As the sun sets, the afterglow of the setting sun sweeps down the long harbor like a bull's horn, and the sea is full of sparkling waves like gold. When the ship docked on the dock of the Golden Horn, Sima Junfang sighed: "Such a majestic city, it is really ashamed of the ancestors to borrow troops to defend it." Huang Zongdao said with a smile: "With the waning days of the Western Mountains, with the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, it is inevitable to borrow troops from the Uighurs." ”

Nidu, the minister of the Lumei Kingdom, had long been waiting for the Chengying camp in the port. He pulled an officer and asked, "May I ask which one is General Duan?" He spoke with a Macedonian accent, and spoke quickly and slurredly because he was in a hurry. Zhao Xingde lowered his head and tied his bag back to the saddle, pointed at Duan Huaixian, Nidu thanked him, and walked over with two entourages.

Behind Nidu was a middle-aged man dressed in Chinese clothes, with a slight surprise on his face, and he stepped forward and arched his hand: "This official Chen Xizhai, dare to ask who the honorable driver is?" "Chen Xizhai is the envoy of the Xia State to Lumei, and the officers know about it. Zhao Xingde hurriedly returned the salute and said: "The last general, Zhao De, is the son of the centurion of the Ying Army. Chen Xizhai heard his name, his face changed slightly, and he said with a smile: "It turned out to be Zhao Dutou, I have heard of the name for a long time, it will be a long time to come, let's meet again another day." "Although there is no strict correspondence between the official position and the military position of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Chen Xizhai is so unscrupulous, it can be regarded as an intentional handover. Zhao Xingde didn't know why, so he hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Don't dare to be, and ask Chen Guoenvoy for more advice." Chen Xizhai smiled slightly, arched his hand at him again, and then walked over to Duan Huaixian.

In the letter sent to Lumei by the Xia State in the early stage, it was required that the Chengying Battalion was the imperial guard of the Xia State, and was only responsible for the defense of Lumei City itself, and should not be sent out alone unless the Emperor of Lumei State personally conquered it. Therefore, the 7th Battalion of Chengying was placed in the Praetorian Guard barracks next to the Holy Palace. The Chengying Battalion itself has a military salary in the General's Mansion, and the Lumei Kingdom will also pay the military salary according to the standard of the Rus Guard.

Nidu also explained to Duan Huaixian that if it weren't for the fear of the Rus' dissatisfaction, Emperor Alexei would have planned to give him a more generous military salary. The mercenaries of the empire included Rus, Macedonians, Thracians, Manichaetes, Turks, Franks, Thessalians, and Varyags, and the Xia army was so small that it only represented the alliance between Xia and Lumei. Lu Mei has always wanted to push the Xia Kingdom to join him in attacking the Romani Turkic State that occupies Asia Minor.

"If you receive a double salary, it will be your own." Zhao Xingde said with a smile, Du Fujiao has asked about this countless times, and every time he gets a positive answer, he will smile. The sergeants hurriedly moved the baggage off the ship and put it on the carriage hired by the envoy Chen Xizhai, who was also going to hire some porters on the dock, but Duan Huaixian gave up because he was worried that the baggage would be placed in a mess.

Nidu frowned and watched the Chengying Battalion carry it by himself, and said after considering his words: "General Duan, since your army is the emperor's guard, there is no need to do this kind of heavy work yourself. Duan Huaixian was stunned for a moment, and Chen Xizhai explained with a smile on the side: "There are many idlers in Lumei City, and the Praetorian Guards are well paid, and they often hire retinues to help with some chores. ”

"Oh, I see." Duan Huaixian said in a deep voice, "Our sergeants also have many followers in the Xia Kingdom, but the Lumei Kingdom is far away and has never followed. "In fact, the shade of the Xia Kingdom is completely different from Lu Mei's entourage, he thinks that he is neither humble nor arrogant, and he cannot weaken the momentum of his own sergeants and make people look down on him.

After moving into the barracks, when Duan Huaixian announced that the sergeants should hire their followers as soon as possible, everyone was surprised and did not have too many objections. In Minghongdu, only Du Fujiao privately approached Zhao Xingde, wanting to save the money he hired, Zhao Xingde persuaded him not to violate the military order, lest Captain Duan's face look unpleasant. Du Fujiao was distressed for a long time, and on the third day, he found a skinny little boy named Ralxiu from the street and used him as a follower.

