"Okay, what do you feel after listening to Mr. Yi An talk about the history of the Roman Empire? Let's talk about it. Zeng Hua clapped his hands and said. After all, in addition to the three provinces, Dali Temple, senior officials of the Privy Council and Hanlin Scholars, there are also Zeng Hua, Wang Meng, Che Yin, Di Pu, Xie Ai, Mao Muzhi and other important ministers and elders, it doesn't matter if you make a joke in front of your colleagues, such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for performance cannot be wasted.

"Let me say a few words." It was Zhang Hong who stood up and spoke, Zhang Shou's third son, who was serving as the secretary of the state affairs of Pingzhang in Shangshu Province.

"After listening to Mr. Yi'an's story in the past few days," Zhang Hong said to Diocletian, who was sitting on the middle stage. Yi An nodded in acknowledgement. Derrick. Born in Philippi, Macedonia, Yi An was a well-known historian of the Roman Empire and a loyal follower of Aristotle's ideas, and it was a complete accident that he was able to follow the mission to the East, and he was forced into the list of the mission by a religious powerful person in Constantinople who was extremely dissatisfied with his adherence to Aristotle's ideas. After arriving in Chang'an, the Roman historian, who had always been treated coldly, became one of the most popular people, which made the scholar in his forties who had been ostracized in Rome because he had always adhered to Aristotle's ideas. After Valerian's introduction, Derick. Yi An simply announced that his Chinese name was Deric, the character Yi'an, and decided to settle in Chang'an, find another oriental female partner, end his single career, and spread Aristotle's ideas in this mysterious land.

At the invitation of Zeng Hua, Derick gave a lecture on the history of the Roman Empire to more than 200 selected high-ranking officials and scholars of the Northern Prefecture in the lecture hall of Chang'an University, which was one of the more important activities in the exchange of Roman and Chinese civilizations presided over by Zeng Hua.

Seeing that someone finally stood up to speak, Zeng Hua nodded to Zhang Hong with a smile and encouraged him to continue to speak boldly.

"I think the strength of the Roman Empire is similar to that of the pre-Qin dynasty in my history." Zhang Hong's words immediately caused a burst of surprise, and Derik, who listened to Valerian's translation, was also surprised.

"The Roman Empire arose in Italy, and it seems to me that the environment there is very similar to that of Guanlong in the former Qin Dynasty. There are barbarians in the west and north, just as there was Hu in the north and Rong in the west when the former Qin rose. The most important Roman Empire rose to prominence with no powerful enemies around. The Persian Empire and the Macedonian Empire that Mr. Yi An mentioned had already fallen, giving it a chance to rise. And the greatest enemy in the East, the Payati Empire, was separated from Italy by Asia Minor and Greece, and could not pose a direct threat. "The names of these Western countries are a bit awkward, which makes Zhang Hong a little difficult to say, but fortunately he is not wrong.

"How similar this is to the rise of the Former Qin," Zhang Hong lamented, "The Jin, Qi, Song and other Spring and Autumn Kingdoms fought against the Central Plains, and no one cared about the Former Qin in the remote western region. Let it attack in the west, attack Hu in the north, and lay Guanlong as the foundation. And listening to what Mr. Yi An said, the Roman Empire also occupied the entire territory of Italy without danger, and then crusaded against Gaul and Spain as the basis for hegemony. ”

"There is another point that is very important. In the middle of Rome, there would be no Rome without Carthage, just as there would be no Qin without the Jin Dynasty. After listening to Valerian's translated words, Derrick was very surprised and asked Zhang Hong again and again what he meant.

"Listening to what Mr. Yi An said, Carthage almost destroyed Rome, and the Qiang Jin once caused the former Qin to lose several games in a row, and his vitality was greatly damaged. But without Qin Mugong's shame and courage, how could there be a Qin tiger, and if there was no battle with Carthage, how could there be a Roman army that dominated the world? Zhang Hong replied loudly.

Zhang Hong's words immediately aroused applause and applause from everyone. Even Derrick applauded this "very peculiar but very plausible" argument.

