After galloping westward for more than 60 miles, a large river blocked the way. This river is the Euphrates, another large river in the basin of the two rivers, and of course, it is now called the Western Tang River.

The calf travels from Basra to Kufa and then continues north, naturally by the Euphrates. Ma Lan led the army to find a village on the riverside, asked where the Tang fleet was located, and galloped downstream along the river for more than ten miles, and saw a fleet parked on the shore, with a skull battle flag hanging on the fleet. With such a banner, it is naturally the Anxi Army Sailor led by Niu Xu.

Baghdad is located in close proximity to two major rivers, which is the natural advantage of Baghdad as the center of the region. Niu Xu led the fleet up the river from Basra, constantly accepting the surrender of the Dehgans, expanding the territory of the Anxi army, but he only had 1,500 men in his hands, so he could not directly occupy the land, but remained on the ship.

It was also Ma Lan's order to let him wait here. The construction of Baghdad as the ruling center of the two river valleys was decided long ago.

Ma Lan galloped towards the fleet with his own soldiers, and a group of people on the other side of the fleet also rushed over quickly.

"General!"

The man at the front rushed up to him and let out a loud cry and grin, revealing a mouthful of conspicuous white teeth.

In the army, the calf is not called Uncle Pony. Ma Lan smiled and nodded, looked at Niu Xu and said, "It's dark!" ”

This kid is still strong, but it is much darker, and his originally delicate face is full of wind and frost, and it seems that the wind and sun are also extremely hard. Niu Xu smiled: "Back to the general, it's dark." Now if you go back to Chang'an. I'm afraid no one will recognize me. ”

"It's black like this. It's almost time to catch up with Kunlun. If you really return to Chang'an, the widows in the East City area are afraid that they will not be upside down. Ma Lan laughed.

The pro-soldiers all laughed, and the generals and colonels who followed Niu Xu also laughed. Niu Xu blushed and said, "The general Hugh wants to make fun of it." "He's so tanned that no one notices that he's blushing.

Ma Lan looked at this group of Anxi men, all of whom were about to become Kunlun slaves. Training at sea, there is no sunscreen in this era, and the Anxi men are extremely tanned. It's completely different from what it used to be.

“…… Brothers, great work! ......" encouraged the generals who came to greet him, and Niu Xu led the officers to lead Ma Lu to the side of the fleet. Seeing that these big ships had a deep draft, Ma Xuan asked Niu Xu, who smiled and said that this was a tax sent by the nearby Dekhgans, and that Kufa and Ctesiphon were both big cities, and that there were a lot of income taxes, and that they were not going to Basra because they were going to build a city here, and they were going to be used for building a city.

"Is it all gold and silver?"

"It's all gold and silver, and that's what circulates in this place. Copper coins are not very fashionable, and we don't want them either. ”

More than a dozen seagoing ships were heavily armed. The sailors were all on deck, carrying Yuan Rong crossbows on their backs, and stood on the ship like nails. When the sailors saw the commander in person, they all cheered loudly.

Ma Lan had a greeting with these rough Anxi men and thanked everyone for their hard work in the past two years. Following Niu Xu to board the flagship, the marching Sima took the account book and respectfully presented it to Ma Xuan for viewing.

"Three million dirkhans...... The city of Baghdad should be enough. Ma Ling flipped through the account book and threw it to Niu Xu, "Mansur built the city of Baghdad, and this is probably the number. ”

Mansour ...... Isn't it dead? Niu Xu was slightly stunned.

Ma Lan smiled.

"Uncle Pony, these are just the ones that are available on the ship, and many more have already been transported back to Basra and are ready to be transported back to Wannian City in a while. The big cannibals are really rich, and those rich businessmen have a lot of money, and they all snatch them back, and I don't know how many times they have to be loaded before they can be shipped back. ”

"Did you rob it?"

"The Persians did not rob Hu Da."

"That's exactly how it should be." Ma Lan smiled and nodded.

"If the Persians had robbed it, they would have gained more." Niu Xu was a little unwilling.

Ma Lan smiled: "Persians...... I can't finish killing. - It's not that we can't kill it, there will be no one after killing, the big food is too big, someone has to work for us, and we want to immigrate from the Central Plains...... It's too difficult, after all, it's not as good as the Central Plains. Collect tens of millions of dollars in taxes a year, and don't care about anything else...... That's all there is to it for the time being. ”

Niu Xu nodded: "I understand." It's just that there are so many Persian rich businessmen, and some eyes are hot. ”

Ma Lan smiled, this is normal, if it weren't for the fact that he had to rely on the Dekhgans to establish a ruling order, he would also want to rob all the gold and silver in the rich merchants of Persia. He was not motivated by kindness, but only by the need to maintain the ruling order.

"Little calf, your eighth uncle and old Uncle Lei are now in the army."

"Really?" Niu Xu's eyes widened and he said happily, "Where are they now?" Are you here too? ”

"They're not here, they're going to trouble the Oghuz."

