When he saw the simple and solemn magnificent buildings in front of him, Issam deeply felt how creative and energetic this great nation of the East was, and also felt how strong and rich the country established by this great and ancient nation was. People are so friendly and courteous.

The merchants said that this nation had a population of 50 million when it was at its strongest, and now it has been reduced to about 20 million because of the war, and it is increasing at a rate of hundreds of thousands and nearly one million per year, which makes Issam even more shocked, on the one hand, shocked that a country can have so many people, the peak population of their strongest time was only 19.7 million, and now it is only 15 million; On the other hand, it was shocking that a war could kill 30 million people twice the population of their empire, and this people was terrible, in every way.

Indeed, no matter from which aspect, the Han nation and the Tang Empire are extremely terrifying, the Western Regions Protectorate in front of them is so solemn and magnificent, and the guards are so strong and strong, not to mention the legendary Chang'an City as big as ten Roman cities, indeed, it is a miracle of the Creator, it is a miracle.

He was about to meet Guo Xiaoke, the supreme governor of this large area called the Western Regions by the Tang Empire, and their emperor His Majesty was far away in Chang'an City. It was said that it would take a month to reach Chang'an at the earliest, which was unacceptable to him, as the terrible armies of the Arabs were gathering and were heading towards the last barrier of their great capital, and he was not in any doubt that the battle would be won.

His Majesty, to whom he was loyal, was too young to shoulder such a heavy responsibility, and the advisors held the supreme power and acted recklessly, and the nobles only cared about their own interests, not caring whether the empire could be sustained or not. Some aristocrats had even begun to negotiate secretly with the Arabs. Trying to gain power and status after the fall of the Empire, they could not believe that the only hope now was for a state founded by the ancient and powerful peoples of the East. Don Empire.

He faced the highest military and political governor of this vast land with the most humble attitude. His opinion and impression of himself will determine whether the ruler of the empire, His Majesty the Emperor, is willing to send troops to the rescue of his country. This middle-aged man named Guo Xiaoke, who is in his thirties, has a powerful aura on his body, which Issam has rarely seen in his own country. But it has been seen many times in the enemy.

The aura that belongs to the strong and confident.

"You are the Persian envoy to Isam?" Guo Xiaoke sat on the chair and looked directly into Issam's eyes, Issam was very curious about the thing that the chief was sitting on, but now it was obviously not the time to be curious, Isam bowed very humbly: "Yes, Honorable Duhu, I am the envoy of His Majesty the Emperor of Persia, Isam." ”

Guo Xiaoke nodded, looked at Du He who was sitting on the side, Du He nodded at him slightly, Guo Xiaoke knew the bottom of his heart, and said: "Well, what your emperor has entrusted to you, my general has already told me, you are facing the invasion of a country called Arabia, and you can't defeat them, they are very strong, so you want my Datang to send troops to help you, right?" ”

Issam nodded, "Yes, Honorable Mr. Togo." ”

Guo Xiaoke said: "I have heard a little about your Persian friendship with us in the past, although it was hundreds of years ago, but this friendship is still there, after all, there are so many countries and tribes in the world, it is still relatively rare to be able to communicate with each other instead of using war, and I still have a good impression of Persia for this." ”

Issam said excitedly: "Then, Dear Mr. Tougo, may I ask, can you repay the Emperor of your country and ask for troops to help our country?" ”

Guo Xiaoke smiled and said: "I haven't thought about this, but I hope you can understand that for any country, sending troops is not a trivial matter, especially our army has just put down the rebellion in the Western Regions, the losses are there, the soldiers are very tired, the generals are also tired, they need to rest, the land of the Western Regions has just been pacified, and the army is also needed to maintain law and order, if the army here is sent out at this time, then, I think this is definitely not a good thing for the security of this land."

You must know that our country is also engaged in two wars, one is the war with the Turks and the Xueyantuo, in that war we used 200,000 troops and defeated them, and on the east of the sea, we used 100,000 troops to defeat the invasion of Goguryeo, and here, in this land, we can use not many troops, only 60,000 people, just put down the rebellion of 150,000 people in the Western Regions, you should know how tired the army is.

And after three wars at the same time, I Datang very much need to recuperate, I need to stop the war and govern the newly acquired land, you can also see, there are so many texts in front of me, all of them are things to deal with, very complicated, I have almost no experience to deal with a war that happened in another country, our country does not have such energy, even if I report to the emperor, the emperor is unlikely to agree. ”

Issam showed an eager expression: "Dear Protector, I think I can also immediately deal with the difficulties of your country, but for my country, this is even more of a danger of national destruction, your country is so powerful, you can fight three enemies at the same time and achieve such a brilliant victory, this is something we cannot imagine, but this is exactly the expression of the strength of your country, the Arabs are greedy and fierce, and very cunning, if our country is destroyed, the Arabs will border your country, at that time, There is no guarantee that the Arabs will not have any idea of the beautiful and fertile land of your country! ”

Guo Xiaoke smiled coldly: "If he dares to come, I will let him not go back!" ”

Issam was stunned for a moment. Then he said: "Dear Protector, we, we are really very dangerous, our capital is under threat, those terrible Arabs will not be satisfied, you can think of it, our country is a peace-loving country, willing to join hands with your country for peaceful development, and the Arabs are a belligerent and extremely greedy country, our two countries can live in peace." Trade with each other. And the greed of the Arabs will only make them invade your country countless times, and at that time, your country still needs to solve the problem through guò war.

