At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 570: Communication between the East and the West and the First Batch of Hanfu

After the meeting of princes, Han Xin, led by an officer from the Taiwei Mansion, came to the largest Baxia armory in Guanzhong.

Baxia is now the largest steel center in Guanzhong, and also the largest arms production center in Guanzhong and even in the entire Han Dynasty. The muskets, cannons, swords, and armor produced by the arsenal are directly treated with rust prevention before entering the Baxia arsenal.

Tang Cheng, the captain of the Armament Department, pointed at the cannons and said, "This is the 30mm cannon developed by the court in the 70th year of the Han Dynasty. The muzzle is 70mm." Afraid that Han Xin would not understand, Tang Cheng said again, "It is also the old system, a little more than three inches."

Han Xin said calmly: "This duke knows about the new system of the court."

Tang Cheng continued to explain: "This is the first all-steel cannon of the Han Dynasty. It weighs 1 tons, has a projectile of 5kg, and a range of 2km. With the same weight of projectile, the range of this steel cannon is more than twice that of the iron cannon. Moreover, this 70mm cannon uses rear-loading, and the firing rate is 3 to 5 times that of the muzzle-loading cannon. One cannon can have the effect of 5 cannons, and because it uses alloy steel with better ductility, its service life is five times that of the iron cannon."

Han Xin stroked the brand new 70mm cannon and asked, "No wonder the court has retired a large number of iron cannons in recent years. The performance of this steel cannon is indeed excellent."

In recent years, the Han military has eliminated a large number of iron cannons, and the Han military basically sold these cannons at a 30% discount. The Han princes who needed them bought some.

But the Han Dynasty has too many artillery pieces in service. The four general offices and four governor offices have a total of more than two thousand artillery pieces in service. The navy's warships are even bigger customers. A 4t battleship must be equipped with at least 300 artillery pieces. The Han Dynasty's largest Overlord-class battleship has a tonnage of between 30t and 3000t, and is equipped with between 5000 and 150 artillery pieces. The four Overlord-class flagships are equipped with more than 200 artillery pieces. The total number of artillery pieces of the Han Dynasty's naval warships at all levels is close to 700. If the artillery pieces of various colonies are included, the Han Dynasty has more than 6000 artillery pieces in service. It can be said that it is an extremely huge expense to replace all of these artillery pieces, so replacing old ones with new ones has become a way for the Han Dynasty's military to save money.

The main buyers were the Han Dynasty's maritime merchants. They bought these second-hand cannons at low prices, refurbished them slightly, and then sold them at 3 to 4 times the price. They happened to encounter the war between Parthia and the Xiongnu, and the sales of cannons skyrocketed. In the past few years, they made a lot of money from the second-hand arms of the Han Dynasty.

Then Tang Cheng took Han Xin to see the Han Dynasty's new breech-loading rifle.

Tang Cheng introduced: "This is the latest Type 31 rifle developed by the court. This rifle has made a lot of improvements over the old flintlock rifle. It is designed to be loaded from the back, and the bullets are loaded from the back of the gun. Compared with the traditional flintlock rifle, this greatly improves the loading speed and convenience.

Second, the firing pin structure was added, which changed the pattern of ammunition separation. "

Tang Cheng took a Trinity rifle bullet and said to Han Xin: "The primer and gunpowder are all wrapped in this paper shell. As long as the firing pin hits the shell, the bullet can be fired. This is five times faster than the flintlock method. The flintlock takes three minutes to fire a bullet, but the Trinity rifle can fire three bullets in one minute."

Han Xin took out a Type 100 rifle and said, "Take out 70 Type rifles and flintlock rifles, cannons and iron cannons each, and go to the shooting range for testing."

Han Xin needs to understand the performance of firearms in order to better exert the power of these weapons. Naturally, it is impossible for him to just listen to Tang Cheng's explanation. I want to test the power of the weapons myself.

"promise!"

Then Tang Cheng ordered the soldiers in the armory to pull the artillery to the shooting range.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Bang bang bang!"

On that day, at the shooting range, the sounds of various artillery and rifle fire could be heard all day long.

