Continuing to the southeast from Guazi Mountain, the terrain slowly becomes uneven, and the verdant mountains are faintly pulled out from the horizon one by one. There are springs on the mountain that are tinkling down, and thousands of streams converge into small rivers to go to the Wuhu River.

There are many reeds growing along some rivers, and in late April, the reeds are at their best, and each reed is green and shaded. In the distance is an avenue, and there is an old stone bridge built on the river, I don't know when it was built, and the stone bricks under the stone bridge are covered with moss.

At this time, two people were lurking in the reeds south of the bridge.

"Sixth, let's tell another story."

"Xiao Mazi, Lao Tzu has so many stories?"

"When you get to Moufu City, how about I invite you to go to the Persian belly girl?"

The middle-aged man named Lao Liu's eyes lit up, thought about it again, and said, "There is a firewood stack in my hometown, which has been put for a long time, and no one dares to touch him. People in the village say that there are fox fairies living in it. I had an uncle, who didn't believe it, and that night he got drunk and made a bet with someone, so he ran over and slept by the stack of firewood, and poured a soak of urine on the stack. Then he fell asleep, and in his sleep, he heard a woman talking, this son is hateful, and another woman said, he is a scoundrel, sister, don't care. The first voice said, no, I will never let him go, I want to fix this scoundrel. I woke up with these two sentences, and looked around, but there was no one. It was almost dawn, and the wine woke up, and I returned home. Seeing that he came back safe and sound, everyone said that he was bold. But he was suspicious, and he didn't know if what he heard that night was really heard or if he had done it in a dream. After a few days, it was fine. On this day, the melons in his family's melon field were ripe, so he went to see them. When his mother-in-law came to dinner, she saw him sleeping on a bamboo bed, and a beautiful woman in red was fanning him with a fan. His mother-in-law is very fierce and cautious, and she is a well-known jealous woman in the township. The beautiful woman in red saw that it was not good, and fled. When he couldn't beat the woman, he began to beat my uncle with his head and face. My uncle asked her to cover her head, and while protecting her face, she asked, why did you beat me? His mother-in-law said that he had an adulterous affair outside, but the clan uncle said no. His mother-in-law saw it with her own eyes, didn't believe it, and beat it again. After beating my clan uncle badly, I beat it for a long time, and I heard two loud laughs in the grass outside, and when I looked over, I didn't see anyone. Only then did I know that I had been retaliated by the fox fairy. ”

Xiao Mazi laughed twice and asked, "If it were me, I would have captured this pair of fox sisters alive, and then, and then ......."

"Don't talk nonsense, how can you touch the fox fairy." After finishing speaking, the old ** started his hand and read the words.

"Sixth, don't read it, listen quickly."

There was a rumbling sound in the distance, and after a while, the hooves of countless war horses were heard.

The two quietly pulled out the reeds and looked out, it was early in the morning, a large cloud of thick white morning mist rose from the horizon, and at the end of the thick fog, there were some cyan hills, and in the distance was the yellow Gobi Desert. A dark shadow rose from the yellow, and in a moment, a huge army rushed in.

The two of them knelt down and did not move, but silently counted the numbers in their mouths.

The sun gradually rose over the horizon, and the white fog gradually dissipated. The last of Dashi's troops carried their baggage, stepped onto the stone bridge, and disappeared into the mountains for a while.

"Xiao Mazi, how many people are there?"

"Thirteen thousand to fifteen thousand."

The Great Food Army is fast and has a large number of people, so it is impossible to count the exact numbers, so they can only be estimated one team at a time.

The sixth child himself estimated it and said: "You have counted a lot, more than 10,000 people, but there will never be 13,000 people." This is about the same number of troops that went east the day before yesterday. Go back and report to Your Majesty, I will stay and continue to watch. ”

"Sixth, be careful yourself, there are a lot of food scouts these days."

"Lao Tzu knows that he hasn't entered Moufu City yet, and Lao Tzu's life will not be given to the big cannibal."

"Then I'll go back first." Xiao Mazi leaned his waist, stood up, looked around, and ran towards the Wuhu River.

……

At this time, Li Wei was in the army to meet with the second group of envoys of Dashi.

Constantine IV also felt that he had done too hastily. In particular, I have heard the description of the envoy who came back that the new emperor of the Tang Dynasty is a very accomplished emperor, who is unmatched by Wen Taowu and Wushu. And he was very sincere, before he came to the Western Regions, he repeatedly met with the envoys he sent and said that he wanted to join forces.

