Mediterranean east coast, Beirut.
In the past, this city was called Ashterit, named after the goddess of love and beauty.
At first, it was a barren land with a lack of water sources.
People dug a large number of wells here, so the city was also called Philip by the locals.
The city of many wells is called Beirut in Nikki and Hebrew.
A large number of ships at the harbor had just set out to sea and left the dock.
Not long after, the sound of a large number of horse hooves came from the distance on the land.
The whole city was trembling.
A stream of yellow sand and smoke moved rapidly from the east to the seaside.
There was a burst of chicken flying in the city.
The dog jumps.
The Arabs, Armenians, Jews, Byzantines, and Italians living in the city all hid in their houses and closed their doors for fear of being looted and killed by the sudden appearance of the army.
What is surprising is that this sudden appearance of the cavalry did not break into the city to kill or rob.
They came directly to the harbor.
"Lü" Xuan Shisan reined in his horse and stopped at the beach.
The two thousand cavalry behind him also stopped.
They densely occupied the entire harbor pier, and the horses snorted and kicked their horseshoes from time to time.
Xuan Shisan raised his eyes and looked at the sea in the distance.
Two sea miles away, a large number of ships loaded with supplies and people were heading northwest towards Yang Fan.
He ordered a captain next to him: "Send someone to report to the king.
I will wait for you."
It was too late, Nicerus had already left on a sea ship with men, horses and a large amount of supplies."
"Yes, General" The army returned to be stationed in the city of Beirut.
Xuan Shisan summoned his generals and ordered military control of the city.
He took over the city lord's palace and the treasury.
The garrison withdrew in a hurry and left behind a large amount of supplies.
All of these supplies were hoarded in the palace.
There was not a single coin left in the treasury, but they took away all the money.
In order to raise military expenses, Zhao Ziliang once ordered the cleaning up and elimination of local evil forces in the occupied areas, ransacked their homes, exterminated their clans, and confiscated all their property.
In order to implement this plan, the army must collect local information wherever it goes, find out the wealthy businessmen, nobles and other evil forces entrenched in various places, and then catch them all, confiscate their property, and distribute these people's fields to the common people. them.
This method has been used by Zhao Ziliang to raise military expenditures.
It can not only solve the problem of insufficient military expenditures during the war, but also gain the favor and support of the local civilians.
Of course, this method is extremely destructive to the local economy, but Zhao Ziliang doesn't care so much.
After the damage, he can find ways to improve it.
If this method is not used, using money from the national treasury to fight the war will cause damage to the domestic economy.
This way of supporting war with war does not have to worry about the huge impact on the country's economy.
When Zhao Ziliang led the army to Damascus, Damascus had become an empty city.
The empty city was not that there was no one in the city, but that there were still people in the city without the garrison for defense.
There are a large number of Arabs, Byzantines, Armenians, Kurds, and Persians living in Damascus.
These people are all left behind when Damascus was conquered by different civilizations at various times, and these people actually live very well in this city. , no large-scale ethnic conflicts occurred.
For thousands of years, Damascus has been a conqueror and has been conquered many times.
Eastern and Western civilizations have regarded this place as the center of struggle.
There are monuments of civilizations from various periods here.
"Your Majesty, this is where the Governor's Palace of Syria is.
After Nicerus withdrew, this place was in a mess.
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Many things were moved away by the residents in the city.
I added some things after taking over this place.
It has been cleaned up.
We have arranged for soldiers to be on guard."
Wei Gao, the vanguard commander, reported to Zhao Ziliang the situation here.
Since entering the city, Zhao Ziliang has been stunned by the various Western buildings in the city.
There are not only Roman churches and temples, but also Greek and Gothic buildings, as well as Arabic domes. .
After listening to Wei Gao's report, Zhao Ziliang jumped off the horse, and a guard took the reins.
He and other generals and officials were led by Wei Gao into the Governor's Palace.
This Governor's Palace was not the largest in Damascus. building but It is also cut into grandeur and luxury, while other large buildings in the city, such as mosques, churches, temples, etc. cannot be described as luxurious or extravagant.
What they present to people is the vicissitudes and weight of history, as well as the majesty of every civilization.
The residents in Damascus were vigilant and trembling with fear towards the arrival of the Western Qin Army.
They were just ordinary civilians, but they had no ability to compete with the powerful Western Qin Army.
They could only pray to their gods to protect them, and pray to the Western Qin Army.
The army should not extend its butcher's knife to them.
After a night, no one in the city was harmed the next morning, and no one's house was broken into by the soldiers of the Western Qin Army.
They felt a little more relieved and tried to walk on the streets to buy some daily necessities, but they found that There are still groups of capable Western Qin Army soldiers walking around on the street from time to time.
In the Governor's Mansion, Zhao Ziliang polished the sword in his hand with silk cloth until it shined brightly.
A hair fell from his head and just fell on the blade of the sword, breaking into two pieces silently.
At this time, Li Muchen came over and bowed his hands and said, "Your Majesty, the notices for peace of mind have been posted.
The city is in good order.
From our army entering the city yesterday to now, there has not been a single security incident in the city.
The ministers have ordered people to recruit local people and prepare for selection."
Some able-bodied people act as agents to maintain law and order and investigate crimes.
These can also help us monitor whether the locals are secretly resisting our military rule."
Zhao Ziliang nodded without saying a word and continued to wipe the sword.
