Four-Armed Divine Emperor

With the Baita righteousness at hand and the "sufficient" military pay and resettlement allowance, they have no choice but to refuse!

The summer of the second year after the unification of Rome.

The summer of the 12th year of the "Father God Calendar", which began with the arrival of El in Thurso.

The coalition of Canaanite and Antolian legions took the lead in crossing Sargon Menga and launched an attack on the core area of ​​the Babylonian Plain, the second largest Zoroastrian civilization in the traditional sense, second only to the Alam Plateau.

The Canaanite cavalry galloped across this fertile plain, holding high a flag with nine colored circles on a white background, symbolizing the nine rings of the White Tower.

Even without counting the reinforcements that kept coming, the first batch of troops heading east numbered as many as 150,000.

The White Tower was obviously eager to test the Romans' abilities, so at their request, the entire eastern region around the Titan Sea was almost in a state of war. Food, ships, arsenals, and everything useful for the war were moved to the east as quickly as possible. Otherwise, Canaan, which had been independent for only a month, would definitely not be able to launch a 100,000-man legion expedition at such a rapid speed.

In the eyes of the Nine-Ring White Tower, these 150,000 people are just a small group of pawns crossing the river. They don't care even if the whole army is wiped out in an instant. As long as they can find out some of the enemy's strengths and weaknesses, they will be considered to have played their value.

During this period of turbulent times in the mortal world, Sky City was not idle either. The great wizards in the nine rings of the White Tower gathered together and conducted a large-scale prophecy ceremony through the observatories and wizard towers at magic nodes all over the world, trying to see through their opponents.

however

Chapter 418

The result was silence:

Their enemy was like a shadow, with a distorted posture, hidden in a thick fog, making it difficult to see clearly.

The result of the prophecy was sometimes a group of "mortals" with blurry faces and nothing special about them, and sometimes it was the weird twisted and transformed ones mentioned above, which was really hard to understand. Combined with Celine's previous silent disappearance, the result of the prophecy made the White Tower even more hesitant.

Because what they wanted, such as the enemy's methods, scale, and future scenes, none of these were available.

You know, a large-scale magic ritual like this can not only work within the world of Il, but can also detect outside the world, and can even detect the general situation of those sages who have gone to explore the stars and have not returned for a long time.

This situation occurs either because the enemy is so strong that it exceeds the upper limit of the prophecy ritual - almost equivalent to the power of half of the mages still active in the entire Il world who are casting spells together.

That is why the prophecy did not give the results they wanted, but only gave some vague outlines and fragments.

Of course, it is also possible that the other party has been prepared for this and is interfering with the same large-scale technique... But no matter which one it is, it shows that the other party has strength and background that is at least not lower than the Nine-Ring White Pagoda.

The White Tower can quickly conduct prophecy rituals in a short period of time. Its essence lies in the magical nodes such as observatories and wizard towers scattered throughout the world of Il, which are the "accumulation" of thousands of years after the Ancient War.

Regardless of whether the enemy is immune to or can counter this method, the White Tower has to take it seriously and treat the enemy on the same level as itself.

If you strike first, you may also be struck first by others...

In the absence of Rome's active attack, the Nine Rings White Tower chose to hold its breath. Both sides in this battle were hunters, and neither wanted to rashly fire and expose their position, so they chose to set traps and send out hunting dogs...

-------Dividing line-------

Located in the north-central part of the Babylonian Plain, four hundred miles north of Ctesiphon, it was once one of the three major cities of the Alan Empire.

Seleucia province and legionary station.

A group of Canaanite cavalry crossed the vast plain and saw the magnificent fortress city before them and the star dragon and double-headed eagle flags flying on the city walls.

The cavalry officer in charge excitedly gave his order to his men:

"Report immediately to the commander-in-chief. Our vanguard has arrived in Seleucia. The journey was smooth and unimpeded! Smooth and unimpeded!"

Chapter 85: Black Hole

The vanguard has arrived in Seleucia. When this news was passed back, the commander of the Eastern Expedition coalition was shocked, knowing that the real battle and test were about to begin.

No matter how hard they tried to lure the enemy into deeper territory, they could not just give them an important city like Seleucia. This was something the law-enforcement coalition had anticipated.

They did not underestimate the enemy. Even though they were full of confidence in the power of the Nine-Ring White Tower and were sure that this war would end with their victory, they all knew that although the ordinary soldiers under them might not be very knowledgeable, those who could reach the level of commanders and legion commanders were not all incompetent fools.

They knew that the enemy might be very strong and had already been prepared, so they would not be so arrogant as to think that they could be invincible with their own troops of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people.

At the extraordinary level, the White Tower has their backs.

Among the 150,000-strong Eastern Expeditionary Coalition, there were more than 2,000 mages, and the ratio of mortal soldiers to extraordinary people reached an astonishing 75:1, even exceeding the size of the Alan Empire's three elite main legions: Parthia, Qiexue, and Changsheng.

