readx; The coach of the Big Food Army, Harman. Barmak is also the proud son of the famous Persian Barmak family, he is the younger brother of Khalid, the first minister of the empire, only thirty-two years old this year, he has become the Abbasid governor of Iraq, he also participated in the famous battle of the Tigris River, participated in the siege of Damascus, after the city was broken, he personally led five thousand warriors to occupy the palace of Damascus, his noble birth, elegant upbringing and outstanding military talent, so that he became the head of the Abbasid Caliph's guard at the age of twenty-eight, when Mansur ascended the throne, He rose to become the sought-after governor of Iraq. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

It is undeniable that his rise to prominence has a great relationship with his famous background, and the Balmak family became the noblest and most glorious family of the Abbasid Empire, giving Haman a diamond-like brilliance, he was young, handsome, elegant and noble, and as long as he appeared at the high-class ballroom ballroom in Damascus, he would become the center of attention of the audience, and became the object of favor of countless ladies and noblewomen.

This time, Haman replaced Ziyad as the commander of the Great Food Expeditionary Army, which is also Mansour's careful layout, Haman and Ziyad are also from Persia, if Haman can also achieve impressive results on the battlefield, then he can replace Ziyad as the glory of the Khorasan.

But Khalid resolutely opposed his younger brother as the commander of the Eastern Expeditionary Army, he knew very well that Haman was not suitable to be Li Qing'an's opponent, Li Qing'an and the Great Food Army had experienced countless fierce battles, and knew the operations of the Great Food Army well, while Haman had never had experience in fighting the Tang Army, although he had military talent, but he was by no means Li Qing'an's opponent.

Khalid's resolute opposition made Mansour hesitate a little, but the only one who could compete with Li Qing'an. The Muslims have already been killed by him, and if Haman is not used, then who can bear the burden?

Under Mansour's repeated persuasion, Khalid finally agreed to be the commander of Haman, but he had one condition, he recommended the former Syrian deputy governor Shayh as Haman's lieutenant general, Shaykh as the commander of the second army of the Syrian army, had participated in the battle of Talas, he followed the Muslims to escape the fate of being captured, and returned to Syria as deputy governor, he has rich practical experience, but he was on the wrong side in the Abbasid civil strife at the beginning of the year, followed the Abbasid uncle Lao Ali to confront Mansour, after the defeat of the old Ali, Shaikh was removed from all his posts and exiled to his homeland.

Knowing his experience and talents, Khalid recommended him as Haman's lieutenant, and Mansour, though displeased, eventually agreed.

After nearly a month and a half of marching, Haman finally led the army to Amu Darya River, and at this time fled back a few defeated soldiers, Haman learned the news of the Tang army's occupation of Khorezm, and also knew that the commander of the Tang army in Khorezm was Li Qing'an.

At this time, Haman did not rush to cross the Amu Darya River, he was waiting for the arrival of Shaikh, Haman was not out of respect for his lieutenant Shaikh, on the contrary, he was born noble and never took Shaykh from low background to heart, and the factions of the two are not the same, the Barmak family believes in Shia, and Shaikh is a Sunni Muslim, which makes Haman have a great dislike for Shaykh, and this disgust is also out of dissatisfaction with his brother, the reason why Haman is waiting for Shaykh to arrive, It was because the heavy grain and grass were in the rear army of Shaikh, and he had to wait.

Three days later, Shaikh's 40,000 rear army also arrived in Windy City to join Harman's main force, so that the main force of the Great Food Army reached 100,000 troops, which was huge, but Shayih was worried and rushed to find Haman as soon as he arrived in Windy City.

"Your Highness, haven't you received my letter to you?"

