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When asked how many troops Seris had, Zhao Tong's figure of "the empire has 1.5 million soldiers and horses" shocked the Roman envoys for a while. (No pop-up ads)

However, Maximin and Petronius did not know that in fact, after several rounds of disarmament, the standing army of the empire was only more than 600,000. The figures given by Zhao Tong are incomplete and cover reserve members. But for Zhao Tong, there is little difference between the reserve and the standing army, when the war comes, the reserve can go to the battlefield at any time, His Majesty the Pope raised his arms, the empire can be a soldier, and at that time the soldiers of the empire are not 100,000 people, but tens of millions.

After chatting and walking, the Roman mission arrived in Yangcheng smoothly under the escort of the Imperial Iron Knights.

The Romans who saw Dongfang Ming City for the first time were excited, shocked, and a little lost at the same time when they saw Yangcheng.

To their excitement, they had finally arrived at the city of the Serisians after many hardships.

To their surprise, the prosperity and scale of this city of Seris exceeded their imagination. From Zhao Tong's mouth, they learned that there were fifty shops in this city, plus more than five stalls, and the city was bustling with people, merchants from all over the Ceris and people from all over the Western Regions, Kushan people, and people from Anxi, gathered here, and traded back and forth. The scene was extremely lively.

What disappointed them was that although Yangcheng was prosperous and large-scale, the buildings in the city were very simple and simple, and the structure was very simple, square and unbeautiful. It is really hard for them to imagine that as a nation that can spin and embroider beautiful silk and refine gorgeous glass, how can they have no attainments in architecture.

In the whispers of the Romans, Zhao Tong heard the reason for the disappointment of the Romans, and then proudly told them that the empire not only knows how to weave and make fine glass, but also has unparalleled architectural attainments. You can get a glimpse of this by visiting the churches in Yangcheng. As for why Yangcheng was built so simply, on the one hand, it is because Yangcheng has just been built for a little more than ten years and needs to be further improved; On the other hand, because Yangcheng is close to the desert, it needs to rely on a more solid building structure to resist wind and sand. If the Roman legations wanted to see the magnificent architecture of the Empire, they would have to continue to march eastward, and in Xiliang and Chang'an, they would have witnessed with their own eyes how superb the Empire's architectural attainments were, in Luoyang...... A city of ten thousand cities, they will be shocked by the grandeur of the city. (Nice.)

After listening to Zhao Tong's description of Luoyang, the Romans couldn't help but be curious, not only what did the capital of Seris, which Zhao Tong called the city of ten thousand cities, look like?

As an envoy of a country, Maximin Petronius and his party were arranged to stay at the inn.

As for the six or so merchants who came with them, they could not enjoy such treatment, so they had to stay in the inn in the city under the guidance of the Guizi guide.

After the envoys and their entourage were properly placed, Zhao Tong said goodbye to everyone and went to Zhao Yun to report the harvest of the trip.

As soon as Zhao Tong left, the Roman envoys and nobles couldn't wait to find their head of the mission, Maximin, and begged Maximin to allow them to walk on the streets.

To be honest, Maximin and Petronius have also coveted the market style of Seris for a long time, so they agreed without hesitation.

The Roman merchants who stayed at the major post stations in Yangcheng heard that the mission was going to wander the streets, so they also followed.

At this time, Shen Wu fulfilled his job as a guide very dutifully, he first led a group of Romans to the Yangcheng Cathedral in the center of Yangcheng, where he led them to appreciate the charm of the Temple of Seris, and then led them to the entrance of the church.

He told the Romans that although hard currency such as gold, silver, and copper was also circulated in Seris, the heavy hard currency was not only difficult to carry, but also cumbersome to spend. What's more, when shopping with gold and silver, the vendors in the market can see at once that they are the first to do business with Seris, so they deliberately raise the price of the merchant to make a profit.

It is true that the kind, honest and trustworthy Seris people have always been undeceived and will not deceive people. However, the market in Yangcheng is mixed, and there are many shops opened by the Huns, the Western Regions and the Kushan, and they have no credibility at all.

Therefore, the best way at the moment is to exchange the hard currency in your hand - gold and silver for the paper money made of Seriste - holy coupons, which can not only be used in all shops in Yangcheng, but can also be used as gold and silver in any city in Seris.

If people trust him, they can take out all the money they have and exchange it for holy certificates in the church's bank. In this way, the weight can be reduced a lot on the way to Luoyang, and the unspent holy coupons when you return to Rome can be exchanged for gold and silver again in Yangcheng. If you have doubts about what he said, you can also exchange some holy coupons appropriately, and exchange them for as much as you want, so that it is convenient to spend them and not say it for the time being, at least you will not be deceived.

