Chapter 2441: Artificial Wetlands

However, these ancient families that carry the scent of decay, if they really let themselves loose, while not having an undefeated elite like their ancestors, they certainly won’t be bullied by Inner Qi Manifestation. They definitely possess this capability.

After all, looking back further in history, during the Five Barbarians disturbance in China, many Northern aristocratic families didn’t migrate to the south with their attire. After the collapse of Northern state powers, whether for self-preservation or other intents, they let themselves loose, established Wu Forts; not speaking of the rest, securing their own living place was still feasible. And this is after the aristocratic families crippled themselves with the Nine-Rank Merit System.

If the bunch from the Eastern Han were really to let loose, looking at the fallen Sunx Wentai one can understand, the illustrious title as a descendant of Sunx Wu hanging overhead, would you really think they have no soldier drilling techniques? If told so, would you believe it? Speaking of the recent past, the descendants of Weii Qing haven’t all perished either, it’s just that they dare not act rashly.

Heavy Crossbow, armor, well-organized elite troops—these three are nearly the bottom line of the Han Dynasty. As long as the aristocratic families do not touch these three, the indulgence practiced by Liu Xiu back then would be continued by all descendants.

As for Rome, it is slightly more liberal than the Han Dynasty in this aspect, but still, this applies only to a very few families. Of course, the main problem is that these few families are not easy to manage; being listed as imperial clans is no joke.

Though Rome cannot be entirely said to be established by these few families, they are deeply entrenched within the country, and upon deeper investigation, these families have garnered many achievements in Roman history.

There are those who have reversed dire situations, those who have reshaped the world, even expanding territories. Though with the advent of the emperor system, they gradually retreated to the background, the marks they left in this country are too significant, so much so that even if they attempt to conceal their power, it’s hard to hide completely.

Alongside the Parthian Royal Family itself, during their peak, held six Dual Talent Legions, a Military Spirit Legion; counting the Parthia itself capable of burning talent, each of the Seven Great Parthian Nobles held one Dual Talent Legion during the Early Parthian peak period.

The Imperial Clan, namely the Asasis Family from which Vologases V hailed, descendants of the Achaemenid Dynasty—the so-called First Persian Empire, the first great monarchic empire crossing Eurasia and Africa in antiquity.

It was in the past that they attacked Greece and were defeated by Sparta. The sea route went through the Mediterranean Sea and got thwarted by Athens using small boats to engage big ships. Experiencing the Marathon battle in Ancient Greece, the Greek conquest, the Greco-Persian Wars X3, and other memorable struggles of Asia Minor and Aegean Sea civilizations, finally Alexander from Macedonia took it away in one go—the unlucky one.

But in any case, even a dilapidated ship has three nails, let alone the first great power crossing Eurasia and Africa. Although Alexander defeated them, even he would die. After his death, the descendants of the Asasis Family leveraged their former status and capabilities, accumulated over several generations, to establish a new empire.

This is the origin of Parthia, but this method of gaining supporters relying on ancestral legacy and relative competence without substantial conquest has hidden dangers. The family problems left by Liu Xiu, the Seven Great Noble issues left by Asasis I.

Relatively speaking, Liu Xiu had some baseline, whereas Asasis I was quite problematic. The seven great nobles all received positions as legion leaders of the country’s main corps, and they were hereditary, thus the later bickering among the seven great nobles of Parthia was determined from the beginning.

In the bygone days, the Imperial Clan wielded a huge number of conventional elite troops and Military Spirit Legion, other nobles retained elite legions acquired from other places, and in times of battle, the Imperial Clan gathered the legions from various nobles to launch offensives.

Even if an incident occurred where a noble’s elite legion was obliterated in a battle, the nearly national-level seven great nobles would still summon new forces from their own power base.

Spending a hundred years immersing in a particular legion, and constantly training and blending, employing it in warfare; unless every seed is wiped out, they could restore their legion in a year or two through training and war.

Of course, having a fixed routine, while developing elite talents to the maximum, also restricted their breakthrough prospects, which is a case of pros and cons, of course, this was once.

In the era of Trajan, the command baton of the Parthian Royal Family over the seven great nobles disappeared, that is when the Holy Parthia Legion of Souls was destroyed by the Trajan Legion. This is the pivotal reason that the Parthian situation deteriorated drastically over the next hundred years. Simply put, from that point, the Parthian Royal Family lost military backing and was left with merely the so-called moral support.

This explains why over the last hundred years, domestic turmoil in Parthia increased, and the domestic situation worsened; as the Parthian Royal Family lost power, the number of individuals capable of shaking this position increased, and the system where the seven great nobles each controlled a legion truly began to destabilize the country’s foundations.

