Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 365 The Best Ally (Special thanks to book friend Bao Yu Wu Sheng for his 2 monthly tickets!)

Two days later in the afternoon, when ten thousand Samanid guards arrived at the border checkpoint, they found out that Hu Lian and others had passed the border in the early morning.

The guards were furious and scolded the soldiers guarding the pass. In the end, they had to return to the capital, Bukhara.

When reporting to King Mansur, the commander of the royal guards did not dare to say that he had never caught up with the Zhou merchants. He only said that he had intercepted Zhou people on a wild road. After questioning, they were found to be ordinary merchants and there was nothing unusual.

Although Mansur felt that the matter was not that simple, he had no evidence to punish these imperial guards and the palace guards, so he had to let the matter go.

After Hu Lian, Kou Zhun and others entered the Roman Empire, they still presented themselves as Gaochang merchants to the outside world.

Every night when Kou Zhun rested in the inn, he would write furiously, writing down what he had seen and heard along the way.

After traveling for more than a month, the Great Zhou delegation arrived at Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, which was located at the junction of Asia and Europe and controlled the import and export of the Black Sea, on the second day of March in the twenty-eighth year of Kaixi.

After several days of giving away gifts and arranging arrangements, including many precious goods from the Great Zhou Dynasty and four beauties from Gaochang, Hu Lian finally got in touch with Basil Lecapin, the chief executive of the Roman imperial court (the Grand Chamberlain) and a close minister of Basil II.

When Lecapin heard that it was the envoys from the Great Zhou Empire, which had become famous in Europe in recent years, he immediately expressed his willingness to introduce them to Emperor Basil II.

Basil II was quite surprised to learn that a delegation of envoys from the Great Zhou Empire was coming, and immediately ordered a summons to meet them three days later.

At si time on March 16, the 28th year of Kaixi, the envoy of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Kou Zhun, entered the palace of the Roman Empire to meet with Emperor Basil II.

Led by the chief eunuch Lecapin, Kou Zhun and his entourage walked along the way and saw that there were many palaces in the Roman Empire with magnificent architecture, but the craftsmanship was quite different from that of his own country's Great Zhou Empire.

The area seems to be slightly larger than the Imperial Palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty in Bianjing.

After all, the Bianjing Imperial Palace was expanded during the Later Liang Dynasty as the Jiedushi Mansion. By the time of the Great Zhou Dynasty, there were frequent wars and it had not been expanded again in successive dynasties.

The guards and servants in the palace are almost all white-skinned, with high noses and different eye colors, and occasionally a few black maids can be seen.

About quarter of an hour later, Kou Zhun and others had arrived at the main hall in the front yard of the imperial palace, where the Roman Emperor Basil was waiting.

Kou Zhun followed the chief eunuch Lekapin into the main hall and looked towards Basil II who was sitting on the throne in the north end of the hall. He saw a man about thirty years old wearing the emperor's gorgeous clothes, and he looked very heroic.

At this time, Basil II took power at the age of 18, and by the age of 28 he had completely put down the rebellion of military nobles in the country. He was at the peak of his career.

After presenting the credentials and gift list, Kou Zhun said:

"Both our Great Zhou Empire and the Roman Empire are great nations of the time, with vast territories and a large population, located in the east and west of the world.

Our Great Zhou Emperor unified China and destroyed the Karakhanid Khanate and the Liao Dynasty in the blink of an eye. His martial arts were rare in the world.

His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Zhou has heard that your country is the successor of the ancient Roman Empire, and that it follows Nestorian Christianity to correct its people, and that it cannot be tolerated by many Star Church countries.

Today, I, a foreign minister, have come here on a diplomatic mission under the order of our Emperor. We are willing to form an alliance with your country to resist the countries of the Star Religion world. In the future, our two countries will engage in extensive trade and exchange what we have.

This is the alliance between the Great Zhou and Rome to dominate the world!"

Longxiangwei, who was proficient in Latin, translated Kou Zhun's words to Basil II. Before meeting Kou Zhun, Basil had specially consulted the ministers in the court who were familiar with the affairs of the East, and roughly knew about the demise of the Karakhanid Khanate and the Liao Dynasty by the Great Zhou.

