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The Damascus sword, known as one of the three famous knives in later generations, is the most powerful weapon of the Sassanids, and the reason why they are so successful in battle has a lot to do with this sharp blade, the brave Sassanids are proud to have such a sharp blade, and when they go to battle with such a weapon, they can feel that Ahura is blessing them, in fact, the power of the sharp scimitar when wielded on the back of a high-speed charging horse is indeed terrifying. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThe Sassanids relied more on this weapon than the Romans, who dominated the infantry phalanx.

Both Ctesiphon and Damascus had skilled craftsmen in smelting, but their source of raw materials was only one, the Uzi of Tianzhu. There are two routes for Uzigang to enter Ctesiphon and Damascus, one is by sea, from Tianzhu through the Arabian Sea, then into the Persian Gulf or the Red Sea, and then by land to reach the vicinity of the Mediterranean, and the other is by land, through the Kushan territory to Ctesiphon. Most of the Uzi steel to Damascus is by sea, while the Uzi steel to Ctesiphon is equally divided.

Since Sun Shao defeated the Tianzhu Water Division, the sea route was controlled in his hands, especially after he instigated the other three kingdoms to establish a large-scale Han merchant group, the sea route has basically been monopolized by him, under his soft and hard work, most of the Uzi steel also fell into his hands, but it was not westward into the Mediterranean, but hoarded in Funan, by the craftsmen led by Pu Yuan into weapons for backup, and the remaining small part was purchased by the Kushan people, part of it for its own use, and part of it was resold to the Sassanids.

As the input of Uzi steel is getting smaller and smaller, the price of weapons caused by this steel is getting higher and higher, some craftsmen can only rely on the hoarded inventory to build, the Sassanids only feel that the price is rising, but now, the Kushan people have completely interrupted the import of Uzi steel, for several months, not a pound of Uzi steel has not entered the city of Tessie, but Ardashir is preparing for war, those warriors desperately need a sharp weapon, they look everywhere, but find that there is no price, Wanting to buy a scimitar while you want it is basically a dream.

Ardashir ordered an investigation, and only then did he discover the truth of the matter, and what made him even more worried was that because there was no Uzi Steel, those craftsmen had no livelihood, and they either changed careers, or they dragged their families to Funan, which is said to treat craftsmen very well, and it was much better to work there than in Ctesiphon.

The Romans were not very accustomed to using swords, they still preferred to use short swords, and their dependence on Uzi steel was not as obvious as that of the Sassanids, but the migration of a large number of craftsmen also surprised Alexander, who immediately sent Quintus to meet Sun Shao.

As soon as he saw Quintus, Sun Shao was still a little puzzled, and he didn't smile until he heard Quintus's vague complaints.

"Without Uzi Steel, will it have a greater impact on you, or on the Sassanids?"

Quintus thought about it seriously: "It has a greater impact on the Sassanids, and most of their cavalry, especially the light cavalry, use knives made of Uzi steel, which is particularly lethal to our infantry who are disrupted. He shuddered involuntarily as he remembered those tragic scenes, and the fear on his face could not be concealed, as if the Sassanid cavalry with sharp blades was roaring.

"Isn't that the end of it?" Sun Shao said calmly: "The Kushan people and I have controlled the amount of Uzi steel, and the gap between you and Sassanid has become smaller, so wouldn't it be more certain to start a war?" I didn't even make any money to help you, what else did Alexander have to complain about? ”

Quintus smiled bitterly: "We know that the king has good intentions, but we still hope that the king can sell us some Uzi steel to strengthen the equipment of our army, otherwise, we still have no advantage over the Sassanids." ”

Sun Shao was silent for a moment: "If you have Uzi Steel, you still have to equip the Guards, right?" ”

Quintus nodded without thinking: "Of course, only the Guards are the army that His Majesty the Emperor can trust, and if other armies are equipped, isn't it to make trouble for yourself?" ”

"However, don't forget, the Guards may not be trustworthy, and your Emperor Caracalla died at the hands of a Guards soldier." Sun Shao reminded: "Your Emperor Majesty has spoiled the Guards a little undecently, and the Guards are pampered and arrogant, but they do not take your Emperor Majesty in their eyes, because they know that apart from them, your Emperor Majesty has no other army that can be trusted, and can only rely on them." You should know that this is not a good sign. Just like doing business, if you only have one buyer, then your profit is not up to you. ”

Quintus nodded sympathetically, he hesitated for a moment, and looked at Sun Shao carefully: "That...... Does the king have any good advice? ”

