CHAPTER III. CAPITAL OF THE HAN EMPIRE

The city amazed Latium with its high towers on the walls and even taller buildings inside. It immediately struck him that the walls were made of logs, not stone. But the gates were double, and during a siege they could not be broken through with a battering ram. All buildings had several roofs with curved, semicircular edges. They were covered with red tiles. The buildings had not four, but six or more walls. The windows were located right under the roof, and this also seemed incomprehensible and strange. The roofs themselves were painted green or yellow. Here and there you could see dark red and even purple ones. At the edges they ended with strange figures and colourful designs. It was all carved from wood.

The endless number of little short people scurrying around was amazing. They seemed to be everywhere. Most of the townspeople, unlike other cities and villages they passed through, wore robes, trousers, and shoes that looked like closed sandals. There were even more poor people: they wore either just pants, or just some piece of fabric that looked like a loincloth or a torn tunic with one shoulder. Most poor people had no shoes.

There was another city in the center of the city. Behind the high walls it was not visible what was inside, but judging by the bright clothes of the guards and horsemen who rode along the walls, the most important people of the Han Empire lived there.

All the Romans were herded to the central square and left there against the far wall, where long one-story buildings were located. This whole idea almost ended in failure on the first day. The heat was such that, having taken clothes and equipment from the carts, they could hardly stand until noon. The musicians that Chow found, gave up even earlier – they put their instruments on a cart and retreated into the shadow of the warehouse, from where even the new chief of the guard could not drive them out. They looked ahead, mouth open, and breathing heavily. Sometimes a boy brought them water, and after taking a few sips from a wooden cup, they continued to sit like living mummies with their mouths wide open.

In the afternoon, the Romans began to lose consciousness and fall. Lacius, too, could barely stand on his feet. For ten days they were fed only rice and pods of unknown plants, beans, bamboo, soaked in water, and all sorts of other strange vegetables and plants. The Romans had long forgotten the taste of meat and by evening they could not move their arms or legs.

That day, Lacius barely held out longer than the others, but a little after noon he was forced to approach the head of the guard, a powerfully built young man named Fu Xing, and explain that they would all die if they remained in the sun. Despite the apparent external severity and inaccessibility, the young warrior turned out to be smart and sent them all under the shed.

The paintings were never unwrapped that day. In the evening a messenger arrived from Governor Bao Shi. After talking with the young guard chief, he inspected the warehouses and promised to help in the morning. It was necessary to give credit to Chow Li and those who stood behind her: at dawn, three hundred people in loincloths stood at the edge of the square. They very quickly transferred about a thousand bags from the warehouses to the carts and began to dismantle the front wall. Made of bamboo and covered with clay, these walls resembled large shields inserted between ten support pillars.

Soon the front wall disappeared, and one could now enter anywhere. Lacius estimated that three centuries could fit there. There were ten or twelve steps between the outer supports. The entire length of the barn was at least a hundred paces. Under the canopy they laid out rugs, made of thin sticks – hard and long. Large carpets were placed on top of them. Each carpet was rolled out by five people. At the far wall there was an uncovered strip of land, intended, as he guessed, for prisoners.

The Romans gloomily watched the slow work of the little people, waiting for them too to hide under the roof. Finally, the paintings were secured, and everyone began to be driven under the canopy. It was stuffy there, but still better than outside.

Having placed everyone in their places, the head of the guard, Fu Xing, once again personally checked the rings and chains on the Romans’ feet, ordering them to remove the rags that they wrapped around their ankles so that the iron would not rub the skin to the bones. Everyone was very thirsty, and Lacius asked for water. Oddly enough, the head of security ordered several bags to be brought. The water was warm, but without the sour taste like before. Judging by the bags, he shared his supplies with them. Lacius asked to leave one bag near Paul Domician and young Zeno standing behind him.

Fat flies and some insects flew under the roof, buzzed overhead, but not finding food, flew away. No one except the blind singer cared. The poor guy hated the “dirty sound” those flying creatures made.

The water briefly helped quench their thirst, but the stupefying stuffiness pressed on their heads and gradually brought the Romans to complete exhaustion: their gazes dimmed and stopped, their faces stretched out, some could not stand it and sank to their knees. At the same time, the musicians and guards, even in breastplates, felt quite tolerable in the shadows.

