At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

It's just that in the current situation, whether to continue to attack the interior of the Parthian Empire is actually driven by no hard conditions.

Apart from Caracalla's personal pursuit of glory and prestige, there was no need for the Romans to teach the Parthians a lesson.

the reason is simple.

The Maritime Silk Road from the southeast coast of the Wei Empire to Egypt has been opened up by the Wei Empire. Although it takes a long time, the journey is relatively long, and there are dangers along the way—isn’t it the same on land?

Moreover, the Wei Empire and the Roman Empire have established equal and friendly diplomatic relations, and realized equal and direct transactions between the two parties.

Although it is not cheap to buy things directly from merchants in the state of Wei, it is much cheaper than buying from merchants in the second way. When they first traded with the people of the state of Wei, the Roman nobles were ecstatic.

so cheap?

I'm so overwhelmed!

The desires of the Roman dignitaries were greatly satisfied, and the trade with the Parthia Empire no longer involved the commodities of the Wei Empire.

Whether to attack the Parthian Empire to open up trade routes is actually not the point.

The Maritime Silk Road gave the Roman Empire a better choice. With such a good choice, why did they send out a large army to attack the Parthians?

Isn't it money to spend so much military expenditure on militarism?

The generals persuaded, and Caracalla thought about it, and felt that it was right.

Trajan stopped Cetsyphon and did not go on, and his father stopped Cetsyphon and did not go on.

As far as he was concerned, the goal of catching up with Trajan and his father's prestige was achieved.

For the [-] troops at the moment, it is not a simple matter to go deep into the Anxi Empire.

The Parthian emperor of the Parthian Empire was easy to bully, but the local Persians were really hard to mess with. Those Persians were really fierce in fighting.

This Roman army was not ready to fight them. Once he rushed forward and failed, his previous efforts would be in vain.

After much deliberation, Caracalla weighed the pros and cons, and decided to stop Tessifon, teach him this lesson, and then go back to do some big things.

Before that, as a sign of his superiority over his father, he resolved to set fire to Ctesiphon, to destroy Ctesiphon utterly, and to destroy all buildings, as a testimony of his eternal deeds.

With his order, the [-] Roman soldiers were like having a party, enjoying themselves and looting as much as they wanted.

They regard everything in this city as their own, and let go of the strong desires that have been accumulated in their hearts for a long time.

They do all kinds of evil here, robbery, murder, rape, all the evil things that humans in this era can think of, they can do it, and they will carry it out to the end.

They released the most primitive animal nature in their hearts.

The dignitaries and people who rested in Taixifeng were devastated, and they were attacked and killed extremely thoroughly and brutally.

Men were killed for fun, and women were kidnapped and tortured by Roman soldiers in the barracks, even the elderly and children.

What's even more ironic is that in order to compete for trophies or women, Roman soldiers would also face each other with swords, kill each other, and plunder each other's trophies, just to get more for themselves.

All these are too numerous to enumerate, and what you see is a human world that is not like the human world.

As a complete bystander, in Cao Chongzhi's memory, only the book "Ping Huangjin Jilue" compiled by the official Wei State has been recorded in Cao Chongzhi's memory.

This book was compiled by the historian of the State of Wei in accordance with the order of the then emperor Guo Peng—in order not to let the world forget the disaster.

The content of this book adopts a large number of official records left by the Han Empire, and created a more groundbreaking way for historians to interview the parties who are still alive to obtain more details.

In the preface of this official semi-historical book, the historian claimed to have interviewed veterans, military officers, and officials who were still alive, and obtained many details from them that they saw with their own eyes and could not forget.

Therefore, some additional details can be added when the relevant facts are introduced.

This book has a great reputation in the history circle of Wei State.

It is because of this kind of interview that not only the veterans and officials were interviewed, but also the emperor Guo Peng who personally participated in the suppression of the Yellow Turban War and made great contributions to making a fortune and became a famous general.

Guo Peng allowed the historian to interview him, and said many details of the war in his memory.

Therefore, when this book was compiled and circulated within Taixue and Jiangwu Hall, it attracted great attention.

Many people scrambled to pass it on and read it, especially the clips of the interview with Guo Peng, which were copied by many people for inheritance.

Of course Cao Chongzhi was among them.

What impressed him the most was the battle that Guo Peng personally described in which he participated in attacking Guangzong City under the leadership of Lu Zhi.

In his memory, the battle was very tragic, the Han army desperately attacked, and the Yellow Turban army desperately resisted. In the end, Guo Peng entered the city first, surrounded and successfully captured the first horn of the Yellow Turban bandit, disintegrating the fighting will of the remaining Yellow Turban army.

