Just when Sima Shu was painstakingly coercing and luring domestic businessmen, something happened unexpectedly. It turned out that the secret envoy sent by the Roman Empire arrived in Chang'an City, and the court had a premonition before the arrival of the Romans. Sima Shu knew very well that the Roman Empire would send emissaries at this time.

"Your Majesty......" Sima Shu waved his hand, signaling that Zhang Bin, Du Xi and the others did not need to be polite, he sat on the seat of the head, nodded to everyone and asked, "Where is the Roman envoy now?" ”

I saw Sima Shu walk in

"Your Majesty, the envoy of the Roman Empire was arranged by the minister to a secret place, because the matter was urgent and came very suddenly, so the minister had not had time to tell His Majesty."

"Looks like there's trouble on the Roman Empire's side." Sima Shu sneered and asked, "Did Beigong Chun send the news back, how is the war between the Persian Empire and the Roman Empire going now?" ”

I saw Zu Ti nodding and handing the letter delivered by Beigong Chun to the emperor. Zu Ti bowed and said, "Your Majesty, this is a secret letter sent back by Captain Beigong a few days ago. Judging from Beigong Chun's letter, after the batch of weapons and materials we sent arrived in the Persian Empire, Psidor was impatient to launch a war of revenge against the Roman Empire and seized several cities in the border area. ”

"Now, the expeditionary force we sent has long since withdrawn from the war between the two sides, and Captain Beigong is sending people to closely monitor the situation on the battlefield, and will send someone back every half a month. Only, according to the time of the arrival of the emissaries of the Roman Empire. He must have traveled day and night, and set off at the beginning of the war, otherwise, it would not have been possible to reach Chang'an so quickly. ”

Sima Shu nodded and agreed, "It must be the case, it seems that our weapons have caused a lot of damage to the Romans, otherwise they would not have sent envoys in such a hurry." Guess what the purpose of the Roman Empire's trip was, do they think we have given up our support for the Persian Empire? While we have this idea, the time is not yet ripe. ”

"Hahaha, it seems that the Romans are forced to die!"

"Yes. And behold, what weapons we have given to the Persians? ”

"Your Majesty. This is their national letter, and the tone is quite polite. Jia Mo handed over a copy of the national credentials to Sima Shu.

Sima Shu sneered while reading the national letter, "Don't underestimate the Roman Empire. You have not been to Europe. So I don't know much about the Roman Empire. This country founded by the Romans. From a small city-state. Developed into the huge empire it is now, and defeated almost all the enemies around it. ”

"For hundreds of years, the Romans never stopped expanding abroad. He has never stopped conquering others and occupying the lands of other countries in the past. Generations of monarchs of the Roman Empire were based on expansion and aggression, and this is a state built on expansion and aggression. ”

"In the West, for hundreds of years, the Roman Empire was the most powerful state, especially after the fall of Carthage, and almost no one was able to deal with this powerful state. They have always been arrogant and never take others seriously. ”

"In addition, the martial atmosphere of the Roman Empire was very strong, and many boys were trained in militarization from an early age, and their whole lives were in the service of war, and the honor of war was also in society, and its army was extremely tenacious. All this is enough to prove that the Roman Empire was a barbaric and predatory empire, a jackal-like state. ”

"Don't be fooled by their appearance, they are willing to send people this time, mainly because the weapons we sold to the Persians have greatly changed the strength of both sides. If it weren't for the great distance between our two countries, I am afraid that it would not have been a messenger, but a Roman soldier of the legion. ”

The ministers present were largely silent, they did not know much about the Roman Empire, except that it was a state founded by the Romans. Originally, before the rise of the Great Jin Empire, the two great powers of the East and the West, separated by tens of thousands of miles, would not have any intersection.

But now, with the continuous expansion of the strength of the Great Jin Empire, its power has extended tens of thousands of miles to the west, and conflicts with Western powers are bound to be inevitable, and at most it is only a temporary peace. The Persian Empire had begun to decline, and the threat to the nascent Great Jin Empire was already small. One day, the Jin Empire and the Roman Empire, two powerful empires that controlled both ends of the Asian continent, would decide the winner in the war.

"Tell me what we should do with the Roman Empire at the moment."

