"Someone!"

Antiochus III stood on the balcony on the second floor and looked down on his imperial capital, which looked gray in the warm spring sun, and he felt inexplicably irritable and uneasy.

"Your Majesty, what do you command?" The Secretary of State for the Interior came in a hurry.

"Go and invite the officials of the Great Qin Mission, today I will invite them to drink and feast in the garden, and find a few interpreters who are proficient in the languages of Great Xia and Great Wan!"

Although Antiochus III was tossed all night by a group of wives, he was in pain and happy, and it was obvious that the gift sent by the Great Qin Mission yesterday had made him have a lot of face.

Three years earlier, he had been defeated in his war to conquer Syria, and although he did not capture Ctesiphon on the east bank of the Tigris River, his desire to move the capital west was not fulfilled, but he still captured a beautiful princess Asya from Susa.

This Princess Althea is extremely beautiful, fifteen years old, but arrogant and indifferent, in the face of Antiochus III's obscenity, she would rather die than give in, which made Antiochus very depressed, but after getting up, this cold princess finally couldn't stand the temptation of silk, hoping to meet the envoys from the distant Great Qin, and promised Antiochus that if she could help her get a hundred silk as a dowry, she would marry him willingly.

It is impossible to have a hundred horses of silk, yesterday's ten horses have all been divided between the queen and a group of concubines, and none of the pants have left him a piece, but it doesn't matter now, in the far east, the mysterious Daqin must still exist, so he needs to inquire with Li Shun and others today, and must send envoys and caravans to Daqin to buy the silk back, Althea is the princess of the Susa country, with Egyptian and Greek royal blood, it is very important to him, and marrying Althea can also be recognized by the Persians, It will be of great help to him in the future occupation of Western Asia.

And this silk is not only liked by his women, but also by the nobles of Egypt, Rome, Greece, Seleucid and other countries, and of course porcelain and glass.

At the thought of porcelain, Antiochus III instantly blushed with shame.

Originally, he thought that twenty gold coins would buy the best and most beautiful porcelain in the world, but he didn't expect that a complete set of porcelain sent by Emperor Daqin was even more exquisite, not only with a teapot with a strange shape, but also six teacups of the same size and without any difference.

As for the glass, in the eyes of Antiochus III and all the noble ministers of the Sabbatical Empire, it was even more mysterious and incredible, such a crystal product without flaws in the world was not at all, let alone six of them were exactly the same.

Could it be that Great Qin is a kingdom controlled by gods?

It's not that Antiochus III thinks so, but he has to force himself to think like this, otherwise what is silk made of, how porcelain and glass are made, and what is that tea thing, it smells weird, the other three are so precious, tea must also be a very precious thing, I didn't ask clearly at the banquet yesterday, today I must have a good exchange with the envoys of Daqin, and then further think about the relationship with Daqin.

Starting from Daxia, trekking thousands of miles all the way to the rest, now to the rest of the emperor so grand and warm hospitality and meticulous care, the entire mission is all relaxed and enjoyed, last night after eating and drinking enough to hug the Persian little lady and toss for most of the night, today has been sleeping until the third pole of the day before being called up from the bed by the officials from the palace, and then washing his face and brushing his teeth to clean up, with two black circles and empty steps to the palace.

Today's wind and sunshine, although the climate is dry, but there are still many flowers and plants in the palace garden in this spring, Li Shun and others followed the palace ministers to the garden, the wine banquet has been prepared, and the beautiful maids who shuttle back and forth, Antiochus III brought his queen and two concubines to receive Li Shun and others in the garden.

Although Antioch's arrangement today is not as grand as yesterday's, it is more relaxed and enthusiastic from the reception place and specifications, and there are no other nobles and officials to accompany except the beautiful queen and the two young and beautiful concubines, obviously this is a relaxed family banquet, expressing Antioch's closeness to Li Shun and others, obviously he is satisfied with the identity of Li Shun and others and the gift given by Emperor Daqin yesterday.

Although there are huge cultural differences between the East and the West, Li Shun and others also learned about these exotic etiquettes in Central Asia and West Asia along the way.

The dining table was filled with all kinds of gold and silver tableware and pottery products, large basins of beef and mutton and even camel meat, boiled and smoked, as well as sour milk and cheese with a strong sour taste, roasted apples and some dried fish, and even the wine was goat's milk wine and camel milk wine, and the whole wine exuded a strong primitive and rough Persian style.

