Diqin Designer

Chapter 553 The Qin people want to borrow troops to fight Seleucus?

Hanging on the horse's back were human heads, the bloodstains still wet on the heads and still clinging to the horse's back.

Without even looking closely, the Parthian prince knew that the head belonged to a Seleucid.

The Qin people did indeed clash with the Seleucids within Seleucid territory!

However, the fact that they were able to cut off the heads of the Seleucids and bring them back on horseback indicates that the Qin people won this conflict, and the extra horses in the Qin delegation should also have been Seleucid horses.

With so many horses brought back, the Qin people must have encountered Seleucid cavalry.

The Parthian prince estimated that there were hundreds of heads on horseback, meaning that after the Qin delegation entered Seleucid territory, they encountered a Seleucid cavalry force of several hundred men. A conflict ensued, and the Qin delegation defeated the Seleucid cavalry, possibly annihilating them.

After their victory, the Qin delegation took the Seleucid cavalry's horses and, incidentally, beheaded the Seleucid cavalrymen.

That's how it should have gone!
Thinking of this, the Parthian prince glanced at the Qin delegation again and silently counted the number of people. The Qin delegation was indeed missing a few people, but not by much, probably only a few dozen.

Doesn't this mean that the Qin delegation killed hundreds of Seleucid cavalrymen at the cost of only a few dozen lives?
Such a disparity in casualties between the enemy and ourselves is enough to prove that the Qin people were terrifying in combat!
It seems that what the Qin people said was not an exaggeration; they are truly invincible in the East. Moreover, this is not the Qin people at their strongest; they did not carry the legendary cannons.

If they had brought those cannons that supposedly possessed the power of thunder, the Qin people might have defeated the Seleucids with an even greater casualty ratio, or even achieved zero casualties.

The Seleucids were no weaklings; otherwise, they wouldn't have needed to ally with the Bactrians in Parthia. If the Qin people could defeat the Seleucids with such a disparate casualty ratio, they could defeat them with an even more disparate casualty ratio.

Of course, this depends on the number of soldiers on both sides. If 10,000 men are fighting against 10 men, how can they achieve a complete annihilation of the enemy with zero casualties?

However, in this battle between the Qin delegation and the Seleucid cavalry, the difference in troop strength between the two sides was not significant. The Qin delegation consisted of only eight hundred cavalrymen, three hundred horsemen, and five hundred infantrymen.

Infantry likely did not play a significant role in this battle; it was mainly the cavalry of the Qin delegation that participated. Therefore, the Qin delegation may have actually been outnumbered in terms of the number of troops involved in the actual battle.

They defeated the Seleucids with fewer troops than the Seleucids, and inflicted such a disparity in casualties.

If it were their Parthian army fighting the Qin delegation, how many casualties would it take to wipe out the Qin delegation?

Thinking about it this way, the Parthian prince felt even more fearful of the Qin delegation. The strength of Qin was not just boasting by the Qin envoy!
Despite having defeated the Seleucids, even with a smaller force defeating a larger one, why was the Qin delegation filled with anger from top to bottom?

It is likely that the Qin delegation was insulted by the Seleucids, which should be the reason for the conflict between the Qin delegation and the Seleucids.

Given the arrogant and conceited nature of the Seleucids, they most likely mistook the Qin delegation for a small, barbarian country and then spoke rudely to the Qin delegation or made some unreasonable demands.

The Qin delegation, however, was not going to tolerate the Seleucids, and a fight broke out between the two sides!

The Parthian prince went to greet them and asked with concern, "Esteemed envoys, why have you returned? Did you encounter...trouble over there?"

Wang Ling glanced at the Parthian prince and said, "Indeed, I have encountered trouble. The reason I have re-entered your territory is to ask for your assistance in something!"

Seeing Wang Ling's serious expression, the Parthian prince understood that the Qin envoy was genuinely seeking their assistance and was not joking. He said, "Envoy, please speak freely. As long as our country can help you, we will do our best!"

Wang Ling didn't mince words and said directly, "We wish to borrow troops from your esteemed nation!"

Upon hearing Wang Ling's words, the Parthian prince's eyes widened slightly. The Qin delegation wanted to borrow troops from Parthia.

Hmm, that makes sense. The Qin delegation itself doesn't have many troops. Even if they are strong in combat, such a small force is not enough to deal with the Seleucids.

However, Qin was far to the east and could not immediately send troops over, so they had to borrow from them.

