The changes in the Western Continent affected Li Jiangyao's heart.

Despite the distance of thousands of miles and the inability to transmit information, he still made a very keen judgment: the Turkic coalition led by Hestytanli could not resist the full-scale invasion of the Persian army.

At least in the early days of the war, the weakened Turks had no way or the ability to confront the Persians, who had been watching the fire from across the coast for many years.

From Li Jiangyao's point of view, the real level of the Persian army, even if it is not as good as the Turkic soldiers and horses in the heyday, should not be much different. Otherwise, they would have been killed by Ashina a head soon, and it would have been impossible for them to be neighbors with the overlord of the Western Continent for so long.

What's more, during the eight years of counterinsurgency in Western Xinjiang, the Zhenjiang Army had purchased a large number of weapons and armor from Persia, and Li Jiangyao couldn't have been clearer about the grade of Persian military equipment.

The swords and guns are sharp, the armor is excellent, and the war horses are all famous horses, as long as the Persians are not particularly crotch-pulling in the war, they can be called elite divisions, comparable to the Turkic Empire and the Holy Tang Dynasty.

Such a force, and endure for many years, of course, is just a blockbuster.

Therefore, there are only two ways in front of the Turks: either they blindly act brutally and wait for the tragic end of the destruction of the country and the annihilation of the people; Or, use the best of your strengths and avoid your weaknesses, respond to the invasion with the methods you are most familiar with, and delay the situation until the turning point comes.

And the so-called most familiar mode of warfare, there is only one, that is, the movement warfare of the Turkic army that comes and goes like the wind.

Abandoning the dependence on the country, not caring about the gains and losses of one city or one place, even if a large area of land and population is sacrificed, it is necessary to give priority to preserving valuable combat power, and then take advantage of the high mobility of cavalry to wander and fight with the enemy in the vast territory, and even introduce the flames of war into the territory of Persia, burning, killing and plundering, and feeding the war with war, and do everything to the extreme.

Only in this way can there be hope.

Li Jiangyao believes that even if He Sijia can't think of this, Tanli, Gema, and Yun Qianxue will definitely be able to think of it. The sudden appearance of a large number of Turkic refugees in the border areas of the ghost desert in western Xinjiang is precisely a proof or precursor to this guerrilla strategy.

Let the people hide in the territory of the Zhenjiang army first, so that they can temporarily be safeguarded and not all slaughtered or plundered by the Persians, so that those Turkic troops who remained in the empire's homeland can completely free their hands and feet, and carry out the implementation of the fortified wall and clear the wilderness, while resisting and attacking from all sides.

However, although the strategy was correct, due to the disparity in strength between the two sides, the Turks would definitely have to pay huge losses in order to have a chance to stabilize the entire battle.

This loss includes not only the casualties of the army, but also the loss of land and resources, and it also represents the glory of the Turkic empire, which will be washed in blood and dust.

What worries Li Jiangyao more is the safety of the western Xinjiang in the future.

The will of Persia is clearly not just about conquering the Turks. The scourge of war over the years has also dragged Shengtang very badly, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for either side.

Imagine what it would be like to defeat the most powerful nations on both the East and West continents.

And if you want to attack Shengtang, then the Western Ghost Desert will inevitably become an important springboard. In other words, as the border security barrier of Shengtang, Western Xinjiang must also shoulder the heavy responsibility of preventing foreign invasions.

Li Jiangyao repeatedly looked through the various materials compiled by the Western Continental Branch of the Intelligence Division, carefully compared the differences between the Persian army and the Turkic army, and tried to analyze the opponent's war capability and advantages and disadvantages from it.

This former ally and partner has now become a potential threat and adversary, and that special feeling of both familiar and strange is like a thin veil that is gradually lifted.

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Unlike the Turkic Empire, the Persian state political system was closer to the organizational form of the Tang Dynasty, and was also based on the professional bureaucracy, with clear hierarchies and mature operations.

The Cabinet, the Privy Council, and the Senate were the three major institutions that surrounded the Persian emperor and were in charge of civil power, military power, and financial power. At the local level, it is based on the provincial governor as the pillar, and then the city and town levels of governance are distributed downward, which happens to correspond to the prefectures, prefectures, and counties of Shengtang.

In addition, the Persian Empire has another very special place, that is, the institutional attribute of theocracy. Emperor of Persia, Shapur III, was both the supreme monarch of the empire and the pope of Zoroastrianism, the state religion of Persia.

Shapur's position in Persia was more secure than that of the emperors of other countries, precisely because he was not only a secular ruler, but also a representative of the Persian spiritual beliefs.

This situation leads to another peculiar phenomenon: the Persian army usually has two missions. One is to fight for the good of the country, and the other is to fight for the will of God. There are similarities and differences between the two, and they are entirely determined by the Persian Emperor Shapur. In other words, the final interpretation is in the hands of Shapur III.

