Chapter 183: Han Empire
Chapter 183: Han Empire
It was a journey that spanned several months.
The view of the street from the slightly open window was completely different from Rome or Antioch.
The grand scale and vitality of the city were enough to astonish Publius.
Berenice, who came along with him, also looked around the city with curiosity and could not take her eyes off.
“Brother said that Han Empire was a powerful nation that did not fall behind Rome, but it seems that his words were true.”
“That’s right… The street is really scary. This great nation existed, but Egypt was completely unaware of it.”
“According to brother, this place also has a large river called Yellow River, and the civilization started quickly enough to match Egypt or Mesopotamia. The king has almost all the power in a centralized state, so maybe we can see it as the eastern Egypt?”
“Well, it’s closer to Egypt than Rome. What’s the name of this city?”
“Chang’an. It’s also called Guanzhong, and almost 30% of the population lives in this Guanzhong Plain region. That means it’s a prosperous area.”
Marcus had told him some more information, but he couldn’t remember it well.
Publius regretted that he should have listened more carefully to Marcus’s story.
He was surprised to hear from the official who came to greet him that the population of Chang’an surpassed Antioch and approached Rome.
Of course, the official of Han Empire was also shocked by Publius’s words that Rome had a million people.
But he had managed to get some important information beforehand.
Publius took out the notebook that he had kept carefully in his pocket and looked over the contents that Marcus had written.
“The king of Han Empire calls himself emperor and son of heaven. It means the son of Shangdi, the lord of heaven, and also implies that he has the privilege of offering sacrifices directly to God as a divine status.”
“It’s similar to Pharaoh being the incarnation of Horus. But here they say they are not God but God’s son, so it feels like a step lower in rank.”
Publius thought that it was not normal to call oneself God or God’s son, but he didn’t say it out loud.
“Publius sir, we will arrive at the embassy soon. There will be someone to greet you there. First, we will deliver the sugar that we promised to the royal palace, and then we will find an opportunity to meet with the son of heaven.”
“So does that mean we can move around as we please until we meet the son of heaven?”
“They said there would be no problem as long as you have an interpreter with you.”
Publius glanced at Tadius, the leader of the merchants who accompanied the delegation.
He had been active as Marcus’s confidant for a long time and was sent to this place with an important mission this time.
His caravan, which brought a lot of wine and sugar, looked like it came for trade, but his real goal was elsewhere.
It was to secure silkworms, the raw material for producing silk.
The rest was all for distraction.
Most of the people who followed Tadius were soldiers disguised as merchants.
Publius didn’t know where Marcus got the information from, but he had selected several candidates for where to get silkworms and told him in advance.
Berenice wondered how he knew such things, but Publius and Tadius just shrugged their shoulders.
“You just have to accept what brother does as it is.”
“That’s right. It’s a waste of time to wonder how he can do this. Just trust him without doubt.”
Berenice, who hadn’t spent much time with Marcus directly, still didn’t fully understand what they meant.
While she tilted her head, the front of the delegation arrived at the embassy.
At the door, there was an official dressed in a splendid silk robe that could be seen as a high-ranking position at a glance.
The interpreter who guided Publius brightened his eyes.
“Oh my goodness… The Prime Minister himself came out to greet us…”
“Prime Minister? Is he a high-ranking person?”
“Not just high-ranking. The Prime Minister is one of the three highest ministers in Han Empire, and he is also treated as the best among them. Since there is virtually no Sangguk (a position equivalent to consul), the Prime Minister is practically the highest position that a subject can reach.”
“So he is basically the second person in this country.”
“Usually, foreign affairs are handled by Sangshijo (a position equivalent to censor), but why did the Prime Minister…”
The interpreter hurriedly got off the carriage and knelt down and bowed.
“I greet the Prime Minister. Why did you come to the embassy in person?”
“Raise your head. I came out to welcome the guests who came from afar.”
“Did you say that in person, Prime Minister?”
“Even if they are barbarians from the west, it is proper to treat them well as the first official exchange. You should translate it properly.”
The interpreter nodded his head and approached Publius and told him in a plausible way.
“He said he thought it was polite to come out himself because you came from a faraway place.”
“Oh, these are people who know the manners. Tell him thank you.”
It was not a light thing for the second person of a country to come out and greet an envoy personally.
Publius thought that Han Empire was treating them very specially.
In fact, this was because Han Empire did not understand Rome’s system properly and interpreted the political situation of Rome according to their own perspective.
Han Empire had been collecting information along with sugar from Rome for a long time.
But they were unfamiliar with the system of republic, and they interpreted Rome’s political situation according to their own perspective.
They perceived Rome as a confederation ruled by three kings.
Among them, Marcus, who conquered Parthia and ruled over a territory several times larger than that, was known as Shahanshah, or King of Kings, in Han Empire.
He was a being with much stronger power and authority than the King of Kings of Parthia, with whom they had established diplomatic relations before.
It was not unreasonable to see him that way.
And Publius was the only brother of such Shahanshah.
In other words, he could be seen as the Prince, the brother of the Son of Heaven, in Han Empire.
It was a big deal for such a person to visit as an envoy.
They couldn’t just leave it to Sangshijo to handle it.
As a result of repeated deliberations, Woo Jung-guk, the Prime Minister, decided to go out and greet him personally.
If he offended Publius’s temper by sending someone with a poor position, it would not be easy.
Han Empire was enjoying the sugar they imported from Rome.
It would be awkward for them if they upset the envoy and disrupted the supply of sugar.
