The street was not very wide, and there were not many pedestrians. They did not pay special attention to Liu Chan and others who were wearing strange clothes, and were busy minding their own business.
Everywhere, there are people at the bottom.
There is one in Rome too.
Liu Chan instinctively held Zhang Yuan tightly. He regretted taking her with him, but Zhang Yuan didn't seem to care. Instead, he gave a kind smile to some Roman civilians he met on the street.
Different races and different languages.
But the smile is the same.
From time to time, some Romans responded to them in the same way.
"Husband!" Zhang Yang whispered: "Their life is a bit hard."
"Yeah!" Liu Chan hummed.
He also saw that after entering this area, he believed what Liu Tiezhu said. The gap between the rich and the poor in the Roman Empire was very large. The lives of the nobles were very prosperous. For example, the Machius family, because they were a merchant family, so they
There is no shortage of money.
The Machius family owns a huge mansion.
Liu Chan doesn't know exactly how big Machius's house is. Anyway, they have been living in the front yard of his house. The front yard is a three-story building with several courtyards behind it.
The interior of the house was luxuriously decorated. If he hadn't known in advance that Machius was a businessman, Liu Chan would have thought he had entered the palace of the Roman Empire.
But now in this neighborhood, all the houses are very low and dilapidated.
Although the clothes of the people I met along the way were not in tatters, it was obvious that they were all of very low quality. Occasionally, I could see people eating food from Heihuhu. I heard Deng You introduce it, and the name of the food was
It’s called black bread.
I walked around the street for about half an hour.
Liu Chan chose to leave.
Because he has probably understood some of the current situation of the Roman Empire. It is glorious on the outside but full of problems internally.
This is not much different from some ancient Roman stories I heard in my previous life.
At this time, ancient Rome was in decline.
Originally, the emperors of the Roman Empire were to rule the empire according to the will of the Senate. However, in the later period, in order to control the power alone, the emperors randomly appointed citizens to the Senate, which destroyed the independence of the Senate.
p>
The power of the Senate was destroyed, and of course they could not let it go, so they began to use various conspiracies to assassinate the emperor in revenge for the emperor's dictatorship.
Within eighteen months, the Senate assassinated four emperors of the Roman Empire.
Soon the emperor began to take revenge on the Senate.
After such repeated twists and turns, no matter how powerful the empire is, it will eventually suffer a heavy blow.
Later, some tyrants appeared in the Roman Empire, which led to moral decay, social corruption, internal and external ravages such as the invasion of surrounding aliens, as well as some natural and man-made disasters.
In recent years, famines, epidemics, turmoils, and riots have occurred frequently, which has created the Roman Empire like this.
Of course——
Liu Chan is a time traveler. Although the Roman Empire in history experienced these disasters or tribulations, it did not die quickly.
Because according to the development of history, the Roman Empire will usher in an opportunity for change in at most a dozen years. For example, in the thirty years after 268 AD, some Roman emperors who were born in humble families saved the Roman Empire from the brink of destruction.
.
They defeated enemies at home and abroad, restored the empire's border defense forces with enforced strict military discipline, and were honored by later generations as the "revivers of the Roman Empire."
Then, the Roman Empire was divided into Eastern Rome (Byzantine Empire) and Western Rome. Western Rome was destroyed in 476 AD, and Eastern Rome was not destroyed by the Ottoman Empire until 1453 AD.
This is some of the history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire that Liu Chan learned about in his previous life.
The Roman Empire in front of us is similar to what is recorded in the history books. It is in a critical period of internal and external difficulties.
For the big man, this is an opportunity.
Of course, this was a disaster for the Roman Empire.
Because——
He has been targeted.
Liu Chan was the emperor of the Han Dynasty. Byzantium, a city on the eastern border of the Roman Empire, happened to border the Ming Kingdom. If history continues to develop, Byzantium will become the capital of Eastern Rome in more than a hundred years at most.
As the saying goes, there is no room for others to sleep on the side of the couch.
Although Liu Chan cannot guarantee that the Han, Tang, and Ming Dynasties will last forever, as a time traveler, he still hopes to do his best to eliminate some potential threats for future generations.
The Roman Empire was now in a state of illness.
If he is given enough time, he will recover, and by then he may be a potential danger to the Ming Kingdom.
...
Liu Chan and his party did not stay in Rome for too long. They only stayed for two or three months. They visited several cities around Rome and finally headed east, returning to the Ming Kingdom from Byzantium.
By the time Liu Chan and his party returned to Taixifeng, the capital of the Ming Kingdom, it was already March 257 AD.
One evening.
Inside the study room of the Kingdom of Ctesiphon.
