The steamship runs fast, not to throw off the large army, but to explore the sea conditions for the large army behind, the water steamer produced in Datang is naturally not afraid of the wind and waves of the Black Sea, but the local sailboat is different, even if they run shipping on the Black Sea, they often capsize, because their shipbuilding technology is too backward.

Therefore, the Byzantine Empire, which included the most technologically advanced technology in this era, did not have the nautical level to explore and discover the New World.

In five days, the fleet finally crossed the Black Sea and, after concentrating its formation, began to dock at the docks off the coast of Constantinople.

Perhaps stimulated by the Tang Dynasty, after Heraclius came back, he still put some effort into infrastructure construction, although their efficiency is not high, with ten times the cost, they can only make half of the effect of the Tang Dynasty, but the capital Constantinople, after several years of transformation, is much better than the rest of this region, at least, this wharf is quite atmospheric, at least one-third the size of Weinan Wharf, and the largest Guangzhou Bay harbor Wharf in Datang, that is naturally not comparable.

"Ambassador Sun, it's great to see you in my home country."

On the pier, Heraclius, dressed in the purple robes of the Byzantine emperor, wore a solid gold crown inlaid with gems on his head, and held a scepter in his hand, which was also inlaid with gems, and opened his arms to Sun Xiangfu as he stepped down from the gangplank.

I don't know why, seeing Heraclius's shape, Sun Xiangfu suddenly thought of the diamonds in his basement, plus the collection in the past few years, there should be at least ten tons! If a similar crown and scepter were built for Li Shimin, and the cut and polished diamonds were set on them, telling everyone that diamonds are eternal, just like the authority of the emperor, then the value of these diamonds may be incalculable.

"Your Majesty Heraclius, your Chinese level has improved a lot, and it seems that our future communication will be even more unhindered."

The representatives of both sides did not bend down or touch each other's chests to salute, but after a warm hug from Heraclius and Sun Xiangfu, they followed them and looked at the carpet laid behind the pier.

On both sides of the carpet are the top powerful ministers of the Byzantine Empire, and at the end of the carpet is a ball-bearing carriage purchased from the Tang Dynasty, the trunk is open-topped, surrounded by flowers, and eight tall white horses pull the cart in front of the cart.

In front of the red carpet, the Empress Heraclius and his sons and daughters stood in Chinese, and after introducing Sun Xiangfu in Chinese, Sun Xiangfu was able to see the atmosphere of the Byzantine Empire during this period.

It's the middle of summer in July, and the queen, who represents the top status of Byzantine women, dresses in public with a purple robe that exposes half of her breasts.

Moreover, their long skirts are bowed down, and they do not sew the slats, but more like a piece of silk cloth dyed purple and wrap a purple ribbon around the body, and when they walk, the slats will be separated, and standing next to her, you can basically see the base of her thighs.

Fortunately, they introduced bras and panties in Datang, otherwise, maybe a gust of wind blows, some of her organs will be exposed, they are deeply influenced by Greek culture, when the weather is hot, they will just use a piece of cloth to cover their bodies at will, there are some women from ordinary families, and even ** body, no wonder those Byzantine prostitutes who go to Datang to do skin and meat business, naked on the street, do not feel ashamed at all.

However, they can implement monogamy in such an open atmosphere, which makes Sun Xiangfu admire.

And what's even more interesting is that on their side, women and spouses, also have the right to inheritance, including the throne, or some family property and power, which is almost comparable to that of later generations.

Another thing that surprised Sun Xiangfu was that the high-level magnates of the Byzantine Empire now knew some Chinese, at least, there was no problem at all when they simply greeted each other.

It seems that the frequent exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and the Byzantine Empire in commerce and trade in recent years have played a role, and under the operation of Qu Tuquan, the secret guard, those students who have returned from studying in the Tang Dynasty have been walking very smoothly on the political road of the Byzantine Empire, and those in high positions have abounded.

"I heard that your Datang began to manufacture a steam car in batches last year, just like a steam ship, it only needs oil to keep driving on the road, but unfortunately, we don't have such a car in Byzantium, and I ask Ambassador Sun to give in, ride our float, and accept the warm welcome of all the people of Constantinople." After introducing the country's important people, Heracle pointed to the flower-strewn carriageway.

And Sun Xiangfu's eyes not only saw the carriage, but also saw the people who were arranged by Heraclius on both sides of the road, surrounded by three or four layers, these people, all the way from the dock to the city gate, under the scorching sun, their fair skin was already a little red.

"Thank you very much for Your Majesty Heraclius, and the people of the Byzantine Empire for welcoming us, this time, on behalf of His Majesty the Tang Emperor, I also brought some gifts to the people of Byzantium, and please stay with me for a while, the people of our mission need to unload the gifts brought over and distribute them to the people."

