Antioch, where the territory of present-day Eastern Roman Empire Syria was located.

Five days after leaving the city-state of Belroea, a vast plain and fertile plain unfolded before our eyes.

If it weren't for the endless flow of camels and horses on the galloping road, and the foreign pedestrians with blond hair and blue eyes and round-necked burqas, I would have had the illusion of coming to the south of Middle-earth.

Continue westward along the Assi River, and stand on a high place and see the vast and blue sea in the middle of the earth, and this gray-yellow ancient city intersects with the estuary and the ocean.

The city walls, castles, official residences, churches, houses, and horse paths into the city are all made of long strips of dark stones mined from the surrounding mountains, which are brilliant and atmospheric.

In the area of the port known as the Seleucian Gulf, hundreds of sea-going ships anchored on the shore, white sails against the wind, waves swept by golden sand, and coconut groves like ink.

The handyman who carries the goods is like a moving ant colony, shuttling back and forth between the warehouse on the shore and the sea vessel.

The ancient castles in the mountains and forests and fields in the distance are lined up one after another, and their scale and grandeur are no less than the manors of the scholars in the south of the Yangtze River in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

No wonder when we were in Beloea, the innkeeper told us that we didn't need to go to Rome when we arrived in Antioch.

The four prosperous and wealthy places in the Eastern and Western Empires of Rome today are the city of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and the new capital of Constantinople.

Antiochus was the chief of the four major Christian churches in Eastern Rome, similar to the city of Herat, the holy site of the Zoroastrian sect in Persia.

As for the origin of this city-state of Antioch, the shopkeeper, as an authentic Roman, also told us about it like a treasure.

After the untimely death of Alexander the Great, the ruler of the Roman Empire 500 years ago, the generals who conquered the Persian and Egyptian states in the East also established themselves as kings in their respective provinces.

One of the generals, Seleucid, founded the Seleucid Empire in the province of Syria under his control, and named his capital Antioch after his father.

500 years ago, the Eastern Middle Earth was the beginning of the Qin Dynasty's eastern Hangu and the Six Kingdoms competing for the world and unifying the Liuhe.

The general trend of the world will be divided for a long time, and it will be divided for a long time.

At the same time, the Roman Empire was divided by division, while the Eastern Han Kingdom was divided and united.

The way of heaven and earth is one yin and one yang, and the way of civil and military affairs is one relaxation, which is called Tai Chi.

Nowadays, the eastern and northern Han kingdoms are divided and there are many countries, but this western land is relatively stable and peaceful, and there are no great changes in the world.

From this point of view, the land of this thing is the yin and yang of Taiji.

The day when the world of the Eastern Turks and the Han Kingdom will be unified and the country and the people will be safe, may be the beginning of the chaos in the Persian and Roman countries.

This may be the way of heaven, and I dare not speculate.

As our caravan of horses followed the caravan of merchants of the nations into the city's widest, flat avenue, a hundred and ten Roman soldiers in armor rode their horses galloping all the way.

"Get out of the way! The Shogun is back in triumph! The class teacher is back in the city! ”

With the shouts of the sergeants, the men, women, and children of the city gathered from all sides of the city, and gathered on both sides of the road like a grand festival, welcoming their soldiers and horses back from foreign plunder.

As usual, the general's personal soldiers and horses were at the head, followed by the Chinese army, and the baggage horses at the end were loaded with the spoils of this expedition.

Dozens of wagons of gold and jewelry, rare birds and animals, dried meat, grain and grass, and the most striking thing was two rows of ragged prisoners of war, all young and strong men of different races and young girls of good looks, as many as two or three hundred.

Judging by the color of the captives' skin, they were not much different from the natives.

Therefore, this kind of conquest is not much different from the bandit and thief who occupies the mountain, and it is just a competition between different city-states within the empire.

The winner is the king, and the loser is the villain, just like our king of Khotan did when he attacked the surrounding small countries.

After taking the Ronglu Kingdom into the pocket, the net worth and wealth of the princes and nobles of the original Ronglu Kingdom will become the spoils of these foreign soldiers.

Even the young princess of Ronglu, Glando, was sold as a slave in the Khotanese royal city.

It wasn't until Mrs. Khotan, my mother, took a fancy to her and paid a huge amount of money to buy her as a righteous daughter, that our three Yi brothers had the current little sister named "Gulando".

From this point of view, there is never anything new in this world!

Looking at these prisoners of war, Qin Chong and Liu Zhen'er, the three Oriental Han Chinese, and I couldn't help but feel a little frightened, and hurriedly beat our horses and left the crowd of onlookers.

