The state of the Han Empire is really frightening.

From the point of view of crooked nuts, they feel that the Han Empire seems to be a country that will suffer from depression for a year of armistice, and if it does not fight, it does not know what to do at all, and it seems that it is always looking for a target to start a war.

"In any country, if it has just driven out and destroyed its enemies, isn't the most important thing to do is to cultivate and recuperate?" Ksiaias continued with his wry smile: "As far as I know, the Han people didn't do that. They are fighting at least one big war every year, from before the restoration to after the restoration of the country. ”

Julian knew the same thing, and he had great admiration for it.

For thousands of years, the Romans fought small wars on a daily basis on one of the frontiers of their territory, and every five years a large-scale military campaign was inevitably carried out.

They believed that if a country wanted to be strong, it should conquer the country endlessly, and if it waited for the day when Rome stopped going to war with foreign countries, that day would also be the time when Rome would be weakened.

Conquest was a process of plundering, grabbing enough people as slaves to free more Romans to join a new round of conquest. In addition to the population, every further extrapolation was the acquisition of resources, and the more places to explore, meant that the Romans had more resources at their disposal.

The rise and growth of Rome was based on the continuous conquest of foreign countries, and they obtained an exaggerated number of slaves, and used those slaves as various laborers, so that the ordinary Romans did not need to participate in labor, and the official daily food was distributed.

The constant plundering of foreign countries not only made Rome stronger, but also made Rome the most powerful country in the known world for a period of time, and Western Asia was a worthy opponent in a war.

"So the Han people are strong, they continue to conquer their enemies, they have gained population, wealth, resources, and they will continue to be strong." Julian didn't mind revealing a point: "We are consolidating the sea frontier, and we have already looked for a target for war. ”

"Britain, or Central Europa?" That's all Ksias could guess. He said firmly, "You will fight Britain first." ”

The Romans once fought across the Channel and occupied most of the British island, but with the chaos of Rome itself and the challenges in the remaining directions, and then the barbarians above Britain resisted resolutely, the Romans gradually paid less attention to Britain.

The situation was somewhat peculiar, as the Romans attached more importance to the sea than ever before, and they desperately needed to accumulate enough seafaring experience.

Not a sailing experience in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Sea is actually an inland sea, and the sea conditions are not at all the same as the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.

Of course, there are waves and ocean storms in the Mediterranean, but to be honest, the waves in the Mediterranean are nothing compared to the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, let alone the level of ocean storms.

Although the Romans ruled the Mediterranean, they could not control the weather, and even storms of the Mediterranean Sea had destroyed their fleets more than once, and the Romans had to be frightened by the harsh sea conditions in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

"We have already purchased eighty-seven ships from the Han Empire." Julian knew that he couldn't hide any of this, mainly because the Han Empire didn't mention the need for the Romans to keep it secret: "Once they return to Europa, after the necessary maintenance, we will put them into the campaign against Britain." ”

For a long time, because the Romans have been the most formidable and dangerous opponents of the Persians, the Persians have spied on Rome, and even if they cannot do a good job of terrain, they will have a basic understanding.

"Do you want to use the ships you bought in the North Sea?" Seeing that Julian did not refute the North Sea, the North Sea that Quesias called was the name of the Romans, he continued: "Do you want to follow the example of the Han Empire's raid on the Gupta Empire, and choose to launch a landing operation from the waist of the British islands?" ”

"It's really good to be guessed!" Julian really didn't think there was any surprise in being guessed: "The North Sea and the strait, landing on both sides. ”

The central part of Britain is a relatively narrow terrain, or the whole island of Britain is an irregular long shape, except for a little bit of open terrain in the south.

"We will use a pincer offensive, and after landing in both directions, we will connect with each other from the land to meet the divisions." Julian was sure that the Persians knew the general situation of Britain, and since he had guessed how he would fight, there was no need to hide the rest: "The Saxons, the Celts, the Angles, and the Picts, they are not very friendly with each other, but they will always unite as soon as we march." ”

The Celts were now the most powerful of the Celts, occupying all the western part of the southern part of the island.

The Saxons, as well as the Anglos, were allies, one occupying the southeastern part of the southern part of the British Isle, and the other occupying the northeastern part of the southern part of the British Isles.

When the Romans did not have any military campaigns, the Saxons and the Anglos fought together against the Celts.

However, as soon as the Romans made any military moves, the Saxons and Angles would immediately make a truce with the Celts against the Romans.

The Picts were a confederation of tribes entrenched in the northernmost part of the British Isles, and were willing to stay in their own territory for many years, and were neutral to the Kettels, Saxons, and Angles.

However, the neutrality of the Picts was limited to civil wars within the British Isles, and as soon as the Romans showed the slightest sign of moving north, they would send warriors south, usually in conjunction with the Celts against the Romans.

"If it's just a simple military training...... "What Chuias knew was that Rome was very poor now, he asked suspiciously, "Can the nobles of your country agree?" ”

"We've found a super big iron ore mine over there." What Julian didn't say was that he didn't know who came out first, and it was later confirmed that what he said was true: "There are also a lot of associated silver reserves." ”

Iron ore? Or oversized? For a while, Ksiaias was a little extremely Roman.

At present, the world island, except for some extremely uncivilized peoples, as long as it is a formed country, even if it has not mastered mature smelting technology, it has basically entered the era of contact with iron tools.

Since it is the Iron Age, the value of iron ore is needless to say.

For some countries, especially regional powers and hegemon-level empires, the more iron ore the merrier, and no country will be too little.

At present, the Romans said that they were super-large, and the reserves would not be less than 20 million tons.

