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The city of Ctesi was lively in the early morning, and the people who were disturbed by the shouts of killing outside for most of the night heard a good news as soon as they opened the door: last night, with the help of Ahula, the warriors of Sassanid broke through the enemy army, killing countless enemies, and more than a dozen teams of soldiers escorted the captured Romans or carried the heads of the Romans with spears, and propagandized back and forth on the main streets, telling the people who were panicked by the fire of the previous day to say that they were skeptical, but looking at those prisoners or heads, it was indeed Rome, and naturally there was some faith. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Immediately afterwards, Ardashir made a high-profile worship to the true god Ahura, thanking Ahura for his guidance and help, and once again pushed the atmosphere to a climax. The Sassanid people, who had little confidence in the future, became excited again, and believed the rumors they had heard yesterday that Ahura had performed a miracle and had awakened Ardashir. They all accepted the words of the priest of the temple, and it was not the true god Ahura who had performed a miracle in mid-air the other day, but the evil god Amanra, who had masqueraded as Ahura and bullied the Sassanids.

How could the true god Ahura help the enemies of the Sassanids, and only Ardashir was his true favorite Sassanid king. The people smiled and said to each other.

However, it was only at noon that the joy came to an abrupt end.

With the help of Sun Feng, the Romans reorganized the camp, although there were a lot of losses, but finally basically restored to the original state, they took revenge on the surname of erected a long wooden stake outside the city, along the north wall of Ctesiphon, all the way from the east gate to the west gate, the Sassanid captives were hung on the stakes one by one, the city of Cessian was surrounded by half a circle, and the severed heads were also thrown under the city, a total of nearly 10,000 people, the captured weapons and armor were piled up into a hill, and the ten Sassanid temple spies captured by Yang Xiu were even stripped to the bottom, It was hung in front of the city gate.

Comparing the two, the little results displayed in the city are simply negligible.

In fact, this is not to say that the Romans took advantage, in general, the casualties of the Romans were greater, but the Sassanids suffered in that they had little chance to take prisoners or heads, while the Romans could calmly clean up the battlefield after the war, cut off the heads of those wounded soldiers one by one, and all of them were taken to the city to demonstrate, and even those who were beheaded by the Han army and captured prisoners were also borrowed.

Victory? This is clearly a big defeat, although in fact it is simply invincible, and even comparing the battle situation of the Sassanians and the Romans alone, the Sassanids do have the upper hand. But who is this reasonable? Ardashir looked up to the sky and sighed, originally thinking that although this battle did not achieve the expected goal, it was a small victory after all, but now that he looks at it, how can he seem to have lost another big battle?

It's not over yet.

After arranging the captives and heads one by one, the Romans set up a propaganda team in front of the battle, and shouted in unison under the command, but the content was to exchange prisoners with Ardashir, and they even created a unique trick, reporting the names of the captives one by one, and then the amount of ransom.

Thousands of loud voices shouted, even if Ardashir wanted people to interfere, it was impossible for them to come out, one by one, the names would come out, whether it was the soldiers at the head of the city or the people in the city, they could hear it clearly, those who heard the names of their relatives immediately panicked, and wanted to ask Ardashir but didn't dare, for fear that Ardashir would be angry and angry, pull out a knife and kill people, and if he didn't ask for it, he couldn't bear to watch his relatives being killed, the Romans could say, only give five days, and if they don't redeem after the time, I'm sorry, then they will all hang themselves under the city.

There are too many names, and the first day passed in the registration word, shouting happily outside the city, but listening to it in the city was terrifying, for fear that the next one to shout would be the name of his relatives. It wasn't until nightfall, when the Romans fought at night, and finally finished reading the names of more than 5,000 captives, that they collected their troops and returned to the camp, leaving the people in Ctesiphon in fear.

Ardashir wanted to cry without tears, he never thought that the Romans would use such a method, and when these names were called, people's hearts were confused by them.

What to do? Ardashir urgently summoned his subordinates to discuss countermeasures, and if he waited for this day to continue, he was afraid that there would be chaos in the city.

