While the emperor was supplying beef to the army, a war of annihilation was raging in the southern continent.
But the emperor's vision went far beyond that. After ensuring the stability of the Southern Continent, the granary of the Song Dynasty, and opening up the Maritime Silk Road, he also...
Zhao Huan's gaze was already shifting westward.
In a sense, the Jin dynasty no longer posed a threat to the Song dynasty.
Not only was there no threat, but over the next five years, the Jin dynasty would gradually weaken in accordance with the Song dynasty's business rules.
The destruction of the Jin Dynasty was only a matter of time.
In the eighth year of the Jingkang era, there were significantly more non-Han people in both Chang'an and Dongjing.
The people from the Western Regions showed unprecedented enthusiasm for the Song Dynasty. After the roads from the Western Regions to the Central Plains were fully opened, the cost of doing business dropped to its lowest point.
Commerce and trade in Northwest China are developing rapidly.
From the Yumen Pass area to Xingqing Prefecture and then to Jingzhao Prefecture, Hu people can be seen everywhere.
In August of the eighth year of the Jingkang era, when the early autumn winds were just beginning to blow, a group of blond-haired, blue-eyed people arrived in Tokyo.
The Great Qin Kingdom was a name used by the Central Plains for the Roman Empire.
The Roman Empire here refers to the Eastern Roman Empire.
In later historical records, Western scholars referred to it as Byzantium.
But it was the legitimate Roman Empire.
During the Tang and Song dynasties, people preferred to call them the Kingdom of Fulin.
The blond-haired, blue-eyed people in this group are from the Kingdom of Fulin.
Tokyo has embassies specifically for foreign ambassadors to reside in.
However, these people clearly cannot be considered ambassadors, as they could not produce any credentials as ambassadors; at most, they were merchants.
There were quite a few non-Han people in Tokyo, but they looked different from the non-Han people in the Western Regions or even the Pamir Mountains.
Therefore, they quickly attracted the attention of the Imperial City Guard.
The emperor naturally learned of this very quickly.
"Blonde hair and blue eyes?"
Zhao Huan was slightly startled. Could they be Europeans?
Europe has historically had exchanges with China, although those exchanges were not very close.
Let me think about what Europe was doing in this era.
Damn it, a bunch of people are waging a holy war!
During the Crusades, Jerusalem was the epicenter of the upheaval.
At that time, Western Europe was still a rural area where the streets were full of excrement.
It should be said that the countryside in China is better than the castles in Western Europe.
In this era, the center of Europe was not the poor people of Western Europe, but the incredibly wealthy Eastern Roman Empire, with Constantinople as its center.
That was the Greek world not under the control of the Roman Catholic Church.
Unfortunately, that world is being continuously destroyed by the Crusaders.
Zhao Gou, who was standing to the side, said, "Your Majesty, blond hair and blue eyes. I have heard some maritime merchants mention that most people in the Great Qin Kingdom are blond hair and blue eyes."
"Can our Great Song Dynasty have any dealings with the Great Qin Dynasty?"
“The Song Dynasty did not have direct contact with the Kingdom of Fulin, but every year goods from the Qin Dynasty entered the Song Dynasty, and these goods were circulated through the Arabs.”
"I see."
During the Song Dynasty, the Quanzhou area in Fujian Province was a gathering place for foreigners.
Arabs and Indians who traded with China mostly stayed in Quanzhou.
Quanzhou during the Song Dynasty was a major international port for ocean voyages.
Many goods from Central Asia and Eastern Europe were transported to China via Quanzhou.
Zhao Huan deliberately asked, "How much do you know about this Fulin Kingdom?"
Xu Churen said, "We do not know much, but we know that these Hu people are all barbarians who have no fathers or mothers and are not subject to the king's rule!"
Xu Churen's statement is not entirely racist.
In this era, Eastern Europe was far more powerful than Western Europe.
But to the Celestial Empire, they were truly just barbarians.
Especially in a country like the Song Dynasty, which was historically highly civilized.
Whether in culture, philosophy, or science, it is far ahead of Europe.
"I will be interested in these people from the Fulin Kingdom at that time."
Zhao Huan then said to He Liming, "Bring those people to the main hall tomorrow."
"yes!"
The next day, the morning court session began.
After the emperor and his ministers finished their discussion, several blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigners entered the hall under the escort of the guards.
They bowed and kowtowed to His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, speaking in broken and awkward language.
Clearly, they had been specially taught court etiquette before today.
Many ministers were surprised when they entered.
There were three men and one woman who came up.
By modern standards, these two men were approximately 160cm tall.
He was rather thin, and his skin was dark and rough due to long-term exposure to wind and sun.
They were completely different from the foreigners Zhao Huan had seen in his previous life.
Europeans of that era suffered from malnutrition, resulting in short stature and a general lack of energy and vitality.
He was nothing like those foreigners who came to China to show off in Zhao Huan's previous life.
On the contrary, when they entered the main hall where the Song emperor and his ministers held court, they were all stunned.
They never dreamed that such a magnificent palace existed in the world.
The empire's central ministers stood on either side, while the supreme ruler, the emperor, sat in the very center, discussing the future of this vast empire with a population of over one hundred million.
The man named Jones was utterly shocked to see everyone there dressed in silk.
In their country, even true nobles might not be able to afford this kind of silk.
Besides having status and position, you also need money!
The price of a single piece of silk was prohibitive for many nobles.
But surprisingly, everyone here is wearing silk.
They had been so overwhelmed by the splendor of Tokyo that they hadn't slept all night, and now that they were at the Imperial Palace, it felt like entering a temple of the gods.
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