Rejoicing is not a sin in itself; However, what can bring a certain amount of fun can also leave many times more troubles than the fun itself. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

- Epicurus (representative of the hedonism of Arestepus)

The war of expansion of the Parthian kingdom and the kingdom of Armenia is still actively underway, and the war of expansion of the Seleucid Empire is far from over; Seleucus VII had intended to settle the kingdoms of Parthia and Armenia after the expansion, but the alliance between the four empires forced the Seleucid empire to temporarily abandon the attack on the Parthian and Armenian kingdoms.

It was also because of the alliance between the four empires that the Seleucid Empire could also reduce its garrison in Silesia; In addition, according to the alliance agreement, the Seleucid Empire needed to gather 150,000 troops, including 50,000 Silver Shield Legions and 30,000 Iron Cavalry, to attack the combined forces of the Kingdom of Egypt and the Augustan Empire, so the Seleucid Empire must transfer the Silver Shield Legion stationed in the Pontus area.

The vacant defense army in the Pontus region could just allow 30,000 infantry in Silesia to serve as the army, so that the assembly of 150,000 troops could be completed without affecting the overall military layout of the Seleucid Empire; You must know that the Seleucid Empire still has 40,000 infantry and 10,000 ironclad cavalry in the Corosyrian region, plus 30,000 ironclad cavalry and 20,000 Cappadocian cavalry directly under Seleucus VII, the fifteenth army has been assembled, and its quality far exceeds the requirements of the three major Roman empires.

In fact, with the military strength of the Seleucid Empire, it was possible to gather more troops for the southward attack on the alliance between the Kingdom of Egypt and the Augustan Empire; On the premise of maintaining 30,000 troops in Pontus, 30,000 troops in Assyria, and 50,000 troops in Lymes, there were still 50,000 infantry and 20,000 sickle chariot troops in Syria, where Antioch, the capital of the Seleucid Empire, was located.

However, Seleucus VII did not intend to use the 70,000 garrisons in Syria, which were the military forces used by the Seleucid Empire to garrison Syria; If Seleucus VII had transferred these 70,000 troops, the most important capital of the Seleucid Empire and the region of Syria where the capital was located would be at risk of going to war.

With 30,000 garrisons in Silesia already relocated, the border between the Seleucid Empire and the Brutus Empire was already in name only; If the Brutus Empire were to launch a surprise attack on the Seleucid Empire, the Silesian region of the Seleucid Empire would become an undefended area, and the Brutus Empire's army would be able to reach the Syrian region where Antioch was located.

If there were no more defenders in Syria to garrison Syria and Antioch, the Seleucid Empire would fall in the event of an accident; In any case, Seleucus VII could not have put the capital of the Seleucid Empire in danger, and the 70,000 troops in Syria were also an army that Seleucus VII would never have mobilized.

In fact, in addition to the Brutus Empire, which was the object of Seleucus VII's vigilance, Seleucus VII was more worried about the attack from the Augustan Empire; The navy of the Augustan Empire was too powerful, and there was no existence in the entire Mediterranean that could compete with the navy of the Augustan Empire, which gave the Augustan Empire the strength to attack the Mediterranean coast at will.

Since Antioch was located on the eastern coast of Syria, Seleucus VII did not think that the Augustan Empire would be inactive after a joint attack by the Seleucid Empire and the Brutus Empire; Judging from the previous combat experience of the Augustan Empire, they had an unusual preference for landing operations, and Seleucus VII really had to guard against this!

In general, the pressure on the Seleucid Empire was not very great, after the dispatch of 150,000 elite troops to wage war in the south; The Seleucid Empire also had 110,000 troops to defend the Parthian and Armenian kingdoms, and 70,000 elite troops to defend Syria, which was enough to stabilize the rear of the Seleucid Empire.

After the expansion plan of the Parthian Kingdom and the Armenian Kingdom was completed, it was impossible for the 110,000 troops of the Seleucid Empire distributed in the three border areas to stop the ironclad torrent of the Parthian Kingdom and the Armenian Kingdom; But the crux of the matter is that Seleucus VII did not think that the Parthian and Armenian kingdoms had the courage to attack the Seleucid Empire on their own initiative.

The former alliance of kingdoms had long since died out at the time of the fall of the kingdoms of Alexander and Pontus, and after the loss of the most powerful kingdom of Pontus, Seleucus VII did not believe that the weak kingdom of Armenia and the low-minded kingdom of Parthia could do anything.

As for the alliance and expansion of the two kingdoms, these things were nothing more than contingencies tossed up by the Parthian and Armenian kingdoms in fear of the attack of the Seleucid Empire; With the strength of the Parthian Kingdom and the Armenian Kingdom, no matter how combined they were, they could not afford to raise 75,000 cavalry and 80,000 infantry.

