I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1135 Parthia Surrenders
"His Majesty!"

"Your Majesty has fainted!"

"Quickly, someone summon the imperial physician!"

The fall of the Parthian king threw the palace into chaos instantly.

The princess was screaming, the nobles were shouting in alarm, and the eunuchs were frantically rushing forward to pinch the philtrum and try various rescues. Prime Minister Suren was also yelling at the imperial physician to come and save the person immediately.

Before long, several guards rushed forward and hurriedly carried the king to the inner palace. The nobles and ministers who remained looked at each other in dismay, and panic spread rapidly like a plague.

"It's no use, His Majesty. I'm afraid he's not going to make it."

"I think we should make plans as soon as possible."

Whispers arose among the ministers as the Sixth Emperor collapsed, shattering the last shred of feigned composure. Some stealthily reached for the imperial seal at their waists, plotting how to use royal blood to secure their survival; others had even slipped out of the palace to send messengers to the Han Chinese in the east, expressing their sincerity. The guards, who were supposed to be faithfully performing their duties, turned a blind eye, allowing them to leave.

Driven to rage by the chaos, Prime Minister Suren drew his scimitar, rushed to the palace gate, and slashed at a fleeing official, roaring:
"Everyone, listen to me!"

"His Majesty has not died, and the dynasty is not over. Anyone who dares to collude with the Han traitors, I will execute him on the spot!"

The prime minister's ruthlessness temporarily calmed the situation, but it could not quell the unease among the officials.

General Khazar sighed and asked quietly, "Prime Minister, the vanguard of the Han army has reached the east bank of the two rivers, and all the passes in the Zagros Mountains have been lost. Our remaining troops can't even hold the pontoon bridge over the Tigris River. What do you expect us to use to stop those hundreds of thousands of enemies?"

The prime minister remained silent, unable to offer a solution. Khazar was telling the truth: in the previous great war, the empire's elite forces had been almost entirely wiped out. The "garrison" surrounding Ctesiphon, numbering over 30,000 men, consisted of conscripted farmers, artisans, slaves, and prisoners; they couldn't even muster a decent suit of armor.
On the other hand, the Han army, after resting and reorganizing, not only gathered a large force of vassal states and surrendered puppet troops, but also had reinforcements from their own country in place. The three Han armies broke through the city like bulldozing, swallowing up their territory every day, and they were simply powerless to resist.

"Your Excellency, that's enough, isn't it?"

A young nobleman stood up with a dark face and said, "If there were even a sliver of hope, who would be willing to surrender to those barbarians from the East? But the facts are clear: those Han soldiers have repeating crossbows and thunderbolts, and their emperor commands divine beasts and summons lightning. What can we use to stop them?"

"Yeah yeah."

This time, a general stepped forward and said loudly, "The scouts I sent to the Zagros Mountains the other day have returned with a report that the Han cavalry can travel three hundred li a day. Our messengers haven't even reached Obis City yet, and they've already occupied the pass—this battle is simply unwinnable!"

"We have to fight, even if we can't!" Suren turned sharply, his scimitar pointing at the nobleman, his eyes bloodshot.
"This is the capital of Parthia! It is the foundation laid by our ancestors! Have you forgotten how our late emperor died in battle? Have you forgotten how the people of Ecbatana were slaughtered by the Han traitors?!"

"Slaughter?" Khazar sneered, stepping forward to look directly at Suren. "Prime Minister, have you forgotten? After Ecbatana surrendered, the Han Chinese didn't massacre a single city, didn't plunder a single household—General Bahram's former troops, and those nobles who surrendered, aren't they all alive and well? On the contrary, we, in order to raise funds for the army, asked for reinforcements, robbed the grain merchants in the west of the city, and drove the herders on the outskirts of the city into rebellion. As a result, the Romans sent eight hundred men to humiliate us. The people of Ctesiphon have long since given up on following us!" These words were like a dull knife, stabbing hard into Suren's heart. He recalled when he inspected the city's defense camp yesterday, seeing emaciated soldiers cursing and hearing a chorus of complaints, saying things like, "Rather than starve to death, it's better to surrender," and "The Han Chinese's grain carts are lined up in long queues; I heard their soldiers have meat at every meal."

Back then, he could suppress the rumors with the law of "those who treason will be executed," but now, even a veteran like Khazar has told the truth. He knows that the hearts of the people in Ctesiphon have already fallen.

The prime minister remained silent, and the ministers left with sullen faces. Prime Minister Suren shouted for the guards to arrest the person, but he was met with indifferent, even hostile, gazes from the guards outside the palace gates, along with a few suppressed, undisguised sneers.

Several palace guards who should have been under his command not only failed to arrest the ministers who had openly left, but instead exchanged glances, silently took a half-step back, and cleared the way to the outside of the palace. Their hands were on the hilts of their swords, but their wary eyes were fixed on the prime minister, who seemed to have gone mad, as if he were the one who needed to be guarded against.

“You…you all…” Prime Minister Suren pointed at the guards, his fingers trembling violently with anger and disbelief, “You’ve rebelled! You’ve all rebelled! Are you going to betray His Majesty too?!”

A burly man who looked like a captain of guards, with a scar on his face, spoke expressionlessly, his voice hoarse and cold: "Prime Minister, General Khazar is right. We can't hold it, and there's no way we can hold it any longer. My brothers have families to feed. If we follow you any longer... I'm afraid we won't even have a last chance to survive."

With a clang, Prime Minister Suren's knife fell to the ground, making a crisp and piercing sound, tolling the final death knell for the Parthian Empire.

"Oh? The Parthians have surrendered already?"

In the fifth year of the Kaiyuan era, in the middle of July, on the banks of the Euphrates River, Su Yao's army had just arrived at the riverbank when they saw billowing dust in the distance, but it was not the formation of an enemy attack.

It was a cavalry unit of about two hundred men, carrying white flags. Amidst the dust, however, were not Parthian battle flags, but rather a delegation of envoys, also carrying white flags and dressed in finery. They escorted several wagons laden with boxes and chests, slowly making their way along the main road towards the Han army, bringing news of the Parthian surrender.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

Upon hearing the news, Anmoti exclaimed with delight: "The messengers are envoys from Ctesiphon! The leader claims to be Khazar, the uncle of King Vologasi VI of Parthia, and has come with the royal seal and a letter of surrender! He says that he is willing to surrender the entire country, only asking for Your Majesty's forgiveness to preserve the royal bloodline!"

"Ha, now that my army has arrived, he's remembered to surrender?"

"Alright, bring them over," Su Yao chuckled and said, "Let me hear what they have to say first."

Soon, the Han army set up a temporary camp on the riverbank.

Inside the command tent, Su Yao sat upright in the main seat, with Queen Amina and Queen Safia seated on either side. Below him stood high-ranking officials, including Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Bahram, Jia Xu, Cao Cao, and Anmoti, their armor gleaming and exuding a fierce aura.

Outside the command tent, the Han army was in full force, with banners fluttering, spears like a forest, and armor like a wall. The great formation stretched for dozens of miles along the east bank, forming a stark contrast to the anxiety and unease in the direction of Taisifeng on the opposite bank.
(End of this chapter)