Dressed in a purple robe, wearing a leaf-shaped Roman crown and holding a scepter, the Roman Emperor John II waited for the visit of Wang Zongbi in the splendid and magnificent Grand Palace of Constantinople with a smile on his face.

The Roman emperor, who had the nicknames of "beautiful man" and "good man", is now living a very nourishing life. surpassed many generations of Roman emperors before him, and of course he mixed better with his original history.

And the reason why he is very moisturized is, of course, "the east wind is moving west". After recalling the Western Ocean, China's maritime power broke through the Sriwijaya Strait and began to enter the Indian Ocean in large numbers. In the process, the sea power of the Saracens (Arabs) was devastated, and Baghdad and Basra became increasingly depressed. It dealt a serious blow to the finances of the Seljuk Empire.

The later Western Expeditions of the Great Song Dynasty, Western Xia, and Western Liao dealt a heavy blow to the military strength of the Seljuks. The unified Seljuk Empire, no more. Persia, the most important territory of the Seljuk Turks, had been lost and became the core of the Western Liao Dashi Empire.

The remnants of the Seljuks, who survived in Syria and Iraq, as well as in Anatolia and elsewhere, were no longer able to resist the Roman Empire, which was allied with Western Liao and Egypt.

So in the past few years, the Roman Empire has launched round after round of counterattacks on the Anatolian plateau, which has compressed the Sultanate of Rûm to the eastern edge of the plateau, turning it into a buffer state between Rome and Western Liao.

And on the Levant side (Syria), "John the Good Man" also achieved no small success. Although his Roman army did not occupy an inch there, not long ago, the kings of the Crusader states, including the king of Jerusalem, the Prince of Antioch, the Count of Edessa and the Count of Tripoli, arrived in Constantinople and swore allegiance to him. These Crusader states were now under pressure from the Kingdom of Egypt and the Western Liao Empire, and were in dire need of a more reliable patron than the Holy See.

Theoretically, the Roman Empire could already include the entire strip of land on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean.

However, it is a pity that the Kingdom of Egypt, ruled by his sister Komenina, did not become a vassal of the Roman Empire.

But the fact that Rome has been able to recover to the point where it is today has been very satisfying to "John the Good Man".

At the same time as the revival of the Roman Empire, a new crisis was looming.

The new crisis, of course, is the eastern powers that are gradually encroaching westward!

Not to mention the two great Taohuashi empires that were rampant and domineering in the Indian Ocean, let's talk about the Western Liao, which was based in Tabriz, and the Golden Horde, which established a base on the Volga River. In the long run, they are no less of a great threat than the Seljuks and Saracens.

But for now, the good guy John doesn't need to worry about them. Because the Seljuks and Saracens had not yet completely collapsed, they could serve as a bulwark to Rome to reach the Empire of Living.

To the north, Kievan Rus' could play the role of the flesh shield of the Roman Empire. Resist the Golden Horde.

With these two supports, the Roman Empire had at least twenty or thirty years of good life. As for the future......

John the Good Man set his sights on John IX, the Patriarch of Constantinople.

This old man is the second most powerful man in Constantinople! He and the good guy John have been thinking about how to deal with the Big Stone Empire and the Golden Horde for many days.

Hit, of course you can't beat it!

The victories of the Eastern Rome in the last decade or so have been diplomatic victories rather than military victories.

As for the basis of the diplomatic victory of the Eastern Romans, it was the Western Liao Dashi Empire that defeated the powerful Seljuk Empire...... For Eastern Rome, the very powerful Seljuk Empire was as fragile as an egg in front of the Western Liao Dashi Empire!

And the Golden Horde, which had just moved east, is said to have defeated the Dashi Empire when it was in the east—it was because of them that Yelu Dashi had to move west.

Such a country is terrible to think about!

And such a terrible country was actually beaten by the Song Empire and the Zhou Empire of Taohuashi to move west......

Peach blossom stone must be the most terrifying place in the world!

Since the Peach Blossom Stone people are so terrifying, the Eastern Roman Empire, which is strong in the outside and capable in the middle, will resolutely not be able to start a war with them.

If you don't go to war, of course you have to be friends.

And to be friends, you must first find common ground...... This common denominator is the belief in Heavenly Principles!

That's right, it's faith in heavenly principles!

This is the conclusion reached by the Roman emperor John the Good Man after studying the Greek translation of the Doctrine of Heaven.

The heavenly principle that the Taohuashi people believe in is the GOD in Christianity, so the good man John has instructed the "Oriental scholars" (referring to the priests who study the Taohuashi culture) in the Constantine Theological Seminary to replace "Aroha" with "Tianli" and become the Chinese character name of GOD in the Constantine translation of the Bible.

In this way, the Christians of Rome and the Confucian scholars of Taohuashi were both believers in the principles of heaven...... It's just that Christians' belief in heavenly principles comes from the savior Jesus, and the Taohuashi people come from their ancestors Lao Tzu, Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, and so on.

