Four-Armed Divine Emperor

"Our blood relatives will dance beside your corpses, violate your women and children, and they will avenge us!"

He let out a resounding roar, a declaration to the enemy, but all he got in response was silence.

Chapter 127: Ardabil (10)

The young man did not seem to be moved by the curse of the noble Alan. He just watched the cursing prisoner silently, and only stopped talking when the prisoner realized that the enemy in front of him was more "calm" than he had imagined.

At this moment, the young man slowly removed the knife from the cross behind the flayed man. The bloody marks and remaining flesh and blood residue on it seemed to hint at what this sharp weapon had done not long ago...

The pupils of the captured Alan sword-bearing noble suddenly shrank.

His behavior of cursing at the enemy was partly due to the "traditional" toughness of the Zoroastrians. After all, you may not win a war, but you can never lose a verbal battle.

The second is to try to provoke the enemy while showing a resolute attitude, preferably to give yourself a quick death.

But if it's peeling...

That moment was so painful...

"Hyas?" Suddenly, the red-skinned man tied to the cross uttered a name with trembling lips that were no longer as "rosy" as other parts of his body.

This startled the nobleman who led the troops.

"who are you?"

He asked hurriedly, but the man seemed to have no extra strength, perhaps enduring great pain, or simply not wanting his name to appear in such a shameful moment, so he did not answer his question. Instead, the captured noble carefully examined the face that had lost its skin, and saw the clothes that were casually discarded just below the cross, and then exclaimed in surprise:

"Dalles! How could it be you!"

The skinned man didn't speak again. To him, everything at that moment and in the future was no longer important. Calling out the man's name was just seeing an acquaintance before throwing himself into the eternal fire and making the last connection with the world.

The young warrior who had obviously carried out the brutal skinning with his own hands only then slowly spoke out what he wanted to say.

He pursed his lips. Judging from his appearance, he was a handsome young man with a fair face and no beard. This was a minus point and an object of teasing among the middle-aged Alan people. Zoroastrians generally had the tradition of growing beards, but it was not a problem for young people.

His blue eyes were deep and calm, like a lake reflecting the azure sky. He had the air of a scholar, but with the thick armor he wore, he was obviously a steady and reliable soldier.

But no one could ignore the bloody skinning dagger in his hand.

"Before the official declaration of war was issued, you and your men plundered our caravan on Roman soil." He gripped his dagger, calmly recounting a seemingly mundane incident. "You lack instruction. Emperor Alan and your Eternal Flame clearly cannot do this. But the Father's mercy is equally bestowed upon everyone who humbly bows before Him."

"Arrogant Zoroastrians, you consider Rome a barbarian and have initiated war. After the war, everything will become clear: we will bring you true 'civilization'."

"False eternity will fade away, and true greatness will emerge. That is eternity."

Although the nobles feared the fate of their companion, with whom they had trained slaves and feasted not long ago, they were also filled with anger when they heard the young warrior's words.

"Arrogant barbarians! You should dream beside your tents and campfires that you can delay the advance of the invincible and powerful army of the King of Kings—this is already a great presumption!"

"Your blasphemous words are merely a mask for your fear! The eternal fire will consume you and your bloodline, and you will be cast into the endless darkness and coldness of hell, where you will suffer endless torture!"

He cursed loudly, but soon the young man walked up to him, pinched his chin, and twisted it slightly with a force that the man could not resist, dislocating the man's jaw and making him unable to speak.

Then, he raised the knife that was stained with the blood of the previous victim and pressed it against the scalp of the Alan noble named Xius.

Soon, a violent scream was heard from the forest, followed by some kind of

Chapter 183

Constrained and suppressed by the power of form.

......

But the man was not completely skinned. The young sergeant from the north only cut off a piece of his scalp, and the man was frightened to the point of incontinence and crying bitterly.

And the young people seemed to have lost interest in his dirty tricks.

He stabbed the knife back into the cross stake where Dales was tied, and used subtle magic to create frost to cover the severed scalp.

The strange stimulation made the man tremble all over. He raised his head and looked at the young man. Suddenly he gritted his teeth and said:

"I can tell you the information, but you must kill the others, otherwise I would rather die to protect the honor."

His words made the captives unable to sit still. They started shouting, either insulting the man or vying with each other to express their willingness to cooperate.

But the young man just shook his head and said, "I don't need your cooperation."

Hius was stunned. He really couldn't understand the other party's behavior. They risked crossing the border and did something so "provocative" that it was not for intelligence. Was it just revenge?

