Chapter 369: War Escalates, Hot Weapons Emerge

"There is no other way out but to conquer!"

The Prime Minister of the Abbasid Dynasty, Tursun, watched the military information that his brother Turhong returned to the country from the Black Tiger City in Huihe in the Western Regions. He couldn't help but read this sentence, which was regarded as a standard throughout the Abbasid Dynasty. creed.

Throughout the history of the rise of the Arab Empire, it is an out-and-out history of conquest.

Therefore, when Turhon, who was the general of the empire's Eastern Expedition, advocated the annexation of the Western Regions and faced the huge Tang Dynasty in the east, both Caliph Safah, the supreme ruler of the Abbasid Dynasty, and Tursun, the prime minister, He didn't show any intention of objecting.

On the contrary, it strongly supported the imperial expedition to the east.

After Prime Minister Tursun put down the report, he reported to Caliph Safah: "Dear Caliph, our caravan from the Arabian Empire recently returned from Charlemagne's empire for trade, and brought back a weapon developed by Charlemagne's craftsmen. A weapon named "Bronze Cannon";"

"This copper cannon is driven by black powder, and its range and power are far superior to the current long-range weapons such as slingers and ballistae of the imperial army;"

After a pause, Tursun continued: "I think that since the Imperial Eastern Expedition Army has decided to fight the main force of the Tang Dynasty in the Uyghur Khanate, it might as well transport this copper artillery to the Uyghur front line to strengthen the army's power;"

"On the other hand, it can also reduce the casualties of the Empire's Eastern Expedition Army on the battlefield!"

Um?

Hearing this, Caliph Safah on the throne raised his eyebrows and said: "Oh, Charlemagne's empire actually has such a magical weapon. It seems that if we, the Abbasid dynasty, want to continue the Western Expedition, we will not be as good as before. So easy?"

"Yes!"

Prime Minister Tursun nodded and said: "At present, the dynasty's heavy troops are concentrated in the countries along the Silk Road in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty. The empire's opportunities and military strength to expand westward are insufficient;"

"Besides, the army of Charlemagne's Empire has been equipped with new copper cannons in large quantities, and its combat effectiveness has also been greatly improved. I believe that the dynasty should now concentrate all its forces to conquer the Tang Dynasty and continue to maintain non-aggression with Charlemagne's Empire. current situation;"

"Wait until the empire's eastern expedition army conquers the Tang Dynasty, or after it can maintain a certain degree of peace with the Tang Dynasty before, then we can start the western expedition!"

In order to spare no effort to support his brother Turhong's eastward expedition to the Tang Dynasty, Tursun had privately persuaded Caliph Safah more than once to give up his western expedition and go all out for his eastern expedition.

Not only because the Abbasid Dynasty and the Carolingian Dynasty of the Charlemagne Empire in the west had signed a non-aggression treaty of friendship a few years ago, and they maintained economic and cultural exchanges with each other, which temporarily ensured that the Abbasid Dynasty ’s western border is secure;

This is even more because Turhun, the general of the Eastern Expedition in the Arab Empire, while reporting to Caliph Safah, also sent a secret letter to his brother Tursun;

The content of the secret letter quietly revealed to Tursun the current actual situation of the Imperial Eastern Expeditionary Army. The Pamir Plateau corridor connecting the Imperial Eastern Expeditionary Army to the interior of the Arab Empire had been dispatched by a surprise force from the Tang Dynasty. controlled and occupied;

The 600,000-strong Imperial Eastern Expeditionary Army, which was still confronting the Tang Dynasty between the Uighur Khanate and the Tang Dynasty, only carried enough food and grass to last for half a month. Turhong begged his brother Turson to avoid exposing the Imperial Eastern Expeditionary Army. Under the real situation, the Caliph was persuaded to continue to send more troops to Huihe, mainly to reopen the food corridor on the Pamir Plateau to relieve the urgent needs of the Eastern Expedition Army.

This is the main reason why Prime Minister Tursun came to meet Caliph Safah today.

Um!

Listening to the words of Prime Minister Tursun, the caliph on the throne nodded frequently, but did not express his position for a long time.

After a long time, Safah finally said: "Since the opinion of the Prime Minister is consistent with the opinion of the Eastern Expedition General of the Empire, then let's do what you think;"

"but--"

Suddenly, Safah changed the topic and said sternly: "I don't want to see the tragic victory in the Battle of Talas happen again. Although the Arab Empire has a large population and a strong military, it cannot withstand the killings like the Battle of Talas." If you fight against one thousand, you will lose five thousand;"

"Let's give General Turhong three more months. If the war in the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty cannot be ended before the end of the year, we will have to reconsider how to deal with the relationship with the Tang Dynasty!"

After a pause, Safah continued: "There is no other way out in the world but conquest. It is true that the saying goes, but the territory of the Abbasid Dynasty is already large enough, and the Charlemagne Empire is looking at it in the west;"

"If this Eastern Expedition were to take place, it would be great to bring the rich Western Silk Road into the dynasty's territory from the hands of the Tang Dynasty, but it cannot drag the dynasty into the quagmire of war and be unable to extricate itself;"

"Lord Xiangguo, do you understand what I mean?"

