Li Longji's secret letter came faster than people.

Pei Min received a letter from Li Longji first and received an appointment with him who was fully responsible.

Looking at the appointment letter in his hand, Pei Min had a bad premonition in his heart.

Pei Min knew Li Longji's willingness to delegate power and his courage to delegate power. He also deeply understood it.

Whether in history or now, his temper has not changed.

Especially those who trust themselves, such as Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong, An Lushan in history, and like him now.

But Pei Min didn't feel that the discussion with the Byzantine messenger needed to let him come forward.

Li Longji only needs to hand over this diplomatic matter to the Ministry of Rites, and he is enough to control it behind the scenes. As long as he sticks to the bottom line, Pei Min believes that the situation facing Byzantium will eventually compromise.

"Is it really because of physical discomfort, unintentional treatment, or is it just being lazy?"

Pei Min pondered in her heart. If it was the former, it wouldn't matter. If it was the latter, it would be a bad sign.

"Pei Shuai, Pei Shuai?"

Seeing Pei Min staring at the secret letter in a daze, Wang Wei, who was talking about the matter, called a few words.

Pei Min came back to his senses and handed him the secret letter and said, "In the near future, the Byzantine messengers will come to Guzang to discuss the alliance with us. You can go to the inn to arrange it. In the future, our allies cannot treat them badly in this etiquette. After all, we are the eldest brothers of the future, and it is appropriate to take care of their younger brothers."

Wang Wei responded, then read the letter and smiled and said, "Your Majesty still trusts the Duke so much."

Pei Min said with some slightest point, "Trust is a good thing, but I'm afraid that trusting too much."

After waiting in Guzang for five days, Pei Min also received news of Justinian's visit.

Despite his reluctance, Justinian came to Guzang and visited the "Judas" whom he hated and feared the most in his heart, and discussed the alliance.

The alliance between the Tang Dynasty and Byzantium was a general trend.

But as Pei Min expected, the negotiations did not go smoothly.

Byzantium also claimed to be a thousand-year-old country. As descendants of the Roman Empire, their self-esteem and face were unwilling to become younger brothers of the Tang Dynasty, and they tried their best to promote equal ally relationships.

But Pei Min disagreed.

Even if you are an allies, there must be a difference between great and high.

Allies in equal relations are not conducive to dialogue.

Because of equal relationships, we will discuss everything when encountering problems, and we will be quarrels with deceit.

When you really need the other person, where is that time?

The relationship between the leader and the allies is different.

The leader directly issued orders, and the alliance members could certainly choose to listen or not.

However, there is a way to deal with listening, and there is no way to deal with it without listening.

It is not necessary to worry about guessing the actions of allies at critical moments.

And things also affect the dignity and face of the country.

The dignity and face of a country are its political capital. In Pei Min's heart, the Tang Dynasty was the most powerful.

Don’t talk about the outdated Byzantines, even if Arabs want to form an alliance with the Tang Dynasty, they must be their younger brother, otherwise they will not be discussed.

If there is a difference, there will naturally be a red-faced debate.

Justinian did not learn Chinese language like Mosremasa.

Pei Min was obviously not as important to Byzantine as Arabic, and did not specifically learn the Byzantine language.

Their communication still needs to be translated.

Justinian said with a loud voice: "No, absolutely not. My Roman Empire is a sacred country, a country blessed by the Archbishop. It has a long traditional history. We are very powerful and our navy is invincible in the world. We are the same as their Tang Dynasty. Moreover, Arabs, Tubo, their enemies are you, and only one of us is Arabs. If we all agree with you, we will inevitably offend Tubo. We were at a loss and we still wanted us to recognize you as the leader. This is impossible and we cannot do it."

Justinian's attitude was very decisive.

Byzantine is Pei Min's name and is also the addition of later generations.

There were three Roman empires in history. One was the Western Roman Empire, one was the Eastern Roman Empire, and the other was the Holy Roman Empire.

In order to better distinguish, later generations called the Eastern Roman Empire the Byzantine Empire.

Byzantine itself has always called itself the orthodox of the Roman Empire, so Justinian calls itself the Roman Empire here.

Originally, in the history of the Tang Dynasty, the Byzantine Empire was always called the Fuji Kingdom.

Later, Pei Min couldn't change his words and shouted. Under his influence, the Tang Dynasty has now followed Pei Min to change Fu Zi to Byzantine.

Pei Min listened to the translation and heard Justinian show off his country's navy's strength, and he looked at him with a little disdain in his heart.

