readx; Li Qing'an's worries are not superfluous, judging from all kinds of information, Da Shi has never given up on Hezhong and Tocharo, even Sindh and Punjab they have not given up, Da Shi is still in Khora Shantun with 70,000 heavy troops, a paper armistice agreement can not stop their iron hooves, only the earth-shaking thunder is what they are really afraid of, of course, the war in North Africa has also distracted Mansour's energy, in this case, he can only order Khorasan Governor Ainur. Ibrahim was always on combat readiness and waited for warplanes to appear in the east. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

A year's recuperation also gave Mansur time and opportunity to settle internal affairs, and this spring, the new capital of Great Food was built, and the governors of all regions gathered in Baghdad, and it was this opportunity that Mansur killed the governor of Khorasan, Ziyad, with a glass of poisoned wine, and appointed the loyal Khorasan Ainur. Ibrahim was the new governor of Khorasan, which solved Khorasan's tendency to read, and by this time Ziyad had recruited 70,000 troops, all of which became Mansour's meal, and he ordered the Khorasan army to be stationed in the river and across the Amu Darya River in Tocharo, and Mansur was like a patient camel, waiting for a turn in the east.

Baghdad, the new capital has not yet been completed, its construction takes hundreds of years to slowly improve, but the prototype of Baghdad has been presented to the world, this is a circular city, divided into the inner city and the outer city, all of which are made of bricks, in the inner city there is also the Forbidden City, the city wall is towering into the sky, it is also a circular palace group, and the inner city, the outer city together form three concentric circles, with the palace of the caliph as the center, through the four palace gates radiating outward, forming four straight streets, Like the spokes of a wheel, shoot to all corners of the empire.

Mansour's new royal palace is called the Green Dome Palace, which is characterized by a green dome, a statue of a knight holding a spear rising into the air like a prancing horse on the dome, and the layout of the palace is no different from the palace of Damascus, it is still the same eunuchs and palace people, and the same map palace, at this moment, Mansur is in this windowless, dimly lit hall, he stands in front of a map of Tochar that once belonged to the Arabs in contemplation, and not far behind him, Ibrahim, the governor of Khorasan, stands quietly in the corner, In a humble gesture, he waited for His Majesty the Caliph's orders, while the Vizier Khalid stood aside.

As early as a few months ago, when the Tang army stationed in Tocharian marched eastward, making Tocharian strategically empty, Mansur got a report from the secret agent hidden in Tocharo, but at that time Mansur still had a trace of doubts, he thought that Li Qing'an would not make this strategic mistake, so that Tocharian was empty, he thought about it again and again, and always felt that Li Qing'an was playing a game of chess, and Tocharian was an important part of this game of chess, before seeing this game of chess, Mansur would never act rashly, sure enough, a month ago, he received Tochar's secret report again, Is it a coincidence that the Tibetans from the plateau sent troops to occupy Tochar? Or a fishhook?

"Khalid, what do you think?"

This is Mansour's habit, when considering major issues, he always likes to ask Khalid first, Khalid is his prime minister, but also the highest administrative official of the empire, is his right-hand man, Khalid immediately respectfully said: "Your Majesty, I have also thought about it repeatedly, I think this may be related to Li Qing'an's eastward strategy, from this year's point of view, Li Qing'an has obviously leaned to the east, his army began to move eastward, I guess Li Qing'an has the ambition to return to the Tang Dynasty to compete for the throne." ”

"What about Tochar?" Mansour asked again.

"I deduce that this should be due to Li Qing'an's lack of troops, and his inability to garrison Tocharo, so that the Tubo people took advantage of the weakness."

"Really?"

Mansour smiled and asked, "Don't you think it's unreasonable that he has troops stationed in Sindh and Punjab, but there are no troops stationed in Tochar, which is of great strategic value and is vital to the safety of his silver mines?" ”

"This .....," Khalid was a little chosen.

