On May 28, after more than 20 days of sea voyage and long journey, the Empress Irina of the Eastern Roman Empire, accompanied by the Minister of Commerce and Trade Fei Liqi, finally arrived in Jerusalem. The army accompanying the protection consisted of 1,000 men, including 300 cavalry and 700 infantry, and more than 20 warships were used to escort the escort.

On the morning of that day, Irina's party entered Jerusalem through the Jaffa Gate, and only a hundred cavalry were allowed to enter the city to escort them, except for the accompanying officials and attendants, and the rest of the soldiers were left outside the city.

Zhao Ziliang wore a golden royal robe, wore a crown of the princes of Jiuhan, and hung a sword around his waist, and led the ministers and generals to greet him outside the gate of Herod's Antipa Palace. Just because the Western Qin State is a vassal state of the Tang Empire, Zhao Ziliang is only a prince and king, and according to the regulations, he cannot wear the twelve crowns of the Son of Heaven, but can only wear the nine crowns of the princes.

The arrival of the Empress Irina of the Eastern Roman Empire was a big event for everyone in the whole city of Jerusalem, almost all the residents ran to the street to see the excitement, and it was not only the Han people who liked to watch the excitement, but also the people of all nationalities liked to watch the excitement.

If something happens to Irina in Jerusalem, the face of the Western Qin State will definitely not look good, so doing a good job in security and defense affairs has become the top priority of the garrison, Zhao Ziliang has already issued an order for this, and the old and heavy Ma Suiquan is fully responsible, and there can be no problems.

The two sides of the street are heavily guarded, with knives and guns, and the ribbons on both sides of the street are pulled on the roadside to play the role of beautiful decoration, and as a dividing line to isolate all residents from the ribbons, and no one is allowed to cross the ribbons to the street.

As the sound of horses' hooves approached, the sound of the wheels of the carriage creaking came, and people knew that Irina's frame was about to come, so they all stretched their necks to look at the west side of the street, only to see that the twelve Western Qin cavalry were leading the way.

After the twelve Western Qin cavalry, an Eastern Roman Empire general rode in the front, and behind him there were a total of twelve cavalry on both sides, the first two cavalrymen holding the reins in one hand and the double-headed eagle banner of the Eastern Roman Empire in the other, which largely followed the banner of the Roman Empire. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the emperors and ministers of the Eastern Roman Empire believed that the Eastern Roman Empire had become the sole successor of the Roman Empire, inheriting both the eastern and western territories, so they added an eagle head to the single-headed eagle banner of the original Roman Empire, which became the double-headed eagle banner.

The twelve Eastern Roman cavalry were followed by a number of accompanying officials and ministers, among whom the Minister of Commerce and Trade took the lead on horseback, and was protected by cavalry on both sides of the entire rank, each cavalry was closely connected to each other, and if there was an assassin to assassinate, he did not break through the cavalry defenses on both sides and enter the middle of the ranks.

Behind the officials were a number of attendants and maids, all on foot, some carrying royal flags, some holding canopies, and the procession, though not neat, was also orderly, without a trace of confusion, except that after a long journey, their bodies and shoes were covered with dust.

Behind these waiters and maids is a luxurious carriage, the carriage is luxurious, but not too big, it has six wheels, the front two wheels are under the front of the carriage, the emperor sits in the front of the carriage to drive the horses to drive, the cart is drawn by four white horses, the back box has four wheels, the carriage is only supported by four wooden pillars, covered with a light gauze curtain, on the top is a large white canopy, the canopy and the gauze tent are hung with gold sheets, and jewels are used as decorations, so that this small carriage looks extremely luxurious.

On both sides of the carriage, there were two maids arranged by the Xiqin side, riding horses to accompany them, constantly grabbing a handful of petals from the flower basket and throwing them into the sky, the petals in the sky floated down from the sky, some fell on the canopy, some fell on the gauze tent, and some were blown away by the breeze, and the air exuded a charming fragrance, which was refreshing and intoxicating.

Sitting in the frame, Irina looked at the petals flying in the sky and smelled the refreshing fragrance, thinking to herself that she didn't know if this was personally arranged by the King of Western Qin, or arranged by his ministers, but as the head of a country, he was afraid that he would not personally arrange these little things, right?

Irina thought about it and asked the maid who was sitting diagonally opposite and ready to serve, "What kind of person do you say the King of Western Qin is?" ”

The maid said: "Your Highness, I heard that the King of Western Qin is about to be sixty years old, and he must be a bad old man with a face full of old skin wrinkles, droopy eyes, cloudy eyes, a long gray beard, and a strange smell on his body!" ”

When Irina heard this, she suddenly couldn't control the tumbling in her stomach, and almost vomited out all the food she ate in the morning, so she quickly covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief and waved her hand: "Don't say it, I'm going to vomit if you say it again!" ”

The maid also covered her mouth and lowered her head and snickered.

The procession walked through the long streets, and finally came to a stop at the gates of Herod's Antipa Palace, and Irina asked, "Why did it stop?" Isn't it already there? ”

Irina had never been to Jerusalem, and it was normal for her to ask once. "I don't know, I'll ask!" As she spoke, the maid got up and lifted the curtain of the carriage and walked down, only to see that the Minister of Commerce and Trade had already walked over.

Through the light gauze curtain, Irina saw what appeared to be a large building outside, and there were many armorers wearing armor and weapons at the door, as well as many Orientals wearing various other costumes that had never been seen before.

"Your Royal Highness, Lord Fei Liqi is here!" The maid walked to the window and said to Irina.

