"Why don't we go to the Roman Empire and travel to the East? Do those Easterners have the strength to help me reclaim the throne of the Sassanid kingdom? "In the eastern part of the Silk Road, in the southern part of the Tianshan Mountains, in a caravan of Persians, a young man in a white robe asked the white-haired retinue beside him.

"Your Royal Highness, Rome has a feud with my Sassanid kingdom, and if you go there rashly, the consequences are unpredictable. Moreover, at this time, the Roman Empire had just ended its civil strife, and the Eastern Emperor of Rome, Constantine the Great, had just leveled the western part of the Roman Empire and was making every effort to deal with the Western Emperor of Rome, Licinius. Therefore, even if the other party is willing to help His Highness, I am afraid that he will have more than enough heart and not enough power! ”

Three years ago, in 309 AD, Hormizd II, who had encroached on the interests of the Sassanid nobility, had been murdered by the Bedouins by the Persian nobles, who then killed his eldest son, blinded his second son, and imprisoned his third son.

The third son, Holmizd III, could not bear the insults of the nobles, secretly contacted his father's old ministry, and after more than a year of hard work, finally escaped from Ctesiphon by the enemy's unpreparedness. Subsequently, at the suggestion of his staff, Hormizd III decided to disguise himself as a caravan and go to the East to seek help.

This may be the so-called butterfly effect, in the original history, Hormizd III chose to go into exile in Rome, but did not inherit the Sassanid throne for the rest of his life.

Instead, Holmizd II's widow, his younger brother Shapur II, succeeded him. Before Shapur II was born, the Persian nobles placed the Sassanid crown on his mother's belly as a sign of loyalty to the new monarch.

But. This Shapur II did live up to expectations. He revived the national and military prestige of Persia, adopted a series of active domestic and foreign policies, made Persia the most authoritarian country at that time, and created one of the three golden dynasties of Persia, which can be called the Kangxi Emperor of the Sassanid Kingdom!

However, in this life, due to the unexpected arrival of Sima Shu, the Great Jin Dynasty did not sink as in the original history, but became stronger and stronger. This made the influence of the Great Jin spread to more distant places, and the Persian Sassanid Dynasty and the Great Jin Dynasty were separated by Kangju, Dawan, Guishan (Dayue Clan), Wusun, and the Western Regions.

If it is in the original history, the Great Jin Dynasty should not be said to affect the surrounding countries. Even the empire itself is in turmoil. But now it's different. Because Sima Shu encouraged the development of industry and commerce, coupled with the strong military deterrence of the Great Jin, the merchants of the Great Jin dared to open up.

It was the traveling of the Great Jin merchants that made the countries of Central and West Asia understand that there was a powerful and rich empire in the far east, the Great Jin Empire. It was the birthplace of fine silk and fine porcelain. It is said that everyone there wears silk. Every house has porcelain.

These silks, porcelain, and tea, which were extremely expensive and scarce in West Asia and Europe, were very cheap and common in the Great Jin Empire. Although some countries in West Asia and Central Asia are still a little skeptical about the military strength of the Great Jin Empire, all countries have a unified understanding - that is, the Great Jin Empire is very rich.

After the escape of Hormizde III from Ctesiphon. It was from merchants from various countries that his aides learned of the strength of the Jin Empire, and it was under these conditions that they encouraged Hormizd III to go to the East.

"Your Royal Highness the Prince, although Lao Chen has not personally witnessed the strength of the Eastern Jin Empire, the country that can create silk and porcelain must not be weak. Moreover, there are several countries separated by our Sassanid Empire and the Great Jin Dynasty, and there is no conflict of interest between them, but they have common economic interests, which is essentially different from the Roman Empire! The attendant Arhan explained.

"Humph! What is the use of being rich? The key is whether the military strength is strong or not! But now I regret it a little, I knew that I might as well go to the Roman Empire, after all, the other party has been fighting with me Sassanid for many years, and the military strength is extremely strong. Let's go back and look at the so-called Great Jin. ”

Saying that, Hormizd III pointed to the entire Western Regions and said, "Look at what kind of garbage countries are these?!" This can also allow them to keep controlling the trade routes between the East and the West, and extract huge profits from them, if it weren't for the civil strife in my Sassanid Dynasty, I'm afraid my Persian cavalry would have wiped out the other side long ago! ”

Hormizd didn't say much, in fact, in the original history, Shapur II immediately concentrated the power of the Sassanid Empire after he came of age and began to conquer the east, among which in the east, after the Sassanid Dynasty destroyed the Kushan Empire, its power expanded to Kashgar! Become a veritable overlord of Central and West Asia!

"I don't understand why the Great Jin of the Eastern Empire can tolerate the existence of this garbage all the time, unless their strength is not enough to support the Great Jin to launch a foreign expedition. If the Great Jin Dynasty can't even clean up the countries of the Western Regions, what will they use to support Prince Ben to return to China to compete for the throne? Holmizd III was not angry.

