"Don't lose these tens of thousands of elite soldiers for the sake of momentary spirit. ”

••••••

"Without these soldiers and horses, you Gao Xianzhi is nothing. ”

••••••

"What the hell did that woman tell you, and how did you change all of a sudden?"

They talked for more than half an hour, and I didn't say a word. But when he heard Bian Lingcheng talking about a woman, there was a sudden sound of a wine glass shattering to the ground, followed by a sentence full of hatred and suppressed to a hoarseness: "You actually sent someone to spy on me, you go out!"

I guess it must have been General Gao's voice, though it had become unusually hoarse.

Bian Lingcheng lifted the curtain of the big tent and returned to his tent angrily. Gao Xianzhi walked out slowly, looking up at it, the night was far away.

At this moment, there was a commotion outside the gate. Li Siye led a few of his relatives to break in in a panic, but he couldn't salute in time and threw himself on the general's shoulder.

"it, the Qarluqs are running away! I led people to patrol the guard, but there was no trace of them, and there was not a single hair left. ”

The army besieged the city, and 20,000 Tang soldiers and Bahana soldiers were responsible for the main attack. In order to prevent the Abbasid reinforcements from raiding, Qarluq mercenaries were used as guards on the perimeter. Five, fifteen, thirty miles, three layers of cordon inside and outside. Fifty miles away, there were roving scouts on guard.

Nearly 8,000 Qarluq soldiers disappeared without a trace. It seems that they must have heard extremely dangerous news and defected.

"I've sent scouts to investigate. Maybe, maybe••••••" Before Li Siye finished speaking, a flying slave shot down and landed in the arms of the scout on the side. The flying slave is the pigeon that transmits the message.

The pigeon's legs, which should have been tied to the bamboo tube, were empty. Only the uncongealed blood stained the wings and belly of the pigeon. The scout must have had no time to write letters, so he had to smear his own blood all over the pigeon's body and repay his country with his death.

Li Siye's eyes cracked when he saw it, and his blood was gushing. He knew that the enemy army was coming, and there were many soldiers and horses, and they were menacing.

"Withdraw, General! If you don't leave, it's too late!" Li Siye was anxious and did not choose to speak.

Duan Xiushi heard that Li Siye was going to escape, and scolded hatefully: "Big husband, fight to the death, I'm afraid that he will be a bird! General, let's fight!"

Without allowing everyone to hesitate, they heard bursts of rumbling sounds from all directions, like muffled thunder, and this formation, I am afraid that hundreds of thousands of horses and horses will be killed together, which is earth-shattering.

Immediately, a flash of fire tore through the night, and in all directions, it seemed as if the sun was rising at the same time, and the enemy moved rapidly, and the burning torches joined together into a vast sea, and the tide poured towards the city of Talas, towards the * kill.

To the northwest, three rockets shot into the deep sky one after another. The defenders of Talas, knowing that reinforcements were coming, opened the gates of the city and killed them.

More than 20,000* soldiers suddenly exploded and roared. Bian Lingcheng, who had just sulked and hid in the camp tent, heard that the momentum was wrong, and quickly jumped out, stumbling to everyone, trembling like a little chicken, unable to speak.

In today's situation, no matter who comes, it is expected that the matter will be in the middle, and it will be inevitable that people will fight back.

At that moment, Gao Xianzhi's face sank, and he ordered Li Siye and Duan Xiushi, two generals, to gather their own soldiers and horses, how many they could take away, how much to take away, and to see that the enemy army broke through where the fire was scarce. He himself led his headquarters to follow, gathered men and horses, and the army broke through in three ways.

Faced with the inside and outside of the Abbasid army,* panicked but not chaotic, the three generals galloped on the battlefield,* gradually converged, like three water dragons meandering in, fighting and walking, rushing left and right, trying to bite a hole in the encirclement like an iron bucket.

The enemy's encirclement is like a giant python, tightening more and more, and more and more enemies are pouring in. In the central battlefield, the defenders in Talas City came out, and they also blossomed. The three strands* are like falling into a quagmire, and people are constantly falling, and the casualties are incalculable.

It was no longer a battle, it was the last human desire to survive that was biting, and the angry, desperate* soldiers roared and rushed to kill.

Critical. Critical. The three strands* were constantly scattered and strangled by the Abbasids, and they gathered and gathered and gathered, and it was already difficult to maintain the formation. However, at the moment of this thousand troops, General Gao Xianzhi's horse seemed to be frightened, and actually rushed towards the enemy brigade, and disappeared into the chaos in a few eyes.

