bookrebus Chapter 710 still has value.
Chapter 710 still has value.
Having been kicked, Hoss finally realized his predicament and lay on the ground sighing, "What do you want?"
Now is not the time to reason. The burly general in front of me is clearly not a reasonable person either, so I might as well accept my fate to avoid suffering. After all, I lost the battle.
Once you're on the battlefield, you have to be prepared to accept the consequences.
Ma Chao laughed and said, "That's more like it. I need to know the troop distribution map of the cities surrounding the Sassanid family."
Upon hearing this, Hoss immediately flew into a rage and righteously refused, saying, "Don't even think about it. I would rather die than reveal a single word."
The troop deployment map is a top secret of the family; it cannot be easily revealed to outsiders, or he would become a traitor to the family.
Ma Chao knew that even Huo Si wouldn't speak so easily, so he turned around and translated for Pan Jun, asking, "What should we do now? Should we resort to torture?"
Although he wasn't good at torture, he did have some methods of tormenting people. If he used torture, he wouldn't believe Hoss would confess. If he didn't confess, he would just kill him. Anyway, it wouldn't do any good.
Pan Jun quickly refused, saying, "No, this man is still very useful. Putting aside everything else, we can use him to trade with the Sassanid family and get at least a million bushels of grain in return."
This is the younger brother of Ardashir, the Sassanid chieftain. He may be worthless to me, but he is very valuable to the Sassanid family. The Sassanid family would definitely be willing to pay a lot of money to ransom him back.
Upon hearing about the supplies, Ma Chao became excited and quickly asked, "Should we send an envoy to contact the Sassanid family now?"
Pan Jun shook his head and said, "It's not the right time yet. Negotiations between two countries require choosing the right moment. The easiest time for negotiations to succeed is when both sides have fought several battles and are exhausted, only to find that neither side can defeat the other."
"The Sassanid family has just suffered a huge loss and is definitely resentful. They will surely want to attack us to get revenge. Sending peace talks at this time will only make the Sassanid family think that we are afraid of them. How can peace talks succeed then?"
"So we must continue fighting until the Sassanid family can no longer afford the losses and takes the initiative to propose peace talks. Then we can take the opportunity to negotiate terms. I have already thought of the terms: while the Sassanid family provides food and money, they must agree to cede the land northwest of Tambe City to Armenia to us. At that time, we can calmly escort the grain and fodder donated by the Sassanid family to Armenia and develop in peace."
"So this young master can't be killed yet. He'll be very useful when we negotiate with the Sassanid family."
Ma Chao was oblivious to the intricacies of politics and diplomacy, but Pan Jun was perfectly clear about them. With a quick glance, he devised a development plan for the Han army's future.
Ma Chao frowned and said, "What you said makes sense, but we can't let this kid eat for free. He has to be able to do something."
Pan Jun said, "Then let's ask him where there are mines nearby. We need to mine to make weapons. Knowing the location of the mines will save us a lot of trouble. I can understand that this kid is unwilling to reveal the distribution of his family's troops, but surely we don't have so many concerns about the distribution of mines?"
Ma Chao did as instructed and turned to ask Hosdu. Hosdu, fearing a beating, did not dare to hide anything and told Ma Chao all about the mines north of Tambe that did not yet belong to the Sassanid family.
The rest was easy. Ma Chao kept Huo Si in the city, providing him with good food and drink, and then sent out dozens of scout teams to investigate the enemy situation around Tambe, while patiently waiting for Ma Dai's main force to arrive.
Ma Dai led a 200,000-strong allied army from the Western Regions, dawdling and looting along the way. After receiving news that Ma Chao had captured Tanbei, he sped up his pace and arrived at Tanbei City to join Ma Chao in just ten days.
At the same time, the Sassanid family and the Parthian Empire also received news that the Han army had occupied Tambe, massacred 50,000 defenders and captured Khostu.
Ardashir, the patriarch of the Sassanid family, was furious upon receiving the news and immediately mobilized a large army to prepare for a counterattack on Tambe.
King Vologasis VI of Parthia was so excited that he became incoherent and sang joyfully to the heavens.
