Of all the happiness that wisdom offers throughout life, friendship is the most important. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

- Epicurus (representative of the hedonism of Arestepus)

The emissaries of the Augustan Empire, escorted by the Dead of Sorrow, landed on merchant ships in the Silesian region of the Seleucid Empire as ordinary merchants; Before the Augustan Empire and the Seleucid Empire officially went to war, there was still a lot of trade between them, which was the norm throughout the Mediterranean, and even the other three major Roman empires were also engaged in this kind of trade.

After arriving in Silesia, the envoys of the Augustan Empire passed through Cappadocia and Pontus of the Seleucid Empire, and finally entered the territory of the Kingdom of Armenia. After more than two months of travel, the envoys of the Augustan Empire finally arrived in Artashat, the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia, and presented their credentials to the King of the Kingdom of Armenia.

Faced with the envoys of the Augustan Empire, the king of the Kingdom of Armenia naturally welcomed him warmly; Not to mention that the strength of the Augustan Empire made it necessary for the Kingdom of Armenia to greet them with a smile, and even the relationship between the Augustan Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt was enough for the Kingdom of Armenia to roughly understand the intention of sending their envoys, how could they not show the greatest enthusiasm to welcome the arrival of the envoys.

The Kingdom of Egypt was the kingdom that had attacked the Seleucid Empire together with the Kingdom Alliance, plus the struggle between the Kingdom of Egypt and the Seleucid Empire during the founding of the country; There is no doubt that the Kingdom of Egypt and the Seleucid Empire are definitely the most contradictory rivals on the Eastern Continent, and the Kingdom of Egypt is also the only kingdom on the entire Eastern Continent that has the strength to compete head-on with the Seleucid Empire.

If it weren't for the lack of military combat effectiveness of the Kingdom of Egypt, the overall strength of the Kingdom of Egypt would be the most powerful in the entire Eastern Continent; The Seleucid Empire only relied on the military strength of its own empire to dominate the Eastern Continent, and its overall strength was definitely not comparable to that of the Kingdom of Egypt, which is also a fact recognized by all countries on the Eastern Continent.

The kingdom of Egypt, which had previously been caught in the battle of the pharaohs, ended up quickly ending the war within their kingdom with the intervention of the Augustan Empire; The power of the entire kingdom of Egypt was reshuffled, and the new pharaoh of the kingdom of Egypt, Cleopatra VII, became the pharaoh of the kingdom of Egypt and the wife of Emperor Oscar of the Augustan Empire, and the emperor became the pharaoh of the kingdom of Egypt.

With the strong support of the Augustan Empire, the Kingdom of Egypt not only reorganized the army that they had depleted in the civil war, but also increased the size and quality of the army by leaps and bounds; Even after the end of the civil war in the Kingdom of Egypt, the Augustan Empire sent an army of ten legions to the Kingdom of Egypt, which also invisibly increased the military strength of the Kingdom of Egypt.

With the relationship between the Kingdom of Egypt and the Seleucid Empire, the strength of the Kingdom of Egypt has increased, which is not good news for the Seleucid Empire; In particular, it is an indisputable fact that the Augustan Empire, which did its best to help the Kingdom of Egypt improve its strength, became a potential rival with the Seleucid Empire.

Now that the Augustan Empire has sent emissaries to the Kingdom of Armenia, the Kingdom of Armenia has been excited about how to deal with the princes and ministers of the Seleucid Empire; If the Kingdom of Armenia can hold the thighs of the Augustan Empire, then does the Kingdom of Armenia need to tremble under the deterrence of the Seleucid Empire anymore?

In the evening of the same day, the king of the Kingdom of Armenia held a banquet in the royal palace to entertain the envoys of the Augustan Empire, and the important ministers and nobles of the Kingdom of Armenia also attended this banquet; This was also specially arranged by the king of the Kingdom of Armenia, in order to boost the morale of the nobles of his kingdom and let them see the hope of the Kingdom of Armenia against the Seleucid Empire.

Frankly, the domestic nobility of the kingdoms of Armenia and Parthia were not enthusiastic about the matter of fighting against the Seleucid Empire; After all, the strength of the Seleucid Empire was there, and even the Pontus Kingdom, the most powerful kingdom of the Kingdom Alliance, could not hold on and be wiped out, how could the Kingdom of Armenia and the Parthian Kingdom, which were not as strong as the Pontus Kingdom, withstand the attack of the Seleucid Empire?

What's more critical is Seleucus VII's actions after annexing the Pontus Kingdom, except for the king and royal family members of the Pontus Kingdom who were all executed by Seleucus VII on charges of treason, the other nobles and important ministers of the Pontus Kingdom were pardoned by Seleucus VII for all their crimes, and turned into nobles in the Pontus Province and Cappadocia Province of the Seleucid Empire!

