Chapter 1042: Han Dynasty Begins Battlefield Link
"What a pity! Rome is still Rome after all!"
Babak's mouth was bitter. He had originally planned to use this battle as a gift to the Parthian Empire and as a gift to boost morale before the final battle.
But in the end, they were still one step short of the mark. But never mind, although they did not achieve a substantial victory, they did at least give an explanation for the heavy casualties suffered by the barbarian troops.
Nearly 20,000 barbarians and several thousand Eagle Flag soldiers were killed, but their own losses were only over 10,000. Despite being at a great disadvantage, they were able to inflict a three-to-one casualty ratio.
"As expected, I can't save Parthia, Ardashir. I hope you can surpass yourself and save this country. After all, you are still not capable enough!"
Babak sighed in his heart, looked up at the sky, and then silently retracted his expression. In times of national crisis, people's hearts are revealed.
"withdraw!"
Babak ordered the reserve soldiers to take out their powerful crossbows and launch a burst of attacks, then immediately retreated. He then lifted the maintenance of the great secret technique, and the essence of heaven and earth began to continuously recover.
Because of their advantage in the great mystic arts, their speed increased rapidly after the mystic arts were released, directly putting distance between them and Roma.
"Follow me!" Gretz roared, and led all his soldiers on horseback to pursue. Although they had widened the distance, most of the Parthians were infantry and could not run far.
"Don't chase!" Filippo stopped Graz from chasing.
"Send your men out to scout in all directions, and come back to report any suspicious intelligence you find!" Filippo turned and gave orders to the barbarian legion commanders.
It was not until the barbarian legion leader left that Graze asked with a frown.
"Why don't you give chase? You are archers. If we chase them together, we will definitely gain something!"
Filippo sighed. It is said that every failure makes one wiser. Why is Gretz still so reckless? If the opponent can set up an ambush before the mountain, can't they set up another ambush after the ambush?
Until now, he still didn't understand the role of the Eagle Flag Legion, but he also knew that it was not Graz's fault. For a legion commander who changed careers halfway through, it was already very good to have a reliable fighting force.
"Convey the order of Commander Penilence. Come with me back to see Commander Penilence!" Filippo was too lazy to answer Graz's question. He directly conveyed Penilence's order with an expressionless face.
To be honest, after receiving Graz's request for help, Penilence almost couldn't catch his breath.
Nine Barbarian Legions and three Eagle Flag Legions were pinned to the ground by 30,000 Parthian troops. Even if there was some reason for the great secret technique, Rome should have the advantage no matter how you look at it.
As a result, the war ended in annihilation. If he hadn't sent people to rescue, who knows whether the entire army would have been wiped out.
And what is the purpose of giving you the Barbarian Legion? It is to let them explore the way and deceive the ultimate move.
How stupid does one have to be to fall into this kind of trap?
He knew that Parthia must have deployed something on this side of the mountains, so he sent three Eagle Flag Legions there, and also equipped them with nine Barbarian Legions, which were enough to serve as a detachment.
He used so many troops as the vanguard to clear the way, but ended up with such a terrible fight. I won't mention the number of barbarians who died, that's not important.
The important thing is that the three Eagle Flag Legions suffered heavy losses and were almost devastated. If the Church’s Angel Legion hadn’t come to provide treatment, the losses would have been even greater.
However, Penilence also realized that this was also his fault. He was tricked by the Parthians, who took advantage of his desire to train the legion commander.
Then they set up a trap and waited for the Romans to jump in, and Achino and his men actually jumped in.
"Are you all idiots?" Penelence's hands were shaking after receiving the battle damage. If all the Roman legion commanders were such idiots, then it would be questionable whether they could win this battle.
Especially since his own son was among them, Penilence felt deeply frustrated. If his own son was like this, how could he educate other legion commanders?
Penilence roared and scolded Achino and the others. If any one of the three had a brain, they should know the role of the Barbarian Legion. He had emphasized it so many times, but none of the three listened.
"Go away, go to the reserve army and fill in the numbers. If you are still like this next time, all of you will go and lead the regular army!"
