Chapter 1161: Mutual Acknowledgment

Li Jue’s face showed a faint hint of bitterness upon hearing An Yue's translation, while Tilitaya was utterly devastated. They had fought against the Romans for so many years, and the number of times the Romans had agreed to help the Parthian warriors collect their dead bodies could be counted on one hand. Yet, after just one battle, the Romans acknowledged the Han Empire. An Yue translated the original words for Li Jue, who then glanced at Gannasius with a deeper appreciation. "Next time, we won’t have just a few men like this."

After saying this, Li Jue turned his horse and left without further words. Guo Si and Fan Chou also departed in silence. Gannasius watched the three leave before turning away himself, paying no mind to Tilitaya at all.

After Gannasius returned, he immediately ordered a battalion to properly arrange the bodies of the Han soldiers, awaiting their retrieval. As for their own dead, they were placed on carriages, ready to be transported back to the Mesopotamian region for processing and then sent back to Rome.

Luckily, it was winter, so there was no risk of decomposition. Otherwise, they would have had no choice but to cremate them on the spot and bring the ashes back.

"Commander, we’ve lost approximately seven thousand soldiers," a battalion leader quickly reported after Gannasius returned.

"Seven thousand?" Gannasius's heart ached.

"Most of the losses occurred when the Han troops broke through the second line of archers. Our arrows had almost no effect on them," the battalion leader said bitterly. Once the heavy cavalry reached the archers, they stood no chance of resisting.

"How many of our infantry did we lose?" Gannasius sighed in relief, thinking it was fortunate that it wasn’t Roman soldiers who had perished. The loss of hired archers and those from vassal states was of little concern.

"We lost over fifteen hundred. Their attack was formidable, and their defense was even more frustrating. Based on our analysis, the glow surrounding their general seems to have a similar effect to our legion’s eagle standard," the battalion leader reported, conveying the assessment of his subordinates.

"I understand." Gannasius nodded, his expression grave. The Han Empire's strength was evident from the capabilities of this one army.

"Send all the intelligence we’ve gathered to the Senate for them to handle," Gannasius instructed a plebeian officer after the battalion leader left.

Gannasius led his troops cautiously away, leaving only one battalion to guard the bodies of the Han warriors, awaiting Li Jue’s arrival to collect them.

Once the Romans had retreated, Li Jue finally relaxed. He deactivated his legion’s innate ability, and a wave of dizziness washed over him. Shaking his head, he felt significantly better.

"Go retrieve the bodies of our fallen brothers," Li Jue said calmly. He was no stranger to life and death and understood that this was the nature of war, yet he would continue to fight.

The battalion leader in charge saluted Li Jue, handed over the bodies, and left with his men. As for the Parthians nearby, they showed no fear whatsoever.

"What did he say?" Li Jue glanced at Tilitaya and asked.

"He seemed to ask why we didn’t kill those Romans," An Yue said, unsure. His knowledge of the Parthian language wasn’t very good.

"Tell him I despise him!" Li Jue said bluntly. He had come to understand what an empire truly was. Even if he kicked someone in the face, it was their face that had hurt his foot. The empire was never wrong.

"The general wants me to tell you that he looks down on you," An Yue repeated in Li Jue’s tone, causing Tilitaya to seethe with anger.

Li Jue didn’t pay any attention to Tilitaya as he rode off. As for the alliance, he was ready to tear it up at any time. Sharing Parthia’s rich land with Rome seemed like a good idea, one Li Jue thought might be worth trying once the Han Empire was unified.

Li Jue had great confidence in Liu Bei’s ability to unify the world, much of which stemmed from Li Ru. As for how to conquer these distant lands, Li Jue was confident that if he founded his own nation, he would still be a vassal to the empire. Parthia, once a powerful empire, didn’t seem so strong now.

When Li Jue returned to the army, drenched in blood, all the nobles in the Parthian capital had seen it. Some who had thought of taking advantage of the Han army abandoned those thoughts after Tilitaya informed them of the situation.

Having killed over six or seven thousand Roman soldiers while suffering minimal losses themselves, any such thoughts were extinguished. Truly, the Han Empire was a formidable force!

After bandaging their wounds, Li Jue, Guo Si, and Fan Chou gathered again. This time, things were noticeably different from before. All three had developed a new desire after being provoked by Gannasius—an ambition for the fertile land beneath their feet.

In Li Jue and his companions' eyes, the soldiers under Gannasius’s command were on par with the elite Danyang troops. Yet they had managed to dominate Parthia for ten years with few defeats. Even now, they could speak of dividing Parthia in two.

This realization both shocked Li Jue and helped him understand the level at which the Han Empire’s regional governors stood. After spending the past few days trying to understand the Roman dukes, they concluded that these dukes were equivalent to the empire’s provincial governors.

While this level of power was formidable, it wasn’t the strongest. Above them were figures like the governors of Bingzhou and Jizhou, as well as monstrous regions like Liangzhou and Youzhou. Based on what they had seen, Li Jue believed Rome’s overall strength was comparable to that of the Han Empire.

As for the exact specifics, Li Jue couldn’t be sure. However, given that Gannasius, at a provincial governor’s level, had been able to battle Parthia for ten years and ultimately defeat them, Li Jue began to view the once mighty Parthia as akin to the Qiang people from a hundred years ago.

Thus, Li Jue estimated that with an army of ten thousand Xiliang cavalry, he should be qualified to split Parthia with Gannasius.

After all, ten thousand Xiliang cavalry represented roughly the combat strength that a provincial governor could muster. Li Jue was very confident in this. After all, the larger the Xiliang cavalry force, the stronger each individual soldier became.

"I plan to write down everything we’ve seen and send it to the strategist," Li Jue said to Guo Si and Fan Chou.

"As for Parthia, we need to learn more about it. Their light cavalry and mounted archers are a significant threat, but they were completely countered by the Roman forces," Li Jue said, aware that they now had to rely on the empire behind them to intimidate their foes.

"We do need to understand them more. Their light cavalry and archers may be useless against us, but that doesn’t mean they’re ineffective against others. As for Rome..." Guo Si hesitated slightly, wary of the Romans' terrifying combat prowess.

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