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

Chapter 580: The Roman envoy to Han and the little Han shock
The steel production capacity of the industrial age had obviously exceeded the imagination of the Roman senators, and the figure of tens of thousands of talents left everyone silent.

At the same time, this also explains why the merchants of the Han Dynasty brought so much steel to the Mediterranean. At that time, they regarded the Han merchants as fools. 40 talents of iron only required one talent of copper, and 50 talents of fine steel only required one talent of gold. Now it seems that they were the fools. The precious gold and silver of Rome were taken away by the Han merchants.

Of course, the Romans did not suffer much. The Mediterranean line had a long history of iron smelting because of the high purity of iron ore. Ironware existed thousands of years ago. However, they were born in trouble and died in comfort because of the high purity of iron ore. As a result, their technology was not high. They could only produce a small amount of steel by forging. Especially after the long Middle Ages, the iron smelting technology of the Westerners almost stagnated for more than a thousand years. An iron sword and a set of armor could be passed down for several generations. Especially the precious iron armor could even be used as a noble heirloom. From this, we can see how poor the iron smelting technology in the West was. The blast furnace technology had to wait until the Industrial Revolution to be learned.

Because Rome's iron smelting technology was not advanced, the price of steel there was very expensive. The price of iron was almost equal to that of copper, and refined steel could be used as silver.

Therefore, the price of Han steel increased more than ten times after being transported tens of thousands of miles by sea. By the time it arrived at the Mediterranean, the price was still lower than that in their native land. As a result, the Romans frantically bought Han steel, and they thought they were getting a great bargain before knowing the price of Han steel in their native land.

In the past decade or so, due to the large amount of high-quality steel imported, the steel that was previously only used to make weapons and armor can now be used luxuriously to make farm tools. The Han Dynasty's curved plow, eight-ox plow and other advanced farm tools are everywhere in the aristocratic manors in Rome.

Rome's efficiency in land reclamation was greatly improved. Without increasing the land area of ​​the entire Roman Empire, the area of ​​farmland increased by 30% and the grain production capacity also increased by 30%. This was no less than a miracle for Rome. The main reason for this miracle was that a large amount of cheap steel was used as agricultural tools to increase Rome's agricultural efficiency.

Apatius worriedly said: "The most worrying thing now is that the Han Dynasty has regarded the whole world as theirs, including the Mediterranean.

The Han Empire promised Carthage, Greece, Macedonia, Ptolemy and other countries that as long as these countries serve the Han Empire, the Han Empire will provide them with military protection. According to the information I have received, the Han Empire is preparing to build the Yanzhou Governor's Office and send 3 troops into the Mediterranean. If this army is as elite as the Han Army's Western Expedition, it will greatly limit the hegemony of Rome in the Mediterranean. "

Senator Maxius was furious and said, "The Mediterranean belongs to us Rome. How dare they let their army set foot in the Mediterranean? The Roman legions will teach them a lesson."

The Romans spent more than a hundred years defeating powerful enemies such as Carthage and the Seleucid Empire. Now they are about to enjoy the most delicious cake and bring the entire Mediterranean into their sphere of influence. Now suddenly the Han Empire appears to pick peaches. How can the Roman elders tolerate this?

"Unite all our allies to drive the Han out of the Mediterranean."

"The Han Chinese merchants are their spies, Satan's vampires. They are using the Han Chinese luxury goods to drain our Roman gold and silver. We want to drive them out of the Mediterranean."

The Roman senators, who were already dissatisfied with the Han Dynasty's maritime merchants, suddenly burst out with all their resentment.

These 300 senators were the rulers of the Roman Empire. They liked the silk, tea, sugar and iron ingots of the Han Dynasty. Silk, tea and sugar improved their lives, and the cheap steel tools of the Han Dynasty created agricultural wealth for them. It can be said that they liked all the goods transported by the Han Dynasty to Rome, because these goods could bring them huge wealth.

However, the Han merchants only took away their gold and silver, and did not buy Roman goods, which made the Roman elders very dissatisfied. Although the Romans had not yet concluded an economic theory, the Roman elders could conclude from daily experience that the large-scale outflow of gold and silver was not good for the Roman economy. Because the Han merchants imported a large amount of goods from the Han Dynasty and took away gold and silver, the Roman region had begun to experience a small-scale economic deflation.