Shaykh had written a letter to Haman six days ago, in view of the fact that the Tang army had seen through the tactics of the caliphate, he hoped that the main army would temporarily withdraw to the Caspian Sea and wait for the next decision of the caliph, Shaykh was about fifty years old this year, short in stature, and his appearance was not good, which was in sharp contrast to Haman's elegance and handsomeness, but Shaykh was experienced in a hundred battles, extremely experienced in combat, and was a very cautious veteran, he believed that a battle would not end in a day or two, but would last for months or even a year if possible, when necessary, Originally, he supported Mansour's strategy, using the Khorasan army to contain the main force of the Tang army, and then his main force was stationed in Khorezm, getting food supplies from Khorezm, and then going down the Amu Darya River to attack the river, this is definitely a very clever strategy, so that the Tang army is passive at both ends, but the premise of this strategy is that it cannot be seen through by the Tang army, once it is seen through, the Arab army will fall into an extremely dangerous situation, and the strategy must be changed at this time.

Although Shaikh hoped that this strategy would eventually succeed, the reality was that this strategy was still seen through by the Tang army, which had already taken the lead and occupied Khorezm, so there would be a serious problem in the original plan, they would probably not get food supplies from Khorezm, and the 100,000-strong army would be in a dilemma.

Haman gave him a cold look, the pungent body odor emanating from the ugly old man made him feel sick, and the physical disgust made him full of disgust for Shaikh, although he was respectful to himself and did not dare to disobey his wishes, but this did not change Shaman's prejudice against him, and this prejudice was largely a continuation of his dissatisfaction with his brother Khalid, who was adamantly opposed to him as the commander of the Crusade, which Haman could never forgive.

"I don't understand what you're talking about, General Shaikh."

Haman hated the Shaikh, but he still maintained a polite posture, which came from his refined upbringing, roaring like thunder, which was an inferior performance, which he disdained.

Shaikh hurriedly said: "Your Highness Amir, our food can only last for half a month at most, and if the Tang army occupies Khorezm, we will have no food to replenish, and we will fall into great passivity." ”

"It's your responsibility to have less food, I hope you understand that, General Shaikh!" Haman's tone was still cold, as if he was saying something that had nothing to do with him.

Shaikh was speechless, although he decided how much food to bring, but Haman was a heavy weaponist, he insisted on bringing a large number of heavy weapons, it was these heavy weapons that occupied too much baggage space, so that he had to bring less food, and now this gentleman has put the responsibility on himself, Shaikh is a little angry.

Just as Haman looked down on him, he also looked down on this famous nobleman who was known as the 'star of the empire', he called Haman a gentleman, because he indulged in the social banquets of the upper class all day long, instead of eating and living with the soldiers, even if it was for show, but not for a day, his military exploits were nothing more than leading the army to occupy the palace of Damascus after the city was broken, thus putting on the most dazzling halo, so he was called a famous general, he blasphemed the word "famous general", and Shayh has always admired Abu. Muslim quote: A true famous general is not how many enemies you can kill, but how many soldiers are willing to die for you. ’

Shaykh restrained the anger in his heart and said: "Our march has to pass through the Karakum Desert, there are no supplies along the way, no matter how much food we bring, it makes no sense to bring any food, the caliph decided to go to Khorezm first, get food supplies, and then go south to the river, but now that the Tang army has occupied Khorezm, our supply plan has failed, so is it time to change the plan, retreat to the Caspian Sea, and wait for a new plan, if we go rashly like this, and do not know the slightest bit about the enemy army, then we will definitely lose." ”

"Who said I don't know anything about Tang Jun!"

Haman strengthened his tone, he was dissatisfied with the attitude of Shaykh to speak to him, and said in a loud voice: "What did you know when you first came? The Tang army has only 30,000 people, and their commander Li Qing'an is in Khorezm, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, if Li Qing'an is caught, then Hezhong, Sinde, these encroached lands will all return, we have 100,000 troops, three times the Tang army, you still say such depressing words, General Shaykh, I am ashamed of you! ”

Shayih could no longer restrain the anger in his heart, he lost his mind, waved his arms and shouted: "Li Qingan is a sweet bait, just to deceive you, a big fool, to be fooled." ”

"Shut up!"