Several of our guards, who had followed the general for many years, suddenly went blank, lost their direction, and slashed the enemy even more frantically. I vaguely remember that it should be Hei Yan Hei Ya Chao En who fired a rocket to warn the two generals Li and Duan.

Two rockets were launched into the air, and the two generals quickly gathered their troops.

General Li Siye had already dismounted, led a few crazy swordsmen, danced the Mo knife, slashed and slashed, and with a swing of the knife, more than a dozen people of the enemy army rolled down at their feet, really killing a bloody road, and the three armies gathered in one place.

The Abbasids sensed the movement* and continued to converge in one place.

Just as everyone was preparing to fight to the death, there was a sudden chaos within the Abbasid army.

Looking for prestige, I saw that under a mountain pass not far away, groups of Abbasid soldiers were constantly lifted into the sky, torches were scattered, and a group of people retreated, and a huge monster squatted in the battle circle.

The monster looked like a hill, staring at the ghostly green eyes, and with a flick of its claws, the soldiers who were caught in it were immediately thrown into the sky; Moreover, it has many huge tails, which are swept wildly.

It looked like a nine-tailed monster fox in ancient times, and it was the first time in my life that I had seen this legendary horror.

The Abbasid legions beneath its feet are like ant colonies, at the mercy of their trampling. Many devout Abbasid soldiers fell to their knees and asked Allah for protection.

The mountain pass where the monster is located is the best route to return to the Tang Dynasty. With a glimmer of life in front of them, they couldn't take care of too much, Li Siye and Duan Xiushi gave an order, and they rushed towards the mountain pass with everyone.

I don't know what happened next, but I vaguely remember a sharp pain, and I passed out, and when I woke up, I was already a captive of the Abbasids.

When Prince Wynne came to the Tang Dynasty for a Hajj, he visited my uncle. Later, I followed General Gao Xianzhi to guard the Western Regions, and when he traveled between east and west, and when he passed through Qiuzi, we also met a few times, and we had some friendships.

He recognized me and explained my identity to Abu *, the Abbasid governor of the East, that I was the nephew of a high-ranking Tang official and deserved preferential treatment.

Prince Huai'en is indeed a person with clear grievances, when Gao Xianzhi exterminated the Shi Kingdom, he only remembered his hatred on Gao Xianzhi's head, and he was not angry with me.

It turned out that Abu * had already received the news that Gao Xianzhi had returned to Qiuzi, and that he wanted to expand his power in the Western Regions, and the two would have a fight.

Prince Wynne talked to him about Gao Xianzhi's various achievements, and when he heard that Gao Xianzhi had marched for more than 100 days, crossed the green ridge, and attacked Xiao Bolu, he made up his mind. He expected that Gao Xianzhi would inevitably take the initiative to attack, and he did not have the experience of crossing the desert and green mountains and attacking from afar.

He then ordered his right-hand man, Ziyad ibn al-Sari, with thousands of men and men from his headquarters, and 10,000 men of Abdah 'Ud Khalid ibn Ibrahim al-Zuhri in the river, to go to the city of Talas and hold the city with Prince Wynne.

Abu * himself built fortifications in Samarkand, gathered his army, and prepared for a mighty battle.

To Abu Abu*'s surprise, the king of the green mountains, who had conquered the Western Regions, had only 30,000 men and horses and attacked from afar, and fought a siege and annihilation battle in the city of Talas, and the stalemate was stalemate. Abu * was overjoyed at the moment, and led more than 200,000 troops to the city of Talas.

The Qarluqs, who were in charge of patrolling, saw that Gao Xianzhi could not conquer the city for several days, and they had already changed their hearts, and they detected the killing of the Abbasid army from a distance, and the news was not reported, so they quietly fled overnight. Because of this, Gao Xianzhi's army was surrounded and unable to get through.

If it weren't for the monster that fell from the sky, Li Siye and Duan Xiushi were able to escape with thousands of men and horses, and the whole army would have been wiped out.

At that time, Li Siye and Duan Xiushi led the army to bypass the monster, and after breaking through all the way into the valley, the monster was still there, and it disappeared mysteriously until dawn. It was more than three hours to escape.

Rumors arose among the Abbasids that the monster had been sent by heaven to protect the Tang Dynasty army, and no one dared to lead the army to chase after it.

Strangely, Gao Xianzhi's whereabouts have not been found. I told Prince Wynne that Gao Xianzhi's horses had been frightened and rushed into the Abbasid army, but he said that his generals had also reported this, but Gao Xianzhi's body and horses were not found there afterwards.

