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Looking at Quintus and Bo Tuo, who were glaring angrily and unconvinced each other, Sun Shao smelled a strong smell of gunpowder. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 As soon as he sat down, and before he could drink his saliva, Quintus could not help but start accusing the Kushan people of treachery, and Menolulus was even more furious, accusing the Kushan people of being untrustworthy, so that he lost nearly a thousand men, and the victory that was easy to get was lost in a blink of an eye. Bo Tune is disdainful, so many of you can't take it, how many people am I? If you can't move, what's not to do with a break? You can't sleep, blame the pillow crooked.

Mennoluphes flew into a rage, drew his sword and rushed forward to fight with the waves. The Guishan people are not vegetarians, they rushed up, grabbed Mennoluphes and started it, Sun Shao was stunned, these people have already started a group fight.

"!" Sun Shao was furious, stood up, kicked the case table, flew a few steps, and smashed on those who were fighting in a group with a "boom", so frightened that they hurriedly took a few steps back. Sun Shao pointed at Quintus, and then pointed at Bo Tuo, and shouted angrily: "One of you is a Roman emperor and the other is a Kushan king, just looking at your subordinates like ruffians on the street?" You're not ashamed, I'm ashamed. If you want to fight out, don't ask me to do it in my camp. This is my royal tent, not a place for you to fight. ”

Seeing that Sun Shao was angry, neither the Romans nor the Kushan people dared to be presumptuous, and Quintus and Bo Tuo were a little embarrassed, but neither dared to retreat first, they each snorted, turned their heads around, and ignored anyone.

"Tu Hu, bring a hundred tigers over, whoever the hell dares to be presumptuous, pull them all out for me and chop them up." Sun Shao said another cruel word, Tu Hu didn't say a word, he smelled the big tent with a bang, he and Sun Feng stood behind Sun Shao on the left and right, looking at the Kushan and the Romans with angry eyes. Seeing this posture, the Kushan and Romans were all panicked, Sun Shao didn't really plan to slaughter them all, right?

"Uh-huh, still not retreating?" Quintus glanced at Menoluffis, who had a blue nose and swollen eyes, "I believe that His Royal Highness King Yue will give us a fair verdict." ”

"Humph!" Bo Tuo snorted weakly, and looked at Sun Shao with straight eyes, for fear that he would pull the wrong frame and be detrimental to himself.

Ao Lei led people to quickly rearrange the table, Sun Shao sat down again, drank two sips of freshly brewed tea, and then waved his hand and said: "How many times have I told you, harmony is precious, harmony is precious, and you all fart me, right?" There is only one Seleucid ancient city, there are only 10,000 defenders, and now you have a total of 100,000 troops besieging it, and you can't break the city for a while, and there is even infighting. If this reaches Ardashir's ears, do you think it will be a shame? Even Seleucus can't take it, so what are you going to attack Ctesiphon? Let's just break up. ”

Quintus coughed and complained: "In the past few days, we have been attacking the city with all our might, more than a dozen legions have taken turns to fight, and there are many casualties, and today Menolulfes is progressing the most smoothly, and suddenly three siege engines leaned against the city wall, and they were about to attack the city, but because they suddenly retreated, the Sassanids rushed to support, broke the bridge ladder, and frustrated our attack, and watched more than a hundred brave warriors outnumbered and die tragically at the hands of the Sassanids. Your Highness, do you say I'm angry? If everyone cooperates, how can they withdraw at this time? If he had attacked and attracted the Sassanids, we would have been sitting in the city talking by now. ”

"!" Bo scolded a foul sentence and retorted unconvinced: "You think that the Sassanids who interrupted your bridge and ladder are driven from my side?" Can people rush over, and the logs can also be carried over? They clearly prepared it a long time ago, and deliberately let you climb the city wall, thinking that the city was going to be broken, and then cut off your back road. You didn't even see that, have you ever fought? ”

Quintus's face was red, of course he also suspected this possibility, but he couldn't help but be angry when he was so belittled by Bo in front of so many people. He stood up and was about to speak, when Sun Shao stopped him and motioned him to be calm. Quintus was puzzled, but it was not good not to give Sun Shao face, so he had to sit down indignantly.

"What about the King's siege losses?" Sun Shao asked with concern: "You don't have many people in the first place, if the loss is too great, it is not a good thing." ”

Seeing that Sun Shao was concerned about his battle situation, Bo Tiao was in a good mood, and hurriedly said: "Thank you for your concern, in the past three days of attacking the city, we have also lost more than 2,000 people and injured more than 3,000. It's just that the Sassanids are so tightly guarded that we have been driven down several times when we hit the city. ”

"You are the same?" Sun Shao turned his head and said to Quintus. Quintus nodded, the siege situation of the Romans was similar to that of the Kushans, and they couldn't hold the city if they attacked it, and today's situation was not the first time. "On the first day, in order to fill the city, the most people were lost, about 3,000 people, and a lot of people died in the siege in the past two days, a total of more than 6,000, counting the injured, it should be close to 10,000 people."