The impact that these two thousand spellcasters can exert on the battlefield, in the hands of capable commanders, can exceed that of a hundred thousand troops!

Change terrain and weather, magic coverage and attack, potion configuration, alchemy magic...

Perhaps a successful spell can change the situation of a normal war.

For example, when the enemy cavalry launches a charge, releasing spells such as mud, ground spikes, earth cracks, and earth walls can almost destroy the enemy cavalry in an instant.

Therefore, there have always been only two situations for cavalry:

Pure cannon fodder, mounted infantry, and even peasants.

Or they are extremely elite "knights" who have already entered the elite of the quasi-aristocratic class.

The former are usually used as cannon fodder to test the enemy's distribution of magic resources on the battlefield, or to do some harassment, scouting and other tasks. Of course, if victory is achieved, they can also be used to pursue prisoners and defeated troops.

The latter are different. When they are on action, they will even be equipped with a certain proportion of mages to accompany the army, just to counter the enemy's magical means and enable them to successfully launch a destructive charge. Generally speaking, this kind of elite cavalry only targets the enemy commander and the mage group.

The two thousand mages of the coalition forces can already be formed into more than twenty hundred-man teams. This is a powerful force that has never appeared even during the civil war in the Alan Empire.

The final victorious Northern Camp, the "Romans" who were generally believed to be in collusion with the "remnants of the old times", were able to mobilize a force of this magnitude, but at the level at that time, there was no opponent in the entire Alan Empire that was worthy of such a strong force.

The mage cannot be regarded as a "type of soldier".

They won't work for money.

They themselves are also "aristocrats", and even surpass the nobility.

Willing to go to the battlefield

Chapter 419

After all, only a minority of people can become "war mages". When the strength between the enemy and us is far greater than theirs and the hope of victory is slim, they will simply not listen to the "requests" of secular dignitaries and continue to risk being exposed to flying arrows and swords.

Therefore, this kind of civil war has always been a snowballing process. Whoever has a greater chance of winning will have his or her opponents' chances of winning shrink even without going to war, because the mages will "run away" or refuse to be hired. With one increase and one decrease, in the end, can we rely solely on mortal soldiers to defeat the army led by the extraordinary people on the opposite side?

Where did the two thousand mages in this 150,000-strong vanguard army come from?

Of course it was the White Tower who summoned them.

Secular authorities cannot force mages to do anything, but the Nine-Ring White Tower is different. They are the order of the extraordinary realm and the "country of mages". Their orders are no less important to mages than the laws of a secular country are to the mortals of that country.

As a chess piece used by the Nine-Ring White Tower to test the enemy behind Rome, the mages have also considered it in detail. They cannot let this chess piece be too weak, otherwise the 150,000 people - the army that the Alan Empire used to conquer Serso had 300,000 people - might not even make a splash. If it is limited to fighting at the mortal level, then this test will be meaningless, and it will simply be sending this group of people to their deaths.

No matter how indifferent the White Tower is to mortals, it will never "waste" their value like this.

Therefore, it is necessary to arm them appropriately and provide them with extraordinary support so that they can maximize their value.

The White Tower had long been prepared for the annihilation of the 150,000-strong army and the 2,147 wizards before they could even reach Ctesiphon. However, annihilation was not a problem. 150,000 men were nothing. As long as there was enough time, they could even send ten or one hundred 150,000 men to the east. As long as they could find out some details, it would be enough.

The two thousand spellcasters were mostly low- and middle-level wizards, many of whom had relatively long life spans and probably would not make any progress in this lifetime. They could not even reach the seventh ring, so to the White Tower Order, they could only be considered "commoners" and could also be used as consumables.

In the past, they were active in Canaan, Antolia, the Aegean and other places. Now they are summoned by the White Tower to fulfill their oath to always follow the teachings of the sages and safeguard the order of the White Tower.

Among this group of mages, there is even only one with seven rings. He carries a lot of props and life-saving methods provided by the White Tower. He is also a node that the Sky City locks on. If the enemy covers the battlefield in some concealing way and then uses their mysterious methods, then this seventh-ring mage who risks his life may be able to break the blockade and allow the White Tower to obtain information about the battlefield.

Everything is ready, just waiting for the moment to officially engage in battle with the enemy.

The first enemy encountered by the vanguard of Canaan and the Seven Shields was undoubtedly the garrison of Seleucia.

According to the intelligence collected in advance, the Romans originally had three legions in Seleucia, or the entire Babylonia region, with a total strength of more than 100,000 troops. The legions were numbered the First, Third, and Seventh respectively. Their commanders were all "quiet" figures, and they played roles in the Northern camp as the victor of the civil war.

