Amid the curses of the soldiers, the dung car swayed out of the south gate and drove all the way. Through the gaps between the dung buckets, the towering city of Susa became smaller and more blurred. Tagina finally breathed a sigh of relief, clutching her nose and yelling: "Quickly stop, big brother, quickly stop."
But Balik didn't seem to hear anything. The whip in his hand snapped and slammed against the cow's back, making the old cow ran happier.
Laura was so frightened that she shuddered and said, "Miss, things are not right!"
But Tagina was extremely calm, quietly drew something from her bag and hid it in her arms, and whispered: "Don't be afraid, this person is not like a bad person, but you must be prepared."
Balik is indeed just an ordinary dung-digger, not a vicious person, but people will always change, and no one is born a robber. At first, when Balek saw the two little girls look tenderly and pity, he promised to send them out of the city. But when Balek saw the heavy burden on their backs, he couldn't help but become greedy.
Hearing only a shout from Balik, the dung truck gradually drove off the highway and got into the small woods on the side of the road. The dense branches and leaves obscured the moonlight, and from time to time there was a howl or two of wild beasts, which looked extremely gloomy and terrifying. This time even Tagina couldn't help but shiver.
With the noise of "plops, plops," Balek pushed down the dung buckets one by one, revealing two trembling little girls.
After seeing the world, Tagina quickly regained her composure, relieved her burden, opened up in front of Balek, took out a handful of gold coins from it, and said, "Big brother, thank you. , The money can be used to charge the fare."
But Balik had already seen the golden light flashing in the baggage. I'm afraid there are still a lot of treasures. He couldn't help but grinned and said: "Where is this little money enough? Why don't you bring all the baggage over!"
Laura lost her voice: "Twenty gold coins are still too few, and you are too greedy!"
"Stop talking!" Tagina stopped Laura, passed the burden over, and said, "Well, I'll give you all these things."
Balek grabbed the baggage and said to Laura, "Bring what you have!"
Laura was a little reluctant, but Tagina said in a deep voice, "Give it to him!"
Balek held the two baggages in his hands and weighed them for a long time, but a pair of thief eyes patrolled Tajina and Laura back and forth. He couldn't help but feel the idea of getting the money together, and suddenly threw the baggage to the ground. He said sharply, "You two, take off your clothes!"
Laura asked in surprise: "You, what are you going to do?"
Balek said triumphantly: “There’s no reason to not eat the meat delivered to your mouth. Brother, I don’t know what a woman is like. Today it happened to be a meat dish.”
Laura screamed with fright. Balek picked up a dung steak and said fiercely: "Stop shouting, it's useless to shout at your throat! This is the wilderness, and it smells like the sky. Others are too afraid to avoid it. Who will? Come here!"
Tajina boldly said: "Good brother, our sisters are too dirty, can you find a place for us to wash, and then do that again."
The sound of "good brother" made Balek's bones crisp, and he immediately smiled and said: "Brother, I deal with these pickled things all day, and it only smells fragrant, so I don’t think it smells too bad. Little sister, take it off quickly. Well, don't delay your effort."
Tajina lowered her head helplessly, and after a long time, she suddenly said: "Good brother, my hand is shaking so much, or you can help me."
Seeing that the little girl was so witty, Balik couldn't help but be enraged. He threw the dung pickle, and a hungry tiger rushed over, suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his chest.
I saw that Tagina was already rolling and running to the side, but there was a brilliant "gold bar" on Balik's chest. No, what is the "gold bar", it is clearly a golden handle, and the blade has penetrated into his heart.
Barrac just wanted to understand this, he felt as if his strength had been taken away, his legs softened, and he fell slowly, blood gurgling out from his chest, stained red.
Seeing that Balik was dead, Tagina was stunned. She didn't know where she was in the murder just now, and suddenly yelled hysterically...
The outside of Beitian city gradually became lively, and 200,000 troops have arrived one after another, and they have camped for dozens of miles, which is quite spectacular. Liu Xin didn't move on either, he needed to take some time to readjust his deployment.
If you want to take the initiative to attack Daqin, you must borrow from Parthia. Originally, Liu Xin thought it was just a very simple matter. Tai Xifeng was taken back by a big man with the help of a big man. He used the way to attack their enemies. For Volojis, shouldn't he ask for it? But now it's different. Ardaban and Caracalla colluded together, adding many variables to this war.
Apart from the concession agreement between Dahan and Parthia, there is no agreement that allows troops to be stationed at will. After the army crosses the border, the lifeline of the food transportation road will be in the hands of the Parthians. What Liu Xin worried most was that the Parthians ostensibly agreed to let the Han army borrow the way, and then suddenly turned his face and stabbed a knife in the back while the battle was stalemate in the front.
