Bacteno, as the leader elected by everyone in Lan City, was standing on the city wall with a frown on his face.
He looked at the black smoke and dust outside the city with a serious face, trying hard to suppress the fear and regret in his heart.
v
"Tell everyone, whether they are men or women, they all take up arms and come up to guard in turn. They must survive the attack of these enemies from the east for a month before the Funan army of the King of Kings comes to relieve the siege!"
Bacteno said loudly to the nobles of the Lanshi City next to him.
Everyone nodded in agreement after hearing this.
They all knew very well that Lan's City was the gateway to the northeastern territory of Sasanian Funan, and King Funan would never let them make a mistake.
"As long as we can wait until the Sasanian king's army arrives, these Easterners outside the city will be beaten to pieces!"
Bacteno said with an expectant look on his face.
In addition to another complicated defensive arrangement, the entire Lan City defense was quickly mobilized.
The figures of the defenders walking back and forth on the top of the city had already been noticed by the troops outside the city.
"Your Majesty, it seems that Lan's City does not intend to surrender!"
A general with a scarred face stood in the stirrups, looking at Lan's City not far away, and said to Fuhuan Wen next to him.
"Wouldn't it be better not to surrender?"
Fu Huanwen smiled contemptuously and listened to him continue.
"If the people of Lan City surrender, how will they distribute the goods and women to the men?"
After Fu Huanwen finished speaking, he looked back at the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses behind him.
This time when attacking Lanshi City, most of the "Pingxi Army" led by Fu Huanwen were local herdsman warriors from Kangju and Suyi.
These local barbarians from the Western Regions used to live under the impression of how powerful Sassanid Funan was. This time they attacked Lan City, a tributary of Sassanid Funan, for the wealth of Lan City.
Fuhuan Wen just wanted to use the flesh and blood of Lan's City to feed his newly recruited eagle dogs.
"However, to deal with these barbarians, we must first practice ethics and education before fighting!" Fuhuan Wen said with a smile.
The scar-faced general Ma Zhong nodded vigorously when he heard this, "Your Majesty, you are right!"
He nodded seriously and flattered her naturally.
"But, Your Majesty, what do you mean by practicing rituals and teaching soldiers?" Ma Zhong looked confused.
Fu Huan Wen has long been accustomed to the rudeness of his generals, and has become immune to it.
"Although I know that Lan's City is unwilling to surrender, I still need to send someone to inform them first. As long as they surrender, they will avoid death."
When Ma Zhong heard this, he suddenly realized.
After a while, a Kangju sergeant holding high the flag of the Pingxi Army rode his horse and approached the Lanshi City.
This Kangju sergeant shouted loudly in Hu dialect that the people of Lanshi City could understand, "Surrender in Kaicheng and avoid death, otherwise the city will be massacred for three days after the city is broken."
After just shouting once, the people in Lan's city responded quickly.
"Whizzing!"
There were several sounds of bowstrings in succession, and a swarm of arrows shot down from the top of the city.
This soldier from the Pingxi Army was frightened by his horse and immediately ran away in panic.
Upon seeing this, the Lan City defenders on the top of the city burst into loud mockery.
Facing the arrogant response of the defenders, Fuhuan Wen not only did not get angry, but looked at Lan's City with a look of regret.
"What a pity that a city is about to be swallowed up by blood and fire."
Before arriving at Lan's City, Fuhuan Wen had already received information that the Sasanian Funan people in the west would send a large army to relieve Lan's City.
As long as the defenders of Lan's City persist for a month, they can guarantee their own safety.
Unfortunately, these Western Regions barbarians in Lan City did not know that for Fuhuan Wen, one month was enough for him to break through Lan City.
Although Lan's City is known as the first city in the Western Region, in Fuhuan Wen's eyes, it is only the size of a county town in the Central Plains.
Although the city walls were taller, they were thin and the houses in the city were crowded and noisy. They were the best living targets for Fu Huan Wen's 'big killer'.
"The Great Luo of All Worlds"
"Ma Zhong, divide your soldiers and horses into two groups, and follow the north road to explore the direction of Mulu, and follow the south road to explore the direction of Herat!"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, the general will definitely take Sasan Hu seriously." Ma Zhong's scar trembled slightly and he assured with great certainty.