The Arabs who occupy our beautiful land will be even stronger than they are now, if then they go against the Arabs. It will only cause your country to lose more soldiers and supplies. Compared to the Arabs, who are not strong enough to do that now. Your country is stronger, and we believe in friendship with your country, with which the Arabs have no dealings. We can pay for the one qiē that your country needs to send troops?

Food, money, supplies, as long as your country sends an army, we can provide anything else needed, although we cannot defeat the Arab army, but our wealth is definitely countless times greater than the Arabs, which is why the barbarian Arabs want to do something to us, dear Mr. Duhu, I hope you can think carefully, compared to the dangerous and cunning Arabs, we in Persia are your country's best friends! ”

Guo Xiaoke and Du He both frowned, if what this person said is true, then it is not difficult to imagine that the Arabs avoid the Persians is more threatening and more combative, both Guo Xiaoke and Du He understand that the next strategy of the Tang Dynasty is to march east and west, to the east to completely solve the peninsula problem, and then to enter the Japanese country, open up the sea route, to the west is to build the Silk Road, re-establish normal contacts with many Western countries, understand them, study them, so as to obtain valuable information for the next strategy.

In this regard, there is much more to be gained by helping the Persian state than by not helping the Persian state.

Guo Xiaoke and Du He glanced at each other again, they both saw the hesitation in each other's eyes, Guo Xiaoke decided to ask about some things related to the overall situation one last time, if it was confirmed, then he would formally apply to Li Er Majesty as the protector of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate in order to support the Persian State.

"You said so much, how can I be sure that what you said is true, not deceiving us, and I need to see your token, which comes from the letter of His Majesty the Emperor of your country, otherwise, how can I be sure that this is not your conspiracy?!" Guo Xiaoke said very strictly.

Issam hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, of course there is, I'll take it out!" ”

Saying that, Issam immediately commanded the people around him to carry those boxes over, which was originally intended to be given to the Tang Emperor Xià, but later planned to give them to Du He, but Du He refused, and then Du He took these things to Guo Xiaoke to see, these things are obviously not looked down on by the Emperor Xi à, even if you want to thank them, at least ten times more, you know the wealth and strength of the Tang Dynasty, such things, do you think the Tang Dynasty will be able to look at it?

Isam finally understood how rich the Tang Dynasty was, so His Majesty the Emperor would never send troops to war because of these things, but it was still feasible to use it to open up the joints of some officials below, which was the same in any country, such as the capital protector of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate.

The things moved in, and Isam first took out a roll of sheepskin from his arms, handed it to Guo Xiaoke, and said: "This is the letter written by the emperor of our country to the emperor of your country. ”

Guo Xiaoke looked at this parchment very curiously, touched it around, and even looked at this parchment with Du He very curiously, and then Guo Xiaoke asked curiously: "What is this?" Paper? ”

Issam was also curious: "What is paper?" This is sheepskin. ”

Guo Xiaoke asked in disbelief: "You use sheepskin to write?" What pen to use? What ink? ”

Isam was a little confused: "Why can't you write in sheepskin?" We usually use a quill pen to write, but I know that your country seems to use a pen called a calligraphy pen, which is slightly different from ours. ”

Guo Xiaoke nodded, held up the parchment and asked, "You just write in parchment?" ”

Issam nodded: "Yes, we all write in sheepskin, your country seems to use bamboo slips to write, and there are some silk cloths and the like, but we don't produce those things, so the silk cloth and other things that merchants buy from Datang are sold very well in our country, and the price is very high." ”

Guo Xiaoke put down the sheepskin, took out a piece of white paper and handed it to Issam: "We basically don't use the bamboo slips now, and we all use this now, which is called paper." ”

Issam took the paper curiously, touched it, and then looked at the brush handed by Guo Xiaoke, he took it, scratched it casually, and was surprised to find that this thing called paper turned out to be very easy to use, so he asked curiously: "Since this paper is so easy to use, what is the price?" Isn't it very precious? ”

Guo Xiaoke smiled noncommittally: "Indeed, it is very precious and precious, no one in our country dares to insult this paper, this is a symbol of knowledge, insulting paper is insulting all knowledge, it is a very serious sin, because in the past, this kind of paper is not only of bad quality, but also expensive, more expensive than gold, but now, basically every Datang person can afford this kind of paper, and the quality has been greatly improved, however, it is still very precious and valuable." ”

Issam wondered: "Then why do our merchants never bring a piece of paper back home?" ”

Guo Xiaoke smiled: "That's normal, we don't allow paper to be sold in other countries." (To be continued......)