Chapter 116: War is not only fought with swords.

Chapter 116: War is not only fought with swords.

Chapter 116: War is not only fought with swords. >

The Parthian archers did not blindly attack as Surenas had ordered them to.

They did not have enough numbers to face the Roman army head-on.

They kept their distance, ready to retreat at any moment, and tried to gauge the Roman army’s response.

What Surenas wanted to know was the information about the archers that Rome had newly trained.

He needed to know how good their bows were, how skilled they were at riding horses, and how to plan his strategy accordingly.

But Marcus did not act as Surenas intended.

He blocked the path of the cavalry with heavily armed infantry.

“What are they thinking? What are they trying to do?”

The best way to deal with archers was either to charge with heavily armed cavalry or to restrain them from a long distance with superior throwing weapons.

Parthia did not expect Rome to have bows with longer range than theirs.

As the Parthian archers closed the distance to see the Roman army’s reaction, they were caught off guard by arrows that flew much farther than they expected.

Swoosh!

Thud!

“Aaah!”

“What, what is this? Their arrows can reach us from here?”

The cavalrymen at the front fell lifelessly, staining the sand of the desert with red blood.

The actual combat range of the archers was more than twice as short as that of the regular archers.

It required more strength and precise skills to draw a bow while riding a horse than on flat ground.

If the enemy had excellent archers, the power of the cavalry would be halved in an instant.

To overcome this disadvantage, Parthia used not only archers but also a large number of heavily armed cavalry.

But this was only a reconnaissance mission, so the heavily armed cavalry did not come along.

The Parthian cavalry commander was quick to decide.

He was sure that staying here would only accumulate losses.

It was enough to find out that the Roman army had powerful bows.

He turned his horse’s head without hesitation.

Surenas showed a reaction as if he knew it would happen when he received the report from the returning commander.

“Of course they wouldn’t go around the north if they were confident.”

There was no way they would enter an area where the cavalry could shoot without any preparation.

If Rome had increased their archers and acquired bows with excellent range, they would have enough confidence.

Of course, it was not something that Surenas could not handle.

It might be quite tricky to attack with only archers, but he could break through by using heavily armed cavalry to avoid the barrage of arrows.

But that made him feel more uneasy than he could express in words.

In Surenas’ eyes, the Roman army’s movement seemed to shout ‘This is why we are confident’.

He understood why the Roman army had advanced, and at the same time, he thought that it was worth risking a battle from Parthia’s perspective.

In fact, his subordinates also thought that the Roman army was not easy, but not an unbeatable opponent.

They said that they could win easily if they used their cavalry power to the fullest in an open terrain, and urged him to start a battle.

‘Something is wrong with the flow.’

Surenas considered the possibility that the Roman army deliberately showed them only as much information as they could handle.

“I don’t like that we haven’t seen their cavalry with our own eyes. We need to gather more information before we fight.”

As a genius commander, his intuition was sharp. He almost accurately saw through Marcus’ trick.

If he had started a battle after one reconnaissance mission, thinking that he had figured out all of the Roman army’s strength, he would not have been able to avoid a defeat.

Surenas tried hard to get information about the enemy by sending small groups of cavalry near the Roman army’s camp.

But the Roman army hid their strength thoroughly, even at the cost of slowing down their marching speed.

They only attacked a few times with small groups of light cavalry to block the escape route of the Parthian archers.

As this situation continued, discontent began to leak out from within the Parthian army.

“Your Majesty, that is just a rumor. It is an unconfirmed nonsense.”

“Ha, how can you say that when the accuracy of this unconfirmed nonsense is astonishing? I don’t know where this rumor came from, but didn’t you say it started spreading around the time Surena and I left for war? Then is the one who spread this rumor a prophet or something?”

The servants could not argue back and sweated coldly.

No one believed that Surena had betrayed them, but they could not deny the fact that his actions were strange.

Orodes immediately summoned the high nobles and held a meeting.