So a second group of emissaries was sent. This group of emissaries was of high standard, the senator Theoses, the senator of the Roman senate in Byzantium, was only an honorary position, but maintained great political influence and was also the highest rank in hierarchical society. The Grand Imam of Constantinople, Tantiny, was also an important figure in Byzantium, not only with divine power, but also with some political power in his hands. Matthew, the vice-governor of Asia Minor, was originally going to let the governor of Asia Minor come in person, but once he counterattacked the Great Eclipse, he had to prepare from now on, and he couldn't get out. So let Matthew come. Procobie, the Empire's chief minister, is another super-heavyweight. Moreover, these four people are staunch ministers of the main war faction.

The four of them led a group to the shore of the Thunder Sea (the Aral Sea) through the Khazar Khanate, and met the first batch of returning envoys, and felt fortunate in their hearts. I happened to hear that the emperor of the Tang Dynasty was on the Wuhu River, closer to Broken Leaf City, so I turned around and went south and looked for it.

But the four belong to their own political systems, and the focus of their conversation is also different.

Theoses' focus is on the division of interests. This is also one of the characteristics of the Senate, which likes to talk about it.

Li Wei just smiled after hearing this, and said: "Our Tang Dynasty doesn't need much, just the eastern regions of Khorasan, Sestan and Sindh, Marank, and Fars, and eat other territories, such as Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Syria, Egypt, Libya, and Africa, as long as your country can take it down, we don't want it." Even let the Persians give up Iraq and the western region of Fars and hand them over to your trusteeship. If you have the ability to hit the Great Food Peninsula, Najd, Hejaz, Yemen, Arabia, Hadaramau, Oman, our Datang will all be entrusted to your country. ”

If it weren't for the fear that the Persians would be disgusted when they heard it, Li Wei could wave his hand, and Farles and Malank would also hand it over to you as a big cannibal.

Anyway, it's just talking on paper, and drawing it by hand, does it count? Is the big cannibal really so easy to share?

But Theoses also has his intentions, and if he can't beat it, forget it, if he fights down, this territory will be torn off in the future. I can't figure it out later.

As if to understand his thoughts, Li Wei took out the map again and said: "Take a look, our Tang Dynasty's troops can reach Khorasan and Sindh, which is already the limit, and if we go deeper, we can't reach it." Therefore, our two countries join forces only with common interests and without any conflict of interest. ”

The interpreter translated Li Wei's words as they were, and Theoses sat down satisfied.

With this result, he can go back and brag about it in the Senate.

And then to Procoby, he said it more practically, very practically. To put it mildly, our two countries are friends and join forces, so can we do some exchanges in technology, Byzantium provided some technology to the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty taught the Byzantines to grow mulberry hemp, make porcelain and paper, as well as weapons and fire medicine.

Li Wei was stunned when he heard this, but he joined forces, did not directly refuse, and said: "Do you Byzantines already have a silk industry?" ”

This was unexpected, and he did not hear about it until the Byzantine envoys came to Luoyang. Seeing the beauty of oriental silk, Byzantium actually did not know what method was used to introduce the silk industry into the past, and at this time the Byzantines could make silk, but it was not exquisite.

Continue to refuse with this topic: "It's not that you don't teach, the water and soil are different, the mulberry leaves grown are different, and the silkworm cocoons raised are also different." By the way, we have an old Chinese story to tell you. ”

told the fable of the southern orange and the northern orange, and said: "Another example is the big food knife, without Uzi steel, can you make a big food knife?" The same goes for porcelain, which requires a special mineral soil from our China, kaolin. As for weapons and fire potions, they also need some special minerals. Unless you Byzantines travel thousands of miles to transport all kinds of minerals from China back and refine them, you can imitate them. Another example is Greek fire, that is, to get your formula, can we study it in the Tang Dynasty? ”

This is flickering, and soft porcelain does not need kaolin. Even if he only knows the word kaolin, as for what kaolin is, Li Wei doesn't know.

But at the mention of Greek fire, Procobi was afraid to be silent.

In fact, the Byzantines exchanged the recipe of Greek fire for their previous karma, and Li Wei would not change it.

In order to comfort, Li Wei continued: "Actually, it doesn't have to be like this. As long as you repel the Great Cannibals and occupy the Great Eclipse Strait, you can look at the map again, if you build a canal from here, with your Byzantine technology and national strength, it will not be very difficult. Then Chinese ships can enter this strait and send goods to your countries in Europa, and to the countries of North Africa. Or your Byzantine merchant ships can also reach China. Just one year of tariffs will benefit you Byzantium a lot. Look at the great cannibals, who are at odds with you Byzantines and hinder trade. However, how much income does a year's business tax bring them? Without this income, can the Great Cannibal have the financial resources to expand? With this financial resources, why bother making your own? With money, what else can't be bought? With all kinds of weapons and supplies, and full economic control in your hands, can you continue to expand northward into the barbarian territory? ”

This sentence hit the depths of the hearts of several people.

