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Ctesiphon is on the left bank of the Tigris, and the Dila River flows around the city from the east and joins the Tigris River in the south, and Ctesiphon is at the mouth of the two rivers. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoBecause of this convenience, after Ardashir established the Sassanid Empire here, he diverted water to build a wide moat, making the already strong city of Ctesi even more inaccessible. However, considering the superiority of the Yue State in terms of the sailors, Ardashir ordered a large number of wooden stakes to be laid in the moat, so that the warships of the Yue State Sailors could not directly approach the city wall.

On the right bank of the Tigris is an ancient city left over from the Seleucid period. The two cities stood in the middle of each other, supporting each other, firmly guarding the Tigric River. All the ships that passed through the river were within the attack range of the two great cities, and it was not easy to pass through safely.

However, Ardashir was still not at ease, and despite the opposition of his ministers, he moved all the inhabitants within twenty miles of the surrounding city into the city, demolished all the houses, and brought all the timber into the city, leaving no usable supplies for the approaching enemy. In the face of everyone's doubts about whether Yue and Rome would come to besiege the city, Ardashir affirmed that they would come, and it would not be long, and Ctesiphon would be tested again after Trajan's invasion.

The first sentence was correct, but the latter sentence was wrong. The combined forces of the Han Dynasty, Rome, and Kushan arrived at Ctesiphon, but only three months after Ardashir returned to Ctesiphon. It wasn't until the beginning of October that Sun Shao and Quintus slowly arrived thirty miles outside the city of Taixifeng with an army of 300,000. Ardashir was nervous, but also relieved, with these three months of preparation time, he had made all the preparations, even the food was rushed into the city, and now he was as stable as Mount Tai, and he was sure enough to hold the city of Tessie, so that Sun Shao and Quintus would work in vain outside the city of Tessie.

However, for the Sassanids, who have been mainly attacking for more than ten years, watching the enemy approach step by step, but they can only stick to the city, instead of taking the initiative to attack and defeat the enemy, this is already an unbearable humiliation. In particular, tens of thousands of soldiers who returned from the city of Aksum, they were full of anger and were ready to return these humiliations to the Vietnamese people a hundredfold. As for the Romans, they did not pay attention to them, although the Romans were quite numerous, but Quintus never fought, he only ascended to the throne of the Roman emperor because of a woman, and the 40,000 of the 80,000 most elite troops did not support the Sassanids for half a day, and they had enough capital to despise the Romans.

The Kushan people are similar, in the eyes of the Sassanid people, there are only Yue people, and only Yue people are their opponents, and they are worthy of being their opponents. If it weren't for Sun Shao, the king of Yue, who led the troops this time, the Sassanids would not have entrenched themselves in the city at all, and they would definitely have taken the initiative to defeat the Romans and Kushans both inside and outside the country.

Ardashir is riveting his strength to defeat Sun Shao in the city of Taixi, to wash away the shame and revenge he suffered under the city of Axum with the blood of the Yue people, and to use Sun Shao's defeat to honor the spirits of Alpha and Shapur in the sky. To this end, he worked at full load with rare energy, and did every major thing himself, without letting go of any suspicions, and all the Han merchants, scholars, and all kinds of people who failed to exit Tessifon in time were detained by him, even other people who had been to Yue were also detained on the grounds of war.

The city of Ctesephorn entered an unprecedentedly tense state of war, compared to the Roman Emperor Trajan's siege more than a hundred years ago, the atmosphere of the whole city was depressing, and the heavily armed soldiers walked through the empty streets with neat steps, and the people hid behind the closed doors, staring nervously at these fierce-looking soldiers, not even daring to take a breath of air, for fear of being heard by those soldiers, and then broke through the gate and rushed in.

The priests of the temple were also mobilized by Ardashir, and they walked out of the temple and into the streets, into the homes of ordinary people, and preached ahura to them. Mazda's divine will called on them to obey Ahura's call and obey the orders of Ardashir, King of Sasansan, Alahu's spokesman on earth, to fight against the spokesman of the evil god Ariman Sun Shao. They promised that all those who fought bravely would be pardoned to varying degrees according to the magnitude of their meritorious deeds, and that even the most unforgivable sins would be forgiven, and that when they crossed the bridge of judgment after death, they would be greeted by beautiful fairies and enter heaven.

