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Hearing the drums at the head of the city, the archers under the city subconsciously shrank their necks and tried their best to hide under the giant shield, they are the most shabby troops in the Sassanid army, not only there is no iron armor, even the minimum leather armor is not complete, if you are shot by the opponent's arrows, the possibility of injury is very large. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

However, these archers clearly underestimated the lethality of the Han crossbow array, and the rain of arrows pouring from the city not only exceeded their estimates, but also far exceeded their expectations, causing the archers who thought they were safer to suffer a major blow.

The sound of "Xiu Xiu" was endless, and the sound of arrows echoed with the screams of the Sassanid archers, almost none of the archers within one hundred and twenty paces were spared, and nearly half of them were attacked sharply beyond one hundred and twenty paces, and the losses were very heavy, and the Sassanid archers without effective armor fell under the blow of a dense array of arrows of about ten breaths, only some of the people at the back survived, they were stunned to see the dense arrows and corpses in front of them like lush thatch, shrouded in great fear, He forgot to run away, and was silent for a while, not knowing who reacted the most, let out a sharp scream, threw away the bow and arrow in his hand, and turned around and ran.

The morale of the Sassanids was devastated.

Ardashir grimaced, waved his hand, and the guards swarmed forward, picked up the sharp knives in their hands, and slashed at the archers who were rushing wildly, and the frightened archers didn't even think that this would be the case, and they were killed by the guards before they could react.

In the face of greater death, the Sassanid soldiers were silent as stones, although they were not as immersive as the archers, but most of them had been fighting for many years, and the intensity of the rain of arrows could also tell how fierce the counterattack at the head of the city was, and the more experienced people could even estimate the coverage of the opponent's arrow array from the number of archers who fled, and all this made their hearts tremble.

The Sassanids were not good at attacking cities, but in the past, neither the Sabbates, nor the Kushans, nor the Romans, had a clear advantage in armament, and now they felt the strength of their opponents, and compared to these arrow arrays, the warriors who killed Alpha and the other three that day had little deterrent effect.

Ardashir's face was expressionless, and he ordered to attack again, and another group of archers stepped forward in a neat queue, but this time, they were obviously a little more tragic and a little nervous.

The two sides attacked each other again with arrows, this time the Sassanids were prepared, did not dare to get too close to the city wall, put the distance a hundred paces away, and the casualties were much smaller, but the problem also arose, without entering a hundred paces, they did not pose any threat to the city head at all. And after entering a hundred paces, their casualties increased sharply, and even if the giant shield was added, the archers could only hide behind the giant shield in embarrassment, and their attack power was greatly affected.

Ardashir had a headache, at this moment, the other three guards also encountered the same problem, and sent people to ask, but in half a day, the Sassanid archers have lost more than thirty percent, and so far they have not found an effective way to deal with it, if they continue to do it, the Sassanids may lose all their archers, and when the time comes, they will have no means to restrain the counterattack of the city.

Ardashir pondered for a moment, decisively gave the order to withdraw his troops, and the battle that had been prepared for more than ten days was hastily over, and a large number of siege equipment did not have time to come in handy. Without the cover of archers, it was quite hasty to let the soldiers go forward to attack the city, Ardashir may not have heard of the famous saying "will not be discouraged in battle", but he knew it very well.

Watching the Sassanids slowly retreat, listening to the excited shouts of the Axumites at the head of the city, although Sun Shao was full of smiles, there was no smile in his eyes. Although Ardashir lost a lot of archers, he did not break his bones, and he took the initiative to retreat now, not defeated, but to seek better siege methods, such a person is not easy to deal with.

"King Shengming, the Sassanids have been beaten away." Valag smiled excitedly.

"Hehe, he's going to run fast, or he'll have to knock out his teeth." Sun Shao put on a frivolous smile and laughed.

"The king is absolutely right." Warag rubbed his hands together and looked very happy: "King, today is a great victory, shouldn't you reward it to boost morale?" ”

"Well, reward them with a little wine and meat, but not too much, we haven't caught Ardashir and Shapur yet, we have to keep a little."

Warag nodded again and again, and happily went out to make arrangements. Yu An frowned, walked up to Sun Shao and said, "King, Warag seems to be overzealous, you must be on guard." Sun Shao glanced at him and nodded with a smile: "Shiping, are you still used to military life?" ”

Yu An was a little surprised, and then said with some excitement: "Although the army is a little harder, but it can train people, and the minister now knows why the generals who come out of the Destruction Battalion are always so arrogant." ”

"Hahaha......" Sun Shao couldn't help laughing, "If you eat hard, you will become a master." You are knowledgeable, and you can go through the devil training of the Destroying Blade Battalion, and you will be a pillar of talent in the future, I think Zhongxiang Guild will be proud of you. ”

"Thank you, King, for the compliment." Yu An was a little excited, and said in a trembling voice.