Well, this move of Seleucus VII directly moved the magnates of the kingdoms of Armenia and Parthia; As long as the Seleucid Empire does not attack the elites, the elites of the Kingdom of Armenia and the Parthian Kingdom have no reason to desperately resist the attack of the Seleucid Empire, even if the Seleucid Empire overthrows the Kingdom of Armenia and the Kingdom of Parthia, there is no danger to everyone's lives!

Of course, it was impossible for these magnates to have power in the kingdoms of Armenia and Parthia at this time in the future Seleucid Empire; However, these losses of power are acceptable to all, compared to their lives.

After such thinking prevailed in the Armenian and Parthian kingdoms, they were naturally unwilling to desperately resist the attacks of the Seleucid Empire, who really controlled most of the power in the Armenian and Parthian kingdoms; It was the inaction of these people that seriously constrained the expansion of the Armenian and Parthian kingdoms.

Now with the banner of the Augustan Empire, the king of the Kingdom of Armenia naturally has to make good use of it; As long as the Kingdom of Armenia was blessed by the Empire of Augustus, the Seleucid Empire ceased to be a mortal threat to the Kingdom of Armenia.

For these magnates of the Armenian kingdom, if they could preserve their family's position and power in the Armenian kingdom, they could also ensure that the Armenian kingdom would not be destroyed by the Seleucid Empire; Who would want to give up their family's noble position and power in the Kingdom of Armenia and go to the Seleucid Empire to live in the eyes of others?

Therefore, after these people learned that the envoys of the Augustan Empire had come to the Kingdom of Armenia, their attitude towards the king also took a 180-degree turn; The important ministers and magnates, who had ceased to be reluctant to slap his wife's horse, once again prostrate themselves at His Majesty's feet, and expressed their willingness to swear allegiance to the Kingdom of Armenia and His Majesty.

The king of the kingdom of Armenia was not a man of great ability, not to mention his personal ability, and in the final analysis he was just a mediocre man who kept the inheritance of his ancestors; Such a person quickly drifted away under the flattery of his courtiers, and completely forgot the previous indifference and alienation of these courtiers.

In fact, what if he doesn't forget? The kingdom of Armenia, from the day it was founded, was not built by the Armenian royal family alone; The nobles who had been powerful at the time of the statehood are still strong today, and the Kingdom of Armenia is nominally the kingdom of the Armenian royal family, but in reality it is the kingdom of a ruling class.

The emissaries sent by the Augustan Empire were all carefully selected people from Nepos, and they were naturally able to perceive the intentions of the king of the Kingdom of Armenia and the change in the attitude of the magnates of the Kingdom of Armenia at this banquet; As a result, they also played a good show with the king of the Kingdom of Armenia, and repeatedly expressed their respect to the king of the Kingdom of Armenia at banquets.

The envoys from the mighty Augustan Empire would repeatedly express their respect for the king of the Kingdom of Armenia, and such treatment naturally made the king of the Kingdom of Armenia feel fluttering; After the evening feast, the king of the Kingdom of Armenia left behind the main ministers of the Kingdom of Armenia and the envoys of the Augustan Empire to begin to discuss the business between the two countries.

The king of the Kingdom of Armenia was not a cheerful man, and the envoys of the Augustan Empire naturally had to accompany him before entering the subject; After all the greetings were over, the envoy of the Augustan Empire went straight to the point and explained the idea of the Augustan Empire to form an alliance with the Kingdom of Armenia against the Seleucid Empire.

In addition, the envoys also emphasized the right to declare war that Oscar deliberately emphasized, but the envoys did not make any guarantees in advance about the benefits that the Kingdom of Armenia could get; The conclusion of alliances between countries is like this, and it takes a slow negotiation to reach an agreement, and there is no way to expose all the cards from the beginning.

Moreover, the emissaries of the Augustan Empire had already gained a deeper understanding of the state of the Kingdom of Armenia at the banquet just now; There is no doubt that the Augustan Empire occupies an absolute initiative position in this alliance, in this case, they naturally want to strive for more favorable conditions for the Augustan Empire as much as possible, otherwise how can they be worthy of their elite name?

In the face of the olive branch thrown by the Augustan Empire, how could the kings and important ministers of the Kingdom of Armenia refuse? However, the right to declare war demanded by the Augustan Empire was indeed a bit difficult for the monarchs of the Kingdom of Armenia; This is to completely tie the kingdom of Armenia to the chariot of the Augustan Empire, and the slightest carelessness may even lead to the destruction of the kingdom of Armenia.

After all, there is still a Seleucid Empire between the Kingdom of Armenia and the Augustan Empire, if the Seleucid Empire temporarily leaves the Kingdom of Egypt and the Augustan Empire on the southern front alone after the outbreak of the war, and first gathers a large army to storm the Kingdom of Armenia, wouldn't the Kingdom of Armenia not have time to get the support of the Augustan Empire, and there is a possibility of its destruction? (To be continued.) )