"Ahh If a man could fly like a bird,

Run! Sail forward like a boat!

---- my soul with you, go over everything, into everything.

Sail through the water like a boat.

Gather the hints and the signs, the blue sky, the streams, the morning dew,

The fragrance of the milky grass, the bushes with the dark green heart-shaped leaves,

Mimosa, the petite and delicate white flower called innocence,

To decorate my beloved jungle - to sing with the birds,

Sing a soulful song for the joy of returning in memory. ”

Gu Dai's beautiful singing echoed in the milky white woods in the early morning, in a tent, the Tang soldiers were lying or leaning, listening attentively to the song from heaven, leaving the Huangjiasi, Gu Dai seemed to have changed a person, the wide black robe was lost, and she was dressed in a green tight-fitting suit, showing her slender and moving figure, a long golden hair reflected her snow-white skin, her personality was very lively, sometimes she wore a wreath of flowers with fiery red leaves, and sometimes chased the fawn like a child, Sometimes singing with the birds in the morning, her beauty and appearance and beautiful singing attracted every Tang Army soldier, even Shi Yang slowly fell in love with this lovely and full of life girl, he leaned on a big tree, quietly listened to her singing, as if from her singing to see a distant and beautiful paradise.

In front of a pool of clear water a hundred steps away, the mist was filled, Gu Dai was like an elf from the forest, sitting on a big rock and combing her long hair like a golden waterfall, her snow-white skin was stained with the morning dew, and a string of pearl necklaces on her neck as elegant as a swan correspondingly brightened, her blue eyes with a hint of sadness, I wonder if her beloved can know her thoughts and hesitations at this time,

And she sang softly:

"I'm looking for you. Because I miss. I sit alone.

Or when you wake up in the middle of the night.

I'll keep waiting. I firmly believe that you and I will meet again.

I'll keep an eye out. Never miss you.

Then. A long cry interrupted the silence of the morning. "I hit a wild boar. Come and help me! ”

It was Kurband's shout, and the singing by the stream suddenly stopped, and the Don soldiers jumped up and ran out of the woods as if they had finished their morning rituals, and Gu Dai hurriedly gathered her hair and put on her boots. Run along the creek towards the west side of the woods.

In the grass outside the woods lay a large black creature, a male boar weighing four hundred pounds, and two arrows shot through its two eyes. Through the mind, this is the origin of the first warrior of the Ques, not only outstanding archery, can fight beasts alone, but also infinite strength, can carry a four-hundred-pound behemoth from miles away.

In Gordon, Kurband has countless adoring maidens, and even Gu Dai's two half-sisters are eager to marry him, but he falls madly in love with the most beautiful princess of Gordon. Pity! The flowing water is affectionate, but the falling flowers are unintentional, but Gu Dai, who yearns for Han civilization, falls in love with a Tang Dynasty scholar.

Kurband has the self-esteem of a black man, although he is here for Gu Dai, he will never show his unrequited love in front of Tang Jun, and he firmly believes that Gu Dai is just a moment of confusion, and she will wake up sooner or later that she belongs to the forests and grasslands of the north. He belonged to Muls, and when she came to her senses, he would take her home.

Kurband was like a companion to the Don Army, leading them in the hunt he was best at, and his bravery and simplicity also won the respect of the Don Army, and there was no time for a breakfast barbecue, so the Don Army drew their daggers one after another, while praising Kurband's bravery. While cutting a piece of meat from a wild boar. Wash in the river water and put it in a skin. Maybe they'll get a barbecue tonight.

Kurband smiled a little proudly, he liked to listen to the words of praise, although he could not understand the praise of Tang Jun, he could read their sincerity from Tang Jun's eyes.

When he saw Gu Dai coming, he immediately cut off the most tender piece from the boar's waist, handed it to her, and said, "Give it!" This is your land. ”

"Thank you, Big Brother Kull." Gu Dai happily took it and washed the blood in the river like the Tang army.

Kurband looked at her silently, he saw a pearl necklace on Gu Dai's neck slipping out of the collar and hanging in the water, Kurband's heart was like a pinprick, and the muscles on his face trembled violently, this necklace was only after she went to Chang'an, Gu Dai, who was only passionate about jewelry for a moment, seemed to have never taken it off, needless to say that Kurband could guess that this pearl necklace must be the promise of the man to her.

