Sunny days are rare in Italy in February, and when the envoys from the province of Europa arrived in Rome, the sun shone brightly over Rome.

The messenger Gu Yan reined in his horse and looked at the great city from afar. He was here for the third time, but his sigh was not much weaker than the first. On the long journey from the Great Song Dynasty to Europa, the cities he saw could not escape the barbaric atmosphere. Even the famous city of Europa is full of wild atmosphere. Only this thousand-year-old city can make Gu Yan see the breath of civilization, and even make him have some admiration.

Seven hills, the cradle of Roman civilization. More than 700 years after falling into the hands of barbarians, those buildings still remind people of Rome's heyday. Just when Gu Yan was thinking about the past and the present, the entourage who was not so literati said: "Director Gu, let's hurry into the city." ”

The guards at the gate of the city saw the Great Song banner held high in front of the distant team from afar, and immediately sent people to meet them. When he got closer, he saw the extremely dark brown hair and eyes of the Great Song Envoy, and he was very polite.

Gu Yan wanted to say a few words, but saw a lot of heads hanging on the side of the road. Most of the heads were shaved at the top, with long hair at the edges, the hairstyle of the Crucifixian monks. Dozens or more of their heads rolled their eyes and stuck out their tongues, and they died miserably. In the past few years, the Great Song Dynasty also often displayed the heads of Mongolian generals, traitors and Song traitors. But I haven't seen anything so miserable.

Seeing Gu Yan's gaze, the Mongolian officials who came came laughed with a lame sinicization: "The imperial court has executed some demon monks who refuse to convert, and now they are using their heads to show the public." ”

Now Gu Yan understood. The Crucifixion is divided into Orthodox and Holy See, and the Europa believe that the biggest difference between the two is doctrine. The view in the internal study materials of the Great Song Dynasty is different, the choice of the Orthodox patriarch is decided by the Eastern Roman emperor, and the position of the patriarch is lower than that of the Eastern Roman emperor. The Pope of the Holy See is elected by the Cardinal Conference and is subordinate only to God Jehovah and Christ Jesus, and to earthly emperors and kings.

From the perspective of the analysis of the Great Song Dynasty, the executed Crucidian demon monks in front of him prove the attitude of the current emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Boyan Augustus, towards the Holy See sect of the Crucifixion.

Gu Yan did not say anything about this question, and urged the horse into the city of Rome. There are a lot of people on the streets, and most of them have very light hair. Gu Yan's heart became sad again. A thousand years ago, the black-haired and black-eyed Romans were constantly flowing around the city, telling the thoughts of the Romans and living the life of the Romans. The Romans were barely visible, and most of the darker ones were new Mongol conquerors. It's just funny.

The group first arrived at the office of the Ministry of Rites in Rome, and the minister of the Ministry of Rites was already waiting at the door, and after seeing Gu Yan, he exchanged a few words, but did not invite Gu Yan in, but personally led the team to continue to move forward. When they arrived at what looked like a horse farm, they dismounted and walked in. In front of a rather spacious stable, two horses were pulled out.

The Minister of Rites proudly said, "This is the Iberian horse." ”

Gu Yan heard the words of the Minister of Rites of the Western Roman Empire, but he turned a deaf ear to it. All his attention was drawn to the two horses in front of him. The local temperature in China is very suitable for agricultural civilization, but for some reason there are no excellent horse breeds. In that year, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty launched two large-scale wars in order to obtain the blood of Dawan Khan. 100,000 people were killed and wounded, but more than 1,000 sweaty horses were obtained. However, in the end, those sweaty horses did not form a stable population in China.

Now the soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty have arrived in Dawan and have obtained a lot of Dawan horses. However, Zhao Guanjia's evaluation of those divine horses is not particularly high, and Zhao Guanjia, who is a pedantic celestial, said that the best horses are not Dawan horses, nor are they Arabian horses. The best Iberian horses are produced in Spain, in the south of Eurobass. He saved the Great Song Europa several indefinite tasks, and the first one to get as many Iberian horses as possible. If necessary, it is not a problem to build a horse farm with the Spanish region so that the locals can learn the breeding techniques of artificial insemination.

Now that Iberian Horse was in front of him, Gu Yan fully understood why the Zhao official family would give such an order. Mongolian horses are generally only more than 130 centimeters tall at the shoulder, and they are a kind of bantam horses in the Great Song Dynasty, where the average height is more than 170. Gu Yan is 180 tall, which is a common height in the Great Song Dynasty. Accustomed to looking down on horses, he could only see the back of an Iberian horse at eye level. This means that both horses in front of you are nearly 170 tall at the shoulder.

