Chapter 880 Li Ru's Decision
"Parthia sent someone to inform us that they have cleaned up their country and are preparing to send troops to attack the Mesopotamian region. They specially invited us and Great Britain to go with them to join them!"
Li Jue scratched his head and looked at the letter in his hand.
To be honest, Parthia and the Han Dynasty are now in the honeymoon period.
Parthia had accumulated wealth and various specialties over the years, and the Han Dynasty had abundant materials and strong support. Both sides benefited from it and the trade flourished.
However, the only drawback was that Parthia's silk monopoly was broken. Great Britain and other countries had already rejected high-priced silk and turned to trading directly with the Han Dynasty, without middlemen making a profit from the price difference.
This led to a strange honeymoon period among the four countries of Parthia, Great Britain, Kushan and Han.
It was as if the previous war had never happened.
But this is understandable. Back then, the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu fought each other to the point of being brainless, but they still engaged in border trade from time to time. They were just getting by. In the face of interests, everything else could give way a little.
"Why don't we go back and ask the military advisor?" Guo Si also didn't quite understand. Although they had attended literacy classes, they had just escaped from illiteracy. Asking them to study a foreign language would be a death sentence.
Normally, we can still communicate through spiritual means, but once words are involved, we are completely at a loss.
"It's too far. How about you run back?" Fan Chou refused without thinking. They were finally let out by Li Ru to have fun. It would be too unsatisfying if they went back now.
"Well, no, this thing should not be simple. We can't cause trouble for the military advisor!" Zhang Ji thought for a while, then said.
"Then let Xiu'er go back and make the trip!" Guo Si also nodded. What Zhang Ji said made sense.
"Forget it, we can just send a small team back. Xiu'er will follow us and we will train her well!"
Li Jue refused. Although Zhang Xiu was very strong now and was the best general in Xiliang, he still needed to be honed in leading troops in battle. It would be great to take him with him to broaden his horizons.
"Let Xiu'er make the trip. I think there are still two months left, which is enough time for Xiu'er to go back and forth, or even for the military advisor to reinforce us." Zhang Ji pondered for a long time, and finally insisted.
The other few people shrugged and had no objections. They were released by Li Ru this time just to kill for fun. They didn't really care where to kill or who to kill.
After killing the target assigned by Li Ru, they were worried about having nothing to do, and then Parthia came to their doorstep, which was truly a blessing.
"Let's go, let's put that aside and study it later. Parthia also gave us a map with a lot of bandits and horse bandits marked on it. Let's continue training those little guys!"
After Li Jue and his companions finished discussing the matter in a nonsensical manner, they set out in a hurry with their Xiliang cavalry.
The biggest problem for the heavy cavalry is to replenish their troops. Even if the reserve force of the Xiliang cavalry is very complete, it is still an extremely difficult process for them.
They need to fight continuously and shed blood in order to get these double-talented Xiliang cavalry and even the imperial guards to join the ranks of heavy cavalry.
Li Ru let them out not only to clear some fixed targets, but also with a request, which was to ask them to replenish their heavy cavalry to full strength.
The place where Li Jue and his men were located was roughly a no-man's land, equivalent to the current areas of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
They came here to deal with a group of horse bandits who had looted a caravan. These guys had no fixed place to live, but their traces could still be found.
Because it was the honeymoon period, Parthia also opened the door to convenience. They themselves were too busy to clean up these places, so they simply gave the Han Dynasty a favor and granted them a privilege to facilitate their actions.
Moreover, maintaining market stability is also a very important matter for Parthia.
In addition, this place has too many historical issues. It is not just Parthia, but also involves the Kushan Empire. The Kushan Empire once occupied this place, but to be more precise, the Han Dynasty also occupied this place a hundred years ago.
But later on, because it was too far away for the Han Dynasty at that time, and for the Kushans, the Han Dynasty was squatting here, and Parthia itself was caught in the war and could not spare any efforts, so it became a lawless area.
Many horse bandits, mountain robbers, thieves and other evil forces who can no longer survive all gather in this area. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a black zone where no one is in power.
In addition, Rome later intervened, and Parthia lost its actual management rights over this area.
What Vogels V did was actually to throw away the burden and use Li Jue and others as mercenaries.
