Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 168 Discovery
Greek fire is a liquid chemical weapon invented by the ancient Eastern Roman Empire that can burn on water and is mainly used in naval battles.

The names now known as Greek fire or Roman fire are the names given to this weapon by the Arabs, the opponents of the Eastern Roman Empire, while the Romans called these weapons sea fire, flowing fire, liquid fire or fire of defense wait.

This weapon has always been the highest military secret of the Eastern Roman Empire. It has made significant contributions to the military victories of the Empire many times, and even saved the fate of the Empire several times.

According to the views of later historians, this terrible incendiary weapon is also one of the important reasons why the Eastern Roman Empire can last for thousands of years.

Unfortunately, although the records of this weapon lasted for a long time, the exact formula disappeared into history because of the secrecy measures of the Eastern Roman Empire.

According to records, in order to keep secret, the secret of this weapon manufacturing is word of mouth, and all written records are prohibited.At the same time, the production of this weapon was limited to the palace of Constantinople.

In addition, the descendants of the Galinicos family, the inventors of Greek fire, who were strictly controlled, were the only ones who knew this secret, and the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, even the Galinico family passed on the secret through word of mouth. of.

Not only is the production of the Greek fire kept secret, but the use of this weapon is also strictly kept secret. Whether it is the frontline technicians, flamethrowers or engineers, they only have a part of the secret of the entire weapon system.

The biggest advantage of this risk management mechanism is that even if some people leak the secrets, others will not be able to restore the Greek fire, so that the Eastern Roman Empire can avoid being burned on its own head by this powerful weapon.

In history, the Greek fire weapons of the Eastern Romans fell into the hands of the enemy more than once.For example, in 814, the Bulgarians seized a total of 36 fire-throwing devices, but they had to discard them because they couldn't use them and didn't know how to mix the fuel.

The Arabs also captured a Byzantine fire attack ship in 827. As a result, it took hundreds of years to produce only a projectile incendiary weapon called Nafa, which could not be sprayed at all, and could not spontaneously ignite when exposed to water. .

In fact, Greek fire also has a lot of problems, such as strict requirements on weather, wind direction and terrain.If the wind direction is unfavorable, it is easy to burn yourself.

And if the defense area is too wide, the effect is not optimistic.But even so, the legend of Greek fire is still circulating throughout the European and American world.

Everyone is full of curiosity about the important factor why the Eastern Roman Empire was able to survive the crazy attacks of the Arab Empire.

That's why when Liang En announced that these slates contained secrets about Greek fire, the people present were all shocked.

"These slates were hidden here by order of Constantine XI." Liang En looked at the words on the slates and explained, "The last emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire ordered his most loyal subordinates to Bring this secret to the Trabzon Empire."

"Because the emperor had a dream at that time, and dreamed that the gods told him that the turning point of the empire was likely to appear in the east." Speaking of this, Liang En said to other people who didn't think so.

"Today we may feel that it is absurd to make such a decision because of a dream, especially because the dream is likely to be produced because of day-to-day thinking and night-time dreaming."

"But in ancient times, these dreams were often regarded as some kind of revelation, especially for an emperor, which was enough for him to mobilize his strength to do something."

"The first thing Constantine XI thought of was the Trabizond Empire. After all, this country is also a branch of the Eastern Roman Empire, so at this last moment, Constantine XI gave up the dynastic differences, hoping to serve A seed is planted for the reemergence of the Empire."

"It's a pity that the Trabzon Empire just wanted to muddle through, and even hunted down all those who ran out of Constantinople for help in order not to be attacked by the Ottomans, so as to avoid stimulating the Ottomans."

"In this case, the people sent by Constantine XI can only choose an alternative, which is to bring two boxes of things as cover to come to this place belonging to the Paleolio dynasty on the Asia Minor peninsula. Secret Church."

"In desperation, this loyal team can only pin their hopes on the gods. They hid their secrets in the temple of the church, hoping to save the empire under the blessing of the gods."

Having said that, Liang En stood up, pointed to the six stone slabs on the ground and said. "But history tells us that their dream was shattered, and the Roman Empire completely disappeared in the long river of history."

As Liang En's voice fell, the room suddenly fell silent.

For the Western world, the fall of Constantinople represented the end of an era, and after witnessing the history related to the destruction of the empire, everyone present felt that their spirits had been shocked, and it took a little time to recover. Calm down your excitement.

"Then it's time to notify the Turkish archaeological department." After confirming that he had indeed cleaned up the site thoroughly, Liang En ordered.Then began to use the equipment and silica gel sent before to make molds for these steles.

For this search, Mr. Skold specially applied for an official Turkish archaeological permit for Liang En.Because of Liang En's previous experience, the Turks readily issued the permit.

With the license, Liang En can legally excavate these ruins.Of course, the global rules for anything unearthed in this joint excavation are similar, for example, the excavated items belong to the local government, not to the excavators.

But this doesn't mean that legal diggers can't get anything in this situation, just like Liang En has the right to share research rights with the Turkish side.

It is part of the research to use methods that will not damage the cultural relics to turn over the cultural relics, take pictures and other means to record these cultural relics.It is also a manifestation of his right to research.

This kind of research right is exclusive, that is to say, if other people want to study, they cannot study these things unless they get permission from Liang En or Turkey.

And if other people want to obtain this license, they need to pay. Unfortunately, there are not many words on these six slates, and the total amount of information contained is very small, so Liang En probably won't earn much. money.

After all, in this day and age, flamethrowers are far more useful than those ancient Greek fires.And those ancient jet machines are far behind the times.

Therefore, these secrets that used to be an important pillar of the Eastern Roman Empire have become a bunch of things that have no practical value because they are outdated by the times. In this case, they only have historical value.

But from another perspective, Liang En's prestige from this expedition can be much more than the previous discoveries.Because compared with ancient Egyptology, which the public doesn't care much about, Greek fire is obviously more attractive to the public.

"The decipherer of ancient Egyptian characters and the discoverer of the secrets of Greek fire, such titles do sound good." Liang En murmured softly. "Maybe my title will be longer than Long Ma in the future, and self-introduction at that time will definitely be very cool."

(End of this chapter)