Controlling mountains and rivers since the Warring States Period

Chapter 385 (Bonus Chapter): Crassus's Search for Qin (Part Two)

After enjoying a delicious meal, they continued their journey.

Leaving Xilong County, you arrive at the Two Rivers Plain.

Crassus and his men need to cross the river from here; otherwise, taking a detour would take a lot of time.

Fortunately, this period coincided with a time of calm and even water conditions, with no wind or waves on the wide river. As long as the boatman rowed quickly, he could easily reach the other side.

"The scenery here is beautiful."

"I have never felt such simplicity and profoundness."

Standing at the ferry crossing, Crassus, who was selecting a suitable boat, was suddenly inspired to compose a poem in Roman.

For this son of a noble family who grew up in Rome and traveled the seas with his father from a young age,
He had never seen a vast empire like Qin, where one had to ride a fast horse to reach any of the four directions and spend many days traveling there.

After all, even when they went to Iberia and Africa, they all crossed the sea by boat.

Although there were rivers in the Roman Empire

However, I have never seen a river as wide and long as the Xijing and Xiwei rivers, whose entire basin is surrounded by Qin territory.

Moreover, at this very moment,

In Krassau, one can still see many laborers on the riverbanks repairing and maintaining the dikes, the trees planted on both sides to stabilize the soil and water, and the irrigation canals that have been dug to irrigate the farmland.

The rainy season is coming soon.
At this time of year, the imperial court would organize personnel to prepare for such matters.

Upon seeing this, Crassus couldn't help but ask the stingy, cheaply hired translator, "Are these people slaves?"

“No, they are the people of Qin,” the translator told Crassus in his Romanized language, which was appropriate for his salary.

Crassus gasped, "Hiring so many citizens to do this kind of thing?"

"How much will this cost?"

"Citizens are actually willing to do such hard work?"

“It’s free,” the translator said. “This is corvée labor issued by the imperial court. If they don’t want to do it, they still need to pay money to the court to offset the labor.”

Crassus was even more surprised, "There's such a way to make money off citizens?"

He blinked twice, pondering whether there was any chance to replicate this system back in Rome—

If he becomes consul,
He would frequently ask the citizens to do things for him.
If the citizens are unwilling, they must send out their own slaves or hand over enough money!

What a bright future that would be!

However, when Crassus thought of the unruly people all over Rome, he felt it was better to find a way to exploit the slaves.

He silently made a mental note of this, and his gaze lingered on the scenery on both sides of the river.

His servants followed the translator to find a ship.

They found a large, spacious awning boat that could carry many people, and asked the boatman, who was talking to his friends on board:
"come over!"

"I want to introduce you to a big business opportunity!"

So the other side brought their boat closer, staring intently as this foreigner, who was clearly not from Qin, finished speaking.

"How big of a deal is it?"

"That depends on how fast you get to the other side!"

The boatman proudly puffed out his chest, "Don't worry, I'm known for being incredibly fast!"

Upon hearing this, his friend seemed to recall something and said to him, "The faster it goes, the faster it sinks?"

"No!"

"This time I promise to take you to the other side of the river so you can go to Andu City to attend the grand assembly!"

The young boatman spoke to his somewhat mean and aloof friend, and then began to discuss payment with the Roman visitor.

Crassus was unwilling to spend more money, so he argued with him for a while.

The boatman couldn't argue with him any longer and reluctantly agreed to the price he proposed.

Crassus then boarded the ship triumphantly and continued reciting his unfinished poems.

A friend standing nearby pointed at him and said to the boatman, "Look at this lad's demeanor!"

"This is why I support prioritizing agriculture over commerce!"

Merchants are rampant.

This is not a good thing for the country.

The boatman grunted a couple of times, "But the Qin state is too big. Its transportation routes and the fertility of its land cannot compare to those of the Central Plains."

"How can a country prosper if trade is not opened? How will the people living in the remote frontier survive?" "That's why I'm not against opening it up now," the friend said, closing his eyes. "I'm just worried about how to take back what we've given up later."

"We should trust the wisdom of future generations... If the world is in a bad state, we can always invite Zou Yan and his ilk from the Xia Kingdom to give the corrupt nobles of the Qin Kingdom a good shock!"

After being beaten up, one will always learn a lesson.

"what are you guys saying?"

Crassus noticed the conversation between the boatmen and, out of curiosity, forced his way in with his dry, unrefined language.

The boatman said, "We're discussing the poem you just wrote!"

The translator glanced at him, then relayed the message to Krassau with a work attitude befitting his salary.

That's all the money.
There were some things he simply couldn't be bothered to translate for Crassus, that stingy Roman.

"how?"

Now it was Crassus's turn to proudly puff out his chest.

He believed that his previous inspiration had flowed freely, and that he had demonstrated an extraordinary level of literary talent, writing poems that would be widely recited and circulated in Rome.

Even the Qin boatman in front of me could appreciate its charm and discuss it with others. Doesn't that prove that this is a masterpiece?

The boatman shook his head and suddenly spoke fluent Roman, "Not very good."

"When it comes to composing poems and essays, the Chinese are still more adept at it!"

Crassus and his servants were astonished by this change.

then,

They saw the boatman, who was rowing, tap on the edge of the wooden boat and heard him sing an ancient song from the far East in Roman language:
"Who says the river is wide? A single reed can cross it. Who says Song is far? I can stand on tiptoe and gaze at it."

"Who says the river is wide? It can't even accommodate a small boat. Who says Song is far away? It's not even a day's journey away."

His singing voice was somewhat ethereal, and the melody was very high-pitched.

Although the language was changed to that of a foreign race, the charm and profound meaning were fully expressed.

Crassus, upon hearing this song, could feel the profound longing within it.

After the boatman finished singing, he ignored the still surprised passengers and said to his friend with a grin, "How is it? Missing your hometown?"

"This is from the Book of Songs, specifically the section on the Wei Feng!"

His friend rolled his eyes at him. "This is a poem written by a Song person who was living in the State of Wei. What does it have to do with me?"

"You might as well sing 'The Reeds'!"

So the boatman readily agreed and began to sing the song.

Although it's a bit out of season

But he's a caring friend, so how could he refuse the other person's request?

When Crassus and his men disembarked...
The Roman envoy, who was usually very fond of money, suddenly became generous and asked to hire the boatman as his private translator.

But the other party refused his request.

"why?"

"Does rowing a boat under the scorching sun make you happier?"

"You can speak Roman so fluently, you must be a very learned person!"

"How can someone work in such a lowly profession?"

Crassus was very puzzled.

The boatman put on an honest face and told him, "How could I be considered a scholar?"

"I'm just an ordinary boatman!"

“If you don’t believe me, you can ask this man.” He pointed to the translator and said, “The two poems I just sang are from a widely circulated collection of poems in the Qin state.”

"If children pay attention at school, they can learn those nursery rhymes!"

"Alas, compared to those scholars who can study in the academy, my wisdom is like a firefly compared to the sun—I am far from being able to be ranked with them!"

"Is that right?"

Crassus found it hard to believe that the education in the prosperous Qin region had reached such a level that even a randomly generated boatman could possess the same level of literary skill as a Roman scholar.

The translator paused, then straightened his expression and said confidently, "That's right!"

"That's it!"

(End of this chapter)