With Egypt's massive army in the vanguard and Roman consul Caesar as their backup, the Romans were already planning to invade Asia Minor and expand their power across the world.
Greece and Persia, who were already fighting each other fiercely, were both in danger in the face of the Roman army.
Xia Zhe hopes that Xerxes can return alive and stabilize the current political situation in Persia.
With his kingly heart, he organized the Persian army to offer effective resistance and slow down Caesar's pace of conquering the world.
That would be the most beneficial for the Greek side!
Romans?
Caesar?
Hearing these unfamiliar names, most people were confused, except for a very small number of veterans who had followed Xia Zhe on the expedition to Seranda.
Were the Romans strong?
How come I have never heard of it?
And that Caesar, where did he come from?
Even if he was a good fighter, could he have defeated King Xerxes of Persia? It's completely unreasonable to criticize him!
Even Xerxes himself scoffed at the news that Egypt was taking advantage of the situation to invade Persia, thinking that the Egyptians must be out of their minds to be so foolish as to come and attack with a vengeance.
Everyone agreed that Xia Zhe was just looking for excuses by talking about these things.
The king must have a deeper plan.
However, none of the Greek coalition generals could guess what the king was planning!
"Okay! I won't ask what your real reason is. Just tell me. What conditions do you need to meet to redeem me and my 100,000 guards? Territory? Money? Or a beauty? If it's territory, I'm sorry, as the king of Persia, I will never agree to it even if I die!" Xue Xi asked frankly, not believing Xia Zhe's reason.
Xerxes and his attitude made Xia Zhe stunned.
Don't believe it?
How can you not believe it?
I really didn't lie!
The one who wanted to attack Persia was the famous Caesar!
If you, the ambitious King of Persia, die here, Persia will be in chaos in the short term!
It is very likely that large numbers of people will surrender to the Romans!
By then, the isolated island of Greece would be surrounded on all sides, and it would be extremely difficult for it to withstand the attack of Rome!
The only way was to release Xerxes and let an ambitious person like him organize manpower and material resources to delay the Romans' conquest of Asia Minor.
Only then will I have enough time to find the last two hearts of the king and leave this dangerous world!
Xia Zhe quickly figured out this logic after receiving information that the Romans were beginning to interfere in Canaan.
He originally thought that since Xerxes was determined to unify the world, he would definitely understand it immediately.
Unexpectedly, Xerxes didn't understand.
However, after thinking about it again, Xia Zhe also understood Xerxes a little.
After all, the Romans had only just begun their eastward expansion, and Xerxes had no personal experience of the Romans' power.
As for Caesar, the power of this great villain in history, only a time traveler like myself who is familiar with history can truly understand it.
It was actually reasonable that Xerxes and his generals could not understand it at that time.
In this case, if we want to let Xerxes go, I'm afraid we have to offer some pretty good conditions.
Otherwise, even if Xerxes and the Persian soldiers felt that they had gained a great advantage and did not dwell on it, I am afraid that these people under him would still feel unhappy and would inevitably cause trouble for him.
"Let's put it this way. Since you have so many bottom lines, you might as well tell me what conditions you can offer. If you can satisfy me, I will let you go back!" Thinking of this, Xia Zhe spoke seriously.
Make your own conditions!
When things developed to this point, everyone understood that King Stobi really intended to let Xerxes go.
However, he needed to obtain good conditions from the Persian king in order to gain practical benefits for the Greeks.
It’s not surprising when you think about it.
War is the continuation of politics.
Only those who can obtain the benefits that cannot be obtained in war through ransom are truly qualified politicians.
Although the Persian army was defeated by the Greek coalition forces in this round of invasion, Persia only lost its troops, and its inherent territory remained very stable.
The Greek coalition forces wanted to cross the strait and launch an attack on the Persian heartland, but they did not have the ability to do so in the short term.
Although killing Xerxes was a relief, Greece actually did not receive any real, substantial compensation.
But if we think more broadly, it would be logical to take Xerxes as a hostage and ask Persia for compensation.
In this way, the Greeks can truly benefit from this Greco-Persian War.
As for the emotional aspect, it is not difficult for everyone to accept it, because the Greek side won this decisive battle so easily that almost no one was killed.
Not to mention, all of this planning was done by King Stoby alone!
He came forward to demand compensation from Persia in exchange for their king. No one could say anything about this, both emotionally and logically.
Hearing Xia Zhe say this, Xerxes came back to his senses.
Very good!
He had assumed he would die, and had been playing the hero. But now that the compensation was clear and appropriate, and he could truly return alive, Xerxes was no fool; he knew what to do.
However, if too much of Persia's interests were betrayed in public, it would inevitably arouse the dissatisfaction of the loyal guards.
But if the benefits offered were not enough, he was afraid that he would not be able to satisfy King Stobi and lose his life. If there was a chance to save his life, of course he had to fight for it!
Faced with this dilemma, Xerxes hesitated for a moment. After careful consideration, he tentatively spoke.
"Money, treasures, and beauties, just tell me how much you want. As long as Persia can give, I can give it to you! As for territory, of course I can't give it for free, but if it is an exchange, Persia can accept it!" Xerxes said with a righteous look.
In Xerxes' heart, he always regarded King Stobi as an ambitious man like himself. What an ambitious man desires most is, of course, land!
But just now, when I thought I was going to die and was acting like a hero, I had already made a harsh statement that the territory would not be given away for free. Now, although my desire to survive is growing stronger, I can't bring myself to change my words and agree to cede the land, but I really can't say it out loud.
Therefore, he could only play a marginal ball, implying that although the territory could not be given for free, it could be exchanged.
In this way, when the actual exchange took place, compensating Greece a little more would be equivalent to ceding territory. This would only make it seem as if Persia had not suffered any loss, and it would be easier to explain to its subjects later.
You can have any treasure you want!
Hearing this crucial sentence, Xia Zhe was delighted and turned to look at Lillian.
When Xia Zhe heard that the Romans intended to invade Persia, what made him most nervous was the King's Heart near the Persian capital of Persepolis.
After obtaining the seventh King's Heart from the Crete Continent, Xia Zhe was confused for a while. He knew in his heart that the remaining two were too far away and too difficult to obtain.
But when he intended to let Xerxes go, Xia Zhe suddenly saw hope, the hope of quickly gaining the king's heart of Persia.
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