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Volume 2: Set Sail Chapter 170: Attacking the heart first

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    Chapter 170: Attacking the heart first

    Seeing that Sun Shao was serious and not joking, Quintus said nothing and lowered his head to drink tea. Only then did he realize that the tea cup was already dry. Sun Shao waved, and Emily walked over quickly, holding hands with him.  Sleeves, stretched out his tender lotus-like arms, lifted the silver pot and refilled Quintus with some water.  Quintus took the opportunity to change the subject and winked at Sun Shao: "How about it, my Roman women are pretty good, right?"

    Sun Shao smiled and glanced at Emily and Diana, who were blushing: "How can you, an old friend, make any mistakes in your arrangement? I am very satisfied. I haven't thanked you yet, so I will use tea instead of wine. Thank you.  Please give me some kindness."

    "As long as you like it, as long as you like it." Quintus laughed, "It is also a blessing for them to be your women. Emily, Diana, you should serve His Highness well. Only by making him feel comfortable physically and mentally can we  Fight the good fight. Only by winning the war will the Emisa family gain more benefits."

    "Look at you, you always get benefits." Sun Shao didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He waved his hand, interrupted Quintus's words, put away his smile, and said solemnly: "This is my opinion, I don't know if you can accept it.  , I just want to say hello to you first, go back and discuss it with the ministers and see what they think."

    Quintus smiled and said nothing. His goal had been achieved. At least now Sun Shao did not insist on retreating immediately, but asked him to go back and discuss it first. This shows that there is still room for negotiation.  He said no more and stood up to leave.

    "Your Majesty, do you really want to withdraw your troops?" Emily leaned beside Sun Shao and asked softly: "I am also preparing to invite my family to Ctesiphon."

    Sun Shao glanced at her, put his arm around her shoulders, and said with a smile: "What do you know? Although we captured the ancient city of Seleucid, the casualties of Rome and Kushan were not small, and Ctesiphon was stronger than the Seleucid city."  Ten times, do you think it¡¯s better for us to just accept it as soon as we see it, or do we have to get into a bloody encounter?¡±

    Diana, who was packing up the documents on the case, thought seriously for a moment and nodded: "Then it's better to just put it away as soon as it's ready."

    "That's right, even you can understand the problem, why don't they understand it?" Sun Shao patted his thigh gently and shook his head, sighing.

    Quintus returned to the tent. Momia was holding Philip and teaching him how to read the word cards word by word. When she saw Quintus's face, she was a little surprised and quickly asked someone to take Philip away.  , and asked someone to pour tea for Quintus.  Quintus waved his hand: "No need to pour tea, I have to go find someone to talk to someone later."

    "What happened?" Momia asked in confusion: "Today we conquered the ancient city of Seleucid. It's a time when everyone is rejoicing. Why don't you look unhappy?"

    Quintus sighed and told Momia what Sun Shao said just now.  Momia listened quietly and sipped the tea slowly. It wasn't until Quintus finished speaking and looked at her expectantly that she raised her eyelids and looked at Quintus: "I think he is right to worry.  .¡±

    "Is he right?" Quintus was a little disappointed, but then he realized something more: "Is he worried?"

    "Yeah, think about it, what he said is indeed the truth. Although Seleucus was captured, the losses for you and Bo Diao were not small. Not to mention the Kushan people, you have an army of 80,000  At least 30,000 people will not be able to go into battle in the short term, and the best 10,000 people are still in the hands of little Gordian. If he still refuses to go out, how many people can you use? Seleucus only has  With 10,000 defenders, you have paid such a high price, so how can you say that you can definitely win Ctesiphon? Even you don¡¯t feel sure, right?"

    Quintus nodded silently. He just felt that he was not sure, so he did not insist on it with Sun Shao.  But he felt that it was a pity to give up like this. Not only did it leave troubles, but Sun Shao did almost nothing except running a trip, but he got the most benefits, which seemed a bit unfair.  He and Bo Tiao had captured Seleucus, so Sun Shao should be the main battler in Ctesiphon. How could he just throw away his hands and quit when the time came?

    Momia seemed to notice Quintus's displeasure, and she continued: "Do you think the Han people alone can take down Ctesiphon?"

    Quintus pondered for a long time: "No."