It seems the Qin people are very angry with the Seleucids. They have no soldiers of their own, so they borrowed troops from them to fight the Seleucids.

The Qin people were also quite vengeful. Even after killing hundreds of Seleucid cavalrymen, they were still not satisfied and were willing to borrow troops to take revenge on the Seleucids.

Having provoked such an enemy, the Seleucids were in for a rough time!

However, he couldn't make the decision about borrowing troops; that had to be decided by his father.

The Parthian prince said apologetically, "I'm so sorry, I can't help you with this matter."

Wang Ling didn't intend to get the Parthian prince to agree; he simply wanted to convey some information: to let the Parthian prince know what they wanted to do and to make him feel that they were angry with the Seleucids.

If he wasn't extremely angry with the Seleucids, why would he immediately ask to borrow troops upon meeting them?

Wang Ling said, "Your Highness need not apologize. The matter of borrowing troops is of great importance, and I will personally explain it to your king."

After saying this, Wang Ling explained why he had clashed with the Seleucids. He said, "How dare the Seleucids insult Great Qin and Your Majesty! 'If the father is disgraced, the son will die; if the ruler is disgraced, the subject will die.' As citizens of Great Qin and subjects of Your Majesty, how can we sit idly by and watch Great Qin and Your Majesty be humiliated?"

"How dare this barbaric Seleucid kingdom insult the ruler of my Great Qin? This insult must be avenged!"

Only you Qin people have the power to call the Seleucids a barbarian country.

The Parthian prince did not ask how the Seleucids had insulted the Qin state and its emperor. It was a sensitive matter to ask, as it might anger the Qin people.

The Parthian prince echoed the king's words, "The Seleucids have always been like this, arrogant and conceited. They consider themselves the most powerful and civilized nation in the world and look down on other nations. In reality, a hundred years ago, they were nothing more than a group of barbarians in the eyes of the Greeks."

"It's laughable, really. They were considered barbarians by the Greeks, yet they later identified themselves as Greeks and took pride in learning and spreading Greek knowledge. Little did they know that the Greeks still despise them to this day!"

The Greeks had a complex view of the Macedonians. Initially, they naturally looked down on them: Macedonians? They were just a bunch of barbarians!

After being conquered by the Macedonians, their initial contempt turned into disgust, hatred, and disbelief: how could they, who were clearly more civilized and advanced, be conquered by a group of barbarians?

When the Macedonians spread Greek culture to other countries, the Greeks' perception of the Macedonians changed once again: these Macedonian barbarians were actually spreading their culture.
The complex relationship between the Greeks and Macedonians became known to Western countries as Greek culture spread in the West.

Wang Ling said, "The Seleucids consider themselves civilized, but in reality, their barbarian habits remain unchanged. That's why they go around proclaiming their shared ancestry with the Greeks and spreading Greek culture. They simply don't have much to offer themselves, so they resort to blaming the Greeks—truly shameless!" The Parthian prince nodded, "The envoy is quite right. The Seleucids are exactly like that—shameless, arrogant, and conceited."

As the Qin delegation returned to Parthia, in Seleucid territory, at the site of the battle between the Qin delegation and the Seleucid cavalry, a group of more than ten Seleucid cavalrymen cautiously approached.

Upon seeing the carcasses of horses and men lying on the ground in the distance, the Seleucid cavalry were shocked. Were those the men they had sent out earlier all dead here? Had that unknown force killed them?
It must be true. Apart from that unknown force, no one else would kill them unless the Parthians crossed the border and attacked.

Thinking of this, the Seleucid cavalry instantly became alert. Could that unknown force still be around? Were they lying in ambush nearby?
A dozen or so Seleucid cavalrymen carefully scouted the surroundings, and only after confirming that there were no ambushes or traps did they approach the pile of corpses.

As they approached, anger surged on the faces of every Seleucid cavalryman. The corpses on the ground were all headless; the unknown force had not only killed them but also cut off their heads and taken them away.

The number of horse carcasses on the ground is incorrect; many horses are missing, likely taken away by that unknown group of people.

What a ruthless enemy! They not only killed people, but also cut off their heads. These horse carcasses must have been wounded warhorses in the battle. Those people couldn't take them with them, so they killed them.

This is to prevent them from taking these warhorses back to recover from their injuries and then using them again.

What a vicious bunch of bastards!

But where have these enemies gone now?
The cavalry examined the surrounding area for traces; the mysterious group must have headed east, and to the east…

It's Parthian territory!
Even if this mysterious group of people is not Parthian, they are certainly related to Parthians.