Haman was enraged, he slapped the table and stood up, his slender chest rose and fell violently like a woman, he stared at Shayih viciously, and said word by word: "I'll tell you one last time, I'm the boss, it's up to me to decide how to fight, if you dare to overstep your authority, I'll kill you!" ”

．．．．．．． Just as the Arabs were about to cross the Amu Darya River, preparations for the battle of Khiva were in full swing, and in the past two days, Li Qing'an received two encouraging news, one was that 60,000 elite Tang troops had moved into the river, of which 20,000 troops supported the Nasebo Tang army, and the other 40,000 troops were sent to Khorezm to support the military operations of the commander Li Qing'an.

There is also encouraging news is Li Qing'an's private affairs, his wife Mingyue gave birth to a son to him, the city of Broken Leaves celebrated, the Broken Leaves military quickly transmitted the news to the river in the form of flying pigeons, and Li Siye immediately ordered the messenger to send the news to Khorezm as quickly as possible.

Li Qing'an was overjoyed by this news, and he immediately ordered that the treasures of the 20 large Muslim families and half of the wealth in the treasury of Khorezm be rewarded to the officers and men of the three armies, so that all the Tang troops could share his joy.

Early in the morning, Li Qing'an came to the head of the city to inspect the repair of the city wall, Khorezm has the best builders in the world, their capital Khiva City is also the strongest city in the world, twenty earth-shattering thunderbolts exploded almost at the same time, only blowing up some of the battlements and trebuchets on the surface of the city wall, but the main body of the city wall was not damaged at all, and the main thing was to repair the city gate, when the huge battering ram hit the city gate, the surrounding city wall suffered a little loss.

"General, please look at these city bricks, they are amazing!"

Bai Xiaode walked to a piece of bluestone city brick, and gently patted this piece of bluestone that was one zhang long, five feet wide, and three feet high.

"I really admire them, where did they get the stones, the surrounding desert, their craftsmen can build the big stones tightly, tens of thousands of big stones are piled up, and it becomes a stone mountain."

Li Qing'an nodded, he looked at the thousands of construction craftsmen who were busy, and said: "After the battle, we can bring some craftsmen back, so that they can pass on the skills of building the stone city to the Tang Dynasty, as well as the water supply and drainage of their city, which are all large water pipes made of clay firing, and the water is brought into the city, which is indeed very good and worth learning from us." ”

Li Qing'an walked up to the city wall again, and tens of thousands of people on the city wall were carrying boulders, some Zoroastrians and some Muslims, although they also worked hard, but their motives were completely different, the Zoroastrian were to defend the city and defend the dignity they had finally obtained, while the Muslims were to earn a little more food to feed their families, and the rations they received every day were only half of those of the Zoroastrians, and if they did not come out to work to earn food, the whole family would have to starve.

The big stone is to demolish the palace and the house of 20 large Muslim families, there are more than 100,000 pieces, this is the weapon of the trebuchet, on the north city wall that was blown up, all kinds of fortifications are busy repairing, mainly to rebuild the battlements and install large trebuchets, this time the Tang army brought 50 heavy catapults, respectively installed in the four city heads, condescending, can throw more than 1,000 steps, there are 200 bed crossbows, all kinds of arrows according to each soldier carries three pots of arrows, there are more than 3 million, very well prepared.

At this time, Li Qing'an suddenly saw Arslan from the top of the city, he appeared in a street near the northern city wall, wearing a white robe inlaid with gold edges, wearing a gold crown, holding a scepter, under the strict protection of dozens of guards, was going door-to-door to comfort his people, Arslan was supported by the Zoroastrians, had officially ascended the throne three days ago, and was almost assassinated by a Muslim when he ascended the throne, and the Muslims hated him to the core, which is also a strange psychology, They did not hate the Tang army that occupied Khorezm, but they hated Arslan, who betrayed their interests and lured the wolf into the house.

