I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1156 Su Yao, Waiting in Comfort for the Enemy's Enemy's Exhaustion

More than half a month later, Antioch, the Emperor's temporary residence.

On this day, Su Yao was lying in the bathhouse of Xingzai (the former governor's mansion), stretching out his body.

Hong'er, Xiao Chun, and Safia, among other women, were wrapped in bath towels and serving in the pool. Standing by the pool were maids from various ethnic groups who had recently been brought as tribute from Syria, Judea, and Armenia. They held perfumes, bath towels, and fruit platters, their heads bowed and their posture respectful.

This is a rare moment of leisure.

As late autumn approached, Su Yao temporarily slowed down his offensive against the Roman Empire and instead focused on consolidating the newly occupied land, harvesting wheat, stockpiling military supplies, and building warships and weapons.

Therefore, Antioch became the main base of Su Yao's western expeditionary army.

Craftsmen from both the East and the West gathered here, their workshops working day and night to forge tools, while the docks were bustling with activity, gathering news from all directions.

Such a momentous event as the Romans' nationwide mobilization could not be concealed and quickly reached this place through the prosperous trade routes along the Mediterranean.

Steam rose from the bath, and warm spring water rippled over Su Yao's chest. Hong'er knelt beside him, her slender fingers gently massaging his shoulders and neck with just the right amount of pressure; Xiao Chun held a silk handkerchief soaked in fragrant dew, wiping the light sweat from his brow from time to time; Safia, dressed in a light gauze dress, knelt by the pool, holding a rolled-up sheepskin map, her eyes focused as she explained the latest topographical survey results of North Africa to Su Yao.

This was intelligence sent urgently by Guan Yu, marking the strongholds of the unconquered tribes in the upper Nile and the hiding places of the Roman remnants.

“Your Majesty,” Safia said, pointing to a spot on the map marked “Siwa Oasis,” “General Guan said in his letter that after Flavius’s remnants retreated to Cyrenaica, they secretly contacted the Berber tribes near the oasis, attempting to harass our supply lines with their cavalry. However, General Guan has already dispatched General Zhang with 3,000 light cavalry to wipe them out, and he expects to return with good news within three days.”

Su Yao raised his hand and gently grasped Safia's drooping wrist, causing a blush to rise on her cheeks: "Although Yide is reckless, he is most skilled at raids. He doesn't need to put too much effort into dealing with these scattered soldiers. It should be about time for some activity to happen in Rome."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a respectful announcement came from outside the bathhouse: "Your Majesty, Vice Minister Jia and Attendant-in-Ordinary Guo request an audience, saying they have urgent military intelligence to report."

"Oh? Have them wait in the council chamber. I'll be there shortly."

The warm spring water was still rippling in the pool, but Su Yao had already abandoned his laziness and stood up abruptly.

Immediately, a group of beauties hurriedly helped him change his clothes.

A moment later, Su Yao, dressed in a loose silk robe, appeared in the Xingzai Council Hall, which was decorated with Persian tapestries and Roman sculptures. Jia Xu and Guo Jia were already waiting there, and upon seeing Su Yao arrive, they immediately bowed in greeting.

"No need for formalities. My two advisors have come in a hurry. Is there something important?" Su Yao waved his hand and calmly took the main seat.

Guo Jia bowed first and handed over a scroll of parchment: "Your Majesty, this is a secret report from the 'Night Owl' planted in Rome. It is of great importance."

"Severus, the false emperor of Rome, has returned to Rome and successfully persuaded his senators to make a temporary reconciliation with Albinus, the tyrant of the west. Albinus has accepted the title of 'Caesar' and nominally submitted to him."

"Now that he has freed up his hands, Severus is doing everything he can to assemble a large army. He himself is leading the main force to Byzantium to assemble, and is supported by a large number of allied troops, claiming to be 300,000 strong, intending to fight our main force in Asia Minor." Night Owl is an intelligence agency established by Guo Jia after Su Yao's western expedition.

Unlike the Jinyiwei (Imperial Bodyguard) in China, it was dedicated to intelligence gathering, infiltration, and subversion operations in foreign countries, especially in the Western Regions.

With his extraordinary talent, Guo Jia utilized the various ethnic groups and forces conquered during his westward expedition, especially Jewish and Greek merchants, to quickly spread the tentacles of "Night Owl" throughout the Mediterranean coast.