Under the smooth and bright thick fur, large muscles are plump and firm. The long mane and tail hair have a wavy and curly appearance, which adds to the magnificence of the horse.

Stepping forward and walking in front of the horse, Gu Yan saw that the horse tilted its head slightly to look at him. On the beautiful face, there is even a little alertness and incomprehension in the face of strangers. Gu Yan himself didn't expect that he could see the expression on a horse's face, and he couldn't help but smile happily.

Seeing Gu Yan's smile, the Minister of Rites of the Western Roman Empire also smiled. During the Roman Republic and the Imperial era, Spain was a Roman province, and now the newly established Western Roman Empire could only reach Spain by sea. Fortunately, the local True God Cult was almost out of breath under the strong pressure of the Crusader Empire, and knowing that the Western Roman Empire was hostile to the Crusader countries of Europa, they sent a pair of horses to the Western Roman Empire as a gift. And Da Song has already made it clear that he hopes to get Iberian horses. As long as he can get it, Da Song is willing to pay the price of satisfying the other party.

Seeing the Iberian horse, Gu Yan didn't stay too long. Since Zhao Guanjia's opinion is correct, it is time to negotiate with the Western Roman Empire, which has been prepared for a long time. Returning to the office of the Minister of Rites of the Western Roman Empire, negotiations immediately began.

"We want to open a horse farm in Italy and train Iberian horses."

Hearing the first request of the Western Roman side, Gu Yan felt that the officials of the Western Roman Empire were quite standard. If they open their mouths, Da Song has a way to shut them up. Or let them spit out even the principal and interest in the future.

As he was thinking about it, the Minister of Rites explained: "It is very difficult to transport horses from Spain, and if we transport horses from Spain to the Great Song Dynasty, we are worried that the horses will not survive. The establishment of a horse farm in Italy, the road is unimpeded, Da Song can get horses, we can also get good horses. Best of both worlds. ”

After listening to this, Gu Yan replied in a deep voice, "I agree." ”

At this time, a map had already appeared in his mind, and there was already a route from Italy to the Great Song. From northeastern Italy to the east, through the Balkans, near the Black Sea, then north, near Odessa, across the Dnieper, all the way east, across the Volga, the Urals, the Dawan region, and finally to the Western Regions. The horse farms of the Great Song Dynasty are now mainly distributed in the north, and there are many horse farms in Ningxia, Gansu. These Iberian horses will probably be bred there first, and when the population grows, they will be sent to other horse farms to expand the population.

The Minister of Western Roman Rites didn't expect Gu Yan to be so refreshing, and regardless of Gu Yan's thoughtful expression, he started the second step, "We hope that Da Song can agree to our three conditions." ”

"Say." Gu Yan replied briskly.

"The establishment of a horse farm in the Great Song Dynasty should teach us the same horse breeding skills as the Yuan Kingdom." After the minister finished speaking, he felt that he could not fully express his request, and then said: "There are so many horses in the Yuan Kingdom, there must be a secret technique of the Great Song Dynasty......"

Gu Yan knew that the so-called secret technique was artificial insemination, and he didn't want to waste time, so he simply interrupted the minister's words, "Okay." I will teach it to you. ”

The minister was afraid that Gu Yan would fool him, so he followed again, "The mare of the Yuan Kingdom can give birth to a pony every year!" ”

"Where is that technology so godly, one horse a year is a blind blow." Gu Yan said with a smile. Looking at the minister's disappointed expression, Gu Yan continued: "But five or six ponies born in seven or eight years are no problem. ”

The minister's face instantly changed from disappointment to joy, and then he heard Gu Yan say: "Your Excellency, this person next to me is an expert in horse breeding, and he has something to say to you." ”

I don't know what Gu Yan is going to do when he pushes this horse breeding expert out, the minister said hello to the expert a little perfunctorily, and listened to the expert's straightforward speech: "But I don't know if Your Excellency has ever raised horses?" ”

The minister didn't know why, so he could only shake his head.

"Have you ever raised sheep?" The horse breeder continued.

