CHAPTER 1443: CHAPTER 1391: THE HOPELESS ROMANS

"Serali?" Chen Xi began to ponder whether he had heard of this person. Later, he realized that his knowledge of Roman history was not very good during this period. Both the Five Wise Emperors before and the dark Third Century after were more familiar to him, and he might recognize quite a few figures from those times.

Regardless of whether he knew or not, Chen Xi returned the salute with a calm expression, as reciprocity was always a virtue valued by the Great Han Dynasty.

Listening to Serali speak again, Chen Xi could only make out a few words. The Indo-European and Germanic languages have evolved over thousands of years, but fortunately, the Roman Era was a period of linguistic stabilization, so he could barely understand a few words.

"Uh, what does constantly biting onto silk mean?" Chen Xi asked, observing the ever-changing expressions of the other party.

He couldn’t understand other words, but the words ’silk’ and ’porcelain’ hadn’t changed much in pronunciation over the millennia. Calling the Central Plains People ’Selesians’ just meant ’silk people,’ and calling China ’Ceramics’ hadn’t changed either. Of course, it later being called ’tea’ conveyed a similar meaning.

After listening to Anyue’s translation, Chen Xi finally understood what ’Seles’ meant. First, there was a sincere expression of admiration for the Great Han Dynasty, viewing it as an empire as great as Rome. Then the topic quickly shifted to silk, completely skipping over culture, wisdom, law, and civilization...

"Oh, your country really needs silk, huh? You hope we can give this treasure, silk, as a gift to the distant friendly nation, and form a life-and-death alliance?" Chen Xi asked with an eye-roll. Only someone with a problem would give you the silk production method.

"Yes, for this, after forming an alliance, our Rome is willing to offer five hundred chests of gold coins and give the Great Han Dynasty two hundred thousand gold coins annually. I hope you, as a noble, can understand the Roman nobles’ love for silk," Serali said earnestly.

Chen Xi rolled his eyes, as if this were something trivial. Five hundred chests of gold coins, converted into standard chests, meaning one chest is ten thousand gold coins—five million gold coins might not even buy five hundred carts of silk in Rome.

Did they really think Chen Xi didn’t know about the ’Battle of Silk’? For the transit fees for silk, they fought with another empire for over twenty years but didn’t lower the fees. A bolt of silk ended up being settled for with gemstones...

It seemed that in this era, Roman silk hadn’t reached its peak yet; silk was about equivalent to gold in value. Later, silk prices soared, and if memory served, by the time of Rome’s dark Third Century, in just a few years, the exchange rate between the weight of silk and gold reached 1 to 1.35.

Later, when Sasanian Persia grew stronger, it became utterly shameless. The price of Roman silk eventually soared to two hundred forty-seven gold coins per pound of silk. Of course, this wasn’t the most important thing; the most crucial part was that this was the official pricing under the Roman Emperor Diocletian.

Five million gold coins could only buy twenty thousand pounds of silk, translating to the current unit of tons; it’s about eighteen tons. Indeed, imagining five hundred carts of silk was a fantasy...

So this seemingly sincere price was completely a farce. Even if the price ratio of Roman silk to gold was one to one at this time, the Romans wouldn’t dare to say such things, especially with the mention of techniques. Do you have a death wish?

"I deeply understand Rome’s longing for silk; however, my family doesn’t handle such matters. But I can suggest you talk with the Mi Family and the Zhen Family. As a noble, I completely understand your feelings, as I also share this fondness," Chen Xi replied, without losing his temper but instead wearing a smile.

The interpreter truthfully translated, and upon hearing it, Serali was delighted. He immediately took out a box from the carriage behind, opened it, revealing a pre-cut gemstone inside, reflecting dazzling light.

"Thank you for your guidance. This gemstone is a gift for you," Serali said excitedly. Chen Xi’s easygoing demeanor suggested this wasn’t a difficult matter, giving Serali hope of obtaining silk. For Rome, silk was extremely important.

[Indeed, only by communicating with nobles can one obtain more information, especially high nobility, where the words of high nobility align with equal status.] Serali thought excitedly, as if he had already gotten his hands on silk.

Chen Xi accepted it without hesitation. This thing could only be given to Chen Yun; without three, giving it to anyone else would be disappointing.

"No need to be polite. I merely heard that envoys from the distant Great Qin were visiting, so I came to observe," Chen Xi said bowing. "I have matters to attend to now, please excuse my rudeness."

Anyue truthfully translated this, and although the other party regretted Chen Xi’s departure, they did not stop him. Chen Xi, smiling broadly, walked away from the Roman Delegation, but once out of sight, his expression turned dark. Rome wanting to take advantage had come to him directly.

"Let’s go, just this one," Chen Xi headed, turning into a nearby shop. This was a special shop, known for dealing with contraband and selling information, having only a manager at the counter and not much merchandise.

"Knock, knock, knock!" Chen Xi knocked on the table expressionlessly, and the manager didn’t even look up. "We only sell information here, although we do buy various materials; if it’s something too hot to handle, you can certainly..."

It was at this moment that the manager fell silent, having realized who was before him.

"Is this how you do business?" Chen Xi raised an eyebrow discontentedly.

"I confess my guilt!" The manager hurriedly bowed and reported.

"Forget it, I won’t pursue this matter further; show me the account book," Chen Xi demanded, extending his hand. The other party immediately invited Chen Xi inside, handing him a thick stack of account books. Chen Xi quickly calculated, then set them aside.

Chen Xi didn’t have much time to go through these things in detail, so could only make a rough estimate of monthly inflows and outflows. Even if there were false entries, monthly variations could still be detected. At this early stage of implementing new accounts, false bookkeeping hadn’t yet become sophisticated.

"There’s a consistent growth each month, so do as you wish," Chen Xi said nonchalantly. As income was increasing and notably so, Chen Xi had no reason to be overly picky about these matters.

The manager wiped away his cold sweat, relieved as if granted a great reprieve.

"Notify the Great Aristocratic Families to oversee their silk industries, and manage the farmers raising silkworms properly. If there are any instances of theft, apprehend them immediately. The techniques of sericulture and silk reeling must not be spread," Chen Xi instructed the manager.

The reason for giving orders here was simple: the shops here were owned by the Great Aristocratic Families. While they all appeared as individual merchants, they were all actually run by the aristocratic families behind the scenes. Therefore, orders given here could quickly reach all the families.

As for official channels, Wang Xiu would handle the official relay, and matters requiring Liu Bei’s command could be swiftly enacted. This way, both the government and the private sector could handle their responsibilities well, and the Romans could dream on if they thought they would obtain the full set of sericulture and silk reeling techniques!