New Year's Day, 270 AD, Palmyra, Royal Palace.

"Your Majesty, our scouts have discovered an extremely large caravan in the desert eighty miles south of the royal city. A cursory look reveals that there are close to two hundred camels, all of which are loaded with cargo on their backs. In addition to this, there were about three thousand Semitic horses. ”

Shapur and Hormuz, of course, were not stupid enough to directly inform the ruler of the Palamir, Zanubia, in the form of an official letter from the state, that he had come out to rob it. In fact, the princes and nobles of the Middle East are intertwined with each other. The Persian Empire was within the city of Palamir and, of course, had its own agents. Saying this through an agent from the perspective of considering the interests of the city-state certainly makes the queen more convinced.

And what the agent said was not entirely true: even in the Western Regions, Ctesiphon's caravan was not fully loaded with two hundred camels: Shu brocade, the largest cargo, was given to Shapur in Tessifeng, and most of it was sold at the price of 500 gold coins per horse of Shu brocade. Other bone china, Western Regions specialties and so on have also been emptied a lot...... In fact, the current caravan of Kulshan, even if all the things Shapur had sent him, only had a full load of about forty camels.

However, all this was meant to prevent Li Mi's envoy team from going to Rome. Who cares if there is not enough cargo?

"Oh? Is the message true? Where did such a huge caravan come from? It can't be a diplomatic mission of any country, right? ”

"Well, well, Your Majesty. Probably not. Our men have been following them in the desert for days. It was found that there were Elamites inside. ”

Elam, formerly an ancient civilization, is now a province within the Sassanid Empire. Susa, the summer capital of Sasansan, was in Elam. The prince of Palmyra said that there were Elamites in it, but in fact he wanted to mislead the queen: these were Persian merchants, and they would be killed if they were killed.

It's a pity that the heroine who can replace her deceased husband in such a troubled world is not so easy to fool. Although at this time, Zanubia was short of funds due to the problem of city defense, and was extremely eager for large sums of money. But her mind was still clear.

"Command, trumpet, gather our cavalry."

"Yes, my majesty!"

Palmyra was a city-state, but the city-state was catching up with a good era: the king of Persia was dying, and the decade of crisis in the Roman Empire was not over. Therefore, at this time, Palmyra, no one cares about him at all. It expanded extremely rapidly, accumulating a considerable amount of population and wealth within the city. So, soon after the horn sounded, two thousand camel cavalry were assembled.

Camels are creatures that usually walk slowly, but if they really want to gallop, the speed is also very objective. In less than an hour, this camel cavalry team appeared in front of Li Mi's mission.

Before this team appeared on the horizon, Kurshan and the others, who were familiar with the desert situation, had already warned Li Mi. So, when the cavalry of Zanubia also saw the Li Mi team. The Han army has already completed the formation.

"Warriors from all over the Western Regions, lined up in an infantry formation! Han knights, line up on the right side of the infantry formation! Chamber of Commerce personnel and others, etc., are optimistic about camel teams and horse teams. Come on! Beat out the banner of my big man! ”

Long Yu hoarsely beckoned the soldiers of all ethnic groups to line up. And Li Mi looked at the never-before-seen camel cavalry team in the distance with a heavy face.

"Zihui, this camel is much taller than a horse, if it really starts to fight later, how will it fight?"

"Hmph, how can you fight. It's just a fight to the death! But Uncle Ling, it's really going to be a fight later, so please go first. I won't have the time to take care of you. ”

"I'm not one of those nerds, and of course I know that someone between you and me has to make it back alive. Otherwise, you will live up to the trust of Da Sima. However, in my opinion, this battle may not be able to be fought today. ”

"Huh? Why is that? ”

"Hehehe, because the other party's cavalry has also stopped. Hey, what I'm most afraid of is that the other party will rush up and kill if they don't agree with each other. Now the other party has also stopped, and it seems that they want to talk. Good, as long as you are willing to talk, then there is hope. Lao Ku, get ready, I'm going to go to the other party's side to have a look. ”

Li Mi and Long Yu were discussing on the side, but Zanubia was full of doubts.

Such a large team is completely beyond the reasonable scope of an ordinary caravan. Moreover, this team actually set up a position in an instant, not to mention, and also played so many and such neat flags. There is no doubt that this is not a caravan at all, but the armed forces of a country.

But which country's army is this? This unique form of square flag is different from the pennants commonly found in this land. And what's that pattern on this big flag? Is it text? I don't know at all!

"Be on guard! Archer, raise your bow! ”

The roar of the captain of the guard next to her interrupted Zanubia's thoughts, and when she withdrew her gaze from the distant banner to the distance, she noticed that two horses were galloping towards her position.

"Let our warriors put down their bows and arrows, the other party is just two people, there is no need to be so nervous."

"Li Mi, the Great Han Honglu Temple, greetings to Your Excellency! Here was the Han mission to the Roman Empire. It was agreed to meet with Flavi, commander of the Sixth Roman Legion, here. Dare to ask your Excellency which country is your friend? What do you call it? ”

Although Kurshan has become more proficient in Persian, his translation skills have also become more and more sophisticated. But Li Mi's passage is a bit informative, and it is completely different from the impact of the external image of Persia and the Han family dressed by the Romans here. It still made the other party stunned for a long time before reacting.

