At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

"The Supreme Emperor, I... I am confused. I didn't think about these things. I only cared about my own political achievements and didn't think about the consequences in the future. I'm guilty!"

"Of course you are guilty. You county guards and county magistrates who are obedient and vigilant are all guilty, and you must reflect on yourself!"

Guo Peng frowned and said: "Soon, the imperial court will issue an order to authorize Mr. Lu to take full responsibility for the management of this matter. At that time, if he has any orders, you must obey them all. Don't take chances, otherwise it will lead to a civil uprising. , you will go to Luoyang to apologize."

Ma Bo knelt down on the ground and kowtowed heavily.

"I would like to obey the holy order!"

"Get up."

Guo Peng waved his hand: "The reason why you are not charged with this matter now is mainly because this is also the first time, and everyone has no experience and does not know how to deal with it, so let's not punish you for the time being, it is not too late.

Next, before Lu Shijun gives the order, you can act. Don't encourage the opening of more restaurants and hotels. Before, you encouraged the opening of the hotel. Now you have to tighten it. All applications will be rejected and not allowed to open.

Then you can use the excuse of a comprehensive inspection to close down a batch of low-quality restaurants and hotels. I have seen many such low-quality restaurants and hotels along the way. Then, when there are fewer visitors, they are the first to fall.

Now close a batch, and give more opportunities to those restaurants and hotels with higher quality, better conditions in all aspects, and more people's food problems. Anyway, it can last for a while, and things may turn around by then. "

Ma Bo nodded with a heavy heart, and immediately came to his senses.

"Transfer?"

"Well, when the chaos finally comes to an end, Anxi is a big country, and it won't perish if it says it will perish. Moreover, Anxi is different from Wei State. Many local tyrants are very powerful, just like the princes in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States. Capturing its capital does not mean it will be destroyed. rest in peace.

Taking a ten thousand step back, even if Anxi really falls, those local princes may not be willing to cooperate with the Loumo Kingdom. In this troubled world fighting for hegemony, there may be some troubled forces inheriting Anxi's position. In short, when they calm down , what should come will still come. "

Guo Peng squinted his eyes and cast his sights into the distance: "We must not only see the crisis in the future, but also see the opportunities in the future. In a crisis, there is an opportunity. Only in a crisis can there be an opportunity. Only by overcoming the crisis can we usher in the opportunity." , we still have to take a long-term view.”

The lifespan of the Parthian Empire is indeed not long, but there are still a group of people living in that land, and there is still a strong local government maintaining it.

Anxi collapsed, just like Qin lost its deer, and the world chased after it. Sasanian Persia stood up and established regional hegemony.

It's still the same group of people, but the government has changed, and Chinese products still remain attractive to them. They will come back, but it will take time.

Ma Bo didn't feel this kind of opportunity, he thought maybe he wasn't standing high enough, so he couldn't see so many things.

It seems that it is.

There is always a limit to where you stand. Only when you go to the center and stand in the court of Luoyang, can you see more and more valuable things.

At this moment, Ma Bo made up his mind that no matter what, he would go to Luoyang to take over the power of the world.

Staying in place, always like a frog at the bottom of a well, can't even see the crisis that is close at hand, how can it not be dangerous?

Chapter 1529 The collapsed Parthian Empire

After talking with Guo Peng for a while, Ma Bo felt that his vision of seeing problems was different from before.

Originally, his vision was focused on one county, at most he looked up at Liangzhou, and then he had no other thoughts.

But now, he felt that if he wanted to stand firm and walk fast, he had to look up to more distant places, such as Luoyang, or even abroad.

The world is connected, not separated from each other.

In his opinion, it won't be long before an economic depression that will affect the three prefectures of the Western Regions and the two prefectures of Yongliang and Liangzhou will hit.

The impact on Yongzhou should be good. Yongzhou itself can still connect to the Kanto market and the central Sichuan market. Its own agricultural foundation is also very strong. Anyway, if a few upstarts die, the basic market will not be troubled.

Moreover, if Guo Peng could tell Lu Qian about this, he would naturally tell Mao Jie as well.

Mao Jie will make some corresponding preparations, and nothing will happen to Yongzhou.

The three prefectures of the Western Regions and Liangzhou will have big problems.

There is a limit to agricultural production. Life is tight on agriculture alone. It has only been a few years of good life on commerce. As a result, half of the passenger flow and half of the commercial orders will be lost, which means that half of the business will be lost. source of wealth.

Half!

It seems that there is still half of the source of wealth that can be kept, but how many of those merchants who specialize in connecting with the Parthian Empire can survive this wave of economic depression until the second recovery?

