Unlike Gilholz and Rezwan, Chanalan is not an isolated city, there are some small villages and towns around, although the Five Rivers Army has occupied several villages and towns along the way without blood, but it also allows the Persian army in Chanalan to be warned in advance.

The Persians in the city were panicked by the sudden appearance of the army, thinking that the steppe people had rebelled. But when the enemy soldiers approached the city, these Persians were even more panicked - the other party actually raised the banner of the Tang army!

The appearance of the Tang army made the Persians in the city feel unbelievable, even those Persian merchants who had dealt with the Tang people, after recognizing the Tang army's flag and military uniform, still comforted themselves in their hearts and said that these were all fake, pretended by the steppe people.

It is no wonder that the Persians are so self-deceiving, Persia and the Tang Dynasty have established diplomatic relations for more than 300 years, not to mention the outbreak of large-scale wars between the two countries, even small-scale armed conflicts are very rare, after all, the two countries are too far apart, there is no direct conflict of interests, and they are both big countries with a long history, so they have always maintained peaceful and friendly diplomatic relations.

However, this does not mean that the Persians are not wary of the Tang Dynasty.

Before the An Lushan rebellion, many Persians had been to Chang'an and other places in the Tang Dynasty, and the various experiences of these people in the Tang Dynasty are still circulating among the Persian people, leaving the impression that the Tang Dynasty was prosperous and prosperous, and the Tang people also became a modest and courteous, confident and tolerant image.

But there is more to the Tang people than meets the eye.

The fierce revenge methods used by the Tang Dynasty to quell the Anxi rebellion made the Persians understand the other side of the Tang people, the Tang army destroyed the village in every village, and slaughtered the city when it encountered the city.

The Persians, who watched all this from the sidelines, suddenly discovered that this originally humble and civilized neighbor, once barbaric, was even more terrifying than those bloodthirsty and warlike Turks, and from then on they had more awe for the Tang Dynasty.

Fortunately, Persia was too far away for the Tang Dynasty, and after the rebellion was quelled, the Tang Dynasty resumed its contacts with Persia, but the Persians could not travel and settle in the Central Plains as in the past, and even commercial trade could only be completed in a few designated cities in Anxi.

The decline in communication led to misunderstandings, especially under the one-sided propaganda of the Ansihu who had fled to Persia, and the Persians were even more wary of the Tang Dynasty than the invading Turks and Arabs.

So when the elders in the city found hundreds of soldiers with Tang faces, they finally shattered their last illusions, and one of the elders fell to the ground in despair, babbling incessantly

"The Turks, the Arabs, and now the Tang people, Persia is a pill..."

Although the Persians in the city were terrified one by one, they did not think about opening the city and surrendering, because they were afraid that the Tang army would slaughter the city...

————

"Honorable Lord Thorn, as long as you promise to let Canalan govern after the city is broken, I am willing to persuade the elders in the city to show your loyalty and open the gates for your army." A middle-aged Persian man in a silk robe with a goatee, speaking fluent Chinese, said to Pan Xiaogu with a smile.

When he spoke, his demeanor was neither humble nor arrogant, and his tone was calm and unhurried, if it weren't for the shabby robe on his body and the hemp rope tied to his hands, others might have thought he was a diplomatic envoy.

The man's name was Shaht, who claimed to be the leader of the Canalan Merchant League, and a prisoner of war in Pan Xiaogu.

Pan Xiaogu did not want to suffer too many casualties, so he asked the soldiers to bring this man from the prisoner of war camp and asked him to persuade the Persians in the city of Canaland, but he did not expect that this person would first propose a trade condition.

"Why should the city I worked so hard to build be handed over to you subordinates who are defeated?" Pan Xiaogu asked with a funny face.

"Dear Lord Thorn, I can assure you that we will still maintain our loyalty to you after the autonomy, and there will not be a shortage of copper plates in the annual tax payment, and you can treat us as officials of the Tang Dynasty, people who specialize in helping you manage the city." Shacht had been to Anthy and had seen the way the Tang people managed the aliens in their territory.

Although Anxi of the Tang Dynasty also established prefectures and counties like the Central Plains, due to the complex ethnic composition here, in order to reduce contradictions, most of the state and county officials who are mainly foreign races are directly served by local tribal leaders, and only establish governors on top of the prefectures and counties to coordinate and mediate conflicts between different tribes as arbiters.

These autonomous clans paid a symbolic tax in peacetime, responded to the call of the Protectorate in wartime, and at other times kept the traditions of the original clan in their own way.

Pan Xiaogu did have the idea of learning from this set of ruling methods.

Pan Xiaogu currently controls two Persian towns, Pan Xiaogu does not plan to move all the Persians and Hu people in the city to his own territory like he did with the Hu people in the steppe, he wants to keep these towns along the river as nodes to control the waterway of the Panyang River. The biggest problem was that Pan Xiaogu did not have enough manpower to control these Persian cities.

However, this does not mean that Pan Xiaogu has to accept the conditions of this Persian at this time, especially this person has a posture of being at his own.

"The Shahet leader is very familiar with Anxi, and knows the lack of strength of our Anxi army. You guessed it, I really don't have many troops in my hands, and I don't want them to lose here. ”

Shacht was surprised when he heard Pan Xiaogu personally talk about his weakness, and Pan Xiaogu smiled at him when he saw it

"But I think the steppe Hu people in the northern grasslands of your country must not be counted so much, the leader of Shacht has been with the army for many days, and he must have discovered that there are many Hu mercenaries in our army, right?"

Pan Xiaogu nodded with a bad face when he saw Shacht, and continued to ask

"If I promise to let these mercenaries plunder at will after breaking the city, do you think these people will fight to the death?"

As soon as Shacht heard this, he immediately became anxious, and could no longer maintain his previous calmness of everything under control, and rebuked sharply

"You can't do this, you are the governor, how can you do something that connived at mercenaries to loot the city, you are an unrighteous soldier, against the words of the saint!"

"I didn't expect the Shacht chief to know the words of the sage? However, the governor has no choice, he wants to capture Canalan City as soon as possible, but he doesn't want his own men to lose too much, of course, he has to use these mercenaries to fight. As you should know, in order to make these mercenaries fight to the death, you must give them some reward, and allowing them to collect loot after the battle is undoubtedly the best way. Pan Xiaogu looked at the angry Shacht and said with a smile