Fa Zheng wrote a handwritten letter to Sima Yi, written in Persian, and he still had dealings with this Ardashir, and sold him a lot of arms.

Ma Chao and Sima Yi took their first and third divisions of the Haotian Army, two cavalry divisions, plus Hao Zhao's fourth cavalry division, and three cavalry divisions left the field artillery battalion to attack Taixifeng.

Heading south from Dhamgan, there were no Romans and Rest rebels on the way, and they arrived at the city of Isfahan smoothly, with the banner of the Rest Empire fluttering on the city.

The Han army sent an envoy to Isfahan to borrow the road, and sure enough, the city was already under the control of the Persians, and their supreme leader was really Ardashir.

The messenger sent a handwritten letter from Fa Zheng, and expressed his request to borrow a way to Ctesiphon, and promised future benefits.

The Persian garrison of Isfahan did not dare to make his own decisions, so he asked the Han army to camp outside the city, and he sent a messenger overnight to inform Ardashir I, who was still in Persepolis, to ask him to come and get his idea.

The night was spent in anxious waiting, and Sima Yi was not completely sure of his own inference, who knows how ambitious this Ardashir is?

At dawn the next day, an envoy from the Han army camp outside the city visited him, a messenger from Persia.

Ardashir I had arrived at Isfahan from Persepolis overnight, and he was eager to find out how sincere the Han army was.

Ardashir I invited the Han generals into the city to discuss the possibility of the Han army borrowing the road and the possible cooperation between the Han army and Persia.

Sima Yi asked Ma Chao to stay outside the city, and he only brought a guard company and an interpreter from the Ministry of Intelligence, and followed the Persian envoys into the city of Isfahan.

In the city lord's palace in Isfahan, Sima Yi met the legendary Ardashir I, known as Shahan Shah, the king of kings in Persian.

He is handsome, tall, and has the temperament of a leader, especially his two bright eyes.

Ardashir I also looked carefully at this representative of the Han army, who was relatively weak, but his perennial military career caused his skin to be dark, like a civilian minister in charge, not like the commander of the army.

Ardashir walked to the door of the hall, stretched out his hands, and hugged Sima Yi, full of strength.

"Welcome distinguished guests from afar, I am the master of this city, Ardashir from Posis." He introduced himself to Sima Yi.

Sima Yi tidied up the military uniform that was messed up by Ardashir without humility or arrogance, and said with a smile, "I am the chief of staff of the expeditionary force of the Han Empire, and the chief officer of the Han army outside the city, the Marquis of Weiyuan of the Han Empire, Sima Yi." ”

Ardashir knew more about the Han army, and knew that Sima Yi was an important general of the Han army, commanding the most powerful Haotian army in the Han Dynasty, but it turned out to be the weak man in front of him.

He invited Sima Yi to sit down in the living room, and his maids brought him fruit and tea, which had come from China, but had been changed to suit the tastes of the locals.

Sima Yi came straight to the point, and the purpose of his trip was to use Persia to attack Ctesiphon.

Ardashir had long known the purpose of the Han army's trip, but he was still hesitant in his heart, neither the previous Vologis VI nor the current ruling Ardaban IV were unfriendly to the Persians.

The royal family of Rest restricts the Persians at every turn, lest they restore the glory of their ancestors, and this is precisely the obsession of the Persians from generation to generation, who are obsessed with restoring the glory of the Persian Empire during the Achaemenid dynasty.

However, the previous Vologis VI had the support of the Han Chinese, and the current Ardaban IV had the support of the Romans, and the Persians, who were not yet fully fledged, did not dare to offend either side.

If the Han army fails, it will definitely be angry with their Persians, after all, Tessiphon is the imperial capital of rest, only with tens of thousands of Han troops outside the city, the Persians are not optimistic about them.

Sima Yi saw Ardashir's hesitation, he knew very well what the Persians were worried about, and he asked Ardashir to retreat everyone, including the two of their guards, leaving only Sima Yi and Ardashir in the hall, as well as the interpreter of the Ministry of Intelligence.

He leaned closer to Ardashir, "Venerable Shahanshah, I know the scruples in your heart, and do not want to offend Ardaban and the Romans, so I would like to ask you, what is the ideal in your heart?" “

"Are you satisfied with what you have now, or do you want to go further and recreate the glory of your Persian ancestors?"

Ardashir didn't expect Sima Yi to ask about the deepest ambition in his heart at once, and he was a little short of breath, "General Sima Yi, do you also know the glorious history of our Persians?" ”

Seeing Sima Yi nodded, Ardashir continued to ask, "Then I can tell you frankly that my ideal is to establish a Persian empire across Asia, Europe and Africa, like the great ancestors of Darius and Xerxes. ”

"The Sabbatarians have enslaved us for hundreds of years, and now that their fortunes are declining, it is also our turn to rise again, the Persians!"

Sima Yi clapped his hands together, "Sure enough, it's the same as what I thought in my heart, then please forgive me for saying it, I don't think Vologis VI is suitable to govern such a large empire at all."

"Although he is an ally of our Han Dynasty, he is too cowardly to guarantee the interests of the Han Dynasty in the West Asian region, let alone maintain his rule."

"And Artaban IV chose the Romans, chose to be the enemy of the Han, and slaughtered the warriors of the Han, we must settle this account with him."

He looked at Ardashir, who was listening intently, "If you have the idea of replacing the Sabbatarians and re-establishing the old glory of the Persian Empire, then I think we can cooperate." ”

"We can transfer our previous support for Vologis VI to you, arms, money, instructors, military advisers, etc."

"As long as the Persians agree to an alliance with us, after you take power, you can continue to ally with the Han and deal with the Romans together, I can sign an alliance with you on behalf of the Han!"

Hearing Sima Yi's bewitching words, Ardashir felt his heart beating faster, wasn't this his longing wish?

He had always wondered why Dahan was not supporting himself, but Vologis, the waste.

He has purchased the arms of the Han Dynasty, knows the advanced degree of the Han Dynasty's firearms, and also believes that this is the inevitable trend of the future development of the world, and the future will be an era of firearms!

He has been doing everything possible to collect and buy the arms of the Great Han, but because the first goal of the Great Han's previous support was to rest the royal family, and all the arms were given priority to the rest of the royal family, so he couldn't get much.

Now, Sima Yi is standing in front of him and has made such a promise, how can he not be moved?

With the current strength of the Persians, it can only be a matter of choosing a side between the Romans and the Han Chinese, either left or right.