As the climate cooled down, Hu Wenkai changed into a short-sleeved shirt and linen trousers, replenished vegetables and fresh beef and mutton in the Suez Canal, and the ship's galley was impatient to cook their own food.

The lack of vegetables is a common problem on all ocean-going freighters, and the fruit he bought at Ningbo Port was eaten before he left Malacca. This journey was difficult that he had not experienced in the past few years, he took out a few bottles of Moutai from under the bed, which Lao Yi had prepared for him a long time ago, and sat down with the wine in the cheers of the team members.

"One person only needs to drink a little, and the ship has not yet arrived at the dock."

He also wanted to drink some liquor to relieve the fatigue along the way, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, roasted potatoes with beef, roasted mutton with carrots, and a few plates of fried vegetables, and oil was in his mouth when he ate it. After the meal, I drank a large glass of mango juice, and I lay down in bed and rested in the morning.

Because it was an arms ship that had just entered the Black Sea straits, the small steamer of Kemal's troops came up to meet it, and asked very politely in English whether it was a ship of the Republic of China.

The captain of the ship said to Hu Wenkai: "Boss, this is to welcome us, and the arms we have brought in are urgently needed by them, and no country has sold them arms today." Cigarettes, alcohol, and food will definitely be brought on board in a while. ”

As the captain said, after a while, the pilot ship approached, and the crew used a hanging basket to lift up the cigarettes, alcohol, and food.

Hu Wenkai picked out a box of cigarettes, opened it and choked on it, and coughed violently, the smoke was too strong. It's a bit like the big hemp cigarette in Xinjiang in later generations, and I was dizzy when I smoked it.

Originally, I had planned to leave a few beautiful brand cigarettes in the cabin for the special agents to enjoy, but I decided to take them with me, Turkish cigarettes are simply not smoked.

The ship docked at the port on the Asian side of Istanbul in the evening, and the soldiers patrolled the harbor with loaded guns, but they were very polite to the crew on board, and they were simply responsive.

Hu Wenkai carried the suitcase and two members of the special service down the ladder, and the Turkish soldiers in khaki ignored them. The captain of the ship ran over and said something to an officer, to the effect that Hu Wenkai wanted to think of the European area on the other side of the strait, and he needed the officer's coordination to send it on a small steamer.

The Turkish officer showed a sly smile on his face and said that he wanted to find a woman, and the captain smiled and patted him on the shoulder, meaning you know, and after a while, the small steamer was arranged, and the two special agents escorted Hu Wenkai across the Black Sea Strait to Istanbul Europe.

In the evening in the strait at the junction of Europe and Asia, the sunset in the west has already set, and only a little light is revealed in the sea, and the clouds on the horizon are crimson. A lone little steamer cleaves the waves in the strait and sails towards the opposite shore.

Hu Wenkai instructed: "The two of you will go back with the little fire wheel in a while, and you don't have to follow me if I go there alone." ”

The two team members obeyed Hu Wenkai's orders unconditionally, and they would not ask him what he was going to do.

Standing on the dock with two heavy suitcases and saying goodbye to the two team members, seeing the small steamer disappear from sight, Hu Wenkai turned around and left the dock and stepped on the narrow road made of bricks, thinking that this road may have a history of hundreds or thousands of years, and it is very likely to be a product of the Byzantine era.

The Huns had the ability to storm cities but lacked the wisdom to build cities, such as Hagia Sophia, a third church ordered by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in 532 AD. Designed by the physicist Isidore of Miletus and the mathematician Antimos of Trallus, the church was completed in 537 AD.

In June 1453, the Ottoman Turkish Sultan Mehmed II invaded Constantinople and ordered all the Byzantine frescoes in the church to be covered with mortar, all Christian statues were removed, the cathedral was converted into a mosque, and four tall minarets were built around it.

It was so simple and rude that the treasures of Eastern Rome were turned into mosques in the blink of an eye, and the Huns lived in their houses directly after the massacre of the Eastern Roman people, using their roads without any modification at all.

From the bottom of his heart, he despised the barbarian Huns, and the civilization of Eastern Rome was destroyed by a few days of slaughtering and burning. Later generations only got a glimpse of the prosperity of Byzantium from books, and he remembered that his later online name was Byzantine twilight. No matter how prosperous a country's economy and culture are, if it is not backed by force, it can only repeat the footsteps of the past.

Kemal, if he didn't need funds, would rather pour arms into the Pacific Ocean than give him a gun. This guy is a person who wants to inherit the pan-Turkic idea in his bones. There is an irreconcilable contradiction with Hu Wenkai's thoughts.

Standing under a porch on the corner of an unknown street, behind him was a dimly lit bakery, the sweet smell of caramel of bread wafting into his nostrils.