"Han~~" After pronouncing this syllable, Zanubia collected his mind and nodded to his head of guard. Then the chief of the guard drove the camel forward slightly: "This is the ruler of Syria, the conqueror of Egypt, the guardian of the city of Palmyra, the queen mother, the queen, the regent of the kingdom of Palmyra, Your Majesty Zanubia. ”

Where did the chieftain come from? So many titles? Isn't it just the princes of a city-state? In my Han, Dingtian is just the level of a county marquis. After complaining secretly in his heart, Li Mi bowed on horseback again: "Big Han Li Mi, I have seen Her Majesty the Queen." ”

"Han~~~ What is the Han Kingdom? Where is it? ”

"My Han is in the far east of your country, with a territory of thousands of miles and hundreds of millions of people. It has a long history and a prosperous civilization! Fifteen thousand miles east of your country is the eastern end of the Persian Empire. From here, 15,000 miles to the east, is Chang'an, the capital of our Han Dynasty. Fifteen thousand miles to the east from Chang'an is another sea. The territory of our Han Dynasty is 15,000 miles west of Chang'an and 15,000 miles east of Chang'an. ”

Fifteen thousand miles, ten thousand miles, five thousand miles...... This kind of thing has no specific concept at all for the monarch of a city-state.

"May I ask the messenger, how far is it from here to Ctesiphon?"

"Hmm...... Less than 800 miles. ”

"I see. For the time being, the king believed the words of the messenger. Could you please dismount the messenger and go back to drink a little something, and tell me about the Orient? ”

"It's a great honor. But before I do that, please let Her Majesty allow me to come back to the team to appease my companions. ”

"Yes, this king will also restrain our people."

After returning to the Han army's array, Li Mi called Long Yu: "I didn't expect the Persians to find their sworn enemy Palmyra to attack us, and I didn't expect Palmyra, the chieftain, to be a woman." I steadied her for the time being, and went to chat with her first. You restrain everyone and strengthen your vigilance. When necessary, don't care about my life or death. ”

"Ouch, it's actually the heroine who is in charge. That, Lingbo, how is this queen? How old are you? Do you want tot, tsk tsk......"

"! I'll go first. By the way, ask the people below to choose two horses for me, no, five Shu brocade, ten toothpaste, ten toothbrushes, twenty pieces of soap, and a set of bone china. ”

"Ho ho ho ho ~~~ It seems that this queen is in good shape. Got it, got it. I'll do it for you right away. ”

In front of such a big killer as silk, especially the best Shu brocade in silk, any woman of this era has no resistance. After Li Mi took out the gift of "tribute" to Her Majesty the Queen. The atmosphere between the two sides became harmonious at once.

"Dear Lee, the gift you brought is truly amazing. From this, we can imagine the richness of the Han Kingdom. Can you stay and guide our craftsmen here to weave this Shu brocade? ”

"Hehehe, Her Majesty laughed. In the following is an official. I don't know how to weave brocade at all, so I just stayed, and it was useless to Your Majesty. ”

"Do you have craftsmen in your ranks? If there is, please resell it to me. It doesn't matter what the cost. ”

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. This contingent of mine is the Mission, with only soldiers and officers. There are no craftsmen. ”

"Well, let's be honest, our country is in danger at the moment. Rome in the west and Persia in the east fought repeatedly for Asia Minor. In the middle, the people of this land have been repeatedly devastated by war for decades, losing their dignity, freedom, and even their lives. My husband, who stood up for the people here, was assassinated by a despicable assassin. I had no choice but to take on this burden. But I also know that a small country like ours will soon cease to exist once the big powers on both sides regain their strength. Therefore, we urgently need to have a source of national strength. Dear Li, you have traveled tens of thousands of miles of land, and you must have seen a lot of knowledge. Can you help me? ”

"I deeply sympathize with Your Majesty's plight, but I'm sorry, I'm just an envoy. The command given to me by my lord is to establish contact with Persia and Rome. Other than that, I can't do and can't do. ”

"Okay. Dear Li, I probably know what's going on today. It should be that old scoundrel in Persia who wants to take advantage of me. I knew that I didn't want to be taken advantage of by him. But, after seeing what you gave me, I really want to take you all down. ”

"Why, Her Majesty wants all the goods in our caravan?"

"Yes, our country will certainly be invaded by Rome or Persia in the near future. Until then, I need a large number of warriors and try to perfect the defense of the city. All of this requires a lot of money. ”

"Hehehe, then Her Majesty can give it a try and see if my big man's blade is sharp."

As soon as these words came out, Li Mi got up from his kneeling state and looked down at the queen very fearlessly.

Seeing Li Mi get up, Zanubia also got up. Then, Li Mi was embarrassed - he was at least five centimeters shorter than others.

"Giggle~~~ Li, you really look good when you're angry."