"General, are you going to take a look?" Bai Xiaode asked with a smile.

Li Qingan shook his head and said: "He is the king now, he has to bow down to me when I go, it will affect his prestige among the people, forget it, I will talk to him about resettlement in the afternoon, I want to recruit another 30,000 people to assist us in defending the city, it should be no problem!" ”

Bai Xiaode thought for a while and said: "It shouldn't be a big problem, there are more than 300,000 people in the city now, of which 200,000 are Zoroastrians, and 30,000 people are selected from among them. ”

This is, Li Fei Yuanli walked forward quickly, bowed and saluted: "General, are you looking for me?" ”

Li Qingan put his arm around his shoulders, took him aside, and asked with a low smile: "How is it, then the crown is okay!" ”

Li Fei Yuanli grinned and laughed, "Yes, I especially like the jewels in the crown, but I didn't expect the general to really reward me with the queen's jewelry, and I thank the general for the lady." ”

Li Qingan smiled slightly: "Jewelry is a reward for your restraint of military discipline, originally I was worried that you would indulge the soldiers and take advantage of the opportunity to drive away the Khorezm people to wantonly destroy the silver and loot, but I didn't expect that there were only ten silver annihilation incidents, and afterwards you scolded them in public to maintain the severity of military discipline, which shows that you have made progress, and the reflection in Ning Yuanguo is very effective, Lao Li, you have passed my test." ”

Li Fei Yuanli's eyes widened, and his big open mouth couldn't close for a long time, he never expected that sending him to the Aral Sea Delta would be Li Qingan's test for him.

"General, this... This. ”

He couldn't say a complete sentence for a long time, Li Qingan patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "Don't want this, that, I won't tell you in advance if I test you, and now I'm going to give you a new task." ”

Li Fei Yuanli perked up, straightened his waist and said: "The humble official knows what the task is, and he will definitely kill their supply line, and he will never let the general down." ”

"Excellent! I will give you 3,000 cavalry, with two horses, if you can kill the supply line of the big cannibals, I will guarantee you as the prince of Gaochang County, the governor of Ganzhou, and the champion general, but if you can't complete the task, then you come to me! ”

．．．．．．． At noon the next day, the scouts came with the news that the 100,000-strong army of the Great Food Army had crossed the Amu Darya River, and the city of Khiva was only twenty miles away from the Amu Darya River, that is, the main force of the Great Food Army had arrived.

Li Qing'an immediately rushed to the head of the city, looking into the distance, at this time, the drum at the head of the city began to beat, this is the Tang Army Lookout Tower has found the Great Food Army, the lookout tower is a 20 zhang high spire, finger between the clouds, at the top of the spire, there is a lookout that can accommodate two people, two Tang Army soldiers with excellent eyesight serve as lookouts here.

Li Qing'an also saw that the end of the western sky should be a white and bright frozen river, but the reflection of the ice surface is no longer visible, only a thin black line, about several miles long, almost covering the entire river surface, as the black line gets closer and closer, the original long yellow sand desert has become a black ocean, this is the elite of 100,000 Arabs from Syria, Iraq and Armenia, there are cavalry, there are infantry, huge drums rumble, ten 10,000 troops are like an overwhelming tide, up and down, footsteps step on the rhythm of the drumA huge black flag embroidered with stars and a crescent moon fluttered over the spear forest, and behind the team were tens of thousands of camels, carrying grain, water, tents, and all kinds of baggage.

Li Qing'an looked at tens of thousands of camels, and he suddenly realized that he had miscalculated, and the big cannibals were actually not short of food.

The Abbasids believed in black, and their 100,000 troops began to camp ten miles away, and as far as the eye could see, there were large black and dark red tents everywhere, forming a huge meniscus formation, which was in the style of Haman, who never surrounded the entire city, but concentrated on one side, and crushed the enemy's defenses with the strongest and most superior forces.

(To be continued)