The Kingdom of the Franks, with its capital at Paris.

The kingdom, which corresponded to most of present-day France and Paris, Germany, was founded by the Franks in 481 AD and is currently ruled by the Merovingians, the most powerful kingdom in all of Europa.

The first snow since the beginning of winter had just fallen, and it was white everywhere.

There are not many high-rise buildings in the city, most of them are low-rise houses.

At that time, Paris did not have the style of the magic capital of later generations, and its buildings were very ordinary, but it was still a bit populated after years of stability.

Due to the underdevelopment of economy and culture, the people live like pigs and dogs.

They ate poor food, bread was the staple food, but the texture was very poor, it was coarse bread (the nobility ate bread made of fine flour was much better), or flour was boiled with water to make something like cereal porridge.

In addition to bread as a staple food, vegetables, fruits, and meat are also essential. The local olives, grapes, apples, pears, plums, walnuts, apricots, peaches, cherries, pomegranates and lemons imported from outside, the nobles ate well, but the people did not have so many varieties, and some vegetable leaves were good to eat.

The most common meat is pork, while the poor eat more goat meat. Beef is a luxury. (This is much better than them, and the beef has to be eaten)

The municipal administration is poor, and when it rains, Paris becomes a mud pond and a dung kang everywhere.

The nobles of the Frankish kingdom were barbarians, don't expect them to do a good job, in fact, compared to the Tang people in the East, the Franks were nouveau riche, inferior to the ancient Romans

No matter how backward it is, the royal palace is still like a point, and the Romanesque buildings look magnificent and stylish.

In an oriental room, a number of pipes made of tin sheets, cleverly hidden behind the folds of ornate curtains woven by oriental artisans, exude a pleasant warmth.

The colder it is outside, the more comfortable it is inside. Because of the open "heating", this is also a masterpiece from the East.

On the four walls hung four beautiful sky-blue silk curtains, their strange folds and jagged edges, hanging almost from the ceiling to the ground. The silk curtain was covered with a white veil like a cloud.

In the center of the ceiling is a chandelier carved of pure gold with nine lamp heads, which hangs from the ceiling in the shape of a giant rose with leaves – an astonishing masterpiece of oriental craftsmen.

The fine floor mats laid on the ground are thick and embroidered with patterns of trees, wild beasts, and birds in the forest.

The interior is equipped with vases from the East, ornaments from the East, and so on.

It costs a lot to furnish this oriental room, and even the tea leaves that entertain guests are said to be famous teas from the East.

The Franks were barbarians, they brought down Western Rome and could not look down on Rome, and what came from the east was so beautiful that they fell completely.

……

"Merchant" Johnson sat peacefully in this palatial apartment, because the heating was on sufficiently, he was dressed in silk, at this time he was not a little humble person, but showed his upper-class temperament.

A nobleman who was not tall but had a huge aura appeared by the door, and a shouting voice came: "The Supreme Frankish Kingdom Palace Prime Minister Piping II has arrived!" ”

What the hell is Gong Xiang?

But no matter how big it is, can it be called supreme?

That dwarf really dared to call himself the supreme, and he had already spoken of it in the Frankish kingdom.

In 687 AD, Pepin II, the court minister of Ostrasia, defeated the ruler of the entire kingdom and became the only court minister in the country, calling himself "the dukes and princes of all Franks", paving the way for his family's further ascension, while the powerless Frankish kings were called lazy kings. (Sure enough, there are usurpers everywhere)

When Pepin appeared, Johnson stood up and stepped forward, and the two hugged each other affectionately, saying to each other: "Hello, my friend! "Show a different kind of camaraderie to come.

It turned out that Johnson was indeed a businessman, but a red-capped businessman, and he provided Pepin II with sufficient funds, so Pepin II gave him great courtesy.

After sitting down again, Johnson was not polite, and went straight to the point: "I went to Xinying State of the Tang people this time, and I felt it very deeply!" ”

"What's there?" Pepin II asked.

"Their city is very clean and nice, there is a lot of goods, the food is very good, and the entertainment facilities are very good!" Johnson said with emotion.

He eloquently said: "The city has been hard-bottomed, and there are still urban management and municipal cleaning workers, plus all kinds of ornaments, and even some 'park' ......"

"Is it a hard bottom with stones?" Pepin II was a little surprised and said, he was the ruler, of course he knew the benefits of the hard bottom of the city, but the whole city was paved with stones, it was a huge amount of money, with Paris being so important, with the support of national funds, so many years have passed, and he has only completed the hard bottom of the ground of the main streets.

"No, they used something called 'cement.'" Johnson showed off a small packet of cement he had secretly taken from the construction of the Don Municipal Government.

Pepin II was so interested that he immediately called a waiter to bring the utensils and water to stir them, and soon the cement hardened.

"They're decorated with gravel ......," Johnson recounted, of the Tang people's approach to managing the streets.

He showed off the goods he had bought: silk, tea, and porcelain, and that was it, and his eyes lit up when he took out the "shochu" and unscrewed the cap of the bottle and poured a glass for Pepin II!

Even Pepin II tasted Johnson's snacks with relish, like a man who had never seen the world: cloud cakes, grilled chicken, raisins, flower cakes, beef jerky, poria cakes, ginger candy, cheese, walnuts and dates, preserved fruits, osmanthus sugar, fish fillets, pork jerky......

"It's so delicious! I can't imagine it! Chewing food in his mouth, he slurred.

After tasting it, he drank Chinese fragrant tea, shook his head and said, "If I were an ordinary person, I would have dropped a long time ago!" ”

Think about the pig and dog food he ate, compared to the Tang cuisine, it doesn't matter what he fights, and eat it after surrendering!

It's not a shame to surrender to Chinese food!

"It's really right!"

Johnson couldn't help but wonder, in fact, his heart was almost conquered by the food: except for snacks, all kinds of staples, which he almost didn't want to come back to!

Tang people have a "food street" in Xinying Prefecture, full of stalls, all of which are delicacies, all kinds of barbecue with fragrant smell, tender and delicious river fresh, tempting and delicious desserts, etc., which make people salivate, plunge in, support the wall in, support the wall out!

There are also boxing rings, polo fields, theaters, gambling/arenas, etc., eating, drinking, and having fun, anyway, Johnson's income from the sale of hundreds of cattle this time only took back the snacks he gave to Pepin II!

The success of the Tang people was by no means a fluke, not only by force, they conquered all races in all aspects, and the Tang Dynasty in the East was the lighthouse country of that era!

Many tribes and countries, after appreciating the Tang civilization, automatically became "Tang fans", claiming to be Tang people, in fact, conquering their countries with the army, assimilating their people with culture, the Tang people are invincible, and almost no nation has rebelled!

Well, let's get down to business, let's talk about the military power of the Tang people.