Chapter 856 The plan cannot keep up with the changes
Ever since Ma Chao rescued Tuoba Jun from the Qin Dynasty, Liu Xin had realized that the matter of letting the nomadic cavalry pretend to be horse bandits would be discovered sooner or later, and he had to seriously consider how to deal with the aftermath. The Han people are very good-looking, but they are not
It would be embarrassing to represent other ethnic groups. After Tuoba Jun killed so many Parthians, he had to give an explanation to others, and he had a suitable candidate on hand.
Soon, a group of personal guards escorted a prison car. Standing in the prison car was a tall blond man wearing handcuffs and shackles. Seeing this blond man, Sister Cleia's eyes were filled with anger, and she shouted in unison:
"Celica! It's Celica!"
Liu Xin raised her hand to signal the two sisters to quiet down, then turned to the Parthian envoys and said: "Those horse thieves came from the grasslands in the north of the Han Dynasty. They were originally simple men.
It was this person's instigation that made it what it is now. Do you know this person?"
The Parthian envoys all shook their heads in confusion.
Liu Xin waved to Cleya and said, "Come and tell them."[
Cleia gritted her teeth and said: "He is Duke Selica, the elder of the Senate of the Great Qin Empire. Even if he is burned to ashes, I will recognize him!"
Since Serika was captured by the Han, Liu Xin has treated him quite favorably. Serika was not imprisoned in a dark prison, but was detained alone in the military camp of Feihu Guards, so few outsiders knew about Serika.
The presence of the card.
The food of the Han army is very good, even better than that of many wealthy families, and the treatment of the Feihu guards is the highest in the army. Serika eats the same food as the Feihu guards every day, and lacks exercise.
He was much fatter than when he was captured. In order to meet his physical needs, Liu Xin also bought two female slaves from Daqin to accompany him every night.
Despite this, Serika still never thought about returning to Daqin one day. However, the military camp was heavily guarded, and he could not find any chance. Suddenly, just a few days ago, the guards pulled a prison car.
They put handcuffs and shackles on him and escorted him out. But he didn't expect that after traveling all the way west, he actually arrived in Parthia, only a short distance away from the hometown he longed for. Last night, Liu Xin specially talked to him.
for a long time, and promised to send him to the West as long as he was willing to bow his head and confess his sins.
After being imprisoned in Chang'an for these years, Serika has been able to speak fluent Chinese, but he does not understand many meanings in Chinese. In his mind, returning to the west and returning to the west have the same meaning, so how can he not agree? So
, even in the face of the Parthian envoy, Selica confessed completely and took everything on herself.
Liu Xin was very satisfied with Selica's performance. He quietly winked at the guards behind him. The guards stepped forward and dragged Selica out of the prison car. Selica thought Liu Xin was going to
He fulfilled his promise and let him "return to the west", but unexpectedly the guards pried open his mouth, stuffed walnuts into him, and then found a long iron chain and hung him under the camp gate.
Selica knew something was wrong and struggled desperately, but she was unable to make ends meet.
Liu Xin turned to Sister Cleya and said, "Do you want to take revenge?"
Sisters Cleia said in unison: "Your Majesty, please allow us to cut off his head with our own hands to comfort the spirits of my parents in heaven!"
Liu Xin smiled and said: "You are practicing riding and shooting with Queen Mother Kangju. Today I want to test how your skills are progressing. Come and get your bows and arrows!"
For Cleia sisters, hand-to-hand combat is their strength. Although they have practiced archery for more than a year, they have not made rapid progress. Looking at Liu Xin's posture, she wanted them to use bows and arrows to take revenge. Cleia couldn't help but become nervous.
He said: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid I can't hit you with an arrow, so I'd better let you use a knife."
Liu Xin laughed and said: "Well, well. If you can't hit one arrow, shoot two arrows. If you can't hit two arrows, shoot three arrows. I will give each of you a pot of arrows, so you won't be unable to shoot both pots of arrows."
Hit it. In that case, his life should not be cut off."
Sister Cleya couldn't help but be overjoyed, thanked Liu Xin, and each took their bows and arrows and aimed at Selika who was hanging under the camp gate. There was a bang, the two sisters let go at the same time, and shot two arrows at Selika at the same time.
In the past, the archery skills of these two sisters were indeed unflattering. Even though they were only fifty steps apart, Cleia still missed the target with an arrow, while Maria shot an arrow in Selica's calf. However,
Both of them were incredibly strong, and Maria's arrow actually passed through Selica's calf, leaving a huge bloody hole.
The two sisters did not stop, shooting sharp arrows full of hatred at Selika. There were a total of sixty arrows, but there were more than forty. Selika's body was covered with feather arrows, like a
A hedgehog. Although none of the arrows hit its vital points, it was covered in wounds. Selica's blood was almost drained and it looked like he would not survive.