He had been driven to the brink of suicide by the Sassanid family for years, and now that he knew the Sassanid family had suffered a setback, he was even more excited than if he had become rich himself.
After the initial excitement, Vologasis VI keenly realized a problem: the Han army was his lifeline, and he had to seize it.
As for whether it would invite trouble and bring in even more powerful enemies after destroying the Sassanid family, Vologasis VI was not worried.
Because the Sassanids were native Parthians, while the Han army was an outsider, the number of troops sent on expeditions would not be large, and they had no foothold in Parthia and could not cause much damage. At worst, after defeating the Sassanids, the Han army could be given a fiefdom to play with on their own.
Compared to the Han army, the Sassanid family is the real threat.
Having figured this out, Vologasis VI immediately sent envoys to Tambe to discuss with the Han army the matter of confronting the Sassanid dynasty.
This idea coincided with Parthian's desire to unite against the Sassanids. However, before Parthian's chosen envoy, Quechua, could even depart, Parthian envoys arrived first, which actually gave Parthian a significant advantage in the subsequent negotiations.
After all, in negotiations between two countries, whoever gets impatient first loses.
Before the surprise attack on Tambe, Pan Jun had planned to send Kuai Qi as an envoy to Parthia, but he did not take immediate action after capturing Tambe.
The reason for the delay was simple. First, the weather was too cold in winter, and Pan Jun was unfamiliar with the road to Anxi. He was afraid that Kuai Qi would die on the way.
After all, he only had this one deputy envoy. If he died on the way for some random reason, there would be no envoy left. Therefore, Kuai Qi could only set off after the road was cleared and safety was ensured.
Secondly, the Sassanid family attacked, and he needed help; with Quincy gone, his workload increased.
Finally, and most importantly, we don't have enough leverage in negotiations with the Parthian Empire yet. We need to win a few more battles to show the Parthian Empire the true strength of the Han army, so that we can take the initiative in subsequent negotiations.
In conclusion, Pan Jun did not rush to negotiate with the Parthian Empire, but instead focused on fighting the Sassanid dynasty.
After Ma Dai led the Western Regions coalition to arrive and joined forces with Ma Chao, Pan Jun immediately began to make arrangements, sending people to find the coal and iron mines that Huo Sidu had instructed, to mine the ore and build a steel plant.
He had never been to the Wushang Steel Plant built by Guan Xing, but before Jingzhou was recovered and Sun Quan had surrendered, he had read Wu's intelligence about the steel plant and knew that the steel plant used coal as fuel, as well as the so-called crucible tongs mold.
Now that we know the principle, it's simple; we can just try it over and over again.
If all else fails, we can still use rudimentary methods to make steel. Before Guan Xing, the Han Dynasty's iron forging technology was already very advanced. With coal and iron, how could we not make weapons?
After a brief rest, Ma Chao and Pan Jun began to divide the tasks. Ma Chao, along with Ma Dai and Tu Lin, actively trained the troops and prepared for war, while also gathering information about the Sassanid family and making preparations for war with them.
Pan Jun and Kuai Qi were responsible for allocating provisions and forging weapons, providing Ma Chao with stable logistical support.
More than a month later, on the third day of the Lunar New Year, Ma Chao received news of the Sassanid family's attack.
Ardashir, the patriarch of the Sassanid dynasty, personally led an army of 300,000 men from Persepolis toward Tambe.
Ma Chao was not worried at all. He had 200,000 Western Region allied troops plus 30,000 Han, Qiang and Xiongnu allied troops. His strength was no less than that of Ardashir. He also had plenty of food and supplies and was waiting for his prey to come to him. What was there to be afraid of?
So after a brief discussion with Pan Jun and Tu Lin, Ma Chao ordered Pan Jun and Ma Dai to defend Tanbei City, while he and Tu Lin personally led 10,000 cavalry, each with three horses, to take the initiative to outflank the Sassanid army and prepare to attack their supply lines.
Attacking the supply lines was only one aspect; the other was to weaken the Sassanid army's strength and morale through harassment before engaging them in a decisive battle at Tambe.