Eagle Byzantium

After finishing the arrangement, which was equivalent to abandoning their own troops, Stephen and Robert mounted their horses and opened the castle gate, taking with them about 130 knights and more than 200 retinues of sergeants, only half of whom had horses. They headed towards the mountain pass of Syria Gate in a panic, everyone carrying only large With about three to five days of dry food, "Go to Seleucia, beg for some more from the Grand Duke's castle, and then go to Constantinople to ask for help from His Majesty the Emperor." This was Stephen's order to coax everyone to get on the road. Even his brother-in-law, Robert, was stupidly kept in the dark and chased after his brother-in-law's horse hooves.

Under the rising dust, Stephen looked melancholy behind him at the beautiful rivers and mountains of Syria that were getting farther and farther away from his sight. He could only sigh, then turned around and kicked his mount hard with his spurs, without even turning his head. Heading back towards the mountains of Ammonos...

At this moment, in a workshop in the east of Seleucia City, Anna and Agnes were standing on a long table in the outer hall, while Cabeamia, covered in a black robe, stood humbly beside her. On the other hand, she was here to offer her skills. Although she was following Gawain's instructions and instructions beforehand, she still couldn't be careless in front of the purple-robed princess.

Anna's brown eyes looked at the utensils divided into three parts on the table. The leftmost one is a thin poplar board passed down from the ancient times. "Please come forward and write, the imperial ink officer." Cabeamiya made the invitation posture.

So Anna gave the little sunfish a look of approval. The confused Agnes stepped forward with a hook pen and carefully carved two lines of words on the poplar board. She was already dripping with sweat. Anna was concerned. Wiping her forehead twice with silk, "Excuse me, Your Majesty the Royal Ink Officer and Princess Ziyi, why have we abandoned this way of writing now?"

"Too tired." They both said almost in unison. The little sunfish gritted his teeth and lifted up a thick stack of wooden boards, and then put them down again, "It's too heavy, it's simply vulgar."

Next, the little sunfish followed Cabeamiya's guidance and came to the middle of the table, where there were overlapping pieces of papyrus produced in Egypt. In fact, this kind of thing is now in Constantinople or in The monasteries in Western Europe have long been turned into "living fossils" in the library. Agnes dipped her hook pen in ink and scratched on them for a while. She also frowned and reported to Anna, "This kind of thing from the ancient times It’s too simple and awkward to write.”

"Oh?" Anna said, then she raised a piece of papyrus with her own hands and broke it open with a snap. The tiny shards turned into smoke, almost enchanting her beautiful eyes.

Finally, the little sunfish was so proud that he came to the very edge, lifted up the small kraft paper and small parchment unfolded on the wooden frame, took them down, and casually wrote a few lines of pastoral songs from the ancient times with pen and ink, feeling that This is still the best! But then Anna pressed her hand, heartbroken, "On a piece of parchment, you have to write at least twenty lines and one thousand two hundred words to be considered adequate, otherwise it would be too wasteful." - Princess in Purple Since Ever After coming to Seleucia, his temperament was much more frugal than before in the palace, such as This piece of parchment was worth several silver coins, and she was determined that Agnes's copying of poems with no practical use on it was simply a waste of money - she was secretly examining the letters exchanged between the pilgrim lords. , all wishing to take possession of their letters full of ink as their own.

"What Her Royal Highness Princess Ziyi and Your Excellency the Imperial Ink Officer just saw are the three most basic ways of writing in the world. Although poplar wood boards are simple to make and low-cost, carving on papyrus is particularly inconvenient and slow; papyrus Although grass is relatively cheap, it is dry and brittle, not to mention that only the country of Ptolemy on the other side of the ocean can produce raw materials. Since Ptolemy fell into the hands of pagans, this writing method has completely declined; and in our court. .....”

"It's my court." Anna promptly and sternly interrupted Cabeamia's rhetoric. The golden-handed Archon was not angry, so she quickly apologized, admitted her mistake, and continued, "Generally, when writing important letters, use Calf paper or parchment is extremely expensive to make, and Her Royal Highness the Purple Princess's St. Paul's College is under construction. If it is completed, it will have to use a large number of manual copies of classics and manuscripts. This will cost a lot and will greatly affect the country's military and political system. unfavorable."

"I understand everything you said, but in the current world, except for these three, I'm afraid there is no good way to carry writing. Little sunfish?"

"Yes, Your Highness, the rest is nothing more than silk, but that one is simply more expensive than cowhide and sheepskin; the others are shells, bark and leaves." The little sunfish answered one by one.

Anna immediately made a slightly exaggerated expression and faced the female consul, "Do you want me to learn, like you did when you were a child, in the country school in Konama, using the crudest bark to write the most beautiful and noble words? Greek letters?”

The female consul was obedient, and then she said that of course it was not to seek pleasure from the princess, and she would not dare to do that.

Then, under the guidance of Kabeamiya, they walked through the front hall of the workshop and came to the workshop adjacent to the Sarlev River. Anna soon saw that there were many Greek or German craftsmen and employees. , many of them were teenagers, carrying bundles of reed stalks, and walked into the workshop room. Several of them saw the purple robe Anna was wearing and were so frightened that they hurriedly knelt down.

"This is a reed? But isn't it usually used to make reed pen holders?" Anna asked in a lingering manner. When she and Gawain had an argument before, she had used this as a throwing weapon, but unfortunately the power was too weak to cause any harm to the lustful brown bear.

"Not only reeds, but also wheat straw, mulberry bark and discarded linen." After saying this, Cabeamia continued to guide the two. Then Anna and Agnes saw a device made of wood and bolts. From the outside, it looked like a set. It could be controlled back and forth using a rocker. Below it were four refined wooden mortars filled with water. Several craftsmen kept pouring the reeds, wheat straw and linen rags into them and mixing them with the water. On the four wooden mortars of the device, there was a solid crossbeam, and a wheel-like mechanism was hung in the middle. A movable lever was inserted on the axle, and wooden pestles were inserted in a row on the levers. The ends were wrapped and two staggered small wheels were set on both sides. As long as the two people kept turning the small wheels, they could drive the four wooden pestles, two up and two down, staggered and pounding the wooden mortars. Then Anna watched as the churning and sticky white pulp was pounded out of the wooden mortars.

Anna was an experienced person, and when she saw the iron-headed wooden pestle pounding the wooden mortar back and forth, emitting white liquid, her face immediately turned red. (To be continued ~^~)