The Three Kingdoms Voyage

Chapter 353
Bodiao's words are very correct. No matter whether they are willing to fight or not, they will not be indifferent to rewards. Of course, the Han people came all the way not for the peace of the world, and Bodiao and Quintus did not come to save the suffering The Sasanian people, their goals are actually very consistent, to kill Ardashir, rob him of his money, and divide his land.

If it was said that what was divided up in the past was only what was given, then how to divide up the fertile land between the two rivers is the highlight. No matter who it is, no one will be indifferent to such wealth.On this crescent-shaped land between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, important countries such as Babylon, Assyria, Persia, Seleucus, and Antipas once appeared, isn’t it because of the fertility of this land?

No matter who it is, they will not just watch other people occupy this land. In order to have enough strength to share the spoils, Bo Tiao secretly considered whether he should save a little strength so as not to suffer later.He didn't expect that Sun Shao would raise this question now. If you want to share, you can share it together. Whoever has more credit will get more, and whoever has less credit will get less. More importantly, it is not only the three of us who share, but those who immediately All the generals who made meritorious service participated in the dividends. No matter which country they belonged to, as long as they made meritorious service in the process of defeating Sassan, they had the right to share a piece of land.What if Cetsyphon was not taken?Then there is nothing.Not only is there no spoils, but there is also Sasanian revenge waiting to be met.How to do it, you can figure it out.

At this time, both Quintus and Bodiao have put aside the idea of ​​preserving their strength, and are only thinking about fighting for the initiative, so they should make more contributions.Even Cao Zhang and the others were very moved. They looked at each other, but no one said anything.

"Since you don't object, then it's settled." Sun Shao waved his hand in satisfaction: "Please tell your subordinates about this decision, and then everyone will use their brains to see how we can capture Taixifeng. At that time, we will get together to discuss again, whoever has a better idea will be the main force and take on the task of the main attack."

Quintus and Botiao had no objections. While they were motivated, they also felt a lot of pressure.Sun Shao threw out a big piece of fat. Even if they were unwilling, the news would reach the ears of his generals. If those generals knew that they would not share the benefits with them, there would be no need to fight this battle.According to this plan, I am afraid that every general will compete for the opportunity to make meritorious service. How to arrange the tasks of each person will become a difficult problem to test their wisdom. It is also a difficult problem to have disputes or even tear each other down.

Quintus and Bo Tiao left, but Cao Zhang, Li Yan and others surrounded him. Li Yan was still a little reserved and embarrassed to ask questions directly, but Cao Zhang was very familiar with Sun Shao, so he asked without concealment: "My lord Is it just to mobilize their enthusiasm, or do you really have this plan?"

Sun Shao glanced at him and avoided answering. Instead, he laughed and said, "Don't forget, you are the chariot general of the Luoyang court. After this battle is over, you will be promoted to general when you go back. Don't you still want to be there?" Is it possible to occupy a piece of land here and be the owner of the villa?"

Cao Zhang was a little embarrassed, but he refused to back down: "Your Majesty, whether to go back or not is my business. Whether Your Majesty is really willing to share this land with everyone is what we are most concerned about now." Humbly pulled the others in: "Li Zhengfang is embarrassed to say, but I can see that if possible, he is very willing to be a city lord here. There are probably not a few other people who have such thoughts, Even the generals of your country of Yue."

"Will I lie to you?" Sun Shao took a sip of tea and said solemnly: "I told you when I asked you to send troops, I will not let you suffer. Do you think I have done a loss-making business for so many years? Who has suffered from the people who have worked with me?"

Cao Zhang nodded again and again: "That's true, Your Majesty is refreshing, every time we cooperate with Your Majesty, we have gained a lot."

