The main battalion of the Western Expeditionary Corps is currently on the southwest side of the Beishan Mountain Range, which is closer to Wanguo.

The terrain here is flat, and it is relatively close to a Western Regions state. The name of this state is Weitou, and the population of the country is about 30,000, and the army is only 2,000. When the Western Expeditionary Corps moved over, the small country of Weitou did not even hesitate and chose to surrender directly.

At present, there are nearly seventeen kingdoms and states in the Western Regions that have submitted to the Empire, including the captain, and they supply part of the logistics supply of the Western Legion.

Before the Roman envoys approached the garrison of the Western Expeditionary Corps, they encountered a lot of natives from the Western Regions loaded with supplies, and after a little inquiry, they easily knew that it was a baggage team carrying supplies to the garrison of the Han Empire in the East.

"That's how we get protection from the Empire." The middle-aged man from the Western Regions, who looked like a nouveau riche and wore almost everywhere he could hold gemstones, said in a happy tone: "The empire is very trustworthy, as long as we give as much as we give, we can get as much as we can get in return." ”

Ki Bru Wei. Luce. Scipio. Calvers seemed a little puzzled and asked, "Return?" ”

"Yes, yes, it's reward." The middle-aged man in the Western Regions said: "We have paid the necessary protection fees, and the extra materials are counted as commodities and can obtain wealth." ”

Ki Bru Wei. Luce. Scipio. Calvers turned to Ulilius and said, "It seems a little different from what we imagined. ”

Along the way, the Romans had been speculating about what kind of state the empire was, including guessing what the Han Empire's rule over the Western Regions would look like. In their minds, all the people they met from the Eastern Han Empire seemed to be domineering, so the Eastern Han Empire's ruling method over the Western Regions should be more brutal. This guess is related to the fact that they saw many people from the Western Regions on the road who met the cavalry of the Eastern Han Empire and chose to avoid it, and came up with an answer that they thought was very true.

"Their camp is so big, no......! It's too big, it's too big! Ulilius looked at the army camp of the Han Empire in the East from a distance, and he looked at it and said, "It is divided into three parts, and it stretches for at least twenty miles. ”

Ki Bru Wei. Luce. Scipio. Calvers nodded: "It will not be less than two hundred thousand." ”

In fact, there are not as many as 200,000 people, but the span of the camp is far more than 20 li, and the correct figure is 35 li.

The Western Expeditionary Corps consisted of the 1st Cavalry Corps, the 2nd Cavalry Corps, and the 5th Cavalry Corps, as well as an 11th Mixed Corps. The total number of soldiers should be 200,000, but in fact it is not as much as 200,000, because there will be battle losses in battle, and some non-combat losses will also reduce the number of soldiers. In fact, the number of soldiers on the roster of the Western Conscription Corps is currently only 170,000.

Meng Tian and the other senior generals of the Western Expeditionary Corps already knew that an envoy group was on their way, and they inquired very seriously about where Rome was, what the national strength was, and the necessary information. However, none of the natives of this remote part of the Western Regions knew what Rome was. They learned about Rome from merchants from Central Asia.

The merchants of Central Asia were only aware of such a country, Rome, according to their description, as a country farther away than the Greek city-states, far enough to cross the Mediterranean, and to have Roman cities on another continent far away. They couldn't accurately tell Meng Tian and other senior generals of the Western Expeditionary Corps some things, such as whether Rome's territory was large, whether the national strength was strong, and so on.

By about ten miles closer to the camp, the camp of the Western Legion knew about it, and they had made the necessary deliberations, and it was decided that the chief Sluchen would come forward to make contact.

Lu Chen saw the envoy from Rome at the gate of the camp, and the Romans in his eyes looked strange, not only in terms of clothing, but also in mental state.

"Welcome, guests from afar." Lu Chen said politely, with a smile on his face, and continued: "You can choose to be stationed in our camp, or you can choose to set up a camp yourself.

