Leaving the tree-covered port of Mumbai and heading west, many of the Great Song Dynasty personnel who came here for the first time from the time they saw the Arabian Peninsula couldn't help but marvel at how there could be such a barren place by the sea. The land by the sea is much more barren than the inland plains, and it is strange that there are large deserts on the seaside. There are many islands in the South China Sea that are difficult for humans to live on, and those islands are at least covered in thick vegetation and full of eerie life.

In contrast, the high peaks on both sides of the Red Sea are exotic. Ships sail through the Egyptian canals and into the Mediterranean, and this barren landscape turns into relative barrenness. Under the action of the sea breeze and rain, there is not much soil on the mountain, and the roots of the shrubs cling to the cracks in the stones, using their roots to absorb every grain of dust, and survive tenaciously in this barren soil. Among the people of the Great Song Dynasty are brothers from Shandong, and they feel that the scenery in front of them looks familiar.

The scenery along the coast was more or less the same, until Athens, the capital of the province of Europa, changed slightly. There are also signs of artificial afforestation on familiar street trees, green belts, barren hillsides. Horse-drawn rail cars brought coal from the port to the city, and the demand for firewood plummeted. This is one of the basic test questions of the Great Song Civil Service Examination, and cities with large populations no longer need to cut down trees, and the relatively abundant urban manpower can be used in turn for afforestation. In the long run, afforestation can make the urban ecological environment better. For example, a water source surrounded by dense forests can provide more water, and the rate of siltation of the reservoir will be greatly reduced.

The leader of the greeting procession was the provincial envoy Yeluhong, and the other principal officials came. Everyone hadn't seen each other for years, and they were all excited. Provincial officials were particularly excited. Yang calmly became a minister, which meant that the imperial court did not put officials from overseas such as the province into a separate register. After returning to the imperial court from overseas, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Just as I was about to say hello, it started to rain in the gray sky, and everyone hurried to get into the car. Yang calmly looked at the familiar scenery outside the window, and sighed in his heart for the poverty of the Mediterranean region. When the new city of Athens was designed, the province had already asked the domestic design unit to design it according to the scale of the state capital. Now that Yang calmly came back from Kaifeng, the capital of the Great Song Dynasty, he felt that his vision was really too narrow at that time.

Just thinking about it, I heard Xie Song, the governor of the province, ask: "Minister, can the imperial court build a railway in the province?" ”

"Build a railroad?" Yang was stunned. The railway left a deep impression on Yang Congrong, who had ridden horses, boats, and walked. After experiencing the experience of running from Kaifeng to Haizhou in one day, Yang Congrong never wanted to take other means of transportation again.

"We also want to build railways." Xie Song replied briskly.

"You're making so much money?" Yang smiled calmly.

Yeluhong didn't laugh here, he just felt a burst of excitement in his heart. Xie Song accurately judged Yang Congrong's reaction on a question, that is, he saw the focus of the Great Song Dynasty's attention.

A few days ago, Xie Song said, 'We have to show the imperial court that the province can support itself', and the upper echelons of the province felt that this idea was really stupid. Listening to Xie Song's proposal that the method is to save money to build a railway, everyone is silent for the time being, because everyone does not know how to evaluate such a suggestion. Looking at it now, Yang Congrong's evaluation of this suggestion is very good. As long as he doesn't object, someone can speak in the court.

When they arrived at the provincial office building, everyone began to discuss. The first thing Yang said was to send a telegram to Barcellus in Eastern Rome and Augustus in the Western Roman Empire, informing them of the arrival of the Song Foreign Minister in Athens. A telegram greeting Boyan was sent to the city of Rome, where Boyan lay on a couch and the prince read it to him. After listening to this, Boyan said, "Gaius, how do you think you should call back?" ”

“…… Ask them to come to Rome first. Boyan's eldest son replied.

Boyan nodded slightly, and then ordered: "Gaius, you are in charge of this matter." ”

After dealing with important government affairs, Boyan ordered his son to do errands. Feeling the weakness brought about by aging, Boyan was very sorry in his heart. He is not afraid of aging, nor is he afraid of death. This is God's arrangement, not something that ordinary humans can decide. The eldest son, Gaius, was already excellent under a serious education, and the response proved that Gaius had accurately grasped the crux of the matter. If Gaius chooses to 'make the enemy can't see through', Boyan will not be disappointed but desperate. Boyan only hopes that he can live a healthy life for another three years, his heir still needs time to sharpen, and only after facing a helpless or even desperate choice, can a person's heart be finally determined. Boyan has experienced this tribulation three times, and he understands the horror of that experience, and he knows how he feels after experiencing this despair.

