so dark, on the contrary, it is a bit close to bronze. If it is not for the natural curly curly short black hair, Sun Shao would almost think that this kid is a Han.

Alexander is 26 years old this year. Years of training and years of fighting have made him look childish and heroic, but at this moment, the undisguised envy in his eyes somewhat reveals his youth .

Seeing that Sun Shao was not moving, Alexander hesitated for a moment, lifted his purple cloak, and walked towards Sun Shao.Just as he took a step, Sun Shao also took a step, his hands behind his back were also loosened, and he stretched out forward. The two quickly came to the point where they were facing each other, and they stopped at the same time. He took a breath, arched his hands with a smile on his face, and bowed to the end: "It is an experience that Alexander Severus felt honored in his life to meet the great Yue King here."

Sun Shao supported his hands lightly, then put his hands on his chest, and made a Roman salute: "It is also my honor to meet the great Roman emperor here. First of all, I would like to thank His Majesty the emperor for his generosity, allowing me to drink in my own territory." excellent coffee.”

When Alexander heard it, he couldn't help laughing, and he couldn't help but said happily: "Compared with the generosity of the King of Yue, what I have done is really limited." He winked his eyes and smiled again: "And I also want to thank the King of Yue The next treat."

Sun Shao was taken aback for a moment, and then he remembered that Axum was now his territory, and Alexander was already a guest like Shapur and the others.He chuckled: "I look forward to your Majesty's visit at any time. At the same time, please pay tribute to the wise Mrs. Momia on my behalf. It is my greatest regret not to be able to meet this most intelligent Roman goddess."

Alexander smiled, but a little forcedly.The two exchanged a few words, and Varag and Quintus came to invite them into the city, and Varag had packed up his palace for Sun Shao to live in.Sun Shao immediately invited Alexander and others to enter the city together. They left the army outside the city and each brought two thousand guards into the city to guard their own residences. Shapur and the others had their own residences, and the people they brought were also responsible for guarding. .

That night, Sun Shao held a banquet at the Axum Palace, and the royal chef he brought showed off his skills, allowing Alexander and others to taste pure Chinese dishes.The next day, Alexander invited him back and invited him to eat Roman food.After hundreds of years of development, although the sun is gradually setting in Rome, it has reached an unprecedented peak in terms of food enjoyment. Once upon a time, the simple and hard-working Romans had become synonymous with hedonism. Sun Shao, who has seen the big world, also felt astounded by the variety of delicacies, and the Romans' habit of bathing also made Sun Shao unexpectedly think of the famous leisure city in his previous life.

After a few days of banquets, the four countries began to negotiate. Such matters should naturally be left to the envoys to discuss. People like Sun Shao and Alexander would not sit at the negotiating table. They occasionally meet to talk about romance The story doesn't touch the topic.

Alexander has heard many stories about Han people from Quintus, and he has also worked hard to learn the language of Han people. Now he can read some simple characters, but if he understands those difficult classics, his Chinese level will be stretched.He is very happy to be able to meet Sun Shao this time. Sun Shao suddenly emerged from a suppressed identity, which is very similar to his situation. He very much hopes to learn something from Sun Shao in order to get rid of the external influence The embarrassing situation of being suppressed by the Shan people and being governed by the mother Momia.The former is easy to handle. Sun Shao brought a lot of aid this time, especially food, enough to feed his [-] troops for a year. With Sun Shao's help, he doesn't have to worry about it when he faces the Sasanians in the future Food is gone.He is most concerned about the latter, how to change from a powerless puppet role to a real emperor with great power.

Sun Shao understood what he meant, and told him the story of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty again. Naturally, he told him more thoroughly than Quintus, and Alexander listened with gusto. It was not enough at that time, and he had to talk about the negotiation again when he went back at night. Quintus, who had been there for a day, went over to discuss it carefully, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt it made sense. He became more energetic and his eyes shone brightly.He thought day and night, and asked Quintus if he had any questions. If Quintus couldn't explain, he would ask Sun Shao again. The reason was, of course, to invite him to eat, bathe, and play.

While Sun Shao was chatting with Alexander, one night, Shapur suddenly walked into Varag’s palace, holding a woman in his arms. When Varag, who was drinking fine wine from the country of Yue, saw Shapur, he ate a meal. Surprised, he immediately pushed the woman away, got up and took Shapur into a secret room, once he entered, he closed the door tightly first, then frowned and complained: "Prince, why did you come to me."

"Let me see if you are so drunk from Yue's fine wine that you don't know who you are." Shapur didn't look at him, walked to a seat by the wall, took a gold cup, and put the He poured a glass of the half bottle of wine from Valage's wine table, and then carefully looked at the exquisite porcelain bottle for a while, then let go of his hand, and the porcelain bottle fell to the ground, smashing to pieces with a "snap".

"You?" Varage called out distressedly, his hands shaking with anger.

"Yueguo, just like this bottle, looks exquisite, but it's actually vulnerable." Shapur pursed his lips, looked at Varage, and smiled disdainfully.

Warag pulled his face with a half-smile: "I know you Sasanians are powerful, but don't forget that with the help of the Vietnamese, you can't swallow Rome."

"Rome?" Shapur chuckled, his disdain overflowing: "Do you think the Romans are still Rome hundreds of years ago? You are right, we can't swallow Rome yet, but we can swallow a Rome." The emperor and a Yue king who came all the way to die." He pointed to Warrag, "As long as you want, Axum will always be yours, and you will send it to Egypt."

(End of this chapter)