Chapter 516: Force people with power

Although Li Qing'an used the trick to send Zarik to Tubo as a messenger of the Great Food to fight, the Great Food Army wanted to use cranes and clams to fight, and the fisherman's profit was also a fact. At this time, Mansour was on the banks of the Murgabu River about 400 miles away from the Tang army, and the Great Food Army's 70,000 Khurasan army was stationed here.

It has been almost half a month since Mansur came to Khurashan. The Tochar battle between the Tang army and the Tubo army made him full of expectations. He hoped that the Tang army and the Tubo army would both suffer losses, and then he would take the opportunity to send troops to take back all the land seized by the Tang army.

Regaining Tcharo, regaining the river, regaining Sindh and Punjab, this has always been Mansour's dream. In order to realize this dream, Mansour repeatedly fought against the Tang army, but was defeated repeatedly. As time went by, his courage also faded day by day. He no longer dared to hope to regain Tcharo, but only wanted to return to the Arab territory in the river, and he was satisfied.

Yes, just as Li Qing'an knew him, he did not dare to really use troops to the Tang army. The 100,000 Byzantine army was waiting on the border. If the Arab army invaded the Tang army, the 100,000 Byzantine army would attack Armenia.

There are also tens of thousands of Tang troops in the river. If they attack the Tang army, the Tang troops in the river will also sneak attack the empty Khurasan. Mansour has too much concern, so he dare not move troops easily.

The same was true for his original intention. He lured the Tubo army to attack the Tang army in a joint attack, causing both of them to suffer losses and reap the benefits of the fisherman. Maybe both the Tang army and the Tubo army retreated from Tochar, allowing his Arab army to easily occupy Tochar.

Mansour was dreaming in the big tent. At this time, a soldier came to report: "Your Majesty, Li Qing'an's special envoy has arrived, so I ask for your Majesty the Caliph."

Mansour was stunned, and then a bitter smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. It turned out that Li Qingan knew he was here, "Take him in!"

After a moment, the soldier brought a civilian officer in. He stepped forward and bowed and said in fluent Arabic: "Wei Jin, the Counselor of the Anxi Army, met with the General of the Caliph."

When Mansour heard that he could speak fluent Arabic, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart that a few years ago, there was only one civil servant in the Anxi Tang army who could speak Arabic. Now such a young civil servant can speak fluent Arabic. This shows the progress of the Anxi army.

Mansour nodded and said to him: "Don't be polite, please sit down!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

The Tang army envoy sat down at Mansour's head. At this time, Mansour suddenly found that he looked familiar, so he asked curiously: "This envoy, have I seen you?"

Wei Jin smiled and said, "The year before yesterday, when my general and His Majesty signed a peace agreement, I was on the side, and I was the general's translator."

"Oh! No wonder, why do I feel familiar?"

When talking about the peace treaty of the previous year, Mansour blushed a little. The peace treaty of the previous year was clearly written in the peace treaty of the previous year. The border between the Tang Dynasty and the Arab Empire was bounded by the Murgabu River. Now, the Arab army has crossed the Murgabu River ten miles.

Mansour laughed and turned around and said, "I wonder if your general sent you here, do you have anything to talk to me?"

"My general has a handwritten letter to His Majesty!"

Wei Jin took out a letter and handed it to Mansur. Mansur opened it. The letter was written in Turkic language and was written by Li Qing'an. The letter did not mention the fact that the army of Tatun was on the banks of the Murgabu River, and even did not mention that the Tang army would fight with the Dashi Army. The letter only said that Anxi was preparing to fully restore the trade between the Tang Dynasty and Arab countries, reduce the tax rate to a normal twenty-one tax, and allow Arab merchants to go to the mainland of the Tang Dynasty to do business.

Since the Battle of Talas, Arab merchants who had closed down Anxi went to the Silk Road of the Tang Dynasty. Immediately afterwards, Anxi and Byzantium established trade relations, which further squeezed out Arab trade share. In the past, Tang goods were transported to Byzantium and the West through Arabia, but now they have been reversed. The Tang army has been transported from Byzantium to Damascus.

Although all the bans in Anxi were later lifted and Arab merchants were allowed to trade in Anxi, the conditions were very harsh. First, the quantity was limited, and a caravan was not allowed to exceed three hundred camels, and more than three caravans were allowed to enter the country in a day. Secondly, the tax was high. Anxi's commercial tax was twenty-one, but for Arab merchants it was ten one. This was obviously a discriminatory commercial tax, which was to punish the Arabs' repeated movements against Anxi.

This time, Li Qing'an actually promised to fully resume normal trade with the Arabs. Mansour knew that this was not to please him. With Li Qing'an's toughness, there was no need to please him at all. This was actually a kind of gentle strategy. It was not just as he had been just being tough, but to use both soft and hard.

This made Mansour sigh secretly. Li Qing'an's methods were getting more and more clever. War, diplomacy, trade and other means were intertwined. He even saw that he did not have the courage to fight the Tang army again, so he used this kind of gentle method to accelerate the softening of his position.

"Is there anything else to say to the general?"

"have!"

Wei Jin was modest but not without dignity, saying, "The General asked me to tell His Highness that he did not want to have another war with the Arabs, but if the Arabs insisted on provoking war, then the Tang army would not stop at the Amu River this time. The General said that he would go to the Baghdad palace to have tea with the Byzantine emperor in person."

