The tone of voice sounded as if it was hiding emotion, cold to the point of being unnatural.
At the same time, there was a slightly...dependent tone in his voice, like a lost child timidly reaching out to someone who cared about him.
"Yeah."
Somehow Avia could understand that these words, which sounded calm, were actually spoken by Altluchi with courage.
This made him smile unconsciously and naturally, and he nodded.
"Then let's work together."
........
Five months had passed, and the war between the Hephthalite Empire and the Sassanid Empire in Fars Province was still intensifying.
Although the latter made many mistakes in the early stages of the war, it recovered through constant adjustments and promptly recaptured the major areas that had previously been lost.
The former was unwilling to give up and instead called in more powerful reinforcements, vowing to continue annexing the entire Fars province.
To the north and west of the Sassanid Empire, the Hun army crossed the Caucasus region, which was blocked by a large number of mountains, hills and dense forests, and basically made it difficult for the local legions to win. Soon, the people became panic-stricken and scrambled to escape... The number of people killed was incalculable.
Due to domestic opinions, constant requests for help, and enemies getting closer to the capital, the Sassanid Empire had to send a large army to slow down the Huns' rapid offensive.
It mainly consisted of 15,000 elite cavalrymen composed of Persian military nobles and Draimi mountain people from the Iranian Plateau, 5,000 Arab mercenaries, 20,000 Persian infantry and archers, and 2,000 of the most elite heavy cavalry, the "Sassanid Guards", the most outstanding unit of the "Sassanid Guards", known for their dedication. It also brought Indian war elephants, which was very rare, and used these clumsy war animals on the battlefield.
At the same time, local areas were mobilized to provide more auxiliary troops, so that the number of people participating in the war reached more than 80,000.
It can be said that as long as this army was defeated by the Huns, the Sassanid Empire's capital, Ctesiphon, would no longer be defensible, and it would have to reluctantly give up the province of Fars.
The commander who had just prepared and led the Persian army, upon learning that Avia was leading the army, planned to withdraw his troops along the right bank of the Euphrates River in order to avoid the sharp edge and find a good defensive position.
However, most of his subordinates were restless and showed great enthusiasm for fighting. They also mocked the commander who did not want to fight a decisive battle. Since he failed to convince his subordinates and was worried that if he did not agree to fight, it might cause a mutiny, the Persian commander still chose to fight.
At the end of 425 AD, the two armies faced off at the ruins of Nineveh on the Tigris River.
The battle was fought between archers and light infantry of both sides. It was obvious that the Persian archers had a favorable wind direction, and the proportion of archers among Persian infantry was very high, coupled with a higher rate of fire, so more arrows were shot, which was very unfavorable to the Huns at the start.
However, since the Sassanid Empire's army of sorcerers was clearly no match for the Huns' dead apostles, the Sassanids were at a disadvantage from a magical perspective.
What followed was an all-round collision. After two-thirds of the day, the Hun cavalry and the Sassanid cavalry were still evenly matched.
At this time, in the northwest of the Sassanid army, precisely in the direction of Armenia, the sound of cavalry was heard.
The extremely exhausted Sassanid army did not notice this link and did not take any countermeasures.
While waiting for a large army that looked exactly like the Huns to appear on the horizon, the most elite Holy Fallen Cavalry of the Sassanid army was grabbed by the throat by an extremely fast werewolf and killed in one blow.
This was the army led by Attila, which moved south at an unpredictable speed after conquering Sassanid Armenia. The unprepared Sassanid army was defeated from then on.
After capturing the commanding heights of the Sassanid army's western wing, Attila's Hun army immediately made a detour and continued their unstoppable charge, attacking the Sassanid army's central front. Avia's cavalry also occupied the high ground and rushed down.
The armored heavy cavalry of the Sassanid army was overwhelmed by the Huns. As for the infantry, they were originally inexperienced in combat and now collapsed in the battle and suffered heavy casualties. In this way, the continuous attack of the Hun cavalry caused the entire right wing and the center of the Sassanid army to completely collapse, and a large number of people fled in all directions. Although many Persian soldiers fought bravely, they were all killed on the battlefield.
As a result, the Sassanid Empire was defeated on this river, with an estimated 50,000 casualties, most of whom were killed while fleeing.
The Sassanid commander who managed to escape was tortured by being skinned alive by the king.
But no matter what, the current situation of the Sassanid Empire in the west and north of the empire is irreparable.
As for the East, in addition to the Hephthalites, the Gupta Empire in India also had the idea of getting a piece of the pie. It had already allied with the Hephthalite Empire and was heading non-stop to West Asia, crossing the Hephthalite-controlled area.
However, just when the king and ministers in the capital, Ctesiphon, were planning to evacuate to the northeast of the empire, they received a contract from the Huns.
The contract states:
Recognition of the Caucasus Mountains as a shared area between the Huns and the Sassanids, and that no further fortifications should be built in the Caucasus region.
If the market is opened, the Huns will support the Sassanids in Armenia against the Eastern Roman Empire.
