My XX deal with Sister Nero

Well, that’s getting off topic.

As the sky gradually darkened, Titus, who received the order, jumped on his horse and took advantage of the night to gallop towards a small village shrouded in black fog in the distance with three hundred Roman light cavalry.

Tonight is a disaster for this small village.

Since the Battle of Carrhae, the Romans learned their lesson and knew that if they wanted to fight the Parthians, it would be best to go through Armenia, because Armenia is mountainous and can effectively restrict the Parthian cavalry. At the same time, the Armenian Kingdom itself also has armored cavalry that can provide effective support. In other words, after the Battle of Carrhae, the Roman Empire rarely fought around this village. At most, there was friction between the border guards of the two countries nearby.

Even if there were frictions with the border patrol, it rarely affected this village.

"Okay, General Vespasian, do you have any suggestions about my arrangements?" In the residence of the Chief Executive of Samosata City, after Tony finished arranging the tasks, he looked up at Vespasian who was standing next to him and asked.

"This... I have nothing to say." Wei Paxian shook his head.

To be honest, Tony's strategic layout is not too bad, but it is not too good either.

According to Tony's plan, there are a total of 400,000 troops on the front line, which will be divided into three routes. Among them, the main force of 200,000 will lead the armored cavalry of the Kingdom of Armenia to attack Parthia through the Caspian Sea. The remaining 200,000 troops will be divided into two routes. One route will lead several vassal states on the Asia Minor Peninsula, including the Kingdom of Osroen, to attack the Parthian Empire from the direction of the Kingdom of Adiabene. As for the remaining 100,000 troops, they will start from now, where Tony is, and attack the Parthian Empire along the Mesopotamian River basin.

Of course, in addition to these, the Roman Empire also had an army of 30,000 people. This army was divided into two routes. Ten thousand of them would land on the coast of the Persian Gulf, which is now the area controlled by the Sassanid Empire, and join forces with the Sassanid Empire to attack Parthia, while the other force would go to the Indo-Parthian Kingdom and join forces with them to attack the Parthian Empire from the east!

Tony's arrangement can be said to be very good, with clear priorities, feint attacks and main attacks. As far as strategic deployment is concerned, Vespasian really can't make any major suggestions. Of course, if a fight really breaks out, it will not only depend on strategy, but also tactics.

Tony’s strategic arrangement is very good, but as for the tactics... they should be pretty good too, right?

After all, among the generals Tony brought this time, except for veterans like Levi and Vespasian who participated in the last expedition to Parthia, the remaining generals, except Bruce of the Royal Guards, which one of them is not famous?

With such a lineup, plus the army of nearly 500,000 including more than 400,000 vassal states and navy, and the Parthian Empire now being in a precarious situation of internal and external troubles, if the Parthian Empire cannot be completely crippled in one go, these famous generals will just commit suicide to apologize!

"However... Your Highness, there is indeed no big problem with your layout, but shouldn't you follow the main force to the Kingdom of Armenia? Why did you choose to stay here according to the deployment?" Looking at Tony's serious expression, Vespasian suddenly asked.

According to Tony's layout, the Roman army in the direction of Armenia is the main force to attack the Parthian Empire. If this is the case, then Tony, as the commander-in-chief of the entire army, should command this army. After all, Tony is the commander-in-chief, and the commander-in-chief should sit in the center of the army or command the main force.

However, this army that attacked the Parthian Empire along the Mesopotamian Basin was obviously just a detachment. Furthermore, considering that the terrain in the Mesopotamian Basin was flat, unlike the terrain in the Armenian Kingdom, this area was suitable for large-scale cavalry battles. So according to the deployment, this area should obviously be a detachment used to attract enemy cavalry. Your Highness...why would you personally lead a detachment?

"I personally led a detachment just to confuse the enemy." Tony smiled and said, "I am the commander-in-chief. Normal people know that I should appear in Armenia to lead the main force to attack Parthia, but the problem is that I did not go to Armenia to take charge of the main force. Instead, I led a detachment of 100,000 people to attack Parthia along the Mesopotamian Basin. If you were Tiridates, would you be confused? This is clearly asking him to lead the cavalry to launch an attack on me, and this is the effect I want!"

Chapter 454: Beat him up!

