Those who betray their fellows often unwittingly destroy themselves as well. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

- Aesop (Greek fabler, Phrygian)

After the military alliance between the Brutus Empire and the Seleucid Empire was formally established, Tiberius began to consult with Seleucus VII about the alliance of the two empires to attack the four kingdoms. The alliance of kingdoms composed of the four kingdoms is powerful and the number of armies is also huge, and the Julius Empire or the Seleucid Empire will be unable to deal with the alliance of kingdoms alone.

Even the Seleucid Empire, which was extremely militarily powerful, did not dare to really give it a go when it was at war with the Kingdom Alliance; It's not that Seleucus VII didn't have the idea of destroying the four kingdoms in one fell swoop, but that the Seleucid Empire really didn't have the strength to eliminate the four kingdoms at the same time.

From east to west, the four kingdoms were Parthia, Armenia, Pontus, and Alexander, all of which were located in the northern part of the Seleucid Empire. Coupled with the alliances between these four kingdoms, an attack by the Seleucid Empire on any of these four kingdoms would provoke an attack by the entire kingdom alliance.

The last time Seleucus VII ordered the Babylonian garrison to attack the Kingdom of Dumassa, he fought fiercely with the armies of the Parthian Kingdom in the border area; After successfully annihilating the garrison of the Parthian kingdom of Elemes, Seleucus VII naturally led his army to occupy the province of Elemes of the Parthian kingdom, which led to the alliance of the four kingdoms taking the initiative to attack the Seleucid Empire.

In that war, the discord between the four kingdoms and the scattered armies gave Seleucus VII the opportunity to defeat them one by one; In just a few months, Seleucus VII defeated all 90,000 allied forces of the Kingdom Alliance, won the war, and consolidated the Seleucid Empire's occupation of the province of Elemes.

Even though the forces of the Seleucid Empire defeated the 90,000 allied forces of the Kingdom League in a head-to-head battle, Seleucus VII did not take the opportunity to launch a full-scale attack on the Parthian kingdom; It's not that Seleucus VII didn't want to completely destroy the Parthian kingdom, but the loss of 90,000 allied troops really didn't affect the foundation of the four kingdoms of the Kingdom Alliance.

Although the main army led by Seleucus VII won great victories in the border areas of the Parthian kingdom, the armies of the three kingdoms were already massed in the border areas on the border between the kingdom of Alexander and the Silesian region of the Seleucid Empire, on the border between the kingdom of Pontus and the Silesian region of the Seleucid empire, and on the border between the kingdom of Armenia and the Assyrian region of the Seleucid empire.

If Seleucus VII really took the opportunity to lead the main army to the north to attack the Parthian kingdom proper, the armies of Alexander, Pontus, and Armenia would attack the Seleucid Empire in the border areas at the same time; Needless to say, Seleucus VII did not dare to take such a risk, nor could he take it, he could only choose to return to the Seleucid Empire with his army and consolidate the borders of his empire.

In terms of military strength, the number and quality of the Seleucid Empire's armies could definitely crush any of the four kingdoms; It is not impossible to resist the attacks of the four kingdoms at the same time, but it is too reluctant to take the initiative to attack the four kingdoms.

What's more, behind the Seleucid Empire there is also a military threat from the Kingdom of Egypt, which is a more powerful enemy than the Four Kingdoms, and no matter how conceited Seleucus VII is, it is impossible to put down his guard against the Kingdom of Egypt and attack the Four Kingdoms with all his might; If the Kingdom of Egypt had attacked the empty interior of the Seleucid Empire as it had done in history, the consequences would have been truly dire.

Therefore, after Seleucus VII expanded the territory of three provinces for the Seleucid Empire in succession, he temporarily gave up his plan to continue attacking the four kingdoms, and instead accumulated strength within the Seleucid Empire, waiting for a better time to attack in the future.

In the eyes of Seleucus VII, the Brutus Empire's desire to form a military alliance with the Seleucid Empire was definitely a rare opportunity for the Seleucid Empire, and it was also an excellent opportunity for the Seleucid Empire to completely eliminate the threat of the four northern kingdoms; As for the so-called Seleucid Empire's old territories belonging to the Seleucid Empire, it was just a means for Seleucus VII to ask for a price.

Isn't that what is the case with state-to-state negotiations? The party that first proposes the negotiation will inevitably be at a disadvantage in the negotiation, and the party with the advantage can also appropriately strive for more interests; Seleucus VII, after getting the benefits he wanted, did not bother with the territory at all, and immediately agreed to form a military alliance with the Brutus Empire.

In fact, the three kingdoms have been independent from the Seleucid Empire for so long, and the passage of time and the hostility between each other have made the sense of identity between the Seleucid Empire and the three kingdoms long since it was exhausted; The people of the Seleucid Empire would not think that the people of the Three Kingdoms were from the same country as themselves, and the people of the Three Kingdoms were even more hostile to the people of the Seleucid Empire.

