For a group of young scumbags from the Princely Academy, the little dusk marquis skipped the refraction reaction of the concave and convex mirrors and light, and they had no opinion and liked to see it.

Learn a little less, and they have a little less burden.

But for a group of Jinshi scholars, they feel quite dissatisfied.

They came to the Princely Academy to absorb the most advanced knowledge of Da Chu, and suddenly they didn't talk about it, and it felt like a treasure that slipped out from under their noses in vain.

"Teacher, what is this concave and convex mirror?"

Dongfang Su asked.

"Glass, with completely transparent glass, to make a concave-convex mirror."

Chu Tianxiu said.

"Glass?"

"If it's completely transparent, isn't it invisible? If you can't see it, how can you know that it exists? ”

Zhong Jinshi looked dazed.

It's impossible to imagine what something you've never heard of or seen before.

"Uh, glass... It's also called glass! The more transparent, the better... As transparent as ice cubes on a winter day. ”

Chu Tianxiu thought for a moment.

The ancient name of glass is not the same as that of modern times.

In ancient times, it was called colored glass.

China has had glazed glass since the Western Zhou Dynasty, but it is usually glazed tiles made of ceramics, which are brilliant in color and completely opaque.

The West also invented "glass", but it is more transparent glass.

They are all called glass, but they are actually two kinds of things.

The Great Chu Dynasty has not yet mastered the technique of glass blowing.

"Transparent glass? Students have heard of this. ”

Sang Hongyang's eyes lit up, "The students are doing business in Luoyang, and there is a down-and-out merchant who claims to be from the Western Regions, and he has arrived in Luoyang through the dangerous Hexi Corridor where horse bandits and Huns are rampant.

This man claimed to be a small caravan, and was sacked by horse bandits on the road, and only came to escape with two or three treasures, and was shipwrecked in Luoyang City.

The student had always been fond of making friends, and he became acquainted with this merchant from the Western Regions and took him in.

When the students came to Jinling to take the exam, he also followed him to Jinling City.

said that he wanted to find an opportunity to meet the emperor and nobles of Dachu and sell his glass treasures. He boasted that his glazed treasures were different from Da Chu, with a transparent luster, which was rare in the world. ”

Luoyang is also a prosperous northern city with a population of hundreds of thousands, relatively close to the Western Regions.

Merchants from the Western Regions were the first to arrive in Luoyang City.

Because of the war at the end of the Qin Dynasty, Chang'an was not repaired on a large scale, but was more backward.

"Merchant of the Western Regions?"

Chu Tianxiu was surprised.

There were almost no merchants from the Western Regions in the territory of Great Chu, only middlemen - the Huns.

The Xiongnu monopolized the trade routes of the Hexi Corridor, and for a long time, the silk produced in the Great Chu Dynasty could only be sold to the Xiongnu.

The Xiongnu made a difference in the price and sold it to merchants from the Western Regions at a high price.

Merchants from the Western Regions countries, and then resold to merchants of the Kushan Empire and merchants of the Sabbatarian Empire.

For the Great Chu and the Xiongnu, Kushan and Anxi were already far away from the West. They didn't really want to go to a farther place in the knot.

What they didn't expect was that the Kushans and the Sabbatarians were also middlemen, and they actually changed hands again and resold them to the Romans in the Mediterranean, who were even more afield.

When it finally came into the hands of the Romans, silk was more expensive than gold.

So many middlemen make the difference, and the merchants of Dachu have meager profits, and they have always been extremely dissatisfied with this. Great Chu hoped to trade directly with the countries of the Western Regions and save the Huns the intermediate price difference.

In the sixty or seventy years since the founding of the Great Chu Dynasty, because of the threat of the Xiongnu, it has not opened a safe passage to the countries of the Western Regions.

The most recent time the Great Chu sent a large army to fight the Xiongnu was ten years ago, when the army was dispatched and took the opportunity to briefly negotiate with the countries of the Western Regions, but after the Xiongnu recovered, they continued to harass the trade routes.

Without the protection of the army, the caravan in the Western Regions could not survive under the attack of the Huns.

It was definitely luck that a merchant from the Western Regions could arrive in Jinling City alive.

"Bring him to me!"

Chu Tianxiu was a little interested.

He wanted to know about the situation in the Western Regions and trade.

"Yes!"

...

Day.

Sang Hongyang took a merchant from the Western Regions to the Pingwang Mansion and asked to see the Marquis of Xiaodu.

Chu Tianxiu could see at a glance that this was a rather down-and-out white old man, and his clothes were all Western Regions. But where it is, I really can't say.

The countries of the Western Regions, such as the Da Yue Clan, Da Wan, Loulan, Jingjue, Qiuzi, Wusun, and Sai Species, etc., are said to have as many as 36 large and small countries, and some of them are white.

"What nationality are you?"

Chu Tianxiu asked.

