Section 711 The city of Basra begins

Basra was founded in 635 A.D., located in the lower reaches of the two river basins, is the confluence of the two rivers, is the only hub connecting the Persian Gulf and the inland river system, large sea ships can be traced down the river to the Basra port, and then transfer to the river boats, transported to the two river basins, the traffic is very convenient. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In ancient times, boat transportation was the most labor-saving mode of transportation, and the merchants were very fond of Basra.

As a result of trade, Basra grew rapidly, and the harbor was full of ships with masts, merchants and warehouses.

In addition to trade with neighboring Africa, India and Sri Lanka, Basra was an important port on the "Maritime Silk Road" connecting the East!

A large number of large food and maritime merchants took the sea boat, all the way across the sea, transporting spices, dyes, flowers and plants, strange beasts, pepper, medicinal materials, gold, silver jewelry, rare treasures and other materials to "China" Guangzhou, and transported back silk, porcelain and tea, copper and iron four major pieces, although the journey is far away, the risk is not small, but the tonnage of the sea ship is large, if it is successful, it will make a lot of money.

In recent years, the trade situation has been good, Wei Xi of the Tang Dynasty was in charge of the military department, instructed the Guangzhou Navy to build new warships, actively maintained the trade routes, and even sailed to Sri Lanka, so the big food and the trade relationship of the Tang Dynasty is closely linked.

Although the two countries exchanged troops, they did not affect the sea transportation of Basra until the arrival of the Tang army. (The Zhou army is from the perspective of the East, and the Tang Army is from the perspective of the West, even if the Wu Zhou Dynasty is the Tang Dynasty, the Westerners still identify it as the Tang Dynasty)

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Dispatched to fight the Great Eclipse, the senior officers of the Zhou Army found that the tribal army that had taken refuge in Central Asia was very useful, that is, the Great Cannibals of Guishun participated in the Zhou Army, and they acted as the leading party, walking in front of the large army, which was extremely confusing.

Their faces, equipment, and flags are the same as those of the other cannibals, who are hardly prepared for them, and always think they are their own.

This is related to the great pace of the Zhou army, the big cannibal never dreamed that the Zhou army would come so far, no, when the Zhou army under the banner of the big food entered the city of Basra, the local officials also ran over to greet it.

It is conceivable that they were stunned when they knew that these "own people" had revealed their identities!

Didn't you say that the Tang army was still in Isfahan, why did it come here? What are the troops at the front doing!

One can imagine how unexpected Wei Xi's actions were.

The place has the advantages of the place, and there is also a lot of trouble, in that era when the traffic basically relies on the *** flow and basically relies on the roar, it is too far away, the message is transmitted slowly, as long as there is a heart, a long-distance attack, you will receive special effects!

One person and five horses walked in double directions, which was beyond the imagination of people at that time.

After entering the city, the Zhou army followed the map provided by the spies in the city, and went straight to the important city lord's mansion, military camps, warehouses, yamen, rich and noble people's mansions, etc., as well as the most important port area.

Is there a spy in this city?

Some! In such a big trading city, how can there be so few spies, and this time the spies are even locals, but he has never exposed it, but only gave information.

Following the detailed map, the high-ranking officials of the Zhou army muttered in their hearts: "You will never know how many spies the general has in various cities, and it is really unwise to be his enemy!" ”

The Tang army, with at least 10,000 infantry on horseback, methodically controlled various regions after entering the city.

The defenders of the city fought separately and could not organize effective resistance, at most some small troops, or even thousands of troops could not be organized to counterattack, so the strength of the flesh and feet allowed the Zhou army to crush their resistance without much effort.

Basra City Lord Bakr was a big fat man who was overnourished, and when he was driven out of the City Lord's Mansion by the Zhou army, he looked nostalgically at the beautiful buildings for the Zhou army to enter and exit at will, carrying his treasures, at this moment, his heart was full of regret.

Why do you want to deduct military spending? Why not strengthen the city defenses!

Why doesn't the army train!

As a result, I have worked hard for many years to become someone else's thing, so why bother!

