October 5th.
Marcus Aurelius led fifteen gladiator legions to the eastern part of the Parthian capital.
Seeing the Roman army approaching the city, the Parthian king and his ministers, though terrified, still actively worked to defend the city.
Sakqi, who was appointed as the commander of the city defense, not only sent all 60,000 newly formed troops to the city walls, but also sent people to conscript 40,000 young men in the city. He also demolished a large number of houses and used the stones and wooden beams as logs and rolling stones to move them to the city walls.
Seeing that Sakhqi had arranged everything in an orderly manner, the Parthian king and his ministers were somewhat relieved.
Marcus Aurelius, who had been observing the Parthian army's movements from outside the city, also frowned.
Li Boming stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, it seems there is a skilled defender in Parthia. Let's wait until all the provinces and the legions under the Senate have arrived before we attack!"
"Well, that's all we can do." Marcus Aurelius nodded, then sighed, "I never imagined that Parthia would be so full of talented people!"
Marcus Aurelius took a deep look at the city walls, then returned to his camp and sent men to urge Kurlik and Hanis's troops to move forward.
As to why Sakqi was so adept at defending cities, firstly, it was because of the lessons learned from the campaign against the Han army last year; secondly, it was because he secretly learned these skills during negotiations with the Han army.
It was only after his encounter with the Han army that Sakqi truly witnessed what a real army was like.
Although he also wanted to train a force similar to the Han army, unfortunately, Parthia did not have as many systematic military strategies left by their predecessors, nor did it have the advanced equipment manufacturing technology of the Han Dynasty.
Of course, most importantly, Parthia did not have a powerful ruler like the emperor of the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, although these 60,000 new troops were trained by Sakqi with Han army advisors and by copying the Han army model, they were only in name.
Those Han military advisors only trained the soldiers in basic standing postures; the rest of their time was spent teaching Parthian soldiers Chinese characters and constantly instilling pro-Han ideas in them.
Despite this, upon seeing the upright and ready-to-fight New Army soldiers beside him, Sakqi breathed a sigh of relief.
In particular, the excellent equipment worn by the soldiers, which came from the Han army, gave Sakqi an unprecedented sense of security.
I still can't forget the scene when 10,000 Han soldiers, relying on their superior equipment, annihilated his 50,000 soldiers in a head-on confrontation.
Now that we have 30,000 soldiers like these, and they're even used to defend the city, there's no reason why we can't stop the Roman attack.
Five days later, the teams led by Kulik and Hanis arrived at the north and south of the Parthian capital, respectively.
During their journey, the two men's group gained a considerable income through plundering, but it was mostly just valuables; they didn't collect much food.
Therefore, after a brief discussion, Marcus Aurelius decided to launch a simultaneous attack on the three gates of the Parthian capital.
Kurik and Hanis both agreed with this decision.
They also wanted to take control of Parthia's capital as soon as possible and then return to their homeland.
October 11th.
Marcus Aurelius led fourteen gladiator legions to the east gate.
Kulik led thirteen provincial legions to the north gate.
Hanis led ten noble legions to the south gate.
At noon, the Roman army officially launched its general offensive against the Parthian capital.
At the outset, Marcus Aurelius and his two companions committed 60,000 troops to launch a fierce attack on the three gates of the Parthian capital, with everyone dreaming of breaching the city in one fell swoop.
Unfortunately, the idea was nice, but reality was cruel.
Faced with the overwhelming Romans, Sarkozy calmly dispatched archers from his army, armed with large bows and powerful crossbows purchased from the Han army, to fire upon the Roman troops.
The archers in the Roman army provided absolutely no cover.
With these two deadly weapons blocking their way, the Roman army suffered heavy casualties. Even the Roman soldiers who managed to climb down the city wall were killed or injured by the rain of rolling stones.
After two hours of fierce fighting, the Roman army, having lost more than 10,000 men, retreated in disarray.
"What's going on? How could the Parthian army have such powerful bows and arrows?"
Looking at the retreating soldiers, Marcus Aurelius also looked at Li Boming beside him with some doubt and uncertainty.
In his mind, only the Han army possessed such powerful weapons.
Meeting Marcus Aurelius's gaze, Li Boming said calmly, "Your Majesty, those weapons appear to belong to the Han army!"
Marcus Aurelius's face darkened: "Han army weapons? How did they end up in the hands of the Parthian army?"
Li Boming: "It must have been sold to them!"
"Didn't the Han army form an alliance with us? Why are they selling weapons to the Parthian army? What does the Han army mean by this?"
Marcus Aurelius, his face also grim, questioned him.
"Your Majesty may not know this, but the Han army does not prohibit the sale of military equipment."
In the past, the Han army sold a considerable amount of weaponry to the Xianbei and Xiongnu people on the grasslands.
"What? The Han army would sell weapons to their sworn enemy?"
Marcus Aurelius was slightly taken aback, unable to understand the reason behind it.
"Your Majesty may not know this, but the weapons sold by the Han army are all obsolete or about to be obsolete."
This type of weaponry posed virtually no threat to the Han army.
Of course, even such weaponry was top-of-the-line equipment for the Xianbei and Xiongnu people.
Therefore, the Han army could not only sell their old weapons for new high prices, but also use the proceeds to forge newer and more powerful weapons.
"I see!"
After hearing Li Boming's explanation, Marcus Aurelius couldn't help but exclaim, "Using useless things to make money off the enemy, weakening the enemy while strengthening ourselves—the Han army's approach is truly ingenious!"
In the end, Marcus Aurelius couldn't help but give a wry smile: "However, this equipment, which is useless to the Han army, has become our biggest obstacle!"
"Your Majesty, this..."
"Alright, sir, there's no need to say anymore. I'm not blaming the Han army, but rather the fact that the gap between us and the Han army is simply too great!"
After figuring out the key points, Marcus Aurelius's expression improved considerably.
In his view, the Han army had not forgotten their alliance with him, but rather placed him on an equal footing.
Those outdated weapons posed no threat to the Han army, and naturally, they also posed no threat to the Roman army.
"Sigh!"
After sighing, Marcus Aurelius looked at Li Boming and said in a deep voice, "Sir, I wonder if you could try to communicate with the Han army and sell a batch of military equipment to our army as well?"
"Of course, I'm referring to brand-new weaponry!"
Finally, Marcus Aurelius added.
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