The Three Kingdoms began with island farming

Chapter 709 Illogical
Arsak returned to Rest, satisfied with his mission.

During this mission, he reached a consensus with Liu Fan, and both secretly laughed at each other's foolishness.

Of course, in order to "deceive" each other, both sides engaged in fierce bargaining over the subsequent distribution of Mesopotamia.

However, neither side really cared about this matter.

The Parthians had no intention of sharing Mesopotamia with Liu Fan; they simply wanted to lure this foolish tiger in, let them fight the Persians and Romans, and then take advantage of the situation after they were all weakened.

Liu Fan, on the other hand, had no intention of waiting for the allocation of his posthumous title.

He will take back what he wants with his own hands. He doesn't even intend to let go of his resting place.

Arsak was initially worried that Liu Fan wouldn't take the bait, so he planned to find another alternative among the seven kings.

In his view, the seven kings are now mutually restraining each other, and any one of them could fall into the trap, or even two or three could be brought in.

If it weren't for the fear of losing control due to a large number of people, Arsace would have even considered bringing all seven kings, since the apparent threat from Rome was far greater than that of the seven kings.

However, adhering to the principle of prioritizing stability, Arsak felt it was better to proceed gradually, and could decide to introduce other countries from the Seven Kings later depending on the circumstances.

If the Han Dynasty disobeys, he can join forces with other states among the Seven Kingdoms to launch a pincer attack and destroy the Han Dynasty.

Arshak, basking in the brilliance of his scheme, could never have imagined that no sooner had he left than the six kings and their officials, who had been informed by Liu Fan, arrived at Liu Fan's palace.

Upon learning of Arsak's intentions and the contract Liu Fan had signed with Arsak, and seeing Liu Fan's barely concealed smirk, the Sixth King fell silent.

Liu Fan was very lucky; they knew about this.

But they never imagined that their luck could be this good.

While they were still struggling with the impassable vast desert, they focused on developing their food supply and naval forces.

Surprisingly, Liu Fan received an envoy from Parthia, eager to invite him to Parthia.

Isn't this like easy money delivered right to our doorstep?

The food was practically offered to his mouth, and Liu Fan couldn't refuse it.

What is the reason for this?
"Boyu is a blessed man!" Liu Bei said with a complex expression as he looked at Liu Fan.

Liu Fan has always had exceptionally good luck.

Although Liu Fan failed when Tian Ze entered Shu, he did not lose much strength. In fact, he even gained an advantage and established his current foundation.

He seems to be just a figurehead among the seven kingdoms, but there's always someone who gives him a push at crucial moments, and opportunities always appear when he needs them.

It's one thing for Daqi to secretly support them, but now even Anxi is doing the same thing.

It is truly a case of everyone helping me to achieve my lofty ambitions.

By sheer coincidence, the two great empires became his allies; it was an unavoidable situation.

Upon hearing this, Liu Fan, though still unable to hide his joy, waved his hand and said, "Luck, it's all luck!"

“In terms of strength, how can I compare to my brother and the eleven princes present here?”

Hearing Liu Fan's humble words, the Six Kings felt a little annoyed.

If Liu Fan had said that before, they would have thought it was perfectly normal and nothing to do with it.

But they accepted their fate in the face of this series of so-called "luck" events.

Luck is also a part of strength, and in this respect, Liu Fan is ridiculously strong.

They wouldn't be surprised if Rome took the initiative to offer Liu Fan land someday.

"Ahem, gentlemen, enough of the small talk. Now we should discuss what to do about this matter." Seeing that the six princes were somewhat suspicious of him, Sima Yi forcefully steered the conversation back to the main topic.

Yuan Shao sighed deeply, suppressing his frustration, and said first, "This is indeed a great blessing." "Parthia's initiative to lead us westward must be because they want to use us to deal with the unruly Persians in Khorasan Province, and to make us and the Roman army suffer heavy losses so that they can profit from it."

This kind of script is child's play for Yuan Shao; he could guess it even with his eyes closed.

Even Yuan Shao could foresee Parthia's subsequent arrangements for the script and various sub-scripts.

Trying to pull this stunt in front of "Director Yuan" is truly like "showing off one's axe skills in front of Guan Yu" (a Chinese idiom meaning to try to teach someone a lesson).

"The key issue now is how to achieve our strategic objectives, maximize control over the Khorasan province, and station more troops and people there."

Plans don't change quickly.

Although the seven kingdoms had previously considered devising a plan to entice Parthia to launch a westward expedition, that was ultimately just a backup option.

There is no one in this world who can plan without fail. Even Yuan Shao, who once spearheaded the "Cultural Revolution against Dong Zhuo," encountered too many variables when designing his strategy and often had to adapt to changing circumstances.

The seven kings were somewhat confident that the Parthian Empire would fall into their trap, but in reality, they still prepared for the worst.

We vigorously cultivated grain, trained young and strong men, and developed cavalry and navy.

After two years of development and sufficient accumulation, they bypassed the vast deserts and mountains, launching a major offensive with cavalry to the north and navy to the south.

We must rely on our strength to resolve the issue of rest in peace.

This is the norm in wars between empires.

Although such wars usually drag on for a long time, the Seven Kings were confident that they could take Parthia within two or three years, based on their confidence in their own strength.

But now, the situation has clearly changed dramatically.

The opportunity they were painstakingly planning just fell squarely on Liu Fan's head when he was completely unprepared.

Moreover, Liu Fan, under Sima Yi's secret guidance, accepted this unexpected windfall.

Then things will be easier from here on out.

As long as Liu Fan can control the Khorasan province, arrange for enough Han people to cultivate the land there, and provide logistical support for the seven kingdoms, they will no longer need to worry about the natural barrier between them and Parthia.

They could use Khorasan Province as their rear base and wage war at will.

Given the current level of domestic governance in the seven kingdoms and Tianze's "superpowers," this matter can be accomplished in just one year.

The cost of conquest has been greatly reduced, and the time required for war will also be shortened, which couldn't be better.

“Parthia’s choice of Liu Fan was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather the result of thorough preparation,” Cao Cao nodded and added.

"Our previous deliberate or unintentional pretense and friction creation have probably fooled many of our colleagues."

At this point, Cao Cao couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head.

To be honest, the performance of the Seven Kings was actually quite mediocre and couldn't withstand much scrutiny.

But the key point is that the underlying logic of this matter is not problematic in the eyes of outsiders.

If it weren't for the existence of Daqi and Tianze's methods, from an outsider's perspective, they would probably have come to the same conclusion.

Who would have thought they were in cahoots and had no intention of taking over the Kushan Empire?

This is similar to the original historical trajectory of the Three Kingdoms, where the Shu Kingdom directly ceded Yizhou to the Wu Kingdom, and in return, joined forces with the Wu Kingdom to launch a northern expedition, thus conquering the Guandong and Central Plains territories.

Is this even possible? The underlying logic is simply unreasonable.

If Shu did this, they would be foolish; if Wu didn't stab them in the back, they would be idiots.

(End of this chapter)