.

"Greek fire, Greek fire!" Bashav shouted.

It looks very similar to the scene a few years ago when the Great Food Navy was at sea and was almost burned by the Byzantines with Greece.

The six iron cables gradually tightened from north to south, and the south side leaned on the Guaegg Mountain, which did not occupy a wide range, and some large food boats escaped for this reason. But the northern radiation is very wide, and several armies are combined, tens of thousands of troops, and it is impossible to put a large camp together, unless Bashav comes to command. It was divided into three large camps, left, center, and right, which were at the corners of each other, and stretched for several miles on the north side of the riverbank. The corners of the left and right battalions are also the places where the iron cables are buried.

If there is no north wind, it is not a big problem, for example, the easterly wind, with the help of the night, to carry these small boats carrying burning materials upstream. Taking advantage of the sudden darkness of the torches, the boats on both sides of the river were lowered and a feint attack was made to attract the attention of the big cannibals. Ships upstream will drift down quickly with the help of wind and water. These cables were able to stop a ship full of soldiers because of the draft. But it doesn't work for these light boats.

As soon as the rockets are fired from both sides of the strait, the effect is still the same. Either the south wind blows and the number of ships is small, the effect will be worse, but you can also make some arrangements to make up for it. The biggest headache is the westerly wind, the wind and the water clash against each other, and the result is unpredictable, but some arrangements can be made again. This is the worst possible outcome. At this time, when the cold and heat alternate, the special environment of the Wuhu River, high in the east and low in the west, the desert Gobi is transpiring, and the wind direction is changeable. Nor does it have to attack when the west wind blows.

Wind is best in a northerly direction.

At this time, the Tang Dynasty's troops were not as strong as Dashi, but there were also many people, and thousands of ships carrying burning materials quickly pushed down the river, and then ignited a fire and floated towards the opposite bank. The wind kept stirring up the fire, and some tongues of fire spat out several feet away. If it is on the Yangtze River, it is difficult to realize this campaign, but the Wuhu River is not the Yangtze River, and it is said to be wide, and it is very wide for the small rivers of the countries in the river. However, the width is limited, otherwise the river area can be used as a natural moat.

In just the blink of an eye, the entire Wuhu River seemed to be burning. The fire was as bright as day.

Zhang Renyuan sighed and said, "Your Majesty, if the troops are accurate and the ships are sufficient, crossing the river at this time may defeat the enemy army." ”

"It's hard, you see." Li Wei pointed to the opposite bank.

Salem was also frightened by the incident, but soon came to his senses. His navy was finished, but the Tang Dynasty army still had many small boats, which could not only be used to carry incendiary materials, but also to carry people across the river. Immediately ordered the troops to assemble and line up for vigilance. Even at this time, if he has another strategy, he has defeated the big cannibal, and his own loss is not small.

But the goal of this battle has been achieved, and almost all the soldiers who are good at sailing and good at water in the Great Food Army are on the ships, and if there is any more army, it will be at least two or three months before it can be recruited again. By that time, his army did not know where to fight.

Or will the army be conscripted from the Persian people, and without the big cannibals, this group of Persians will die to fight against the Tang army that will restore the country for them?

Since then, the Wuhu River has been under the control of the Tang Dynasty.

Impact on morale. In addition to the night battle on the day of crossing the river, there were two battles during the day, and the soldiers in the river bravely participated in the battle despite being driven by the heroic battle of the Tang Army. can behave very cowardly. This was true not only of the Transoxians, but also of the Tocharians, Sindhians, and Persians. However, in terms of individual combat effectiveness, the gap is not so big, and the reason why this is so is that the cooperation of soldiers, the level of generals, and morale have led to a huge gap.

Morale is caused by defeat after defeat. Seeing the big cannibal, almost every soldier thinks that we can't win, it's the same idea, how to fight this battle? On the other hand, Byzantium, before the Great Eclipse was strong, it was inseparable from Persia. At first, he was also defeated by the Great Cannibal, but after several victories, his confidence increased, and he gradually fought vigorously, and only then did he win the seven-year battle.

One victory, two victories, will make them recover this lost confidence, ashamed. Let them understand that the big cannibal is also a human, not a monster, not a god. As long as you are not afraid of death, you can also defeat them.

This confidence cannot be cultivated, and there is no way to continue fighting.

In the first battle of Guazi Mountain, nearly a thousand of the bravest Tang Dynasty soldiers were sacrificed. If you continue to develop at this rate, you will get your wish, and when you go back, you will also become the commander of the light pole. Therefore, it is necessary to let Hezhong and Tochar, and even the Persian rebels be cannon fodder, and they must be developed into cannon fodder with combat effectiveness. After the bloody battle, with experience, after they go back, they can also continue to restrain the counterattack of the big cannibals. As long as the East achieves this goal, the Byzantines will not be reconciled, and the Berbers will not be reconciled. Before the Great Food Vitality recovers, it may go into decline.

