Mansour's reply disappointed Mansour, because of the Shiite rebellion, the Don prisoners of war had been sent to Karbala to mine silver, and it seemed that he would have to make another trip to Karbala.

At this time, Abu. The Muslim smiled and said, "Your Highness, the Shiite rebellion is basically over, and I am also preparing to return to Kufa to report to the Caliphate, so why don't we go back together." ”

It is certainly one thing for the Muslim to go back to report on his work, but on the other hand, if he wants to officially start a war with the Tang army, he must get the authorization of the caliph, but if he leaves and Mansur stays in the river, it is very likely that the caliph will authorize al-Mansur, which is not what he expected.

He took a roster of prisoners of war in the Tang Army, and said with a smile: "Among these prisoners of war, there are indeed thirty craftsmen, who can make wine, build ships, and cast money, and maybe there are really people who can make paper, if your Highness is interested, I will give you all these thirty craftsmen." ”

Mansour nodded happily and said, "Okay then! We'll leave tomorrow. ”

The Muslims smiled at Ziyad, and the meaning of this smile was that the preparations for war against the Tang army were handed over to him.

．．．．．．．．． At night, the mighty Tang army marched quickly under the bright moon, thirty miles ahead of Tuozhi City, the Tang army did not all drive to the capital of Shiguo, but set up a large camp by the Jinque River, only Cui Qianyou and Li Fei Yuanli led 10,000 troops to Tuozhi City, this is a tentative march, the complicated situation and the unclear attitude of Shiguo made Li Qingan deeply vigilant, at this time, any rashness and carelessness will be a fatal blow to the Tang army.

At this time, the prophetic foresight of history no longer has any meaning, the trajectory of history has been deviated, a battle of Gao Xianzhi in Tocharian changed the cause of the Battle of Talas, the battle of Talas in history is the suppression of the Tang army to Shiguo, so that the Great Food has anxiety about the true intentions of the Tang army, so that the war was triggered, more or less with a kind of accidental surname.

But not now, Gao Xianzhi's defeat in Tocharian has doomed the two empires to the openness of the competition for the Hezhong region, and there will be no suspense about the collision of the two empires of the East and the West, and the special strategic location of Shiguo is destined to become the eastern bridgehead of the Great Eclipse, and it is also the first stop of the Tang Empire's westward expansion.

The battle for the stone country may start from the small city of Talas, but the meaning of the war has completely changed, the battle of Talas in history is an end, is the end of the Tang Empire and even the Han nation completely lost the west of the Green Ridge, and this battle is a beginning, from the Han Dynasty in the Han Dynasty to the west of the Green Ridge expedition, to today the beginning of the battle in the form of group operations.

But this kind of large-scale expedition to a strange territory is destined to be flat in every detail, the mercury-like moonlight pours on the earth, the cool night breeze blows the endless grassland, and twenty miles east of Tuozhi City, there is a vast black forest, which is usually inaccessible here, but tonight, this forest has become extremely strange, and a huge murderous aura envelops the entire forest.

At this time, a group of Tang army scouts galloped towards the forest, and the Tang army brigade was already ten miles away, and this forest became the focus of Tang army scouts.

"Lvshuai Qin, should we go into the forest to have a look?" One of the scouts asked aloud.

Qin Brigade Marshal is the scout Qin Haiyang, after Cui Qianyou captured the broken leaves, he was rewarded for his meritorious deeds, and Qin Brigade Marshal was promoted from the team to the brigade commander by Cui Qianyou, and he had a hundred brothers under his command.

Regarding Qin Haiyang's promotion, Judge Wei Xin of the Anxi Army was opposed, on the grounds that Qin Haiyang had repeatedly violated military regulations, and Judge Wei undoubtedly had Qin Haiyang's complete resume record in his hands, including some of his disgraceful past.

Tianbao three years, Qin Haiyang is a scout brigade commander in Khotanese military town, it was he who drank and misbehaved, so that a team of Tubo sentries successfully crossed the blockade line, into the Tang Army's military area to explore, that time, Qin Haiyang was then in Khotanese soldiers and horses to spare, heavy beating of fifty military sticks, demoted to the team, the next year, Qin Haiyang led his subordinates to steal the property of several Hu merchants, because of the uneven distribution of the spoils, he was beaten a hundred sticks, imprisoned for three months, directly demoted to a small soldier.

