The horse newly crossed the white jade saddle, and the moonlight was cold on the battlefield.

The sound of the iron drum at the head of the city is still shaking, and the blood of the golden knife in the box has not dried up.

On the boundless grassland, a team of cavalry galloped on horseback, ran up a high hill and stopped the horse, it was dusk, the dark clouds in the distance were low, the plains were deserted, Wang Changling, who had just arrived in Shiguo, looked at the vast sky, and couldn't help but be proud, chanted out of this new work of "Out of the Stopper", chanted, he laughed loudly, "Gentlemen, how is this poem?" ”

His poems were easy to understand and resonated among the soldiers, and they all applauded and praised them, and Li Qingan gave a thumbs up and praised: "Mr. Yuhu really made good poems!" ”

Wang Changling was triumphant, and said with a smile: "The road is boring, and the poetry is a pastime." ”

Li Qing'an and his entourage of more than 800 people set off from Tuozhi City, traveled north for three days, and saw that Talas City was fifty miles ahead, Li Qing'an saw that it was not early, so he smiled at everyone: "Come here today, everyone will camp in place." ”

In a moment, dozens of white tents appeared on the grassland, a tall wooden lookout tower stood behind the camp, dozens of patrols spread out in all directions, the night gradually fell, the dark blue sky dome shrouded in this beautiful and fertile land, in the middle of a camp tent, several soldiers were splicing a sand table map, this is a complete map of the river, covering a vast area from the broken leaves to the Wuhu River, which was the Han and Tang Dynasty used more than 500 people, in the name of doing business, it took a year to complete the investigation, Fifty more soldiers and craftsmen spent two months shaping on a large number of survey materials of the Han and Tang Dynasties, and the sand table in Li Qing'an's camp tent was only a miniature version, the size equivalent to a billiard table in later generations, and the complete sand table, ten times its size, was placed in the military camp outside Tuozhi City, which belonged to the top secret military items.

Soon, the sand table was spliced together, several pro-soldiers retreated, Li Qing'an moved the lamp to the lamp holder next to the sand table, and the soft light illuminated the entire sand table, this time Li Qing'an was specially used to inspect Talas City, although it is not known whether the Battle of Talas will break out as in history, but one thing is certain, Talas City is a springboard for the Great Food to control the northern region and march into Broken Leaves, they have been operating here for many years, and they will never be so willing to throw it away, Moreover, Talas was the only way to the Byzantine Empire, and its strategic position was extremely important.

But now Li Qing'an is not concerned about Talas City, but Samarkand, thousands of miles away, there is no doubt that the eastward march of the Great Food Army must be based on Kang in the nine Sogdian countries, and Samarkand is the largest city in this area, only it can withstand the assembly of 50,000 to 100,000 people, from the map, from Samarkand to Shiguo there is a flat road, which is conducive to the transportation of heavy weapons, at this point, Li Qingan also has to admit that the Great Cannibal attaches great importance to road construction, which is due to the importance of commercial trade and the flat ground itself, It also makes the military assembly ability of the big cannibal much stronger than that of the Tang army, maybe in the future, he will also consider strengthening the construction of roads, but this is a later story, now he is concerned about the time and number of troops of the big cannibal, and the news he got before his departure is that Samarkand has begun to recruit troops, but the main force of the big food has not yet been assembled.

Li Qing'an also knows that it is no longer the kind of occasional surname war of the Battle of Talas in history, the Great Food Army needs to race against time to rush to Talas, and now the Tang Army has occupied the Stone Country, with a clear goal, pointing directly to the river, which means that the upcoming war is a big battle between the two countries, at this time, neither the Tang Army nor the Great Food Army will rush to the battle, and only the most comprehensive preparations are the chance to win.

Li Qing'an couldn't help but fall into deep thought, war is unscrupulous, if he is Abu. Muslims, what means will he use against the Don army? And what strategies can Li Qingan employ after him?

"General, the king is here."

