There are also many Arshak's eyes and ears around Wologis. When Aldaban said this shocking news, someone had already quietly reported it to Arshak. Arshak had always advocated uniting with the Han Dynasty to resist the Qin Dynasty, and now the Han army actually happened. Arshak was shocked by the invasion of disguised horse thieves. He rushed to see Vologis, but was scolded and ordered to return to Ecbatana immediately to pack up his troops and prepare to take back the land occupied by the Han army.
Arshak did not dare to neglect and hurried back to Ecbatan through the night. He began to assemble the army as soon as dawn that day. He had 100,000 heavy troops, accounting for almost half of the Parthian army, and they were all veterans who had been in the army for many years. But he had no idea whether he could defeat them. Arshak, the Han army, had no idea at all.
At this time, Lemitu suddenly asked to see him and bent down to salute: "Your Highness, are you really ready to fight the Han army?"
Arshak sighed: "I dare not disobey my father's orders, and the big man bullies others too much. Even if those horse thieves are not who they pretend to be, they sent troops into our Parthian territory without even saying hello. It is a special courtesy."
Remitu spread out a sheepskin map in front of Arshak and pointed at it and said: "Your Highness, please see that the Han army occupies a narrow area from the concession to Daqin. If the Han wanted to annex our Parthia, they would never take any measures. With this strategy, they should at least capture Susa first.”[
Arshak pondered and said: "In your opinion, what do the Han people want?"
As the former Prime Minister, Lemitu naturally had much sharper vision than ordinary people. He already knew it and said with a smile: "Your Highness, if my guess is correct, the Han people are planning to use troops against the Qin Dynasty."
Arshak suddenly became energetic and asked repeatedly: "Are you sure?"
Remitu laughed and said: "I have heard that the Emperor of the Han Dynasty has a famous saying. Anyone who dares to offend the Han Dynasty will be punished no matter how far away they are. Not long ago, Caracalla wantonly massacred Han merchants. How can the Han people just give up? I told His Highness that the Emperor of the Han Dynasty sent him a few days ago. The envoy wanted to ask to see His Highness. Although the Han envoy refused to tell the villain his purpose, the villain had already guessed that they were here to borrow a passage from His Highness. However, they failed to meet His Highness and failed, so they came up with this method."
Arshak thought for a moment and said: "But they shouldn't massacre Parthian subjects. As a Parthian prince, how can I turn a blind eye?"
"Huh," Lemitu sneered and asked, "I don't know how His Highness wants to intervene in a battle with the Han army. What are your chances of winning?"
Arshak was self-aware and could not help but shook his head with a grimace and said: "I'm afraid not even 10%."
Remitu was indeed Arshak's trusted advisor. He said to the point: "The Han people purged the local nobles and rich people but dispersed their wealth to those poor ghosts. Those poor ghosts will naturally turn to them. If we send troops at this time, Your Highness will ask for it." Don't take back the land and property from the hands of those poor people. If you take it back by force, I'm afraid those poor people will rise up and rebel. If you don't take it back, what will the nobles and rich people in other places think of your highness? Don't forget Al. Daban has always wanted to replace His Highness."
Arshak could still weigh the importance of retaking the narrow passage occupied by the Han and then engaging in a long and bitter battle with the throne of the Parthian king. He couldn't help but feel discouraged and waved his hand and said: "Send the order for all the armies to return to their camps."
"Wait a minute," Lemitu stopped the guard who was about to go out to deliver the order and said with a smile, "How can His Highness's order be changed overnight? Now that the army has assembled, let's continue to gather. Didn't it mean that the Han army suffered a disastrous defeat in the first battle? Then let's just wait and see. Change"
Arshak knew that Remitu must have a good plan and asked quickly: "Tell me how to wait and see what happens."
Remitu whispered in Arshak's ear: "The Han army has come all the way to fight Da Qin. There will be a bitter battle. We will wait until the Han army penetrates deep into Da Qin's territory before His Highness sends troops to cut off its retreat..."
Arshak waved his hand and said: "You still mean to support the retaking of those lands. How to solve the problems just mentioned?"
Lemitu shook his head and said: "Your Highness does not need to take back all the land. As long as you cut off the Han army's food routes, Your Highness can take the initiative and then use this as a bargaining chip to negotiate with the Han army."
"Negotiation" Arshak was a little confused and asked, "What are we talking about?"
Remitu said proudly: "The mortal enemy of Parthia is the Qin Dynasty and not the Han Dynasty, so why would your Highness bother to completely turn against the Han people? Your Highness only made two conditions: one is to let the Han people support His Highness in fighting for the throne in the future, and the other is that they return the concession."