Emperor Shapur said that this battle was to defend the country, and that was the battle to protect the country; Pope Shapur said that this battle is in accordance with God's will, and that is the war of apologetics.

After hundreds of years of development and changes, the Persian army gradually formed two relatively independent systems. One is the national army, the standing army, and the other is the religious army, which is known externally as the religious army or the religious army.

To this day, the Persian army is still a two-way army. The standing army was numbered between 300,000 and 350,000 men and was commanded by the Privy Council; The strength of the Church Army is relatively small, currently about 100,000 people. However, compared with the efficiency of the recruitment of the official standing army, the enthusiasm and speed with which the Persians were inspired by the church to enlist in the army were even greater.

According to the Intelligence Department, as long as the Pope passes on the divine decree, in the blink of an eye, two or three hundred thousand men of appropriate age will join the Order, take up arms and become protectors of the law, and they will not be paid military salaries, but only need to take care of food.

In this way, the most basic war mobilization force of the Persian Empire is at least six or seven hundred thousand people, and it is no wonder that the Turks were reluctant to force them too tightly at the beginning.

In addition to the condition of the number of troops, the level of weapons and equipment of Persia is also very noteworthy. It is well known that the experience and skill of the Persian blacksmith are second to none in the entire Western Continent. In particular, armor forging once became a must for military procurement by surrounding countries.

Even the Turkic iron cavalry, who is full of martial virtue and invincible, cannot but admit that the chain armor made by Persia is both strong and flexible, although it is a little heavier in weight, but the protection is indeed so good that there is nothing to say.

According to Ameni and Li Jiangyao, the economic development of the Persian Empire was also remarkable in the western continent.

The Turkic people are mainly nomadic, the level of urbanization is not very prominent, and even many tribes are still in a relatively primitive state, the people are scattered between the vast steppes and mountains and forests, the handicraft industry is single, and the scale of trade is very small.

In contrast, Persia is another copy of St. Don.

First of all, the Persian Empire's agriculture was very developed, and the technology of irrigation of farmland was introduced from the east very early, especially in recent years, when the wind and rain were good and the harvest was continuous.

Secondly, Persia is located in the central region of the Western Continent, bordering the Western Ghost Desert, Turkic, Tianzhu, Semitic, and Europa, so Persia has attached great importance to trade between countries since ancient times. As the core node of the western end of the Silk Road and the largest transit point for Shengtang products, the Persian Empire became the trade center of the Western Continent, and also cultivated business giants like Emmeni who were influential in both the political and business worlds.

The prosperity of commerce and trade accumulated abundant financial and material resources for the Persian Empire, and these resources would play a huge role once they were used in warfare.

It can be said that Persia, which has never attracted much attention from the Holy Tang, is actually a potential military giant, but he has not received the attention he deserves under the light of the Turks before.

Li Jiangyao stared at the map, thinking silently, and his brows couldn't help frowning:

According to current intelligence, the Persian Empire sent an army of 300,000 troops, and the Semites had a force of about 150,000 to invade the Turks. Although this force is not capable of destroying the world, it is still very certain that it will invade a large part of the Turkic territory and suppress the army of Tanligma.

Once the Turks are successfully suppressed, will the war potential of the Persian Empire be further stimulated, and is it possible for hundreds of thousands of troops to continue to approach the ghost desert in the western frontier? If this really happens, will there be any way for Horia and them to withstand the pressure of the other party?

Again, yesterday's friends can become tomorrow's enemies at any time. A strong enemy will never speak any friendship and reasoning, and the only language that the other party can understand is strength.

If you are strong, everyone will have a good relationship and live in peace; If you are not strong enough, then they can find many excuses to kick in the door and make decisions for you.

Whoever controls this place will seize the initiative in the mainland's strategy, and will not only advance and retreat, but also gather the huge benefits of east-west trade. Therefore, it would be naïve and naïve to say that the Persian Emperor Shapur III had no idea about the ghost desert of Western Xinjiang at all.

The 160,000 troops left behind in the town and frontier in the hands of the lord of Nanhua County have relatively reliable self-protection capabilities in terms of combat effectiveness, but their strategic deterrence is slightly insufficient. In the event that there were a few bold generals among the Persians or Semites who were carried away by victory, they might take advantage of the fact that the main force of Zhenjiang had not yet returned, and decided to take the lead and brazenly launch an attack on the ghost desert in western Xinjiang.

The most fundamental solution is that strength is king.

Thinking of this, Li Jiangyao took a deep breath, turned his head and ordered: "Go and ask Xu Shuai and the generals of the army to come here immediately, and I want to make adjustments to the military operations in the Hangzhou area." ”