Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 605 Roma vs Italy

Everyone who came here had some understanding of each other's situation in advance. The meeting was arranged mainly for mutual confirmation. Therefore, with the explanation of Guo Kang and others, everyone quickly reached a basic consensus.

After Luo Guanzhong explained the reasoning, the others understood what they wanted to say. In this way, the mission this time was completed. Everyone settled down and enjoyed the banquet itself.

However, these guests were all drinking more than the other, and Guo Kang soon felt overwhelmed. Luo Guanzhong and Joanna, who were standing beside him, were obviously used to this kind of socializing, but Guo Kang himself was the least experienced and could only bite the bullet and go ahead. As a result, after more than half an hour, the guests and hosts were all happy, and the banquet came to an end. But Guo Kang was already drunk and dizzy.

Seeing this, the old sea urchin asked the apprentices to arrange accommodation for the envoys, saying that he would not trouble the master anymore, and took them away first. Joanna held Guo Kang and persuaded him that he had just drunk a lot of fermented grape juice, and it was not safe to rush on the road, and there was nothing he could do when he returned. It would be better to rest for a while and recover first.

Seeing that she was so eager to keep him, Luo Guanzhong immediately said goodbye, saying that he had something else to do and had to rush to the camp outside the city, and then he ran away. However, just as he arrived at the door, he saw a carriage coming. One of Theodora's maids jumped out from the back and asked as soon as they saw each other: "Is this Mr. Luo? Is Mr. Guo in there?"

"Yes, we just finished the banquet. He drank a lot. I guess he hasn't come out yet." Luo Guanzhong said immediately: "I will go back and call him."

"No thanks. By the way, Mr. Luo, the story you told in the theater before..."

The maid waved her hand, indicating that she didn't need to bother him, and wanted to take this opportunity to ask about his previous storytelling. But before she finished speaking, Luo Guanzhong turned around and hurried back to the merchant house, and it was unknown whether he heard it or not.

He returned to the banquet hall and saw Joanna holding the dizzy Guo Kang. She held him with one hand to prevent him from falling, and with the other hand she was groping somewhere else. She was dragging him crookedly, muttering something as she moved towards the corridor.

Seeing Luo Guanzhong suddenly running back, she was obviously startled and stood there in a daze. Luo Guanzhong did not have time to explain, he dragged Guo Kang over, threw him on the chair beside the table, grabbed the unfinished wine glass in front of him, and threw it in his face. Guo Kang was startled, subconsciously grabbed the glass, instinctively raised his sleeves, and began to wipe his face.

At this time, the maid followed in. The mercenaries standing guard at the door did not dare to stop her, and followed behind, looking in from a distance.

However, seeing Guo Kang's embarrassed look, everyone roughly understood what was going on. The maid explained her identity and mission to Joanna, and told her that she was going to take Guo Kang away. At the side, Luo Guanzhong forcefully snatched Guo Kang's cup, and said loudly, "Sir, that's enough, you've already drunk and lie down, don't drink anymore," and carried him up. Seeing some people gathered outside the door, he called everyone in, and carried Guo Kang away with all his hands and feet.

Guo Kang got on the carriage without knowing what was going on and was transported back to the palace. He didn't wake up until the next day. Thinking back, he didn't know what had happened before. He had to put it aside and prepare to deal with today's affairs.

As a result, before he walked out, Theodora suddenly appeared and scolded him, telling him not to drink so much next time, saying that he was delaying things. Guo Kang was confused and didn't know what was going on. He could only agree to it first and ask slowly later.

However, yesterday's incident was rather sudden. Luo Guanzhong was indeed busy and couldn't find anyone now. The others gave up thinking when they saw the people sent by Theodora, and just did whatever they were told to do, not knowing how to ask...

The two followers she brought with her every day were nominally maids, but one of them was a great Albanian noble, and one of her ancestors had been a local king. The other was a cheap relative of the Queen Mother, and was said to be from the family of the Serbian King Dushan. Recently, she hired a new one, who was the niece of the Grand Duke of Ryazan. Anyway, the status of these people was higher than most of the officials in the city, and generally no one dared to mess with them.

Of course, Guo Kang did not think that this meeting was a waste of time. On the contrary, the efficiency of the negotiations was quite high. Since all parties reached an agreement at once, many subsequent wrangling links were avoided. He did not need to participate in the rest of the process. He only needed to let the officials in charge calculate the expected time and transportation capacity, and bargain with the countries along the way.

These countries have limited national power and do not have much military or political ambition. In fact, even the seemingly powerful Almoravid and Almohad dynasties did not focus on fighting against infidels and recovering lost territory, but on how to rule the richer Andalusia and North Africa. They were only concerned with how to make money from their fellow believers, but were quite peaceful when dealing with foreign countries.

