Eagle Byzantium

The sunshine in Sindh is bright, and the green trees planted in and around the city walls around St. Stephen's Fort are fluttering in the wind. The Governor's Palace is a basilica-style building with white bricks and red tiles. On the steps of the main entrance, Kossos is wearing a modified Roman robe, with his chest Pinned in front of Basileus, Basel The imperial emblem of Lisa's head was placed with one hand on the "Axum Bible" on the reading table, and with the other hand he clenched his fist tightly against his chest, watching the purple and gold-rimmed double-headed eagle flag rising in front of the mansion. This was his last time on the stage. The province of New Zealand hosted the flag-raising ceremony.

Under the flag, five hundred Sindhi naturalized soldiers carrying firecrackers and wearing red and white uniform burqas sang the song "Saffron Blooms" together, and then they all fired firecrackers into the sky, shaking the sky and the earth. Amidst the noise and smoke, a four-wheeled vehicle stopped outside the wall of the Governor's Palace and jumped from there. The next man was a middle-aged man with lively features, and then he led a beautiful woman in costumes. This man was Wright Boziah, forty-three years old, the former chief of West County, and now he is much older than him ( His wife, whose appearance was not visible at all, came to take up the post of governor of Kossos on orders from the emperor.

The emperor said in the edict that Kossos was good at teaching and Wright was good at construction, so the former went to Sicily, which he had just conquered, while the latter resigned from the post of Sheriff of the Grand County of Sith, which he had held for many years, and traveled overseas to take over.

Wright and Kossos hugged each other under the shade of the trees, and then he walked into the Governor's Mansion with his staff, while Kossos left in a carriage with his wife and children.

The bearers of the shoulder carts are all Indian indigenous people. They have strong and dark skin. They only wear two pieces of clothing, a white turban and a white crotch cloth. Kossos holds a silver cane that symbolizes the status of the official, and himself. The favorite little daughter sat side by side on the front carriage, and two hired natives held up a huge bird feather parasol canopy for her, floating past the streets of Fort St. Stephen.

Along the way, many of Sindh's leading landowners, mostly locals who contracted the empire's tax revenue, bowed on both sides of the road when they saw the outgoing governor-general. On the hills in the distance were the churches built by the New Church and several colorful onions. The head tower, with its golden cross, shines brightly in the warm morning sun.

Every year, the Roman Empire collected about 2.8 million tasos in taxes in the province of New Nicaea, of which 1.8 million tasos went to the imperial treasury, and 500,000 tasos were used to pay the salaries of overseas officials ( Also twice that of local officials), the remaining half million basically went to the private pockets of upstarts like Kossos through various channels, even if governors like Kossos were relatively clean.

The straight sand horse road leads directly to the pier, and the trestle is bustling with people. People of all colors and beliefs are arguing about business in the coastal tent shops here. Ships with sails flying come and go in the dark blue sea waves, all over India. Elite goods were concentrated here, among which curry, watermelon, spices, gems, fine linens and black tea were the most popular among the citizens and nobles of Constantinople. Kossos, his family, servants, and a dazzling array of luggage and belongings boarded a chartered three-masted high-body ship and sailed to Yelen Island in Hormuz, which was the most important transit point on the way home.

Who would have thought that before boarding the ship, a postman hurried over on horseback and handed the outgoing governor a letter, "Coming from Balakot City."

Kossos, who was somewhat short-sighted, raised the lens hanging on his chest, opened the letter and read it. Then he said to his entourage in a heavy tone, "We must act as messengers when we go to the imperial capital. Tell the captain that we try not to stay too long at the transit port and rush to the imperial capital as soon as possible after replenishing supplies."

It turns out that the letter contained big news from the Eastern Gaotang Empire:

Emperor Li Hui has passed away, and the envoys from Gaotang to Constantinople to report his funeral (and incidentally brought news of the new emperor's enthronement) are on their way;

Another piece of news will affect the diplomacy between the two countries. After the death of Emperor Li Hui, Yelu Dashi took the opportunity to announce his own march in Andiyan City. The Khitan Khan commanded 40,000 cavalry and an artillery team trained by hired Persians and began to attack the enemy. The territory occupied by the imperial vassal Guo Yaoshi attacked. After nearly ten years of peace, the entire Hezhong and Khorasan regions seemed to be plunged into a major war again.

With this news, after nearly ten days of sea passage, Kossos, standing on the deck, saw the city of Yelen standing on the rocky island.

The little daughter of Kossos had an exaggerated and cute expression. She waved hard to the shore on the side of the ship and shouted loudly: Beside a few green tropical coconut trees, under the Yelen Fort made of porphyry stone, a group of Roman colonists from the mainland Girls, all aspects There were girls with ruddy complexions and beautiful white robes, walking around and playing ceris and Cuju. When they felt tired, they would sit on the couch under the shadow of the fort, reading or resting. There were also girls playing with garrison officers wearing beautiful cloaks. Love and humor.

They saw the little daughter of Kossos waving on the deck of the ship, and they all waved in a friendly way.

Soon, the sharp-eyed little daughter saw an old Roman woman in luxurious clothes, sitting under an umbrella with tassels hanging down. Next to her, two red-black black men with sexy thick lips were half-kneeling in front of her knees. , the three of them behaved very affectionately.

Kossos frowned and blocked his youngest daughter's sight with his hands in embarrassment, explaining, "There are many black slaves like this in Yelen City, and some rich and leisure ladies in the imperial capital or Tarsus will be attracted by them." Come here by boat and take care of the able-bodied people among them...You have to know that this is against the doctrine and can only be done in broad daylight in Yelen."

"Papa, I know, this world is like this." The youngest daughter said very maturely.

Next, their fleet arrived at the port of Zeira. Most of the people doing business here were Crescent merchants from Yemen and Aksumites from the inland. Rome had the largest commercial port here. Since the simple canal in Egypt was dug and opened to navigation, it quickly replaced the Red Sea Islands and became the largest land and water thoroughfare. It is said that some big Roman merchants are ready to propose to the imperial government: organize an expedition fleet to survey further south in Africa and build military stations and churches, because the great emperor asserted that there is a cape at the end of the world in the further south. As long as you cross it and turn north, you can sail to Fez and Grenada along the other coast.

The Aksumite Empire had revived. Their soldiers lined up on the road to Zela Port, wearing tight leather armor and carrying spears and matchlock guns. It had annexed most of the territory of the Nubian Makuria Kingdom. Its church accepted the leadership of the Roman Empire and began to regularly transport large quantities of gold and slaves to Constantinople. This team of soldiers led about two or three hundred slaves with ropes and walked towards the big market in the port.

Yes, the Aksumite Empire also began to go deep into the interior, capturing natives with darker skin and selling them as trade goods. The rise of any empire is so bloody.