"Are you alright, everyone?" Shi Yang rode out of the woods, and when he saw that Tang Jun was washing meat with laughter, he immediately shouted: "Go back and clean up immediately, and set off immediately!" ”

The Tang soldiers were so frightened that they ran back to the woods, packed up the tent blankets, and Gu Dai also hurriedly ran back to the accommodation, but was surprised to find that her tent had been neatly folded, and her belongings had not been touched at all, she seemed to have thought of something, and looked back at Shi Yang, only to see Shi Yang riding on a horse, holding a horse whip in the Tang army, urging in the Tang army, and did not look at her at all.

Gu Dai saw that the Tang army moved quickly, basically folded the tent, she hurriedly stuffed the tent into the leather bag, and put her belongings into another leather bag, the two leather bags were knotted, and put it on the horse, which was cleaned up, because of the long journey, she also had two horses, both of which were one in a hundred horses, she deftly turned over the horse and urged the horse to come to the Tang army.

Kurband also came on horseback, he didn't have anything, and at night he slept in a tree, which is also the skill of a hunter in Raksa, and in winter he could not even go down a tree for a month in order to hunt wolves.

Shi Yang glanced at everyone, and with a wave of his hand, the Tang army left the woods like a gust of wind, and continued to gallop south for four days, everyone gradually moved away from the forest area and came to the semi-arid Gobi Mountains.

It's getting dark. After a day's walk, Shi Yang was quite familiar with this area, he pointed to a huge rock shaped like a turtle in front of him and said: "There is a small river over there, it shouldn't have dried up yet, let's camp by the river!" I'll leave tomorrow morning. ”

And they went on several miles. Sure enough, I saw a small river, the river was very shallow, only two trickles remained, after nearly twenty days of difficult trekking, the Tang army had already been familiar with what to do next, no need to order, one group set up tents, some people took water for cooking, and the other part went around looking for dry firewood.

Gu Dai's tent was a little far away from the Tang army's camp. The two Tang soldiers helped her set up her tent on a boulder, about fifty steps away from the main camp, and Shi Yang didn't dare to let her go too far. Wolves are often seen in this area.

Soon, a bonfire was lit, and the night sky was lit with a raging fire, and everyone was exhausted, and they ate a little hastily, and then fell into their tents and slept, leaving only two soldiers for the vigil.

Shi Yang couldn't sleep, sitting on a big rock by the river, looking at the two thin rivers and feeling stunned. He was worried about the Battle of Broken Leaves, which had been a stalemate since September, and he didn't know when the two sides would break the stalemate, what made Shi Yang depressed was that this was a magnificent battle of attack and defense of the city, but he stayed out of the matter, guarding a deserted stone fort, obviously there were 20,000 food troops to attack, but they disappeared without a trace overnight. In the future, when it comes to meritorious deeds, there will be a little bit of his shadow in the book of broken leaves.

Shi Yang's self-esteem is extremely strong, he never wants to say in front of others that he is the emperor's son, and he was promoted from a small captain to a general commander, it took less than a year, and some people have already been dissatisfied and began to investigate his background. That's what makes him so ashamed. His promotion was to step by step, defending Canglong City, shooting the Great Chief of Qarluq, and capturing Ashibulai City. Despite this, Shi Yang still felt a little uneasy in his heart, these exploits were still too bleak under the aura of the prince's background, and he had to make immortal achievements in order to really stop everyone's mouths.