Li Qing'an's toughness was not written on paper, but made Mansur feel chill. This was the first time the Tang army proposed that it would no longer be bounded by the Amu River. He believed that Li Qing'an was not a threat. He could do it when he said he could. After pondering for a moment, Mansur slowly said: "Please tell the general that the Abbasid Empire had no intention of being an enemy of the Tang Empire. We soldiered the Murgabu River to regain Tcharo from the Tubo people. If the Tang army wanted to seize Tocharo, we would not take action. But if the Tang army failed and withdrew from Tocharo, then my army would continue to fight with the Tubo army until it took Tocharo from the Tubo people. We did not violate the treaty. I hope your general can understand."

Wei Jin stood up and bowed deeply and said, "My general also agrees with Your Majesty's view. If the Tang army fails and is forced to withdraw from Tochar, the Arabs can send troops to Tochar. However, if the Tang army does not leave Tochar for a day, the Arabs will not be allowed to cross the Murgabu River for a day. Therefore, please ask Your Majesty's army to retreat to the west of the Murgabu River to prevent the Tang army from misjudging the situation."

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Wei Jin left, Mansour fell into deep thought. After a while, he gently tapped his forehead and ordered his opponent: "Transfer my order, the army immediately retreated westward and retreated to the west of the Murgabu River."

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The distance between Ayan City and Lan City is a hundred miles away. The middle is not flat. It is a undulating hilly area. If you ride a horse, you can finish it in half a day. However, if you use camels to transport supplies, it will take at least two days.

On the third day after Shangxi Dongzan and Shang Jiasu reached an agreement, a team of thousands of camels and hundreds of carriages formed a transportation team and went out from Ayan City in a mighty manner and transported 50,000 stones of grain to Lancheng. A camel could carry four stones of grain and act slowly. In order to prevent the locals from attacking the grain transport team, Shangxi Dongzan specially sent 3,000 cavalry to protect the safety of the transport team.

The team had been running all day, and at dusk, a sandstorm suddenly shaved near Ayan City. This was the most likely natural disaster to encounter in spring in Tocharia. The sandstorm shaved, covering the sky and the sun, and the day turned into night. A dozen steps away, I couldn't see anything clearly.

Not only can you open your eyes and your nose be unable to breathe, but also the thick sand and gravel hit you in the face, making life hurt. If you are hit by a bigger stone again, you may even die.

Camels lie down on the spot, their heads buried, their eyes closed, and the camel coachman and soldiers hid beside the camel to escape the unbearable sandstorm.

The sky gradually darkened and the sandstorm subsided, but the sky was filled with dust. These were fine sand blowing from the northern desert. Except for the discomfort of his nose, it had no effect. The sky was yellow and the distance of sight was less than fifty steps. The Tubo general who escorted the food saw that the weather was not good, so he ordered to camp on the spot.

It is said that it is camping, but in fact it is just sleeping in the open. The shadow of the camp tent cannot be seen. Everyone has to rely on the camel to rest. Tubo soldiers chew a sip of dry meat and drink a sip of wine. The camel coaches can only swallow their saliva, eat a sip of dry cakes, drink a sip of water, and give them some to the camels.

As time gradually came to the second half of the night, most people fell asleep soundly. Dozens of patrol soldiers patrolled around meaninglessly, and the sky was still covered in yellow and could not see the situation in the distance.

At this time, the ground trembled slightly, and gradually, the trembling feeling became heavier and heavier. The sentries were all a little surprised. This was not the muffled thunder sound of horse hooves hitting the ground, but the vibration felt very similar to the galloping of large groups of galloping horses.

"Do you want to report to the general?" One sentry couldn't hold back his anger.

"Go and report!"

The two sentries turned around and ran towards the place where the escort general rested. At this moment, a large black shadow suddenly appeared in the yellow dust, rushing towards this side.

Several sentries screamed, "It's a cavalry!" They were so scared that they were scattered and turned around and fled.

The one who came was ten thousand Tang army cavalry led by general Tian Qianzhen. This was a temporary attack. Shang Xi Dongzan was too excited and leaked the agreement of his monk Shang Jiasu to Zarik. Zarik immediately ordered people to send this information to Li Qing'an. Li Qing'an immediately decided to intercept the batch of food. He sent General Tian Qianzhen to carry out this mission.

Ten thousand Tang army cavalry also encountered a sandstorm, but they did not stop and continued to advance in the sandstorm. They soon discovered the transportation team. Tian Qianzhen ordered the horse's hooves to be wrapped in cotton cloth, which greatly weakened the sound of the horse's hooves. Taking advantage of the dusty night, they suddenly rushed to the transportation team.

Thousands of camels were alarmed, and they stood up and fled. The soldiers and camel coachmen woke up, at a loss. At this time, ten thousand Tang cavalry swept over like sandstorms. They rushed into the enemy group like storms, and their violent horse hooves and ferocious swords tore the enemy to pieces.

The Tubo soldiers shouted and fled in scattered ways, but they could not escape the Tang army's war horses and were soon chased and killed. The coachmen were scared and knelt down and begged for mercy.

The purpose of the Tang army this time was not to kill the enemy, but to rob the grain. If it was not transported, it would be burned on the spot, and even camels would be taken away. If the Tubo army had no food, camels would also be slaughtered to serve as military rations.

It was only thirty miles away from Ayan City and it must be withdrawn as soon as possible. The Tang army quickly gave up the pursuit of Tubo deserters, but surrounded camels and led them away. Some coachmen who had escaped their lives also drove the carriage and followed the Tang army with them.
Chapter completed!