Zeng Hua exchanged views with Wang Meng, Zheng Pu and others, but did not praise them, but he was amazed by Zhang Hong's thinking ability, although he had some one-sided views on the rise of the former Qin and the strength of the Roman Empire, but his words and analysis put forward some ideas of geopolitics. That's progress.

Seeing Zhang Hong won a round of applause. Zeng Wei, who was his friend and a classmate of the School of Political Science of Chang'an University, couldn't hold back a little, and sat there eager to speak. happened to be seen by Che Yin, so he said with a smile: "It turns out that the fourth son also has something to say." ”

Zeng Wei was broken by Che Yin, and he no longer hesitated, and immediately stood up and arched his hand to Zeng Hua and the others: "I'll add a few words for Brother Daoyuan." The Roman Empire started from a square inch of land, but it was able to expand its territory for thousands of miles, and the more it fought, the richer and stronger it became. This reminds me of the beginning of the establishment of the Northern Mansion by the great general, and everyone in the world slandered the poor soldiers and took the disaster of the Han Dynasty, but what is the truth? Everyone knows it. Today, Mr. Yi An talked about the history of Rome, which confirms what the general said before at Chang'an University, in addition to the army, the more important thing to fight in war is the political and economic system, and if the system is not good, it will become poorer and poorer, while the good system will become richer and richer. ”

"But in my opinion, the Roman Empire expanded too much, and did not form enough cohesion in terms of ideology, organization, and system, that is to say, the Roman Empire did not assimilate the Greeks, Gauls, Syrians, Afrigians, and even its own ideas and culture on the basis of the Greeks, which is enough to make it produce internal friction and division, and I will give you an example, the Roman Empire has been enshrined in Christianity as the state religion too late, and it has been unable to repair its internal rifts. Another very important point is that the Roman Empire has adopted a policy of being strong on the outside and weak on the inside in order to guard all places, and as a result, the emperors of their land have been supported by the army for hundreds of years, and most of them are supported by the border army, the outside is strong and the inside is weak, and the central government has no power; However, if the outside is weak and the inside is strong, the border will be restless, and sooner or later it will be dragged down by the war. ”

Zeng Wei's words surprised everyone even more, after all, what he said was more "naked" than Zhang Hong, even Darek was stunned after listening to the translation, and he couldn't understand why these people from Beifu had such a high "political cultivation". Zeng Hua was thinking in his heart, whether his son was also crossing the clan, and what he just said was the disaster of the Tang Dynasty and the foreign enemies of the Song Dynasty in another world.

Zeng Hua bit his ears with Wang Meng and others for a while, but still did not say anything to praise and refute, this is the atmosphere of Beifu Chinese Studies, each expressing his own opinions and speaking freely, which is why students all over the world are eager to Beifu Chinese Studies. Saw someone make a start. The crowd began to express their opinions and put forward their own arguments. Seeing the enthusiastic debate scene on the court, Derick saw tears in his eyes. This is the academic paradise, this is the real academy.

At the end of the academic exchange meeting, Zeng Hua came to the stage to make a final summary as usual.

"Greece and Rome, like our Chinese people, are the most glorious pages in human history, accumulated over thousands of years, making Athens, Rome, Chang'an, and Luoyang the most dazzling beacons in this dark world. Now, the Eastern and Western civilizations have appeared in the sky of human history like a Gemini constellation in Chang'an, and future generations will always remember this moment. We are not here to discuss which civilization is more advanced, we are just talking to each other. Communicate our successes, communicate our failures, and communicate our dreams, one day, our dreams will eventually converge into the same dream of human beings. ”

Zeng Huadi's words immediately caused a thunderous applause.

