Financial constraints were the best reason to persuade the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasid Caliphate quickly issued instructions and agreed that the 80,000 Khorasan troops should return to Mulu immediately, ordering Abu Muslims to control the situation in Hezhong and Tochara as soon as possible and obtain
River Silver Mine.
In the Governor's Palace, Abu Muslim was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his hands. Ten days ago, he received an urgent eagle message for help from Ziyad from Talas.
Abu Muslim also realized that the Tang army attached great importance to Hezhong, and did not hesitate to dispatch the main force of the Anxi army. If he did not send troops again, it would probably cause the loss of people, money, and land.
In particular, the rebellion in Bukhara had just subsided, and there were still a large number of remnants that had not been cleared away. He received news that the rebellion was showing signs of rebounding. A large number of expelled Zoroastrian believers began to gather in the Guangming Temple again, but the troops who suppressed them were trapped inside.
Talas.
But Abu Muslim also received the Caliph's order from Baghdad, agreeing that the 80,000 Khorasan army should return to Mulu and send troops to Hezhong as soon as possible.
The problem now is time. The army is still on its way back to Mulu, so he needs to wait patiently.
Abu Muslim walked to the sand table with his hands behind his hands. This was the sand table he brought back from the Stone Kingdom. From the top, he could clearly see the vast area from Congling in the east to the Amu Darya River in the west.
This sand table is very practical for him, and he can completely grasp the situation in the entire river area.
Abu Muslim's eyes fell on Talas City, and he walked eastward along Talas City. Finally, his eyes fell on Suiye City. This was the headquarters of the Tang Army, about 700 miles away from Talas City.
If the main force of the Tang army went to Talas City, would Suiye be empty? What if their logistics and food routes were cut off?
He suddenly remembered Prince Tuqishi Yuluohuo who had fled to Mulu, and he immediately ordered his men: "Go and find Prince Tuqishi Yuluohuo for me!"
Not long after, a man of about thirty years old came. He was not tall, very strong, and had a big beard. This man was Prince Tuqi Shi Yu Luo Huo. The Tang army destroyed Tu Qi Shi in the third year of Tianbao.
Luo Huo escaped by chance. He found Dashi and begged Dashi to send troops to recover the Suiye and Yili Valleys for him. The Umayyad dynasty at that time was already in decline and did not dare to provoke the Tang army, so they rejected his request.
Last year, when the Abbasid dynasty was established, he asked Abu Muslim, the governor of Khorasan, to send troops, but the Muslims refused without hesitation.
But now, Abu Muslim gave him another glimmer of hope.
"Zuiye is a good place. There is Rehai, Yili River Valley, Chu River Valley and Yibo Sea. Tens of thousands of my subjects still live there. If the Great Food Army recovers Suiye for me, Tuqishi will definitely convert
Dashi teaches and is loyal to Dashi."
It sounds nice to say it, but the essence is that he is going to send troops to eat and reap the profits. Abu Muslims will not do this stupid thing of making wedding clothes for others.
"Besides Tuqishi, what other nomadic groups are there?"
"There is also the Geluolu tribe, but they are the lackeys of the Tang army. They were the ones who worked for the Tang army and destroyed Tuqishi."
"Where is the Ge Luo Lu tribe?"
Yuluo Huo pointed to the west side of Yi Bohai on the sand table, "This is their territory!"
The Muslim nodded, "It doesn't seem to be good! There are relatively few rivers. Why don't they go to the Yili Valley and the Chu River Valley?"
Yu Luohuo sneered and said: "Of course they want to go, they even dream of going, but that is the Tang Army's territory, where can it be their turn!"
Abu Muslim squinted his eyes and asked, "Does the chief of the Geluolu tribe have any grudge against you?"
"The chief of the Geluolu tribe is called Sare. His father was hanged by my grandfather. There is a deep hatred. The food army attacked Suiye. The Geluolu people must be wiped out and no future troubles will be left."
Abu Muslim nodded slowly. The prince in front of him was the best greeting gift for the people of Gelulu.
Three days later, the 80,000-strong Khorasan army arrived at Mulu. After only one day's rest, Abu Muslim personally led the 80,000-strong army to kill along the Karakum River towards the area in the middle of the river.
The city of Talas has been under siege for half a month, and the Tang army has been waiting for intelligence from Bukhara and Samarkand.
Li Ye was solely responsible for the Tang Army's intelligence, and he had connections to obtain all kinds of intelligence.
Although the Tocharian Allied Forces were responsible for transmitting intelligence, Li Ye felt that their intelligence system was not very reliable. One was the delay in intelligence, and the other was the lack of important intelligence.
