Alexios I looked at his eldest son, his eyes flashing on his eyes, hair, and skin.
Although John Comnenus was his own son, and although everyone in the empire called him a handsome man, Alexius I swore to God that his son was really ugly, short in stature, with black eyes and hair.
Dark, even the skin is very dark, like a Moor.
There was no way, my ancestors were from Armenia, and then while fighting for many Byzantine emperors, they married women of other ethnic groups, and their bloodlines were mixed.
But Alexios I was very satisfied with his eldest son and heir. Like himself and his wife, he was extremely devout to God. Although he was the third most noble man in the Byzantine Empire, every meal he had was very simple.
Not as good as a small Yinketa lord of the Erzhu people.
He is passionate and loyal to his family, and kind and generous to his subordinates. He is knowledgeable, humorous, and good at eloquence and speech. He has practiced riding and swordsmanship since he was a child. He followed himself on expeditions when he was a teenager and is able to handle military and political affairs skillfully.
But in what he just asked, Alexius I saw a weakness in him. A weakness that a future Byzantine emperor should not have.
"My Vice-Emperor," Alexios I said, "I have seen the paintings, silks, porcelain, glass, and translated literary works and political notes that John brought back. It must be admitted that Song Dynasty
Our country has an elegant civilization that far exceeds that of Western Christendom, Moslem, Persia and other countries. In those works of art, I saw wealth, strength and confidence."
"But my John Comnenus, no matter how elegant the knight is, the long sword in his hand is extremely sharp against wild wolves and jackals. I can imagine that the people of Song have rich land, endless wealth, and splendid culture
.But they need enough courage and enough strength to defend everything they have created."
Alexei I nodded to Yue Zhuoqun and continued: "Child, I remember John translated a sentence from the Emperor of Song. Civilization must be powerful enough to avoid being destroyed by barbarism, and then use civilization to conquer barbarism.
I very much agree with this sentence. Only a king can understand the profound meaning of another king's words."
"If the Song army hadn't burned those prosperous cities and killed those who dared to resist, they wouldn't have reached where they are now. Marching westward, they were just a group of wolves who needed to borrow a road. They didn't need to conquer anything.
, they don’t need charity, they just need others to be afraid and not dare to be enemies with them anymore.”
Speaking of this, Alexei I spoke profoundly, "Majesty and kindness take time to establish. But fear does not need it. The destroyed city and the piles of heads instantly let fear penetrate into everyone's heart.
In my mind, from this point of view, the people of Song Dynasty are indeed a group of very intelligent people with courage and means."
"My child, you will be the emperor of Byzantium. Don't put down your sword easily just because the world respectfully calls you 'Kaloëoannes' or 'Good John'. They respect you as emperor."
, not because of your kindness and kindness, but because of your power to decide the life and death of others."
"I understand, Father." John Comnenus replied humbly.
Alexios I nodded with satisfaction, turned to his general and asked: "Now, where is my most distinguished guest?"
"Reporting to His Majesty the Emperor, according to the latest report, this Song army has camped outside the city of Nicaea."
"Nicaea?" Alexios I nodded.
The city of Nicaea was previously occupied by the Seljuks and became the capital of the Sultanate of Roma. In 1097, during the Crusaders' First Crusade, with their help, the Byzantine army recaptured the city of Nicaea and became the most important city of the empire in Asia Minor.
City.
"John," Alexios I said to Yue Zhuoqun, "on behalf of His Highness the Vice-Emperor and I, go to the city of Nicaea to meet these guests and express John and I's warmest greetings to them."
"yes."
Yue Zhuoqun quickly arrived outside the city of Nicaea. He reported to the Song army camp in somewhat unfamiliar Chinese, and was quickly received by Hu Luxiong and others.
He knew Hu Luxiong, Gao Shixuan, Wang Shunchen and others, and was acquainted with Yang Zongmin. Here, he unexpectedly met a group of old friends thousands of miles away. Yue Zhuoqun never expected it and was filled with emotion!
"Generals, what is the purpose of your coming here?" Yue Zhuoqun knew that it was best to be straightforward when dealing with these people, so he asked.
"Your Majesty has given us two tasks for the advance army. The most important one is to hunt down the Seljuk Great Khorasan Governor, Sanjar. We chased him to Yinsfahan in one go, and sent this army to the Western Regions to encourage the Western Kara Khanate.
The chief culprit who harmed our businessmen was forced to set himself on fire to complete his mission."
"The second task His Majesty has given us is to, on the basis of completing the first task, try to send his handwritten letter to Byzantine City depending on the situation."
After Hu Luxiong finished speaking, Gao Shixuan added next to him: "In fact, we are not sure about completing this task. But no matter what, let's walk to the west first and feel it out. Anyway, we will have to do it sooner or later. Unexpectedly,
Xiao Yueyue, the Seljuk and Persian army that you boasted to the sky are just the same thing."
Yue Zhuoqun smiled coquettishly, "I'm definitely not bragging. The main thing is to see who I compare with. If I compare with you guys, everyone will be rubbish."
"In this case, please send an envoy to accompany me to Byzantium and deliver the official letter to our Emperor."
"Okay. But there are two more things I need your help with."
"What's up?"
"We also robbed a lot of things along the way. There are a lot of jewelry and other things. It would be troublesome for us to take them back. I was wondering if you could talk to your merchants and ask them to exchange them for gold and silver. Don't you
It is said that there is a Venetian merchant to the west of you, who is the best at doing business and has strong financial resources. Send someone to find them and exchange them for gold and silver."
"No problem." Yue Zhuoqun nodded.
"The second thing is actually very important. You also know the preferences of our official family. We especially like to collect books from all over the world. Now that we are all here, we can't go in vain. You can go back and see if you can buy them.
Exchange a few carts of valuable books for us to take back. To tell you the truth, along the way, we also collected dozens of carts of books, all of them Persian and Dashi documents. We will donate them to the Secretariat and Lantai Library when we return.
, are all good things.”
Yue Zhuoqun thought for a while. The official really loved books. Being able to collect some valuable books from ancient Greece, ancient Rome, Moslin, and ancient Egypt would really please him.
Now that the official has verified with actual actions, he is true to his word and is definitely capable of helping Byzantium, so it is not too much to collect some precious books to please him!
"Okay! I'll do it together when I get back." Yue Zhuoqun responded.
