In the early hours of the next morning, the small lords of the Grand Duke's territory of Fekia came to their aid, but the majestic castle, once a symbol of power and wealth in their minds, had been reduced to ruins, the corpses everywhere emitted a foul smell, and the high main building had become a huge furnace, billowing smoke and flames came out of the roof, and countless holes in the building spewed tongues of fire outward, emitting a billowing heat wave that made people dare not approach.

Through the costumes on their bodies, the little lords found the Grand Duke and his wife, who had turned into a pile of flesh, and the headless Captain of the Loyal Guard, the Knight Chiton, which made them shed a few tears of sorrow. But when they wiped away their tears and turned around, the little lords fought together, and they all realized that the death of the Grand Duke was a good time to redivide the forces and lands, and everyone wanted to get the most out of it. But the main building of the Castle of the Grand Duke of Fechia, which burns like a torch in the dark night, constantly reminds the people around him not to provoke the Orientals, otherwise it will be the end.

News of the martyrdom of the Grand Duke of Fekia quickly spread across the Somenian Plains, where a group of demons from the East destroyed the castle with artifacts, killed all the people in the castle, robbed his family of a hundred years of savings, and set the castle on fire. Now they are coming down the Tigris River, claiming to wash the entire plain in blood, robbing all the wealth and women, and for a time the whole plain is full of rumors, and the lords of all sizes have taken refuge in the castle and closed their doors. Officials and nobles packed up their finesse and went to the imperial capital for refuge.

The expeditionary force did not know that he had become a 'demon' in the Seljuk population, but only felt that the 'flies' of the past were gone. But the closer they got to the imperial capital, Ma Wei and the others also felt the pressure, and they experimented with new tactics by attacking the castle of the Grand Duke of Fechia. I gained some experience, but I also realized that my troops were weak. Unable to complete the siege of a large city, they began to deliberately slow down their march. Expands the scope of the sweep.

Due to the death of the two powerful leaders of the Seljuk Empire, Maliksha and Nizam one after another, the empire has begun to split, the royal family is vying for the throne, the royal family is infighting, the military feudal lords in various places are dominant, and various sects have also joined the fighting, they occupy and build fortresses, and attack the dynastic army, so that the empire begins to disintegrate. Decades later. The empire split into the Lesser Seljuk Sultanates, centered on major cities, and the dynasties fought among themselves, weakening their ability to defend themselves against foreign enemies.

The actual control of Sanjar, now known as the Great Seljuk Sultan, has also been greatly reduced, so that the dispatch of troops to Western Liao has to rely on the mobilization of various forces to participate in the name of jihad. This allowed Ma Wei and the others to take advantage of the situation that they were fighting separately and not being subordinate to each other, and they were able to break through each other. He used the pretext of respecting their religious beliefs, not interfering in the affairs of their territories, and not plundering their property to induce them to give up their resistance. Of course, it is necessary to directly besiege the city and make a forced landing. Those minor lords who thought about the fate of the Grand Duke of Fezia often surrendered their private armies in order to save their lives, land, and property.

Along the way, the expeditionary force swept across both sides of the Tigris River, extorting and surrendering many local forces. Anyway, there are dozens of them, which is not too little. 1,800 people are not too many, as long as they are not crippled, they will be collected, and among them, there are forces that want to use the strength of the Song army to take the opportunity to expand their territory. There were also bandits who wanted to make a windfall with them, including the 'Ghulam', a private army offered by the lords under the guns. With the expansion of the swept area. They gathered sand into a tower, and actually cobbled together a cannon fodder army numbering thousands of people.

And the 'Ghulam' who have been snatched by ingenuity are very obedient and obedient to their new masters. This may be the tendency of them to benefit and want to get rid of their current position; Perhaps they came from a nomadic people's belief in the rule of respect for the strong; Perhaps it was the slave birth and the cruel training of their children that had already left the mark of 'obeying their masters' in their hearts. The surrender of the Song army was nothing more than being sold by the old master to the new master.

Ma Wei and others made such a team, at first they just wanted to strengthen their momentum, and thank them for leading the way, raising food, and running errands. But the cannon fodder is too capable, the cannon fodder army composed of professional soldiers is not weak in combat effectiveness, and they are not soft on the battlefield for their own people, and even more ferocious than the general army, let them go out to 'fight the grass valley' is often like locusts transiting, not to mention gold, silver and food, even the population is not spared, and the last fire 'destroys the corpse and destroys the traces'.

Not only did many things no longer need to be done by the Song army, but the team also snowballed as they attacked everywhere, and now the number of people has reached more than 20,000. And they also found that the actions of the cannon fodder army gave the Song army a reputation of 'brutality', but it also made no one dare to openly confront them wherever they passed. Seeing the continuous expansion of the team, Ma Wei and the others felt that it was impossible to go on like this, and they had to be reorganized to change the chaotic state of their group or two.