Shi Yang looked up at the boundless night sky, looking at the bright stars in the sky, and he muttered to himself: "Where is the opportunity to make immortal achievements?" ”

"General Shi." The shouting interrupted his train of thought, and he saw a black shadow rushing towards him, it was Kurband, running closer, Shi Yang found that his face was full of panic, and couldn't help but ask slightly, "What's wrong?" ”

"I just found this by the river." Kurband stretched out a slightly trembling hand, and in the palm of his hand was a wolf dung egg, "This is fresh wolf dung, there are a lot of them by the river in front, but I haven't found it when I camped just now." ”

Shi Yangteng! They stood up, and they were stared at by the wolves, and at that moment, suddenly a sentry shouted loudly in the distance, "Wolves! Hurry up, there are wolves! ”

Immediately afterwards, there was another scream from Gu Dai from the other side of the rock, Kurband was crazy, jumped up and ran towards Gu Dai's camp, Shi Yang dodged and rushed to the camp, he shouted loudly as he ran, "Hurry up, copy the guy to protect the war horse, hurry up!" ”

The Tang army got up one after another, grabbed the bow and crossbow and ran towards the war horse, Shi Yang reached out and grabbed a longbow, put two pots of arrows on his back, and turned around and ran towards the rock where Gu Dai was camping.

At this moment, the sorrowful roar of the war horse and the shouting of the soldiers resounded, and I don't know how many wolves rushed to this side, and there were dark shadows everywhere, making a low howl, Shi Yang just ran out of more than 20 steps, and suddenly there was a flower in front of him, and two wolves pounced on him one left and one right, he moved as fast as lightning, and two arrows shot out at the same time, with strong force, shooting through the heads of two wolves,

The two wolves let out a wail at the same time, their bodies bowed together, and they fell to the ground and died, Shi Yang kicked the dead wolf away, at this time, he heard Kurband's roar and Gu Dai's exclamation, and his heart was slightly lowered, she was still alive.

Shi Yang rushed up to a three-zhang high rock, only to see that twenty steps away, two sentries were fighting with the wolves with Kurband, nearly a hundred wolves gathered under the rock, taking turns to attack the three of them, the wolf corpses lying on the ground, one of the Tang soldiers seemed to have been injured, whew! Call! The ground gasped for breath, and Gu Dai stood behind the three of them, sword in hand, constantly slashing at the wild wolf that tried to jump up from behind the rock.

Shi Yang was condescending, and suddenly found a wolf sneaking up on Kurband from the side. And he didn't seem to notice that the situation was very critical, Shi Yang opened his bow and arrows, his fingers loosened, and when the bowstring sounded, a sharp arrow swished! Shot into the back of the wolf's head. Directly nailed it to the ground, Shi Yang smiled coldly, drew the arrow and wound it, shooting it like a series of arrows, an arrow is as fast as an arrow, every arrow is shot, a wolf must fall to the ground, and in the blink of an eye, more than 30 wolves were killed by arrows. When the wolves saw that the people on the rocks were powerful, they were so frightened that they retreated one after another, but Shi Yang's arrows were like shadows. chased them and shot them, and in an instant, more than a dozen wolves fell to the ground, and the wolves did not dare to stay, so they turned around and fled.

When Shi Yang saw the opportunity appear, he immediately shouted: "You guys quickly retreat to the campfire, and I will cover you." ”

Kurband picked up the wounded Tang Jun on his back, turned back to Gu Dai and another Tang Jun and shouted, "Come with me!" ”

The three of them rushed to this side, one after the other. At this time, dozens of wolves appeared on both sides of them, black and swarthy, and suddenly pounced on them, Shi Yang stood on the high stone, fired arrows left and right, and shot nearly twenty wolves, at this moment, an extremely majestic wolf king appeared, it stood alone on the opposite rock. His eyes stared at Shi Yang coldly.

Shi Yang scolded in a low voice, stretched out his hand to draw the arrow, but he took a vacancy, the two pots of arrows on his back had all been shot, the wolf king seemed to understand something, it jumped towards Gu Dai, the most delicate of several people, Shi Yang saw that the situation was critical, he didn't have time to think about it, pulled out his horizontal knife and rushed down the rock. Push Gu Dai away. Facing the wolf king is a knife.

The wolf king was extremely dexterous, and its body twisted in the air. Dodged a sharp knife, turned his head, and bit Shi Yang's neck like lightning, Shi Yang was horrified, it was too late to hide, he even smelled the wolf king's smelly breath, just at this moment, Gu Daijiao screamed, pounced from the side, knocked down Shi Yang at once, and snatched the fatal bite, the wolf king pounced into the air, its body spun flexibly in the air, and landed lightly and skillfully a zhang away, but it was not in a hurry to attack again, only stared at Shi Yang coldly, its intention was very simple, It is to lure Shi Yang down from the boulder, and there will be no need for him to make any more moves in the future.