In the camp outside the city, Quintus feasted Sun Feng and others in the camp, and last night he fought a vicious battle, defeating the invincible Sassanid on the frontal battlefield, and more importantly, little Gordian was attacked by the Sassanids because of carelessness, and suffered heavy losses and lost his reputation, and he could no longer play in front of Quintus, because of his lack of strength, he did not dare to read his strength to camp outside, and took the initiative to ask to return to the city to participate in the siege, which is equivalent to taking the initiative to bow his head to Quintus and be willing to accept his leadership. Quintus won successive battles, and the scenery was unlimited for a while.

Bo Tiao drank the wine, and saw that Quintus was triumphant, and his heart was a little unhappy, so he joked: "Your Rome and Yue are really brothers, now even the layout in the military camp is almost the same, if I don't pay attention, I think that I am now in the camp of the Yue prince." ”

Quintus squinted, a little embarrassed. His camp was burned to pieces by the Sassanids, and at least a third of the materials were destroyed in the fire, so he had to borrow a lot of materials from Sun Feng to resettle them, especially his big tent, because it was too conspicuous, so it became a hard-hit household, and almost nothing was left, and now not only the furnishings in his big tent were all borrowed by Sun Feng, but even his change of clothes were given by Sun Feng, but it was not the same as Sun Feng's camp.

"The king is wrong." Cao Zhi got up and walked in front of Bo Diao, laughed, raised his glass and touched Bo Tiao: "His Majesty the Emperor has been to my Han many times, speaks good Chinese, and is also very familiar with the customs of my Dahan. Cao Zhi picked up a pair of silver chopsticks from the case and stuffed them into Bo Tiao's hand, and said jokingly: "King, if you don't believe it, you might as well compare with His Majesty the Emperor to see if I have told lies." ”

He looked at the basket in his hand, and put the silver chopsticks on the table, he wouldn't use these two sticks to eat, even if it was silver, he rolled back and forth in his hand, and he couldn't grasp it steadily, let alone pick up the vegetables. It has to be said that Quintus is indeed very skilled in this area, and he is very close to the Han people.

Thinking of this, Bo Tuo was suddenly shocked and regretted a little, the Han people were the backing of Quintus, if it weren't for the help of the Han people, this time it would not be as simple as the little Gordian Department being injured and the big camp being destroyed, maybe even Quintus was slaughtered. In this case, wouldn't he offend Quintus not give face to the Han people, especially not to the Sun family's father and son?

"Rome and Yue are brothers, helping each other, deep affection, my Wei is very envious, to tell you the truth, I am planning to set up a relationship with Rome. The country of brothers dare not think about it, but the country of marriage is still possible, right? Cao Zhi looked at the changing face of the wave tone and couldn't help but tease him.

Cao Zhi was just a drunken joke, but Quintus listened to it in his ears and remembered it in his heart, he glanced at Balbinus, and immediately had an idea, so he laughed loudly: "General Cao, I still have a candidate, and the general may like it." Like you, our Balbinus is also the wisest elder of the Senate, not only does he write his own poems well, but he also teaches his children well, and his sons are outstanding in poetry, and even his daughter is also a good export, and her beauty is unparalleled, and she is a perfect couple with the general. If the general is interested, I am willing to draw a string and ask for a glass of wine to eat. ”

Although Cao Zhi doesn't write poetry now, he is still a talented man, and when he heard that there was such a talented and beautiful woman, he did not object, he glanced at Balbinus and groaned slightly. Balbinus had been tired all night yesterday, and had not been rested during the day to-day, and now he had drunk some wine, and was a little dizzy, and he dozed off with his head down, and he did not hear a word of what Quintus said to them. Little Gordian sitting beside him wanted to wake him up, but after thinking about it, he immediately stood up and said with a smile: "General Cao, I have a beautiful woman in Rome, and I have a daughter, although I dare not compare with the daughter of Barbinus, but she is also a talented woman in Rome, and even the queen praised her when she saw it." If General Cao is interested, I am willing to give him to General Cao to serve in the house, and please don't dislike the general. ”

