Four-Armed Divine Emperor

He immediately ran up and stood beside his master's body, waiting for the flames to burn out before collecting them for disposal.

This was also an important duty of the slaves accompanying the army:

If their master died in battle, they would try their best to bring back his body.

On the other hand, the prince, who had moved his prince's tent forward and was preparing to personally command the battle of Helvetia, was still full of anger, even though he ordered the chopping off of thirteen heads to restore morale in the army.

Ahmed never imagined that he would encounter such an obstacle from the first enemy and the first nail he encountered during his northern expedition.

174: Not Barbarians

"I handed command to a bunch of cowards and good-for-nothings, and the honor of the legion has been tarnished!" The prince sat in the tent and angrily shouted to the commanders of the various battalions: "Cut off thirteen heads now as a warning to the entire army. Full force, now! Take that damned fortress from the barbarians! Burn it! Trampling it! Raze it to the ground!"

"We've been spending too much time dealing with these barbarians hiding in the city! Who's going to solve this problem? Everyone?"

Even though the advisors were sent out, they still failed to capture the city in one fell swoop. Instead, half of the spellcasters who went to the battlefield were injured or killed. This was undoubtedly a loud slap in the face for the prince.

He led an army of 300,000 in a mighty northern expedition. The enemy fled in panic, and the entire vast kingdom of Xerxes was lost to the empire.

But it was just an armed parade. Although the enemy fled at the news, which was quite impressive, there was no real military achievement, no wealth and population plundered, so the conquest could not be said to be successful. But now, while still outside the enemy's hinterland, his conquest army was blocked by a fortress. A group of barbarians, relying on their backward technology and unhonorable and uncivilized tactics, successfully blocked the prince's army.

They even used despicable tools that only slaves would use and "murdered" several mages serving in the legion on the battlefield in an extremely dishonorable manner. This could not but make the prince angry.

Every spellcaster, even a rookie at the first level, is a privileged person with inherent aristocratic status.

Most of them would spend the rest of their lives in the mortal world after leaving the floating city, whether it was training, or serving a certain country or a certain force, providing extraordinary services in exchange for resources...

Most spellcasters can only achieve the fifth ring of achievement. Some of them will choose to return to the floating city to live out their lives, spending their lives that are not "supernatural" in nature. However, more mages stay on the ground. They will start a family, marry or marry ordinary people, or find a companion who is in tune with their own will, pass down a family with the blood of mages, and leave a fortune and a territory for their descendants.

Chapter 230

, some extraordinary props and knowledge - of course, the latter will only be circulated among those heirs who are recognized as qualified and talented to open the extraordinary path. Otherwise, if the problem of "Arcane Lecture" is caused, many people and even several countries will be severely punished by the floating city.

There is no doubt that every spellcaster, the "holy witch" that the fire worshippers regard as being able to master the power of light and fire, represents a powerful family with wealth and territory in the future. The powerful fire worshippers are very keen on marrying extraordinary people. They have been doing this before the war. Even now, every noble family and prominent family in the empire can find a few "holy witches" in their ancestral lineage as proof that they have extraordinary, honorable and noble blood flowing in their bodies.

Even many spellcasters in the Northern Expedition Army were not alone. They originally came from some aristocratic families within the empire. Joining the army was both a form of experience and an obligation as a member of the aristocracy.

The loss of ten spellcasters was more painful to the prince than the loss of two thousand-man regiments.

Eighty-three transcendents with an average rank of the third ring were sent to the front-line troops of the siege of Alan. Sixty-two transcendents attacked Helveys from three directions at the same time with the assistance of mortal soldiers, but they couldn't even capture a barbarian fortress?

According to advisors involved in the operation:

The Romans were clearly not unprepared for the extraordinary!

Faced with the absolute gap in the level of extraordinary people, they adopted a method that could only be adopted in those areas where civilization was prosperous and war was raging.

By integrating enchanted metal into the city walls and adding additional enchantments from mages, the Helvetic city walls had a certain degree of "magic resistance". Even though twenty mages activated elemental control together, they were unable to shake its foundation, destroy its structure, and cause the wall to collapse.

The Romans also concealed some of their long-range firepower and planned a precise and deadly surprise attack.