Sun Xiangfu said, and waved his hand to the people on both sides of the road, at this time, Heraclius saw the Tang army guards who came ashore, they were in a group of several people, quickly assembled the board cars unloaded from the ship, and at the same time, some baskets containing colorful paper were also unloaded from the sail cargo ship, and these colored papers were wrapped in candy that exuded the fragrance of fruit.

One car, two cars, three cars, until Heraclius couldn't count how many cars there were, Xue Li ran over to report to Sun Xiangfu, almost enough, Heraclius reacted, Sun Xiangfu was going to send candy to all the people who came to welcome them.

You must know that these candies produced in the Tang Dynasty and can be sweet to people's hearts are more expensive in Byzantium than in the Tubo Plateau, and two catties can be sold for a consistent price, because transporting these things here is several times farther than transporting them to the Tubo Plateau.

But Sun Xiangfu is now going to send it to everyone, you know, this is hundreds of thousands of people, even if it is one per person, it will cost more than 10,000 catties.

And Sun Xiangfu would do such a stingy thing, only giving the people a piece of candy?

Of course not, he represents the face of Datang.

Therefore, after the floats began to move, the guards dispatched a thousand people, in teams of two, pulling 500 freshly assembled carts, and began to distribute candy to the people.

There were more than 10,000 people in the mission, and the rest of the people also helped, in groups of more than ten or twenty people, around a sugar cart, handful of candy to the Byzantine people on both sides of the road, as long as it was the people who could reach out to the envoy team, regardless of men, women and children, they could get a large handful of candy.

Don't look at these cars as assembled board cars, but one car can also pull nearly 1,000 catties, 500 carts, nearly 500,000 catties, each person sends two handfuls of candy, only about half a catty, 500,000 catties, send hundreds of thousands of people, can't be sent at all.

On the ship, this time Sun Xiangfu brought 20,000 stone candy, which was more than 2 million catties, enough for him to send special orders in various public occasions in Byzantium.

"That's, I'm so embarrassed."

Seeing that the queue had dispersed and crowded forward because of the candy, Hirac said a little embarrassed.

is also a big empire, the wealth of the Tang Dynasty even makes him feel inferior, but he doesn't know that after the land of Anxi Thirty-six Prefectures was taken over by the Tang Dynasty, many orchards have long been developed, and these candies are made on the spot, and they arrive in Constantinople quickly by ship, but the cost is not as high as before, and the money can always buy at least five or six catties.

And these people who stretched out their hands to the mission and ate the candy will definitely plant a really good seed in their hearts, which is much greater than spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for Datang.

Sun Xiangfu smiled and waved to the people on both sides of the road, and then took over the words, "There is nothing to be embarrassed about, the will of His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty has always been to make the people of the world live a better life, whether they join or do not join our Datang, it is the same."

That's why I was sent to help you develop the agricultural planting industry, hoping that the people in your country can also have endless food and candy to live a better life. ”

Speaking of this, even people like Heraclius, who have long been wary of Datang, have nothing to say, Datang does what they say, to the people of each annexed kingdom, distribute land and housing industries, and do public infrastructure, so that the local people can quickly live a good life.

The people in those newly incorporated areas only need to obey the arrangements of the government, and their lives will get better and better, and when this situation becomes a common cognition of everyone, those people who originally belonged to various countries will take the initiative and consciously cooperate with the arrangements of the Tang government, which makes the government's work of reassuring the people smoother and forms a virtuous circle.

Moreover, these things are something that Heracle can't imitate, because they don't have science and technology, they don't have capable talents in all aspects, and all departments of the Tang Dynasty government have quite complete and professional officials.

For example, the official in charge of engineering, who must have graduated from an engineering college, knows how to do most projects, and knows how to lead the people to do the work beautifully and easily.

The officials in charge of agriculture came from the agricultural colleges, and they only needed to survey the land under their control to know what crops would be planted with high yields, and which land was suitable for planting and which was not suitable for planting.

And after they report these statistics to the county ordinance, or the state assassin history, they will soon be included in the overall planning of the establishment of cities and villages, and when the cities and villages are finally built on these good and easy to produce land, the agricultural output and agricultural efficiency of the whole region will be much higher.

In addition, for the various crops after the output, at what price, sell to merchants, or organize them, process them into commodities and sell them to the outside world, the government has a complete set of plans, these capable and skilled officials, just like the parents of the people, lead the people, and do things for their welfare, so that these people who can't do anything seem to be able to do anything all of a sudden, then, by comparison, the whole gap, the sea.

There is no comparison between a country that is constantly making progress in a virtuous circle and a country that is constantly falling in a vicious circle, so Heraclius can only watch Sun Xiangfu buy people's hearts with small favors in his country, and the real purpose of Sun Xiangfu's visit to Byzantium is not to give small favors, but to give real benefits to the people of the Byzantine Empire.