I don't know how long it took, but the carriage finally stopped. Crean was helped out of the carriage and walked for a while before someone helped him untie the black cloth that had blindfolded him. Crean's eyes were blindfolded for too long, and he finally adapted to the surrounding environment, only to see a tall and vicious man sitting opposite, he couldn't help but be taken aback, and said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty has just said that I will be free, you are ......"

The man sneered: "You can see clearly, we are not from Putimius, we invited you here to ask him what he said to you?" ”

Kerry calmed down for a moment and asked cautiously, "Then you are from the Senate?" ”

In the city of Rome, the contradictions between the Senate and the Emperor were well known to passers-by, and even Crean had heard of a thing or two. Of course, he was not referring to the new Senate made up of knights, but to the old Senate controlled by the nobles of the past, a secret that the Romans knew well.

The man obviously hadn't been in Rome for a long time, and he didn't understand the contradiction in it, but he was stunned when he heard Crean's words, and immediately shouted: "You don't care who we are, just tell us everything you know!" ”

After taking a closer look, Krian noticed that although the big man's outfit was no different from that of the Great Qin, he had a pair of black eyes, and couldn't help but be happy, and asked, "Are you from the Great Han?" Then I beg you one thing, and I will tell you all I know, if only you will promise to take me back to Kangju. ”

It turned out that this big man was Hou Qinu who was sent to assist the Foreign Intelligence Department in collecting information about Daqin, and he had a language talent that ordinary people could hardly match, and he had long been able to speak fluent Daqin dialect with a Roman accent. It's just that everything else is easy to disguise, but these eyes are not easy to deceive others. Therefore, Hou Qinu spent most of his time in this manor outside the city of Rome, and even when he went out, he would disguise himself as a blind man.

Fortunately, in addition to retaining some phantom elites, the Foreign Affairs Department of the Han Dynasty recruited many people of different races, and even nationals from countries such as Kangju, Shenzhi, and Guishan. At the same time, Daqin's expansion was too fast, and with the expansion of the region, there were more and more nationalities, and people of all races were people, which also facilitated the penetration of foreign affairs.

When they arrived in Rome, it was not difficult for them to inquire about Putimius's purge of foreign caravans, and they soon figured out the ins and outs of the only survivor, Crean. As they prepare to kidnap Crean, they discover that he has been invited into the palace by Ptimius. So a team of outsiders waited near the palace until Crean came out and grabbed him.

Crean's conditions were not excessive, so Hou Qinu agreed to the situation, and then sent the situation back to Chang'an.

Liu Xin didn't pay much attention to the vast area of Kangju further west to Daqin, after all, the Han Dynasty had not yet been unified at that time, and even after Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were eliminated, it would take a long time to recuperate, and Liu Xin's ambitions had not yet swelled to the point of unifying the world.

It wasn't until the news of Putimius' purge of foreign caravans came back that Liu Xin began to face up to this distant rival. It was at this time that Liu Xin suddenly discovered that there was a huge empire called Parthia to the west of Kangju. Such a big neglect should not be, but it is also excusable.

Liu Xin's attention at that time was mainly focused on the country, and the farthest was just to restore the Western Regions Protectorate. If it weren't for the purpose of helping Ban Stealer, Liu Xin's eyes would not even be able to cast on countries like Kangju for the time being. Another important reason is that the transmission of information was very lagging behind at that time, and no one had ever mentioned Parthia at all, so Liu Xin had no way of knowing its existence.

However, the presence of Parthia greatly reduced the likelihood of a direct conflict between the Han and the Qin, as the two were too far apart. However, the news from Hou Qinu made Liu Xin startled, and Putimius had already begun to inquire about the news of the Great Han. Putimius is a belligerent fellow, and he will never inquire about the situation of the big man for no reason.

Despite this, Liu Xin is not worried that Putimius has the ability to fight the big man. Separated by thousands of mountains and rivers, not to mention anything else, logistics supplies alone are enough to drag down any powerful country. Historically, the Mongols were able to sweep across Eurasia because of their unique way of fighting without the burden of logistics. On the other hand, the two fortresses built by Liu Xin at the Uzberi Pass and the Tulugert Pass were not decorations, and the purpose of building these two fortresses was to secure the western border of the Han Dynasty and implement Liu Xin's strategy of keeping the enemy out of the country.

Liu Xin is worried about Kangju because there are his women and children there. If Putimius really wanted to attack the Great Han, he would conquer Parthia first, and then the next target would be Kangju. Last year, Liu Xin promised that Ban Thief'er's armor was in place, and Liu Xin also left 5,000 elite soldiers, all of whom had been on the battlefield. Nominally to train Kangju's army, in fact, it is to protect Ban Thief's mother and son.