Of course, the Persians had their own mineral resources, but when they heard that the Romans had discovered a new iron ore with reserves of at least 20 million tons, they were still extremely mad. They use so much iron ore, but basically it is large, medium, and small type, and there are really no super-large iron ores.

"I don't know why, the Han people have a great interest in collecting silver, and they seem to be more obsessed with it than gold." Julian did not say what the silver reserves were in Britain, but he guessed: "It seems that there are not many gold and silver mines in the territory of the Han Empire, and the value of silver before was higher than that of gold, but it has only changed in the past ten years." ”

It is true that there are not many gold and silver mines in the land of Zhuxia, especially the number of silver mines is even less, and most of the gold mines are concentrated in the south and southwest.

Perhaps it should be said that there are some minerals in the land of Zhuxia except for coal mines, but in terms of the size of the land and the amount of reserves, the number is really not much.

Whether it was before or after, in fact, the land of Zhuxia is a situation where there is an extreme shortage of precious metals, that is, with the continuous development of science and technology, more and more elements are discovered, and the types of applications for elements have also increased, such as rare earths and manganese that have not been discovered...... and so on to produce the value it deserves.

Xeias understood that the Romans felt that the Han people liked silver, and at the same time, the Romans did not want too much gold to flow to the Han Empire, and the Romans did not attach so much importance to silver, and they would definitely not choose to use gold to trade with the Han people if they could use silver.

The Persians actually discovered that the Han people were more fond of silver, and fortunately Persia had a large amount of silver, and when trading with the Han people, they also preferred to pay with silver.

Do Han Chinese really like silver more than gold? In a way, neither the Romans nor the Persians were wrong.

For a long time, it may be said that it was necessary to trade with the outside world in the Ariake generation, and constantly obtain silver from the trade of the Wa Kingdom and Europa, otherwise there was actually much more gold on the land of Zhuxia than silver before.

If, before the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, someone had traded in preference to silver over gold or copper coins, he would have been taken for a fool. Or maybe the person has just crossed and doesn't know the market yet.

On the premise that scarcity is precious, the Han people possess a scarce amount of silver, and although the value of silver in the known world is much lower than that of gold, the Han people really prefer silver.

"Now it's basically the Han people who have the final say." Julian is referring to the definition of the value of precious metals: "They like silver, but they still have a 10-to-1 ratio of gold to silver." Seeing that they are more willing to collect silver, is there a shortage of silver somewhere? ”

The Persians made similar guesses, but they couldn't figure out where they needed a lot of silver.

"Could it have something to do with the fact that they invented those things?" Julian prefers to speculate from this aspect: "For example, silver was used in the processing of gunpowder, artillery and muskets? ”

"That's what we guessed." Ksiaias patted the snow on his shoulder and said with less certainty: "It's very likely, but it can't be confirmed." ”

What kind of brain hole is this? Even if silver is used in industry, at the current level of technology, it is only in some anti-rust plating. It is necessary to wait for the era of electricity to enter the era of silver, and the use of silver for industry will soar, after all, silver is an indispensable raw material for electroplating.

"Absolutely." Julian said with great certainty: "Their Japanese archipelago provinces have a steady stream of silver to the mainland, but silver is still preferred for foreign trade. There must be a big use for such a thing to happen, otherwise it can't be explained. ”

At this moment, both of them had an idea, should they make a proposal to the country and start making relevant reserves of silver, so that they can use it in the future?

There were snowflakes in the sky, and the earth was snow-white at a glance, and if the sun was enough to keep staring at it with wide eyes.

In fact, whether it was Julian, Xsiaias, or the rest, they chose to wear a thin blindfold, preferring to look through the blindfold rather than take it off.

People are like that, and so are some livestock such as war horses, otherwise one day they suddenly go blind and they will bring themselves on themselves.

They were already in the territory of Xigaoche, but they were not too deep, they only entered more than sixty miles, and they didn't even meet a tribe along the way.

"His Highness is over there."

Julian reminded that he was already approaching.

Ksiaias didn't want to fall behind at all, and he also slapped his horse and leaned in.

In the icy and snowy environment, Liu Shen wrapped himself tightly, and the whole person didn't even show his eyes directly in the air, and he didn't know how Julian saw him.

The three of them have been in contact many times, from just greeting before, to chatting a few words later, and now they are able to ride horses together. They may not be friends, but they can get together and chat.

"Is Your Highness patrolling again today?" Julian didn't care that he was blocked by the Han knight when he came over, and even felt happy that he was not taken away this time: "Ding Ling is too good at hiding, I don't know where to hide." ”

In the past, Julian and Xeias and other groups were disarmed whenever they came within ten meters of Liu Shen.

It's not that everyone who approaches Liu Shen will be disarmed, it's just crooked nuts.

"Our scouts explored the surrounding area for fifty miles, but they didn't find a single herder." Liu Shen's mouth and nose were wrapped in cloth, and he spoke in a somewhat sullen voice: "This is not a good phenomenon. ”

"yes!" Julian, of course, agrees with Liu Shen's statement: "You can't eliminate Ding Ling without discovering them." ”

In fact, the season has entered the second half of spring, but there is no sign of ice and snow melting in this area, for which the Han army is still slightly confused, although it has been expected.

It's not that I'm confused why I came, it's that I'm confused that one day this land will become part of the territory of the Han Empire, and what is the use of this place.

According to the modern regional division, their current location should be at the junction of Central Siberia and Western Siberia.

The terrain of this place is extremely flat, and it is difficult to find a mountain, and they are now facing a cloud of snow and ice, and if they wait for the ice and snow to melt, they will face even worse conditions.

"I've heard that when the snow melts away, there will be swamps one after another." Liu Shen said bitterly: "As soon as the ice and snow show signs of melting, we should withdraw our troops." ”