Yonghui forty years, the ninth day of April, Quanzhou Port.

From a large food merchant ship, a man walked down. The man looked to be in his thirties, blonde and blue-eyed, with a high nose and a well-defined silhouette.

If he is lucky enough to travel to Quanzhou, he will definitely be regarded as a handsome guy from Europe and the United States.

But in the eyes of the Tang people, this person's appearance is a little weird.

Of course, it's nothing to look weird, even if you look like a youkai? As long as you have money, don't you?

Seeing that this person was dressed quite elegantly, a tooth greeted him.

He arched his hand and said, "This old guest is invited." In the next money three virtues, also known as money three. So what...... Do you speak Chinese? ”

"Yes...... I will speak Tang Yan. Under the ...... I heard that you Tang people don't like long names, so you can just call me Hilder. The tone of the man's voice was a little weird, but it didn't stop communicating.

Qian Sande said: "You always come to Quanzhou for the first time? What to buy and sell? I am not talented in Qian Sande, and I am also a character in Quanzhou Yaxing. No matter what you want to buy or sell, find me to ensure your satisfaction. ”

"Uh......" Hilder looked embarrassed and said, "Datang is not a business here." ”

Qian Sande's face was a little unsightly at that time, and he said, "This old guest, what about you entertain me?" You foreigners come to Quanzhou and say that they are not for trading, who will believe you? How? Do you think I've got too many taps and want to do it yourself? ”

"It's not." Xidel said: "I will inquire clearly in the morning, what to buy and sell in Quanzhou, it is best to find someone from the tooth shop." Although I have to pay some commissions, I am not afraid of being cheated. If you think about it, it's much more cost-effective than going to end up in person. ”

"That's pretty much it." Qian Sande's face softened and said, "Then what's the matter with you?" The world is full of profits. The world is crowded, all for profit. You risk being buried in the belly of a fish and crossing the ocean, you don't want to travel for the sake of the mountains and rivers, right? ”

Siddle looked around, lowered his voice, and said, "Honestly, I'm from the Frankish kingdom. He is an envoy of the kingdom. The purpose of coming from afar is to come to see your emperor of the Tang Dynasty. I wonder if you have a way? If you can do this, you will be thanked. ”

"You...... You're kidding! ”

Qian Sande took a step back and said, "You are the king's envoy?" I said foreigner, even if you want to be a liar, can you also put some money? No matter how small a country is, it won't send a single envoy, right? The necessary retinue is always required, right? Besides......"

"What?"

"I'm a tooth, and I'm not an official of the court! Think about it with your toes, and know that it's useless to look for me! If you kid want to use this gimmick to cheat me out of the gold of my old money, but you are wrong to make a wishful thinking. ”

Hilder smiled and said, "No, Brother Qian, you misunderstood me." He was indeed an envoy of the Frankish kingdom. As for the doubts you mentioned, I can explain them. Well, this is not the place to speak, let's find a place to talk in detail. ”

Qian Sande said vigilantly: "You kid want to cheat and cheat? ”

"How can that?" As he spoke, Siddle stretched out his hand, took out two gold coins from his sleeve pocket, and said, "This money is enough for us to go to the restaurant for a meal, right?" You take it, let's talk while eating. ”

Seeing that there was money to take, Qian Sande's face suddenly looked much better, and said, "Okay, let's go to the nearest restaurant, Xinyi Building." ”

"I also want to ask Brother Qian to lead the way."

……

……

In the private room of Xinyi Building, the two ordered a table of good wine and food.

Wine over three rounds of food over five flavors.