Another order was given, and the boats were still in hand, so that the soldiers of the countries in the middle of the river should get into small boats, bring weapons, and pursue them from both sides. Many of the big cannibals saw that it was not good, and jumped into the river, trying to swim out of the chain and escape back to the south bank. There are also more than 40 large and small river boats, which escaped. Let 10,000 soldiers in the river get on small boats and expand the results of the battle.

Seeing the Tang army on the north shore flanking from both sides, almost all the ships that escaped from the big food turned their heads and attacked them. Everyone had this idea, and the soldiers in the river belonged to the countries in the river, and the boats were small, just in time for revenge. If you really don't support it, you can escape calmly if you have a big boat.

They were right, but they neglected morale. Listening to the screams of the cannibals and the cries for help in the firelight inside, at this moment, the blood of the soldiers of all countries in the river was boiling, and their morale was also extremely excited. Seeing the big cannibals taking the initiative to collide with them, they all maneuvered the boats flexibly to avoid it. Many of the soldiers in the river jumped on the boats when they were handed over in two boats, and engaged the big cannibals on board. This difficulty is not high, except for summer, the Wuhu River is shallow in spring and autumn, so the ships are not very big. The big one is only about a hundred tons. This kind of ship is also rare among the Great Food Army. As for the ships that were rushed to repair, most of them were more than 20 tons, 30 tons, and the largest ones did not exceed 50 tons. It is much larger than a small ship like the Tang Army, but the height of the ship's side is only half a person, or half a person high.

One person took the lead, and more jumped on the ship to fight. The morale is high, there are many people, and there are many courageous people. As a result, most of the ships were robbed by the Tang army instead. Only a few ships that were left behind saw the momentum, turned around and fled. Without the interference of these boats, they grabbed the prisoners one by one, scooped up the soldiers from the river, tied them with ropes, and brought them back.

It was dawn and the battle was over. The river continued to smoke, and there were floating charred decks and dead bodies. Because of the large number, they were all blocked by iron cables. As the iron cable was retracted, it quickly rushed downstream under the flow of the river. The Wuhu River has once again returned to calm.

Li Wei ordered the boat parked in the river to be towed out.

Let the soldiers get on the boat, with some small trebuchets, and boxes one by one.

Then dozens of small boats carried supplies, mainly vegetables and vegetables, and the soldiers on Guaegg Mountain had a hard time these days. And then there's this box.

The ship gradually reached the other side of the river, and did not come closer, but opened the box, and inside were leaflets, which were thrown into the air with a trebuchet. In the morning the wind gradually subsided, but did not stop completely, and under the blowing of the wind, the leaflets immediately drifted into the barracks of the Great Eater.

Luo Wuquan took the box and also used the trebuchet to throw these leaflets into the Great Food Barracks.

Messengers were sent to Salem to say jihad, and not many people knew about it. I didn't do it before, and the morale of the big food was high, and the effect of doing it was not good. It happened that under the defeat of the two battles, many of the Great Food Army came to the Wuhu River to throw these leaflets.

The leaflet is carved with a large food inscription and a lithograph. It was made clear that the Tang Dynasty was opposed to the succession of the caliphate to those who were not related by the blood of the prophet. Then he told about Ali's deeds. The scout brought more information, and Li Wei didn't know how to say anything good about this person.

His moral character is indeed perfect, Li Wei is ashamed of himself, and he is highly gifted in military affairs, but he is a real idiot in politics. For example, Avier sent troops against him and let Ali defeat him. Seeing that he had been defeated, Aviya said scoundrelly, "We are going to judge by the Qur'an." Ali considered reducing the cannibalism of Muslims and agreed. So this stupidity led the Muslims to think that Ali was the most devout Muslim and sanctified him.

The leaflet general told some of Ali's good deeds and let the big food soldiers relive them. And then he said how Aviye treated Ali's family? The eldest son, Hassan, poisoned Aviyah, and the second son, Hussein, had Aviyah's son Yazid's general cut off his head.

These two men were the true descendants of the Prophet (the wife of Ali and the daughter of Muhammad). The father and son of Yazid stained not only the saints, but also the prophets. Therefore, at the invitation of Abdullah Zobair, the Tang Dynasty sent troops to overthrow Yezid and restore justice to the prophets and saints. In the end, they were encouraged again, and they supported the Tang army and launched a holy war against this group of heterogeneous disciples.

Salem was furious and ordered his men to collect the leaflets.

But the flyer is just a piece of paper, and with good eyes, you can read the content quickly. Moreover, the Tang Dynasty army continued to sprinkle leaflets into the Great Food Army on the surface of the Guaegg Mountain and the river.

