Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1464 The King of Rome

When the morning sun shone through the window, Shangluo woke up on time. The soft mattress was much more comfortable than his bed at home.

Karin's house was one of the few places where he could sleep comfortably even when he was outside. In fact, he slept well last time, and this time he felt even more at ease.

[Maybe it's because you are already the king here. You are resting in your own territory. ]

"Maybe. But in some way, I do feel a connection to this land."

The ancient Greek city-states liked to link their founding legends with earth-born people, because earth-born people were "people born from the land", and were naturally connected to the legal ownership of the land.

The founding myth of Rome is another kind of superposition - in the Aeneid, Aeneas is set as the prince of Troy, and the power of Troy is superimposed on Aeneas. The sea god from the Greek camp is also dragged over to escort Aeneas on his journey westward.

Later, Aeneas went to Carthage on his way west, and the Queen of Carthage threw herself into his arms, but Zeus personally sent Cupid to remind him that his destined place was not Carthage, but Rome. Here, Carthage was directly used as a stepping stone, providing a reasonable psychological construction for Rome to conquer Carthage.

Finally, because Aeneas himself was obviously an outsider, in order to establish a connection with the local land, the myth arranged for the Latin king "Latinus" - obviously a perfunctory tool name, the embodiment of the Latin country - to marry his daughter to Aeneas, completing the story.

As soon as Virgil's "Aeneid" was written, it became widely popular among the Romans, because it completely hit the twisted mentality of the Romans: Rome at that time had just entered the imperial period under the rule of Augustus, and was in a golden age of territory expansion.

But compared with Rome's outstanding military strength, Rome at that time was extremely lacking in self-identity construction. Because everyone will face a question in his life - where do I come from?

Although Rome claimed to be the flank of Greek civilization, even Macedonia was regarded as a countryman, and Rome was directly regarded as a remote barbarian in the eyes of the old Greeks. The Roman Empire obviously could not accept the status of a "barbarian who admired Greece".

The innovation of the Aeneid is that it directly elevates the Romans to the image of "descendants of Troy", making them the archenemies of the Greeks and equal to them. The Roman Empire's conquest of the Greek region is also portrayed as "Troy's revenge on Greece". However, in this portrayal, the Greeks are given ample space, because half of the gods supported Troy at the time, so Troy and Greece naturally had the qualifications to coexist.

With this improvement, the Romans' self-identity problem was immediately solved, just like a sneeze after recovering from a cold. As for the subsequent "marrying Latins", "abandoning Trojan culture and adopting Latin culture", etc., they were all patches for "Rome inheriting Trojan power".

Does this make sense? Actually, it doesn't. It's nonsense to think of any connection between Troy and Rome.

But this method is simple and quick. It not only takes advantage of the source of Greek culture, but also keeps a distance from Greek culture, and also reserves space for the Greek part of the empire. As long as any Roman hears this statement, he can quickly complete psychological identification based on "Troy orthodoxy".

Although it is not known whether the Greeks would find it disgusting, many Roman emperors, including Justinian, relished this statement. Justinian himself said: "Aeneas, king of Troy and ruler of the Republic, is said to be his descendant."

Of course, this statement also planted the seeds of disaster for the later Eastern Roman Empire, because this statement implies that "the culture of the empire originated from the community of Greece and Troy, and the empire is currently dominated by Troy" - this led to the Eastern Roman Empire being called the "King of the Greeks" or even the more unpleasant "Byzantine Empire".

The former said that the Eastern Roman Empire was only fit to be the king of the Greeks. The latter was even more extreme. Byzantium was the name of the region where Constantinople was located, which directly denied the legitimacy of the Eastern Roman Empire's rule over the Greeks.

This was the curse used during the Fourth Crusade. When Venice led the army to capture Constantinople, the Crusaders declared that "the Franks are the true descendants of the ancient Romans" and that the Eastern Roman Empire was just "the Greeks who had despicably stolen the power of Troy."

The Franks, who agreed with the insulting term "Byzantine Empire", also called the country established by the Fourth Crusade the "Latin Empire", claiming to be the Trojan orthodoxy and distinguishing it from the "Greek Empire".

The Greeks did not need to prove their civilization, they only needed to prove the legitimacy of the city-state on the land. The problem of Rome was more complicated. After all, Rome was a secondary civilization rather than an original civilization - or in other words, Rome did not catch up with the good times of civilizational originality.

After all, although Greece is not a completely native civilization, the ancestors of the Greeks, such as the Mycenaean civilization, have long been lost in the long river of history. Rome is different. The cultural father of the Romans, Greece, is right next to them and is living a thriving life.

When Rome rose, it was not yet the imperial period, and it was still hundreds of years away from the true golden age of the Roman Empire.

In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, Greece was in the process of revival after the collapse of Alexander's Empire, and Athens, Sparta and other old faces got rid of the decline period with this favorable wind. Rome was born with the birthmark of "derivative of Greek civilization" - although this birthmark was no longer important after the rise of Rome, the shadow of childhood still left a deep impression on the Romans, so much so that the Roman emperors often talked about it.

Today, Shangluo faces the same problem: How can Rome accept a Chinese from China as the king of Rome?

[Actually, this may seem like a big problem at first glance, but it's actually not that troublesome. You see, as the King of Rome, you're very popular here, right? This means that this place has already accepted you.]

"Doesn't legitimacy matter to be the King of Rome?"