Liu Xin has never liked interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, but he is even more reluctant to gamble with the lives of himself and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. After several trade-offs, Liu Xin decided to bypass the incompetent Volojis and the ambitious Ardaban and send a mission to get in touch with Arshak directly.
Since Jia Xu has been in the Han Concession for a long time and knows most about Parthia, the important task of this mission has fallen on his shoulders. Jia Xu also knew that this trip was of great responsibility and did not dare to neglect. After receiving Liu Xin's order, he departed from the concession overnight and hurriedly rushed to Ekbatana two days later.
Arshak's mansion occupies the center of Ekbatana, it's as big as a village, so it's not hard to find. Some soldiers came forward to announce their intentions. It’s not that good. A gentle middle-aged man walked out of the door and bowed and said, “It turns out that it’s Master Jia who is here. Regarding things, Your Highness can't see you. So I ask Master Jia to go to the post house for a few days first, and look at Haihan for the offense."
Jia Xu vaguely felt that this person was quite familiar, and when he took a closer look, it turned out that it was Remitu, the prime minister of the country who was deposed by Volojis.
After learning that Remitu was deposed, Arshak sent his family to Ekbatana. In order to avoid annoying Volojis, Arshak did not arrange any official position for Remitu, but he trusted Remitu. Now, Remitu can do almost half of Arshak's master.
Jia Xu has never dealt with Arshak, or even met Arshak himself. In Jia Xu's mind, Arshak is both the heir to the throne of Parthia and long-term garrison in Ekbatana, holding one hundred thousand heavy soldiers, it is inevitable that he will be a little arrogant. Remitu's words must be just excuses. Jia Xu couldn't help frowning and said: "Jia is indeed in a hurry here, and I would like to ask Mr. Guoxiang to pass it on again. Jia Xu is grateful!"
"Master Jia is serious. It's no longer a state minister here." Remitu shook his head in shame, and said, "It's true that the two Highnesses are arguing inside. It's inconvenient for Master Jia to go in at this time. It's better to just go to the post house with the adults, if you have anything, it's the same if you tell me first."
Hearing that Aldaban was also in the house, Jia Xu was inconvenient to get in, so he had to go to the post house first, accompanied by Remitu.
It turned out that Aldaban took the people all the way to search, until outside the city of Ekbatana, and did not see the whereabouts of Tagina. If Tagina is not recovered, the cooperation with Caracalla will be impossible, and Aldaban will lose a strong support.
Therefore, even in the face of the danger of exposing his relationship with Caracalla, Ardaban decided to get his daughter back from Arshak, because he had determined that Tagina was hiding in Arshak's home.
Arshak felt inexplicable and naturally denied it. But Aldaban didn't follow him, and he had to search in his mansion to give up. There are still many female families in Arshak House, and of course they will not agree to let the people of Ardaban go crazy, so the two brothers quarreled and only had a fight.
Jia Xu couldn't see Arshak's face for the time being, and many things were inconvenient to tell Remitu, so he stayed depressed in the post house and waited for the news.
But Liu Xin was not idle. In the two days that Jia Xu left, he has been making various preparations for the upcoming war.
The First Army has crossed the Kangju border and entered the Dahan Concession as the vanguard. The 30,000 soldiers of the Western Regions have also taken over Dawan's defense. The cavalry composed of herdsmen from all ethnic groups in one hundred thousand grasslands just passed the Uzbeli fortress and entered the territory of Dawan.
The slower movements were the guard army formed by the old army and the civilians who transported heavy grains and grass. They had just arrived at the Uzbeli fortress. Fortunately, Liu Xin had already hoarded a large amount of grain and grass in the fortress, and transporting it from here to the concession would save a lot of time.
Before the soldiers and horses are moved, the food and grass go first is not just for fun. Hundreds of thousands of people eat horses and chew every day, and the consumption is huge. When these guards and civilians arrived, Zhang Ren did not give them a chance to breathe, and immediately allocated grain and grass from the warehouse to transport them to Kangju overnight.
The roads in Dawan are still under construction, and the transportation of materials is extremely difficult. The guards and civilians are old soldiers who have not been given enough rest, and they will inevitably complain. Although the officers at all levels in the team came from the regular army, the Han army was not allowed to beat and scold the soldiers, and let them persuade them bitterly. These old soldiers were still joking and couldn't go far for a long time.
At this moment, two veterans stood up, one of whom was still blindfolded, it was Xiahoudun and Xiahouyuan. The two brothers waved the spears in their hands and beat several soldiers who were unable to work with their spears. The situation improved slightly and they walked a little faster.
Liu Xin waited for the grain and grass in Beitian City, but did not come, and waited for the grain and grass on the right, but he waited for an urgent letter from Chang'an.