For example, the rebellion of tens of thousands of Zoroastrians in Bukhara, they actually missed such important information. If the rebellion in Bukhara is used well, it will definitely seriously affect the strategic decision-making of Abu Muslim.
Li Ye knew very well that the Buddhist forces knew about the rebellion in Bukhara, but they were not interested in the actions of the Zoroastrian Christians, so they did not regard it as important intelligence.
It was this selective mistake that made Li Ye feel the need to establish an intelligence network on his own. He still took advantage of Bakhna's connections. Bakhna had chambers of commerce in Bukhara and Samarkand. They would pass
Yingxin provides various business intelligence to the Bakhna Chamber of Commerce headquarters.
Then just change the commercial intelligence to military intelligence. Once Bukana receives the message from the flying eagle, he will immediately send people on horseback to send the intelligence to Talas City. Not only that, Li Ye is also in Kesai City and Qianquan City at the same time.
Six beacon towers were built on the top of Qianquan Mountain and to the north of Kesai City. Once the main force of food was dispatched, the beacon towers would be lit.
That afternoon, Li Ye was reporting to Gao Xianzhi on the debugging of the trebuchet in the Chinese army's tent. Suddenly there was a noise outside, and someone rushed to the tent door and shouted: "Commander, the beacon fire on the top of the mountain has been lit!"
Li Ye was overjoyed and hurriedly walked out of the tent, and Gao Xianzhi followed him out.
After walking out of the tent, we could see clearly that there were three straight plumes of wolf smoke burning on the top of Qianquan Mountain.
"Is it the enemy's main force?" Gao Xianzhi asked.
Li Ye nodded, "This beacon tower has only one purpose. When more than 10,000 food troops pass through Bukhara, it will light one beacon fire. If 30,000 food troops pass by, it will light two beacon fires. If more than 50,000 food troops pass by, it will light two beacon fires.
When the food army is dispatched, it will be three beacons of fire!"
Gao Xianzhi stared at the three beacon smoke, nodded slightly and said: "It seems that the enemy's main force has been dispatched!"
He smiled and asked Li Ye again: "Isn't it too cruel to act according to the plan?"
Li Ye said calmly: "The battlefield is always about you dying or me living. Why does the commander care how they die?"
Gao Xianzhi's eyes flashed with approval, and he said slowly: "I'm just worried that you have a woman's kindness. You are right, there is never any mercy on the battlefield!"
The night gradually deepened, and at the third watch, eighteen large trebuchets slowly approached Talas City. These were made of Kundu stone according to the patterns in the treasure book. They were exactly the trebuchets of the Tang Dynasty. The craftsmen of the Tang army effortlessly built them.
They are reassembled.
Now that the snake has been lured out of the cave, the Tang army will naturally kill the 15,000 food troops in the city.
If they are not killed, once war breaks out, the Tang army will face a serious situation of being attacked from both sides.
Talas City has only one city gate, while almost all cities in the Nine Sogdian Kingdoms have one city gate. This is mainly because the royal palace is usually located at the top of the main road, and it is inconvenient to open the city gate behind the palace.
Juchanti is a special situation. It is a transportation hub city and needs to open the north and south gates.
Six thousand crossbowmen were already in place to seal the city gate, and five thousand cavalry were also deployed around the city wall. Even if they jumped from the city to escape, they would still be dead.
The Tang army naturally wanted to attack Talas City with fire. Eighteen large trebuchets surrounded Talas City from three directions: east, west, and south.
The Kanda of the Bakhna people means oil. The Fergana Basin is a famous oil producing area in Central Asia. A small amount of oil has spilled since ancient times. The largest overflow well is in the city of Anji in the Bakhna.
For hundreds of years, people here have been using oil to treat skin and light lamps, but the use of oil in warfare began with Li Ye.
Oil is packed in large clay pots. The climate here is arid and there are not many trees. Wooden barrels are almost not used, but various clay pots are used. It is still the same today.
A clay pot of petroleum weighs about fifty kilograms. If it falls from a height of one meter, the pot will shatter to pieces.
The large trebuchet opened with a creak, and large clay pots were put into the trebuchet. Gao Xianzhi gave the order, "Launch!"
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Eighteen trebuchets were launched at the same time, and eighteen cans of kerosene flew into the air, arced through the air, and were thrown into Talas City.
Thousands of Tang Army cavalry fired dense rockets into the city at the same time. Thousands of rockets rose into the sky, like thousands of bright lights across the night sky, and shot into the city.
The city suddenly burst into flames.
The origin of oleander is Central Asia.
But during the Tang Dynasty, Lao Gao really didn't know whether oil was produced in Central Asia.
However, according to historical records, both Persia and Byzantium used oil to fight.