Shi Yang escaped death, he pulled Gu Dai against the boulder, his eyes quickly scanned the surrounding situation, Kurband had already run out of more than twenty steps away with the wounded Tang army on his back, and another Tang army had also escaped from the wolf pack, at this time, more than a hundred wolves had gathered from all sides, and they stared at the human being who killed dozens of their companions with extreme hatred, waiting for the wolf king's order.

Shi Yang held the knife in one hand and Gu Dai's hand in the other, knowing that he might not be spared, he smiled bitterly, turned his head to look at Gu Dai, under the moonlight, her blonde hair was draped over her shoulders, covering half of her face, but it was this kind of cover-up, but it showed her a heart-shaking beauty, her skin like mutton fat and white jade, a tall and soft nose, plump and small red lips, just as Gu Dai also looked at him, her bright eyes were as gentle as the eyes of an antelope, and she also realized the arrival of the last moment, The body instinctively leaned towards him, Shi Yang was a little stunned, he suddenly felt her hand, soft and smooth, a taste that had never been felt before, as if sweet spring water flowed into his heart.

Gu Dai suddenly realized something sensitively, she hurriedly let go of her hand, the jade hand was withdrawn from Shi Yang's palm, she lowered her long eyelashes and whispered: "If you can live, you tell Cui Lang for me that I will marry him in the next life." ”

Shi Yang seemed to have been hit hard by a heavy object, he suddenly came to his senses, and a sense of pride rushed into his heart, and he laughed wildly: "You won't die, I don't take dozens of beasts in my eyes yet." ”

He stepped forward and slashed towards the Wolf King's void, this was his naked challenge, the Wolf King's cold eyes suddenly closed into a line, it was enraged by the arrogance and arrogance of this human, it suddenly raised its head and howled long at the full moon, the cry was particularly terrible.

More than a dozen wolves roared and pounced on Shi Yang, Shi Yang roared, slashing left and right, the first two wolf corpses were separated, the stinky wolf blood sprayed him all over his face, Gu Dai was also infected by his courage, she lifted her spirit and stabbed the wolf from the side, but their momentum was quickly overwhelmed by the wolves, Gu Dai's sword was bitten by a wolf and snatched away, Shi Yang was invincible with both fists and four hands, and he wanted to protect Gu Dai, blocking left and right, it was obviously difficult to parry.

At this moment, an arrow roared, and the arrow was powerful, piercing the brain of a vicious wolf that was rushing towards Shi Yang, and then followed. Two arrows arrived one after the other, and at the same time shot the two wolves who tried to attack Gu Dai, dozens of paces away, Kurband held a longbow in his hand, and carried four pots of arrows on his back, with fast movements and precise archery. Several wolves who tried to get close to him were shot dead on the spot.

And not far behind him, dozens of Tang soldiers came, each of them holding five or six torches in their hands, and shouted to Shi Yang: "General, don't panic, we will meet you." ”

Shi Yang's spirit was greatly lifted, he killed a wolf who was about to escape with his backhand, and raised his knife to slash at the wolf king provocatively, perhaps because of the arrival of the torch, the wolf king's eyes finally showed timidity. It raised its head and howled a few times, and fled westward first, leaving the wolves leaderless. They all fled with the wolf king, and in an instant, the wolves left more than 200 wolf corpses and fled cleanly.

Shi Yang breathed a long sigh of relief, he no longer had any strength in his body, and sat down tiredly, suddenly he seemed to think of something, glanced back at Gu Dai, and said with a faint smile: "From now on." Cui Yao owes me a favor. After nearly a month and a half of trekking, Cui Yao finally arrived at Hamadan, the core city of the Abbasid Caliphate, the Abbasid Dynasty and the Abbasid Dynasty of the Black Empire are collectively referred to as the Great Eclipse in the Oriental History Books, but they are two completely different dynasties, the White Eclipse is a dynasty established by the Arabians (that is, today's Arabs), while the Black Cloth Eclipse is a dynasty established by the Persians, fifty years ago, the Persian nobles living in Khorasan took advantage of the surging uprising of the Khorasans, Overthrew the Umayyad dynasty. The establishment of the Abbasid dynasty, apart from religion and language, the Arabians have not been able to preserve anything else, this dynasty is lucky, its second caliph Ja'far and the fifth caliph al-Rashid are two monarchs with great talents, one laid a solid foundation for the Abbasid dynasty, the other made the Abbasid dynasty strong, and at this moment, it is the fifth year of the Rashid caliphate's accession to the throne.