The king’s closest confidant Mutares, and Mithran and Karen, who happened to be in the capital, attended.

It was an open secret that Orodes did not like Surena.

They cautiously watched the king’s mood, feeling that something was coming.

Karen, a great noble of Hyrcania, was the first to express his opinion.

“It is true that there are some aspects of Surena’s actions that I do not understand. But if he really had a rebellious intention, he would not have to do this now. He would have shown his ambition earlier.”

Orodes’ face twisted at the unexpected defense of Surena.

Mutares, who had risen to a high position with his ability to read the king’s mind, decided that it was time to step in.

He stepped forward and began to condemn Surena with a sharp voice.

“I have a different opinion. Why didn’t Surena show his ambition until now? Because it is most effective to do this by using Rome’s hand.

Rome is now ignoring Ctesiphon and only destroying the nearby domains of the nobles. This is a scheme to make the nobles distrust the Shahanshah and weaken the power of the nobles who would interfere with Surena’s rule. Remember that Sakastan, which is ruled by Surena’s clan, has no geographical conflict with Rome.”

Orodes’ expression darkened at Mutares’ words.

“How is the public opinion of the local nobles? Not good, I suppose?”

“Yes. They are anxious about what to do if the Roman army turns its direction towards them. And they are watching the situation with suspicion and anger, wondering why the Shahanshah’s army is not fighting against Rome.”

“Did you hear anything from Surena?”

“There was a letter from him. But it was so absurd that...”

Mutares quickly unfolded a piece of paper and handed it to Orodes.

Orodes snorted as he read the contents of the letter.

“What? He says he doesn’t understand Rome’s intention yet and expects them to have a powerful trick up their sleeve, so he avoids confrontation? He says that dragging out the war and ending it with negotiations is the only way to minimize Parthia’s loss? Has he lost his mind?”

He was so angry that he crumpled up the paper in his hand and threw it on the floor.

He glared at Karen, who had been arguing for caution.

“Do you still want to take Surena’s side?”

“It’s not very convincing, I admit. But Surena’s military talent is recognized by everyone here. I think we should at least hear his reason for making such a decision.”

“Hmph! We should hear him out. I really want to hear his ridiculous excuse for avoiding combat like this.”

Mithran, who had been neutral, also sighed and nodded.

“I also feel that Surena’s letter lacks persuasiveness. How can Surena, the military genius, retreat without even fighting? I can’t picture that.”

“But Surena is now the commander-in-chief of our army. If we recall him, won’t there be a gap in command?”

“It doesn’t matter anyway. He’s not fighting at all. Does it matter who takes his place? He’s just following Rome around without doing any real combat.”

“But still...”

“I’ve been in politics for about 30 years. I’ve never felt such betrayal before. Surena is a traitor! He will never fight against Rome until the end. Trusting him is a way to fall into the abyss of ruin together. I’m sure of it.”

Moved by Mutares’ earnest appeal, Mithran and Orodes also agreed.

As the atmosphere went this way, Karen could no longer stand up for Surena.

When the agreement of the great nobles was reached, Orodes called his servant and gave him an order as if he had been waiting for it.

“Send a letter to Surena right away. Tell him to choose one of the two: either fight a decisive battle with Rome and drive them away, or return the command and come back to the capital.”

“As Your Majesty wishes.”

The order with the seals of Orodes and the great nobles was delivered to Surena in the shortest time.

Surena was shocked as he read the contents of the order.

“I’ve been working so hard to minimize the damage until now... If I start a confrontation now, all the operations I’ve done so far will be useless! Did Shahanshah really give this order? No, before that, did the other nobles agree to this?”

Despite Surena’s lament, the messenger had nothing to say but yes.

After being silent for a while, Surena clenched his fist so hard that blood came out and barely opened his mouth.

“Let’s go back to Ctesiphon as soon as possible. I have to see Shahanshah in person and explain.”

< 116. War is not only fought with swords. > The end