Not to mention the other kingdom of Alexander, whose rebellion caused great losses to the Seleucid Empire and made all classes of the entire Seleucid Empire hate them; Seleucus VII wouldn't mind using the hands of the Brutus Empire to destroy these enemies of the Seleucid Empire, and it would be even more perfect if the Seleucid Empire could get a piece of the pie.

In fact, how could the Seleucid Empire not get a piece of the pie; As long as the Brutus Empire launched an attack on the Kingdom of Alexander, the Kingdom of Alexander and the Kingdom of Pontus would inevitably gather a large army to deal with the attack of the Brutus Empire.

At that time, if the kingdoms of Armenia and Parthia did not send large armies to reinforce the kingdoms of Alexander and Pontus, Seleucus VII would be able to gather a large army that had been used to defend the border areas and attack the rear of the kingdoms of Pontus and Alexander; If they had sent reinforcements, Seleucus VII would have sent a large army to attack the two empty kingdoms in the rear.

Such a situation was absolutely beneficial and harmless for the Seleucid Empire, and it was what Seleucus VII wanted to see; When the envoy of the Brutus Empire came to Antioch again and brought an agreement that the Brutus Empire wanted to join forces with the Seleucid Empire to attack the Kingdom Alliance, Seleucus VII did not hesitate to agree to the Brutus Empire's joint attack plan.

According to this joint attack plan, the Brutus Empire would launch an attack on the Phrygia region of Alexandria within three months; At that time, most of the armies of the kingdoms of Alexander and Pontus will definitely be drawn to the Phrygian region, and all the Seleucid Empire needs to do is to attack the kingdom alliance from the border areas.

The Brutus Empire did not have any requirements for the Seleucid Empire's attacking objects, but they demanded that the Seleucid Empire's attacking army must not be less than 50,000; Seleucus VII agreed, and he assured the envoys of the Brutus Empire that as soon as the Brutus Empire launched an attack, the Seleucid Empire would gather more than 50,000 troops within a month to respond to friendly forces.

With Seleucus VII's clear assurance, the envoy of the Brutus Empire returned to Corinth with Seleucus VII's reply satisfied; After determining that the Seleucid Empire would cooperate with his own army, Tiberius began to actively prepare for his empire's attack on the eastern continent.

With the current strength of the Brutus Empire, as long as there is no interference from the Augustan Empire on the naval side, it is not difficult to complete the transportation of the four legions and the logistical supplies required for their operations to land in the Phrygian region at one time; As for the specific expeditionary legions, Tiberius decided the strength of the twelve legions in a military council within the Brutus Empire.

Four leading legions and eight regular legions, this is the entire army of the Brutus Empire attacking Phrygia; With the 20,000 garrisons of the Kingdom of Alexandria in the Phrygian region, the first four legions of the Brutus Empire to land can definitely quickly seize the Phrygia region and complete the annihilation of the garrison of the Kingdom of Alexander.

After that, the reinforcements of the Brutus Empire of the subsequent eight legions could quickly land in the Phrygian region, quickly raising the Brutus Empire's army in the Phrygian region to the size of twelve legions; After completing this initial plan, even if the entire army of Alexander's kingdom fought back against Phrygia, Tiberius was confident that he could hold the Phrygian region.

The current kingdom of Alexander, the total number of troops in the entire kingdom is only 110,000, of which 60,000 are stationed in the border area between the kingdom of Alexander and the Seleucid Empire; After the 20,000 garrisons of Alexandria in Phrygia were wiped out, only 30,000 troops could be mobilized in a short time.

Alexander's military strength was not enough to threaten the attacking armies of the Brutus Empire, but the kingdom of Pontus, which occupied the Bithynia region, had a stronger military power; With 40,000 elite troops stationed in the Bithynia region, and 60,000 troops in the rear that can support the Bithynia region at any time, the Pontus kingdom will have as many as 100,000 troops that can be put into battle.

In addition to these 100,000 troops that can be directly put into battle, the Pontus Kingdom also has 40,000 troops stationed in the border areas of the Seleucid Empire.

After a comprehensive analysis, Tiberius came to the conclusion that the kingdoms of Alexandria and Pontus could only have 130,000 troops that could be put into battle in a short period of time, and that it was impossible for the number of troops that could join the war to exceed 90,000. However, once these two kingdoms are about to use these 90,000 follow-up troops, they will not be long before they are gone.

As long as the Kingdom of Alexander and the Kingdom of Pontus dared to transfer all the garrisons of their kingdoms in the border area with the Seleucid Empire, how could Seleucus VII of the Seleucid Empire miss such a good opportunity to attack; When the time comes, it will be difficult to say whether these troops who want to withdraw from the border areas will be able to return to their kingdoms. (To be continued.) )