"Whether it is the distribution of various places in the future, or trade, or the emergence of a powerful kingdom in Byzantium in the future, the first premise is that the Great Eclipse must be defeated." Because of the difference in ideas, this remark is more tempting than what Zhang Ren said when he went to Byzantium. And his position gives these words authority.

But some people were not satisfied, and Tandini made another request, hoping to open a church in the Tang Dynasty.

"Your Excellency, I have sent an emissary to consult with your Pope. Our dynasty has never restricted the people's belief in religion. Whether it's Buddhism, Taoism, or Zoroastrianism of the Persians, you think of it as the Nestorian religion of the pagans. As long as the religious philosophy teaches people to turn to good and evil, we all raise our hands to welcome it. In this regard, our imperial court has never intervened. I want our court to take encouraging measures, such as taking the initiative to build churches for you and persuade the people to believe in Christianity. You Christians have to be brave enough to prove it to me. If the Great Cannibals are so cruel to your Christians that they don't dare to fight back, how can I help you? At this time, our two powerful kingdoms join forces to attack the Great Eclipse, as long as you Christians dare to launch a holy war, expel the Great Cannibals from Central Asia, and restore the glory of the Holy Land. When I return home, I will help you immediately. I believe that if there was a God, he would not have seen you believers and let the great cannibals blaspheme him, right? ”

With that said, the translation was finished, and Tantini began to pray.

Matthew stood up again, asking how many troops the Tang Dynasty had.

He did not believe that the Tang Dynasty would send an army of 300,000. For such a long distance, how much manpower and material resources are needed.

"Matthew, let me ask you, is the war to defeat the enemy, or is it to compete with how many soldiers there are on both sides? It's only been a few decades since the rise of the Great Cannibals, how many troops did they have at the beginning, and how many troops did you have in Byzantium? But now? As long as the enemy can be defeated, what is the difference between 10,000 troops and 300,000 troops? Speaking of this, Li Wei was a little impatient, and said: "This cooperation is mutually beneficial. If you really want to be better than Huili, you Byzantines have taken the lion's share. Our Tang Dynasty only restored most of the original territory of Persia, and in order to restore the vitality of Persia, we could not plunder slaves, wealth, or expand territory. But what about you Byzantines? Do I have to beg you? Unfavorable, we can withdraw our troops, with the Wuhu River as the boundary, and I believe that Da Shi does not want to see us as an enemy of the Tang Dynasty. Li, you can use Khorasan as the boundary, make an agreement with the Great Food, and join forces against your Byzantium, in exchange for their acquiescence to the recovery of Khorasan. I believe the Great Cannibals would be more interested than the vastness of Europa, with a wealthy Byzantine dynasty. ”

Many people in Byzantium also knew that this was a good opportunity, but they were afraid of being dragged into the water by the Tang Dynasty. Once the war resumes, he will resist the main force of the Great Cannibals. It is possible that he could not get anything, but he allowed the Tang Dynasty and the Persians to reap the most practical benefits.

This idea is correct, Li Wei is so painstaking to achieve this goal. The Byzantines did not go to war, unless they disregarded the national strength of the Tang Dynasty and drew 200,000 troops and countless supplies to fight the Great Cannibals. In that case, what about the state finances? What about the Tibetans and the Turks? What if the Great Cannibals are defeated and the Byzantines come to pick melon seeds? It's just that if you don't come to pick melon seeds, if you beat them, can you rule them? Besides, the Great Cannibal is so easy to defeat?

However, the Byzantines wanted to recover the territory that had been annexed by the Great Cannibals, and this was their only chance.

So Li Wei finally intimidated a few words.

It is not impossible, there can never be a long-term friendship between countries, only interests are involved. Once the Tang Dynasty joins forces with the Great Eclipse, it may not be able to send troops, but it can support them with a large number of weapons, and the Great Eclipse is likely to be tempted.

When the four of them heard the change of color, they immediately said, "No." ”

Li Wei had already stood up and said, "Speaking of which, you think that the Great Cannibal is very powerful, so powerful that it is invincible, so you have a sense of fear. It's just so that you're here, and in a few days, I'll go on the offensive and show you how powerful the Great Cannibal is. When the time comes, we'll talk about it! ”（