I don’t know how long it took, but the carriage finally stopped. [:Krian was helped out of the carriage and carried for a while before someone helped him untie the black cloth covering his eyes.
Kerrian had been blindfolded for so long that he finally adapted to the surrounding environment. When he saw a tall man with a ferocious face sitting opposite him, he couldn't help being surprised and said repeatedly: "Your Majesty just said that you should also
I am free, you are..."
The man sneered: "You see clearly, we are not from Putimius. We invited you here to ask what exactly he said to you?"
Crean calmed down a little and asked cautiously: "So you are members of the Senate?"
In the city of Rome, the conflict between the Senate and the Emperor is well known to everyone. Even Christian has heard about it. Of course, the Senate he mentioned does not mean the new Senate composed of those knights.
It is the old Senate controlled by those nobles in the past. This is a secret that all Romans know.
The man had obviously just arrived in Rome not long ago, and he still didn’t understand the contradiction here. He was stunned after hearing what Kerrian said, and then he shouted sharply: "Don't care who we are, just tell us everything you know."
!"[
Kerrian took a closer look and noticed that although the burly man's clothes were no different from those of Daqin people, he had a pair of black eyes. He couldn't help but feel happy and asked: "Are you Han people? Then I
I ask you one thing, I will tell you everything I know, as long as you promise to take me back to Kangju."
It turns out that this big man is Hou Qinu, who was sent to assist the Foreign Affairs Office in collecting intelligence about Da Qin. He has a language talent that is difficult for ordinary people to match. He can speak Da Qin fluently for a long time, and he has a Roman accent. But everything else is good.
Disguise, but these eyes are not easy to deceive others. Therefore, Hou Qinu spent most of his time in this manor outside Rome. Even when he went out, he would pretend to be a blind man.
Fortunately, in addition to retaining some phantom elites, the Foreign Affairs Office of the Han Dynasty recruited many foreigners, and even nationals from countries such as Kangju, Shendu, and Kushan. At the same time, the Great Qin Dynasty expanded too fast. As the territory expanded, the ethnic groups
There are also more and more people of all races, which makes it easier for extramarital affairs to penetrate.
After these people arrived in Rome, it was not difficult for them to inquire about Putimius' purge of foreign caravans. They quickly figured out the whole story and the whereabouts of the only survivor, Crean. When they were preparing to kidnap
When he was visiting Crean, he found that he had been invited into the palace by Putimius. So a team of foreign agents waited near the palace until Crean came out and caught him.
Kerian's conditions were not excessive, so Hou Qinu agreed and then sent the situation back to Chang'an.
Liu Xin did not pay much attention to the vast area from Kangju to the west to Da Qin. After all, the Han Dynasty was not yet unified at that time. Even after Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were eliminated, it would take a long time to recuperate. Liu Xin's ambitions were still
It has not expanded to the point of unifying the world.
It was not until the news that Putimius purged foreign caravans came back that Liu Xin began to face up to this distant opponent. It was at this time that Liu Xin suddenly discovered that there was a huge empire called Parthia to the west of Kangju.
.Such a big neglect is certainly not deserved, but it is also excusable.
Liu Xin's attention at that time was mainly focused on the country, and at the most he only wanted to restore the Western Region Protectorate. If it weren't for helping Ban Tou'er, Liu Xin's eyes would not be able to even pay attention to countries such as Kangju for the time being. There is another important thing
The reason was that the transmission of information was very lagging at that time. No one mentioned Parthia at all, and Liu Xin never knew about its existence.
However, the existence of Parthia greatly reduced the possibility of direct conflict between the Han Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty. After all, the two were too far apart. However, the news from Hou Qinu shocked Liu Xin.
Timius has already begun to inquire about the big man. Putimius is a warlike guy, and he will never inquire about the big man's situation for no reason.
Despite this, Liu Xin was not worried about Putimius's ability to defeat the Han Dynasty. Across thousands of mountains and rivers, not to mention other things, the logistical supplies alone were enough to bring down any powerful country. In history, among the Mongols,
Therefore, they were able to sweep across the Eurasian continent because their unique combat method eliminated the burden of logistics. On the other hand, the two fortresses built by Liu Xin at the Uzbeli Pass and the Turugelt Pass were not just decorations.
, the original purpose of building these two fortresses was to secure the western frontier of the Han Dynasty and implement Liu Xin's strategy of keeping enemies outside the country's borders.
What Liu Xin is worried about is Kangju, because there are his women and children there. If Putimius really wants to attack the Han Dynasty, he will conquer Parthia first, and his next target will be Kangju. Last year, Liu Xin promised
Ban Tou'er's soldiers and armor were all in place, and Liu Xin left behind 5,000 elite soldiers, all of whom had been on the battlefield. It was nominally to train Kang Ju's army, but in fact it was to protect Ban Tou'er, mother and son.