As I said before, with the current size of the Han Dynasty, if it wants to suck blood, it can drain a regional power dry with just one or two sips. The Roman senators already have a sense of crisis in this regard.

The Roman consul Lucius frowned and coughed. The Senate suddenly became quiet, and then everyone looked at the Roman consul.

Lucius said calmly: "How can we fight the Han? Even if we buy the Han's muskets and cannons, we can only equip 10 legions with only 5 muskets and cannons. The Han can defeat them in just one day. The Han is a country hundreds of times stronger than Carthage and Seleucus. Even if we create a miracle and really defeat the Han army of Yanzhou Governor's Office, what will the giant who occupies two continents think? You want to bring disaster to Rome."

Lucius looked at these Roman senators as if they were a group of fools. Did they really think that the Han Dynasty only had 20,000 or 30,000 troops, and that defeating this small army would be equivalent to defeating the Han Dynasty?

They are simply a bunch of idiots. The emperor of the Han Dynasty will certainly continue to send troops for revenge. Moreover, even if they relax the restrictions on the Huns and allow the Huns to reach the Mediterranean, Rome will find it difficult to bear it.

Lucius was also blessed by the time traveler Xu Fan. Originally in history, he defeated the Seleucid Empire and defeated the last powerful enemy for Rome to rule the Mediterranean. However, he was immediately ostracized by the Roman senators. First, he was dismissed from his position as consul on charges of corruption, and then his property was swallowed up. Finally, he disappeared in history.

This is just like what happened in New Rome later on. The entrepreneurs created a foundation, but the powerful people behind them kicked the entrepreneurs out and took over the foundation.

But before Rome established its hegemony over the Mediterranean, a hegemon of the Mesopotamian region, the Huns, emerged. They first annexed the Parthian Empire, and then coveted the Seleucid Empire, and were about to reach the Mediterranean. Later, a Han Dynasty appeared that was 10 times stronger than the Huns. In this case, Rome's hegemony had not yet been established, and they naturally needed the consul, a veteran general in Lucius' army, to lead Rome forward.

"We must never make an enemy of the Han." As someone who had witnessed the power of the Han, Apatius knew that if Rome made an enemy of the Han, it would be seeking death.

"Rome should learn from the Han Dynasty and build steel mills and arsenals. We should even learn from them to build an industrial system. Only in this way can our Roman Empire catch up with the Han Dynasty."

Thinking of the vast territory of the Han Dynasty, he felt that catching up with the Han Dynasty was a bit unrealistic, so he said: "At least we should make the Han Dynasty pay attention to the power of Rome."

Lucius said: "There has been war almost every year in the Mediterranean region. It is a joke for the Han Empire to want to make this region free of war. We should not take action yet. Wait for the conflict between the Yanzhou Governor's Office and other Mediterranean countries to break out. We will decide the next strategy based on the strength of the Yanzhou Governor's Office. However, steel mills and arsenals must be built, and weapons must be in our own hands."

Hearing this, the Roman senators were extremely disappointed. After defeating the Seleucid Empire, the Roman Senate formulated a national strategy of moving eastward and annexing Greece and Macedonia.

The reason for formulating such a strategy is very simple. The countries in this area are the richest, and the Greek region can even be said to be the source of the first-line civilization in the Mediterranean.

The Iberian Peninsula, Gaul, and even the British Isles are now areas where barbarians gather. These areas are somewhat similar to the Mobei area in the east. I have only heard of the struggle for the Central Plains, but not the struggle for the Mobei area. Occupying these areas is not profitable, so the elders naturally do not want these areas. If Luo wants to gain wealth, he naturally has to formulate a strategy to occupy the East.

"Apatius, go contact the Han diplomats and ask them to sell us the steel mill and arsenal."

Then he looked at all the Roman elders and said, "The Han Dynasty is so wealthy and powerful. We, Rome, want to become like the Han Dynasty. We must learn the knowledge and system of the Han Dynasty. We, Rome, will send students to the Han Dynasty to learn advanced knowledge and technology. We will start with the elders and send the children of our families to the Han Dynasty."

