As if to foreshadow the decline of the Byzantine Empire, the news of another theft of the academy spread, the officials of Constantinople were as angry as if they were burning houses, the soldiers of the lower classes were also searching the city for suspicious people, and the inhabitants of the city were a little panicked, and all kinds of remarks were made. The snow began to grow heavier and heavier in the early hours of the morning, and the occasional north wind blew, and the snowflakes flew everywhere with the wind, and the city, which was already white, seemed to be in a fog.

When Lao Luo walked out of the hotel, it was already afternoon, and the snow on the ground was already very thick, and it made a popping sound when he stepped on his feet. In a trance, Lao Luo felt that the scene in front of him was very similar to the Red Square in Moscow in the later generations, with the same dome building, but without red walls and colored tiles, and of course there were not so wide streets.

There were hardly any people on the noisy lanes in the past, and the Byzantines were still very unaccustomed to such a climate, and Lao Luo heard passers-by talking about not seeing such a heavy snow for a long time. The boiling theft, coupled with the disturbing flying snow scene, and the crowd of people who can't tolerate the cold, this scene made Lao Luo feel a little emotional, it is really like the northern country where he originally lived.

Lao Luo was born in the north, and later joined the army in the northeast, and then moved to the northwest, so it can be said that the entire northern life accounted for more than half of his life. The snow scene in front of him made him feel very kind, even if the snowflakes wet his shoulders, the sound of stepping on the snow under his feet felt the most beautiful music.

The appointment with Li Ji is a restaurant opened by a guy named Lang Snow, the restaurant business is very good, the dishes are clean and delicious, the key is that there are a lot of mobile customers, and there are all kinds of people. Lao Luo occasionally drinks here and listens to rumors.

The heavy snow on this day happened to make many people hide at home and be lazy to go out, although there are also people who are not afraid of the cold to come out to drink and have fun, but there are not many guests in the restaurant, Lao Luo went to the restaurant to find a secluded seat where you can see the entrance, and when you sat down not long after you were ordering, you saw Li Ji and his party coming in from the door.

Li Jiao, who met again, was not a night outfit, a hood that should be made of fox skin wrapped her tightly, and the little face set off by the fox fur on the edge of the hood became more and more delicate, even if it was a guy like Lao Luo who had witnessed many beauties in later generations, he couldn't help but feel a little amazing.

Instructed the men to take Li Ji and the two people behind her to sit, Lao Luo observed the two people behind Li Ji, obviously her elders, about forty years old, very stout, wearing a fur coat similar to the traditional style of the Kazakhs, with a pointed leather hood on their heads, but they were all weathered.

Lao Luo stood up and greeted the three people on the other side, who were much shorter than him, and watched Li Ji take the lead and lead the two elders over, clasped his hands into fists, and greeted him directly in Chinese: "Li Siniang, come and sit here, come and introduce me to the two distinguished guests." ”

"No need to greet Siniang, I am Siniang's uncle, surnamed Li, named Zhan," one of them saw Lao Luo's eyes lit up, and walked away first, facing Lao Luo with the same etiquette, "What a mighty man, Lang Jun is Luo Jia Sanlang?" ”

"That's right, I'm Luo Sanlang," Lao Luo Xi was most happy to make friends with this kind of cheerful man, and turned his head to look at the other one, "Who is this?" ”

"It's Zhan Lang's brother," another man who was a little too thin made the same salute, but his voice was very rough, "The surname is Zhang, the name is Lu, and the name is Longping." ”

"Third brother of the Luo family, you've been waiting for a long time," Li Ji also walked closer, with a smile on her face, and then glared at Li Zhan, "It's all to blame Uncle, chasing me and asking questions." ”

"It's okay, I just arrived here, I didn't wait for anything," Lao Luo shook his head, stretched out his arms, and led everyone, "Come, let's all sit, sit down and talk, this place is not as good as the Central Plains, there is no private room or anything to prevent people from disturbing." ”

The two sides sat around the Byzantine square log table, and at this time, the Western restaurants used not the clean porcelain tableware of later generations, but a kind of glazed pottery, which was very rough. Porcelain and silk from the Silk Road to the East and West have always been in high demand, and you won't find such roadside restaurants.

Li Zhan picked up a pottery cup casually, looked at it, and sighed casually, "A country like Western Qin is still barbaric, and it is not as easy to use as the porcelain in our hometown." ”

"Uncle Zhan has been back to his hometown?" Lao Luo smiled noncommittally, of course, he would not comment on whether the other party's insight was correct or not, after all, it was only the first time they met, and if they said too much, they would be lost.

"No, but there are still some porcelain spare at home, and my Li family has been remembering to go back since their ancestors, which is considered a family motto." Li Zhan recounted with some nostalgia that his Li clan had been breeding in a foreign country for more than a hundred years, although the family motto had been passed down from the ancestor Li Ye at that time, but after so many years, no one had been able to go back.

