sweeping the world

Chapter 667 In the Name of a Strong Man

The banner of the Han army reappeared in the Western Regions. Although it stopped at Shanshan, the shock to the countries in the Western Regions was definitely no less than a magnitude [-] earthquake.

The Western Regions have been controlled by the Central Plains Dynasty since the Western Han Dynasty. In the Western Han Dynasty, it was actually just a status and did not have too much control. In fact, the garrison of the first Western Regions Protectorate was not many, at least there were only a few hundred border guards.At that time, even if the "state" was established to appoint the governor, in fact the governor only had the right to report and did not have much power at the local level, and the central government adopted an absolute centralized system.

From the re-control of the Western Regions in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the establishment of the Protectorate of the Western Regions again, it can be regarded as an increase in the number of standing garrisons, but most of the time it is about 3000 people, and sometimes it will reach [-].The number of troops stationed in the Protectorate of the Western Regions is sufficient, and of course the control over the countries of the Western Regions will be stronger.Dare to rush into a palace and kill the king after killing dozens of people, which basically happened frequently in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The Central Plains was ruled by nomadic peoples is something that the countries of the Western Regions knew. They were surprised that the rule of the Jie people collapsed too quickly, and the re-emergence of the Han people was rapid enough. What is even more worrying is that since the re-emergence of the Han people once again included the Western Regions control.

With countries in the Western Regions emphasizing the "Han Threat Theory", the news that a Han Empire was once again standing in the East was widely spread. The first to face up to this news were Yue Ban, Xiongni and Wusun.

Yue Ban and the Huns will pay attention to it, because there are descendants of the Northern Huns and the Han people are endless enemies.In the past, the Han army just knew where the Northern Huns were, so they traveled thousands of miles and carried out expeditions regardless of the cost. Their Chanyu was killed by hand, and his head was cut off to spread the word, which fully demonstrated the saying "A strong enemy will be defeated no matter how far away he is." The veracity of "Punishment".

Originating from knowing the existence of the other side and attacking at any cost, the remaining descendants of the Northern Huns definitely have a reason to be nervous, but although they have the right to speak in Yueban and the Huns, they cannot affect the national policies of the two countries, and there are not many things they can do .

Wusun’s current situation is not good. They first rose up by hugging the thighs of the Huns, and then became the hegemony of the Western Regions by hugging the thighs of the Han Empire. The Huns and the Han Empire collapsed successively. Wusun, who had no thighs to hug, first encountered the Western Regions The joint counterattack was followed by attacks from the Persians and Arabs advancing eastward. Not only did the territory shrink again and again, but the overall strength also declined sharply.

If anyone in the Western Regions is the most excited about the re-emergence of the Han people in the East, then it is undoubtedly the Wusun people, and they are even planning to marry again.

The countries in the Western Regions are all bluffing, and it's hard for Persian Sassanid to pay attention.

The current Persian Sasanian has recovered and started to gain an advantage in the war against Rome. They didn't pay much attention to the re-emerging Han people. It's really so far away.

What interested the Persian Sasanians was that they found that the share of maritime trade between Rome and the Gupta Dynasty had been declining again and again, to the point where it was almost cut off in a few months. After inquiring, they found out that the Gupta Dynasty was facing the invasion of the Han Empire Navy. The moment is overwhelming.

Persian Sassanid originally thought that the rise of the Han people had nothing to do with them at all. What they thought was that the Silk Road on the road was expected to be restored. They thought about how to charge the tolls on the Silk Road on the road, but it was a bit uncomfortable when the Han people extended their force to the Gupta Dynasty. Same.

The Gupta Dynasty had a lot of trade with Rome, and even Rome repeatedly purchased weapons from the Gupta Dynasty, so the Persian Sasanian was naturally hostile to the Gupta Dynasty.

In addition, the Persian Sasanian navy actually often had maritime conflicts with the Gupta navy. That was because the Persian Sassanid navy wanted to cut off Rome's maritime trade. The Gupta Dynasty naturally valued maritime trade with Rome and could not ignore it, so it was natural for a contest to occur. .

The Persian Sassanid knew the situation of Asanyang a little late, and they actually didn’t guess that the scale would be so large, so that when they came here, they found that the Gupta Dynasty had assembled a large fleet of more than [-] ships to fight the Han Empire. To be honest It was really a little frightened.