After hearing this, the senators nodded in agreement without thinking. From the travel notes of the Han Dynasty, they knew that the Han Dynasty was unprecedentedly wealthy. Even they wanted to go to the Han Dynasty. It would not be hard for their family members to study in the Han Dynasty. What was more important was that after learning the skills well, these people would definitely be valued when they returned to Rome.

October 35, 1nd year of the Han calendar

The Ptolemaic court had already heard about the defeat of the Huns, and they breathed a sigh of relief. Although there was always someone to hold up the sky, the nobles of the Ptolemaic dynasty and the Seleucid Empire were in a relationship of struggle and compromise. After hundreds of years of marriage, they were all one family. The Huns were outsiders, especially when they swept away the nobles of the Parthian Empire without hesitation, which was even more terrifying. No one wanted to be neighbors with such barbarians. Now that the Huns had been taught a lesson by the Han Dynasty, they could no longer continue to annex westwards, which was good news for them.

What made the Ptolemaic nobles even happier was that the Han Empire in the east broke away from the Ptolemaic Dynasty alliance with them. They now had the support of the world's biggest thigh. From now on, Seleucus, Rome, Macedonia, and Carthage would not be qualified to speak loudly to them, and if they wanted to buy food, they would have to pay a relatively fair and reasonable price.

After the signing of the Han-Ptolemy Treaty of Friendship, Military and Trade, the Ptolemy still had some objections. They proposed to Zhang Pijiang that they had no objection to the establishment of the Yanzhou Governor's Office and were willing to sell the land, but they required that the Yanzhou Governor's Office should not be too close to the Ptolemaic capital of Alexandria.

Even though they were used to kneeling, they did not want a foreign army to be too close to their capital, especially since they knew that this army had easily defeated the 5 elite soldiers of the Huns. Such an army stationed near Alexandria was like a long sword against their throats.

Zhang Pijiang agreed to this request and built the Yanzhou Governor's Office in the Arabian Peninsula of the Red Sea. Then Zhang Pijiang began to recruit workers in the Ptolemaic Kingdom to build the Yanzhou Governor's Office.

A military camp that can accommodate 3 people is almost the same size as a small city. More importantly, it is a long-term fixed camp. Not only does it have to consider its residential attributes, but it also needs to consider some war attributes. It also needs to build a dock to obtain the support of the Indian fleet.

This would make the project extremely large, requiring the construction of fixed granaries, arsenals, and defensive fortresses. It can be said that Zhang Pijiang's mission was to build a military city in the Red Sea region.

At this time, the Ptolemaic Kingdom saw the wealth of the Han Dynasty. Zhang Pijiang took thousands of pieces of silk to Ptolemy's Queen Mother Cleopatra I and the nobles of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and expressed his idea of ​​recruiting some craftsmen to build a camp.

After obtaining the silk, the nobles of Ptolemy gladly recruited 1 serfs and sent them to Zhang Pijiang. For the nobles of Ptolemy, it was a huge profit to exchange 1000 serfs for pieces of high-quality silk.

However, they did not expect that Zhang Pijiang would use precious white sugar to buy 30 talents of grain from them. Of course, they would not refuse such a good thing.

Originally, the nobles of Ptolemy thought that these grains were for the Han soldiers. But they did not expect that Zhang Pijiang used them to feed the serfs, allowing them to eat three meals a day in luxury, and even a lot of meat. The food they ate was better than that of the free people of Ptolemy. If that was the case, it would be fine. The Yanzhou Governor's Office also gave these serfs two sets of linen clothes and three pairs of rubber shoes. These clothes were all brand new, without a single patch, and the shoes were also brand new, looking better than the shoes of the nobles.

Clothes make the man, and saddles make the horse. After a few days of three meals a day in the Yanzhou Governor's Mansion, these people began to gain weight and put on new clothes. They lived better than the free people of Ptolemy. The key point was that although their work was hard, they only worked eight hours a day and had plenty of rest time. These slaves worked more comfortably than the free people.

As a result, the free people of Ptolemy also went to work at the construction site of Yanzhou Governor's Office. They did not ask for wages, but only for food and clothes. You should know that the textile industry in the West is not as good as that of the Han Dynasty. Clothes and shoes are extremely precious things. Working for Hanlong can get two new sets of clothes and three pairs of shoes, which is also very cost-effective.

Zhang Pijiang accepted all of these people and treated them the same as the serfs, giving them work clothes and shoes as long as they came.