"Zhan Langjun, you can't be blamed for this," Zhang Lu next to him spoke, his rough voice was a little different from his appearance, but the content of his speech was quite attached to his scribe demeanor, "For more than a hundred years, the hearts of my Chinese people have always been at odds, and there are internal intrigues, and the big cannibals have given a little benefit, and the people's hearts have begun to change. ”

"That's it, Uncle Long Ping is right," Li Ji next to him also accosted, "A few bastards of the Pei family are always picking on right and wrong in the middle, and those craftsmen who work don't know the reason, and if they don't have an opinion, isn't there anything Grandpa can't do?" ”

Lao Luo looked at the three people in front of him, and basically from the conversation, he could understand the general situation of the descendants of these Tang craftsmen, as for the specific situation, it may be different from what he guessed, but the lack of unity of heart is definitely the biggest drawback. If you want to bring more people back to your hometown, you still need to work harder.

"Uncle Zhan, can you introduce the specific situation of the artisan household camp today?" Lao Luo waited for the three of them to speak almost before asking.

"This matter...... Li Zhan took off his pointed leather hat and brushed the beard off his face before he spoke, "Let Long Ping tell you, anyway, there is nothing to keep secret from your own people." Don't underestimate Long Ping, he is the descendant of Fan Yang's Zhang family. ”

"Fan Yang Zhang's family? Is it the Zhang family that Zhang said about Xiangguo in the Tang Dynasty? "Lao Luo has heard of this Fan Yang Zhang family, Fan Yang is the Zhuozhou of later generations, and Zhang Shuo is the famous prime minister of Tang Xuanzong Li Longji.

"Cough, don't mention it again from the ancestors, we're juniors who have embarrassed our predecessors." Zhang Lu said with some surprise, although he still inherited some family education, he has not been able to return to his homeland for more than 100 years, which is really unlucky. "In fact, the entire artisan camp is in a state of division, and several families left by the leaders who were originally left behind when Hengros was defeated are now divided into several parts."

Zhang Lu told some details that Li Ji hadn't said, and Lao Luo figured out that the original artisan camp was now in a state of disintegration.

At present, the total population of the artisan camp is about 45,000 people, including women and children, and in fact, there are only about 8,000 craftsmen who know how to make crafts, and the rest are either too clumsy to learn exquisite crafts, or they are sloppy and impatient. The original leading families are now divided into three major factions, such as Li Zhan and Zhang Lu, who are looking forward to returning to their homeland, the faction surnamed Pei mentioned by Li Ji is expecting to gain a firm foothold among the big cannibals, and the other faction is dominated by some Hu surnames with Turkic blood, hoping to fall to the Turks, which is what Westerners call the Seljuks.

Li Zhan and Zhang Lu originally hoped to find some unique Western techniques to bring back to their homeland, so there was something that Li Ji spied on at the academy, hoping to attract a team of craftsmen with some new technologies and bring more people back to their homeland. However, he didn't expect Li Ji to meet such a powerful warrior as Lao Luo, and he was also a member of the same clan.

From Li Ji's words, after learning that Lao Luo is a brave man who has traveled a lot, they hope to borrow Lao Luo's power to escape the control of the big cannibal, and of course, at the same time have less risks on the way back. I have to say that their wishes are good, but they haven't considered the question of who will be in charge after joining a person like Lao Luo.

Lao Luo squinted at Li Zhan while tasting the wine provided by the restaurant, "I don't know what Uncle Zhan thinks about the issue of power?" ”

"I'm not interested in power," Li Zhan said briskly, he understood the meaning of Lao Luo's question, and didn't care about Zhang Lu's eyes next to him, "In my opinion, it is the biggest and most important thing to fulfill Ye Zu's last wish and bring more craftsmen back to his homeland, as for who is in charge, there is nothing to worry about." ”

Zhang Lu next to him was unhappy, "Zhan Lang, who will lead this is very important, without you to lead, who has higher prestige?" ”

Li Zhan said casually: "Longping, do you know? How difficult is it to bring so many people back to their homeland? ”

"Of course I know, but ......" Zhang Lu is a typical traditional figure who inherits family learning, and his ancestor Zhang Shuo is the one who assisted Li Longji as the emperor.

"At least a few thousand people, food, clothing, housing and transportation must be considered neatly, and if it is not good, everyone's life will be lost on the way back." Li Zhan said with some distress, "Longping, the identity of my Li family is not important, these thousands of net worth and life are important, this is not power, it is pressure, I haven't eaten and slept well every day recently, if I can, I would rather be the leader of a craftsman like my brother." ”

"Well, I've set a schedule to go back to Athens tomorrow, and if you can, come with me, so you can be my guide," Lao Luo understood, but this argument was not reasonable, so he simply interrupted them.

"In this way, Luo Sanlang, there are not only three of us." Li Zhan wanted to go around with this clansman who had a good conversation, but it was about to reach the agreed return date.

"Oh, that's even better, Constantinople is going to be in chaos lately, don't stay here." Lao Luo casually said this fact that everyone understands, "Uncle Zhan, you send a few of your subordinates back to report the news, and then take the rest of the people with me." ”

"Luo Sanlang, you're not going to sell us, are you?" Li Zhan was in a better mood and made tentative jokes to Lao Luo.

"How can it be, if you want to sell it, Siniang can say, who of you big men will buy it?" Lao Luo made the same joke, and then said with a straight face: "As long as the number of people does not exceed fifteen, the problem is not big, and the boat I ordered is still okay." ”

"Well, that's it, I'll see you at the dock tomorrow morning." Li Zhan is a cheerful person, and he doesn't worry about Lao Luo, after all, he is also a family student, and he still has the ability to see people.