"In this way, the Sassanids are indeed very well prepared, and it cannot be ruled out that they may lure you to the city and then kill and injure you in large numbers." Sun Shao pondered for a moment, and then was a little surprised: "But you have a total of eighteen legions, why did you only send one legion to attack?" ”

Quintus frowned, but didn't say anything. The two most elite legions of the Romans were in the hands of little Gordian, and he did not take the initiative to ask for battle, and Quintus did not plan to use him now, but always let the other legions come forward to attack, hoping to use this opportunity to give these legions a chance to train, and for this reason, he did not even send seven barbarian legions. After these two days of fighting, those regimental commanders who had only known how to talk in the Senate had seen the cruelty of war, but they also suffered a lot of losses.

"We don't have enough crossbows, and we have too many people, so we can only be targeted by the Sassanids." Little Gordian interjected, and said calmly: "Besides, most of the soldiers have never been on the battlefield and have no siege experience, so it is not easy to fight like this." ”

"Is there an agreement between you?" Sun Shao thought for a moment, and then asked: "For example, everyone fights in unison, echoing each other or something." ”

Quintus and Bo Tune shook their heads.

"You guys......" Sun Shao sighed: "Since they are allies and attack the city together, why don't you say it in advance?" In today's situation, if you inform the King of Kushan and he step up his attack, you won't be like this. ”

Quintus pursed his lips, he didn't believe that Bo Tune would be so kind, but he was afraid that he would retreat faster when the time came. However, Bo Tune seized the reason and echoed it, accusing Quintus of not informing him in time, and it was all Quintus' responsibility. Quintus was so angry that he couldn't speak, so he turned his head and didn't say a word.

Sun Shao stopped the tone: "Let's not talk about the previous things, let's think about how to deal with the next things." Seleucus is just a place to practice, and if we can't take it smoothly and it drags on for too long, it will be very detrimental to our later attacks. If you still want to take Ctesiphon, you must unite and act in unison from now on, and you must not give the Sassanids a chance to exploit any more loopholes, so that it is possible to take Seleucus as soon as possible and boost morale. Otherwise, it is better to negotiate with Ardashir as soon as possible and stop there. ”

Hearing Sun Shao's words, whether it was the Romans or the Kushans, they all heard Sun Shao's retreat, and little Gordian frowned and stepped forward: "King, my Roman army responded to the king's call and rushed here all the way, in order to conquer Ctesiphon, how could the king give up because of a slight setback at the moment?" That's not good for our morale. ”

Sun Shao narrowed his eyes, glanced at little Gordian, and thoughtfully: "You suggest continuing to fight?" ”

"Of course." Little Gordian nodded without thinking, a smile flashing across his eyes.

"Are you sure?" Sun Shao raised his head and looked at him quietly, but he secretly sneered in his heart. Old Gordian went back to Rome, leaving his son here to watch jokes, and he didn't want Quintus to go back like this, he definitely wanted to fight again, and when Quintus lost his troops and couldn't fight anymore, if he mentioned retreating, then Quintus's prestige would be completely ruined.

"I'm just a legion commander, and it's hard to answer questions like the king." Little Gordian shook his head and said very calmly: "This question should be answered by the Great King and His Majesty the Emperor. ”

Quintus was embarrassed and glared at little Gordian with some annoyance. Little Gordian pretended not to see him, and returned to his seat by himself, and sat down easily. Sun Shao saw it in his eyes, smiled silently, waved his hand, and said: "General Gordian is right, this is a matter between the three kings of ours, the others should go back and rest first, and wait for the order." ”

When the generals heard this, they all looked at each other, but they didn't expect Sun Shao to drive people away so directly. However, little Gordian said this first, and it was no wonder that people did not give face, so they had to get up one after another to say goodbye, and went out of the account nervously, and each went back to his camp to standby. Although little Gordian wanted to stay and listen to Sun Shao's plan, he had no excuse and had to follow.

Sun Shao immediately arranged a banquet and invited Quintus and Bo to drink. Although Quintus and Bo Tiao were reluctant to see each other, they couldn't return Sun Shao's face, so they had to stay. The three of them chatted a few words while eating, and slowly got to the point. Sun Shao first said to Quintus: "Old friend, I want to criticize you first. Today's thing is mostly that you're not right. ”

Unconvinced, Quintus stiffened his neck and drank sullen wine. Bo Tuo glanced at him a little proudly, and raised his glass diligently to drink with Sun Shao.

