Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 614: Shi Huizhen, the Most Romantic

In the following days, various celebrations were still held in the city. Just as Luo Guanzhong had worried, a large number of magical Three Kingdoms stories appeared in the carnival.

Guo Kang was actually quite curious about this, so he sneaked out to watch while no one else was paying attention. Sure enough, on the street, there were people parading everywhere with great fanfare. He went over to watch, and saw a large group of actors in costumes and holding props at the front of the team, gesturing various movements as they walked. The audiences nearby also cheered and looked very excited.

Guo Kang relied on his big body to squeeze into the crowd. After looking for a while, he found that he didn't recognize any of the people. So he pointed to the person in the front, who was holding a long recurve sword, wearing a Corinthian helmet and a cloak, and asked the audience next to him: "Who is that person?"

"That's Guan Gong." Passers-by were surprised and said, "Is this young man a monk? He's such a popular figure, but they don't even know him."

"Uh……"

No matter how Guo Kang looked at it, he felt that this image was a little far from Guan Gong, so he had to point to the back, where a bearded actor wearing a muscle chest armor and holding a spear said, "What is that? Guan Gong fighting a Spartan warrior?"

"That's General Zhang Fei, the third brother of the Peach Garden Oath." Another passerby frowned and said.

"..."

Guo Kang looked at it and scratched his head. At this time, the crowd in front cheered again. Everyone leaned over to look and saw that in the middle of the team, there was a four-wheeled carriage with a simple crane used in the theater for "Deus Ex Machina". With the sound of a small drum, the staff operated the crane and lifted up a man in a monk's robe, posing in various postures in mid-air. Various complicated-looking wooden instruments rose up around him and began to rotate around him.

"What kind of Frankenstein is this..." Guo Kang couldn't help but complain.

"This is Zhuge Kongming." This time, the people around him shouted in unison, "This is the highlight of today's parade. Don't you know? This performance is the unique skill of the troupe. You can tell at a glance that this car took a lot of effort to build."

"What does this have to do with Zhuge Liang?" Guo Kang asked in surprise.

"That seat is the wooden ox and flowing horse. According to the story of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Kongming always sat in this kind of mechanical vehicle whenever he went on an expedition. He could raise himself up to observe the enemy's formation, and he could also use the weapons on the vehicle to attack the enemy. That's why he was so powerful when commanding a battle." Someone introduced it to him skillfully, and it was obvious that he had told these stories to many people.

"You haven't watched Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so you probably don't know these stories. In fact, they all have allusions. For example, the performance now is praying to God. Because one of God's most powerful powers is the storm. Zhuge Kongming, as a saint, can also use the power of God to destroy the enemy with storms." Another person also talked about Zhuge Kongming's setting like a bamboo tube pouring beans.

Guo Kang paused for a moment, still not fully understanding the stories, and could only nod woodenly. "This guy doesn't seem to understand the story of the Three Kingdoms."

"Is there any Roman who doesn't know this? I thought everyone would have heard of such a popular subject."

"You're not from our city, are you? Did you come from the countryside in Henan recently?"

"..."

For a moment, people around started talking and some even started laughing.

No matter how eloquent Guo Kang was, he couldn't outspeak so many people. And to be honest, he had just returned from his hometown in Henan more than a month ago, and his Greek was so-so, and he still didn't speak the same language as the other languages. For a moment, he didn't know what to say. He could only run away quickly when the next show came and everyone turned around to cheer again.

After returning, the trouble was not over. Theodora knew at some point that he had not attended the etiquette training and had secretly gone out to play. When she heard that he had gone to watch the fun, she was very nervous and kept questioning him, asking if he had gone to meet the female businessman or someone else to watch a play. Guo Kang could only explain repeatedly that he had just watched a Three Kingdoms performance to deal with the matter.

As for the issues that Luo Guanzhong was concerned about, there has been no progress. Everyone is busy now, and no one cares about what kind of Three Kingdoms stories are made up by the people.

Among the few acquaintances who were more influential than him, Tuohuan had to meet with envoys from various countries and take care of the gathering of the expeditionary forces. Guo Kang felt embarrassed to disturb him; Theodora also met with various people and hosted various banquets every day, and basically only saw him at night. Moreover, after meeting, she didn't want to listen to Guo Kang talk about these things, so after several days, she didn't even have a chance to speak, so she had to give up for the time being.