These disgraceful things were gradually forgotten because of the personnel changes in the army, but the judge had a complete record in his hands, the Tang Army brigade commander was equivalent to today's company commander, when Cui Qianyou's promotion proposal was rejected by the judge, Cui Qianyou found Li Qingan, and finally got Li Qingan's special approval: to judge things by merit, rewards and punishments are clear, in this way, Qin Haiyang finally became the brigade commander again.

While his shortcomings are obvious, his strengths are also obvious, and that is that he has a lot of scout experience, and in a way, he is an excellent instructor.

Qin Haiyang took a look at the edge of the forest, it stands to reason that the king of Shiguo personally came to surrender to the Tang army, there should be nothing abnormal in Shiguo, and it is less than thirty miles away from the capital of Shiguo, generally speaking, the army will not do anything so close to the capital, this is common sense, ordinary scouts will not delve into it.

But Qin Haiyang is different, he is an adventurous person, adventurous people always like to do things that do not make sense, Qin Haiyang's rich experience tells him that the more calm the moment, the more risks will be involved.

Qin Haiyang checked the edge of the forest for a long time, the forest was dark, and he couldn't see anything, but an intuition told him that this forest was a little unusual, and he couldn't tell what was abnormal.

"Shoot an arrow into the forest!"

Qin Haiyang gave an order, dozens of Tang soldiers released arrows into the dark forest together, and for a while the arrows were like a torrential rain, and the forest was rattled, and suddenly, there was a scream in the forest, not an animal being shot, but a human cry.

This scream was like a phantom flying under the moon, it was terrifying, and the Tang army scouts were taken aback, and then their eyes suddenly became clear, only to see a large group of black figures shaking in the forest, it was not that their eyesight had improved, but that the army in ambush in the forest had launched.

"Not good, withdraw!"

Qin Haiyang roared, the Tang army turned their horses and fled, behind them, groups of Shi [***] teams surged out of the forest, they all opened their bows and arrows, and pursued dozens of Tang army scouts, but it was too late, Tang army scouts ran to three hundred steps away in a moment, far out of the range of Shi [***] team's bow and arrows.

At this time, the sound of horses' hooves on both sides of the forest was loud, and tens of thousands of Shi [***] teams were killed everywhere from the forest.

In the light of the hunt, the face of Prince Shi Yuan'en was a little distorted with anger, and the discovery of the Tang Dynasty scouts not only ruined their long-planned plan, but also ruined the hope of the entire Zhengwang family.

If you look at Shi Guo's actions from a small country in the river, it is indeed crazy, their ambush of the Tang army is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg, and if you look at Shi Guo from the perspective of a Tang vassal country, their behavior is a betrayal of the suzerain, a violation of morality.

However, from the beginning of the eastward expansion of the Great Eclipse, for decades, the Tang Dynasty has been unable to resist the Great Eclipse head-on, and in the past few decades, the Great Eclipse army has already conquered the Sogdian countries, and the Shi State has signed an alliance with the Great Eclipse, which is already a subject state of the Great Cannibals, and is no longer a subject of the Tang Dynasty.

The decades of conquest by the Great Eclipse made the Sogdians deeply afraid of the Great Eclipse, so much so that despite the civil war in the Great Eclipse, they still believed that the Great Cannibal would return sooner or later.

This is the reason why when Li Qing'an attacked Broken Leaf for the first time, Shi Guo sent troops, they were serving the suzerain, that is, after the defeat of the first Broken Leaf Battle, the king of Shi Guo Teller knew that they could no longer get off the big ship of Great Food.

In order to ensure the rule of the Zhengwang family in Shiguo, King Teller sent a messenger to Da Shi for help after the Tang army captured the broken leaves for the second time, and the reply was that he poured the strength of the country to resist the Tang army, and the Da Shi army did not say that he would arrive, and it was this promise that made Shi Guo take a risk, and King Tehler of Shi did not hesitate to use himself as a bait to try to ambush the Tang army that relaxed his vigilance.