It's already a bit cold in the Tigris basin in October. Strong winds from the north blew across the ground. The sand and dust were kicked up, and the leaves of the poplar trees on the side of the road were gone. Shivering in the cold wind.

Although Cui Yaodi is a captive, he is full of curiosity and yearning for this distant Western Empire, along the way, the exotic customs make him gradually forget his situation, plus Agush is quite tolerant of him, seeing that he is very interested in the culture of big food, Agush is also very patient to teach him Arabic, a month and a half later, Cui Yao, who is hard working and has a talent for language, can simply use Abel to communicate with Agush in daily conversation, of course, some advanced questions, he can only use Turkic conversation.

That night, the army, returning from Samarkand, set up camp five miles from the city of Hamadan.

Under the light of the big tent, Cui Yao's expression was solemn, and he was a little incredulous at what he heard, "Your Highness, do you say that the annual tax paid by the Islamic congregation is only forty taxes on his property?" ”

"Yes, this is our Islamic teachings, Muslims need to pay a certain amount of property every year to help the poor and dedicate to the monastery, we call it zakat, with your Tang tax rate is forty taxes one, we are a thousand dinars of property to pay twenty-five dinars, of course, if you are willing to give alms to the poor, it is not among them."

Speaking of this, Agush looked a little proud, "As far as I know, the lowest tax rate in your country is only thirty taxes and one, and it changes at will, depending on the likes and dislikes of a certain emperor, one tax Chinese New Year's Eve today, it will become ten taxes and one next year, and even all kinds of harsh taxes other than taxation emerge one after another, squeezing out the people's fat and people's ointment, unlike our big food, the doctrine clearly stipulates the proportion of zakat, and no caliph dares to change it at will." ”

"However, you have imposed heavy taxes on the people of the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu and Tocharo, and the land tax and poll tax have taken almost half of their property, and although tithes were implemented last year, the property to be taxed is determined by the government, not their real property.

Agush shook his head, "That's because they don't believe in Allah, they are not Allah's people, and of course they can't do it according to the teachings." ”

"No, you're confusing right and wrong." Cui Yao sneered and said: "When I was in Kangguo, I heard with my own ears that many Kangguo people who converted to Islam are still taxed according to ten taxes and one tax, and they do not enjoy the zakat you said, Your Highness Agush, you will not deny this fact, right?" ”

Agush looked up and smiled, "What does it matter! Although they have converted to our religion, they are vanquished. Of course, we have to bear more taxes, which is a matter of course, otherwise we will only rely on zakat income, what will our caliph do to feed the army, and we are not like you Han people, who are benevolent and righteous to foreigners. but cruelly exploited the people of their own land, no! We cannibals want to enjoy wealth and culture, and as for suffering, let those foreigners bear it! ”

"That's why you cannibals are so aggressive, you are expanding abroad in the name of religion, in fact, you want to deprive more wealth and pass on the disaster to other peoples, obviously you are extremely selfish, but you come to accuse the Tang Dynasty of benevolence and righteousness. And our Tang Dynasty is not as cruel as you said, His Majesty the Emperor gives the people land and property, and implements 20 taxes and 1. As for the countries of the Western Regions, we do not levy taxes on them, nor do we feed them with money and rice, and we never interfere with their autonomy, so they are happy to submit to the Tang Dynasty, and it is a long-term way to serve talents with benevolence and righteousness, although your Great Food is now flourishing as conquerors. Repeatedly use force to suppress the oppressed peoples, but have you ever thought about it, how can your children and grandchildren resolve the hatred accumulated over thousands of years? ”