At this moment, Egutay Bahram was leading a fleet of twelve warships, hanging far outside the large fleet led by Katruk Karp.

"It's not just us, all countries that have the strength to come and spy have sent fleets." Kusrau Sorodias is Urgutai Bahram's deputy. He pointed to a black spot in the distance and said: "Saizhong The fleet of men is not far from us."

There are quite a few Serbian countries now. They lived in the Western Regions at first, and even lived in Hexi, but they were repeatedly driven away by the Da Yuezhi people and gradually moved westward.The Cypriots are a white-skinned race. They were once merged into the Guishuang Empire. Later, the Guishuang Empire collapsed and then became an independent country. Currently, the largest Cypriot country is called Liangsatrapu.There are many Serbs living in the various states of Asan, including the east and southeast of the Sasanian Dynasty. There are also a considerable number of Serbs.

"A large fleet of five hundred ships!" Urgutai Bahram looked at the large Gupta fleet in the distance, and said somewhat with fear: "They (Gupta) still have more ships that have not gone to battle."

"Gupta is a powerful country on the sea." Kusrau Sorodias felt that this, including them, was not comparable to Rome. What he was puzzled was: "The Han Empire has risen again. It is very unusual to invade Gupta from the sea."

There are so many legends about the Han Empire. Just defeating the Xiongnu and forcing them to flee westward is an epic feat. No one can deny the power of the Han Empire on land, but no one has heard of anything happening at sea. .

"We were able to recover after being ravaged by the Romans. Of course, the Han Empire, one of the four great empires, could also." Urgutai Bahram was summoned by Shapur II before departure, and he made up for it temporarily. Knowing little about the Han Empire, he said: "In ancient times, we have established allies with the Han people, and we have never had an enemy. It is a happy thing for the Han Empire to invade the Gupta Dynasty."

Parthia and the Han Empire had established diplomatic relations, but that was during the reign of Liu Che. The Han Empire was on the side of Zhang Qian’s mission, and the Parthian Empire made a lot of noise in order to welcome the Han Dynasty. They sent [-] people in riding equipment and nearly [-] cavalry on foot. It was considered the largest delegation in history to welcome an envoy from another country.

Liu Che's contact with Parthia was to form an ally. It happened under the premise that he could not persuade the Dayue clan to return east, and he was eager to have an ally in the west who could attack the Xiongnu.But at that time, both Parthia and Rome were fighting like dogs. The Parthian Empire had no interest in fighting the Huns at all. On the contrary, they still thought that after forming an alliance with the Han Empire, the Han army could join the war against the Romans. .The two sides wanted the same thing, but no one was interested in listening to the other, so they left a friendly relationship and did not form an actual ally. However, the official records of Parthia did regard the Han Empire as an ally.

Parthian subjugated, Persian Sasanian was re-established and rose, whether it was for revenge or for profit needs, the war between Persian Sasanian and Rome did not stop. Unlike the Parthian period, Persian Sasanian is now in an advantageous position On that side, the advantage is not obvious, and the potential enemies of Persian Sassanid are much more than those in the Parthian period.

"Because Rome was unable to obtain military purchases from the Guptas, we defeated the Romans again on the Syrian battlefield." Egutay Bahram took a deep breath of sea breeze and laughed: "I sincerely hope that the Han Empire can defeat the Guptas. fleet, and has kept Gupta on land."

Today's Han Empire is not what it used to be, and no country, including Persian Sassanid, can tell the difference. Except for Persian Sasanian, no one has a good impression of the new Han Dynasty, but no matter what they are Attitude, no one knows the strength of the Han Kingdom.

The sea is far more vast than the land, and ships sailing on the sea can have more room to move without being blocked by mountains. Katruk Karp, who commanded the large fleet of the Gupta Dynasty, did not drive away the ships of various countries that followed him. The purpose is to let the countries once again see the power of the Gupta Dynasty at sea.

The large fleet of [-] ships of various types is sailing unswervingly towards the predetermined goal. Anyone including the Gupta fleet is guessing when the Han fleet will appear. How much power there is at sea.

Contrary to expectations, until the Gupta fleet advanced again and again, the coastline in the distance could be seen. The Han navy that everyone expected was just a small fleet following behind, and no large fleet was seen going to sea to fight.

