When Bezch walked out of the arch of Tucker Kisla's hall, his face was gloomy and gloomy, almost catching up with the dark clouds before the summer rains.

"Forgive us, great Ahura Mazda." Brisky thought to himself.

At this time, a voice sounded in his ears: "My Royal Highness, what's wrong with you?" ”

Hearing this familiar voice, the head of the British branch did not look back, knowing that it was Odoria, the only person he could fully trust. After the defeat of the Northern Expeditionary Army in the Transoxiana region, the Bezwi was ransomed by his father, Shapur II, for three million drachmas. With great disgrace, the British were soon left out in the cold and sent to serve as an officer in the garrison of Ctesiphon.

But Odoria did not fall out of favor, he remained Shapur II's most trusted man, and the friendship and trust they had built since their youth had not disappeared. Returning to Ctesiphon, Adoria was soon appointed Grand Steward of the Palace, responsible for the palace's tens of thousands of eunuchs, maids, and thousands of guards. Odoria had previously held this position, but later left because he insisted on following the Byrcs to Khorasan. Odoria organized and managed the affairs and security guards of the palace of Ctesiphon in an orderly manner, but he had no intention of interfering in the affairs of the court and completely disappeared into the court. However, the ministers and nobles in the court did not dare to underestimate this "invisible man" in the slightest, and even the noble prince did not dare to snub this chief minister. Shapur II is old (according to history. Shapur II was originally due to die in 379 AD, but the plot required it, so it was postponed for four years. He was already in his seventies (Shapur II was born in 309 AD). It was the time of the wind and candle, and many people were watching the throne behind him. However, Shapur II has never appointed a crown prince, which makes people reverie. In this sensitive period, no one dares to offend Odoria, because he can say a bad word about you "unintentionally" in the ear of Shapur II. You're doomed.

It was because Odoria used his status to protect B.C. that he was not further excluded and attacked. Knowing his shame, he bowed his head and worked hard as an ordinary officer, and after more than ten years of hard work, he finally returned to the upper class of the Sassanid Persian Empire. With his exploits in the war between Persia and the Roman Empire over Syria and in the war between Persia and Armenia, he was also under the shadow of Odoria. Bezchi became one of the five generals who commanded the city's defenses. It has nearly 50,000 city defense troops, which is the largest one.

However, the Persian nobles and several other brothers did not regard him as the heir to the throne, because the Persian nobles and several other brothers did not see him as the heir to the throne, because they were not very favored in the first place, and now they had the shame of the defeat of Bosishan on their shoulders, and they should not be designated as the successor by Shapur II.

And the Bishchs came out of the temple of Tucker Kisla with a disgruntled face, but it had something to do with defeating the people of the northern province of the city, no, now called the Huaxia people.

Shapur II was a very effective monarch of the Sassanid Empire of Persia, and he was the widow of Hormizd II. Before Shapur II was born. The Sassanid nobles placed a crown on his mother's belly as a sign of loyalty to the new monarch. Shapur II lived up to expectations, and when he came of age, he reinvigorated the power of Persia and adopted a series of active domestic and foreign policies, making Persia the most authoritarian state of his time.

Shapur II fought many wars to regain many areas of the western and eastern borders of Persia, which had been lost by his ancestors. In the east. He fought against the Kushan princes, who were in charge of their respective lands. Eventually subjugate them and make them allies in future foreign wars. Not only did it consolidate Khorasan, but it also extended its influence into Tocharian and Transoxiana.

To the west, his opponent was none other than the Roman Empire. In 341 AD, Shapur II concluded an alliance with Armenia in an attempt to make Armenia his helper against Rome. In 346 A.D., Shapur II led a large army to conquer Mesopotamia. In 348 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantius II defeated the army of the Roman Emperor at Sinkara, but Shapur II was unable to conquer Mesopotamia and made peace with Rome. However, he was able to annex a lot of land. In 351 AD, Shapur II again signed an anti-Roman treaty with Armenia, but Armenia soon reneged on the treaty and turned to the Roman Empire. Shapur II then contemplated another war with Rome, and in 359 Shapur II entered Syria, conquering Sinkara and repelling Constantius II's counterattack. In the midst of his success, Julian succeeded the Roman Emperor, a non-Christian with military prowess who put unexpected pressure on Shapur II.