In the afternoon, Shi Huizhen and Meltem came to deliver something to Guo Kang and to check on his progress. Guo Kang chatted with them and mentioned that Theodora's recent condition was not quite right. Meltem agreed with this.

"Princess Niu likes to be jealous, especially now that many people are attacking her. She may be in a worse mood." She told Guo Kang: "Although she is a princess of a great country, she is actually full of intrigue in the palace, so she is often full of crisis. That's why she is jealous and angry at the same time."

"What kind of crisis could this be? Is it that the Khanate is too weak, or that we Romans cannot defeat the barbarians?" Guo Kang asked in surprise.

"It's not this kind of survival crisis, but the small environment in which she lives." Meltem said with a smile: "She is not a person with strong self-confidence, and she likes to calculate. Such a person will definitely worry a lot and be suspicious all day long. If she is always in this mood, she will definitely not have a good temper."

"Oh, I don't know what to worry about. She likes to play with those Greek women every day. I told her, but she didn't listen." Guo Kang shook his head: "Hanging with them will only add to her worries. I don't know what she is trying to do..."

"I don't understand either." Shi Huizhen said bluntly: "Those people can't beat her, what are they afraid of?"

"She's afraid that someone will steal her man." Meltem spread his hands. "Actually, it's okay. You see, I don't worry about these things. So, my mentality is much healthier than hers. I won't put pressure on myself every day. I won't make so many things and let others attack me."

"Why did someone attack her?" Guo Kang asked curiously.

"Before, Princess Niu won over a large group of girls from upper-class families, saying that we should all choose the person we truly love as our husband according to our own wishes, and coaxed them to help her build momentum." Meltem said, "But when the marriage was decided, she changed her mind and said that marriage and love are two different things. Marriage is an alliance between two families, so the establishment of marriage should be based on reason rather than emotion, and the final decision should be approved by the decision-maker of the family."

"Uh..." Guo Kang was speechless for a moment.

"So, many of those girls felt betrayed by her and are very unhappy. Now they are criticizing her." Meltem continued: "No matter how you look at it, it feels a bit funny."

Although he had heard Tuohuan say this once before, he didn't expect it to last this long. He also didn't know how big an impact these things had.

Guo Kang could also see that although Meltem said he didn't care, he was actually gloating. As for Shi Huizhen, she was still wondering whether Theodora could beat him, and she probably didn't understand the situation. These two people definitely couldn't help, so Guo Kang could only ask them later.

However, after thinking about it, he felt that he could also do something and take better care of Theodora.

The relationships between the ladies in and outside the palace were extremely complicated. Guo Kang heard people talk about them from time to time, but he still couldn't figure out the grudges and hatreds between them. Although Meltem thought that Theodora was looking for trouble, Guo Kang felt that the others must be unclean.

After all, those people formed all kinds of messy factions for inexplicable reasons all day long, and a tea party could form several new groups. God probably couldn't figure out whether it was because Theodora provoked them that they formed a group to exclude her; or because others simply wanted to exclude her, so they found a reason to say that she provoked everyone.

According to Meltem and the others, Theodora was causing so much trouble because she had no confidence and was worried about the instability of love and family. In this case, we should comfort her and give her a stronger sense of love experience, which would probably strengthen her confidence.

However, he was quite self-aware in this regard. Over the years, he had never learned how to please women. The only way he could think of for entertainment was to take people to the monastery to see the steam brother and satisfy everyone's curiosity.

His gang of Anda really liked it, and some even wanted to go there to watch the big machine when they had nothing to do. Later, Guo Kang learned to be smart and specially organized those who performed well among Ross's new recruits to visit there. Those who went there were really shocked, and they spread the word everywhere, attracting others to follow suit. Obviously, this reward was also very popular among ordinary people.

However, he was not sure whether women could appreciate these things. So it would be better to find someone who knows the business and ask for advice.

It just so happened that Qiao Feng was also in and out of the palace these days, helping Tuo Huan pass on messages and organizing representatives from various cities in Italy to come to congratulate and pay homage. Guo Kang thought about it and felt that these wealthy Italian kids were probably the most romantic people in Europe now. After all, these people took the lead in supporting the development of secular literature and art these days. After all, other parts of Europe are generally too poor, and people don't have the leisure time. Although Rome is not poor, the society as a whole is very militarized, and the cultural atmosphere is much more serious. Perhaps, only they have this kind of soil. Therefore, he took advantage of the evening when he got off work and called Qiao Feng to have a meal together and prepare to study.

