Although Shen Bing's excuse for attacking Lanshi City was good, it still alarmed Phraates I, King of Parthia.
Phraates I was an ambitious king... The emergence of a wise king in troubled times is usually an eternal law, because if a wise king is still in troubled times, he will easily be destroyed by the external environment instead of developing.
At this time, An Ming was in troubled times and under great pressure.
The pressure came not from the nomads in the east, but from the Seleucid Empire in the west.
This Seleucid Empire was no longer a nomad, but a Macedonian people.
This empire was established by Alexander the Great's western expedition and the destruction of the Persian Empire. After Alexander's death, his territory was divided and his general Seleucid established it.
Therefore, the Seleucid Empire still retained the combat method of Alexander's time, which was based on infantry and used a phalanx attack with super long spears.
This method of combat can be said to be the nemesis of the nomadic cavalry, because no matter how brave the cavalry is, they can never break through the super-pike phalanx.
As a result, Parthia was defeated by the Seleucid Empire several times and was forced to pay tribute to it.
Phraates I was shocked when he heard that Lan's City changed hands overnight.
Because Phraates I had dealt with the Lan family before, he knew that the cavalry from the east was not weak. With only a few thousand men, they defeated tens of thousands of Daxia troops and unified Daxia.
Phraates I had always planned to be independent from the Seleucid Empire... In fact, Parthia was already independent, but after independence, it was defeated by the Seleucids and had to pay tribute and become its vassal state.
Phraates I was unwilling to continue like this.
From a Parthian perspective, if you want to confront the Seleucid Empire in the west, you must unite with the nomads in the east.
Therefore, it maintains good relations with Lan City in the southeast and Dawan in the east... It is also in the interests of Anxi to unify Daxia into Lan City. The alliance against Seleucid naturally wants to unify Lan. The family is better, but Daxia, which is fighting on its own, can't hold up the wall because of mud. If you want to borrow some troops or food, you will have to quarrel for a long time.
In the opinion of Phraates I, the Lan clan was likely to grow stronger in the next few years and become a powerful ally of Parthia.
However, suddenly, before Frates I could react, Lan's City actually changed hands?
Phraates I hurriedly said to his men:
"Go and find out, what is the background of the new troops?"
But one day the spies brought back the news:
"Your Majesty, it is said that they are the original troops from China."
"That is the country of silk. The silk that was previously sold to our country came from this country!"
Just like before Shen Bing opened up the Hexi Corridor, there were private commercial exchanges between the Central Plains and the Western Regions. Business usually goes ahead of the army.
The reason is very simple. The army wants to fight with real swords and guns, but the businessmen exchange ideas to see if they can bring what the other party wants.
Therefore, after the silk was sold to the Western Regions from the Yueshi, merchants from the Western Regions would naturally sell the silk further west in order to obtain higher profits.
After Anxi bought it, its merchants would naturally sell it to Seleucid at a higher price in order to make a profit, and then spread it to Rome... so the price became higher and higher.
Phraates I was surprised again when he heard this, and thought to himself:
"The Central Plains Silk Country...since it can produce such exquisite and expensive silk, the country must be very rich and powerful."
"A country that is rich and powerful means that its military strength is not weak."
"The army is not weak and can capture the Lan clan in one battle... Doesn't that mean we want to become the overlord?"
Thinking of this, King Anxi immediately sent an envoy to the Lan clan.
Of course, this envoy did not speak Chinese, but he spoke Serbian, which is not much different from the Western Regions...Serbian is an Iranian language, and at this time, most of Central Asia used Serbian.
Shen Bing naturally had no shortage of translators who could speak Serbian, so he started talking to the envoy.
The messenger presented Shen Bing ten horses and said:
"This is the horse that King Anxi gave to the Lord of Lan City."
"King An Anxi wants to know what the city lord's plans are after avenging King Yuezhi?"
This question is quite direct, I just want to know whether Shen Bing wants to stay for a long time or temporarily.
Shen Bing replied:
"To be honest, we are actually here for Dawan."
"The Emperor of Da Qin heard that there was a sweat-blooded horse in Dawan, so he sent an envoy to buy it."
"Not only did Dawan refuse to sell it, but he also killed all the envoys including us."
"Today Shen Bing is asking for an explanation for this!"
This should have been an open secret for a long time. Dawan should have thought that Shen Bing's occupation of the Lan family was actually aimed at him... If he naively thought that the Qin army's occupation of the Lan family was really to avenge the Yue family, then Shen Bing would not bother to take action. .
After hearing this, Phraates I realized that it was Dawan who was causing the trouble.
Phraates I did not want Central Asia to be in a fight, let alone fight the Silk Kingdom from the east... If Central Asia's vitality was severely damaged, it would be even more impossible for Anxi to break away from the Seleucid Empire.
So Phraates I sent someone to persuade the King of Dayuan.
In fact, this is not a big deal. What does selling a few horses mean?
Even if it is a BMW, if it is not sold, it will face a war, and the final result may be a loss of men and horses.
Like Maodun Shanyu, not to mention the BMW, even the queen can give it away...the endurance is not comparable to that of ordinary people.
But King Dawan didn’t think so. He said to Phraates I:
"Even though this silk country is rich and powerful, it is still a long way from here."
"There are only more than 50,000 soldiers coming this time..."
"If I just give up, how can I still stand on it?"
In other words, the BMW is indeed not a big problem, but the King of Dayuan cannot afford to lose this face... He was very arrogant towards the Silk Kingdom and even killed other envoys, and even had to compromise, wouldn't it mean to the world that the King of Dayuan was defeated? ?
Phraates I sighed:
"I've been getting some information from businessmen these days. Do you know what General Shen Bing of the Silk Kingdom did before he came here?"
King Dawan asked:
"What have you done?"
Phraates I replied:
"With only more than 30,000 silk troops, he captured the Yueshi and conquered the Western Regions. He then used the troops from the Western Regions to conquer the Huns and drive them to Mobei."
"Now he has brought 50,000 troops..."
Dawan couldn't help but change his expression when he heard this.
There are commercial exchanges between Central Asia and the Western Regions, so of course we know about the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions.
And the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions were unified by the Qin army with more than 30,000 soldiers?
So now...
Phraates I then advised:
"So, I think we shouldn't risk offending the Silk Kingdom."
"It would be a wise choice for you to send the bloody horse, give him some property to make amends, and then send him away."
King Dayuan thought for a while and said:
"If this Shen Bing is so powerful, then..."
"Who do you think will win between them and Seleucid?"