Mansur said: "There are also Shiguo and Juzhanti, these two places are not threatened in any way, but Li Qing'an has 30,000 troops here, and refuses to transfer to Tocharo, is it to maintain local law and order?" Don't you think that's weird, Harid? ”

Khalid gradually understood the deep meaning of Mansour's words, and after pondering for a moment, he said, "Your Majesty the Caliph means that Li Qing'an deliberately emptied Tocharo?" ”

Mansur sat down, he smiled faintly and said: "I once heard an oriental story, saying that in ancient times, there was a god who used an elephant as bait to fish for giant turtles in the deep sea, if I guessed correctly, Li Qing'an was also fishing for turtles, he used the elephant of Tocharo as bait, fishing for us to eat this giant turtle, but I didn't expect to be swallowed by the king of Tubo first, maybe this is his attempt, I don't know, but I feel that Li Qing'an just wants us to send troops to Tochar." ”

"But why did he do it?" Ibrahim, who was next to him, finally couldn't help but ask.

"That's a good question."

Mansour glanced approvingly at Ibrahim, who hoped that the governor of Khorasan would be not only an executor of orders, but also a thinker, at least half of the heads of Muslims of those years, and Ibrahim's doubts comforted him.

He stood up and walked to the map again, looking at the blank space in the east, for a long time, he sighed low and said: "In fact, Khalid has already said that Li Qing'an's strategic focus has shifted to the east, he wants to go back to the Tang Dynasty to fight for the throne, but he is not worried about Anxi, Anxi makes him have worries, so he wants to launch another campaign to completely defeat our big food, and he has no ability to advance eastward, but he can't find an excuse, so he uses Charian as bait to lure us into being fooled, as an emperor, I must also have the same far-reaching considerations, So I was reluctant to swallow this bait, but I didn't expect it to be swallowed by the ignorant Tibetans. ”

After listening to Mansour's analysis, Khalid couldn't help but admire the far-sightedness of these emperors, the situation should be like this, he groaned for a while, and said: "That Tubo occupied Tochar, disrupted Li Qing'an's strategy, and caused him great passivity, how should we deal with it?" ”

Mansur smiled slightly: "It's true to disrupt Li Qing'an's strategy, but it may not be passive for him, since you can't catch the giant turtle, then change to fishing a big king, which is also beneficial and harmless to Li Qing'an and Anxi, if I guess correctly, Li Qing'an will definitely not use troops against Tocharian this winter, he has to wait, and when more Tubo troops enter Tocharo, he will take this opportunity to completely cripple the Tubo people." ”

Mansour has been thinking about this matter these days, and his thinking has gradually become clear, since he understands Li Qing'an's strategic arrangement, then he will consider, what kind of role does Da Shi need to play in this Tang Bo War? What can he do to maximize the benefits of Big Food, of course, he also needs to think long-term from various angles.

Thinking of this, Mansur said to Khalid again: "I think Li Qing'an's envoy should also arrive in the next two days, and if he comes, bring him to me immediately." ”

．．．．．．． Constantinople, which is the capital of the Byzantine Empire, is also the economic and trade center of the Western world, the capital of gold, a large amount of gold and goods in and out of here, bringing unparalleled wealth to the empire, supporting the life of the Byzantine aristocracy, this central capital of the West is also known for its strong and majestic castles, since the division of the Theodosius dynasty four hundred years ago, the Byzantine Empire has suffered numerous invasions, but finally stands tall with its strong castle defense. At this time, the Byzantine Empire also underwent a lot of changes, the biggest change was that it directly established trade relations with the Tang Dynasty in the East, silk, porcelain, and paper from the East have always been luxury goods in the upper class of Byzantium, with the establishment of direct trade routes, more and more Oriental faces began to appear in Constantinople, they brought more exquisite silk and porcelain from the East, so that these luxuries gradually went out of the category of nobility and began to be respected by the middle and lower classes, and there were also more and more Westerners who traveled thousands of miles to Chang'an, bringing furs, jewelry, and a large amount of gold currency.