Their cavalry and those whom the survivors called "invincible barbarian warriors" rushed out in a situation that the Alan people had never imagined. They passed through the secret passages they had set up in advance. The Roman warriors, who were fully armored and made of extraordinary metal and enchanted, quickly approached the vulnerable spellcasters with the support of the defenders. The barbarians had no respect for nobility. If they could capture them, they would knock out and tie up the Alan "holy witches" without hesitation. If it was difficult to capture them alive, they would also decisively kill them.

Relying on continuous surprise attacks, Alan's offensive, which had completely failed to anticipate that the enemy "not only did not fail but also dared to attack the empire", ended in failure again.

Even though the auxiliary troops fought desperately, seven holy witches were captured by the Roman barbarians, fifteen holy witches were killed, and more than thirty people suffered varying degrees of injuries.

What a disgrace.

This battle revealed that the Romans were not the backward, ignorant, and barely recognizable barbarians as they had imagined.

At least in terms of military, they can definitely be called a "rising star" in the East Continent.

And one more thing:

The Romans' technology in construction, smelting, mining, etc. was not what the Alans subjectively believed: only at the level of primitive tribes and chiefdoms.

The Thurso area is mountainous and has many mines, and there are even many rich open-pit mines that only require simple mining. However, mining and smelting extraordinary metals is not something that anyone can do. Miners wield pickaxes, or "simple" operations like smelting steel and refining gold.

At least one extraordinary person must be present to control the process. He must constantly expend his energy to guide and stabilize the magic power of the ore to ensure its integrity so that the magic power does not dissipate and become ordinary waste mines. Moreover, most minerals with extraordinary properties are difficult to mine through simple excavation methods by mortals, and must be mined through the magicians' perception of the elements.

Being able to achieve this, it is clear that the Romans were not as they were rumored to be:

A group of wizards who traveled here decided to join in and try the "Mortal Game" on a whim.

By contacting advisory mages from various countries and using the power they possessed that was unmatched by mortals, they established a puppet state that relied on pure violence and prestige to rule in this poor demon land that was extremely unfriendly to mages.

Because if it was a mage who led the founding of a country, the mage would be above everyone else.

Then, it's impossible for them to allow multiple spellcasters in this magic-poor land to endure the emptiness of mana consumption and even the "magic addiction" caused by the long-term magic-poor environment to mine and smelt magic metals and create enchanted weapons and armor for mortals...

Because if the wizards created this country on a whim, then they would have no reason to do so. Would a child be willing to fight against a group of adults who were determined to destroy the sand sculptures they built on the beach - or even the waves raised by the sea?

Maybe, but definitely not if it's just an adult who has a little "childishness" for a while.

Because the price to pay is far beyond what they can bear.

175: Multiple Choice Questions

The atmosphere in the tent was a bit depressing.

Prince Ahmed has always had a very friendly image, but after all, as the "second heir" to the empire, he is a royal nobleman who is second only to the emperor and above everyone else in the secular world. Now he suddenly gets angry, and even the six-ring mage among the legion advisors can only sit on the chair on the other side, close his eyes and rest, and cannot speak directly to ease the atmosphere.

It's not necessary either.

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Chapter 231

The prince was scolding an "incompetent" mortal general, not a superhuman.

The prince vented his anger and it subsided a little.

He did want to win over the Northern Expedition Army, but his main target was the 50,000 elite Parthian Legion. Besides, the battle was really ugly... The Imperial Legion was blocked for so long by a group of "barbarians" in the eyes of outsiders, and suffered huge casualties without making any progress!

It was truly difficult to remain calm. Outsiders had no idea of ​​the many details going on inside. The Romans had unique weapons, magical metals integrated into the city walls to protect against transcendents, the barbarian warriors were incredibly powerful, there were probably over a hundred "high-ranking knights" stationed in the Helvetic Fortress, and so on...

Chapter 127: Ardabil (35)

A country born in a poor and demonic land will naturally be regarded by surrounding civilizations as an "orphan lost in the wilderness". Without being bathed in the light of mystery and integrated into the order of the White Tower, it is naturally a "backward and poor" country.

Other countries will only see:

The elite army led by the Zoroastrian Prince was beaten up by a group of barbarians who came out of the Poor Demon Land and had just established their country!

They lost to the Aegean countries, lost the Battle of the Yellow Sands, and now they can't even defeat the barbarians!

I lost all my face!

Hey, isn't that A-Lan? You've been so awful for a few days... I heard you went into the mountains to pick a fight with the barbarians, and they got you hit on the head? You had a 200-to-1 mage ratio, but the barbarians stormed in, killing over a dozen and capturing several more?