Zhao Xingde wandered around, just on the edge of the Bull Square, he was entangled by a young man named Theodore, he enthusiastically pulled Zhao Xingde to recommend himself: "Strangers from afar, hire me, the dignitaries of the Holy Palace, there is no one I don't know, there is no one in the streets and alleys of Xinlumei that I am not familiar with." ”

Zhao Xingde asked, "But I listen to your accent, it's not from this place?" You're a new resident, right? He pointed to the Bull Square, where the citizens of Lumei sat or lay beneath the beautiful marble and bronze sculptures. The Place de la Bull is located on the Magnificent Avenue that runs through the Arc de Triomphe, and on both sides of the avenue, the garden verandahs are lined with beautiful statues, and the houses of the nobility are all beautiful and lush with flowers and plants. The pleasures of the body and spirit that people in this world can imagine are all available in Lumei City. Men and women dressed in and out of the beautiful mansion, playing love intrigue and power games in the fragrance of clothes and sideburns, melodious music. And this group of idle citizens gathered in Bull Square are like walking corpses living in the shadow of the glorious Lumei City. It's just that the old Lumei man has a kind of pride, narrow-mindedness and scoundrel laziness in his bones, and this Theodore has more of a local flavor.

Theodore was a little embarrassed and said, "I did move in from outside the city. At this time, suddenly another carriage drove along the avenue, he didn't care about talking to Zhao Xingde, and ran desperately towards the carriage, and the other citizens of Lumei Country who were scattered around the Bull Square also stood up, rushed towards the carriage, and some raised their hands high, as if begging for something.

Zhao Xingde was puzzled, and the Lumei official next to the carriage lifted the coarse cloth covering the back of the carriage, picked up pieces of black things, didn't look at them, and kept throwing them out. "Give it to me!" "Give it to me!" These citizens with outstretched hands began to scramble with no regard for decency, but they kept the rules, and only grabbed the two or three officials who threw them out, and no one took the bread in the carriage. In a short time, the cart of bread was also at the bottom, and Theodore returned empty-handed.

"You have to give out bread every day, it depends on whether you can grab it or not." Theodore said that he couldn't help but feel a little ashamed in front of the strangers, so he changed the topic and said: "The lord is a native of the Great Xia in the East, I admire you the most, although those Venetian merchants are rich, but in Lumei City, there are still Venetian beggars wandering, and it doesn't matter if they starve to death, only the merchants of Xia Kingdom have gathered money to help those compatriots in distress return to their homeland." ”

Zhao Xingde was stunned for a moment, and said with a faint smile: "This is the old system of the Spring and Autumn Period in my country, the people of Lu have been sold as slaves in foreign countries, and the compatriots help him redeem himself and return to China, and the court will pay the money for the redemption." This is what Chen Kangna told him when he was in Bianjing, recalling the past, he couldn't help but sigh, and secretly had a sense of pride and belonging to Xia Guo in his heart.

"Spring and autumn times?" Theodore was a little confused by Zhao Xingde's blunt translation, Zhao Xingde smiled dumbly, and explained: "It's probably earlier than the era of the Lumei Republic. "The country of Lumei called by the people of Xia is what later generations called Rome, and this Lumei City is the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known as Constantinople, and was later occupied by the Turks and renamed Istanbul. The Spring and Autumn Period in our country happened to be slightly earlier than the end of the Roman monarchy and the establishment of a republic.

"I see," said Theodore, "that the ancient Greek era is almost over, no wonder, no wonder. The Lumei people have always regarded the Franks in the West and the Turks in the East as barbarians, believing that the more ancient the country, the more civilized it is. After Theodore finished speaking, he looked at Zhao Xingde with a blank eye, as if he didn't hire him as an entourage, and he would lose the face of the ancient country of the East.

Zhao Xingde asked, "Since you didn't live here before, why did you move into the city?" He saw that Theodor was diligent and talkative, and that he was not like a lazy man who came to the city to wander. At this time, he also moved to take him in, so he interrogated the roots.

Theodore's eyes darkened slightly, and he explained that because of the increasing taxes and miscellaneous taxes of the Lumei Kingdom, most of the peasants who cultivated the land outside the city could not make ends meet, and either depended on the big nobles and military officers as tenants, or ran to the city like him, and ate a full meal. When he was in his hometown, he originally had a bit of jewelry craft, but the guild in Lumei City had strict rules, and he was not a craftsman in the guild, so he couldn't get a job, so he had to live on the streets.