Then came the ugliest scene in the world.

The army at that time was different from the current Wei army. The Eastern Han Empire did not retain too many standing troops. Once the Yellow Turbans rebelled, they had to temporarily recruit troops to conquer the Yellow Turbans.

At that time, except for a few direct-line elite troops, the rest of the Han army were soldiers recruited temporarily. Their purpose was simple-to make a fortune.

The imperial court promised that after conquering the city, they would be able to plunder everything in the city. Using this as a bait, many people joined the crusade under the restriction of self-financing equipment without paying military salaries.

After the war, Guangzong City was plundered, and all the people in the city were killed, robbed, raped, and in the end, few people could even stand and live, and they were all ruined.

The corpses in Guangzong City piled up like a mountain, and the whole city became a dead city, but most of them were not Yellow Turban soldiers.

Guo Peng said that that battle had too profound impact and influence on him, so after he established the Wei Army in the future, the first thing Wei Jun should abide by was the strict military regulations and military discipline. .

He would never allow a similar scene to appear before his eyes again.

Text descriptions are two-dimensional, and it is difficult to construct a three-dimensional image in people's minds, unless the creator has extraordinary talent.

Either Guo's description was not vivid enough, or the historian's literary talent was not enough, Cao Chongzhi still could not understand what Guo Peng saw in that day and year.

But now, he thinks he saw that scene.

Crossing time constraints and space dimensions, he seems to have traveled through time and space and returned to the seven years before Han Guanghe, and witnessed with his own eyes what kind of purgatory Guangzong City was after being captured by the Han army.

If there really is a purgatory in the world, then it is right in front of you right now.

Cao Chongzhi felt that he had seen the ugliest and vicious scene in the world. Nothing in the past or in the future could be compared with Taixi Fengcheng at this moment.

He has killed people, seen blood, received a very strict education, seen strong winds and waves, seen the assassination of the emperor, and personally participated in an exciting mutiny and war.

It can be said that his psychological quality is very good.

But when he saw this scene, within two days, he turned around and left Ctesiphon.

Because he couldn't restrain these soldiers who were allowed to commit violence at will.

To be honest, even Caracalla himself would not be able to restrain the behavior of these soldiers, because this is the [reward] they deserved, and Caracalla did not have so much money out of his own pocket to reward this group of arrogant soldiers. Bing Titans.

Cao Chong really couldn't take it anymore, he was afraid that if he continued to stay in Taixifeng City, he would be tortured into a psychopath sooner or later.

There was nowhere to express the depression in his heart, so he could only take out the pen and paper he carried with him, and record what he saw in his eyes one by one.

In the future, when you return to the state of Wei, you can use the printing technology of the state of Wei to spread and preserve it widely as a permanent accusation.

So he picked up a pen and began to record.

[In August [-]th of the first year of Xingyuan, King Lomo Shike Anxi's capital Taixi closed the city. The emperor was very happy and ordered the army to plunder for ten days as a reward. See, but the messy corpses are piled up like mountain ears...]

[At that time, many residents in the city did not have time to take refuge. All the troops arrived, destroyed the houses, rushed in, beheaded their men, and raped their women. Even if there were old and young, they didn't care. They all killed them for pleasure. There were old women and children. He also kills him for adultery, and when one person commits adultery, all the soldiers onlookers laugh...]

【At that time, the rich and powerful families in the city were not allowed to flee, and they were trapped in the city. They were acquired by General Loumo, who took all their treasures, burned their families, and beheaded their men. , and then bestowed on the army, within a day, the description is miserable, and it does not look like a human being...]

[At that time, there was a golden armor in the city, and the two generals could not compete with each other, leading the army to attack, the dead were all over the place, the armor was eventually obtained by the first general, and the rest were not angry, so I told the emperor. Those who reward the rest...]

[There is an old woman in the city who protects her young grandson and sneaks around, and is acquired by the army. The old woman kneels down and begs for mercy with tears in her eyes. The army laughs, beheads her grandson's head, and walks away. , dead...]

[In the city, there are brave soldiers who protect their people and escape dozens of times. They are trapped by the army. The army captures the brave soldiers and kills their people for fun. The people cry and cry, and they all die. The brave soldiers' eyes are cracked, crying and vomiting blood. And die...]

Every pile, every piece, was witnessed by Cao Chongzhi himself.

He could vouch for his reputation that it was all true.

Chapter 1531 One thousand four hundred and fifty one Cao Chongzhi began to think about his retreat

Cao Chongzhi lived in a military camp outside the city, and while recording what he saw, he paid attention to the situation of Taixi's closure of the city.