A horse-drawn carriage stopped in front of him, and he gestured with his hands, and the chickens and ducks did not understand at all, but fortunately a young man passing by helped him translate the place to go, the Pera Palace Hotel, the most luxurious hotel in Istanbul.

Horse-drawn carriages tick through thousand-year-old brick and stone paths, lined with crowded buildings that crowd the already modest streets.

Hu Wenkai took out a cigarette from his trouser pocket and lit it, and looked at Constantinople, which he dreamed of in later life. Seeing whether the souls of the Eastern Romans were hidden under every brick, the glorious Eastern Romans were finally attacked by the barbarian Turks.

Constantinople, from 330 AD by the Roman Emperor Constantine I to 1453 fell and renamed Istanbul, a total of 1,123 years, during which at least 23 besieged experiences, this thousand-year-old city also has the myth of "immortality".

Although Constantinople was besieged dozens of times by various civilizations and races, it was the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II who eventually cut off the head of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI.

Hu Wenkai couldn't help but smile bitterly when he thought of this, this is the deep sea of blood between Western Christendom and Islamic civilization ** I have a bird relationship.

In Istanbul's Pera district, under the faint dusk of Istanbul, the sunset over the Golden Horn is faintly sprinkled outside a majestic building, and the music of waltzes wafts leisurely from the windows of the upper floors. A carriage slowly stopped at the door, and Hu Wenkai slowly stepped out of the carriage.

The doorworm in a red waiter's suit in front of the gate of the Pera Palace bent down to remove his two suitcases from the carriage.

Valauli, the French architect who came to Istanbul on the Eastern Railway, may have had many achievements to be proud of, but the most worthy of his pride and his descendants must be the first luxury hotel in Istanbul at the end of the 19th century, known as "Turkey's first European hotel".

The main purpose of Hu Wenkai's stay at this hotel is to obtain first-class Orient Express train tickets, and all travelers in this hotel can get priority tickets for the Orient Express.

As he stepped through the revolving doors of the Pera Palace, his itinerary began at a step-by-step pace.

The hotel staff in a suit greeted him and asked carefully, "Sir, I am happy to serve you, do you have a reservation?" ”

"Yes, it's been a long time since I booked it."

"Please sir provide your name."

Hu Wenkai speaks the name on his passport in fluent French: "Artur O'Grei"

The hotel waiter led Hu Wenkai to the sofa in the lobby and said, "Wait a minute, I'll inquire." ”

The hotel reservation was made by the staff of the European sales office by train, which was arranged by Lao Yi.

After a while, the hotel waiter trotted all the way and said, "Mr. Artur O'Grey, the room you have booked is 409, and I will take you to the room." ”

Handed over a brass long plate engraved with a group of Arabic numerals 409, walked into the elevator, Hu Wenkai suddenly remembered the British writer Da in the future

iel Fa

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It is described as follows: "This is the most beautiful elevator in the world, decorated with delicate carved wood patterns and smooth cast iron patterns, and when it rises, it is placed like an elegant lady saluting you, and any visitor will be amazed by its workmanship!" ”

The room is illuminated by a beautiful Murano glass chandelier and the bathroom is covered with Carrara marble. Hu Wenkai took out a pound from his pocket and handed it to the waiter, and he was extremely generous.

"What more services do you need, sir?"

"Help me book the Orient Express for the nearest date to Paris in the Premium Car."

"Okay, we'll be happy to help you." The waiter gently closed the door and left.

Quickly take off the sweat-stained clothes, turn on the bathroom faucet and pour water into the bathtub. Barefoot on the fluffy carpet to find the thermos, take out the Longjing tea from the box, and make a cup of Longjing, the unique fragrance permeated the foreign room.

Lying in the bathtub and soaking in the warm water, this sea journey was long enough to take nearly 20 days, and it is estimated that it will take nearly a month to get to Paris in the 80 hours required by the Orient Express.

Lying in the loose bathtub, every bone in my body seems to be comfortably opened. I wondered if it was still under the rule of Eastern Rome, and now there were two plump Roman maids standing by the bathtub with bath towels in their hands.

Nima had been on the ship for a long time, and his mind was full of jumbled thoughts. After washing the salt on the Pacific Ocean, the wind marks on the Atlantic, and the imprint of the sun on the Mediterranean, Hu Wenkai wrapped a bath towel around his body and walked out of the bathroom.

Opt for a white shirt with button-up cufflinks, a pair of dark blue fitted trousers, and black gentleman's dress shoes. Strap a dark plaid light gray suit over your arm and get ready to go out in search of food. I haven't eaten a big meal for more than ten days, I feel that my mouth is fading out of the smell of birds, the wind of the Bosphorus gently lifts the curtains of the room, and the temperature is cool at night, so he puts on his suit and walks out of room 409.