The loud sound of artillery fire shook the land, and the smoke covered the battlefield.

Hundreds of siege mortars lined up, and the dense cannonballs bombarded the gates of Baghdad like meteorite rains.

Known as the "Gift of Allah", the capital of the Abbasid Empire, this city has been struggling to support the Ayyubid Empire for a month.

With more than 2,000 shield carts and tens of thousands of soldiers advancing again, the sound of muskets and shouts once again sounded on the battlefield, which had been silent for a moment.

In a low mound 1,500 meters from the city gates, thousands of cavalry guarded a majestic middle-aged man wearing a white scarf, who quietly observed the situation of the war without saying a word.

In the distance, a general wearing Maranmo's chain mail galloped and excitedly shouted: "Great caliph, all-powerful Saladin the Great, the enemy can no longer hold on!"

Saladin, who is nearly fifty years old, does not look like the legendary "undefeated god of war" who roams the battlefield at all, but more like a scholar who has been immersed in scholarship and books for a long time. When he heard the shouts of the generals, instead of the pride and joy that others expected, his expression was solemn and his eyes were sharp.

Saladin looked at the resistance of the crossbow on the wall, touched the gray beard on his face, and said to the running generals: "Isam, send another group of emissaries to persuade the nobles of the city to surrender. ”

The general, known as Elem, reined in his horse, widened his eyes, and asked in disbelief: "Persuade me to surrender again?!" Caliph, with all due respect, there is no need to persuade surrender at all when the battle is fought at this point......

"Tell the nobles in the city that the conditions I have made for this surrender are that they be allowed to leave Baghdad with all their possessions and servants. ”

"Allowed to take all the possessions and servants with you?!Zaradin the Great, did I hear you right?!The first persuasion, you let them sacrifice all their wealth, leaving only their lives; the second persuasion, you allowed their masters to take away the same amount of gold as their weight; in this persuasion, you even allowed them to escape with all their possessions?!"

"Caliph, I don't understand why, the more favorable the battle, the more generous the conditions you offer to surrender?!"

Saladin laughed and waved his whip, whipped it on Elim's mount, and shouted at the figure who was running farther and farther away: "Remember what I said!

Half an hour later, the surrendering mission entered the city, and the entire battlefield fell into a deathly silence.

After another half hour, the Surrender Mission returned to the Chinese army and sent a message to Saladin.

"The nobles of the Abbasids, the Emperor, learned of your proposal and divided into two factions. One faction decided to withdraw from Baghdad with their wealth, while the other faction vowed to defend the coffin of the Abbasid caliphate and members of the royal family with their lives, and these people intended to abandon the outer city and retreat to the inner city. ”

Saladin looked at the smoke-filled city and asked in a deep voice, "How many defenders are there in the inner city?"

"Three thousand, of which a thousand were royal guards of the Abbasid Empire. ”

Isam tightened his reins and whispered to Saladin, "The strength of this last army in the inner city should not be underestimated. Moreover, the terrain there is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there are countless corner towers and forts, which will be a hard nut to crack. ”

Saladin touched his beard and smiled: "No matter how hard the bones are, they can't escape the day when they are crushed." ”

The Ayyubid army retreated ten kilometers back, while the gates of Baghdad were opened, and the banner symbolizing the Abbasids on the walls was slowly lowered.

Saladin, who was on his horse, looked at everything in front of him and nodded slightly.

Elum looked at the noble convoy slowly moving out of the city, imagining the wealth loaded on it, and bit his lip in pain, sighing.

Saladin twisted the stopper of the kettle, took a long sip of water, looked at Elim and shook his head, "Look farther." ”

"Caliph, we have an army of 70,000 and a hundred and seventy artillery pieces, and Baghdad is like fruit on a tree to us, which can be picked on tiptoe!" Elim said bitterly: "Although there is still royal wealth in the inner city, the wealth of these nobles is only a lot more! And now, so much wealth is quietly slipping away under our noses! If we can intercept this money, we can raise a hundred thousand...... No, an army of 200,000, at that time, there will be no one in this world who can compete with you!"

Saladin took the other party's look in his eyes and repeated Shicai's words with a smile: "Elem, look farther." ”

Elem turned his head to look around and whispered to Saladin, "Caliph, why don't you give me a cavalry, and I will order those soldiers to take off their uniforms and hide their flags." We can follow those nobles and launch a raid in a suitable location, and no one will know about it......"

Saladin waved his hand and rejected the proposal in one sentence: "In the presence of Allah, my promise is as unshakable as a law!"

After six hours of waiting, the convoy of the Baghdad nobles finally disappeared from the army's view.

Saladin led a large army into this thousand-year-old southern city.

