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Fire, fire everywhere. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The north gate of Ctesiphon soon burned into a sea of fire, and the fire spread further into the city with canisters falling from the sky, and the ballista guns hidden under the walls were the first to suffer, and the flowing fire first swept the gunners inside, and then ignited the mobile artillery carts lined up in a phalanx. The main parts of these ballistas are wood, and they are oiled to make them waterproof, and they quickly burn when they are ignited.

The Sassanids cried wolf howls, pushing each other and fleeing, some people subconsciously fell to the ground and rolled, but as soon as they fell, they regretted it, the ground was full of flowing oil, and the burning was even more violent, but they never had a chance to correct their mistakes, and their companions flocked to them, and countless feet trampled them to the ground, and they struggled hard, and tripped more people, screaming and wailing in the flames, and the strong smell of burnt oil mixed with the choking smell of oil, made people smell sick.

The gates of the city became a veritable purgatory, and countless Sassanid warriors suffered in purgatory.

Ardashir ran fast, and was carried by the Praetorian Guards, and escaped from the fire along the wall leading to the palace, and his heart sank to the bottom as he watched the flames dancing wildly in front of him, and at the smoke that covered the sky. He could estimate that not only did the ballista at the city gate have no time to move, but even more miserable is the soldiers in the two urn cities, they have no way to escape, this fire will kill at least five or six thousand people, and the entire north gate will be burned to ruins.

The only thing that reassured Ardashir was that with such a big fire in the way, even though the city was in chaos and there could be no more resistance, the Han people could only watch from the outside, even if the fire was extinguished, the burning ground would not allow a foothold, and at least for a day, the Han people would not be able to enter Ctesiphon from here.

The Sassanids are not ignorant of fire, they are very familiar with the viscous grease produced in these deserts, they call it the devil's sweat beads, they not only use this grease as medicine and paving, but also divide this grease into two categories, the white one is used for lighting, this kind of oil smoke is relatively less, and the black one is usually not used at home because the black smoke is too large, but it is often used when defending the city. Ardashir prepared a large amount of this grease, ready to pour it down and burn the enemies who climbed the city when the opponent attacked the city with a ladder. This kind of grease is very adherent, and once it is stained, it is difficult to remove, and it is very lethal.

However, Ardashir did not expect that the other party also used this grease as an offensive weapon, and even created a surname to put this grease in a clay pot, use it as a ballista cannon to launch it, and then use a rocket to ignite it remotely. Ardashir has always been proud that he has a strong wall and clears the wilderness, so that the other party does not have enough artillery to use, but he did not expect that the other party actually came up with such a vicious idea, and the lethality caused is even farther than the artillery.

A single cannon stone kills three or four people at most, but a jar of oil is enough to burn ten people, and as long as it is stained with a little fire, it will shed its skin without dying, as evidenced by the screams of pain of countless soldiers in front of them.

Did Ahura really abandon me? The other party not only solved the problem of insufficient artillery, but also invented such a vicious weapon with the devil's sweat beads? How do they know what these fats are for? The Romans, the Romans must have told them.

Ardashir screamed, spat out a mouthful of blood, and fainted.

The Romans and Kushans were also dumbfounded. Sun Feng gave them most of the few cannons, enough for them to fire at full strength for two days, and he himself left forty ballistas, but only a few guns, if all forty ballistas were dispatched, his guns would only be enough for two hours at most. At first, Quintus and Bo Tuo thought that Sun Shao was just a false shot, and that they would soon be engaged in a strong attack after a short period of artillery bombardment, so their task was mainly to contain the other party, not to ascend the city. With this guess in mind, they used all their strength at the outset, letting the gunners fire as fast as possible to attract the attention of the city.

They never thought that Sun Feng also hid such a hand, this fire burned very suddenly, very violently, not only Ardashir was defenseless, Quintus and Bo Tune were also defenseless, looking at the black smoke that covered the entire sky, almost everyone was thinking, the Han people are the fire virtue, the Yue country is the fire in the fire, and it is really the pride of the god of light, and the fire attack is superb, and it is impossible to prevent it. It turns out that fire can not only be used to burn people who climb the city when defending the city, nor can it be used to burn the city gate when attacking the city, but it can also be used as a cannon to fire the enemy from a long distance, and the lethality is more powerful.

After a slight hesitation, Quintus immediately sent people to the foot of Sun Feng's general's platform and asked for the transfer of oil bombs, which they would also use to attack the city walls. Unexpectedly, Sun Feng refused. He said that the attack was only to warn Ardashir and prove to him that my grandson Bong was the protector of Ahura, and not to burn down the entire city of Ctesiphon. As an ancient city with a long history, the city of Ctesiphon has been the capital of Parthia and Sassanid for more than 400 years, how can I bear to burn this famous city down? Moreover, there are more than 100,000 people in the city, all of whom are Ahura's people, and I have promised Ahura to treat them well, how can I go back on my word and push them all into the purgatory of death.

