Chapter 398: Boarding

"Good morning, sirs."

Sir Maxi had already changed into his formal clothes, holding his cherished sapphire cane in his hand with a smile on his face.

Sir Edward looked at his pocket watch: "Exactly seven o'clock. Their clocks are still so punctual."

"Let's go." Sir Williams said expressionlessly: "The contemptuous expression on that official's face yesterday kept me awake all night. I just wanted to see what it was that I didn't understand."

"Dear Sir Williams, you shouldn't be so angry. Maybe their country is not big? Are Tang Ruowang's diaries all fiction?"

"hope so."

The guard came in: "Xia Guo's carriage has arrived."

"Then let's go out." Sir Maxi said, "Are you all ready?"

The other people didn't say anything, and walked all the way through the corridor and out of the post house. Ten carriages were already waiting outside the door. The face of the young official who made Sir Maxi and others very uncomfortable appeared again.

"I have been ordered to send all the envoys to the north station of the city." The official of the Ministry of Rites smiled slightly, stretched out his hand and said: "Please."

This time, the number of missions from the five countries was small, and the Spanish mission, the largest, only had nine people. The least number of people in England is five. Plus some gifts, salutes, etc., ten carriages are more than enough.

The young officials from the Ministry of Rites and the envoys from the Five Kingdoms got into the first spacious carriage. The two-horse carriage has a spacious interior with glass windows on both sides. It is clear and transparent, and you can clearly see everything outside the window.

"It's very prosperous here." The bearded Sir Edward looked out the window and said: "It's very unique. It has a different style from London."

Of course there are two styles. Europa at this time can be described with a dirty word. The city streets are narrow, full of garbage and feces, there are no sewers, and there are no personnel dedicated to cleaning up garbage. The five envoys in the car have long been accustomed to the environment in European cities, but they are not used to it in Guangzhou and find it strange.

I've been in the toilet for a long time and don't know how smelly it is.

The streets in Guangzhou are extremely spacious, at least the main streets are extremely spacious. This has been modified to some extent. The main roads inside the first-level city of the state capital must reach the standard of five feet wide. The open and spacious feeling of a carriage traveling on such a street is unmistakable.

Bustling crowds of people were passing by on both sides of the street, and the streets were busy with traffic. There was an endless stream of carriages of all kinds. Some carry people and some transport cargo.

"After returning home, I may suggest to Cromwell's leader to transform London." Edward said to several others.

We didn’t talk much on the way out of the city, and the translation was very relaxing. The carriage exited from the north gate, and within three miles, a wide, spacious building appeared in sight. A smooth road nine feet wide passed by.

"That's the station." The official from the Ministry of Rites smiled and said, "You will board the train here, and you will arrive in the capital by tomorrow afternoon at most."

This still takes into account the need to stop and rest along the way. If you don't stop for a moment, you can arrive before dark that day.

When the carriage arrived at the entrance of the station, the smooth road was blocked by the station. After Sir Maxi and others got off the bus, he couldn't help but look over there.

Sir Tanguy also specifically asked about it, and the official of the Ministry of Etiquette smiled and said nothing. This made him very angry and wanted to punch that smiling face.

"I will send it here." The official from the Ministry of Rites handed over the greetings to the reception staff who had been waiting outside the station, and then said to the delegation: "Please follow him into the station and board the train early."

Finally, he bowed slightly: "Farewell."

After the official who responded said goodbye to the officials of the Ministry of Rites, he said to the Taixi envoys with a smile: "Emissaries, please follow me closely."

They entered through the wide station gate that looked like a city gate, followed closely behind the officials, passed through the bustling crowd in the station, and came to a closed door.

Many people in the mission kept looking back - because all the people in the station were women.

Upon seeing this, the official smiled and said: "Those are slaves, there is nothing interesting to see. Please follow me and wait here for a while."

"slave?"

Sir Edward couldn't help asking: "Are all slaves here?"

The official stopped and said, "Yes, they are all slaves."

Translators translate in a timely manner.

When Edward heard this, he immediately showed anger: "I am an English knight and a nobleman. You actually let me come to this place where there are only slaves?!"

The other envoys all had a look of relief on their faces as they thought about it. Pairs of eyes stared at the official, hoping for an explanation.

The official lived up to expectations and said with a smile: "Messengers, please don't be angry."

He said: "The station is not exclusive to slaves. It's just that many slaves have been transported from Yingzhou recently. To be sold to the inland states, they need to be transported there as soon as possible. Usually there are not many people at the station. And if the officials and nobles of Daxia want to If you travel a long distance, you will also board the train here.”

This explanation made the envoy less angry.

Maxi asked: "This place called a station is quite novel. It seems to be used for centralized transportation?"

When the official heard the translation, he smiled and said, "The envoy is right. The purpose of the station is to centralize transportation."

Sir Williams said: "Then that avenue you saw before, the very wide avenue?"

"That's right." The official said with a smile: "What you see is the Empire's Zongyi Avenue. It starts from Guangwu Mansion in the extreme northern desert and ends at the Guangzhou Freight Terminal, which is thousands of miles long. My envoys were not here the day before yesterday. Landed from cargo terminal, so never seen before."

Several knights couldn't help being surprised after hearing the translation. Maxi said: "Is it really ten thousand miles long? That road is very wide and seems to be made of stones. How many people will work together to build it?"

The official smiled and said: "Of course it is thousands of miles long. The road is indeed made of stone and is three feet thick. There are six such main roads in the empire, three running from north to south, and three running from east to west, all of which are thousands of miles away. The Emperor The Holy Ming sent tens of millions of slaves to build the road, and it took nearly two years to complete it."

After listening to the translation, Maxi and others were all dumbfounded and their minds went blank.

Of course, I still have doubts in my heart and I am not completely convinced.

After recovering for a moment, several knights exchanged glances with each other, and Edward asked again: "Are there many slaves in your country? I don't know where they were captured from? Our country also captures slaves for work."

The official said: "Daxia now has more than 20 million slaves. There are barbarians from the northern grasslands, Persians from the Western Regions, Shendu people from southern Tibet, and Yingzhou people who were just destroyed by the empire."

The composition of slaves in the Daxia Empire, in addition to what the officials said, also included some stubborn people from other races who were originally from the land of Daxia China. The total amount not only exceeds 20 million, but is even close to the figure of 30 million.

There are 15 million slaves in Yingzhou alone!

As for the ingredients mentioned by the officials, except for the prairie barbarians, several envoys knew it well. The Safavid Empire of Persia was not far from Europe and was at war with the Holy Roman Empire. As for Shendu, not to mention, these five countries all have interests in the Shendu subcontinent. Although the empire's behavior on the border has not directly affected their interests, they have heard about it.