"No," Antonio was taken aback by Han Zhan's assumption. However, after a short period of panic, he retorted: "Lord Anyang Hou, I don't think the situation you mentioned exists. ”

Han Zhan didn't expect the other party to question his statement, so he casually asked, "Why?" ”

"Lord Marquis!" After Antonio called Han Zhan according to Roman custom, he said eloquently: "Our Majesty Commodus is at the age of young and vigorous, and he can still rule for at least thirty years.

What if someone rebels, you might say? You don't have to worry about this, the elite guards under his command are enough to crush any army that tries to rebel and maintain the stability of the empire. ”

If Han Zhan didn't know the real history, maybe he would really agree with Antonio's statement, after all, it is normal for an emperor who can be supported by the army and the people to rule a country for a long time.

Antonio told everyone about a series of achievements made by Commodus after he ascended the throne, Guo Jia, Xun Yu and others listened to it with relish, but Han Zhan was absent-minded. It was not clear to him whether the Roman emperor would have recognized the various agreements owed to the Han if he had been replaced.

Thinking about it this way, Han Zhan became less interested in whether to trade with the Roman Empire. He didn't want to spend a lot of manpower and material resources to organize a huge caravan to go to the distant Roman Empire.

Maybe wait for the caravan to take two or three years and reach distant Rome. Severus, the founder of the Severus dynasty, would kill the merchants of the caravan and keep all the goods for himself. Even if he gets the news by then, he can only stare dryly, and he can't go on an expedition for hundreds of merchants, right?

After Antonio finished speaking, Han Zhan said a little absent-mindedly: "Antonio, Benhou will take you to attack the Face Saint tomorrow, and after you meet the post house tonight, remember to bathe and change your clothes." The reason why Han Zhan said this is because although the Romans love to take a bath, the body odor on their bodies is still a little heavier, if he is allowed to go to the temple like this and smoke Emperor Han Xian out of a good place, who will be responsible at that time.

After chatting for a while, Han Zhan saw the meal, so he called Rob and asked him to arrange a banquet to entertain Antonio from afar. Considering that Antonio came from the meat-based West, Han Zhan also specially instructed Rob to prepare a roast leg of lamb for the other party.

After the banquet began, Han Zhan's eyes glanced at Antonio from time to time, wanting to see how he ate. But the next scene made him a little surprised, because Antonio not only did not use the chopsticks on the table, nor did he take out any knives and forks, but directly used a knife he carried with him to cut off the meat on the leg of mutton, and then inserted the tip of the knife into his mouth.

After Han Zhan looked at it for a while, he couldn't help but ask Antonio: "Antonio, do you all cut meat with a knife when you eat meat, and then eat it with the tip of a knife?" ”

"Yes, Lord Marquis, that's how we usually eat."

"Why don't you use a fork?"

"Fork?!" Hearing Han Zhan's words, Antonio's face showed a confused expression, and after a long time, he cautiously asked, "Lord Marquis, can I ask, what is a fork?" ”

This question stopped Han Zhan.

He had the impression that Europeans had been using knives and forks for all time. But judging by Antonio's reaction, it seems that he doesn't know what a fork is. It seems that the fork has not yet been introduced in this dynasty.

Seeing Antonio looking at him expectantly, hoping to get the answer he wanted from himself, Han Zhan thought for a while, and then said with some hesitation: "Antonio, don't you think you should use something to fix the leg of lamb when you cut the mutton?"

As soon as Antonio waited for Han Zhan to finish speaking, he immediately raised his left hand and replied, "Lord Marquis, didn't you see just now that when I was cutting the mutton, I used my left hand to hold the leg of mutton so that it would not move around during the cutting process. ”

"Antonio, the way you said is indeed to fix the leg of mutton." Han Zhan said unhurriedly: "But have you thought about it, after you finish eating like this, your left hand will be full of oil, if you can't find water, how can you wash your hands?" ”

Han Zhan's words made Antonio ponder. After a long time, he opened his mouth and asked, "Honorable Marquis, I don't know if you have any good ideas?" ”

Han Zhan divided the chopsticks in his hand into two, holding one in each hand. He pressed the mutton on the plate with the chopsticks in his left hand, then raised the chopsticks in his right hand and said to Antonio: "Antonio, for example, this chopstick in my hand is your usual knife, which is used to cut meat. ”

After making a gesture of cutting meat, he continued: "The chopsticks I hold in my left hand are equivalent to a fork, which not only fixes the food so that I don't move around when cutting, but also puts the food into my mouth with a fork after cutting the food, so that my hands don't get dirty." ”

Han Zhan's in-depth explanation in simple terms, not only Antonio understood it, but even Guo Jia, Xun Yu and others on the side suddenly realized.

Antonio asked tentatively, "Lord Marquis, the little one already knows the purpose of the fork, but what shape should the fork be?" ”

"The trident in Poseidon's hand, you should know, right?"

"Yes, yes." Antonio nodded vigorously like a chicken pecking rice, and replied: "Poseidon is the Greek god of the sea, one of the twelve main gods of Olympus, the god of horses, the elder brother of Zeus, according to legend, he gave the first horse to mankind, and his mount is a golden chariot driven by a white horse......"

Every word Antonio said, Guo Jia and Xun Yu could understand it, but when they were combined, they were confused, what Greece, Olympus, and Zeus were, they had heard of for the first time, and they didn't know what it was.

Guo Jia and Xun Yu glanced at each other, and they both saw shock in each other's eyes. A thought popped up in the hearts of the two of them at the same time: "The lord is really unfathomable, and he can actually understand the Great Qin Kingdom tens of thousands of miles away. ”

After sending Antonio away, Xun Yu asked Han Zhan for instructions: "My lord, tomorrow I will bring the envoy of the Great Qin State to meet Your Majesty, if Your Majesty asks if we should trade with the Great Qin State, how should we reply?" ”

"Trade is a good thing." Han Zhan shook his head and said, "However, the Great Qin Kingdom is too far away from my Great Han, and it will take at least several years for the caravan to come and go. If the monarch of the country covets the goods of our dynasty and kills the merchants of our dynasty, we can only do nothing. You can't go on an expedition tens of thousands of miles for the sake of a few hundred merchants. ”

After listening to Han Zhan's words, Xun Yu bowed his head slightly, and said thoughtfully: "What the lord said is extremely true, Fanbang is capricious when he thinks about it, and it seems that this matter needs to be considered in the long run." ”

"Lord!" After Guo Jia waited for Xun Yu to finish speaking, he asked tentatively: "I wonder if the lord is willing to go to the court together tomorrow?" ”

"No need." Han Zhan knew very well in his heart that if he appeared in the court, I was afraid that Emperor Han Xian would be like a man. Rather than embarrassing everyone, it is better to find some reason to avoid it: "Ben Hou plans to go to the suburbs tomorrow to inspect the high platform of the communication, so he will not go to the court." ”