Liu Chan looked at Liu Tiezhu and asked indifferently: "If I send troops to Rome, do you think it is feasible?"
Liu Tiezhu was stunned for a moment. After more than a year of studying with Deng You, he was able to communicate with people in Chinese. Later, when he learned that Liu Chan was the emperor of the Han Dynasty, Liu Tiezhu felt as if he had had a dream.
He was just a humble slave in the Roman Empire.
However, after Liu Chan bought him, he did not regard him as a slave. When he could simply communicate in Chinese, Liu Chan would often chat with him alone, without the airs of an emperor at all.
"Your Majesty!" Liu Tiezhu said: "If Your Majesty really plans to send troops to capture Rome, you can first send someone to contact the Christians in the Roman Empire."
"Why?" Liu Chan asked.
"In these years -" Liu Tiezhu said: "In these years, the rulers of the Roman Empire have tried their best to persecute Christians. If your Majesty can get the support of Christians, it will be easier to quickly stabilize the situation after attacking Rome."
Liu Chan paused.
After more than a year of getting along with each other, Liu Chan felt that Liu Tiezhu was different. He was no ordinary slave, and he also had his own unique perspective on things.
"Are you a Christian?" Liu Chan asked deliberately.
"Back to Your Majesty!" Liu Tiezhu did not hide anything and nodded: "Yes, I am indeed a Christian. It is also because I am a Christian that I was arrested and became a slave during an arrest by the Imperial Guard."<
/p>
Ha——
That’s right.
Naturally, Liu Chan had some knowledge of Christianity in his previous life. He remembered that when he was a boy, his parents separated and he had to live temporarily with his uncle and aunt.
At that time, my uncle didn’t know what he was thinking, but he actually believed in ‘Christianity’.
You have to pray every day when you eat and sleep, and you also have to pray when you plant crops.
Of course, it later turned out that what my uncle and aunt believed in was not true Christianity, but a crooked cult.
Liu Chan still remembers that during the high school entrance examination that year, his uncle reminded him before going out to pray before the exam. As long as you pray, you will get a good score.
However, Liu Chan was a bit rebellious at that time. Not only did he not pray before the exam, he didn't even eat or sleep at ordinary times. He just pretended to be in front of his uncle and aunt.
Because he simply doesn't believe that if you leave a little rice in the rice vat and pray every day, the rice in the vat will be filled by itself; if you don't study hard at all, if you pray before the exam, you can get good grades.
p>
Isn’t this nonsense?
Facts have proved that this is also true. Before my uncle's family embraced Christianity, their family situation was pretty good. My uncle was a country doctor and opened a clinic in Murakami. My two cousins also studied medicine with my uncle and lived a very good life.
However, my uncle began to preach as if he was possessed by a demon, which made it difficult for the family to boil the pot. Of course, my uncle's family no longer believed in this.
Therefore, when Liu Tiezhu said that he was a Christian, he couldn't help but think of some events from his previous life.
Of course——
Liu Chan also knows that many Westerners embrace Christianity.
As for what my uncle’s family believes in, it is definitely not the Christianity that Westerners believe in.
When Liu Chan heard this, he nodded slightly and then looked at Liu Tiezhu: "Your suggestion is very good. I respect the beliefs of every place." He paused and said, "For example, in the Ming Dynasty, people believe in Zoroastrianism.
After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it never interfered with people's beliefs."
This is true.
The Persian region believed in Zoroastrianism in ancient times, and later spread to China. However, it was not called Zoroastrianism in China, but was called Mingjiao in the Central Plains.
It was also for this reason that Liu Chan named Liu Yan's kingdom the Ming Kingdom. Of course, there was also a Ming Dynasty in China in history.
I heard that the establishment of the Ming Dynasty had something to do with Mingjiao.
"If I, the Han Dynasty, captured the Roman Empire;" Liu Chan said with a smile: "I will treat everyone equally and respect the people's beliefs!"
As soon as Liu Chan finished speaking, Liu Tiezhu seemed a little excited.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
"If your Majesty can keep his word -" Liu Tiezhu said: "The great Han will surely win the support of the people of the Roman Empire."
"Okay!" Liu Chan was very satisfied, and immediately looked at Liu Tiezhu: "Then I will appoint you as the envoy to the west, and set off today to the Roman Empire to convey my will to the Christian people."
Liu Tiezhu is a Roman or a Christian who was arrested by the Roman Empire.
Since the Roman Empire excluded Christians, Liu Chan felt that this group could be bribed.
As the saying goes, the enemy of your enemy is your friend.