On this morning, an Anxi caravan composed of thousands of camels entered the towering gates of Constantinople, the trade between the two sides was mainly based on official trade, but also allowed private participation, because the official caravan was escorted by the army, so many private caravans would also join the official caravan and go to Constantinople together, so that a large caravan was formed, from two years ago Li Qing'an and the Byzantine Emperor reached an alliance in the city of Atur, such a large caravan began to appear in Constantinople, at the beginning, The large caravans from the East caused a sensation among the Romans, and the cities were full of empty alleys to welcome the caravans of the Tang Dynasty, and there were three times a year in such oriental caravans, and with the increase in the number of times, the curiosity of the Romans gradually weakened, and they no longer watched the caravans from the Tang Dynasty, but there were also people who were very interested in their arrival.

As soon as Anxi's caravan entered the city gate, there were immediately countless small traders, women and beggars surrounded them, the members of these caravans were not only responsible for transporting all kinds of goods, they also secretly carried a lot of private goods, these private goods were regarded as accompanying goods, the parties did not levy taxes on this, and they were private goods, most of them were sold cheaply, so they were very favored by small traders, and they did not need to speak the same language, as long as they simply gestured and shook their heads and nodded, they could make deals, and as for the business of the children, they were also very prosperous, and many women went in and out of the carriages. Everyone quickly made a few deals.

This time, there were a few more envoys in the caravan, they were the envoys sent by Li Qing'an, the official headed by Chen Shaoyou, who was a member of the Anxi Army, in charge of military mapping and collection in various places, generally speaking, Chen Shaoyou was ordered by the marching Sima to arrange for scouts to draw military maps and make sand tables, but this time Chen Shaoyou was secretly sent by Li Qing'an to the Byzantine Empire to hand over a letter from Li Qing'an to their emperor Koproni.

"Brother Shaoyou!"

As soon as Chen Shaoyou entered the city gate, he heard someone shouting at him, he was stunned, looked back, and saw a young man standing under a tall house, a Han Chinese, who was extremely conspicuous among the Western Hu people on the street, Chen Shaoyou recognized it at once, it was Du Mingpei, the trade liaison officer of Anxi in Byzantium.

Du Mingpei is a native of Gaoling County, Jingzhao, when he and Chen Shaoyou studied in Guozijian together, they were classmates and friends, and later came to Anxi to find a job together, the friendship between the two is extremely deep, Chen Shaoyou shouted happily: "Brother Mingpei!" ”

He rolled over and got off the camel and walked quickly to meet him, the two had not seen each other for nearly a year, and when they met in a foreign country, they were so excited that they hugged each other.

Du Mingpei came to Anxi two years to find a job, first entered the Anxi Army as a civilian officer, and soon stood out with his shrewdness and ability, his language talent is excellent, he learned Turkic in half a year, became Pei Yu's assistant at that time, in the Byzantine mission, he quickly learned the Byzantine language, a year ago, Anxi and Byzantium sent trade liaison officers to each other, Du Mingpei became Anxi's first chief liaison officer in Byzantium.

In fact, in Anxi, there are many students like Du Mingpei and Chen Shaoyou, such as Zhang Zhihe, who has been promoted to the governor of Ting, and Li Chengfei, the county magistrate of Qing'an County, and hundreds of others, most of them have withstood the test of their military careers and began to hold important positions one after another.

Du Mingpei came to the city gate to greet the caravan from Anxi as usual today, but he happened to see Chen Shaoyou, he was very excited, and hurriedly asked, "Brother Shaoyou, why did you come here?" ”

Chen Shaoyou saw that there were several Hu traders standing beside him, so he pulled Du Mingpei aside and said in a low voice: "I am sent to Byzantium on the order of the general, I want to meet the Byzantine emperor, and I want to ask you to arrange it." ”

"There is no problem with this, there is a guest house in the city, and there are people there who are in charge of reception, and they will report it for you layer by layer, and in three days at most, the emperor of Byzantium should receive you."