Ki Bru Wei. Luce. Scipio. Where could Calvers understand the imperial Chinese language, he looked at Lü Chen very blankly, looking at Lü Chen's dress as a scribe.

Lu Chen is now wearing a gorgeous robe, which is not inlaid with any luxury goods such as gold, silver and gemstones, but the color matching is very rich, but it does not look dazzling.

Clothes made of silk naturally have buttons, and the relatively close-fitting robes can highlight the person's figure, and at the same time give people a free and easy visual sense, and the Romans were instantly stunned when they saw Lu Chen's outfit.

Silk, that is silk, when it first appeared in the upper class of Rome, the soft luster, the seductive touch, the fluctuations that shake when walking, all made silk the cloth that almost all Romans wanted for the first time. They thought that even wearing a dress made of gold would be no more enviable than wearing a dress made of silk.

Lu Chen noticed the Roman's gaze, and he glanced at a guy next to him.

This guy was temporarily selected from the Central Asian legations to serve as an interpreter for Lüchen's communication with the Romans, and he was a Shule man named Mukule.

Mukule did not speak the Roman language, but he was fluent in Greek, and was quick to repeat what Lüchen spoke in Greek.

"We chose a military camp in your country." Ki Bru Wei. Luce. Scipio. Calvers has always wanted to take a closer look at the army of the Eastern Han Empire, and there is no reason to give up having such a good opportunity to observe the field group of the Eastern Han Empire.

According to the Chinese concept, the envoys must need a letter of state, signed by the supreme ruler of the country.

Central Asia and Europa are also related to the concept, but when the Kiruslivi. Luce. Scipio. After Calvers handed over the letter of state, Lu Chen was a little stunned.

"Why are there so many people signing?" Lu Chen asked in a puzzled tone, "Which of these signatories is your king?" ”

Ki Bru Wei. Luce. Scipio. Calfus understood it only through an interpreter that he said: "We are a republic, and the affairs of the state are discussed by the parliament, and the speaker and the supreme military leader determine the validity of the agenda before they are carried out." ”

Lu Chen didn't know what a republic was, he looked at the group of Romans suspiciously, and said in a tone full of absurdity: "How can the country not have a supreme ruler!" ”

The Roman Republic actually had a supreme ruler, but not alone. Luce. Scipio. As Culvers put it, the country is governed according to the issues recognized by the parliament. The country has three rulers, the Speaker, the Consul, and the Tribune.

The Speaker is naturally the supreme leader of the Parliament, usually held by a person of high prestige. However, in fact, the Roman Republic is a multi-family control of the country, those families have very strong financial and military power, whether they can become the speaker is determined by the strength of the family and the support of more families, both for the so-called democratic vote, but ...... It's hard to say whether voting is democratic or not.

The civil affairs of the Roman Republic were led by consuls, but the consuls were only the executors of the decrees issued by the parliament, and in practice had quite limited powers. The consuls are often more like a rag for the council, picking it up and wiping it when it's not clean, and discarding it when it's dirty.

The Tribune was the name of the Roman military commander, and in fact the Tribune was really from the original meaning of the name, and was responsible for protecting the citizens of Rome. It was precisely because of the need to protect the citizens that the tribune of Rome became the head of the military. At this point in history, the tribune had the right to appoint generals, select legions to be led by the general, and carry out some expansion or defensive military operations.

Lüchen didn't know the actual situation of the Roman Republic, he just couldn't understand how a country could be decided by so many people together, and thought that such a country must be extremely chaotic.

That's right, Huaxia's thinking is that the country must have a supreme ruler, and everyone can only obey one ruler, and if the country has too many people to call the shots, then there will definitely be chaos. To put it simply, it means that "there are no two days in the sky, and there are no two masters for the people".

At the current historical stage, there are actually many countries that implement the parliamentary system, and there are quite a few countries with mixed systems. The parliamentary system actually originated in Greece, but the Greeks have abandoned the parliamentary system and turned to the three systems of king, theocracy, and parliament. On the contrary, Rome, a rising star of Europa, learned from the parliamentary system of the Greeks, and there is a tendency to develop it more and more.