Before their attack, there might have been room for negotiation regarding Alan's attack on Rome. For example, offering compensation of a certain amount of land and sending 1,800 to 20,000 slaves might have allowed the empire to temporarily put the war on hold. But after they did this—even if it was equal retaliation—the Alan people would be extremely angry. They would not consider that it was their own people who provoked first. They would only be angry that a group of border "barbarians" dared to fight back against the noble Zoroastrian people.

141: Prince Ahmed

The noise in the woods quickly died down.

Including those bloody crosses, the bloodstains left after torture, and those humiliated Alan soldiers who were captured by the "barbarians", they were like fallen leaves blown by the wind. Except for a little noise at the time, they could no longer be seen.

But the Sylvan Province would certainly know that several of its armed forces had disappeared, not to mention that the leaders were sword-bearers of noble status.

Unless someone suppresses these things...

Although if the entire Sylvan Province held a meeting right now and asked for a vote by "raising right hands," the number of "right hands" that would be raised would probably be nearly doubled compared to the past, but...

Al specifically asked his children to instruct the children below them:

Now that you are wearing Alan people’s clothes, you are Alan people!

In addition to transmitting intelligence privately, the genetic descendants who were transformed within the Alan Empire and secretly worshipped the Double-Headed Eagle and the Star Dragon were, on the surface, a normal group of traditional "Alan dignitaries" who were corrupt, brutal, arrogant, lustful, and occasionally incompetent.

It makes sense.

No one would be puzzled by this, because the average situation in the nearly one hundred provinces of the Alan Empire is basically like this.

Therefore, the matter of "disappearance of border troops" was quickly reported to Prince Ahmed, who had arrived at Shahaniya, the capital of the Achaemenid Province in the south of Shirvan Province, with his entourage of several thousand soldiers and horses, and temporarily settled in this city to rest.

Judging from the aesthetics of the Alan people, this young prince is handsome and has an appearance that combines both civil and military talents.

He was tall and broad-chested, with a neat square beard above his lips. Although it was not as long and beautiful as the formal beard, it was still very beautiful.

Ahmed's eyes were always bright, as if two torches were lit in them. He loved hunting very much. During his time in Iskhanfa, he spent two-thirds of the year in the wild. Sometimes he would even run out of the jurisdiction of the imperial capital and go to other provinces in pursuit of prey. This made the conservatives of the royal family very dissatisfied, and they asked the King of Kings to deal with this behavior several times. Because Prince Ahmed was kept in Iskhanfa and by the side of the King of Kings, and was a member of the royal family who showed favor, if he did not get permission to leave the province, it would be tantamount to rebellion and he should be put to death.

But the King of Kings, who cared about the dwindling bloodline of his own, always ignored these voices and showed great favor to Ahmed, his cousin who was very close to him in terms of blood and relationship.

Although the prince himself was handsome and looked like a mighty commander, and he also liked hunting, and should be a standard warrior, but in fact he also loved reading. He read countless works left by Aegean thinkers and great masters of the "Golden Age". He "never put down his book" even when hunting. During the debates at the Dharma Assembly, he could even refute the monks from various Indian countries and leave them speechless.

He can be said to be a pillar of the royal family who is both civil and military.

When he learned the news from Sylvan, a banquet was just beginning. The prince himself was drinking and reciting poems with a beautiful young man with red lips and white teeth, who was carefully selected by the Shahaniya people and was difficult to tell whether he was an androgynous boy. After listening to the poem, he chuckled and, without wasting time, ordered the five northern provinces to speed up the mobilization of armaments. Before the army officially arrived to conquer the northern border, he asked the local governor to organize a large-scale expedition of tens of thousands of people to teach the arrogant barbarians who crossed the border a lesson.

Even though he had read extensively in the scriptures and was deeply intoxicated by the profound emotions expressed in the writings of ancient sages, Prince Ahmed still had no sympathy or pity for the so-called "barbarians".

Even if he would read a great sage, a philosopher, a man known as the "earliest philanthropist", who witnessed the collapse of the sky and the earth caused by the struggle between the ancient witch kings and the kings of magic, and the suffering of all living beings, he wept bitterly and compiled what he saw and thought into a book.

Chapter 184

Although he burst into tears because of the love for the group and the accusation of those who abused their power, there was still a very traditional "arrogant disregard" in Prince Zha'ai's eyes, which was also the mainstream of the Alan people.

Except for the Westerners (referring to the Kronos Empire and the Aegeans) and myself, other civilizations are "barbarians"

He might not subjectively massacre and persecute other ethnic groups like the traditional Alan nobles, but he would also not tolerate these ethnic groups challenging the great Zoroastrians and the honor of the Millennium Empire.

