It took the fleet two days to avoid the wind and waves on Lake Island. Not all the people of the fleet went to the island, but only 2000 people went to the island with only more than 200 villagers. In only two days, they tossed the island and even consumed almost the food reserves of the villagers on the Island.
When the food was gone, the villagers were not unhappy, but very happy. Naturally, the guests spent money. They can go to the Greek peninsula to buy food anytime and anywhere, but they don't have to wait to starve to death after eating. It's too late for people to spend money recklessly.
"You don't have to spend money." Marus Utansis has Greek blood, but he has always been deeply ashamed and has no idea of being close to the Greeks: "it is glory for them to serve us."
In fact, it didn't cost much money. The Han people also left a good impression on the villagers on the island. One day, if the Han people come to the island again, I believe the villagers on the island will treat the Han people kindly. This is far more important than leaving a bad impression, but Wang Meng and others will not tell the Romans the reason.
After the fleet started again, it still followed the previous route. This time, there was no bad weather on the island. I passed through the sea area smoothly and saw many scattered islands along the way.
"There are so many islands in this sea area?" Cai Mian has always played a role of thirst for knowledge: "are all the villagers on the island Greeks?"
"No." Marcus Maka pointed to the North: "over there is the province of Thrace, next to it is Macedonia. The Olympus you call is in the southeast of Macedonia."
Macedonia? A once glorious country, their king once established a powerful empire across Europe, Asia and Africa, but the Empire was so short-lived that it immediately collapsed with the death of the founder Alexander the great.
Alexander the great had a great influence on world history. He not only almost unified Greece, but also left many countries with Greek model after his death, especially after the eastern expedition. The largest one was the Seleucid Empire, and even many Greek Americans established countries in West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia.
There has always been a legend of the great Xia in the Central Plains Dynasty. The first generation of the great Xia was actually the Bactria Greek Kingdom established by Greek descent, that is to say, the great Xia in the Qin Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty was actually a country ruled by a group of Blonde white skin people. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the great Xia recorded in historical books changed and became a country composed of Yueshi people, Cypriots and a San, that is, the predecessor of the kusana empire. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty forgot the great Xia, which was tantamount to losing its ambition to March west of the western regions, and the pace of Conquest stopped in the western regions.
Thrace was originally the general name of a Greek tribal alliance. People there will have yellow skin, which is probably the appearance, living habits and clothes of Western Asian people, which are no different from those of Greeks. They are a nation that was culturally conquered by the Greeks first. After the Greek city states were settled by Rome, Thrace became a vassal of Rome without resistance. For a long time, once the Romans called, they should go out as cannon fodder.
At the beginning, Rome did not seem to have the intention to completely conquer Thrace, but it did not prevent the Romans from teaching Thracians in various tones, and armed into Thrace territory to capture villagers as slaves.
Thrace is also an ethnic group with great figures. The first large-scale slave uprising in Roman history was led by a Thracian named Spartacus, but this uprising armed group with gladiators as the main leadership also brought disaster to the corners of Roman territory. A slight invasion of Roman provinces immediately led to a large number of encirclement and suppression by the Roman Legion, The back was directly pressed on the ground by Krasu with the power of a family.
After the failure of the slave uprising led by Spartacus, the Romans could no longer tolerate the independent existence of Thrace. The Roman Legion swept Thrace very easily. After conquest, it established Thrace provinces. Its rule has been maintained until now and will continue until the hiccup of Western Rome.
After reaching the sea area close to Thrace, you will enter a narrow strait, which is a channel surrounded by two continents.
"The continent to the south is Asia Minor." Marus Utansis stared at the land that looked almost yellow: "we said before that the Trojan War took place on this continent."
There are no cities on the coast. Even if there are people, there are some scattered villages. This piece of green can rarely be seen. It seems that the place within sight is barren hills except the Gobi.
"The Greeks washed and landed at the exit of the Strait." Marcus Maka pointed to a beach: "they camped here by boat and fought with the Trojans on the coastline for nearly ten years."
"In that place." Marus Utansis meant to be empty: "it used to be the city of Troy, but now you can't even see a remnant of the wall."
Please, the Trojan War took place in 1913 BC and did not end until 1813 BC. It is said that the Greeks began extreme burning, killing and looting when they attacked the city. Later, they simply set fire wantonly. An originally rich and beautiful city was reduced to ashes in the war, and no one would rebuild it.
A city that was abandoned more than 1500 years ago, and the local climate is dry and dusty. Maybe people nearby will pry some bricks and stones when building houses. It's strange what traces can be left.
I'm not kidding. For example, the Great Wall is only a few decades from the late Qing Dynasty to modern times. For some sections of the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty to maintained in the Manchu Dynasty, nearby villagers will take materials to build houses. As a result, a considerable part of the Great Wall section has not even left the remaining foundation. It has only been like this for decades. The death of Troy was more than 1500 years ago. What can be left?
After going deep into the Strait, the coastline scenery on both sides of the Strait has been changing. Relatively speaking, the green on the north bank is more than that on the south bank, and the population on the north bank is definitely more than that on the south bank.
"Our first Augustus once intended to build a bridge in the Strait, but that was an impossible thing." Marus Utansis compared the two sides of the Strait: "how ambitious should that be?"
Wang Meng visually observed that the width of the Strait should be more than ten Han Li. He didn't know what the water depth was, and the water flow was relatively flat. He wondered whether it would be possible to build a Cross Strait Bridge with the scientific and technological strength of the Han country. The final conclusion was that it would be difficult, but it could be built.