"That's fine." Sun Shao said with a smile: "You also know that my country of Yue does not rely on agriculture to build a country. I have no other requirements. I just hope that after you become city lords, you will not set up cards to steal money or drive up prices. Thousands of merchants will rely on you to supply food in the future." He patted his thigh and said contentedly: "You have seen what happened just now, but it doesn't matter to me whether we fight this battle or not. The benefits I have obtained are already quite a lot. I am creating opportunities for you to make contributions. Otherwise, even if you return to the country, you will lose face."

Cao Zhang smiled silently. At this time, he is not interested in chatting with Sun Shao. Since Sun Shao said that he is not fooling people, but really intends to do so, then they should think about it carefully.With military achievements, of course the soldiers will benefit, but the biggest benefit is still the commander, so who will be the commander has become a very sensitive issue.

Who doesn't want to make great contributions, it's so boring to make wedding dresses for others.But then again, it's not something you can do if you want to be the leader. If you don't have this ability, it's better not to be ashamed as soon as possible.Thinking of what Sun Shao said to Quintus and Bodiao just now, he was in no mood to sit down anymore, and hurried back to call the generals to discuss to see if there was any good way to win Taixifeng.After all, although this piece of fat is tempting, Taixifeng is not easy to attack. If the preparation is not enough, it is very likely that it will be in vain, and the loss of soldiers and generals will be wasted.

Cao Zhang and Li Yan chatted a few gossips, and then retreated.

It didn't take long before the news spread among the army. Almost all the generals were jealous and wanted a piece of the pie. How cool it is to be the city lord of the free trade zone.The King of Yue wanted the area north of Armenia. If Taixifeng can be captured, merchants who log in from the Persian Gulf will go up the river, and the cities in this area can benefit from it. It is a treasure land.

Almost everyone used their brains, racking their brains and sweating to think of a way to break the city, and their morale was extremely high for a while.

Immediately, the army advanced steadily, crossed the Euphrates River, marched all the way, and pushed to the west bank of the Tigris River. The army first surrounded the ancient city of Seleu.The ancient city of Seleucid is a relic of the Seleucid Dynasty. It has been more than [-] years. After many wars, Seleucus has been repaired many times. After all, it cannot be compared with Taixi Fengcheng. However, these two cities are in However, there are similarities in structure, so Sun Shao suggested that taking the ancient city of Seleucid first, and taking down the ancient city of Seleucid is equivalent to cutting off the foreign aid of Taixifeng, which can not only train the army, but also shock the morale of the Sasanians.What's more, if you cross the river and fight without taking down the ancient city of Seleu, it will not be reassuring after all.

Everyone has no objection to this proposal, and the difference is who will be the main general who attacked the ancient city of Seleu.Both Bodiao and Quintus wanted to make the first contribution. They both knew that Seleucus was much easier than Ctesiphon. Botiao felt that he might not have the opportunity to compete with Sun Shao for the lead when attacking Cetsiphon. It should be at this time Make a meritorious service first, and then you will have something to rely on when rewarding your meritorious deeds later.Quintus, on the other hand, has [-] soldiers in his hands and is very ambitious. He very much hopes to make a contribution, so that he will have a great reputation in front of the generals.

Both of them refused to give up, and in the end they could only ask Sun Shao to be a notary.Sun Shao did not participate in this battle, nor did he favor any side, suggesting that they attack at the same time.The east of the ancient city of Seleu is the Tigris River, so it is impossible to attack at all. One of you will attack from the northwest and the other from the southwest. It is necessary to monitor the city of Taixi on the other side of the river, lest the Sasanians support the ancient city of Seleu and attack the soldiers who are attacking the city.

Bo Tiao was very satisfied. Guishuang's army was the weakest, and there were not many opportunities to fight for the main battle. Sun Shao did not favor the Romans, which was enough for him.Quintus was a little disappointed. He originally thought that Sun Shao would speak for him and the Romans would be the main attackers, but he didn't expect such a result.There was resentment in my heart, and I couldn't help complaining twice.

"Are you sure you can win Seleucus?" Sun Shao said bluntly.