If these wild Roman soldiers had seen a few of us faces from the East, and on a whim had taken us and used them as slaves for sale in the market, it would have been over.

A group of seven people found an inn in the middle of the street.

"Young master, what are the arrangements for tonight? Do you want to find a wine shop, brothers, have a good time! ”

Qin Chong and Liu Zhen'er, who had not yet enjoyed playing with the beauties of Rome in Beloea, had just set up their horses and saluted, and they came to me to put forward their thoughts.

Now I am also a rich man, and I have more than 10,000 Roman gold coins with me, and the weight of a whole large leather bag has invisibly brought me a lot of pressure.

At the same time, I can lead them to any place of entertainment in the city if I wish.

And a year ago in Chang'an or Jiankang City, if I could have been as generous as I am today, I would really do it.

"Qin Chong, pot helmet! Do you know that the two parts of the city-state of Antioch are in need of the most people right now? ”

Without waiting for me to answer, Grundot smiled evilly.

"What do you mean, Miss? How do we know when we first arrive? Besides, do you need manpower or not, what do you have to do with me? Liu Zhen'er scratched her head puzzled and asked.

"As far as I know, there are only two places where there is the greatest shortage of manpower. One is the Theological Seminary of Antioch, where the Christian denomination will flourish in our East in the future, and there is no shortage of priests and priests like you! If you two Oriental teenagers could be arrested and locked up in the bunker of the seminary and studied the entire Old Testament and New Testament for ten or eight years! Isn't it a good thing to send you out to the East to be messengers for the spread of the gospel of Christ? ”

At this, the naughty Gurandot laughed to himself.

"Whoever dares to bind me must first ask me if the three-foot long knife in my hand will agree!" Qin Chong played with the Persian long knife in his hand and smiled coldly.

These brothers and men under me can be regarded as old rivers and lakes with kung fu.

Although they are not as brave as Wanfu Mo, they are really not under their words to deal with three or five thieves with their bare hands.

"Qin Chong, don't talk too much! Just those Roman soldiers on the street just now, the black pressure pressed a large group over, can you beat others? ”

Gulandot is used to being pampered by her grandmother, and sometimes she is unforgiving.

And Qin Chong, a true hero who was not afraid of tigers and wolves, was completely choked by Gu Landuo and was speechless for a long time.

"Duo'er, what's the other place?" Shamihan broke the cold and asked with a sneer.

"There's another place, and it's a slave market! The generals and lords of the city-state of Antioch gathered, and construction was carried out everywhere inside and outside the city-state. There is a shortage of slave labor, so they will go out to attack and capture some cheap people and goods! Qin Chong, pot helmet! Would you two like to try it? ”

Gurandot is really fierce enough to initiate a ruthless attack, maybe she has long been displeased with the two brothers' style of seeking beauty at every turn, and today is just an outburst.

In this way, it seems that you can't bring your own woman on the road on the long business journey!

"What Miss said is a bit excessive! There were two seminaries in the city-state of Antioch, which were indeed used to train priests and clergy, and were under the control of the Holy See. Most of the students volunteered, and in the future, they would mainly go to other parts of the empire to preach. I really don't know if there are any Gentile students who were coerced as mentioned by Miss, and I don't know where the news of Miss came from? In addition, the Roman kingdoms have always valued commerce and prospered because of commerce! The status of the country's merchants is much higher than that of the Eastern Han Kingdom, and they can be on an equal footing with generals and lords. Hehe! ”

When he was young, the eldest brother of Hesrul often traveled to and from Antioch with Canaanite caravans, and he was also very familiar with the situation in this area, so his words were convincing.

"Forget it tonight, everyone is sleepy, let's rest early! After going to the port tomorrow morning to book a boat to Rome, we will go to relax and relax, I heard that the beach here is good! ”

Seeing that my little sister and Qin Chong were arguing endlessly, I hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed Qin Chong's shoulders and glanced at him, so that he would no longer be entangled with Gu Landuo.

"Yes! In this foreign country, it is better to be careful in everything, and we will walk together wherever we go in the future, and we will take care of each other when we encounter danger! Shamihan also persuaded him.

In fact, Qin Chong and Liu Zhen'er have always regarded Gu Landuo as their own sister-in-law, and now that Sha Mihan and I have come forward to round the scene, the two of them will borrow the slope to get off the donkey, and no longer worry about her and go back to the house to rest.

Every time we teenagers argued, Langton always watched the battle with pleasure and noncommittal.

The big bird Qingluan, who stands on the scaffold, is the most annoying to the dispute between us and its master Gulando, and always has the tendency to attack the protector.

Only this time, the big bird seemed to enjoy watching the excitement, and from time to time it made a human-like "clucking" sound.