Unexpectedly, their plan fell through in the end, so what should they do? Will it retreat to the capital, or will it fight to the death with the Tang army?

All the generals looked to the prince Yuanen, and the king had decided that he would inherit the throne, and his decision represented the king's opinion.

Yuan En's eyes were fixed on the east, the Tang army was already within ten miles, although they only had 10,000 people, could they be able to defeat it? It may be possible when you are unprepared, but what about now?

Yuan En couldn't help but think of the sharpness of the Tang Army during the Battle of Broken Leaves, and the indestructible battle of bows and arrows made him feel a chill in his heart.

"Withdraw to the capital!"

Yuan En finally made a decision, and the 20,000 Shi [***] team turned their horses around and quickly retreated towards Tuozhi City.

．．．．．．．． The news of the ambush in the forest was sent to the Tang army at the camp of the Jinque River an hour later, and Li Qing'an immediately ordered a heavy reward for the scouts who found the ambush, and then he came to the camp where the king of Shiguo was imprisoned.

"Your Royal Highness, I admire your courage to die generously, but I also regret that you have a group of unfilial sons who do not want fathers as long as they are on the throne."

Li Qingan looked coldly at this king who used himself as bait, shook his head, and said regretfully: "Although it is commendable that you sacrificed your life to die, there is no army that makes your death worthwhile, it's a pity!" ”

Teller closed his eyes tightly, sat cross-legged on the ground, and listened to Li Qing'an's tone, as if his army had failed, his eyelids jumped twice, half a sound, his eyes opened a slit, and shot a look of disdain.

"Humph! Since I came to your camp, I have never thought of living, killing or chopping, whatever you want. ”

Li Qing'an slowly sat down in front of him, looked at him and said with a faint smile: "Maybe you think that I will support the vice royal family and kill your children and grandchildren, so you are determined to follow the Great Food, betting that before I take Tuozhi City, the Great Food reinforcements will arrive, I am right!" ”

Teller twisted his face to the side and said nothing, Li Qingan smiled and said: "But have you thought about it, if my original intention was to support you instead of the deputy royal family, wouldn't you cut off your own way of life by doing this?" I say something unpleasant, your capital, I can blow it up in an hour, do you understand what 'bombing' means? ”

Teller looked at Li Qing'an in surprise, he didn't believe his ears a little, Li Qing'an wanted to support him instead of the vice king.

"You don't have to be so surprised, I, Li Qing'an, am not Gao Xianzhi, Gao Xianzhi is slaughtering the city in Tocharo, to be honest, I don't approve of it, it was done by people who have no vision, and in the end I was driven out of Tocharo, and I also provoked the anger of the heavens, and the gains outweigh the losses!"

Li Qing'an sighed, and said: "In fact, the Sogdian countries are the same, when the Great Food first expanded eastward, you asked the Tang Dynasty for help every year, but the Tang Dynasty was powerless to help you in the end, and in the end you all fell under the iron hooves of the Great Food, the temple was destroyed, the faith was changed, the treasury was looted, the Great Cannibals exhausted their fish, and the heavy taxes pressed on your heads, as far as I know, more than ninety percent of the income of the Great Food will be scraped away by the Great Food, and the same is true of Kangguo, the merchants of Kangguo are unwilling to go back after arriving in the Tang Dynasty, they just don't want to be brutally exploited by the Great Cannibals, What about your stone country? Don't tell me that Shiguo has been given special treatment. ”

Teller slowly lowered his head, in the seventh year of Kaiyuan, the stone country was broken by the Great Eclipse, the treasury was looted, and 250,000 dirhams of silver were handed over every year, which is equivalent to eighty percent of the annual tax revenue, this time the Great Cannibal promised them a condition that the money handed over every year was reduced to 180,000 dirhams of silver, Teller was bitter in his heart, in the past, Datang did not want them to hand over a penny, and he also received a sum of money from Datang.