He was well aware that there was Roman influence in this place, and he also wanted to create hostility between the Han Dynasty and Rome, and then tie the Han Dynasty to the Parthian chariot.
When the cleanup is completed, this place can be used to sell favors, whether it is given as a reward to heroes who have made great contributions in the war, or to develop it yourself.
However, since they were hired, Vogels V did not play any tricks and directly allocated a large amount of supplies from Parthia to Li Jue and his men, allowing Li Jue and his men to occupy the mountains and temporarily settle down in this area.
You know what, evil people need to be governed by evil people. The chaotic and evil Xiliang Iron Cavalry was a dimensionality reduction attack on those horse bandits and mountain robbers. After killing more than a dozen waves in a row, this place became peaceful, and Li Jue and his men also gained a group of younger brothers.
An entire evil zone seemed to be gradually being cleared out, which was extremely satisfying for Voggis. It was much more satisfying than hiring the Northern Huns at that time. The Han Dynasty's efforts to deal with these scum were faster than those of their own people.
…
"Military Advisor, Zhang Xiu requests a meeting!" Just as Li Ru was thinking about how to make use of the fact that Rome had an undercover agent in Parthia, a guard came to report.
"Huh? Zhang Xiu?" Li Ru was stunned. Of course he knew Zhang Xiu. He was the oldest younger generation of the Xiliang faction and he also wanted to train him.
He remembered that Zhang Xiu should have been taken away by Li Jue and his men, so why did he suddenly come back?
"Let him in!" Li Ru gave the order directly.
"Military Advisor, this is the letter from Parthia that my uncles asked me to send back. Please take a look!" Zhang Xiu went straight to the point and handed the letter given to him by Li Jue to Li Ru. This thing was written by Vogels V himself, which was full of sincerity.
After Li Ru received the letter from Zhang Xiu, he filled the last gap in his thinking and instantly understood where the loophole was. He had missed an empire.
"Rome ..." Li Ru's face was extremely gloomy. He had basically guessed who was behind the scenes. It was definitely Rome causing trouble.
No evidence is needed. After the success of this plan, the biggest beneficiary will be Rome. Not only will it weaken the development of Great Britain and Parthia, but if the undercover operation is done well, it will also allow the Han Dynasty and these two countries to become enemies, which is a good way to create discord.
"Haha, it seems that the strategy of making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby ones is not suitable for this country!" Li Ru's eyes contained murderous intent. He had found the culprit for his day and night efforts these days.
"Zhang Xiu, listen to my orders!" Li Ru thought for a moment and then ordered.
"I am here!" Zhang Xiu was stunned, then quickly half-knelt and said.
"I order you to gather 5,000 soldiers and horses, and join forces with Li Jue and others to help Parthia. By the way, give this thing to the Parthian king. He should know what to do!"
Li Ru did not say anything and quickly drafted a document. He had found some traces of undercover agents based on clues these days, but he had been unable to take action due to concerns about national relations.
Now that the mystery has been solved, it is natural for Parthia to clean up the mess with its own hands!
By then, Parthia would be the one in the wrong, and would have to give the Han Dynasty another three points of concessions, which would be killing two birds with one stone.
As for Rome, although Li Ru was not sure how strong the other side was, the Xiliang Iron Cavalry led by the Four Heavenly Kings of Xiliang were definitely not to be trifled with. They were strong enough to teach Rome a lesson and train their soldiers at the same time. Isn't that wonderful?
In Li Ru's opinion, Li Jue and his four companions were all elite officers, leading more than 4,000 heavy cavalry and 10,000 elite Xiliang cavalry, and if they captured some auxiliary troops on the way, it would be enough to inflict losses on Rome.
This was a completely harmless move for the Han Dynasty.
Anyway, Parthia is the main attacker, and the Han Dynasty can just send some people to play supporting role. No matter whether they win or lose, the Han Dynasty will make a profit.
"Di Qing... Forget it, Di Qing cannot be moved for the time being..." Li Ru subconsciously wanted to send out another trump card, but after thinking about it, he gave up.
Di Qing's three talents are not yet fully staffed, but still in a mixed state. Moreover, Di Qing gained these three talents in the battle with the Parthian army. It would be too awkward to meet them at that time, which would be detrimental to deepening their friendship.