Niu Xu was extremely concerned about these two elders, which Ma Xuan knew very well, so he also told Niu Xu about Nanba and Lei Wanchun for more than a year. Because it involves the killing of Ye Scarlet Fish, and this matter is related to Kang Xiaoyu, it is his privacy, so naturally he can't tell Niu Xu, so I started with the two of them going to save the Han people who were kidnapped in Xihai City.

The latest news came from the coast of the Caspian Sea, Ma Yong and Ma Qiang were building a city on the Volga Plain, Nan Jiyun and Lei Wanchun were both in the army, and now they have become captains. The two of them hid their identities, but they were recognized by Zhang Biao, the guard of Xihai Town, in Xihai City, so Ma Yong and Ma Qiang naturally knew the identities of the two. However, the positions of the two are also spelled out with a knife and a gun. With the skills of two people, this is more than enough.

"Eighth Uncle and Old Uncle Lei are both in the prime of life, it would be a pity if they were wasted, but now that they are in the army, they can naturally stand out." Niu Xu listened to Ma Lan's story, and was also very excited. His ability was taught by the two elders, and he was extremely respected by these two elders, and now that the two of them were serving in front of the army, Niu Xu was naturally extremely happy to know it.

Ma Lan smiled and nodded. Nan Ji Yunlei Wanchun and his strength are considered to be equal, of course, he is younger and has some advantage in physical strength, but he is only one line stronger. The two of them are definitely the characters of a hundred enemies, and it is easy to swing the Mo knife immediately, and they can naturally be selected into the new army, and it is normal to stand out in the army.

The two were originally rangers and acted in a rather ancient style, but after experiencing the rescue of the Han people who were looted from Xihai City, there were some changes. According to the news sent by Ma Yong and Ma Qiang, the two of them can now completely carry out the task of slaughtering the Oghuz tribe. Now the two of them are gradually getting rid of the shadow of the ranger, and they are quickly becoming iron-blooded soldiers.

led an army into the hinterland of Dashi alone, and Niu Xu has matured a lot in the past year, and he looks much more stable. As an elder, Ma Lan was extremely happy to see this, and if he said goodbye to Brother Nan and Brother Lei, he could also explain.

I haven't seen each other for a long time, and the uncle and nephew drank it well, and they were both extremely happy. Ma Lan finally made a decision to leave the construction of the city of Baghdad to Niu Xu.

"Little calf, this thing must be done beautifully. What we have is money, we must build this city well! In the future, our Anxi army is here, and this big city is an extremely important point, understand? ”

"Got it, Uncle Pony, don't worry!" Niu Xu is full of promises.

The two left the big boat and took their soldiers to see the scene between the two rivers, and finally Ma Lu decided that the city of Baghdad should still be built in its original location, that is, across the banks of the East Tang River, and then build a large port on this side of the West Tang River, and then build a small city near the port, and then build a wide post road from the small city to connect the city of Baghdad.

Of course, with the passage of time, this area will probably be included in the scope of Baghdad City, for example, the Ma family workshop will definitely set up a point here, and it will occupy a large area at that time, but the temporary plan is like this. In the future, the taxes of the two river basins will be concentrated in the city of Baghdad, which will also become the center of Tang rule west of the Zagros Mountains.

After the matter was confirmed, Ma Lan returned to the small town of Baghdad with Niu Xu and officially announced the order. A large number of staff members were assigned to him, and he began to plan the construction of the city. At the same time, Ma Lu's first official order to the west of the Zagros Mountains was also issued to the Dehgans who had already surrendered to the Tang Dynasty in the two river basins.

They need to send coolies to Baghdad according to the size of their territory as soon as they receive the order to participate in the construction of this large city. It was already autumn, and the Persians had nothing to do, just in time to build the city.

When the order was issued, Ctesiphon reacted the next day, and a large number of agitated Persian peasants were driven by the Ahgans. Then there was a succession of Dehgan who led the Persian peasants to the town of Baghdad, and then left.

This was their chance to show their respect, so the amount of coolies they offered was only a little more. And for the loyalty of Dehgan, Ma Ling also expressed his praise. This time, however, he was not prepared to let the coolies die en masse, for death was inevitable, but it would not be starvation.

Isfahan was taken after resistance, and the nearby Dekhgans had provided Ibrahim with men, so although they were eventually forgiven, punishment was still necessary. The mass death of coolies will reduce the number of farmers, who have already died in battle, and now they are exhausted, which is also a great loss for them. A new city of Isfahan, built with the flesh and blood of coolies, was a small punishment for them.

Unlike the city of Baghdad, the Dehgans of the two rivers valleys did not resist in the slightest, behaved deferentially enough, and had already paid a year's worth of taxes, so Ma Ling was not prepared to let them suffer any more losses. Different ways of treating, in fact, the idea is unified, it is nothing more than the eight words "those who follow me prosper and those who disobey me die".

The main force of the army was stationed near Baghdad, and with the continuous arrival of coolies, the construction of the new city began directly, but Ma Ling did not stop here, but left the town of Baghdad with two thousand new troops and rushed directly to Kufa.

There is one thing that is always in my heart, and there is a person, after all, it has to be found. (To be continued.) )