Since the White Tower cannot find out their background, they can just treat them as most likely the "remnants of the old days", the survivors of the followers who followed the tyrannical princes in their defeat.

After the Siege of Ctesiphon, the White Tower suddenly discovered that, without realizing it, "Rome" had become a "service area black hole" for the Sky City, causing great interference to its signals. Logically speaking, there should have been tens of thousands of mages of all sizes in the original Alan Empire. After all, with a population of over 100 million, there were countless people who had connections with mages and the White Tower. The "connection" here does not simply mean having been to the Sky City, talking to mages, and doing things with them, but refers to some mage bloodlines, families with many mages and great mages (seven rings), who can be regarded as "White Tower's dependents."

Some people hold great power, such as the governor of a province or the head of a famous family. Even Sky City will give them some "favorable treatment", of course, compared to the complete indifference to ordinary mortals.

From beginning to end, there was nothing wrong, not a single warning message came from Alan, so that in the end, the ones who "exposed" this secret were those mortal scholars and the neighboring countries that wanted to use it to attack the new country. If the enemy's infiltration had not been exposed by accident, it is unknown to what extent the White Tower would have discovered that something was wrong.

This kind of thing was so horrific and beyond imagination that before the Siege of Taixifeng, some people within the Nine Rings of the White Tower had always believed that this was a pure misunderstanding - what kind of power was needed to shield and "solve" the tens of millions of dissenting voices that might report to the White Tower within the vast Alan Empire without the entire Sky City being aware of it, and to silently complete the control of an empire?

They believed that if the remnants of the Old Ones had mastered this power, they would be better off going to war with Sky City directly, and they would most likely win...

That's not hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of people!

There are millions of them, hundreds of millions of them are distributed in all aspects of the country and society. As long as they realize that something is wrong, they may report to Sky City at any time!

Just like that, no sound at all?

Either it was not sent, or it was sent but not received... No matter how you think about it, the story behind it is so terrifying!

Chapter 86: The Nameless

This made Bai Ta even more hesitant to rashly use his core strength.

Chapter 420

Sent to Rome.

Before they figure out the general situation of the enemy, let the mortals and low-level mages explore the way.

Fifteen thousand people is not a very powerful force, but five hundred fifty thousand, ten hundred fifty thousand... plus a large number of war wizards, even the Alan Empire in its heyday would find it difficult to resist. After the secular combat power fell into a disadvantage, if the Romans wanted to avoid being defeated, they had to mobilize a higher level of power. At that time, the White Tower would have the opportunity to get a glimpse of their bottom line.

......

As the first group of the French Protectorate coalition to join the Eastern Expedition, they were still quite morale-filled, because the rulers had preached to them all kinds of "inspiration from the White Tower" and promises of worldly interests. They certainly did not think that these 150,000 people alone could march straight into Iskhanfar. In fact, their mission was now mostly completed—to invade Roman territory, and then, if "appropriate", to fight a few battles with the enemy, test the enemy's strength, occupy some cities, and establish an outpost for the Eastern Expedition army within Roman territory.

The soldiers at the bottom had fanatical dreams of getting rich.

The commander of this vanguard army was not originally a prominent figure.

Everyone knows that those who attack in the vanguard will definitely encounter the toughest defense. In order to appropriately reduce the losses of their own headquarters, the warlords of the Golden Dynasty expanded the army extensively, conscripted civilians into the army, and planned to exchange numbers for quality; and the rulers of Canaan and Antolia were naturally not fanatics who were obsessed with "respecting the law and protecting the truth". Naturally, they would also try to preserve their own strength in some ways.

Of course, the White Pagoda's decree will not give them the opportunity to work without putting in effort or to be hypocritical. They will definitely have to send troops and contribute effort, but that will not prevent them from using some tricks without violating the general premise of the "Eastern Expedition". This is human nature.

The commanders and leaders of this vanguard army were all marginal figures with little power in the past. Now they were sent to command the vanguard, which clearly meant they were being used as cannon fodder to explore the way forward. But no one dared to complain publicly. After all, there was the righteousness of the White Tower's order. Moreover, even if there was no request from the White Tower, it was just a normal secular war. If the country wanted to send them as cannon fodder, could anyone say no?

For those who are capable and unwilling to be unknown, this is actually an opportunity to turn things around!

If they can stand out in the Eastern Expedition and have their achievements shine in the White Tower, that will be the capital for them to make a comeback and be promoted to the center of power!

Therefore, those ambitious and capable (even if they thought so) generals in the vanguard army contacted each other before setting out. Everyone knew that as the first group to take the lead, they might face the greatest danger, and no one wanted to die in vain, so all they could do was to increase their own strength as much as possible.

After forming a semi-public alliance, they identified a group of "capable" individuals through various means such as communication and banquets and brought them into the camp, marginalizing those mere idiots who were just sitting there doing nothing but eating (there weren't many of these people with connections in the Vanguard Army), thus ensuring the control of the Vanguard Corps by this "capable officers' alliance."

