amaotonovel Chapter 717 Dog bites dog, a hairy mouth
Chapter 717 Dog bites dog, a hairy mouth
Diplomacy is also a battle, the purpose of which is to force the enemy to agree to one's demands, including both reasonable and unreasonable ones.
Therefore, before negotiations begin, the stronger party will often give the weaker party a show of force to undermine their morale and gain control of the negotiation.
Pan Junji was well-versed in this way in officialdom, so as soon as the meeting ended, he asked Tu Lin to take the Parthian envoy Rudolf to visit the prisoner-of-war camp outside the city.
Rudolf, who was accompanying Tulin to the prisoner-of-war camp, was very uneasy. He was there on behalf of King Vologasis VI of Parthia to negotiate with Ma Chao and form an alliance with him to fight against the Sassanid family.
Unexpectedly, upon arriving in Tambe, they received news that Ma Chao had defeated the Sassanid army and captured Ardashir.
Rudolf was stunned when he received the news, because he knew all too well Ardashir's strength. This traitor of the empire had been driving the empire into defeat in recent years, and only one battle remained before he could destroy the empire and take its place. He had even written a surrender oath for Ardashir, and would surrender immediately once Ardashir broke through Ctesiphon.
As it turned out, the almost invincible Ardashir in his eyes was defeated by Ma Chao, who appeared out of nowhere, and was defeated very thoroughly, and was even captured.
Therefore, Rudolf was confused and didn't know what to do. He came to form an alliance with Ma Chao to fight against the Sassanids, but Ma Chao himself had dealt with the Sassanid family, so the alliance seemed unnecessary.
What can we do then? We can't just turn back, after all, we've come all this way.
With the thought that "since I'm already here," Rudolf still chose to see Ma Chao, but instead of seeing Ma Chao, he was taken to a prisoner-of-war camp by Ma Chao's men.
Rudolf was unsure of Ma Chao's purpose in sending him to the prisoner-of-war camp and was extremely uneasy. He wanted to get some information from Tu Lin beside him, but they couldn't communicate because of the language barrier. Moreover, Tu Lin had a dark face the whole time and gave off a "keep away" vibe, which scared Rudolf so much that he didn't dare to speak. He could only obediently follow behind Tu Lin.
Finally, we arrived at the prisoner-of-war camp. Upon entering, we found all the prisoners shirtless, wearing only a pair of shorts, shivering in the snow.
That's right, the prisoners of war were all standing in the snow. Ma Chao had neither the mood nor the ability to set up tents for the prisoners. Did they expect to get on the kang (heated brick bed) if they weren't standing in the snow?
Rudolf followed Turin slowly forward, his heart pounding as he watched the prisoners of war huddled together for warmth, yet still shivering from the cold. He recognized many of them.
As a high-ranking official of the Parthian Empire, Rudolf had a lot of dealings with the Sassanid family and knew many of their senior generals.
Seeing these family generals, who usually flaunted their family's military might against him, shivering in the cold, Rudolf felt a mix of exhilaration at finally getting his revenge and sadness at the loss of his kin. His emotions were incredibly complex.
Tu Lin paid no attention to Rudolf's expression or mood, but mechanically led Rudolf around the camp before heading back home.
Upon returning to the city, he took Rudolf directly to the city lord's mansion. Upon entering, he found Ma Chao, Pan Jun, and Ardashir all there. He then clasped his hands in a fist salute to Ma Chao and took the initiative to stand behind him.
Ma Chao stared at Rudolf for a long time before asking in Shule language, "You must be Rudolf, the Parthian envoy. What brings you to this general's attention?"
Rudolf trembled with fear at the murderous aura emanating from Ma Chao. He secretly glanced at Ardashir before speaking in a trembling voice in Shule: “I came here on the orders of my king to negotiate with the general about the campaign against the Sassanids. Now it seems unnecessary, so I will return to Ctesiphon to report to my king.”
Ma Chao shook his head and said, "How could it not be necessary? Ardashir is here too. The two of you can discuss how to deal with me together."
"Uh..." Rudolf trembled violently in fright and hurriedly said, "No...no..."
You easily wiped out the Sassanid army of 300,000. How dare the Parthian Empire cause trouble now?
The Parthian Empire at present cannot muster an army of 300,000.