The minister's face was not good-looking. Raising horses is no longer something to be proud of, and raising sheep is even worse. However, on the other side was the person from the Great Song Dynasty, and the minister didn't want to make himself even more embarrassed, so he said unhappily: "This ...... Sir, I have not grazed! ”

Determining the level of knowledge of the Minister of Rites, the horse breeding expert continued: "Your Excellency, horses should not be inbred as much as possible. In that case, the horses will only get weaker and weaker. It's all Iberian horses, and for them to breed, they have to be at least distant relatives beyond three generations, and if they can, the more generations the better. If you want to set up a horse farm, you can't have just a few Iberian stallions. The more the merrier. And the Iberian horse is so good, you can't find some other mare to breed. Since Your Excellency is sincere in opening a horse farm with the Great Song Dynasty, the source of this horse must have a number of ...... every year."

In the evening, the minister of rites went to see Augustus Boyan, and when Boyan saw that he was tired, he said, "You have worked hard." The Song people are not easy to deal with. ”

The minister could only smile bitterly and thank Boyan for his reassurance, Boyan had said this before, but he didn't expect that the people on the side of the Great Song Dynasty would be more difficult to deal with than he imagined. In particular, those so-called 'experts' are really from horse breeding and mining. The minister never thought about what he said, and he never stopped listening to it. I couldn't keep up with their train of thought even though I tried my best. Thinking back to their words, the minister felt that his mind was starting to mess up.

Fortunately, His Majesty Boyan ordered the formation of the clerk, and the minister took out the documents that the clerk had finally sorted out, and reported the results first. "Song Guo promised to build a horse farm with us and give us the secret art of raising horses. They also agreed to open iron mines to make iron. To manufacture weapons, they said that the gun factory would not be able to produce anything in a year or two, and promised to sell us a batch of guns and cannons that were the same as those of the Yuan Kingdom......"

As soon as the clerk's record ended, the minister flipped to the next page, took a breath, and continued, "They have also promised to send men to help us train our men. ”

After listening to this, Boyan asked: "They promised so much, it will definitely not be asking for money." What do they want? ”

The minister's spirits were lifted, and His Majesty Boyan could always see the crux of the matter, the Mongol army had just conquered the Italian peninsula, and after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Italian peninsula was quickly torn apart, and the heroes were divided for hundreds of years. The coalition forces under the command of Boyan were only barely able to eliminate the local separatist forces. Today's Italy is not the legendary Roman Empire, but a peninsula with different languages spoken from south to north. After giving a reward to his subordinates, he could hear an echo in the treasury of the treasury, and he couldn't get any money at all.

"Your Majesty, the Song Kingdom doesn't want money, but wants us to get at least two hundred Iberian horses every year from the Kingdom of Granada of the Spanish Berbers." After the minister finished speaking, he stared at Boyan.

For this condition, Boyan was only slightly surprised. Of course, he knew that Song Guo was difficult to deal with, but he didn't expect that Song Guo was so difficult to deal with a little bit higher than he imagined. There was no room for the other means that Boyan had prepared. Thinking of this, Boyan said to the minister of the Ministry of Rites: "You tell the envoys of the Song State that I will meet them tomorrow. ”

After a night of silence, Boyan received the Great Song envoy as planned the next day. Looking at the young man in his thirties opposite, Boyan felt a slight pain in his heart. The envoy of the Great Song Dynasty bowed to Boyan with his right hand according to his chest, and Boyan knew that this was the rule of the Great Song Dynasty. It is said that in the Great Song Dynasty, when the envoy saw the official family, he didn't need to bow, he just went up to shake hands. Although the envoys of other countries wanted to kneel when they saw Boyan, Boyan did not dare to ask the envoys of the Great Song Dynasty to adopt the same etiquette.

The envoy was given a horse to sit on, and the two sides entered into negotiations directly. "You want two hundred Iberian horses a year as stallions?" ”

"Yes."

"Do you know what that costs you?"

"I'm afraid that Western Rome will help the Kingdom of Granada in Spain, and they will have to help them fight with the countries of Eurobasi." The messenger replied bluntly.

Boyan felt a faint pain in his heart again. In addition to being young and enterprising, the young envoys of the Great Song Dynasty also have cognitions that do not match their age. Compared with the Great Song Dynasty, most of Boyan's subordinates only looked a few inches away.

Suppressing the unhappiness in his heart, Boyan said calmly: "Since you know, give us more things." ”

Gu Yan replied briskly: "Your Excellency Boyan, if you really want to help the Kingdom of Granada fight, please let us know at that time, and our fleet will help you transport troops and supplies." Please rest assured that the acquisition of Iberian Horses is a century-old project for the Great Song Dynasty, and we will cooperate with you in this matter. ”

"You're asking for too much!" Boyan said dissatisfiedly.

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