When Ma Chao heard what Vologasis V said, he glared and scolded: "I knew it earlier, why didn't you say it and only said it now?"
Vorogasis V quickly said: "I didn't expect it before."
Ma Chao snorted and quickly arranged for people to investigate the city of Seleucia. After some inquiries, he found that there was no city defense in Seleucia, just a bare residential area where a large number of ordinary people lived.
However, Seleucia is very prosperous.
Many merchants coming and going were in Seleucia, where large-scale commerce took place.
After Ma Chao understood clearly, he directly withdrew his army and marched into Seleucia. Because Seleucia, the western city, did not have enough city defenses or sufficient troops, it was directly captured by Ma Chao.
After Ma Chao captured Seleucia, he adopted the strategy of surrounding Ctesiphon. At the same time, Ma Chao once again shouted to Surella, loudly saying: "Sureira, this city of Seleucia, I Already captured.”
"Now, you are surrounded."
"Even in the city of Ctesiphon, there is countless food and grass. However, there are also countless people in the city of Ctesiphon. How long can the food you hoard last?"
"You will definitely lose!"
Ma Chao said loudly: "My Ming army is on its way. Once the army comes, you will not be able to stop it. Surella, open the city gate immediately and surrender. You can survive for a while."
Surela's face was extremely gloomy.
If Ma Chao ignored Seleucia and kept attacking the city, everything would be easier. Now, Ma Chao has captured Seleucia, cut off the retreat to the west, and blocked Ctesiphon, making the situation in Surella even worse.
The situation is very bad.
Surella still did not admit defeat. He said loudly: "Ma Chao, no matter what you say, it is just that you can't take Ctesiphon, so you just hope to confuse me and scare all the people who defend the city. I am Ctesiphon. , all nobles and common people will fight to the death and will never surrender."
Ma Chao frowned.
This Surela was really difficult for him to handle.
It was difficult to storm Ctesiphon.
However, if you don't adopt a strong attack strategy, you will be blocked outside the city.
"Report!"
At this moment, a soldier came to Ma Chao and reported: "General Ma, the army led by His Majesty is already on its way. It will arrive in half a day at most."
"knew!"
Ma Chao nodded.
He had no choice at the moment and directly ordered the troops to withdraw and stay in Seleucia, west of Ctesiphon. At the same time, Ma Chao confiscated supplies and controlled Seleucia's food and grass supply channels to ensure that no supplies would flow to Ctesiphon.
After Ma Chao was completely stationed and Taixi closed the city, Surela looked extremely serious.
Suleila sat in the main seat in the room above the tower.
Below, sat people from noble backgrounds such as Hader, Akaba, and Gulen. These all believe in Zoroastrianism and are also nobles in the country. These people knew one thing very well, that is, Ctesiphon must be defended.
Once it cannot be defended, the Parthian Kingdom will be completely finished, and all their rights will be lost.
Surella looked around everyone and said: "You have all seen what happened today. The Ming army is coming fiercely, but in Rome, Sepuus is still in contact with the American Federation, and it will take some time to attack the Ming army. .”
"What we have to do is to hold on to the present. If we can't hold on to the present, there will be no subsequent benefits."
"This has to be done."
"It's just, what should we do to persevere until the end? This is a big question."
"Ma Chao's attack looks fierce, but because he only has a few troops, it is not a big victory for us to stop him. What we have to do is to block Lu Xuan's army that will follow."
Suleila looked serious and said solemnly: "Now, what should we do? You all tell us what you think."
Everyone's expressions were solemn.
However, everyone has reached a consensus that they cannot lose, let alone surrender, because there is no way out in surrender. Once surrendered, all the benefits enjoyed by the nobles would be gone.
Everyone also knew that they had to hold on in order to get troops from Rome.
When everyone was silent, Hader suddenly said: "Pope Surella, I think the top priority is that we must destroy Ma Chao first. If Ma Chao cannot be taken, the city of Seleucia will be gone, and we will There is a lack of escape.”
"With Seleucia here, we have a steady stream of population replenishment, and we don't have to worry about the consumption in Ctesiphon."
"In addition, we need to deal with Ma Chao first, and then we can block the attack when Lu Xuan's army arrives. Otherwise, the army led by Lu Xuan will come in a blink of an eye, and coupled with Ma Chao's own strength, the opponent's number and combat effectiveness will be even greater."
"It will be even more difficult to win by then."
"So I suggest that Ma Chao be dealt with first."
Hader looked around and said: "After taking Ma Chao, when Lu Xuan's troops arrive, we will review the situation and think about the strategy against the army led by Lu Xuan. And we will take one step at a time, in case the time comes. Although the Ming army is coming to kill, the Roman side has already taken action, so we don’t need to worry about anything."
Akaba was also a noble from Ctesiphon, but he was of Greek origin.
His family also has a long history in Parthia.
Akaba's family was very influential and even monopolized several trade routes to Rome. As such, Akaba's family was very wealthy. His power was based on the Parthian Kingdom. After surrendering to the Ming Dynasty, his own power would also disappear, so Akaba was a staunch resister.
Akaba nodded and said: "I very much agree with Mr. Hader's suggestion. First deal with Ma Chao, and after taking down Ma Chao, we will consider further dealing with the Ming army in the next step."
Grant is the Grand Duke. He said: "The question now is how to attack Ma Chao?"
Others expressed their opinions.
After going around in a circle, we returned to the original problem mentioned by Surela, how to solve Ma Chao. If Ma Chao is not dealt with, let alone Lu Xuan's army that is about to arrive.
Harder was the first to speak: "In my opinion, the only way to deal with Ma Chao is a surprise attack. At night, when night falls and everything is silent, our troops quietly leave the city and go directly to Seleucia to deal with Ma Chao."
Surela said: "This arrangement is not stable enough. Once we send troops to raid Ma Chao's camp, Ma Chao may also be on guard."
Harder is a veteran in the army.
He has good archery skills and good swordsmanship. He dares to fight and kill on the battlefield. He said: "Pope Surella, even if Ma Chao is prepared, we must go to war. Regarding this battle, I am a little immature. Maybe you can give it a try."
Surela immediately became energetic and asked quickly: "Tell me, what are you going to do?"
Others looked over.
There was a look of expectation in each of their eyes.
Harder quickly made a detailed explanation and arrangement, and told the detailed plan. Harder further said: "If we attack directly, we will definitely be blocked by Ma Chao and easily discovered by Ma Chao. However, we first move Ma Chao If you focus your attention and attack with a large number of troops, you will have a chance to win."
Surela looked approvingly and nodded: "That's indeed a good suggestion, Harder. If you can win, you will be the first to achieve great success."
Hader said humbly: "Pope Surella, although I proposed the plan, when it comes to execution, it requires everyone's cooperation and the hard work of the soldiers."
Suleila nodded and said: "This is natural. All the troops in the army obey your orders. From now on, we will fully cooperate with you."
Harder looked quite excited and said: "With the support of His Majesty the Pope, I will definitely win. I will make arrangements immediately. Tonight, we will attack Ma Chao and deal with the threat of Ma Chao first."
Suleira looked approvingly, and gave some instructions to Hader, and everyone followed Hader to prepare.
Night raids at night cannot be arranged in a few clicks.
There must be careful arrangements.
At the same time, someone also needs to be arranged to contact Seleucia City to ensure that there are adequate arrangements for Seleucia. Otherwise, if you just attack in a daze, the final result will be a loss of troops and generals, and you will be further surrounded and suppressed.