Julian not only defeated the Persian army, but also counterattacked Ctesiphon in 363 AD. However, Shapur II soon halted Julian's momentum with a great victory, forcing him to lead an army towards Rome. The wounded Julian was killed during the retreat. Shapur II made peace with Rome again as the victor, by which time he had established Sassanid hegemony in Asia and monopolized Armenia.

Just as he was preparing to continue his offensive against the Roman Empire, the 200,000-strong Persian army at Mount Bosi became the cornerstone of the Chinese victory, and Shapur II had to pay a huge price to negotiate peace with the Chinese. After careful consideration, Shapur II chose to continue the war with Rome, but the Roman Empire also reached "some kind of agreement" with the Chinese, which made Shapur II no longer dare to attack Rome in a big way, and had to fight a few small "local wars".

Shapur II, in desperation, had to focus more on the country. The ancestors of the Sassanid family, Shapur, were Zoroastrian hereditary priests of the Sabbath Empire. When the Sassanid family became the ruler of Ctesiphon and established the Sassanid Dynasty of the Persian Empire, it was natural that Zoroastrianism was also adopted as the religion of the whole country.

In the centuries A.D., with the rise of Christianity and Manichaeism, the old rivals of Rome and Persia were faced with a choice of faith. In the Roman Empire. It was mainly a three-way rivalry between Christianity, Manichaeism, and Roman polytheism, which eventually established the dominance of Christianity in the time of Constantine the Great (306-337). In Persia, it was the original Zoroastrianism with Christianity and Manichaeism. During the reign of Shapur II's predecessors, Bahram I and II, there were a large number of persecutions and massacres of Manichaeans. Its influence was greatly diminished, but Christianity continued to grow rapidly, and by the early years of Shapur II's reign, Christians had made up nearly one-third of the Persian population, threatening to replace Zoroastrianism. Caused panic and hatred among the Zoroastrian priestly class, and Christianity had achieved legitimacy in the Roman Empire, Christians in the Persian Empire could not escape the suspicion of "internal mole". Thus, at the instigation of the Zoroastrian priesthood, Shapur II began to persecute Christians in the country from 339 AD, killing a large number of Christians and destroying countless Christian churches and holy relics. Surviving Christians also had to pay an exorbitant poll tax. Christianity in the Middle East did not die out, but it has since collapsed.

Zeng Hua of Huaxia discussed this issue with scholars and professors of Chang'an Sinology, and finally concluded that these actions of Shapur II were more beneficial than disadvantageous to Huaxia. Since Alexander the Great's conquest of the Middle East, the Middle East has entered a centuries-old "Hellenistic era", which has greatly brought the Middle East and Europe closer to each other culturally, and with the widespread spread of Christianity, if it can be dominated in both places, it will be inspired by the universal spirit of Christianity. It may not be a dream for Europe and the Middle East to merge culturally as a whole. At that time, the powerful Christendom will be a direct threat to the western frontier of the Chinese Empire.

But Shapur II's persecution of Christianity shattered this dream, and his massacres and persecution drew a religious divide between Europe and the Middle East, which would grow wider and wider, and finally become insurmountable. A millennial confrontation of beliefs and ideologies between Europe and the Middle East. In fact, it was from this time that the prelude was unveiled. And for the Persian Empire. Shapur II made them national heroes, because he somewhat restored the Persian national character itself.

The professors of Chinese studies who discussed this conclusion all had new ideas. Since the Roman Empire and Christianity were not able to conquer Persia and Zoroastrianism, let the Chinese Empire and the Holy Religion conquer it, and let it be at the forefront of the conflict between the Christian world and the Holy Religion world, so that there would be a huge buffer area for the Chinese Empire. While Christendom in Europe had to face the onslaught of the Middle East and Persia in the past, the Chinese Empire could develop vigorously behind it and provide "impetus and resources" for this conflict. Zeng Hua very much supports this view, because he knows who conquered Persia and Zoroastrianism in the end in another world, and since this is the case, it is better to take advantage of the fact that Islam has not yet appeared.

