Amid the curses of the soldiers, the dung cart staggered out of the south gate and drove all the way away. Through the gaps between the dung buckets, the towering city of Susa became smaller and more blurred. Tagina finally breathed a sigh of relief, covered her nose and shouted, "Stop, big brother, stop." ”

Balek didn't seem to hear anything, and the whip in his hand snapped and slammed on the cow's back, and the old cow ran even happier.

Laura was so frightened that her face was colorless, and she trembled: "Miss, the situation is not right! ”

Tagina was unusually calm, quietly took out something from the baggage and hid it in her arms, and whispered: "Don't be afraid, this person is not like a bad person, but you must be prepared." ”

It is true that Balek is just an ordinary manure digger, not some vicious man, but people always change, and no one is born a robber. At first, when Balek saw the delicate appearance of the two little girls, he secretly felt pity, so he agreed to send them out of the city. But when Balek saw the heavy burden on their backs, he couldn't help but be greedy.

Hearing only the shouts of Balek, the dung truck gradually drove away from the avenue and into the grove by the side of the road. The dense foliage obscured the moonlight, and from time to time there was a howl or two of wild beasts, which was particularly eerie, and even Tagina couldn't help but shiver this time.

With a chaotic sound of "plop, plop", Balek pushed the dung buckets on the car down one by one, revealing two shivering little girls.

Tagina had seen the world in the end, and she quickly regained her composure, untied the burden on her back, opened it in front of Balek, took out a handful of gold coins from it, and said, "Big brother, thank you, this money is worth the fare." ”

Balek had already seen the golden light flashing in the baggage, and I was afraid that there were still many treasures, so he couldn't help but smile cruelly: "Where is this money enough, why don't you take all the baggage quickly!" ”

Laura lost her voice and said, "Twenty gold coins is not too little, you are too greedy!" ”

"Say no more!" Tagina stopped Laura, handed over the baggage, and said, "Okay, all these things are for you." ”

Balek snatched the burden and said to Laura, "Take what you have on you, too!" ”

Laura was a little reluctant, but Tagina said in a deep voice: "Give it to him!" ”

Balek took the two burdens in his hands and weighed them for a long time, but a pair of thief eyes roamed back and forth on Tagina and Laura's bodies, and couldn't help but start the idea of getting both people and money, and threw the burden to the ground suddenly, and said sharply: "You two, take off your clothes!" ”

Laura was shocked and asked, "You, what are you going to do?" ”

Balek said triumphantly: "There is no reason not to eat the meat that is delivered to your mouth, brother, I don't know what it is like to be a woman, and I just opened the meat today." ”

Laura screamed in fright. Balek picked up a dung shovel and said viciously: "Don't shout, it's useless for you to shout and cut your throat!" This is a wilderness, and it stinks, and others are afraid of it, who will run here! ”

Tagina plucked up her courage and said, "Good brother, our sisters are too dirty, can you find a place for us to wash first, and then do that." ”

Hearing this "good brother", Balek's bones were crispy, and he immediately smiled, and said: "Brother, I deal with these pickled things all day long, and I only smell fragrant, how can it be smelly." Little sister, you can take it off quickly, don't delay your efforts. ”

Tagina lowered her head helplessly, rubbed for a long time, and suddenly said: "Good brother, my hands are shaking so much, or you can help me." ”

Seeing that the little girl was so interested, Balek couldn't help but be overjoyed, and threw the dung shovel, and a hungry tiger rushed over, and suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest.

I saw that Tagina had already crawled to the side, and Balek had a brilliant "gold bar" on his chest. No, what kind of "gold bar" is that, it is clearly a golden hilt, and the blade has pierced his heart.

As soon as Balek understood this, he felt as if all the strength in his body had been drained, and his legs went limp, and he slowly fell, and blood gushed out of his chest, staining red.

Seeing that Balek was dead, Tagina was stunned, and the courage she had just killed had long since been lost, and she suddenly screamed hysterically......

The city of Khotan gradually became lively, and 200,000 troops arrived one after another, and the company camp was dozens of miles, which was quite spectacular. Liu Xin didn't move forward either, and he needed to take some time to readjust his deployment.

If you want to take the initiative to attack Great Qin, you must borrow from Parthia. Originally, Liu Xin thought that this was just a very simple matter, and Tessifon was still taken back with the help of the Han Dynasty, and he borrowed a way to attack their enemies, which should be unbelievable for Vologis, right? But now it is different, Ardaban and Caracalla have colluded together, adding many variables to this war.

There was no agreement between the Han and Parthians that they could garrison troops at will, except for the concession agreement, and after the crossing of the army, the lifeline of the grain transportation route would be in the hands of the Parthians. What Liu Xin was most worried about was that the Parthians ostensibly agreed to let the Han army borrow the way, and then took advantage of the stalemate in the battle ahead, suddenly turned their faces and stabbed them in the back.