If it was before he arrived in the Western Regions, Li Shun would have scoffed at these barbaric and simple foods, but this has come all the way, and it is already a kind of happiness to be able to eat clean and hot meals on the road, and it is even more difficult to drink a few sips of mare's milk wine that was difficult to swallow even before. Drinking wine is indeed an extreme luxury that only nobles can enjoy, and in the arid semi-desert environment, winemaking is a very difficult thing, so along the way, the entire mission has also drunk several times in the capitals of several large countries, so in the face of such a sumptuous banquet arrangement of Antiochus III, Li Shun and others expressed great satisfaction.

"You envoys have come from afar, and they have sent such exquisite and precious gifts, I am very happy, I set up a banquet today to thank you, I hope that your envoys will convey my gratitude to His Majesty the First Emperor of your country after returning to Daqin, and when you set off and return, I will also give back some exquisite specialties of my country to express my heart, everyone, please~"

After the two sides were seated, Antiochus III made a courtesy speech and invited Li Shun and others to start drinking and eating meat.

The cook, who was standing next to him, quickly picked up a knife and cut off pieces of meat and put them on a silver plate in front of everyone.

Li Shun and the others were not polite, let go of their hands and feet and began to eat meat and drink in large cups, this way, there were countless king's banquets of all sizes, eating, drinking and chatting, and exchanging information with each other is the greatest purpose.

Since ancient times, the wine table has been the best way to communicate, whether in ancient times or later, whether in the East or the West, wine is a favorite of men...... Except for women and gold.

The conversation was enthusiastic, and although most of the time they listened to each other's mist under the chaotic translations of both sides, it did not prevent each other from toasting each other more warmly.

Although Anxi is a powerful country, but from the perspective of knowledge along the way, whether it is buildings or weapons, whether it is the lives of civilians or soldiers, there is a considerable gap compared with Daqin, Li Shun and others are sure that as long as Daqin can maintain good enough logistical support, there is no problem in sweeping all the way and crushing and turning over Anxi, not to mention that after looking at the pattern of the capital and palace of the Anxi Empire, he is naturally in a relatively superior psychological advantage, eating meat and drinking wine is very bold, and he drinks to the heart. He just had to put his arm around Antiochus III and call him a brother.

"My dear messenger, if you can help me get a hundred silks to transport over, I promise to send you a hundred of the most beautiful waves...... Persian woman ......"

Li Shun blew Daqin into a daze, and Antiochus III also drank at this time and began to knot his tongue.

"Female ...... The woman ......, haha, okay, since Your Majesty said so, Shun must do it, although a hundred horses of silk are indeed valuable, as long as the First Emperor speaks, it is not a problem for you to ask for a thousand, right...... By the way, you can use the set of crystal glass wine glasses that were given to Your Majesty yesterday to drink, and you can use them to drink, which is more silver than this...... The silver cup is better......" Li Shun looked at the silver wine glass weighing half a catty in his hand, and his eyes were slightly hot.

Although crystal glasses are indeed more expensive, ordinary people in Daqin can't buy them, they are all sold in Qinghe shopping mall, the price is hundreds of dollars a piece, and the complete set is more expensive, mainly because high-quality crystal ore is not easy to collect, but ordinary glassware is still cheaper, cheaper than porcelain, one is only a few dozen dollars, but if you can get a rest, one will have at least ten or twenty gold coins.

Since leaving the Great Qin range, Li Shun and others found that neither the Western Regions nor the Western countries used copper coins, and the common coins used in their transactions were gold and silver.

The gold coins of the rest and the Great Xia countries are the standard gold coins of the Macedonian Empire, with a strong Greek style, with exquisite patterns on both sides, which are the sequelae left by Alexander the Great after the Eastern Crusade, slightly heavier than the small gold cake of the Great Qin, and the natural value is also higher, in addition to the gold coins, the circulation of the Western countries is more silver coins, there are light and heavy, and the value is different, but in general, gold and silver, as precious metals, have been used as currency by the civilizations of the whole earth, and have become a means of trading with each other and measuring wealth.

Gold and silver were scarce in Daqin, and there were not enough commercially developed coins in Daqin, so copper coins became an important currency.

These countries in the West weigh half a catty of a silver cup to get Daqin, according to the weight can be exchanged for at least five hundred yuan, although it does not seem to be much, but the advantage of gold and silver is that it will not depreciate, and it is not afraid of breaking, whatever shape is transported back to Daqin, it can be directly exchanged for money, and even can be directly circulated, at present, all the goods and specialties of Western countries are garbage in Li Shun's eyes, and it is almost a loss-making transaction to be transported back thousands of miles, but gold and silver will make money when they are transported back, because Daqin is too short of money at the moment, and there is a shortage of money everywhere.

Rest was already the last leg of the mission's journey, and it seemed time to make some extra money for himself and everyone in the mission.

Under the influence of the Marquis of Qinghe, all the people of Daqin now have no pure and simple hearts, and they can abandon the festival when they see money.