At this point, Shen Wu took the lead and asked the accompanying servants to bring a large box containing seven thousand taels of silver, of which five thousand taels were the capital of Shen Wu's journey, and two thousand taels were the labor expenses paid to him by the Romans.

Behind the counter, the servant in the money village exchanged 7,000 taels of silver for five large bills with a face value of 1,000 taels of silver and a large bill with a face value of 5 taels of silver, and exchanged the remaining 5 taels of silver for four small bills with a face value of 1 tael, and exchanged the last tael for a number of change with a consistent face value and 5 taels at the exchange rate of 70 taels of silver.

After exchanging the holy vouchers, the body shook a wad of banknotes in his hand in front of the Romans, "Look, these holy vouchers have the same value as seven thousand taels of silver. It's easy to carry. With that, he folded the eight large bills, carefully wrapped them in a handkerchief, and then stuffed them into his boots. The rest of the money is stuffed directly into your arms and can be taken as you like.

Seeing this, the Romans followed suit, and some of them dressed up and moved all the money they brought this time and exchanged it for holy certificates. Others took a few Roman gold coins, weighed them and exchanged them for silver bills at a price recognized by the empire as one to seven.

With the holy voucher in hand, the Romans walked into the bustling Yangcheng Bazaar, and after admiring the soft and gorgeous silk, the Romans couldn't help but jump to their feet and scolded the rest and the Kushan people were shameless, and after layers of peeling, the price of silk was raised by as much as four times, and the glass was raised by ten times.

"Shameless." Maximin was indignant. He was now desperate to establish friendly relations with Seris, and it would be great if they could join forces to destroy the evil Rest and Kushan, and allow the Eastern and Western Empires to establish direct trade.

Although the Romans had already paid for the guide, it stands to reason that the contract for the guide had come to an end at the moment of arrival at Seris. But as an honest and righteous believer, Shen Wu continues to serve as a guide without compensation.

He told the Romans who accompanied him that there was a way to do business in Yangcheng. Taking silk as an example, there are mainly one types of silk in Seris, one is Shandong forging produced in Qizhou and Qingzhou in the east of Seris. Because this Shandong forging is spun by a hydrospinning wheel, the output is very large and the price is the cheapest, but the quality is relatively rough. In contrast to Shandong Forging, the second type of silk is the Shu brocade produced in Yizhou, southwest of Seris. This type of silk has a long history in Seris and is spun by hand. The finest Shu brocade is thinner than the cicada's wings, and it is embroidered with beautiful patterns, which is not so much a piece of silk as an excellent workmanship. The production process of Shu brocade is complex, the price is naturally high, and the high-grade Shu brocade is even more rare, and it cannot be bought in Yangcheng at all. Often in Yizhou at first glance, it was robbed by the merchants Jia Hong, if you want to buy only to Chang'an or Luoyang to try your luck.

The first type of silk is a new category of Seris. The origin is located in Yangzhou. Due to the mild climate in Yangzhou, the silkworms here spit out silk are exceptionally soft. Supplemented by Yangzhou's special semi-manual and semi-mechanical weaving methods, although the silk woven is worse than Shu brocade, the quality is better than that of Shandong, and the price is fair. It is now the most popular silk category in Seris.

After introducing silk, I also wanted the Romans to teach the way to purchase glass. Unlike when I was in Rome, buying glass in Yangcheng was not by piece but by weight. If you ask the glaze merchant how much is a glaze craft, the merchant will immediately see that you are a layman, and then raise the price of glaze. If you enter the store, don't say a word, look at the goods first. After picking the favorite glaze period, it will be weighed on the counter. The glaze merchant will think that you are a senior Yangcheng merchant and will give you a relatively fair price.

……

The body was full of joy, and a long speech was an eye-opener for the Romans. After having a certain understanding of the Yangcheng market, people can't wait to separate and plunge into the colorful world of Seris.

Of all the merchants, silk was undoubtedly the first choice of the Romans. Over the past few years, the Romans have been attracted to silk for its supple texture, graceful and elegant patterns, and breathable properties. However, its high price determined its extravagant status, and not everyone could afford to wear it, even among the wealthier classes in Rome.

Therefore, when the envoys and magnates from Rome saw that the price of silk was only less than a quarter of that of Rome, and the texture was softer and more elegant, the Romans suddenly felt that the silk in front of them was like a free gift, and they were excited to fall into a rush to buy.

In order to put on brand-new silk clothes earlier, some people actually took the initiative to find a ready-to-wear store in Yangcheng to buy a gorgeous dress worn by the Seris people, and changed the Roman robe like a rag bag on their bodies.

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