On the other hand, even though the Parthians resisted with all their might, after more than half a year of resistance, they still could not change the fate of their country being annexed by the Huns, although the city of Persepolis put up a tenacious resistance.

However, the Parthian capital of Nisa was captured by the northern Hun army in December. The Parthian king was defeated and burned himself to death. A large number of Parthian nobles were captured. Then the 10-strong Hun army was unstoppable and occupied the northern territory of Parthia.

The city of Persepolis was also affected. The Roman legions were the first to flee the Parthian Empire, followed by various mercenaries. After all, these people fought to make money. The capital was conquered by the Huns, and the Parthian Empire was destroyed. The boss was gone, so what was there for them to fight?

Affected by this, on January 34, the 1th year of the Han calendar, the city of Persepolis was breached by military commanders. Due to the heavy casualties during the construction, the Huns directly massacred and looted the entire city of Persepolis. This ancient Persian capital was destroyed by foreign races again 15 years later.

Only a small number of remnants of Parthia, such as Jinzhe, led a few thousand defeated soldiers into the territory of the Seleucid Empire.

This war, which lasted less than a year, caused a huge response and sensation in the Mediterranean. The Parthian Empire was the overlord of the Mesopotamian region, and was evenly matched with the Seleucid Empire, the overlord of the eastern Mediterranean. However, such a powerful empire was swallowed up by the Huns in less than a year. For a time, all the countries around the Mediterranean were in danger. They did not think that their country could do better than the Parthian Empire in the face of the Huns' attack.

The Seleucid Empire, in particular, felt like a thorn in the side, a thorn in the throat, and was sitting on pins and needles. The only solution they could think of was to buy a large number of second-hand artillery and flintlock rifles from the Han Dynasty and let generals like Jin Zhe who had experience in artillery warfare help them train a brand new firearms army.

As these firearms came into widespread use, countries along the Mediterranean front became increasingly interested in the Han people who had defeated the Huns decades ago.

Twenty years ago, with the opening of the Silk Road, Han silk traveled along the Silk Road all the way to the Mesopotamian Valley and to the countries along the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean nobles described Han as a mysterious oriental country and a place where silk was produced.

Over the past decade or so, the Han Dynasty's Maritime Silk Road was opened up, and maritime merchants imported Han Dynasty's tea, porcelain, sugar, and ironware into the Mediterranean. At this time, the nobles described Han Dynasty as a rich oriental country.

War is the most convenient way to spread influence. Through this war, the Huns made all the countries in the Mediterranean know their powerful fighting power.

When they learned that the Han Dynasty had nearly defeated the Xiongnu several decades ago and that they were just a few defeated soldiers who had fled to the Mesopotamian region, the countries along the Mediterranean now regarded the Han Dynasty as a powerful Eastern empire.

They even regarded the Han Dynasty as their lifeline, and they wanted to contact the Han Dynasty to jointly deal with the Xiongnu Kingdom.

In particular, their envoys reported to their country what the Huns did in Parthia.

"There were destroyed cities everywhere, blood flowing into rivers, black smoke filling the sky above the cities, the heads of nobles were taken as trophies by the Huns, and their relatives were slaughtered wantonly by the Huns. It was like a scene from hell."

The fate of the nobles of the Parthian Empire made all the Mediterranean nobles shudder. For thousands of years, the countries along the Mediterranean Sea had intermarried with each other, and everyone was a relative. The lower classes fought to the death, but it did not affect the lives of the nobles. The Huns broke this unspoken rule. They wanted to rule the Parthian Empire. The nobles of the Parthian Empire were not needed by the Huns, so they were uprooted by the Huns. Before the reputation of God spread, they felt the power of God's whip in advance, which was simply overturning the table. The Huns were going to smash their civilization and their country to pieces, but this barbarian was so powerful that they didn't know how to defeat him. At this time, they knew that the Han Dynasty of the Eastern Empire had defeated the Huns, and it was like grabbing a life-saving straw.