"Dear Caliph, I understand!"

Tursun nodded hurriedly and accepted the order, indicating that he understood what the Caliph meant.

Speaking of which, in the last battle of Talos, the Eastern Expedition General Turhong failed to completely annihilate the 50,000 soldiers and horses of the Anxi Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty with 800,000 Eastern Expedition troops. On the contrary, it caused the Arab Empire to pay a heavy price. The cost was over two hundred thousand casualties;

Although after the Battle of Talas, all thirty-five of the thirty-six kingdoms in the Western Regions except the Uighur Khanate surrendered;

However, for Safah, the supreme ruler of the Abbasid Dynasty, this battle in Talas was still a tragic victory, and the effort and reward were seriously out of proportion.

This led to the fact that even though Safahi was jealous of the wealth and resources on the Silk Road in the Western Regions, he had to consider the reality that the Arab Empire on the Eastern Expedition could no longer withstand a large amount of war consumption.

Therefore, while supporting the Empire's Eastern Expedition, Safahi also set a time interval, and three months was the limit he could accept.

As the prime minister, Tursun also knew this very well. After finishing his conversation with Caliph Safahi, he hurried to the Ministry of War in the Arab Empire to select elite cavalry and carry a large number of copper cannons to the Uighur Khanate to reinforce the imperial army on the Eastern Expedition.

At the same time, he also sent an 800-mile express to the Uighur Black Tiger City overnight to inform his brother Turhong of Caliph Safahi's intention and the news of the reinforcements.

The next day.

A reinforcement of 20,000 Persian cavalrymen set out from Baghdad, the capital of the Arab Empire, and headed non-stop to the Varakhan Corridor in the Pamir Plateau, intending to retake the Varakhan Corridor from the Tang Dynasty army;

In addition, there was also an Arab Empire baggage army, carrying 200 copper cannons purchased from the Charlemagne Empire and a large amount of food and supplies, following the 20,000 Persian cavalrymen to the Varakhan Corridor.

As the war between the two super empires in the West and the East deepened in the Western Regions, the weapons of the warring parties also ushered in a historic upgrade, from the era of pure cold weapons to the era of the combination of cold weapons and hot weapons, which also made a certain contribution to promoting the scientific development of the current world.

A few days later.

Turhong, the general of the Arab Empire's Eastern Expedition, who was far away in the Black Tiger City of Huihe, finally received the 800-li express from his brother Tursun, who was far away in the capital Baghdad.

The letter not only explained to him the attitude of Caliph Safaq towards the empire's eastern expedition, but also told him that Turhong's reinforcements had brought new copper cannons to the Varahan Corridor of the Pamir Plateau for reinforcements, and asked Turhong to send a special force to Varahan to meet them and cooperate with the reinforcements to defeat the Tang army.

Hahaha!

After reading the secret letter, Turhong, who had been in a gloomy mood for days, finally couldn't help laughing out loud.

In the central army tent, Turhong looked up to the sky and roared: "God help me, God help me!"

"Chen Huaian, wait for my empire's new copper cannons to arrive, and see what you can use to compete with my empire's eastward expedition army, hahahaha!"

The reason why Turhong was so excited after receiving the news of reinforcements;

On the one hand, it was because the Arab Empire's eastward expedition army trapped in Huihe Heihu, Meijian, and Khatun had less than ten days of food and grass reserves left in the barracks;

On the other hand, Turhong had sent a small army to tentatively attack the Tang army in the past few days to explore the strength of the Tang army, but in the end, it was a loss of soldiers and generals, and did not gain any advantage over the Tang army.

Now the news that the reinforcements are carrying new copper cannons to the east to Walahan and opening up the passage between the Arab eastward expedition army and the country is like a timely rain to save Turhong and the Arab army trapped in various places.

Although Turhong didn't even know what the copper cannon was;

But he believed that with his brother Tuerxun's knowledge, the new cannon that he spent a lot of money to buy from the Charlemagne Empire must be extraordinary.

The defeat of the Tang army is just around the corner.

Turhong immediately ordered: "Come here, bring Caesar, the right vanguard general of the Empire's Eastern Expedition Army, to me!"

"I have received your order!"

Soon, Caesar, the right vanguard general, hurried to the central army tent, saluted General Turhong and asked: "General, you are looking for me?"

Yes!

Turhong nodded and said, "General Caesar, I just received a secret letter from Baghdad. After learning about the current situation of the Empire's Eastern Expedition Army, the Caliph has ordered the dispatch of Persian cavalry reinforcements to the Pamir Plateau to open up the Varakhan Corridor occupied by the Tang Army;"

"In addition, a baggage train carrying food and new copper cannons purchased at a high price from the Charlemagne Empire has been sent to help. I order you to lead the Persian war elephants and camel cavalry troops to the Varakhan Corridor immediately, and cooperate with the Imperial reinforcements on the Eastern Expedition to retake the Varakhan Corridor from the hands of the Tang Army!"

"I have received your order!"

......

