Abdullah's meaning is already very clear, he will not be willing to submit to al-Mansur, what he says is good, he can't bear to let the Apos dynasty fall into the hands of people with ulterior motives, and he is responsible for the future of the empire, but he himself is a person with ulterior motives, the reason why he said this is just a euphemism, and it is also to take care of Apos's face.

If you tell Apos directly, I have a crush on the position of the caliph, and you must pass on the throne to me, then you will rob it, and as a smart politician, you will not do this.

Apos understood the hidden meaning of Abdullah's words, for this, he was very anxious, a few days ago, he also tested Mansur, at that time, Mansur heard that he was going to pass on the throne to him, without the slightest refusal, his eyes were full of excitement and expectation, it was obvious that his younger brother was about to wait.

In this way, he was in a dilemma, if he was healthy, he had enough ability and means to weaken one of them to ensure the safety of the dynasty, but now he was bedridden, and he had no power to weaken anyone.

At the moment, the only thing that comforts Apos is that both Mansur and Abdullah are quite sane, and they have not done anything too out of the ordinary, and they are still respectful to him, at least on the surface, and he can only ask for this.

"Let's talk about it! There's something out of the ordinary that Mansour has done lately that worries you so much. ”

Apos asked, wondering if Mansur had made any moves.

Abdullah pondered for a moment and then spoke: "Respected caliph, you know the situation in the southern city of Aden, Ziyad and his soldiers and horses are there, in order to contain Ottoman and Artik, but you must not know!" Ziyad has returned, and he is now at Abu ***'s residence, and this is very unusual. ”

Apos's eyes moved, he barely sneered, and said leisurely: "My uncle, the big man in the whole Khorasan, who else is not in your surveillance range, on the side of my couch, there must be someone from you!" ”

After speaking, he looked at the people waiting beside him, and all of them were trembling and took a few steps back.

Abdullah did not deny it, but boldly spoke: "Respected caliph, I am afraid that someone will be unfavorable to you, and I have not seen your meaning, as for the big people outside, I must make sure that they are loyal to you, in case someone takes advantage of your illness to make trouble, it will be a big mistake, you say yes!" ”

After speaking, he looked at Apos without humility or arrogance, without a trace of panic in his eyes, it was obvious that Apos had people around him, even if Apos dropped the cup, he would not be afraid.

Apos could only give in, he did not continue to embarrass Abdullah, paused, and asked: "Ziyad has returned, when is the matter, by the way, what is the situation in the city of Aden, and Artik still refuses to surrender?" And that damn Ottoman, hasn't he been wiped out yet? ”

Abdullah said: "Ziyad just came back today, there is no special news from Aden City, it is estimated that it is still the same, however, Qiyad is the commander of the army, he left 10,000 elite soldiers and horses, and ran back by himself, in case Osman and Artik suddenly attacked, it would be a big mistake, take such a big risk to transfer Ziyad back, Abu *** What is this going to do, you know, Qiyad's ability to command the Khorasan cavalry is second to none." ”

The meaning has been clearly expressed, that is, al-Mansur is accused of disregarding the interests of the empire and privately transferring the famous general Ziyad back to Khorasan, and the deeper meaning is to tell Apos that Mansur privately transferred back Ziyad, who is good at commanding the Khorasan cavalry, in preparation for the position of the caliphate, and it is even possible to preemptively kill both of them.

When Apos heard this, he fell into thought, Ziyad returned to Khorasan, such a big thing, Abdullah would not lie to him, and there was no need for this, and he did wonder in his heart, why did Qiyad come back, no matter what happened to the court, what could it have to do with him, a general who led troops to fight, as a generation of famous generals, didn't he understand what the consequences would be if he left the troops? The Ottomans were not a good man, and without Ziyad's command, 10,000 elite cavalry might not be able to beat the Ottoman army.

Could it be that Mansur is really going to do it, Apos has to think about it, after all, this is a special period, anything can happen, and he is a more suspicious person, how can he not think about it when such a thing happens?

But even if such a thing really happened, he had no power to stop it, he didn't know how many days he could live, and he had a very helpless sense of weakness.

"Don't worry! My uncle, I'll have this matter investigated, do you have anything else to do? ”

Apos was tired, and he didn't want to talk to Abdullah anymore, and he didn't know what to talk about, because he knew he couldn't convince Abdullah at all.

"Noble Caliph, rest early!"

Abdullah's report had already been reported, so there was no need for him to stay.

He came to meet Apos for two purposes, one was to report on Ziyad's return to Khorasan, and the other was to observe Apos's complexion, and to speculate on how long Apos would live so that he could carry out his own actions.

After Abdullah left, Apos fell into deep thought, thinking about the same as Abdullah, and thinking of several scenarios, but he could not tell which one was true.

However, he didn't have the heart to care about Ziyad's problems now, although Qiyad was a famous general, but after all, he was just a general, and he was more concerned about the stability of the Abbasid dynasty that he had created with his own hands.

From the conversation just now, it can already be determined that Abdullah is very unconvinced by Mansour, and Mansur will not obey Abdullah either, and Abu ***, Mansour's number one supporter, actually transferred Qiyad back to Khorasan, what is this for, is it the rhythm of the war?

Apos, who is already on the verge of death, is very anxious about this, but he can't come up with a good way to deal with it, and now Mansur and Abdullah are not only equal in power, but they are also actively preparing for each other, and they are all guarding against each other? It is not easy to deal with either side, and most of the cronies around him have been bought by these two, which he can feel and guess, after all, the tree is falling apart, and his cronies need to find new backers.