In inland cities, because the pressure on defense is very small, the security is guaranteed, so the city lords are eager to compress and compress military spending, so as to save money to squander for themselves.

In ancient times, there were very few modern state funds allocated, except for the central army and officials stationed in the central government, the expenditure on local affairs was mostly self-sufficient, and the military expenditure was more, leaving less for other places. Moreover, at that time, the lord of the city had a lot of power, and he was often able to control the expenditure of regional revenues, and he had a great deal of autonomy. (Horses only rely on horses to transport documents, and the central government is not able to govern too much).

For inland areas far away from the war, the lords of many cities gave military expenses as little as possible, not to mention raising an army, at most to use it as a policeman.

It's not a "shortcoming", there is no war, what do you want to do with so many soldiers? Rebel?!

Basra received a lot of taxes, but Berkel was as greedy as the other inland lords, and spent very little on the local military.

Finally, because of the pressure of the merchants (the merchants were afraid of robbery), they still maintained a minimum army.

That's all! It is possible to suppress the rebel turtles, but there is no chance of winning against the Tang people who are armed to the teeth, and as soon as the Tang people come, they will immediately collapse into an army.

So Becker became a prisoner, and his family's floating fortune amounted to three million yuan (not counted; Fixed assets)!

As a token of his gratitude, Tang Jun allowed him to take away the silver he could, and arranged for servants to serve him and his family.

Then, according to the intelligence, he looted the property of the local rich nobles and nobles, and spared the major maritime merchants alone.

The richest people in the area were the maritime merchants, who never dreamed that they would be able to see so many Tang people here, and when they were worried about the safety of their belongings, warehouses and ships, they saw the Tang army posting notices at the port, stating that they would protect the interests of the maritime merchants and welcome everyone to continue trading with the Great Zhou.

I see!

Maritime business is a real technical work, and it is necessary to have rich knowledge of navigation, business knowledge and strong strength to do cross-border trade.

A lucky, qualified maritime merchant is likely to be one out of five, and one out of five people succeeds.

Therefore, Wei Xi did not want to kill the egg-laying chicken, and he ordered that the maritime merchants should not be violated.

Of course, the floating wealth raised by the maritime merchants of 2 million yuan was given to Wei Xi, which was an explanation to Wei Xi and the Great Food King's Court: giving money to Wei Xi was the hard work of sending troops to him, and another way of saying this money was that it was blackmailed by Wei Xi, indicating that it was not in collusion with Wei Xi.

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On the river beach, two Great Zhou generals were strolling, and they watched the exotic: the chic big cannibal girl with a tall and slender face covered with a light veil full of temptation, the fisherman on the river singing a vigorous fishing song casting his net to fish, and the distant harbor was bustling, and five large ships set sail for the far east, and last night three large ships sailed overnight.

Although Wei Xi let them go, the maritime merchants are like frightened birds, and only when the ship enters the sea can they have a sense of security.

Shi Wanchao kills too many people, and a good way to balance his mind is to take a walk, but there are not many officers who can walk with him: either he can't help his bad temper, or he looks down on people.

So it is often Wang Xiaojie who walks with him, the chief who promotes him, and Shi Wanchao maintains due respect for him.

Shi Wanchao was holding something very tempting in his hand, it was a five-kilogram gold nugget, shining with a sense of weight.

This is the new wealth obtained by sharing the spoils just now, and everyone in the high-ranking officials has a share, and Shi Wanchao took it out to play.

"Aren't you tired of holding it?" Wang Xiaojie was not very happy, and he asked with interest.

"I'll take it to the streets when I return to Shendu!" Shi Wanchao's answer was not authentic.

"Why?" Wang Xiaojie would like to ask for details.

"With bricks in hand, I have them in the world!" Shi Wanchao said solemnly.

"Then you have to take a hundred people with you to guard it every time you travel, or someone else will steal it!" Wang Xiaojie shrugged.

"It doesn't matter!" Shi Wanchao said casually: "Anyway, I have a lot of money!" ”

He does have a lot of money!