But the wages still have to be paid. Even though this is not the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty's craftsman laws still have to be enforced. These free people can earn 1kg of wheat for working 8 hours a day.

This caused a sensation among the free citizens of Ptolemy, as they couldn't even find a donkey to get 5 kg of wheat.

But in Ptolemy, the salary was unprecedentedly high. After working for a full month, one could get 150 kg of wheat, which was almost equivalent to six talents of grain. After working for a full year, one could get 70 talents of grain, which was similar to the annual harvest of small landlords in Ptolemy.

The Han people were not hiring laborers to perform labor service, they were hiring landlords to do work. Not to mention Ptolemy's freemen, even some citizens of higher status gave up their jobs and went to work as plasterers on the construction site of the Yanzhou Governor's Office.

The Mediterranean region had long been talking about the wealth of the Han Dynasty. Zhang Pijiang's large-scale construction finally confirmed the welfare of the Han Dynasty. Even the treatment of slaves was so high, so how high must the treatment of ordinary people in the Han Dynasty be? I'm afraid that even ordinary nobles could not compare to it.

At the same time, because of Zhang Pijiang's generosity, a wealthy market of tens of thousands of people was created out of thin air in the Mediterranean region. Shopping malls in the Mediterranean flocked to the area of ​​Yanzhou Governor's Office to sell wood, olive oil, and food. In short, all goods necessary for food, clothing, housing and transportation flocked here, directly creating a prosperous market in this area of ​​the Arabian Peninsula.

"Brother, the nobles of Ptolemy are so shameless. They are willing to send their own slaves to the construction site to work and ask us to give them food." Fan Kang said angrily.

He followed Zhang Pijiang as a military attaché and was considered a guard for the consulate general. Of course, because of the construction of the Yanzhou Governor's Office, he was also responsible for matters on the construction site.

Then Ptolemy's nobles contacted him, wanting to rent out their slaves to make money.

The young people of the Han Dynasty were most dissatisfied with the slave system. If you could at least establish some feudal system, it would be acceptable. You are exploiting people so openly and treating them as non-human beings. Fan Kang wanted to learn from his father and hang a few Ptolemaic nobles.

But for the nobles of Ptolemy, it was a sin to give all the food to the poor. The Han people did not cherish the food, so let them cherish it. Ptolemy lacked everything except slaves. Every noble family of Ptolemy had fifty or even a hundred slaves.

Since the Han people were short of slaves, they rented them to the Han people and earned several talents of food a month. Even the food for the slaves was paid by the Han people.

More importantly, these nobles thought deeply about it. The Han people had more and more slaves and free people, and more and more food needed to be distributed. The 30 talents of food in their hands would soon be distributed. At that time, the Han people would have to use luxury goods such as silk, sugar, and spices to buy food from them again. This was simply a perfect closed loop. They earned food from the Han people and sold it to them. They got silk and spices without paying almost anything. There was no more perfect business in the world than this.

Zhang Pijiang said: "As long as they send people here, we will accept them. The most important thing for the court now is to build the Yanzhou Governor's Office. Giving them some supplies will be enough."

150kg of food per month may seem like a lot, but in fact it is only five stone of food, which is worth less than 300 coins in the Han Dynasty. If you want to hire a farmer in the Han Dynasty, how many times would the price have to be multiplied before someone would be willing to do the job?
Now, every one of Ptolemy's laborers is very active in plastering, and the speed of construction is far beyond their original expectations. It is worth it for a big man to pay a little luxury to get such a group of active and hardworking laborers.

"These people went to the brick kiln factory and cement factory. The industrial zone in Yantian happened to be short of manpower."

To establish the Yanzhou Governorate on the Arabian Peninsula, a large amount of building materials are needed. For a slave state like Ptolemy, the price of obtaining these building materials will be astronomical, and the quantity will not be enough.

So Zhang Pijiang simply established five small industrial zones to specifically solve the problem of building materials, which also served to cover the construction costs. The Arabian Peninsula has almost nothing, but the thing it has the most is the sun.

Zhang Pijiang created a huge salt field with just a little bit of land. This salt field can produce several thousand kilograms of salt every day, and has now become the largest source of financial income for the Yanzhou Governor's Office.

(End of this chapter)