"Grand Duke Forris, you are so rude!" Empress Irina turned abruptly and stared aggressively at the man behind her.

And Li Ke also turned around at this time and saw the very handsome Forris standing behind him, although the other party looked very calm, but Li Ke saw a trace of vague hostility in the other party's eyes.

"Isn't it, Marquis Xiluo recorded very clearly in the book that a man in the Tang Dynasty can marry many women?" Forris walked over with a glass of wine with a warm smile on his face.

"Your Excellency seems to have some understanding of the customs of our Tang Dynasty, but I have to say that your understanding is still too superficial!" Although Li Ke didn't know why this Foris was hostile to himself, since everyone had bullied him, he naturally wouldn't bear it, and Chrysy was also very angry with this guy who was disrespectful to his master, so he translated Li Ke's words directly without making any changes.

Hearing Li Ke's unhesitating counterattack, the expression on Forris's face changed, and he just wanted to say something more, but at this time, Constans II also walked up and glanced at Foris deeply, with a hint of displeasure in his eyes, which made him immediately swallow what he wanted to say back into his stomach.

However, Empress Irina already hated Foris very much, and the other party offended her distinguished guest for no reason, although Foris did not refute again, but it still made her very angry, so she said sarcastically: "His Royal Highness King Wu does not need to be angry, some people among the Roman nobles are indeed too self-righteous, thinking that with a beautiful face, they can do whatever they want!" ”

It's not the first time Irina has been so-for-tat with Forris. However, she was so picky in front of Li Ke today, which obviously made Constans II a little embarrassed. Therefore, he also looked at his wife with some unpleasantness.

Because of his relationship with Constans II, Foris can be said to be one man under ten thousand people in Rome. Naturally, he couldn't stand Empress Irina's sarcasm, but he didn't want to attack Irina directly, so he turned his head to Li Ke and said coldly: "Oh, since His Royal Highness King Wu said that this Grand Duke understands too superficially, then I don't know what Your Highness thinks about polygamy?" ”

Li Ke had long known that the other party would ask such a question, so he was ready to answer, only to see him chuckle and say: "Every custom and system is related to the living environment of the local people, taking Rome and our Central Plains as examples. Although Rome was founded for nearly a thousand years and experienced countless wars during this period, it was much more peaceful than our Central Plains. ”

When Li Ke said this, a cold light suddenly erupted in his eyes and looked directly at Forris, and said in a solemn tone: "In the past thousand years, our Central Plains region has had countless internal and external wars, not to mention anything else, just in the rebellion at the end of the Sui Dynasty more than thirty years ago. The warlords and warlords in the country, coupled with the invasion of the Hu people in the north, finally killed and wounded more than 20 million Han people, and countless young and strong men died in the battle. This is exactly the case. As a result, not only is the population of the country declining severely, but there are also many boys and girls, if monogamy is implemented. Then there will be countless young women who will not be able to marry, so the law of our Tang Dynasty allows men to take concubines. ”

"More than 20 million!" Empress Irina exclaimed. There was a look of shock on their faces, and Constans II and Foris also showed expressions of disbelief. The total population of their entire Eastern Roman Empire is at most this number, but it is unimaginable that so many people died in a war in the Central Plains.

Li Ke took a breath, calmed down his excitement, and then smiled at Forris: "In addition, I must correct a great mistake of His Excellency the Grand Duke, we Tang men are only allowed to marry one wife, and the rest are concubines, although the status of these concubines is not as good as that of the main wife, but they are also protected by the law, and the children born can also inherit the family property, if the wife dies unfortunately, then the concubine is likely to become the second wife of the man." ”

"I always thought that the Central Plains region was extremely rich, but I didn't expect that like our Rome, it would also be threatened by war, and a war will kill tens of millions of people. Irina was the first to react, and at the same time said with some emotion.

She was born in a devout Christian aristocratic family, in her concept, God first created a man and a woman, so monogamy is naturally God's original intention, but she has never considered the nature of the relationship between husband and wife from the political and humanistic aspects, so Li Ke's analysis makes her feel very novel, and at the same time, she also feels that the angle of this Tang prince is very special.

Foris didn't expect that one of his questions would lead to such a long discussion by Li Ke, and the angle of this discussion was novel, which made him not know how to deal with it for a while.