Li Qingan woke up from his contemplation and hurriedly smiled: "Please come in!" ”

After a while, Wang Changling walked in with a smile and apologized first, "I've disturbed you to consider military affairs." ”

"Where! I'm also looking for my husband. ”

Li Qing'an hurriedly asked him to sit down, and ordered the soldiers to pour a cup of tea, Wang Changling nodded and sat down, his mood was a little heavy, he came from Beiting this time to bring Li Qing'an some important news of the imperial court, as well as some development ideas of Beiting, he needed to report to Li Qing'an, he happened to meet Li Qing'an on the way north to Talas City, so he also followed north by the way.

The two chatted a few words of gossip, Wang Changling sighed and said: "A friend in Chang'an wrote to me, deeply worried about the situation in the court, the saint has completely ignored political affairs, indulged in singing, dancing and drinking all day long, several factions of friends in the DPRK and China are dumping each other, there is no way out of politics, the order of the court is changing, especially the financial fatigue, the treasury is empty, the saint consumes nearly half of the money of the treasury for the birthday of the concubine Niangniang, not to mention the usual extravagance, there are still eight million households in the first year of Tianbao, and now there are at most six million households, and the imperial court tax has decreased sharply, The key is that the land annexation is intensifying, and in the long run, I am worried that there will be turmoil in the Tang Dynasty. ”

Speaking of this, he sighed and asked Li Qing'an: "With the king in a high position, have you ever thought about how to solve the serious problem of land annexation?" ”

"How could I not have thought about it?"

Li Qing'an smiled faintly and said: "When I was the observer envoy of Henan Province, I had a deep understanding of the issue of land annexation, and I also considered that it was more difficult to let those powerful people take the initiative to give up the land than to kill them, or change the dynasty, like the late Sui Dynasty, and the new aristocracy overthrew the old aristocracy, but this situation is not realistic for the time being, or it is like a big food, to establish the country with commerce, develop handicrafts and mining, so that landless farmers have an income to support their families, and then expand outward, let the lost farmers go outside to develop, and alleviate the intensified contradictions in the country, I think the last two points are feasible, and I am about to do so, and my husband has also seen that the endless grassland, the vast and sparsely populated land, the fertile land, and the boundless fields and forests in the north are not exactly the living place that God has given us to the Han nation? ”

Wang Changling was stunned, and after a while, he stammered a little and asked, "Didn't the envoy say that he would only build a military town and not take the land of the Sogdians?" ”

Li Qingan smiled and said: "This is the case for the time being, what I am saying is that in the future, if the Tang Dynasty wants to live in the west of the Green Ridge for a long time, the only way to colonize and let the Han nation become the main body west of the Green Ridge is the way to cure the root cause." ”

Wang Changling lowered his head and pondered for a moment, and then said, "But will the imperial court agree?" ”

"Maybe, maybe not, the key is how we go for it."

Saying this, Li Qingan thought of something, so he asked him with a smile: "This time we seized the broken leaves, and the court rewarded 500,000 yuan, but if we want to cast it ourselves, they are very good at calculating, I want to ask you, can we mint 500,000 yuan?" ”

"This ....."

Wang Changling was a little embarrassed, and said: "We can mint up to 100,000 yuan a year, even if we open more furnaces, it is useless, mainly because of the lack of copper." ”

Li Qingan nodded, this was what he expected, he heard that this was Yang Guozhong's idea, the imperial court was not financially enough, so he only gave the quota and let them find their own way to solve it, Li Longji also agreed in a daze, but this is fine, he has an excuse to mint money by himself.

He took out a silver coin of the Great Food Dinham from his bosom and gave it to Wang Changling and said with a smile: "Look at this." ”

Wang Changling took the silver coin and looked at it, the silver coin does not have holes like Tang money, it is a complete round coin, the front is a portrait, and the back is a palace, there is a vertical bar in the middle, in fact, this vertical bar is the Arabic numeral '1', Wang Changling does not know it yet.

"Is this the Big Food Coins?"

"Exactly!"

Li Qingan nodded and said: "Have you seen it, the coins of the big cannibals are minted in silver, one dirham is equivalent to one hundred of our money, and ten dirhams is consistent money, I heard that they also have gold coins, one gold coin is equivalent to ten dirhams, easy to carry, and high value, which is more practical than our Datang copper coins." ”

Wang Changling suddenly understood, "What does the envoy mean to let me mint gold and silver coins?" ”

"Exactly!"

