Ojiede hurriedly said: "Second Highness, please see, the Han envoy said in the letter that we burned the tea and slandered the reputation of the Han goods. They should have raised troops to ask for guilt, but it was their emperor's majesty who was merciful and couldn't bear to hurt their lives, so they saluted first and then soldiers. If His Majesty does not agree to mediation, the two sides will inevitably meet each other. ”

Gaita was grumpy and shouted angrily, "That's a good point, he didn't call first!" Father, let's not fall for the enemy's tricks! ”

Caracalla had already been frightened by the Han army's "demon law", and hurriedly said: "Father, now that our army has been newly defeated, the soldiers have no fighting spirit, not to mention that the Han people suddenly appeared here, obviously they have been prepared for a long time. It's better to stop the army for the time being, and when you find out the truth of the Han people in the future, it's not too late to take revenge! ”

Putimius muttered, "Since the Han people have proposed to mediate the war between our Great Qin and Parthia, what conditions do they have?" ”

Only then did Ojiede get up tremblingly, lowered his head and said, "The Han envoy asked the villain to bring back three conditions. First, our Great Qin army withdrew to its original frontier and returned Ctesiphon and Seleucia to Parthia. Second, apologize to the foreign caravans that were bloodily purged in the city of Rome. ”

Putimius nodded and said, "These two conditions are not excessive, you can promise them, then what is the third condition?" ”

In fact, Putimius himself knew very well that he had brought eight legions with him on this expedition, of which the two main legions, the Gallic Legion and the Germanic Legion, were almost completely annihilated, and the other four legions were also disabled. Of the 400,000 troops, only 100,000 people can continue to fight, and what they encounter may only be the vanguard of the Han army, and this battle cannot be fought. Even if he had to fight, it would have to wait until he returned to Rome and reorganized himself into a sufficient number of men.

Omid couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he heard Putimius agree, and continued: "Third, allow the caravans of the Great Han to pass freely within the territory of Great Qin, and enjoy the same treatment as the merchants of Great Qin in terms of taxes and other aspects. ”

Putimius said categorically: "No, this one cannot be promised!" ”

Puzzled, Gaita asked, "Father, the first two can be agreed to them, why can't such a simple request be agreed?" ”

Putimius, who had been an emperor for many years, was no longer the brave man of the year, he shook his head and said: "If the merchants of the Great Han are allowed to enjoy the same treatment as my merchants of Great Qin, I am afraid that the merchants of my Great Qin will have no way to live." ”

Ojede hesitated: "Then Your Majesty will not agree." ”

But I heard Caracalla say: "Father, we might as well agree first, and when we find out the secret of their demon law in the future, it's not too late to turn our faces!" ”

Ptimius sighed and said, "Alas, that's all it can be. ”

In fact, these demands were nothing at all, and according to Liu Xin's original intention, they had to at least make compensation to the Han and Parthia. It's just that Dahan has just calmed down from the war, and it is the time to recuperate, and the leased land is also in urgent need of consolidation and development, and Liu Xin needs a peaceful external environment, so he lowered his requirements.

As a great battle subsided, Ptimius returned to Rome with the remnants of his defeated army down, and his newly acquired title of "the greatest Parthian conqueror" seemed to be a farce.

After returning to Rome, Ptimius became depressed and thin, and within two months, he was finally bedridden.

After Vologis returned to Ctesiphon, he also sent someone to ask Ptimius for his wife and daughter, but Ptimius ignored it on the grounds that the three conditions put forward by the Han did not return the spoils. After being defeated by Daqin for the second time, Vologis already had self-knowledge and knew that he could not compete with the Great Qin Empire with his own ability, so he had to swallow his anger.

However, with the reopening of trade routes between the East and the West, a large number of caravans passed through Parthia to travel between the Great Qin and the Great Han, which also brought unprecedented prosperity and a large amount of tax revenue to Parthia, and Vologis's life was better again. As his wealth grew, he resumed his life of spending and drinking. His two sons, Aldaban and Arshak, began to fight openly and secretly in order to compete for the position of crown prince, and Aldaban, who did not have military power, also took this opportunity to start forming an army loyal to himself.

The only beneficiary of the war was Liu Xin, and the Han dynasty had carved a large area of leased land on the border between Parthia and Kangju. Although it is far away from the Dahan region and is an enclave, it is adjacent to Kangju, which solves a big problem.

Relying on Kangju as a logistics base, it is easy to provide all kinds of materials needed to the concession, and the three new cities have risen in the desert area of the concession. These three cities are in the shape of a zigzag, no more than a hundred miles apart, each other is a horn, each has a heavy army, can rescue each other in case of trouble, basically has this enclave in their hands. It's just that it's too far away from Dahan, and the road is very difficult, so it's impossible for the soldiers to stay there for a long time.