Penilence waved his hand to signal the three people in front of him to get out. This was their last chance. If they couldn't seize it, then it would be time to replace the legion commander.
They Rome don't need trash.
Uneasy, Penilence adjusted his layout again. He felt that he should not overestimate these legion commanders. He must not let these legion commanders do whatever they want in the final decisive battle.
Everything must be under his own control.
As for training the legion commander, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future, but we must not act recklessly in the decisive battle.
"In this case, there shouldn't be any problem. Based on my observations during this period, Parthia shouldn't have a large army that can take over the battle line. If something does go wrong, it shouldn't be a problem for me to specialize in one area."
After looking at his own battle arrangements, Perennis felt a little relieved. He was still very confident in military command.
It’s nothing else but simply having confidence in myself.
"What do you mean there's no problem?" Severus suddenly opened the tent and walked in.
Upon hearing this, Perennis was about to salute on the spot, but Severus waved his hand to indicate that it was not necessary, and then found a place to sit down casually.
"I heard that Achino and the others were scolded by you for a long time?" Severus asked curiously. He was originally handling official business, but he heard that the three Eagle Flag Legion commanders were scolded madly by Penilence, so he came over to take a look out of curiosity.
Penelence smiled bitterly and told the story, and Severus fell silent.
"This generation of legion commanders is somewhat incompetent, but from what you said, Filippo and Leonardo's performances are pretty good?"
Severus finally broke his silence. He was also born as an emperor and knew a lot about the Eagle Legion. The performance of Achino and the other two was really bad.
It’s not that they are not strong enough, but that the abilities they have demonstrated are not enough to hold such an important position as the Eagle Flag Legion Commander.
They were the thirty-three cornerstones of the Roman Empire. To be the legion commander was to pick only one out of ten thousand.
But right now the performance of these legion commanders is really too poor, and Severus is sure that others are probably not much stronger than these legion commanders.
"Filippo and Leonardo..." Penilence's mouth twitched. These two were also problem children, although they performed better than Yachino and the others.
But from the perspective of the fourth eagle flag, they can't even activate the eagle flag, and are not as good as Achino and others.
"Thank you for your help." Severus was silent for a while and did not show the kind of arrogant confidence as before.
Although he had always been determined to destroy Parthia, in fact he was forced to do so.
Given a choice, who would gamble their power on a war of annihilation?
That was a war of annihilation. It was possible that any monster would appear in Parthia. Parthia had been entangled with Rome for hundreds of years.
If it was really that easy to destroy, they wouldn't have been entangled for so many years.
This war was also a gamble for him.
He was indeed a good emperor, but it also depends on who he was compared with. Compared with the Roman god Augustus and the god of war Caesar, he was still far inferior.
So he chose to hand over the military power to Penilence, because Penilence was stronger than him, and he was unwilling to give up any opportunity that could increase his chances of winning.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, everything is still under control. I will take over everything when the time comes!" Penilence comforted.
"Perennis, I have a bad feeling." Severus was not relieved when he heard what Perennis said. Instead, he frowned. After a while, he finally expressed his annoyance.
It was originally wrong to say such words that would lower one's own prestige before the war, but the shadow that had always weighed on Severus made him say this in the end.
At their level, feeling something in their heart is not a mysterious thing. Carrying the destiny of the empire, they can predict some things and there are traces to follow.
"Your Majesty, do you have any feelings?" Perennis looked at Severus and asked sincerely. Sometimes, for some things, the person involved will suddenly have some strange intuitions.
He also believes in this aspect when he is giving orders. Sometimes intuition is more useful than reason.
Severus nodded slowly and said nothing.
"Which direction do you think the problem lies in?" Perennis asked Severus.
"Ctesiphon!" Severus said very carefully, "Although I don't know what will happen, but Ctesiphon gives me a bad feeling!"
"Okay, I will move the Emperor's Guard Corps back to the front." Perennis nodded slowly and said, "Do you think this is enough?"
"I don't know!" Severus thought about it and did not give an answer.
"You mean... the Han Dynasty?" Penilence was silent for a moment, then suddenly said.
