Chapter 989: Parthia-Roman Battlefield
If Ardashir was still worried that Rome would set an ambush ahead when he stepped out of the Zagros Mountains, after a day of double exploration by scouts and war eagles, Ardashir was basically certain that Rome had no intention of ambush him at all.
The other side now just wants to push the front line as far as possible, and then launch an attack on Parthia directly from the closest distance next year.
That's why only two vanguard armies bypassed the defense line and came here. The defense line set up by Parthia near the Mesopotamian River Basin had not yet completely collapsed.
Therefore, Rome’s focus now cannot be placed on Ardashir and Temujin.
"What is going on?" Ardashir thought with a frown.
After all, Rome was the great enemy of Parthia, and Ardashir certainly would not treat Rome as an idiot. However, Rome's reckless attack was like offering death.
But if nothing unexpected happens, both he and Temujin will gain something. Although the Eagle Flag Corps no longer has the absolute dominance it once had, it shouldn't be wasted like this, right?
"Wait, consumption..." Ardashir thought of something and his expression became gloomy.
In fact, Parthia was aware of Rome's policy of consuming the barbarians, but its previous strength was too weak and it could only endure it silently.
It’s different now. After they realized it, they started thinking about how to break the impasse.
And now Ardashir couldn't help but think of those thoughts he had before. After all, if Rome used the lives of the barbarians to fight them, in fact, they would not lose out.
A low-intensity war could maximize the rise of Parthia, but after Ardashir saw the First Angel Legion, he no longer thought so.
To be honest, Ardashir really doesn't like this kind of thing, but as for politics, since he has sat in this position, it is impossible for him not to get involved.
Even Chen Xi, who has been trying to extricate himself from the system, represents a national political tendency, not to mention Ardashir, a rising star who holds military power in the Parthian Empire.
Moreover, as the light of the third century in history, he also has his own unique insights into politics.
"Can the Roman Church... be used?"
Originally, he would not have thought so if there were only the church's troops, but the mix of the Sixth Triumphal Legion and the Seventeenth Angel Legion gave him a glimmer of hope.
Strong fortresses often collapse from within.
Thinking of this, Ardashir sent envoys directly to Rome.
When Cyprian saw Ardashir's messenger, he reacted quickly and immediately blocked the news.
After a long conversation, Cyprian looked uncertain.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Cyprian finally found an opportunity to save the church from the fate of being cannon fodder.
Selling out the Eagle Legion in exchange for the growth of the Roman Church would neither leave any evidence nor cause any trouble. The only thing required was to send the Eagle Legion to the right place at the right time.
"Haha, what a good plan!" Cyprian sneered. Ardashir's plan was very good. It was a win-win for both the church and Parthia. The only one who would lose was the Roman Empire.
But this is not enough. Unless several eagle flags are destroyed, the Roman Empire will not be fundamentally damaged, and their church will become the target of public criticism.
In contrast, Cyprian had a better idea, which was to let Parthia and the Eagle Legion perish together. In this way, they would not only complete their mission but also expand themselves.
By then, even if we fall out with Roma, we will still have some confidence.
"Let me think about what to do." Cyprian rubbed his temples. He knew that Ardashir had bad intentions, but he had bad intentions too.
What remains to be seen is who has more sophisticated means.
War itself is the continuation of politics, and the ultimate goal of politics is interest. Only interest is eternal and unchanging, everything else is nonsense.
"Brother, what should we do next?" Jamukha looked at his brother Temujin with a serious face.
"Those winged birdmen are quite tough. We have suffered heavy losses!"
Zhamuhe was very worried. In order to defeat the Second Angel Legion of the Eighteenth Eagle Flag and the Third Angel Legion of the Nineteenth Eagle Flag, many people from their headquarters had died.
The so-called main force refers to the descendants of the Huns. There are not many of them, and they would be extremely sad if one of them died.
"What is the current organization of the Mongolian cavalry?" Temujin's face darkened when he heard this. He did not expect the opponent to be so tough. The recruited Parthian auxiliary troops could not break the situation at all, so he could only let the main force hold on.
"It has been replenished, but this is not a solution. I heard that a miracle happened over at Ardashir..." Jamukha was very annoyed.
Miracle, miracle, these are the two words they hate most in their lives.