Although the war was instigated by the Alans, Governor Shirvan also said in a message that he suspected that the Romans ambushed and retaliated against the Alans who crossed the border.

The prince didn't care about these things. He just needed a smooth victory. As for the rest... it was not time for him to consider it yet.

There is a saying that if Emperor Alan, who currently sits on the throne of the Holy Palace, were to fall in the power struggle within the empire, the heir to the throne would most likely be Prince Ahmed of the same lineage. Logically, the emperor should eliminate those claimants who are so close to the throne that they could usurp it with just a stretch of their hands. However, the succession of the King of Kings is a very frequent occurrence. This is a position that enjoys endless glory, but it is also a "trial" that is never short of swords and sabers, with the sword of Damocles hanging overhead.

Chapter 127: Ardabil (11)

The emperor has three daughters, relatives and things he cares about.

If he were assassinated or deposed, it might be a blessing that Ahmed, who was a close relative and had a very good relationship with him, would succeed him.

If he first eliminated his cousin Ahmed, who behaved well in other aspects except that he sometimes ignored the law in his hunting hobby, after his death in a court conspiracy, the viziers and pashas might have no choice but to support a "side branch" or even a "side branch" whose throne was taken away by his father to succeed him, or even support his daughter as "Shah Farshana" (the exclusive name of the Alan people for female rulers) to control the government as a puppet. In that case, the result for his bloodline would not be much better. It is better to keep a close, adult, capable cousin with a chance of succession just in case.

Alan's political struggle is very dangerous, and the people of this ethnic group are also very strange:

If the King of Kings himself had not died, even if he had fled in a panic, even if he had abdicated and been deposed, and had lost almost everything in the struggle, as long as he, as long as "He" himself was still alive, there would be countless fire worshippers who would revere the shadow of this one bathed in the sacred fire and would be willing to follow him.

But if the emperor died, even if he was chopped into meat paste on the street, the people of Iskhanfa, including the rebels who had killed the emperor with their own hands, would come to pay homage to the place where the emperor "ascended to heaven and bathed in fire" with a "pilgrimage" mentality after the dust settled, and then cheer for the new ruler.

Ahmed himself was also well aware of the King of Kings's thoughts. Before the expedition, the emperor could no longer address the one bathed in the holy fire as "cousin", a "mundane" title. The King of Kings could only pronounce the title when expressing his closeness. The emperor then secretly summoned him and said that he was sent to lead the troops to the north because he felt that there would be a turmoil in Iskhanfar in the future.

Let Ahmed march north to Rome, so that he can lead the troops outside. If the emperor dies in the palace, the prince himself can announce this to his subordinates and gain the support of the soldiers by promising rewards and succeed to the throne.

Except for his most beloved wives and relatives who will be buried with the King of Kings or sent to the altar of Zoroastrians as lifelong priests, the rest will be taken over by the prince. As for his daughters, they can marry into small states that are vassal states of Alan and become queens.

If the emperor survived the crisis, Prince Ahmed would be allowed to leave the power of Iskhanfa. He could continue to keep Iskhanfa's palace or establish his own princely satrapy in Seleucia, Babylonia, or some southern provinces.

Chapter 142: Alan's Northern Expedition

In other words, in a sense, the commander-in-chief of Alan's northern expedition was not only a "prince" but also a "crown prince."

Quasi-King of Kings.

Although these matters belong to the secrets of the Iskhan Law, including what the King of Kings and the prince said, and even more so the "Grand Dharma King" from the Palace of Wisdom - the Alan people respectfully call the court advisers they worship "Dharma Kings", and the most powerful of them are called "Grand Dharma Kings", who are basically above the level of seven rings, and their services are exchanged entirely for the incense or the whole country's strength. When the emperor and the prince "make an oath and promise", they ask the Grand Dharma King to witness it, just to show their sincerity, and at the same time pave the way for the prince. If something really happens, then when the prince declares his succession to the throne, as long as the Grand Dharma King announces that this is indeed the will of the late emperor, then the power of opposition will be much smaller.

To take a step back, if the emperor survived the crisis safely, then with the Dharma King as his cousin to witness this secret agreement, the prince would not have to worry about his own expedition to the northern barbarians, leading the army and being killed by the King of Kings out of fear of his "achievements being too great."

There is nothing that a fourth person can know.

But just from the strength of the troops that marched north to conquer the barbarians, we can see how important Prince Ahmed is in the eyes of the emperor.

