Negotiation requires skill, and at the same time, it is also a process of bargaining, which requires both parties to make concessions together so as not to touch the bottom line of both parties.

At the beginning of the negotiation, both parties have to test the other party's bottom line, and then adjust their negotiation ideas, and according to the actual situation, make a plan that is acceptable to both parties.

Mansour's request was for a temporary truce between the two sides and no more fighting, which would be good for both sides, and Abdullah's side always felt that since you proposed a truce, you had to show something! You can't just say it! In this way, what is the point of peace talks?

"Nasser, what sincerity do you think we should give?"

Nasser spoke: "You started the previous battle, and we suffered heavy losses in a battle, don't you think we should pay some compensation?" ”

"Reparations? It's impossible, never ever. ”

Nasser laughed and said, "If you are not sincere, why should we agree to a truce?" ”

"With our soldiers and horses left behind in Khorasan, the combat effectiveness is not weaker than yours, if we fight, we will definitely lose both, it is better to take a breath, we march to the southwest, you recover well, this is good for everyone."

Nasser frowned, not knowing how to answer, the other party is not small, it seems that it is difficult to get any benefits, and peace talks are also more important to them, so he can't say anything to death.

"Peace talks and truce are not trivial, I can't be the master, you go back first! I would like to consult with the caliph. ”

Nasser made an excuse to let the other party leave first.

"Alright! Nasser, I await your good news. ”

After the other party left, Abdullah walked out from behind the screen in a huff and said viciously: "What kind of thing, you dare to go wild with us." ”

"Caliph, Mansur's attitude is relatively bad, however, what they said is also reasonable, as far as the current situation is concerned, a truce between the two sides is beneficial to everyone, if the war continues to be fought will be the result of both defeats, and only if we agree to a truce, al-Mansur can send more troops and horses to encircle and suppress Artik and Ottoman, which is very beneficial to us."

Nasser spoke.

"Have you thought about it, if Mansur calmly destroys Artik and Ottoman, at that time, Mansour's power will be in full swing, and we will no longer be his opponents, how to protect ourselves at that time."

Abdullah said worriedly.

Nasser spoke: "Don't worry about the caliph, our promise of a truce is just a pretense, so that al-Mansur can rest assured and boldly exterminate Artik and Ottomans, once the Khorasan army is empty, we will tear up the truce treaty and occupy the Khorasan region in one fell swoop. ”

Abdullah smiled slyly and nodded, "Okay! Then we will sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, but we can't lose the momentum, and the next time we talk about peace, we must bring more elite swords and axes to scare them, and maybe we can make something. ”

"Yes, caliph, I know what to do."

Nasser replied.

Peace talks are continuing on one side, and preparations for war on the other side are already well underway.

Abu *** and Ziyad have already selected 100,000 elite cavalry, and prepared small shields for all the soldiers, as well as various logistics materials needed for the army to go on the expedition.

Outside the west gate of the royal city, al-Mansur personally saw them off to boost the morale of the army.

"Abu ***, the elite soldiers and horses of the dynasty are all paid to you, you must fight hard, whether you can pacify Artik and Osman is up to you."

Mansour encouraged.

Abu *** nodded and said, "Caliph, rest assured!" With 100,000 elites in hand, our army will definitely return triumphantly, and I still know very well how capable Artik is. ”

"That's good, I'll rest assured now, Ziyad, you must assist Abu ***, also, this battle is also your battle of revenge, you have to avenge your subordinates, and you must use victory to comfort your sacrificed subordinates."

Mansour looked at Ziyad and said encouragingly.

Ziad nodded, and said with a righteous face: "Harry, send your heart!" I will definitely teach this kid Altic a good lesson, let him know that we are powerful, our soldiers are all a division of a hundred battles, and their strength is far stronger than Artik's newly recruited recruits, and they will definitely be able to defeat them. ”

"Okay, great, Ziyad is so confident, I'm relieved, I won't say anything superfluous, you guys hurry up! I will wait for your good news in the royal city. ”

Mansour spoke.

Abu *** and Ziyad saluted together, and with a wave of their hands, they led an elite army of 100,000 to the southwest.

Mansour stood outside the city and watched as the soldiers left one by one, until all the soldiers had left, and then he returned to the royal city.

"Ziyad, are you really so confident?"

Halfway through, Abu *** looked at Ziyad and asked.

Ziyad smiled and said, "Does the general want to hear the truth?" ”

"Oh, it's nature."

Ziyad said: "Actually, I'm not that confident and I don't think I can easily beat Artik, but I have to say this in order to make Harry happy. ”

"Oh, you think we can't win this battle?"

Abu *** asked.

Qi Yade thought for a moment and said: "I'm not afraid of Artik's 100,000 recruits, I'm just worried about the support that Datang gives them, if Datang endlessly supports Artik, how can we win?" ”

"You are right, the strength of the Tang Dynasty, we have been taught, it is indeed very terrifying, but the southwest peninsula is very important to us, if we lose the peninsula, our Apos Dynasty will become a small country, so, no matter how much pressure there is, we have to fight with all our might, there is no evidence that the Tang Dynasty personally participated in the war, just to support some weapons, even if the recruits who have not fought in this war have more advanced weapons, they will not be our opponents."

Abu *** said.