If the Sasanians wanted to send a large army to rescue Lanshi City, there were only two roads, north and south.
One is to start from Mulu City and follow the northern road of the desert grassland to Lanshi City.
The other one follows the valley in the east of Khorasan and emerges from the south through layers of mountains.
Fuhuan Wen guessed that the Sasanians would probably come by the northern route.
Because the South Road needs to pass through too many mountainous areas, it is not conducive to the march of large-scale armies and the transportation of baggage.
If you take the North Road, you can not only march quickly, but also recruit the Khorezm servant army from the north to act together.
Fuhuan Wen had already prepared for this.
As long as the Sassanids follow the Mulu North Road, they will inevitably recruit Khorezm servants from the north to serve as soldiers.
At that time, the Huns and Ile people who had accepted the alliance would take advantage of the situation and attack Khorezm, and the Sasanian army would inevitably be seriously affected.
Fuhuan Wen will attack Lan City within this period of time.
When the Sasanians arrive with great difficulty, what awaits them will be a large flag flying the word 'Ran'.
The only thing Fu Huan Wen needs now is to break through Lan's City as soon as possible.
After using bows and arrows to reject the Easterners' persuasion to surrender, the entire defenders in Lan City were full of confidence.
The tense atmosphere before that seemed to dissipate with the laughter after those few arrows.
Bacteno was very happy to see this scene. With the tall city walls of Lanshi City, as long as the morale of the defenders was maintained, even if the number of enemies outside the city was several times greater, they would not be able to do anything to them.
"God of light, look, what is that!"
Suddenly, a Lan City defender pointed in the distance and exclaimed in a surprised tone.
Bacteno and a group of defenders followed and looked around.
I saw a large group of carriages appearing in the Eastern camp in the distance.
Many long and short pieces of thick wood were also carried on these carriages.
Lan's City is located in mostly desert grasslands. Even though there are many mountains and forests, there are very few thick timbers.
Even if there is thick wood, it is difficult to transport it from the mountains.
What's more, it is carried with the army like this.
"What is that?" Bacteno stretched his neck, looking confused.
Even though he was well-informed, he didn't know what the enemy was going to do with these big timbers.
"It must be used as a siege weapon."
The words of a noble from Lanshi City next to him reminded Bactenuo.
Bacteno nodded, feeling that it made sense.
Apart from weapons, the troops carried with them must have no other purpose.
The enemies outside the city seemed to be pieced together and began to slowly assemble in the open space.
Bacteno and others looked at it from a distance for a long time, but they didn't understand what it was.
Marchiana is a desert steppe located in the northeast of the Iranian Plateau.
There are not only grasslands here, but also large oasis plains nourished by melted snow-capped mountains.
For the Funan Empire of all dynasties, this was the foundation for their expansion to the east.
Now, in order to deal with the invaders from the east, the barbarian descendants of the Sasanian Funan Empire led an army of 100,000 to Marchiana.
As a large empire that spans key areas of the World Island, the army under Mangman Zishi can be said to be strong.
There are not only noble warriors from Elam, Iran, but also Kurds and Armenians from the Caucasus mountains, Bedouins from the South Island, and Suter warriors from the grasslands.
After this mighty army completed its final preparations in Mulu City, it headed towards Bactria in the east under the leadership of Mangman Zishi.
The young Mangman Zishi was riding in a gorgeous carriage decorated with gold, silver and jewelry, and was listening to his military ministers explaining to him the plan for this military attack.
"Your Majesty, those bandits from the east are called the White Huns. I heard they are the descendants of the Huns who were so powerful in the distant past. This time they occupied the Kangju River area, but they are all barbaric and backward, just like the Huns barbarians back then. Likewise, there is no way to deal with the strong walls of Bactria."
A military attache with a hooked beard said.
As soon as he finished speaking, another official shook his head and expressed his disapproval.
"No, no, no, Your Majesty, the information I heard is not like this. Although these enemies are called White Huns by the people in Kangju River, they are not descendants of Huns at all, but Chinese people thousands of miles away. !”