After the two met, Guo Kang said directly: "I want to learn some skills that can make people feel romantic. Can you teach me?"

"Romantic?" Qiao Feng was surprised for a moment: "You mean..."

"It's... the kind that can make women happy and be popular with them. There are not many people around me who can do this - oh, Xuanying may be able to do it, but I can't learn his skill of writing poems and singing in a short time." Guo Kang replied: "So, I can only cram at the last minute to see if there is any routine that can be learned directly so that it can be used quickly. Otherwise, I can only take people to watch Steam Brother or Cannon or something like that."

"You are talking about this kind of need." Qiao Feng became serious, thought for a moment, and asked back: "Sir, do you know what the word 'romantic' means?"

"Ah? You say." Seeing his expression, this time it was Guo Kang's turn to be unable to react.

"The word romantic, its most basic meaning is 'Roman'. This word has nothing to do with women." Qiao Feng said firmly.

"what?"

"I heard this word when I was in Italy. It seems to have originated from our place and is used to describe a literary form." Qiao Feng explained, "This is because the knowledge of the Roman era was severely lost. Early scholars and writers had many misunderstandings about the language of the Roman era."

"At that time, the popular view was that Latin was only the official language of the Roman Empire, as it is now, and was used in government documents and official books. In different places, people still used their own native languages ​​for creation. These languages ​​were dialects of the Roman Empire, but they were not officially recognized as Latin, so they were collectively called 'Roman languages', the so-called 'Roman languages'."

"That's actually true." Guo Kang told him, "The spread of Latin is indeed very slow, and in most parts of the empire, it has indeed not replaced the local language. After all, without the support of Chinese characters, the gap with the Central Plains is still quite large."

"They have many cognitive deviations on specific issues," said Qiao Feng. "For example, Dante always believed that Virgil's native language was Lombard, which is also a Romance language. Therefore, Virgil's works can also be classified as 'Romance language works'."

"To be honest, it was only after I came into contact with the information directly obtained from Rome that I realized this mistake. I guess people at that time really didn't understand."

"Maybe he subconsciously wants to elevate himself." Guo Kang thought for a moment and said, "Lombard is actually the language of the barbarians. Although it was greatly influenced by the Romans, the 'bloodline' is indeed different."

"However, the so-called 'barbarians' originally meant people who speak a different language. Modern people certainly don't want to admit that they speak the language of barbarians, so they have to make all kinds of claims to prove that their language is originally the Roman language and that they are already Romans. I think the French have a similar idea, and I guess everyone thinks the same way."

"Yes." Qiao Feng nodded. "However, once a concept has been formed, it is not easy to correct it even if people find problems. In our language, these 'Romantic works' refer to mythological stories and heroic epics from the classical era, such as Virgil's Aeneid as mentioned earlier."

"Whether there are parts about women and love, there are some. But these are just embellishments. Virgil also made it clear that the real storyline is the founding of Rome. Through the arrangement of the gods, he also implicitly expressed his opposition to heroes indulging in the land of pleasure - although it is a pity emotionally, if Aeneas did not leave Carthage, there would be no magnificent history later. The themes of many works are also derived from this kind of traditional Trojan epic and Roman stories. The content expressed is also similar."

"Over the past hundred years, some writers have tried to imitate works from the classical era. These newly created works that imitate ancient Greek and Roman literature can also be classified into this category. The true core of these works is still the story of heroes making achievements."

"That's why I dare to assert that you have misunderstood, young master." He concluded: "The so-called 'romance' is about voyages and expeditions, adventures and wars, and the establishment of great achievements. From the time of Homer to the present, this has not changed. These are the core of heroic epics."

"Is that so..." Guo Kang roughly understood what he meant.

"It's not that there can't be women in romantic stories. But women are just an embellishment." Qiao Feng continued to explain: "After establishing achievements, of course there can be women. However, women are just rewards for heroes, indicating that his efforts have been rewarded and are worth it. Removing these women directly will not have much impact; if they are replaced with other rewards, such as recognition and respect from citizens, such as awe and submission from princes from all directions, the intention may be even higher."

