After the meeting, Hao Kang returned to his office and looked at the letter sent by Brother Tokhtar again. Previously, he was sure that there was no content against Hao Kang, the governor of Damascus, and since there was no danger that the Mongol court would remove Hao Kang, Hao Kang put the letter down for the time being.

At this time, when you have time, you naturally have to take a good look at what Big Brother Tokh means. After reading the letter again, Hao Kang felt a little empty in his heart. Zhao Jiaren had a strong force before the surrender of Lin'an, and he could quickly take over the situation after Lin'an surrendered. The news that Hao Kang got from Mu and the news he found out showed that the Mongolian side was in danger. A year ago, Hao Kang's troops had assembled elite troops against the Yuan court, and they not only had the will to fight, but also outnumbered Hao Rui's men. In the early stages of the battle, they won one after another, and the troops approached Kyiv. Such elite troops were exhausted, and Hao Rui's side continued to gather the militia of the Yuan Kingdom, which was consuming Hao Kang's army by numbers. Before Hao Rui announced that Hao Kang was a Han Chinese, Hao Kang's army had run out of ammunition and energy, and the troops had lost confidence in victory in the arduous and continuous fighting.

Based on his own experience, the Mongol Banner Army is now in a much the same situation as it was then. Big brother Tokhoff must have seen the problem, so he will rush the ducks to the shelves and ask Hao Kang for help. Hao Kang felt guilty, but he decided not to help. Hao Kang has more than 8,000 people under him, and in addition to these people, Damascus can only get people by arresting Ding. Hao Kang's influence in Damascus was far from being able to arrest Ding at will, and now a single arrest would provoke even greater hostility among the local people in Damascus. Big Brother Tokhtar can hold out for another year, as long as one year is enough, Hao Kang can form a new army to help Big Brother Tokhtar.

After confirming his thoughts, Hao Kang picked up the pen and wrote a reply to Toto. The letter bluntly described the situation Hao Kang was facing now, and Hao Kang, who had just arrived, was no longer able to send troops to help in the war. After writing the letter, Hao Kang went straight to the newly built sugar factory in Damascus, and saw that the trucks were loaded with bags of sweet potatoes from Greece and barley from Damascus, which was the first enterprise opened by the province of Europa in Damascus. Hao Kang had eaten caramel in the Great Song Dynasty and knew the benefits of this thing. In addition to the people who like to eat, the army can make caramel into dry food for the march. He can't help Big Brother Tokhta, at least in the small things.

Greek sweet potatoes were not only supplied to the Damascus region, but large ships laden with sweet potatoes were also unloaded at the docks of Constantinople and the docks of the Western Roman Empire. Senator Sheila did not show up at the docks in Constantinople, and she appointed two secretaries to take charge of the matter. One man and one woman, the daughter of a great Eastern Roman nobleman, and the man the son of a minor nobleman. In terms of Sheila's family's population and circle, she had no family to choose from, so she could only choose two from many recommendations.

Of course, the purpose of sending them to do the handover was to give the two of them a chance to exercise, but Sheila herself did not come because of her lack of skills. Baseleus signed the first list of female citizens, a total of six, all women of aristocratic origin. They all have common characteristics, support the family business, and have a lot of power. Since it was an order signed by Barcelus, it was natural that Barcellus would preside over the first batch of awarding ceremonies.

Sheila looked at the other five female citizens, and the other five female citizens were also looking at each other. The two were great nobles living in Constantinople, and Sheila had been to their house more than once for a banquet. One was a nun named Teresa, who had a great reputation for doing good deeds. Sheila did not like Teresa, and she had heard that the nun was best at making the sick pray, giving holy water to the sick, and refusing all medical treatment. When the patient felt pain, Mother Teresa would hold the patient's hand and tell him that everything was God's will and that as long as he believed in God, he could be saved.

This stoic spirit was praised by many, and Sheila felt that she could not match it in any way in this regard. She also decided that when she was sick, she would not let people like Mother Teresa get close to her, and she would die under the treatment of Dr. Da Song.

There are also two female citizens, Sheila, who she has never met but heard of their names. The great nobles of the west were numerous, and they might not have come to Constantinople, which was already ruined at that time. has not been affected by the previous rebellions of the great nobles in the west, and can still become a female citizen, these two female heads of the family should be very powerful. For now, at least, the other five had not said a word other than a courtesy greeting. When Baselus came out, the six women citizens were taken to their places by the master of ceremonies to hear the hadith.

After reading a short draft, Baseleus announced that he had granted citizenship to all six women in front of him for their outstanding contributions to the Eastern Roman Empire. The master of ceremonies brought the certificate of Eastern Roman citizenship and handed it to the six men, and the six female citizens immediately saluted Baseleus in thanksgiving.