The original structure where one major leads seven minor collapsed directly, the situation where the seven great nobles supported the Imperial Clan was completely breached, without power, even if the Imperial Clan sought to unify domestically, they lacked capital, after all, peace exists only within the confines protected by power.

Presently it’s less about the Seven Great Parthian Nobles, and more akin to seven great kingdoms parasitic on Parthian’s body, siphoning it. It’s suffice to say without the subsequent emergence of Ardashir with his antics, the next Persian Empire might have been nominated by these seven great kingdoms.

The Parthian Royal Family governing the seven great nobles, and the seven great nobles leading the smaller nobles—much like the vassal lords and ministers division during the Central Plains Spring and Autumn, with obvious advantages. However, there was the tripartition of Jin by Hann, Zhao, and Wei before, and seven great nobles dismantling Parthia later.

In summary, every empire has its internal contradictions, yet equally, every empire has its advantages. All countries named empires have once dominated a region; they might have various issues, but their systems were absolutely compatible at certain periods.

Vologases V originally hoped to completely subdue the seven great nobles, just like how he had previously subdued the Sulun Family—not speaking of others, securing the dual-talented elite and ordinary elite troops controlled by the Sulun Family onto national hands would significantly boost national strength.

Regrettably, the failure with the Sulun Family alerted other nobles, though Vologases V’s victory dispelled much of the gloom of consecutive defeats to Rome within Parthia, this was merely perceived at the grassroots and mid-level.

For the seven great nobles, who had already thoroughly decayed, they still wallow in ancient glory, in their view, Rome is powerful, but they themselves are not weak either. Parthia’s continuous failures are merely because they’re weakening the Imperial Clan’s power.

Look at this time, Vologases V grasped the power of the Sulun Family, didn’t he easily capture the Two Rivers, conquered Armenia, even counter-attacked into Roman territory? Isn’t this a testament to their Parthian strength?

Hence, merely by merits, Vologases V garnered more support from the grassroots and mid-level, while the decayed nobles were in the habit of not acting until benefitting.

These nobles desire profit; what affairs of state or Parthian glory have any concern to them? Defeating Rome yields benefits for the Imperial Clan, but has little association with them. Instead, the perpetual decline of the Imperial Clan holds more practical significance for them.

[Even acquiring the Imperial Guard Corps of the Esfandiar Family, along with the two corps of the Sulun Family and Kalan Family isn’t enough. Even with Atlatome’s pre-battle breakthrough previously, relying solely on four reorganized Dual Talent Legions isn’t sufficient.] Vologases V felt rather helpless, sometimes wishing to lead troops to annihilate the seven great nobles.

Regrettably, after the Sulun Family received an ambush due to negligence, the other families have become wary of this aspect, making it easy to fall into protracted warfare. For Parthia on the verge of striking Rome, enduring a long-term civil war domestically is suicidal.

[Can only attempt further negotiation with the Mehran Family, their Armored Cavalry Corps…] Vologases V felt upset.

On the other side, the Han Army and Fars, now retreated near the Two Rivers, had faces filled with strange expressions as they gazed at the land nearby the Two Rivers.

“This won’t be the defense you’ve established?” Sheni Pei stretched his arm and tapped the seemingly flat black mud with his sword, like touching the water’s surface.

“Naturally, I’ve referenced some Mesopotamian materials, this place has ample wetlands and marshes, complemented by a damp climate, lacks towering trees. Therefore, after we departed, I controlled the Celestial Phenomenon here and rained for over a month.” Chen Gong struck the nearby black mud with his sword, creating ripples as if on water.

“This place itself was once part of a large wetlands marsh—although inadequate rain would shrink the wetland area, I provided them abundant rainfall.” Chen Gong said smilingly, “It covers several tens, even over a hundred miles; this is the map I’ve estimated.”

“Indeed ruthless.” Sheni Pei, Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi, and Lyu Meng crowded over to look at the map Chen Gong took out, and could only declare this.

“Due to the wetlands marshes forming an extension area during abundant rain, though the overlapping segments aren’t too dense, with ample rainfall they can still become one encompassing entity.” Chen Gong explained triumphantly while saying, “Alright, now dispatch someone to survey the scope of the defenses I constructed.”

Within two days of over two hundred scouts dispersing, the Han Army managed to ascertain the range of wetlands Chen Gong crafted. Clearly, the methodology of creating wetlands by feel and historical records is a major pitfall, and Chen Gong had produced wetlands far exceeding the expected scale.