But the cavalry did not pursue. There were only a dozen or so of them. What if they were wiped out by the enemy if they chased after them?

That mysterious force could defeat hundreds of cavalrymen, so defeating these dozen or so would be a piece of cake.
The leading cavalryman pointed to a few cavalrymen and said, "You go back and report the situation here to the city lord. We will stay here and request that the city lord send more people. We don't have enough manpower to move so many corpses."

After receiving the order, the cavalrymen turned their horses around and quickly rode away into the distance.

After a long time, in a town, a middle-aged man dressed in noble robes looked at the soldiers kneeling on one knee in front of him and asked with a frown, "So by the time you arrived, those people had already left, and you didn't even see who they were?"

One soldier replied, "We are few in number and dare not get too close."

The middle-aged city lord asked again, "Everyone is dead, even Fitalos is dead?"

The soldier said, "Yes, they're all dead. Those men even cut off their heads and killed the horses that couldn't be taken. The captain sent us back to ask you to send more men to retrieve the bodies."

The middle-aged city lord nodded and then asked, "Where did those people go? Do you know?"

The soldier said, "According to our reconnaissance, those people went to the east!"

These words made the middle-aged man's eyes narrow and his gaze sharpen. "You mean those people are from Parthia?"

The soldier said, "Even if they are not Parthians, they must be related to Parthians."

The middle-aged city lord looked at the person next to him and asked, "When you reported earlier, how many people were in that force?"

A person nearby said, "It's said there are over a thousand people!"

Upon hearing this answer, the middle-aged man frowned. "More than a thousand people were able to annihilate Fitalos's entire army, with not a single one escaping? When did the Parthians acquire such strength?"

The person next to him added, "It might not be more than a thousand. It's said that the group had carriages, and many people were on foot. There were only about three hundred cavalry. Moreover, Fitalos was leading a cavalry force. If Fitalos wanted to leave, the infantry couldn't stop them at all. Only if the enemy also deployed cavalry!"

The middle-aged man understood what the man meant; the other side had probably killed Fetalos and his men despite being outnumbered.

Where did these people come from? Why did they enter their Seleucus? And why did they kill Fitalos and his men, and cut off their heads?

The middle-aged man made a judgment: "Those people should not be Parthians. Pass on my order for Antigonus to lead six hundred cavalry and one thousand infantry to retrieve the bodies of Fitalos and the others."

With over 1,600 cavalry and infantry deployed this time, there shouldn't be any fear of being attacked by those people.

After the soldiers withdrew, the middle-aged city lord asked the person next to him, "Aigel, where do you think these people came from? Why did they want to kill Fetalos?"

Aiger shook his head and said, "I don't know where these people came from either. But they brought carriages, and it's said there were many unarmed people among them, so they might not be here to be our enemies..."

Aigel didn't directly answer the middle-aged man's question, "Why did they kill Fetalos?" but the answer was already implied in his words.

They were either enemies or they came to make friends. Unfortunately, after Fetalos led his troops there, they turned the other side into enemies. Little did they know that the other side was very strong and killed Fetalos and his entire force.

The middle-aged city lord naturally understood the meaning behind Aiger's words. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "These people are now retreating towards the Parthians. What do you think they're going to do?"

Aiger said, "These people may not be Parthians. They may have arrived in Parthia first, communicated with the Parthians, and then come to our country. Our country is their next destination."

"As for their retreat to Parthia, they just killed our people. If they don't flee, are we supposed to hunt them down? It's a perfectly normal choice."

That makes a lot of sense. Those people only number a little over a thousand. Once they are surrounded by their large army, they will surely die.

The middle-aged man said, "Then why did they cut off the heads of Fitalos and his men when they retreated to Parthia?"

"It must be out of spite!" said Aiger.

Fitalos must have seriously offended this group of unknown people. They weren't satisfied with just being killed; they wanted to cut off Fitalos's head as well.

“After retreating to Sarnath, these people shouldn’t be able to do anything, unless…”

A thought popped into Eger's mind, but he felt it was impossible: this group didn't have many people of their own, unless they borrowed troops from the Parthians, but the Parthians were unlikely to lend troops to those people.

Even if those people managed to borrow troops, they weren't afraid. Just because those people could kill Fetalos didn't mean they could defeat Seleucus on the battlefield with borrowed Parthian troops. Those were two different things!
The Macedonian phalanx was invincible, especially since they were the most legitimate successors of the empire!
(End of this chapter)