"Nowadays, there are more and more popular literary works. For example, in France, there are many chivalric novels. Because they are written in the local popular language of the Roman Empire, they are also called "Roman works." However, this kind of story is still a variation of the traditional adventure story. A woman's love is also a way to express success in it, rather than the adventure story itself."

"You are a most orthodox Roman, you should understand this." He advised: "A Roman, did he get a woman through love? No, they established great achievements and possessed powerful military forces, and then women came naturally like other spoils of war. Wouldn't it be despised by a real man to get a woman by courting?"

"Even the French know that the 'love' in chivalric novels is between knights and noble ladies. Because the status of noble ladies is higher than that of knights."

"When Europeans greet people in formal occasions, they usually say 'Lords, Ladies, Gentlemen'. This is an order of status, with knights and gentry being the lowest - below that are women from gentry families, and ordinary men and women, who are 'not considered human'. Therefore, to be loved by a higher class is actually very similar to 'passing the imperial examination' or 'being appreciated by the lord'. It is more of a way to show the protagonist's value and express that he has succeeded as a knight."

"Then, I don't need to think about all this romance or anything like that, is that what you mean?" Guo Kang asked in a daze.

"Yes." Qiao Feng spread his hands and replied, "You really don't need to study how to please women."

"Arranging activities and ceremonies for a woman, writing poems to please her, and spending money to please her, isn't that just like a court clown who performs hard to please his patrons?" Qiao Feng shook his head: "These are just the romance of mediocre men, not the romance of scholars. Anyone with a little status and self-esteem would never accept it."

"I have read a lot of Seris's works because of my personal interest. You should also understand the popular story of the Three Kingdoms." He gave an example: "What is 'romantic'? I think it is the Peach Garden Oath, the burning of Red Cliff, the weeping in Shangfang Valley, and the falling stars in Wuzhangyuan."

"In this regard, there is actually not much difference between the Central Plains and the West. It is still a great feat and a struggle of heroes against fate. Restoring the Han Dynasty and reviving Rome, this is the romance of scholars and gentlemen. No one would think that romance is falling in love with Guan Gong or Prime Minister Zhuge Liang, right?"

"Uh..." Guo Kang always felt it was a little hard to imagine.

"Moreover, even if you need some recognition, you are not of the status of a knight. Knights are of relatively low birth, so they need the recognition of female nobles. But for someone of your status, the recognition of a woman is not very valuable - because there are almost no women with a status far higher than yours in this country, or even in the entire Mediterranean world." Qiao Feng changed his angle and advised.

"If you really want to be recognized, then you might as well do more and let the Queen Mother issue an imperial edict to praise you. Other than that, I can't think of any other way to make you more honored. After all, it doesn't mean anything to you if other women praise you."

After hearing this, Guo Kang felt that it made sense and nodded.

"But I still have to think of a way and prepare something." He muttered, "There will always be times when I need to deal with women..."

"Then you can do as you just said and take them to see the Steam God and the cannon." Qiao Feng suggested: "Is there anything in the world more sacred than God? Is there anything greater than Rome? The Steam God is a tribute to the holiness of God; the cannon is a direct display of Rome's power. Isn't this the purest romance?"

"If a woman can't understand this, it means she's too shallow to understand romance - of course, Aristotle said that women's souls are inherently incomplete. So it's possible that they can't understand these higher emotions and can only understand the vulgar substitutes. But that's not your fault. That's their problem, and you have no obligation to cater to them."

"You can really try it. You are already married, so you may not need these, but if you need a mistress, or if others need you to introduce a wife, you can use this test." He thought for a moment, and said to Guo Kang who was in deep thought: "This test should be able to easily screen out noble and tasteful women. After all, if she can understand these romances, then she must be a person with a long-term vision and a noble soul."

"Then the one who understands romance the most and has the most noble taste here must be Shi Huizhen." Guo Kang said with some surprise: "She likes cannons the most - oh, it seems that little Jeanne likes them too..."

"Uh... I don't know much either." Qiao Feng hesitated, then thought of something and said quickly, "I'm not sure about Da Pao, but my sister has always been interested in Brother Steam. She seemed to have mentioned this when she sponsored your monastery. Do you want me to ask her to meet you and ask her in person?"

"Forget about this." Guo Kang quickly declined: "Let's talk about it later."

"Okay." Qiao Feng seemed very happy. He took two sips of wine and agreed.

(End of this chapter)