"But we don't have so many gold and silver coins, and besides, even if we mint gold and silver coins, Datang can't circulate them in China, so what's the use of minting them?"

"You don't have to worry about the source of gold and silver, you just have to mint money, I have a batch of gold in the basement of Beiting City, you can cast it into money first, I will give you the money mold, I will use it to reward soldiers, as for circulation, that is a matter of the future, let's do it step by step."

Wang Changling was confused when he heard it, and he didn't understand Li Qingan's intentions, so he had to nod silently.

．．．．．．． The next morning, they continued their journey, and walked for dozens of miles, when it was approaching noon, when a soldier pointed into the distance and shouted: "Look, the city of Talas has arrived." ”

Everyone was in good spirits, looking into the distance, only to see a snowy mountain shadow in the distance, a small city stood at the foot of the mountain shadow, everyone immediately cheered, and they all ran towards the distant town.

Before arriving at Talas City, the town guard made Bai Xiaojie hear the news and greeted him, and Lao Yuan clasped his fists on the horse and saluted: "The last general has not become far away, I hope the general will forgive his sins!" ”

Li Qingan nodded slightly and said: "If you don't greet me, I won't punish you, if you are negligent in defense and slack in your troops, then I will punish you severely, do you understand?" ”

"The last general understands that the last general will not dare to slack off for a moment, and has built three beacon towers fifty miles away."

"Good! Let me see your defenses. ”

Li Qing'an urged the horse to go to the city, Talas City is a small city, the circumference is only five miles, can only accommodate a thousand soldiers, there are more than 300 families in it, it is the Kent people in the north of the Stone Country, this is a small branch of the Turkic people, grazing for a living, but the geographical location of Talas City is very important, so that many Kent people have abandoned herding for business, some people go north to Arthur City to trade, some people are engaged in material transit and wine shops, hotels and other service industries, when the big cannibals occupied Talas City, they did not cut off the trade routes, but imposed heavy taxes on the merchants, After the Tang army replaced the Great Cannibal, he carried out Li Qing'an's order, and all merchants were exempt from taxes, because he had already paid taxes in Beiting or Anxi.

The Tang army's tax-free policy had an immediate effect, and merchants with a keen sense of smell diverted to Talas to the more lucrative Byzantium, instead of taking the big food and being taxed repeatedly.

As soon as Li Qing'an arrived at the city gate, he saw a camel caravan entering the city, and the city gate was guarded by the Tang army.

"Do you think your checks are effective?" Li Qingan asked, pointing at the caravan with a horsewhip.

"If it's really a big eater, they can easily disguise themselves as merchants."

Bai Xiaojie said with a little embarrassment: "It's really a little inconvenient, there has been a significant increase in businessmen in the past few days, and I am also worried about this matter." ”

"This is very simple, special treatment in special periods, now that Tang and Da Shi are about to start a war, the big cannibals will come to attack Talas City at any time, no residents are allowed in the city, and the shops in the city are ordered to move out to operate, you can set up tents for them, explain to them clearly, now is the critical moment, please cooperate with them, if the big cannibals attack, you can't have any mercy."

"I see." Bai Xiaojie hesitated for a moment and asked, "May I ask the general, is it now?" ”

"I have given the order, and I will carry it out immediately!" Li Qingan said coldly.

"The last general obeys!"

Bai Xiaojie hurriedly went to arrange, Li Qing'an looked at this small city, the city wall of Talas City is not high, about four zhang high, built very strong, the Tang army has changed four city gates, and dug a moat two zhang wide along the city wall, drawing water from a nearby small river, the Tang army has a total of 2,000 garrisons here, 1,000 stationed inside and outside the city, in addition, the Kentish chieftain Tambur has officially surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, he has 2,000 soldiers who have also been armed by the Tang army, if something happens to Talas City, they will come to support, It should be said that the defense of Talas City is already very perfect, and the general sneak attack will not take away the city, the key is not to slack off, and there can be no defensive loopholes, just like the merchants can enter the city for the night just now, and the forty thieves of Ali Baba must be prevented from being staged here.

All in all, Li Qing'an was quite satisfied, he rode around the city on horseback, and found no other loopholes, at this time, the city was already boiling, Tang Jun's advice was unanimously rejected by the shops, Bai Xiaojie was annoyed and angry, and began to forcibly drive people out.

