Far away on the plateau thousands of miles west of Zhangye, Mulu City, the capital of Khorasan, is a hub connecting the eastern and western trade routes. After the Abbasids defeated the Tang army at Talas, the Sogdians in the Transoxians fell to the Great Cannibals, not only paying taxes to the governor of Khorasan, but also sending tribal warriors to accompany the Great * Rui on expeditions.

The midsummer sun scorched the earth, the Doge's residence in the vault of Khorasan was steamed like a furnace, the high spires of the Bunker Building almost pierced the blue sky, and the mosque not far away came with the sound of chanting.

A rickety old man lay on the thick and delicate wool carpet with five bodies, and only got up tremblingly until the sound of chanting gradually dissipated. The servant rushed to his aid and helped him to sit cross-legged on a wooden bed in the shade of a tree.

This seemingly inconspicuous old man was Abbas, the Abbasid governor of Khorasan.

Abbas was an old cousin of the current Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, and Khorasan was the birthplace of the Abbasids, but also because it was the homeland of the Persians, and rebellions were all the time.

After taking a sip of lukewarm tea, Abbas closed his eyes and began to consider the situation facing Khorasan.

Since the year before last when he fell from a horse and injured his leg, his body has been getting worse day by day, otherwise the Eastern Expedition to the Tang Dynasty would not have allowed the milky Yusuf to lead the coalition army.

Simply, Yusuf was overwhelmed along the way and did not encounter fierce resistance from the Tang Dynasty, and Abbas was ambivalent about this.

If Yusuf had defeated the Tang Dynasty one after another, and even led the coalition forces to conquer the Tang Dynasty's lands in the east, then this person would most likely have become the next Muslim. Muslim was the founder of the Abbasid dynasty, and to put it irreverently, the reason why the Abbasids, the founding caliph of the dynasty, was able to replace the Umayyad dynasty in large part because he captured the fruits of Muslim's victory.

As a highly decorated minister of the dynasty, Muslim was appointed governor of Khorasan and ruled the dynasty's lands on the eastern plateau as a vassal party.

It was during the days when Muslim was the governor of Khorasan that the general Ziyad defeated the two armies of the Tang Dynasty at Talas, and since then the fertile land and countless people in the two great rivers in the Transoxiana region have become cattle and sheep for grazing.

Thinking of this, Abbas sighed, but it is a pity that such a great hero was born at the wrong time, or that the old caliph Abbasid died too early, and there is no one who can control this meritorious prince.

Just four years after the Battle of Talas, al-Mansur succeeded him as caliph, and al-Muslim led his troops to defeat al-Mansur's uncle at al-Naisi' in northern Syria, cementing the position of the new caliph. However, after that, he was appointed governor of Egypt, but he refused to obey the edict and returned to the imperial capital of Ctesiphon, where he was eventually accused of treason and skinned alive.

As one of the plotters and executors of the killing of Muslim, the old governor of Khorasan still vividly remembers the miserable howl.

Looking at the white sun, Abbas closed his eyes slightly, and then opened them suddenly.

Although the lion is in his twilight years, he is not useless, and as the one who killed the bravest man of the dynasty, he will never let Khorasan become the bag of the ambitious.

While he was thinking, the servant lowered his head and trotted to deliver a brass pipe wrapped in silk linen. The copper tube was sealed with wax and lightly unscrewed, and Abbas pulled out a piece of oil-soaked parchment with the words "Great Eclipse" written on it.

There was no trace of joy and anger on Abbas's face, but he was slightly disappointed in his heart, Yusuf's delay in advancing eastward in Zhangye was likely to cause the coalition forces to miss the best opportunity to conquer the east, and the long-term siege of the isolated city was likely to exhaust the initial sharp energy brought by a series of victories.

He sighed again, and said to the servant who was standing beside him:

"Okay, send a reliable person to tell Yusuf that the Eastern Crusade will end here, as long as you hold the four towns of Anxi that you have seized from the Tang Dynasty, it will be enough to deter the Tibetans and Turks. ”

In fact, it was more of the Tubo people and the steppe barbarians north of the Tianshan Mountains who had been in direct conflict with Da Shi over the years. The Great Cannibals did not know to which the tribes of these steppe barbarians belonged, so they had always been accustomed to calling them Turks.

Having mastered the four towns of Anxi in the Tang Dynasty, it was possible to attack the so-called Turks to the north, and to the south it was possible to cross the Kunlun Mountains and threaten the hinterland of the Tibetans.

"The Tang Dynasty is still stuck in the quagmire of rebellion and can't extricate itself, judging from the news brought back by the caravan last year, it will be difficult to end in three or five years, let them continue to fight, and if they fight a little worse, they can easily conquer the East!"

"Yes!"

This servant was in fact a minister subordinate to the governor, and he was so humble in front of Abbas that he could have the prestige of Abbas's position and prestige, which was by no means comparable to that of ordinary governors.

After answering, the minister left.

Abbas felt that he had just received mercy from Allah's prayers, and that Yusuf's capture of the four towns of Anxi in the Tang Dynasty had already met his expectations, and if he continued to fight, he might not be able to win, and everything would develop according to expectations.

In addition, Abbas prayed that his injured leg would heal as soon as possible, and that his body would soon recover enough to ride a horse, or at least withstand the bumps of the long journey, even if he could not ride a horse......

There had been no activity during the previous week, and Abbas's robe was soaked with sweat, of course, due to the hot weather, but to a large extent due to his weakness.

Thinking of his body, Abbas's good mood turned a little bad, and he began to curse this damn Mulu City.

Mulu City seemed to be cursed, and since he came to this bustling town, his health has deteriorated.

"After this summer, move the capital of Khorasan to Nishapur, which is closer to Ctesiphon......"

After thinking about it, Abbas felt that it was inappropriate again, shook his head and said to himself:

"Nishapur is still too far from the river and Tocharo, it is better to go to Barihe, yes, to Barihe!"

In comparison, Bari was closer to Tocharo, and closer to the four towns of Anxi in the Tang Dynasty, and going there was more conducive to strengthening the rule over the four towns of Anxi.

Everything was decided, and the old governor was about to close his eyes and rest for a while, when a servant trotted over on tiptoe.

"Governor, military newspaper from Yusuf. ”

"Read!"

Abbas didn't get up, closed his eyes, and said lazily.

But he heard the servant whisper:

"Yes, it's a military newspaper with wolf hair. ”

In the habit of the big cannibals, all the soldiers report that they are sticky to the wolf, and they are all in a hurry...... Abbas finally sat up.