Traces of war can be heard all over the city, with trees cut down clean, houses covered with signs of artillery fire, and women and children crying faintly through closed doors.

"Order!1. No soldier shall commit any atrocities in the city;2. The military medical corps shall immediately go to the city to heal the wounded and sick in the city;3. Order Emeni to lead the Overseer and keep the city safe!" Saladin said to the clerk before he shouted to Elem: "Before we go to attack the hard bones of the inner city, let us see the real riches of the city!"

With Elem's puzzled expression, Saladin led his army into the complex north of Baghdad.

Looking at the majestic buildings in front of him, Saladin turned over and dismounted, bowed his head, and walked forward instead.

Elem, who had done the same, looked at the tall and ornate buildings in front of him and asked in a low voice, "Caliph, where is this?"

"The courtyard and building in front of you is the University of Baghdad, the building on your right is the University of Nuristan, and a little further away is the Palace of Wisdom, the largest library in the world. ”

Saladin's deep voice brought out a group of people hiding in the building, their ragged clothes and thin faces, but their tall posture and wise eyes made their identities unmistakable.

Saladin handed the whip to the guards beside him, walked quickly to the group, and said with a smile as he went: "Isam!

After a brief exchange of pleasantries with the scholars of Baghdad, Saladin remounted his horse and shouted to all: "In the name of the High Allah! I hereby declare that everything here is under the protection of me, Saladin...... Everything you need here, I will provide it all!"

After giving a series of orders, Saladin took the helmet handed by the guards and put it on his head, and swung his horsewhip in the direction of the royal palace in Baghdad: "It's time to break the last bone from the remnants of the Abbasid Empire!

At this time, the inner city of Baghdad had long been surrounded by the troops of the Ayyubid Empire.

The muzzles of hundreds of guns were pointed towards the main entrance of the palace, and the soldiers repeatedly checked the folds and flints of the muskets.

Before Saladin rode to the inner city, he asked one of the veteran generals in charge of the attack: "Naizal, how is the situation of the enemy?"

"Something is wrong. Nazar turned back to Saladin and said, "There are no enemy troops on the walls, no one answers our shouts, there is silence in the inner city, and it looks like a ...... Dead City. ”

Just when the army was in doubt, the gates of the inner city slowly opened.

A majestic giant nearly two meters tall, with a metal demon mask on his face and a body full of arrows and broken spears, pushed open the door from within.

Immediately afterwards, several giants in the same costume stepped out of the city gate and knelt on the side of the road, motionless.

Saladin, who was sitting on horseback, looked at these strange giants in front of him, and his heart moved.

At this moment, a young man with his body wrapped in a black robe walked out of the city gate, and in a slightly jerky Arabic voice, he said: "Great and wise Saladin the Great, your most humble servant, now present to you the palace of Baghdad, the supreme diamond in the crown of the empire!"

Saladin took a deep look at the young man on his knees, and without saying a word, he stepped into the inner city with his army.

As soon as he entered the city gate, Issam looked at the scene in front of him and said suspiciously: "It's strange, the Baghdad palace in my memory doesn't have such a high hill?"

The old general Naizal saw the scene in front of him clearly, his eyes widened, and his throat made a powerful voice, shouting: "Allah is above! This is not a hill at all!"

A "mountain" made of human corpses appeared in front of everyone's eyes.

Thousands of the dead, some of them were guards guarding the palace, some were maids and miscellaneous servants in the palace, and some were even members of the royal family. They were all stripped of their armor and clothes, and the corpses were torn into pieces and piled up together, turning into a brutal "landscape".

All this in front of us is not something that human beings can do at all, only demons can do such things. Even the battle-hardened warriors, the soldiers who are accustomed to seeing death, this scene also makes them feel a piercing chill from the depths of their hearts.

Saladin tugged at the reins of his horse, walked up to the man in black, looked at the man who lowered his head in front of his horse's hooves, and asked in a deep voice, "You captured the inner city of Baghdad?"

The man's body did not move, but the voice seemed to come from the ground: "Yes, great Saladin the Great, I and my men have defeated the enemies of the inner city. ”

Saladin looked at the two-meter-tall giants and asked, "How many of your men are there?"

"Three hundred. ”

"How dare you deceive the wise caliph?!" an exasperated Issam rode his horse and began to reprimand the man in black loudly.

Saladin raised his right hand and stopped Isam's shouting.

Looking at the young man surrounded by hundreds of muskets, Saladin pondered for a moment on horseback before finally asking, "Young man, tell me your name." ”

The man in black lifted his hood, revealing a pale face, only to see him smile and say, "Supreme Saladin the Great, my name is Larynx." ”