Using Jewish caravans as cover, he sent spies fluent in Greek and Latin into the Roman marketplace; leveraging his connections with former Parthian officials, he won over the grain officials in Byzantium who were dissatisfied with Severus's exorbitant taxes; and he further exploited the factional conflicts among the Roman nobility, planting spies among the Senate's servants. The news of Severus's reconciliation with Albinus and his all-out eastward campaign was relayed to Antioch by a Christian servant who had infiltrated the kitchen of a Roman nobleman, using the guise of transporting waste grease, and traveling through three cities before finally reaching him.

To be honest, Guo Jia was initially quite skeptical of the authenticity of such important military intelligence.

However, with corroborating information brought back by other merchants from Rome, Guo Jia eventually accepted its contents.

Jia Xu's expression was unusually solemn: "The news of Your Majesty's western expedition has shaken Rome. It is said that even the children in the city are singing terrifying songs about 'Eastern calamity.' The false emperor Severus has used this as an excuse to forcibly unify the voices in the country. The scale of his mobilization is unprecedented and not just empty talk. I hope Your Majesty will make preparations as soon as possible."

Su Yao took the secret report, his eyes quickly scanning the words written in secret language, but a playful smile slowly appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Three hundred thousand? The whole nation has come? Excellent, very good!" Su Yao was not surprised at all; instead, he clapped his hands and laughed. "It saves me the trouble of searching for them one by one! Severus has done me a great favor!"

He stood up and walked to the huge map of the Western Regions in the hall, pointing heavily at the area between "Byzantium" and "Antiogh"—the vast plateau and coast of Asia Minor.

"Asia Minor... This place is mountainous and narrow, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and is indeed a good battlefield for a decisive battle. Severus wants to use this to offset the advantage of our cavalry and artillery, to use the terrain to wear down our troops, and to launch a counterattack when our troops are old and tired."

"That was a clever plan, but unfortunately, he chose the wrong opponent."

After saying that, Su Yao turned to the two of them and asked, "You two must have a plan for dealing with this news you sent today."

Jia Xu and Guo Jia exchanged a glance, both seeing a knowing look in each other's eyes. Guo Jia coughed lightly, his pale face flushed slightly from the lingering heat of the bathhouse, but his eyes gleamed with an all-knowing light:

"Your Majesty is wise. Severus's actions, though seemingly a desperate gamble, are in fact a sign of utter desperation and a self-inflicted death."

He stepped forward, his finger hovering over the point on the map where Asia Minor met the Balkans: "Their concentration of heavy troops in Byzantium, intending to use the natural barrier of the strait and the mountainous terrain to hinder our advance, seems prudent, but in reality, it violates a fundamental principle of warfare. Such a massive army consumes mountains and seas of provisions daily, and their supply lines are long, relying entirely on sea transport and the Aegean islands. Domestically, the reconciliation between Severus and Albinus is hasty and forced, like glued-together rotten wood—seemingly unified, but with hidden cracks. Albinus, who controls the west, is he truly content to be subservient? He merely fears Your Majesty's might and seeks temporary self-preservation. Once Severus's main force is bogged down in the east for too long, and the war becomes stagnant, the west will inevitably change."

Jia Xu smiled sinisterly and replied, "Fengxiao is absolutely right. Severus's gathering of troops in one place is exactly what Your Majesty wants to do: 'gather them and annihilate them,' saving us the trouble of a long expedition and defeating them one by one. He wants to use the terrain to wear down our army, but he doesn't know that Your Majesty's heavenly army, with the might of thunder, can break through strong cities as easily as crushing dry leaves. What fear is there of mountain passes and dangerous obstacles? What he relies on is nothing more than the natural barrier of the strait and the advantage of the navy."

"Although their navy is large and their warships are powerful, they are unaware that Your Majesty has a brilliant plan to defeat them. Once their army crosses the strait, they will have no chance of returning."

After saying that, he looked out the window and gazed at the coastline below the mountain.

There, at the docks of Antioch, a large portion of the area, including the shipyard, was cordoned off with green banners, marking it as a restricted zone, as construction of the Han Empire's fleet in the Mediterranean was carried out day and night.
(End of this chapter)