Liu Xin has always disliked interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, but he is even more reluctant to gamble with his own lives and those of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. After several trade-offs, Liu Xin decided to bypass the incompetent Vologis and the ambitious Ardaban, and send a mission to get in touch with Arshak directly.

Since Jia Xu had been in the Han Concession for a long time and knew the situation in Parthia best, the heavy responsibility of this envoy fell on his shoulders again. After receiving Liu Xin's order, Jia Xu set off from the concession overnight, and finally arrived at Ekbatana two days later.

Arkshak's mansion occupies the heart of Ecbatana, the size of a village, so it's not hard to find. A pro-soldier had already stepped forward to report his intentions, and after a while, a middle-aged man with a sven text walked out of the door, bowed down and said: "It turned out that Lord Jia was here, but I'm very sorry, something happened in the house today, and Your Highness can't see you." Please ask Lord Jia to go to the post house for a few days to rest for a few days, and if you offend, you will look at Haihan. ”

Jia Xu vaguely felt that this person was quite familiar, and after a closer look, it turned out to be Remitu, the minister of state who was deposed by Vologis.

Upon learning of Remitu's deposition, Arshaq sent his family to Ekbatana. In order not to annoy Vologis, Arshak did not give Remitu any official position, but he trusted Remitu. Now, Remitu can be almost half the master of Arshak.

Jia Xu had no dealings with Arshak, not even meeting Arshak himself. In Jia Xu's mind, Arshak was not only the heir to the throne of Parthia, but also stationed in Ekbatana for a long time, with 100,000 heavy troops, it was inevitable that he would be a little arrogant, and Remitu's words must have been just a pretext. Jia Xu couldn't help frowning and said: "Jia is really in a hurry here, and I ask the Minister of State to spread it again, Jia is grateful!" ”

"Lord Jia is serious, and he is no longer a minister of state." Remitu shook his head ashamedly and said, "It's not a secret, the two highnesses are arguing inside, and it is inconvenient for Lord Jia to go in at this time." It's better to accompany the adults to the post house below, and if there is anything, tell the same thing first. ”

Hearing that Aldaban was also in the house, Jia Xu was inconvenient to enter, so he had to go to the post house first, accompanied by Remitu.

It turned out that Ardaban led people to search all the way, until outside the city of Ekbatana, and did not see the whereabouts of Tagina. Without Tagina, cooperation with Caracalla would not be possible, and Aldaban would lose a strong reinforcement.

Therefore, even in the face of the danger of revealing his relationship with Caracalla, Aldaban decided to claim his daughter from Arshak in person, as he had already assumed that Tagina was hiding in Arshak's house.

Alshak was bewildered, and naturally denied it. But Ardaban refused, and had to search his house before he would die. There were still many female dependents in the Arshak mansion, and of course they would not agree to let the people of Ardaban come to the house, so the two brothers quarreled, and they had to fight.

Jia Xu couldn't see Arshak for the time being, and it was inconvenient to tell Remitu many things, so he had to stay in the post house depressed and wait for news.

But Liu Xin was not idle. In the two days since Jia Xu left, he has been making various preparations for the upcoming war.

As the vanguard force, the First Army has crossed the Kangju border into the Han Concession, and the 30,000 soldiers of the Western Regions Army have also taken over the defense of Dawan. The cavalry, composed of 100,000 herdsmen of various grassland tribes, had just passed through the Uzberi fortress and entered the territory of Dawan.

The slower movement was the rearguard legion, formed by the old army, and the men who carried heavy grain and grass, who had just arrived at the Uzberi fortress. Fortunately, Liu Xin had already hoarded a large amount of grain and grass in the fortress, and it would save a lot of time to transport it from here to the concession.

The soldiers and horses have not moved, and the grain and grass go first is not a joke. Hundreds of thousands of people eat horses every day, and the consumption is very huge. When these guard corps and minfu arrived, Zhang Ren did not give them a chance to breathe, and immediately transferred grain and grass from the treasury and let them transport it to Kangju overnight.

The roads in Dawan are still under construction, and the transportation of materials is extremely difficult, and the rearguard regiment and the people are all scattered old soldiers, and they have not been given enough rest, so they will inevitably complain for days. Although the commanders at all levels in the team were all from the regular army, the Han army was not allowed to beat and scold the soldiers, and let them persuade them bitterly, these old soldiers were still giggling and laughing, and they couldn't go far for half a day.

At this moment, two veterans stood up, one of whom was still blindfolded, it was Xiahoudun and Xiahouyuan. The two brothers brandished the spears in their hands and beat several soldiers who were unable to work one after another with the shafts of their spears, and only then did their condition improve slightly, and they walked a little faster.

Liu Xin waited for grain and grass on the left and did not come to the right in the city of Bei Khotan, but he waited for an urgent letter from Chang'an.