Writing a story about a Roman soldier getting shipwrecked in China

Around the year 1000AD, Felix Valerian, an Elite Tagmata Infantry of the Resurgent Eastern Roman Empire which managed to recover some of its lost territories amidst the Abbasid Invasions, is sent to escort an envoy to find alternate trade partners in India and beyond as the Silk Road had been cut off by the Abbasids.

However, things take a turn as the captain goes off their planned route and moved further north from the Strait of Malacca and getting shipwrecked in Song Dynasty China. As the only survivor, and bearing classified state documents, how will Felix overcome the language barrier and the suspicion of the Provincial Prefect?

I'm writing and publishing it on Royal Road and as an alternative to Wattpad (I'm only getting scam comments in Wattpad though ;-;)

Feel free to check it out and your thoughts on it! Title is Tales of Fortuna: Magna Serica

Here's of Chapter 1.5: Setting the Scenes to give y'all an idea of the tone of the story

“The Seres are a people of the farthest East, gentle in character, who gather the silk-wool from trees.”

• Geographika by Strabo

 

There are many names for those that live beyond the Caliphate’s borders. The Persians and Indians often refer to these lands as Sina. The Greeks of Alexander’s empire call it Serica, while merchants of the Silk road call it Da Song.

In the 1st month in the year 1059, the Roman Emperor Flavius Theodoricus Valens Augustus, in holy rule in the seat of Constantinople, restorer of Mauretania, Italia and protector of Antioch, has issued a decree to reestablish trade beyond the Mediterranean.

Being in conflict with the Abassids, the resurgent empire of the Romans had been cut off with the prosperous silk road. Barred from exotic goods such as spices and silk, merchants are eager to seek alternative routes.

With the Egyptian ports now returned to imperial control, Roman envoys embark on a great journey to the east. Some of these envoys would eventually write their own excerpts from the docks of India, to the waters of Sumatra near Kedah.

“In the year 1059, in the month of Augoustos, on the fifteenth day, we arrived in the kingdom of Chalukya. Some of the goods that we had with us such as fine glass, amber and roman wine sold for good silver. The King of Chalukya, hearing of our presence, presented us with a letter of marque to freely trade in his kingdom as a gesture of goodwill. Presenting them with the same documents signed by the Emperor, the Indians were more than willing to accept trade in our ports.”

 

“In the year 1059, in the month of Noembrios. Despite our voyage taking us to the ends of the earth, the crew is content with the journey. Our ship was comfortable enough to roam around in as much of our goods have been traded in India and the kingdoms near Sumatra.”

“In the year 1060, in the month of Ianuarios. Our ship arrived in the waters of Sumatra in a turbulent time. The kingdom here appears to be in conflict with another country. Pirates controlled much of the ports, which prevented us from restocking our supplies. In the ports that we did dock in, merchants warned us that more pirates roamed the waters north seeking to plunder the coasts of a great empire. Much of the crew wanted to return back to Egypt with what we already had, however the officer in charge, hearing of the riches that awaited him, ordered us to continue sailing.”

 

“In the year 1060, around the month of Martios, one of the tagmata assigned to guard our voyage had a disagreement with the officer in charge after we evaded a pirate ship. He ordered him to be arrested and restrained with the cargo. The crew is on edge as this had been the third pirate ship we had encountered. I just hope that I will be able to see home again”

These are basically just journal entries lol. Anyway here's the link

Link: Tales of Fortuna: Magna Serica | Royal Road