"Since you're not comfortable with the Wallag, be careful." Sun Shao paused, and then said: "In fact, this is the same as doing research, discovery always starts with doubt, but doubt is not equal to conclusion, and we can't draw conclusions based on feeling before there is no conclusive evidence." ”

Yu An was stunned for a moment, tasted it attentively, and his eyes showed a glint of joy: "What the king said is very true, thank you for the king's order." ”

"However, quietly enter the village, don't shoot, let Warag find out that someone is investigating his words, it is not good for people's peace of mind, this is an extraordinary time, don't make unnecessary misunderstandings." Sun Shao smiled and waved his hand, turned around and left. Yu An didn't understand for a while, there was no weapon like a gun in the Han Dynasty, let alone a gun, but he still understood what Sun Shao meant, and turned around and left in understanding.

Hearing the news of the failure of the siege, Shapur hurried back to the camp with his guards, and as soon as he entered the tent, Ardashir was standing in front of the large map in contemplation, when he heard footsteps, he just tilted his head and waved his hand to signal him to sit down. Shapur tucked the horsewhip into his belt, poured himself a glass of water, drank it with a clatter, wiped his mouth, and then said: "Did my father mean to withdraw the army?" ”

Ardashir was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at him and thought for a moment: "What do you think?" ”

Shapur was also not modest, and said bluntly: "The Romans are busy with the civil war, although the Senate has gathered a large army again, but those Romans, although they are strong, are no longer those brave warriors who can endure hardships and stand hard work, their sturdy bodies are just the capital of each other in the bathroom, their spirits have long been washed away by the water in the bathroom, and the people in the Senate are still dirtier than the water in the bathroom, and they value their rights more." Alexander is dead, the Severus family has broken their bloodline, Momia is a woman, how long can she last if she has the ability? They were no match for Maximus at all, and if I guessed correctly, Maximus must have been singing high, and should have reached Asia Minor by now, perhaps having crossed Byzantium. Regardless of whether he can finally enter the city of Rome, Rome will not be able to cause us any trouble in three years, and without the response of the Romans, the Kushan people will not dare to act rashly, this is a good opportunity for us to annihilate the Yue people in one fell swoop, how can we leave now? ”

"Defeating the Yue people is more important than attacking Rome and Guishan?" Ardashir asked with a calm face: "I originally thought that as long as 100,000 troops besieged the city, it would only be a matter of time before the city of Axum was breached, but the two setbacks made me think that we may have thought too simply. ”

"Why?" Shapur asked, puzzled.

"The first question, why can Sun Shao go but not go?" Ardashir raised a finger, frowned slightly, and seemed to be a little puzzled: "Although our iron cavalry is fast, but after all, it is so far away, he still has enough time to leave Axum, as long as he leaves Axum, to the sea, even if we have millions of iron horses, we can only look at the sea and sigh." But why didn't he leave? ”

Shapur was about to speak, and so far he had not told Ardashir about the shadow of the Wallag, just as Ardashir had not known until now that Maximus's sudden backlash was due to an agreement between them. Armenia's victory established his status as a successor, and Aksum's victory would further strengthen that status, not to mention that he now did not know if Warag would still be able to keep his promise, in case he told Ardashir, and Warag had already willingly thrown himself to Sun Shao, then he would be passive.

"The second question, where did the Vietnamese reinforcements go? Are they really afraid to go ashore because they are afraid of us, and watch the city of Axum besieged by us? ”

Ardashir twisted his fingers slightly, and his eyes did not look at Shapur, as if he was lost in thought.

"Perhaps, they know that we won't be able to conquer the city for a while?" Shapur said tentatively.

"Impossible." Ardashir shook his head without thinking: "It is the king of Yue who is besieged in the city, and none of the courtiers dare not come to the rescue for this reason, if I am trapped in Ctesiphon, you may not come to support because of Ctesiphon's sturdiness?" ”

Shapur hurriedly shook his head, he didn't dare to have such a plan, he didn't dare to think that only the monarch used the courtiers as bait, which courtier dared to beat the monarch as bait. But when I think about it this way, the current situation is indeed a little weird.

What tricks are the Yue people playing? Shapur was also a little puzzled, and he was suddenly not so confident in his analysis.