Siddle let out a long sigh and said, "Brother Qian, believe it or not, I am indeed the envoy of the King of Franks. ”

ate other people's short mouths, although he didn't believe it in his heart, Qian Sande still said perfunctorily: "Sure enough? As an envoy of a country, how did you get into this field? ”

"Well, it's a long story. Have you ever heard of the Kingdom of the Franks? ”

Qian Sande shook his head again and again, and said, "I haven't heard of it." ”

"Uh...... Let's put it this way, for the Tang Dynasty, the Frankish kingdom is in the extreme west. To the west of the Tang Dynasty is Persia, and then go west to the Great Eclipse, and after the Great Eclipse and go west, that place is called Fula. To the west of Flak is our Frankish kingdom. ”

"That's far enough. It's not easy for you to come to Datang, right? Speaking of this, Qian Sande remembered the allusion of Zhang Qian's passage to the Western Regions, and said: "Did you fall to this point because of robbers or something?" ”

"Uh...... Not really. In fact, the envoy sent by the king of the Franks was indeed the only one, and there was no other entourage. ”

"Your Frankish kingdom is too shabby, aren't you?"

Hilder smiled bitterly: "It's not that the kingdom is shabby, the most important reason is that the king has no power. Now in the Frankish kingdom, the power minister Pepin is in power, and the king is trapped in the deep palace, with no cronies and little money. ”

Qian Sande knew what was going on as soon as he heard it, and said, "Dare to love that your king is an emperor of Han Xian." You didn't run so far to pass on the edict, did you? ”

"Emperor Han Xian? Cloth and belt edict? Hilder scratched his head and said, "Tang Yan is not proficient in learning, what do these two words mean?" ”

Qian Sande briefly told Emperor Han Xian and Cao Cao about it. After listening to this, Siddle nodded again and again, and said: "Although the purpose of coming down to Datang is not to talk about any "edict", it is not far behind. ”

"What the hell is going on?"

"Now the power of the kingdom is in the hands of the prime minister. Not only that, but the head of my family was also rumored that he was addicted to wine, so he pushed all the state affairs to the prime minister. People also nicknamed him the Lazy King. ”

Qian Sande said: "First take its power, and then ruin its reputation." It seems that it will not be long before Pepin will usurp the throne as king. ”

"Who's to say it isn't? In your Tang dialect, Pi Ping is Sima Zhao's heart, and everyone knows it. ”

"What does the lord of the country mean when he brought you to Datang......"

"I heard that the Tang Dynasty is the co-lord of the world, and my king sent me for help. Ask the Son of Heaven to send a large army into the Frankish kingdom, expel the prime minister, and restore the king's power. If the Son of Heaven allows, the Frankish kingdom will always honor the Tang Dynasty. ”

Qian Sande shook his head again and again after hearing this, and said, "I don't care if what you say is true or not, let's just say it's true." I advise you to die early on this heart. ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"Isn't that obvious? How far is the distance between the Tang Dynasty and the Frankish Kingdom? How much does it cost to send tens of thousands of troops over? Is your kingdom's allegiance worth so much money? ”

Hilder explains: "Of course, it's not just allegiance. The military expenses needed by the Tang Army will also be raised by our lord as much as possible. After the deed is completed, it is not impossible to double the repayment. ”

"You can't double it!" Qian Sande said: "Unless you add twenty times, it is possible to move the imperial court." ”

"Twenty times? Even if we were to sell Frank, it wouldn't be worth that much money. The Tang Emperor won't be so black-hearted, right? ”

Qian Sande said: "How do you speak?" This is not a question of whether it is black or not, but whether it is cost-effective or not. Since the king of Donghua showed the world map a few decades ago and asked the Son of Heaven to feudal Quartet. Our Datang's military strength is so precious. ”

"The Americas, Africa, Australia, and the islands of the South Seas all have large areas of borderland. A few thousand Tang troops and tens of thousands of natives are enough to establish a large vassal state, and if the army is used there, wouldn't it have tens or hundreds of times the benefits? ”

"If you want twenty times the amount of money you spend on the military, that's not to mention! What's not to like about you? Datang Tianzi is not satisfied, but it is almost the same. Think about it, why don't we Datang continue to expand its territory to the west? It's not that I'm worried that I can't beat Persia, the key is that it's not cost-effective. ”

Hilder cried and said, "But with so much money, we Frank really can't get it......"

"I don't expect your lord to take it out. I say this to tell you that there is no possibility of an agreement between Frank and Datang now. ”

"Isn't our lord hopeless?"

