The night was getting darker.

A family feast in the flower hall continues. Unlike the usual scholars who use singing and dancing to cheer up their feasts, today's banquet held in Yuxian Village did not have singing and dancing, nor was it accompanied by silk and bamboo music, only two storytelling women, Olga and Murly.

Two flower-like women, but they tell a heartbreaking story.

They are talking about the fall of two ancient and brilliant civilizations with a history as long as China! One is Rome and the other is Persia.

The story of Rome is naturally told by the "Crusader Woman" Olga. In Chinese, which is a little stiff and has a slight Fujian accent, she tells the story of the rise, division, and decline of a great power. From the founding of the ancient Roman city, to the Roman Republic, to the Roman Empire, to the period of division and barbarian invasions, and of course to the spread of Christianity in Rome, and the afterglow of the Eastern Roman Empire (also called Rome), which is still alive today. Some of the histories of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the Carthaginians are also mentioned.

Of course, it is indispensable to talk about the rise of the Celestial Sect and the Saracen invasion of Eastern Rome...... Oh, and the Crusades and the Crusader Knights' battles!

Among them, the history of the Roman Republic and the Imperial period, Olga is not very clear, and half of the story she said is recorded in the books given to him by Wu Haogu, what Julius Caesar, what Cleopatra, what Augustus, what Carthaginians and Hannibal...... She only vaguely knew something, but she didn't expect to hear a more complete story in the East.

And the story of the Saracen invasion of the Eastern Rome and the national integration after that was told by Olga from his father and the Orthodox priests - Wu Haogu did not know much about these things, and in the later generations the Eastern Roman Empire was not qualified to write history! Moreover, the Heavenly Fang Sect is so powerful that it is almost an existence that cannot be provoked! Who would dare to propagate the savagery, cruelty, and world-ruling ambitions of the Heavenly Sect?

As for the story of the last Crusades and the Crusader Knights, it was based on the relevant history that Wu Haogu learned in later generations, plus his own brain. It made Olga so excited that she didn't stop at that time to make a cross on her chest, saying "thank God" in Greek or something...... It's really a bit of a Christian Saint Seiya!

If there's something uplifting about Olga's story – Rome isn't dead? The Crusades may have brought the dawn of revival to the Roman Empire. Then what the Manichaean saint Murly said was a completely heartbreaking story......

She didn't know much about ancient Persia, so it mainly started after Sassanid Persia replaced the Sabbatarian Empire...... The ancient country was revived again, and became a great country under the blessing of Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism (in fact, Manichaeism was not popular in the Persian Empire), and fought with Rome in the West for 400 years, until the Celestial Religion suddenly rose in the desert inhabited by the Saracens, and the originally scattered nomadic tribes were twisted into a terrible force by the Celestial Muhammad and several subsequent caliphs, spreading the teachings of Muhammad with sword and fire, and beating the Romans and Persians at the same time.

The Romans, with their strong and dangerous Constantinople and navy with "Roman Fire", defeated the invading Arab armies three times and preserved their civilization. Now, with a steady stream of Christianized barbarians coming to their aid from the West, it seems likely that Rome will be revived.

And the Persians were not so lucky, they were completely defeated and conquered! It is not only civilization that is lost, but also the land, freedom, but also the soul!

The defeated Persians lost their souls and converted to the Saracen Celestial Religion under the sword and fire, and even after the Samanid Dynasty expelled the Saracens, they still regarded the Saracen Celestial Religion as their own country, and the Saracen heroes of the Persian conquest as the object of worship......

Persia, having lost its soul, is no longer a great country! So the revival of the Samanid dynasty lasted only a short hundred years before it was conquered by the Turkic barbarians who converted to the Celestial Sect.

Persia...... It doesn't exist anymore!

Born in China and raised in China, because she is a pure Persian and belongs to the family of Manichaean fundamentalists, she never thinks of herself as a Chinese, but as a Persian slave.

When she said that she was sad, she began to sobble in a low voice.

I don't know if this Manichaean saint naturally has the ability to influence people's hearts, and the people in the flower hall also felt distressed. Inside the room, there was silence too!

Persia, a large western country, was completely annihilated by the blows of the Celestial Sect, leaving only a very small number of Persian Manichaeans exiled to China who still remember their homeland...... However, the memory of the homeland cannot last forever.

Someday, the once-great Persian Empire will be reduced to pieces of paper......

"I didn't expect the Heavenly Sect to be so powerful!"

"Is this true? In the far west, there is a great country as ancient as this? ”

"Is that pyramid really 3,000 to 4,000 years old? Is it still more than fifty zhang high? Doesn't that mean that Egypt 3,000 or hundreds of years ago was much better than China? ”

"Three thousand or hundreds of years ago, when I was still under the rule of three generations, right?"