Qi Yad opened his mouth and said: "The general is right, this recruit will never be a threat to us, as long as there is no Datang's soldiers and horses to participate in the battle, these guys will not be our opponents, the scouts have already set off, and they will soon be able to figure out the deployment of Artik, as long as the situation of Artik is clear, we can deploy the battle plan in a targeted manner." ”

When they first arrived at the dynasty, Abu *** and Ziyad had already sent scouts to set out, and although Mansur provided them with some information, they were worried that the information was wrong, and they would not be relieved if they did not investigate it themselves.

Because the scouts are lightly armed, and each soldier has several horses, they can reach their destination in a very short time and carry out targeted reconnaissance activities.

Therefore, the scout quickly completed the task and sent the information back, and when he went, he went on horseback, and when he sent back the news, he used carrier pigeons, anyway, he transmitted the deployment of the enemy army, and there was no danger of leaking secrets.

"General, the Scout has sent back the news."

A soldier took the letter from the pigeon's leg and immediately handed it into the hands of Aibu***.

Because the scout gets a lot of information, there is more than one carrier pigeon, and there is never more than one piece of information, and there are many pieces of paper.

Abu *** and Ziyad unfolded all these pieces of paper, and learned all kinds of information from the graphics and words of these pieces of paper.

"General, it seems that there have been some changes in Artik's deployment, which is a bit different from what the caliph told us!"

Ziyad read all the information and spoke.

Abu *** nodded, and said: "That's right, there have indeed been some changes, but the changes are not very big, just some small-scale adjustments, it is estimated that when our troops come to the city, they will still deploy like this." ”

Ziyad agreed: "That's right, judging from this deployment, Artik is obviously afraid of our cavalry and does not dare to fight us in the field, so he chooses to stick to multiple cities and wants us to attack the cities, so that we can take their cities one by one, and if they dare to rescue, we will destroy the reinforcements in the middle of the road." ”

"Ziyad, you said it well, I mean the same thing, but Artik's main army is deployed in five cities, Maia City has 30,000 soldiers and horses, Ar City in the north has more than 20,000 people, Rafha City in the east, Al Al City in the west, and Jubai City in the south, all of which are only more than 10,000 people, do you think we should attack which city first?"

Abu *** asked with a smile.

Qi Yad carefully looked at the location of the five cities, and said: "General, the total number of soldiers and horses in the enemy's five cities is 100,000 troops, if our army divides the troops to attack the city, there will definitely be no chance of victory, so it will be in the hands of Artik, and if we attack a city, we will have enough troops to attack the fortification, the city of Al Jawf in the west and the city of Jubai in the south are too far away, and they must not be chosen, even if it is the city of Maia in the middle, because the maximum number of troops is not suitable for attacking, and if you attack these three cities, Our logistical grain and grass will face the threat of the soldiers and horses of Ar and Lafha, and once our food and grass is in trouble, the army in front will collapse without a fight, so our target can only be Ar in the north or Lafha in the east. ”

Abu *** nodded with satisfaction, pointed to the two locations on the map, and said: "There are 20,000 defenders in the north of Al, and there are only more than 10,000 people in the east of Ravha, and the difference in strength is doubled. ”

Ziyad nodded and said: "The general said well, first attack Ar City, and then destroy Ravha, after these two cities are resolved, the situation below will be easy." ”

Abu *** said confidently: "With our 100,000 elite army, it is not difficult to break through the city of Ar, and our army will definitely be able to win a complete victory in this battle." ”

"Yes, General, we will surely win a great victory."

Ziyad followed.

Abu ***'s army is all cavalry, the number of war horses is more than the cavalry, in addition, there are many horses to carry supplies, so that the army can march at a faster speed.

In a few days, the army of Abu *** will be able to reach the northern part of the peninsula and launch an attack on Ar.

Abu *** is gearing up, the army will soon be killed, and Artik, who is on the defensive side, will naturally not wait, and after learning of this situation, he immediately convened an emergency meeting to discuss how to deal with it.

Artik and his important generals were all present, of course, the subordinates who were responsible for guarding the rest of the cities did not come, they needed to be responsible for guarding the city, so naturally they could not come to Maia City.

Ibrahim, as the spiritual leader, also appeared, and after many days of familiarity, everyone's impression of Ibrahim is getting better and better, and they will not avoid Ibrahim when discussing military affairs, and sometimes even ask Ibrahim to give advice, as long as it is reasonable, they will listen.

Artik is a devout Shiite believer, and his mission is to support the descendants of Ali, so he has no problem with the times, anyway, he has no intention of competing for the position of caliph, as long as he can fulfill the wishes of the Shiite ancestors, he will not live in vain.

"Abu *** 100,000 elite cavalry, killing in a mighty way, it's just imposing! However, we don't have to be afraid, we have sophisticated weapons supported by Datang, and we will definitely be able to defeat Abu ***'s soldiers and horses. ”

A senior official said.

"The field combat strength of the Khorasan cavalry is very strong, we will definitely not be able to engage them in the field, except for relying on the city, there is no better way, just follow the original plan."

Another senior official said.

Artik looked at Ibrahim and asked, "Caliph, what do you think?" ”

Ibrahim frowned, thought for a while, and whispered: "I'm a layman who fights this kind of thing, and I don't know how to fight, but if I can't figure out Abu ***'s battle plan, we will be very passive, I know this truth." ”

"Caliph Gao, if we don't figure out Abu ***'s plan, we can't defend in a targeted manner, it's really troublesome, but how can we get Abu ***'s battle plan, this is an impossible task!"

"Yes! Abu *** is a person who is very good at fighting, he will not tell us his combat intentions, we can only guess ourselves. ”

Several high-ranking officials said.