According to Tony's layout, including the armies of vassal states, the 500,000 troops were divided into five routes. The 200,000 troops from Armenia were the main force, responsible for attacking Parthia, the 100,000 troops from Osroen were responsible for supporting the Armenian army, and the 30,000 troops in the Indian Ocean were responsible for coordinating with the Indo-Parthian Kingdom to harass the Parthian Empire in the rear. As for the 100,000 troops led by Tony himself... their purpose was to attract the enemy's cavalry!

The purpose of Tony leading this army was to attract the Roman Empire's cavalry to attack him, and then... destroy them.

It took almost two months to travel from Rome to the border. During this journey, Tony had been analyzing and studying the wars between the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire. Among these materials, Tony discovered one thing.

Although the Roman Empire did not vigorously develop its cavalry since the defeat in the Battle of Carrhae, it is undeniable that Crassus' death sounded a wake-up call to the Roman Empire, making it realize that this nomadic empire in the East was not easy to mess with, especially its cavalry, which was simply not on the same level as the Gallic cavalry and Germanic cavalry that the empire had encountered before!

If you want to attack the Parthian Empire, the first thing you have to kill is its cavalry!

After several battles, the Roman Empire realized that although the Parthian cavalry was powerful, it was not completely impossible to control. Cavalry, unlike infantry, had high geographical requirements. For example, horse archers would hardly enter the woods, and armored cavalry had even more stringent requirements for the geographical and climatic environment. Therefore, in subsequent wars, the Roman Empire relied almost entirely on its geographical advantages and relied on infantry to defeat the Parthian Empire, which had a large cavalry.

However, during these more than a hundred years of war, the Roman Empire never thought of making some weapons against cavalry.

"The reason why cavalry can defeat infantry is because of their fast speed and they come and go without a trace. The Parthian Empire's archers use this advantage to harass the Roman infantry, and the armored cavalry relies on its impact force to tear open the defense line of our Roman infantry. Am I... right?" Tony asked Vespasian, stroking his chin.

"Yes, Your Highness, the tactics of the Parthian Empire... are indeed true." Vespasian nodded.

"So you use your geographical advantage to restrict and ambush the Parthian cavalry, such as using mountains, rivers, and forests to limit the Parthian cavalry's range of activities, making it impossible for them to launch a charge or escape in one blow, right?" Tony asked with a smile.

"Yes, Your Highness." Vespasian continued to nod.

"So... have you ever thought about inventing some weapons, some weapons that can restrict the actions of the enemy cavalry?" Tony suddenly stood up and walked back and forth in the room.

"Yes." Wei Paxian nodded and said, "Barricades, we used barricades to restrict the actions of the enemy cavalry."

Barricades? Tony was stunned when he heard this, but then he realized, ah, this thing, indeed, both in the East and the West, barricades exist. After all, barricades are really easy to make. Just sharpen the wooden stakes and tie them up.

But the chevaux de frise is too heavy to be carried on the battlefield. Moreover, it looks quite conspicuous. The cavalry can see the chevaux de frise from a long distance. Do you think they are fools for charging headfirst into the chevaux de frise when they see it?

"Since this is a war, we naturally cannot use bulky things like chevaux de frise to stop the enemy. What we need is something that the enemy cannot see or will not notice to stop them, such as... a tripwire."

Perhaps it was because the Roman Empire had few dealings with nomadic peoples, or perhaps it was because the nomadic peoples around the Roman Empire were indeed too weak. In short, when the Roman Empire fought against the surrounding barbarians, it mostly relied on geographical advantages to eliminate the barbarian cavalry.

But Tony is different.

Tony lived in China in his previous life, which is today's Eastern Han Empire. The Eastern Han Empire, whether it was thousands of years ago or thousands of years later, basically had to deal with nomadic peoples. In addition, the Central Plains region did not produce cavalry, so these Central Plains dynasties often used infantry to fight against cavalry. It was precisely for this reason that these Central Plains dynasties mastered a considerable number of auxiliary weapons to deal with cavalry.

For example, a tripwire.

A tripwire sounds very high-sounding, but in reality it's nothing more than a thickened hemp rope and has no technical content. As for the hook-and-sickle spear and halberd... these require a little bit of technical content.

In addition to this, Tony also came up with a lot of new ideas to deal with the cavalry.

For example, sending people to collect some sharp stones and throwing them on the ground. The war horses of this era, except for the war horses of the Roman Empire which were equipped with horseshoes under Tony's guidance, the war horses of other countries did not have this thing, and these sharp stones... were enough to make the horses unable to move.

Because it hurts.

In addition, Tony has other new weapons.