Thanks to Zhao Jiaren, two of Boyan's three temperings are related to Zhao Jiaren. So after regretting that his body was useless, Boyan began to prepare in detail. The first thing to be solved is two hundred pairs of Iberian horses, and Yang Congrong reached an agreement with Boyan on the Iberian horse when he was still the envoy of the Europa Province, and at this time, he can make a perfect settlement with Yang Congrong on this matter.

The Great Song Dynasty will not forget what Boyan did to the Great Song Dynasty, so Boyan often secretly sighs at the long-term vision of the Great Song Dynasty, and Yang Congrong actually cooperated with Boyan for nearly twenty years under the order of the Zhao official family of the Great Song Dynasty instead of trying to get rid of Boyan and take revenge. This rationality is simply earth-shattering. If this rationality can be maintained, Boyan believes that his Jerusalem-born son can lead the Western Roman Empire to maintain good relations with the Great Song Dynasty after his succession to the throne.

Just thinking about it, the attendant reported that Boyan's son-in-law had come to ask for a meeting. Boyan asked his attendant to bring in his son-in-law Tuara, a young Western Roman, and after saluting his father-in-law, Tuara got up and asked, "Augustus, should we prepare to participate in the Spanish war?" ”

"Do you think the time has come?" Boyan asked his son-in-law.

"Do you think you have to wait until the time is fully ripe?"

"Tuara, what do you think the timing is?"

"The odds of winning a war are an opportunity."

"I ...... I used to think so. Boyan replied. His son-in-law was a very good young man, and if he had chosen a commander in a specific war, Boyan would probably have chosen Tuara over his son Gaius. But if he chooses the commander-in-chief, Boyan will choose Gaius over Tuara. To borrow the words of the Great Song Dynasty Zhao Guanjia, the strategy is correct because it is correct, and the tactics are correct because of the victory. Tuyara's talent for finding a way to win in a specific war has to some extent made Tuyara more inclined to accumulate tactical victories and gain strategic advantage.

Boyan really wanted his son and son-in-law to understand his understanding of the war, so that the two could form a very good partnership. Boyan had fully grown up after the defeat of the cowardly general Buhua, and Zhao Jiaren had completely suppressed Kublai Khan in Ezhou before the age of 19. Boyan's son and son-in-law are still young and have not yet had the opportunity to go through the trials that will change their lives. If you haven't experienced it, you just can't understand it. The basis of surprise victory is to understand the enemy, not to release false news. The current ruler of the Great Song Dynasty is Zhao Jiaren, Zhao Jiaren has never played tricks such as the old and suspicious arrays in his life, he will always step forward in a dignified manner. If the son-in-law faces a person like Zhao Jiaren, he is afraid of death and doesn't know how to die.

In this case, Boyan chose the words that these inexperienced young people could understand, "Winning one or several battles may be a great chance of winning, I fought several big victories when I fought against the Song State, but the Lin'an court of the Song State surrendered." But Dayuan eventually lost the war. ”

Tuara had also heard these cases, and he couldn't help but say, "Augustus, if you can win all the time, it won't be like this." ”

"If I had known the true strength of the Song State back then, I would not have supported the war no matter what. And our understanding of a country's strength is often inadequate and wishful thinking. During the Battle of Xiangyang, the Emperor of the Song State easily broke through our encirclement, but in the situation of the Song State fighting for power and profit, the Emperor of the Song State, who was still a general at that time, returned to his territory. At that time, a lot of people, including me, thought we still had a chance. As long as the Song State is defeated with lightning speed, Zhao Jiaren at that time will be alone and will eventually be completely defeated by us. We managed to defeat the Song court, and then we engaged Zhao Jiaren head-on. For many years afterward, I thought it was ridiculous when I remembered that time. ”

"What if you used a discord meter at that time?" Tuara asked.