"It's not going to be refunded so quickly, it's just that I think these things are very puzzling." Ardashir sighed and rubbed his somewhat sore eyebrows: "Alpha was killed in the first battle, and nearly half of the archers were lost in the second battle, I have fought for many years, and I have never encountered such a big loss, but I didn't expect that the small city of Axum has become a hard bone that I can't gnaw on." Alas, I have long heard that the Han people are good at defending the city, but I didn't expect them to have such an ability to defend the city, I still underestimated them. ”

"Father, attacking or not defending is not the way to win after all." Shapur patiently persuaded: "The Greeks besieged Troy for ten years and finally succeeded, is Axum stronger than Troy?" Thinking that they had been prepared, but we were not well prepared, and it was inevitable that some soldiers would be injured, but as my father said, Sun Shao, the king of Yue, was trapped in the city, although we couldn't attack it for the time being, and he didn't dare to come out, didn't the people of Yue come to help him? As long as we defeat these reinforcements, Sun Shao will not be able to run away sooner or later. ”

"Hehe, have you ever thought that we are thousands of miles away from the country, and this grain and grass is a big problem? Not to mention, most of this place is desert, the climate is also very different from Ctesiphon, and the water and grass are not as abundant as ours, which is a big problem for war horses. What worries me is that if the Vietnamese want to transfer troops from the country, I am afraid that before their reinforcements arrive, we will not be able to support them. ”

Shapur smiled faintly: "This is simple, we don't need to transport grain thousands of miles from Ctesiphon, just plunder nearby, Axum, Egypt can be, even if it is three feet into the ground, we have to collect the food needed by the army." If my father is not worried about others, I am willing to take on this task to ensure that my father has no worries. ”

Ardashir let out a long sigh, "That's the only way to do it." However, you don't need to do this kind of thing yourself, just find someone at random, you still have to be careful to guard the seaside, don't let those Yue people take advantage of the loopholes. ”

Shapur nodded, and seeing that Ardashir was undiminished, he persuaded again: "Father, don't worry, although the Yue people are tough with bows and crossbows, they don't dare to go out of the city, as long as we make more giant shields and advance steadily, there is still a chance to break the city." ”

Ardashir nodded yes. He quickly recruited a few generals and asked them to take people to the nearby areas to collect grain and grass, and of course the vicinity of Axum was inevitable, and even the northern provinces of Egypt suffered greatly. With food and grass, Ardashir settled down and made a large number of huge shields, ready to attack the city again.

At this moment, Shapur received an envoy from Warag and told them about Sun Shao's concerns.

When Shapur heard this, he was a little confused: "Aren't you afraid that we will attack the city, but you are afraid that we will not attack the city?" ”

The secret envoy nodded again and again: "This is what the king of Axum personally heard from Sun Shao, the king of Yue, he said that they are experts in defending the city, and the Sassanids are a people on horseback, and they are not their opponents at all in defending the city, even the Sassanid siege weapon stone throwing machine can not work, and the archers are far behind, you attack the city, just so that they have the opportunity to kill and wound a large number of your soldiers and frustrate your spirit." ”

Shapur's face became ugly: "Can't the stone thrower hurt them?" ”

The envoy nodded affirmatively: "This is what I saw with my own eyes, they hung a lot of things called wooden curtains in important places, whether it was your grass balls or mud blocks, they didn't have much strength to hit them, but they collected them and prepared to fight back." I heard them say, what is this called softness and what is rigid. ”

"What softness and what rigidity?" Shapur pondered for a while: "Overcome rigidity with softness? ”

"Yes, yes, that's the word." The secret envoy said admiringly: "The prince is still knowledgeable, and he even knows that Chinese is so difficult to learn." ”

Shapur smiled reservedly, and let the envoy talk about the appearance of the wooden curtain, he also felt a little incredible, such a thing can actually restrain the powerful stone thrower? What is it really that softness overcomes rigidity? Shapur found it too difficult to understand, he has always believed that the fast fights the slow, the strong bully the weak, and it is difficult to accept the theory that the soft overcomes the strong.

"What can you king do?" Shapur quietly returned to the point.

"The king of my family is waiting for an opportunity, but the Yue people don't trust him, it's not time yet, I hope the prince will give him some more time." The secret envoy put away his smile and said very cautiously: "The king of my family said that once he has the opportunity, he will definitely guide the prince into the city and capture Sun Shao, the king of Yue, but ...... Hopefully, the prince will keep his word. ”

"Don't worry, I said that if I gave him Egypt, I will give it to him." Shapurmo held the beast's head on the hilt of his knife and said lightly: "However, this is a premise, if he can't lead us into the city in time, he doesn't want Egypt." He's safe and secure in the city, but we consume a lot of food every day, and we can't last long. ”

The secret envoy did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly promised to contact Shapur as soon as possible, and finally discussed some details before leaving in a hurry. Shapur sat in the tent and did not move, looking at the sketch of the wooden curtain drawn by the secret envoy just now, pondering, thinking for a while, suddenly picked up a porcelain cup on the case, and threw it towards the tent with force, the porcelain cup hit the tent, was bounced, fell to the ground, and cracked in half with a "snap". Shapur walked over and picked up the porcelain cup and looked at it carefully, his eyes flashing thoughtfully.