Just for a moment, almost all the soldiers in the army knew what was on the leaflet.

Not only are there great cannibals, but many Persian soldiers are now also believing in Islam. However, in the Great Eclipse country, because of the religious controversy caused by Hussein's death, some soldiers were somewhat confused in Khorasan. I believe that there are few words from the Tang Dynasty, but there are many soldiers who are thinking. Was it right or wrong that we helped Yezid fight?

There are four reasons to support the strong combat effectiveness of the soldiers of the Great Eclipse, and excellent commanders are constantly emerging, such as Salem, who is not second to none in the Great Eclipse, but none of the generals in the Persian Rebel Army, Tocharian and the countries of the river can match him. Individual soldiers, with a wealth of combat experience, confidence in victory, and religious beliefs.

The command level of the generals, the gap between the two sides can be seen in these battles. The confidence of winning a hundred battles has gradually moved towards a trend of collapse under two big defeats. Religious beliefs, there is a serious division within the Great Eclipse, the soldiers can only think lightly, can not think deeply, once they think deeply, what kind of consequences will it cause? What kind of consequences will be caused by the amplification of this consequence in combat?

I don't believe that the Tang Dynasty people would have good intentions and launch any holy war, but many people believe that it is very likely that the Tang Dynasty people will join forces with Zuo Baier. However, this kind of psychological factor can also have a serious impact on morale. Salem had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

He simply abandoned the Wuhu River, concentrated on defending the south bank, and again transferred 10,000 troops from the rear to support. In this battle, the Tang Dynasty people almost did not make much effort to annihilate their more than 8,000 soldiers, and these soldiers were not only water-based, but half of them were all real elite soldiers of the Great Food. The strategy has also been modified to keep the winter wheat harvest. Then put the Tang Dynasty people into the south bank of the Wuhu River and take advantage of the hot weather to have a decisive battle.

I finally realized that this kind of passive defense is very bad for me.

He also reported the situation to Damascus. But it is not said that there were only 30,000 or 40,000 elite troops in the Tang Dynasty, but that the Tang Dynasty sent more than 100,000 elite troops. Whether these elite troops are from the Tang Dynasty itself, or from Tocharo, or from the river, it is vague to say and relieve their responsibilities.

But it did a good job, and after such a big defeat, it was actually well arranged.

Standing by the river, I watched for a while, and the leaflets were scattered, and the boat was heading back. Li Wei turned his head back.

The Empress Dowager An Guo came over, flatteringly accompanied by a smiling face, and said, "Your Majesty, it is the concubine who is wrong." ”

"You are wrong, since you want us to support you, you can't doubt the strength of our Datang."

"Yes, yes, I am also a subject of the Tang Dynasty, how dare I doubt Your Majesty?"

Li Wei didn't think of this old empress dowager as a subject of the Tang Dynasty for the time being, and said, "Since you are here, I just want to say one thing. ”

Gathering all the nobles together, he asked, "Ladies and gentlemen, do you know why I did not send troops before I saw that the river was in danger?" ”

At that time, you were fighting fiercely with the Tibetans, how could you send troops, but you didn't dare to say anything, so you had to shake your head.

"If you look at it, we have different languages, different languages, different customs, and even different clothes. Even when soldiers talk, they need to be interpreted. How do you let us Datang accept you as our subjects of Datang? If it is not our subjects of Datang, how can we Datang come and send heavy troops to protect it? ”

"Your Majesty, the Celestial Empire didn't say it before." An old minister said.

"There are things that you have to say before you can understand?"

"Yes, yes, but what do we do?"

"I want you to consult with other states and counties to promote the common people to learn the official dialect of the Tang Dynasty, learn the Tang Dynasty script, and even send some outstanding children to participate in the imperial examination of our imperial court during the imperial examination." I also wanted to say it before, and it was terrible to cause some bad thoughts.

Take advantage of this big victory to put this request forward.

It's not too much, the big cannibals are demanding harsh taxes, and they are constantly invading, looting property, robbing people as slaves, and forcibly promoting Islam, just to let them learn Chinese and Chinese characters, which is much less controversial than religion.

This is assimilation.

Some people smiled wryly at the corners of their mouths.

But how is it possible to survive in the cracks and want to not pay at all? Promise to come down.

After regaining control of the Wuhu River, the Tang army was again split into five. The Tang army was divided, and the Great Food Army also had to be divided. But the Tang Dynasty began to overhaul the boats, and they repaired them by the Wuhu River. Then send scouts to inform the Persian merchants that they have taken your ships, or burned them, and have been forced to defeat the great cannibals.

We immediately rebuilt the ship, repaired it, and repaid it with the new ships. If you don't believe in quality, you can send someone to take a look. Reversing the negative impact of ship grabbing and burning.