Li Muchen added: "We have followed the king's instructions and ordered people to summon all the blacksmiths in the city who are engaged in the forging industry.
They are now outside the Governor's Mansion.
I don't know what the king is going to do with them."
Zhao Ziliang said at this time: "Bring them all in" "Promise" Li Muchen accepted or withdrew.
Soon, dozens of blacksmiths were brought in by Li Muchen and the soldiers.
The originally empty lobby seemed a bit crowded, but these blacksmiths crowded together out of fear because they were worried about their own fate.
"Your Majesty, we have brought here, forty-seven people in total.
They are all blacksmiths with top forging skills in Damascus."
After listening to Li Muchen's words, Zhao Ziliang stopped fighting and observed these blacksmiths.
These blacksmiths came from different races, including Jews, Arabs, Byzantines, Romans and Armenians.
"I heard that you are all blacksmiths with top forging skills here, so I sent someone to ask you to come and help me see how the sword in my hand is forged, and show this sword to the craftsmen."
Zhao Ziliang finished speaking.
The battle was handed to a guard next to him.
A civil servant standing next to him immediately translated Zhao Ziliang's words in Arabic and Greek.
The battle soon came to the hands of the blacksmith at the front.
The blacksmith took the sword and used his fingers to move the blade, and then flicked the knife with his fingers.
Listen to the sound.
The first blacksmith looked at the sword carefully, his eyes emitted a strange light, and his expression became extremely shocked.
He is a blacksmith, and he can feel the sharpness and toughness of this sword not only with his hands and eyes.
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As a blacksmith, An old blacksmith who has been a forger all his life, he has been dealing with iron tools and forging all his life.
He can feel the quality of a weapon just by using his heart.
"What a good sword!
What a good iron."
The first blacksmith held a sword, but this blacksmith was old and weak.
He was sweating profusely after holding the sword for so long.
Zhao Ziliang's sword weighed forty-eight kilograms, and the average person was sweating profusely.
It takes two hands to hold it up, let alone use it to kill enemies, it is difficult to lift it up, but this sword is like nothing in Zhao Ziliang's hands, using it to kill enemies is as effortless as chopping melons and vegetables.
The sword was transferred to another blacksmith.
The second blacksmith was a middle-aged man who could lift it with one hand and stroked the blade and blade with the other hand.
The shock on this man's face was even worse than that of the first old blacksmith. .
As the sword was passed down, each blacksmith observed it closely, tested its sharpness, and felt its lethality.
The sword finally returned to Zhao Ziliang's hands.
Zhao Ziliang sheathed his sword and placed it on the table.
He looked at the blacksmiths and asked, "You are all blacksmiths, and you are all highly skilled blacksmiths.
How do you think this sword of mine compares to the Damascus scimitar you made?"
The translator translated this into Arabic and Greek.
The blacksmiths present immediately whispered among themselves, but no one stood up to answer Zhao Ziliang's question.
Zhao Hu, the commander of the Dragon Guard Army who was standing nearby, stepped forward and shouted: "When the king asks you, you must answer honestly, otherwise you will all die."
After the blacksmiths heard the translator translate this sentence, each of them remembered that they were in front of a king.
The old man at the front hesitated and stood up and saluted Zhao Ziliang and said: "Dear king, your question I have no idea How should I answer to satisfy you?
The material of this sword is very good.
It is not forged with pattern steel, but its material is not inferior to pattern steel.
Its sharpness and toughness are better than those we forged with pattern steel.
Most Damascus knives , only a very few precious Damascus knives can compare with it.
In terms of forging technology, the forging technology of this sword and the Damascus scimitar have their own strengths.
As far as this sword is concerned, I can see that it is Using ordinary iron ore The steel is smelted through multiple processes and then undergoes special forging techniques by the blacksmith.
In terms of the shape and decoration of the knife, it may be due to the differences between Eastern and Western civilizations, so the shape and decoration of the weapon are different.
It’s also completely different” Zhao Ziliang was quite satisfied with what the old blacksmith said, and what he said was more pertinent.
He asked: "What is your name, and which tribe do you belong to?"
"I am Armenian" "Very good."
Zhao Ziliang nodded, looked at the others and said, "You are all blacksmiths with very high forging skills.
I lack talents like you.
If you are willing to work for me, I will not treat you badly.
Not only will you get generous rewards, but you will also be able to learn Eastern forging techniques.
If you don’t want to, I won’t force you.
Come and bring the things up.”
Soon, some soldiers came in carrying several baskets.
Each basket was filled with gold coins in cloth bags.
When the baskets were placed on the ground, the gold coins in the cloth bags made a clattering sound.
Zhao Ziliang pointed to the basket and said to the blacksmiths: "There are forty-five of you in total.
There are forty-five cloth bags here.
Each cloth bag contains one hundred gold coins.
This is a meeting gift from the king to you.
If you are willing, If you work for this king, each person can take one.
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From now on, generous rewards and rewards will be distributed to you on a fixed date every month."
The blacksmiths were hesitant at first, but soon someone stepped forward and picked up a cloth bag from the basket and returned it to its original position.
Then other people came over one after another and took away a bag.
The contents of several baskets soon reached the bottom.
Nothing.
Zhao Ziliang smiled: "Very good, I believe that with the joining of skilled blacksmiths like you, our forging technology will definitely reach a higher level":