A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

After returning to Chang'an, many generals who had made great contributions in this war were granted the titles of Marquis Che and Marquis Guannei.

These generals, who were granted the title of Marquis for their campaigns against the Western Xiongnu, were even given the right to travel to their fiefdoms.

The location where they were designated to be granted a fiefdom was part of the original territory of the Western Xiongnu.

This land had only just been occupied by the Han Dynasty, and it had already been gradually encroached upon by numerous neighboring vassal states.

However, the Western Xiongnu was also a powerful empire that occupied a vast territory. If they wanted to swallow up all of this land, they would probably have to overwhelm the surrounding vassal states.

Therefore, Emperor He of Han planned to establish several more states here, making this another horse-breeding area for the Han Dynasty.

Moreover, this place could support the entire Western Xiongnu, and Emperor He of Han would absolutely not allow the Western Xiongnu's resources to be completely inherited by others.

This would establish a powerful state that would threaten the Han Dynasty. Under Emperor He's planning, a large number of newly appointed marquises and members of the imperial family from previous generations were enfeoffed here.

In addition to the encroachment from more than a dozen surrounding vassal states, the entire Western Xiongnu was divided into more than 30 parts, each only the size of a few prefectures.

Unless another powerful ruler like Qin Shi Huang emerges in the future and conquers all the surrounding countries, it will be impossible to occupy the land that will give rise to an empire.

However, the big man would definitely not stand idly by, and with the big man interfering, the possibility of that happening is almost zero.

In the fourth year of Emperor He of Han's reign, adhering to the idea of ​​befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones, Emperor He of Han dispatched Ban Chao as an envoy to the Roman Empire.

At this time, the Roman Empire had made peace with the Parthian Empire, and the two sides had been trying to make contact. However, they had been fighting for nearly 200 years, and it was not something that could be put down so easily.

The hatred between these two countries was even deeper than the hatred between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu.

Which family hasn't had several ancestors killed by the other side? To say nothing of other things, the current Roman treasurer's father died on the battlefield between the two empires.

A significant portion of the Parthian Empire's generals came from various royal and imperial families, with many of their elite sons dying on the battlefield. They also shared a deep-seated hatred for Rome.

However, due to the presence of Wei Ping, the hatred between the Han Dynasty and the Xiongnu was not that deep.

Before Modu Chanyu could humiliate Empress Lü during the Siege of Baideng, the Xiongnu's 40-strong army was utterly defeated by Wei Ping.

In the subsequent Battle of Yanmen Pass, they were ambushed by Wei Ping, suffering heavy casualties.

However, many of the garrison troops at Yanmen Pass also died in battle, and for a period of time, almost every household in Yanmen County hung white silk ribbons.

For the next 100 years, the Xiongnu did not dare to launch large-scale invasions southward because of the strength of the Han Dynasty, but small-scale raids continued.

Compared to the past, when the Xiongnu army would frequently raid southwards, this was much better.

As early as after the Han Dynasty went to war with the Xiongnu, the Parthian Empire, having felt the powerful military strength of the Han Dynasty, had already made peace with the Roman Empire.

However, this matter has dragged on for more than a year, and no agreement has been signed yet.

The resistance from both sides is too great. The Parthian Empire is in a slightly better position, as it now borders many of the Han Empire's vassal states, and the threat is imminent.

The major royal families and imperial clans were able to control their emotions and temporarily put aside their past hatred.

However, the Roman Empire was different. On the one hand, the Roman Empire was confident in itself. At that time, the Roman Empire had completely occupied the area around the Mediterranean and had transformed from the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire, with its military might at its peak.

With its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea, the Roman Empire's armies could provide support to any location at any time.

Moreover, the Han Dynasty was still very far from Rome. Even the nearest vassal state, the one belonging to Wang Mang's family, was thousands of miles away from the Roman Empire's homeland.

They would prefer to join forces with the Han Dynasty to attack the Parthian Empire from both sides, and then share the Parthian Empire's land with the Han Dynasty.

At that time, Rome would occupy the far west and half of the western region, while the Han Empire would occupy the central region and half of the western region.

Each country is only a state and a half in size, so it's not certain who will win or lose.

Moreover, as the Roman Empire expanded, they discovered that there seemed to be vast lands to the south of the Roman Empire.

The Roman Empire once sent ships to sail thousands of miles along the coastline of that continent, eventually confirming that it was a vast land no less than the western and far western continents.

The time given to the Parthian Empire to resist them was enough for them to continue expanding southward. If they could control two and a half provinces, they could also use the enfeoffment system, just like the Han Dynasty, to gradually encroach eastward.

Ultimately, they destroyed the Han Empire and dominated the entire world.

Ban Chao astutely recognized this idea of ​​the Roman Empire, which reminded him of the Qin and Qi states during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods.

What has been will be again.

So he imitated the envoy of the Qin state, and when he met the first citizen of the Roman Empire, he claimed that both the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty had yellow skin and black eyes, and that the two countries were located on opposite sides of the world, and were true brotherly nations.

Moreover, the distance between the two countries was too great, and those scattered vassal states were simply no match for the Roman Empire.

If the Han Dynasty's army wanted to cross thousands of kilometers to reach the Roman Empire's homeland, the march alone would take several years, making it impossible for the two countries to go to war.

Could these small, weak vassal states really threaten the Roman Empire?

The Roman Empire wholeheartedly agreed, and they were not even afraid of the Han Empire, let alone some of the Han Empire's nobles.

Ban Chao's timely suggestion that the two countries share the Parthian Empire was in line with the wishes of the Roman Senate.

Perhaps it was the sense of familiarity brought about by their similar appearances that led the Roman Empire, after discussions, to agree to Ban Chao's suggestion but also to send troops to contain the Parthian Empire.

The Roman Empire's response was within Ban Chao's expectations. Although it didn't achieve the best result, it was enough.

However, according to his calculations, the Roman Empire should have agreed to join forces to attack the Parthian Empire from both sides.

But there was nothing there. Could it be that there's something he doesn't know?

Ban Chao was shrewd enough to send the message back to Rome while he stayed behind to gather intelligence.

After signing an alliance with the Han Dynasty, the Roman Empire expelled the Parthian Empire's delegation.

Upon learning that their plan to join forces with Rome had failed, the Parthian Empire gathered once again with its seven royal families to discuss the future of the Parthian Empire.

At this point, they began to regret not having done their utmost to save the Western Xiongnu. Otherwise, there would have been a buffer between them and the Han Dynasty, and their only direct military force would have been the Roman Empire.

It's too late to say anything now; they need to fight on two fronts.

The Roman Empire said they wouldn't attack from both sides, but who knows if they would actually do so in the end.

The Roman Empire was no weakling in military strength; it was even stronger than the Parthian Empire.

If they did not defend, and the Roman Empire launched a major offensive while they lacked sufficient troops in the west, they might have been able to reach Ctesiphon directly.

They had to divert a large number of troops to defend the Roman Empire.

The Parthian Empire is now almost entirely surrounded by the vassal states of the Han Dynasty, with an extremely long border that needs to be defended.

This placed a very high demand on the Parthian Empire's military strength. If the Parthian Empire hadn't been so well-established, it wouldn't have been able to even muster enough manpower for border defense.