Shapur II had no way of knowing China's national strategy, and he knew that Persia was facing an increasingly ferocious wave of holy missionary work. First, the Kushan regions of Hezhong, Tocharo, and Sintou began to be revitalized, while the Khorasan region next to them was attacked by holy religions from the west and north. By absorbing the Greek, Tianzhu, and Persian civilizations, as well as borrowing the advantages of Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism, the Holy Religion has completed another improvement, and its ideological system has become more complete and philosophical.

There have been a large number of holy religious groups in Khorasan, who have built holy churches, lived according to the customs and rules of the holy religion, and more importantly, they have begun to clash with the Zoroastrian there, and there have been occasional bloodshed. With the support of the Huaxia, the holy believers in Khorasan were more aggressive than the Zoroastrians, and they attacked the Zoroastrian who always blamed them, while the Huaxia people in Zhaozhou were there shouting "Support the brothers in the religion!" ", wantonly providing sophisticated Chinese weapons and financial support.

When the news reached Ctesiphon, Shapur II had a great headache. As a devout Zoroastrian, Shapur II was of course on the Zoroastrian side, but he was still emperor of the Persian Empire, and he had to think about more.

When you open the map, it is not difficult to find that the Hexi County of Zhaozhou in the Chinese Empire is located in the north of the Iranian plateau, and they have become the masters of the original Scythians after driving them away. Most of the people who lived there were Xianbei people, Rouran people and Yueban people who originally lived in Mozhou and Xizhou, among which the "Xianbei Army" stationed there was the most famous. The Persian Empire had "hired" them to attack the capricious kingdom of Armenia, and all the Persians were shocked by the fighting power displayed by these cavalrymen carrying the Yin-Yang Fish Banner.

If some kind of action is taken against the holy cultists in Khorasan, it is difficult to guarantee what these very devout holy cultists in Hexi County will do. All they had to do was put on homemade armor, disguised as horse thieves, and crossed the mountains to go straight to the Iranian plateau, the hinterland of the Persian Empire. What is even more dangerous is that now the Chinese can establish direct contact with the Roman Empire through the Caspian Sea, the Volga River, the Don River, and the Black Sea, and once they reach "some kind of agreement" against the Persian Empire, the Persian Empire will be attacked from the east and west, and this attack is launched by the two most powerful countries in the world at present, and the disaster it brings to Persia will be unpredictable.

Against all these concerns, Shapur II finally made a difficult decision to ask the local officials in Khorasan to exercise "restraint" in the face of the holy cultists and their groups. This order caused a great shock in Ctesiphon, and many nobles and Zoroastrian priests were very dissatisfied with this weak order, wondering why the "mighty" Persian Empire would bow so much to the Chinese. B.C. is one of the most vocal opponents.

As a devout Zoroastrian who did not want to see his fellow citizens being "bullied" by infidels, as a general of the Persian Empire, he did not want to see his country so weak, as a son, he did not want to see his most admired father become a cowardly man, and deep down, he was full of hatred for the Chinese people who brought great shame to him. Brisky argued in the main hall, but was eventually driven out by Shapur II.

After listening to the reason explained by the British branch, Odoria was silent for a while and said, "My Royal Highness, you have to be considerate of your father. ”

"Odoria, why is that?" Brisky asked, frowning.

"His Majesty the Emperor was not only a Zoroastrian, he was also the Emperor of the Persian Empire." Odoria replied in a low voice.

"Just because his father is the emperor of the Persian Empire, he should protect the honor of the Persian Empire." Brisky still said indignantly. It was only in the presence of Odoria that he could speak freely, including his dissatisfaction with his father.

"My Royal Highness, perhaps only when you become the emperor of the Persian Empire can you understand Your Majesty's current suffering." Odoria replied.

Brisky said no more, and stood there deep in thought. (