There are also some cronies who have not been bought, listening to his tone, they need to follow the right person, they want to follow the next caliph, and if they follow the wrong person truthfully, their careers will be hopeless, and their lives will be lost.

He hates such people very much, but that's the way it is, it's useless for him to hate, he can't change all this.

At Abu ***'s residence, Ziyad was drinking tea with Abu *** and talking about the current situation in the Abbas.

"Sir, now that the forces of all factions are against us, the remnants of the Umayyad Dynasty have not been wiped out, and in this case, if there is a split within the empire, it will be very bad, and it will definitely ruin the empire."

Ziyad said very worriedly.

Abu *** smiled and said softly: "Ziyad, you are too worried, do you think Abdullah, an old man, can still make any waves?" He has a lot of soldiers and horses, and he occupies a lot of land, but he is an incompetent man in my eyes, and as long as the Khorasan cavalry under my command attacks, he will soon be able to defeat Abdullah's soldiers and horses, and will not cause a protracted war. ”

For his military command ability, as well as the combat effectiveness of the Khorasan cavalry under his command, Abu *** is very confident, he believes that as long as he moves, Abdullah will not have the slightest chance of winning.

Qiyad also believed in the combat effectiveness of the Khorasan cavalry, thought for a while, and said worriedly: "If we really fight, our chances of winning are relatively large, but after all, there will still be great losses, which is not good for the empire." ”

"Losses are inevitable, Ziyad, and you don't have to think about that."

Abu *** doesn't seem to care about the slightest loss.

"By the way, sir, I'd better tell Mansur as soon as possible about my private return! He's a suspicious person, and if you don't explain it earlier, he'll be suspicious. ”

Ziad kindly reminded.

Abu *** smiled and said disdainfully: "Don't worry! My Ziyad, al-Mansur needs my strength very much now, and if I choose to support Abdullah, he will have nothing, so I can explain your affairs or not, will he still ask me for my troubles? ”

Obviously, Abu *** is proud, he believes that he is an indispensable and decisive force under Mansour, and Mansur can't do without his assistance at all, so he won't do anything to him, so he doesn't need to be too submissive to Mansour.

But he would never have imagined that he had committed a big taboo by doing this, since ancient times, when the heroes fought the world, they could still tolerate the pride and presumptuousness of their subordinates, but as long as the world stabilized, these proud generals would be disposed of, the reason is also very simple, these people have a lot of credit, too arrogant, and seriously threaten the authority of the emperor, in order for the next generation to be able to ascend the throne smoothly, or in order to make their own positions stable, it is very necessary to kill these founding heroes.

Therefore, a talented general will either rebel against himself as an emperor, or be a low-key person, or even disgrace his reputation, and he must not be a person who makes his master suspicious.

Han Xin was proud of his official and asked for a title, although Gaozu agreed, but he was not very comfortable, he needed Han Xin to fight the world at that time, so naturally it would not be good, but after the world stabilized, he was going to take someone like Han Xin, who made your kid too proud, and he didn't know how to defile himself, which would threaten the emperor's authority, and naturally there would be no good ending.

Ziyad pursed his lips, he wanted to persuade a few more words, but he also knew his old superiors very well, so he took the words back to his mouth, he knew that it was useless to say more, Abu *** would not listen to him, and he was also very worried in his heart that Mansour would liquidate Abu *** in the future.

If Abu *** is really liquidated in the future, then he can't run away, after all, he is Abu ***'s henchman.

At this moment, Ziyad suddenly felt that there was little point in returning to Khorasan, although he was very good at fighting, but in dealing with the affairs of the imperial court, he seemed to be completely overwhelmed, Abu *** did not listen to his advice, Mansur and Abdullah were even more of a casual contact he did not dare to contact, as for meeting Apos, he did not dare to go, and he did not know what to say after meeting.

However, since everyone has already arrived in Khorasan, they can't rush back, at least they have to stay for a few days and talk to Abu ***, even if it's not very speculative, at least their relationship is very good, and they are very comfortable together.

Abu ***'s heart is comfortable, however, he ignores Mansour's feelings, since he learned that Ziyad returned to Khorasan, Mansour has been speculating, guessing the reason for Ziyad's return, he feels that if Ziyad himself returned suddenly, Abu *** should immediately explain to him, let him know the truth of the facts, but a long time has passed, Abu *** has not had the slightest communication with himself at all, obviously does not plan to tell him about Ziyad's return.

No matter what the reason for Ziyad's return, he felt that Abu *** needed to tell him everything, which was what a faithful person must do, and Abu *** did not do this, which made Mansour very dissatisfied, but because of Abdullah's existence, he also needed Abu *** to help him, so no matter how big the dissatisfaction was, he could only endure it, but since there was doubt in his heart, it was always indispensable to settle accounts after the autumn.

The reason why Mansur is such a character, in addition to genetic factors, there is also a very important reason, because the higher the status of a person, the more afraid he will be, there is a saying that the high place is not cold, once a person enters the high-level, he will be worried about losing everything he has, he will be honestly afraid, he will become suspicious and sensitive, and the slightest wind and grass will make people all the grass and trees.

Mansour's thoughts in his heart can't be told to anyone, this kind of suspicion is enough as long as he knows it in his heart, if the words he tells others, if it reaches the ears of Abu ***, it will be very embarrassing, Mansur is a very political person, he will not make such a low-level mistake, even if it is the closest person to him, he will not show his dissatisfaction with Abu ***, he sends people to spy on Abu ***, is it impossible for the other party to plant eyeliner next to him? Therefore, it is always good to be cautious, so that you can better avoid losing money.