Liu Xin lightly clapped her hands and said to several Parthian envoys: "The chief culprit, Serika, is dead, and I can finally give you an explanation."
A Parthian envoy suddenly said: "Your Majesty the Emperor, you said that this person is a noble of the Qin Dynasty. What evidence is there? Who can guarantee that he is not just someone you pretend to be?"
It was originally a matter that everyone was trying to mess with each other, but this envoy insisted on getting to the bottom of it. Jushou's face suddenly changed and he shouted loudly: "How brave! How dare you question what our Majesty said? How polite! Come here,
Drag him..."
"Forget it." Liu Xin waved her hand and dismissed the guards who were about to step forward to take someone away. She nodded and said, "Your Majesty, why do we, as ours, have the same experience as these villains? Serika is an elder of the Qin Empire.
Besides, as a Duke, there should be quite a few people who know him. Let them take Selica’s head back and find someone to identify it themselves, so won’t they know the authenticity?”
Several Parthian envoys did not dare to say anything more, so they carried the baggage containing Serica's head and rushed back to Ecbatana overnight. Remitu held up the bloody head and looked at it for a long time.
, finally nodded and said: "Your Highness, this person is indeed the elder Serika of the Qin Empire! Could it be that the information received by Artaban was wrong and we mistakenly blamed the Han people?" [
It turned out that Remitu had been the Prime Minister for many years and had many contacts with the powerful neighbor of the Qin Empire. He knew Selica. Although Selica was hit by many arrows, Sister Cleia did not have any.
He was shot in the head, so Selica's face was quite well preserved. Except for a pair of eyes that were wide open, as if they were about to fall out, there were no other suspicious parts.
Arshak originally did not want to have a military confrontation with the Han Dynasty. After Remitu confirmed Serika's head, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and said: "It seems that the army can be withdrawn to the camp now."
"This is absolutely impossible!" Lemitu shook his head and said, "Whether those horse thieves were really bewitched by Selica or were disguised by the Han army, they were all defeated at the hands of the Qin army. Now, between the Han and Qin
The war between them is about to break out, and it is still unclear who will win and who will lose. Your Highness can take advantage of the situation when they are both losing and take back the concession in one fell swoop. Therefore, not only can the army not withdraw, but more troops should be dispatched to investigate carefully!"
Remitu was actually much more competent than the Vorogis father and his son. He wanted to take back the concession and give Parthia a complete territory. But he neglected one thing. Even if Liu Xin was willing to return the concession, he was afraid that
The people in the concession are used to living a good life, and I'm afraid no one wants to be a citizen of Parthia anymore.
In fact, Liu Xin never considered returning the concession to Parthia.
Even when he was actively preparing for the war with the Qin Empire, the construction of the concession did not stop for a day. The infrastructure construction of the entire concession was all completed by the professional team of the Engineer Corps, surrounding the first three new cities, one after another.
More than ten castles were built, and the scale of the three new cities was also expanded. In order to protect the fragile local ecology, all the masonry and wood required for the construction were transported from the Central Plains. The freight alone was a huge expense. The cost was staggering.
At a great cost, the concession turned from a barbaric land in the past into a commercial center today. How could Liu Xin give away the place he had worked so hard to develop?
On the other hand, the strategic location of the concession is also very important. It has become a springboard for the Han army to advance westward. All kinds of grain, grass, and baggage are first concentrated from all over the country to Chang'an, and then transported from Chang'an to Uzbeli Fortress, and finally to the Uzbeli Fortress.
It was transported to the concession through the city of Beitian. The concession has turned into a huge military base. At the same time, the concession is an important barrier to defend Kangju. Whether Parthia or Qin Dynasty, if they want to invade Kangju from the south, the concession is theirs.
A hurdle that cannot be bypassed.
Liu Xin is not worried about the possible actions of Parthia. Because he knows very well that the combat effectiveness of the Parthian army is not even comparable to paramilitary forces such as the Engineer Corps. Now there are not only 60,000 engineers in the concession, but also two
With ten thousand elite infantrymen of the Third Legion, there was no problem in resisting the attack of two hundred thousand Parthian troops.
Therefore, after sending away the Parthian envoys, Liu Xin personally led the army to the north. This road to the border of Daqin was already controlled by the Han army, and the 40,000 cavalry of the Western Region Army led by Ma Chao were responsible for the defense. However,
, this passage was too narrow and long, Liu Xin was still a little worried, so he deployed 20,000 infantry and 10,000 light cavalry from the Third Army to set up defenses along the way.
In Liu Xin's original plan, Parthia was still in the position of an ally, but the plan could not keep up with the changes. Now Liu Xin had to allocate part of his troops to defend Parthia. This also directly led to the fact that only the remaining troops who finally arrived at the border of Great Qin were
There were 300,000 regular legions and 60,000 nomadic cavalry from the grasslands. The new situation of as many as 400,000 Qin troops in Asia Minor also forced Liu Xin to readjust his combat plan.