    "You don't have the strength to fight anymore, and he's not sure he can break the city on his own, so wouldn't it be the best way to give up now? Your Majesty, Seleucid is the result of the alliance of the three kingdoms, how can you ask him to capture Ctesiphon by himself?  ?" Momia's tone was calm, and there was no hint of worry. Quintus' originally impatient mood gradually calmed down. He savored Momia's words carefully, and a smile slowly appeared on his face.  .

    "He's worried that we won't help?"

    Momia nodded lightly. Quintus saw it, laughed, shook his head and said: "He is stillSo careful, he obviously wants us to help him, but he still has to act like he doesn't want to fight.  " He thought for a moment and then said: "I understand. I'm going to discuss it with them. I must arouse their morale. Otherwise, this battle will be really difficult to fight.  "

    "Your Majesty is wise." Momia flattered her appropriately.

    Quintus walked out of the tent in a relaxed mood, summoned several important generals, and first analyzed the current situation with them and asked for their opinions.  After weighing the pros and cons, Mennoluphes and others felt that if possible, it would be better to take down Ctesiphon in one go. Otherwise, they would have to attack Ctesiphon and put direct pressure on Ardashir.  Force him to sign the contract.  Of course, if you want to do this, you must first ensure that the Romans are capable of fighting, and the most important thing is to force little Gordian into battle.

    After everyone agreed, Quintus asked Balbinus to find little Gordian.  Balbinus understood it and went to little Gordian's tent to see that little Gordian was pacing in regret. As soon as he saw Balbinus, he came up to him with an embarrassed look on his face.  Zise: "My friend, I didn't say anything wrong, right?"

    Balbinus consoled him: "It's nothing serious, but you have reminded everyone that Ctesiphon is not easy to fight and we are not very sure of victory, so we might as well withdraw like this."

    Before he finished speaking, little Gordian became anxious.  He led the two most elite legions, but failed to accomplish anything. He just returned to Rome. How could he face meeting his father and Roman citizens?  He originally planned to force Quintus to declare his position in front of everyone and let him go into battle. It would be better to compete with each other and raise the price. Unexpectedly, these useless guys were really frightened.

    "How is that possible? We came all the way here and just took down one Seleucid and then left? Ardashir is not a person who repays his kindness. I won't kill him this time and wait until he can breathe again.  , then Rome must be the first to be retaliated against."

    When Balbinus saw it, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He pretended to talk about some difficulties and darkly pointed out the adverse effects of the internal discord among the Romans. Only then did little Gordian understand what Balbinus meant.  The true purpose of his visit, but since his words had reached this point, he couldn't go back on his word, so he could only pat his chest and say that as long as Quintus wanted to attack, he would take the lead and go all out.

    Balbinus returned satisfied.

    At the same time, Bo Diao also understood Sun Shao's worries. He was not as troublesome as Quintus. As long as he decided to continue the attack, the Kushan people would have no other opinions.

    Sun Shao was still a little hesitant after receiving assurances from Bo Diao and Quintus, but he could not overcome their persistence and had to let them seize the time to rescue the wounded while trying to contact Ardashir to see if they could win without a fight.  .  If it doesn't work, then there is only one more fight.  Seeing Sun Shao's reluctant look, Quintus and Bo Diao were involuntarily taken away by him. Not only did they promise to cooperate, but they also promised that Sun Shao would arrange the distribution of the spoils of Ctesiphon to make up for what he had paid for it.  loss.

    Sun Shao was so satisfied that he immediately asked Jiang Gan to rush to Taixi Fengcheng in person.

    Jiang Gan proudly arrived at Taixi Feng City with Sun Shao's autographed letter.  As soon as Aldashir saw Jiang Gan, he sneered: "Your king didn't bring a large army to attack the city, so why did he send you here? Do you want to overthrow my Taixi Feng city just because of your words?"

    Jiang Gan stood neither humble nor arrogant, looking at the palace, which was covered with glass and full of exotic customs. He smiled and said: "Your Majesty, thank you for your praise. I am not Meng Jiangnu, and I have no ability to knock down city walls."

    Ardashir was confused. Who is Meng Jiangnu?

