82_82988 stayed in Damascus for two days, and on the third day, Amon got a ship to Antioch and sent Li Que and his party to the port, as well as the large boxes they carried, which were also transported to the ship. Chasing the reckless wasteland, you have to be quick.

It is worth mentioning that Li Que stayed in Damascus for three days, and he appeared once on the night he entered the city, but it also caused a trend, and on the day he left, the noblewomen of Damascus's noble district and the wives of Arab nobles almost all wore delicate silver masks, covering up the dark brown eyes that were already very little.

Even on the merchant ship bound for Antioch, Li Que saw a box of masks carefully made by Damascus craftsmen, and he couldn't help but shake his head speechlessly.

The sun is on three poles, facing the morning wind, the pot-bellied Arab ship pulls up the sails, but its main force still has to rely on more than 120 oarsing slaves, compared with the Fujian boat, this kind of ship is more flexible in the near sea, but it is not resistant to ocean sailing, and the Fujian navy is also considered to have its own merits!

Outside, there was the sound of waves and the horns of slave oarsmen, and in the upper deck cabin, Li Que's team of eighteen people gathered together silently.

"Even if Hou Jie is a traitor to the Min Kingdom, now he is also useful to the King of Min, when he arrives at the place, he sees the thief who killed a thousand knives, no one can be rude, even if he wants your life, you have to give it, I don't think it is allowed to damage the great cause of the King of Min, do you hear clearly!"

Behind the silver mask, a pair of eyes revealed a full of slaughter, Li Que roared in a stern voice, listening to her orders, these guards from the Western Regions, or Persia, but the Arab Tianzhu who had completely Tang Dynasty all surrendered their hands and agreed with a bang.

Looking at this scene, Wu Yuanshuang shook his fat head and big ears depressedly, the easiest impulsive here is you Li Duwei himself!

Thinking of Li Que lifting his knife and carrying a murderous appearance three days ago, Wu Yuanshuang couldn't help but shudder, now Hou Jie is not the little military attache of the Central Protector Army in Fujian, God knows how he climbed to the status of emir, that is the satrap under the Arab Caliphate!

If Li Que can't control herself anymore, no matter whether she can kill Hou Jie or not, under the pursuit of countless Arab pursuers, I'm afraid that if she doesn't find that unlucky brother, she will be chopped into mashed meat!

Thinking of this terrible consequence, staring at Li Que's back, Wu Yuanshuang began to think about how to restrain this wild horse.

In the midst of all the confusion of thoughts, the cargo ship, laden with the last pitiful output of Damascus, still ran all the way to Antioch.

It's really a thing, the cargo ship landed in the port from the place where Li Que and Anna barbecued meat last time, the place that was originally full of Byzantine troops and merchants is now occupied by all kinds of Arabs, the only thing that is the same as the last time is that this famous city in the Middle East, the capital of the Seleucid Empire, the key place of the Tiaozhi Kingdom in the Chinese record, and later the important stronghold of the Roman Empire to control the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, is still so declining and dilapidated.

After occupying this place, Anna had carried out a series of repairs and protections, promulgated a policy of light taxation that was conducive to recuperation, rewarded production, and encouraged industry and commerce, but now it looks like this, Constantine IV, who took everything from Anna, did not keep this achievement.

Even the walls of Antioch were even more dilapidated.

Originally, the Arabs were not good at attacking cities, they accumulated too little culture in the desert, but in the Persian culture they absorbed, they were also not good at attacking urban strongholds, so they occupied the entire Syria, Aleppo and Egypt important cities, and the Arabs were besieging cities.

But this time, the Arabs have Hou Jie's rebellion, Hou Jie's father Hou Junji is a famous general of the Tang Dynasty, I don't know how many times he has attacked the city and killed it, and Hou Jie followed Li Jie, who grew up in Li Jie's study since he was a child, and the memories of his previous life were recorded by Li Jie with a pen, and his study can be called an encyclopedia of siege production in this era.

Even if some unbelievable things in this era are unacceptable, Hou Jie can still be regarded as one of the best siege masters in this era.

He got off the ship with his luggage, and accompanied by several Arab generals, he entered the city along the scarred gate that had been hit by a ballista trebuchet.

The last time they came, the Byzantine army under Anna's restraint almost did nothing against the Muslims, but this time the Arabs who entered the city carried out their brutality almost to the extreme, and all Christians, old and young, were driven to the fields outside the city, and under the leather whips of the Arabs, they toiled incessantly in the scorching sun, and around the same time, there were still murderous builders who constantly whipped the slaves.

Every whip of the leather whip dipped in water struck the back, it was a bloody wound with flesh turned over, and from time to time someone could not stand it and fell directly to the ground, and then the corpse was thrown directly into the sea.

As for the women, the young and beautiful were all divided as slave girls to generals of all ranks, or sold to Suez, while the old and infirm were put together in prison and did rough labor.