"I'm afraid the manpower we have available now is not enough to disgust Rome!" Li Ru thought.
Lu Zhi cannot be moved. After Li Jue and others left, they still relied on Lu Zhi to maintain order. Moreover, the education still had to be done by the great scholar Lu Zhi. Everyone has his own expertise, and to be honest, Li Ru was not very good at education. He preferred destruction.
"...Why not transfer those brats out from Luoyang?" After thinking for a while, Li Ru finally focused his attention on Liu Chan, Cao Ang and others in Luoyang.
There is no way. We can fight back but we still have to maintain the basic foundation.
He had to use the forces at his disposal to maintain the entire Western Region, especially in the event of Rome causing trouble, he had to leave some spare energy to deal with it.
In fact, from Li Ru's point of view, Parthia can definitely defeat Rome in this wave.
Although he didn't know how powerful Rome was, the number of troops sent by Parthia was marked on the handwritten letter from Vogels V.
Two hundred thousand dual talents, eighty thousand guards, seventy-two people with internal energy leaving their bodies, as for the others, they were not written down, but from this basic data, Li Ru had already seen Parthia's determination.
According to this ratio, the number of three-talent legions and single-talent legions is absolutely shocking.
With this scale, if they turned around and attacked the current Western Regions, the Han Dynasty would not be able to stop them.
This number is actually smaller than the final size of the Northern Huns. However, the difference between the two is that the Northern Huns were in their last gasp, while Parthia was different. This time the army was only a part of its strength.
They also left troops stationed in the north, southeast and north to guard against the Han Dynasty, Great Britain and Kushan.
The honeymoon period is the honeymoon period, but if you really pin the survival of the country on stupid friendship, then you are really stupid.
No matter how good the relationship is, necessary precautions are still necessary.
What's more, everyone is just in a relationship of mutual benefit, and they have fought wars with each other. If there is no precaution, it would be forcing people to commit crimes.
To be fair, if Parthia was really defenseless, its emptiness would be exposed to Li Ru .
Li Ru would definitely seek help while sending out all his troops to attack Taixifeng directly from the empty rear. Even if he could not completely occupy the land by then and would be branded as treacherous, Li Ru did not care at all.
Who wouldn't want an opportunity to decide the outcome of a battle? The real land resources and benefits would be enough to turn Li Ru into a saint.
His enemy is my hero, nothing more than this.
But that's just a thought. After all, they are at the imperial level and will not make such a stupid mistake.
What's more, the main forces of the Han Dynasty could be said to have been all transferred to Japan to fight the war of annihilation, and some were stationed in Kushan. In addition to those stationed in the northern border and those who had been withdrawn from the navy, the Han Dynasty was good at defending the status quo but not at making advances.
Even if Japan has been conquered, it will be a long process just to return to the capital. Security battles and so on are all troublesome. The whole process cannot be completed in less than half a year.
Even if we withdraw a group of people first, it is impossible to deploy them directly to the Western Regions.
The Han Dynasty needs some time to recuperate. A country that loves war will eventually perish. Although he is a hawk, hawks also look at interests. Only fools will start a meaningless war without interests.
Otherwise, Li Ru would not have been unable to spare manpower and had to let Li Jue and others go alone. With more than 10,000 people left on the battlefield of the empire, it is likely that they would not be able to cause any big waves.
But it's just a matter of attitude. They are just there to play supporting role.
"Well, no, that's not enough. Since Rome dared to attack the Han Dynasty, let's teach them a severe lesson!"
Li Russ thought about it and decided that this was definitely not enough. Rome was disgusting, so he had to be disgusting back.
Li Ru thought about it, and then wrote a letter, planning to transfer a group of people from Luoyang. It happened that he heard that Tiangong-1 could now be used as a transport ship, so he simply let Tiangong-1 bring Liu Chan and others from Luoyang, as well as a group of soldiers from the northern border.
By then, we can gather an army of 50,000 people and use it as a detachment to teach Rome a lesson.
What? Are you afraid of retaliation?
What a joke! The Han Dynasty was never afraid of any opponent, let alone the disgusting Romans in front of them.
