It's the year 552.
Somewhere in northern Persia, two Roman monks are returning to Europe after a long pilgrimage around China.
But what started out as a religious expedition has now turned into a case of industrial espionage.
Inside their canes are hundreds of silkworm eggs smuggled from the silk factories of China.
When these worms hatch, they will start producing strands of silk, the secret ingredient behind the world's most luxurious and expensive products.
For centuries, China has kept the entire silk-making business top secret.
Anyone who tried to leak the process would be executed, and most of the world still thought that silk came from trees.
This gave China a complete monopoly over the world's most valuable product.
But all of that was about to change.
The monks safely made it back to Europe, and soon after, silk factories started opening up throughout the Eastern Roman Empire, powering the Roman economy and ending China's 3,000-year monopoly.
