Chapter 410: The Renaissance of Carthage (2)
He heard a hint of danger in the words of the people here. The Romans were actually deceived by the Vandals' belongings and gradually let go of their old hatred.
While they kept praising how beautiful and rare the goods from Carthage were, they actually ignored the fact that Carthage and the province of Africa belonged to Rome.
Although they loved Luka very much, and even when they were drunk, they still praised him highly, but this was not the main problem. Hearing is believing, seeing is believing, and it seemed that Luka had to see for himself what was going on.
Early in the morning of that day, an inconspicuous merchant ship set out from Syracuse. This medium-sized merchant ship was not very noticeable among so many ships. It followed other merchant ships out of the Syracuse dock and headed towards Carthage along the fixed route.
"Oh, Luka, what's going on?" Belia slumped down at the stern, his eyes red, it seems that he didn't sleep well last night. He looked at Luka with a resentful face, and kept complaining with a trembling mouth: "Hey, do you know how much I drank yesterday? Oh, Syracuse, for God's sake, they are too enthusiastic! My wine glass has never been empty, my God, my head hurts! And why did I wake up on such a small boat, where are our warships? Where are the soldiers? And Luka, tell me, what is going on? Hey, and Andrew, why are there only so few of you?"
"Yes, yes!" Luca turned around and looked at Belia and continued, "We are going to carry out a top-secret operation this time, but you were already drunk and unconscious at the time. I ordered the guards to carry you onto the ship with great difficulty. You must follow us this time, because I can't do without you, an excellent sailor."
"There are many people in the fleet who are more experienced than me, why do you choose me alone?" Belialiu muttered softly, which was heard clearly by Luga.
"If you keep saying that, I might throw you into the sea and see if you have the strength to swim back!" Luga threatened Belia. Belia was very obedient this time. He sat in the cabin without saying a word.
"I want to see what the Vandals are trying to do. How can they be so foresighted as a tribe of barbarians?" Luca looked around at the merchant ships around him. The sailors on them included Romans and North African blacks, and the few who were Vandals.
The distance was very close, which allowed Luca to take a good look at this Vandal. You know, he had a lot of dealings with the Vandals in previous years. Although he couldn't say that he knew much about them, it seemed that he had no problem distinguishing them from the blacks in North Africa.
But Luca was very surprised, because the Vandals he was secretly following not far away were actually dressed in Roman costumes. If it weren't for the very conspicuous hair color and traditional beards, Luca really couldn't tell the difference between them and the Romans for a moment.
"It's unbelievable!" Luca said to Andrew beside him, "Only five years have passed, and they are almost dressed like Romans."
This made Luca very worried, because he understood that if the barbarians around him became so-called civilized like the Romans, then, according to their nature, any of them could become the successor of the Romans, which was a very serious matter.
But Luca decided not to show his surprise on his face. He wanted to wait and see what the Vandals really looked like.
After three days of sailing, Luca finally arrived at Carthage, which he had been away from for a long time, from Syracuse.
Before they reached the shore, Luca and his men had already seen a large number of Vandal warships that were maintaining order. Because they were wearing civilian clothes, especially their unremarkable appearance and pretending to work on these so-called merchant ships, the Vandals on the warships could not tell what was so special about these guys, so they simply let them go.
When the ship docked, Luca was greatly surprised by everything he saw. The Carthaginian dock was crowded with businessmen, including Vandals, blacks, and even Orientals who came here with their spices. What made Luca even more unbelievable was that among so many races, he actually saw young men with Latin faces. The Romans were not good at trade, so these clumsy children could only help them and do physical work.
Merchant ships came and went, and in order to avoid congestion, the Vandal navy had to maintain order in the wide sea outside the dock, because here were not only merchant ships from Great Sicily, but also ships from the Alexandria region of the Eastern Empire, the Iberia region of the West, and then Great Sicily.
There were huge crowds of people coming to trade, they came from all over the province of Africa, and they came from thousands of miles away to trade because they saw that there were enough good things here. The dock here did not have enough space to accommodate more trade, so you can see the hired Roman engineers constantly planning on the drawings with the Vandals following them, which shows that the Vandals actually want to expand the dock of Carthage.
The Romans found the spacious dock not enough for the Vandals, which already explained too many problems, Luca thought, and driven by curiosity, he wanted to go to the dock to take a look.
"Wow, how could this place become like this?" Not only Luca, but Belialiu also held the railing of the ship and stared at the Carthage dock not far away and sighed: "This place is even comparable to the Athens and Alexandria I saw. Is it really unbelievable that this place is in our hands?"
It's just that the Vandals actually used such an open measure to encourage trade, and they were not afraid of the outflow of their gold and silver. Yes, how could it be possible that the grand occasion that the Romans failed to achieve was achieved by the Vandals.
"My God, I have never seen such a lively market, yes, never." Andrew said in surprise. Obviously, he was frightened by what he saw.
The ship finally found a place to dock. Here, Luca, Belia and Andrew ran to the dock. There were crowds of people, and they were shoulder to shoulder. There were all kinds of goods, many of which Luca had never seen before.
"Oh, my God, I want to buy something to bring back." Andrew said, and touched his pockets. He found that he didn't bring anything. He had to shake his head helplessly and said, "If I had known it would be like this, I would have brought some money. It's just right to buy some gems for Kunta. She will definitely like it."
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"Ha, I brought money!" Belialiu came to Andrew and took out a few Suledes gold coins from his pocket, and shook them towards Andrew, as if to tempt Andrew.
"Oh, Belia, my good brother!" Andrew looked at Belia with a charming smile and said, "Just lend it to me, and I will pay you back double when the time comes."
Luca said nothing along the way, but focused his attention on the shops on both sides of the road. He looked solemn, as if he was thinking about something.
(End of this chapter)