Quintus rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

"Although this city is no better than Taixifeng, it is also an ancient city. When it was first built, it was built in the style of a fortress, with complete protective facilities. Don't think that you can easily take this city with an army of 8. Your [-] The two legions that people can really fight are in the hands of young Gordian, will he really help you?"

When Quintus heard this, he understood.

"Don't worry, take this opportunity to get acquainted with the mode of the war, let the generals take turns to fight, and see which ones are really capable of fighting and which ones are just lip service. There are Guishuang people on the other side to contain the Sasanians , there are only advantages and no disadvantages for you. If you can successfully take down the ancient city of Seleu, if you are still not satisfied, it does not matter, and there is Ctesiphon."

"How dare I take Tessiphon's lead." Quintus rubbed his hands in embarrassment.

"There's nothing to be polite about. Just because you don't want to fight doesn't mean that your subordinates don't want to fight. If you're too generous, I'm afraid you'll leave someone with something to talk about." Sun Shao smiled lightly: "What's more, the reason why we are a country of brothers is that It's because of my friendship with you, if you really have the ability to win Ctesiphon and secure your position as emperor, I can only wish for it."

Quintus laughed heartily, and the trace of original resentment suddenly disappeared.He gratefully said to Sun Shao: "You still have more experience, okay, I will do as you say, let them take turns to fight, don't favor one, so that they won't blame me when the time comes."

"That's right." Sun Shao nodded with a smile, stood up, walked in front of Quintus, and patted him on the shoulder: "Quintus, fight hard and let them see who is the real emperor of Rome .”

"Hmm." Quintus clenched his fists confidently.

After half a month of preparation, the Romans launched an attack from the northwest and the Guishan people from the southwest at the same time.Botiao had only more than 2 people under his command. He used [-] elites as reserves, and the rest were divided into two groups to take turns attacking the city. Quintus, relying on the large number of people, sent eight legion commanders at once to attack in turn. Do not give the defenders in the city a chance to breathe.

When the Guishuang people and the Romans stormed the ancient city of Seleu, Sun Shao arranged for Cao Zhang, Cao Zhi brothers and Li Yan to guard their backs, but he led Chen Hai, Zhuge Zhi and others to patrol the Tigris River.Although the surface of the Tigris River is relatively wide, after entering the plains, the water volume drops sharply, and the water level in many places is very shallow. It is not easy for a building boat to sail along the river to the outside of Ctesiphon, and there is a possibility of running aground at any time. This time Chen Hai left the main building ships at sea, and only took the medium-sized warships into battle.As far as water combat is concerned, Sasanian warships are generally not strong, and even medium-sized warships are enough to deal with them.But for the siege, without the help of a large number of ballistas on the building boats, it is really inferior.

The surface of the Tigris River between the ancient city of Seleucid and the city of Taixifeng is not wide, and most of the river surface is within the attack range of the ballista above the two cities. Therefore, when there was no need for a strong attack, Sun Shao only ordered the warships to monitor the river, preventing the Sasanians from crossing the river to rescue the ancient city of Seleu, but he refused to let the warships attack the ancient city of Seleu on the water. ——With the ability of the ballista on a medium-sized warship, even if it participates in the battle, it won't be of much help. Only a large ship can do this kind of work.

Under the escort of ten warships, Sun Shao carefully kept out of the range of the ballista on the city, and looked at Taixi Fengcheng on the left bank with clairvoyance.Lu Xun and Sun Feng were standing beside him, each raising their clairvoyance to look at the nearby terrain, while Zhuge Zhi and Chen Hai stood behind, discussing something softly together.Zhuge Zhi's warship was in the Red Sea, so he didn't follow it this time. He just participated in the battle as a pawn. He didn't have high expectations.Chen Hai is the main force of the navy this time, but not being able to bring a large ship will greatly reduce his combat power. After hearing that this piece of land will be used as a reward for those who have made meritorious service, he regrets it so much that he has to complain about it from time to time. .