Sun Shao smiled: "Let me tell you a story." Just forty years ago, there was some discord between the emperor of our Han Dynasty and the elder brother of the empress, in order to regain military power from the hands of the general, he ordered another army to be organized, known as the Eighth Colonel of the West Garden, and he arranged for someone to be the general who led the army, calling himself the general. This decision made the general panic, and later a master gave him the idea to stuff his cronies into the eight schools and grasp the actual military power. But despite this, if it weren't for the fact that His Majesty the Emperor died too early, this battle for military power would be really difficult to say. You often travel back and forth between the Han Dynasty and Rome, this story must be not unfamiliar, right? ”

Quintus nodded, and shook his head again, he knew about it, but he only knew that in the end, the emperor failed, and the military power was still in the hands of the general He Jin, and he couldn't make his favorite youngest son the crown prince. But now I heard Sun Shao say that the emperor's defeat was not inevitable, and there were some accidental factors in this, that is, there was no mistake in this method itself, but it was not implemented in place when it was implemented, and it was used by the general.

What about Rome, how should Alexander take away some of the military power from the hands of the Guards, so that the Guards are no longer so arrogant and uncontrollable? The more Quintus thought about it, the more he forgot what he was trying to do. He specially asked Sun Shao for advice, and then went back happily.

When Alexander saw that Quintus was back, he was still happy, thinking that the negotiations were going well, but when he asked, he found out that Sun Shao would not increase the supply of Uzi steel at all, and he was very unhappy, and was about to blame Quintus, but Quintus said another thing that made him happy.

How to regain military power!

For Alexander, this was a twofold matter, one was to tame the Guards and make them bow down to him, and the other was to divide the power of the Guards, that is, to establish his own reliable power and thus take back some control from his mother Momia. You must know that the reason why Momia has been able to control the actual power for so long is because of the support of the general of the Guard, Maximus.

"Who do you think is more suitable?" Excited and a little worried, Alexander's eyes lit up as if he saw a great opportunity.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, who do you think is the person you trust the most?"

"Needless to say, of course it's you." Alexander blurted out.

Quintus hurriedly shook his head: "I am very grateful for His Majesty the Emperor's trust, but I am not the one who leads the troops, I have no foundation in the army, and I can't fight, so I am not a suitable candidate." ”

"Then ......," Alexander hesitated when he saw that Quintus was speaking earnestly. He thought about it for a long time, but he didn't come up with any suitable candidates, until he was a little absent-minded in the bed with Queen Obiana at night, and was blamed by Obiana, that he had an idea.

"Obiana, are you loyal to me?" Alexander blinked and said to the blushing Obiana.

Obiana sank her face, dragged a dress over to cover her naked chest, straightened up, and said solemnly: "If His Majesty the Emperor doubts my chastity, then please drive me out of the palace." My noble family cannot bear such insults. ”

Seeing that Obiana had misunderstood, Alexander hurriedly pressed Obiana's shoulder, quieted her down, and explained: "My Obiana, how can I doubt your chastity, when I say loyalty, I mean whether you and your great family are loyal to me, and whether they are willing to work hard for me. ”

Seeing that Alexander was serious, not as if he was fooling around, Obiana was a little angry, and said with some suspicion: "Of course, I am your wife, of course I am willing to work hard for you, my family married me to you, and I am naturally willing to sacrifice everything for you." Only, what does His Majesty the Emperor need us to do? ”

Alexander looked at the serious Obiana and was about to say what he was going to do, but he smiled again after thinking about it: "In that case, then invite your father to the palace, I think you must miss him very much." I would also like to discuss something with the wise him, something that is very important to me and to your family. Now, though, we have more important things to do. Alexander said, gently ripped off the clothes that Obiana covered his chest, pressed one hand on Obiana's plump chest, and squeezed his eyes: "Let me express my satisfaction to you with practical actions." ”

Obiana groaned, stretched out a pair of jade arms, wrapped her arms around Alexander's neck, and fell on top of the silk quilt.

After a few days, Obiana asked her parents to be invited into the palace, and after a simple family feast in the palace, Obiana invited her parents to the inner room, and she took her mother aside to whisper, but left her father Escanomi alone in the living room. Escanomi was puzzled, but he didn't want to ask too much, so he had to sit and wait alone. In fact, he now regrets this marriage very much, because his family is a long-established nobleman, only because of the lack of talent in recent generations, so the situation is not optimistic, in order to give the family a chance to revitalize, he married his daughter to Alexander, who had no foundation. Unexpectedly, Alexander was too young, and the power was in the hands of his mother Momia, and in order to keep power, Momia, like the previous emperors of the Severus family, only cared about getting close to the guards, but refused to give him a chance.