With the approval and authorization of Cheng Xishou, the commander of the expeditionary force, Ma Wei organized the cannon fodder army into a team of 30,000 people according to local customs and different sects:

The 10,000-strong squad consisted of 6,000 acquired 'Ghulam', all of whom were well-trained and well-equipped heavy cavalry, with the Turkic knight Bakr as the commander of the 'Ghulam' mercenary rules. Because of its bravery and good fighting, it was known as 'Attar' by the people of the plains, which is the name of the god of war in the Arab world, so this army was called the 'Atta' army.

The 20,000-strong squad consisted of 7,000 bandits and a number of rebels led by religious figures who had been attacked because of their religious affiliation. Because they do not have a stable base area, they are always in a state of encirclement, suppression, and pursuit, and they are best at mobile warfare, and of course they are also very skilled in looting, murder, and arson. The position of Captain was held by the Persian Mulek, a thief who had roamed the Zagros Mountains and was now forced to wander around, known as 'Brak', the mythical half-man, half-beast, who had a mixed reputation.

The 30,000-strong team numbered more than 8,000 people, including the civilian army and slaves captured by various armies, as well as the blind flow of civilians who had lost their land and bankrupt merchants, and so on.

In his early years, Sirod owned two merchant ships specializing in the silk trade between the Great Song Dynasty and the Seljuks, and because he could speak Chinese and understand the rules, he was deeply trusted by several Great Song generals. And he also tried his best to maliciously flatter, like the 'third grandson', coaxing the masters to be happy. However, he regarded himself as a nobleman to his colleagues and subordinates, behaved arrogantly, and was known for extorting money from the lords of the occupied territories, and was jokingly called the evil dragon 'Dahak' that symbolized hypocrisy and sin in mythology.

Ma Wei knew that although the 30,000-strong team was not satisfied, if it continued to develop at this rate, it would have to be overnumbered if it could not reach Baghdad. With the addition of the Cooperative Army, the team of the Western Expeditionary Army has also doubled, and their mighty marching team stretches for several miles, greatly increasing their prestige and looking a lot better. However, in response to the old saying that the expeditionary force was rapidly expanding, it finally attracted the attack of the Seljuk Empire......

On this day, the expeditionary force sent a dragoon brigade and a coalition of the Atar and Bulak armies to attack the city of Gigia, which was less than a hundred miles from Baghdad. Now due to the large number of people, the consumption has also increased exponentially, and this city is a larger city leading to the imperial capital, and after taking it, it can solve the problem of food and grass for the whole army for a month. Moreover, Ma Wei knew very well that in order for these 'cannon fodder troops' to truly follow the Song army in battle, deterrence alone was not enough, and there was no faster and more effective method than a generous reward, and the money needed could only be obtained on the spot.

According to the experience of attacking the city these days, as long as the city is surrounded and the banner is displayed, and a few more cannons are fired, the people of the city will surrender and offer their goods in exchange for not being washed in blood, but this time they kicked on the iron plate. When the coalition army marched to the city, they were intercepted by a large army, and in the face of the attack of the coalition army, they took a defensive position and lined up in a neat formation with cavalry, and fired volleys and strikes with strong bows.

Wang Gang, who led the army, soon discovered that these knights were different from the 'Gulam', their archery skills were superb, and they could accurately shoot the enemy from a considerable distance, and the dense rain of arrows caused heavy casualties to the attacking 'Atta' knights in heavy armor. He immediately realized that this was not their own usual defensive counter-attacking tactic. It's just changed to a cold weapon version, which uses long-range weapons to inflict a lot of casualties on the enemy, consume its vital strength, and when its formation is scattered and demoralized due to excessive casualties, the cavalry will charge again.

Wang Gang, who saw through the enemy's intentions, could order to stop the attack, adjust his tactics and fight again. At this moment, the commander of the Atal army, Bakr, also found that they were not fighting against the army of the Seljuk Empire, but the cavalry of the Sultanate of Rum from Asia Minor. It is a branch of the Seljuks, which has always been attached to the Great Seljuk Empire and is in a semi-independent state. Decades earlier, the Sultanate of Rûm had made a name for itself by resisting the Crusader invasion and retaining central Asia Minor.

The Sultanate of Rûm's army was composed mainly of slaves, similar to that of Ghulam, who had to undergo rigorous military training from an early age. But unlike Ghulam, they focused more on scimitars, spears, and especially mounted archery while learning various martial arts. In cavalry training, each soldier needs to pay attention to how he or she coordinates with the overall tactical unit, most notably because 'they are more focused on attacking in a tight and neat formation'...... (To be continued......)