The Eastern Song Dynasty, which had a population of 10 million and could mobilize an army of more than 1 million to destroy the Golden Kingdom, which Rome considered to be invincible, was beyond the imagination of Alexios, King of Rome. And it also aroused his vigilance.
He is not Marco Polo, the Venetian merchant who would sell his soul for money.
Alexios was the co-emperor of the Roman Empire, a loyal believer in God, and a defender of the God-worshipping church... When considering issues, he first had to start from defending the God-worshiping faith, and then the Comnenus family. interests, followed by the Roman people and the Senate.
Although John Vasilius 31 of the Golden Family killed his father and took away the throne that should have belonged to him. But John Vasilius 31 was, after all, a believer in the Church of God, and he also came from the ancient golden sage family... His ancestors were sages who witnessed the birth of Jesus, and their status was at least as high as The Twelve Apostles are equivalent.
Therefore, although John Vasilius 31 became the Caesar of the Roman Empire, although it was not in the interests of the Komnenos family, it was beneficial to Rome and the Church of God Worship. Apart from anything else, the Komnenos family would not be able to do this just by turning the eighteen Rakshasa princes and the Alan Kingdom into vassals of the Roman Empire.
Maybe...this is really God's will?
But Zhao Kai, the dictator of the Eastern Song Dynasty Empire, can never be the person chosen by God, because he and his people do not believe in God at all!
This is not the most outrageous thing. The most outrageous thing is that these evil Eastern Song Dynasty people (including Tang people) not only do not believe in God, but also try to become God!
While staying in Chang'an Mansion in Xijing, King Acresius of Rome learned about a terrible theory from Mariha Xiya and Li Chongwen (of course he was also a Confucian scholar, and he also entered New Confucianism)-Gewuqiong. Reason and study of things lead to knowledge!
That is, by studying various things in the world, discovering their principles, and thereby grasping the power of God to create them... This is simply blasphemous!
If there is anyone in the world who deserves to be conquered by the Crusaders across Europe, it is undoubtedly these blasphemers who dare to explore the power of God!
Of course, Acresius would not dare to say such things to Li Chongwen... This Confucian scholar almost never leaves his body with a sword (this is true for all the people in the Western Tang Dynasty). He will only hand over his sword according to regulations when entering the Daming Palace.
But not speaking does not mean that he does not write... After Acresius fully understood the ferocity and blasphemy of the Eastern Song Dynasty, he decided to depict the Song Dynasty as a powerful country in his travel notes. And evil country!
Believers in God-worshiping churches in the West must be alert and strengthen unity to deal with the invasion that may come at any time!
In addition, Alexios has completely given up on asking for help from the Song Dynasty... John Vasilius 31 worshiped God after all, but the dictator of the Song Dynasty was a blasphemer! If his millions of troops reached Europe, worshiping God would most likely come to an end.
But the Eastern Song Dynasty still has to go. If we don't go there, how can his "The Travels of the King of Yizi Side by Side" be authoritative? You have never been there, so you just hear people say that they are blasphemous. There was no market for such words in Europe in the 12th century.
Although Europe in the 12th World is still in the dark Middle Ages, darkness does not mean stupidity... Even if it is a bit stupid, it is not stupid enough to be stupid!
So in February 1141 of the Julian calendar, King Akrisius and the Archmage Bagration, who held the same views as him, embarked on a long and slow journey to the Eastern Song Dynasty. .
And this journey, of course, becomes more and more frightening as we go!
Because the further east they go, the more they feel the vastness and magnificence of "the whole world" (under the Central Plains), and at the same time they can more deeply appreciate the power of the Tang Dynasty in the West and the Song Dynasty in the East!
The strength of these two countries is not all due to their large population and vast territory... In fact, the population of Tang Dynasty in the Western Region was not large, maybe only a few million people, not as many as the 10 million people in Eastern Rome. But Acresius discovered that the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions was highly militarized!
The people of the Tang Dynasty, whom they called "Chinese people", were almost all soldiers, and even women could ride horses and shoot arrows!
These Tang people all lived together in or around the three-sided hexagonal fortress called Hamburg. They also maintained military establishments at all times and conducted regular training. From time to time, they also had conflicts with the nomadic tribes on the grassland... As far as Acresius knew, the Tang people had the upper hand in these conflicts!
There have even been many cases where tens of thousands of enemies were unable to defeat a Hamburg garrisoned by a few hundred men.
The strength of the Tang army is evident!
But such a powerful Tang army was as afraid of the Song Dynasty as a tiger... You can also imagine the ferocity of the Eastern Song Dynasty.
And when Alexios, Bagration and Marihasiya entered the territory of Gaochang Prefecture under the jurisdiction of the Song Dynasty's Hexi pacification envoy, he finally understood why the Tang Dynasty in the Western Region was afraid of the Song Dynasty in the Eastern Region.