Constans II was also worried that this problem would cause Li Ke to be dissatisfied, so he immediately diverted the topic, and then Irina spoke: "The queen doesn't know, what His Royal Highness King Wu said is already in the past, and now the Tang Dynasty has been reunited, and it has also destroyed the very powerful Turkic Empire in the northwest, and the territory is several times larger than when our Rome was the strongest, and all this has only taken a few decades, it makes people feel awe-inspiring to think about it!" ”

Li Ke didn't want to argue with the Archduke Foris on the other side, and he had also heard of some customs among the Romans, and then looked at Constans II's attitude towards Forris, which had already made him guess, and his heart was even more chilly, feeling that arguing with this kind of person would probably only reduce his status, so he also followed the words of Constans II to be modest.

Irina heard that it only took a few decades for the Tang Dynasty to expand from unification, which made her even more curious, Xiluo's book introduced the most about the customs of the Tang Dynasty, but did not say much about the historical aspect, mainly because he himself was not very clear, so Irina took this opportunity to start asking Li Ke about the process of the unification of the Tang Dynasty.

For the maintenance of Irina just now, Li Ke's heart has a great impression of this beautiful queen, so seeing that she is interested in the affairs of the Tang Dynasty, he started with his grandfather Yang Guang at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and then because of the war and natural and man-made disasters, which led to the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and the people were miserable.

Irina didn't expect Li Ke's background to be so prominent, his grandfather and grandfather were all emperors, that is to say, he was burdened with the royal blood of the two dynasties, which was even more shocking to the Romans who valued blood.

Constans II is also very interested in this history of the Tang Dynasty, especially for the current Tang Emperor Li Shimin, he has always wanted to know more, and in the unification war of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin is undoubtedly the most dazzling star, so he also slowly discussed it with Li Ke.

Those who know history know that Li Shimin's life was originally a legend, he raised troops with his father at the age of eighteen, invaded Chang'an the next year, and then in the following years, Li Shimin led the army to conquer the east and west, and single-handedly conquered most of the Tang Dynasty. Especially when these deeds were told by his son Li Ke, they were even more credible, and even Forris, who was still troublesome to him just now, listened attentively on the side.

Of course, Li Ke will not tell everything, such as the change of Xuanwumen, this kind of thing is also an indelible stain for Li Shimin, Li Ke naturally will not publicize it everywhere, so when talking about Li Shimin's ascension to the throne, he only vaguely said that his grandfather gave up the throne to his father.

Next is the exciting expansion of the Tang Dynasty, especially when Li Shimin first ascended the throne, the Turkic army killed outside Chang'an City, and Li Shimin, who was unstable, bluffed, which made Jieli Khan dare not march, but later let the Tang Dynasty sign the shameful Weishui Alliance. As a result, four years later, the Tang Dynasty sent troops to destroy the powerful Eastern Turks in one fell swoop, and then expanded again and again, and the northern grasslands were defeated, thus establishing the hegemony of the Tang Dynasty.

By telling the deeds of his father Emperor Li Shimin, Li Ke let Constans II and Irina know what kind of country the Tang Dynasty is, and at the same time preached to each other the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty's military strength, and even from the founding of the People's Republic of China to the present, no country can resist the attack of the Tang army.

And Constans II also showed a happy expression on his face after listening to Li Ke's words, after all, they are allies with the Tang Dynasty, and naturally hope that the Tang Dynasty is as powerful as possible, only in this way can the big cannibals be suppressed and they dare not act rashly. As for the threat that the Tang Dynasty might pose to Rome, Constans II was not worried at all, because in his opinion, the Tang Dynasty was too far away from Rome, and even now, the other party's territory was still separated from Rome by a vast Black Sea, so as long as Rome did not take the initiative to provoke the Tang Dynasty, there would be no hostile relationship between the two countries.

With the conversation between Li Ke and Constans II and his wife, the reception also slowly came to an end, and at this time, people's passion began to fade slowly, and many people could not help the torture of sleepiness, and began to bid farewell to Constans II and Li Ke in groups, and then left the holy palace in a carriage. Irina felt that Li Ke had just arrived in Constantinople today, and his body also needed to rest, so she suggested ending the reception at this time, and Constans II nodded in agreement at the moment.

Although there was a little unhappiness with Foris during the period, but in general, this banquet still made Li Ke feel very pleasant, especially Constans II and Empress Irina were very enthusiastic about him, and the conversation between the three was also very pleasant, but at the end of the final banquet, Constans II issued an invitation and also made a request. (To be continued......)