Fei Liqi saluted Irina and said: "Your Highness, you have arrived at the Palace of Xu Lu Antipa, this is the place where the King of Western Qin stays, because it is close to the Holy Sepulchre Church, the Rock Mosque, the Wailing Wall and the Antonia Church and other holy sites, and it is in the center of the city, so the King of Western Qin has set a place to stay here, and also met with His Highness here, they have sent someone to prepare the Herod Palace and use it as the temporary residence of His Highness, and His Highness will live in the Herod Palace for a period of time after that!" ”

Irina was puzzled: "I heard that Herod I is the father of Herod Antipas, and the specifications of Herod's Palace should be higher than Herod's Antipas Palace in terms of etiquette, right?" Why did the king of Western Qin not live in the Herod Palace himself, but let me live in it? ”

He said with great difficulty: "Your Highness, this should be the etiquette of Oriental people to entertain distinguished guests, and the King of Western Qin can arrange it like this, it should be out of respect, it can be seen that the King of Western Qin is still very welcome to the arrival of His Royal Highness, at least from the current point of view, the arrangements of the King of Western Qin are very sincere!" ”

Irina sighed when she heard this: "It is worthy of being an ancient civilization country, and the arrangements for etiquette are so careful, rigorous and thoughtful!" ”

Fei Qi said: "It's not early, the King of Western Qin is preparing to greet His Highness at the door, please get out of the car quickly!" ”

"Huh? The king of Western Qin at the gate of the palace? Irina was shocked, the King of Western Qin actually went to the palace gate to greet her, which made her a little flattered and a little panicked, she immediately said: "You can't let the King of Western Qin wait for a long time, help me get out of the car!" ”

"Yes, Your Highness!" The maid agreed, walked to the door curtain and lifted the curtain, and when Irina came out, she immediately stretched out a hand for her to help her get out of the car.

At this time, a middle-aged Western Qin official came over with a few people and bowed to Irina, and said, "Li Muchen, the secretary and deputy superintendent of the Western Qin Imperial Court, has met Her Royal Highness Irina, the Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire!" ”

After some translation, Irina understood, and asked Fei Liqi, "What is the official position of this secretary and deputy superintendent?" ”

Fei Liqi said in a low voice: "The secretary is an official office dedicated to serving the king of Western Qin and assisting the king of Western Qin in handling state affairs, and all official documents written by ministers to the king of Western Qin must go through the secretary and supervisor, and the secretary and supervisor not only handle the official affairs of the king of Western Qin, but also handle private affairs. The official position of the secretary and supervisor is the same level as the chief, and his deputy is the deputy supervisor, who is at the same level as the deputy prime minister! ”

Irina nodded, indicating that she understood, and smiled at Li Muchen: "It turned out to be Lord Li, thank you for your hospitality, I don't know where His Royal Highness the King of Western Qin is?" ”

Li Muchen saw the smile on her face, and suddenly felt in a trance, and at the same time was vigilant in his heart, secretly saying that he was so angry, he immediately bit the tip of his tongue, and after a period of pain, he turned sideways and said: "The king is on the steps of the palace gate, please Her Royal Highness the queen with me, the king is there to greet and meet His Highness, please!" ”

Irina nodded, and started walking up the steps.

After walking up the steps, I saw a young and middle-aged man wearing a strange crown walking over in a golden robe, and the crown hanging in front of the crown kept shaking, which was quite interesting.

Li Muchen stopped and whispered to Irina: "Your Highness, this is His Majesty the King of our country!" ”

Irina looked at Zhao Ziliang as she walked, with a shocked expression on her face, and asked Li Muchen, "Is this ······ This is the King of Western Qin? You're not kidding, are you? I heard that the King of Western Qin is almost sixty years old······"

Li Muchen said: "That's right, this is the king of our country, who is fifty-six years old this year!" ”

"Oh God, he doesn't look like he's thirty years old!" Irina grew her mouth, and an expression of disbelief appeared on her face.

I saw Zhao Ziliang coming over, smiling and clenching his fists, and said: "Queen Irina Feng drove to the city of Jerusalem, and she was disappointed in the future, forgive your sins, forgive your sins!" ”

Irina listened to the translation, looked puzzled, and whispered to Fei Liqi beside her: "What does he mean by this?" ”

Fei Liqi hurriedly explained: "Your Highness, in the world of the Orientals, people generally like to call themselves in humble terms when they meet and talk to others, and it is a kind of humble title in Xia!" Unlike our habits, Oriental people use respectful salutations to show respect for others, that is, to elevate others and degrade themselves to show respect, while Oriental people are completely opposite, they like to belittle themselves and elevate others to show respect! ”

"It's so much fun!" Irina muttered in a low voice, and immediately stepped forward to smile at Zhao Ziliang, the two sides were stacked together in the lower abdomen, and bowed slightly to Zhao Ziliang and said: "Respected His Royal Highness the King of Western Qin, Irina took the liberty to come to Jerusalem, I hope I didn't trouble you, your hospitality etiquette is very grand, Irina is flattered, thank you so much!" ”

Zhao Ziliang said with a smile: "Your Highness is so polite, I think Jerusalem will shine because of the arrival of Her Royal Highness the Empress, and all the residents of the city will feel honored!" The door is not a place to speak, Your Highness has been driving all the way, I have ordered someone to prepare a wine banquet, please Her Royal Highness the Queen to enjoy the light! ”

Irina immediately said, "Thank you, Your Highness!" ”