……

"Your Royal Highness, this is a gift from the Church of Constantine, a copy of the Bible written in mahogany script. New Testament. ”

A Chinese translation of the Bible. The New Testament", or a manuscript, was written on high-grade white paper imported from the Eastern Song Dynasty!

This Bible. The New Testament was handed to Wang Zongbi by John IX's hands.

The words spoken by the patriarch of Constantine were translated into Chinese by a clergyman priest who served in the Bishopric of Constantine.

"Thank you." Wang Zongbi very elegantly took over the Bible from the old patriarch. The Chinese manuscript of the New Testament, when you open it, you can see Chinese characters written in quills: "In the beginning, there was the Tao, the Tao and the Reason are the same, and the Tao is the Heavenly Principle......"

What's going on? Isn't this a Western Christian scripture? How is it the Tao, the Reason, and the Heavenly Reason?

What kind of god do you worship?

"Your Royal Highness," the good man John took the question and said with a smile, "I think you should be able to understand that our Creator and your Heavenly Principles are actually the same existence, and both are the source of all things in the universe. are the creators of the world. Since we belong to the same world, the Creator of it is naturally the same. ”

Wang Zonghan immediately understood what the Roman Emperor said—he knew philosophy in this time and space! He is the champion of the Dajin Kingdom!

"Yes, we are indeed created by the same Creator." The philosopher Wang Zonghan said, "It's just that we discovered the principle of heaven more than 2,000 years ago. ”

The Roman Emperor smiled, "But we have been favored by Heaven." ”

"Tianli created everything in the universe, and everything in the universe is his descendant, so he will not favor anyone in particular." The philosopher Wang Zonghan immediately put forward a different opinion, "This is the unkindness of heaven, and all things are used as dogs." ”

John IX said, "But Christ came 1,131 years ago, and he was the son of heaven......

"All people are the sons of Heavenly Principles, because Heavenly Principles are the source of all people." The philosopher Wang Zonghan said, "Christ only recognized this day, so he became a prophet." And our Laozi, Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi discovered this earlier. ”

What is the ...... Blasphemy! It's a heresy! Great guilt!

However, John IX's face was a little ugly.

Roman Emperor John II hurriedly took over the topic and said: "Your Highness, there is a difference between what you said and what we Romans know. But it doesn't matter, we are all children of Tianli, brothers and sisters!

Although there are differences, it is still possible to seek common ground while reserving differences. ”

Listening to the emperor's words, the patriarch's face also changed, revealing a rather kind smile, "Yes, yes, we are all brothers and sisters...... May God bless us! ”

Patriarch Constantine was not the Pope of Rome, who was an independent king with his own territory and army, and could find trouble with the Catholic Monarchs.

And the patriarch of Constantinople had to listen to the emperor!

Wang Zongbi glanced at the patriarch who was still angry just now, but now he was smiling, and also smiled: "Your Majesty, patriarch, since we are all sons of the Heavenly Dao and brothers and sisters, then our Golden Horde and your Roman kingdom might as well become a country of brothers." ”

When the Roman emperor heard the interpreter say Wang Zongbi's request, he immediately replied with a smile: "That's exactly what we expected." ”

"But our country has been in some trouble lately," Wang Zongbi said, "and we were defeated by the Zhou and Song states in the eastern conquests, and we traveled 25,000 miles west to reach the Volga Valley."

Although we still have 200,000 horsemen, we are in financial and supply difficulties. Since the Kingdom of Rome is our brother, we of the Golden Horde now want the help of the Kingdom of Rome.

It takes 100,000 gold coins of Heperon every year! ”

100,000 gold coins is not a small amount! One gold coin is equivalent to 4.48 grams of gold, which is about one tael of silver.

"That's too much," said the Roman Emperor in pain...... "Your Royal Highness, you are blackmailing the Roman Empire!" ”

Wang Zongbi rolled his eyelids, "Kievan Rus' has promised to give 100,000 Haiperon coins a year, your Rome is much richer than Kievan Rus', this money is nothing, right?" And you are our brotherly country! ”

This brother is too scoundrel!

When the Roman emperor was really annoyed, Wang Zongbi said again: "Your Majesty, we will not take your money in vain, our Golden Horde can provide protection for Rome." If Rome is attacked by the Saracens, the Seljuks, the Normans, or whatever. The Golden Horde can send troops to seek justice for you! If Western Liao were to go to war against Rome, we would intervene to mediate the dispute between the two sides. ”

It turns out that you don't take money for nothing!

The Roman Emperor John II was a little moved, and it was not a loss to spend 100,000 gold coins to hire a thug like the Golden Horde. It wasn't really up to them to help bully anyone, as long as they could use the prestige of these Mahogany people to scare Rome's open and potential enemies.