Historically, the regimes of Andalusia and North Africa sponsored philosophers and writers who were far more famous than the dynasties themselves.

In Italy today, there is a prominent school of thought called "Averroism", which has a great influence in the church and universities. Averroes is the philosopher Ibn Rushd sponsored by the Almohad dynasty. He is famous because he was the most learned Greek philosopher at the time and was known as the epitome of Aristotle's philosophy. Although the religions are different, the church often imports and translates books from the Muslim world on the grounds of "better understanding and criticism of paganism". Therefore, these doctrines were also introduced and widely spread. Later theologians, including heavyweights such as Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas, were all influenced by this.

From the perspective of inheritance, this group of pagan scholars are the direct foundation of various modern theories. It’s just that no one likes to mention these people. They are more keen on claiming that European philosophy and theology are directly inherited from the classical era, which leads to their low reputation in later generations.

Of course, the consequence of this is that the wealthy and cultured Muslim society is completely unable to defeat the poor and barbaric Christian country. Andalusia is getting smaller and smaller, and now it can hardly hold on...

The situation in Italy is similar. The complicated family relationships and bloody internal struggles mentioned by Guo Kang and others are rarely known in later generations. However, some of the people they sponsored are very famous.

The short-lived prince, Charles Martel of Anjou, has little presence in history. However, he appears as a positive character in The Divine Comedy. Because he was a friend and one of Dante's main sponsors, his early death made Dante very sad, so he wrote about it. In this way, although he did not enter the history books, he also entered the literary classics.

Another friend of Dante was the writer Petrarch, whose main sponsors were the church and Charles Martel's brother Robert. Petrarch grew up in Avignon, had close ties with the church, and was a "Romanian". His famous work was an epic poem called "Africa", which described the Second Punic War and praised Scipio Africanus's achievements in defeating the Carthaginians.

This poem was so famous that it was circulated throughout Europe. Both Paris and Rome wanted to crown him with laurels. Finally, Petrarch chose Rome, where Robert, who had inherited the throne, gave him a purple robe. The citizens cheered him into the city and put a laurel wreath on him in front of the Temple of Cupid. That's how his fame began.

Later, after Robert's granddaughter Joanna ascended the throne, civil strife broke out in the Kingdom of Naples, and Petrarch, with the help of his church status and personal connections, came to mediate. But the hatred within the family had gotten out of control, and he, as an outsider, was really powerless.

Queen Joanna sponsored another famous writer, Boccaccio. In addition to his most famous work, The Decameron, Boccaccio also wrote a book, Lives of Famous Women. This book is the first collection of biographies of women in European history. It was also a must-have textbook for women's moral education in Europe for a long time. It was adopted by aristocratic teachers everywhere and was used specifically to educate ladies.

This book includes 106 women who serve as role models and negative examples, mostly figures from mythology and classical times. The only contemporary woman included is Queen Joanna.

Boccaccio's reason for including her in the list was that she was "more famous than any other woman in terms of bloodline, power, and character." However, anyone who knows history knows that Queen Joanna was always suspected because she was not a legitimate male child. Her rule was always unstable and she was involved in various court scandals and conspiracies many times. It can be said that she lacked bloodline support, power, and character.

However, he is a sponsor after all, so he may as well brag about it...

Italy's strategic situation is similar. Now, they have to face the issue of succession again. However, even if they want to do it again, they can't do it on such a large scale.

During the civil strife of the previous generation, the royal families who participated in it have now changed from local tyrants who controlled territories and armies to court nobles with only nominal positions. Because the long list of fiefs and titles of the Anjou family, such as the Duke of Achaia, the King of Albania, the Duke of Durazzo, the Despot of Romania, etc., were all eliminated by the Purple Tent. Even the Prince of Taranto now only has half of the port left. If there is a commotion now, it is no longer the princes raising troops to attack Luoyang, but various conspiracies and intrigues in the court.

As for Guo Kang and his people, the situation is the opposite. Although they are both Han and Roman in name, the cultural level of the Purple Tent Khanate is really hard to describe. To be honest, it may not even be as good as the country they call barbarians every day...

The older generation generally felt that sponsoring writers was a waste of money. If it weren't for the poor education level here and the need to preserve some of the original educational institutions, they would have even wanted to cut off some of the departments of the University of Constantine. At least, they definitely didn't want to give money to those departments of philosophy and literature.

Guo Kang himself felt from time to time that he might need to hire some writers to do some publicity. He couldn't let the barbarians look down on him. But he had limited funds, and projects like Steam Brother were like bottomless pits, and it was difficult to spare money. So, when it came time to pay, he began to hesitate.

In this regard, Tuo Huan and others believe that if a writer is good enough, he should be able to support himself like Luo Guanzhong and does not need sponsorship at all. So until now, he has not really done anything.

(End of this chapter)