    "However, I came here with the sincerity of my king." Jiang Gan took out Sun Shao's autographed letter from his arms and handed it to the eunuch who caught up.  The eunuch trotted away and handed it over to Ardashir again.  Ardashir took it in his hand and first glanced at the writing on the cover.  Sun Shao wrote it in Chinese characters, and the elegant small regular script of his hand looked very comfortable. Although Ardashir could not understand Chinese characters, he could appreciate the calmness between the lines. It can be imagined that Sun Shao wrote this letter.  You must be in a happy mood and calm mind at that time.  Ardashir felt a sense of disgust at the thought of this.

    "I don't know your Chinese characters." Ardashir threw the letter on the case in front of him, pretending to be disdainful and said: "If you have anything to say, just say it."

    Jiang Gan didn't mind and said in response: "It's actually simple. There are two main things. One is that in the battle of Seleucid, we captured more than 8,000 prisoners. Considering that they all have families and families, my king  I can¡¯t bear to let them become ghosts under the sword, nor can I bear to let them go to a foreign land and become slaves, so I suggest that the king redeem them if the king is willing to make a truce and make peace.¡±

    &nbsp"Truce and peace?" Ardashir obviously had not considered this plan, and was a little stunned for a moment: "You want to make peace?"

    "Yes." Jiang Gan smiled and said: "To show sincerity, we can even release dozens of people first, as long as the king pays a symbolic ransom." As he said, he took out another list and handed it over.  Ardashir took it and took a look. Most of these people were centurions and thousands. They were all relatively important people, and the prices listed at the end were indeed not high.  He couldn't help but feel a little moved. He raised his head and glanced at Jiang Gan: "How do you plan to make peace?"

    "As long as your Majesty is sincere, we can discuss how to make peace." Jiang Gan said in a very talkative manner: "There is a preliminary plan in my Majesty's letter. Please read it and put forward your opinions, and then we will discuss further. Here  Before, the king gave me the ransom to take back, and we will release these people."

    Ardashir was about to say that I don¡¯t know Chinese characters, but when he thought about it, he felt that it was very shameful. There were also many Han people in Ctesiphon. It shouldn¡¯t be a big problem to understand this letter. Let¡¯s first tell those who have experienced the war.  The officers were redeemed so that they could inquire about the other party's strength and be more confident in deciding whether to negotiate or fight in the future.  He sneered secretly. Although Sun Shao captured Seleucus at a rare speed, he must have suffered a lot of casualties. He would be unable to defeat Ctesiphon again, so he came to ask for negotiations.

    Ardashir did not hesitate and immediately asked Jiang Gan to take the ransom back.  Jiang Gan completed the task easily, left Taixi Fengcheng, and returned to the other side in a warship.  Here, Ardashir found someone to translate Sun Shao's documents, and over there, Sun Shao also sent back the prisoners very quickly. Of course, he did not forget to convey the news of the negotiations to these prisoners in advance, so as to  Indicates that he sincerely wants to negotiate.

    Ardashir was not a fool either. He arranged for a special person to escort these prisoners back to the city, not allowing them any chance of contact with others. At the same time, he also detained the person who invited the translator and tried his best to prevent the news of the negotiations from leaking out.  So as not to shake the morale of the military.  However, when he heard about the miracle, he was still shocked.

    There is no flaw in this miracle, but the illusion he arranged failed completely. Is it really a miracle?  What if we can't find a flaw and the miracle appears again when Sun Shao's troops approach the city?  Will Ctesiphon follow the footsteps of Seleucus and be captured by Sun Shao in a very short period of time?

    Ardashir has never thought about negotiating, but now, he is a little shaken.  No matter how great a person is, he will always have a kind of fear from the bottom of his heart in the face of unknown power.  Ardashir was not sure whether Ahura was still on his side now. He also knew the impact that the ancient city of Seleucid was captured in less than half a month on morale. Although he tried his best to block the news, there was no guarantee that he would  If it leaks out and the soldiers know that it is God's will, I am afraid that no matter how many defenders there are in Ctesiphon, they will not be able to defend the city.

    Ardashir thought for a long time and decided to delay for a while. Anyway, his purpose was to delay Sun Shao until he couldn't support it. Now that Sun Shao takes the initiative to negotiate, of course he wants it.  So he sent a eloquent minister to cross the river to negotiate with Sun Shao.