Sheila thought that Baselus was going to say a few more words, but she didn't expect His Majesty the Emperor to stand up and leave after the ceremony. The Patriarch beckoned to Mother Teresa and followed Barcellus with her. Sheila didn't know what these people were trying to do, so she couldn't help but look at their backs. But I heard an elderly female citizen beside me speak: "Is Sheila curious? ”

Sheila quickly turned her head and saw that it was the female head of the Barden family who spoke. Sheila didn't explain, but asked with a smile, "Your Excellency, aren't you curious?" ”

Duchess Baldon didn't expect Sheila to be so calm, she looked at Sheila for a moment, and she smiled: "Your Excellency Sheila, why don't the people of the Song Kingdom have faith?" ”

"Faith?" Sheila was a little surprised, and it took her time to figure out that faith is whether to believe in the Cross or not. She felt that there was something interesting in the Duchess's words, and that the fact that Mother Teresa had become a citizen seemed quite abrupt, and that the convent did not have to pay taxes.

Seeing Sheila's thoughtful appearance, the duchess couldn't help but say more clearly, "Many people are curious about why the Song Kingdom never believed in God but was favored by God. We, God's people, are suffering. ”

The eyes of the other three distinguished female citizens were all on Sheila's face, and it was clear that they had the same question. Sheila felt an impulse in her heart, and couldn't help but reply: "Probably because the Song people never believed in the gods created by people with scriptures. ”

Duchess Balden's eyes instantly sharpened, and she stared at Sheila's eyes as if she wanted to see through all of Sheila's thoughts. Sheila was a little nervous, this was not her original, Xie Song answered Sheila about faith, and gave Sheila a copy of "A Brief History of World Religions" to read. However, the eyes of the four nobles refused to take their eyes off Sheila, making Sheila wonder if her answer was too mean and manly.

"Sir Sheila, don't you believe in the Church?" Duchess Bardon asked.

Sheila said, 'How could I possibly believe in that kind of business organization?'" Sheila's emphasis on personal efforts has always outweighed her belief in God, and seeing with her own eyes the power and wealth of the Great Song Dynasty, who never believed in God, made Sheila wonder if God was biased, and after reading the Great Song Dynasty book "A Brief History of World Religions", Sheila's view of religion was completely new. The book emphasizes that if 'God' himself appears to prove His existence, there is no problem, and there really is God in the world. If the existence of 'gods' is based only on human propaganda, including their own brains, then the 'gods' created by human beings are only tools for self-comfort, and then become tools used by religious organizations to make money. "A Brief History of the World's Religions" talks about the commercial nature of religious organizations, and many cases make Sheila feel that "I have really seen it."

Just as 'materialism' was the current state policy of the Great Song Dynasty, Crucifixion was the state religion of Eastern Rome. Sheila knew she couldn't criticize it, and she never wanted to fight religion. Sheila replied, "I believe in God and God's servants." ”

Unable to find anything wrong with Sheila's words, Duchess Bardon continued: "Your Excellency Sheila, after returning from the visiting group that had been to the Song Kingdom, they began to publish books one after another, and they said that the Song Kingdom did not believe in God, and they were questioned by many people. ”

After hearing this, Sheila hurriedly responded, "Thank you, Your Excellency, for reminding me." ”

At this time, Sheila thought that the words of Duchess Bardon were at least not malicious, and it was ridiculous to discuss who was more favored by the gods in the Great Song Dynasty or the Eastern Roman Empire. If this discussion turns into questioning the usefulness of the Eastern Roman State Church, it will not be ridiculous, but terrible. Sheila has had little contact with the religious community in recent years, and has been very closed off from these cutting-edge information. In addition to expressing her gratitude to the Duchess, Sheila found that it was best not to create a vacancy in the intelligence system because of her own personal likes and dislikes. If Heracendo had more frequent meals with the more important people in the church, this kind of news would not have been heard now.

The nobles are busy with things, and they won't talk for long. Sheila extended an invitation to four female citizens other than Mother Teresa to come to her house for dinner, and they were happy to go. The group then dispersed. When Sheila returned to her office, she found that the two secretaries had returned, and they told Sheila that the Legion had received sweet potatoes from Europa Province on the docks and was checking the quality of the sweet potatoes.

"Did you say how much was shipped?" Sheila continued to ask.

"It was said that there was a shipload of 3,000 tons, and five ships came and transported 16,000 tons of sweet potatoes."

Sheila is relieved now, the quality of sweet potatoes is a problem for Europa Province, and what Sheila has to do is to ensure the arrival. The sweet potato production of the entire Eastern Roman Empire this year was not very large, and the doubts raised by the legions at the time were not unreasonable. The sweet potatoes from Europa Province have already filled the gap, and Sheila can only pray that the sweet potatoes from Europa Province are of high enough quality to leave the Legion without any fault. Once the Legion was satisfied with the sweet potatoes, Sheila had survived the last hurdle.