In other words, will there really be a second recovery?

It took almost 20 years from the great chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty to the establishment of the Guowei Empire, and 20 years of chaos in Anxi?

20 years, who can sustain it?

Ma Bo didn't know, but he knew that this wave was not only a test for the commercial economy, but also a test for the official circles of the three prefectures in the Western Regions and the two prefectures of Yongliang and Liangzhou.

Whoever's subordinate can control the business scale best before the crisis comes, the smaller the loss, the lower the fluctuation of people's hearts, the more calmly they can deal with the depression and survive this hard time.

Nor will it face additional political crises.

Therefore, the next period of time is an opportunity for business, but it may not be an opportunity for officials.

Do your best to prepare before the crisis comes. When the crisis officially comes, it depends on everyone's own ability. Each of you will see the truth with your bayonet. Who is the real gold and who is the parallel importer, you will see for yourself!

Ma Bo took a deep breath and began to prepare.

Guo Peng chatted with many officials and talked about state affairs all the way. He took Guo Chengzhi with him and asked him to listen with him.

He didn't need to talk, he just listened. After listening, Guo Peng would ask him how he felt when he left.

Guo Chengzhi's biggest feeling is to look at problems from different angles.

"A lot of things really need to be looked at in the longer term. The farther you look, the more correct the conclusions you will draw. If you only look at the immediate interests and only care about what you can do right now, I'm afraid you can't even do it right now. Something went wrong."

"This is the so-called people without long-term worries, there must be near-term worries."

Guo Peng nodded, took Guo Chengzhi's hand and walked slowly forward: "You have to stand high enough to see far enough, and to see far enough to formulate the most practical policies for the country, and, Wei The present of the country is different from the past.

Chengzhi, we have gradually connected with the whole world and the whole world. The war between the Lomo Kingdom and the Anxi Kingdom, which is thousands of miles away from us, can actually affect the livelihood of the people in Liangzhou under our feet. You say, this is Isn't it a wonderful thing? "

Guo Chengzhi nodded.

He has seen the world map, he was taught the correct world concept by Guo Peng himself, and he has a broad vision from the beginning.

Therefore, he is not ignorant of Rome and the Parthian Empire, which are thousands of miles away. On the contrary, he understands it very well, and he is a brother who understands international politics.

He knows Rome, Anxi, and Guishuang.

It is known that Rome and Anxi have been fighting for years, and they have a deep hatred for each other.

Knowing that the father of this generation of Roman emperors once broke through the capital of Parthia, Parthia has always been ashamed.

I also know that the country of Anxi is getting old and dying, and this war is more like a talisman, urging Anxi to collapse faster.

So Guo Chengzhi spoke slowly.

"It's really amazing, thousands of miles away, but it can affect our livelihood because of the businessman's relationship. If they are stable, we can make money and let more people live a good life. If they are not stable, we can't earn that. For money, someone has to live a hard life.”

"Yes, this is the wonder of the Silk Road. There are advantages and disadvantages. Just like life, there are not only good things, but also countless bad things. You can benefit from it, but you must also lose it. There is no absolute gain. profit."

Guo Peng said slowly: "So, Chengzhi, remember, never think about having the best of both worlds, and always remember that the most important thing for a politician is to be able to achieve the lesser of two evils."

"Yes, grandson will never forget it in his life."

Guo Chengzhi, along with Guo Peng, set his sights on the far west—the battlefield between the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire.

The war that was profoundly affecting the economic production activities in the western part of the Wei Empire was coming to an end.

Caracalla has successfully breached the capital of the Parthian Empire, and that war is over.

Artaban V has been a complete failure.

The army he led fell apart under the offensive of the Roman army, and the Parthian Empire, which was exhausted to the extreme, was unable to provide more strategic materials to the Parthian army.

And Aldaban V was unable to ask for money from the dignitaries, nor did he have the prestige to let the local powerful factions support him to continue fighting, so naturally he could not continue.

In fact, he knew very well that this war could not go on. Right now, he was just holding his breath and didn't want the Roman army to attack the capital Ctesiphon again.

Back then, Caracalla's father, Severus, had invaded Ctesiphon, which had greatly insulted the Parthian Empire.

If Caracalla continues to invade, and two generations of father and son invade Ctesiphon one after another, the prestige of the central government of the Parthian Empire will really be lost. By then, the local powerful factions will see clearly the decline of the central government, and they will be ambitious.

Those Persians have never been honest, and their yearning for the majestic Persian Empire established by their ancestors has never disappeared.