So there were more and more Tang Dynasty boats on the Wuhu River, and then they came back to harass the big cannibals.

But ten times worse than the Great Cannibal.

Every night they kept beating war drums and blowing horns, and sometimes the army got up in the middle of the night and deliberately got on the ship to make a feint. Salem gave Li Wei a lot of headaches, and the wheat was getting yellow day by day, and it was difficult to say that the Tang Dynasty army would not launch a real attack.

So the soldiers were divided into two shifts and took turns to rest.

But people always do things during the day and sleep at night. How many people have a night owl habit at this time? It can be done in one day or two, but after a long time, this life of day and night reversal will always have some impact on the big cannibal.

But that's not bad news. Seeing that in mid-April, several fast horses galloped from Tocharian and reported to him that the Tang Dynasty's hundreds of thousands of troops launched a fierce attack on the city of Gaburo.

"How is that possible?" Salem grabbed the scout by the collar.

An army of more than 100,000, not an army of 120,000. Da Shi and Bai Zhongting are fighting, how many troops did the two sides dispatch? In the fierce battle of Alexandria, how many troops were dispatched? When Ali and Aviyah fought fiercely, Ali only used 50,000 troops.

How much grain, grass and materials do more than 100,000 troops consume every day, and the daily consumption of confrontations like the current Wuhu River is an astronomical amount. So he can requisition more soldiers to come to battle, but he can afford it, but he can't afford it. The Tang Dynasty trained 70,000 troops in the river and mobilized 40,000, the same reason.

With hundreds of thousands of troops, can only half of Tocharian be able to afford it? And there weren't that many troops. Some time ago, a total of only 50,000 people were trained, and it is already rare to be able to mobilize 30,000 or 40,000 people.

"Your Excellency the Governor, my subordinates have not made false reports, I have seen it with my own eyes while standing on the top of the city. This time, the Tang Dynasty army came, and it was vast, full of mountains and fields, with at least more than 100,000 people. ”

"Could it be that you were transferred from the western region of Tianshan?"

"The Governor is wise, and so did the generals of the city. And most of these soldiers are only wearing leather armor, if it is a regular soldier of the Tang Dynasty, they will not only wear leather armor. ”

"You've come all the way from afar, it's hard work, go down and rest."

Sending the scout away, Salem sat back in his chair in a daze. It's not impossible, all the tribes in the Western Regions that rebelled against the Tang Dynasty were suppressed by the Tang Dynasty. The remaining ministries adopted a policy of proximity to the Tang Dynasty during this period. It was impossible to mobilize hundreds of thousands of troops from Tochar, but it was easy to recruit hundreds of thousands of troops from the Western Regions.

In that case, the real main direction of attack of the Tang Dynasty is Tocharian and Jiling City. But aren't they afraid of the Tibetans? Drawing the army of the Western Regions will make it easier to attract the attack of Tibet. This is also a very unreasonable approach. Walking out of the tent, looking at the Tang Dynasty fleet showing off its might on the Wuhu River, and then at the Tang Dynasty camp opposite, he carefully sorted out the information from the scouts in his mind.

It's not easy.

Scouts can be used by any general, but the information they get is varied, unless it is obvious, and the other scouts don't know the severity, otherwise they will not be just a scout. So I poured it all out. As a general, you can not only use scouts, but also find out this useful information from the huge amount of information brought by scouts.

For example, Wang Fangyi, even he neglected information about religion.

Finally thought of one thing, the old Tibetan Zampu died, and the new Zampu did not take long to ascend the throne. Because of Qinghai's defeat, the domestic political situation is unstable.

Worst!

If this is the case, it is even so serious that the main battle faction does not dare to send troops, and the emperor of the Tang Dynasty can explain it by doing so. Tubo did not send troops, there were no worries, and their attention was on the Wuhu River, and another Tang army could capture all of Tocharo, and even capture Jiling City, and form a line with the righteous army. Then he sent troops to the west and attacked the army of the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and Khorasan and Sestan were all lost!

Tibet is far away, and I haven't paid attention to it, let alone got the latest news about Tibet. But the emperor of the Tang Dynasty came from Qinghai, from the Western Regions.

On second thought, there are more suspicious places. For example, after the Tang Dynasty won a great victory in the battle of Guadanshan that day, it did not cross the river with all the troops, but immediately built a fortification. Another example is that the Wuhu River was burned that night, and the morale of his soldiers was low, and the Tang army had a chance to cross the river at that time. He also deliberately lined up to be on guard, but he did not cross the river.

Fooled, Guaegg Mountain can't be regarded as a sound of the east and west, the real sound of the east and west is in Tocharo. And in order to perfectly implement this strategy, the emperors of the Tang Dynasty came to the Wuhu River in person. These Dons are too insidious.