Thunder of thunder.

The so-called thunder bomb is actually a grenade-like thing produced in the late Northern Song Dynasty. It is also a crude use of gunpowder by the Central Plains Dynasty. It is actually easier to make than artillery, but... the Roman Empire is not a saltpeter producing country. Tony didn't have so much gunpowder before.

However, due to the problem of gunpowder preparation, the power of this thunder bomb is not very great at present. It may not be able to cause effective damage to armored cavalry, but... it is enough to deal with ordinary archers.

So, on the surface this force is a feint attack, but when necessary, Tony will turn this force into the main force!

Just as Tony and Vespasian were discussing strategic deployment, a guard suddenly came to the gate and reported: "Your Highness, General Titus is back."

"Hmm? Titus is back?" Tony nodded after hearing the report. "Okay, tell General Titus to have a good rest. Next... let's see how General Tiridates, who is facing us, responds."

Tony did not think of hiding the fact that he had sent troops to attack the Parthian village. He even specifically instructed Titus before Titus sent troops to fight under the banner of the Roman Empire. Tony wanted everyone in the village to know that they were attacked by the Roman Empire.

He wanted to know what Tiridates would do next. If he kept silent, it would mean that the crisis of the Parthian Empire was more serious than he expected. If he fought back, then... beat him up!

Chapter 455: This Luxurious and Decadent Roman Bath Culture

"That village...how many casualties?" Tiridati frowned after listening to the report from his men.

"General, only two villagers were injured in the village, but... almost all their property was looted."

"All the property was looted?" Hearing this, Tiridati subconsciously raised his eyebrows and asked in surprise: "What's going on? Your Highness... sent out a cavalry unit just to loot a village?"

"Yes... yes." The general nodded, his tone also a little strange.

The Roman Empire did not attach importance to cavalry. Generally speaking, a Roman legion of about 5,000 people was equipped with 300 cavalry. So according to this calculation, there were 100,000 troops near the city of Samosata, a total of 20 legions, which meant there were only about 6,000 light cavalry.

This time, in order to attack a village, Tony dispatched a total of three hundred cavalrymen.

Three hundred cavalrymen attacked a village just to rob some property... If you said that the Roman Empire sent three hundred cavalrymen to burn down the village, Tiridates would believe it. But they sent three hundred cavalrymen just to rob some worthless things, this... How can you expect Tiridates to believe this!

But... believe it or not, the facts are here. The Roman cavalry attacked a Parthian village, looted almost all the property in the village, and then injured two villagers. This is a fact, a fact witnessed by the whole village, and this fact is now laid out before Tiridates, forcing him to make a choice.

Either swallow your anger in silence or fight back appropriately!

Vologases I has no time to care about border disputes. The most important thing for him now is to resolve domestic conflicts first.

Ever since it was confirmed that the Roman Empire had assembled heavy troops on the border, the nobles in the Parthian Empire were almost in an uproar, because they all understood why the Roman Empire was suddenly preparing to attack Parthia!

It was Vologases I who originally proposed the idea of ​​assassinating Agrippina the Younger and then putting the blame on the Germans, so that the Roman Empire would shift its attention to the Germanic region and temporarily eliminate any threats to the western border of the Parthian Empire. In this way, the Parthian Empire could calmly attack the Sassanid Empire.

Now that the Roman Empire has stationed troops on the border, it is obvious that this shows that the Parthian Empire's plan has been seen through, so the Roman Empire became furious and assembled 400,000 troops on the border, as if it is going to swallow up the Parthian Empire in one breath!

Honestly speaking, if it was Parthia in its heyday, they would not be afraid when facing 400,000 Roman troops. After all, the overall strength of the Parthian Empire and the Roman Empire was comparable, and neither was afraid of the other. But the current Parthia... faced with internal and external troubles, it would be better to be afraid.

Of course, Vologases I knew that his top priority now was to resolve domestic conflicts. As for border issues, he had handed over full authority to Tiridates. Whether to fight or make peace was entirely up to Tiridates.

"General, I thought... why don't we just pretend we don't know? There are only two people injured in this village anyway. It's not a big deal." A deputy general beside Tiridati whispered.

That's right, only some property was robbed and only two people were injured. This is really not a big deal. The Parthian Empire is now in a precarious situation. The deputy general's idea of ​​less trouble is indeed not wrong, but...