Shapur quickly told Ardashir the news of the contact with the people from the city, and by the way, he told Ardashir about the discovery of the mantle, and Ardashir was also a little surprised when he saw Shapur's demonstration, and was very interested in the principle of overcoming rigidity with softness. However, he was more interested in the presence of the Varagh than in the mantle.

"Can he be trusted?"

"It should be credible." Shapur said with confidence: "The Romans gave Axum as a gift to the Yue Kingdom, and now Axum has to surround Sun Shao like a dog every day, how can he be willing?" Not to mention that he also coveted the land of Egypt. He glanced at Ardashir, whose face was calm, and he did not seem to object to giving Egypt to Waraq, and he reassured himself.

"Well, we do have some chances." Ardashir nodded slowly: "Contact him again, let him open the city gate as soon as possible and lead us into the city, before that, I will attack the city twice more to make Sun Shao happy." When people are proud, they are more likely to get carried away and relax their vigilance. ”

"Father is wise." Shapur bowed down and said, "I'll send someone to contact him immediately." ”

"Hmm." Ardashir waved his hand: "Have you received any news from Maximus?" Where is he now? ”

"The news half a month ago said that he had attacked Byzantium last month, and Gordian's army was about to arrive in Byzantium, and they could have a big battle there. According to the time estimate, they should have already handed it over by now. ”

"Gordian, although he is older, he is also a man who can fight, and I don't know if the barbarian Maximus is his opponent."

Shapur smiled disapprerovingly: "Even if Gordian wins, what can he do, he still relies on the main force of the Lords, Gauls, and Goths, and if he wins the barbarian Maximus, he will have to face more barbarians." I really don't know what the Romans think, they actually use mercenaries as the main force, just like a rich man who hands over his house to robbers, but he covets comfort and is as fat as a pig, how can he be safe for a long time, and sooner or later he will be slaughtered. ”

Ardashir smiled sympathetically.

…… In Byzantium, the silver-haired Gordian stood on the city wall, looking worriedly to the east, and his son Gordian the Younger stood behind him, with a look of indignation. They had just received news from Rome that the new Emperor Quintus had given them the latest order to fight Maximus in Byzantium, and to keep the large army led by Maximus east of the Bosphorus. He felt that this order was very unreliable, how could he be an opponent of Maximus with his current strength? He has 40,000 troops in his hands, but among these 40,000 troops, what can really fight is more than 20,000 barbarian mercenaries, if it is against other people, then these mercenaries although the military discipline is scattered, but they can still come in handy, and now the Maximus himself is a barbarian, in case these barbarians defect on the battlefield, then the 20,000 Romans who were hastily put together will be dangerous.

"Father, this is probably the woman's idea again, right?" Little Gordian couldn't help but say.

"So what?" Gordian shook his head helplessly: "It was she who moved the Yue people to help, and the people in the Senate believed her, what can we do." ”

"The people in the Senate are really confused, Alexander is useless enough, and he still wants to make Alexander's widow the emperor, for this child who doesn't know if he can feed it, he actually has that stupid guy from Quintus as the emperor, and the result is not that Momia is in control? Vietnamese people help? Will the Vietnamese help us Rome, or will they help her Momia alone? ”

"Don't talk about it." Goldian waved his hand, interrupting his son's jail. He was also dissatisfied with this matter, but there was no way, the rescue of the Yue people was begged for by Momia, and most of the people in the Senate were now supporters of Momia, even if he had an opinion, he couldn't help it. What's more, what he is most worried about now is how to deal with Maximus's army, if it is a head-to-head battle, I am afraid that he has no chance of winning, and Rome's last hope may be buried here.

"General, there is an envoy from the Yue Kingdom who asks to see you." A hurried voice interrupted Gordian's train of thought.

"The envoy of the Yue country? Their reinforcements are coming? Surprised and delighted, Gordian hurriedly raised his eyes to see a middle-aged man in a Vietnamese robe standing in the distance, looking at him with a smile.

"Father, it's the envoy of the Yue Kingdom named Jiang Gan."

Gordian didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly stepped forward to greet Jiang Gan, Jiang Gan saw the worry in Gordian's eyes, and comforted with a smile: "Don't worry, my lord, my king has sent the most capable general and 20,000 elites in my Yue country, and this time I will definitely be able to defeat the traitor Maximus." ”

(To be continued)