82_82988The caliph was gone, Hou Jie's carriage was rampant in Antioch for a few minutes, and the eight war horses were dragged in two columns, galloping all the way, and the arrogance was extremely arrogant everywhere they passed, and the residents of the cities of Antioch along the way were all panicked and dodged away. Watch the latest chapter of Perfect World, and look at it quickly.

Seeing the Arab cavalry running behind the carriage, many citizens of Antioch were saddened, even during the Byzantine rule, there were so many taxes and miscellaneous taxes, no one was so bullied, especially when the Empress Anna ruled.

But this day, why did it change suddenly?

The intrigue of the upper echelons of these ant people will never be understood, and in this big era, they can only blindly follow the big trend and stagger forward.

There were about 5,000 Arab cavalry stationed near Antioch, and together with the 5,000 men stationed in Damascus, they guarded the Syrian provinces, and in the event of a rebellion in various places, these cavalry migrating from the desert would gather at the first time and deal a devastating blow to the rebellion everywhere.

It seemed that he was going to go far away, Hou Jie deliberately went to the barracks, and after explaining some important matters to the cavalry commander Asindi, he set off to continue north.

It is ironic that at this time, Hou Jie's official road was still the cement road jointly built by Byzantium and Fujian in order to strengthen the connection with Li Jie.

On both sides of the road, large tracts of farmland that once ran through West Asia have become barren and withered, overgrown with weeds, except for a few small estates of Arab aristocracy, where hundreds of slaves are driven by Persian families to work under the scorching sun.

You can even see the bones of starving to death lying on the side of the road.

Lifting the curtain of the car and looking out, seeing this scene, even Li Que couldn't help but shake his head and sigh: "The tax is too heavy!"

Lying lazily on the other side of the four-wheeled carriage, comfortably holding the cool silk seaweed mat, Hou Jie squinted his eyes and hummed comfortably.

"It's not that I have to levy such heavy taxes, the West is at war with the Byzantines, Syria is the frontier, almost half of the supplies are provided by Syria, and now the caliph is going to raise taxes again, build a big mosque in Mecca Medina, if the taxes don't go up, I, the governor of Syria, will be out of the way a long time ago."

Hou Jie said it easily, but looking at his lazy appearance, the deep disappointment flashed heavily in Li Que's emerald eyes, looking at Hou Jie's head wearing a white turban, deliberately wiping brown eye sockets, combing a neat Arabian style beard, plus a yellow brocade robe, the last trace of Hou Jie's memory in his mind has gone away, he shook his head secretly, Li Que opened the window and looked out.

"Remember, the higher the position I gain in the Arab Empire, the more beneficial it will be to Fujian."

I don't know if it's for an explanation or a reminder, squinting, Hou Jie lazily added another sentence, but Li Que, who looked at the window, never looked back, and I don't know if he listened or not.

This time, Hou Jie actually went to the Caucasus Mountains.

This is the dividing line between West Asia and southern Europe, and the political map of later generations is the endless Russia north of the Caucasus, but now it is full of Slavic barbarians, the ancestors of Russia who will be important in the future, Kievan Rus' is now just a half-agrarian and semi-nomadic tribal alliance, and it is also the location of several mountain states such as the Kingdom of Armenia and the Kingdom of Azerbaijan, or it used to be.

Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as the state religion, so politically, Armenia was naturally close to Constantinople, and in the war for hegemony between Eastern Rome and the Persian Empire for nearly 400 years, Armenia also sided with Rome several times and played a decisive role.

A few years ago, when the Fujian State entered West Asia, the Armenian and other ethnic groups that jointly declared war on the Arabs also saw Li Jie in the Taisiphon Dynasty and became a vassal state of the Fujian State.

But who knew that these Armenians actually stabbed Min in the back, and he didn't know what Constantine IV promised, without blinking an eyelid, the Armenians betrayed Fujian, and also teamed up with the Byzantine army to attack the rear of the Fujian army, and almost Li Jie himself was beaten and fell down by this left and right pinch.

Now, however, the Armenians did not enjoy any of the benefits promised by Byzantium, and all the agreements that had been agreed between Constantine IV and the Arabs were torn up by the Arabs at the moment when Li Jie broke through to the south, and the gold and silver treasures scattered before Li Jie's breakthrough became the fuse of the desperate struggle between the two countries.

Constantine IV was indeed successful in political strategy, but not much stronger than Anna militarily, and the infantry brigade of the Byzantine military region could not resist the attack of hundreds of thousands of Arab cavalry, so panicked that he had to leave behind more than 80,000 infantry and flee back to Antioch, where he experienced a fierce siege battle by Hou Jie for three months.