Even the Seleucid Empire after the annexation of the Pontus Kingdom only had 40,000 ironclad cavalry and 20,000 Cappadocian cavalry; It was ridiculous in the eyes of Seleucus VII that the Parthian Kingdom and the Armenian Kingdom wanted to form an ironclad torrent of 75,000 cavalry with 25,000 ironclad cavalry as the core!

The Parthian and Armenian kingdoms ruled only five provinces, of which only two were barely prosperous; The Seleucid Empire, on the other hand, had ten provinces and at least three times as much overall strength as these two kingdoms, so why were these two kingdoms hostile to the Seleucid Empire?

In Seleucus VII's view, the expansion plan of the Parthian and Armenian kingdoms was, in the final analysis, a patchwork of armies that were only quantitative but not qualitative, and their purpose was to deter the Seleucid Empire; As long as the Seleucid Empire did not go to war for a short time, the Parthian and Armenian kingdoms would soon disband their armies because they could not support so many troops.

By this time, Seleucus VII had completely forgotten that the five provinces ruled by the Parthian and Armenian kingdoms, although not rich and prosperous, were all extremely strong and nomadic regions; Once the source of cavalry production for the mighty Persian Empire, why can't it now be the source of cavalry for the Parthian and Armenian kingdoms?

At that time, the archers of the Persian Empire were a formidable existence across the entire eastern continent, and in that era when there were no ironclad cavalry, even the Cappadocian cavalry, which was second only to the ironclad cavalry, could not defeat the archers; In fact, there could not have been any battle between the Cappadocian cavalry and the Persian archers, since they were both part of the Persian Empire.

With the destruction of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great, the archers of the Persian Empire were also eliminated by history; In the eyes of everyone, the archers of the Persian Empire became synonymous with losers and defeated men of the Macedonian phalanx.

But is this really the case? If the cavalry commander of the Persian Empire had followed the orders of Emperor Darius and let his archers launch the most direct charge against Alexander the Great's Macedonian phalanx, would the Persian Empire's archers really be defeated by Alexander the Great's Macedonian phalanx?

The Persian archers, who were exhausted of arrows, should have withdrawn from the battlefield in time; As a result, under the stupid order of Darius, the prestige of the Persian archers for hundreds of years was buried, and the capital of the Persian Empire to continue to resist the Macedonian kingdom was completely destroyed.

Later it turned out that without the stupidity of Emperor Darius, how could Alexander have gone from being the king of the Macedonian kingdom to Alexander the Great of Alexander's empire? Alexander the Great was made not only by his own strength, but also by the stupidity of his enemies; The combination of the two naturally creates an immortal legend in human history.

After the fall of the Persian Empire, the original ruling area of the Persian Empire was taken over by Alexander's Empire, and the Colchis and Medes, which were rich in Persian archers, were no exception; The Seleucid Empire, as one of the successors of Alexander's Empire, did not pay attention to the once defeated archers militarily, but gradually formed archers after the independence of the Parthian and Armenian kingdoms.

Of course, the kings of the Parthian kingdom and the kingdom of Armenia were not very wise enough to discover the great combat power of the archers, and they were only forced to form the lowest-cost archers to meet the Seleucid Empire's army when they resisted the Seleucid Empire's counterinsurgency army; The nomads that can be found everywhere in the Medes and Colchis regions are the members of the archers.

In the course of the rebellion of the Parthian and Armenian kingdoms, the archers played a very important role; Thus, after the end of the war, the Parthian kingdoms and the Armenian kingdoms also adopted archers as the standing armies of their respective kingdoms.

The Pontus kingdom fared much better in this regard, and they directly formed a large-scale Cappadocian cavalry in the Cappadocia region, and then engaged the ironclad cavalry of the Seleucid Empire in a head-on battle; This is the reason why the Pontus Kingdom can become the strongest kingdom in the League of Kingdoms, and they do have much more strength than the other two kingdoms.

The archers of the Kingdom of Armenia also played a very important role in reinforcing the Kingdom of Pontus, and they continued to harass the army of the Seleucid Empire during the advance of the Seleucid army to Sinop, the capital of the Kingdom of Pontus, and caused many casualties to the army of the Seleucid Empire, and finally retreated; It is a pity that all this went unnoticed by Seleucus VII.

The Parthian kingdom and the Armenian kingdom may not really have the courage to take the initiative to attack the Seleucid Empire, but they definitely have the strength to form a large cavalry, which Seleucus VII's judgment is still incorrect; However, after the olive branch thrown by the Augustan Empire, the choice between the two kingdoms is really not certain. (To be continued.) )