Compensation of 5000 kg of gold was paid as a penalty for the exhaustion of the Hun army, and an annual tribute of 700 kg of gold was paid, while the ransom for each captured Sassanid was 6 gold coins.
Well, although this contract would put a heavy burden on the Sassanid Empire, it would only mean the loss of the Caucasus region, which was much better than the previous defeat with the Romans, and was relatively not harsh.
And the most important one is that Avia is willing to help the Sassanid Empire fight against the joint forces of the Gupta Empire and the Hephthalite Empire, and the requirement is to become the supreme leader of the joint forces.
So, the Sassanid Empire quickly agreed to the treaty and directly claimed that the Huns were noble and generous allies of the empire.
The two Hun kings, Avia and Attila, were friends of the empire, and Avia was also the supreme leader of the Hunnic-Sassanian coalition.
It is even directly described as the person of justice and contract recognized by Mithra, the one who holds the sacred fire in his heart.
Mithra is an extremely ancient god belonging to the Aryan religious system. His most original duty was contract. In the Sassanid dynasty, where Zoroastrianism was mainstream, he was the representative of the good god Ahura Mazda on earth, protecting truth and justice from the evil forces of the evil god Angra Mainyu.
141: King of Empires
In short, after a short rest and leaving some troops behind, the army of the Hun Empire and the army of the Fantasy species, led by Avia and Attila, rushed to the Fars province where the battle was most intense with lightning speed.
In May 426 AD, the Hun army entered Fars for the first time. At that time, the coalition forces of the Gupta Dynasty and the Hephthalite Empire had already defeated the Sassanid army on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf, and tracked the defeated enemy across the sea, and finally landed in the heart of Persia in the north.
The Gupta Empire, which now rules the Indian subcontinent, is in its heyday. Under the leadership of King Vikramaditya Chandragupta II, it is recorded that it has 500,000 infantry, 50,000 cavalry, 20,000 charioteers and 10,000 elephants, with more than 100 ships. Even with so many troops, the discipline is still relatively good... It is undoubtedly one of the strongest empires in the world today.
The two empires not only conquered the main islands in the Persian Gulf, but also took the opportunity to plunder the birthplace of the Sassanid Empire. Their activities also included the local capital of Istakhir. Some of their actions gave the local people a great spiritual shock.
But now, their good days in Fars were over, for the Hunnic army was coming.
At the beginning, Avia did not think about deciding the outcome of the battle immediately. After all, the rugged terrain of the Iranian plateau was not convenient for arranging a decisive battle, so he could only wait for the opportunity.
Therefore, he made targeted deployments based on the Iranian Plateau and required all parts of Fars to adopt a strategy of clearing the countryside.
Although the local people were not interested in Avia, who was a Hun, compared with the Indians and Hephthalites, they felt that this person who would not change their beliefs was still pleasing to the eye. Zoroastrians naturally would not be interested in the Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism of the Gupta Dynasty.
After all, compared with the change of royal power, the struggle in the field of spiritual beliefs in the classical period was undoubtedly more deadly and fierce.
In short, under the strategy of clearing the countryside, the coalition forces of the Gupta Empire and the Hephthalite Empire could not bear it for a long time. After all, with so many people in foreign countries where uprisings continued to occur, the logistics were simply fatal.
So when the Gupta and Hephthalite coalition forces gathered in the north of Fars, they planned to capture Istakhr, the capital of Fars and also an important Zoroastrian stronghold.
At the same time, Avia also understood that the time for the decisive battle had come.
In May of the year 427, after three years of fighting, the final decisive battle took place north of Fars between the four great empires of Asia and Europe.
Both camps were alliances between so-called barbarians and civilized people, each with 500,000 troops.
Looking around the world, such decisive battles are rare, not just in the late classical period or before the industrial era.
Both sides also knew that the daily logistics of such a large army would be astronomical, so they had to fight quickly and decisively, otherwise one side would be dragged down first.
The Huns-Sassanids have many fantasy species and sorcerers such as dead apostles, werewolves, and three-headed dragons, but the Gupta-Hephthalites naturally also have their own local fantasy species and special magicians.
The Iranian plateau was getting colder and colder. When the blinding light suddenly pierced the eyelids of the Gupta-Hephthalite soldiers, they opened their eyes. What they saw was a scene they had never imagined in their lives:
Just like the moment when a tsunami hits the shore, the waves collapse and countless white shadows are like waves that sweep away everything. The edge of the endless horizon across the field of vision is all dyed white, as if the Asuras in Indian mythology are now eyeing here covetously.
The leader, a man with silver hair that seemed to dazzle all the light, was riding towards them expressionlessly. This gave them an illusion that even if this man was dying, his radiant light would still make the villains like Wuyun and Hanleng dare not approach him. They could only surround him, stare at him from afar in darkness, and wait for his death.
Starting with the passionate war roars of the war horses, the decisive battle began at this moment.
The sound produced by countless people coming together, with the force of sparks spreading across the prairie, formed overlapping, continuous waves, producing enough blood to dye the earth, but... if there was a ritual to destroy the world, this might just be the prelude to the opening.