This time Obiana suddenly invited them into the palace, and he was not interested, he didn't really want to come, but he couldn't help but miss his daughter's wife, so he reluctantly came to the palace. Fortunately, Alexander rewarded a lot of money when he entered the palace this time, especially a set of fine porcelain from the East and a few boxes of silk, which made him very satisfied, and it was finally worth the trip.

"My dear lord, are you satisfied with your meal today?" Alexander walked out with a smile on his face and saluted Escanomi, although Escanomi was dissatisfied with Alexander, but as an old nobleman, the basic etiquette still had to be taught, he quickly got up and returned the salute: "Thank you for the hospitality of His Majesty the Emperor, my wife and I are very satisfied." ”

"You're welcome, sir, we're a family." Alexander said with a pleasant face: "Your Excellency has not been to Rome for so long, I wonder if your manor is okay?" ”

Escanomi frowned, feeling that Alexander had some reason to ask. His fief was in the north, close to the residence of the Zarmans, in the past two years, the Romans in order to guard against the Sassanids, put the main forces on the eastern front, the northern front was very empty, the Romans took advantage of the weakness, often entered the territory of Rome to rob, his estate suffered once last year, dozens of people died, and the loss of property was also a lot.

"Your Majesty the Emperor, the barbarians in the north have become a stubborn disease in Rome, and I came this time to ask His Majesty the Emperor to send troops to fight them. As you know, there weren't many peasants on our estates who could serve as soldiers, and even a lot of slaves who farmed the land ran away, so they couldn't stop the Ermans at all. ”

"yes." Alexander nodded sympathetically: "We must organize an army, otherwise, our Roman territory will become the pasture of the Ermans." ”

Escanomi was stunned for a moment, and looked at Alexander with more doubts, if they could organize an army with their strength, then they would still be used to complain to Alexander? He had already organized his own army. In the vicinity of the barbarians, many people relied on their own armies to protect their property. But it takes money to organize an army, a lot of money, where does he get the money?

He instinctively wanted to crook his mouth in disdain, but looking at Alexander's eyes, he hesitated. The current Alexander looks too different from the Alexander when he got married a few years ago, less youthful and more calm, and there is obviously some expectation in those bright eyes, some meaning that he can't guess for a while.

"Your Majesty, I have also thought about forming some men to protect my manor, but ......," Escanomi said carefully, "First, the army organized by individuals has a certain size limit, and second, it requires a lot of money, and as you know, the north has not been peaceful these years, and we are not as good as before. ”

"I know." Alexander interrupted him and said impassionedly: "It was my duty to protect you, but now that I am fighting against the Sassanids, I have no energy to help you. I would like to authorize you to raise an army larger enough to protect the northern frontier against the Jarmans, I wonder if you have confidence. ”

Escanomi was excited, if he had the opportunity to master such an army, then the opportunity for the revitalization of his family would not be far off, whoever had soldiers in his hands would be the boss in these years, not to mention the revitalization of the family, and even the possibility of being the emperor Yanjing. His breathing suddenly became heavier, his face was also a little unnaturally flushed, looking at Alexander, whose eyes were full of anticipation, he hesitated slightly, and immediately fell to the ground: "I am willing to give everything for His Majesty the Emperor, including the lives of me and my family." ”

Alexander smiled with satisfaction, he looked at Escanomi prostrate in front of him, and for the first time felt the wonderful taste of power. It's just that when he thought of the money he was going to take out, he felt a little distressed, and then thought about it, as long as he sat firmly on the emperor's throne, how much money he would not make in the future, and the necessary investment should still be made.

After getting Alexander's promise, Escanomi immediately took action, he made a list of trustworthy people and handed it to Alexander, these people are some down-and-out nobles who are dissatisfied with the status quo, if you want to talk about strength, there is still a little more, but it has been going downhill, the prospects are very bleak, and now there is an opportunity for them to revive their family style, of course they can't ask for it, they all promise to be loyal to Alexander, and gather the young men in the family to form some armies under Alexander's direct command, The number of people is not very large, that is, more than three thousand. Although these young men were used to a laid-back life like the average Roman, the financial pressure of the family made them also seek opportunities to make a career, and they did not have much resistance to joining the army as a knight compared to those with better family conditions. Although the Romans did not like to be soldiers now, their habit of exercising was still maintained, and as long as they were trained and fought a few times, it was entirely possible for these 3,000 men to become a strong force.

