The Roman Emperor John II, wearing a purple robe, a leaf-shaped Roman crown, and a scepter, was waiting for the visit of Wang Zongbi, who came from the glorious and magnificent Grand Palace in Constantinople.

This Roman emperor, nicknamed "beautiful man" and "good man", lives a very comfortable life now. He surpassed many generations of Roman emperors before him, and of course he has been doing better in his original history.

The reason why he was very comfortable was of course that the "east wind and west gradually faded". After recalling the West, China's maritime power broke through the Sanfoqi Strait and began to enter the Indian Ocean in large quantities. In this process, the maritime power of the Sarasen people (Arabs) was destroyed, and Baghdad and Basra became increasingly depressed. It posed a serious blow to the financial resources of the Seljuk Empire.

The Western Expeditions of the Song Dynasty, Western Xia and Western Liao that occurred later severely hit the Seljuks' military strength. The unified Seljuk Empire no longer exists. Persia, the most important territory of the Seljuk Turks, had been lost and became the core of the Western Liao Dashi Empire.

The remnants of Seljuk, which were surviving in Syria, Iraq, and Anatolia, were no longer able to fight against the Roman Empire, which was allied with Western Liao and Egypt.

So in the past few years, the Roman Empire has launched rounds of counterattacks on the Anatolian Plateau, which has compressed the Roma Sultanate to the eastern edge of the plateau and turned into a buffer state between Rome and Western Liao.

In the Levant (Syria), the "good man John" also achieved great success. Although his Roman army did not occupy an inch of land there, not long ago, the monarchs of the crusading countries such as the King of Jerusalem, Prince Antioch, Edssa and the Earl of Tripoli, arrived in Constantinople together and swore allegiance to him. These crusading countries are now under pressure from the Kingdom of Egypt and the Western Liao Empire, and are in urgent need of finding a more reliable asylumer than the Roman Catholic Church.

In theory, the Roman Empire could have already drawn the narrow strip of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean into its own territory.

However, it is indeed a pity that the Egyptian Kingdom, ruled by his sister Komningna, did not become a vassal of the Roman Empire.

But the fact that Rome was able to revive to its present moment has already made the "good man John" very satisfied.

While the Roman Empire was reviving, new crises were approaching step by step.

The new crisis is of course the Eastern powers gradually invading the west!

Not to mention the two great peach blossom stone empires that were domineering in the Indian Ocean, the Western Liao Dynasty, which was based on Tabriz, and the Golden Tent Kingdom, which established a base on the Volga River. In the long run, they are all huge threats no less than those of the Seljuks and the Sarasen people.

But at the moment, the good man John doesn't need to worry about them. Because the Seljuks and the Sarasen people have not completely collapsed, they can reach the Dashi Empire as a barrier to Rome.

In the north, Kievan Rus can play the role of the flesh shield of the Roman Empire to resist the Golden Treasure Kingdom.

With these two families supporting the Roman Empire, at least twenty or thirty years will be good. As for the future...

The good man John turned his attention to John IX, the Patriarch of Constantinople.

This talisman who is so old that he almost becomes a spirit is the second most powerful person in Constantinople! He and the good man John have been thinking about how to deal with the Dashi Empire and the Golden Treasure Kingdom for many days.

Of course, you can't beat it!

The victory achieved by Eastern Rome in the past decade is actually diplomatic victory rather than military victory.

As for the basis for the victory of Eastern Rome's diplomatic victory, it was that the Western Liao Dashi Empire defeated the powerful Seljuk Empire... For Eastern Rome, the very powerful Seljuk Empire was almost as fragile as an egg in front of the Western Liao Dashi Empire!

The Jinzhang Kingdom, which had just moved east, is said to have defeated the Dashi Empire in the east - Yelu Dashi, because of them, had to move westward.

Such a country is terrible to think about!

And such a terrible country was actually defeated by the Song Empire and Zhou Empire with the Peach Blossom Stone...

Peach Blossom Stone must be the most terrifying place in the world!

Since the Peach Blossom Stone Man is so terrible, the Eastern Roman Empire, which is strong outside and strong at the same time, will never go to war with them.

If you don’t start a war, of course you have to be friends.

To be friends, you must first find the common point between the two parties... This common point is the belief in the law of nature!

Yes, it means believing in the laws of heaven!

This is the conclusion drawn by the Roman emperor John after studying the Greek translation of "Theory of Heaven".

The laws of heaven believed in by the peach blossom stone people are gods in Christianity, so the good man John has instructed the "Oriental scholars" in Constantine's seminary (referring to the priests who study peach blossom stone culture) to use "sacred principles" instead of "Araho" and become the Chinese name of gods in the translation of Constantine of the Bible.