When everyone heard this, they coaxed one after another, Chen Hai stepped forward, hugged Cao Zhi's shoulders and laughed: "Brother Zijian, you can't stop it when luck comes, in my opinion, you don't need to excuse yourself, accept it all." If the march is lonely, you will enjoy the blessings of all people. ”

Yang Xiu also nodded with a smile: "Yes, it is indeed a good thing, the talented men and women of the Han Dynasty and Rome are exactly the same thing." ”

Everyone laughed, Cao Zhi was a little embarrassed, he was originally joking, but he didn't expect that there was a tendency to make it come true. However, his surname is merry, although he has a wife and concubine at home, and he also belongs to another family in his heart, but it is not a bad thing to have a few more Roman concubines, he half-truths and half-truths excused a few words, but Quintus did not dare to slack off, for fear that Balbinus would lose the opportunity, so he hurriedly responded on his behalf.

A celebration banquet suddenly added a lot of joy. There is a bitter saying in the waves, who would have thought that he was just a joke, but the Romans seized the opportunity. Everyone knows that the strongest of the four subject states of the Han Dynasty is the Yue State and the Wei State, and now that the Romans have established a relationship with these two subject states, Quintus's son will not be bad in the future. Little Gordian rushed to give his woman to Cao Zhi, just to get a piece of the pie and not let Quintus take all the benefits alone.

It seems that if Guishan wants to last for a long time, the ancient method of marriage still needs to be used. Bo Tiao laughed playfully while looking at the Han people present to see which one might marry Guishan. That look has a bit of a sense of picking a son-in-law, Chen Hai and others saw it, rushed up, and relentlessly asked what beautiful women there were in Guishan, and the Adi Gui brothers and other Huns, Xianbei and Wuhuan people also followed, saying that they were good sons on horseback like the Guishan people, and they were the right people, and the whole big tent was full of laughter, only Li Yan and others were sitting in danger, but they also had an irrepressible smile on their faces.

After the banquet, Quintus asked Lu Xun to stay, invited him into the back tent, and respectfully gave a salute: "Thank you for the general's good strategy, today, the morale of our army is greatly boosted, all thanks to the general." ”

Lu Xun smiled slightly, shook his hand politely and said: "Your Majesty is polite, this is His Majesty the Emperor's command, and the Roman soldiers have meritorious battles, as it should be, I am just icing on the cake, not worth it." He paused, and then said: "My country and Rome are brothers' countries, and now it is my crown prince as a general, yesterday the Romans fought tenaciously to repel the attack of the Sassanids, and also contributed to the overall situation, the prince is very grateful to His Majesty the Emperor, even if we are a little help, we should be, and please Your Majesty do not see outside." ”

Quintus was very happy and nodded yes again and again. He went out of the camp yesterday to pick up little Gordian, but he didn't expect the Sassanids to take advantage of the situation to attack his camp, almost burning the camp to ashes, repelling Awad and rescuing little Gordian's exploits in the face of this fire became useless, thanks to Sun Feng allocated the corresponding supplies to him in time, so that he could avoid camping, and Lu Xun even gave him an idea, that is, to show all the captives and beheaded heads, and let people roll call one by one, to hit the morale of the Sassanids. This trick worked, and on this day the Romans were in high spirits, while the Sassanids at the head of the city were lifeless, and at first they were noisy and disturbing, and then they had to listen to their unilateral demonstrations. The credit for this plan is no less than the effect of a fierce battle last night.