He sighed, his heart was full of melancholy, Li Qing'an saw that he had been moved by what he said, so he sincerely persuaded: "Your Royal Highness the King, I can tell you the truth, this time the Tang Dynasty made the decision to restore the Broken Leaf Military Town, which is determined to confront the Great Eclipse west of the Green Ridge and restore the actual control of the Tang Dynasty to the west of the Green Ridge. It is willing to work together with Datang to drive Dashi out of the river, restore your faith and religion, and restore your freedom; Or is it up to you to help Da Shi and fight Datang to the end, and finally fall into a situation where the country will never recover, and the country will be destroyed. ”

After speaking, Li Qingan waved his hand and ordered left and right: "Let him and his entourage go, and send them back to Tuozhi City." ”

Teller's lips moved, and he wanted to say something, but Li Qingan stopped him, "His Royal Highness the King, I hope you will talk to me after careful consideration, we are limited to three days, we want to fight, my Tang army will attack the city in a big way, we will not tolerate mercy, we want to be peaceful, we treat each other with sincerity, fight against Da Shi together, the previous grievances are purchased and sold, I still support you as the lord of the stone country, I Li Qingan treats people with sincerity, but I can't rub a little sand in my eyes, come on!" Send the king away. ”

Teller sighed, gave a deep salute to Li Qing'an, and left the big tent quickly under the guidance of the soldiers, Li Qing'an slowly walked to the front of the tent, looking at the back of the king and gradually walking away, against the big food, Sogdia, the head snake of the land, is extremely important.

．．．．．．．．．． The sun is shining in the early morning, 50,000 Tang troops arrived at Tuozhi City, surrounded the four gates of Tuozhi City, Tuozhi City is much larger than the capital of Ningyuan Kingdom, there are more than 200,000 people in the city, the city wall is tall and strong, but it is not surrounded by a moat like the Central Plains city, Tuozhi did not, a horse Pingchuan reached the city gate, the Tang army surrounded Tuozhi City, and did not attack the city, but assembled a huge ladder and trebuchet, 300 huge trebuchets lined up, like a mighty giant, the goal is directly aimed at the city wall.

The soldiers of Shiguo at the head of the city looked nervously at the mighty Tang army, and the murderous aura in the sky made them tremble, and they silently prayed to the sun, begging for the blessing of the main god of Ahuramadaz.

In the palace of King Shi, Teller, who had just returned, was having final consultations with several princes and generals, in fact, in the Tang army camp, Teller had been persuaded by Li Qing'an, and he was willing to return to the Tang Dynasty, but he did not immediately agree, because the fate of Shiguo was not completely decided by him, several of his princes had their own forces, and there were several generals representing different tribes, among these different political forces, there was no deputy royal line, and his forces had been cleaned by the big cannibals, Vice Wang Qu Le is currently just a down-and-out nobleman, living in Baishui City north of Tuozhi City, indulging in wine, and ignoring the affairs of the outside world, which is why Li Qing'an finally decided to choose the cooperation of the Zhengwang family, and the vice king has lost the value of use.

Teller paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, after a night of thinking, he had decided to re-join Datang, on the one hand, Li Qing'an's sincerity regardless of his previous suspicions moved him, on the other hand, it was in line with the fundamental interests of Shiguo to take refuge in Datang, and more importantly, he saw Datang's determination to send troops to the river, isn't this what they have been looking forward to for decades?

Although Teller had decided to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, there were disagreements within the Stone Kingdom, with the eldest prince Hassan supporting his father's decision, while the second prince Yuanen and the Kent tribes in the north always believed that the Great Food was the destination of the Stone Kingdom, and they were firmly opposed to surrendering the Tang Dynasty.

"Why are you so confused!"

Teller slapped the table and angrily rebuked them: "Isn't the plundering of Sogdia by the Great Cannibals enough? Is there still no less massacre of our Sogdians? Ten days ago, the statue of the main god of Ahuramaz in front of the temple of Samarkand has been destroyed by the big cannibals, they just want to destroy our faith, in the past we were forced by the big cannibals, so we had no choice but to pay tribute to them, and now the stone country has a chance to get rid of the big food, but you are looking ahead, do you want the Tang army to destroy the stone country, are you willing? ”

