Established a thousand-year family from the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 492 Journey to the West (VIII)
The summer of the third year of Duke Yan 250 (463)
Over the past few years, Xu Xiake first learned the languages ​​of surrounding countries in Guishuang, especially the most widely spread Persian.

Then when heading west, they met the Heda people (White Huns) who were plundering the Sasanian Dynasty.

These Heda people were originally nomadic in Mobei, and later migrated westward to today's Afghanistan, where they intermarried and merged with the locals, forming a new ethnic group here.

They formed an alliance with the Rouran people in Mobei, and formed an alliance with Rouran half a year ago to attack Wei's military stronghold in the Western Regions. The main targets of looting were the Persians in the southwest, and then the Western Regions people in the east and Southeast Fang's body is poisonous.

Since Xu Xiake came to Heda as an envoy of Liu Song from the Central Plains, and represented Liu Song as a vassal to the Heda people, he was not embarrassed by the Heda people.

After staying here in Heda for a few months, Xu Xiake went straight west and came to Sasanian Persia, a great civilized country.

Persia is a civilization with a long history and has bred a lot of human history.

After arriving in Persia, Xu Xiake, as an envoy of the State of Wei, professed his vassal to Persia. Only in this way was he protected by the Persians, and he came safely to Taixifeng along the way.

During this period, Sassanid Persia had a population of 1600 million, which was similar to that of Liu Song. Liu Song had a population of 1500 million. The Wei State had just begun to recuperate, and the population had not recovered well. Therefore, the current population was only 2200 million. The poisoned Gupta Dynasty had With a population of 3200 million, the defeated Empire to the west of Persia had a population of 3000 million.

Looking at the population alone, the poisonous Gupen people are still very powerful.

The current Sasanian Dynasty has just ended its heyday and is on the decline. The eastern frontier has been eroded by the Heda people. A month ago, they were forced to give a lot of gold, silver, treasures and beautiful women to the Heda people in exchange for brief peace.

To the west is the enemy of Rome, who has been unable to advance eastward because of the threat of the Huns.

Hearing that envoys from the Silk Country came, the ruler of the Sassanid Dynasty, "Bilus", was very happy. Persia was the main transit point of the Silk Road, and he attached great importance to the commercial value of the Silk Road.

"Bilus", like Liu Jun in Liu Song, rebelled and overthrew his brother, and then seized power.

"After your envoy returns to the east, send my greetings to the emperor of your country of Wei. If possible, our two countries can form an alliance to attack the Heda people from the east and the west." The Persian ruler Belus said expectantly.

"I will definitely tell His Majesty the Emperor." Xu Xiake replied in the Persian he learned in Guishuang.

After traveling westward to so many countries, Sassan was the first country Xu Xiake encountered whose civilization was not inferior to that of the Central Plains. Other countries, such as Yalong, Xiangxiong, and Guishuang, were still too weak, and the Heda people Although the strength is strong, not weaker than Rouran, but the level of civilization is low.

What surprised Xu Xiake the most were some wonders in Sasanian territory, such as the "hanging garden".

"It's a great piece of architectural art."

"It turns out that there are such brilliant civilizations outside of the Central Plains. Sure enough, you have to go out more to increase your knowledge, and you can't hide in a corner and get arrogant."

Sasanian is a centralized dynasty similar to the Central Plains, but there are also some local princes in the empire similar to the state shepherds of the late Han Dynasty. They have their own taxes and even their own army.

The Heda people in the northeast and the Arabs in the southwest are their main border troubles, and the Romans are their feuds.

Compared with the snow-covered plateau and the Western Regions, there are more areas to explore here, and many relics of ancient civilizations are waiting for Xu Xiake to visit.

During his travels, Xu Xiake went to do as the Romans did and became a believer in "Zoroastrianism", so that he would not be out of tune with those Sasanian nobles.

"Zoroastrianism" is one of the oldest religions, which was born when China was still in the early Shang Dynasty.

Zoroastrianism worships flames and believes that flames are pure and can purify all evils in the world. They also advocate inbreeding marriages and believe that pure blood can resist the invasion of evil spirits.

Following the example of other Sasanians, he prayed once every morning, and washed his body with clean water after the prayer.

Xu Xiake is also very fond of their coins, especially engraving portraits of monarchs or celebrities on coins. He thinks this is very novel: "It is a good idea to engrave portraits on coins."

Sassanid's farming technology and textile technology lagged behind the Central Plains, but their iron-smelting technology was higher than that of the Central Plains, second only to Yan.

During this period, Xu Xiake also looked through various Sasanian classical materials, especially those related to diplomacy. After more than a month, he finally found the traces of his ancestors coming to Persia.

It is recorded that during the period of the Parthian Dynasty, there was an envoy from the Kingdom of Silk (Han Dynasty) who called himself "King Changye" and proclaimed himself a vassal to the Parthian Empire on behalf of the Kingdom of Silk. The Parthian monarch appreciated this very much. A humble oriental envoy, rewarded him with a lot of money, and provided them with all food, clothing, shelter and transportation.

It is common practice in the world to record the normal diplomatic behavior of other countries as surrender, and there is nothing to say.

Basically, whoever takes the initiative to send envoys to visit the country of the other party will be a vassal to the other party.

You bow to me, and I also bow to you. We are each other's monarchs and ministers.

When Xu Xiake was about to leave Sassanid and continue westward to Rome, the time had already come to the winter of the seventh year of Yangong 250. (467 years)
After several months, Xu Xiake came to the Roman Empire (Eastern Rome/The Court of Defeat), this time as an envoy from the Kingdom of Yan.

There was a Roman who knew Persian for his translation. Unfortunately, when he came to Constantinople, he happened to encounter the Huns who went south to plunder.

The Romans were terrified of the Huns, and the soldiers huddled on the solid walls, and no one dared to go out to save the slaughtered countrymen.

Fortunately, the Huns were not united. Most of the Huns just went south to rob, and did not plan to stay in the south for a long time to fight the Romans.

The Roman emperor Leo had the same thoughts as the Sassanian rulers. Facing the envoys from the East, what he cared most about was whether he could form an alliance.

He desperately hopes to find allies and eliminate the barbarians in the north who keep going south.

Xu Xiake replied as usual: "When I return to the East, I will naturally convey your request to my country."

Afterwards, those Roman nobles each brought their translators who understood Persian and asked around him, curious about the distant eastern countries.

"I heard that in eastern countries, everyone wears silk. Is it true?"

"No, no, I heard that in the eastern countries, everyone has countless exquisite porcelains in their homes, and even houses are made of porcelain."

"I have seen such a record in an ancient book. Hundreds of years ago, an oriental envoy named Wang Changye came here, claiming to be from the Han Kingdom, and wanted to join hands with us to attack the Huns. May I ask what is the status of the Han Kingdom? Have you defeated the Huns?"

Facing these questions from the Roman nobles, Xu Xiake answered them one by one, and told the truth as much as possible, but when it came to the national level, because he came to Rome as the envoy of the Yan State, he needed to show the strength of the Yan State, lest he, the envoy, be Contemptuously, he said, "The Han State is the Yan State, just different names for the same country. The envoy was the ancestor of our Yan State."

What he said was half true and half false, but the Romans couldn't figure out the real situation anyway, so it wasn't a big problem.

(End of this chapter)