"You don't come! Every day you come to me and stare at the site where the spaceship is built, you are about to become a hopeful stone, and you dare to belittle me. “

"Wangfu... What the?... Do not understand. Just tell me how much it costs. Alexander couldn't hold it anymore.

"My price is not low, Surin gave me the price of fifty thousand silver coins worth a delamarc, and I only promised to give him the zero. ”

"What? do you mean... How can this be, this is unacceptable to Rome. Alexander was a little furious.

"You don't think that a spaceship is an ordinary commodity, he is involved in politics, the military, and the rise and fall of a nation. Have you thought about what the consequences will be after the Surin family obtains such an artifact?"

"I advise you to calm down, my majesty! Zero is just a rudimentary spaceship, which I have pieced together as a last resort. Originally, it was only built to escape from danger, and it was very problematic in terms of speed, volume, and robustness, and it will require a lot of maintenance in the future. I'm not talking to you about Zero, but the Apostle, who can defeat the Sassanid Undead alone. ”

Zhang Bai then described to Alexander how he defeated Shapur, the then Sassanid prince, on the Parthian front.

Alexander calmed down, but he was still a little uncomfortable. "I still hope that you will cancel your agreement with the Surin family, the appearance of the ship will destabilize the eastern borders of Rome. Moreover, the Surin family is ambitious and will wreak havoc on the political map we are building, and their head Kelka is an old fox who will surely use a spaceship to claim the throne, and his greed knows no bounds. ”

"He's going to get the throne, you can't stop it. Zhang Bai persuaded: "All nobles have an innate desire to become rulers, and you can't eliminate them. The only way to do this is to channel these desires and slowly lead them to heaven or to the grave. ”

"You mean religion and death, but how do you know for sure that Surin will get the throne?"

"Both Aldaban V and Princess Tolan survived the coup. Inside, they were extremely distrustful of the aristocracy, but had to cooperate with them. And Peshawar has experienced this great turmoil, and the big family has all perished, and on this basis alone, I dare to assert that Aldaban V and Princess Tolan will definitely settle in Peshawar after marriage, and without our urging, Peshawar will also be regarded as the capital and the location of the royal palace. Zhang Bai said.

"I think you have a point, but what does this have to do with the Surin family?" Alexander asked.

"I have inquired that the place where the greatest grain production in the valley of the two rivers is Babylonia, which is not too far from Ctesiphon, and whose taxes account for a quarter of the entire empire. Now it is under the administration of Voggis VI, and this Voggis VI is the uncle of Ardaban V, who was originally the emperor of Parthia, who was ousted by the army of the former emperor Ardaban IV. He is still alive, and although he is a vassal of Parthia, he still holds the title of Babylonia. ”

Alexander nodded slightly.

"So the throne I just spoke of is the throne of the king of Babylonia. Zhang Bai uncovered the mystery.

"If you say that, I understand. After Artaban V established the capital in Peshawar, as the leader of the Ctesiphon nobility, the Surin family was of course likely to take advantage of the opportunity of the royal family's eastward move to seize the rule of Babylonia, so Voggis VI was unlucky. ”

"Yes, and I'm sure that when the time comes, Artaban V won't bother him at all, and I'm afraid he won't even fart about it. ”

Alexander stood up, pacing back and forth thinking, "So, you mean, Surin and Voggis VI will fight to the death?"

"From what I know, I think Voggis VI can defend himself by military alone, but he should not be able to guard against the secret conspiracy of the Surin family, and I think he will fail. At this time, Rome could take the opportunity to act as a mediator to mediate and save the Voggis family. Zhang Bai suggested.

In this way, the future India, the western part of the Parthian Empire, the internal affairs here will be completely under the control of Rome. What's more, what if the Surin family has a spaceship? Rome can have more and better ships, I promise, except for Zero, I won't sell the ship to the Surin family again, how about it?"

"It's not enough, you have to promise that from now on you will only sell spaceships to Rome!"

"Why don't you add a big man? I want to go home and see it! If my family knows that I only sell ships to Rome and not to big men, I will become a traitor in the eyes of the people. ”

"I can understand your plight, and I can forgive you for making such an unreasonable request, but I still don't agree with you selling your ship to any country other than Rome. ”

"You're too domineering!"

"Don't forget that I am the Roman Emperor! “

Zhang Bai hated it so much, and in the end he had no choice but to compromise, among Western countries, there is actually only one Rome that is really rich, if this market is lost, Zhang Bai will feel very heartbroken, as for the request not to sell to the Han, there is still room for negotiation, isn't it?

"Let's do that! How about we stipulate a quantity, and no more than three spaceships can be sold to the Great Han? Now that the Great Han has three points in the world, I only sell one ship per country on average, and this is all right, right?"

"Then the price of the ship you sell to Rome must not be higher than 10,000 silver coins. “

"You're robbing money? It's only 10,000 silver coins, is it the price of cabbage?"

"Then you cancel the deal with the Surin family. “

"Fifty thousand Delamarc silver coins, it can't be lower, the ship I gave you is the Apostle, much more than the Zero!"

"Give me at least three, a total of fifty thousand silver coins of dellamarc, and if you don't agree, I'll cancel all our previous agreements, and the Roman army will march into Seleucia. ”

"Okay, you white robber, someone robbed you——!" Zhang Bai was so anxious that he got up and jumped to his feet.

You went back and forth for a long time, and the final result of the negotiation was: Zhang Bai gave Rome a total of four ships, including the Apostle, and Rome paid a total of 80,000 delamarc silver coins or the equivalent of gold and silver.

The price has gone up a bit, but there are a lot more strings attached:

1. To train Rome a hundred crew members for free;

2. Only one Zero can be sold to the Surin family, and the price must not be less than twice the price given to Rome;

3. It is stipulated that in the future, only a maximum of three ships can be sold to the Han countries, and the price of which cannot be less than twice the price given to Rome;

4. The Roman spaceship was damaged, and Zhang Bai had to guarantee repairs;

5. Of the eighty thousand silver coins paid for the ship, ten thousand silver coins of della marc, which must be used to buy wheat and wine from Rome;

6. Another 10,000 silver coins, which must be used to buy Roman fire paint, tung oil, and cloth for the manufacture of airbags for flying ships;

And that's not all, and in the end, 3,000 barrels of hydrogen will be sent to Rome for free. "I signed an unequal treaty!" The painful Zhang Bai felt that he was a hardcore traitor when he thought about it.

This Alexander was too shrewd, and he actually saw that the key to the spaceship's float was hydrogen, and he almost didn't scare Zhang Bai to death. If he had seen how hydrogen was made, the spaceship would have rotted on the streets.

After all, all you need to make hydrogen is salt water and inconspicuous lightning magic.