Quintus was speechless, and he remembered the voice from the sky when the miracle had happened last night, that Ahura had indeed asked Sun Bong to be kind to his people, or else he would abandon Sun Bong as he had abandoned Ardashir. Although he felt that Sun Feng was suspected of hiding his secrets, he had seen these things with his own eyes, and it was not good to force Sun Feng to take them out and share them.

Besides, if he had such a sharp weapon himself, he would probably find some excuse and keep it for himself.

After burning the north gate to a sea of fire, Sun Feng ordered the attack to be stopped, and sent people to stand on the top of the siege engine to shout to the city, hoping that Ardashir would see the situation clearly, not to put up a stubborn resistance, and bring unnecessary sacrifices to the people and soldiers in the city.

The shouting person stood on the siege vehicle in a big way, no longer had to be as embarrassed as Cao Zhi just now, the city walls within the attack range of the ballista were already blazing, and there was no need to worry that someone in the fire would shoot arrows or fire ballistas.

Cao Zhi and Li Yan boarded the siege vehicle with their guards and admired their results up close. Because Cao Zhi discovered the enemy's large-scale gathering in time, replaced the artillery, and gave the defenders a head-on blow, bringing the battle into a favorable situation in advance. Although he has not yet reached the city, Cao Zhi is already the first to work. He was in a very good mood now, even when he smelled the stench, he felt very happy. The only pity is that this kind of black oil burned up and the smoke was too big, falling from the sky, and soon dyed his snow-white daze into flowers, and even the Mingguang armor rewarded by his father Cao Ying was stained with a lot of black oil, which was very inconsistent with his image of a merry and talented man and a Confucian general.

"Zijian, don't you want to recite poetry in this situation?" Li Yan shouted loudly through the three siege vehicles. Encouraged by the huge victory, seeing that Tessie's closure was within reach, he couldn't help but be a little old-fashioned, and joked with Cao Zhi.

"Hahaha......" Cao Zhi looked up to the sky and laughed: "Brother Zhengfang, I only have murderous spirit now, no poetry." I'm waiting for Prince Sun to give an order to go first, and when the time comes, Brother Zhengfang won't fight with me. ”

"Make poetry, I don't fight with you. I'm the one who will go to the city. Li Yan stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Zijian, you have already made a meritorious contribution, don't fight for this second merit, right?" ”

"That's not going to work." Cao Zhi waved his hand, "If you don't kill the city head yourself, how can you enjoy it." ”

"In that case, then let's not be polite, let's rely on our abilities." Li Yan laughed loudly: "I'm afraid that Ardashir will be instigated by this fire and open the door to surrender, and at that time, we will have no quarrel." ”

"No, it won't." Cao Zhi said with confidence: "That old dog is a character, and he won't surrender so easily." I think Prince Sun is a little whimsical. ”

Li Yan smiled and didn't answer his words. This Cao Zijian is really a madman, and he actually criticized Sun Feng in front of so many soldiers. Although these soldiers are either from Wei or Shu, and none of them are from Yue, Sun Feng is the main general after all, and he has just burned Ardashir to the ground with a fire, and it is very likely that he will take the impregnable Taixi Seal City in a short period of time, and this alone is enough for all the soldiers to worship, so that countless young heroes yearn for it, how can he criticize him for being whimsical at this time.

There was a dead silence at the head of the city. The Sassanians on the walls on both sides of the gate were silent as they looked at the burned towers, and the city stopped attacking, and they also stopped fighting back, but looking at the changed towers, most of them remembered the miracle they had seen last night.

Ahura has appeared, and the Han people are really a fire in the fire. He stopped attacking now, not because he was incapable of continuing the attack, but because he had fulfilled his promise to Ahura that he would be kind to the people of Ahura.

Tessie fell into an eerie silence, and everyone waited for Ardashir's reply.

The palace was in chaos.

Ardashir lay on the brocade couch, his teeth clenched, and he did not react to the chaos around him, except that his chest was still heaving, and he was no different from a dead man. A big war that had been prepared for several months was fought like this on the first day, which surprised everyone and messed up. Ardashir's sudden fall pushed the chaos to the brink of collapse.

Aquila, the high priest, with a dozen priests, knelt in front of the altar in the palace, reciting prayers over and over again, and there was an indescribable panic in the rapid chanting.

Several of Ardashir's sons and more than a dozen cronies and generals surrounded the brocade couch, with different faces, and more than a dozen women looked at Ardashir motionless from a distance, secretly weeping. Ardashir has always been the undefeated god of war in their minds, they never thought that Ardashir would become like this one day, a fierce battle has just begun, when the two sides were still warming up, they actually suffered such a big loss, and the duel between the two sides just put on a posture, and before they moved their bodies, they were dizzy by the other party's stick, and their morale plummeted, and these people's confidence in Ardashir was shaken.

Did Ahura really abandon the Sassanids?

Many generals were thinking about this problem, although they didn't dare to say it in front of the Ardashir family, but the wandering in their eyes revealed this thought, and they exchanged glances with each other from time to time.