Qian Sande sighed and said, "Is there an immortal country in the world? If the number of days is like this, how can it be remedied by manpower? Siddle, I won't eat you for this meal in vain, I want to give you a few words of good advice. ”

"You speak."

"Now, don't think about your lord, he is hopeless. You'd better think more about yourself. ”

"Myself?"

"Yes, the lord of the country is unreliable, what will you do for a living in the future? Of course, you must have a lot of money with you right now. But it's always okay to sit back and eat, right? ”

"What do you mean ......"

Qian Sande said: "You do business!" Just do the trade between the Tang Dynasty and the Frankish kingdom. ”

"But I don't know how to do business."

"That's okay, you won't let me teach you."

Sidel frowned and said, "You don't want to trick me into buying things so I can earn commissions, right?" ”

"Of course not, my third brother didn't do that. Well, if you can't trust me, you don't need me to teach you. I only teach you what to buy that is the most profitable, listen to you or not. ”

"Then I'll have to ask Brother Qian."

"Actually, it's a very simple question. Anyone you buy with the word "King Qin" on it must be profitable. For example, Qin Wang perfume, Qin Wang soap, Qin Wang sugar, Qin Wang mirror...... Wait a minute. ”

Hilder was puzzled and said, "What is the reason for this?" Could it be that King Qin is the name of your largest business in the Tang Dynasty? ”

Qian Sande shook his head and said, "King Qin has nothing to do with any business. He is a legendary figure in our Tang Dynasty, who knows astronomy and geography, and there is no definite country in the liberal arts. Datang can be as prosperous as it is today, at least half of the credit is due to his old man. ”

"I understand, you added the word King Qin to these good things to commemorate his old man."

"What do you mean...... I can't say it's all wrong, but it's basically not much. In fact, these things are so named because they were all invented by the king of Qin. ”

Siddle said in surprise: "So, King Qin is still a great inventor? ”

"Exactly. The reason why our Quanzhou port is so prosperous is largely because there are these few things left by the King of Qin that other countries do not have. Other countries can only buy from our Datang, but not elsewhere. ”

Sidel said: "No wonder you let me buy goods in the name of the King of Qin, rare things are expensive, these things will be shipped to the Frankish Kingdom will be very profitable." ”

"That's it."

"Uh...... You Datang have such talents as King Qin, which is really a blessing for the country and the people. But I wonder if he's still alive? ”

"Of course. The King of Qin has made great contributions to my Tang Dynasty, and His Majesty is grateful for his kindness, and he has given him the title of the whole of North America and changed his name to the King of Donghua. Now although he is over 80 years old, he heard that his hair is still black, not a single tooth has fallen out, and his body is very strong! ”

Qian Sande paused for a moment and continued: "However, people are kings in Donghua Kingdom, and if they want wind and rain, they will definitely not return to Datang." The common people were grateful for his kindness, so they named the things he invented after the word King Qin, so your previous statement is not entirely wrong. ”

Hilder's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he said, "There are still such heroes in the world?" It's really exciting. If my achievements in this life can be as good as this person's achievements, it will be regarded as living up to this life. ”

……

……

In the end, Siddle was not persuaded by Qian Sande. He tried his best to complete the task assigned by the king, and finally got an audience from the Tang Dynasty after half a year.

As Qian Sande expected, his request was not granted.

Disheartened, Siddle had no choice but to abandon his studies and become a well-known and wealthy merchant in the Frankish kingdom.

After his death, there were no fewer people in Europe who knew his name than Tang Guo Ye. Hildell's life can be regarded as living up to this life.

Of course, it was neither his loyalty nor his wealth that made him famous in history, but the fact that he wrote a book, "Hildell's Travels".

In this book, he describes in detail the endless wealth of the Tang Dynasty, all kinds of novelty objects, the large population, the huge commercial city that was well planned, and the magnificent palace buildings with his ebullient prophecies.

It has influenced generations of Europeans and engaged in the exchange between East and West......

PS: Countdown to the end, there are three more chapters!