At that time, the entire Arabian Peninsula in West Asia was basically a desert desert, and everyone lived on the Mediterranean coast of Syria and the valley of the two rivers.

At this time, Lü Kang received a letter from Lü Bu, in which he asked them to join the Persians in attacking Egypt, one of Rome's eastern provinces, to occupy Egypt, and then build a canal to connect the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.

After reading the letter, Lu Kang wondered very much, his father had never been here, how could he know about Egypt? Did you know that by building a canal in Egypt, you can connect the Red Sea to the Mediterranean?

You know, he also went to Syria to know that there was an Egypt, and only then did he know that there was the Mediterranean.

However, I wonder if it is boring, Lu Bu's will must still be carried out.

After consulting with Ardashir I, the Persians wondered how the emperor of the Han Dynasty knew about the existence of Egypt.

I also don't understand why a canal was dug in Egypt to connect the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea?

But as a freshly baked ally of the Han Dynasty, of course, he supported such a small matter, just build the canal and recruit the Egyptians, and he didn't need the Persians to contribute, so it was nothing great!

However, after all, the new dynasty had just been established, and many things were complicated, and the Romans in Asia Minor had not yet been defeated, so the matter of going to Egypt could only be put aside for the first time.

According to Fa Zheng and Sima Yi's suggestion, the Romans had to be beaten back to their Italian hometown, so that the Han army could turn back and fight the Egyptians, otherwise it would be easy for the Romans to sneak attack from behind.

So Lü Kang replied to Lü Bu on the one hand, explaining his strategic deployment, and on the other hand, he stepped up the offensive against the Romans.

The Romans suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Mosul, and nearly 100,000 men remained forever in that sad land of Mosul.

Although most of them were auxiliaries, according to the laws of the Roman Empire, anyone who participated in the Imperial legions, regardless of his original status, would receive the status of Roman citizens, even if they were auxiliaries.

So the post-war pension was an astronomical expense, which Caracalla simply could not pay.

This battle scared Caracalla a little, he didn't dare to fight with the Han army in the far east, he desperately shrunk the Roman legions, what Antioch, what Damascus, these important strongholds could not be taken care of.

In order to compensate for the huge casualties, the Romans began to recruit adult men on a large scale in the lands of the Eastern provinces to serve in the legions, and extended the length of military service.

This move was strongly opposed by all non-Roman peoples in the eastern provinces, and a large-scale riot broke out.

Coupled with the fact that the families of the large number of soldiers killed in the war did not receive pensions and compensation, the riots intensified and expanded.

So when the Han army and the Persians marched into Syria, they did not encounter much resistance, but on the contrary, they were welcomed by many locals, who regarded the Han army as liberators.

In view of the complexity of the ethnic composition and religious beliefs in the area, the Han army did not intend to take Syria for themselves, but generously ceded it to the Persians in exchange for the Persian support for the Han army's occupation of Egypt in the future.

The important towns of Palmyra, Antioch, Sidon, and Amesa in Syria were occupied by the coalition forces one after another, and the banner of the Persian Empire was hung.

Then, according to the previous plan, the coalition forces turned north and began to attack the provinces of Asia Minor in the Roman Empire.

Caracalla himself returned to Rome first, and he had to give an account to the Senate, but he left Lucis, Macrinus, and others in Asia Minor, and asked them to do their best, and not let the Han army easily take the whole of Asia Minor.

What followed was a protracted tug-of-war.

Although the Han army was slightly superior to the Romans in terms of combat strength and equipment, Asia Minor had been ruled by the Romans for hundreds of years, and the people's hearts and environment were in favor of the Romans.

And this place is too far away from the mainland of the Han Empire, and in that era of underdeveloped transportation, it was really the limit of strategic transportation.

This also relied on the Han Empire's leading road transportation network in the world at that time, the most advanced road laying technology and the largest road construction army.

The Han army has begun to replace it with a new bolt-action rifle, which allows the use of a five-round capacity magazine, which greatly improves the rate of fire and the continuity of fire.

Moreover, the Imperial Academy of Sciences of the Han Army also developed a large-scale killing weapon, which was invented under the direct advice and guidance of Lu Bu, and is in the experimental stage, once it comes out, it will change the pattern of war.

However, these new equipment have not yet been installed in the Han army on the front line in Asia Minor, so the battle here is still very stalemate, with a slight advantage.

However, an advantage is an advantage after all, and the coalition forces have already contributed Smyrna, Angela, Sinop, the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, and only the last stronghold of Nicaea remains.

The Romans who had retreated here had no choice but to retreat across the Strait and return to the European continent of the Roman Empire.

In recent centuries, no foreign army from the East has set foot in Rome's continental provinces.

Most of the Roman legions in the eastern provinces of Rome were concentrated in Nicaea, with the exception of a few in Palestine and Egypt, and some in the provinces of North Africa.

Many of the legions were incomplete, and some even had only one or two infantry brigades left, but they were lucky enough to keep their legionary eagle banners.

In the past few years of conquest with the Han Empire, the flags of five Roman regular legions and six auxiliary legions have been captured by the Han army or burned by the Romans themselves, so the formation of these eleven legions has been removed from the Roman Imperial army.

Of course, the empire recruited many new soldiers from the eastern provinces to fill the vacancies of these legions, but the glorious history is gone.

Some of the legions with heavy losses had already withdrawn to Rome in advance for rest.

And in Nicaea there were ten Roman legions, thirteen auxiliary legions, and about 70,000 men who had not yet had time to retreat.

The Han-Polish coalition had already reached the outskirts of Nicaea, but they had not yet launched a general offensive and did not know what they were waiting for.

Lucis and Macrinus had already crossed the Channel and returned to Europe with the Roman legions, who had returned home to recuperate.

The supreme commander of the Roman army remaining in Nicaea was Governor Marcus, who had already handed over all command to Marcus before leaving, and promised that he would do his best to organize as many ships as possible to help him cross the strait.

But five days had passed, and the fleet Lucis had promised was nowhere to be seen.

Marcus did his best to collect all kinds of ships off the coast of Asia Minor, and there were only a few dozen, which was simply not enough.

Although the strait is very narrow, you can't let your soldiers swim through, not to mention that many people can't swim.