"Oh, Ji Gong, our luck is not as good as that pirate's." Chen Hai lamented, "Not to mention that pirate is now criss-crossing the Mediterranean Sea, he is still ruling the Black Sea, and he has established a mansion in Byzantium. The territory under his jurisdiction is bigger than ours. But most of them, and only the boy with thick legs and Deng Ai can compare with him, the few of us... well, the gap is getting bigger and bigger."

Zhuge smiled and remained silent.The four generals who followed Sun Shaoli in the past, Yuehai has been guarding Funan, and there are not many opportunities to go to war. Although he is not called a governor, he is one of the most powerful governors. The country of Wa has expanded beyond thousands of miles, and it is a well-deserved hegemony in the East China Sea.Deng Ai went to the South China Sea with 1000 people. After several years of conquest, he has now become the highest officer in the South China Sea.Cui Qian is also proud of his spring breeze recently. First, he defeated the Roman rebels in the Bosporus Strait, and then he and Lu Xun ambushed the Sassanids. In charge of Heihai, he opened a mansion in Byzantium, and he got his wish, which is even better than Su Chukuleg and Deng Ailai.And Chen Hai, one of the four generals, has not yet been called the governor, so it is inevitable that he feels a little sad.

"Why should you be depressed, the general? The Arabian Sea is the general's territory. After taking Ctesiphon, the trade volume in the Persian Gulf will definitely increase significantly, and it is expected to surpass the Red Sea. The general is also an important town in our country, so why belittle yourself?"

Chen Hai grinned, not embarrassed to say anything else.Although it seems that the rights are similar, but after all, if you don't call yourself a supervisor, you are like a dwarf, and you have no face to face others.

Gan Yu, Cheng Zi, and Han Zong stood on the other side of the boat. Gan Yu leaned on the side of the boat, squinted his eyes and looked at Taixifeng City in the distance, and said indignantly, "I didn't expect that, Ardaxi, the first hero, Er actually turned into a turtle, hiding in the city and unable to come out. I want to compete with him and have no chance of sword skills, which is really frustrating."

"I think Ardasil is scared, so he can only hide from you, General Gan." Han Zong said solemnly, "I'm afraid that you will chop up the city to receive the reward, and I'm afraid that Taixi will be closed by you, General Gan." General's."

"It's not just Taixi Fengcheng, I think the whole Sasanian may be." Cheng Zi added fuel to the fire: "Perhaps the priestesses of those temples will become the warm quilt slaves of General Gan."

"And!" Gan Yu spit out angrily and amusedly: "Do you two feel uncomfortable if you don't entertain me?"

Han Zong and Cheng Zi couldn't help but lower their voices and laughed.Gan Yu is a veteran of the Yue Kingdom. They came later, and when they first came, the situation was very embarrassing. It was equivalent to being kicked out by Sun Quan, so they were always laughed at by Gan Yu. Unexpectedly, Xianyu turned around this time and was defeated by Lu Xun Ardashir, who became famous in the first battle, not only gained a lot of spoils, but also was promoted to a miscellaneous general because of his meritorious service, and he was on an equal footing with Gan Yu.However, Gan Yu followed Chen Hai to ambush Ardashir this time and failed. He ran for thousands of miles, and his success was still uncertain, so he was naturally full of complaints.As soon as they saw Gan Yu complaining, they teamed up to anger him.If it wasn't for Sun Shao in front, they might have laughed so happily.

"Damn, I must be the first to kill Taixi Fengcheng, and let you bastards see how good I am." Gan Yu spit again indignantly.Just as Cheng Zi was about to say something more, Han Zong tugged at his sleeve and motioned him to pay attention to the front with his eyes.Cheng Zi took a look, and just in time to see Luo Tong looking over, he signaled them not to speak too loudly, and quickly closed his mouth.