Some people say that Gao Xianzhi escaped alone in the night.

But surrounded by more than 200,000 troops, how could a person dressed in the uniform of a high-ranking general of the Tang Dynasty easily escape?

When his horse was frightened, I clearly remember that he was still wearing the clothes and armor of the envoy of the Tang Festival. Prince Wynne also admitted that after he was killed from Talas City, he brought dozens of relatives with him, and he had been tracking Gao Xianzhi's banner to raid the kill, but he was also lost for some reason.

More than two months later, news came from Broken Leaf City that Gao Xianzhi, Li Siye, and Duan Xiushi led more than 5,000 remnants of the army, passing through Broken Leaves, and heading towards Qiuzi. Bian Lingcheng is also among them.

How General Gao Xianzhi escaped the encirclement of the enemy at that time has always been a mystery.

Abu *, a farmer by birth, was very knowledgeable, kind-hearted and wise. He wasn't as bloodthirsty and murderous as the other Hu people in the Western Regions.

Most of the captives survived and were made servants of military officers and wealthy merchants, and were promised that they would return to the Tang Dynasty after five years, while some bricklayers, masons, blacksmiths, and other skilled people were declared free people at the moment, but they had to work for the cities of Talas, Samarkand, Basra, etc., and could return to the Tang Dynasty after three years.

A few people who know how to make paper are more preferential. Together with Abu *, we first went to Basra, the seat of his governor, and soon we were sent to Kufa. Ali, the fourth caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, had the capital of Kufa, where there were many large Muslim mosques. Later, the Abbasids took their place and made Anbar, not far from Kufa.

The Abbasid caliph, Abu Abbas, rewarded the papermakers with large sums of money and gave them farms and homes in the hope that they would spread the art of papermaking among the Abbasids. In the same way, I was given a manor.

The weather is dry, there is a year-round drought, there is no snow or ice, malaria is prevalent, and a large number of people die from the disease every year.

Often, I would go to Abu Abbas's palace and tell him about Chang'an and Luoyang, as well as the customs of the Tang Dynasty. It didn't take long for him to get tired of my preaching, and I was tired of the desolate world.

Until one day, I met my little moon, Layla Shatabi. She is like a bright moon, shining in my desert world.

She was originally the daughter of an ancient Persian tribal chieftain, because her tribe was attached to the original Umayyad dynasty, and after the rise of the Abbasids, their entire clan became slaves of the Abbasid kings, and later, she sacrificed herself in exchange for the freedom of her people.

For a time, she was the favorite concubine of Abu 'Abbas.

Probably because of who I am. A stranger from the far east, a prisoner. Soon, she noticed me too. Her eyes are full of love for life and nostalgia for her hometown.

That night, a crescent moon swept over the dome of a large mosque and we met in a vineyard. Her long eyelashes scratched my cheeks, and her plump and passionate lips seemed to be a fountain of life, and I couldn't help but drink it. We hugged tightly and entangled.

I clearly remember that every time she stared at me, the charm and gentleness that filled me made me fall deeply. I'd rather be a fish alive and wander in her eyes.

Even the long scar on her face, I often kiss it, which is my most sincere love.

She never said what kind of mark it was, and I never asked. I can guess that it was because of that scar that she gradually gained some freedom.

Oh, my little moon, my fountain in the desert.

Abu Abbasid was also an ambitious emperor. He constantly sent missions to put pressure on the surrounding small countries and tribes. And I, a prisoner from the Tang Empire, is undoubtedly the best proof of his powerful empire. In those years, I traveled to many places with the missions he sent, some of which believed in the Great Food Method, which is Islam, and some of which believed in the Great Qin Law.

I also went to the country of Morocco, the country of Sanlan, and the country of Shunai, which is the closest place to the sun, where the heat is very hot all year round, and the people are dark-skinned, and there is the homeland of Kunlunnu.

When I was traveling with the mission to the Kingdom of Nubia, there was a rebellion within the Abbasids. After the death of Abu 'Abbas, his brother Abd al-Ali competed with his son al-Mansur for the position of caliph.

When the news came, everyone in the mission was in danger, worried that the spread of civil strife would spread, and that their envoys would inevitably encounter accidents.

Luckily, while the Abbasid mission was panicking, I came across a convoy of merchant ships from the Tang Dynasty, who were on their way back to Guangzhou. I returned to the Tang Dynasty with them, and it took me several times to arrive in Chang'an.