After all, it is a long way from Chang'an to Kangju. The last time Liu Xin led a small-scale cavalry unit to travel day and night, it also took about ten days. If it is a large-scale military mobilization, the preparation time alone will be at least one or two months.
.If Putimius conquered or united Parthia and then quickly moved his army into Kangju, it would be too late for Liu Xin to mobilize troops for rescue.
Therefore, after learning about Putimius's attempt, Liu Xin immediately took countermeasures. The first thing he did was to strengthen the two fortresses of Uzbeli and Turugelt and the number of troops stationed there.
The number of people in each fortress increased from 5,000 to 10,000. In addition, large quantities of food and grass were continuously transported to the two fortresses. The various military stations under the jurisdiction of the Western Region Protectorate also began to be strengthened, and they must be able to take care of the passage of more than three legions.
.
Next, Liu Xin sent 5,000 more elite soldiers to Kangju, and gave another 50,000 pieces of armor to Ban Tao'er. After destroying Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, Liu Xin captured nearly a million pieces of armor.
It was much worse than what the Han army used, but for Kang Ju, it was very sophisticated equipment. The Han army couldn't use these things anyway, so Liu Xin gave them to Ban Tao'er as a favor to help Kang Ju arm himself.
With an army of 100,000 men, it was hoped that they could hold off the first wave of Putimius' attack and buy time for Han reinforcements.
At the same time, Liu Xin did not forget to win over the alliance. He sent Cai He, a doctor in the Foreign Affairs Department of the Ministry of Rites, to lead a formal Han mission to Parthia. On the one hand, he expressed the goodwill of the Han people, and on the other hand, he reminded them to guard against the Qin Dynasty in the northwest.
.
A month later, Cai He returned to Chang'an in embarrassment and told Liu Xin what he had experienced in Parthia.
It turned out that Parthia was also called the Parthian Empire. Because it was located on the commercial route between the Han Dynasty and the Qin Dynasty, it gradually became a trade center and became more powerful than the Qin Dynasty. Parthia had many wars with the Qin Empire in history.
, and suffered a disastrous defeat more than thirty years ago. Even the capital Ctesiphon on the Euphrates River was burned. If smallpox had not suddenly broken out among the Qin army and they were forced to withdraw to Rome, Parthia would have been in danger of subjugation.
But six years ago, after Vologis V ascended the throne, he worked hard to govern and took advantage of the civil war in the Qin Empire to regain Armenia, rebuilt the city of Ctesiphon, and moved the capital back, posing as if he wanted to bloodbath the front.
A posture of shame.
Originally, based on the tense relationship between Parthia and Qin, Liu Xin's olive branch should be in line with Vologis's wishes. Unfortunately, Vologis was dazzled by his achievements and flatly rejected Liu Xin's offer.
He had good intentions and arbitrarily proposed that the Han Dynasty should pay tribute every year from now on, otherwise the trade route between the Han Dynasty and Qin Dynasty would be blocked.[
If in the past, Vologis made such a request, it would be equivalent to seizing on the weakness of the big man. However, since Putimius purged the foreign caravans in order to prevent the massive loss of gold and silver, no foreign caravans were willing to do so anymore.
Going to Daqin to do business, this trade route has ceased to exist in name only, and the business in Parthia has also become increasingly depressed, but the proud Vorogis did not notice it.
However, Cai He also brought back a useful piece of news. The Parthian troops were concentrated in the Ctesiphon area and could not threaten the Han Dynasty in a short period of time. But Liu Xin became more vigilant. Parthia is the Han Dynasty and is dependent on the Han Dynasty.
Kangju, Dawan and other countries formed a barrier in the northwest. If this barrier was lost, they would directly face the threat of Qin. With Liu Xin's fault, it would be difficult to fight against Qin with the national power of Parthia.
/
Sure enough, less than ten days after Cai He left Ctesiphon, Putimius launched a war against Parthia, captured Mesopotamia, the northernmost province of Parthia, and then divided his forces into two.
Road, along the Euphrates River to attack Seleucia and Ctesiphon respectively. Seleucia is an important town in the north of Parthia, and Ctesiphon is the capital of Parthia. If these two cities are captured by the Qin people, it will be very difficult for Parthia.
It will be a huge blow to Asia's military morale and people's morale.
After receiving the news, Liu Xin immediately summoned the ministers for discussion.
Cai He had received the most solemn courtesy from the surrounding countries before when he went on missions. However, like this time, Wologis didn't take him seriously at all, which made him very angry. Because today is a discussion
Regarding the Parthian issue, Cai He was also fortunate enough to attend the court meeting, and Liu Xin asked him to speak first.
After introducing the situation between Daqin and Parthia, Cai He handed over his hand and said: "Your Majesty, these two countries are arrogant and arrogant. I will ignore them according to my wishes and let them bite each other."
I saw Guo Jia stood up and said: "Your Majesty, Parthia only wants me to pay tribute, but Daqin wants to do harm to me. With my lips and teeth cold, I thought that I should not only take care of their affairs, but also help Kang Ju.