Zoroastrianism is the state religion of Sasani, and almost all of the nobles and slaves in Ctesiphon believe in Zoroastrianism, and in the mouths of the priests, except for the Ardashir family and a limited number of nobles, most of them are guilty, and the chances of entering heaven are very rare, and a considerable number of them will eventually go to hell to be punished.

With the efforts of all parties, Tessie Lockdown has all the preparations for a fierce battle. Ardashir was as good as a stream, and according to the wooden curtains that Sun Shao had seen in the city in Axum, he also made a large number of wooden curtains to protect the important buildings in the city from being destroyed by the artillery stones that came in from outside the city.

Thirty miles away, Sun Shao and Quintus stopped their progress and met Cao Chang and Bo Diao, who had come to rendezvous. As soon as they met, Bo Tiao first expressed his gratitude to Sun Shao, and then said with some regret: "It's a pity that the king came too late, the Sassanids have made sufficient preparations, if they can arrive a month earlier, the siege will be much easier." ”

Quintus couldn't help but be a little unhappy when he saw that there was no such thing as him in Bo Diao's eyes, but for Sun Shao's sake, he hadn't had a seizure yet, but his face was a little unpleasant.

Sun Shao smiled: "What, the king is worried that I won't be able to capture Taixi's city?" ”

Bo Tuo smiled awkwardly: "How dare I doubt the king's means." I'm just saying that if we had come earlier, the Sassanids wouldn't have been so well prepared, and we would have had a little less difficulty attacking the city. Now Ardashir has moved all the people from the surrounding areas to the city, gathered all the belongings, and collected all this year's grain into the city, and it is tentatively estimated that it will be able to support the army for at least a year. Now the people in the city are stable, but it's not easy to attack. ”

Sun Shao smiled, disappreciated, and asked: "If Ardashir doesn't gather all of these, even if we capture the city of Taixi, how can we distribute it?" King, there are too many of us waiting here to share the spoils, and if there are few, it will not be enough. ”

Seeing that Sun Shao was talking funny, Bo Tiao couldn't help laughing. He thought about it, although he felt that Sun Shao's words made sense, but there was a premise, that is, Sun Shao could capture Tai Xifeng. Can Sun Shao capture Ctesiphon? Bo Tiao didn't know the bottom in his heart, anyway, from his point of view, it was impossible to capture this city with his current strength, even if the Han Dynasty people had more experience in attacking and defending cities than him, but he still couldn't see that Sun Shao might have any magic methods for attacking the city.

Maybe only by relying on the blessing of the gods, Bo Tiao said to himself in his heart, Sun Shao has always been lucky, I hope that this time I can also get the favor of the gods, and conquer the city of Cessi in one fell swoop, not only can destroy the Sassanids, let Guishan breathe a sigh of relief, but also can take some property from Taisiphon to make up for Kushan's losses over the years.

"Then I'll wait to collect the loot." Bo Tune also smiled playfully.

"There are trophies, but only those who have made merit can receive them, but not everyone can participate in the sharing, and those who can't lose the battle must also receive the reward." Quintus interjected. Bo Tuo glanced at him with slanted eyes, his mouth pursed, and he looked disdainfully: "Then I want to see what kind of merit His Majesty the Emperor can make." ”

Quintus's face changed, and he was about to have a seizure, but was stopped by Sun Shao. Sun Shao waved his hand: "Both of you are relaxed, it's okay to joke, but you must not take it seriously." The reason why we were able to meet under the city of Tessy was because we could cooperate sincerely, and if we couldn't, we would only be defeated by Ardashir, and we would regret it later. ”

Quintus and Bo Tune looked at each other unconvinced, and turned their heads in unison. When Sun Shao saw it, he smiled helplessly, these two donkeys really can't be tied to a trough, which is sad. He beckoned, asked Sima Shi to take a map, spread it on the table, and tapped it lightly with his fingers and said, "Two, let's discuss how to divide the Sassanid land after defeating Ctesiphon." I like to do things fairly and reasonably, Tong Su is not bullied, you first weigh your own strength, and then see how much benefit you can get. ”