Many Greek scholars have conducted research, and they have found that the weakness of Greece is precisely because of the abandonment of the parliamentary system, the implementation of king, theocracy, and parliamentary co-rule has caused Greece to move from outward expansion to continuous internal strife, so that most of Greece's power is destroyed in internal strife, resulting in the sinking of Greece.

Now there are many states on the Greek peninsula, and there are all kinds of systems, but most of the countries with a royal system show a strong trend, and the theocratic or parliamentary states seem to be weak, so that most Greeks begin to feel that the royal system is the foundation to ensure the strength of the country.

China in Central Asia and the Far East has always been a king...... Even monarchies, as a rule, really believe that a country cannot do without a monarch, so they are puzzled and confused about countries where many people can decide the fate of the country together.

Lü Chen still didn't understand what was going on in Rome, and he asked, "Your envoys should always have a purpose. So what is your purpose? ”

Ki Bru Wei. Luce. Scipio. Calvers replied, "No one knows how big the world really is, and we embarked on a journey to understand the world with curiosity and friendliness." ”

Lu Chen frowned, he didn't say anything, just invited this group of Romans into the camp, and then set up camp according to a Sima of another department.

"They were confused by our arrival." Ki Bru Wei. Luce. Scipio. Calvers was sure that no one could understand the Roman language, so he did not keep his voice down: "This will make them not know how to entertain us." Not a bad thing for us. ”

"They don't know about us." "Maybe we should let them know what kind of country we are," said Ulilius with a little concern. ”

"Yes, yes, there is no awareness and no value, we are too far from Rome and not being taken seriously enough is equal to no security." Ki Bru Wei. Luce. Scipio. Calvers had a draft in mind, and he said, "The Han Empire in the East will know what they should know about Rome." ”

On the other side, Lu Chen had already come to the big tent of the Chinese army, and he briefly introduced the reception process, and said: "It is a strange country, even stranger than the country we knew before. ”

Meng Tian was obviously very interested, and he asked with a smile, "What do you say?" ”

"Rome is a seemingly chaotic country, and they have a lot of people who can call the shots." Lu Chen thought for a moment and said, "It's probably similar to the situation of some Greek city-states that we know. ”

It is true that the empire did not know Rome, but the empire knew the Mediterranean civilizational sphere.

The Mediterranean civilization sphere, which refers to some countries of Greek civilization in general, does not include their skin color, but is only a general summary of civilization and values.

Lü Chen, who obviously knew a lot about it, talked about the concept of the Greek civilization sphere, and then took out a few countries for separate descriptions.

"It looks like it's really messy." Zhou Yin came to the Western Regions last year, and he only had the necessary understanding of the Western Regions, and he had not yet touched on Central Asia. He was full of incredulity: "How can a country without a monarch exist like this?" ”

Most of the generals present had the same attitude as Zhou Yin, and they really couldn't imagine how a country without a monarch could run.

"So there is a lot of chaos in those countries, they don't have a strong monarch who can't concentrate the power of the country, especially when there is an invasion from outside." Xu Zhi looked contemptuous and said, "What kind of horse is that?" ”

Lu Chen smiled and said, "Rome, they call themselves the Roman Republic. ”

"Oh, since the Roman Republic is a parliamentary state, it is estimated that it is the same as those Greek city-states." Xu Zhi was such a person, contemptuous not only of Rome, but of all non-imperial countries. He said nonchalantly: "Send someone to send it back, we don't have time to talk nonsense with the envoys of such a small country." ”

"Perhaps......" Wei Han gave an opinion: "Isn't Liu Bang going to the west?" Maybe it would be helpful to get them in touch. ”

Xu Zhi pursed his lips and nodded: "It should also be a waste utilization, right?" As he spoke, he looked at Meng Tian.

Meng Tian would have the same so-called attitude, he didn't want to get involved in this at all. (To be continued.) )