Because the Song Dynasty, with a population of 10 million, was actually a highly militarized country like the Tang Dynasty, which had only more than one million nationalities.
From the Gaochang Oasis, to the Hexi Corridor, to the land of Guanlong and then to the land of the Central Plains, we traveled nearly 5,000 miles and passed dozens of cities, large and small. From the vast and sparsely populated western part of the Song Dynasty to the densely populated hinterland of the Central Plains, Alexios discovered that all parts of this great Eastern Empire maintained a considerable degree of war readiness...even in those places far away On the front lines, and in places with good security, warriors are still ready to go to the battlefield to fight the enemies of the "dictatorship".
In many places, Acresius saw groups of Eastern warriors going to designated places to serve. All of them are well equipped and have high morale!
In addition, Acresius also discovered that a large number of "hamburgers" were built in Gaochang, Xizhou, Hexi Corridor, and western Guanlong. These burgers are made of rammed earth and covered with bricks, making them look extremely sturdy and durable.
Acresius made a rough estimate and found that the total number of troops in the Eastern Song Dynasty was likely to be as many as 3 million... This was a behemoth that Europe could never fight against!
...
In the first-class cabin of a passenger boat that went eastward along the Han River and the Yangtze River, Alexios, who was immersed in compiling "The Travels of Alexios", felt a little hungry. He raised his head and looked out the window. It's when the sun sets.
Another day!
The co-ruling emperor of the Roman Empire was really a little numb to the long distance... When he first entered the Song Dynasty, he observed very carefully, trying to find out the military advantages of the Song Empire. weakness.
But after searching for several months, he finally gave up hope... because he found that the Song Empire's military had no weaknesses at all!
Impeccable!
Their cavalry is powerful, their infantry is powerful, their firearms army is unparalleled in the world, and their fortresses are also extremely strong... Moreover, their army is not a foreign mercenary, but an existence similar to the citizen soldiers of the Roman Republic. However, their citizen soldiers have a very solid economic foundation. The state will allocate enough land to military citizens and allocate huge sums of money from tax revenue to subsidize them.
In addition, the Song Dynasty also strictly limited the amount of land held by nobles, and also competed with nobles for slave ownership - this slowed down the process of wealth concentration and put the military citizens of the Song Dynasty in a situation where the gap between rich and poor was not too large. .
Therefore, the military citizens of the Song Dynasty would not go bankrupt like the Roman citizen soldiers, and they could easily unite.
This state is simply the state that the Gracchi brothers dreamed of...
As the king of Rome, Acresius certainly knew how powerful such a military citizen was!
So what he thought he could do was to use a travel book to sound the alarm for sleeping Europe!
The pagan empire in the East is too powerful. The believers of the God-Worshipping Church must unite, otherwise they will lose everything!
As he wrote this, Acresius suddenly put down the quill in his hand with a wry smile, and looked at the manuscript written on the paper, feeling uncomfortable in his heart!
Europe is so backward...it doesn't even have paper towels. If the Eastern Song Dynasty knew that Europe was so poor, it would probably be too lazy to invade, right? There's nothing to grab if you go there!
Just as he was sighing for the poverty and backwardness of Europe, a burst of cheers suddenly sounded outside the cabin, and then he saw the Archmage Bagration and Mali Hasiya walking in together.
The two mages from the Church of God Worship looked excited.
Archmage Bagration smiled and shouted to Alexios: "Here we are, here we are... Basileus, we are finally here!"
"Where have you been?" Alexios was a little silly while typing, and he didn't even know where he was?
Mariha Xiya's voice was trembling a little when he spoke, "Nanjing Yingtianfu...the largest city in the world! Basileus, we are finally here!"
What Alexius and his party witnessed was Yingtian Mansion in Nanjing, because when they were escorted by officials from the Hexi Jiedushi Division to the territory of Henan Road, Zhao Kai was in charge of Yingtian Mansion in Nanjing. So he ordered people to send the King of Rome, who came from afar, to Yingtian Mansion.
So Alexios went south to Xiangyang Prefecture, and boarded a passenger boat bound for Nanjing at Fancheng Port. Now the passenger boat finally arrived at its destination.
The most majestic and wealthy city in the world was right in front of Alexios as he got out of the cabin.
"Oh God..." Alexios looked at the tall and towering city wall in the distance and couldn't help but exclaimed, "Rome and Constantinople combined are not as good as this one." City!”
"That's..." It was Li Chongwen who answered him. He was ordered to escort Alexios to the Eastern Song Dynasty. This was also the first time in his life that he arrived at this land that haunted him, " This is one of the two capitals of the Song Dynasty!"
Or one of the two capitals...
Alexios thought to himself: The other capital of the Song Dynasty is not that small, right? This country... is so terrible!