Cui Yao's-for-tat words made Agush speechless, and he suddenly became a little annoyed, slapped the table and scolded: "Have you forgotten your identity?" There are a few captives who can get you this kind of treatment, please respect yourself! ”

After saying that, he flicked the sleeves of his robe, turned around angrily and left, he had just left the camp. But I saw an attendant running to report: "Your Highness, there are people outside the camp who ask to see you." ”

"Is it Governor Hamadan? Tell him I'm missing! ”

"Nope! It was not the governor of Hamadan, but a Sogdian merchant who said that he had come from Samarkand, and that His Highness knew him. ”

Chased from Samarkand? Agush was slightly stunned, there were many Sogdian merchants doing business in Baghdad, but this person was chasing from Samarkand, who was he?

"Bring him in!"

Agush's anger was interrupted by a sudden guest, and he hurried out of his tent. The Sogdian merchants who had then asked for an audience were brought in. It was an old man in his sixties, with a dusty face.

"It's you!" Agush did know the man. He is the son of the former minister of Kang and a famous multinational businessman in Samarkand.

He heard in Samarkand that Agush was going to bring a Tang envoy who was captured in Pakhana back to Baghdad, so he guessed that Cui Yao was captured, and in order to save Cui Yao's life, he chased after him overnight, and finally caught up with Agush's team in Hamadan.

Muta stepped forward and knelt down respectfully, "Commoner Muta kneels to His Royal Highness!" ”

"What are you here to do? Could it be that someone is making things difficult for your caravan? Agush sat down, he couldn't figure out why these mercenary merchants had chased him for thousands of miles.

"Your Highness, I want to ask, is the envoy of the Tang Dynasty captured by the prince named Cui Yao?"

"So what?" Agush sat up straight for a moment, stared at Muta, and said, "Do you know him?" ”

Muta smiled bitterly, "I can't hide it from Your Highness, this Cui Yao I knew him when I was in Chang'an, and later met him when I was in Broken Leaves, and came to Bahanna with him, I didn't know that he was a messenger of the Tang Dynasty, but I knew his true identity." ”

Real identity? Agush suddenly became interested, "Tell me, what is his true identity?" ”

"Your Royal Highness, he is the grandson of Cui Yuan, the former prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, in his Tang Dynasty, he has been known as a prodigy since he was a child, this person seems to be old, but in fact his age is only sixteen years old."

"I see." Agush showed a look of surprise on his face, he walked to the tent door with his hands behind his back, looked at Cui Yao's tent from a distance, and suddenly smiled, "It's not easy to represent a great country at the age of sixteen!" The caliph must have been very interested in him. ”

"And you." Agush glanced back at Muta, smiled slightly, and said, "Since you are willing to travel thousands of miles for him, it means that your friendship is good, you will stay and take care of him for me, and teach him the language of food, and I will thank him again in the future." ”

Muta was overjoyed, and he kowtowed respectfully, "I am willing to serve the prince." ”

Early the next morning, the team set out again, and the road from Hamadan to Baghdad was wide and straight, and after only three days of walking, the group arrived at Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate.

Baghdad means God-given in Arabic and is a village in the Sassanid Empire. Built by the second caliph Ja'far over a period of four years, Baghdad was the product of internal and external political influences, and although the center of the Umayyad dynasty was destroyed, there were still fierce rebels in its vast empire, and Damascus was clearly unfit as the capital of the new dynasty; Second, the Abbasid caliph died of smallpox in his thirties. His sudden death led to a fierce struggle over the succession, and the Abbasid brother Jafar killed his uncle Abdullah and the leader of the Khorasan land, Abu Muslim, to seize the throne, but it also led to a large-scale uprising, and the original capital of the Abbasids, Kufa, was the place where the rebels gathered, so Jafar had to find a new capital, and he searched for many places, and finally chose Baghdad.

Baghdad was originally known as the City of Peace. Located on the right bank of the Tigris River, within a few years of its construction, it became one of the three magnificent capitals of its time. Chang'an, Constantinople, Baghdad, the Abbasid Empire was extremely vast, Tripoli in the far west, and Tocharian and Sindh in the east, ruling the center of this thousand-mile territory, which was Baghdad.