"What, Chinese? Isn't China a civilized, noble and powerful country? It's almost catching up with my empire. How can there be such barbarians?" Mangman Zishi's face was full of disbelief.
In the impression of the young Mangman Zishi, when his teachers expressed something that was out of reach, they would often call him "someone far away in China."
The legendary China is not only a treasure land rich in wealth, but also a civilized country like Funan.
But now the enemies invading the borders of the Sasanian Empire are groups of nomadic barbarians on horseback.
How could such a barbarian be a Chinese?
"Your Majesty, you can't be wrong. The information I have is the latest news brought by people who just came from Bactria."
The official assured very confidently.
When Mangman Zishi heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up and his face flushed with excitement.
For Sasanian Funan, their most powerful enemy is Linyi in the west. In the rest of the directions are a group of disobedient and backward barbarians who cannot shake the foundation of the empire at all.
Including the Bactria area, it was just a base for the expansion of Sasanian Funan, rather than a position that threatened the country.
"If they are really Chinese, doesn't it mean that the mainland of China is not far from the border of the empire?"
Mangman Zishi rubbed his hands and started talking nonstop.
"After defeating these invaders, we will interrogate the prisoners and obtain a guide to expand to the east. If we can attack the Chinese mainland, we must force the Chinese king to hand over the secrets of silk and porcelain!"
For hundreds of years, Chinese commodities represented by silk have been almost the most sought-after goods on the entire trade route. No matter what force they are, they are all eager for silk.
If Mangman Zishi wants to avenge his humiliation and defeat Lin Yi, he must prepare a lot of money.
If we could completely control China's silk trade, we would have an inexhaustible source of wealth.
At that time, we will counterattack Linyi and restore the territory to the east coast of the Elephant Sea!
"Your Majesty, although I don't know what those Chinese countries are like, if the invaders of Bactria are all Chinese troops, it means that the Chinese people must not be strong in force." The official said very seriously.
"Well, no matter what, when the siege of Bactria City is relieved, we will definitely send people to counterattack."
Mangman Zishi couldn't help but start to imagine that when he defeated the Chinese army, he could inherit the wealth of the Chinese land, and he would definitely be worthy of his title of 'King of Kings'.
While Mangmanzi Shijunchen and others were intoxicated with their future martial arts, two warriors from the royal tent came with news that shocked everyone.
A man with messy hair and rags all over his body was brought over.
"Uuuuuuuuu, Your Majesty, the city of Bactria cannot be saved!"
This beggar-like man said in a whimpering voice.
"What? Why do you say that?" Mangman Zishi was shocked.
"Fire! The fireballs falling from the sky have turned the city of Bactria into a sea of fire. No matter whether they were nobles or beggars, they were all burned to ashes."
When Mangman Zishi heard this, he didn't believe it.
"It's just some rockets that help ignite the fire. How could Bactria be unable to defend it?"
"Your Majesty, when I came out of the city, the city was really unable to cope with it!"
Then the tattered Bactrian was told.
As he said, Bactria was attacked by a trebuchet that fired huge fireballs, and a large number of fires burned the city to the ground.
General Batteno could no longer guarantee the safety of the city and had to send out many helpers in order for the reinforcements to force the invaders to leave.
However, according to this person's description, by the time the army of the Mangbarbarians arrived, I am afraid that Bactria would have already been conquered by those 'barbarians'.
"No matter what unknown weapons they used, there is no way they can capture the city of Bactria in less than twenty days!"
The military attache next to him just left and reminded him.
"Your Majesty, this must be because the Bactrians are afraid of the enemy and deliberately exaggerated the enemy's threat."
Hearing this, Mangman Zishi also nodded in agreement.
However, the enemies besieging Bactria at this time must have been so arrogant that the defenders lost morale.
"Come here, take the warriors from Khorezm as the vanguard and march quickly to rescue Bactria!" the barbarian Zishi shouted loudly.
The warriors in the Khorezm area are not only accustomed to riding horses, but also have the characteristic of enduring hard battles.
Even if there are not many soldiers, the crisis will be greatly alleviated.