"You can't do that, if it's really like you say, the Arabs are coming, and we are going to be killed by them outside the city, and we have already paid taxes in Broken Leaves, and you have an obligation to keep us safe!"

It was the voice of a young woman, arguing loudly with the Tang soldiers in Turkic, and her voice was imposing, with a kind of condescending reprimand.

Li Qing'an looked back in surprise, and saw a group of camel merchants blocking the city gate, as if it was the team that had just entered the city, Li Qing'an saw clearly, this was actually a white caravan, although the Sogdians and the big cannibals also belonged to the white race, but they were still different from these white people, Li Qing'an immediately reacted, they should be merchants from Byzantium.

This was the first time he had seen the Byzantines, that is, the Eastern Roman Empire, and he couldn't help but be curious, and urged him to step forward.

Protesting to the soldiers was a young woman, about twenty years old, with snow-white skin, long golden hair draped over her shoulders, a high nose, and a pair of blue eyes like deep pools, a very beautiful Western woman, wearing a long white dress trimmed with gold trim, and a necklace of various precious stones hanging from her snow-white towering breasts, and dozens of her companions, all of whom were tall, wearing leggings, and long swords hanging from their waists.

Several Tang Army soldiers stared at her half-exposed breasts, looking a little absent-minded, Li Qingan's face sank, he was very dissatisfied with Tang Jun's attitude, he stretched his face and said, "What happened?" ”

When the soldiers of the Tang Army saw the commander coming, they were so frightened that they saluted, and the woman saw that Li Qing'an seemed to be a high-ranking official of the Tang Army, so she lost the soldiers and stepped forward to plead: "I can understand that you are guarding against the Arabs, but we are Byzantine merchants, and the Arabs are enemies for generations, how can we be the annihilation of the Arabs, and you drive us out of the city, doesn't this send us into the mouth of the Arabs?" ”

Li Qing'an smiled and said to her in Turkic language: "Now our Datang will have a big battle with Da Shi, in this case, no unknown person can enter the city, besides, during the war, you merchants have no need to spend the night in the city, leave immediately after a little supply, if the big cannibal really attacks, we will have a beacon fire alarm fifty miles away, and there is enough time for you to leave." ”

Li Qing'an's explanation was reasonable, and the young woman's anger subsided slightly, and then her eyes lit up, and she asked urgently: "Just now you said that the Tang Dynasty was going to war with the Arabs, is it true?" ”

"What do you say? Will the Arabs be willing, the stone country we have already occupied? ”

The woman nodded and smiled: "Yes, they will never be reconciled, they will definitely gather heavy troops to fight for the Stone Country for you, I wish the Tang army can win, this general, may I ask what I call you?" ”

"My surname is Li, my name is Li Qing'an, have you heard of it?" Li Qingan smiled slightly.

The woman's eyes widened suddenly, and she was surprised and said, "You, you are Li Qing'an, the envoy of the Anxi Festival?" No! ”

"Why can't it be?"

"My God! How could Li Qingan be so young, how old are you? Yes! With all due respect. ”

Li Qingan didn't want to say anything more to her, so he waved his hand and smiled: "I suggest that you leave here immediately, it's not safe here, I wish you a smooth journey and return to Constantinople as soon as possible." ”

The woman smiled, smiling a little slyly, "I am very honored to know General Li Qing'an, my name is Elleni, but I am not a Byzantine, I am a Western Roman." ”

Li Qing'an laughed, "Western Rome was destroyed by the Germans three hundred years ago, and now there is Charles I of the Frankish kingdom in power, no, Rome should belong to the Papal States, am I right?" ”

At this moment, not only the young woman was stunned, but even her companions were extremely surprised, and they talked one after another, and the woman was stunned for a long time before she said: "Dear General Li, how do you know this?" ”

"I've been to a lot more places than you, and I've been to the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain, well, it's not early, you can go on your way, and if you're willing to stay outside the city for one night, I'm not against it, but you can't stay in the city, it's my order, do you understand?"

After speaking, Li Qingan elegantly made a Western gentleman's etiquette to her, turned around and walked away, the woman looked at Li Qingan's back, her eyes were full of doubts and curiosity.

(To be continued)