Zhongguo

"Zon-go?" you clarify with your aide.

"Zhong-Gu-O, my Lord."

"That sounds pretty difficult to pronounce," you complain.

"To be honest, I can't pronounce it correctly myself, my Lord. The people also call themselves as Han and the country as China sometimes but they mostly use Zhongguo"

"Zhongguo it is. So where is this... Zhongguo nation? Somewhere near the Holy Land?"

"No, it's further east from what I know. Few months of travel."

"How did the envoy end up here? From what you just told me, it's too far for diplomacy."

"About that... my Lord... It's a bit difficult."

"Make it simple, then."

The so-called envoy was actually an army officer who served in the Zhongguo government. During his time in the army, he came into contact with several missionaries sent by the papacy. From his exposure to them, the man decided to approach the emperor and propositioned for him to be sent to this country to establish an embassy. Using the fund provided by the government, he established an embassy as well a trading post where he traded goods from his country for goods from yours.

"Basically he got the king to pay for his retirement. That's pretty impressive," you remark, wondering about what kind of dangerous political game the officer must have played.

"The emperor can summon him back."

"And if he doesn't want to go back? They're going to send an army here?"

Your aide shakes his head.

"I guess that as long as he sends some things back from time to time to his king, he's being left alone. The business he have here is sustaining his lifestyle, from what I can see,"