"You have 80,000 people, but the King of Kushan only has 20,000 people, the two sides are not equal, how can you ask him so much? In my opinion, you should not count on the help of the King of Kushan, and it is only right to rely on your own strength to take this city. It is inherently unreasonable to pin your hopes on others. ”

Quintus was a little embarrassed, nodded ashamedly, and took the initiative to raise his glass to signal to Botuo, who was in a good mood and accepted Quintus's apology.

"King Guishan, you are a famous general who has been on the battlefield for a long time, and I think you also have some responsibility for today's situation. Even though you're not there, you should be able to guess from the sounds of the battlefield, and even if there's something unclear, it's okay to send someone to take a look, right? Quintus hasn't fought, so he doesn't know about these situations, don't you know either? Sun Shao said sincerely: "We can come here because we have a common goal, that is, to break through Ctesiphon and make Ardashir kneel in front of us, but you also know the difficulty of this, if you can't unite and twist the strength together, what will be the result in the end, I'm afraid I don't need to rap, right?" Do you want that day to come? If that's the case, then why should we hold on here and retreat earlier. ”

Bo Tuo also blushed a little and wiped his beard in embarrassment. If Sun Shao said that he was wrong as soon as he came up, he would definitely kill him and not admit it, but now Sun Shao first let Quintus bow his head, if he didn't give in, it would be a bit too much, in case Sun Shao and Quintus joined forces and threw him aside, wouldn't he be in danger?

"Let him pass the things of the past, and I hope that from now on, we can use our abilities in one place, think in one place, and do not have such problems again." Sun Shao raised his glass and said solemnly: "If the two of you can listen to me, I believe that Seleucus will definitely be able to capture it smoothly." ”

Quintus and Bo Tune were a little surprised, and said in unison: "The king has a way?" ”

"My solution is actually very simple, that is, we will go up together and overthrow the Sassanids." Sun Shao sneered: "We have 200,000 troops here, can we still take the ancient Seleucus?" To be honest, the reason why I decided not to go to war is because I believe that as long as you cooperate with each other, you will definitely be able to take this city, who knows that you two will actually ......"

"But...... Although I have 80,000 people, most of them are newcomers, and there are too few people in the King of Kushan. Quintus said hesitantly, feeling very embarrassed. Originally, he was ambitious, counting on making achievements through this war, and becoming the emperor steadily in the future, but after a few days of fierce fighting, he realized the cruelty of war, and now he has only fought for three days and has killed and injured thousands of people, although he has climbed the city several times, but every time he has just gone up and was driven down by the Sassanids, how can this battle be fought?

"As long as you are willing to listen to my arrangement, I promise to take Seleucus within half a month." Sun Shao said with confidence.

"Half a month?" This time, not only Quintus, but even Bo Tune was a little unconvinced.

"Half a month is enough." Sun Shao said with a smile: "From tomorrow onwards, don't stop, just attack like this." Quintus, increase your manpower, send two corps up each time, don't be in a hurry to get to the city, pay attention to protect the soldiers, three siege engines are enough, at least ten at once, if possible, preferably twenty, and see how the Sassanids defend themselves. ”

Bo Tune quickly understood what he meant: "Consume their arrows and defensive supplies? ”

"It's still the king who has a lot of experience." Sun Shao smiled: "Most of the Roman soldiers are newcomers, and rushing to climb the city at this time will only increase the number of casualties and demoralize." So don't be in a hurry to attack the city, first practice the previous actions one by one, adapt to the atmosphere of the battlefield, and at the same time let the Sassanids relax their vigilance, thinking that we are nothing more than that, and then we will attack him by surprise and take the Seleucid city in one fell swoop. ”

Quintus frowned and thought for a while: "However, if you don't practice climbing the city, how can you break the city?" ”

Bo Tuo also looked at Sun Shao with some puzzlement.

"Of course, you have to practice in the city, but there is no need to pay for human lives." Sun Shao smiled: "You won't build a city head somewhere else to simulate?" Let them familiarize themselves with the steps of climbing the castle first, step by step. When you are proficient, your speed will be faster, and faster speed means less time to be beaten passively, which means less casualties......"

Quintus and Bo Tiao listened to Sun Shao's explanation and quickly understood what they meant. What Sun Shao said is actually very simple, the Romans are Xinding, and the Kushan people are accustomed to cavalry field battles, and they are not familiar with sieges. You must first practice the basic skills, and then carry out actual combat to benefit and compete for the surname. Now that you have been fighting for a few days, you have a little bit of a clue about what problems you have, as long as you strengthen the practice of surnames, you will definitely be able to make great progress.