"Really ancient?"

I don't know how long it took, Su Dongpo and his disciples finally began to discuss. Although they were shocked by the strength of the Heavenly Fang Sect, what surprised them even more was the ancient civilization of the West.

In fact, China, which was considered by some people in later generations to be an ancient civilization, is not as ancient as the West...... The "rule of three generations" that the Confucians liked to say the most was just a legend in the Song Dynasty. The oracle bone inscription was only discovered at the end of the Qing Dynasty, and there are few ancient relics that can prove the existence of the Shang and Xia dynasties, let alone the "rule of three generations" before it.

On the western side, however, there are huge stone mausoleums left thousands of years ago that are as high as 50 zhang!

If this is true, doesn't it mean that the ancient countries of the West are older than China?

Hearing the discussion of Su Dongpo and several fellow brothers, Wu Haogu smiled secretly in his heart: I just want you to be curious! If you are curious, you will propose to send a mission to the West to find out!

"Teacher," Wu Haogu said after deliberation, "whether what Olga said is true or not, we can't tell with our mouths on Yuntai Mountain...... I'll have to send someone to find it. ”

"Send someone to the West?" Su Dongpo looked at Wu Haogu, "How far is that?" Did you go? ”

"Why can't you go?" Wu Haogu smiled, "The maritime merchants of the Great Food Country travel back and forth between the West and China every year, why can't we go?" ”

"Just to see those piles of rocks?" Huang Tingjian was a little uninterested.

He is a dignified civil official from a jinshi, although he is still guarding the election, but there will definitely be arrangements, and he has to pick and choose, and he doesn't want to do it yet! The place was too dangerous, and I accidentally got involved in a party dispute...... If you want to be a state official, it would be ideal to succeed Zeng Zhao (Zeng Zhao's term of office in Zhihaizhou is about to expire) to Zhihaizhou.

"Of course not to see the piles of rocks." Wu Haogu said with a smile, "This is also to seek the Tao and spread Confucianism!" ”

"Seeking?" Huang Tingjian asked, "Do you want a small way?" ”

"That's right," Wu Haogu nodded, "If there really is an ancient country in the West that has lasted for thousands of years, there will be many small paths that have been passed down. It is said that these paths were collected by the Celestial Sect of Reason and gathered in the Palace of Wisdom in Baghdad, the first city of the Celestial Sect.

After the teacher becomes the Yuntai Academy, he may be able to play the Son of Heaven, ask for an embassy to travel west, and seek a small path and spread Confucianism, wouldn't it be wonderful to kill two birds with one stone? ”

On the way back to Yuzhou Island with Su Dongpo, Wu Haogu had already discussed with Su Dongpo to ask him to take up the post of lifting the Yuntai School Palace - of course Su Dongpo would not refuse, he actually didn't want to go back to the place of right and wrong in Kaifeng Mansion, so as to save the emperor when he wanted to go to him, a "traitorous minister", and then arrest him to the Yushitai Prison.

Just squint in Haizhou! Isn't it time to degrade officials in Haizhou? I've already arrived in Haizhou, so don't bother Yushitai......

"Spreading Confucianism while traveling west?" Su Dongpo stroked his beard, "Do you want to open a academy all the way?" ”

"yes." Wu Haogu said with a smile, "The envoy can ask the countries passing by along the way to open academies, maybe give a little bribe, as long as the permission is obtained, you can make a bold move." ”

"Who's going to teach?" Su Dongpo frowned and said, "Don't say that the barbarian country on the way to the west, even Danzhou and Qiongzhou, there are few Confucian students!" ”

"yes!" Huang Tingjian also said, "Confucian students all have to rush to take the exam, who is willing to travel thousands of miles overseas?" If you can't return to your hometown for ten or eight years, won't you have to delay the imperial examination three times? ”

This is indeed a problem! Isn't studying just for the imperial examination? It took ten years to delay the three imperial examinations in order to spread Confucianism...... Isn't this too noble?

"There's always a way." Wu Haogu said with a smile, "Let's decide not to go to the West first, and then find a way to find someone...... Anyway, I can't go to too many people at the beginning, so it's a big deal to spend a little more money, and it's just a layout first. ”

There is no hurry to spread Confucianism in the west, and the main purpose of Wu Haogu's promotion of this mission is to promote the Western academic classics in the Baghdad Wisdom Hall. With these things, coupled with the "trail" summarized from Chinese technical books such as "Mengxi Writings", the university affiliated to Yuntai Xuegong (in fact, an independent university) can be opened smoothly.

Wu Haogu thought for a while, and then said: "But we have to hurry up about spreading Confucianism to Japan...... We have to make some achievements, so that our Yuntai School Palace can develop, and the teacher's Confucian status will be more stable. ”