"In fact, His Royal Highness doesn't know, according to the news from the old minister, the Great Jin has been preparing for the conquest of the Western Regions, and at most next year, the Great Jin will launch a war to conquer the Western Regions. And the reason why the Great Jin Empire has never made a move against the Western Regions is because their emperor has just put down the rebellion in the country and expelled the barbarians in the north! ”

Just a few years ago, the Great Jin Empire dispatched more than 200,000 troops to conquer the nomads in the north, and the two sides concentrated nearly 700,000 troops for a decisive battle, and finally the Great Jin Empire achieved a brilliant victory, conquering millions of nomadic tribes. The reason why the Great Jin has not waged war against the outside world in these years is because they are digesting the fruits of the victory of the war! ”

"Well, I see!" Holmizd III nodded a little knowingly, and he deeply agreed with the Great Jin Empire's move to repair internal affairs first. The reason why his father was killed by the nobles was because he was eager to fight the Roman Empire without internal problems, and as a result, he was annoyed by the vested interests within and was killed by the other party.

Looking back now, Hormizd III also thought that his father was too anxious, if he could be as stable as the Emperor of the Great Jin Dynasty, first stabilize the internal environment, and then find a way to seek revenge on the Romans, it is estimated that his father would not have died, and he himself would not have gone into exile in the East.

"It seems that the Great Jin Empire is not weak, and they can send 200,000 troops to fight the nomadic tribes, which shows that their military strength is more than that. In this way, the population of the Great Jin Empire is at least more than 10 million, which is similar to my Sassanid Dynasty! ”

"The prince is right, as far as the old minister knows, the population of the Great Jin Empire has reached 16 million, which is a little more than my Persian Sassanid Dynasty. Its military strength is even stronger, I heard that they are engaged in field warfare as high as more than 300,000 troops, and the navy of the Great Jin Empire is also extremely powerful, if we can say that the Great Jin Empire supports His Highness, we can directly land in Persia by sea! Arkhand continued to tell his prince about the news he had inquired about.

"Oh? It's true? Holmizd III's eyes lit up when he heard this.

"Of course, not all of the merchants of the Great Jin Dynasty who came to Persia to do business arrived in China along the Silk Road on land, and some of them arrived by sea. In the opinion of the old minister, just the so-called armed merchant ships of the Great Jin are not something that I Persians can resist, and even the powerful Roman navy may not be their opponent! ”

"Alhan, you have worked hard, alas, if it were not for your help, this prince would never have escaped from Ctesiphon, and might even have lost his life. Now that my father and eldest brother are dead, and my second brother is blind, I can only go into exile in other countries, and the entire Sassanid dynasty has fallen into the hands of those nobles, and as for Shapur II, that little child, he is just a three-year-old child, what can he understand? ”

"Your Royal Highness the Prince, don't be discouraged, as long as we can win the trust of the Great Jin Empire, the prince may not be able to regain the throne in the future! In any case, we can be regarded as entering the sphere of influence of the Great Jin, and we are about to enter the territory of the Great Jin, so we might as well go to the Great Jin to inspect it first, if the other party is really as powerful as those merchants said, then His Highness's wish may come true! ”

"Well, let's do this first, isn't there a jade gate in front of you?" Holmizd III asked, looking at a majestic pass ahead.

"It should be, it is said that this is the gateway of the Great Jin Dynasty to the Western Regions, and even if we really enter the territory of the Great Jin Dynasty after this pass, our safety can be guaranteed. No country in the East dares to provoke the Great Jin, they are the overlords here! ”

"Let's go Arhan, let's get in!"

Just as an inconspicuous Persian caravan entered the Great Jin Dynasty through the Yumen Pass, a huge voice roared and echoed in the palace of the Persian Empire, the capital of the Persian Empire.

"Rice buckets, a group of rice buckets, what are you doing, you have been looking for so long and there is no news?" A white-robed Persian man waved his hands to and fro in the palace, his majestic face now distorted with rage, his temples bursting with blue blood, and his gray head swaying with his shaking head.

Everyone inside and outside the palace held their breath, for fear that they would accidentally make a little noise and attract the other party's anger. The palace ladies carefully packed up the furniture and belongings in the palace that had been thrown into a mess by the other party, while the chamberlains bent down to bring in a group of Persian ministers.

Seeing that all the ministers had entered, the de facto ruler of the Persian Empire, the Persian nobleman, and the deputy eunuch of the Sassanid Empire, was finally quiet, and his wrinkled face was almost full of sorrow and trouble. Since the elimination of the previous king, he had seized de facto power in the Sassanid Empire, and the three-year-old emperor was no threat to him at all.

The only thing that made him a little uneasy was the third son of Hormizd II, who knew that the boy had escaped under heavy surveillance. Since then, Přidore has not slept a day for fear of being overthrown by Hormizd III. Subsequently, he spent a lot of effort to arrest the other party, but more than a year has passed, and the escaped Hormizd III is still not heard from. (To be continued......)