As for uniting with the Sassanid family to fight against Ma Chao, don't be ridiculous. Without its 300,000-strong army, how much strength does the Sassanid family have left? Even with the addition of the Parthian Empire, the Sassanid family might not be a match for Ma Chao.
More importantly, the Parthian Empire did not trust the Sassanid family, and moreover, compared to Ma Chao, an external enemy, the Parthian Empire still wanted to deal with the Sassanid family, the traitor, and believed that the Sassanid family felt the same way. There was no possibility of cooperation between the two.
Ma Chao sneered, "It's good that you know you don't dare. Since you don't dare, let's talk about serious matters. How many days do you think your Parthian Empire can withstand if I lead my army to attack Ctesiphon?"
Rudolf could no longer hold on, his legs buckled and he knelt down, trembling as he said, "General, you mustn't! Our Parthian Empire has not offended you!"
Ma Chao has already dealt with the Sassanid family, so dealing with the weaker Parthian Empire would be a piece of cake.
The thought of Ma Chao attacking Taisifeng nearly made Rudolf lose control of his bladder.
Seeing how cowardly he was, Ma Chao didn't bother with further intimidation and laid his cards on the table: "Let's get straight to the point. I'm here to rob, not to attack. Give me a batch of grain, and I guarantee I will never attack Taixifeng for ten years. But if you don't give it to me, I don't mind breaking through Taixifeng and taking it myself. Do you understand what I mean?"
All they want is grain?
Rudolf breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, and cautiously inquired, "How much grain does the general want?"
Ma Chao did not answer directly, but pointed at Ardashir and said, "He gave me eight million shi of grain to let him go back. How much grain do you think Parthia should give him?"
Rudolf completely ignored the number eight million and screamed in terror, "What? You're going to let Ardashir go back? How can you do that?"
He was a direct victim of Ardashir's tyranny and his fear of Ardashir was even deeper than Ma Chao's. Therefore, when he heard that Ma Chao wanted to release Ardashir, he immediately had a stress response.
Damn Ma Chao, why did you let Ardashir go after finally capturing him? If he goes back, won't our Parthian Empire suffer again?
Ardashir was so enraged by these words that he wanted to rush up and kick Rudolf, but he didn't dare to because of Ma Chao. He just cursed loudly, "What, can't I go back?"
Rudolf was startled again by Ardashir's rebuke. Thinking of the terrible consequences of Ardashir returning to his family, he gritted his teeth and said decisively, "I am willing to offer ten million shi of grain. Please sell Ardashir to me, General!"
Ardashir's expression changed drastically, filled with both anger and fear. He wanted nothing more than to rush up and kill this bastard, but instead of taking action, he nervously looked at Ma Chao.
He feared that Ma Chao might not be able to resist the temptation and would actually sell him out.
If he were to fall into Rudolf's hands and be taken back to Ctesiphon and handed over to the Parthian king, he would rather just slit his own throat.
Ma Chao's heart pounded at the sight of the number. He turned and translated for Pan Jun in Chinese, saying, "I understand Rudolf's desire for Ardashir, but can the Parthian Empire, in its current wretched state, really produce ten million shi of grain? I find it hard to believe!"
Pan Jun was also taken aback by the number. After a quick thought, he said, "The two of them are at odds. This is a good thing for us. Ask Ardashir if the Parthian Empire really has that much grain. If it does, we'll be rich."
As he spoke, drool involuntarily dripped from the corner of his mouth, and Pan Jun awkwardly turned around to wipe it away.
Ma Chao stared at Rudolf and asked, "Ten million shi of grain, what a boastful tone. Do you even understand the concept of the word 'shi'? Do you know how much one shi of grain is?"
The Han and Parthians used different units of measurement. He had to explain it to Ardashir several times, and even weighed the grain himself before Ardashir understood how much a shi (石) was. Rudolf, however, just blurted it out, clearly lying to him.
Rudolf was stunned when he heard this, as he really didn't know how much a stone was.
Ma Chao didn't expect him to know, but instead asked Ardashir, "Does Parthia really have ten million shi of grain?"
Ardashir nodded hastily and said, "That's right. The Parthian Empire still controls the Asopoda Plain west of Ctesiphon, which is the largest grain-producing area of the Parthian Empire."