Alexander was ruthless, gritted his teeth, and took out a large sum of money to equip these three thousand people, at this time he was especially grateful to Sun Shao, if it wasn't for Sun Shao's promise to build a paper mill in Rome and hand over the right to sell to him, so that he could earn a lot of money, where would he have the money to equip these three thousand men and horses now.

Of course, Alexander's formation of the new army could not be concealed from Momia, but Momia remained silent until Maximus, the general of the Guard, said to her that the new army was of no use except to show off its might and oppress the people in the city of Rome, and she had Alexander called.

As soon as he entered the door, Alexander strode up to Momia and said with a smile: "Mother looks more beautiful, but her face is not very good, is she sick?" ”

Momia's eyebrows furrowed, and she smiled, "I'm just a little uncomfortable, but it hasn't affected anything yet." But His Majesty's newly formed army turned the city of Rome upside down, doesn't His Majesty the Emperor know? ”

Alexander shook his head quietly: "Did Maximus say it?" ”

Momia looked at Alexander in some surprise, she found that Alexander had a strange feeling between his gestures, and she couldn't help but be stunned for a moment when she saw the figure of a certain person. It wasn't until Alexander shook his hand in front of her that she came back to her senses and said with a disguised sneer: "You don't care who said it, first ask if it's the truth." ”

"Of course not the truth." Alexander put away his smile, stepped forward and grabbed Momia's smooth shoulders, and said softly: "Mother, think about it, we have more than 30,000 guards, almost all of them are in the hands of Maximus and a few of them, the soldiers listen to them more than us, we spend a lot of gold every year, but we cultivate strength for them, is this our original intention?" ”

Momia's eyes flashed, and she didn't say anything, just nodded silently.

"Maximus is a general who trains troops, but how much time do you think he has to train in the barracks now? Can the Guards' combat skills be compared to before? Last time in Axum, I saw the 10,000 guards of the king of Yue, and I had a feeling at that time that if we had a conflict, Maximus and his 30,000 guards might not be able to stop the 10,000 guards of the king of Yue. Mother, do you know that when Maximus faced the guard generals of the King of Yue, he didn't even dare to draw his sword. ”

"Alexander, you can't slander Maximus like that, he is a brave man." Momia was a little angry, Maximus had helped her take control of Rome when she needed help the most, and was once her guest of the scene, although now they no longer maintained that relationship, but Maximus was still a real man in her eyes, and could not be so belittled by Alexander.

"I didn't slander him, mother, I saw it with my own eyes." Alexander was not angry, and recounted what happened outside the post house that day, and finally said: "King Yue said that this general of his guard is a very hard worker, and in addition to protecting him, he has been tempering his martial arts all the time. He is now the only person who has practiced that kind of mysterious martial arts like King Yue, and it takes less time than King Yue, because he knows that the meaning of his existence is to protect King Yue, so he must make himself stronger. Mother, what is Maximus up to now? Is he an improvement or a regression compared to a decade ago? ”

Momia was speechless, and suddenly, she realized that Alexander had a point.

Alexander saw all the changes in Momia's eyes, and his heart was happy, he had never spoken so eloquently in front of his mother, and now that he had three thousand troops loyal to him, he suddenly had courage.

"Mother, we have been fighting with the Sassanids for several years, and it can be said that we have not gained the upper hand once, and now we have to form an alliance with the Yue Kingdom to contain the Sassanids. Did our Guards general, Maximus, ever have a trace of humiliation? Was he in a hurry? Has he ever grieved? No! Now I have formed another 3,000 men, which is only a tenth of the number of the Guards, and he has come to my mother to spread rumors, why? Is it really because the new army is doing nonsense in the city of Rome? No, he was not worried about the safety of Rome, because his men were the ones who really harmed Rome, he was worried about his rights being shared. ”

"But...... Alexander, we still need the support of the Guards to ensure safety, and if you annoy them, wouldn't it be ......"

"Mother, I am the Roman Emperor, and I should be in charge of their destiny, not for them." Alexander interrupted Momia: "The reason why I formed a new army of three thousand was to tell him that if he is not loyal to me, I will choose those who are willing to be loyal to me. ”

Momia was stunned for a long time, and then sighed leisurely: "My Alexander, I am very happy that you have grown up, but I want to remind you that although your ideas are very good, you underestimate the strength of Maximus and them. He may be a little weak against the Sassanids, but when it comes to dealing with the people of Escanomi, he will not even shed a bead of sweat. ”

Alexander smiled, stared into Momia's eyes, and said in a deep voice: "I'm not afraid, I'm not only Escanomy and them, I also have you, the most beautiful and wise mother in all of Rome, and a best friend, His Royal Highness the wise and brave King Yue." ”

(To be continued)