After all, the road from Chang'an to Kangju is long, and the last time Liu Xin led a small-scale cavalry unit to travel day and night, it also took about ten days, and if it was a large-scale military transfer, the preparation time alone would be at least one or two months. In case Putimius conquered or united Parthia, and then quickly advanced the army to Kangju, it would be too late for Liu Xin to mobilize troops to rescue.

So, after learning of Putimius's attempt, Liu Xin immediately took countermeasures, and his first thing was to strengthen the strength of the two fortresses of Uzberi and Turugert, increasing the number of garrisons from 5,000 to 10,000 men each, and a large amount of grain and grass was continuously transported to these two fortresses. The various military stations under the jurisdiction of the Western Regions Protectorate have also begun to be strengthened, and they must reach the ability to take care of the passage of more than three legions.

Next, Liu Xin sent an additional 5,000 elite soldiers to Kangju, and gave Ban Stealer 50,000 pairs of armor again. After eliminating Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, Liu Xin captured nearly a million pairs of armor, which were much worse than those used by the Han army, but for Kangju, they were all very sophisticated equipment. The Han army couldn't use these things anyway, so Liu Xin gave them as a favor to Ban Bao'er to help Kangju arm an army of 100,000 people, hoping that they could block the first wave of Putimius's attack and buy time for the reinforcements of the Han army.

At the same time, Liu Xin did not forget the action of winning the alliance, and sent an official Han envoy to Parthia led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lang Zhong Caihe, on the one hand, to express the goodwill of the Han and on the other hand to remind them to guard against the Great Qin in the northwest.

A month later, Cai He returned to Chang'an in embarrassment and told Liu Xinshu what had happened to him in Parthia.

Originally, Parthia was also called the Anxi Empire, because it was located on the commercial artery between the Han Dynasty and the Great Qin, and gradually became a trading center, and it was extremely powerful for a while. Parthia had many wars with the Great Qin Empire in history, and suffered a crushing defeat more than thirty years ago, and even the capital of Ctesiphon on the Euphrates River was burned down.

But six years ago, after Vologis V ascended the throne, he made great efforts to take advantage of the civil war of the Great Qin Empire to recover Armenia, rebuilt the city of Ctessi, and moved the capital back, putting on a posture of wanting to wash away the shame of the past.

Originally, based on the tense relationship between Parthia and Great Qin, Liu Xin's olive branch should be in line with Vologis' wishes. It's a pity that Vologis was carried away by the results he had achieved, categorically rejected Liu Xin's kindness, and arrogantly proposed that the Han pay tribute every year in the future, otherwise the trade route between the Han and the Great Qin would be blocked.

If in the past, Vologis made such a request tantamount to grasping the weakness of the Great Han, but since Ptimius purged the foreign caravans in order to prevent the massive loss of gold and silver, no foreign caravans were willing to go to Daqin to do business, this trade route has existed in name only, and even the domestic commerce in Parthia has become increasingly depressed, but the proud Vologis has not noticed.

However, Cai He also brought back useful news that Parthia's armies were concentrated in the area of Ctesiphon, and it was impossible to threaten the Han in a short time. Liu Xin was even more vigilant, Parthia was the barrier of the Han Dynasty and the northwestern part of the Kangju and Dawan countries that were attached to the Han Dynasty, and if this barrier was lost, they would directly face the threat of the Great Qin. According to Liu Xin's inference, it is difficult to confront Great Qin with Parthia's national strength.

Sure enough, less than ten days after Cai He left Ctesiphon, Putimius launched a war against Parthia, capturing Mesopotamia, the northernmost province of Parthia, and then attacking Seleucia and Ctesiphon along the Euphrates River in two ways. Seleucia is the northern capital of Parthia, and Ctesiphon is the capital of Parthia, if these two cities are conquered by the Great Qin, it will be a huge blow to the Parthian military and people's hearts.

After getting the news, Liu Xin immediately convened the ministers to discuss.

Cai He's previous envoys to the surrounding countries were all treated with the most solemn courtesy, and like this time, Vologis didn't take him seriously at all, which made him very angry. Because today was to discuss the Parthian issue, Cai He was also fortunate to attend the court meeting, and Liu Xin asked him to be the first to speak.

After introducing the situation between Daqin and Parthia, Cai He arched his hand and said: "Your Majesty, these two countries are arrogant, ignore them according to Weichen's wishes, and let them eat dogs." ”

I saw Guo Jia get up and say, "Your Majesty, Parthia just wants me to be a great Han Nagong, but Great Qin wants to be unfavorable to my Great Han." The lips were cold, and the ministers thought that they should not only take care of their affairs, but also help Parthia as they helped Kangju! ”