In the end, under the attack of the ballista catapult that was not inferior to his own, Constantine IV had to once again break west with the main force of the shrinking Byzantine cavalry, leaving these Armenian mercenaries to die.

The entire Armenian population is only about a few hundred thousand, after these two catastrophes, basically more than half of the men were killed and wounded and captured, after driving out the Byzantines, the Arabs who were angry with these Armenians betrayed simply sent tens of thousands of cavalry into the mountains to burn and plunder, and countless Armenian tribes were either looted as slaves under the attack, or had to migrate to the deep mountains of the Caucasus with blood and tears.

After successively plundering the Armenians, the Arabs were not accustomed to this kind of cold weather, and they also withdrew from the Caucasus, so at this time, the Caucasus near the province of Aleppo was almost an empty mountain.

However, under the empty mountain, there still seem to be some hidden secrets.

Before reaching the rugged foothills, even Hou Jie's carriage had to be abandoned at the foot of the mountain, and the group rode camels up the steep and difficult peaks, facing the knife wind in the high mountains, and went around the layers of mountains.

Li Que walked for more than a day in the wind and snow in confusion, and when it was already dark and Li Que had to think about where to camp, Hou Jie accelerated his pace slightly.

Bypassing the mountains blocking the front, not only Li Que, but also Hou Jie's die-hard cronies who accompanied him couldn't help but stare in surprise.

Between the snow-capped mountains, a huge castle comes into view, the blue-gray castle is more than ten meters high, the upper half is still hung with wind and snow, you can see the arabesque-style dome building in the distance, a small amount of snow can not hide its glittering brilliance, the magnificent and gorgeous fortress is like a fairy tale fairyland.

There are also a lot of Arab soldiers with spears and chain mail patrolling back and forth on the city wall, looking at Hou Jie's flag from afar, immediately someone hurriedly ran down the city wall, and after a while, the heavy cedar wood gate burst open, watching a group of Arab cavalry come out to welcome him, Hou Jie was quite proud to the front, and bowed like a Western gentleman and made a gesture of please.

"Welcome to heaven on earth."

It is true that it is said that it is a paradise on earth, the red Persian carpet begins to roll inward from the gate, and enters the castle, the marble road is clean and tidy, without a trace of dust, and the same marble dome mosque reveals a different kind of luxurious atmosphere, which is carved with Arabic characters and olive branches and other sacred ornaments.

And it's hard to imagine that there are still snowflakes floating outside, and in this city, clumps of dates, trees, and yew trees have actually pulled out green shoots, which seem to be vibrant.

The Arab defenders in the castle obviously respected Hou Jie very much, and took the initiative to lead the camel for Hou Jie, and where Hou Jie had not been, all the Arab soldiers in masked armor were respectfully caressing their chests and bowing their heads, and they were also very familiar with this place, Hou Jie led Li Que and his party to familiarly bypass the two small chapels in front of them, and went straight to the main hall of the big dome mosque at the back.

"It's a luxury!"

Following Li Jie, Li Que can be regarded as having seen a big scene, and the Min Palace is also magnificent, but this kind of scene that is almost like a nouveau riche showing off, she has almost seen it for the first time.

On the entire wall carpet made of the most beautiful silks, the whole Islamic Qur'an depicts the scene of paradise, and the vivid figures seem to come to life at any time, the Arabian angel shows a charming and beautiful body, and the round chest seems to be breathing slowly, which looks like it is from the hand of a famous master.

The chandelier illuminated by the dome overhead is made of gold as a lampstand, and the night pearls are used as bulbs, the milky white light gives people a sense of peace, the shrine, and the worship table are all made of the best rosewood, stroking this wood, Li Que still remembers that Li Jie once obtained a piece of raw material, and he was so excited that he couldn't add that kind of appearance.

After looking at it for a long time, Li Que finally turned around in surprise and asked Hou Jie in surprise.

"Where did you get all this money?"

These things were arranged, as well as the fortress outside, the cost was absolutely astronomical, and after Li Que arrived in Antioch, in order to make it easier to obtain the resources and materials of Fujian, Hou Jie simply handed over the financial power of the Syrian province to Li Que.

Li Que knew too well about the finances of this province, and almost all of the foundation left by Muawiya was consumed in war and heavy taxes, the merchant travelers were extinct, the farmland was deserted, and the last little blood and sweat extracted from the land was not enough to support Hou Jie's army of about 15,000, pay annuities to the Arabs, and pay taxes to Rajaz, and it was only subsidized by the slave trade run by Hou Jie.

It's impossible to accumulate so much stuff.

Looking at Li Que's shocked cheeks, Hou Jie showed a strange smile on his face......