"But whether it's Greece, Rome. Or we in China are facing the same problem, the invasion and harassment from the barbarian peoples in the north. We have civilization, so we crave peace, but barbarian peoples live by plundering, and they crave war and killing even more. It takes thousands of years to build a civilization, and it only takes one night to destroy it. We keep creating splendid civilizations, and then we are savagely destroyed. We keep moving forward and then regress in the ruins. ”

"We often wonder what kind of civilization would have been without these ruins and regressions. But there is no history of humanity without war. And each of us has greedy selfish desires, and it is these selfish desires that make us pursue more wealth and a wider land, but it is also these selfish desires that make the barbarians accumulate and go south, striking and destroying our civilized society. Again and again we have assimilated these barbarians with the lives and blood of our relatives. Let them become civilized people in our minds. But new barbarians continued to form in the steppe. Is this the fate of history or the punishment of God? ”

"In any case, we can no longer sit idly by. Continue the tragedy of the past and watch our splendid civilization be destroyed again and again in the fires and then resurrected in blood. We will change history in the future, and we will not only be able to create a glorious civilization, but also have the ability to make it continue to accumulate forever; We can transform the world, and we can conquer all the wilderness; We can write new history with the pen, and we can assimilate the barbarian peoples with the sword; For our hands can not only write, but also shoot arrows; Not only can we hold books, but we can also hold the heads of our enemies! ”

In December of the third year of Ningkang, the three provinces announced that in accordance with Zeng Huadi's order, they would be enthroned in Chang'an on New Year's Day next year.

Time flies quickly, and the New Year is coming in a blink of an eye, although the three provinces and various localities are very dissatisfied with such a hasty enthronement and the establishment of the country, but Zeng Hua does not care, he wrote an article in the "Minbao" in his signature, the founding of the country and the enthronement, more important is to improve a complete set of systems, rather than a ceremony.

On New Year's Day, the wind and the sun were beautiful, Shangshu Province and Jingzhao Yin Mansion had already built a platform for observing the ceremony and enthronement in Victory Square, and sent tens of thousands of guards and tens of thousands of patrols to maintain order, because the square was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people who rushed to hear the news, and the steps behind the high platform became seats, where there will be thousands of viewing platforms for the courtiers of Zhongshu Province and Fengyilang of Menxia Province, officials of Shangshu Province, representatives of the people of various states and counties, Shilang of each honoree, and envoys of Rome and Persia.

At the end of the day, Wang Biaozhi and Xie An helped the young emperor to walk down from Zhongshu Province, and then walked up to the Shouzen platform under the attention of hundreds of thousands of people. The young emperor trembled on the stage and read out the edict of the Zen throne that had long been written in the world, and then took off the crown on his head and put it on the table in the middle, and finally left the Zen platform gloomily with the support of King Xie and the two people.

In the deafening cheers, Zeng Hua wore a round-necked sleeved robe, which was much closer than the old style of the robe, and looked very capable on a solemn basis. The robe is mainly yellow, embroidered with a red sun and moon on the left and right, and the stars are under the back collar, surrounded by cyan, and there are nine things such as mountains, dragons, Chinese insects, fire, Zongyi, etc., each of which is re-lined with twelve, all over the robe. There was a jade belt in the middle, but in addition to that, Zeng Hua was actually just bunching his hair, and there was no crown on his head. The whole person looked weird, very different from the costume of the young emperor who had just withdrawn.

Zeng Hua waved his hand in the cheers, and slowly walked to the middle of the Shouzen platform, and he was followed by Wang Meng, Che Yin, Zhen Pu, Xie Ai, Mao Muzhi and other important ministers of the three provinces of the imperial court, and finally followed all the Zhengqing and Shaoqing of Dali Temple, as well as the Holy Cardinal Archbishop headed by Fan Zhe.

After everyone stood in turn, the first ceremony began, which was the playing of the national anthem. The national flag was raised and the national anthem was sung in unison. This is the practice of Beifu, and the officials and citizens have long been accustomed to such a necessary ceremony for important occasions.

When the military band, composed of Roman trombones, bagpipes, and Chinese drum strings, played majestic music, all the locals stood solemnly, their hands on their hearts, and all their eyes fixed on the tall flagpole in front of the square. Six officers of the Su Guard slowly raised the two-color flag to the rhythm of the music. And hundreds of thousands of voices emit the same sound.

"The vast world, towering China. Rolling dust, my home! Lang Lang Qiankun, the man is hot-blooded. The vast sky, bless me Huaxia! "This is the Chinese national anthem that has been determined.

After the ceremony, it was the ceremony of Zeng Hua's enthronement. Everyone held their breath to see how Zeng Hua was going to make a different enthronement ceremony this time.