    Sun Shao was very enthusiastic and met the minister in person. He said enthusiastically that if Ardashir was really sincere in negotiating, he would be willing to bring up the old affairs of the Four-Nation Alliance and put the unpleasant things behind him. They would remain allies in the future and jointly maintain peace in the world.  , to provide a stable living environment for all people in the world.  Then he appointed Jiang Gan as the negotiator and told them to show sincerity, not to be perfunctory, and to seek happiness for the people of the four countries.

    Jiang Qian was indeed sincere and made a very attractive proposal at the beginning, which was to allow the Sasanians to redeem the remaining captives at a reasonable price.  Once the Sasanian envoy heard what he wanted, it would be great to have eight thousand warriors go back to help defend the city.  Both parties were interested, and the matter was quickly negotiated. Ardashir received the reward without any objections, and immediately arranged for someone to send the ransom.  The moment he saw the eight thousand soldiers safely returning to Taixi Feng City, he almost thought that Sun Shao really wanted to negotiate.

    However, Ardashir soon regretted his decision.  Eight thousand people were not just a few dozen. Many of the soldiers guarding the city knew about the return of these prisoners. The news that the king was negotiating with the enemy was inevitably leaked out, and the entire Taixi Feng city immediately fell into a strange atmosphere.  During the process, family members of the captives gradually came to intercede and ask for their family to be reunited. At first, Ardashir planned to delay, but later he discovered that it would be better if he did not delay. If he delayed, rumors would spread. In desperation,  I had to let a group of people out first.

    As soon as these people left custody, the news of the negotiations could no longer be controlled, and the news of the miracle outside Seleucid City quickly spread throughout the city.

    Ardashir regretted that Modie was careful, but Sun Shao still found a flaw.  Now again?The soldiers said that his mere delaying strategy was of no use. He could only re-evaluate the matter and seriously consider the possibility of negotiating with Sun Shao.

    Ardashir proposed that all Romans, Chinese and Kushans should withdraw from the Sassanid lands, and then further negotiations could be held.

    As soon as Sun Shao received the news, before he had time to react, Quintus and others were anxious to withdraw from the Sasanian land?  This is simply impossible. After fighting so hard for so long, can you still spit it out?  They immediately came to Sun Shao and expressed their strong opposition.  Sun Shao smiled and said, "Don't be anxious. Just be prepared to attack the city with peace of mind. How could I agree to Ardashir's condition? He is forcing me to take the initiative to attack the city."

    Quintus breathed a sigh of relief, "Then what are you going to do?"

    "I will let all the Sasanians know that Ardashir did not negotiate in good faith. He will gamble with the lives of the entire city." Sun Shao sneered: "I will tell the Sasanians in the city that Ardashir  Sir is no longer the incarnation of Ahura, he is now the incarnation of Ahriman, who will drag all one hundred thousand Sasanians into the abyss of death."

    Sun Shao decided to terminate the negotiations and immediately arranged for the army to cross the river. An army of 200,000 people surrounded the north of the city of Taixi. Hundreds of warships with more than 8,000 navy also blocked the Tigris and Dia rivers.  The Sasanians, who had been fully expecting the negotiations to succeed, were disappointed when they saw that the army suddenly besieged the city. Ardashir was overjoyed and immediately sent someone to announce that Sun Shao had no sincerity in negotiating and he would eventually attack the city.  Anyway, Sun Shao was outside the city, so even if he had something to say, he could not reach the city. The people in the city could only hear his side of the story.

    He never expected that before his order was spread throughout the city, someone came to report it. Suddenly, a lot of paper fell from the world, and the requirements put forward by Ardashir were written on the paper. The fundamental reason for the breakdown of the negotiations was in just a short time.  has spread within a short period of time.

    Ardashir was shocked. He rushed out the door and looked into the distance. He saw that the city of Texifen seemed to have snowed. Countless pieces of paper were falling from the sky and scattered everywhere.  He looked up and used his eyesight, but he only found a big blue ball in the sky - against the blue sky, you really couldn't distinguish it if you didn't pay attention - and the snowflake-like pieces of paper were like  Falling out of that big ball.

    Suddenly, Ardashir seemed to understand the origin of the miracle.

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