"Yes!" Severus nodded slowly. Although there was no evidence, when Penilence mentioned this, he had a feeling that the uneasiness came from this.
“……”Penelence also fell silent.
If there was anything that could change the war situation between Rome and Parthia, it would be the intervention of another empire.
"How about we reveal the news to Parthia?" After thinking for a while, Penilence suddenly said.
After Severus expressed his concerns, Penelence thought of an unlikely possibility.
Is it possible that the Han Dynasty wanted to destroy Rome together? Although it is crazy and unrealistic, when Rome and Parthia are fighting desperately, a sudden appearance of a large army is likely to cause the collapse of the situation.
No matter who the Han Dynasty chooses to fight, a wrong judgment may lead to the collapse of the war situation.
If the Han Dynasty pretended to form an alliance with them, when they thought the other side was coming to attack Parthia, but the other side turned around and attacked them, they would most likely not be able to defend against all aspects.
Even if you do nothing, the other party joining the battle will have a huge impact on the battle situation.
The most troublesome thing is that now they don’t know where the Han Dynasty is and how many people have been dispatched.
They were in the light while the Han Dynasty was in the dark, and this feeling was very bad.
So he suggested that the Han Dynasty should be dragged into the water first, or at least the position of the Han Dynasty should be exposed.
"Okay!" Severus pondered for a moment, then nodded.
No matter what the conflict between the Han Dynasty and Parthia was, it was obviously a good idea to alienate the two sides first.
It can not only reduce the pressure on them, but also put pressure on the Han Dynasty. Why not do it?
Severus wrote a letter without saying anything. In this letter, he simply and roughly humiliated Vogelius V and pointed out that the Han Dynasty had contacted Rome and wanted to divide Parthia.
The moment Vogelges V received the letter, his heart sank. How could he not know why the other party did this?
It is obvious that they are here to find the descendants of the Huns. Although this statement seems a bit ridiculous, if you think about the hatred between the Han Dynasty and the Huns, and then put yourself in the shoes of the hatred between Rome and Parthia.
Vogelius V was extremely cold-hearted. His helpless act of drinking poison to quench his thirst did help them to improve their situation in facing Rome, but now it was time to settle accounts.
If Parthia was really caught between the two empires, it would have no chance of survival.
However, Vogels V was not an ordinary man after all. He quickly realized that Rome was planning something bad.
The situation may not be as Rome said, and the other party may also be trying to sow discord. There is no doubt that the Han Dynasty was at war with the Kushans.
Is it really possible for the Han Dynasty to fight on two fronts?
However, even so, Vogys V had to give orders to mobilize some legions and soldiers to march towards the Han Dynasty.
However, for the Han Dynasty, they had already set foot on the border of Parthia during this period, while Parthia's mobilization had not yet been carried out.
"Haha, it's almost time to march!" Li Ru looked at the intelligence that came out from the Parthian Palace, burned it with a sneer, and then walked towards Guo Hao's direction.
"General, Rome has submitted a letter to Parthia, conveying our purpose to Parthia!" Li Ru reported briefly.
Shen Pei and the others nodded. They were not too surprised. Rome's betrayal was completely within their expectations. Although it happened a little earlier than expected, it was enough.
The war between Rome and Parthia had reached the point where the arrow was on the string and had to be fired. Even if both sides were willing to exclude the intervention of the Han Dynasty, it was too late.
Guo Hao nodded. They had thought of this on the day they contacted Rome, but it was only a matter of time before this layer of window paper was broken.
Anything can be hidden for a while, but it cannot be hidden forever.
The reason why they still had to communicate with Rome was for the future division of interests.
As for whether Parthia would discover it or when it would discover it, it didn’t matter to them.
The moment the Zagros Mountains were opened up, Rome and Parthia could not stop, and the Han Dynasty could just wait until they decided the outcome.
But they did not intend to wait. Since Rome had already made it clear, it was time to give Rome and Parthia a big surprise.
"Pass on my order. Start the rapid march tomorrow, and target Taisifeng!"
Blitzkrieg, as long as they are fast enough, everything will be meaningless to them.
