Da Qin’s footsteps are unstoppable!

After the Qin army occupied the Anatolia Peninsula, it was blocked by the strait and turned its troops towards the Jewish settlements in the Mediterranean and Dead Sea areas.

After opening up the Silk Road on the Asian continent, Li Yuan's goal quickly adjusted to winning a Mediterranean sea port channel. However, the coast of the Turkish Peninsula lacks suitable natural harbors for ships to shelter from storms. Compared with

Below, the Bay of Beirut and the Bay of Haifa, located northeast of Jerusalem, are densely populated, with well-developed blanket weaving and dyeing and printing industries. They are two important commercial port cities on the east coast of the Mediterranean.

Beirut in later generations was the capital of Lebanon, and Haifa was the largest port in the country of Israel. In 200 BC, it was ruled by the Kingdom of Antigonus. Antigonus was another name for the Kingdom of Macedonia, and its king Philip V

Shi was a man of great ambition and talent who launched a war with Rome to compete for hegemony in the Mediterranean.

Needless to say, the result was that the Macedonians were defeated by the Scipio brothers. As a result, the saying became popular among the Romans: "There once was a king - King Antigonus!"

However, the actual defeat of Philip V by the Romans had not yet happened when the Qin army went on the western expedition. The strength of the Kingdom of Antigonus was not weak in the eastern Mediterranean. Not long ago, they even joined forces with the Thracians to conquer Bulgaria.

Defeat the Xiongnu tribe in Helianbi.

The Huns traveled long distances, marching thousands of miles, and were pursued non-stop by the Qin army behind them. Under the dual physical and psychological pressure, the strong grassland people almost collapsed. In addition, in Europe, they were not familiar with the terrain and humanities.

Lianbi's defeat is understandable.

In order to defeat the Huns, Philip V deployed almost all his troops and defended them on the other side of the Bosphorus Strait. Correspondingly, his control over Judea, a remote province on the east coast of the Mediterranean, was greatly weakened. This

This gave the Qin army the opportunity to sweep through the Syrian plateau and the Dead Sea lowland plains.

Judea Province.

As the name suggests, it is where the Jews live.

Jews, also known as Hebrews, since the establishment of the Hebrew Kingdom in the 11th century BC, the Jews on the east coast of the Mediterranean experienced two glorious reigns of King David and Solomon, followed by the decline of Jewish civilization, Babylon, Persia,

Macedonian, Greek and Roman powerful forces successively occupied this area. The Temple Mount in the eyes of the Jews was also ups and downs in the aftermath of this history, either burned down or rebuilt.

In fact, when it comes to Jews, the first impression of later generations is that they are born businessmen, businessmen, and wealthy people. At the same time, they were brutally massacred by Nazi Germany during World War II. After World War II, they were founded by Jews.

The country of Israel has fought five large-scale Middle East wars with the Arabs.

Regarding the sudden appearance of the Qin people, the Jews unexpectedly showed great enthusiasm. The reason is very simple. Among the Hu merchants traveling on the Silk Road, more than half were Jewish merchants.

Before the arrival of the Qin people, life was not easy for the Jews. Although the Macedonian Empire established by Alexander the Great had long since collapsed, his generals divided the empire's huge territory into the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Seleucid Kingdom.

The three continuing kingdoms of Antigonus.

The Temple Mount area is at the junction of the three kingdoms. This special geographical situation determines that no matter which side the Jews defect to, they will not get any benefits. Over the years, the kings of Ptolemy, Seleucid, and Antigonus

Treating the Jews as an inexhaustible cash machine, taxes were increased and taxes were increased. After every war, the victorious party would pass the burden on to the Jews.

The other two countries that were not satisfied, after having to swallow the bitter fruit of failure, would do everything possible to make up for their losses from Jewish merchants. If this goes back and forth, it would be strange that the prices of the goods they handle do not rise.

——.

Jerusalem.

Jewish holy city.

The Kingdom of Antigonus, the seat of the Judean province.

In the warm maritime climate along the Mediterranean coast, the weather is as clear and cloudless as usual. In the river leading from the Holy City to Haifa Port, several dhows that have just arrived are unloading their cargo, and the breeze is blowing gently.

Passing the tip of the sail, waves of oblique shadows rippled.

It was all so calm and beautiful. After the Atlantic westerly current blew through the narrow channel of the Strait of Gibraltar, it was constantly weakened and finally reached the east coast of the Mediterranean. It no longer had much power.

temple.

Located halfway up the Mount of Olives.

This is the residence of the Jewish king David. Compared with the simple houses where the poor people live at the foot of the mountain, David's residence is entirely built of bluestone. It not only has gardens, trees, but also clean stone roads.

The decoration is also extremely magnificent, with not only utensils from Europe, but also rare silks from the East.

October 26, morning.