Bo Tiao glanced at Sun Shao in surprise, and felt that Sun Shao seemed to be too confident, this battle has not yet been fought, and he is preparing to share the spoils first, is he really very confident in winning Tai Xifeng? Bo Tuo was extremely curious, and it was difficult to ask questions, so his heart was itchy, and even his eyebrows jumped up. He walked to the table, glanced at the map, and was immediately taken aback: "The king is really detailed enough on this map?" How far is it? How is this measured? ”

"Of course it's measured by your feet." Quintus said jokingly. Bo Tuo glanced at him, but he didn't say anything, still looking at Sun Shao curiously. Sun Shao smiled: "Wherever my country's merchants pass by, I have a detailed map. The battlefield of the shopping mall, in fact, the truth is almost the same, and the distance is also an important aspect of whether you can benefit, the king, don't you say? ”

Bo Tuo nodded, but he was a little vigilant in his heart, there were also many merchants of the Han Dynasty in Guishan, according to Sun Shao, then Sun Shao also had a map of Guishan at hand? At the beginning, I only knew that the merchants of the Han Dynasty could bring wealth, but I didn't expect them to have these functions, but now it is a little late to ban it, and if it is too obvious, I am afraid that the king of Yue in front of him will not agree. Alas, I can only hope that I will not become his enemy in the future, otherwise I am afraid that I will lose the upper hand before the war starts.

Sun Shao saw the flickering eyes clearly, but he didn't break it. At this time, it is still necessary to put a little pressure on him, so as to save him from half-heartedly not doing his best.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea are now my Yue country, thanks to the trust of His Majesty the Emperor, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea are also at the mercy of my Yue country's sailors, I am a bit of a man, after breaking the Sassanid, I hope to take the Caspian Sea into my pocket, I hope the two of you will not rob me."

Bo was taken aback, no wonder Sun Shao helped the Romans so much this time, it turned out that the Romans not only gave Axum to Sun Shao, but also handed over the sea power of the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea to Sun Shao, there are such great benefits, Sun Shao just does not participate in the distribution of profits, and he has gained a lot. For him, it doesn't matter if he fights Ctesiphon or not, he has already made a lot of money anyway. He groaned for a moment, nervous. Sun Shao was not greedy enough, and he did not give up after taking the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, and he wanted to swallow the Caspian Sea again. The Caspian Sea is located in the north of the Kushan, and if Sun Shao stationed a sailor in the Caspian Sea, it would be equivalent to hanging a knife over the heads of the Kushan people. However, even if Bo Tiao was unwilling, he did not dare to oppose it in person, although this place was originally owned by the Kushan people, but now it has been taken away by the Sassanids, and Sun Shao wants the Caspian Sea, which is also taken from the hands of the Sassanids, which is justifiable. If the wave tune is not allowed, then needless to say, the cooperation in the future, Sun Shao will definitely play ghosts. The Caspian Sea was too far away from the Romans, and the Romans would certainly not object to Sun Shaolai taking over, and they might even be happy to see the jokes of the Kushans.

Bo Tune pondered for a long time, and then he smiled and said, "Is the king ready to develop eastward?" ”

"Not interested." Sun Shao stretched out his hand to pick up a cinnabar pen and drew a line on the map, "The southeast and southeast sides of the Caspian Sea are high mountains. I plan to use the mountains as the dividing line, the side facing the sea is mine, and the side facing the sea is not asking. I don't know what the king wants? ”

Bo Tune breathed a sigh of relief. According to Sun Shao's painting, then the lands that were taken by the Sassanids should still be able to return to Kushan's hands, as long as the Romans do not take the opportunity to intervene. He thought about it for a while, the Kushan people are mainly cavalry, supplemented by farming, the main forces are in the south, the Caspian Sea cannot be taken into account at all, and they have no sailors to enter the Caspian Sea, so it is better to hand it over to Sun Shao, so as not to have a conflict with Sun Shao. Of course, this can't be given in vain, and some benefits must be exchanged.

