……

"Put~~"

Bang bang –

Hu Qing gave an order, and ten wind cannons burst into flames.

The patchwork of thirteen barrels, at the moment when the gunpowder ignited, like a Gatling, bloomed with a fiery blue light, pouring towards the opposite army of the Great Eater.

In an instant, a large number of enemy troops fell to the ground in a wail, and the blood mist and yellow sand drifted in the wind, as if the gates of hell had been opened, bloody and terrifying.

A large food soldier was hit in the shoulder blade by a bullet, and instantly turned into a cloud of blood, and the violent spraining pain made him can't help but roar loudly, as if he regretted coming to this world.

Half of the head of another big food soldier was directly blown open by the projectile, and the broken brain tissue was scattered all over the ground, like a zombie of the end of the world.

There was also a big food soldier's legs pierced by the impact of the shotgun, and he sat helplessly on the ground as he watched his deformed and twisted legs and the bright red blood soaking through his armor, his hands soothing in the void in front of the broken leg, and let out a terrible cry.

The impact of the wind cannon shotgun completely subverted their cognition, and the huge lethality finally poured the blood in their bodies cold.

Fear crept through the minds of the survivors like a poisonous weed, and the pace of progress came to an abrupt halt, and no one wanted to break into the forbidden area of death.

"Musket gun!"

Take advantage of your illness to kill you!

Hu Qing had no sympathy and decisively ordered the fire to be fired.

Bang –

With a chorus, hundreds of Minnie bullets came out of their disembowels, mercilessly reaping the lives of the remaining Great Eaters.

"Run!"

Finally, the big food soldier who was nervous to the limit finally felt scared, and as one person in the crowd shouted, the whole line collapsed in an instant.

They turned and struggled to climb over the corpses of their comrades, hoping to dodge the deadly weapons sooner.

Sulman closed his eyes in pain, knowing that this time it had failed again.

After so many years of fighting, a scene like this is still the only time in this life.

Looking at the frightened faces of the soldiers who retreated, he knew that the next offensive had to be slowed down.

The courage of these great eaters has been worn out by the firearms of the Han army, and the huge proportion of casualties makes them dare not launch new offensives at will.

Abbasid looked at the scene before him, his face gloomy and dripping.

I didn't expect that the first encounter with the Han army would be so difficult, just from the comparison of casualties, the Great Food Army was simply miserable.

"Is that all?" There was a hint of unwillingness in the deep eyes of the Abbas, "My dynasty is destined to never be able to set foot in the land of the East for the rest of his life?" ”

After a short time, Sulman came to the Abbasids in a decadent manner, and sighed helplessly: "Dear caliph, we have suffered defeat again. ”

Abbasid closed his eyes and asked, "General Sulman, tell me, how long will it take to conquer Talas?" ”

Sulman took off his helmet and said in a low voice: "In this attack, we have lost at least 7,000 brave soldiers, and the firearms of the Han army are too sharp for even the samurai wearing two layers of armor to resist.

In today's situation, at least 50,000 soldiers would need to be sacrificed if Talas were to be conquered. ”

Abbasid was silent, if he had to pay such a heavy price to deal with an abandoned city-state, then if he entered the Western Regions, he would face tens of thousands of Han troops, could his territory really expand to that mysterious land in the East?

At the beginning of the dynasty, there were still a lot of government affairs in the country that needed to be dealt with personally, and the contradictions between the nobles also needed to be mediated by themselves.

For a moment, the thought of withdrawal crossed the Abbasids' mind.

But if we retreat like this, how will we meet the expectations of the people?

At the beginning, he set out to spread the gospel of Muju to the Western Regions, but as the king of a country, how could he break his promise like this?

"General Sulman, can you continue the offensive tomorrow?" Abbasid asked tentatively.

Sulman shook his head: "The warriors have been frightened by the firearms of the Han army at present, and I am afraid that they will not be able to continue the offensive against Talas in the short term. ”

Abbasid pondered for a moment, and then suddenly asked, "General Sulman, are you okay with withdrawing your troops now?" ”

Sulman was startled, and saw a hint of cunning in Abbas's eyes, and immediately understood his intentions.

Someone had to be held accountable for the defeat of the crusade, and the Abbasids, as the caliph and the spokesman of the Muslim Lords in the world, could never admit the defeat of the war.

Then it is up to you to be the scapegoat for the defeat of this war.

If Sulman orders the withdrawal of his troops, he will have to apologize with death when he returns to China, facing the reproaches of the Great Eater.

Even if you don't die, you will inevitably be deprived of your power and property, and becoming a civilian is no different from dying.

But if he continues to fight, even if he can really rely on the corpses to build a bloody road to the Western Regions, he will definitely suffer heavy casualties, and even if he wins the victory, he will also be questioned for his poor command.

No matter how you choose, you are a victim of power.

But Sulman is not a lamb to the slaughter, after all, the human spirit who has lived for decades will not be at the mercy of your Abbasids?

He replied, "Honorable Caliph, you are the ruler of the Great Eclipse, the guide of the Lord of Muslims on earth, and everything is at your discretion. ”

When Abbasid heard this, a hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes, apparently annoyed that his plan had failed.

"Got it, you go to appease the soldiers first, rest for a few days, and wait for the morale of the soldiers to recover, and then it's not too late to capture Talas."

"Yes!"

After Sulman left, the Abbasids began to ponder a strategy for capturing Talas.

At that moment, a man came to report: "Caliph, an envoy claiming to be Parthia has come to visit you. ”

"Parthia?"

Abbasid frowned.

"Yes, please."

……

"Wow~~~"

In the city of Talas, a firecracker covers a soaked cloth directly over his firecracker.

The moment the damp cloth covered the firecracker, a trace of white smoke immediately appeared, and the water stains on the barrel quickly dried.

After a long time, the sound of sizzling died down, and the soldier picked up the firecrackle and touched the pipe, which was still hot, but not as hot as before.

After a day of fighting, the soldiers of the Han army stood in front of their posts and gnawed dry food on the corpses of the enemy in front of them.

Fortunately, now that winter is approaching, the rate of decay of corpses has slowed down a lot, so there is no need to worry about the outbreak of plague for the time being.

However, these corpses have to be disposed of eventually.

Geng Gong and Hu Qing sat on the stone pier next to them and began to calculate the casualties and the distribution of the remaining supplies.

According to statistics, 17 soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in this battle, all of which were casualties caused by hand-to-hand combat.

The materials are left, and the food carried is enough to support a month, and if it is really not good, you can still kill horses to satisfy hunger, and you don't have to worry about food for the time being.

It's just that the water is only enough to drink for three days, and the consumption of physical energy in such an intense offensive and defensive battle is very huge, and water is urgently needed to replenish it.

The baggage team has dug about five meters into the ground along the land, and has not yet found a water source.

For a while, both of them began to have difficulties......