Just as the Han army was attacking the Arab provinces, the governor of Egypt, Jolian, also received a letter from Horik asking for help. As in the case of the Arab provinces, there were not many garrisons in the Egyptian provinces, and the question of whether to organize a new army or not was a long struggle for Jolian. But within a few days, news of the fall of Arabia arrived, and the fierce offensive of the Han army surprised Jolian, and he stood in the room in a hurry.

Suddenly, the guard outside the door hurriedly walked in, bowed down and said, "Honorable lord, the Han people have sent a letter. ”

The letter, written in the Great Qin script, also conveys Liu Xin's order that Egypt declare independence and that Yolian be the king of Egypt, otherwise Horik's fate will be his tomorrow.

Jorian's hand holding the letter trembled, and after a while he asked, "What do you think of me?" ”

The bloody massacres carried out by the Han army in the Arab provinces had long made it difficult for these people to sleep, and their treatment was far inferior to that of the regular legions of the Great Qin Empire, and they were not guilty of working for Caracalla and Gaita. Hearing that the Han army was about to attack, even if Yolian wanted to resist, they would not resist. Now that Yolian asked, everyone persuaded him, "My lord, let's descend." ”

In fact, Yolian has long had this thought, but he still can't let go of his dignity as a Great Qin nobleman. Now seeing that everyone supports surrender, he no longer hesitates, and pretends to be reserved: "It's just that who wants to negotiate with the Han people." ”

But his subordinates couldn't wait any longer, and one of them stood up and said loudly: "The Han people have all been killed at the door, where can we negotiate slowly." Needless to say, just dedicate the city! ”

The rest of the crowd chimed in. Yolian had to be thick-skinned, waved his hand and said, "Okay, good, just according to you, surrender, surrender." ”

Without a single sword, the Han army marched into the province of Egypt. Liu Xin did not break his promise, and did not commit any crimes against the governors and nobles of the Egyptian provinces, down to the commoners and slaves, and held a coronation ceremony for Jolian. In return, and in order to curry favor with Liu Xin, Yolian offered to take on part of the grain and grass of the Han army. Liu Xin was not hypocritical and accepted it gladly.

The Egyptian and Arab provinces became independent, but the fate of the two provinces was very different, and word spread quickly. The cavalry of the Han army marched all the way west, and in just half a month, like dominoes, the provinces of Cyrenaica, Africa, Numidia and Mauritania declared their independence one after another. The entire southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea was completely out of the control of the Great Qin Empire.

The independence of these four provinces did not require the Han army to use a single soldier, and except for the governor of Mauritania, Valen, who refused to surrender and was killed by his subordinates, no one else wanted to end up like Horrick.

In fact, making these provinces independent was just an attempt by Liu Xin, and he did not expect that things would go so smoothly. In order to consolidate the gains made, Liu Xin personally came to Alexandria, the capital of Egypt. At this time, the new kings of Syria, Asia Minor, Cyrenaica, Africa, Numidia and Mauritania also came here on Liu Xin's orders. After a joyous feast, Liu Xin issued the Alexander Declaration, and these countries became parties to the declaration.

In the Alexander Declaration, Liu Xin reaffirmed that the Han Dynasty would respect the territorial and sovereign integrity of the signatories, not interfere in the internal affairs of these countries, and establish free, equal and fair trade relations with these countries.

At the same time, in order to prevent the situation of the law of the jungle among the Contracting Parties, each Contracting State will maintain only a standing army of up to 8,000 men in the future, and in the event of foreign aggression, they can request the Han Dynasty for military support. In return, the Signatories were to allow the Han army to move freely and station within its borders, and to assume a portion of the Han army's provisions.

The declaration, which appears to stipulate civil rights and obligations for both sides, is in fact still an unequal treaty. However, it was enough for the kings of the signatories that their status was confirmed and protected.

The independence of the major provinces allowed Liu Xin to find a new magic weapon to deal with Great Qin. Soon, all the light cavalry of the Han army withdrew to Syria and began to attack the provinces of Silesia and Cappadocia in the northwest of Syria.

These two provinces, as well as the province of Pontus to the north, were the headquarters of the Pontus Legion. Although this legion does not belong to the sequence of the Royal Forest Legion, it is also a veteran legion of the Great Qin Empire, and its combat effectiveness is quite strong. They built many fortifications in these three provinces, and recruited a large number of freemen and slaves, and put on a posture of fighting to the death against the Han army.

The Han army was still led by thunderbolts, but this time it was not the stones that fell, but various cartoons depicting the different treatment of the Arab provinces and the Egyptian provinces, as well as the enslavement and exploitation of the Great Qin people for so many years, calling on them to abandon resistance and choose independence.

