Mythical Three Kingdoms

”Zhiran, you even brought this thing along.” Guo Si secretly gave Li Jue a thumbs up. Nothing was more intimidating than this.

”Better to be prepared, better to be prepared. Didn’t the strategist tell us to bring everything?” Li Jue said proudly.

”This is a commander’s baton, a reward given by our country to generals with military achievements, used for acting on expediency during campaigns.” Li Jue held three purple seal ribbons in his right palm, and respectfully presented the commander’s baton, saying, ”Since the other side is being so respectful, we must keep up appearances, right?”

”Majesty, the general says this is a reward given by the emperor of the Han Empire to victorious generals.” The interpreter, unable to comprehend what came after, spoke with a ’whatever’ attitude, having given up.

Vologases V frowned slightly, hearing a different nuance in this translation. Being a young and ambitious Parthian King, he grasped something else from the translator’s words.

”Is it a reward given to every general with great achievements, regardless of background?” the Parthian King asked.

”General, His Majesty is asking if this thing can be given to anyone at will?” The interpreter had become fearless.

”There must be great achievements!” Li Jue explained with a slight awkwardness, pulling a wry smile.

”Majesty, the general says one must be very capable in battle,” the translator said calmly.

Vologases V suddenly grasped an inspiration; if rewards were only for achievements, wouldn’t that cleverly circumvent those troublesome Seven Great Nobles? Besides, if the Seven Great Nobles had the capability and merits to earn this, why not give it to them!

”Hahaha, the Han Empire truly is a civilized empire!” Vologases V laughed heartily and then decided to try this new idea.

”His Majesty is praising you,” the interpreter turned to Li Jue and said.

”Let’s go to Wang City to sign the alliance charter.” At this moment, Vologases V looked at Li Jue and the other two with immense admiration; recognized great contributors by the emperor of the Han Empire, when could he have such a batch of people?

Li Jue had no idea what Vologases V was thinking. If he knew, he would definitely chuckle; after all, this group had once kept the Son of Heaven of Han confined.

After entering the city, Vologases V ordered the city defenses to be arranged. Though he knew the Romans had a long logistic line and would typically retreat after a major defeat, he still made this arrangement out of caution, earning a nod of approval from Li Jue, thinking this emperor was much stronger than Liu Xie.

In Taysi Sealed, Li Jue and his group were treated with exceptional hospitality and achieved the unprecedented event of forming an alliance between an individual and an empire.

As for why this happened, the amateur interpreter expressed a loss of will to live; being a Wusun person, he could neither understand Parthian script nor Chinese, and neither the Parthian King nor Li Jue meant to deceive the other on the documents.

Thus, under the influence of alcohol, Parthia and Li Jue signed a pact, with the Parthian King not seeing anything worth deceiving: it was just a non-aggression pact, where they would pay for help, and the others would assist if they wished.

After signing the document, Li Jue didn’t seek an explanation from the interpreter, as he viewed such a document made with the three of them as non-binding; if they ever fell out, tearing up the document would suffice. Right now, this document was great for show, indeed, an alliance between an individual and an empire.

As for the Parthian side, they found an excellent noble interpreter, but even the best interpreter couldn’t know how the Han Dynasty crafted state documents.

Seeing the three confirmed marquis seals of Fravitta, along with the signatures of all three, plus the commander’s baton representing his Imperial Majesty of the Great Han, the translator expressed complete confidence.

Thus appeared the most ridiculous alliance charter in history. When it came time to annul the treaty, both sides realized the Great Han Dynasty had never signed any agreement with Parthia. Following Li Youu’s hint, Li Jue claimed it was all for national interest...

Yes, indeed. Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou, for the benefit of the Great Han Empire and national interest, decisively thrust Parthia into history’s abyss at a historical turning point.

As for whether Li Jue and the others felt any pressure doing this, Li Jue said there was none at all. Signing an alliance charter with an empire was just meant for tearing it up, wasn’t it?

And by the way, didn’t you know this alliance charter brought back so much prestige and saved so many lives? When the Great Han Empire entered Parthia, Parthia had no significant response...

Of course, Li Jue and the others never anticipated they would become so high and mighty in the future. He was now blinded by boxes of gold coins, five thousand sets of armor, five thousand composite bows, a hundred precious steeds, a wealth of jewels, and a dozen fair-skinned beauties.

Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou felt that the Parthian King was way too generous, not stingy at all, giving so many things right after forming an alliance, with thirty thousand gold coins—truly extravagant!

In fact, Vologases V merely added twenty thousand extra gold coins; the rest were promises Fravitta had made to Li Jue in exchange for military aid, but the amateur interpreter couldn’t convey that, resulting in Li Jue thinking Vologases V was indeed a very generous emperor.

Taking from someone else’s hand makes your hand soft; eating from someone else’s plate makes your mouth reluctant to speak, Li Jue and the others found themselves in this state now. Seeing Vologases V’s grandeur, their motivation was incredibly high.

After changing their subordinates’ armor and gaining over a thousand extra sets, and giving each person twenty gold coins, letting them enjoy themselves in Taysi Sealed for a few days, Li Jue, having learned enough about Roman soldiers, hurried to make a statement to Vologases, saying as allies, if they encounter difficulties, they must assist!

After all, their side had given so much money, so many sets of armor and weapons; later, Li Jue found out Vologases V even threw in ten thousand warhorses. The emperor was so generous that Li Jue felt compelled to push the pesky Romans back to Mesopotamia!

Of course, Li Jue also found the Roman soldiers’ configuration flawed this time; Roman infantry was formidable, archers deadly against light cavalry, cavalry not weak, and catapults very strong, yet this time it was a siege with few Roman cavalry, archers and infantry forming the main force.

Yet to Li Jue, the archers’ combat power equaled zero. The only concern was that after suffering a loss, the Romans would surely place archers behind infantry phalanxes next time, with a baggage line enveloping the archers—a tough nut to crack.

But even the toughest nut could be cracked. The Xiliang Iron Cavalry could use heavy crossbows to force openings; it wasn’t impossible. Considering Parthia’s Majesty had spent so much, Li Jue’s mind opened to explore countless possibilities—earning money for disaster relief, that’s integrity!

Under such circumstances, Parthia’s counterattack against Rome commenced, as Rome, the current ruler of the Mediterranean, finally ran into trouble while walking down a dark path.

Yet none of the scenarios Li Jue imagined happened. The Romans, just as the Parthian King estimated, upon realizing they couldn’t decisively defeat Parthia, began to consider retreating—they were too far out, and the logistic pressure was too great. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com for reading.)