Normally, their behavior would be considered a power grab and usurpation. According to the process, the next step might be to raise an army, establish an independent regime, or march on the capital.

But with the White Tower overhead, they certainly wouldn't be so foolish.

There are risks in moving forward, but there are also opportunities;

If they rebel, they will definitely die. There is no need to think about it. Those mages will kill the middle-level commanders, the lower-level soldiers, and the most critical group of extraordinary people.

Other extraordinary people are taking this risk, and you, a bunch of mortals, are still afraid of death?

Their purpose in controlling the legion is to ensure that the army has an effective and excellent command, and to make the chess pieces strive to become stronger and show greater value. Conversely, this can also force the enemy to use more forces to encircle and suppress them. Naturally, the White Tower will have no opinion on this.

The powerful people in the rear had no objection to who would have control over this army that was clearly taking a risk. In their view, this vanguard army of 150,000 people would be surrounded by heavy enemy forces and annihilated on the outskirts of Babylonia as soon as they passed Sargonmenga. There was no need to fight for the ownership of a group of "people who were doomed to die."

Now, as the vanguard of the subsequent Eastern Expedition, they were able to reach Seleucia and, depending on the situation, might even be able to fight against the enemy's main army. This was already an "unexpected surprise."

It was three days after the vanguard cavalry reported that they had arrived in Seleucia.

The main force of the vanguard legion also arrived at this huge city located north of Babylonia, guarding the vast western border of the empire.

Seleucia was once the second ancient Zoroastrian empire. It was built on the ruins of a civilized city of the Assyrians, an ancient race that had produced many "witch kings" and had physical alienation. It was considered to be the ancestral civilization of most of the orcs that came later. Its main function was to resist the invasion of the Babylonian Plain by barbarians from Canaan and Antolia.

Later, with the development of the empire, its status continued to rise. Although its military role in guarding the western border was greatly weakened because the Zoroastrians once conquered Canaan, Antolia and other places, but because it was the gateway to Babylonia, once the empire declined and its power retreated to the east of Sargonmenga, the existence of Seleucia could also well protect the empire's fragile and rich Fertile Crescent from being harassed by enemies in the west. Therefore, the tradition of stationing heavy troops here to deter Canaan and other places has continued.

At its peak, Seleucia was said to have 300,000 soldiers stationed there.

Chapter 421

The Parthian Legion, one of the three main forces of the empire, had 100,000 men.

If the enemy really attacks from the west, the entire Babylonian Plain and surrounding provinces can use Seleucia as the military center to form a "million-strong army."

However, after that, this number continued to decline, to the point where even the Parthian legions were not permanently stationed there, but this situation improved before the civil war.

Because the national strength of the Alam Empire declined in the late period, and the independence tendencies in Canaan and other places became increasingly intense, the Alam people strengthened Seleucia. The Parthian Legion had 80,000 troops and 120,000 auxiliary troops, totaling 20,000 troops, was intended to intimidate the restless Canaanites. If something happened in Canaan and the local garrison could not control it, the Seleucia garrison and the "Parthian Legion", one of the main forces of the empire, could advance westward at any time to suppress the rebellion and prevent the Canaanites from acting rashly.

This approach is indeed necessary.

Because this time, the Canaanites united and launched a rebellion against Rome, which replaced the Alam Empire - an uprising. Torches were lit between city-states, and in an instant, most of the Canaanite lands announced that they would change their flags and rebel. The remaining areas mostly did not follow suit in the first time due to problems such as "hesitation", "worry", and "delays in meetings", rather than because they did not want to rebel.

Without the participation of the White Tower, the strength of the Canaanite uprising would not be so great, but it would definitely not be small. At that time, the Zoroastrian garrisons would be divided and surrounded in various regions. The Canaanites have a strong mercenary culture. In some of their words, it is because their motherland is ruled by Zoroastrians, and they join the mercenaries in order to accumulate military experience for the future restoration of their country. In fact, this is indeed the case. Every time the Canaanite uprising occurs, there are many mercenary generals who shine in it... In addition, due to their business tradition, they are quite rich. Although there are no soldiers in normal times, once a consensus is reached within the city-state and a decision is made to revolt and resources are mobilized, thousands or tens of thousands of troops can be added in an instant.

In the past, due to the failure of the Battle of Quicksand, the decline of the Alan Empire was hard to conceal, and Canaan's desire for independence became increasingly apparent. The morale of the Alan garrison in this territory was generally low. Because they were in an environment where they could be surrounded by rebellion at any time, the psychological pressure was enormous. During the civil war, many generals and military leaders simply split off from the country to protect themselves. Some intensified their exploitation of the locals, while others turned around and united with the locals.