After some time, a short command was sounded and the soldiers began to lift the legionnaires with sticks – some important official was approaching. Ten men in blue shirts and white pants carried a large stretcher. Lacius noticed that they were all wearing shoes, unlike those porters who were on the streets of other cities.

When the procession stopped, the guards bowed. This was the arrival of the Governor – General of the central province, Bao Shi. He arrived surrounded by numerous servants to personally ensure that everything was ready to receive the Emperor. Listening to the chief of the guard’s story about the battle, he did not look up from the pictures, sighing and smacking his lips. At the same time, he kept repeating “Hen hao, hao”⁸, and, having reached the Romans, stopped opposite Latium. He nodded to the musicians, and along with the first sounds of music, the voices of Paul Domician and Zeno were heard. It was an old Akkadian hymn, sung by several voices, and greatly enjoyed by the blind singer.

Bao Shi listened with his mouth open, and Lacius stood with an inscrutable expression, grinning in his heart. The governor did not know that, at the request of Lacius, they specially learnt two more Han songs and one melody without words. But for now, that was enough.

– Close your shields! – Lacius ordered when the singing ended. Lucro, who had to become a cornicen, raised Marcel’s horn to his lips and sounded the command. The legionnaires closed their shields. – Tescudo! – the second command sounded. The first rank lowered their shields, the second raised them up, and the third covered them from above, hiding all the legionnaires from the astonished Bao Shi. – Get back! – the last command was heard, and everyone returned to their places. Impressed by what he saw, the governor took the head of security aside sand explained something to him for a long time. Huge pleated sleeves fell down to his knees, although he kept his arms across his chest. The bright yellow collar sparkled in the sun, as if it were made of gold. The strange house at the back of the head, decorated with real walls and a curved roof, shuddered funny, when the governor shook his head. It seemed that it lived his own life, separately from its owner.

Meanwhile, the warriors and servants, who arrived with Bao Shi, lined up in two rows under the scorching sun. A metallic sound was heard from the direction of the imperial palace – two short ringing blows. They recalled the unpleasant rattling of the Parthian kettledrums during the unexpected attack of the cataphracts. The guards bowed again, and the Romans, musicians and other servants were ordered to kneel.

This time there was no stretcher. Out of the corner of his eye, Lacius saw about two dozen horsemen. They drove out of the gate. One of them was dressed in a long plum – coloured robe, and the rest were in black with yellow accents. The riders stopped near the corner of the canopy, where Governor Bao Shi and the head of the guard were already waiting for them. The man in the purple robe seemed familiar to Lacius: he had already seen somewhere this elongated face with sunken cheeks, a sharp, stiff beard, and a straight nose with a small hump, so unlike the flattened noses of other Han people. It was the Empress’s younger brother, Wang Mang. Chow Li had told Lacius about him: the man was unpredictable and harsh in his statements and decisions. Therefore, he was worth fearing. But why did he come instead of the Emperor? Lacius did not know the answer to this question.

The command “Tshii – laai”⁹ was heard, and everyone began to stir: the shields rattled, one of the musicians touched the strings, and they rattled with displeasure, until they were quickly pressed down with a hand; a servant nearby sneezed loudly and fell silent in fear. Lucro gave the command to level the formation, and at the far end of the barn, where the siege of the city began in the pictures, a purple robe with an orange stripe going down from the waist to closed sandals appeared.

The Empress’s brother walked accompanied by Bao Shi and the head of the guard, who told him in a loud voice how everything happened. They stopped only once – in front of the burning gate. But from the expression on the high – ranking visitor’s face it was not clear whether he liked this picture or not. Having reached the Romans, he crossed his arms over his chest and looked around the first rank with an attentive gaze. Lacius intercepted Fu Xing’s nod and nodded to the musicians. Everything was repeated, as with Bao Shi – music, singing and closing of shields. However, the face of the Empress’s brother remained motionless. In this way he reminded Lacius of the Luli – Prince Tai Sin.

– What is this? – the guest asked a short and very unpleasant question. Governor Bao Shi shuddered and seemed to become smaller in stature, the chief of the guard looked confusedly first at the Romans, then at Wang Mang, then back at the Romans, thinking that he had missed something, but did not speak before the governor.