This defeat was definitely a very heavy blow to the prestige of the empire. In the eyes of outsiders, this was undoubtedly a confirmation of the weakness of the Zoroastrian Empire. Losing to the Aegean countries supported by the Kronos Empire - even if losing to the latter without anyone's intervention - was not shameful.

After all, the Aegean is one of the earliest origins of civilization on the continent of Tartarus, and "mortal civilization" basically reached its peak during the Aegean period. Before that, the world was a game dominated by the Witch Kings.

Countless brilliant ideas were born there, as well as heroes, philosophers, great wizards, kings... too many to count. Even though its status has declined and the center of civilization's prosperity has shifted northward, the Aegean is still one of the regions in the world with the highest ratio of spellcasters to every ordinary person.

The same is true for the Battle of Huangsha. This prosperous and fertile land gave birth to the Golden Dynasty and was also a model area of ​​"rich ancestors" and "glorious past". Moreover, it was lost a long time ago and it was not the fault of their generation. Anyway, it was not a big deal if they lost a fight in someone else's home.

But losing to a small country that was born in an unknown place and has not yet emerged from the mountains - perhaps more people know about the "Seso Mountains" than the "Seso Countries" - can only be described as "shameful".

In addition to winning over the Parthian Legion, the prince must also ensure that:

This war can be won.

And you have to win smoothly.

Otherwise, everything is just castles in the air, unless the King of Kings Iskhanfar dies suddenly now, and he immediately issues a will to claim the throne, and then bribes the northern expeditionary army with huge benefits to temporarily let go of the Romans and rush back to the imperial capital to ascend the throne.

But as long as the emperor was still alive and the situation in Iskandaria was "stable", he had to devote all his energy to the war.

Otherwise, if the emperor died and he suffered a major defeat here, or the battle dragged on to a stalemate, seriously damaging the prestige of the empire, then even if he could get the support of the northern expeditionary army, he would not be able to sit firmly on the throne. It is even possible that because he could not defeat a group of barbarians, the Parthian Legion would not be willing to support him in claiming the throne, even if there was a will. Although the prince did not directly command the war, he was the commander-in-chief of the army. The glory was his, and the shame of failure was naturally his. No one was willing to follow an "incompetent" general or king.

If the emperor had not died, the serious consequences of the failure of the Northern Expedition would have forced the prince to bear extremely heavy consequences.

Even if the emperor intended to treat his cousin well, as the commander of the legion he had to take responsibility for it. He could not defeat a group of barbarians with the elite troops of the empire. In addition, the previous entrustment in the will may have made the prince have the idea of ​​"coveting the throne" - whether he had it or not, the emperor's mind was always changeable.

If he feels that he has no guarantee of winning, he can have a heart-to-heart talk with the prince and entrust the throne to him for the sake of the royal bloodline; but if the emperor wins the political struggle, consolidates the throne, and has more time to do things like give birth to a bunch of sons, then this prince who was "almost" on the verge of ascending the throne may obviously pose some threat to the imperial power.

In addition, the defeat in the war and the failure in fighting against the barbarians also damaged the prestige of the empire. Under the pretext of legitimacy, the King of Kings might find a reason to depose the prince, or even directly take him to "sacrifice fire" for execution in order to enforce military law.

So for the prince, there is only one way to "win" this battle.

Everything else carries risks.

The safest option was naturally for him to win the battle of Thresso, massacre the barbarians who challenged the empire, win over the Parthian Legion with the war dividends, and turn Rome into a province; the King of Kings in the court of Iskhanfa won the struggle and remained standing, he dedicated the victory to the emperor, and then consciously refrained from doing unnecessary things, transferring part of his prestige to the emperor, and the latter would naturally not treat badly this prince who had been entrusted with the care of the orphan and had made great contributions to the country and was famous.

So the prince also restrained some of his previous arrogance and carelessness. This battle might only be a

Chapter 232

It is a question of whether he can get rich, but for him it is a multiple-choice question involving the throne of the King of Kings, his life, property and honorable status!

Once you answer incorrectly, the outcome is no longer controllable and you may fall into the bottomless abyss and end up buried in the fire.

He asked the generals to readjust their deployment and no longer arrogantly regard the enemies in front of them as "barbarians", but to take them seriously.

At the same time, he moved his camp forward to show that he would personally supervise the battle, and personally went to the six-ring wizard, His Excellency "Holy Witch", to request the advisory group to fight with all their strength.