"My lord, the sea here is a large piece of land. There are a lot of fine pastures in the surrounding area, and my people often graze their cattle there. Sometimes they also cross the Caspian Sea and migrate to pastures on the west coast. The kings occupied the Caspian Sea, and it was not easy for them to migrate in the future. ”

Sun Shao frowned, looking a little surprised: "It turns out that the king's clan has moved to the east coast, but I didn't expect you to adapt to the new place so quickly." If that's the case, then you should graze your cattle there, and I don't want the Caspian Sea, but move to the south. Anyway, I'm new here, so there's no problem with adapting or not adapting. ”

Bo Tuo's face suddenly swollen red. He heard the threat in Sun Shao's words. You want the East Coast, right? Well, the land to the south that was robbed by the Sassanids is mine. Compared with this large area of land to the south, the steppe land on the east and west sides of the Caspian Sea is so sparsely populated that it is not worth mentioning. He hurriedly shook his head and said, "Great King, that's not necessary, we don't have many clansmen there, I'd better let them come back." ”

Quintus smiled dumbly, his expression more disdainful.

"Then thank you for your generosity." Sun Shao smiled and waved his hand: "Then it is decided, the Caspian Sea belongs to me, and the land east of the Caspian Sea and the Zagros Mountains belongs to the king." ”

Bo Tuan nodded again and again, smiling. This land was larger than the land that had been robbed by the Sassanids, and Kushan had earned it.

"The land west of the Euphrates, north of the Syrian desert, and even the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, including Asia Minor, belonged to Rome." Sun Shao drew a large piece of land on the map and said to Quintus with a smile. Quintus didn't say anything, just nodded, he and Sun Shao had already made a deal these days, and now I will say it again, just to listen to Bo. Bo Tiao looked at the map, but was a little surprised: "What about Armenia? Rome doesn't want it? ”

"To the north of Armenia, between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea, all the way to the extremely cold land, is my big man's." Sun Shao pointed to his nose.

The tone of the wave wants to speak and stops. Armenia is a Roman, and it doesn't matter if Quintus likes to send it or not. Besides, there is a sparse population there, there are many barbarians, and there is no profit to be made, so if Sun Shao is willing to ask for it, then give it to him.

"To the east of the Euphrates and to the west of the Zagros Mountains, the crescent-shaped land of the former Berthia and now of Sasani, is uncertain. For although I have the confidence to take Ctesiphon and inflict heavy damage on the Sassanids, it is still unknown whether I will be able to destroy the Sassanids in the end, and perhaps I will have to make peace with Ardashir in the end. In that case, it doesn't make much sense to say that this land belongs now. He glanced up at Quintus and Bo Tune, and smiled, "But I have a proposal, I wonder if you two agree with it?" ”

Quintus remained silent, but once again he was vigilant. Although he was not familiar with Quintus, looking at Quintus's expression, he didn't have to think about it to know that this weak Roman emperor was now Sun Shao's echo worm. They must have discussed on the way how to divide the Sassanid land, and now they are working together against him.

"The king might as well talk about it first, what kind of good proposal is it?" Bo said mischievously without smiling.

"My proposal is that in order to encourage the soldiers of the Three Kingdoms to take the lead in battle, this land will be given as a reward. If the city is broken and the Sassanid is finally destroyed, then this land will be rewarded to those who have meritorious service, whether it is the Romans, or the Kushans, or my Han people, as long as they have merit, they can get a piece of land from it. In the future, this land will not be established as a state, but only a principality, as a buffer zone between the three countries, a free trade zone without tariffs. What do you two think? ”

When I heard the wave tune, my eyebrows jumped suddenly, and then I was happy. He had never thought of intervening here, after all, this place was too far away from the Guishan Kingdom, and even if he wanted to control it, he would be powerless. What's more, if the Sassanid were really to be destroyed, this would become the border between Kushan and Rome, and there would be constant conflicts in the future. And if this place is used as a fiefdom for meritorious officials, according to Sun Shao's suggestion, it will not only solve the problem of future rewards, but also create a buffer zone between Kushan and Rome, and most importantly, this will give every general motivation, and they can work together to solve the Sassanids in one go and completely destroy this strong enemy. If he can't fight it, then this is still the land of the Sassanids, but he is sandwiched between the three kingdoms, and his strength is greatly damaged, and it will not be easy for him to imagine that he is as majestic as he is now.

"The king is clever." Bo Tuo raised his thumb and praised loudly: "I agree with the king's proposal, and I will make this a fief for the heroes." With such a fertile land as a reward, I believe that the soldiers of any country will be like gods possessed, and they will be brave. ”

(To be continued)