Zhang Pijiang also wanted to establish contact with the powerful countries along the Mediterranean Sea in order to prepare for suppressing the Huns. So after the war, he did not return to the Han Dynasty immediately, but entered the Seleucid Empire and then traveled all the way to the Mediterranean.

Zhang Pijiang's identity as the Han envoy was also warmly welcomed by the Seleucids and other Mediterranean countries. Their needs for the Han were very direct and practical. They needed the Han's steel artillery and muskets. It would be even better if they could unite with them to deal with the Huns.

It's a pity that Zhang Pijiang could not agree to such a proposal casually. He could only agree to bring these conditions back to the emperor of the Han Dynasty, and let the emperor of the Han Dynasty make the decision. The vassal states in the Mediterranean have decided to send an envoy to the Han Dynasty so that the two sides can have more in-depth exchanges.

June 34, 4rd year of the Han calendar.

Zhang Pijiang led dozens of envoys from Western countries to wait in Kuaiji County.

When the Roman envoy Apatius saw the dock of Kuaiji County, he was shocked and said, "This is the capital of the Han Dynasty. There is such a large port and so many ships."

The nobles were constantly shocked along the way. Because the Suez Canal had not yet been opened, it was difficult for the Han Dynasty's ships to enter the Mediterranean. Moreover, there were not many specialties in the Mediterranean at that time, and most of the ships going there were of 300t class, which was just enough for the trade to the Mesopotamian region. Larger ships would easily run empty and waste space.

When they arrived near the Tianzhu Sea and saw the Han ships, they were very shocked. There were many ships of more than 300 tons, but such ships were huge in the Mediterranean, but in the eyes of the Han people, they were relatively small ships.

In their eyes, ships weighing more than a thousand tons were already sea fortresses, but to the Han people in the East, they saw only ordinary transport ships. When they saw the three thousand ton ships, they knelt down, thinking that they were the warships of Poseidon in mythology.

Apatius wrote on the night he saw the 3000-ton ship that the strength of the Han Dynasty was far beyond our imagination. No wonder they were able to defeat the barbaric Huns.

But when they arrived at the Kuaiji County Wharf, they felt that the ships docked at the wharf were more numerous and larger than those in the entire Mediterranean. The Kuaiji County Wharf was even more exaggerated than the wharves in their myths, with a lighthouse towering into the clouds and ships like fortresses everywhere.

When they got off the ship, it was like stepping into the kingdom of giants.

The most ordinary plank road is wider than the Roman road. The whole plank road seems to be carved out of an extremely huge stone. The gantry crane, which is several people tall, can lift several tons of cargo at a time. When they stand near the ship, it is like standing under a castle. They feel that they have really come to the kingdom of God.

Zhang Pijiang smiled calmly at the country bumpkin look of these envoys, saying, "This is not the capital of our Han Dynasty. The capital of our Han Dynasty is still three or four thousand miles away. However, Kuaiji County is the largest port city of our Han Dynasty. This city has about one million residents, and they are engaged in industries related to maritime trade."

"More than one million?" Some nobles who were bad at math even started counting on their fingers. During the few months at sea, they were also learning Chinese characters and the language. These envoys were originally aristocratic scholars from their own country, and they were a group of people with the highest quality. In addition, in the closed environment at sea, they were very efficient in learning Chinese and characters. They could communicate in Chinese and even write simple Chinese characters.

When they converted the figures to their own country, they could only marvel. Except for the hegemonic countries such as Rome and Seleucid Empire, the population of their entire country was not as large as the population of this city. Moreover, the territory of the Han Dynasty was beyond their imagination. The capital was actually three or four thousand miles away, which was larger than the legendary empire of Alexander the Great.

Next, these envoys were like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden. They were amazed at the height of the Han people. After more than 10 years of prosperity, the Han people had consumed nutritious foods such as meat, milk, and eggs in their daily lives. With these sufficient nutrients, the bodies of the Han people swelled like balloons, and their height increased from generation to generation, with an average increase of about cm per person.

You have to know that the common people of Han Dynasty in this era were seven feet tall, and if you add another 10cm, there would be eight feet tall men everywhere. Although these Mediterranean nobles also had tall people, and it could even be said that they were the tallest group of people, but when they saw that the streets of Han were full of people taller than them, they all doubted for a moment that the Han people were the mythical giant race in the legend.