These cartoons were of little use to the Great Qin soldiers of the Pontus Legion, but the freedmen and slaves who had been temporarily conscripted became panicked. The commander of the Pontus Legion thought that the recruitment of these freemen and slaves would make up for the lack of troops, but it became a factor of instability, so he was at a loss for a while, so he had to send someone to ask the governors of the three provinces to discuss countermeasures.

The commander of the Pontic Legion gladly went to the Governor of Cappadocia Province to invite him, but was ambushed and sent to Syria with his head cut off, and the Pontic Legion collapsed. It turned out that the three governors knew that it would be difficult to resist the attack of the Han army with one legion, and Caracalla was slow to send reinforcements. Once they are broken by the Han army, their fate will be extremely miserable, it is better to borrow his head in exchange for everyone's safety and keep the glory and wealth in front of them.

The Han army advanced steadily, and soon reached Asia Minor and Bithynia. When the weather is fine, the shadow of the city of Athens can be seen faintly across the sea. Along the way, various provinces also announced their independence from Great Qin and established an independent state. Liu Xin announced that the provisions of the Alexander Declaration would also apply to the newly independent provinces.

After the independence of these provinces, in order to show their friendship with the Han Dynasty, they took the initiative to provide grain and grass supplies, and contributed people and money to help the Han army build positions. In fact, they are now firmly tied to the Han army, and if the Han army is defeated, they will be punished most severely by Caracalla, so they are helping the Han army now, they are helping themselves, otherwise, they will not spare no effort like this.

With the help of these emerging countries, the problem of lack of food and grass for the Han army was easily solved, and there was no longer a need to implement the strategy of feeding the war by war, and it also won a good reputation in the local area, laying a good foundation for future exchanges with these places.

In just over a month, these many provinces have declared autonomy one after another, and almost half of the territory has become independent from the territory of the Great Qin Empire, which is a huge blow to Caracalla, and he has to reconsider his combat thinking and send someone to invite Gaita over. Although Caracalla does not understand the truth of "brothers are of the same heart, their profits are gold", he also knew that now was not the time to argue about who would inherit the throne of the Great Qin Empire, and it was pointless to say anything if he did not defeat the Han army.

Although Gaita has a violent temperament, she is not confused, and she knows that now is not the time to be rash. After receiving Caracalla's invitation, he immediately rushed to the Great Qin Palace.

Caracalla smiled, pointed to the opposite position, and said, "Gaita, it's been years since you and I have sat face to face like this. ”

Gaita said with a big grin: "Big brother, I know the situation. Don't say anything now, when the Han army is repulsed, let's two brothers wrestle their wrists again! ”

Caracalla patted the cases in front of him and said loudly: "Good! Brother, I'll just wait for your words, only by uniting can we repel the Han army! ”

The two brothers are much smarter than Ardaban and Arshak, although they are inevitably fighting openly and secretly, but first, they will not drag each other back, and secondly, they can still abandon their previous suspicions and join hands at critical moments.

The conversation between Caracalla and Gaita was not harmonious, but they finally reached an agreement, and it was decided to concentrate the superior forces of the eleven legions and fight the Han army in Asiaia and Bithynia.

The total strength of the Great Qin Empire now adds up to 15 legions and 750,000 people, but Rome cannot afford not to defend itself, so it needs to leave four legions. The four legions were the Roman, Greek, Gallic and Germanic legions, with Caracalla and Geta each accounting for two. Of the eleven legions that were put to the front, Caracalla accounted for seven, including another Royal Legion, the Sicilian Legion. This arrangement was also a huge concession made by Caracalla on his own initiative in order to show his sincerity in cooperation. The two men remained in the rear with equal strength, avoiding the suspicion that they would use the war to deplete Gaita's strength.

There was a strait tens of miles wide between Asia Minor and Macedonia, and it was with the obstruction of this strait that the Han army was not able to continue to advance westward. However, this strait could not stop the footsteps of the Great Qin army, because the Great Qin Empire had a powerful navy.

Just look at the territory of the Great Qin Empire, a large land area across Europe, Asia and Africa encloses the Mediterranean Sea in the middle, and the Mediterranean Sea has almost become the inland sea of the Great Qin Empire. In the long-term war of expansion, it was with a powerful naval fleet that the troops of the Great Qin Empire were able to be smoothly delivered to various battlefields.

Liu Xin also formed a powerful navy, and although he had not yet experienced several actual battles, Liu Xin was confident that he would be able to defeat the navy of the Great Qin Empire. It's just a pity that this navy can't follow his army to come here, otherwise Liu Xin would have crossed the sea with his army and smashed Rome directly.

More and more Great Qin warships began to gather on the shores of Macedonia and Thrace, and the sails raised covered the sea like dark clouds.