In this way, the Christians in Rome and the Confucian scholars of Peach Blossom Stone were all believers of the laws of nature... but Christians' belief in the laws of nature comes from the savior Jesus, while the people of Peach Blossom Stone came from their ancestors Lao Tzu, Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, etc.

...

"Your Highness, this is a gift from the Church of Constantine, a Bible New Testament written in the words of peach stone."

A Chinese translation of the Bible. New Testament, or a handwritten copy, was written on high-end white paper imported from the Eastern Song Dynasty!

This Bible. New Testament was handed to Wang Zongbi by John IX with both hands.

The words spoken by Patriarch Constantine were translated into Chinese by a priest from the Guangming Tianpo Church who worked in the Bishop of Constantine.

"Thank you." Wang Zongbi took the Chinese copy of the Bible. New Testament in his hand very elegantly. When he opened it, he saw the Chinese characters written with a quill pen: "There was Tao in the beginning, and Tao and reason are with the truth, and Tao is the law of heaven..."

What's going on? Isn't this a Western Christian sutra? Why is it a Tao, a principle, and a law of nature?

What kind of god do you worship?

"Your Highness," said the good man John, who took the question and laughed, "I think you should understand that our Creator and your laws of nature are actually the same existence, the source of all things in the universe and the creators of the world. Since we belong to the same world, the Lord who created it is naturally the same."

Wang Zonghan immediately understood the truth that the Roman emperor said - he understood philosophy in this time and space! He was the top scholar in the Great Jin Kingdom!

"Yes, we are indeed created by the same Creator." said the philosopher Wang Zonghan, "but we discovered the principles of heaven more than two thousand years ago."

The Roman emperor laughed and said, "But we are favored by the laws of nature."

"The law of heaven has created all things in the universe, and all things in the universe are his descendants, so he will not particularly favor anyone." The philosopher Wang Zonghan immediately put forward a different opinion, "This is the way of heaven that is not kind, and treats all things as straw dogs."

John IX said: "But Christ came 1131 years ago, and he was the son of heaven..."

"Everyone is the son of the law of heaven, because the law of heaven is the source of all people." The philosopher Wang Zonghan said, "Christ only realized this day, so he became a prophet. And our Lao Tzu, Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi discovered this earlier."

This is...blasphemy! It's a heresy! He's so guilty!

But John IX's face looked a little ugly.

The Roman Emperor John II quickly took over the topic and said, "Your Highness, what you said is different from what we Romans know. But it doesn't matter. We are all children of the law of nature, and we are all brothers and sisters!

Although there are differences, we can still seek common ground while reserving differences.”

After hearing the emperor's words, the Patriarch's face also changed, and he showed a very kind smile, "Yes, yes, we are all brothers and sisters... May God bless us!"

Patriarch Constantine was not a Roman pope, the latter was an independent king with his own territory and army, and could also find trouble for the Catholic monarch.

And the Patriarch of Constantinople has to listen to the emperor!

Wang Zongbi glanced at the Patriarch who was angry just now but now smiling, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, Patriarch, since we are all sons of the Heavenly Dao and all brothers and sisters, then our Golden Treasure Kingdom and your Roman Kingdom should be better to become brothers."

When the Roman emperor heard the translator say Wang Zongbi’s request, he immediately replied with a smile: “That is exactly what we expect.”

"But our country has encountered some difficulties recently," said Wang Zongbi, "We were defeated by Zhou and Song in the war in the east, and we traveled 25,000 miles west before we reached the Volga River Basin.

Although we still have 200,000 cavalry, we are in financial and supply difficulties. Since Rome is our brother, then our Golden State wants to get help from Rome now.

It requires 100,000 Heperen gold coins every year!”

100,000 Heperen gold coins are not a small number! One Heperen gold coins are equivalent to 4.48 grams of gold, which is about one or two silver taels.

"There are too many..." The Roman emperor said in pain, "Your Highness, you are extorting the Roman Empire!"

Wang Zongbi rolled his eyes and said, "Kievan Rus have promised to give 100,000 Heperen coins a year. You Rome is much richer than Kievan Rus. This little money is nothing, right? And you are still our brothers' country!"

This brother is so rogue!

When the Roman emperor was really annoyed, Wang Zongbi said again: "Your Majesty, we will not take your money for nothing. Our Golden State can provide protection for Rome. If Rome is attacked by the Saracens, Seljuks, Normans or others, the Golden State can send troops to seek justice for you! If the Western Liao wars against Rome, we will come forward to adjust the dispute between the two sides."

It turns out that it’s not in vain to get money!
Chapter completed!