"What we know is that the warships of the Han Empire in this sea area will not exceed three hundred at most." Kapil Malik did not return to his warship formation, and he was left on the flagship by Katruk Karp as an intelligence officer.He said as a matter of course: "We dispatched a large fleet of [-] ships, and their warships are far less than ours. It is a rational behavior not to fight."

The coastline in the distance is already visible to the naked eye, and the large fleet of the Gupta Dynasty is already preparing for formation. They are confused about the lack of warships in the Han Dynasty, but most of them think that the Han Empire thinks they can't fight, so they don't go to sea to fight.

"Then..." Katruk Karp rubbed his chin and said with a smile, "Should we stop outside and send envoys ashore for negotiations, or should we attack directly?"

"Judging from past examples, the Han people do not appear to be easy to talk to. On the contrary, they show a barbaric and rude side." What Kapil Malik said is also true. The Han Navy was able to take captives, but they were sunk every time.He gave his own opinion: "To make the Han Empire face up to our strength, we must defeat them first, and then come to communicate."

Five hundred ships of various types lined up in a large area. After Katruk Karp made a decision, a formation with a number of about [-] ships broke away from the large formation and moved forward alone.

The seventy Gupta naval formations in battle gradually formed a triangle as they advanced. The large ships were basically arranged in the forward position, and the wings were some small but flexible ships.

Zapt Warren is the commander of this formation. The warship he is on is placed at the spear position, staring at the front with wide eyes, and gradually approaching the water fortress above the water.

The water fortress on the side of Pingman Xiaowei's Department is very huge, extending directly to the sea for nearly one mile, with a width of more than three miles.Looking at the past at this moment, the water village is full of soldiers running everywhere. From the outside to the inside, you can also see rows of moored warships, but the height is high enough to look inside. Except for the moored warships in front, there are no soldiers behind. It's just emptiness.

At this time, the rain did not stop. The heavy rain limited the vision, and the farther place was hazy. Zapt Warren could hear the sound of war drums in his ears, and he could also hear the water villages rising and falling. They shouted, but no Han ships came out to fight.

"Prepare the crossbow!"

Of course, the Gupta navy did not lack warships equipped with crossbows, otherwise it would not be qualified to be called a maritime power. As their triangular formation got closer and closer to the Han army's water stronghold, they gradually formed a straight line without encountering any obstruction. , followed by a side-by-side array line, with warships equipped with crossbows arranged in front.

Zapt Warren was about to order the bed crossbow to be released, but saw quite a few bright spots rising into the sky from the water village of the Han army.

It is impossible for the Han army’s water village not to arrange long-range attack equipment. Nowadays, there is no shortage of countries equipped with bed crossbows, which can be regarded as the country (civilization) that invented bed crossbows. The range of bed crossbows of the Han people is still in the forefront, and of course they are the first to speak out .

On the side of the leading fleet of the Gupta Dynasty, when they saw the highlights of the Han army's water stronghold soaring into the sky, a mix of "launch bed crossbow" and "prepare to defend against arrows" were shouted out.

Under the haze of the rain, all the forces in the distance can see are the meteor-like bright spots in the sky in the sea area. It is not just the launch of the bed crossbow, but the bow and crossbow are actually joining the battlefield .

"It's really a dreamlike scene!" Urgutai Bahram looked at the dense bright spots in the sky in the distance, and also saw the fire in the leading formation of the Gupta Dynasty and the Han army's water village, and said with great admiration: "Such a picture rare."

Kusrau Sorodias, however, has been paying attention to the Han navy formation that had appeared earlier, and reminded Urgutai Bahram, saying: "The warship formation of the Han Empire is rendezvous."

There were five or six groups of Han warships following the Gupta fleet. With each group consisting of three warships, they could not exceed twenty at most.They were indeed rendezvous, and the captains of each warship were communicating with flags by means of torches.

The Han navy who went out to carry out the sabotage battle did not know the plan of the Pingman Colonel’s Department. They had been following them before and did not launch an attack. They were waiting for a fleet to come out of the home port. After waiting for so long, the Gupta Navy also launched an offensive to the home port. , knowing that the number of one's own warships is too small to launch an attack is tantamount to death, but I really didn't plan to keep watching.

"Fifteen warships dare to launch an attack on hundreds of enemy ships?" Urgutai Bahram has already guessed what the Han navy in the periphery wants to do: "It is worthy of shouting, 'A strong man will be punished even if he is far away. 'O nation!"

(End of this chapter)