Late at night, after returning from a meeting of Umayyad's old tribe, Zhou Jun was sitting in the room, with Hua Yue sitting next to him, his head hanging silently.
Zhou Jun looked out the window and sighed quietly: "Ten years ago, you had the opportunity to go back to Dashi to see your family, but I advised you to stay. Now, I brought you to Dashi to let you meet your family.
After meeting my father and fulfilling my wish, we will return to Anxi together."
Huayue said softly: "If I had returned to Dashi ten years ago and the Umayyad royal family had been killed by the Abbasids, I might not have been able to survive. From this point of view, when Erlang persuaded me to stay, he was saved again.
My life is spared. As for returning to Anxi... I have thought about it before, but I am becoming more and more afraid."
Zhou Jun: "Afraid? What are you afraid of? Are you worried that the Abbasids will attack Anxi because of you?"
Huayue: "This is just one of the reasons. What I'm more afraid of is that if I stay in Anxi, I will no longer be able to integrate into your life."
Zhou Jun looked puzzled.
Hua Yue: "The world will be in chaos next year. As Erlang's consort, he will naturally bring Princess Wanchun to Anxi. Hua Yue is a foreigner and a descendant of the royal family that the Abbasids are searching for. If his identity is revealed to the princess again,
It will definitely make her resentful towards me, and it will even put Erlang in a dilemma."
Zhou Jun frowned when he heard this.
Huayue: "With the current arrangement, although we will spend less time together with Erlang and more separation, it is better than causing conflicts."
Zhou Jun sighed slightly: "Since you are determined to stay in Dashi, where do you plan to lead the old Wu Maiye tribe to settle down in the future?"
Huayue thought for a while and gave the answer: "The current stronghold of the old Umayyad tribe is located in northern Egypt. I plan to set up another stronghold in Khorasan in addition to this..."
Zhou Jun was a little surprised: "Set the new stronghold of the old Umayyad tribe in Khorasan Province? That is the stronghold of the Abbasids, and Abu Muslim is the governor of Khorasan Province."
Hua Yue: "The Khorasan I am referring to does not refer to the province, but to the land between the province and Talos - the land of the Nine Surnames of Zhaowu and the Five Arrows Tribe. Those lands, now
Most of them are under the control of the Anxi Army and are at the junction of Dashi and Tang. The old Umayyad tribe can use this area to move freely and travel between the borders of the two countries. Not only that, if we talk about other reasons,
It is to facilitate contact with Anxi, and secondly, because there is no defense there."
Hua Yue paused for a moment and explained to Zhou Jun: "The Abbasids moved their capital to Ajura (Baghdad), and the Abbasid noble army also moved with them; several legions from the Khorasan Province were in Talas.
It was destroyed in the battle; in addition, in order to supplement the army, Abu issued a conscription order in the province, requiring every household to send men to join the army, which made the people complain and conflicts broke out. Therefore, I said that there was no defense there and there was an opportunity.
take advantage of."
Zhou Jun thought about it and felt that what Hua Yue said was reasonable.
Huayue: "The biggest trouble at the moment is Abu Muslim. He is good at fighting and has a reputation in the army. With him in charge of Khorasan, he is a big threat to Ansi and Umayyad."
Zhou Jun: "I heard that Mansour intends to send Abu to quell the rebellion. This means that he will leave Khorasan for a while. It is a good time for you to set up a stronghold."
Hua Yue nodded and said: "Before that, there is one more thing... My master Fei Weng led people to find out where the prisoners of the Tang Army were. Counting the days, they will be back soon. As long as it can be confirmed that the prisoners are being held,
At the specific location, Umayyad's old troops can plan a plan and start rescuing Tang army prisoners."
Zhou Jun nodded first, and then said: "Besides, you may have forgotten another thing."
Huayue: "What's the matter?"
Zhou Jun: "Your and my marriage."
Hearing this, Hua Yue's face turned red, and her original composure suddenly became at a loss.
Zhou Jun: "Before leaving, Mu Sheikh told me that your and my marriage cannot be arranged with great fanfare. He will discuss with your father, choose a secluded location, and then choose an auspicious day in the big food calendar to hold it.
A ceremony..."
Before she finished speaking, Hua Yue blushed, stood up and walked towards the door.
Zhou Jun asked Huayue: "What do you want about this wedding...?"
Hua Yue lowered her head and said, "Everything depends on Erlang's arrangement."