The commanders of the Parthian Legion were also ordered by the prince to have the empire's elite troops contribute to the siege when necessary.

As long as Helveys is captured quickly, all previous failures and setbacks can be covered up.

The Alan people still regarded this fortified city as the enemy's main force, or at least a very, very important defensive target.

They believed that by opening this place, they would have unobstructed access to the enemy's heart.

176: Artasis IX

Iskhan law.

The oldest city of the Zoroastrian civilization, it was also the capital city where the Zoroastrians, after breaking free from the shackles of the Witch King’s tyranny, expanded outward and carried the countless glories of the civilization.

Heroes, famous generals, artists, thinkers, legendary wizards... were born here. It is undoubtedly the best city in the entire Zoroastrian Empire.

For various reasons, perhaps to attack opponents, weaken the enemy's power, or for political intentions and far-reaching plans; natural disasters, man-made disasters... or even simply because they "don't like it", those in power have moved the capital of the empire to other places many times in history.

Babylonia, Seleucia, Samarkand, Khalil...

But it often only lasts for less than two generations at most, and the glory of the imperial capital will eventually return to Iskhanfa.

Or maybe it never left.

Countless ambitious people in history, whether fighting for power internally or invading from foreign enemies, all regarded conquering Iskhanfa as the highest honor and the most important symbol of successfully usurping the throne or conquering the Zoroastrian Empire.

After Emperor Ashtar's expedition to this place, he positioned Iskhanfar as the "Eastern Capital" of the empire and held a grand, Zoroastrian-style coronation ceremony here. The High Priest of the Fire Cult personally anointed him with holy oil and walked through the Path of Ashes to show that he had been recognized by light and flame and was the legitimate and destined king of the Zoroastrians.

Under the influence of magic, although the political system and conventional combat power of this world are still in the Middle Ages and classical times in El's eyes, in many aspects it has reached a height that modern civilization in another world cannot easily achieve.

For example, Iskhanfa refers to a palace, a city, the name of a province, and also a huge "megacity" whose existence was unimaginable in the classical era.

At the feet of the King of Kings, there are more than 15 million people living in an area where the orders of the Iskhan Palace can be conveyed and responded to through manpower within half a day. This is direct, and they will be classified as "citizens of the royal capital" in their household registration. As for the surrounding countryside it radiates, there are countless more.

A "city" has a population that exceeds that of the entire Roman Republic. This is the size of the old empire.

Under the extraordinary influence of magic, this "city of the classical era" has a semi-automated city supply system, loyal magic puppets and "elves" - an alien race created by mages to manage their affairs.

They handled all the affairs of the Iskhanfa for the empire in an orderly manner. They were not corrupt, lazy, or derelict in their duties. From small things like street garbage to large things like urban sewage, everything was arranged properly by them.

Of course, this "service" provided by magic will not be available to every part of the city or to every person under the rule of Iskhanfa.

In the outer ring of the city and some separately designated areas, the brilliance of the Iskhan Fa's governance is isolated from them. These places are "slums" and "downtown areas" in another sense, and the Alan people living in them are naturally "commoners" and "lower class people". However, compared with the provinces of the empire, they can still be proud of their identity as "Iskhan legal persons" and "citizens of the royal capital".

Iskhanfa is a huge city, even if it were placed in a place like the Aegean Sea. It has not been threatened by foreign enemies for hundreds of years. As for internal problems...

The citizens of the royal capital have become accustomed to this.

Internal strife is a tradition among Zoroastrians. From the smallest families to the most powerful and influential families, bloody conflicts involving weapons are common.

Even the changes of the throne and those in power could be considered "frequent". It was not uncommon for local governors and warlords from other provinces to "lead their troops to the capital and explain the pros and cons". Internal coups such as "the Yellow Robe" and "the Xuanwu Gate Incident" were also not uncommon.

The Iskhanids are not afraid of war. For the "citizens of the royal capital", no matter they are in power or the coup makers, if they want to secure their throne and control the heart of the empire after the success, they must show favor and win over the Iskhanids. This is also a "tradition".

Palace coups and deadly struggles between political forces are actually opportunities for some people to fish in troubled waters and make a fortune. Even the big forces are happy to see this happen. After all, when dividing the fruits of victory, they, as beasts, can more easily grab more spoils.

........

Iskhan Palace.

The place where the king of kings reigns supreme

Chapter 233