To this end, Liu Xin expanded the establishment of the Western Regions Legion from 60,000 to 100,000, and incorporated all the troops stationed in Kangju and Parthia Han Concessions into the sequence of the Western Regions Legion. Moreover, the soldiers of the Western Regions Legion are no longer limited to the Han Chinese, the people of the Western Regions countries under the jurisdiction of the Western Regions Protectorate and those with Han nationality in the concession can sign up for the Western Regions Legion.

Of course, the majority of the Western Regions Legion is still Han Chinese, which is also to ensure that the Western Regions Legion will not break away from the control of the Han Dynasty. But at the same time, it also brings a problem, many soldiers are far from home, which inevitably breeds homesickness. In order to solve this problem, Liu Xin granted the soldiers of the Western Regions Legion three months of vacation each year, and the salary was paid as usual during the leave.

The salaries of the Han soldiers were already very high, and now they can enjoy three months of "paid leave", and the recruitment office of the Western Regions Legion is naturally crowded. The new 40,000 soldiers were fully mobilized in less than five days.

With the regular army stationed in the concession and the backing of Kangju, the rule of the Han Dynasty in the concession was gradually stabilized.

Since it had become a territory under the direct control of the Han Chinese, many Han caravans preferred to go the extra mile and use this place as a final stop. Gradually, the three new towns, which had been built as defensive works, evolved into new trading centers soon after the trade routes were reopened.

Because of the obvious sense of security here, not only the caravans of the Han Dynasty, but even those caravans from Kangju, Dawan and other countries that were protected by the Han were willing to come here to do business. Some shrewd merchants saw the opportunity and began to build inns and liquor stores in the three new towns, and business continued to flourish, and the three new towns became more and more lively.

Although this Han concession is very desolate, and the three new cities were built in a hurry by the engineering corps, because Liu Xin attaches great importance to this place, Jia Xu, the protector of the Western Regions, personally stayed here to deal with various affairs. The Engineer Corps also left half of its men and continued to expand the new city and build various fortifications.

There are many small tribes scattered throughout this land. These tribes are still in a very primitive state, and the chiefs of the tribes are equivalent to the emperors of the earth. In order to make these small tribes feel a sense of belonging to the Han Dynasty, Jia Xu specially built mansions and schools for them in the city, and encouraged the children of these chiefs to learn the culture of the Han Dynasty in the schools. It was also promised that after they completed their studies, they would be able to hold various positions in the three new cities and even in the entire Western Regions Prefecture.

With such favorable conditions, the chiefs moved into the cities, and relatively speaking, the conditions in the cities were much better than in the villages. Most of these tribal chiefs were simple-minded, unaware that they were quietly becoming hostages of the Han dynasty while they enjoyed a better life than they had in the past.

These chiefs all have great prestige among the tribes, and as long as they are controlled, their tribes will not happen. And Jia Xu has a further step, which is to encourage passing caravans to hire local villagers. These villages have to rely on farming and hunting for a living, but the land here is barren, and there are no harvests for ten to nine years, and as for hunting, they can only catch some small game such as foxes and rabbits. And the wages of the hired laborers for those caravans were often more than what they could earn for a year of farming and hunting. In this way, it can not only solve the problem of food and clothing for the villagers, but also make these villagers understand that as long as they follow the big man, they will live a good life.

In addition to this, Jia Xu has taken many other initiatives. He believed that when the one-year deadline he had set for him to re-register his household registration, all the people living in the concession would agree to become Han nationality.

Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye, and the caravans coming and going from the south to the north have not affected the interests of Daqin's own merchants, on the contrary, their business has gradually improved. At the same time, the Great Qin Empire's tax revenue also doubled compared to the past. And Putimius's mood did not improve, but his health deteriorated.

This fiasco was something he had never done since he ascended the throne. What made him even more anxious was that the literati and aristocrats who had been expelled from the Senate by him had recently become more and more active, and were in great danger of restoring the rule of the Senate, and Ptimius desperately needed a victory to dispel the doubts of the people and consolidate his rule.

Ptimius was not short of money now, and he had returned a large amount of gold and silver from Ctesiphon, which was enough to make up for the difference in trade with the Han in the past two years. In half a year, the six legions that were crippled or even completely annihilated have been rebuilt, and three teams have been sent to Chang'an to inquire about the "demon law", and a new war is in full swing. However, at this time, a major event happened in Chang'an City.