For those who are able to reflect on death, there is nothing terrible about it. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

- Epicurus (representative of the hedonism of Arestepus)

Although the princes of the Kingdom of Armenia were excited by the initiative of the Augustan Empire to form an alliance, they were also unwilling to make concessions on the right to declare war; After all, this is a major event that affects the life and death of the Kingdom of Armenia, and no one dares to easily agree to this dangerous condition, even the king of the Kingdom of Armenia cannot insist on this condition.

Facts have proved that there are no absolutely inappropriate conditions in negotiations between countries, and as long as the price is appropriate, it is possible to negotiate any conditions; When the kings and ministers of the Kingdom of Armenia were unwilling to compromise on this condition, the envoys of the Augustan Empire took the initiative to ask the kings and ministers of the Kingdom of Armenia to put forward any specific conditions at will.

That is to say, the Augustan Empire must obtain this right to declare war on its own initiative, and as long as the Kingdom of Armenia is willing to surrender this power to the Augustan Empire, then the Augustan Empire will consider any request made by the Kingdom of Armenia; After such a price was offered by the envoys of the Augustan Empire, the princes and vassals of the Kingdom of Armenia immediately changed their original insistence on their attitudes.

The right to declare war on the initiative is important, but it is not unacceptable after the alliance between the Kingdom of Armenia and the Augustan Empire, and now that the Augustan Empire has offered such a price, how can the kings and vassals of the Kingdom of Armenia withstand the temptation?

The king of the Kingdom of Armenia announced on the spot that the negotiations would be temporarily suspended, and the envoys of the Augustan Empire would go to the next room to rest for a while; The envoys of the Augustan Empire naturally understood that this was what kind of condition the kings and ministers of the Kingdom of Armenia were going to discuss, which meant that they were willing to accept this condition, so the envoys led the guards next door.

About half an hour later, the negotiations began again; This time, one of the important ministers of the Kingdom of Armenia was the first to put forward the demands of the Kingdom of Armenia, first of all, the term of the alliance between the Kingdom of Armenia and the Augustan Empire, which must promise to guarantee the existence of the Kingdom of Armenia within fifty years.

Even if the Kingdom of Armenia was destroyed by the Seleucid Empire, the Augustan Empire had to help the Kingdom of Armenia rebuild; The royal family of the Kingdom of Armenia will continue to serve as kings of the restored Kingdom of Armenia, and the fourteen major noble families in the Kingdom of Armenia will continue to help the royal family rule the Kingdom of Armenia, which is a necessary condition for the princes and ministers of the Kingdom of Armenia.

For such a condition, the envoys of the Augustan Empire agreed without thinking; As long as the ironclad torrent of the Kingdom of Armenia could launch an attack on the Seleucid Empire when the Augustan Empire needed it, this condition was completely acceptable to the Augustan Empire, and even more harsh conditions.

In fact, this condition is only the first condition put forward by the Kingdom of Armenia, and there are conditions that follow them; After the emissaries of the Augustan Empire agreed to this necessary condition, the important minister of the Kingdom of Armenia went on to put forward their other conditions, namely, the territorial claims of the Kingdom of Armenia to the Seleucid Empire.

Perhaps it was the price of the envoys of the Augustan Empire that made the kings of the Kingdom of Armenia feel that they were very important, and they even demanded that the provinces of Pontus and Cappadocia in the northern part of the Seleucid Empire, as well as the provinces of Assyria and Babylon in the central part of the Seleucid Empire, should be obtained after the destruction of the Seleucid Empire; Such a condition, the envoys of the Augustan Empire directly and unceremoniously refused.

The entire ruling area of the Kingdom of Armenia was only three provinces, and they actually wanted to get four provinces of the Seleucid Empire after the destruction of the Seleucid Empire; If the Parthian kingdom also made such a request like the Armenian kingdom, then what else did the Augustan Empire fight against the Seleucid Empire, and how many provinces in the entire Seleucid Empire were enough to divide the two kingdoms?

After rejecting this offer from the Kingdom of Armenia, the emissaries of the Augustan Empire made it clear; If the Kingdom of Armenia demands so much from the Seleucid Empire's land claims, then the Augustan Empire will suspend its alliance with the Kingdom of Armenia, and the Parthian Kingdom is also the object of the Augustan Empire's alliance this time, and the Augustan Empire will never make concessions on this matter!

Faced with the fierce reaction of the emissaries of the Augustan Empire, the kings of the Kingdom of Armenia were also embarrassed; Especially the king of the Kingdom of Armenia, he glared fiercely at the minister who put forward this condition during the discussion just now, who said that the Augustan Empire was willing to pay all the price for this right to declare war, and people directly didn't want to alliance now.