At the same time, in the palace hall of the capital of the Uighur Khanate, Harabalgas City.

The original Huihe Palace had become the temporary palace of Emperor Zhaowu of the Tang Dynasty and the Heavenly Khan of the Western Regions, Chen Huaian. He sat in the Huihe Palace and calmly commanded and dispatched the millions of Tang troops to fight in the Western Regions.

In recent days, good news has been coming from the Tang army conquering the Western Regions.

So far, among the thirty-five countries in the Western Regions that betrayed the Tang Dynasty, twenty-five countries have been conquered by the Tang army, and the other ten countries are also in the hands of the Tang army, and it will only take a moment to break the city.

During this period, of course, the kings of the Western Regions sent envoys to Halabalgas to meet with the Heavenly Khan in secret, hoping that Chen Huaian would give them a chance to reform and re-recognize the Tang Dynasty as the suzerain state, and also swore to be loyal to the Tang Dynasty forever and never serve two masters.

However, this request of the kings of the Western Regions, who had long been defined by Chen Huaian as "three-surname slaves", naturally could not be satisfied by the Heavenly Khan.

How could Chen Huaian miss such a God-given opportunity to unify the Western Regions, and even more so, it was impossible for him to erase this important stroke in his journey to become the greatest emperor of all time.

Therefore, he still insisted on the previous iron-blooded policy, annexing these small countries in the Western Regions, and controlled by the Tang soldiers he summoned from the system.

The next step is to implement the new policy of separation of military and political affairs in the Western Regions after completely annihilating the Arab Empire's army on the Eastern Expedition.

At the same time, after this period of time, the Tang army continued to break through large and small cities in the Western Regions, which also allowed Chen Huaian to accumulate a large amount of points in the [Born to be an Emperor] system that can be used to exchange for food, supplies, armaments, and weapons.

This time, he personally led a thousand cavalry to attack the Western Regions, and did not carry the improved red cannon and three-eyed magic gun produced by the Firearms Bureau of the Ministry of Industry of the Tang Dynasty, so that when facing the enemy's Persian war elephants and camel cavalry in these days, the Tang cavalry under his command had to make up for the difference in individual quality with quantity;

Especially when facing the enemy's Persian war elephants, the Tang cavalry under his command seemed a little exhausted.

In order to deal with the enemy's Persian war elephants, Chen Huaian had already made up his mind. After accumulating enough system points, he would immediately exchange the navy warships to dismantle the cannons (the system cannot directly exchange for red cannons), so that the enemy's thick-skinned war elephants could feel the terrifying power of the red cannons.

One day, in the main hall of the Huihe Palace.

Alone, Chen Huaian once again communicated with the [Born to be an Emperor] system with his mind, summoning the system to exchange the navy warships to dismantle the cannons.

[Ding! 】

[The Born Emperor System is starting...]

Accompanied by the familiar system voice in his mind, a virtual 3D projection screen appeared in Chen Huaian's mind again. He found the system mall armament exchange column with ease and chose to exchange for entry-level navy warships without hesitation (each warship is equipped with 12 red cannons);

Chen Huaian: "System, exchange for 20 entry-level navy warships!"

[The Born Emperor System]: "Dear host, are you sure to consume 30 million points to exchange for 20 entry-level navy warships?"

Chen Huaian: "Confirmed!"

[The Born Emperor System]: "20 entry-level warships are being exchanged...."

[Ding! ]

[Congratulations to the host, the exchange is successful (20 entry-level warships have been stored in the system space and can be withdrawn to any place according to the host's needs)]

Accompanied by a familiar cold mechanical synthesized sound, the 240 red cannons required by Chen Huaian were exchanged immediately.

"Report--"

"Your Majesty, urgent military information!"

Just after Chen Huaian had exchanged for an entry-level navy warship, the voice of Xiao Po, the commander of the Jinwu Guard, suddenly came from outside the door.

Hmm?

Inside the house, Chen Huaian raised his eyebrows and immediately said to the outside: "Xiao Po, come in and talk!"

Soon, Xiao Po, who was fully armed, hurried into the hall to report: "Your Majesty, our scouts have just detected the enemy's movements. The enemy's Persian war elephants and camel cavalry have gathered and left the camp, and are marching towards the Pamir Plateau!"

Oh?

Hearing this, Chen Huaian immediately became interested.

The next moment, he found the location of the Pamir Plateau on the huge battle map hanging on the back wall of the hall, and directly set his sights on the Varahan Corridor connecting the Arab Empire and the Western Regions.

Hahaha!

Chen Huaian couldn't help but burst into laughter and said, "It seems that the enemy's main general Turhong and the Abbasid Dynasty can no longer bear the food shortage, and they are eager to work together to reopen the Varakhan Corridor to transport food!"

"That's perfect--"

As he said, Chen Huaian waved his hand and said sternly, "Since Turhong wants to play a mantis catching a cicada for me, I will follow his wishes and use a trick to wait for the oriole behind!"

"Xiao Po--"

"I am here!"

"Immediately order the Jinwu Guards to assemble and follow me to Varakhan to supervise the battle!"

"I obey the order!"