At that time, Rome will not be the most important enemy, but the internal centrifugal forces will be the most terrible enemy, and those Persians who are ready to move will be the real crisis of the Parthian Empire.

Caracalla, on the other hand, can use this to establish her complete succession to her father-we have all invaded Ctesiphon and become conquerors.

His prestige will be greatly enhanced, and his prestige as an emperor will be greatly condensed, thereby further integrating the power he can use and increasing his threat.

Against this background, Artaban V really dared not lose.

But he still lost.

The elite cavalry of the Parthian Central Army was defeated by the Roman cavalry, and the Roman infantry also defeated the resistance of the Parthian infantry. Artaban V was defeated and injured on the front line.

He was shot in the shoulder with an arrow, and even half of the guards were killed. He fought hard among the chaos and tried his best to escape and returned to the capital.

As a result, they were quickly chased up by the Romans and attacked the city.

He tried his best to defend the city, mobilized all the troops to defend the city, went into battle to boost morale, and resolutely refused to admit defeat.

After persisting for more than ten days, in the end, he still failed to keep the capital that his ancestors finally regained, and the capital fell again.

The Romans swarmed in, the Parthian army collapsed, unable to carry out street fighting, and Ctesiphon fell again.

Unfortunately, he didn't even save the last bit of face.

In order to survive, he had to flee to the east of the empire on the advice of his cronies, trying to reorganize his strength and then fight against the Roman Empire.

It's just that it's hard to say how much appeal he still has in the local area after losing all his capital.

How much dignity does a leader who has been defeated by the enemy and lost even the capital have?

All I can say is, I hope there is still a little life left.

If those powerful Persian factions still have a little respect for him and won't take advantage of his illness to kill him...

In short, with the retreat of Aldaban V, the building of the Parthian Empire is gradually approaching the reality of collapse.

Compared with the abjection and fear of Aldaban V, Caracalla is proud of himself.

He led the army into Ctesiphon, proved his ability, proved that he could inherit his father's position, became the great military emperor, and led the imperial guards to get promoted and get rich together.

The negative impact of killing Macrinus disappeared with the breach of Ctesiphon, and those who still had Macrinus in their hearts also forgot everything in front of Cetsifon's gold, silver and jewels.

The guards plundered in Ctesiphon, searched for treasures, plundered the people, took everything in Ctesiphon as their own, and tried their best to desire, while Caracalla smiled triumphantly at the peak of desire with.

He knew that from now on, he would become a powerful king like his father, and he would be able to have a series of dominance over the Imperial Guards. The prelude to realizing the dream of centralization.

The Parthian Empire lost its troops and land, was completely defeated, the capital fell, and everything that should be lost was lost. Caracalla originally wanted to take advantage of the victory and attack several important cities in the central and eastern parts of the Parthian Empire.

For example, Trajan and his father Severus did not conquer the fortress of the Parthian Empire. If he could conquer it and go further into the hinterland of the Parthian Empire, he would definitely be able to further damage the Parthian Empire.

However, most of his entourage generals opposed such aggressive advances.

The reason is that their army has a total of only 5 people, and it is difficult to do what Emperor Severus' 10 people could not do.

Moreover, this expedition itself was speculative in nature, and it was not prepared for a full-scale war. If it wanted to launch an attack east of Taixifeng, it had to be prepared for a full-scale war.

The east of Taixifeng is the real core area of ​​the Anxi Empire. A large number of local powerful factions gather there. A single emperor is nothing at all, but if the entire Anxi local powerful faction is offended, this battle will still be fought.

chapter 1530 one thousand 450 what Cao Chongzhi saw

Caracalla's generals are telling the truth.

Having been enemies for many years, no one knew the Parthian Empire better than the Roman generals.

The emperor of Anxi can no longer reproduce the glory of the year. He cannot represent the real Anxi Empire at all, and even the capital Taixifeng cannot represent the Anxi Empire.

The capture of Taixifeng has been done by seniors, but this does not change anything.

The reason why the Parthia Empire still exists is that the capital is more like a fortress of war. In order for the Parthia Emperor to face the threat of Rome more directly, it is logical to take control of the military power to deter local powerful factions. The meaning is like Zhu Di moving the capital to Beijing.

It is all to allow the supreme ruler to directly control a large number of troops to frighten the whole country.

The rulers of the Parthian Empire were not of the same race as the large number of Persians in the empire. The rulers were outsiders, and the Persians were locals.

The conflict between natives and foreign rulers has a long history.

The Persians themselves once established a huge and powerful empire, which greatly shocked the "Western world" at that time.

So the Persians didn't think they were born to be ruled.