Chen Shaoyou shook his head and said: "I am a secret envoy, the political hall does not know, the matter is urgent, I hope to meet the emperor today, and I also have a letter from the general, and I want to hand it over to their emperor." ”

"Is that so?"

Du Mingpei pondered for a while and said, "Then go to Princess Elleni, she is now the prince of Byzantium, and she will directly arrange to see His Majesty the Emperor." ”

"Princess Ellen is the Prince?"

Chen Shaoyou was stunned, the prince is the prince, he actually let the princess be the prince, he felt incredible, Du Mingpei saw that he didn't understand, so he smiled and said: "It's nothing, Byzantium is a place to talk about strength, the three legions under Princess Elleni are equipped with the equipment of the Tang army, and they are the most powerful army in Byzantium, and the princes are naturally her, besides, don't we have an empress in the Tang Dynasty?" ”

"Those are two different things!"

Chen Shaoyou shook his head, although he felt unreasonable, but the task given to him by the main bus was the top priority, so he had to say helplessly: "Whether she is the crown prince or not, as long as she can do good things for me, there will be no problem." ”

Du Mingpei saw that he was still quite pragmatic, so he patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "That's right, the Romans and we think differently, don't care if the prince is a man or a woman, Princess Elleni is very powerful, maybe she can call the shots and solve your matter." ”

"That's good! Then we'll go see her now. ”

"Don't worry, you won't see her in the morning, in the afternoon! I'll take you there, now let's go to the tavern for a drink, and you can taste the wine of the Romans, and then taste the taste of Western beauty. ”

Du Mingpei pulled Chen Shaoyou and walked towards a tavern on the street.

．．．．．．． Princess Ellen has officially become the first heir to the crown prince since the beginning of the year, holding the military and political power of the Byzantine Empire, all of which comes from her strength, three legions armed with the best equipment of the Tang army, a total of 30,000 people, Mingguang armor, horizontal sword, Tang crossbow, cost her two million gold coins, of which 800,000 are from her fief taxes, and it is these 800,000 gold coins that also make Ellen get one in her fief. The nickname 'Vampire Demon', which was not enough, borrowed another million and a half million gold coins from the Jews, as collateral for ten years of taxes from her other fiefdom, Crete.

Princess Ellen was undoubtedly a woman who dared to make a bet, and the 30,000 troops she had built with her blood also brought her great benefits, at the end of last year, in the war against Bulgaria, her father and Prince Ronnie were defeated, but her army defeated the combined forces of the Bolgars and Slavs, forcing the Bulgarian king to bow to the Roman Empire, this victory not only restored the dignity of the Roman Empire, but also saved Constantinople from the crisis that was about to fall into the enemy, Even the eldest prince of the newly established Carolingian dynasty proposed to her.

Princess Elleni's prestige was unprecedented, and her beauty made her even more popular with the nobles, who, at their strong request, her father, the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, gladly moved her succession to the throne forward by one place, from second to first.

Ellen also changed from the former laid-back princess to the busiest crown prince in Byzantium, I don't know which sage said that once a woman has power, her ** power will often exceed that of men**, Ellen is undoubtedly such a woman, she not only completely seized the power of her brother, but also forced her father to constantly hand over the command of the army to her.

Even her marriage, yes, Ellen is already twenty years old, and it is time for her to find a husband, a husband who is completely in line with the teachings of Christianity and abides by monogamy, not an Oriental pagan like Li Qing'an who has a bunch of women.

Charles, the eldest prince of the Carolingian dynasty, was undoubtedly a person of her satisfaction, because he owned such coveted lands as Corsica, Genoa and Nice, of course, it was Charles who married her, the future Byzantine empress, not her to Charles, and Charles also promised never to interfere in her private life, which made her very satisfied, and she needed to keep a free body to go to the Tang Dynasty to talk to Li Qing'an about arms dealings.