"General Cao is a person whom the king of my family admires very much, just like General Xiahou, His Majesty the Emperor can marry him, it is really discerning." Lu Xun said in his words. Quintus blinked his eyes and asked tentatively, "Then will he be stationed in Sassanid for as long as General Xiahou is stationed in Sheba?" ”

Lu Xun laughed: "I don't know if it will stay in Sasanian for a long time, but my king has always been rewarded for meritorious service, and with General Cao's literary and martial arts, meritorious service is expected, and it should not be impossible to get a fief in the future." Whether he'll be here forever or not, I don't know. After all, that's an internal matter of Wei, not a matter of my transgression. ”

Quintus understands that he also knows a little about the affairs of Wei, and it is not a secret that the Cao family brothers are fighting for succession, and the current King of Wei is Cao Rui, the son of Cao Pi, and Cao Zhi, the general, is actually not comfortable. Lu Xun specifically mentioned Xiahou Rong again, if Quintus still can't hear Sun Shao's plan, then he is really stupid.

"General, what will be the next arrangement?" Quintus poured Lu Xun a cup of tea with his own hands: "The prince must have discussed it with you, right?" ”

The corners of Lu Xun's mouth twitched: "Don't worry, the king can enter the city at any time." However, the prince is kind-hearted and doesn't want to kill too much, so he has to give in to his heart. The reason why the Sassanids were given five days to ransom them was nothing more than to break the fighting spirit of their soldiers and civilians. Your Majesty, you have done a great job, and if it weren't for these captives, we might not have been able to find such a good opportunity. ”

Quintus laughed heartily and nodded. Lu Xun's idea is really clever, forcing Ardashir to ransom people can not only break the morale of the Sassanids, turn the original battle into a victory for the Romans, but also force Ardashir into a dilemma. It's just that he can't understand what kind of certainty Sun Feng and Lu Xun have, and they dare to say that they can break the city at any time, but when he thinks that Sun Shao dares to let Sun Feng be the main general, he also figured it out, the Han people must still have some secret weapon in their hands, but the time has not yet come, and they refuse to show it, just like they refused to say about the tank bomb before the war.

…… Ardashir consulted with his courtiers for a day, and finally decided to ransom the captives, if they were allowed to be hanged by the enemy one by one at the city gate, then there was no need for Sun Feng to attack, but the people in Ctesifeng's city would open the city and surrender. In order to regain some initiative, he added another item, ransom the bodies of those who died in battle.

When baskets of goods were hung from the walls, the people and soldiers of Ctesiphon, whether or not their relatives had been killed or captured, knelt on the side of the road with gratitude, and silently recited the scriptures for Ardashir's mercy and the greatness of the true god Ahula. It seems that he has retained the support of the soldiers, but he knows that he has actually fallen behind step by step in the battle with Sun Feng, and the initiative has always been in Sun Feng's hands, he is just passively taking over, fortunately, so far, his response is quite safe, and Sun Feng has not been able to catch the flaw. However, passive recruitment is not the same thing after all, when can you take the initiative once?

The thought of taking the initiative to attack made Ardashir's heart ache faintly, in fact, he took the initiative in the battle that night, in order to save the unfavorable situation of being burned by Sun Feng that day. He originally arranged to use the ambush after the war of attrition between the two sides, when Sun Fengjiu could not attack it, but he was forced by the situation and had to launch it in advance, but unfortunately he was one step short in the end, and he still failed to achieve the most desired results, but was calculated by the other party, and almost shook the hearts of the people with the surnames of thousands of captives.

What's next? Ardashir racked his brains and thought hard, he was not afraid of fighting with Sun Feng, his original purpose was to let the enemy come from afar, stop the army under the fortified city, fight for a long time without success, and then take advantage of their gray withdrawal to counterattack, now it is not impossible to do this, but with the previous lesson, he always feels that this situation is a little uncertain, who knows what tricks Sun Feng will play.

What will he do to break the city? Ardashir empathized, put himself on the side of the siege, and began to think about possible siege methods, after a long period of thinking, he suddenly thought of one thing, the whole person froze there, and after a while, he jumped up at once: "Come on!" ”

"The King?" A Praetorian Guard commander hurriedly walked in and bowed.

"Is there any movement in those tunnels under the city gates?" Ardashir asked anxiously, "Did they dig in again?" ”

The commander hesitated for a moment and shook his head blankly: "These two days...... There was no movement. ”

"Really?" Ardashir was stunned for a moment, and looked at the commander with some suspicion.

(To be continued)