After praying, Aquila looked at these eyes and was anxious in his heart, all the people who could come to the palace were Ardashir's cronies, although they were suspicious, they would not immediately betray Ardashir, because everything they had was given by Ardashir, even if they threw themselves at Sun Feng, they might not be able to get more benefits. In the face of interests, even if the faith is shaken, it will not collapse immediately. But what about the others? Driven by faith, will they surrender Kaejo and welcome the new king of Ahura into Ctesiphon?

As a high priest, Aquila has a far clearer understanding of the truth of religious beliefs than ordinary people, what is a miracle? As the high priest, he has spoken to the gods countless times in a trance, but the miracles displayed in front of the people are all directed by him without exception. Of course he didn't believe in the miracle of last night, but he couldn't say it, and no one believed it, and it would have been worse if it had been made to make people think they had been talking before.

The only way now is to be sure that it is not Ahura, but Ahura's enemy Ariman , and no one knows what the difference between Ahura and Ariman is anyway.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Ahura is very angry that Ahriman has burned our cities and burned our people with sinful fire by the hand of our enemies, and he has decreed that he will perform miracles to punish Ahriman and those devils from the east. Go back and prepare, and I will use the elixir that Ahura'a has just given me to awaken his favored Sassanid king, and he will lead you to defeat Ahriman and his slaves. ”

The crowd looked at each other and took a step back, but they didn't leave. The Praetorian Guard general bowed: "Great High Priest, we dare not disobey the will of Ahura, but we are equally concerned about the body of the Sassanid King, and allow us to see him awake, so that we can bring good tidings to the panicked soldiers." ”

Aquila pondered for a moment, nodded, and without further ado, walked up to Ardashir, pinto with his left hand, and his right hand erected in front of his chest, pinched a mudra like a flame, and recited a few verses softly, and then stroked Ardashir's chest with his left hand, and sang in a loud voice: "Wake up, O king of Ahura's favor, and follow Ahura's teachings, and go and defeat Ahriman and his shameful slave." Arise, save thy people, save Ctesiphon, save Sasanian—"

With the last long note, Ardashir on the brocade couch suddenly moved, opened his eyes suddenly, and shouted: "Great Ahura, I will definitely obey your call, and I will not hesitate—"

Everyone was stunned, and then they looked at each other happily, the frustration on their faces was swept away, and the sunshine returned to their hearts. They pounced on Ardashir, who had just woken up. Ardashir's face miraculously returned to its usual rosiness, and his eyes were bright, and he sat up, parted the crowd around him, knelt down in front of Aquila, and kissed his shoe: "I will surely follow your teachings, defeat Ariman and the hateful devil of the East, and defend Ctesiphon, my people, and Sassanid, even at the cost of my life." ”

"My King, listen to the teachings of Ahura and you will be victorious, and obey the teachings of Ahura and you will have eternal life. Fight with your courage and loyalty, you will be invincible, and no one will be able to stop your blades and horseshoe......"

The generals fell to their knees and chanted aloud in praise of Ahura, and the palace resounded with masculine chanting, and the gloom of the previous moment was swept away. The concubines, who were hiding in the distance, wept with joy, closed their eyes one after another, and began to chant along. When the generals had finished chanting, they kissed Ardashir's hand one by one, and then respectfully withdrew. They then informed the city of Ardashir's miraculous awakening, telling all the soldiers and people that Ahura had not given up on Ardashir, and that he had just used his divine power to awaken Ardashir from a comatose and lead them to victory.

The dreary atmosphere of Tessie's lockdown finally regained a little confidence.

Ardashir breathed a sigh of relief, sat weakly on the wide throne, his sword eyebrows tightened, and looked at Aquila opposite: "Is there any other way?" ”

"I've sent someone to set it up in the city, and there will be some miracles soon, but it's just ......" Aquila smiled bitterly: "I still can't think of any illusion that can show miracles in the air at such a high level, I'm afraid the effect won't be too ideal." ”

"Do as much as you can." Ardashir waved his hand: "The Han people are too cunning, they not only surpass us in creating miracles, but also in siege technology that we can't match, although I have prepared a lot of devil's sweat beads, and I have also prepared tricks to guard against fire attacks, but ......" He sighed in frustration: "I didn't think of such a simple way, let them take the lead in vain, killed and wounded so many soldiers, and they burned the city gate." ”

"The enemy is cunning, and we must be more cunning than them to win this victory." Aquila reassured, "What are you going to do next?" ”

"I still have a lot of ballistas, and if he can do it, we can do it." Ardashir held his forehead in one hand and looked at the void in front of him with a wried brow: "I'm just thinking about how I can make this victory bigger, more like Ahura's will, and not just imitating our enemies." ”

Aquila frowned and thought for a while, and suddenly said, "Why don't you use the ambush soldiers outside the city to burn their camp?" As long as we burn their storage, we have a better chance of winning. It would be great if they could destroy those oil tanks of theirs. ”

Ardashir rolled his eyes, pondered for a while, and nodded slowly: "Yes, this is indeed a good way, and besides, we can do better." ”

(To be continued)