In the mornings, she would be busy with government affairs in the palace, and in the afternoons, she would meet with ministers and local officials, which was her daily rule, and she needed more support from ministers and local authorities.

In the afternoon, as usual, as soon as she arrived at the palace of government affairs, a guard came to report that Anxi's envoy had come and asked to see her.

"Let them in!"

Ellen sat down, she was dressed in a long dress sewn with oriental silk, a diamond-encrusted corsage pinned to her chest, which sparkled, and a gold crown full of diamonds and pearls, which was the sign of the prince, which made her look noble and elegant, and even her chair was made of gold and precious agarwood, and she was not at all the free girl who went to the world with a bow and arrow.

In a moment, Chen Shaoyou and Du Mingpei walked into the palace under the guidance of the guards, Du Mingpei was already very Westernized, he elegantly put his hand on his chest and saluted Elleni, "I wish the princess eternal youth and beauty." ”

Chen Shaoyou understood this sentence, he glanced at Du Mingpei with some displeasure, originally asked him to be a translator, but now Chen Shaoyou changed his mind, he bowed down to Elleni, and said in Turkic: "Anxi Jiedu envoy under the command of the general Chen Shaoyou to see Her Royal Highness the Princess!" ”

He was neither humble nor arrogant, and he was not afraid to offend Elleni, because he knew that the alliance was the result of the common interests of both parties, not by flattery.

"It turned out that Chen joined the army, how are you generals? I heard that his left shoulder was injured in the war with the Arabs at the beginning of the year, is it better now? Ellen asked with concern.

"Thank you for your concern, Your Royal Highness the Princess, our general is very good, and his shoulder injury has basically recovered."

"Hey! I'm too busy, too, otherwise I'd have to go to Broken Leaf to see him for myself. ”

Elleni sighed with emotion, and the topic gradually turned to the main topic, asking: "I don't know what mission Chen has to take on when he joins the army this time in trouble with my country?" ”

Chen Shaoyou hesitated, originally these words were only said when he met the Byzantine Emperor, but when he was drinking at noon, Du Mingpei told him that now the military power of the Byzantine Empire is in the hands of Princess Elleni, and it is also her decision to decide whether to fight against the Great Food.

Therefore, after hesitating for a moment, Chen Shaoyou still said frankly, "My general's order for me to secretly send an envoy to the Byzantine Empire is in the hope that at some point in the future, the Byzantine Empire will exert military pressure on the Arabs. ”

"Sometime in the future, when exactly?" Ellen was not at all ambiguous in military matters.

"My general said that it will probably be next spring or summer."

Saying that, Chen Shaoyou took out Li Qing'an's handwritten letter and handed it to Elleni, she took the letter from the guard's hand and glanced at the letter cover, Li Qing'an was written in Turkic language, to her father, but she still opened the letter, the letter was Li Qing'an's strong handwriting, but the meaning was very clear, Anxi will fight with a powerful force in the western part of the Tang Dynasty, the location will be in Tochar, in order to prevent the Arabs from taking advantage of the fire to rob during the war, Li Qing'an hopes that the Byzantine Empire can fulfill their military covenant, Military pressure on the Abbasids at a critical moment.

The power of external military pressure has indeed been transferred to Elleni, she pondered for a moment, and then smiled: "Of course, we have an alliance between the two sides first, and we will naturally fully support the Tang Dynasty, in addition, in order to make the cooperation between the two sides happy, I personally have two small requirements. ”

The other party's request was expected, and Chen Shaoyou said, "Your Royal Highness the Princess, please speak!" ”

Ellen smiled elegantly and said: "Please tell General Li that I hope to get another 30,000 sets of three pieces of equipment for the army, which can be supplied within three years, of course, I will buy it through normal trade, but I hope to get the best price, with sixty percent of the last price, and I hope that the Tang Dynasty can strictly abide by the export of ordnance, I don't want to see other Western countries also equipped with Tang Army's weapons, just these two conditions." ”

(To be continued)