?The reason for this situation is mainly because the war from Zhennan Pass has not ended until now.

Outside the wall of Zhennan Pass, the third prince stared at the city in front of him, and did not speak for a long time, with a clear expression of frustration on his face.

The third prince really didn't expect that he had besieged the city for more than half a year, but there was no sign of being trapped in this city.

The result of this is that the third prince has begun to doubt his life.

“Does there be food in this pass that can support a year?

Is this too amazing?”

What the third prince didn't know was what he complained about, and this was indeed the truth.

You should know that Zhennan Pass is the most remote pass in the entire Han Dynasty. Therefore, in order to enable this pass to operate for a long time, more than one year of food was stored at this pass.

This is also because the terrain and climate in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is indeed very harsh. It takes more than half a year to pass here, so this decision is made for insurance.

But judging from the current results, this decision is undoubtedly very correct. He helped Zhennan Pass to support this ice and snowy season, making the third prince's goal of conquering the goal here a complete dream.

Under such circumstances, when the soldiers in Zhennan Pass learned that Zhao Kuo's army had set out and approached here, the excitement in their hearts could be imagined.

On the evening of that day, an envoy of Ashoka came to the camp of the Mauryan army outside the pass and read the latest decision of Ashoka to the third prince.

"His Highness, the great Ashoka, has given an order, and he asks you to lead all the troops to join him immediately, and then continue to go north to fight the enemies from the north."

After hearing this, the third prince fell into doubt first, and then suddenly realized.

"Does these great Han people finally start fighting back?"

If you think about it carefully, it seems normal. After all, the third prince has surrounded Zhennan Pass. For more than half a year, even if the reaction of the Han Kingdom is slow, it should have been dealt with.

So, the haze in the third prince's heart suddenly disappeared, because he felt that it would be meaningless to continue to consume at this small pass. It would be better to lead the army to meet his father and fight a good battle with the emperor from the north. This is the best occasion to prove his bravery.

However, when he left, the third prince looked at Zhennan Pass in front of him and still spat hard.

This pass brings to the third prince some very unpleasant memories.

Until now, the third prince has not figured out which strange weapon the soldiers of the Han Dynasty at this pass were using. He just hoped that such strange weapons would be as few as possible in the upcoming war.

But no matter what, the third prince finally retreated. After learning about the third prince's retreat, everyone in the entire pass immediately cheered.

Although everyone has always known that the Third Prince is absolutely impossible to capture this place, no matter what, an army of 30,000 people has been stationed outside the gate, which has caused very strong psychological pressure to everyone in the gate.

Now this psychological pressure has completely disappeared, the Mauryan army has evacuated, and Zhennan Pass is safe and sound.

The three commanders at this pass held another meeting. This time, each of them had an excited expression on their faces, and their tone was quite excited when they spoke.

"You guys say we should take the initiative to chase those guys?

I have a premonition that if we pursue it, we should be able to win."

Such a radical combat policy, you don’t need to think about it, is the military commander who is disposed of at this gate.

The other two commanders hesitated a little after hearing this, and then expressed their opposition in unison.

"It's too risky to do this. After all, we only have more than 3,000 troops in the pass. If all of them are pulled out, then the internal defenses on our side will be very empty. The enemy only needs a small force to kill a reblade and occupy the place."

"They went north because His Majesty's army arrived. His Majesty had already said in his previous order. Our most important task at present is to ensure that this pass will not fall into the hands of the enemy. If you attack rashly, your Majesty's major affairs will be ruined."

As the saying goes, the minority obeys the majority. With the unanimous opposition of the two other commanders, although the military commander wanted to win this wave of military achievements, he was helpless in the end and had no choice but to continue to guard.

The next thing actually has nothing to do with Zhennan Pass. Even though this small pass was one of the sources of war between two great powers in the world, it would be forgotten soon because the real war had begun in the north.

Zhao Kuo led his large army to cross the Xingdu Kush Mountains.

Several cities were established on the north side of the New Dukus Mountains, but these cities were basically a border post. For the powerful Han Dynasty, such a small fortress city was no match for the entire Han Dynasty.

Just a wave of gunpowder was thrown over, and then you could see that in the eyes of the people of the Mauryan Dynasty, the things that were blessed by the Buddha and that were impregnable collapsed instantly.

I have to say that this kind of tactic is really simple and direct, which also caused a serious misjudgment from the Mauryan Dynasty, because in the original imagination of the Mauryan Dynasty, these fortress cities should be able to block Zhao Kuo's army for a long time.

When Ashoka's army had just set out from his capital, Zhao Kuo's army was about to arrive at Kaibor Pass.

This was undoubtedly a very bad news for Ashoka, so after learning about this news, Ashoka Lord immediately issued an order to ask the third prince, who was closest to the Khyber Pass, to immediately lead all the troops to the Khyber Pass to station to prevent the offensive of the Great Khanate army.

This also led to the third prince becoming the first senior official of the Mauryan Dynasty who truly witnessed the appearance of the army of the Han Dynasty.

Looking at the Han army in front of him, which was as strict as a tide, the expression on the third prince's face gradually became solemn.

"With such a strong army, no wonder this country was able to sweep the world and defeat the Seleucid Empire in the past so many years."

As neighbors of the Seleucid Empire, they were of course very clear about the failure of the Seleucid Empire and had investigated the experience of the failure of the Seleucid Empire.

However, for the senior leaders of the Mauryan Dynasty, the failure of the Seliuan Empire seemed a bit too fantastic, unlike something that could happen in the real world.