"Even if we want to pretend that nothing happened... will the Roman Empire allow us to do so?" Tiridates smiled bitterly. "The Roman Empire has assembled hundreds of thousands of troops on the border, which means that no matter how we react, they will choose to attack our Parthian Empire. However, if we fight back, they may use this as an excuse to start a full-scale war. If we don't fight back... won't they find other excuses for war? To put it bluntly, we have no way to avoid this war, and we can only delay it for a few days at most. But under the current circumstances, instead of delaying the war for a few days, it is better to take the initiative in the war and take control of it!"

At this point, Tiridates took a deep breath, clenched his fists and said, "Pass the order down, all scouts on the border line are sent out, I want to know the detailed military situation of the Roman Empire, including the number of troops and logistical supplies! Also, I want to know whether they have reinforcements in the rear and how many reinforcements they have, understand?"

"Yes, General!" After receiving the order, the deputy general bowed slightly to Tiridati and then left the central military tent.

Tiridates was right. The Roman Empire assembled an army of 400,000 and had corresponding food. If it was just to wander around the border, it could only be said that the Roman Empire had too much money and had no place to spend it. However, although the Roman Empire had a lot of money, it was not so much as this.

So no matter how Parthia reacted, the Roman Empire would eventually attack Parthia. The only difference might be that the Roman Empire would attack the Parthian Empire a few days later because it had to find a new excuse.

It’s just that Prince Odney’s layout is a bit confusing.

Why didn't His Royal Highness the Prince go to command the main force of Armenia, but chose to stay here?

Could it be that... they actually have two main directions of attack?

Although it's not strange for a country's army to have more than one main attack direction when attacking another country, but... why does it feel like something is wrong...

In short, no matter what, Armenia is definitely the main attack direction of the Roman Empire. As for the Mesopotamian region... well, regardless of whether it is the main attack direction of the Roman Empire, the very least, the enemy's commander-in-chief is here. Even if he is not the main attacking party, as long as the rumored prince is captured, the Roman Empire will be at their mercy!

Unlike Tiridates who was thinking about how to deal with the Roman Empire, Tony... was enjoying the class degradation unique to Roman aristocrats.

"Ah~ After a tiring day, it's so comfortable to take a bath~" Tony was lying on a specially made single bed beside the bathtub in the Chief Executive's residence, enjoying Ola's massage comfortably.

As mentioned before, the baths in the Roman Empire were extremely decadent and luxurious. It was okay for ordinary civilians' small baths, but those private baths or large baths used by nobles had three bathing pools, not to mention supporting changing rooms, massage rooms, sauna rooms and the like. Although the small bath in the chief executive's residence where Tony was located did not have so many supporting rooms,... it was totally fine to let Miss Aura give him a massage and scrub his body after taking a bath!

Anyway, I'm lying down, so there's no need to worry about being discovered by Miss Aura, right?

Chapter 456: The layout is complete!

Tony fell.

In his previous life, all Tony could imagine about the life of rich people was living in a big villa, having a group of beautiful maids, driving a luxury car, going in and out of five-star hotels every day, going to Hong Kong and Macau from time to time, traveling abroad with the girl he liked, and those who were even richer would have their own private yacht or private jet.

But no matter what, all Tony could think about in his previous life was how rich people became rich. As for whether the real life of rich people was what he imagined, he didn't know.

But in this life... Tony might not be the richest man in the Roman Empire, but he was definitely richer than he could have imagined in his previous life.

First of all, the biggest difference between the Roman Empire and China two thousand years later is that the Roman Empire had slaves, while China two thousand years later did not.

As a prince, Tony has no shortage of slaves around him.

That's right, Nero loved her younger brother very much and wanted to take care of him all the time, but she didn't have the time. Even if she was unwilling to be the emperor and the head of the empire, she was one now. No matter how unwilling she was, she had to take on some responsibilities. No matter how passive she was, she had to deal with some things. So for her younger brother, Nero arranged a number of maids she trusted to take care of him, such as... Aura and the others.

Tony was very shy at the beginning. After all, he had the values ​​of a modern adult. He couldn't accept letting a group of lolis take care of him, dressing him, washing his clothes, and taking care of his daily life. But after a long time... he got used to it!

From the beginning, Tony allowed Ola and other little girls to bring meals to the table for him, and gradually developed to allowing them to wash his clothes, and later allowed them to dress and undress him. Even now, after Tony comes out of the bath, he will allow Ola to rub his back and massage him like a real Roman.

Ah...what extravagant and decadent Romans!