Of course he did not deny this.

The navy of the Byzantine Empire was indeed powerful, just like the Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period.

The Eastern Wu established a country with naval forces, while Byzantium also established a country with naval forces.

Half of their entire country has coastlines, especially the capital Constantinople, which is located at the eastern end of the Balkans and the west coast of the Bosphorus. It junctions the Black Sea, and is a key transportation rush across Europe and Asia, but a giant city spanning the Eurasian continent.

Faced with this unique environment, Byzantine shipbuilding and navigating technology is comparable to any country in this era.

Pei Min had already learned about this many years ago, and through transactions, he arranged for agile people to learn shipbuilding and navigation technology to improve the shipbuilding and navigation level of the Tang Dynasty.

As a later generation, Pei Min knew the terribleness of being self-confidence.

Therefore, you are confident but not arrogant. What you should learn will never pretend to be faced or something.

It has been several years, and from time to time, Pei Min also gets some news.

The people they arranged had successfully learned the skills of Byzantine merchant ships and sent them to the Ministry of Works.

The Ministry of Works not only imitated Byzantine merchant ships, but also combined the research of the Tang Dynasty's own craftsmen and innovated them to build more superior maritime merchant ships, and started trade with Silla and Japan.

Of course this is just the first step. What Pei Min really likes is the warship...Dromont.

Pei Min knew very well that the naval powers of the future era of navigation, such as Spain, Italy, Venice, France and other countries, were all improved by Dromond.

"Let you blow for a while first, and when we improve Dromond in the future, we will use gunpowder to match the warship, but we will not be as good as your Greek fire accompanying warship?"

Pei Min thought in her heart, but her face was calm and comfortable.

Waving his hand, Wang Wei asked him to send a map and hang it on the shelf next to him.

Justinian was stunned when he looked at the map. The map was a very complete Western topographic map.

Starting from the Western Regions, it reaches Tuqishi and Geluo, and then goes to India in the south, and then extends to the west, not to the Arabs and their Byzantine countries.

The map did not end until the Visigothic Kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula.

Looking at the map, Justinian once again realized the horror of the opponent in front of him.

He seemed to have always been prepared so well, and always seen more and farther than them, and once again was surprised by the vast territory of the Arab Empire.

It is really terrifying that a country that has risen for less than a hundred years has actually captured so many territory.

“Look at this map!”

Pei Min showed his demeanor as the big brother. He did not argue with Justinian with a blushing face, but chose to convince others with reason.

"As far as I know, Arabia had just destroyed the Visigoth Kingdom before and almost reached the end of the west..."

At this moment, Arabia is indeed a powerful country spanning the three continents of Asia, Europe and Africa.

They went westward and almost reached the end of the west, which was later Spain.

As we all know, Spain was the Atlantic Ocean in the past, and then the future world overlord of the United States.

At this moment, the Atlantic Ocean is almost a natural barrier, and the HNA technology of this era cannot cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Therefore, Pei Min calls it "the end of the west" here, which echoes the understanding of this era.

"They had nowhere to develop westward, so they turned their troops and went eastward, and the Western Regions became their next goal."

Justinian had no expression on his face, which was obvious.

But what Pei Min said next made him feel restless.

"I have always been very surprised. Mosremasa's attitude towards me. He has always been sympathetic with me, and has expressed more than once that he wants to have a righteous battle with me. If he hadn't had his wife and concubines, I would have suspected that he would have any other views on me..."

Pei Min made a joke.

But Justinian couldn't laugh.

Pei Min continued: "I have studied Mosremasa. His combat style is very tough, good at fighting hard and hard battles. He is born with a charm that can make soldiers die. But he is not a person who is unscheming or a person who is unscheming. A reckless man cannot win every battle."

"So from the beginning I felt that all this was an illusion. Mosremasa's real purpose was not the Western Regions, but you. He calculated that our dynasty could not expand outward in the short term, so he repeatedly provoked me, the border commander, to create an atmosphere of friction and war between the two countries."

"The stronger the atmosphere, the more you will be careless. Once you think Mosremaza will not attack you, it is afraid that Constantinople will fall."

"Impossible!" Justinian said tactfully: "Constantinople cannot fall!"

Pei Min said disdainfully: "There is no city in this world that will not fall. As long as there is a first-line opportunity, Constantinople can still be captured."

Justinian remained silent and continued, "According to what you said, Mosremasa attacked India is also an illusion?"

"No, that's true! Because Mosremasa is indeed preparing to fight my Tang Dynasty..."
To be continued...