A few days later, Fei Weng returned to the mission and brought news of the prisoners of the Tang army.
The Ansi army had nearly a thousand prisoners, and they were secretly escorted by the Abbasids to the Balad fortress in northwest Aleppo.
Among these prisoners, except for a few craftsmen, most of them were sergeants and generals who were familiar with ordnance, formations and tactics.
The Abbasids imprisoned them secretly for a very simple purpose.
When the Tang army fought against the enemy, they often defeated more with less and rarely lost.
After summarizing the war, the Abbasids attributed the Tang army's advantage to four major factors: the quality of the soldiers, the layout of the formation, the superiority of tactics, and the technological leadership of weapons and armor.
To figure out these four factors, the cannibals could only imprison a large number of Tang army prisoners, torture them, and use coercion and inducement in the hope of getting answers from their mouths.
According to Feon, in order to guard these more than a thousand prisoners, the Great Cannibal actually used an integrated legion, plus a thousand-man noble cavalry team.
Dozens of miles around the fortress are designated as restricted areas, and there are many checkpoints on the road. Let alone rescuing people, even getting close is more difficult than climbing to the sky.
Zhou Jun informed Umayyad's generals of these situations.
Romuska, the commander of the Egyptian Legion, found the design of Balad Fortress and took it out to discuss with everyone.
Romuska: "The Balad Fortress was built near the Ressafa Mountains. The terrain is high and there are only two east-west passages. If we attack by force, we will probably have to mobilize a large army. Not only will there be heavy casualties, but it will also take several days...
The interior of the fortress is divided into three floors: upper, middle and lower. Each floor has a gate, a watchtower and a barracks. Attackers can only attack from the bottom upwards, and will be covered by long-range attacks from the three layers of troops on the way."
Zhou Jun looked at the defense map of the fortress, pondered for a moment and then asked: "Balad Fortress is built in the middle of the mountains. There are no rivers around it, and there is no mountain snow melt. How do you solve the drinking water problem?"
Romuska: "There are several deep wells inside the fortress, and water is usually pumped from the ground."
Zhou Jun: "Thousands of defenders just rely on a few deep wells to draw water, which is definitely not enough."
Romuska: "There is also a huge reservoir inside the fortress, which will store rainwater every rainy season. There will also be a transportation team at the foot of the mountain to regularly transport water to the mountain."
When Zhou Jun heard this, his eyes lit up and he looked at Hua Yue.
Hua Yue nodded and said: "Since there is a reservoir, it's easy. There is a unique poison in the hidden door. It is colorless and tasteless when thrown into the water. If a person drinks it, he will fall into a deep sleep and no one can wake him up.
"
Fei Weng said: "I have the prescription, and it is not difficult to prepare it. It will be ready in a few days."
Zhou Jun turned around and continued to look at the drawings and said: "Just poisoning the water can only subdue some of the defenders. If you want to save people, you still have to send elite soldiers and sneak into the fortress."
Hua Yue: "Since it is easier to attract the enemy's attention from the bottom up, wouldn't it be safer from the top down?"
Wuji on the side heard this and was a little puzzled: "Enter the fortress from top to bottom? Is it possible that someone with wings can fly in?"
Fei Weng smiled and said: "Although there are no wings, it is not difficult for the Hidden Sect disciples to enter the fortress from the top."
Zhou Jun asked Romuska again: "Once the prisoner is rescued, how can he escape from capture?"
Romuska: "The prisoners of the Tang army all have oriental faces. It is definitely not possible to return to the Tang Dynasty by land. There is a port in the north of Aleppo called Saidemai Port, where you can dock a brigantine. After boarding the ship
, through the port and fjord, you can directly access the Mediterranean Sea. The captives went all the way south, passing through Famagusta, Beirut, Ashdod, and finally reached the province of Ismailia in northern Egypt."
"Once there, the captives can board land, go south to the port of Alem, board a ship again and enter the Red Sea, then go to the Kingdom of Ten Days (Tianzhu) through the Gulf of Aden, and finally make a circle northward and enter Anxi."
Hearing this, Hua Yue said to Zhou Jun: "This time when we go to Aleppo to rescue prisoners, once we meet the Tang army, in order to avoid misunderstandings, it is best to find a familiar Tang person to go with us in order to gain the trust of the Tang army prisoners.
"
Zhou Jun thought for a moment, nodded slightly and said, "As for who to send to see the Tang army prisoners, I have a candidate."