Sun Shao and Lu Xun are talking about something.Lu Xun was very worried about Sun Shao's arrangement. So far, they have not been sure to win Taixifeng. Even if they use heavy rewards to stimulate the morale of the Romans and Guishuang people, they may not be able to succeed, after all, the gap in strength is not obvious enough.The Romans seem to have 8 people, but most of them are recruits. They need a lot of actual combat training, and training will kill people. If they take Seleucus, their losses will be at least [-] people, and the Guishan people also Not going anywhere.If the damage is too large, then the troops to attack Taixifeng will be even more insufficient.

"Bo Yan, are you sure you can win Taixifeng?" Sun Shao said with a smile: "If you are sure, I will appoint you as the general who will attack Taixifeng, and all the troops will be entrusted to you to command."

Lu Xun was noncommittal, put down his clairvoyance, and was silent for a moment: "Your Majesty, if you don't take Ctesiphon, can Armenia hold it? Does the Caspian Sea have any meaning?"

Sun Shao blinked, smiled calmly and said, "Why is it meaningless?"

Lu Xun glanced at Sun Shao, and said to himself: "If my guess is right, the king intends to use Cui Qian's navy as the backing, Rome as an ally, and the Teutonic people as the foundation to fully manage the land north of the Mediterranean Sea. A large piece of land. However, although the land is fertile, the population is small, and there are many tribes, which are easy to plunder and not control production. It is impossible to unify in three to fifty years. Three to fifty years of operation requires a lot of manpower, Financial resources, these have to be transported from Rome, Guishuang, and even the country of Yue. The people of the country of Yue rule the roost by sea, but the sea route is far away. Whether it is from the Persian Gulf or the Red Sea, they have to pass through a piece of land. Although the king occupies Axum, but The Egyptian province of the Romans is separated in the middle, and Xiahourong’s sphere of influence is on the east bank, which is not so convenient after all. The most ideal situation is that we take Sassanid, directly enter the Tigris River from the Persian Gulf, and go straight to Armenia.”

Sun Shao nodded frequently. Although Lu Xun didn't know the inside story of Sun Shao and Philip's brotherhood, it was difficult to estimate that as long as Philip became emperor, Rome would actually be a part of Yue, but the situation he analyzed It's closer to what he expected.Winning Ctesiphon is of course the best result.

"We don't have enough strength to conquer Ctesiphon alone, so the king is the next best thing to do, hoping to use the power of Rome and Guishuang to destroy Sasan, and build it into a free trade zone with many princes, so as to alleviate future obstacles as much as possible. But my lord, all of this is based on the premise of conquering Ctesiphon. If it doesn't work, then the king's deployment will be greatly reduced, and the prince's difficulties will be even greater. In case there is another conflict with the Romans at that time, Even if we want to rescue them, we can’t reach them. Your Majesty, isn’t this too risky?”

"Whether you take the risk or not depends on whether you can take Taixifeng." Sun Shao smiled slightly: "If you can take Taixifeng, this place will be controlled by my Yue Kingdom. In addition to the Arabian Peninsula controlled by Xia Hourong, we There are several roads that can go north, so what’s the risk? What’s more, I plan to arrange some Huns on the east coast of the Caspian Sea. There is a good pasture, and it will be a hidden danger if it is controlled by the Guishuang people.”

"Adi kidnapped brother?" Lu Xun's eyes lit up.Cai Yan, the mother of Adiguai's brothers, and Yang Hu's mother are sisters, and Yang Hu is Sun Feng's confidant. There are even rumors that Yang Huiyu is also Sun Feng's favorite, and may become a woman in the crown prince's womb in the future.With this relationship, plus the credit that Sun Feng gave to Brother Adiguai, it is obviously a help for Sun Feng to allow Brother Adiguai to occupy the pasture in the East China Sea of ​​the Caspian Sea. Presumably Cao Zhang and Cao Zhi would not object.

"I do intend to, if possible."

(End of this chapter)