I saw Zhang Shou, Gan Rui and others sitting around the back of the high platform, while the sixteen cardinal archbishops sat on the other side. Wang Meng and others and Dali Temple Zhengqing and Shaoqing were all surrounded on both sides of Zeng Huadi. A channel is formed.

At this time, Mao Muzhi, the doctor of the Taizhong Provincial Taizhong Province who was standing at the front, took a crown made of gold and inlaid with gems and jade pendants from an official in the audience and held it high. And shouted loudly: "Follow the will of the people of Huaxia and present the crown in the name of Menxia Province!" He turned around and walked a few steps, and handed his hands to Che Yin, the doctor of Zhongshu Province Guanglu who was standing behind.

After Che Yin took the crown, he also raised his hands high, and shouted loudly: "Shun Huaxia Lord Shilang's meaning." Present the crown in the name of Zhongshu Province! He turned around and walked a few steps, and handed it over to the hand of Pingzhang State Affairs of Shangshu Province behind him. Zheng Pu holds the crown. Accompanied by the military Xie Ai, he walked through the middle of the passage formed by the Zhengqing and Shaoqing of Dali Temple. He held the crown in both hands and walked slowly in front of Zhengqing and Shaoqing, while more than 20 Zhengqing and Shaoqing of Dali Temple stood straight one by one, raising their eyes and looking at the crown in Zheng Pu's hand.

Walking in front of Zeng Hua, Fan Zhe had already waited by his side, stretched out his hands and respectfully accepted the crown, and then walked to Zeng Hua, who was sitting on the chair in the middle, raised the crown high, and shouted loudly: "In the name of the Holy Lord, present the crown of the King of China!" With that, he put the crown on Zeng Hua's head, which was slightly lowered.

Zeng Hua, who was wearing a crown on his head, stood up, and under the watchful eyes of a group of courtiers and hundreds of thousands of people, he followed Fan Zhe to perform his oath aloud.

"Your Majesty, the King of Huaxia Kingdom, are you willing to solemnly swear that you are willing to abide by the laws and customs of the country, abide by the rights given to you by the Holy Lord and the people, and govern the whole country with your heart?" Fan Zhe, dressed in a cardinal archbishop's suit, asked loudly.

"I swear to the Holy Lord in the name of the King of China that I will faithfully perform the duties of the King of China, and do my best to uphold and abide by the constitution and laws of the country, and swear to defend the rights and interests of the country and the people to the death." Zeng Hua stood there with a solemn face and read aloud.

After Zeng Hua finished taking the oath, Wang Meng and the others cheered together: "Long live the King of China!" Long live the country of China! ”

After a burst of cheers, Che Yin led 360 Shilang from Zhongshu Province to swear in front of Zeng Hua: "Abide by the national charter, fulfill the duty of loyalty according to conscience, and use justice and equality to all people." "Then he officially received the post of doctor of Guanglu and the court council.

Mao Muzhi led 282 Fengyi Lang from his subordinate province to take an oath in front of Zeng Hua, and then officially received the post of senior doctor and counselor.

After the Zhengqing and Shaoqing of Dali Temple took the oath in front of Zeng Hua, it was Zhen Pu who led a cadre of Shangshu Provincial officials to take the oath in front of Zeng Hua, and officially took the post of Shangshu Province Pingzhang State Affairs and the Shangshu of the Ministries, and the left and right servants.

After the government officials took the oath, they all stood behind Zeng Hua in turn, and together with hundreds of thousands of people, they swore loudly to the two-color national flag that was fluttering on the high flagpole: "I swear in front of the flag of the Huaxia State that I am loyal to the country it represents, a unified country under the blessing of the Holy Lord, which cannot be divided and inviolable, and that everyone enjoys freedom and justice." ”

Xie An, Wang Biaozhi and others watched the enthronement ceremony based on the oath in amazement, and they couldn't understand what the group headed by Zeng Hua wanted to do? When the music of the military parade sounded, Xie An and Wang Biaozhi suddenly remembered that Zeng Hua seemed to have only ascended the throne of Huaxia and did not claim the title of emperor, what was going on?