"Your Majesty, the minister thought that the Romans should be driven away immediately! General Zhang Fang has just entered the Hanzhong region, and we still need support from Persia, if the Persians know that we are in contact with the Romans, I am afraid that the river will be unstable! After all, the Transoxiana region is very close to Persia, and if something goes wrong there, we can't reach it! ”

Sima Shu sighed and said, "Du Aiqing is right, no matter what, we can't offend the Persians now." But I can't just drive out the Romans, I don't want the Romans to be destroyed by the Persians, and it's better if the two countries are at loggerheads. Only when the Transoxiana region is stabilized will we be able to deal with the two enemies, Persia and Rome. ”

"In that case, then I will meet this Roman envoy and see what Rome has in mind. What exactly do they want from us? ”

"Obey the order, the minister will arrange it!" Zhang Bin hurriedly bowed and said.

Soon, the emissary of the Roman Empire was taken to Sima Shu's imperial study, a tall middle-aged man with a relatively strong build. If you don't look closely, you will think at first glance that he is a businessman who has been walking on the road all year round, rather than a diplomat.

Of course, this was just a first impression, or rather, it was just a disguise for him. After all, he was not an official emissary, but a secret emissary, and he was able to travel through the entire territory of Persia and all the way to the capital of the Great Jin Empire without being identified by the Persians, and this disguise was extremely important.

"Let's get straight to the point, this time, your emperor sent you to the Great Jin Dynasty to form an alliance with us, or to declare war with us?" Sima Shu is really direct, to put it bluntly, due to later generations, he himself did not have any good feelings for the ancestors of Europeans, the Roman Empire, at least, he did not have much good feelings for the Romans.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, His Majesty the Emperor of our country has not sent me to declare war on the Great Xia Empire, I have come to meet Your Majesty with peace and friendship, and I hope to become permanent friends with the Great Jin Empire, and it is best to obtain the qualification to conduct arms trade with the Great Jin Empire." The envoy was not in a hate of panic, and it was evident that he was a very sophisticated diplomat.

"Friends?" Sima Shu sneered, "Venerable envoy, you must have forgotten that our two countries should still be in a state of war. What price are you prepared to pay for us to withdraw from the alliance with the Persians! ”

"Honorable Emperor, for hundreds of years, Rome and Persia were not enemies, and in the future, we should not be enemies." The emissary had apparently made the preparations for a long time, "Both of us have just experienced civil strife and have many common interests. What has happened before cannot be a reason for us to communicate with each other and influence each other. This time, our Emperor sent me to visit the Great Jin Empire, just to let His Majesty the Emperor know that the Roman Empire and the Great Jin Empire are not enemies, but should be friends! ”

"Hahaha, well, I admit that you are very sharp-tongued, but I will not easily change the established national policy. Now you have come here to ask for something, so now you come and tell me what you Rome or your emperor want? And what are you going to trade for what you want! ”

Sima Shu's words were too direct, at least in the eyes of the Roman envoys, which were completely inconsistent with his impression of the Orientals. According to the Han people he came into contact with, the Dajin Emperor's words were too explicit and nakedly included an exchange of interests. In fact, not only the Roman envoys were a little uncomfortable, but several important ministers present were a little blushing for the emperor.

The Roman envoy hesitated a little, and then said, "Our Emperor only hopes that your country should associate with us as a friend, and not support others to oppose and make war against friends. ”

Sima Shu pondered for a moment and said, "Then you mean that you want us to give up our support for the Persian state?" ”

"Yes, that's what our emperor meant. If the Great Jin Empire values our friendship, it shouldn't do anything that harms our friends. Of course, we will never do anything that endangers the Great Jin Empire. ”

Sima Shu sneered and said, "You think that we have hurt you by selling weapons to the Persians, but the noble envoy seems to have forgotten that the Persian Empire is also a friend of my Great Jin. We are therefore unable to accede to your request. Moreover, the arms trade is completely normal trade and exchanges. If you can, you can also buy weapons from us, and we will sell them to you for the same price. Of course, we don't take care of the transport, you have to find a way to get the weapons back yourself. ”

"However, your Great Jin Empire has deployed military personnel in the Persian Empire, and is assisting the Persian Empire in launching an attack on us." Listening to Sima Shu's words, the Roman envoy also became anxious, obviously he did not expect that the Jin people would attach so much importance to Persia.

"Military personnel?" Sima Shu laughed, "Yes, we did deploy a certain amount of military force in Persia, but that was mainly to ensure that the interests of the Great Jin in Persia were not infringed upon. Now they have withdrawn from the war between your country and Persia. If your country is willing to lease a port from us, we don't mind sending you a certain number of military personnel! ”

By this time, the Roman envoys had already figured out that it was impossible to abandon Persia at present. However, it is not bad to be able to win the Great Jin to sell weapons to Rome, at least he can be regarded as having completed a goal in this trip. (To be continued......)