For example, now, Tony is lying on this special bed, closing his eyes with a comfortable look on his face, enjoying Ola's massage.

Aura must have some outstanding qualities that Nero noticed, as she was sent by Nero to be Tony's personal maid.

For example... although she is not very old, Aura's massage is really amazing.

At least…Tony was comfortable enough to fall asleep.

"Falling asleep..." Looking at Tony's sleeping face, Ola, who was only wrapped in a bath towel, picked up Tony's bath towel from beside him, wet it in the bathtub next to him, and then gently covered Tony's back with it. The warm bath towel and the steamy bathroom allowed the tired prince to take a nap. He shouldn't catch a cold, right?

Aola still remembers that before he followed His Highness to the battle, His Majesty called him over and told him, "My brother's life outside depends entirely on you. You must not only watch over him and prevent him from doing anything dangerous, but also take care of him and make sure he doesn't get too tired in terms of food, clothing, shelter and transportation. Although this child is a little lazy on weekdays, you know that when the critical moment comes, his efforts are enough to make me pay attention."

"I know." Ola bent over and bowed her head to Nero.

To be honest, as Tony's personal maid, Ola knows Tony better than Nero. She knows that Tony appears to be a playful child on the surface, but in fact, once he sets his mind on something, the tenacity Tony shows is at least much better than that of his sister.

For example, this is the case now.

"General, on the Armenian side, the commander in charge of the battle is Plautius, and his deputy commander is Vespasianus. This army is mainly composed of the Lower Germanic Legion and the British Legion, as well as the Numidian light cavalry and the Armenian armored cavalry. On the Osron side, it is mainly led by Leu and Vitellius, and has a large number of vassal armies of the Roman Empire. On the Mesopotamian side, the commander of the Roman Empire's army is His Royal Highness Prince Odenius, and his deputy commanders are Bruce and Titus."

Inside the border military camp of the Parthian Empire, a middle-aged man dressed in typical Parthian general's attire knelt on the ground and reported to Tiridates.

"Plautius and Vespasianus? The Roman Empire has really invested a lot this time." Hearing these two names, Tiridates frowned subconsciously.

Yes, Vespasian is indeed a famous general, but in terms of seniority, Plautius's seniority is even greater than Vespasian's, because this man was the commander of the German Legion at the time and the commander of the expedition to Britain in 43 AD. To some extent, he was also the first commander of the British Legion!

So if we really talk about qualifications, Plautius was Vespasian's former superior and had participated in countless wars, big and small. Now Tony put him and Vespasian together, letting them lead the two most powerful legions of the empire, and also matched them with the Armenian armored cavalry and the Numidian light cavalry. This... the Parthian garrison on the Armenian side... can't hold on at all!

As for the Mesopotamian region, it is undeniable that if Bruce is here, it means that in addition to his own Oderni Legion, Tony may also be protected by the famous Praetorian Guards of the Roman Empire. After all, Bruce is the commander-in-chief of the Praetorian Guards. Considering that the Roman Emperor Nero dotes on his younger brother very much, and the Praetorian Guards do need a little bit of military merit, it is understood by everyone that he has the Praetorian Guards to protect him.

However, although the Guards are well-known for their fighting ability, the commander of this army, Bruce... to be honest, cannot be compared with Vespasian and others. The most important requirement for the commander of the Guards is naturally loyalty, and then ability. So if we really talk about Bruce's command ability, it can only be considered mediocre at best.

Well, anyway, Tiridates' plan now is very simple, using space to exchange for time. No matter how much land the Roman Empire's Armenian Army takes or how many cities it occupies, Tiridates has only one goal, which is to capture Prince Odenis alive, and then force the Roman Empire to surrender!

"Your Highness means... to force Tiridates to fight a decisive battle with you?"

That morning, after hearing Tony's plan, Bruce was stunned at first, and then he said seriously: "Your Highness, it is undeniable that your strategic layout is indeed perfect, but Your Highness, have you ever considered that Parthia has deployed 150,000 cavalry on the front line? Your Highness, with the army we have, I am afraid..."

"I'm afraid it's not enough to compete with him, right?" Tony laughed and muttered to himself, "150,000 cavalry is indeed a terrifying number, but how many cavalry will Tiridates deploy in front of us? My 100,000 infantry may not be a match for his 150,000 cavalry!"

PS1: Thanks to "六点半12" for the tip, thank you~

PS2: I always feel that translating Tiridates into Tiridates sounds better.