Arshak's trust in Remitu was almost to the point of obeying his words. However, this matter was of great importance and with Vologis's order, he did not dare to quietly wait for the battle report from the front. He could only frown and said: "Is this the case? How can I explain it to my father?"
Lemitu smiled and said: "There is no need to wait. Your Highness can send an envoy to the concession to ask the Han people why they killed our people indiscriminately and ask them to give us an explanation. This way, we don't have to go to war and it can be justified to the king."
Arshak hesitated and said: "Are Han people so easy to talk to?"[
Lemitu said confidently: "The Han people's primary goal is that Da Qin will naturally not entangle with us too much. I believe that the Emperor of the Han Dynasty is a sensible person. He will definitely come up with a scapegoat. Everyone can be justified. If His Highness can trust the villain, The villain is willing to take on this responsibility and ensure that he will fulfill his mission."
Arshak thought for a while and said: "I will need your advice sooner or later, so I'd better send someone else to do it."
Early the next morning, a group of Parthian envoys appeared in the Han Dynasty Concession to lodge stern representations with the Han Dynasty and waited for Liu Xin's reply. At this time, Liu Xin, who had just arrived at the concession from Khotan City, couldn't help but hear the Parthian envoys' request. He laughed and said: "Go and call Sister Cleia. I have a gift for them."
The Parthian envoys came to ask questions, but Liu Xin remembered what gift to give to Sister Cleia. Jushu felt a little confused and quickly raised his hands and said: "Your Majesty, it is not appropriate to anger Parthia too much at this time. Do you think..."
Liu Xin laughed and said: "Don't worry, that gift is not only for Sister Cleia, but also an explanation to the Parthian envoy."
At dusk, Sister Cleia drove Liu Xin from Beitian and then gave the order: "Beat the drum and gather outside the general's camp to listen to the order."
Sisters Cleia felt a little strange. Liu Xin called them over in a hurry but didn't say a word in detail before gathering the generals outside the camp. Even if there were any gifts for them, there would be no need to make it so formal, right? Is Liu Xin doing this? Fan Xizheng was going to take them with him, and the sisters couldn't help but feel a little more excited.
At this time, the Parthian envoys sent by Arshak were already waiting outside the camp gate to salute Liu Xin. After that, several envoys began to ask loudly and loudly why they sent people pretending to be horse thieves to massacre the Parthian subjects.
Liu Xin glanced at them and said coldly: "What evidence do you have that those horse thieves are pretended to be people sent by me?"
A Parthian envoy said loudly: "Those horse thieves broke into the territory of the Qin Empire and were being encircled and suppressed by the Qin army, but it was your Han army who rescued them. If the Han army hadn't pretended to be you, why would you have saved them?"
Liu Xin said seriously: "Yes, these horse thieves were rescued by my army, because they are all subjects of the Han Dynasty. The crimes they committed are punished by the laws of the Han Dynasty. How can we allow outsiders to kill my army? Naturally, they must."
What’s wrong with rescuing them and then punishing them according to Han law?”
The envoy was at a loss for words. Another envoy jumped out and said sharply: "Even so, your Han army cannot break into our Parthian territory without permission. What will your Majesty, the Han Emperor, do about this matter?"
explain"
Liu Xin laughed loudly and said: "Then you can only blame your Parthian army. If I didn't send troops to help, would we have allowed these horse thieves to harm the people? Don't forget, if I hadn't sent troops to help, Parthia would have been destroyed by the Qin Dynasty."
The country has been destroyed, so why are you here making irresponsible remarks?"
These words were so overbearing that the soldiers outside the camp cheered in unison, which shook the sky. The Parthian envoys were so frightened that their faces turned pale and they did not dare to say a word for a long time. However, Arshak had made an explanation before leaving.
They must ask for an explanation from the Han people, otherwise they will not be allowed to return. What's even worse is that their families have been taken hostage by Arshak. Several envoys discussed for a while and another person came out and said: "Your Majesty, we all believe that what you said is right.
It’s true that the army of horse thieves is also here to help us. But the foreign minister wants to boldly ask where those horse thieves are now. I don’t know how your majesty wants to deal with them."
Liu Xin saw that they were not as arrogant as they were at first, and her expressions softened and she waved her hand and said: "These horse thieves are good people of the Han Dynasty. They were instigated by traitors to do evil. I have already reprimanded them."
As long as they are willing to sincerely repent, they will forget the past.”
This kind of treatment is tantamount to doing nothing. Several envoys suddenly became "commotion". They have a way to go back and explain the result.
But Liu Xin said again: "Of course I will not let the culprit go."
Upon hearing this, the envoys quickly asked: "Where are the culprits mentioned by Your Majesty and how should we deal with them?"
Liu Xin waved her hand and said: "This culprit is the traitor who instigated them to commit rebellion. I have found out what happened and arrested him. I will execute him in front of you today."