Agush's army was stationed outside the city, and he took only a hundred attendants with him and led Cui Yao into the once-prosperous capital of the Abbasid Empire.

This is a circular city, so Baghdad is also known as the regimental city. Divided into the inner city and the outer city, all of them are made of bricks, there is also the Forbidden City in the inner city, the city wall is towering into the sky, and the Chang'an palace city sits north to south, the palace of the caliph is located in the center of the entire capital, it is also a circular palace group, and the inner city, the outer city together form three concentric circles, with the palace of the caliph as the center. Radiating outwards through the four palace gates, four straight avenues were formed, like the spokes of a wheel, shooting to all corners of the empire.

Cui Yao entered the city through the city gate due north, and the noise and noise came to his face, and the streets were full of people, with teams of camels passing by, and the streets were lined with small vendors enthusiastically selling their wares to passers-by. In the distance, there is a huge wooden platform for the slave trade. Slaves from Lower Egypt can be seen being auctioned off, and a magnificent mosque can be seen next to it. The round dome glistens in the sunlight.

"This is the outer city, where ordinary Baghdadians and foreign merchants live, where 300,000 people live, and there are great opportunities and wealth here." Muta introduced Cui Yao to the magnificent city in simple Arabic, and now that he had officially become Cui Yao's steward and retinue, the old Sogdian merchant had staked his family's future on the young Tang nobleman.

In addition to the large population and magnificent architecture, the cultural customs here are no different from other big food cities they pass through, Cui Yao did not feel any surprise, he was very interested in the magnificent architecture here, and couldn't help but compare it with Chang'an, although it and Chang'an are called the world's people's city, but both its size and population are much inferior to Chang'an.

After listening to Muta's introduction, Cui Yao smiled and asked, "Uncle seems to be very familiar with this place, did he often come and go here in the past?" ”

Muta smiled, "I have lived here for five years, and there is a house of mine in the western block, which is now empty, and I will show you there when I have the chance." ”

After walking about five miles, they entered the inner city again, the inner city is the place where the Abbasid dignitaries and wealthy people lived, and it is also the concentration of various government offices, compared with the chaos of the outer city, the buildings here are much more neat and orderly, a small castle-like private mansion is built next to each other, the roof is mostly round in Islamic style, the road is wide, the pedestrians are very scarce, occasionally there is a splendid carriage passing by the street corner, you can see a magnificent building in the distance, or the imperial library, or the imperial tax office, Or just a mosque.

Upon entering the inner city, the merchant aura had faded into place and was replaced by an imperial majesty, and the streets were filled with well-equipped caliphal guards, wearing black helmets, chain mail, carrying battle axes or spears, and round shields on their backs, patrolling the streets in formation on tall horses, bowing to Agush as they passed.

The inner city was obviously much smaller than the outer city, and after walking for a short time, they came to the Forbidden City, and from the city gate, they could faintly see the green domed palace, the famous royal palace of the caliphate, on top of the green dome. A statue of a knight holding a spear rises into the air like a prancing horse.

The gates were heavily guarded, and about a thousand soldiers were guarding both sides of the gates, and Agush waved his hand and ordered everyone to dismount, and he hurried forward and spoke a few words to the officers guarding the gates. The officers immediately ran into the city to report to the Harry.

In the magnificent palace, the caliph al-Rashid was in a rage, he was holding a sword and slashing in the palace, several precious tables and chairs carved from agarwood had been chopped to shreds, the eunuchs and court ladies were trembling with fear, hiding in all corners and shivering, only one minister looked at Rashid seriously and was angry, his eyes were calm, waiting for the caliph's anger to subside.

Rashid just got the news. The Hui people, who had already promised to attack Beiting, lost their words and withdrew their troops back to Han'er Bali, so that they could do it. He was originally a perfect part of the Battle of Broken Leaves: attacking Beiting to contain the reinforcements of the Tang Dynasty, but it was declared a failure, and his 20,000 Great Food Army had no effect at all. Damn Sulman, how did he promise me! Rashid's anger was again sprinkled on the landless Persian.