"Father is right!" The eldest prince Hassan also stood up and said: "The Tang Dynasty has never levied taxes like us, encouraged trade with us, trade alone can bring us 200,000 dirhams in taxes, once we break with the Tang Dynasty, this tax will be over, and secondly, the Tang Dynasty has never interfered in our Shi's internal affairs, on the contrary, how many kings have been killed in the Sogdian countries, everyone must know very well that this Muslim suppression of the uprising of Shiites and Christians, it is said that the Sogdians killed and injured hundreds of thousands, which greatly damaged the Sogdians' vitality, We must not only rely on the Tang Dynasty and the Great Cannibals to confront each other, but also unite the Sogdians and cooperate with the Tang Dynasty together, and then our Shiguo will replace Kangguo as the lord of Sogdia, do you understand? ”

The eldest prince's foresight made all the generals nod their heads, but Yuan En refused to express his position, because more than a month ago he sent an envoy to the Great Food. The Muslims personally promised him that if they swore to resist the Tang army, the Great Food Society would make him the governor of Sogdia in the future, and gave him a gold seal, which he never took out.

As for the leader of the Kent tribe, Tambull, who opposed the surrender of the Tang Dynasty, the reason was simple, the city of Talas, where their tribe was located, was still garrisoned by the Great Cannibals, and he was worried about the safety of his tribe.

At this time, Tambur saw that the general trend had gone and there was no point in objecting, so he said to Teller: "Your Royal Highness, please allow me to remain neutral, allow my two thousand troops to leave, if the Tang army defeats the Great Cannibals, then I will definitely follow you and take refuge in the Tang Dynasty." ”

Teller nodded, which was also a solution, and he turned back to his son Yuanen and asked, "What about you?" What was your decision? ”

Yuan En sighed and said: "I am an old acquaintance with Li Qing'an, in Qiuzi, in Chang'an, in Yangzhou, in Beiting, I begged him again and again, but in the end he still gave the flame stone to his sister, I have no possibility of cooperation with him, if you are willing to surrender to him, I will not object, but I will become an ordinary person, will not be loyal to him, father, please do it!" ”

Teller was a little regretful, but his son had made up his mind, and he couldn't be reluctant anymore, he took one last look at everyone, and saw that everyone was firm, so he said slowly: "That's good! We officially surrendered to the Tang Dynasty and rebuilt the Stone Kingdom. ”

The east gate of Shiguo was finally opened, the flag of surrender was planted on the city wall, a team of soldiers went out of the city with their weapons, put down their weapons, and immediately the Tang army led them far away from the city, half an hour later, the king of Shiguo Teller led his wife and daughter, sons, nobles and ministers and generals about 300 people out of the city, this time he no longer bears the guilt of Jing pleading, and changed into the court clothes of the Tang Dynasty that he has not worn for decades, but he still knelt on the ground with a gold plate carrying the soil of Shiguo, held high above his head, His subordinates neatly placed the official seals and official uniforms of Da Shi on the ground, and also changed into Tang Dynasty costumes.

"The Tang Dynasty enshrined the king of Shunyi, and the stone country Tutun Teller donated the land of the stone country to General Li of Anxi."

Said the same thing as last time, but the meaning has been completely different, they surrendered to the Tang Dynasty with sincerity, not only the king himself, all the ministers and nobles made the same choice, this is a country's decision, it belongs to an unshakable national policy, similarly, Prince Yuanen insisted on his philosophy, when he held a surrender ceremony in the Tang Dynasty and Shiguo, he took advantage of the retreat of the Tang army in Beicheng and quietly left the development of Zhicheng, he bet on the side of the big food, I believe that one day I will officially take over the scepter of the Sogdian governor at the Stone King's Palace.

Surrounded by dozens of Tang army generals, Li Qing'an strode over, he picked up King Teller, held his hand and said with a smile: "We don't know each other if we don't fight, I believe that Shiguo will always be the most staunch ally of the Tang Dynasty from now on, and the Tang Dynasty will work with the Sogdians to drive the Great Food back to the west of the Amu Darya." ”

Teller excitedly faced Tuozhi City and raised his and Li Qing'an's hands held high, and tens of thousands of people in the city suddenly erupted into a tsunami-like shout.

"Hooray! Long live the Datang Tian Khan! ”

(To be continued)