It was a sunny day, but the sunlight was red. Looking around, the entire battlefield was covered with blooming red flowers, which was crazy beautiful.
In an instant, Avia and Attila, who were fighting side by side, met each other's eyes.
Those blood-red eyes and blue eyes.
"It's been a long time since we've been able to fight together."
"really."
On the battlefield, Avia responded in a calm voice.
"Then let's fight together from now on."
Avia, wearing Typhon armor, and the army under his command can probably be described as crushing with ease.
The Gupta-Hephthalite coalition suffered a crushing defeat, and almost all of its soldiers were killed here.
Gupta Vihara and the Hephthalite king, who personally participated in the war, were captured, but they were not ill-treated but were treated kindly.
Soon, people from the two empires came to Avia to negotiate a contract. Just like with the Sassanid Empire, the peace terms offered by the silver-haired young man were quite good and not harsh. There was no cession of territory, nor any demands for anything unbearable. They only asked for money and to withdraw from the territory of the Sassanid Empire.
The two defeated empires naturally accepted it, but under the influence of this, King Vikramaditya, who brought the Gupta dynasty to its peak, died in grief a year later. Without King Vikramaditya's restraint, the situation in the Gupta dynasty became turbulent and began to split internally. The king gradually lost control of the nobles and began to decline.
The Gupta dynasty called Avia, the Hun king who defeated them:
That is the source of destruction of all worlds, the god of death who comes to destroy this world, the destroyer of worlds.
Similarly, under the influence of this, the Hephthalite Empire had to settle for the second best and compete with the Gaoche people for the Junggar Basin and the areas to its west, and gradually lost the power to control other local nomads.
The Sassanid Empire was no exception. Although it preserved the country's territory, the plunder caused by the three empires also made it shaky, resulting in economic recession, heavy taxes, religious disputes, rigid social classes, and the growing power of landlords. From then on, it lost its position as the overlord of West Asia.
At this moment, the Hun Empire, under the leadership of two great Hun kings, single-handedly caused the three empires that should have been powerful to decline.
While in East and West Rome, where everyone was singing and dancing, no one could see or expect that on the steppes of Eastern Europe, the Hun Empire, which had returned with a full load, was still eyeing them covetously.
142: The Promise and Gift Before Going to Millennium City
The winter in Eastern Europe is a harsh winter that can freeze the soul.
But thanks to the rich rewards of victory in previous wars, the Huns now live a better life than before.
Although Avia, one of the Hun kings, has a lot to do, it is still quite easy for him to take some time to rest.
"If you're free, Attila, and you don't mind, how about we go out?"
"Well, I'm free. I'll go."
The white-haired girl who had just finished training at the training ground nodded vigorously as if she wanted to express something.
Walking out of the royal court, there are all kinds of tents outside, but neither Avia, who invited people, nor Attila, who was invited, had any specific purpose.
After all, this was a walk they used to do regularly. They strolled through the market stalls where Romans and Germans mixed together, stopping to admire street performances by well-trained artists. The girl was also attracted by a strange doll made of unknown craftsmanship and stared at it for a long time.
"Speaking of which, where is Typhon? Isn't she always by your side?"
"Her words were that winter was coming and she wanted to sleep a little longer."
"...Well, it's not that I think too much. Although Typhon is a dragon, not a human, his incarnation is a girl. I think it's unfair that he sticks to you in your tent every day."
The white-haired girl put on a serious face.
"Aren't you much the same, Attila?"
Avia couldn't help but laugh when he heard this.
When he heard this voice, Attila felt somehow much better and his expression softened.
Because of their prestige, they would occasionally pass by unfamiliar faces in the crowd, but the Huns who knew the two Hun kings would greet them briefly, such as "Ah! It's the king." or "King, the food here is delicious."
As a nomadic empire, under the leadership of Avia, it has been constantly absorbing the cultures of the surrounding countries. The travelers on the road are mainly Huns, as well as some Germans, Romans, and even Persians.
"By the way, when we have time in the future, let's try out ways of survival other than being a warrior."
"........Um."
Atila's heart skipped a beat when he heard this next to Avia.
Is life outside of being a warrior, traveling the world on horseback as a free traveler, cultivating the land, growing wheat, and baking bread in a hot oven?
Is it hunting wild animals and birds? Is it learning the thing called writing and writing books with it?
That was something the girl had never seen or experienced before, a life other than killing, but this was by no means aversion to herself as a warrior.
I'm just curious about what kind of life I would have led if I hadn't been born as a warrior.
Wait until one day, when the time comes...the two of us will go together.
.......Just the two of us?
The white-haired girl couldn't help but think so. After coming to her senses, she quickly shook off the idea. Now was not the time to think about it.
But her pace uncontrollably quickened a bit. At this moment, the grassland scene she inadvertently caught sight of slowed her pace for a moment.
The crowds of people walking on the streets, and the many unfamiliar flowers and grasses fluttering in the wind under the clear winter sky, make this cold blue appear full of vitality.
Where are the two of them now?
Perhaps, it is in a world where winter has arrived, but somehow it is springtime and flowers are blooming.