Perhaps a little tired, Rashid put his sword back into its scabbard and sat down in his wide chair at once, kneading his temples with his index finger and thumb, Rashid had a lot of experience in warfare, ten years ago. As the supreme commander of the Abbasid Empire, he led an army of 200,000 troops against the sworn enemy Byzantine Empire, and besieged Constantinople for several months, which was the fourth Arab siege of Constantinople since the Umayyad dynasty, and it was also because of this campaign that he won the support of the military to overthrow his brother Hadi from the throne five years ago and become the fifth caliph of the Abbasid dynasty.

It was the experience of the siege of Constantinople that made him aware of the importance of reinforcements to the besieged enemy. In order to win the Battle of Broken Leaves, he had spent almost all the gold in the treasury and postponed the planned tax reform, so that he could not rely on heavy taxes again to sustain the protracted war, but now, the rebellion of the Hui people has cast a shadow over this war.

"Has Your Majesty calmed down now?" The minister standing at the door finally spoke, his name was Yahaya, a Persian, of Oriental descent. His grandfather was a Buddhist monk in Tochar. Yahya is now the vizier of the Abbasid dynasty (the equivalent of prime minister) and is about 60 years old. The most powerful man in the entire empire except for Rashid, he was also the Amir of Baghdad, and Agush was his deputy governor of Samarkand.

Yehaya's power was not given by Rashid, and even half of the entire Abbasid dynasty belonged to his family, his father Khalid was a close friend and brother of the Abbasid Caliph, the founding elder of the Abbasid dynasty, and Rashid was his adopted son, if you use the analogy of the Orientals, Yehaya is Lü Buwei of the Great Qin Empire, and Rashid respectfully calls him his father.

Yahaya stepped forward slowly and said softly, "Your Majesty, you should not be so angry, it is not conducive to your rational decision-making. ”

With a wave of his hand, more than a dozen guards rushed over and cleaned up the broken tables and chairs, Rashid seemed to wake up suddenly, he didn't know that Ye Haya had entered the palace, he immediately stood up and said respectfully: "Father, please forgive me for my impulsiveness, I was worried about the Battle of Broken Leaves, and the Hui people betrayed their oath." ”

Ye Haya smiled and shook his head, "I already know, the Hui people are two-headed birds, they both want to take advantage of the east and the west, from their khan wants to set up two queens at the same time, I know that this is an unreliable ally, however, I also have a way to make it really join us, but I need your patience and wisdom." ”

Under the soft gaze of his adoptive father, Rashid completely regained his senses, and he immediately invited Yahaya to his war room and asked him to sit down, "Please father tell me how to make the Uighurs completely surrender to us?" ”

"Haven't you read Sulman's report?" Ye Haya smiled slightly: "The military support of the Hui and the Tang Dynasty, the Sogdian merchants and the Manichaeans are loyal to the caliphate, and their local khans remain neutral, if the Hui Di Khan dies suddenly, then who does Your Majesty think the next khan will favor?" ”

Rashid suddenly realized that Yahaya was right, that the domestic power of the Hui had actually slipped towards Baghdad, but was only hindered by their khan's vacillating national policy, and that if this treacherous and loyal khan was removed, the Hui people's westward leaning would not be stopped.

Ye Haya saw that he had understood his intentions, he changed the topic, and returned to the Battle of Broken Leaves, "We are not good at attacking cities, the weapons we can rely on are trebuchets and battering rams, last month His Majesty transferred five hundred freshly built trebuchets to Bahanna, and now it is almost winter, it is estimated that it is already very difficult for the Tang army reinforcements to come, please give your Majesty an order to Alan to officially launch an attack." ”

Rashid nodded slowly, "Okay! I will order it immediately. ”

At this moment, a message from the guards came from outside the door: "Your Majesty, Prince Agush has arrived, and he is asking to see him outside the palace." ”

"Announce his audience!"

Rashid quickly glanced at Yehaya, who smiled and stood up, "I still have something to do, so let's go first, you brothers can have a good chat!" ”

With that, he turned and walked out of the palace, and at the very moment he went out, Rashid cast an extremely resentful glance at his back.

(An unprecedented 10,000-word update, Lao Gao pleads with you for a monthly pass)