King David dressed up early and came to see the meeting hall, holding a scepter, where he would personally greet the mysterious messenger from the east.

The enemy of your enemy is your ally.

The Qin State destroyed Seleucus and put to rest the neighboring countries that had threatened the survival of the Jews for many years. Moreover, the Kingdom of Antigonid and the Ptolemaic Kingdom seemed to be too frightened by the Qin army and had no time to pay attention to the survival of the Jews. This was important to the Qin State.

For the Jews, this is great news.

If the negotiations later go unfavorably, will the Qin army wipe out the fragile military power of the Jews like they did with Parthia and Seleucus? But how will they deal with this strange and familiar "distinguished guest" from afar?

What? Even though the nobles and big merchants around him kept introducing the situation of Qin to him, David still had hesitation on his face and uneasiness in his heart.

"Your Majesty, the envoy of the Great Qin State has arrived!" Just when David was uneasy, the guard at the door shouted loudly.

Under the gaze of all the Jewish officials, a thin, tall man with an oriental face walked in from outside the temple door. Judging from his age, he was around forty. What people noticed was that the clothes he wore were completely different from those of

It has a Western style of decoration, but it is all as black as ink, with only a few golden silk patterns embroidered on the edges of the sleeves.

"Lu Jia, the envoy of the Qin State, is discussing military and state affairs with the nobles on the orders of Emperor Shenwu. May I ask, where is the leader of the nobles?" The voice of the Qin envoy was not loud, but it seemed extraordinarily serious as it echoed in the empty palace meeting hall.

Loud.

Lu Jia——.

The Jewish merchants here who have been to the Qin State all gasped. With the continuous victory and expansion of the Qin State, Li Yuan and his men were also rumored to be magical by the people. In addition to the generals who fought on the battlefield,

Lu Jia, a debater, was also passed down by word of mouth and became a mythical figure with an unshakable tongue who could talk the dead back to life.

David was stunned.

He did not expect that the Qin envoy would speak in such a disdainful tone as soon as he arrived. Looking at the envoy's attitude and eyes, he was afraid that he did not take the Jews into consideration at all.

"Ahem, Lu——, land envoy, this is our Jewish King David." Seeing that the situation was not good, the Jewish Hu Shang who was in charge of diplomatic liaison stood up and greeted him with a smile.

"Is he a king? When did the Jews establish a country? Lu has been in Persia and Egypt several times. Why haven't I heard about it?" Lu Jia asked with a sneer on his face.

"You——, you are a land envoy who is a stranger from afar. You are not familiar with the history of our Jewish people, and I don't blame you. I, the great Jew, established a kingdom under the Mount of Olives as early as 800 years ago. King David

The splendor and glory spread throughout Anatolia, Egypt, and Mesopotamia——." Upon hearing the question about the history of his ancestors, David couldn't help but get angry and defended loudly.

"Eight hundred years is indeed not a short period of time, but does King David know how long the history of the Qin Dynasty is? Our ancestors started from the Yan Emperor and the Yellow Emperor, which lasted more than 3,000 years, even if it is based on the period recorded in historical books.

In total, it has been more than 2,500 years. At this point, the nobles are still far behind."

"In addition, one more thing I would like to say is that our country, the Qin Dynasty, has experienced thousands of years. Although there have been setbacks and failures, we people in the Qin Dynasty have never given up the dream of becoming a powerful country. We are constantly struggling every day and every moment. We have a bright future.

An enterprising heart that never stops beating. You Jews, who are known as the richest people in this era, are your hearts still working hard for the dream of restoring your country? Or have you resigned yourself to your fate early and accepted the bullying and oppression of other races?"

Lu Jia's voice contained a bit of mockery, a bit of sincerity, and a bit of pity. His narration and comparison of national history made the Jews proud and at the same time feel...

There is a gap, and this gap comes not only from the history of our ancestors, but also from reality.

King David of the Jews was speechless for a long time. His face turned red and white, and even the crown with precious stones on his head could not calm his mood at this time.

Restoration!

This dream has been stored in the minds of countless generations of Jews. They think about it all the time and work hard all the time, but reality always gives the Jews a heavy blow at critical moments.

Now, from the words of the envoy of the Qin State with strong military strength to let the Jews return to their country, David is also a smart man. He immediately guessed whether this was the Qin State's intention to support the Jews in establishing a country. If it was true,

That's really great news.

"I, the Jewish people, have been working hard to achieve the dream of national restoration. When the envoy said this, did he want to humiliate us or help us?" David's eyes lit up and he stared at Lu Jia and asked.

Lu Jia raised the staff high above his head and said loudly with a serious face: "Before my envoy came, Emperor Shenwu said that the people of Qin are a hospitable and polite people. We will definitely help our friends and help them drive them away.
Chapter completed!