And it's not just the misery of Christians, even if they are not slaves, but all other non-Arab Muslims are still heavily taxed.

Hundreds of poor peasants were chained to the streets and surrounded by vicious Arab soldiers.

"Fool, old goat, pay your taxes quickly! Otherwise, Lao Tzu will break your bones! ”

"Uncle, there is really no food to hand over, and everything to eat has been requisitioned by the army! Please, all right! Give it a way to live! ”

"Really? Hehe, uncle will give you a way to live, come here, and bring out the old guy's granddaughter! Sell it to Fujian to exchange for grain, and you should treat this old guy as if he had paid taxes! ”

"Don't! Official! ”

The old Persian peasant with white hair and beard and wrinkled face lay on the ground, crying heartbreakingly, and a dozen or so wearing open-chested white robes deliberately dragged the teenage Persian girl out in front of the old peasant, tied her hands up and down in the girl's cry, and took her away.

The miserable cries were heard for miles, and everyone within a few miles was trembling.

"How so?"

After all, this place used to be run by Li Que, seeing the tragic scene, Li Que couldn't help muttering to himself that he was about to lean over, and Wu Yuanshuang, who was following her, trembled again, and hurriedly rushed over with an arrow, grabbed Li Que's arm, and warned viciously.

"Don't make trouble!"

Suddenly, Li Que stopped meddling in his footsteps, glared at the Arab soldiers who were still laughing arrogantly and demanding taxes, and returned to the team angrily.

The Arab ghetto is still the best location in the entire city, and this time, Hou Jie's place is even more extravagant.

Palace!

The Grand Palace of the Seleucid Empire, the palace of the Eastern Roman Empire, and the luxurious Western-style garden villa where Li Que stayed two years ago were also destroyed by the war, and the remaining half became the residence of Hou Jie, the governor of Aleppo, Cilicia and Asia Minor.

When you really get here, you know what luxury is, the house in Damascus is nothing to see from here, the white palace wall is more than three meters high, and the rare plants in the wall still poke out a lot of flowers on the wall.

Hundreds of Arab men in heavy armor with delicate Damascus scimitar weapons, meticulously patrolling the palace, even a fly passing by will attract their vigilant attention, around the several Arab officers who led Li Que are acquaintances, and they were still meticulously searched three times before they were released.

As soon as I entered the palace, it was another world.

I really can't imagine that in the era when transportation is so underdeveloped, Hou Jie can collect so many rare and exotic plants, and even in it, Li Que also saw pineapples and mangoes in Southeast Asia, in order to take care of these plants, the pottery pipes that run through almost the entire garden, flowing liquid from each small eye, making artificial rain mist to moisten these precious plants.

There were also dozens of young slaves who traveled between the canals, constantly using cans to catch water to the roots of these tropical trees and grasses.

At the other end, a large area of pavilions in Li Que's memory has completely disappeared at this time, replaced by a huge lake, in the middle of the lake, at the end of a curved stone bridge, and a rockery made of Taihu Lake stones is exposed to the water, forming an island in the middle of the lake.

These don't seem to be as bright as piles of gold, silver, jewelry, and silk satin, but in fact they cost several times as much wealth, which is the embodiment of luxury.

"Your Excellency is waiting for you inside! Please feel free to come down. ”

Replacing several Arab officers who greeted him at the port, a man with an Arab temperament who was no different from Amun in Damascus wore a pure white Arab silk robe embroidered with gold thread, and bowed deeply to Li Que and the others respectfully.

Behind him, the palace gate slammed shut, separating this earthly paradise from the hell outside, and in the shaking of the palace gate, a large flock of crows and vultures flew up in fright.

Looking at the closed palace gate, in a noble mansion opposite the gate of the Emir's mansion, a pair of deep, dark brown eyes were like wolves seeing a carrion corpse, excitedly revealing hungry eyes, and excitedly stroked their palms and laughed.

"Hou Jie, Hou Jie, you still can't help but collude with the Fujian State, I said, how could Allah give a gift to a foreign race other than Arabs, this time, Ben Sheikh must let your conspiracy be exposed in front of the caliph, so that the Arabs of the world know your true face!"

"Come on, prepare the horses!"

Several slaves hurriedly brought out the tall Arabian horses in the stables, and at the same time, the full quiver, swords, and Arab spears were also hung on the horses, stepping on the back of a slave, exposing the head wrapped in turbans, and wearing fine Damascus armor, Khalid raised his horsewhip and shouted: "You see, you can't let those Fujian spies escape, wait for the return of this imam!"

"Yes!"

In the midst of the sudden agreement, the back door of the house opened suddenly, and dozens of cavalry rushed directly in the city, and the residents of Antioch encountered along the way did not shy away from running over directly, and the huge horses' hooves left blood marks on the road, and went straight to the south city gate.

The road in that direction, leading to Mecca......