Especially when the carriage they were riding in entered Kuaiji County, which was the economic center of the southern part of the Han Dynasty. The income of ordinary people was not worse than that of the people in Chang'an, so there were many high-rise buildings with 5 and 6 floors, and the tallest building even had or floors.

For these Mediterranean nobles who were accustomed to low buildings of this era, these buildings that were taller than the city walls made them feel very small, further deepening their stereotype that they had entered a country of giants.

Many nobles wrote in their diaries at night: "The Han people are descendants of giants. Maybe their height has decreased in modern times due to various reasons, but they still like to build tall buildings. The houses they live in are taller than palaces, and the tallest buildings may even pierce the sky."

Someone else firmly said, "The Han people should be the descendants of the gods. We have come to the Eastern Kingdom of Gods. There is a time machine called a clock here. You can tell the time just by looking up. The streets of the Han people are made of a mythical item called cement. It is a powder at first, and after mixing with water and sand, it can become the strongest rock. The Han people's towering buildings are built with this cement."

There are also some aristocratic scholars who are observing the economic and cultural systems of the Han Dynasty.

They recorded in their diaries: "The Han Dynasty should be a country composed entirely of aristocrats. Everyone in this country wears silk. They are polite and live a rich life. Only aristocrats can cultivate such gentlemen.

Later I found out that the surnames of every citizen and every family in this land can be traced back to 3000 years ago. According to Envoy Zhang, there were no slaves in the Han Dynasty. Sure enough, my guess was correct.

Their emperor is kind and generous. Every adult citizen can get at least 100 mu of land or a job that can earn one-tenth of a talent of gold a year. Zeus, please allow me to use talents to describe the wealth of the Han people. There are no poor people in this country. When I wrote this diary, I was already suppressing my jealous anger. The salary the king gave me was even lower than that of the common people in the Han Dynasty. What's more important is that I also found out that the common people in the Han Dynasty only need to work eight hours a day, and the rest of the time is their own. "

"God of Zeus, my salary is not as high as theirs, and I have to obey the king's call at any time. Does the king treat me like a beast of burden? (Beast of burden is a term used by the Han people to describe the lower class. Since they don't have slaves here, I think slaves are more suitable for this term.)"

The people of the Han Dynasty would use this time to watch the singing and dancing of the nobles, or go to places called taverns and teahouses to discuss national affairs. The Han Dynasty's system also encouraged this kind of thing. The Han Dynasty also had a Senate like the Roman one, which was called the Sages' Council. But unlike the Senate, which was inherited by blood, the Sages of the Han Dynasty were all elected by the citizens. This was a true democratic system."

"If I had a choice, I would try to stay in the Han Dynasty and find a job that can earn me one talent of gold a year. I think it should be possible to do this in a divine kingdom like the Han Dynasty."

Apatius wrote on the train that the Han people were simply the favorites of the gods. Not only did they occupy the richest continent, but it was said that in the farther east, the Han people had found two unowned continents, which were said to be several times larger than the entire Mediterranean. The two continents were rich in gold and silver, and the Han people had to transport gold and silver from those two continents by shiploads every year. It was said that the amount of silver was so large that the price of silver in the Han people fell to one-third of its original price within a year. It was hard to imagine how huge the amount of business was to make the price of silver fall to such a low level.

"At the same time, I also discovered the secret of how the Han people could rule a continent. Their trains could travel thousands of miles a day. Although the territory of the Han people was extremely vast, their army could reach any place in their territory within five days to quell a rebellion."

"Of course, although the Han army has such a strong military force, their people have never rebelled. Of course, this is related to the generosity of the Han emperor. He divided the two continents in the east among the people of the entire Han Dynasty and allowed them to be pioneer knights. It is said that the emperor of the Han Dynasty sent 100 million pioneer knights to the new continent, but the new continent has not been filled up. I dare not imagine how huge this territory is and how strong the military strength of the Han Dynasty will be!"

(End of this chapter)