It was not until the third prince went to Zhennan Pass to launch an attack that he realized that the legendary fantasy stories were really possible in reality.

"Can these so-called great Koreans really master a legendary weapon that can easily defeat us?"

When the third prince thought of this, he was immediately not calm enough, because in his opinion, the Mauryan Dynasty should have been able to easily defeat this great Han country.

In any case, the third prince was indeed a little arrogant this time. He immediately asked his army to start building a defense line as fast as possible, and for this reason he even threw all the slaves and soldiers into the construction of the defense line.

This will lead to one thing, that is, when building a defense line, the soldiers have limited physical strength, and may not take into account the line of defense directed against the soldiers of the Han Dynasty. This will also lead to the fact that if the Han Dynasty launches an attack at this time, the third prince will be somewhat irresistible.

But what made the third prince breathe a sigh of relief was not until he completed the defense line in 7 days, and the Han army on the opposite side did not launch any attack.

Perhaps the Buddha is still blessing the Mauryan Dynasty, which is the only thought in the third prince.

But he didn't know that this was not a blessing, but just because Zhao Kuo had his own considerations.

"We're here to fight them, otherwise if we let them escape into the plains, it wouldn't be so easy to chase them."

The care is very clear about what the situation is like in Khyber Pass? Behind the Khyber Pass is an endless plain. In other words, if you want to annihilate all the Mauryan troops, then Khyber Pass is the best place.

Of course, the other generals of the Han Kingdom present would not have any opinions on Zhao Kuo's judgment. After all, for them, His Majesty the Emperor's judgment has never been wrong. Why should we question it?

So even though Zhao Kuo led the army, he waited patiently here for half a month.

Until one day half a month later, a scout from the Han Kingdom finally observed that on the opposite line of defense, there were many new dense flags and soldiers.

This obviously only shows one thing, that is, the army led by Ashoka, the emperor of the Mauryan Dynasty, finally arrived.

This is true. Although the movements were relatively slow, Ashoka still breathed a sigh of relief when he found that Khyber Pass was still in his hands.

Therefore, it is natural that Ashoka recorded the merits of this matter on the third prince, and mercifully forgives the failures encountered by the third prince when he attacked Zhennan Pass.

This is because Ashoka's current mentality has actually changed. He began to feel that forgiveness is the real way out, and killing alone cannot make all the people in the world surrender.

However, after listening to all the details of the Han army described by the third prince, the Ashoka couldn't help but frown.

The reason is nothing. Just from the details of this third prince, it can be said that the army of the Mauryan Dynasty had no chance of winning when facing the Han Dynasty.

Is this really true?

At least for the ministers and generals under Ashoka, they definitely don't feel that way.

These ministers immediately spoke very firmly to refute what the third prince said.

"Your Highness the Prince is too powerful to say that the enemy is too strong. If this is true, I don't think we need to fight this battle. Just surrender to these foreigners."

"I don't believe that, no matter what, we are the real people blessed by the Buddha. If even we who are blessed by the Buddha cannot win, then will their gods be even stronger than our Buddha?"

"Third Prince, you failed when you attacked that pass, but didn't our Majesty have forgiven you?

You don't have to make excuses for your failure in this way."

After hearing these words, the third prince was also furious and spoke very angrily: "I am willing to swear to the Buddha that what I said is completely true, and there is absolutely no falsehood!"

The two sides could not argue for a while, and the situation in the big tent also came to a deadlock.

After seeing this scene, Ashoka fell into deep thought.

To be honest, Ashoka believed the words of this third prince. After all, the third prince was a candidate who has always been very optimistic about Ashoka and has a great hope of inheriting the next throne.

But the problem is also here, that is, as these ministers said when questioning, would the third prince deliberately make the soldiers and horses of the Han Kingdom too powerful in order to satirize his failure?

In the end, Ashoka made a decision.

"First send a small force to test it out, see what the legendary soldiers and horses of the Han Dynasty are like, and then make subsequent judgments."

Ashoka's judgment is a comprehensive opinion of both sides, so no matter which side, they cannot find any problem, so everyone agreed to test the Han Dynasty first in this way.

After two days of rest, Ashoka sent an envoy to Zhao Kuo's camp to declare war.

Zhao Kuo stared at the messenger of Ashoka in front of him, trying to find out if he had the Aryan facial features.

According to legend, the Aryans should have invaded India in 2000 BC, which is about 1,800 BC, which is around 1,800 BC.

What surprised Zhao Kuo very much was that even after so many years, the facial features of these Aryans still seemed very obvious. In other words, they were very likely not mixed with the conquered natives in India.

After listening to the translation of the letter of nationality put on by the envoy, Zhao Kuo said calmly: "So this is your Ashoka who wants to test my troops, right?"

The envoy obviously did not expect that Zhao Kuo would yell at their intentions and stood there in a very embarrassed manner, unable to speak for a while.

But soon proved that the messenger reacted. She used language that Zhao Kuo could not understand at all, and then her fingers kept gestured, but in the end, his meaning was translated by someone else.

"Great Your Majesty, our king believes that our contest this time is very glorious. This kind of glorious contest certainly requires a reconnaissance between the two sides, so that we can know ourselves and our enemy, and finally engage in a glorious battle."

Zhao Kuo was also happy when he heard these words.

Although it sounds a bit quibbling, to be honest, this way of thinking is actually very similar to the legendary aristocratic demeanor of the Spring and Autumn Period in China.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the vassal states in China were so civilized in fighting.
To be continued...