The recent news of the "Battle of Bekara" between the coalition forces of the Star Religion and the Great Zhou Empire that reached the Roman Empire also shocked the Roman monarchs and ministers at the strength of the Great Zhou army.

Basil II ascended the throne at the age of 5. During the more than years until the rebellion was quelled, the two major eastern territories of Aleppo and Antioch were both seized by the Star Cult countries. The former fell to the Samanid Dynasty, and the latter was seized by the Black Caliphate.

These two major losses of territories are exactly the concerns of Basil II, who now holds absolute power.

Now we hear that the Great Zhou, with the strength of one country and an army of four or five hundred thousand, has defeated the coalition of more than twenty countries and three million troops of the Star Sect. Its strength is astonishing and it is the best ally for the Roman Empire to regain its lost territory.

Basil II said:

“China is an ancient country with a great civilization. During the Tang Dynasty, our missionary Aroben went there to preach and was treated kindly by your emperor (Tang Taizong). I, Caesar, have also heard that your emperor is a great saint, and I know that the goods of the Great Zhou Empire are now sold all over Central Asia.

Now that your emperor has sent an envoy to form an alliance, I, Keiser, will not let your goodwill down!
This matter will be discussed in the next few days. Your Excellency has come from afar and has worked hard on the way. I, Caesar, have already set up a banquet in the palace. Please join your Excellency and your entourage."

The title of Rome's supreme ruler and first senator was actually Augustus. Even during the period of Tetrarchy, Caesar was only Augustus's deputy. For some reason, the title of Augustus was rarely used, and subsequent Roman emperors mostly called themselves "Caesar."

Christianity has a long history of interaction with China.

Christianity was introduced to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, in 635 AD (the ninth year of the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty).

The missionary Alopen who came to China at that time belonged to the Nestorian sect of Christianity, a sect considered a heresy by orthodox Christianity.

In 638 AD, the Tang Dynasty court allowed him to preach publicly and paid to build a temple in Chang'an.

The scriptures passed down by this sect include "The Praise of the Three Powers of the Nestorian Church" and "The Xuanyuan Zhiben Sutra". At one time, there were "temples in hundreds of cities" and "the Dharma spread to ten paths", and it was very prosperous.

The Tang people had a vague understanding of Christianity, and successively called it "Persian barbarian religion", "Jingjiao" and "Nestorianism".

Most of the Nestorians were merchants from the Western Regions and a few nobles, and the missionaries were almost all Syrians and Persians.

In 845 AD (the fifth year of Huichang), Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty issued an edict to ban Buddhism, and Nestorianism was also banned at the same time. From then on, it never recovered and soon disappeared in the areas where the Han people lived. In the history of the spread of Christianity to China, the introduction of Nestorianism in the Tang Dynasty is generally regarded as the first period of the spread of Christianity to China.

Kou Zhun was overjoyed. It seemed that the Roman Empire was indeed at odds with the Star Religion country, just as the rulers and ministers of the Great Zhou had expected.

Kou Zhun immediately went to the side hall with Hu Lian and other entourage to take their seats. That night, Basil II treated him with courtesy and arranged for him to stay in the state guest building.

After several days of diplomatic exchanges, the two sides agreed on a draft of the alliance:
Article 1: The Great Zhou Empire and the Roman Empire signed a treaty to become friendly states, open up trade with each other, and the citizens of the two countries enjoy equal rights to do business and rule of law in each other's countries.

Article 2: The Roman Empire will raise an army to help the Great Zhou Empire fight against the countries in the Star Religion world, with a force of no less than 600,000.

After the alliance's victory, the Roman Empire had the right to recover the two major eastern territories of Aleppo and Antioch.

After discussions with Kou Zhun, Hu Lian and others, they all felt that the Roman Empire's demand to take back the two lost territories would not have any impact on the interests of the Great Zhou. As long as they could completely defeat the Star Cult world, the territory that the Great Zhou could seize would be more than a hundred times greater than these two places.
Emperor Chai Zongxun would not refuse.

(End of this chapter)