The three words that annoyed them even more were "Yulin Army", an almost indelible nightmare.
"Ardashir's was just a temporary outburst. In fact, it's still far from enough!" Temujin shook his head. They had also noticed the movements of the Holy Meteorite Cavalry before Ardashir, and they were far behind the Yulin Army.
"Keep fighting! If the Mongolian cavalry can be promoted from the soul of the army to a miracle, everything will be worth it!" Temujin gritted his teeth and finally decided to give it a try.
The situation is really beyond their control. Now that they have joined Parthia, they feel the same sense of oppression facing Rome as the Huns once did when facing the Han Dynasty.
It wasn't them, but Rome's sense of oppression over the entire empire, which implicated them all.
If it hadn't been for the big victory before, Parthia might have been in ruins by now.
Temujin did not want to repeat the same mistake. Whether he could make a comeback would be a matter for later. Anyway, it was either Han or Hu, so he would fight to the death with Rome first and find a way out for Parthia.
Only if Parthia survives will they have the possibility of returning to seek revenge on the Han Dynasty.
No one knows better than the Huns what will happen if they lose their base.
They finally have a base in Parthia, so they must give it a try.
"Yes!" Jamukha's expression changed several times, but he finally chose to obey Temujin's orders.
" Where are Jin Wushu and Murong Ke?"
"We have already left the mountains and will arrive soon!"
"Get ready. When they arrive, we will continue to attack. This time we will not take action, but just hold the line to give those recruited auxiliary troops some training." After all, Temujin still felt sorry for his headquarters and made a second-best decision.
"I understand. I'll go down and arrange it right away!" Jamukha also breathed a sigh of relief. As long as his own troops were not forced to fight, he could accept any number of Parthian deaths.
"Iron Buddha, I hope you, Jin Wushu, will not disappoint us. The stage is ready for you. If you still cannot succeed, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Temujin tapped the armrest of his chair, thinking hard.
The various Hun descendant tribes that were scattered at the beginning actually maintained a certain connection. However, except for Temujin who took a shortcut, occupied a military soul quota of Parthia, and formed a military soul corps, the Mongolian cavalry, the other tribal corps were at most a replica of the Imperial Guard.
Jin Wushu took the initiative to find Temujin and said that the well-trained Iron Buddha was just one step away from a leap, and hoped that Temujin would give him a hand because they shared the same origin.
Temujin has now fulfilled his promise and set the stage for Jin Wushu, a battlefield where super legions will not take action and ordinary legions will fight each other.
If Jin Wushu fails, he will have to use the backbones under Jin Wushu to fill the vacancies of the Mongolian cavalry.
That is to say, completely annex Jin Wushu's main tribe.
On the battlefield, everyone had his own calculations, which led to the beginning of a low-intensity war between Parthia and Rome in the Mesopotamian region.
Go fight, go participate in the war. After all, you don’t have to understand this world to become strong.
After a long time, only the elite survive.
For various reasons, both sides tacitly deployed a large number of new recruits, ordinary legions, and a few elite legions that were not fully trained.
Although it is winter, everyone is still playing. As long as the weather does not reach the most severe level in a day, no one will stop.
"Pooh."
Jin Wushu spat out a mouthful of blood, finally spitting out the blood from the serious injury he suffered yesterday.
He was unlucky. After he successfully trained the Iron Pagoda, he directly defeated nearly 30,000 Roman auxiliary troops and a quarter of the 15th Eagle Flag fanatics in one battle.
But he also became a thorn in the side of the church, and three legions of angels were looking for him everywhere.
This kind of legion that can float in the air for a short period of time is simply the nemesis of their Iron Pagoda.
Especially Gabriel, the team leader, who kept biting him like a mad dog.
I never knew I was so good at fighting. Gabriel, a master at the realm-breaking level, not only did he hold on, he even made the opponent bleed.
In fact, it was not Gabriel's fault. The 18th Eagle Flag Legion suffered heavy losses and stayed in the rear for reorganization. He brought the 15th Eagle Flag Legion out for training.
As a result, Jin Wushu stepped on him and reached the third level of talent.
More than 30,000 people were destroyed in one charge. With the momentum reaching its peak, they kicked the 15th Fanatic Legion hard and then ascended to the third talent.