It's just that he never stepped into Taixi Fengcheng again.

He didn't leave the barracks until thick smoke billowed in the city of Taixifeng and the flames soared into the sky, dyeing the sky the color of flames. He left the barracks and stood on the hill outside the barracks, condescendingly overlooking the city of Taixifeng.

Under the light of the fire, the sky has a different kind of beauty. Looking at it makes people feel poetic and want to recite a few poems.

The "literati" in the Roman military camp stood together with Cao Chongzhi, admiring the beauty, and praised the great achievements of Emperor Caracalla with gorgeous rhetoric.

By the way, mocking the incompetence of the Parthian Empire at this moment.

Roman aristocratic education included the link of eloquence, and politicians also paid attention to eloquence, smooth logic and gorgeous words, but anyone who could be around the emperor was a master of this skill.

It's just that they don't know whether their gorgeous rhetoric contains the helpless howls of the residents in the city at the same time.

Seeing their flushed faces as if they drank a barrel of wine in one go, Cao Chongzhi lowered his head and thought for a while, thinking that there is a high probability that there is no such thing.

In all the world, which winner needs to care about the dignity and pain of the loser?

The dignity and pain of the loser, everything is just the aftertaste of the winner enjoying the victory.

The world is far from being civilized enough that the victor needs to pity the loser.

So Cao Chongzhi knew that after this fire, the world would forget everything, and that miserable General Taixifeng would only exist in his own records.

So Cao Chongzhi suddenly felt that he had a mission on his shoulders.

If, if the tragedy of those people is not recorded in their own records, then the blood and tears of those people will never be known to future generations.

Later generations will think that this world is so beautiful. War can only be achieved by siege and heroism, and only when the masts and sculls are wiped out in smoke while talking and laughing. There are no soldiers' stumps, limbs and arms, and ordinary people's blood and tears!

Isn't this war too gentle?

In addition, Cao Chongzhi felt that the things he had recorded were useless and useless.

But if one day this world becomes civilized, gentle, fair and just, the blood and tears of these people recorded by me may make people at that time sigh more or less, accusing the barbaric and bloody old world.

As such, this record is meaningful.

Cao Chongzhi decided so.

The looting was over, and all the valuable things that could be taken away were looted from Tessiphon, and all those that could not be taken away were destroyed.

Residential houses, official buildings, and historical sites were all destroyed.

The imprint of civilization was swept away, and even the city wall of Ctesiphon was destroyed by the Roman army using the war equipment that the Parthians in the city did not take away, and it was completely demolished.

Then there was a big fire that ignited the entire Ctesiphon.

Watching Tessiphon turn into ashes in the raging flames, Emperor Caracalla opened his arms and enthusiastically praised his achievements with gorgeous rhetoric and cadenced tone.

He poured out the cultural ability gathered from the education he had received since he was a child, and eulogized the beauty of this moment with the most gorgeous and magnificent words he could think of!

He has never felt so great like this moment!

The ruins of the enemy country are his monuments!

Standing beside Caracalla, Cao Chongzhi felt unspeakable emotions flowing in his heart.

Caracalla felt supremely happy, feeling that her desire and vanity had been greatly satisfied.

Of course, he did not forget Cao Chongzhi.

He rewarded Cao Chongzhi with one-tenth of the treasure that his own soldiers had seized for him—a huge amount of wealth that Cao Chongzhi could not imagine.

This is not only the reward of Cao Chongzhi's meritorious service along the way, but also Caracalla's gratitude to Cao Chongzhi for his great contribution to killing the traitor.

Cao Chongzhi felt very excited.

He felt that if this gold and silver treasure that could fill fifty carts was placed in front of his dying aunt who was in charge of money, she would definitely make her scream and faint.

On the contrary, if these treasures were placed in front of his father who was in charge of the money, he would definitely make him put his hands on his chest, take a few steps back and lean on the wall, panting heavily, and not fall down .

Anyway, Cao Chongzhi felt that his grief, indignation and painful emotions could be affected by these dazzling treasures, which shows that these treasures can definitely destroy the normal thinking of a normal person.

Faced with these wealth, Cao Chongzhi suddenly felt that his cultivation was not enough.

If Caracalla asked Cao Chongzhi to sing praises for him as a reward, Cao Chongzhi felt that he would be happy to do it.

Vulgar, vile, shameless!

Cao Chongzhi, Cao Chongzhi!You have fallen!You have fallen!Are these possessions what you deserve?

Are these dirty property stained with blood and tears of the people, should you reach out and accept them?

In doing so, are you worthy of the education you have received?