"It's the idea of the time, and it's mostly wishful thinking. The Song Kingdom was in turmoil at that time, and Zhao Jiaren basically raised money and food by himself in the war, and did not ask for money from the Song court. Why did the Song Congress think that Zhao Jiaren would seize power from the Lin'an court, so he must kill Zhao Jiaren. Do you have the ability to show what is happening now to the Song court? Even if you have the ability to do it, why did the Song court choose to kill Zhao Jiaren. Zhao Jiaren said that the emperor was after the surrender of Lin'an, and at that time, the Lin'an court only needed to remove Jia Yidao and let Zhao Jiaren be the prime minister of the left. When Zhao Jiaren faced the little emperor, he could use his military exploits to obtain the legitimacy of being the emperor, and the legitimacy of the Lin'an court was much higher than that of Zhao Jiaren. ”

Tuara frowned in contemplation, admitting that his father-in-law's words were very reasonable, but Tuara wanted to use tactics to solve the problem. While I was thinking about it, I heard my father-in-law Boyan continue: "The benefits of participating in the Spanish war are very great, and I know this. What I said about the Song Kingdom can be copied from the Spanish War. Whether it is the Moors of the True God Church or the Crusades of Spain, we as outsiders cannot compete with them for legitimacy. Our legitimacy comes only from the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire's rule over Spain for too long was a mere name for ourselves, not a reason to inspire the Spaniards to join us. Tuara, if this is the case, do you still think we can win in the end? ”

Seeing the previous Great Song War as a case study, Tuyala initially had no such idea. Listening to his father-in-law's comparison, Tuyala's father-in-law saw things in the long run, but suddenly these things were inserted into his thoughts, and his thoughts were a little confused for a while. After thinking for a while, Tuara asked, "Does Augustus think that our army is not strong enough?" ”

"Yes." Boyan felt that his son-in-law had found the key to the problem. When attacking the Great Song Dynasty, Da Yuan did his best. Now that the army involved in the conquest of the Italian peninsula is old, and Beyan has begun to rebuild the Roman legions according to the model of Eastern Rome, it is too difficult to maintain a standing army of 200,000. Moreover, the 200,000 soldiers of the standing army came from ordinary families, and they were not the ones who followed Boyan back then, and they did not need to worry about their loyalty when defending their homeland. Sending them to Spain, thousands of miles away, to wage wars of conquest is beyond the means of these people.

"Augustus, Spain is so weak now......" Tuara still felt unwilling.

"What you see is weak is that the local country in Spain is unable to go on expeditions, what you want is to enter Spain to fight, and the Spanish army at that time had geography and people, and its combat effectiveness will not be weak."

When his son-in-law left, Boyan felt regretful in his heart. It's not that he doesn't want to expand his territory, but he doesn't have enough strength. In Boyan's view, if Spain, Franci, and the Holy Roman Empire were to organize an attack on the Western Roman Empire, it would be a good time to carry out a strong counterattack. At that time, land could be seized through war. The problem is that these countries are now nominally joining the crusade against the Yuan State, but it doesn't stop there. It can be seen that the countries of the Eurobasi Department do not have the problem of brain confusion.

After dealing with these, Boyan put his energy back on welcoming Yang Congrong. One of the main purposes of this greeting was to introduce Gaius, the heir of Boyan, to Da Song, and let Da Song know that he was dying. The past grievances just disappeared with Boyan's death.

The old guys arranged things very decently, and Yang Congrong was the first to visit the Western Roman Empire. Boyan asked Yang to look at the horse farm calmly and sent the list. It clearly lists the number of horses that should have belonged to the Great Song Dynasty. Because of the adoption of the Great Song Dynasty management model, the birth time, gender, parents, and origin of each horse are clearly marked.

Yang Congrong was particularly surprised that these horses with a shoulder height of 175 were actually able to reach 175, and when he looked at the horses, he unconsciously stayed on Zhao Huang. I saw that Zhao Huang had already gently stroked the horse's nose in the middle of the horse, and could even touch the horse's cheek with his cheek.

Perhaps noticing Yang Congrong's gaze, Boyan said to Yang Congrong: "The ability of the horse trainer over there is not ordinary. ”

Seeing that it was Zhao Huang who Boyan was talking about, Yang calmly sighed, "Your Excellency, it's a pity that the road is not open now." I really want to send the horses back to China now, so that the officials can be happy. ”

Boyan nodded, he could understand the thought. He himself didn't want to give Iberian horses to Zhao Jiaren.