"If you are willing to spend money..." Cai Mian dragged an end to attract the attention of all Romans: "it's not impossible to make."
The Romans had their own looks. Most of them thought it was impossible, but someone took it seriously.
"I remember you have river crossing bridges on the Yangtze River and the Yellow River." Marcus Maka has been to the Han border and personally passed through the bridges: "you can build a river crossing bridge on the river with rapid water flow. There must be no problem with such a gentle water flow in the Strait."
Marcus Maka's words surprised all the unsuspecting Romans. When asked again and again, he introduced what he had heard and seen.
"The river crossing bridge is at most two miles, but this strait is more than seven miles." Marus Utansis said suspiciously, "even one step will add countless difficulties, not to mention so many. The depth of the sea is not comparable to that of the river."
The Romans also took "Li" as the unit of length, but the Roman one Li is equivalent to a modern 1.49 km, while the Han country, after the reform presided over by Liu Yan, uses a modern unit of length, one Li is 500 meters.
Cai Mian smiled indifferently. He just talked. The Romans believed it or not.
If we can really build a bridge in this strait, it will be a great gospel for Rome, especially for Constantius.
Marcus Maka has decided to take it seriously. Once he arrives at Constantinople, he will immediately ask Constantius to tell him about it. If the cross strait bridge can be built, perhaps the civil war will end faster, or the war will end with the victory of Constantius.
All the ships closed their sails early, and the sound of oars beating on the water never stopped. The reason is that the wind in the current season is not downwind for them. Raising the sail against the wind is completely difficult for them. They can only rely on human paddles to drive the ship forward.
They sailed from day to night. After nightfall, Wang Meng and others who stayed in the flagship room found the movement outside and went out to explore by Dou a.
"They're throwing away the body." Doo ah returned to the flagship room shortly after: "rowing continuously, some slaves died of overwork."
It's not the first time that people know such a thing. It happened more than once during the voyage. Some died of overwork and some died of illness. The Romans would restrain themselves, but they also wrapped the body in cloth and threw it into the sea, and the slaves directly into the sea.
"They claim to be the most civilized country in the west, but many acts are more barbaric than barbarians." Doua felt the cold night wind and pulled his collar with his hand: "casually throw dead bodies into the sea. If they are eaten by fish and shrimp, they will be clean. If they are washed into the beach or brought into the river, they are not afraid of causing plague."
"There have been several major plagues in Daqin." Cai Mian now knows everything: "it's said that one of their great figures seems to be Anthony or something. They have the title of 'Egyptian conqueror', that is, they die under the infection of the plague. It can be seen how widely they spread."
"Then they know the horror of the plague, but they still don't take it seriously." Dou a shivered and said in disgust, "I went ashore and entered several towns along the way. Each is like an oversized toilet. Shit and urine can be seen everywhere. The most excessive thing is that people living on the second floor don't look at whether there is anyone below. A basin of shit and urine will directly fall down."
A Han Chinese was caught. He vomited on the spot. After vomit, he directly fuck the guy up. In his anger, he stabbed the guy who poured excrement and urine on his head.
The result of that time was that the Han people who killed people didn't have any shit at all. In that city, no one fell shit from the second floor before the Han people left. The key is whether the Han people should leave or not.
The Han people who killed people have nothing to do, mainly because they have titles. Rome, who is trying to make friends with the Han country, must respect the Han nobles. In a place like Rome, the nobility is naturally superior to others, and the life and death of non citizens are just like that. If you really want to deal with it, the murdering nobility can just lose some money at will.
"Mian wondered if Constantinople would be a city full of shit on the streets." Cai Mian thought it was quite possible: "a city is full of excrement and urine. There are more mosquitoes and flies than expected. They go out and go home with their feet full of excrement and urine on the street. That's how they live?"
"Habit becomes nature." Wang Meng really didn't want to talk about this topic, but he was also worried that Constantinople was also a city full of shit: "if the capital of a country is like this, the big man should re-examine the great Qin Dynasty."
They had crossed the channel and entered an inland sea environment like a super large lake. What they learned was that they would reach Constantinople in half a day or so.
The route of the Strait, including this inland sea, is very prosperous. You can see large and small ships coming and going anytime and anywhere. Whether it is downwind or against wind, the oars on the ship don't stop rowing, so that every ship you can see is like a centipede fluttering on the sea.
After the appearance of fish white in the East, Wang Meng in his sleep was awakened by a noisy voice. He understood some Roman language more or less. Even mengdai guessed that he could see the outline of Constantinople.
From their position to the East, from a distance, there is another strait with narrow longitudinal width... No, it is not so much a Strait as a gateway. Looking in their direction, you can see the outline of a city on the left. There are dense black spots on the coast. Should there be all kinds of ships?
The waiting distance is getting closer and closer, and the people on board can see more clearly. What they saw was a city with a wall built on the shore. The height of the wall should be more than 30 meters. There were many triangular red flags flying on it. They could also see many soldiers standing guard.
"We'll stop here for the time being." Marus When utansis arrived at this place, he looked like a different person. He looked more proud. When he spoke, he even raised his chin slightly: "someone will go first to inform, clear out the channel, and then there will be a ceremony to meet the Han envoy."
Wang Meng was watching a corner of Constantinople attentively. The dense ships on the sea showed the prosperity of the city's maritime routes. The brick wall and the soldiers standing guard on it showed that the owner of the city attached importance to urban defense. Seeing that it was an obviously artificially transformed gate also showed that its owner knew the importance of the channel.