[In theory, it is necessary - after all, if you rule a country, you must clearly indicate where your legitimacy comes from. This is because it is a basic guarantee of mutual trust. After all, you cannot personally know everyone in the empire. So how can people who you have not seen in person know you? They can only use the labels on you. You are a man, you are a woman, you are neither man nor woman. You are an old man, you are a middle-aged person, you are a child, and so on. Then, based on their own understanding of these labels, they will quickly form a general impression of you in their minds. Considering that it is unlikely that you will know everyone, using labels to define yourself is almost the only way. ]

"So what is my label? Am I an Aurora person?"

Shangluo remembered that the Chinese had a very interesting identity in Rome - the Chinese were the only people allowed to enter the Roman baths directly.

In other words, in the most important social place for the Romans: the baths, apart from the Romans, only the Chinese could be seen. Although there were very few "Chinese" who actually came to Rome, you could still see some occasionally, such as Shangluo.

In theory, Shangluo could indeed enter the local Roman baths and bathe with the local Roman nobles. This was very important because the Romans would reach some very important decisions in the baths, and even the Senate would hold meetings in the baths - contrary to the outside world's perception, there was no specific facility called "Senate" in Rome. The senators could hold meetings in any place defined as a "temple" under the gaze of the gods, and Hagia Sophia was such a place.

St. Sophia Soup is such a "designated temple". However, in the past, temples were dedicated to various gods, but now they are dedicated to only one god.

Because the meeting place was casual, the content of the meeting was also casual. If you can enter the baths, you can actually listen in on the public politics of Rome.

[This is the strange part - although the Chinese are indeed a safe bet in Rome, if you want to choose a Chinese as emperor, that is another matter entirely. This is absolutely not allowed.]

"why?"

【Because the Chinese could really rule Rome, yes, that's why. The Romans didn't mind being ruled by foreigners. In fact, when the Western Roman Empire fell, the bureaucracy of the Western Roman Empire was directly and seamlessly connected to the Gothic king. Because warlords come and go, there are so many warlords in power. Today it's this group of Germans, tomorrow it's that group of Germans. If we always care about this, then the empire doesn't need to run. Just checking the emperor's genealogy every day can take up all the time of the Senate. But the Chinese are different. 】

“Because I’m here, I really won’t leave, right?”

[Yes. In fact, this situation also occurs when choosing Romans. Sometimes Romans will deliberately choose foreigners instead of Romans, because foreign emperors are more likely to come and go. The Aurora people are too "normal", which will make the Romans feel that "this is no different from choosing a Roman, and a foreign Roman at that", which is simply stepping on a nuclear landmine. ]

"The Romans are somewhat ill, right???"

[I haven't even mentioned the most ridiculous thing yet. In fact, you have the potential to become a perfect Roman king. You can even become an orthodox Roman king like Aeneas.]

“Why is this happening???” Shangluo became more and more confused.

[Because back to the very beginning. How to constitute the element of the Roman king? Aeneas has two labels - a foreign prince from an advanced civilization. ]

"Ah" Shangluo understood.

He was the foreign prince from an advanced civilization. Now "Zhendan" was indeed more advanced than Rome, because it was obvious which side was more successful. The foreign prince itself meant "honorable foreigner", and Shangluo's label was this. When he came to Lake Nemi, he participated in the ceremony as a foreigner. The Golden Branch Ceremony for selecting the king of Rome had to be performed by foreigners, because Aeneas was a foreigner from Troy.

"So is my 'ingredient' good or bad?"

[The answer is - it depends on whether you married a Roman daughter. Aeneas became the king of Rome because he married the daughter of the original Roman king. So, if you marry the "daughter of the Roman king", then your legitimacy can sit in the same row with Aeneas as the legendary holy king. If you are not married, you probably sit in the same row with the mediocre king. ]

"I said, is there any other way?"

[No, I guess. It's a label, isn't it? People can only know people they don't know through labels.]

"Hmm," Shangluo thought for a moment, and suddenly raised his head. "Tell me, is it possible? We are in an electrical age, and we have a set of modern media mechanisms. Although I cannot make everyone accept my label, I can really make everyone recognize my existence."

[Huh?] Apollonia was stunned for a moment, [Yes! We live in modern times. We have media. We have radio and television.]

“And the Internet.”

[We all have the Internet, and Cyberia has already been built. We don't need to use primitive, magical tags to let others know you. You can get to know everyone in person.]

"So, what I am going to do now can help achieve this goal - this competition at Lake Nemi should be held on a grand scale, with high ratings and good program effects. In this way, as the organizer of the competition, I can gain the greatest recognition from it."

[Ah] Apollonia sighed, [Why didn’t I think of that? I’m the one who surfs the Internet frequently.]

"Because I am an Internet native and you are an immigrant. It is instinctive for me to use information. Personal information terminals like mobile phones are as important to me as external organs. So I can solve it by just thinking about it, but you can't."

[So, what do you think about putting on this show? After all, this Golden Bough ceremony should be the first time you show your face in front of all the Romans.]

"Then my suggestion is to let professionals do professional things. My job is to play the role of 'host' well. As for the details, I think it can be left to our champion warriors and priests to decide - oh, by the way, the person who will really debut this time is actually Karin."

[So it was them? ]

"After all, I can't show up in front of all the Romans all the time. When I'm not here, Karin is the best person to carry out this task and meet all the Romans on my behalf. I think this is a job that suits both of them very well."

(End of this chapter)