"Your Excellency the Marquis, Anthony, a merchant of the Otsuki Clan in the Lower Western Regions, comes from the extremely distant Western Empire. The contemptible man brought a few treasures and wished to see His Majesty the Emperor of your country. ”

The white old man's eyes were full of awe, he had been in the Great Chu Dynasty for some years, and his Central Plains dialect was quite fluent.

Sang Hongyang told him that he would help him introduce a top marquis lord of Great Chu, the popular "Little Dull Marquis" in front of His Majesty the Emperor of Great Chu.

If you can get the attention of Xiao Duhou, then you will have entered the circle of Da Chu Xungui.

This kind of opportunity is very rare.

"Show me your goods!"

Chu Tianxiu said.

Anthony hesitated for a moment and looked at Sang Hongyang. He knew nothing about the Marquis, and if the treasure was robbed, he would be miserable.

There were only two treasures left on him, and if they were gone, it would be completely finished.

"Lord Marquis is my mentor, rich and invincible, I will not deceive you."

Sang Hongyang nodded.

Anthony then carefully took out a glass wrapped in thick hemp paper from his arms.

A blue transparent glass goblet.

Chu Tianxiu was slightly surprised.

Although the texture is not pure enough, the color of the glass is a little cloudy, and the transparency is poor.

But by the standards of the ancients more than 2,000 years ago, this is definitely a rare treasure - because the Great Chu Dynasty did not have it at all, and this is the only one.

At least in the Imperial Palace, the Dull Mansion, there has never been a appearance of such items.

And, apparently, a certain Western country has mastered the technology of making glass.

"Your Excellency, this is the highest luxury item in our country, and it is extremely expensive.

Contemptible people and caravans risked their lives to transport them to the Great Chu Dynasty... It's just that the road was unfortunately robbed by horse bandits, and the caravan goods were all lost, leaving only this unique item, called 'Blue Glass Cup'.

If His Excellency the Marquis likes it, he only needs to give out this silver tael. ”

Anthony looked extremely proud.

He held out a finger.

He didn't say how much, it could be a hundred taels of silver, or a thousand taels of silver. Just wait for the little marquis to open his mouth to say the price.

Chu Tianxiu smiled, he was not interested in this blue glass cup, and he did not make an offer.

This thing, before Da Chu mastered the refining and glass blowing techniques, as the only unique product, was indeed very valuable.

Even for hundreds of years to come, it will be very expensive, more expensive than silk.

Because glass is so easy to break, long-distance transportation is a nightmare for glass, far more difficult to preserve than silk.

However, he knew the technology of refining glass, and he was only interested in this merchant from the Western Regions.

Chu Tianxiu asked with a smile: "The countries of the Western Regions do not have this kind of technology for refining glaze, this is the Roman glaze technology?!" You call yourself 'our country', so you are not a member of the Otsutsuki clan, but a Roman? ”

"Well, Lord Marquis... This is indeed a glass technique from my hometown of Rome! ... But how do you know about Rome? ”

Anthony was taken aback.

The Huns and the countries of the Western Regions he met almost didn't know about the existence of Rome.

There were also two Empires of Sabbation and Kushan Empire in between, and the trade routes were completely isolated by monopolies, and people and information could hardly circulate.

After he crossed the long trade route and arrived at the Great Chu Dynasty, the merchants of Great Chu did not even know about Anxi and Guishan, only the thirty-six small countries in the Western Regions.

Rome?

The devil knows what kind of place it is, a place that has never been heard of.

Later, he learned to be smart, and simply called himself a merchant of the Great Moon Clan in the Western Regions. When the merchants of Da Chu heard this, they at least knew that he was from a certain country in the west.

"Rome was the most distant and powerful empire in the West, far superior to the Huns. Actually, the contemptible is the Roman's.... ”

Anthony is trying to brag about himself in order to raise his value.

"The Roman Empire? It should be called the Roman Republic, right? ”

Chu Tianxiu smiled, "You, a Roman, have passed through the Rest Empire and the Kushan Empire, and then passed through the blockade of the Western Regions and the Xiongnu?" ... Perhaps, you are still a Christian businessman? ”

Christians like to run around the world to preach, and other merchants may not have the courage to cross the Anxi, Kushan, Western Regions, and Hexi corridors to reach the territory of Dachu.

"Huh?"

Anthony was stunned.

How do you know Christ, Lord Marquis?

His expression showed a hint of horror at the mysterious Marquis.

Then the Marquis must have known that the consuls of the Roman Republic did not like Christ and were vigorously suppressing and persecuting Christians.

He was persecuted for his faith in Christ and was forced to flee the city of Rome with some of his possessions. He traveled all the way through Anxi and Kushan, wanting to travel to the legendary Great Chu Dynasty, which was rich in silk.

This trade route was full of chaos.

Rome was attacking Macedonia, horse bandits were rampant in the Western Regions, and the Xiongnu were at war with the Great Chu Dynasty.

It was a miracle that he was able to make it to Da Chu alive.

The people of Great Chu were almost unaware of the existence of the Roman Republic.

However, the Marquis not only knew about the Roman Republic, but also about Christ?!

This made him no longer have the courage to brag about himself and raise his value.