As for whether Liu Tiezhu can be trusted, after more than a year of getting along with him, Liu Chan is inclined to trust him. During the more than a year before that in Rome, Liu Tiezhu felt relatively honest.
Of course, if Liu Tiezhu leaks this matter.
It’s not a big deal actually.
Because Liu Chan now has enough confidence to defeat this so-called Roman Empire.
......
The eighteenth year of the rise of the Han Dynasty (AD 257), May 6th.
Chang'an.
Weiyang Palace, East Palace Study Room.
Liu Chen paused and asked: "Prime Minister, do you think I, a big man, can still go on an expedition?"
As the prince, Liu Chen needs to consider this issue.
Two days ago, he received a message sent by a flying pigeon from his father who returned from the Western Regions.
"Your Highness!" Prime Minister Zhuge Liang said calmly: "Your Majesty once mentioned the Roman Empire in the West to my old minister. It is a powerful empire that is no less powerful than my Han Dynasty."
Hearing this, Liu Chen was immediately shocked.
"If it had been in the past -" Zhuge Liang saw Liu Chen's worries and said: "I, the Han Dynasty, are far away from the Roman Empire, and my veteran will not support the labor expedition."
Liu Chen paused. Of course he understood what the prime minister said.
In the past, he would not have supported it, but now he does.
Why?
The Roman Empire was so far away from the Central Plains. Is it necessary for the Han Dynasty to send a large army to the west?
Liu Chen didn’t understand.
He is more willing to manage the Han Dynasty well. After all, the Han Dynasty is not in peace now. For example, in Liaodong and outside the Great Wall, threats to the Han Dynasty still exist.
"Your Highness!" Zhuge Liang said again: "Your Majesty spent nine years establishing the Kingdom of Tang Dynasty and the Kingdom of Ming Dynasty." After saying that, he paused and asked Liu Chen: "Your Majesty, you think that your Majesty spared no effort to expedition to the Western Regions.
Why?”
Liu Chen did not answer. Zhuge Liang shook his feather fan slightly for a few times and then stopped. He said calmly: "Opening up the Western Regions will be conducive to the development of our Han Dynasty. Our Han Dynasty's products can be exported to the Western Regions. Similarly, some of the Western Regions'
Products can also enter my big man."
"Also! Your Majesty is doing this so that after His Majesty ascends the throne, he can better govern the Han Dynasty without any worries."
Liu Chen really didn't think that far ahead. In his opinion, as long as a strong man has strong soldiers and horses, he will not be afraid of any enemy.
But Zhuge Liang was different. He learned about the development of history and the pattern of the world from Liu Chan's mouth.
In the past, Han people mostly heard about the West.
For example, people in the Eastern and Western Han Dynasties all knew that there was a powerful country in the West, but they didn't know how powerful it was because they were too far apart.
But Liu Chan knew.
Now Zhuge Liang also knows.
"The Western Region now has the Ming Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty. His Highness will rule the Central Plains in the future. As long as he maintains friendly relations with the Tang and Ming Dynasties, the Han Dynasty will be invincible. After all, His Highness has two powerful allies behind him." Zhuge Liang
Said with a smile.
"Thank you, Prime Minister, for your advice!" Liu Chen said.
"As for your Majesty's intention to send troops to Rome -" Zhuge Liang said: "Although the Roman Empire is far away from the Han Dynasty, it is very close to the Han Dynasty's ally, the Ming Kingdom."
"If the Roman Empire invades the Ming Dynasty in the future..." Zhuge Liang looked at Liu Chen, then paused, and then asked: "If the Ming Dynasty is in danger, how can the Tang Dynasty protect it?"
"Without the Ming Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, wouldn't His Highness be back to where he started?"
Liu Chan visited the west, and Zhuge Liang knew the reason.
Sooner or later, the emperor will declare war on the great Western power Rome, because only by conquering the Roman Empire will the Han Dynasty be truly safe.
Because before that, there were four great empires in this world.
The Han Dynasty, the Kushan Empire, the Parthian Empire (Sasanian Dynasty), and the Roman Empire in the West. Now Kushan and Sassanid have all been conquered by the Han, leaving only the declining Roman Empire.
According to what Liu Chan told him before, the Roman Empire will still be strong in the future. If that day comes, it may be the time for the Roman Empire to expand eastward.
Because the Romans absolutely did not want to see strong neighbors around them.
After listening to Zhuge Liang's words, Liu Chen finally understood his father's thoughts. His father was all for the long-term peace and stability of the Han Dynasty.
Liu Chen paused, then bowed to Zhuge Liang and said, "Thank you, Prime Minister, for your advice. I will send someone to Chaisang to inform the emperor!"
......
......
This chapter has been completed!