Of the 80,000 Parthian troops stationed in Seleucia, guarding the fertile Crescent River Basin, the holy city of Babylonia, and the sacred place of the "House of Wisdom", a full half, or 40,000 people, were transferred to the ranks of the northern expedition army. As the core pillar of the legion, they directly guarded and obeyed the orders of the prince.

In addition, there are many first-line works

Chapter 185

The entire Northern Expedition Army consisted of 230,000 regular troops, including combat troops, provincial troops, conscripted noble retainers, standing slave soldiers... plus the civilian slaves who transported baggage. There were also some noble warriors or knights of associations who voluntarily followed the banner of the Holy Flame for military merit or glory, as well as mercenaries who brought their own food and were eager to make a fortune in the barbarian lands.

The troops participating in the Alan Empire's northern expedition against the newly born neighboring country called "Rome" on the border have reached a size of nearly 300,000!

This is almost enough military force to fight another Battle of the Yellow Sands.

You know, when the Alan people dispatched the entire Parthian Legion to the Yellow Sand Land in an attempt to re-establish their rule over the prosperous fertile land, the number of troops had just exceeded 300,000. However, the Parthian Legion, one of the three major pillars of the empire's east and west forces, was fully dispatched, and a part of the Immortal Army that guarded the Iskhanfa also participated in this expedition.

Compared with this time, the number of inferior slave soldiers and provincial troops with weak combat effectiveness has been reduced, and the average quality is slightly better.

The King of Kings wanted to strengthen the power in the hands of the prince as much as possible within a "reasonable" range, so that if something unfortunate happened to him, Ahmed, who had a large army, would have enough power to deter the conspirators of Iskhanfa.

At the same time, he continued to publicize the empire's northward expansion in Iskhanfa, saying that there were many opportunities, and encouraged everyone from commoners to nobles to turn their attention to this northern expedition, trying to reduce the pressure on Iskhanfa as much as possible. And when people placed their bets on the prince, they would naturally stand on the side of supporting the prince's succession to the throne - if the King of Kings died before that, otherwise the majority of the support would eventually fall on him.

The Alan people have become accustomed to the empire's military action in a certain place. If they win, they cheer; if they lose, they just find another opportunity to "vent" their dissatisfaction.

If you win, you gain something; if you lose, you will inevitably be shaken. After this shake, whether it is the loss of order, the decline of prestige or the vacancy of a position... for the Alan people who have long been accustomed to fighting, they are all opportunities.

What's more, when it comes to fighting against barbarians, to be honest, the proud Iskhan people would even refuse to participate in this battle because they are "too lazy" rather than because of fear.

They simply think:

Perhaps mobilizing the border provinces alone would be enough to teach this ignorant person a lesson... Anyway, no matter who strikes first—who made you call yourself "Rome"? You deserve a beating! I don't understand what it means, but you should just stand at attention when you get hit.

If they join the army now, the war may be over before they reach the border, and their trip would be in vain - for those slaves whose quality is unknown. Living in the thousand-year-old capital of the Holy Fire Empire, they have seen many ups and downs. The usurper has to reward the whole city to declare his legitimacy, and the emperor has to spend a lot of money to win the hearts of the people when he is restored to the throne; they look down on those things.

But when they learned about the scale of the troops deployed in this northern expedition, they couldn't help but sigh:

It seems that the empire will add a few new provinces this time.

For a land poor in demons, which can be regarded as a "mortal kingdom" without supernatural powers, this military force is completely aimed at destroying the country.

No one thought that countries born in remote areas without being bathed in the great wisdom of the "Holy Witch" would have any power.

Do they use iron?

Are enchanted weapons the "sacred artifacts" that barbarian chiefs rely on to pass down their family heritage?

Are they still fighting with stones?

In summary.

Three hundred thousand people. If things go as they should under normal circumstances, then a conservative estimate is that when this army returns victorious, it will bring back at least twice its own number of spoils of war, including those who were captured as slaves in the war.

This was also a big shock to the Alan society which had been in decline for a long time.

It is generally believed that this is the effort made by the King of Kings, who is now sitting on the throne of light, to pave the way for his subsequent series of actions, whether reforms or other things.

If the empire successfully expanded northward and took over a large area of ​​land, even if it had no magical output, it would be no different from wasteland in the eyes of the extraordinary people. At least it could be cultivated and mined... and could produce slaves continuously, which would be enough for the Alan people.

After all, it is the extraordinary people who hold power, but the main group that makes up the world is still mortals.

Even a commoner like the Alan can pack up his belongings and go to the newly conquered territory to experience the life of being the boss. If he is accepted into the army, it would be a good job to serve as an occupying force in the newly conquered and backward territory where the rebels are not very strong.