No matter what conditions the Augustan Empire allowed the Kingdom of Armenia to make, it could not change a fundamental fact; That is, the Augustan Empire had the absolute initiative in this alliance negotiation, while the Kingdom of Armenia could only be in a passive state.

For the Augustan Empire, even if it was really impossible to form an alliance with the Kingdom of Armenia, the alliance on the side of the Parthian Kingdom would not necessarily fail; Even if neither of these kingdoms ended up allied with the Augustan Empire, such a situation was not unacceptable to the Augustan Empire, but the Augustan Empire would lose a good way to deal with the Seleucid Empire's ironclad cavalry.

But for the kingdoms of Armenia and Parthia, things were more than that simple; Once they missed the alliance with the Augustan Empire, their kingdom would first fall into chaos, and those who had just found hope would immediately suffer even greater disappointment, which would directly lead to a complete loss of confidence in their kingdom and royal family.

In addition, no one dared to guarantee that the Seleucid Empire would not start a war against the kingdoms of Armenia and Parthia before the Augustan Empire took the initiative to provoke war; After all, the kingdoms of Armenia and Parthia did not know about the alliance of the four empires, and they also did not know that the Seleucid Empire would not start a war against them anytime soon.

In the eyes of the Kingdom of Armenia and the Kingdom of Parthia, the Seleucid Empire, after annexing the Kingdom of Pontus, would definitely go to war against them as long as they had rested; This is why they united after the fall of the Pontus kingdom and expanded their army on a large scale.

The information of the two sides of the negotiation is not equal, and the difference in strength is also huge, how can the Armenian kingdom have an advantage in such a negotiation; The king of Armenia, who was frightened by the resolute attitude of the envoys of the Augustan Empire, directly expressed his willingness to agree to the Augustan Empire's request for an alliance, as long as the Augustan Empire could accept the previously agreed conditions.

Originally, the negotiations between the Augustan Empire and the Seleucid provinces of Pontus and Cappadocia were reached so easily, and the envoys of the Augustan Empire were also about to hurry to the Parthian Kingdom; As for the kings of the Kingdom of Armenia, they were to arrange for the men of their choice before the envoys of the Augustan Empire returned to the Kingdom of Armenia.

When the envoys of the Augustan Empire returned to the Augustan Empire, they would take with them one of the sons of the king of the Kingdom of Armenia and the chosen heirs of the fourteen families; If anything really happens to the Armenian kingdom, these fifteen men will be the key to rebuilding the Armenian kingdom, and they will become the new king of the Armenian kingdom and the heads of the fourteen families.

The envoys of the Augustan Empire, escorted by the royal guards of the Kingdom of Armenia, arrived safely in Asakia, the capital of the Parthian Kingdom.

However, the Parthian kingdom was much tougher on its territorial claims than the Armenian kingdom, insisting that the province of Elemes in the Seleucid Empire was the territory of the Parthian kingdom at all; Therefore, after the alliance dominated by the Augustan Empire completely destroyed the Seleucid Empire, the province of Remes must return to the rule of the Parthian Kingdom, which is the bottom line of the Parthian Kingdom.

The demands made by the Parthian kingdom were in fact within the bottom line given by the Oscars, after the emissaries of the Augustan Empire could not force the Parthian kingdom to agree to an alliance like the Armenian kingdom; In the end, they promised the Parthian kingdom the conditions they wanted, and the province of Remes would return to Parthian rule after the war.

In this case, it would naturally incur the displeasure of the kingdom of Armenia, which had nothing to gain in the territory, while the Parthian kingdom had received the province of Elemes; Whether or not the province of Remes was once part of the Parthian kingdom, it is now considered by them to be an occupation promised to the Parthian kingdom by the Augustan Empire.

When the envoys of the Augustan Empire returned to Arteshat by the same route as they had signed an alliance agreement with the Parthian kingdom, they were immediately condemned by the kings and ministers of the Armenian kingdom; In order to maintain the stability of this alliance, the envoys of the Augustan Empire had to make reluctant compromises to the disgruntled monarchs of the Armenian kingdom.

The Assyrian region of the Seleucid Empire was to become the fourth province of the Kingdom of Armenia after the war, which was the final condition of the Augustan Empire's emissaries to the Kingdom of Armenia; The Kingdom of Armenia naturally won't refuse to get an extra province out of thin air, even if the Assyrian region is a little barren, it's still a province, isn't it?

This was also decided by the emissaries of the Augustan Empire on their own, and the Assyrian region was too insignificant compared to the regions of Pontus and Cappadocia; Even the region of Babylon, east of Assyria, was much more prosperous and wealthy than Assyria, and they could only complete the covenant with the least possible cost while stabilizing the Armenian kingdom. (To be continued.) )