Gabriel was so angry that he vomited blood. After completing the eighteen eagle flags, he wandered around the battlefield looking for trouble with Jin Wushu.
As long as Jin Wushu appears, Gabriel will definitely follow.
Jin Wushu had no way to deal with Gabriel and was chased everywhere.
Everyone was training their troops with restraint, and he couldn't just send people to kill these idiots , so he could only run away.
However, it was not that he gained nothing. After all, through fighting and running, the Iron Pagoda under his command actually made rapid progress.
After all, it was a high-quality confrontation. Even if they kept running, they would have grown more or less.
Just as Jin Wushu was sighing, a scout riding a good horse came rushing over.
"General, the Roman Eagle Flag Legion was discovered more than thirty miles northwest." The scout reported urgently after seeing Jin Wushu.
"Which legion?" Jin Wushu asked with a dark face, "Seventeenth? Eighteenth? Or nineteenth?"
After a while, Jin Wushu realized that not only was he using the other side to train their troops, but the other side was probably also using him to train their troops.
Especially these three angel legions, they still have hidden restraint against him.
Therefore, when Jin Wushu heard that a legion had appeared, he directly asked which of the three legions it was, because the other legions would not come, and Rome was not stupid.
Most of them are short-legged heavy infantry.
Facing the iron cavalry head-on is simply courting death.
The second and seventh highly mobile legions were closely watched by the opposing Holy Fallen Cavalry and Mongolian Iron Cavalry, and had no chance to look for the Iron Pagoda at all.
The remaining Eagle Flag Legion, even if it is the Sixth Triumph, is not sure of being able to resist head-on, so it is better to let the three Angel Legions drive away Jin Wushu and train the angel warriors at the same time.
"General, it's the Eighth Eagle Flag Legion." The scout said with a curled mouth.
"The Eighth Eagle Flag?" Jin Wushu recalled and found that this was actually a new legion.
However, he is ranked eighth in the sequence and so high, so he is obviously not a good person.
"A tough guy has arrived. Inform everyone else to prepare for battle!" Jin Wushu calmly ordered, "Each centurion should take good care of the hundred-man team. If any soldier falls into danger, try to retreat to the main camp to reduce losses!"
"Yes!" All the soldiers answered with high morale.
Although they had been on the run, they were facing three restraining legions. The pleasure brought by the previous victory in the battle had already made them convinced of Jin Wushu.
Even some of the Parthian soldiers who were subsequently added to the Iron Pagoda were convinced by Jin Wushu.
The strong have always been respected, and now everyone is fighting for Parthia, so they will naturally obey Jin Wushu's orders absolutely.
On the other side was the commander of the Eighth Legion, Africanus, Perennis's own son.
After Severus removed the original commander of the Eighth Legion due to political struggles, he promoted Penelunus' son.
There was no way. At this time, Rome was a place where everyone was assigned to a position, and the closer the Eagle Flag Legion commander was to one of his own, the better.
For example, Gretz of the Seventh Eagle Banner, a staunch Augustan, this was nothing.
But now for Severus, it is a hidden danger of instability. In order to gain the throne, he must first seize military power.
The commander of the Eighth Legion was removed so cleanly and replaced by the son of Penelunus . Now Penelunus is a staunch supporter of the emperor.
In fact, Penelunus hated political struggles, but he also knew that Severus was much more reliable than Commodus.
Moreover, he is now the vice emperor. Even if Caesar comes, can he still make further progress?
Rather than watching the empire fall apart, it was better to bet everything on Severus, so that even the son whom he had disliked in the past had to be promoted.
At such a critical moment, relatives are more reassuring.
The Eighth Legion itself is not weak, but because its positioning overlaps with the First Auxiliary Legion, it is to some extent the reserve army of the First Auxiliary Legion.
Some people were very dissatisfied with this positioning, so after Severus took action, they just went with the flow.
Who doesn’t want to become famous? It’s okay that the first auxiliary was the second eagle flag, but now that the eagle flags are in Trajan’s hands, do they, the eighth eagle flag, really have no shame at all?
So they cooperated with Severus to form a brand new Eighth Legion, and then quickly sent it to the Parthian battlefield.
On the one hand, it is to accumulate merit, and on the other hand, it is to make the matter a fait accompli.