Of course, there could be a saying that the dignity of the Central Plains was damaged by the Prime Minister greeting the barbarians himself.
That’s why Woo Jung-guk’s reason for coming out was to show the generosity of a great nation to the outside world.
Anyway, the Romans didn’t know Chinese, so they could just get over it by adjusting the interpretation in between.
In fact, Rome thought they were trading sugar for silver and gold, but Han Empire’s position was different.
Han Empire claimed that even Rome, the strongest nation in the west, was paying tribute to them, and silk and gold and silver were gifts for tribute.
Of course, Rome didn’t know this.
Han Empire didn’t show any signs of this to Rome either, so they had no way of knowing.
Woo Jung-guk tried to show a friendly smile as much as possible and greeted Publius who got off the carriage.
“I am Woo Jung-guk, the Prime Minister and Seopyeonghu of Han.”
“I am Publius Licinius Crassus, the head of the delegation.”
“Nice to meet you. First of all, I would like to thank you for coming such a long way. The Son of Heaven plans to meet you in four days. However, he feels tired easily these days, so I apologize in advance that he can only spare a short time.”
“Don’t worry. Thank you for your careful consideration.”
Publius clicked his tongue again at Marcus’s prediction being right.
‘The Son of Heaven of Han Empire might not be in good health…’
Marcus had given him this hint because Hyoseon Emperor’s death was not far away.
Publius admired how his brother had received wisdom from the gods again.
“Do you have any plans while staying here? If you do, we will do our best to accommodate you.”
“That would be very kind of you. Actually, we brought a lot of sugar and wine. We want to sell them and exchange them for gold and silk. Is that possible?”
“Of course it is. I will tell an official from Geumjo (a position equivalent to quaestor) to come here tomorrow or so. You can give him instructions for the details.”
Woo Jung-guk’s attitude was polite but also firm that he would not tolerate any trouble.
Han Empire welcomed the Roman envoy on a large scale to show off their power to neighboring countries.
Publius intended to match them as much as possible according to what Marcus had told him beforehand.
He didn’t even think about asking about silk production from the beginning.
Publius spent his time pretending to be interested only in commerce while staying at the embassy.
And finally he got a call from the palace.
The most noble status in the Central Plains.
The emperor and son of heaven of Han Empire.
The great emperor who subdued Hohanya (a term used by Han Empire for Xiongnu) and achieved the revival of Han Dynasty.
“I greet His Majesty the Emperor.”
Publius bowed his head politely as Woo Jung-guk had told him.
It was an official procedure for a subject of a tributary state to bow down to the emperor when entering the palace.
But Rome was not officially paying tribute to Han Empire.
The officials of Han Empire decided to just muddle through and move on after much deliberation.
They didn’t make Publius bow down, but externally it would be recorded that he bowed down to the Son of Heaven and offered tribute goods.
Anyway, the Romans didn’t know Chinese, so there was no problem.
“Publius… I heard you are the brother of Shahanshah of the west.”
Hyoseon Emperor had a slightly weak voice, but he still had a dignified voice.
Publius didn’t bother to say that Marcus was not Shahanshah.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Thanks to the sugar you gave us, we have had a good result so far. I don’t know if it’s because of that or not, but the annoying disease in my stomach has disappeared. I will reward you, so tell Woo Jung-guk what you want later.”
“I’m honored.”
After going through various complicated procedures, Publius left the palace and asked Woo Jung-guk who followed him.
“I heard from the interpreter that some headache problem has disappeared. What is that?”
“Oh, that’s not a sure thing yet. It might start again next year as if nothing happened.”
“Are you at war with someone right now?”
Woo Jung-guk frowned.
“It’s not so much a war as a nuisance. We have the barbarians from the north who have been harassing us for hundreds of years. They are nomads of poor quality, called Huns, who raid and plunder us whenever they get a chance. They are a real headache.”
“From the past tense, I take it that it’s not the case anymore.”
“Well, that’s true. The current Emperor has subdued the Huns’ leader, and our influence over the neighboring countries has grown stronger. So the bastards have suddenly quieted down. I heard that many of them have migrated to the west. Maybe they finally realized that they have more to lose than to gain by attacking the Central Plains.”
Publius recalled that Rome had also suffered invasions from the Gauls and Germans from the north in the past.
He nodded, understanding the relationship between Han and the Huns in a rough way.
“But if those Huns moved to the west, wouldn’t they eye our trade routes?”
“They did before. About a hundred years ago, when they were very strong, they took over the Silk Road. But we don’t have to worry about that now. They are powerful when they unite, but their organization is as weak as sand. The harder it gets, the easier they split up. So they are nothing but savages after all.”
“I see what you mean. We had similar barbarians in the north, called Gauls. They also fought among themselves, unable to maintain a unified group. So they eventually fell under our control and became our subjects.”
“That’s a satisfying outcome. That’s the limit of savages who can’t expand their power without raiding and plundering. Hahaha! Tell me how Rome dealt with the barbarians around you. I want to learn from you and use it if I can. I’ll treat you with the best liquor in Jang’an.”
“I’ll be glad to tell you. I was curious about the taste of your wine anyway.”
Publius followed Woo Jung-guk with a friendly smile.
The two surprisingly compatible men quickly hit it off and exchanged stories over drinks.
Perhaps more important than securing silkworms, they discussed matters that could affect the future of both countries.
But unfortunately, Publius lacked the background knowledge to understand them.
His goal was only to get silkworms, the material for silk, rather than some barbarians called Huns who were rolling around.
He thought he should tell Marcus about this story when he returned to Rome.
That was all he felt about the name Huns for now.