Quintus was overjoyed and amazed, the Han people were indeed experts in siege and defense, they were experienced, and they were not as reckless as themselves. He then asked Sun Shao sincerely and sincerely, Sun Shao finally said, I only know some of these generally, to ask for specific details, I recommend one person to you, that is my general Lu Xun, he is very good at attacking and defending cities, and there is also a General Li, he is also very experienced, he will definitely be able to help you.

Quintus and Bo were overjoyed, and Sun Shao immediately invited Lu Xun and Li Yan to tell them about the situation, and Lu Li and Li were very happy when they heard that they had the opportunity to be the gentlemen of the Romans and Kushans. Sun Shao then suggested that the Kushans and the Romans train together, so that they can not only observe each other, but also compete and promote improvement.

Quintus and the two looked at each other and laughed, obeyed, and went away happily. Sun Shao left Lu Xun and Li Yan behind, and instructed them a few more words. The two of them understood and went away with their own orders.

The next day, Quintus listened to Sun Shao's suggestion and sent four legions to attack in turn under the city, but did not force the city, but tried to tempt the Sassanids to counterattack on the premise of protecting the warriors, and consumed a large number of Sassanid defense materials while practicing siege cooperation. At the same time, the Romans built a castle behind the camp and practiced siege and defense. Under the command of Lu Xun and Li Yan, they began to practice from the most basic cooperation, from rusty to proficient, starting from pushing siege vehicles, until they landed in the city to seize the city, and practiced in stages step by step.

Without the shroud of death above their heads, the psychological burden of the Romans was much smaller, and with the careful guidance of Lu Xun and Li Yan, their progress was rapid. After sending people to observe it a few times, he decided to take part in this kind of exercise as well, so every day everyone except four legions attacked in front, everyone else devoted themselves to the great training.

The Sassanids soon discovered the anomaly, first of all, most of the Romans and Kushans had disappeared, and only four or five legions were left to pose under the city, and these four or five legions also retreated every time they attacked the city and roared twice, and then came again. What made them even more strange was that the people who came to attack the city every day were not yesterday's people, as if they were taking turns to rest and were not in a hurry to attack the city.

What the hell are the Romans doing, and where did the rest of their army go? The Sassanids were puzzled, and although they wanted to find out what the Romans were doing, it was not easy for them to send scouts out of the city as if they were guarding the city.

After a few days of unease, after a day of fighting, the Sassanid guard Ibrahim had just returned to his lodgings, sorted out the battles of the past few days, and guessed about the anomalies outside the city, when one of the guards suddenly walked in with a panicked look.

"My lord, come out and have a look."

Ibrahim was taken aback, and hurriedly followed the guards out of the door, and as soon as he went out, he felt something strange - almost all the people on the city wall were looking up with their necks up. Instinctively, he looked up and gasped.

There was a bright light floating in the dark sky, and in the light, a man with a Persian hair bun sat on a lotus platform, angrily pointing to a man kneeling in front of him wearing a crown, while behind him stood a man in Han costume. Although he couldn't see his face clearly, Ibrahim was no stranger to this man, and it was clear that he was Ahura, the true god worshipped by the Sassanids. The image of Mazda, the person kneeling in front of him is also the crown of the Sassanid king, and his demeanor is also very similar to Ardashir, although the person wearing Hanfu does not know who it is, but he can stand beside Ahura, and he is obviously not an ordinary person.

The light was floating in the air, very conspicuous in the dark night sky, and the sight of this appearance out of thin air shocked many people, many of whom had already knelt down and recited the scriptures. Ibrahim's hands and feet were cold, and he didn't know what to do with it for a while.

Is this the apparition of Arara? Was he instructing Ardashir? But why is there a Han man standing next to him?

Ibrahim's mind went blank, beads of sweat the size of beans rolling down his forehead.

Could it be that this battle was fought by mistake and Ahura was angry? Ibrahim looked at the fading light and shadow in the air, his legs trembled, and it took a great deal of effort to get himself to his feet, and instead of kneeling down like the others, he immediately ordered everyone in the city who saw this scene to shut up, and not to tell anyone what they saw, otherwise he would be killed. At the same time, several priests were invited over and asked to go out among the people to spread the word, saying that all that they saw was a conspiracy of the enemy, and it was not the truth.

When Ibrahim had finished his order and returned to his lodgings, he found himself cold, his hands trembling involuntarily, and he sat for a long time, then got up and knelt down in front of the shrine in the corner, clasped his hands together, and whispered the scriptures for the revelation of Alahu.

(To be continued)